“Hey, you two,” Gareth yelled, but Morty and Xiomber weren’t having any of it.
He was still tangled up with Diệu Ahn, so he took the moment to set the wine glass down and smile up at her.
“Fashion writer with a secretive past?” he said quickly. “Also secret agent. Those two are bad guys. My most profuse apologies, but I must give chase now,”
She leaned in and quickly kissed him on the lips before he could react.
“Call me,” she said, stepping back and letting go of his arm.
Gareth threw caution to the wind and grabbed her to return the quick kiss, only the third woman he had ever done that to, and the second one taller than him.
He turned and spotted the two runners. They were making their way to the front door, with the fat Elohynn lumbering along in their wake. Given the nature of things, Gareth assumed another bad guy with a guilty conscience.
Considering what Morty and Xiomber did, he wondered if the man was another crime boss, like Marc. One way to find out.
The stairs were too flat and wide to take them more than two at a time, and there were people on them that were too fragile for him to brush against. Especially with a forty foot drop off the side.
He ran anyway, weaving like a wingback that had made it through the defensive line and was facing open field and a goal line. He had always been athletic and a jock. As a Vanir, he was even better than he had been then, moving like a ballerina.
At the bottom of the stairs, two of the fat person’s bodyguards had decided to fight a rear-guard action of some sort. One was a Vanir like him. The other a burly Grace. Gareth smiled.
The Accord of Souls was a peaceful place, by design. Team sports were all about skill and athleticism, but they had nothing like rugby or American football.
Too violent.
Too bad.
Neither of the goons had a weapon in hand, so Gareth didn’t bother trying to pull his stunner from his knee. Instead, he transformed on the fly into a halfback, punching a hole in the defensive line for his tailback to streak to glory. He lowered a shoulder and pulled in his right arm close to his body, just like the old days.
The Vanir facing him was awkwardly balanced and had obviously never faced a blocker coming through the line. You had to get under the runner in order to stop him. Gareth had been a defensive end in school, faster and smaller than the monsters in the interior, and taller than the linebackers.
Now he was bigger and faster than any player he had ever faced. And running full tilt. He smashed into the Vanir and bounced the poor man onto his ass while stiff-arming the Grace to the face in a way that would have been good for a fifteen-yard penalty and a stern talking-to from Coach, if the man were around to witness it.
Needs must.
Both villains were down and Gareth was in the backfield, with the safeties still trailing their receivers and their backs to the play. He put on a burst of speed towards the front door and the goal line.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Baker and Grodray suddenly wake up to the situation, but he was moving as fast as his upgraded legs could carry him, and not even Eveth Baker could run him down now, as much as she might want to dispute that in other circumstances.
From the top of the entry stairwell, he saw the trio exit through the front door, the glass thrust open hard enough to ring when the metal frame slammed against another door. Neither broke, but that just meant they were reinforced.
And the Elohynn was in the lead now, with the two lizardmen trailing him as fast as those stubby legs could churn.
These steps were so wide that Gareth had to take them individually so he didn’t trip and face-plant going down. It slowed him some, but not enough. He could see a plain van land outside and the trio enter through the back. It wasn’t an auto-car, so there was probably no way that the Constables behind him could override the controls. At best, they would have to call for backup pursuit, which may and may not arrive fast enough to corner them.
Gareth hit the closing door hard enough that it did shatter this time. Or at least spiderweb into a million pieces held in place by a film of clear plastic. The panel van was just taking off and he had only a split second to make a decision.
He jumped onto side of the vehicle by the driver’s door as it leapt into the air, the ground falling away quickly behind him.
Now was when it would probably get ugly.