"What's happening, Jon? What's happening?"

"Keep moving!" He took another glance behind them as the same Razorback accelerated down the hallway in their direction. Ross looked away just as a laser light played across his face.

He pulled Philips inside the control room, then dropped her on the floor and raced back toward the open control room door. He kicked the hollow steel door closed just as the Razorback screeched to a stop in front of it. He put a shoulder against the door and slammed it shut, locking it.

Almost instantly a series of massive dents deformed the door, accompanied by the thunderous roar of a powerful engine. The pounding continued, deforming the door surface as Ross backed away from it.

He felt Philips clutching for his leg. "Jon, I think I'm blind!"

He glanced toward another door leading out the far side of the control room. He knelt next to her and shouted over the engine noise. "Nat, we can't stay here!"

She gripped her face, tears streaming down from between her fingers. "My eyes, Jon! They're burning!"

He grabbed her roughly. "Nat! Nat, listen to me!"

She stopped. The Razorback's pounding vibrated the floor.

"It could be temporary." He looked back at the door. "If we don't leave here now, we're going to die!"

The sound of deforming metal reinforced his argument.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Where are we?"

He shouted over the deafening roar of the Razorback. "Security control room!"

She nodded. "We can make it to the back gate!"

He helped her to her feet, and they headed to the door on the far side of the small room.

One of the Razorback's steel falchions pierced through the door and wrenched free as the engine roared again.

She stopped him. "The perimeter doors. We need to trip the breakers back on."

"I'll get it. Just go! Follow the left wall." He pushed her through the door, then turned. Jagged holes had been torn into the sheet metal of the other door. Part of it was broken away, and he could see one of the Razorback's gnarled, twisted blade arms through the slits. It paused for a moment, then he heard a ping sound, and the twisted blades spun free like disposable razors, clattering onto the concrete floor in the hallway outside.

Ross rushed to the breaker boxes. He stole a glance at the bank of camera monitors on the control board. One showed the Razorback in the hallway outside, reaching around to its side. A metal click-clack, and the arms rose with fresh, gleaming blades.

"Son of a bitch…" He opened a panel marked Perimeter and tripped all the breakers back on. He raced back to the far door, looking behind just as the Razorback smashed the door in. He turned away as its laser painted him, and it roared across the room. Ross slammed the new door behind them, and the pounding started almost immediately.

A Bell Jet Ranger chopper hovered inches above the cluttered roof of Building Twenty-Nine. The helicopter was electric blue with a bold yellow logo for Golden Gate Heli-Tours.The Major rose from his kneeling position and scurried toward it at a crouch. A crewmember wearing a Korr flak vest pulled him inside. The Major leaned toward the helmeted pilot, who nodded in his direction. The crewman handed The Major a closed-circuit headset, and The Major slipped it on.

The pilot's voice came over the headphones, "What's the situation here, Major?"

"I need to get topside. We've got a Daemon operative escaping into the city and a federal officer in pursuit. Where's my kit?"

"Case on the floor, sir."

The Major pointed at the crewmember and copilot in turn, but spoke to the pilot. "These people, off."

Both men looked to the pilot, who simply said, "You heard the man. Take the next chopper out."

They unbuckled themselves and with a hesitant look jumped down onto the roof.

The Major shouted. "Go!"

The pilot yanked on the stick, and the chopper ascended rapidly, making corkscrews of the columns of black smoke.

Chapter 44:// Revelation

Merritt accelerated down an Oakland retail strip. Damaged vehicles littered the way. On the motorcycle, he was able to slip past the bottlenecks of wreckage and whipped past several damaged patrol cars to take the lead in the pursuit. Up ahead he could see Loki's pack of cars, and he could see the silver BMW itself, protected by its personal guard detail. A minivan suddenly bucked up and tumbled out of the way as a horrendous crash came to Merritt's ears.

This guy was a psycho.

A city motorcycle cop raced up on Merritt's right. Merritt shouted over to him and held his badge up on a chain. "FBI!" He used military hand signals to indicate the target.

The motorcycle cop nodded and brought his big bike racing ahead past Merritt.

"Hey!"

Suddenly twin sedans streaked in from side streets, crushing the motorcycle cop between them with a horrific crash.

Merritt averted his head as he powered through the flying debris and smoke. He emerged on the other side to see nothing but flames behind him.

Gragg looked into his HUD glasses to see multiple police cars screeching onto the street several blocks back, rack lights flashing. He crashed another one of his AutoM8s into a civilian's subcompact, smashing it out of the way and sending it spinning up onto the sidewalk. He left a trail of destruction behind him as the police lights zigzagged between wrecked vehicles, falling behind fast. But more sirens could be heard ahead and to either side of him. They were starting to cordon him off. Choppers were no doubt en route.

He smiled to himself. More AutoM8s were streaming in to aid him. He felt the presence of over a hundred now-some more valuable than others.

Another BMW 740 screeching in from a side street suddenly joined Gragg's car. This BMW was scarlet red. The pack expanded automatically to encompass it.

Gragg motioned with one black-gloved hand, and the electro-polymer paint of his own BMW shifted from silver to red in a matter of seconds-even as the newly arrived red BMW transformed from red to silver. Gragg's digital ink license plates flicked from California to Oregon vanity tags that read GECCO.In a flash, his BMW went into a power slide down a side street and left the main pack behind.

Merritt was still trying to comprehend what he just saw. A decoy BMW had joined the pack, but then Loki's BMW transformed right in front of Merritt's eyes. Merritt leaned hard into the turn and gave chase. Loki's car was now bright red-but he could still see the pockmarks from his earlier shots in the rear window. He cast a glance behind him to see several squad cars race past the intersection, still in pursuit of the original pack.

Merritt turned back to face Loki, then he tapped his radio button. "Major! Major, this is Merritt. Do you copy?"

The Major looked up from assembling a scoped SCAR-H sniper rifle in the passenger bay of the chopper. Merritt's voice came over their encrypted radio frequency again, dissolving occasionally into static. "Major, this…Merritt…copy?"

The Major keyed his mic. "Go ahead, Agent Merritt."

"Listen…police are pursuing a decoy BMW…car has…color, and is heading…"Static filled the channel.

"You're breaking up."

"Repeat…color. I'm giving chase."

"You're catching interference from the AutoM8s. Fall back, Merritt."

"…police they're…"At that the signal trailed off into static.

The Major dropped the handset and spoke into his chopper headset. "We still receiving Merritt's GPS coordinates?"

The pilot nodded. "10-4, Major. Clear as a bell."