Daemon

pistol and ran to help. Shouted commands echoed from every corner of the courtyard.
    ‘I can’t get anybody on the radio!’
    ‘Cell phones don’t work either!’
    ‘It’s coming back in!’
    Decker climbed across the crumpled hood of his sedan. ‘Get the wounded into the vans! Fall back to the road!’
    Sebeck was sprinting across the middle of the courtyard when the Hummer roared in behind him through an opening between the house and garage, sending debris flying.
    ‘Pete, look out!’ Gunfire erupted almost immediately. A bullet whined past Sebeck’s head. He ducked, then turned to see the Hummer bearing down on him. It was almost on him already. He felt the bass rumble of its engine in his chest, the black grill racing straight toward him.
    Then it shuddered violently to a stop on the cobblestones just a foot away. Sebeck stood motionless – heart pounding – before the massive steel grille. His eyes focused on the Hummer’s front vanity plate: AUTOM8D. It was smeared with blood. The plate suddenly began to recede as the Hummer shifted into reverse and backed away from him. The Hummer then roared forward again, passing Sebeck wide on the left and accelerating toward the FBI agent and deputy helping Aaron Larson. They scattered as Larson screamed.
    The crash scattered the cars across the courtyard, sending Larson’s body hurtling like a rag doll.
    Sebeck stood motionless, in a state of shock in the middle of the courtyard. Amid all the screams and shouts, gunshots, and the roaring engine of the Hummer. He was still alive, and he didn’t know why.
    Then the familiar sound of racing V8 engines came to Sebeck’s ears. Two Ventura County police cruisers hurtled down the driveway from the front gate, rack lights flashing. They screeched to a stop next to the ambulance blocking thedriveway. A male deputy jumped out of one and raced to retrieve Larson’s body, while a female deputy leaned out the passenger side of the other car and opened fire on the Hummer with a shotgun.
    Sebeck was dimly aware of someone pulling on his arms. ‘Pete!’ He turned to see Deputy Gil Trevetti. ‘Larson’s dead! We need to pull back!’ Trevetti tugged Sebeck toward a nearby patrol car. A rumble came to his ears and Sebeck turned to see the FBI’s bomb squad truck with deputies and agents hanging off its armored bomb disposal trailer accelerating across the littered courtyard. Mantz leaned out off the trailer and jabbed a finger at Sebeck, then toward the exit. The bomb truck crashed through a nearby rose garden and headed out across the estate lawn.
    Sebeck snapped back to reality and turned to Trevetti. ‘Okay. Got it.’ They jumped into the patrol car while the black Hummer raced to intercept the bomb squad truck in the distance.
    From the front seat of the bomb squad truck, Ross saw the Hummer racing toward them like a torpedo – leaving twin ruts in the soft grass.
    ‘It’s going to ram us!’ the agent driving shouted. ‘I can’t maneuver on this grass.’
    Ross faced him. ‘Turn toward it. Head-on!’
    The driver gave him a look.
    ‘It will avoid a head-on collision with a larger object.’
    ‘How the hell do you know?’
    ‘Because Sobol’s probably using his game physics engine.’ On the driver’s blank look, he shouted, ‘Ram the Hummer, goddamnit!’
    The driver looked into Ross’s intense eyes. There was no doubting his confidence. The driver spun the wheel to aim head-on at the advancing Hummer.
    Agents and deputies hanging on to the bomb squad truck shouted at the driver. The Hummer accelerated straight towardtheir front grille – then it swerved aside at the last second, winging their front right fender with its rear quarter panel.
    A cheer went up in the truck. The driver accelerated straight toward the estate fence line. He glanced toward Ross. ‘How the hell did you know that?’
    Ross pointed and shouted. ‘Slow down!’
    The estate fence was wrought iron with a masonry base. They crashed through it going at least thirty, nosed down onto Potrero Road, and slammed into the ditch on the far side. Ross held his hands up and smashed against the windshield with the other two deputies sitting up front. They shattered it with their weight, then slammed back against the seat as the truck came to a complete stop.
    There were groans of pain from the wounded and the newly wounded. Someone shouted, ‘What the fuck are you trying to do, get us all killed?’
    Ross shook his head clear and could