Free Edward by Marcus LaGrone Page A

times, the pair tore down the halls at a
thunderous pace.  Even with Kadu ducking slightly they were still making a
good time and starting to catch up.  As they rounded the last door and
burst outside they crashed through the recently dismissed musicians.
    Chaos greeted them as there were people everywhere but that
gray outfit was in hard contrast to the lively outfits of the musicians. 
Their joy was short lived for as they closed so, too, did an exotic
motorcycle.  Black and silver with its turbine whining, it slid short of
their man and he hopped on the back.  The pair lurched and was soon off
with a squeal of tires and whine of the turbine opening
up.         
    Kadu slapped her comlink and barked back to the rest of the
crew while Edward turned and addressed the musicians, “Any of you able to
follow that?”
    “Are you crazy?” was the mostly uniform response.  Not
that Edward could blame them.
    “I can't go very fast unless I yank the governor.  You
going to handle the cops if I pull it out?” came the
reply from Zoë.  Edward blinked, he almost didn't
recognize her wearing motorcycle armor.  Leather, titanium and Kevlar,
practical if not a little out of place for what he had expected for a pianist.
    Edward had no idea what she was talking about, “If it means
you can go faster, we'll work it out.”
    “Excellent!” she beamed with a childish grin. 
“Tomish, can you loan him a helmet!”
    Soon Edward found himself on the back of Zoë's blue and
black motorcycle.  As he fit his helmet and tied his comlink into the
helmets radio, she pulled a circuit board from the engine's computer and the
turbine started to whine to life.
    “We are losing time,” muttered Edward.
    “Sorry, it takes time for the engine to come on line. 
Your people have any info at all?”
    “Up and out, then north to the main exchange is all we
know.”
    “30k rpm.  Okay.  Let's go.”  Zoë expertly opened up
the throttle and they shot out the back lot at an alarming rate.  
Edward found he had to hold on much tighter than he had expected.  “Watch
the hands please,” came Zoë's voice. 
    “Sorry,” blurted Edward over the bike's comm system. 
He quickly slid his hands down a little lower and a lot tighter as they continued to accelerate.  A pair of airfoils unfolded from the middle of both of the
wheels.  The little wings fluttered with the turns and strained to keep
the bike glued to the ground.   He risked a peek at the bike's
gauges, they were showing 150 km/h and the engine was at 40k rpm.  “How
fast does the engine rev up to?”
    “80k rpm with the governor off.  We have full magnetic coupling to both wheels so we
ought to be able to hit 300 in the straight-of-ways.”
    Traffic!  Lots of traffic!  They started weaving
in and out of traffic at what Edward was sure was an insane speed.
    “Lean into the turns, darn it!  The bike won't fall over!  Lean!” 
barked Zoë.
    Edward nodded.  That was silly!  She couldn't see
him nod.  But as they started to thread through traffic again, Edward,
much against his better judgment leaned into the turns and they were, in fact,
faster and smoother.
    “Quick learner!  Excellent!  Woo!  This is fun!  Never had it up this fast inside the city!”
    That wasn't exactly inspiring but she was handling the bike
expertly.  More importantly Edward could see the fugitive pair on their
bike less than a half a kilometer ahead and they were closing fast. 
“Trevor, I have visual.  Less than 500 straight ahead.”
    “Relaying to the locals.  I should have the pair of you on a street camera in
15.”
    “How close do you want me to get?” asked Zoë.
    “Impress me.”
    Edward could make out a faint giggle as they continued to
close.  Suddenly the second bike lurched ahead.  
    “Oh no you don’t!” screamed Zoë as she opened the throttle
all the way.
    Edward had to use his claws to hold on they accelerated so
hard.   He was glad the bike was