Geddoe was right to brace himself, because Jack drove like a maniac. Tires screeched as he shot down streets and tore around corners on his way to the roadblock. He sensed that he didn't have a second to spare, and he was right.

The roadblock had consisted of three patrol cars parked end-to-end with the appropriate orange barricades and flashing lights. Now, it was on fire. Someone must have tossed a couple Molotov Cocktails into the cars, because they were well and truly ablaze, and their radios with them. At least all the officers seemed to be intact, taking cover behind the flaming wrecks with their guns drawn. Smoke rose high into the air above them, and was being blown back in their faces.

Jack's car pulled up behind the line and he got out. "Who's in charge here?"

"I am, sir!" A female officer raised her hand. Her face was dark with ash. "Captain, we've been attacked by people I think are former Cameron Hodge supporters. We caught the ones who torched our cars and sent them off to the precinct, but now there's at least two assholes with rifles out there shooting at us. We're pinned." A gunshot ricocheted off Jack's SUV, as though for illustration, the report echoing between buildings.

Jack ducked and frowned. There was a solid wall of smoke between the cops and the shooter, so how...

"They've got a spotter," he said. "Someone on this side of the line, relaying information to them."