RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy)) (69 page)

“Hey, Mom”
Me and Matt want to go over to the house and get the things we talked about.”
         “All right Son,” she said, “just come right back, I don’t want you over there too long, and don’t go in the kitchen area at all, the insurance adjusters don’t want that area disturbed until they have completed their review, okay?”
         “All right Mom,” he said. 

Bobby and Matt went out the side door of the kitchen into the garage.  They walked over to Bobby’s and went in through the front door using the key code.  The power was still off but the front door had battery back up to unlock it in case of power outages.  Once inside they could see that the walls were somewhat discolored from the smoke damage but only in the immediate area of the kitchen and the dining room.

They went upstairs and got a few things out of Bobby’s room and put them in a bag.  As they started back down the stairs they heard some glass break down the hall, it sounded like it came from Sarah’s room.  Matt said in almost a whisper.     

“What was that?”  Bobby put his finger to his lips in the “sshhh” gesture and pulled Matt into his parent’s room.
         “I think someone just came in through my sister’s window,” he whispered.  “Let’s stay here for a second and see if they come this way.”
         “Oh shit!” Matt whispered, “what are we going to do?”  Bobby peeked around the door jamb very carefully and saw two men dressed in dark clothing carrying guns with silencers on them.  They were working each of the rooms moving the opposite direction down the hall. 

“Which one is the boy’s room?”  One of them said.

The other man motioned down the hall pointing to Bobby’s room.

“You take the boy’s
room, I’ll go through the office.” 

Bobby pulled his head back just as the other man glanced back towards him. 

“Oh, man!” They’re after ME now too!  We gotta make a run for it.”
         “Okay,” Matt said, “which way?”
         “Let’s go through the kitchen and out through the garage.”
         “We can’t without going toward that end of the balcony right at them,” said Matt in a whisper.
         “Okay then, we’ll jump over the hand rail of the balcony and onto the sofa below, that should buy us about a three or four second head start on them.”
         “All right, let’s just hope they’re a lousy shot!  I don’t want to find out what Restoration feels like just yet.”
         “Trust me my friend, if those guys shoot and kill us there won’t likely be any Restoration.”  The two men were working the upstairs room by room, one had just entered Bobby’s room now and was making all kinds noise ram sacking it looking for anything he could find while the second man went into the office. 

“Let’s go!” Bobby said, and off they went like a dart.  They ran out onto the balcony that made a big “U” shape around the upstairs rooms.  The two men heard them and ran out onto the balcony opposite of them.
         “Get’em!” The first man yelled.  Bobby threw his duffel over the rail onto the sofa and jumped down right behind it.  No sooner did he bounce to the floor, then Matt landed on the sofa right behind him and they both ran toward the kitchen.  Cyrus’s men had started running towards them and had passed the stairs never suspecting they would jump.  They had to turn around and go back to the stairs, it bought the boys a few seconds but one of Cyrus’s men still fired two shots that nearly took off their heads before they made it to the kitchen.

They wasted no time going through the kitchen and out to the garage.  As soon as they got in the garage Bobby hit the overhead door button but there was no power, the door didn’t go up.  Matt, quick man, help me with this freezer.  The shoved the deep freeze over in front of the house door to the garage and threw a few things on top.  Just as they did Cyrus’s men slammed into it hard and popped it
open about 2 inches but not enough to get anything more than a hand through. 

Bobby and
Matt were trying to hold it but the two grown men on the other side were just too much for them.  Bobby looked around and realized the half bath door adjacent to them swung out so he grabbed the door and swung it straight out wedging it against the freezer.
         “Let’s go!” He said.  The two of them ran out towards the man door on the other side of the garage that opened to the driveway and slung it open.  As they headed out of it they saw two more men rounding the back corner of the house coming right at them.  They did a fast 180 and went right back into the garage and locked the door. 

They were trapped, they had nowhere to go.  Bobby had to think fast.
         “What would his Dad do? What would Grandpa Kerrington do?”  He could hear the bathroom door frame beginning to splinter as the two men continued slamming their bodies against the kitchen door and kicking it repeatedly.  He could hear the other men now violently kicking the entry door that they tried to go out of just seconds earlier. It was metal and quite strong but it wouldn’t hold forever. 

It was as if everything stood still while his mind went through the choices they had.
         “Get in the GTO!”
         “What?”
         “Just GET IN!”  Bobby hollered, as he ripped open the tool box drawer where his Father kept the keys.  He grabbed them quickly and ran to the car.  Matt had whipped the cover off of it and they both jumped in.  As he was inserting the key into the ignition he noted the gear arrangement on the shift knob. 

He mashed the clutch down and fired it up.  The engine made an almost deafening roar inside the closed garage, as he slammed it into
reverse, he hit the gas and dumped the clutch.  The engine was screaming, the back end was wheel hopping and the burning rubber was filling the garage with smoke.  The two men were falling through the kitchen door now as the bathroom door finally came off its frame allowing the freezer to slide out of the way.  The man kicking the side door finally prevailed and was falling into the garage as the door frame ruptured inwards.  He was still on the floor scrambling to get up only inches from the front tire.

Everything
seem like slow motion.  Bobby could feel his heart slamming the inside of his chest like a ten pound hammer as the adrenaline spiked in his veins to an all new level that he had never felt before.  Just then he realized he had the accelerator all the way down and the car wasn’t getting any traction on the slick coated cement floor.

He let up off the gas about half and the GTO got its footing.  It rocketed back and through the wood garage door with so much force that large splintered pieces of it pelted the man that was getting up off the floor knocking him back down again.  The other two men were attempting to fire at them now from their position across the garage.  They were trying to get past the freezer while still tripping over the perilous remnants of the bathroom door and frame that were nearly impossible to navigate amidst the smoke, noise, and confusion. 

Several feet outside the door Bobby realized that he had run over another man that was surprised by the exploding garage door and the speeding GTO.  He was no doubt dead as Bobby had done a hole shot across him on the way out.  He was trying to get control of the car now as it careened across the lawn in reverse and out into the street.  It was difficult to control due to bouncing over two flower beds and a curb.  They slammed into a rather expensive BMW jamming it up onto the sidewalk and into a small tree.

Cyrus’s men were running across the garage firing wildly but missing terribly.  Just then several silently fired Black Ops sniper rounds found their mark.  The men in the garage dropped back onto the floor dead.  Three seconds later several team members came through the house and into the garage.  They quickly moved the bodies out of sight.

Bobby found first gear and dumped the clutch again but this time he let up off the gas to maintain traction and shot down the street like a bullet.  Second gear yielded a fantastic burst of speed.  He checked the rear view and saw two black vans and a little blue car making chase immediately.

A box truck backed into the driveway and up to the garage to obstruct the view just as several neighbors began to emerge from their homes to see what
all the ruckus was about.  Two more team members got out of the van wearing work boots and tool belts and began picking up the remnants of the door and tossing it into the truck.  One of them waved to the neighbors.
         “Sorry for the noise folks, just putting in a new garage door.”

Bobby and Matt were building a good lead on Cyrus’s men, and just then Bobby thought,
“Oh god I left Mom back there.”
He looked over at Matt who had now established a death grip on the dash board and the console.
         “Matt, quick man, take my phone and dial up my Mom.”  Matt was shaking so bad from the adrenaline rush he could barely navigate the phone.
         “Put it on speaker, I can’t let go of this wheel!”  His mother answered in a frantic tone.     

“Oh my god, Bobby what is going on!” 

“Mom, listen you and Brenda have to get out of there right now!  Call the police, or run, do something, you can’t stay there! They’ll come for you next!”  There was a pause on the other end and then her voice came back in a near whisper.     

“Oh no Bobby, there’s someone already in here, I have to go.” 

She ended the call.

“Mom!
  Mom!  Hello!  Shit!”
         “Hang on Matt!” 

Bobby attempted to negotiate a high speed turn but the old Pontiac handled completely different from the oval track cars he had just been in two days ago.  He side swiped two cars in the intersection and ended up doing a complete 180 and headed back towards Cyrus’s men.
        
“That’s okay, I’ve got to go back!”

Just then one of Cyrus’s cars caught up and glanced off the side of the GTO and slammed dead center a metal utility pole.  Bobby looked over at them at impact and saw the driver slamming into the steering wheel and the passenger flying out through the windshield.
         “Jeeze!” He said, and then they took off again.

Back at the McNeil’s Linsey Kerrington had pulled her gun from a conceal holster in the small of her back. 
She “sshhed” Brenda with a finger up to her lips.  Brenda was completely flabbergasted by the gun and what they had just seen happen at the Kerrington’s through the front window.     

“What the hell are these people into?”

Linsey tapped her on the shoulder without looking at her and pointed under the table.  Brenda got it and crawled under without a word.

Linsey had not taken her eyes off the hall way.  She heard something down the hall right after they saw the GTO speed away with Cyrus’s men running down the drive firing at it.  She knew someone came in from back there and she had her weapon trained on the hallway intently.  She felt her heart pounding in her chest.  She moved her finger up and clicked the safety off, she had almost forgot, a deadly mistake.  Everything was so different now in this moment than it was down in the basement when practicing.  Everything was so amplified, even the safety clicking off sounded loud.  She could hear the carpet squishing underneath a man’s feet as he moved slowly up the hall towards her, a sound that would not normally be heard. 

She moved off slightly to one side behind a large tree plant waiting for him to emerge.  The brim of a ball cap poked out and she could see the tip end of a gun.  A half second later he entered quickly, scanned the room, saw her and turned to fire.  She pulled the trigger not once but three times.  It was like slow motion, she could almost see the slide coming back ejecting the shells as the bullets left the gun. 

He never got the gun turned toward her.  He was firing the fully automatic weapon but it was not even pointed at her, he just pulled the trigger as a reaction full well knowing that he was beat as he fell back and over the hand rail to the basement stairs.  She heard his body roll the rest of the way down and then silence. 

She was still frozen with fear and looking down the barrel of her gun as a small amount of smoke wafted from it.  It seemed like a long time but it was only a half second.  Then all hell broke loose when two more men came running in from the hall and two more in behind her.  She emptied her gun wildly at the men entering from the hall as she dove under the table with Brenda and heard at least twenty more  shots being fired, then silence.
         “You can come out now Ladies,” a male voice said in a calm tone. 

Linsey looked up from under the table where she and Brenda were huddled still quivering.  There was a gloved hand extended to her.  She peered out from under the table to see one of the Black Ops team members standing there offering assistance.  She took his hand and came out from under the table to find four more men all dressed in black attire and body armor standing over the dead bodies of three more of Cyrus’s men.

Linsey’s phone was ringing.  The Black Ops Captain answered it. 

“ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?  Matt’s frantic voice came through the speaker.

“This is Captain Ned Hawkings of Black Ops Team Nine.  No worries boys your Mothers are just fine, we have secured the McNeil home and the perimeter.  What is your situation?”
         “We’re being chased by three no make that two vehicles, a black van and a small blue sports car.”  Okay, you boys did the right thing.  Do you think you can lose them?”
         “I don’t know Sir maybe, I’ll try.” 

“Listen son, look at your gas gauge, how much fuel do you have?”  Bobby already knew he had three quarters of a tank.  He had learned at the academy to constantly monitor the cars vitals.
         “I have three quarters of a tank.”          “Okay, son, that’s good, I believe you will have enough fuel to make it to the farm if you can lose these guys in the next five minutes.  I have two team vehicles in hot pursuit but it will be difficult for them to catch up to you at your current rate of speed and the fact that you have a good head start on my men.   Bobby do you know where the farm is and how to get there?”
         “Yes Sir, Dad told me everything to do in an emergency, I have a map in my phone so I can use GPS.”
         “Okay good, you focus on getting there in one piece and we’ll help you in any way we can.”
         “Thank you Sir.”

Right then the little blue car pulled alongside the GTO as the passenger reached out to fire at them through the window. 

Matt yelled, “Look out!” 

Bobby slammed on the brakes and downshifted causing the blue car to pull ahead of them suddenly and the shooter completely missed them.  Bobby swooped in behind them and
put the accelerator to the floor slamming the blue car hard from behind.  The much heavier Pontiac knocked the little blue car completely out of control and it spun out slamming into some tables and a news stand.  Bobby sped off going through the gears and heading for the freeway. 

There was no sign now of the black van or the blue car.  The van apparently wasn’t fast enough and got left far behind.  The GTO was battered on every side.
         “Oh man Matt, your Dad is gonna crap when he sees this car!”  Bobby took a quick assessment from the driver’s seat as best he could.  The car was in bad shape cosmetically but mechanically it was just fine.
         “Yeah, he might be a little upset.” 

Bobby was now quite impressed with the car.  It was a lot heavier than the stock cars they had trained on at racing school but it was built like a tank and was really fast considering how heavy it was.  He was getting used to it now and could power drift the turns and easily put the car into a slide and get it straight again with confidence.  He handed his skyphone back to Matt.
         “Here Buddy get that map up on there for the farm, we gotta get there pronto before we pick up any more tails.” 

They slowed down to about 80 mph to avoid picking up any police.  It was hard enough to blend in with the electric cars and all the taxis without the added attention of going way too fast.  They figured Cyrus and Glitch probably had people monitoring police band and would be on to them again if tipped off by a traffic cop reporting a speeding vintage hot rod. 

They were heading to the east side to get on I-465 North.  They were cruising along now with no apparent problems when Bobby noticed a black van coming along the on ramp at a high rate of speed, it looked an awful lot like trouble, then he spotted the blue car again three cars behind the van.  He hit the gas and the chase was on again.
         “Damn it!  How did those ass holes find us?  Matt, see if you can look around in the sky, do they have a chopper up there spotting for them?”  Matt rubber necked around and looked out and up the best he could.     

“Nope, I don’t think so.  Hey, you don’t suppose they have the ability to pick us up on satellite imaging do ya?”
         “Good thinking Matt, that’s got to be it, this GTO sticks out like a sore thumb around all these smaller newer cars.” 

Bobby had the GTO up to 125 mph now but the little blue car was holding
its own pretty good.  It was about two hundred yards back of them weaving in and out of traffic trying to catch them.
         “I don’t know what that little car has it in man, but I gotta say that driver’s got some balls to drive that light of a car at this speed, damn that thing is fast.” 

Bobby saw an opening in the center lane and nailed it to the floor taking the speed up to 140 mph.  It was just about maxed out and the car was beginning to vibrate a little bit.  He looked back and the blue car was losing ground fast.  Bobby knew he couldn’t maintain this kind of speed for long because he could see another cluster of thick traffic ahead about a mile up in front of them.
         “Matt dial up John Calhoun, tell him our situation and ask him if he can jam their sat com so we can get out to the farm without giving up the location.  If we’re not careful, we’re going to lead Cyrus right to our headquarters.”
         “Okay, Buddy, you got it” Matt began dialing, John picked up on the second ring.

“John, Matt here, Bobby’s friend, we need some help we think they’ve got us on satellite imaging and we can’t break free.”
         “I’m glad you boys called, look here is what you need to do.  Get a big truck between you and them where there is an exit available.  At high speeds with little time to think you can take an exit when they are’nt expecting it and they won’t be able to get off if they go too far past it.  They’ll have to rely on their eyes in the skies to pick back up on you later.

You have to go to a parking garage, a large one and ditch the GTO, but stay off the top level.  I already have a lock on your skyphone and I’ll load the nearest parking garages into the GPS.  All you have to do is get off the interstate and back into the city.  I’ll guide you from there with the phone.” 

“Okay, you the man John, thanks!”
         “Did you hear all that?”  Said Matt.
         “Yes, but damn it, I hate to ditch Dad’s car.”
         “I know but there’s no other way, we’ll just have to come back to get it later.”
         “All right, I’ll slow down and let the blue car catch up a bit.  There’s a cluster of slow traffic up here.  I’ll try to get him pinned into that mess and take an exit when he can’t.” 

Bobby slowed down and then shot to the far left lane and then goosed the throttle to go around several slower cars.  The
little blue car was almost caught up but another car cut him off as he entered the fast lane to follow.
         “Perfect!”  Bobby yelled. Matt looked back and laughed.

“Oh!
That guy cut him off!” 

Bobby checked the far right lane
.  There were three back to back semi trucks.  The blue car was flashing his lights and weaving around behind the guy that cut him off.  Bobby could see that the bewildered driver was speeding up and had turned on his signal to move over and let the blue car by.  Bobby saw an exit coming up but it was too late, or was it? 

He had noticed the switch on the console with a red finger guard over it.  His Dad had always told him not to touch it when he was a kid.  He never said what it was but now that Bobby had been to the academy he had learned about NOS and he knew it meant nitrous oxide gas and he knew exactly what it did, it was the “go juice.”  He saw the opportunity in his mind there was only a two or three second window to decide and he did.     

“Hang on Matt” he said, and he flipped the switch and floored the accelerator.  The frame of the old Goat let out a moan like it was in pain and then it lunged forward like a bat out of hell, pinning them back in the seats with a shocking amount of force.  He cleared the forward semi then yanked the wheel to the right and crossed in front of him and into the safety lane, killed the NOS with a flick of the switch, slammed on the brakes and downshifted smoking all four tires in an attempt to reduce his speed enough to do something that Matt didn’t expect.     

“What are you doing man?  Oh shit!”

“Hang on Buddy!  We’re goin off road!” 

At nearly 80 Mph they left the highway, not for an exit ramp, not for a nice smooth piece of road off to the right.  But instead for a bumpy tree filled area that formed a large triangle between two of the ramps and the main road.  The GTO was air born and not just a little, it was at least six feet off the ground.
         “Hang on we’re coming in!”  Bobby yelled as they started coming back in for a landing.  Matt didn’t hear him because he was busy screaming and bracing himself with one hand on the roof of the car and the other on the dash.  Bobby had a death grip on the steering wheel and was repeating.     

“Please don’t break!  Please don’t break!”

The old Goat came down hard in the grass and kicked up a huge cloud of dust and a slab of sod big enough to plant a small garden on.  The force of the impact buckled the car’s body and caused the rear window to blow right out.  Bobby eased into the brakes the best he could while trying to stay in control.  The ground was soft enough that it cushioned their landing some but it still hurt their tail bones.  They were mowing down small trees and glancing off some larger ones that would have been devastating if hit squarely.

He managed to get the car back up onto another road.  Matt looked out behind them, no sign of the little blue car.  No doubt he was caught up in the mess of traffic and didn’t realize where they went. 

“Whoa, that was off the hook crazy!  Said Bobby.  Did we lose them?”
         “I think so.  That was some good driving man, did you learn that stuff at the school?”
         “No way, that was just crazy there, I can’t believe this thing held together.  Now I know why Grandpa is always saying they don’t build them like they used to.”

They both busted out laughing and shared a high five. 

The phone rang, it was John.  Matt answered.    

“Yello?”  He switched it to speaker phone.
         “John here.  Hey I see you’re off the highway and still moving, did you lose them?”
         “Oh yeah!  My man Bobby has some sick moves, he smoked them good!”
         “All right, go Bobby! 

That’s good work guys but
you’re not out of this just yet, you may have lost them for a few minutes but they’ll be back on your tail very soon.  We’re fairly certain they’re using satellite imaging to locate you.  If so they’ll easily find you again so we have to act fast.

“Okay, just tell us what to do,
”  Said Matt.