Chapter 8

Carol was amusing with her complaints about how disappointing the raid was. There was hardly any shooting, and we had done it all. It looked like we had created an adrenalin junkie! Gail assured her that she would come to appreciate the relaxed atmosphere when a raid goes off as easily as the last one. Carol didn't believe her, and Gail just laughed at the naivete.

The laughter stopped all of a sudden as a string of bullets etched across the windshield. None penetrated, but we all reflexively ducked as the series of bullets imbedded themselves in the thick polycarbonate. The attack made no sense, unless it was a random drive-by shooting. There were so many pockmarks on the windshield that it was hard to see, so I flicked on the FLIR so that I could see what was ahead in the display.

Needless to say, I accelerated to follow the shooter. It was a car with its rear window removed, and somebody had a submachine gun poked out at us. I didn't know what type it was, but that was not important. From the bullets imbedded in the plastic of the windshield, I guessed that it was a 9mm, or in that range. More shots came at us, but the plastic armor stopped the bullets before they could do any harm. One good thing was coming from all of this: Carol had shut up about her disappointment over the lack of excitement.

Our car had a sun-roof, so Gail opened it and poked her Uzi out at the shooter. She had the good sense not to stick her head out, but she did let fly with several bursts of fire at the car ahead of us. She would never have fired so blindly if there had been any other traffic or pedestrians around, but it was so late at night that she did not have that to worry about.

She must have scored a hit, because the gun sticking out the rear opening of the car ahead suddenly flew out and landed in the street. The person wielding the gun fell out of sight, so we could only assume that we had scored a point on our opponents.

Now the chase took on a different character as the driver gave his full attention to trying to escape. There may have been other people in the car, but it was not obvious from what we could see. I figured that it could only be a couple of gang members out to have some "fun." Our speed was up to the range of 80 MPH, so I was having to give close attention to my driving.

On the other hand, Gail was coming into her own with her shooting. It looked to me like almost every bullet she fired was finding a home somewhere on the body of the car we were chasing. Abruptly, in the middle of one of her bursts, the car suddenly cut to the left and crossed the street with a severe, almost 90° turn at full speed. Naturally it rolled over and over while still traveling parallel to the street. The front was scraping against the masonry walls of the buildings beside the street. This was creating a mass of sparks that eventually set off the gas that was flying out of the tank. Ultimately, the car simply exploded in a burst of flame.

Of course, I had slowed down as soon as the car ahead showed the first sign of trouble. I certainly didn't want to crash into it, especially since Gail was not wearing a seat belt while she was shooting. I didn't come to a complete stop, but did slow enough for us to see that the car and the people inside were a total loss. Carol was delighted to be the one who called 911 for a fire department crew to make sure that the fire did not spread. Meanwhile, we got the hell out of there!

When we got home, I parked in the garage and took a quick walk around the car to see what damage there was besides the obvious damage to the windshield. Man, the car was in a mess! Of course, the armor had done its job in protecting the passengers and the vital parts of the car, but the poor car was not going anywhere like it was without attracting a lot of attention, it was so full of bullet marks and dents. Since the purpose of the car was to be somewhat inconspicuous, it was no longer of any use to the Paladins. I was secretly happy, because I had wanted an excuse to get another car with a lot of added gadgets. Well, there was no doubt that I now had my excuse!

The next day, after breakfast, I telephoned my friend who had reworked my former car for me and told him that I was in need of a new vehicle. He invited me to his garage to look at a couple of candidates that he had on hand. If they were not useable, he could always build something for me from scratch. Man, that latter idea was very tempting, so the four of us went on a car shopping trip that afternoon.

He had two vehicles that were possibilities, one was a relatively small Japanese rip-off. It was interesting in that he had completely replaced the body with two-inch-thick slabs of polycarbonate laminate that would stop anything short of military rounds. My only objection to the car was that it was too small to hold all four of us and all of our equipment.

The other one was more interesting. It was a "crossover" modeled on a three-year-old Chrysler vehicle that was more in the size range that we needed. It used the same laminated plastic body shell material as the smaller car, but it was easily large enough to take care of our needs. A lot of the stuff I wanted was already there, but there were several items I wanted added.

The adventure with the car last night convinced me that I want some machine guns mounted in judiciously chosen locations. I wanted something equivalent to the .30 caliber Browning firing military cartridges. After discussion with the others, we decided that we wanted tandem machine guns mounted in the vicinity of the headlights, but these guns had to swivel under remote control from inside the car. We were looking for some sort of closed-circuit TV for aiming, and we wanted a choice of slaving the two machine guns to each other or of using them independently. The primary control position would be in the front passenger position, and the secondary control position would be in the back seat, either side would do. I also wanted an AA-12 centered on the grill and under the control of the driver. This one I planned to load with explosive rounds—sort of a low caliber mortar. For the rear, I wanted a single .30 caliber machine gun controlled from the other position in the back seat and with remote controls like the front two guns.

For defense from the sides, we would settle for gun ports that would accept our personal weapons. One of those in each of the side windows should do the job.

There were a few other items that we wanted, but they were relatively insignificant additions. One was a bin from which we could drop calthrops if we were chased. Of course, all of these additions were hidden until they were brought into use, so that the vehicle looked like a common, run of the mill civilian crossover in need of a wash and wax.

When we were through with our specifications, I was asked if I really wanted all of that, since it was going to push the complete cost up toward $3 million. I told my friend that I really did want all of that, but I was concerned about how long it was going to take to get everything installed and ready. The answer was approximately six months, and that was when I balked.

However, we did work out a compromise. He would take the old car and salvage things like the FLIR and some other items from it, but set these items aside until he had accumulated everything we wanted. Until then, we could take the crossover to use and bring it back for the final installation and testing when it was all ready. That seemed like the best we could do, so we decided to live with that arrangement. It was better to have something than to have nothing.

We drove the crossover home, and I had to admit that it drove like a champion! It had special tires that gripped the road unbelievably well, so it held tight in the sharpest turns. The suspension was computer controlled so that the body would tip just enough to counteract the centrifugal force in a sharp turn, and the ride was so smooth that I swear that I could hardly feel railroad tracks when we crossed them. This would do wonders to steady our aim if we had to shoot while moving.