Read Online Chase (ChronoShift Trilogy) by Zack Mason - Free Book Online

detonated.  One of the grenades must have fallen near a support post, because the far side of the building suddenly collapsed, closing off the only other door of escape.  As the roof at the opposite end dropped closer to the ground, Mark and Hardy were almost shaken from their posts, but they held on with grips of death.  To fall off would mean annihilation.
    Usher and Grey Patch unleashed a hail of devastating machine gun fire through all parts of the stable, while Rialto lobbed a few more grenades into the far end.  The Uzis strafed through every board in the place.  They did not aim high, but low. If Mark and Hardy had tried to hide themselves under the hay anywhere in the stable, they would have been decimated by the continuing fusillade.
    After the men had exhausted several clips, their weapons fell silent.  They advanced into the havoc they'd wrought, looking for bodies.
    As fortune would have it, their advance gave Mark and Hardy the perfect opportunity to turn the tables.  For just a moment, one perfect moment, Usher stood directly below Mark, and Grey Patch was lined up under Hardy.
    Mark raised a hand.  Hardy acknowledged.  He wiggled silently into a little better position.
    Rialto saw them and yelled, but it was too late.  Mark and Hardy fired their weapons as they dropped, both their bullets and feet slamming home.  Rialto snapped off a hasty shot, but missed.
    It was doubtful their bullets had killed Usher and Grey Patch, but they were definitely out for the count.  Rialto hightailed it out the door he'd come in.
    "Get him!  He's behind all this."
    They raced after Rialto, but he was long gone by the time they got to the alley.  They took stock of the situation.  Rialto had disappeared again.  If they tried, they could probably flush him out.  Still, he had an Uzi and they had pistols.
    "Hey, Mark."
    "What?"
    "My shifter's working again. Yours?"
    "Yeah, mine too."
    "You wanna just get out of here?"
    "Rialto's still got a detector.  If we shift out now, they'll have time to regroup, heal, and come after us again, right at the moment we shift into 2013."
    "Then what do we do, Kemosabe?"
    "We go back in, make sure Usher and Grey Patch are finished, then get away from London and shift forward to 2013 from a different place."
    Suddenly, the wall next to them disintegrated under a barrage of more machine gun fire.  Rialto was back, and he looked half-crazed.
    "Forget it!  To the river!"
    The Thames River was and always has been the main artery of London.  Large enough to handle large boats, it made London a port city.   It was also swift enough to carry them away.
    They plunged into the dark grey water with a splash.  It was surprisingly refreshing, even if it did stink a bit from the waste dumped in from the city.  There was no sign of Rialto following.  Mark finally permitted himself to relax a little as they floated out of London.
     
     

 
     
     
     
    They floated several miles downriver until they were far enough in the country to escape unwanted attention.  Then, they walked another ten.
    They had reached a large, rustic barn when they saw a wagon approaching on the road from the opposite direction.  They took cover behind some brush, waiting to see which way the wagon would go.
    The barn couldn't be described as anything resembling a modern red barn, though there were some similarities.  This barn was two stories high, but it was more triangular in shape than polygonal.  It had an enormous thatched roof supported by thick, roughly hewn, unpainted wood posts.  The spaces between these posts were covered by the same thin wooden slats they’d seen in London.
    Behind the wagon followed three large, healthy stallions, and astride them were three finely dressed riders.  A fourth man drove the wagon.  He looked like death itself, wrapped in a dark cloak, hood pulled down so far it covered his face.
    In the back of the wagon lay a prone figure, a sack covering his head and face.