Kevin halted by the corner of the headquarters building, accompanied only by Pablo and three mentats. Caleb had wanted to come, of course. But Irene had pointed out that the team needed a firm guiding hand. Kevin had smiled with the others at how the quiet woman’s reach now impacted Caleb as well.
At a gesture from Pablo, the three mentats stopped and stood shoulder to shoulder. Kevin told them, “Our goal is to rescue the Atlanta adepts.”
“And their families,” Pablo added. “And to do that, we need those trucks.”
Kevin liked how he and Pablo were working in sync. Two sergeants, comfortable with frontline action, trusting their leader to point them in the right direction. He asked, “Ready?” At a nod from the trio, he said, “Okay. Blanket them.”
Kevin approached the red-brick building with his heart in his mouth. The building was massive and as uncaring as the two guards who watched him. The man who had flicked his cigarette at Caleb said to the woman, “What did I tell you? These students, it’s something all the time.”
The woman started to reply, but at that instant her face went from edgy and stern to utterly blank. Kevin found his nerves settling as a result.
He walked up to the guardsman, moving in very close because he wanted to make sure the man had experienced the same effect. “We’ve been ordered to requisition two trucks.”
The man appeared to inspect the same blank paper Kevin had shown at the gate. But his eyes were unfocused and his expression as slack as the woman’s. The guard showed no interest in taking the paper. “Sure thing.”
“Fetch me the keys,” Kevin said. He stuffed the paper into his pocket, or tried to, but it was so wet by then it ripped into pieces. If the guards even noticed, they gave no sign.
The male guard was already moving. “Right away.”
Pablo said to the woman, “Open the other door, please.”
The woman turned silently away.
As Kevin walked around to the driver’s door of the first truck, two other guards clattered down metal stairs at the garage’s rear. They appeared as helplessly trapped in the mentats’ work as the first pair.
Kevin accepted both sets of keys, tossed one to Pablo, and told the newcomers, “Go back upstairs.”
The two turned and complied.
Kevin cast a swift look at the grinning Pablo, but before he could speak, everything fell apart.
A boxy black vehicle jammed on its brakes directly in front of the headquarters’ driveway. A dark-suited woman wearing the bulky headset leaned out the side window and screamed, “Sound the alarm! Arrest those abominations!”
Kevin leapt into the cab, fired the engine, and did the only thing that came to mind. He raced the motor to redline, slapped the gearshift into reverse, and roared out of the garage.
Straight at the vehicle and the Washington suits barring their way.
He slammed into the car so hard it rocked up on two wheels, groaned in time to the cries from inside, and fell over on its side. Still Kevin pushed, his own tires burning hot and the massive truck shuddering with the effort. The Washington vehicle groaned louder still and rolled over on its back.
The dark-suited woman sprawled in the grass, yelling something that was lost to Kevin’s engine. Her helmet was spilled onto the drive and was shattered when Pablo’s truck ran it over. She rolled away, still screaming.
Kevin halted for the three gawping mentats. As the trio clambered on board, the alarm by the gatehouse started clanging.