Out of the Black - Lee Doty [90]
"Don't move yet, Ping." Alex said with the attitude of one talking while holding his breath. He held one finger up for patience. "But get ready to move."
Ping ran his finger over the raised ignition pad on the steering yoke and twisted it into the enabled position. He heard the lock-accept tone that meant the car was ready to go. He used the controls on the wheel to shift into reverse, then waited with his foot hovering over the accelerator. sement inare these people?"
"Some aren't this time." Alex said, voice flat.
Both Ping and Rae turned their heads toward the back seat, but Alex didn't elaborate.
"Aren't people?" Rae asked. Ping shrugged.
A muffled explosion and the sound of a collapsing door came to them through the door to the house. A waterfall of shattering glass sounded behind the door. There was the sound of clomping boots and silenced gunfire. Maybe the neighbors wouldn't hear, but the sound of shots were clear to them in the garage.
Ping and Rae turned again to stare into Alex's blank expression, but finding no clues there, slowly turned to face each other. Rae adjusted her grip on the fletcher.
"Swell." Ping said. Rae gave a short laugh, shaking her head.
"Don't worry bout the door- I'll need you to gun it... ready, Ping? And..." Alex wiggled his raised finger slightly.
Ping's foot hovered, Alex's finger wiggled, Rae's eyes moved between them, then Alex dropped his finger, "NOW!"
Ping jammed the accelerator to the floor. All four of the car's solid polymer tires squeaked as the individual electric motors driving them compensated for the loss of traction. Each squeal shimmered in and out as the traction computers walked the line between maximum torque and the available friction between tire and pavement.
The car rocketed backward, shuddering slightly as it blew through the garage door. The door gave no significant resistance to the car's juggernaut force, causing only a small hiccup in the car's reverse acceleration and a short, if spectacular, crash. Ping wondered in passing what kind of cheap door the builder had used.
Almost immediately after clearing the door- its debris still hanging in the air around the car- there were two more impacts in quick succession. The car bounced as something substantial went under the left rear tire. An assault gun bounced end over end on the driveway as the car cleared the garage.
Ping had been unconscious when they arrived here, so the driveway and palatial yard were unfamiliar. He did his best to negotiate the dark driveway's curves as the car sped backwards. To make matters worse, the driveway wound between thick trees, allowing him only a view of the next corner with no idea what lay beyond. As if this were not enough excitement, long ragged bursts of automatic gunfire erupted from several broken windows along the front of the house, tearing through the trees, filling the air with splinters, but strangely sparing the car.
Not wanting to look a gift rifle in the muzzle, Ping accepted the luck and left his foot firmly on the floor as the car wildly accelerated though the winding, wood-lined track. They clipped a guidepost, then a small tree, but Ping wasn't slowing down. He feared foliage far less than firearms.
As the garage door disintegrated into splinters and dust around the car, Rae held on for dear life and clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. She let out only the smallest bleat as they mowed over two armed men directly outside the destroyed door.
Beside her, Ping was twisted to look through the rear window. His arm was over the seat, elbow bent, looking like any sixteen-year-old kid during the parallel parking portion of his first driving test. Her right hand whitened ring the handle above her window. Her left hand whitened around the short barrel of the Fletcher. She and the car jerked from side to side under Ping's reverse navigation. Her stomach gave a spasm as gunfire erupted followed quickly by their glancing impact