“So who are you guys?”
“Shut up, hack. You don’t get to talk.”
Bionic slammed Red down into the back seat of the team’s car.
“Come on!” Frink shouted, still in his dorky costume, “Let’s get goin’! The MJ are hot on our tails.”
The rest of the team threw themselves into the car, and Andy sped off.
“Frink,” he asked urgently, “Where are we going?”
“Take your first left,” Frink answered, rapidly tapping his laptop He looked up and exclaimed, “No! Your other left! My left!”
Andy yelled back “Frink! We’re facing the same dammed way!”
Red looked up through the rear window. He was sandwiched in between Johnson and Bionic in the last seat. He saw something moving, darkly. Scattered bullets rained down on the street around the car, leading Red to believe they were being chased by helicopters. These men were obviously not MJ.
Who were these guys?
Bionic spoke up from the back seat. “Uh, guys? We better get to some cover fast before – ” A few shots tore through the roof of the car, hitting Bionic in the chest and the Professor in the shoulder. The back window was shattered.
The car swerved, and it took Red a moment before he realized that the diver, Andy, was doing it intentionally.
They went suddenly to their right, ripping though the tollgates at the entrance to an underground parking structure.
Frink was crying out in pain. The shots fired were not from the chopper’s onboard weapons, else two of the team would have been dead.
“Bionic?” Andy inquired, zooming past parked cars and barely avoiding civilians backing out at the early hour. “How’re you holding up?”
Bionic gritted his teeth and said, “I been through worse.”
At the entrance to the carpark, Red could see dark vans entering. Police cars sounded off outside, their sirens almost drowned out by Andy’s incredible swerves and turns.
“There’s a tunnel to our left,” Johnson calmly informed. The car wheeled around and rammed through a barricade into an unlit access tunnel.
What luck, thought Red. Somebody up there must like –
A massive thunk against the side of the car caused Agent Andy to lose control. There was little room to spin in the dark place, so the car collided with the concrete wall. Red blacked out for a few moments.
***
Doty saw the double agents pull into a side tunnel from a monitor inside the Mobile Command Center. The vehicle was too large for the underground structure, so he was forced to wait outside and anticipate Team 13's next move.
“Where does that tunnel go?” Doty asked a technician seated next to him.
In a few moments, the man replied, “Nowhere sir. It’s a dead end. Still under construction.”
“They’re gonna come back out in a few seconds. Don’t let them get away. Blow up the whole dammed garage, if you have to.” With that said, Doty turned and exited the shiny command vehicle.
Then he heard even more gunfire.
Doty raced back into the command vehicle. “Where is the target?”
“Sir, they’re still in the tunnel. It seems as though there’s another entity in there with them . . . ”
The commander exited of the vehicle, taking a shock troop’s automatic along the way. Whatever that entity was, Doty was going to kill it.
***
By the time Red awoke, The car was speeding out of the tunnel, through the carpark. Frightened citizens dodged the car as best they could, terrified of what followed it.
A massive werecreature was barreling behind the team’s Lincoln, trying to get Red and the floppy.
The MJ vehicles in the parking garage were trying to decide which to pursue, allowing Andy time to plan an exit strategy.
“Come on, man!” Bionic shouted to the driving agent from the exposed back seat, “let’s get out of here some time before they pull our troops out of the Middle East!” The tough agent stressed the word “before.”
Johnson bashed open his window with a grunt and pulled out his Berreta. He fired wildy at the werewolf, tying to distract it. The creature was gaining on them.
Red thought he saw Andy grin cleverly, but he was hazing in and out. The hacker looked to where the Lincoln was headed, and saw nothing but a glass-and-steel wall in front of them, flanked by massive support beams.
Red didn’t quite make the connection between car and wall until the vehicle rammed into plexiglass, splintering it and crushing steel beams.
The car’s momentum slowed, allowing for the snarling werewolf to catch up. Claws latched on to the black metal of the trunk’s hood, moments before an MJ van bashed into the werecreature, pinning it against the far wall.
Andy pushed the faltering gas pedal again, pushing though the sparsely decorated below-ground lobby. There was a staircase and a fairly wide ramp for wheelchairs on the south wall.
Johnson nodded in the rear-view mirror, and the driving agent sped toward the ramp.
***
By the time Doty had reached the entrance to the parking garage, Team 13's Lincoln was yards from the glass wall of the underground lobby. “Hit ‘em!” Doty addressed an MJ van.
The dark vehicle sped towards the Lincoln, missing it barely and instead colliding with the werewolf behind them.
Doty mashed his teeth in anger, and signaled for another MJ van to pick him up.
“Commander?” A strike trooper behind him spoke.
Doty didn’t even address the soldier. Instead, he hopped into the passenger seat of an MJ vehicle and ordered for the driver to follow the double agents.
***
The building’s clean glass facade was perfectly calm until Team 13's battered Lincoln smashed though it from the inside.
The street outside was practically empty and very dark. It was almost dawn. Andy turned and went southbound, tying to find a safe spot. In retrospect, kidnaping the hacker was a very poor idea.
Suddenly, something hit the roof and nearly tore it off.
“Oh shit,” sighed Agent Bionic. Professor Frink had passed out, and the tougher agent was trying his best to apply first aid from the backseat of a speeding vehicle. There might be a law against this here in Indianapolis, Bionic found himself wondering madly.
“Vampire lords,” Johnson said with certainty as he loaded his Berreta with appropriate ammunition. “I’ll take care of them.”
Red hunkered down, completely unaware of his surroundings. He turned the floppy over and over in his hands, wondering why those strange, now-dead rebels had let him keep it.
A gun discharged next to him. The hacker looked up, and saw Johnson firing holes into the torn roof. The car was hit again from above, causing a dangerous swerve onto the sidewalk. The car hit a newspaper dispenser, making newssheets fly into the air almost comically.
Then a low humming sound could be heard overhead, and a floodlight randomly shown down upon the street. A minigun rapidly spent ammunition, but the car wasn’t hit. Instead, corpses of undead plummeted to the earth, incinerating upon contact.
Bionic yelled something to Red’s right, and the car sped up.
The hacker dared to lift his head and look backwards. Behind them, dark vans and police cars threatened to quickly end the pursuit.
Agent Andy drove the damaged car as far as he could, realizing that he was out of gas. The short agent smiled ironically that his fuel tank had done them in. Go figure, he thought. On pure inertia, Andy was able to navigate the car into a small enclosed yard between two old factories.
“Okay,” the driver said when the car had rolled to a stop. “Everybody out.”
Johnson reloaded his gun, and Bionic dragged both Frink and Red out of the vehicle.
A floodlight shone down upon the agents, and response vehicles rushed to surround the entombed Team 13.
The uninjured team members took battle positions, Johnson holding a gun to Red’s head as if the hacker were a hostage.
Troopers and suited policemen poured out of their cars, and a few vagrants had assembled to watch the spectacle.
It wasn’t quite a standoff, but Johnson treated it as one. “I will not hesitate to kill him,” the lead agent explained calmly.
The assembled men shouted order after order, guns poised and ready. Doty stepped to the forefront, his battle helmet obscuring most of his face and a loudspeaker hiding the rest.
“Look,” Doty began, obviously irritated, “You don’t have to go all Rambo. We just want that fuggin floppy and that stupid-assed hack.”
“Not just like that!” Bionic shouted back, “You want him, come get him!” The agent’s response caused a mild uproar amongst the troopers.
Agent Andy looked around at the soldiers scaling buildings and trying to cover every possible angle. “No, wait!” he shouted, “He means we want money in exchange for this guy! Please don’t come and get him! We’ll give him to you.”
Doty and Johnson suddenly exploded into heated argument and threats. Suddenly, almost without anyone noticing, red broke the floppy in his hands in half.
Once the realization kicked in, everyone was silent for a moment. Then the shouting began again.
“He’s the only one with the knowledge left!” Doty yelled on the speakerphone. “Hand him over!”
“We’ll die first!”
“No! Bionic! He means we want something – ”
Then Johnson pulled the trigger.
The strike troopers responded immediately, covering Johnson and taking aim. Only Doty’s upraised hand halted them.
Doty watched Red slipping out of Johnson’s grasp and falling to the wet ground.
“Well,” he asked, “Why’d ya do that?”
Johnson looked at the soldier in front of him. The man was tall, well muscled, and had a reddish beard. Mark answered simply, “It had to end.”
Doty thought this over for a moment, nodded and turned around. “Everybody disperse! I want this mess cleaned up.” Once everyone got over the confusion and began moving, Doty turned around again and said, “You are all free to go. Have a nice life.” After that, he spun around and casually walked away.
Agent Johnson looked at Agent Bionic. Agent Bionic looked at Agent Andy. Agent Andy looked at Professor Frink, who was just regaining consciousness.
Andy sighed and smiled. “Well, that was fun.” The shorter agent finished, “Now, how about we go to that convention?”
Frink’s ecstatic squeal of delight could be heard for blocks.
***
Doty fell backwards onto the bed in the gorgeous hotel room. That was a hell of a fight. At least his employers were safe for another day.
Now it was time for a nap.
Then Doty heard a beeping. A very specific type of beeping.
Doty groaned, flipped over onto his stomach, and pulled a small electronic communication device out of his knapsack.
“Agent Doty, your abilities are needed,” said a face on the miniscreen. Doty was so secretive, he didn’t even have a – wait, Agent Doty?
Doty raised an eyebrow and unsteadily said, “What’s the type of mission?”
The tiny face smiled a little. “This is going to be a long-term assignment, Doty, You’re going to become a part of Team 13.”
“What’s the goal?” asked Doty, for once doubting his superiors’ motives.
“Infiltration, surveillance, data collection. You are to do what they do. Record it. We’ll contact you with more details as needed. Report to the Chicago Government Building 0800 sharp tomorrow. Don’t bother dressing up.”
With that, the tiny face on the screen faded, and Doty laid dumbfounded on his comfortable bed.
Well hell, he thought right before slipping into unconsciousness. Looks like tomorrow is going to be another adventure . . .
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