Riser whizzed around a corner, heading towards a shiny Juxter K11 trailer shuttle. Amongst the small cramped streets of the Old Quarter, the K11 stood out like a huge eyesore. The local traders and merchants would never display such wealth. Very few traders could afford such a vehicle, and those who could were all too concerned about portraying themselves as poor businessmen to make such an unwise purchase.
The K11 was a top of the range freight transporter. It was aimed at the niche market of wealthy businessmen who cared more about their image than the practicalities of driving a large vehicle through narrow twisted streets. Most large vehicles were relegated to the wider roads on the outskirts of Cinnamon City. The K11 was a monstrosity. There were ten fat ball wheels on each side of the chassis and they all had independent steering that was controlled by the vehicle's complex road management system. The imposing chassis consisted of a shiny silver pilot cab up front, and a stylish tubular cargo bay that was split into three side-loading pods on the back. The cab's smooth outer surface shone like a mirror, reflecting the sun as a series of multicoloured rainbows. Thick chrome bars formed a cage across the front.
Riser angled his jet-powered wheelchair towards the pilot cab. He used a combination of air breaks and sudden body movements to bring his chair skidding to a halt. The cab door swung up as he approached, and Riser grabbed a metal side bar to pull himself up onto the wide black driver's seat. He tapped a gadget on his belt and the wheelchair folded inwards in a rapid series of repeated clicks and whirs. In less than a second, it collapsed down to the size of a basket ball. Riser clapped his hands and the compressed chair bounced off the ground, landing in his lap. It weighed no more than a few kilos due to its high quality composite materials. Riser had paid a small fortune for the chair, but it was well worth the price, especially when somebody else was supplying the credits. Lifting it from his lap, he inserted the small cube into a storage slot above his head.
Riser tapped the dashboard and the door swung back into place, locking automatically. He hit a series of buttons in front of him and a row of six blazing white lights lit up along the top of the pilot cab. The K11 let out a high pitched whine as power surged through the electromagnets beneath it. The chassis rose five centimetres clear of the free-standing ball wheels beneath it, and the K11 automatically selected the appropriate driving profile to give the wheels the maximum surface area to grip the road. Riser thrust the drive stick forward, and the K11 surged forwards as all twenty ball wheels accelerated at once. The advanced mobility systems controlled a complex set of magnetic fields. The chassis floated above the ball wheels as though it was sailing along the swirling currents of an unseen river.
'Stop!' Drefnig shouted. The K11 screeched past him. Bright lights flashed in his face. Its ball wheels tore into the road's dirt surface, throwing gravel in all directions. Drefnig raised an arm to protect his face from the clouds of flying dust and stones. He could just make out white teeth grinning from a riotous black beard inside the K11's shiny silver pilot cab. Trent raised his middle finger as the K11 sped past.
'All units, move in,' Drefnig said through his comms unit. 'Trent is driving a silver Juxter K11. I want his possible routes closed down. Keep him on the main road. Intercept when possible. Parker is broadcasting his live tracking data now.'
Riser pushed the drive stick forwards and over to the right. The front wheels turned right, and the rear wheels turned left, each bubble wheel adjusting itself to a different angle so that together they pulled the K11 through a smooth arc onto Wemble Lane. Riser let out a deep belly laugh as he ran straight over a small Roach that had been parked outside a shop. It smacked into the cab's crash bars and then fell beneath the ball wheels. He could hear it shattering into ever smaller pieces as the wheels crunched over it.
'Catch me now you dumb fuck!' Riser said in between bouts of raucous laughter.
A man started crossing the street ahead, but on hearing the roaring noise of the K11's turbines, he looked up with startled eyes and threw himself through an open shop doorway. Riser laughed even louder, ignoring the tight skin around the scars on the side of his neck. He flicked the stick left until the bubble wheels caught the corner of a trader's stall, sending fruit and vegetables flying in all directions. Angry shouts filled the road behind him as more people ran out into the road to see what was happening.
Riser looked at the rear view image that was projected onto the lower part of the windscreen. He could see the angry merchants waving their fists, while a small boy behind them jumped up and down with excitement. The boy was waving his arms in the air. Beyond them all, stumbling between the shattered remains of the Roach, the brown haired Commander came running.
Riser smiled to himself. 'Give it up fool,' he said. 'You'll never catch me.'
Drefnig was getting out of breath. He was in good shape but running through the dusty side roads had taken the wind out of him. He hadn't expected Trent to have a Juxter K11 waiting for him. Chasing after it on foot was not going to be a good long-term solution. How the hell had Trent managed to get hold of a K11 anyway? He was supposed to be a poor hacker on a low salary. There was no way he could afford a vehicle like that through hard work and honest contracts.
It looked like the K11 had hit something ahead. Pieces of mangled metal lay scattered across the road. Drefnig checked his pace and negotiated his feet between the scattered debris. A crashing sound brought a group of people running out onto the road. They were shouting angry insults and waving their fists at the K11 as it sped away, leaving oranges rolling all over the road. Drefnig stood on something that looked like a long flat metal leg embedded in the ground. The exposed end was still twitching. He had no idea what it had once been.
A deep buzzing sound loomed overhead as two Wasp Drones swooped low across the road. Their wings beat in a rapid blur above him, stirring up more dust from the dry dirt road. One of the Wasp Drones launched a stinger missile. It aimed ahead as a warning shot. The missile struck the road fifty metres ahead of the K11, shaking the ground and sending plumes of rock and dirt flying high into the air. The K11 swerved to one side, its ball wheels spinning in all directions to put it into a controlled slide. It swung around the edge of the crater before returning to the middle of the road on the other side.
Drefnig ran onwards, skirting around the crater as he gave chase. The air was thick with smoke and dirt but he could just see the K11 swerving around on the road ahead. He slowed his pace to catch his breath as he broke into a coughing fit. He was never going to catch Trent on foot. He wondered why the other squads hadn't moved in yet. Maybe they were struggling to keep up with Parker's ever changing update feed. Drefnig reached up and tapped his comms unit. 'Trent is heading down Wemble Lane in a Juxter K11. Block all exits. All units intercept now!'
Rachel had followed Drefnig into the Old Quarter, maintaining a discreet distance. Maybe he didn't want her to be part of his operation, but he couldn't stop her making enquiries of her own. She had been tracking Trent's progress using Parker's live data feed, and had managed to position herself at the right end of the city. It wasn't easy predicting what Trent's next move would be, but there were only so many roads that were wide enough to accommodate such a large commercial vehicle. She worked her way through the Old Quarter, standing on the back of a Combat Roach. She did her best to stay just ahead of the action. She wanted to be able to intercept Trent when the time was right. Glancing at her wrist console to check Parker's live tracking data, she hurried forwards to make sure that she was in exactly the right place. Trent was coming her way. She jumped down from the Combat Roach and walked out into the middle of the road.
She could hear Trent coming from a long way off. A continuous series of crashes and bangs assaulted her ears from somewhere just behind a row of box cabins in front of her. The noise started on her right and moved slowly across to her left, roughly correlating with what Drefnig had just announced over the comms channel. Trent was stirring up some kind of shit storm on Wemble Lane. It sounded like he was getting closer.
Wasp Drones swooped low over the box cabins, giving away Trent's position as they tracked him. Rachel stared down the road, breathing slowly as she waited for the inevitable. She didn't have to wait long. The K11 came swerving around the corner and skidded sideways before righting itself. It accelerated towards her on twenty spinning black ball wheels. Rachel stood staring at the shiny silver pilot cab as the K11 raced towards her. There was no time to change her mind now. Raising her impact pistol, she fired twice. The pistol rocked in her hands but she held it firm. She could feel the increased recoil from the modified chamber. Each round split into a dozen separate rods as soon as it left the chamber. The rods dispersed into a narrow scatter pattern and peppered the K11's windscreen for a fifth of second. Each rod punched a clean round hole straight through the glass. The holes expanded with successive impacts, sending a shock wave across the windscreen like ripples on a pond. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces. Riser raised his arms to protect his face from a shower of exploding glass. Rachel could see a large tattered hole on the back wall of the pilot cab.
The K11 swerved left. Rachel jumped to her right, landing heavily on her arm. The rumbling wheels came closer and the ground vibrated beneath her. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. Pulling her arms and legs into a tight ball, she tried to make herself as small as possible. Countless heavy ball wheels rumbled past her ankle, and hot air threw a hail of gravel and dust into her face. Rachel could hear her heart pounding in her chest. It sounded as though it wanted to leap out of her body and run away without her. She remained perfectly still, fearing that she might be crushed at any moment. When the wheels rolled by and noise finally receded, she let herself breath once again. After a few seconds, she sat up, blinking the dust from her eyes and wondering how the hell she was still alive.
As her senses returned to normal, she watched the K11 powering away from her, leaving a trail of dust behind it. Two Wasp Drones buzzed straight over her head, chasing it down the road. They fired electric arcs at the K11's rear cargo pods, shattering the upper bodywork and sending debris flying in all directions.
When she was sure the K11 wasn't coming back, Rachel checked her shaking hands to see if all her fingers were still attached.
'Don't shoot him, you stupid bastard!' Drefnig shouted as he ran past. His black boots came to a sudden halt as he turned to face her with surprise. 'Rachel? What are you doing here?'
'I answered the call for help,' she said.
'The call was meant for squads that are part of this operation,' he said. 'You shouldn't be here. Markov wants Trent alive!'
Rachel stared back with a blank expression. 'I know,' she said.
Drefnig didn't wait for her explanation. He turned and ran ahead, following the trail of chaos behind him.
When Drefnig had gone, Rachel jumped back to her feet and ran after him on legs that wobbled beneath her, almost pitching her onto her face. Up ahead, she could see Trooper Carol Smart firing at the K11's ball wheels from an overhanging building. Drefnig shouted at her too. Smart looked offended. She shot an irritated glance at Rachel as she ran past a few seconds later.
'What's your problem?' Rachel said, but she didn't wait for an answer.
Rachel tried to catch up with Drefnig, but her legs didn't seem to want to run in a straight line. She felt a sharp twinge in her knee, and she didn't like the tight knot that had formed in her lower back again. She gasped for air and slowed her pace. She had thought that she was fully recovered, but the last few minutes had reminded her of her own limitations. They had reminded her of her mortality too. As she jogged along the road, she noticed that all the side streets had been closed off with force fields. The security forces were shutting down Trent's possible escape routes, forcing him to stay on the main road. Up ahead, she could see security forces pouring onto the road. They appeared from box cabins where they had been hiding. More soldiers sped past her on Combat Roaches. It looked like they were leading Trent into some kind of trap.
Rachel slowed to a trot and let the others go ahead. Drefnig was right. She wasn't supposed to be on this operation. She would have some questions to answer when she got back to the towers, but she would worry about that later. First, she had to get her hands on Trent before Drefnig could take him away.