Prime (Chess Team Adventure, #0.5)

King felt his center of gravity shift and thought for a moment that the Surf was going to roll, but Bishop knew what he was doing. He stomped the gas pedal down, racing out of the turn, and headed back the way they’d come…and right down the throat of the advancing squadron of police cars.

For just a moment, King thought Bishop was going to challenge the Iranian National Police to a game of chicken. It was just the sort of thing Bishop might do, and—live or die—King felt certain that his teammate would never ‘lose’ in such a game. The police however, had no intention of playing along; as the Surf swung around to meet them, the lead chase vehicles broke formation and spread out to block both lanes. It was a hasty affair, and King felt sure that they could blast through with a minimum of damage. Unfortunately, the Toyota wasn’t the only vehicle on the road, and now a traffic jam several cars deep was piling up in front of them. Bishop, undaunted, kept accelerating toward the impasse.

Rook leaned forward, staring into the sea of bright red brake lights. “Ummm…”

King resisted the urge to comment, waiting to see what fancy evasive maneuvers Bishop would employ to get them past the barricade. As they closed the gap however—eating up the distance in mere seconds—King started to question his assumptions about Bishop having a plan…or for that matter, being sane.

A millisecond or two after passing what King thought surely must be the point of no return, Bishop nudged the wheel to the left. The Surf missed the rear bumper of a stopped car by millimeters as it veered into the opposite lane, now cleared of traffic thanks to the roadblock.

The next few seconds were like an amusement park ride from Hell. King was thrown sideways by the sudden turn, and then pitched forward as the SUV slammed into the front end of a blockading police cruiser. The impact sent the smaller vehicle spinning, but barely slowed the Surf. Bishop cut back and forth, attempting—not always successfully—to thread his way through the maze of vehicles. The Toyota’s bumper absorbed most of the damage, but each impact crumpled the fenders and the hood, and as Bishop slipped past the roadblock and into the now wide-open lane, King saw wisps of steam rising from the front end.

“There’s a turn coming up on your left,” Deep Blue intoned.

Bishop saw the side road, which angled away from the opposite lane, before anyone else. Without warning, he cranked the wheel over hard. To his credit, he managed to keep all four tires on the pavement, but everyone inside was subjected to more punishment. Over the screech of the controlled skid, the sound of gunshots was audible, but none of the rounds found their mark, and as Bishop straightened the wheels, the tumult momentarily diminished.

“Stay on this road,” Deep Blue said. “It will get you to the pick-up zone.”

“How far?” King said.

“Twenty klicks, give or take. Senior Citizen will meet you there.”

King covered his microphone so that only Bishop would hear him. “Can we make it that far?”

Bishop glanced at the dashboard where the temperature gauge was starting to climb, and then shook his head.

Behind them, the police had regrouped and were now filing onto the side road to resume the pursuit. Even if they were able to reach the rendezvous, the police would overtake them as soon as they stopped.

They needed a new plan.

King glanced up, through the gaping hole the frankenstein had torn in the roof. Somewhere up there, a supersonic stealth transport plane was racing to a rendezvous that Chess Team would never make.

Suddenly, he realized the answer was staring him in the face.

He twisted around to the others. “Queen, get Sasha into a STARS harness. Rook, Knight… We need to turn this thing into a convertible.”

Rook was the first to figure it out…or at least the first to say something. “Tell me you are not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“It’s fundamentally the same thing we were planning to do anyway.” King wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Rook or himself.

“I can think of one pretty fundamental difference,” Rook grumbled.

Knight rolled his eyes and started digging in his pack.

“Don’t be such as sissy,” Queen chided. “It’s probably not the craziest thing you’ve ever done.”

She had already retrieved the large rucksack that contained the STARS gear, and after digging out a rig of nylon web belts identical to the ones they were all wearing, she rested a hand on Sasha’s shoulder to get her attention. The cryptanalyst, who had been practically catatonic since the battle with the frankenstein, nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Queen’s manner was surprisingly soothing, a striking contrast to the tone she’d used with Rook. “It’s all going to be over in few minutes.”

She’s right about that, thought King. One way or another.

While Rook and Knight set to work, affixing small shaped charges to the door posts and support beams that held the SUV’s roof in place, King called Deep Blue and told him the new plan.

There was a long silence.

“Deep Blue, did you copy my last?”

“I copied, King. I’m just not sure it will work.”