Agent in the Dark (The Agents for Good) by Guy Stanton III Page A

stories of the high-rise, as fast as I could go, within a heartbeat. I yelled for Asia.
    She looked up at me in alarm, as dread filled her eyes, “They’ve found us?”
    “No, but we’ve got to go now!”
    “Why?”
    “Questions later! Grab your pack!”
     
    I grabbed my pack and my sword and with her following I made my way to the lower floor to my rope apparatus. It was broad daylight and the absolute worst time to be doing this, but the situation was unavoidable. I stepped into the loop and pulled Asia to me and she clutched at me desperately as we started down.
    I’d taken some weight off of the counterweight and t ogether we fell down the side of the building in a quite rapid descent. I spared Asia from the jarring landing by picking her up some so I alone absorbed the shock of the landing.
    Rolling up to my feet I pulled Asia up along with me and shoved her towards the passenger side of a dust covered shortbread Ram diesel pickup. She stared at me as if I was stupid.
    “It won’t work! The computer chips are all fried!
    “Not this one! Get in!”
     
    While I had been hunting for Asia I had made fixing this truck a priority in my spare time. The fuel tank had been empty, but I had managed to find some diesel in an engine in a warehouse down by the pier. There had been enough diesel to fill the tank of the truck and a few spare cans. Chantry had left me several undamaged conversion chips to fix the truck’s computer. I’d started the truck up in the rain one night to confirm whether the chips would work or not. The truck had run a little rough at first, but not bad for something that hadn’t run for two years and had been left out in the elements.
    I turned the key to let the glow plugs warm. In relief I saw that I still had battery. I turned the key..... Nothing! I tried it again and got the same result. It wouldn’t even fire! This was bad!
    I turned to Asia and saw that her face reflected the panic that I felt inside.
    She laid a hand on the dusty dash of the truck, “Jesus we need this truck to work!”
    She turned back to me, “Try it now.”
    She couldn’t be serious to think that…….The truck fired to life sounding better than it had the other night. This one was going to be hard to explain away or better yet live down.
     
    “Did you cut the airbags out?” Asia asked hesitantly, as she stared at the ripped up dash before her.
    “Yeah.”
    Asia quickly put her seatbelt on, and come to think about it that wasn’t such a bad idea and I followed suit. The ride was bound to get a little bumpy. Asia was peering at som ething over the hood and to the side of the truck.
    “I strapped part of an I-beam to the front bumper.”
    At her blank look I added by way of explanation, “In case we have to hit something.” I’d also filled the back of the truck up with heavy iron pieces, which added to our point of gravity and reduced the shock of us hitting something.
     
    I was flying down the abandoned street at 95 miles per hour. All pistons were firing and the heavy cadence of the diesel engine was a beautiful sound that I had missed for years. I swore out loud suddenly.
    “I really wish you’d stop saying that!” Asia said heatedly.
    I pointed ahead. She looked and saw the people flocking into the street ahead of us intent on stopping us.
    “Oh God!” She exclaimed.
    “Now don’t take the Lord’s name in vain honey.” I quipped at her.
    “I wasn’t!” She fired back at me.
    “What are we going to do?” She asked panicked.
    I pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor. She had my answer.
    “You’re going to hit them!” She exclaimed in outrage.
    “If they’re too dumb to get out of the way than they deserve to go extinct!” I fired back at her.
    Asia covered her face and ducked down, but at the last possible moment people dived off to the sides, as they rea lized I wasn’t going to stop. Asia peered up over the dash, as I loudly hummed the tune of, ‘I will