Kaitlyn clenched her teeth and got on the freeway, which was a big one, five lanes in each direction. She knew the others must be aware of how nervous she was, but no one mentioned it.
"Now, let's see… we don't want to go to San Francisco… Okay, take the San Mateo bridge there, and when you get across, go on 880 north. That's the East Bay; you know, Hayward and Oakland."
The bridge started out wide but narrowed to a ribbon of concrete that seemed to barely clear dark water. In a few minutes they were cruising up another freeway.
"Good job," Rob said softly, and Kaitlyn felt a flash of warmth. "Now, don't speed too much; we don't want to draw attention to ourselves."
Kaitlyn nodded and kept the red hand of the speedometer quivering just below sixty miles per hour. They hadn't been driving two minutes before Lewis said, "Uh-oh."
"What 'uh-oh?'" Kaitlyn asked tightly.
"There's a car behind us with antlers," Anna said.
"Antlers?"
"Police light bar," Lewis said. His voice was thin.
Rob stayed calm. "Don't panic. They won't pull you over for going three miles over the speed limit, and Mr. Z probably isn't even awake yet…"
Lights sprang to life on the roof of the car behind Kaitlyn. Blue and yellow flashing lights.
Kaitlyn's stomach plunged as if she'd stepped into an elevator. Her heart had begun a sick pounding.
"Can we panic now?" Lewis gasped. "I thought you said Mr. Z wouldn't be awake yet."
"We forgot," Anna said. "He had plenty of time to call the police and report the car stolen back at the mansion. When he first woke up."
Kait had a wild impulse to run. She'd run from the police a time or two back in Ohio, mainly when they wanted her to make some prediction about a case they were working on. But that had been on foot, out in the farmland that surrounded Thoroughfare—and she hadn't been a criminal then.
Now she was in a stolen car, and she'd just helped assault three grown-ups.
And you've got me in the car, and I'm violating my parole, Gabriel's voice said in her mind. Remember? I'm not supposed to leave the Institute except to go to school.
"Oh, God," Kaitlyn said aloud. She gripped the wheel with palms that were slick with sweat. The need to run, to jam on the accelerator and get out of here, was swelling in her like a balloon.
"No," Rob said urgently. "We won't be able to get away from them, and the last thing we want is a high-speed chase."
"Then what do we do, Rob?" Anna asked.
"Pull over." Rob looked at Kait. "Pull over and we'll talk to them. I'll show them this." He hefted the files. "And if they take us to the police station, I'll show it to everyone there."
Kaitlyn felt a surge of incredulity from Gabriel. "Are you joking? How naive are you, Kessler? Do you think anybody is going to believe five kids—especially any cop—" He broke off. When he spoke again, it was in a different voice, taut and yet somehow expressionless. "Fine. Pull over, Kait."
Walls. Kait could feel Gabriel's walls go up, but she had more critical things to think about. She took the next exit off the freeway and the flashing blue and yellow lights followed her.
She went quite a way down the street before she could make herself slow and stop. The police car glided up behind her like a shark and stopped, too.
Kaitlyn was breathing hard. "Okay, you guys…"
"I'll do the talking," Rob said, and Kait was grateful. She watched in the rearview mirror as a figure got out of the cruiser. There was only one officer, a policeman.
With numb fingers, Kaitlyn rolled down the window. The policeman bent down a bit. He had a neat dark mustache and a very solid-looking chin.
"Driver's license," he said, and Rob, leaning over Kait, said, "Excuse me." And then Kait felt it.
A pulling-back, like the ocean gathering for a tsunami. It came from the backseat. Before she could move or say anything, Gabriel struck.
Dark power shot out of him toward the policeman, a wave of crashing, destructive mental energy. The policeman made a sound like a hurt animal and dropped his notebook, clapping his hands to his head.
"No!" Rob shouted. "Gabriel, stop!"
Kaitlyn could only feel the echoes of the attack through the web, but it was blinding her, making her sick. Dimly she saw the policeman fall to his knees. Anna was gasping. Lewis was whimpering.
Gabriel, stop! Rob roared in a voice to cut through all the confusion. You'll kill him. Stop!
I have to help him, Kaitlyn thought. We can't become murderers… I have to help…
It took a tremendous effort of will to turn around, to focus on Gabriel's mind. She wanted to shield herself from the terrible power still pouring out of Gabriel. Instead, she opened herself to it, trying to break through to him.
Gabriel, you're not a killer, not anymore, she told him. Please stop. Please stop.
She had a sense of wavering, and then the black torrent eased. It seemed to flow back into Gabriel, where it disappeared without a trace.
Trembling, Kaitlyn leaned her head against the seat back. There was absolute silence in the car.
Then Rob erupted. "Why? Why did you do that?"
"Because he would never have listened to us. Nobody's going to listen, Kessler. Nobody's on our side. We've got to fight if we want to live. But you don't know anything about that, do you?"
"I'll show you something about it—"
"Stop it!" Kaitlyn shouted, grabbing Rob, who was lunging at Gabriel. "Shut up, both of you. We don't have time to fight—we've got to get out of here, now." She fumbled with the door handle and flung the door open, dragging her duffel bag behind her.
The policeman was lying still now, but to Kaitlyn's relief he was breathing.
Who knows if his mind's okay, though, she thought. Gabriel's power could drive people into screaming insanity.
The others were scrambling out of the car. Lewis was ghastly pale in the police car's headlights, and Anna's dark eyes were huge—owl eyes. When Rob knelt by the policeman, Kaitlyn could feel the tension in his body.
Rob passed a hand over the policeman's chest. "I think he'll be all right—"
"Then let's go," Kaitlyn said, casting a desperate look around and pulling at him. "Before somebody sees us, before they send more police…"