D. MacHale - SYLO

Kent reacted first. He grabbed the rifle from the dazed guard, jumped to the front of the cab, and leveled the weapon at the face of the startled driver.

“Drive,” Kent said with a slight quiver in his voice that betrayed his nervousness. “Just like normal.”

The driver’s eyes went wide.

“No problem,” he said quickly. “I ain’t no hero.”

The driver started the engine and a second later we were moving. I didn’t believe for a second that Kent would actually shoot the guy. I doubt that he’d ever fired a rifle except maybe on a shooting range. But as long as the driver didn’t know that, we’d be okay.

The stunned guard moaned. Tori stuck her knee on his neck and twisted his arm behind his back. Where did she learn to do that stuff?

“Easy,” she said. “Your rifle is aimed at the driver’s head. Don’t do anything stupid.”

The guard strained to look up and see who his tormentors were but Tori dug her knee in and he backed down. He wasn’t going to be a problem.

I held my breath as the driver rolled up to the guard shack.

“I can hear everything you’re saying,” Kent warned him.

We came to a stop and the driver lowered his window.

“Evening,” the guard in the shack said. “Got a lead on somebody?”

“Yup,” the driver said casually. “They just keep turning up. It’s gotta stop sometime.”

“Let’s hope so,” the guard said. “Be careful. Good hunting.”

Good hunting? These SYLO characters were cold.

I imagined the gate swinging open. We were seconds away from being outside. The driver had done exactly what we needed him to do. We could only hope that he hadn’t given some secret signal that would have alerted the guard to the fact that there were a couple of escapees on board. I held my breath for what felt like an eternity, and then the ambulance rolled forward. A quick glance through the back window showed that we had left the compound.

“Now what?” the driver asked.

“The Blackbird Inn,” Kent replied.

Tori and I exchanged glances.

Kent looked back at us and as if reading our minds said, “Relax. There’s a reason.”

I had put our lives into Kent’s hands. He had already shown his true colors by lying about the Ruby and using me. It was difficult to know how far we could trust him. I had to hope that as long as we were together, we had the same goal. Staying alive.

It didn’t take long to get to the Blackbird Inn. The driver pulled up to the front and stopped.

“Need some help with your bags?” he asked, sarcastically.

Kent jammed the barrel of the rifle through the window and clipped him on the side of the face.

“Ow,” he screamed. “What was that for?”

“For being clever,” Kent said coldly.

Kent scared me sometimes.

“You got the guard?” Kent asked.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Tori replied.

“C’mere, Rook,” Kent ordered.

I moved to him and he handed me the rifle.

“If this clown so much as farts, shoot him.”

I took the weapon and Kent moved to the back of the ambulance.

“Where are you going?” Tori asked.

“I’ll be right back,” he replied and jumped out of the van.

I turned my attention to the driver, who looked at me with wide, scared eyes. I had never held a gun on anybody before. It was a frightening feeling of power. I could pull the trigger and end somebody’s life. Bang. Just like that. I could. But would I?

“You’re not going to shoot me, are you, Chief?” he asked. “You look kind of squirrely.”

With the Ruby surging through my body, I wasn’t in my right mind and I think the driver sensed that. He looked at me like I was some deranged lunatic, and maybe at that moment I was. I had been sitting still for too long and it was driving me crazy. I kept fidgeting and shuffling, doing anything I could to keep from crawling out of my skin.

“Take it easy,” the driver said. “We’ll do whatever you want.”

The guard that Tori was holding finally spoke. “Tell us what you want and we’ll do what we can.”

“I want you to shut up,” I snapped at him.

It was like the words had come out of somebody else’s mouth. Tori thought so too, based on the surprised look she gave me. The Ruby was doing a number on my body and on my head as I fought to stay in control.

Thankfully the rear door opened and Kent climbed in. He came right to me and took the rifle back.

“Drive out to Quahog Beach,” Kent ordered. “Don’t break any traffic laws.”

“You got it,” the driver said and got us back under way.

Nobody said a word on our way to the beach. I was dying to know what Kent had planned but didn’t think he’d explain it to us in front of our captives.

Our captives. Up until that point, I felt as though we hadn’t done anything wrong, but the fact that we had captured two people and were holding them prisoner changed that. We were kidnappers. I hoped the night would end before anything worse happened.

In my gut I knew that wasn’t likely.

Kent glanced out of the window as we drew nearer to the beach.

“Drive us right out to the bluff,” he commanded.

I could feel the ambulance bump as we drove off the road and started to travel over sand. We continued on for a minute or so, but then the driver pulled to a stop.

“That’s as far as we go,” the driver finally said. “Another few feet and we’ll be wet.”

“Get out,” Kent said. “Everybody.”

I took charge of the guard. Tori may have been more skilled at controlling people, but I had strength that came from the Ruby. As soon as I grabbed the guard’s arm, he knew it. He was not about to try to fight me.

“Everybody move over there,” Kent ordered once we were out.

The four of us stepped back from the ambulance and stood together facing him. I suddenly had a sick image: firing squad. What was Kent doing?

“C’mere,” he said to me.

I was happy to see he was still aiming the rifle at the bad guys.

“What?”

“Put it in neutral, and push it over the edge.”

Ordinarily I would have laughed at that, but not then. He was talking to the right guy. I opened the driver’s door, put the gear shift into neutral, then ran to the rear.

“Yeah right,” the driver said, scoffing.

I took that as a challenge. I leaned down, put my shoulder against the rear bumper, pumped my legs like I was hitting a blocking sled, and pushed the ambulance forward.

“Jeez!” I heard somebody exclaim in awe.

It only took five strides before I felt the ambulance begin to slide forward on its own. I stopped pushing and stood to watch as the white vehicle went over the edge and tumbled end over end down the steep bluff before crashing into the sea.

“That’s, like, impossible,” the driver exclaimed. “Can all you people do that?”

“You people?” Tori said quickly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The driver didn’t answer. He looked at the ground as if he had already said too much.

“Now what happens?” the guard asked.

“Drop your gear,” Kent commanded. “Your walkie, cuffs, baton, everything.”

The driver and the guard obeyed quickly.

“Now climb down the bluff,” Kent ordered.

“What?” the driver exclaimed.

“Or I could shoot you,” Kent said.

The driver and the guard exchanged nervous looks.

“You’ll be fine,” Kent said quickly. “All we want is a head start.”

The two gave in and marched to the edge of the bluff. The driver went first, carefully climbing down the steep embankment. It was treacherous but not impossible. The guard was next, but before dropping over the edge, he looked up at Kent with hatred like I’ve never seen before.