"I cut it loose," the dwarf said. "Fragging explosion must have jammed the coupling releases."
Skater risked a glance out the window, and a rifle bullet nearly took his head off. Still, the momentary glance he got showed him that the coupling was barely hanging together. He brought his hand over the edge of the window and sighted from the point, banging out shot after shot to offer the mage cover. He accessed the headlink. "Elvis, Duran, you still with us?"
"We're on top of the car," came the ork's voice, "but those fraggers have us pinned down. We've also got some company coming from the troops in the car ahead of us."
Skater knew he was more than halfway through the clip even though he couldn't remember exactly how many shots he'd fired. So far none seemed to have done much harm.
Tavis Silverstaff left his wife's side long enough to retrieve the machine pistol from a dead man, kept in place by a blood-stained sling.
"I hope you've got a clear idea of who the enemy is here," Skater said. "Because if I have to, I'll drop you" He turned the Predator on the elf.
"You and McKenzie can fight all you want," the elf said. "I'm getting my wife out of here."
Skater nodded. A shimmering wave of force left Trey's hand just as the Predator's slide blew back empty and locked. His breath burned his lungs as it carried in the smoke and the searing heat.
With a loud bamf, flames jumped up through the hole in the car and started to spread. At the same time, the shimmering force slammed into the car behind them and finished shearing the couplings. The car immediately dropped behind.
But the redistribution of the weight caused the rear of the car Skater and the team were in to come free of the monorail. It swayed sickeningly, bouncing up and down and from side to side as the monorail engine kept pulling it along.'
Skater glanced through the view afforded by the hole. The flames alternately reached for the ceiling of the car and were sucked back outside. He saw the street four stories down, then they were over a short building, then an alley where a wrecker with flashing red and blue lights was picking up a derelict car that had been turned into someone's graffiti
"We can't stay here," Trey said.
The monorail car swung wildly back the other way, snapping like an amusement park ride.
Skater glanced at Archangel. She lay slumped between the seats, still jacked into the deck. He could detect the rise and fall of her breasts.
"She's still jacked in." Skater said. "And we need her there. I'll stay with her while the rest of you get out of here."
Trey seemed on the verge of making some objection, but then simply nodded.
The monorail seemed to gain speed now that the last four cars were no longer with it. They turned a corner, and the warped car listed hard to Skater's right and stayed there, canted at a thirty-degree angle or more and turned diagonal across the track. He saw sparks through the hole in the floor and knew that the car was rubbing up against the rail itself.
"Duran," Skater called.
"Still here, kid, but barely."
Looking toward the front of the car. Skater realized that the only good thing about the sudden shift was that it broke the field of fire for the Mafia gunners in the car ahead of them.
"We're passing Ariadne along, then her husband."
"Which way?"
Skater looked at the window that was now pointed skyward. "Port side."
"Okay."
Skater turned his attention to Silvesstaff. "We can get you out of here."
Silverstaff appeared hesitant. Then the monorail hit another section of track and the car slewed sideways even more. The gunfire at the front of the car died away. "It appears that's the wisest course of action." He held Ariadne, taking most of her weight, and muscled her up to the other side of the car against gravity and the incline.
"Fraggit, Jack," Wheeler called out, "this drekking car is going to pull the others off the track."
Skater peered through the shattered window behind and below him. The streets around him twisted dizzyingly. "Can you blow the coupling through the dog-brain?"
"I doubt it, chummer. That coupling is probably so jammed nothing short of an explosion is going to knock it loose."
"You've got plastic explosives in your kit?"
"Yeah, but I don't think those nitbrains up there are going to hold off on their shooting gallery practice while I rig something up."
"Then we're going to have to buy you some time." Skater used the Predator's butt to knock out the remaining glass shards in the window. Then he stripped a Kevlar jacket from one of the Mafia soldiers Trey had mojoed and laid it over the edge of the window. Ariadne would go through easily enough, but it would be a tight fit for the men.
"Gonna need something to tie on with," Duran advised.
Skater glanced around, then look out his claspknife and grabbed one of the hanging loops from overhead. "Cut them down," he told Trey. "We can tie them together."
Trey drew a knife from his boot and set to work. Silverstaff found another on one of the dead men and joined them. In seconds they had a number of them.
Skater worked quickly, tying three of the loop lengths together to use as a safety harness. Then he looped it around Ariadne's shoulders, telling Silverstaff to boost her up through the window.
Silverstaff embraced her quickly, then pushed his wife along as she climbed through the window. Duran caught one of her hands in his and pulled her quickly up "Okay," the ork called back. "Next." Silverstaff fashioned his own harness and climbed through, the borrowed machine pistol slung around his neck.
"McKenzie or his people are trying to stop the monorail at the Fairview stop," Wheeler said over the commlink. "I'm not letting them. If we lose the momentum we've built up, gravity's going to take over and pull this car down. The rest of them will probably come right along with it."
"Keep him out of it," Skater said.
"I am," the dwarf replied. "For now. It's not going to take them long to find the power switches, though. They do that, we're toast."
The car hit another rough patch of track and jerked unexpectedly. Skater went down, sliding down the incline and thudding against the seats on the other side. Blood filled his mouth from a cut inside his lip. He spat it out and struggled to his feet. The flames in the center of the car were staying about the same, but he knew the phosphorus had burned away by now. The fire had found something else to feed on. He turned back to Trey.
"I can manage this," the mage said, levitating himself to hang less than a meter above the uneven footing.
Trey looked strange to Skater, hanging in the air with his balance correct instead of struggling against the incline. "Go on," Skater said. "Archangel and I will follow as soon as we can.”
A pained look came over Trey's features.
"Dammit. Trey," Skater said. "You can be of more use up there. Our people can't stay up there. If the car goes, they go with it."
"You could do more good up there too, chummer."
Skater shook his head. "Duran and Elvis are better at the close-in work than I am. I can't work magic. And I can't leave Archangel here."
"I know. Take care of her." Trey rose like a wraith, gliding easily through the window, his cloak pulled close to the compact lines of his body.
Skater turned his attention back to Archangel. She'd been thrown around by the sliding monorail car and was lying under one of the seats. He made his way to her and pulled her out, careful of the datajack. She twitched in his arms, her muscles fighting against whatever she was up against inside the Matrix. A thin line of blood trickled from her right nostril. He wiped it away and cradled her in his arms, holding her tight so the whipping motions of the car wouldn't harm her and shielding her from the heat of the twisting flames behind him.