“There’s a curfew in effect,” said Officer Wellplant, pointing at us. “Seven p.m. Make sure you’re home by then.”
Officer Walrus smiled flatly as if he was running out of patience with his partner. I was reminded of Agent Ralphs and her partner, and I thought how much of a drag it must be to be stuck with some uptight, humorless Plant all day.
“Yes, sir,” Claudia said with a smile so sweet I couldn’t imagine anyone falling for it. But maybe that was just because I knew her.
Officer Walrus smiled back, like he was a believer. “Okay, stay out of trouble, okay?”
“Will do, officer,” Rex said.
As the two cops turned and walked away, it occurred to me that while Officer Wellplant was immune, his partner was probably still at risk of the flu. I coughed silently into my hand and called out, “Thanks, officer!”
As they turned around again, I stepped up to Officer Walrus, flashing the same kind of stupid sweet smile Claudia had given him, and stuck out my hand to shake his. He frowned down at it for a second, maybe taken aback by the gesture in general, or maybe, ironically, afraid of catching the flu. Then he shrugged and smiled. “You’re welcome,” he said, pumping my hand once.
I turned and ran back to the others.
“We don’t really have time for pleasantries,” Claudia said quietly as we walked on.
“I know,” I said. “Sorry.”
Rex gave me a wink and a smile, letting me know he understood.
I looked back and saw Officer Wellplant looking back, as well, but when we got to Cuthbert Street, a few seconds later, the two cops had turned the corner.
We made sure no one else was around, and then, without a word, we ducked under the tape and into the shadows.
It was at least ten degrees cooler in the tunnel, and it smelled musty and dusty. Ogden took the lead, inspecting the blank, unmarked doors that ran along the wall to our left. The dim lights in the ceiling didn’t seem to make much of a difference. As we walked, it grew darker, but our eyes adjusted. I glanced behind us, toward 8th Street. From the darkness, it looked like a blazing furnace.
A third of the way down the tunnel, Ogden stepped between two dumpsters and tried a steel door, but it was locked. “It should be right around here,” he said. We followed him down the sidewalk twenty feet to another door set between two more dumpsters. This one was locked, too.
As we approached the third door, he pointed at it and said, “Here it is.” There was a little more room between these dumpsters. A brick leaned next to the door, ready to prop it open, and next to it, a conspicuous pile of empty vape canisters.
“Yuck,” Claudia said, making a face.
Ogden was reaching for the door when he turned toward her and frowned. “Oh no,” he said, snatching his hand back away from the door.
The rest of us turned and saw the same two cops, silhouetted against the sunlight out on 8th Street. Officer Wellplant shined a blindingly bright military-style flashlight at us. We all raised our hands to shield our eyes as he demanded, “What are you kids doing?”
As they started coming toward us, Claudia said “Run!”
FIFTY-ONE
Rex pushed over a stack of boxes, slowing the cops down enough that we got a decent head start. Ogden managed to keep up with the rest of us, but in his condition, I knew he wouldn’t be able to for long. Glancing back, I saw that Officer Walrus wasn’t going to be able to keep it up, either. He was already struggling, falling behind. But his partner was fast and determined, and he seemed to be running directly at me.
Rex and Claudia and Ogden were angling toward the sidewalk on the right-hand side of the street. On a hunch, I angled toward the left, and sure enough Officer Wellplant changed course to follow me.
It occurred to me that we probably had more firepower than they did, but apart from the fact that we’d have to stop to get our weapons out and they were much better trained than we were, the last thing I wanted was to start shooting people, or starting a gunfight when we should be up in the tower shutting down the network.
Then I had another idea. I was scared, but I knew the important thing was for Ogden to get inside and do what he needed to do. I wasn’t actually all that essential to the plan. So when we ran out of the tunnel and into the sunlight on 9th Street and the others all turned the corner, I kept going straight.
Rex called out, “Jimi!”
I called back, “Keep going!”
I figured if Officer Wellplant stayed after me, I’d lead him away from the others. If he went after them, I’d try to dart him. When I looked back, Officer Wellplant was still coming after me. Officer Walrus was stopped in the tunnel, bent at the waist trying to catch his breath.
I slowed down for half a block, letting Officer Wellplant stay close enough that he wouldn’t give up and go after the others. Then I put on some speed.
I started sweating as soon as we left the coolness of the tunnel. Now it was pouring off me. After a block, Officer Wellplant was still coming, and I wondered why. We hadn’t done anything, other than sneak past the police tape. And why me instead of the others? I thought back to that moment during his speech when Howard Wells looked directly at me, and all the other Plants did, as well.
The next time I looked back, he was gaining on me. And even more distressing, another cop with a Wellplant had joined the chase. To my horror, as I watched, yet another Plant joined them, a woman in a business suit. Maybe she was a plainclothes detective or whatever, but I got the sense that she wasn’t a cop at all. Which meant that she wasn’t responding to a call for backup over police radio. She was there because of her Wellplant.
I pictured a thousand Plants chasing me through the city, like a horde of fast zombies, but I knew that if they were all after me, they’d catch me before there were more than a dozen. I imagined them approaching from all sides at that very moment panic tried to assert itself, but I knew if I was to have a chance of getting away, I needed to stay calm and focus.
Approaching 10th Street, I considered my next move. I didn’t want to lead the Plants back to Rex and Ogden and Claudia, but if I was planning on rejoining them somehow, I couldn’t just keep running farther and farther away from them, either. I decided I would turn on 10th Street, start to circle back toward the tower and the parking garage, where the other secret entrance was. If I could lose my pursuers on the way, great, and if not, I’d just keep running. Hopefully, Ogden would succeed in shutting down the network without me, and the Plants would all stop chasing me then.
I moved to turn sharply around the corner, but what I saw made me stop so abruptly, I almost went sprawling, and probably came close to blowing out my ankle.
At least a dozen Plants were running toward me from the right. Turning the other way, I saw three more approaching from the left.
I cursed and kept running straight, following Cuthbert Street as it tunneled under another building. Up ahead, the tunnel opened out onto 11th Street, where Cuthbert Street ended. Across 11th, I could see the Reading Terminal Market. It was a historic indoor market under an ancient defunct railroad terminal and one of my favorite spots in the city, a maze of tightly packed stalls and storefronts, always jammed with tourists and locals, with nine or ten entrances to choose from.
Halfway through the tunnel, I glanced behind me and saw ten pursuers now outlined against the sunlit street, with several new ones turning the corner to join them. As I turned back ahead, a figure stepped out in to street in front of me. He looked big and strong, an Asian man in his thirties wearing a business suit.