Daemon

floor.
    ‘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 roomdoor. 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