him.
‘It slows it down when the sensors detect a slower or stationary car ahead to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front.’
They found a clear path. Wu floored it.
‘Okay, take the wheel!’ he yelled, as he dived between the seats and reached into the custom-made compartment under the back seat that contained his guns. The lid was stuck.
‘Step on it!’ yelled Kovic.
As Wu struggled to get at the weapons, Kovic veered in and out of the oncoming cars, horns blaring as drivers dived for cover.
‘Brake!’
Wu obliged. Kovic veered across the central reservation as a space opened up to the left of a bus then back again. The jolt tossed Wu back into his seat, the gun now in his hand. He threw it into Kovic’s lap and took back the wheel just in time to wrench them out of the way of a wrecker towing a stricken van.
‘Good work.’ It was the Sig Sauer P226 Kovic had given him asa present but which he had yet to use. Guns hadn’t come into their work in Shanghai – until now.
The sky, which was an angry grey, now split with a scrawl of lightning and as the crash of thunder broke over them the rain slanted down, melting the view ahead into an indecipherable blur of colours. Wu hit the wipers just as the screen exploded, showering them with glass and pink plastic boots. The people mover they had rear-ended had deposited the contents of its roof rack on to them. The wipers continued their ungainly dance as they swept thin air.
‘The fuck?’
‘This is so not our day.’
This time the hood of the X6 had broken free of its clips and sprang up like a shield, a second later it was perforated with holes.
Times like this I’d like nothing better than to have my feet up by a log fire and settle into a good book, thought Kovic. Why does my head do this to me just when I need it most?
‘If it’s not one thing—’
But Wu was in full survival mode now, long past protesting at the desecration of his until very recently immaculate vehicle. He slammed the shift into reverse, Kovic doubling up with the sudden surge of Gs, mesmerised by his partner’s capacity for contortion as he observed him speeding backwards, two hands still on the wheel, but his torso almost facing the rear. He made a mental note to do some yoga when he had a spare moment.
‘You see where those bullets came from?’
He needn’t have asked. A bike drew level with them and blew out the side window, Kovic sensing the air parting as a bullet shot past his nose. He lifted Wu’s Sig, aimed, and the biker gunman was no more, but less than a second later another bullet shot the Sig clean out of his hand.
Wu threw the wheel to the right and they ninety-ed into a narrow street taken up almost entirely by a garbage truck. There was no way out. The Corolla Kovic thought they had shaken off magically reappeared behind them. Wu slammed to a halt and the hood flopped back down in time to reveal another biker comingtowards them from the other side of the garbage truck, the pillion rider taking aim.
‘Abandon ship!’
Kovic threw himself out and came to rest on the drenched sidewalk at the feet of an elderly lady. Her mouth made a perfect O.
‘Excuse me, madam. Bad day.’
He scrambled up and disappeared into a completely dark alleyway. He hoped it would lead somewhere. It didn’t. The sound of the motorbike ricocheted off the walls as it followed him in. He hurtled through a doorway and up a flight of stairs into a workshop full of women at sewing machines and giant rolls of cloth. The women stopped and gazed at him without expression. He could hear the clatter of feet on the stairs. He took the next flight, across a room strewn with toys and small children, a nursery for the workers. There were no more floors after that so he slid open a window and looked down into the alley. A ledge ran beneath the windows to the end of the building where there was a drainpipe. It looked fragile, but several cables ran alongside it up to the roof, and
‘It slows it down when the sensors detect a slower or stationary car ahead to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front.’
They found a clear path. Wu floored it.
‘Okay, take the wheel!’ he yelled, as he dived between the seats and reached into the custom-made compartment under the back seat that contained his guns. The lid was stuck.
‘Step on it!’ yelled Kovic.
As Wu struggled to get at the weapons, Kovic veered in and out of the oncoming cars, horns blaring as drivers dived for cover.
‘Brake!’
Wu obliged. Kovic veered across the central reservation as a space opened up to the left of a bus then back again. The jolt tossed Wu back into his seat, the gun now in his hand. He threw it into Kovic’s lap and took back the wheel just in time to wrench them out of the way of a wrecker towing a stricken van.
‘Good work.’ It was the Sig Sauer P226 Kovic had given him asa present but which he had yet to use. Guns hadn’t come into their work in Shanghai – until now.
The sky, which was an angry grey, now split with a scrawl of lightning and as the crash of thunder broke over them the rain slanted down, melting the view ahead into an indecipherable blur of colours. Wu hit the wipers just as the screen exploded, showering them with glass and pink plastic boots. The people mover they had rear-ended had deposited the contents of its roof rack on to them. The wipers continued their ungainly dance as they swept thin air.
‘The fuck?’
‘This is so not our day.’
This time the hood of the X6 had broken free of its clips and sprang up like a shield, a second later it was perforated with holes.
Times like this I’d like nothing better than to have my feet up by a log fire and settle into a good book, thought Kovic. Why does my head do this to me just when I need it most?
‘If it’s not one thing—’
But Wu was in full survival mode now, long past protesting at the desecration of his until very recently immaculate vehicle. He slammed the shift into reverse, Kovic doubling up with the sudden surge of Gs, mesmerised by his partner’s capacity for contortion as he observed him speeding backwards, two hands still on the wheel, but his torso almost facing the rear. He made a mental note to do some yoga when he had a spare moment.
‘You see where those bullets came from?’
He needn’t have asked. A bike drew level with them and blew out the side window, Kovic sensing the air parting as a bullet shot past his nose. He lifted Wu’s Sig, aimed, and the biker gunman was no more, but less than a second later another bullet shot the Sig clean out of his hand.
Wu threw the wheel to the right and they ninety-ed into a narrow street taken up almost entirely by a garbage truck. There was no way out. The Corolla Kovic thought they had shaken off magically reappeared behind them. Wu slammed to a halt and the hood flopped back down in time to reveal another biker comingtowards them from the other side of the garbage truck, the pillion rider taking aim.
‘Abandon ship!’
Kovic threw himself out and came to rest on the drenched sidewalk at the feet of an elderly lady. Her mouth made a perfect O.
‘Excuse me, madam. Bad day.’
He scrambled up and disappeared into a completely dark alleyway. He hoped it would lead somewhere. It didn’t. The sound of the motorbike ricocheted off the walls as it followed him in. He hurtled through a doorway and up a flight of stairs into a workshop full of women at sewing machines and giant rolls of cloth. The women stopped and gazed at him without expression. He could hear the clatter of feet on the stairs. He took the next flight, across a room strewn with toys and small children, a nursery for the workers. There were no more floors after that so he slid open a window and looked down into the alley. A ledge ran beneath the windows to the end of the building where there was a drainpipe. It looked fragile, but several cables ran alongside it up to the roof, and
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