F Paul Wilson - Sims 05 by Thy Brother's Keeper (v5.0) Read Free Book Online

disappeared in a splatter of dark green paint.
                 The
car swerved as the windshield wipers came on.
                 “Those
won’t help,” Zero said. “Oil-based.”
                 And
then the van leaned to the right as it rounded a curve, but the Taurus kept
going straight, bounding off the gravel roadway and ramming nose first into a
deep ditch. It hung there, trunk skyward, steam boiling from under its crumpled
hood.
                 She
heard Patrick laugh. “What the hell?”
                 “Not
in the clear yet,” Zero said, staring out the rear door at the second car. He
had another paint balloon in his hand. “Come on,” he whispered. “Just a little closer.”
                 But
the second car, a dark blue Jeep, hung back. Obviously they’d seen what
happened to the Taurus.
                 “Have
to try something else,” Zero said. He rummaged in the chest and came up with a
plastic container. “Here. Toss these out.”
                 Romy
lifted the lid to find a couple of dozen steel objects that looked like jacks.
But these were much bigger, and instead of six tips, these had only four, each
ending in a sharp barbed point.
                 “What
are—?”
                 “Road stars. Just toss them out. They’re configured so that
they always land with a point up.”
                 Romy
emptied the container, watched the Jeep roll over them, and waited for its
tires to go flat.
                 “Hmmm,”
Zero said. “Must have self-sealing tires. The stars
will chew them up eventually but we don’t have time for that. They’re probably
calling for more back-up now.”
                 He
pulled two lengths of chain from the chest, each with a dozen or so road stars
attached, and dropped them out the back.
                 Again
Romy watched the Jeep run over them, but nothing happened.
                 “They
didn’t work.”
                 “Just
give them a few seconds longer. The chains will wrap themselves around an axle,
and drag the stars through the rubber—”
                 Romy
saw a puff of dust as the front left tire blew out.
                 “—tearing the tire to shreds.”
                 The
Jeep swerved on the gravel and then another tire blew. The van left it behind
in the dark, eating dust.
                 “Back
to that 78 sign, Patrick,” Zero called, “and please don’t miss it this time.”
                 Romy
gazed at Zero and tried to sort through the strange mix of emotions scattering
through her at that moment. They were warm—no, they were hot—and if this wasn’t
love, it should be.
                  
                 Luca
thumbed the SEND button on his ringing PCA. It was Stritch.
                 “I’m
in the crib now,” he said. “Our buddy Benny here is in charge of forty-two sims , and that’s how many I count.”
                 “Count
again. You made a mistake.”
                 “I’ve
counted three times already. There’s forty-two sims here; not forty-three, not forty-one. Forty-two.”
                 “Then
he’s lying about the number.”
                 “That’s
what I thought so I made him show me his records. Sure enough: forty-two.”
                 Portero
growled and hung up. All sims accounted for? Then
where did the sim in the van come from?
                 The
PCA rang again. Snyder this time. His voice sounded
strange…nasal.
                 “Give
me some good news.”
                 “We
lost them.”
                 Luca’s
car swerved when he heard the words and he didn’t trust himself to drive. He
pulled over and listened to Snyder’s long-winded, jumbled, broken-nosed,
ass-covering