“Fuck! We need to get out of here fast,” Luke yelled. “Now!”
The sound of sirens coming from a new direction hammered the point home for everyone. Luke turned up all his speed to get down the block to his Volvo. He shoved his sawed-off into its holster and yanked the keys out of his pocket. He didn’t bother trying to find the car key while he was running. He didn’t want to drop them.
When he got to his car, he flipped to find the right key, sliding it into the lock and unlocking the door along with all the others. He chucked the empty M12 into the passenger seat as he fumbled with the keys, dropping them to the floor.
“Shit!” He tried leaning over to pick them up, but his armor made it nearly impossible.
He became more frustrated, letting off a steady stream of curses as he tried to magically make his arm longer. When the passenger door opened and he felt the shift in the car, he sat back up, relief flooding through him as Delilah got in.
“I dropped the keys and can’t reach them.” He scooted as close to the door as he could while Delilah leaned over and reached down.
There was no sweeter sound in that moment than the jingle of keys. Delilah sat up and shoved the key into the ignition. Luke turned it, heaving a sigh of relief as the engine turned over.
“Keep an eye on Pablo’s truck. I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”
“Got it,” Delilah replied.
Luke kept his eyes peeled, happy when Archie rounded the corner and made a beeline directly for Luke’s car. He yanked the door open and dove in.
“Go, Luke! They’re coming, and lots of them.” Archie sounded winded as he gasped for air.
“Delilah?”
“I count five in Pablo’s truck. Archie makes eight. Go!”
Luke mashed the gas pedal, yanking the wheel and pulling out onto the street.
“Faster!” Delilah yelled.
“Jorge didn’t turn this into a drag racer!” Luke spared a glance in the rearview mirror.
A couple of the vampires were sprinters, quickly turning up all their supernatural speed to chase them down.
“Sorry about this, Luke,” Archie said. A moment later, the hatch window shattered as Archie slammed the butt of one of the M12s into it.
He flipped the gun around just in time to unload a shell into the chest of a vampire about to grab onto the racking on top of the roof. The vampire exploded into a cloud of dust. Archie fired off a few more rounds, although Luke had no idea if he hit anything. Luke needed to concentrate on the escape.
“Delilah, can you pull my sawed-off out?” Luke adjusted his leg carefully.
“Sure.” Delilah delicately pulled the gun from his holster.
“How we looking back there, Archie?” Luke called.
“OK. I think we’re away.”
Luke exhaled heavily, thinking, “For now.”
An explosion rocked the night. Luke jerked, ducking his head out instinctively.
“Holy hell…” Archie said.
Looking in the rearview mirror, Luke saw a giant fireball rising into the sky, emanating from where the house had been. He returned his eyes to the road in front of him.
Finding her voice, Delilah cleared her throat. “I hope that took out some of the vampires. Although, I’m just glad it didn’t take us out. I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why’d we get so lucky? That was a lot of gas.”
“There was too much gas.” Luke chuckled, the noise sounding harsh in his own ears. “Cassius must not watch Myth Busters.”
Delilah turned to Luke, a confused expression on her face. “What?”
“You have to get the oxygen to gas ratio right before it will catch. I’m guessing Cassius flooded that basement with gas and sealed it up. There wasn’t enough oxygen. When we opened the basement, the gas mixed and whatever his ignition source was finally caught.”
“What does that have to do with Myth Busters?” Delilah asked.
“We’ll have to put a pin in that discussion. Archie, I’ve got regular buckshot and some slugs back there. Get a couple guns reloaded so you have options. Also, pass up a box of buckshot and slugs for Delilah.” Luke checked the rear view. He didn’t see any more vamp runners, except maybe as distant figures in the background. “Delilah, reload the sawed-offs. Put slugs in yours and buckshot in mine.” He slowed and turned down another street.
“K. What do you want in my M12?” Delilah asked.
“Pull the vamp shot, throw in a mix of slugs and buckshot. I have a feeling we’re going to need some heavier fire soon.” He yanked on the wheel, taking a screeching turn onto a different street just as a cop flipped on his lights and sirens, turning after them. “Archie, keep your head down for now. Just get those guns reloaded.”
Luke pushed on the gas pedal, trying to put more distance between them and the cop car. He took another hard turn, then another, hoping to catch the cop off guard, but failed. He hoped no one pulled out into the residential street, where he was violating the law by twice the posted limit. When he came to the next cross-street, he set his eyes on a large SUV that had just passed in front of him. He slowed and yanked the wheel, setting the tires to screaming as he drifted across traffic and settled in behind the SUV on the four-lane surface street. Sirens blaring, the cop rocketed into the bigger street, missing his turn and sideswiping a car parked on the far side of the road. But it regained control and kept on Luke’s trail. When the SUV noticed the cop, it pulled to the side of the street like a good citizen.
Luke pulled up next to it, getting just in front of the SUV as the cop sped up to catch them. “Hold on!” he yelled, rocking the car to whip the tail end of the wagon into the front driver's side quarter panel of the SUV.
The SUV driver panicked and overcompensated, slamming into a car parked along the side of the road and spinning around, ending up perpendicular to traffic just in time to be t-boned by the cop.
“What the fuck, Luke?!” Delilah cried out.
“We’re not getting captured by vampires or cops or vampire cops,” Luke yelled. “You OK back there, Archie?”
“Think so, mate. Spilled shells all over the place though.”
“Delilah, get on the phone and find out how the other team is doing.” Luke took a controlled turn off the four-lane street onto another residential street, then took another turn. Finding a dark spot under a tree, he pulled over and turned the car off.
“What are you doing?” Delilah asked.
“Hiding. Call Sam, please.”
Delilah scowled, shaking her head, but picked up her phone. A moment later, Sam answered. From the loud yelling and frantic tone of Sam’s voice, things didn’t sound like they were going well. Once Delilah got Sam calmed down, she muted her phone and turned to Luke.
“They’re on I-84 heading east. There are several cops behind them.”
Luke could see the panic in her eyes. “Shit.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“OK. I guess hiding isn’t an option. Tell them to get their shotguns ready—buckshot and slugs. I made sure Pablo has a good store in the bed of his pickup. Tell them to put a couple people in the bed, but try to do it so they don’t seem obvious. We’ll want to save it as a surprise if we need it. Then, have Sam keep you updated on where they’re at. We’re on our way.”
“OK.”
Luke pulled out onto the street and started winding his way toward the nearest east-bound freeway on-ramp. He wasn’t sure how fast they were going, but his car should be able to catch up. As soon as he hit I-84 East, he put the pedal down, feeling the power of Jorge’s engine and modifications kick in. The old Volvo surged forward, not like a greyhound, but like a chonky Labrador that loved his food bowl a bit too much yet could still hustle after a stick or ball on occasion.
When they rounded the curve and saw the red and blue lights ahead in the distance, Luke turned off his headlights. Although the freeway was lit this time of night, the lamp poles were few and far between.
“OK, team,” Luke called out. “We’re about to do some real fucking illegal shit here, so get your head right. We can’t hesitate when it comes time to act.”
“We just crashed a car to get a cop off our tail.” Delilah’s voice sharpened, approaching shrill.
“Delilah. You can do this. These are our friends. We need to get them out of this because if the cops arrest them, we’ll never hear from them ever again nor find their bodies to mourn.” Luke reached over and squeezed her thigh. “You got those shotguns ready?”
Delilah nodded, taking several quick deep breaths and trying to get her nerves under control.
“Arch, you ready back there?”
“Yeah, Luke. Just tell me what to do.” Archie pumped a shell into the firing chamber.
“OK. Shoot the tires. We need to get the cops off their tail. This is the safest option. We probably won’t know if they’re vamp cops or just humans on the job. I’ll worry about the driving. Archie, you try to focus on the left side unless you’ve got a good shot to the other side. Delilah, stick with the sawed-offs for now. That’ll be easier out the side window.”
“I can do that.” It sounded more like she was pep talking herself, but her voice had drifted back down to mostly normal tones.
“Roger, mate,” Archie called from the back.
“One last thing, Delilah. Relay this order to Sam. ‘Put two people in the bed, pop up the canopy window on the back. Put one shooter in the back driver's side and one on the passenger side. Four shooters. Don’t waste ammo on trying to shoot out the engine unless you can get a slug through the radiator. Shoot for tires first.’”
Luke rolled all the windows down, giving them plenty of options to shoot from, although Archie would have an easier time picking his window and angles while Delilah was more confined by her position.
“OK,” Luke yelled over the wind blowing through the open windows. “Get ready!”
He’d slowed to make sure they were prepared and Delilah had relayed the plans to Sam. Pressing the gas pedal down, they surged forward, aiming for the cop car, bringing up the rear of the pursuit group.
“Delilah, this one is yours.”
“OK.”
The blast of one of the barrels of Delilah’s sawed-off let him know they’d officially engaged.
“Fuck! Missed.” Delilah fired off the second barrel.
The front driver-side tire of the police cruiser vaporized. The car swerved back and forth while the driver tried to keep control, the metal rim sending up sparks as it dug into the asphalt of the freeway. Luke watched in the mirror as the cop swerved his way to the shoulder, jamming on the brakes before sliding off the pavement. Delilah opened her sawed-off and threw the empty shells into the back seat, ramming two more into the barrels.
“Archie, can you get this one out the window behind me?” Luke yelled.
“Maybe, but I’m uncomfortable firing it off near your head.”
“Fine.” Luke put the pedal to the floor and eased past the cop.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the shocked faced of the cop riding shotgun as they passed them. Once the wagon’s rear axle drew level with the front of the cop car, Archie fired off a round, sending the cop car spinning away. Delilah, in quick succession, fired off two more rounds, taking out a car on her side. He still couldn’t see Pablo’s pickup through the wall of cop cars and flashing lights spread out in front of him. So far, the cops hadn’t reacted to their presence. It would only be a matter of time before the ones they’d taken out radioed their pals about what was going on behind them.
Two sets of flaring brake lights confirmed his thoughts. “Delilah! Get one as soon as you can. Archie, one coming up on the left fast.”
Luke considered his options. The cops were lined up side by side, not leaving any easy shots.
“Shit!” He wrenched the wheel to the side as a car in front of him jammed on its brakes. As they passed, narrowly missing it, its hood was up and blocking the window, steam bellowing out of the engine compartment.
“Looks like Pablo’s truck has entered the game,” Archie yelled, laughing.
“I’m glad you’re having fun back there.” Luke shook his head, a smile quirking up the corners of his mouth.
“It’s just like North Africa when Rommel was chasing us through the desert. If it had wheels and an engine, we put a gun in it.”
Luke checked the rear view again—so far no new cops were coming up from behind, although he expected it wouldn’t be long. Delilah fired off another round, missing both, and grabbed the second shotgun, catching the tire on the first shot. She took aim with the slug-loaded shotgun, propping the barrel on the edge of the window and squeezed off the second barrel, taking out the rear tire of a cop in the far lane that had been drifting onto the shoulder.
“Nice shot!” Luke scanned the rear of the cars in front of him in case another few dropped back to engage them and to make sure any of the cars Pablo’s team took out didn’t ram into them by accident. “Archie, I need to watch up here. Yell out if we have anyone coming up on the rear.”
“Roger.”
Muzzle flashes alerted them that Pablo’s team was firing on another target. Unable to tell which way they were firing, he backed off, allowing himself time to maneuver.
“Luke, watch out!”
To the right, one of the police cruisers careened off the car to its left, sending them both spinning toward Luke’s Volvo. Yanking the wheel hard to the left, Luke screamed as he corrected to the right as the left side of his car slammed into the concrete divider, sending sparks flying over the entire side of the car and into the windows. Luke, pulling his body right, leaned away from the windows while trying to get the car off the divider.
“We’re clear, Luke,” Archie called from the back.
As the concrete divider straightened out, Luke wrenched the car back into the road. His eyes as wide as saucers, he tried to calm down as his lungs heaved in and out from the adrenaline dump of slamming into the unforgiving concrete. Sneaking a peek at Delilah, she wasn’t in any better condition at the moment. They had road to make up now. Luke pulled into the center of the three lanes and pushed the pedal down. When another car with an exploded radiator fell back from the police pursuit, the distance they hadn’t made up yet allowed Luke to move out of its way and keep cruising forward. Seeing only three cop cars in front of him, he made his next plan.
“Delilah, I’m going to pull up into that slot. Let Sam know we’re behind them. I don’t want them shooting my old beast.”
“K.”
“When you’re done with that, let me know and we’ll pull forward.”
Delilah yelled the instructions to Sam. “Done.”
“Good, get ready. Archie?”
“Ready, mate!”
Luke moved to the right, aligning the Volvo with the gap between the cop cars. Settled in, he reached to the left of the steering wheel and turned the knob that turned the headlights on, clicking it over twice, then back off, then on again.
“Get ready!” He eased the pedal closer to the floor mat, pulling up between the two police cars.
As soon as the rear wheel of the car to their right was at the correct angle, Delilah took it out, nailing the front wheel as the blown rear wheel sucked the speed from the cop car.
“Nice shooting!” Luke cried. He used the space to his right to slide away from the car to his left. When he checked over his shoulder, he saw the window roll down and the glint of metal. “Archie! Get them now. They’re going to return fire.”
Archie shoved the barrel out of the passenger window behind Luke’s head and fired off a round at the opening window, then put one in the front right tire. Luke’s left ear squealed.
“Ahhh!”
“Sorry, mate,” Archie yelled. “I got ‘im though.”
Luke looked over. The car was gone, leaving only one car left. Thinking better of keeping up the pursuit, the last cop hit the brakes and coasted back. Luke watched as Archie turned around and crawled to the space where Luke’s rear hatch window used to be. He picked up a different shotgun and laid it across the hatch window frame before squeezing off a shot.
“Got ‘im! Put a slug through his radiator.”
“Good job everyone! Reload up your guns and get comfortable,” Luke said.
The whine in his left ear receded some, though not enough for his liking. Luke was getting tired of having to find a vampire to fix his ears. It was one of the main reasons he hated guns. He concentrated on getting his heart rate down.
“What now, Luke?” Delilah asked.
“Um, give me a minute.”
“What? You don’t have a plan?” Delilah’s jaw hung open, her eyes wide.
“That was the extent of my plan. Check in with Sam. See what they have going for ideas.”
“OK…” Delilah sounded unsure.
“I’m not the only leader here, Delilah. Right now my ear is screaming at me, and my body is trying to deal with too many adrenaline dumps while still keeping this car on the road. I’m delegating.”
“Right, right. Sorry.” She called Sam.
Luke turned on the headlights all the way, tucking in behind Pablo’s pickup. With the lights on, he could see Jung-sook and Ahmed in the bed of the truck, their guns still at the ready, although not pointed out the back. They smiled and waved, Jung-sook’s long black hair flying around in the wind moving through the bed of the truck.
“Luke?” Delilah called. “Can we shut the windows for now?”
“Yeah.” He moved his hand to the door panel and started shutting the windows. When they rolled up, he worked his jaw up and down, hoping to get his ears to pop. The car practically sounded silent without guns and wind.
“Sam says we should keep on I-84. Once we pass Troutdale, it’ll narrow our on/off points, but it’ll cut down any places the cops can get on the freeway. She said she’s gonna try to get in touch with the Hood River pack. Also, she wants us to slow down and try to blend in.”
“OK.” Luke eased off the gas pedal.
Shotguns no longer visible, Jung-sook and Ahmed pulled down the canopy top, so they’d look less suspicious.
“Archie, I’m gonna need you to climb into the back seat or lie down so you don’t look too suspicious back there,” Luke said. “Delilah, let Sam know I’m going to pull in front and pick up the speed a little, but not that much. I want to test out this radar jamming stuff Jorge put in.”
Delilah called Sam, relaying Luke’s words. “She says OK, but not too fast.”
Luke put on his turn signal and pulled into the left lane, speeding up some until he got around Pablo and pulled in front of the pickup.
“Good, now our missing back window won’t be quite as obvious. But they’ll need to let us know if anyone is coming up on the back side. Delilah, your job is to keep an eye out for any flashing lights coming from on-ramps.”
“You got it, Luke.” She paused before looking back at him. “So…about the Myth Busters?”
“Oh,” Luke chuckled, “they always were making explosions, including with gas. So they talked about the mixture of oxygen and flammable gas quite a lot. If Cassius had paid attention to his science, he might have succeeded at blowing us up.”
Delilah turned her head back to the right to watch for any flashing lights approaching from the on-ramps. “Oh. Um. Well, I’m glad Cassius isn’t a nerd.”
* * *
As each exit off and on I-84 came and went and nothing changed but the scenery around them, Luke’s anxiety steadily built. After setting up an ambush that big, there was no way the vamps were going to let them go that easily, not after they’d blasted their way out of a residential neighborhood, then started a rolling gun battle on the interstate freeway. He had Delilah keep the communication up with Sam as they cruised down I-84, trying to blend in with the normal late night traffic.
When they passed the exit for Multnomah Falls, Delilah turned to Luke. “You still haven’t taken me up to the falls like you promised last fall.”
Luke laughed, the non sequitur relieving a little of his anxiousness. “Tell you what. We get through this, and first nice day we have free, you, me, and Gwen will come up and check it out. I’m sure she hasn’t seen it either.”
“Deal.”
They continued down the freeway, Luke’s eyes straining in the distance, looking for any signs of the telltale red and blue flashing lights. He tried to scan his mirrors, looking for anything unusual coming up behind them, but the driver's side mirror no longer existed, and all he could see in the rearview was the grill of Pablo’s truck. The only view he got was from the passenger side mirror, which only gave him Pablo’s truck and the shoulder unless they were passing another car. Yet, his nervous reflexes wouldn’t let him stop checking.
They were about fifteen minutes from Hood River when Delilah broke the silence. “Luke, Sam wants me to put you on speaker phone.”
“OK.”
Delilah held up her phone between them.
“Luke?” Sam’s voice sounded through the phone.
“Yeah. What’s up?” Luke replied, keeping his eyes on the road.
“I’m getting some news from the Hood River Pack.”
“Good news?” Luke asked, his tone a mix of hopeful and ironic knowing it most likely wouldn’t be.
“Well, there’s a first for everything I guess, but this isn’t it,” Sam replied. “Cops are blocking the first two exits into Hood River, and there’s a wall of cops blocking the freeway at the third.”
“Is there anywhere we can get off before then?” Delilah asked.
Luke shook his head, biting off a curse. “Not really. At this point, it’s just a few lookouts or parks. We’re being herded.”
Pablo said something Luke couldn’t make out.
Sam relayed what Pablo had said. “Pablo says ‘at least we know there’s more than just Portland cops.’”
“Yay. Small victories,” Luke replied. He was about ready to ask a question when the sound of a low-flying helicopter drew his attention. “Well, fuck. Sounds like they have police copters out.”
“What do we do?” Sam asked. The tension in Sam’s voice was evident even over the cell phone speaker.
“We keep going for now and look for an opportunity to escape,” Luke replied.
Delilah leaned over the phone. “Do we try to take out a smaller cluster and break through?”
“That’s an option,” Sam replied.
“I’m more concerned about getting separated from our escape vehicle. If we’re forced to go on foot, it’s got to be our only option or a legit option. If we can keep moving in the car, we can keep looking for a way out.”
“Yeah. You’re probably right,” Sam replied.
“Let’s stay together. Try to stay on the line with Delilah. If we lose cell reception, we switch to the FRS.”
“Got it.”
“Shout if you need anything. Good luck,” Luke replied.
“Good luck,” Sam said.
Luke concentrated on the road. When they rounded a big curve, he could see the first of the Hood River exits in the distance. Sure enough, flashing lights marked the blocked off-ramps. The cops had even gone so far as to block the on-ramp in case they tried to get off the freeway from the wrong side.
“Luke, thought,” Archie called from the back.
“What ya got, Arch?” Luke replied over his shoulder.
“Should we see if we can shoot out a tire on the way by? Maybe see if we can put a slug in a radiator?”
“It might cut down on any cops following us later,” Delilah said, sounding hopeful.
“I don’t know,” Luke said. “I don’t want to waste ammo on desperate potshots. Besides, we don’t know if they’re vampire-controlled or if they’re just following some obscure directions from the big city bureau. They could just be responding to a freeway gun fight. Whatever the reason, if we shoot at them, we could be bringing more people in on the other side. Even if they have no idea what’s going on, cops are gonna chase and shoot back. I think we let it lie and see what happens. Keep your guns ready, and we can always change our minds.”
“Roger that, Luke,” Archie replied.
As they passed the first cops blocking the first exit, Luke kept his speed to the posted limit. He risked a glance. The cars blockading the exit had their engines pointed away from their route, making any shots nearly impossible to execute. The cars were empty, their cops standing behind them with leveled guns following their movement as they passed.
Returning his eyes to the road in front of him, he asked, “They moving?”
“Not so far,” Archie said.
As they neared the second exit, a deluge of flashing lights greeted them, making it harder to distinguish where the cops were. When they passed the second blocked exit, Luke slowed down, ready to make his next move. He hoped Portland had told them to hold fire. As many cars as were blockading the freeway, their efforts to rid Portland of its fanged vermin would end in a hail of bullets on a freeway in small town Oregon.
“Looks like they’ve got the whole freeway blocked, but left the exit open.”
“They seem to want us on Highway 35,” Luke said.
“Where does that go?” Delilah asked, looking around frantically.
“It dumps back onto Highway 26, which’ll take us back to Portland or out to Bend. Delilah, let Sam know I’m taking the exit. As soon as I can, I’m going to kick the speed up a bit.”
“OK.”
“Archie, while you have some reception, pull up your maps app. Maybe you can spot something that’ll help us.” Out of habit, Luke flipped the turn signal on for a right turn.
Luke took the only available option and pulled off the freeway, turning onto 35. Pablo stayed on his tail. When the helicopter made another close pass overhead, his heart rate spiked, his breath becoming shallow as he gripped the steering wheel. Seeing the whiteness of his knuckles, he drew in a deep breath, letting his chest expand until it stretched the muscles of his ribs. He held it for a few seconds before releasing it, letting his grip relax on the wheel. Ready to pick up the speed after the first curvier section of the road, he pushed the gas pedal down.
As he pulled away, he checked the rear view to make sure Pablo wasn’t getting too far behind. Every time they approached a road leading away from Highway 35, a cop was inevitably blocking it. So far, he’d seen police cars from Hood River, The Dalles, and some Oregon Staters. He hoped it was just the fraternity of police chipping in to aid Portland and not the true reach of Cassius’s infiltrated police departments.
Each blocked road he passed was like one more nail in the coffin he was driving himself and his friends to. His eyes frantically scanned every option in front of him, hoping, grasping at any straw, only to be stymied by flashing red and blue lights.
“Luke…” Delilah’s voice sounded small and timid. “I’m getting scared.”
He didn’t reply right away, his brain coming up on empty as he looked for something reassuring to say. Finally, his mouth opened and the only words that he could manage were the truth. “Me too.”
Archie reached up and put a hand on Delilah’s shoulder and Luke’s shoulder, squeezing them both. “Scared will keep us sharp.”
“I hope so,” Delilah replied, sounding slightly more confident. Possibly knowing Luke was scared helped her, letting her know she wasn’t alone or misjudging the situation.
It was too quiet in the cab.
“Archie, give me some road music,” Luke requested.
A few moments later, “Sympathy For The Devil” poured from the speakers. Luke snorted, appreciating Archie’s audacity. He followed it up with Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing In The Name.”
When they passed the roads leading to Parkdale, they saw the first road without a cop pointing a gun at them to block it.
“Luke! That road isn’t blocked.” Delilah pointed ahead.
Luke slowed down, letting Pablo catch up. “Archie, map?”
“Looks like a dead end.” He buried his face in his phone. “There are going to be several small roads that lead nowhere that I can see on the map.”
“Fuck.” Delilah sagged in her seat. “Too good to be true.”
Every unattended road teased them as they passed by, Archie rendering their status as dead to them—no way out or they looped back to the highway. Any road that connected to potential escape routes was blocked. And even those became fewer and further between as they climbed up the side of Mt. Hood.
At this point, Luke harbored no hope Highway 26 would be open to them, and when the option to turn toward Bend came up, it was blocked like every option before had been.
Luke shook his head. “Toward Portland it is…”