The guard put the datachip on the desk beside him and folded his arms.

'Okay, one more time.'

Malachi glared at it and wished both he and the chip were far away from here.

The guard in the chair suddenly sat up and leaned forward.

'Shush, you hear that?'

'Hear what?' said Malachi.

The guard flapped his hand in front of Malachi's face to silence his prisoner.

'Is someone knocking at the door?'

'I guess they're here already,' said the guard leaning on the table. 'I'll go let 'em in.'

'Find out what's wrong with the entry codes while you're there,' the other shouted after him. He turned back to Malachi. 'Looks like your time here is almost up, my friend.'

'Is that a good thing or a bad thing?'

'I'm sorry to say that I think that will depend on which chair you're sitting in when that door opens.'

Malachi took a deep breath and waited for the inevitable to arrive. He looked up at the guard.

'You don't want to swap, do you?' he said, glumly.

'Sorry, my friend, but I do not. I'll get the door for you though.' He stood and crossed the room and opened the door.

Tila skidded to a halt at the threshold, and raised her staff.

'What the...' The guard scrambled backward and fumbled for his weapon. 'What is that?'

'That,' said Malachi, his mood brightening, 'is a good thing.'

* * * * *

Jayce refused to look out the window because the view terrified him, and he couldn't look at the floor because when he did that every turn Ellie took made him want to throw up. Instead, he concentrated on his hands locked around the grab handle in front of him, and wondered if his knuckles could get any whiter.

'Hold on,' Ellie commanded.

'Already doing it!' squeaked Jayce, and discovered that they could. He braced his legs against the foot well to help. 'Why this time?'

'Someone's in our way.'

'Ellie, that's an intersection. The red light means stop!'

'But I'm in a hurry.'

'They don't know that!'

Ellie popped her head up, quickly checked the vehicles around them, and wrenched the wheel to one side. Jayce's shoulder slammed against the door. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Their cruiser slid sideways into the intersection. Oncoming traffic swerved sharply and the sound of angry horns dopplered past them into the night. Ellie zigged and zagged through the obstacles, righting her position just as they sped out the other side. Ellie yanked the wheel the other way. The cruiser bottomed out under the hard turns and orange sparks fountained in their wake. With one final correction Ellie slid them back into the correct lane.

'See? Now they know,' she said.

'So does everyone else! We're going to get pulled over for sure.'

'Pulled over?'

'Stopped.'

'I can't stop. We don't have time for that.'

'Just go slower, please!'

'I can't go slower, Jayce. Malachi's might be in trouble, and if Tila is there she will definitely be in trouble.'

Jayce looked through the rear window at the chaotic scene behind them and gulped.

'I think I'm in trouble.'

'You're fine.'

'And you're going to rescue them?'

'I'm not leaving them alone.'

'But you don't know what kind of trouble they're in.'

'Exactly.'

Light and dark strobed overhead as they zipped between the streetlights, and Jayce saw Ellie anew as the shadows in the vehicle suddenly appeared and faded away, appeared and faded away. She was like no one he had ever met. She was something else entirely.

Ellie had already been the pretty stranger in the market and the bold racer in the countryside. Now she was the fierce waif racing through dark and unknown streets. She was tiny determination in a padded seat paying no thought at all to the dangers ahead.

But as determined as she might be, he knew Ellie was no fighter. Bravery alone couldn't stop Typhon or his agents. He knew it wasn't going to stop Conway's security guards either. What could she do when they got there? What could either of them do?

Jayce concentrated on his knuckles.

Definitely something else, he thought.