A Chip and a Chair (Seven of Spades, #5)(82)
“Well, that’s comforting,” said Dominic.
Deferring to the rush of oncoming traffic, Natasha slowed down beneath the overpass. When they emerged, something smashed onto the roof with the sound of shattering glass.
Levi and Dominic both shouted, and even Rebel yelped, but Natasha just grimaced and said, “What the fuck was that?”
Twisting to look out the rear window, Levi saw a rowdy group of people clustered by the railing of the overpass, whooping as they flung bottles, rocks, and other detritus at the cars below. As he watched, one flung another bottle in the direction of Leila’s bike. She veered neatly out of the way, and the bottle crashed into the asphalt instead.
He turned back and leaned forward, judging the road ahead. Past the approaching intersection, rapidly heading in their direction, a car was trapped behind an SUV and a minivan that apparently weren’t moving fast enough; it swung back and forth between lanes, trying in vain to edge past them.
The minivan accelerated, opening a small gap to its left. The car darted toward it, but at the same moment, the SUV sped up to keep them out. With a thunderous crash, the car slammed into the SUV, propelling it over the median and flipping it onto its side-right in the path of Natasha’s car.
Natasha stomped the brakes as Levi instinctively grabbed Rebel. The rear of their car swung around in a wide circle, rubber and metal screeching, and slid to a halt inches from the SUV. Levi lurched forward against his seat belt and rebounded hard, making his bruised back flare with pain.
“Everyone okay?” Natasha sounded more irritated than shaken.
“Yeah.” Levi released his death grip on Rebel’s K-9 vest, which had kept her from being tossed off the seat. Dominic echoed him.
Behind them, Leila had detoured safely onto the sidewalk and stopped her bike, with Martine secure on the back. But the cars on the other side of the road weren’t so lucky. Reacting too slowly to the wreck, they crashed into each other one after the next, skidding onto the sidewalk and colliding with the palm trees in the median. The pile-up was six cars deep before anyone braked in time to avoid it.
The SUV’s driver struggled free of his vehicle, limping, but intact enough to run screaming at the car that had hit him. The other driver jumped out as well, shouting back, until the first hauled off and punched him in the face.
“Get out of the car,” Levi said. “Now.”
Without the car’s insulating effect, the noise was deafening. The angry shouts and curses of the people involved in the accident were overlaid by the blaring horns of the cars stuck behind it. One woman shoved another, sending her sprawling onto the street; a man pounded his fist violently on the roof of his car as he bellowed at the driver behind him.
Levi knew rage, and the air here thrummed with it-the mindless, panicked rage of terrified people whose lives had been upended, lashing out at each other like frenzied animals. Few things could be more dangerous. Pulling up his hood, he retreated to the sidewalk where Leila and Martine were waiting, and the others followed suit.
“What happened?” Carmen asked.
“Major car accident,” said Natasha. “It blocked both sides of the road. I can’t drive around it.”
“I can,” Leila said. “What should I do?”
Levi glanced south. The Whitby was a few blocks away, easily visible from where they were standing. “You and Martine keep going. We’ll meet you there.”
She nodded, revved the bike, and took off.
The angry confrontations around the wrecked cars were escalating into an all-out brawl. “We gotta get moving,” Dominic said. He hefted the large duffel bag he was carrying more securely onto his shoulder.
They raced down the sidewalk, past uprooted street signs and trampled landscaping. Trash littered the road from overturned garbage cans.
The farther they ran, the more Levi felt like he’d been transported to an upside-down nightmare version of the city he loved. The neon signs and bright windows that normally blazed against the night sky were at half-strength, as a random scattering of buildings stood in absolute darkness. Shrieking car alarms competed with screams, breaking glass, and the wail of police sirens. People tore through the streets, hollering in a crazed mix of fear and manic excitement, destroying everything in their path with no seeming motivation other than to cause havoc.
A block away from the FSE, Levi stumbled to a halt at the intersection and gaped.
What had started as a swarm of looters had devolved into an angry mob in an unchecked free-for-all. The violence spilled from the FSE’s entrance into the surrounding streets as people pummeled each other with fists and improvised weapons. Some darted in and out of the busted-open shops with their spoils, only to be taken down by others who fought them for the goods. One of the buildings was on fire.
The police were out in force, clad in full riot gear, but they weren’t doing much to turn the tide. As Levi and the others absorbed the chaos, a car that was weaving its way through the horde swerved to avoid two people who ran in front of it and smashed head-on into a fire hydrant, which erupted in a geyser of water.
“At this rate, there may not be a city left to save,” Natasha said.
Levi leapt back from the water now gushing down the street. The sound of sirens escalated, and he looked up to see a wall of flickering red and blue lights moving toward them-police reinforcements, and no doubt the FBI. It was only a matter of time before the National Guard was called in, too.