Situation

I'm laid here in the back of the Escalade
Everything seems ...glassy – like someone’s taken the world and shrink-wrapped it in plastic
The late afternoon sunlight seems to reflect off things in strange ways, and the air’s got this weird, liquid malleability to it - although that's probably more to do with the way my drugged mind's interpreting my collapsed lung than anything
That sounds worse than it is
My nanosuit assures me there’s nothing to worry about and that my treatment is all in hand; it diagnosed three broken ribs and a badly dislocated knee while I was in the back of the security van, and then dosed me with a cocktail of painkillers before it manipulated my knee back into position
Even with all the drugs, that still hurt like hell
I feel nice now though – all warm and fuzzy, and my recollection of the pain is fading
There are medical nanites swarming though my body at the moment – millions of tiny machines knitting my torn ligaments and pulling my broken ribs back in line; they’ll sort the lung out as well, but I’m going to need some rest after this. It's the 'suit's job to keep me alive, but treatment tends to be aggressive and pays scant regard to the finer points of palliative care, so I’ll be left feeling weak and nauseous for a while when it's done
I don't particularly mind. There are drugs to offset and delay that, and if I'm quite honest, I’m just glad that I’m still alive. At the range I was shot at, a twelve gauge solid slug would have torn a massive hole right through me and I'd be dead right now
This is nice
The drugs, combined with the low hum of the road and the occasional lazy swoosh of the traffic outside is extremely soporific
I could just drift off laid here in the back of the Escalade, watching the streetlights zip past outside the window
Two, three, four, streetlight, two, three, four...
“Where do we go next Miss Jones?”
That was Jaxx - I had forgotten that these stupid cars don’t drive themselves and that Eve needs directions
“The Skywalk should be signposted,” I murmur, my tongue weirdly feeling like it’s too large for my mouth “Just stay on the ninety three out of Boulder City for about eighty kilometres”
Streetlight, two, three, four...
You know, the Hoover Dam isn’t far from here – I wonder if we’ll be able to see if from the road?
Maybe not. They drive on the wrong side here; not like at home in Japan
Home...
Streetlight, two, three...
“What’s the road called?” Eve asks me, her blue eyes glancing up in the rear view mirror
She sounds tense
Is she stressed about this?
Four, streetlight...
“Pierce Ferry” I whisper, my eyelids drooping
It’ll be nice to sleep
Should I be worried too?
Jay apparently had little trouble shaking the police, and we all seemed to make it out of Las Vegas without any problems
Seems a bit easy
Oh, stop being negative
Streetlight, two...
Streetlight
“I think she’s going to sleep”
Yeah, sorry Jaxx
Street...



Cass awoke with a start as the Escalade slowed to a halt in starlit darkness, her hand moving involuntarily up to her face before curling down behind her head
“Where are we?” she croaked, wincing in pain as she struggled upright to gaze out of the windows at darkened the parking lot and the shadowy desert landscape surrounding them
"Grand Canyon West" Eve replied as she switched the engine off “The Skywalk”
“It looks closed” Jaxx observed
"I guess there's not much to see when it's dark" Cass murmured as she fumbled to check her weapons "Is anyone else here?"
“There are a few other cars over there” Eve nodded "I think that flashy looking yellow one's Jay's"
"Figures" Cass smiled and leaned across to open the door “Ow” she grimaced, clutching her side as she kicked the door open and struggled out into the chilly desert air
Gingerly taking a deep breath, she took a moment to gaze up in wonder at the brilliantly starry night sky before shaking her head and pulling her coat sleeve back to check the nanosuit diagnostics. Eventually satisfied with what the readout was telling her, she tugged her sleeve back down and pulled a communicator out of her coat pocket
“Jay?” she asked as Jaxx and Evelina pushed their own doors open and climbed out of the Escalade “Anyone around?”
“Cass!” Jay sounded pleasantly relieved “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live. Where are you?”
“We broke into the tourist centre” Jay replied “We’re due to meet Khan and Williams out on the skywalk in five minutes”
“On my way” Cass shut the communicator off and turned to look at Jaxx and Eveline “Coming?”

As the small group made their way out onto the depressingly unimpressive curve of the glass floored skywalk a few minutes later, the two renegades de-cloaked not far in front of them, Khan holding up a couple of tiny glass vials
“Two doses of antidote” he smiled, his teeth stark white against the blackness of his beard “You have the rifle?”
“Do this quickly” Williams snapped, unslinging her own rifle but keeping it aimed at the floor
“We’ve got your rifle alright” Jay turned and beckoned to Katrina who pulled the weapon out from within a gun bag and held it up for their scrutiny
“Excellent” Khan smiled beatifically and stepped forward to proffer the antidote while expectantly holding his other hand out for the rifle “Shall we proceed with business?”
“Too late!” Williams yelled above the sudden roar of a half dozen helicopters as walkway was suddenly illuminated from multiple angles, the spotlights dancing across the glass floor
“This is the CIA” an amplified voice boomed out of the darkness “You are all under arrest. Put your hands up behind your head and get down on your knees. Failure to comply with this request will result in your immediate execution!”



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Who’s on the bridge?
Does anyone fancy going quietly?
What do the renegades do?
Do we get the antidote?
If we complete the exchange, we can use the time drive, but the CIA will probably get a little irked by their perfectly reasonable requests being ignored, so what should we do?

If anyone’s got any great ideas and think they can resolve the situation and jump us out of this, get in touch, and I’ll let you know where we’re off to next, so you can tag everyone at the end
Alternatively, it could all go to hell and we might get to see what it’s like inside Area 51?
Over to you...

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