The Awakening by Michael Carroll Page B

Danny’s father! They’re talking about…” He frowned. “We’ve got to get out of here! Dad! They’re coming for us ! They’re talking about making a clean capture!”
    Colin’s parents looked at each other and hesitated for a split second. Then Warren jumped to his feet. “Colin, go out and unlock the car. Get in and put your seat belt on!”
    “What?”
    “Move! Now! ”
    “Dad, we’ll never outrun a helicopter!”
    “We’re bloody well going to try!”

8
    D ANNY JUMPED BACK AS THE CAR ROARED out of the driveway of Colin’s house. “Where are they going?”
    His father swore and pulled another device out of his canvas bag. He spoke into it. “Green Montego, heading north from my position! Stop it!”
    “Dad? What’ s—?” Danny stopped. The wind had suddenly picked up, gusting from behind, whipping the rain almost horizontally ahead of them. A low, fast thumping sound came from overhead. He turned to see an enormous black helicopter pass a hundred meters above, pursuing Colin’s parents’ car.
    Danny stared at his father. “What’s going on?”
    Without looking at him, Mr. Cooper said, “Be quiet.”
    “But…”
    Mr. Cooper reached out and locked his hand around Danny’s arm. “I said, be quiet!” He glared at Danny.
    Danny nodded.
    “Danny, you always were a lousy liar. I told you not to tell anyone about your powers!”

    Colin clung to the back of his mother’s seat as the car roared around another corner. “Dad…!”
    “We can do it!”
    “The pilot’s just been ordered to activate an infrared scanner.”
    Caroline Wagner shook her head. “We can’t hide from that, Warren. Just pull over before you kill us all!”
    Colin didn’t know whether to be more shocked that they were being chased by a helicopter, or that his father was driving through the estate at four times the speed limit.
    “They’re going to try to corner us, Warren!” Colin’s mother said. “Take the next left, through the Penrose estate!”
    “We’ll head into the underpass,” Colin’s father replied. “They can’t follow us there.”
    “They’ll just wait for us to come out the other side!” Colin said.
    “I know…Colin, we’re going to have to abandon the car, OK? We’ll jump out and let it keep running. That’ll give us a few minutes.”
    “Are you crazy ? Mum! Tell him!”
    “He’s right, Colin.” She was already undoing her seat belt.
    “We’ll be killed!”
    Warren said, “Hold on! Roundabout!”
    The car went straight over the roundabout, plowing through the flower beds that had been planted for Mystery Day—they were in the shape of the T on Titan’s chest—and narrowly missed an oncoming motorbike.
    Warren shouted, “We’re nearly there! Colin, take off your seat belt and unlock the door!”
    Colin did as he was instructed. Ahead, the entrance to the motorway’s underpass was rapidly approaching.
    As soon as the car was inside the tunnel, Warren hit the brakes. “Get out, both of you! And run !”
    Colin and his mother jumped from the car, slamming the doors behind them. Then his father got out, pulled the small fire extinguisher from under the seat and wedged down the accelerator with it.
    Still in neutral, the car’s engine roared, but remained in place.
    “Keep back!” Warren said. He leaned into the car, pressed down the clutch and forced the gearstick into third.
    He released the hand brake and leaped back just as the car surged forward.
    As Colin watched, the car shot out of the far end of the tunnel and kept going.
    “Come on!” Warren shouted. They began to run back the way they had come. “I wedged the accelerator down, but it won’t fool them for long.”
    Just before the entrance to the tunnel, they stopped at a steel door set into the wall. “Maintenance shaft,” his father explained. “Access for the motorway’s lights and the speed cameras. This comes out about two hundred meters away. Their infrared sensors won’t be able to pick up our heat