Slayers (Jake Hawkins Book 1) (8 page)

“
Are you sure?
”
Wolfe said.
“
There
’
s no going back from this.
”

“
I know.
”

“
You can
’
t change your mind afterwards.
”

“
I know.
”

“
Well, alright then.
”
He sounded relieved.
“
Listen, we know you
’
re at the police station. We just don
’
t know what room you
’
re in. Any idea?
”

“
There
’
s a window facing out. It
’
s up high and there
’
s bars across the top.
”

Jake had inadvertently lowered his voice. He didn
’
t want Bryce to hear a word he was saying.

“
That
’
s what we thought,
”
Wolfe said.
“
But we had to make sure. Hold on for a minute: stay on the line.
”

“
You
’
re already here?!
”

“
We had a feeling you would change your mind.
”

“
Incredible.
”

A pause.

“
Okay, we
’
re in position. Now, one last time, I need to hear it again. Are you in or are you out?
”

“
I
’
m in.
”

“
Then get down on the ground.
”

From the receiver, Jake heard an engine revving. The sound grew louder and louder until it was all encompassing. It filled the room. He realised it was not just coming from the phone anymore. He could hear it outside.

“
Now!
”
Wolfe roared through the receiver.

Jake burst into action. He dropped the phone, kicked his chair out from underneath him and threw himself backwards, away from the table. He landed on the cold floor and skidded along until the back of his neck bumped into the rear wall.

A second later, the side wall exploded. Chunks of concrete and debris went flying across the room. He covered his face with his hands and prayed that nothing substantial hit him. The sound was deafening. The impact shook the room.

He opened his eyes to find two men standing above him. At first glance, they looked like bank robbers. They both wore balaclavas that masked their features, leaving nothing but their eyes exposed. They were the same height, roughly six foot, and even under their leather jackets he could see their huge muscles pressing against the fabric.

And they had been lightning quick.

Jake looked past them to see what had caused the chaos. Parked with its front half inside the police station was a heavy-duty four-wheel-drive. The entire vehicle had been painted black. There was a thick steel plate attached to the grille. It was modelled in the shape of a bulldozer
’
s blade. The plate had ploughed straight through the concrete wall, striking the table in the centre of the room and cleaving it in two. Dust hung thick in the air. Jake coughed after inhaling some.

The door to the interview room flew open. The racket must have attracted the attention of every person in the station. Bryce had been waiting outside for Jake to finish his phone call. He had reacted fast, bursting straight in.

The men in the balaclavas were faster.

Jake watched as Bryce, in his haste, ran straight into the barrel of one of the men
’
s shotguns. The superintendent froze.

That was all Jake saw before the second man hauled him to his feet. He was wordlessly shoved towards the four-wheel-drive. He didn
’
t need anyone to explain what to do. He threw the back seat door open and clambered in as fast as he could. The second man followed him in.

The first
–
the one holding the shotgun to Bryce
’
s forehead
–
retreated and climbed into the passenger seat. With all of them in the car, the driver flicked a switch on the dashboard. The bulldozer blade dropped from the grille and clattered to the floor, crushing what remained of the table. The driver stamped on the pedal as soon as the blade was detached.

Jake was thrown forward in his seat as the wheels spun and the four-wheel-drive reversed out of the hole it had created. Through the windscreen, he saw Bryce shakily unbuckle a pistol from its holster at his waist and aim it at them. A second later, a shot ricocheted off the windscreen.

“
Don
’
t worry, my man,
”
the driver said.
“
Bulletproof glass.
”

Jake took a short breath of relief before he was thrown down into the footwell. He hadn
’
t had time to put his seatbelt on, and as the vehicle swung round in a one-hundred-and-eighty degree arc across the lawn outside, the momentum forced him off his seat. As soon as the spin was complete, the driver floored the accelerator and the SUV sped away from the police station at a hundred kilometres an hour.

*

Inside the demolished interview room, Superintendent Bryce swore viciously as he watched the vehicle fade into the distance. Rubble cascaded down off its roof as it jumped from the grass to the road.

The door crashed open behind him. He wheeled around to find a man and woman standing in the doorway, observing the hole in the wall with wide eyes. They were both young junior officers fresh out of the academy. Bryce recognised the woman as Officer Shukla, a new recruit with a fiery temper. It was now in full swing.

“
What just happened?!
”
she shouted.

“
See that truck?
”
Bryce said, pointing to the vehicle that was rapidly shrinking from view.
“
It just knocked down the wall and stole a suspect. Put out an alert for a black four-wheel-drive. We need to get after them.
”

The three ran back into the corridor to raise the alarm.

“
I
’
ve never seen anything like this before,
”
Shukla said as they moved.
“
Are you sure we should go after them straight away? We should inform someone.
”

Bryce turned.
“
This is on us. How do you think people are going to react when they find out a truck simply drove
into
our station and grabbed a sixteen-year-old boy? For all we know, that was a kidnapping. Now get in the car.
”

*

It was only after four sharp turns and a full minute of nerve-wracking silence that the two men took their balaclavas off.

The man in the passenger seat tugged off his mask to reveal the familiar long brown hair and five o
’
clock shadow. It was Wolfe. The man sitting next to Jake was black and sported a goatee. He looked to be the same age as Wolfe. The driver was concentrating on the road. All Jake could make out from behind was a mop of thick blond hair.

So Wolfe wasn
’
t lying. There are others.

Jake took a moment to reflect on Wolfe
’
s story. These three were Delta Force soldiers, and they sure fit the part. He felt a little safer, knowing Wolfe was sane.

Wolfe turned in his seat and stared intently out the rear window.

“
What are you looking for?
”
Jake asked.

“
We just broke you out of a police station and you
’
re wondering what I
’
m looking for?
”

Jake gave a nod of understanding and turned his eyes sheepishly toward the floor of the car. The words had come out before he realised how stupid they were. He bit his lip and quashed a mixture of excitement and terror at being free. He felt safe in Wolfe
’
s hands, despite the fact that he had just been forcibly extracted from a police station. After seeing Wolfe single-handedly dispatch two slayers, any other matter seemed almost petty in comparison.

But they weren
’
t safe yet.

At six in the morning, the roads were deserted. The sun hadn
’
t fully risen yet, nothing more than a streak of orange across the horizon. The sky was a dark shade of blue. Jake sat in the gloom, feeling the beat of his heart against his chest wall.

“
Crank, left,
”
Wolfe said.

Reacting immediately, the driver tugged on the handbrake and swung the wheel around in a controlled arc. Tires screeched against the asphalt. Jake reached desperately for a handhold as the entire vehicle swung sideways. He swore as he missed. The skid sent him tumbling across into the man next to him. As soon as the car pulled out of its drift, he clumsily shimmied himself back across to his seat.

“
Put your seatbelt on, kid,
”
the man said, half-smiling. Jake had no idea how someone could smile in a situation like this, but nonetheless he obeyed, pulling the leather tight across his chest.

“
We
’
ve got company,
”
the driver said matter-of-factly.

To the tune of sirens, a white sedan pulled around the corner behind them.

“
Guys, do something!
”
Jake exclaimed. He struggled to suppress a panic attack. The air had suddenly become very cold.

Even Wolfe looked a little concerned.

“
There
’
s only one of them,
”
he said.
“
The others must still be leaving the station. Alright, Crank, you
’
re up.
”

With a subtle nod, the driver unbuckled his seatbelt and released the steering wheel. Jake noticed Wolfe reach over and grip it one-handed, keeping the car on track. Crank tugged a pistol from the holster at his waist. It was identical to the gun Wolfe had used on the slayers the night before. He cocked back the safety and lowered the driver
’
s seat window.

“
Uh
…
what
’
s he doing?
”
Jake said, but he already had an inclination as to what was about to happen.

He was right.

In one motion, Crank stood up in his seat, leaning his entire torso out the open window of the speeding vehicle. His right foot remained firmly on the accelerator.

Jake turned in his seat and saw the police car closing in on them. He could make out the features of the driver. Bryce. Briefly, the two made eye contact. Jake gulped back fear. He reached out for a handhold and gripped until his knuckles turned white.

Crank had now fully extended himself out the window, resting against the sill. He raised the pistol and pointed it at the pursuing police car. Despite the wind buffeting his body and the tarmac rushing past below him, his aim didn
’
t falter.

Two shots spat out of the chamber. Jake saw the gun cough twice, but barely heard the sound.

He did hear the bursting of tires.

He twisted around just in time to see the police car career violently off-course. Its two front wheels were nothing more than loose, flapping rubber. Bryce had lost control. It pitched left, mounted the kerb, then slammed into a row of dustbins lining the footpath. Jake saw the airbags deploy as it came to a sudden stop.

Crank slipped back inside the car just as it was approaching the next turn. He implemented the same tactic as before, ripping the handbrake and drifting the vehicle around the corner in a flurry of smoke. This time, Jake was strapped in.

“
Here!
”
Wolfe shouted, just as they straightened out into the next street. This street seemed more deserted than the last, a little more derelict, the shops clustered a little more tightly together. It was devoid of traffic. Wolfe had pointed to a small entrance in between two shopfronts. There was a concrete ramp leading down. Crank had to turn sharply once again, but he was accurate. The bonnet swung into the ramp, barely missing the walls pressing in on each side. The rest of the car followed. Then they were shooting down the ramp. Jake felt his stomach drop.

They swung into a small underground car park, a cramped, concrete space with two industrial-sized dumpsters against the rear wall.

“
What is this place?
”
he asked, suddenly unsure, hit by the feeling that these three men were completely in control of his fate.

“
A car-park,
”
Wolfe said.
“
You
’
ve probably seen them before, in shopping centres and airports and what not.
”

“
Ha,
”
Jake said.

“
It did take us a while to find one without security cameras though.
”

The only other vehicle in the car park was a red Holden Astra. Crank pulled to a stop in a space at the end. Before Jake had time to ask what they were doing, the three men were out of the car, wasting no time. He followed suit.

The men worked in a tightly organised unit. While Crank pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the Holden, Wolfe and the other man ran around to the front of the four-wheel-drive, one on each side. They both tugged sharply and ran along each side of the vehicle, peeling off a sheet of black material as they went. The sticky cover sheet peeled off to reveal that underneath, the car was in fact a light shade of burgundy.

By the time they balled the black sheet up and tossed it in the dumpster by the rear wall, Crank had fired up the Holden and reversed it out into the middle of the lot. Wolfe flung the door open and clambered into the back seat, motioning for Jake to follow. The other man stayed behind, fiddling with the front of the four-wheel-drive. Jake
’
s vision was obscured, but after he climbed in he saw the man lift off a false set of number plates and throw them into the same dumpster. Then he jogged over to the Holden and slipped into the front seat.

Crank gunned the engine. The Astra took off across the car park. It mounted the ramp and pulled out into the street, heading in the same direction they had been travelling before.

The whole ordeal had taken less than a minute.

Behind them, Jake thought he saw a figure turn the corner. His heart skipped a beat, but by then Crank had turned left and they were out of sight.