24. Run Straight Down

In driving rain near the Sprawl, Turner struggles with failing wipers and leaves the highway for a narrow service road. He spots an old gas station and sets the hover down, wary of locals. A man in a khaki poncho emerges, but a pencil-thin laser from a descending black Honda shears his head, revealing an ambush.

Turner shoves the controls to Angie, pops the roof hatch, and fires a distracting revolver shot as Angie blasts the hover through the wood-frame station. Turner then takes the controls and rams the Honda twice, crumpling its canopy and pinning it against trees, disabling it amid spreading flames from the shattered station.

Investigating the wreck, Turner finds two dead aboard: Oakey, identifiable by his bomber jacket and beard, and a Japanese pilot, both with image-amp goggles and a laser rig. Turner pockets Oakey’s flask and returns as the ruined station burns behind them.

Back on the road, Turner explains Hosaka likely followed them and chose to strike off-highway to avoid police. Angie vomits, then stiffens and begins speaking in a deep, alien voice. Claiming to be the “Lord of Roads,” the presence demands the child as a mount, approves their eastward course, and warns that Samedi rides with Turner but is fickle.

The possession ends abruptly as Angie slumps unconscious. Turner drives on toward the Sprawl, the immediate corporate threat blunted but the journey now shadowed by uncanny guidance and ominous prophecy.