Abruptly, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Jack."
"I'm here."
Then an explosion ripped the front emergency exit open and sent a shiver coursing down the length of the monorail car. It shifted, moving into a forty-five-degree angle now, and the rear of the car bounced even more vigorously.
A pair of gunners came through the door, landing awkwardly, but their weapons were steady in their hands.
37
Skater brought the Predator up in one smooth motion and fired, putting two bullets through the lead man's face. The corpse stumbled back over his partner.
Pushing the dead man out of the way, the second gunner raced for the side of the car where the Mafia decker had gone down.
"Stop him," Archangel said in a weak voice. "If they get that deck, McKenzie could change the passcodes before I can get back in for the rest of the files we need. I couldn't retrieve everything. And they've got that piece of you, Jack. A mage could have a lot fun with that."
Skater shoved himself to his feet and raced alongside the crack as well as he could. The flames reached for him, attracted by the displaced air of his passage.
The Mafia gunman came up firing. A pair of bullets slammed into Skater's armor over his heart, stopped dead by the Kevlar weave.
Pain wracked Skater's chest even though the bullets didn't penetrate. With the heat trapped in the car and the smoke boiling up, it was hard to breathe, and getting harder to see. Only ten meters away now, the gunman was a silhouette, dimly outlined by the illumination given off by the flames.
The man turned back toward the door, going with gravity this time. He held the dead man's deck in one hand, the datajack dangling loosely.
Skater tried to take aim, but ten or fifteen rounds from gunners still in the forward car ripped through the windows and door and drove him to cover. He caught a brief glimpse of the Mafia soldier making his way through the door.
The monorail hit another rough patch and the incline turned even more.
Returning to Archangel's side, Skater said, "We're going to lose the car. We've got to get out of here."
She was putting her equipment away. Soot streaked her pale features, and another thin ribbon of blood had snaked past her lip and leaked all the way down her chin. "Did you get the deck?" A coughing spasm racked her, almost doubling her over.
"No," Skater replied.
"Dammit, Jack," she snarled. "I almost got it all. McKenzie's files, access to where he's got the stocks, his accounts, the tech from NuGene. McKenzie got paid to dump that subvirus into DocWagon's vats. He's responsible for the laughing death disease. Jack. It was developed at NuGene, too." Archangel faced Skater. "Are you listening to me? It was supposed to be a new way to treat the mentally ill, but it totally backfired. One of the developers cut the deal with McKenzie-and he didn't even care-he probably thought it would help turn more profits once the new tissue came on the market. The antidote is there, but I didn't have time to snatch it" She started to walk toward the emergency exit, but Skater stopped her.
"Let's go." Skater put an arm around her waist and guided her away from the door and to the window. "Duran," he said over the link. "Archangel's coming up."
"I'm waiting." The ork sounded tense.
"Did you hear me?" Archangel demanded as she flailed at the window almost above her now. "McKenzie's a fragging monster. He tainted the Doc Wagon vats. He's responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent people."
"I heard." Skater lifted her. Archangel's reflexes were coming back, but the coughing was throwing her off. "But if we don't get out of here alive, us getting the antidote won't help anybody a fragging slot."
Duran pulled her through the window easily.
Another tremor ran through the car.
Skater holstered the Predator and grabbed the lip of the window. He hauled himself up with effort. The cool night air felt better at once, and triggered a coughing fit from him, too. He hung onto the quivering surface of the monorail car, blinking through tearing eyes as the inner hub of the sprawl went spinning by him in a swirl of neon lights and shadows.
"You can lollygag later," Duran told him in a hard voice. The ork fisted Skater's uniform and pulled him roughly to his feet. "We're still earning a credstick here."
Skater nodded and sucked in another deep breath. He stood with both hands on the ladder railing intended for use by the maintenance crews. Across the uneven top of the car canted at a steep angle, his team hung on, using the loops they'd cut from the passenger section. Silverstaff held his wife protectively.
A gust of wind slapped into the car, rocking it viciously. There was no doubt in Skater's mind that it was completely unhooked underneath, held only by the coupling to the car in from of it.
"We can't stay here," he yelled over the wind.
"Didn't plan on it," Duran said, unlimbering the Scorpion. "We were just waiting on you."
"Some good has come out of our present situation," Trey remarked. He was near the front of the car, prone and peering down. "Everyone seems to have abandoned this section."
Cautiously, sliding his hand along the railing. Skater made his way forward. By now reports should be pouring into Lone Star about the runaway monorail and the violence aboard it. The ops time had about run its course, like the car beneath them.
At the front of the car, Skater studied the forward car. Nothing moved inside it. "Wheeler."
"I'm there." The dwarf slithered over the edge of the car and dropped onto the platform near the coupling. He dug around in his backpack and set to work at once.
"Trey, Elvis, Wheeler's going to need someone to watch his back." Skater eyed the distance between him and the next car. The leverage provided by the wrecked car had lifted the rear section of the forward car from the track, but it was still lower than his present position. The only problem was the three meters of distance and the fact that they'd be jumping into the wind.
"Take one of them with you," Archangel said. "I can hold a gun. We've got to get that deck."
Skater looked at her. Archangel's color looked better, and there was no denying that fierceness in her eyes. He nodded. "Elvis, you're with Duran and me."
"I'm ready," the troll said.
With the start of a prayer on his lips that quickly changed to an obscenity. Skater threw himself forward. He landed harder than he expected, the impact against the top of the car unforgiving. Numbness spread up his legs and he fell, unable to keep his balance. For a moment he thought he might go over the edge, then he gripped the maintenance ladder and brought himself to his feet again.
Duran and Elvis made the leap more easily. Behind them, Archangel was climbing down to the coupling link while Trey handed Ariadne down to Silverstaff.
Skater moved forward, going as fast as he dared. The wind cut and slashed at him, making him narrow his eyes to slits and almost robbing him of his breath. There were three cars remaining between them and the engine. The footing was treacherous, vibrating and slippery in spite of the fric¬tion pads running on either side of the maintenance ladder.
"Grab something," Wheeler advised. "The coupling's going in three, two, one-contact!"
Skater, Elvis, and Duran flattened against the top of the next car after making the jump. Even with a car separating them from the concussion, the impact and subsequent release of the car being dragged was terrific.