Page 10 of Operation Iron Heart

“Unfasten your seatbelts and get on the floor with the children,” he ordered harshly, before standing up and opening the van’s sliding roof. He was so tall that he stood at chest height with it, giving him a clear sight of their pursuers.

As Marci lay whimpering on the floor with the children and Silver tried to keep them steady while driving at considerable speed, Jack took expert aim at the two pursuers. He let off two shots that used the nitrogen in the air and sent a powerful sonic impulse towards them. The shots were effective; the machines were catapulted violently off-course, exploding in a fireball against the solid concrete walls.

Silver accelerated to the glider’s maximum speed and a sliver of light appeared at the end of the subterranean tunnel, leading him to hope that maybe they’d reached the edge of the city. However, there were more machines there, all with the intention of stopping them.

Like a rocket, Silver shot across the lane that was free as a result of the police blockade. Jack grabbed a fusion gun that was also in the van and generated an intensive beam of heat across several hundred metres, keeping their pursuers at bay just in time, as shots impacted left and right of the van, throwing up huge clouds of dust. Fortunately, this didn’t hinder Silver’s driving as he was fitted with the same sensors as Jack.

Marci threw a blanket over the boys’ heads so they couldn’t see what Jack was doing out of the open roof but to his amazement, she didn’t stay huddled underneath it with them.

“What are you doing?” he shouted at her as she grabbed the pulse gun confidently.

“Helping you!” she yelled, drowning out the sound of the impacts that were getting closer and closer.

“You can’t!” he shouted. “You don’t know the first thing about…”

But before he could take aim at their adversaries, she stood next to him and targeted one of the drones following them, leaning against him to steady herself. The weapon’s recoil was huge against her slender frame, but to Jack’s astonishment, her aim was dead on. With the additional stream of heat from Jack’s weapon, the drone exploded in the air and burst into hundreds of pieces that rained down on the ground.

Marci showed no sign of being fazed and reloaded her weapon. Together, they managed to shake off their pursuers until they reached a dense patch of forest that the wealthier residents of the city came to on their days off. For once, Silver didn’t swear; he seemed to know where he was going.

“Where did you learn to handle a weapon like that?” asked Jack, still recovering from his astonishment, as it was due to Marci’s resolve that they’d made it this far.

“Will taught me,” she replied with an air of calm, although Jack could see that she was fighting back tears. “He was a cop. Had you forgotten? He believed that women who live in the slums should always be able to defend themselves, so he often took me with him to the shooting range when he was on duty. When he lost his job, he had to give up his weapon, but shooting is like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it.”

Still lost for words, Jack kept staring at her while his cold robot heart, as she’d called it, felt like it was on fire – for this brave human woman who he admired not just for her beauty but also for her incredible courage.

“Did you think I only knew how to wave a duster around?”

“No,” he said hurriedly. “Will always raved about what an incredible woman you are. Now I know what he meant.”

Silence suddenly fell around them, not just because Marci swallowed her tears and couldn’t, didn’t want to, answer him. Silver brought the van to a stop in the middle of a forest, surrounded by huge redwoods, and opened the doors.

“Where are we?” asked Marci, sounding confused, helping the boys out from under the blankets.

“Switching transport,” said a distinctive voice, and Silver stuck his head into the van. For a moment, Marci thought she was seeing things. It was the giant with the silver hair and the piercing blue eyes who had delivered the steel box containing Jack to Rochelle’s door. Instead of the courier’s uniform, he now wore a black, close-fitting jumpsuit and military boots in a shimmering anthracite material that Marci knew made their wearer move faster and also helped them to climb up buildings and steep cliffs.

“Silver,” he introduced himself with a smile. He held his hand out to Marci, and it felt so warm and soft, like Jack’s, making her forget for a moment that she was travelling with two unscrupulous combat robots.

“Marci.” She attempted a friendly smile. “And this is Willie and Logan,” she said, pointing to her sons.

“Hey boys, you OK?” Silver winked at them cheerily. Logan managed a small nod, while Willie still snuggled fearfully in Marci’s arms.

Jack shouldered Marci’s bags and took Willie from her, then helped Logan down from the van. In a surprising display of chivalry, Silver gave his hand to Marci as she climbed out. He then picked up the weapons and followed them.

After only a few steps, they came to a clearing hidden by thick bushes. Marci shrank back as she heard a sudden humming noise. Only a few metres away, a hyperglider rose out of the bushes, shaking off branches and sand as if it were a living creature. Its flat design reminded Marci of an oversized manta ray and it had three metal feet that automatically lifted and fell before and after vertical take-off. This made it easier to get in and out of, or in this case, easier to camouflage.

The sliding doors glided open, making it easy for Marci and the children to climb aboard, although “easy” was perhaps more applicable to Jack and his colleague, who automatically sat back down at the controls. Marci hesitated, her fear of flying making her wary. Jack sensed her reluctance and looked at her with a question in his eyes.

“I’m scared of flying,” she mumbled apologetically.

“This thing is the safest form of transport in the world,” Jack assured her, trying to give the kind of confident smile that he’d learned from watching Will. “And Silver is the best pilot you can imagine,” he added calmly, but he was getting impatient.

“Come on, get your ass on board,” he commanded less gently, “we’ll get more visitors soon and I want to be away from here before we see them.”

Silver may not have been a bad pilot, but that was of little help to Marci as the machine lifted off and shot almost vertically into the skies. While Logan squeaked with excitement, Willie Junior pressed himself to her, whimpering with fear. He clearly took after his mom, whose heart was beating so fast that she was afraid it might burst out of her chest at any minute.

It didn’t get any better when she got up the courage to look out of the window and saw Lake Michigan flashing past beneath them and the setting sun merging with the blue of the water in a long, golden stream of light. As Silver executed a half-turn that Marci’s sense of balance couldn’t keep up with, the inevitable happened. She retched, her body trembling, and only just managed to swallow down the acid that rose up from her stomach. Jack, who was sitting up front in the cockpit with Silver, watching the holographic screen in his eye on which the onboard computer showed their real-time position in relation to their surroundings, turned around to her in concern.

As a robot, he obviously hadn’t experienced what she was feeling and as the speed glider was only ever flown by robots, there were no silicon bags on board for her to be sick into if needed.