Crack in the Kill Code (AmpCore #2)

34 - Metal Hearts Still Pump Blood

Kirk slumped in the back seat of Doser's car, shaking violently. The adrenaline fled from his body, leaving the full horror of what he'd just seen burn right to the front of his mind. He clamped his hands down on his knees, trying to still his trembling figures, but he couldn't shut out what he'd witnessed. His mouth felt dry, his heart racing.

The roar of the engine wrenched him back to the present. He slammed back against the seat, the autobelt snapping around him as Doser slammed a foot on the accelerator, launching them away from the clinic as fast as four wheels would carry them. He fumbled for his pistol, checking the chamber.

"Bloody- fuck!" Doser cursed as the car lurched awkwardly around the corner. "This girl weighs a solid ton! How much tech'd they shoot her up with?"

"You have no idea," Nevay growled, twisting in her seat to look out through the back window.

"Anybody following?"

"Not yet." She shot Kirk an acid look. "I think you've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do."

"We couldn't just leave her there!"

"Well, now what the hell are we supposed to do with her?"

Kirk wrestled himself around in his seat, looking back down the street. "I... we take her back to the hideout. Let Beela take a look at the implants."

"Beela?! She's a dock technician, not a fucking surgeon!"

"We've got to start somewhere, I-," Kirk broke off at the sight of two ramshackle pick up trucks careening around the side of the clinic, engines roaring. "Ah, shit."

"Company?" Doser groaned, his eyes still on the road ahead as he battled to control the cruiser at high speed.

"God damn it, Kirk!" Nevay looked at the detective. "Can you pop the roof on this thing?"

"I- what?"

"The roof – the window! Open it."

"Oh." Doser snapped the car to the right, swerving around a parked truck, then jabbed a finger at the dashboard. One of the holo-keys pulsed and the rectangle of the roof window retracted.

She stuck out a hand to Kirk. "Gimme that cannon!"

"What are you-,"

"Give me the fucking gun!"

The scream of anger brooked no argument, and Kirk thrust the heavy pistol out to her. Nevay disengaged her autobelt, and rose up, her top half disappearing through the aperture in the roof, a weapon in each hand.

"Keep us steady," she hollered.

Then the shooting started. Kirk heard the deep thump of both pistols going off one after the other. The lead vehicle's windshield exploded and it veered wildly to the right, plunging nose first into the wall of a building. The second slewed around it, and he saw a figure lean out of the passenger side window.

They held something very large in one metal arm. It took him a moment to realise what it was, before he spun around.

"Nevay, get down!" Kirk yelled, lurching forward to grab at her jacket. He dragged her pack down into the body of the car, just as their pursuers opened fire.

A storm of bullets cracked off the reinforced back window of the police cruiser, and several cracks appeared. A shatter of red glass from one of the tail-lights spilled across the street behind them.

"Holy mother of-," Doser blurted as the car skidded wildly. "The fuck are they shooting at us with?"

"Spiv-tech," Kirk gasped, letting go of Nevay and slumping back in his chair. "Some kind of auto-cannon."