The Chimera Vector

Chapter 9-1

Chapter Nine

‘Assuming we even make it across the border,’ Jay said, ‘what do we do there?’

He steered the hospital bus over a long bridge and into a tunnel. The tunnel ran deep inside a mountain.

‘There’s a budget hostel on Amir Kabir Street with dial-up internet and kettles that boil water. It’s basic but it’ll do us,’ Sophia said. ‘We use cash and take a double room.’

The bus crawled up the steep tunnel, churning through second gear. Jay flipped the sun visor to block out the rising sun.

‘And then what?’

‘That’s it. Hole up as backpackers,’ she said. ‘Maybe Australian this time. How’s your accent?’

‘Bloody great, mate,’ Jay said.

Sophia shared a glance with Damien. It wasn’t great.

Jay pointed to the rear-vision mirror. ‘You watching that?’

There was a fire truck starting up the tunnel behind them. It seemed to be having just as frustrating a time as they were.

‘Relax,’ she said, before spotting a Humvee entering the mouth of the tunnel ahead. ‘Or maybe not.’

They weren’t over the border yet.

‘Get down!’ Jay said. ‘And my face is showing—give me a scarf or something.’

‘I don’t think they’ll go too hard on your fashion sense,’ Damien said.

Sophia took her eyes off the Humvee just long enough to check the rear-vision mirror. Even if Jay could reverse and get around the fire truck, the Humvee would outrun them.

The fire truck turned around. It was heading back onto the bridge, water leaking from its fire hose. She looked back at the approaching Humvee. It pulled up broadside, window down. Javelin fire-and-forget missile launcher.

Jay hit the brakes. ‘Forget the scarf.’

‘Get to the back,’ Sophia said. ‘Now!’

She scrambled to the rear of the bus, Damien two steps ahead.

Jay stayed in the driver’s seat. He threw the bus into reverse. Its right side scraped the tunnel, whipped around, its left side exposed to the Humvee. She didn’t hear the missile launch, but knew in a tunnel like this it would be firing in direct attack mode. It hit the road beside the bus. She covered her face as glass fragments showered her. One side of the bus buckled inwards. How the shooter had missed, she had no idea. But she wasn’t about to complain.

The bus tipped onto its right side and slid, headfirst, back the way they’d come, down the tunnel’s sharp decline. Sparks skittered across either side of the bus like a parting wave. Sophia switched her grip to the seat beside her and held tight. As she struggled to make sense of the world at a ninety-degree angle, she felt her right shoulder crunch against something . . . heard metal screaming . . . glass exploding . . . asphalt . . . darkness . . . black.