Chapter 11 | Kidnap and Pursuit
The four remaining BMIs met at a factory building located across the street from the Cybernotics Corporation. As they walked into the abandoned factory they could see rats on the floor and hear them squeak as they scurried into the walls. Tosha approached Grayson and asked, “Grayson, where's Jagger.” Grayson dipped his head and looked down towards the ground for a second, then looked up at Tosha with a grim face. Grayson replied, “Tosha, Jagger got killed by an iCer.” Tosha’s face turned red, she gritted her teeth, and clinched her fists in anger. Tosha wanted to know, “Who? Whoever did it is fracking dead.” Grayson advised her, “Calm down. We all have to focus on the mission.” Tosha caught her breath and replied, “Yes. Okay, but if I get my hands on the iCer that did it. He’s dead!”
Terrack wanted to get down to business and asked, “What's the plan?” Grayson started to brief them, “We need to get to the creator, Doctor Reynolds. In order to do that, we need access to the facility. It's like a fortress. I've been watching the employees go in and out. We're going to snatch one of the lab techs. Terrack you’re on watch first. Tosha, then Peyton.”
The group acknowledged Grayson. Terrack looked out a window of a factory towards Cybernotics, waiting for a target. The others sat against the wall and waited.
After an hour Terrack had spotted a man in a lab coat, Tyler Slade use a rear exit. Terrack alerted the group, “We have a lab tech exiting the building. It’s a go people.”
The group made their exit out the back and walked at a very quick pace (so they could intercept the tech.) Slade had flagged down a skycab and was getting ready to enter the rear seat when Peyton and Terrack entered the rear doors. They pushed Slade into the middle of the seat and sandwiched him in between them. Grayson jumped into the right passenger’s seat next to the driver. Slade thought they were trying to take his cab, “Hey, hey get out. This cab is taken.” Terrack then told Slade, “Shut up!” Slade was confused and asked, “What's going on?” Peyton in a firm voice yelled, “Stay seated and be quiet!”
Tosha walked up to the driver’s side door of the skycab and shot the android driver in the head. Smoke and wires popped out of his head. Tosha pulled him out onto the ground and jumped into the driver’s seat.
Slade realized he was being kidnapped and pleaded, “Please! Please! Don't kill me!” Peyton pushed Slade down into the rear seat and said, “Just be quite!” Grayson wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He spotted the police coming their way and told Tosha, “Go! Go! Go! Fly! Cops at our 12 o'clock!” Slade pleaded, “Let me out!” Peyton slapped Slade in the face and got him to be quiet. She yelled again, “Shut up!” Slade cowered in his seat and put his hands on his face. Slade complied and said, “Okay! Okay!”
The skycab zoomed upward into the flight lanes. At the same time a SCAR (Squad Car – flying police police) flew overhead. The driver officer saw the kidnapping below and alerted his partner, “Down there!” His partner (the passenger officer) acknowledged him, “See it!”
The SCAR abruptly dove downward towards the stolen skycab with its lights and siren on. The pursuit was on and the passenger officer called it in to dispatch, “Eagle Seven. Show us in pursuit of skyjackers, at the Cybernotics building.” The skycab climbed upward through other vehicles and hit the corner of a building. A second SCAR joined in behind the first SCAR.
As they joined the pursuit the partner officer in the second SCAR advised dispatch, “Eagle Nine, show us in pursuit with Eagle Seven.”
Grayson had yelled at Tosha as she tried to evade the police, “Loose ‘um! Go! Go!” Tosha hit the accelerator and said, “Woo...baby I got this.” Grayson tried to help Tosha avoid hitting other skycars and yelled, “Right! Right and up.”
The skycab missed a bus and flew through other flying cars. Cars had honked at the skycab as several just miss being hit. The skycab leveled off into the flow of air traffic. Two SCAR's fell in behind and continued their pursuit. Terrack yelled out some more directions, “Damn. There! There! The tunnel.”
The skycab headed down to ground level and drove into a street level tunnel used by surface vehicles. It had trouble clearing the top of the tunnel and the top of the skycab scrapped the tunnel entrance. Parts and debris flew off. Older conventional vehicles travelled in and out of the tunnel. The two SCAR's followed, lights and sirens flashing. Tosha had started to get an adrenaline rush and yelled, “Bam! That should do it!” Peyton then yelled, “They're still behind us.”
Tosha flew at the top of the tunnel bumping and clipping the top of surface cars as she flew over them. When the skycab reached the end of the tunnel Tosha cut off a bus. The bus started to swerve from the right lane to the left. Just as the skycab exited the first SCAR barely made it and the second SCAR crashed into the rear of the bus an exploded. Parts, flames, and debris shot out of the tunnel from behind the bus when the SCAR impacted it.
The first SCAR continued the chase upwards after the skycab as they exited the tunnel and ascended. The skycab didn't have enough room as it flew in-between two vehicles above it. It bumped both vehicles and knocked them apart (making room to climb to higher level traffic.) The SCAR then hit a flying car and caused it to spin out of control, on fire, towards the ground. Grayson saw two more SCARS speeding towards them from behind and a third from their right. Grayson alerted Tosha, “Down! Down there!” Tosha assured Grayson she was under control and said, “Diving, diving. “
They dove back down and flew below the flow of the flying cars, just above the old cars on the surface street. They were clipping power lines, sparks flew, and neon signs exploded as they clipped them with the skycab. Now all three SCARS were behind them in hot pursuit.
The partner officer form the third SCAR asked dispatch, “Dispatch, Eagle Seven and Nine are down. Request permission to flame the evader.” Dispatch gave permission to shot down the skycab, “Eagle Two, cleared to engage.”
The two lead SCARS's flew side by side and had started to shoot at the skycab with large caliber energy guns (located in the front of their vehicles.) The skycab had made erratic and sharp turns around buildings to avoid being hit.
Grayson yelled, “Tosha!” and Tosha replied, “I know! I know! Give me a sec.”
Tosha saw a tall building under construction in the distance and flew through the open areas where no windows had been installed. The three SCARS followed them inside.
The partner officer in SCAR 3 yelled, “Follow them, follow ‘um in.”
As they started to reach the other end of the building Tosha started to hit the columns in the building taking them out. As they reached the end of the interior of the building it collapsed as Tosha hit the last column and flew out the other end. SCAR 3 and the other SCARS were all crushed by the s collapse and falling debris. The partner officer from SCAR 3 screamed, “Shittttttt,” as his car was crushed.
Explosions and debris flew out of the end of the building as the skycab made its escape. Grayson told Tosha, “A little messy,” and she replied, “But a job well done, huh?”
The group continued by entering normal sky traffic and slowing down to match the flow of traffic. From a distance you saw the building that they had exited on fire with smoke billowing from the sides. The skycab was damaged with dents from end to end, but it was still air worthy and able to transport them to Slade’s place.