Rising Sun
an excerpt

“I have some news, guys,” he said, running a hand through his blonde hair.
“Can it wait?” Andrew asked.
“Afraid not. Jess has gone missing,” Shane and Andrew immediately jumped into action, pushing past him and shoving each other out of the way to get out the door. Shane beat him through it.
“It’s not a good idea for you to go out, Shane,” Andrew said, racing into the armoury and grabbing the nearest rifle and ammo. Shane had a good head start on him, having already been carrying weapons that she had taken to the Gold Coast. Andrew caught up in a sprint.
“It’s not a good idea for you to go out, you’re still drunk!” Shane argued. Together they pushed out of the base entrance and up into the building above it.

They barged out onto the street and the oncoming darkness.
“Curfew is in an hour, do you honestly think you could find her by then?” Shane yelled as they ran down the street.
“Sure I do. The question is, can you keep up?” he spotted a motorcycle on the side of the road and jumped on, wiring the engine and revving it.
“No fair!” Shane yelled, looking around. She spotted another one in an alley up the street and went to take it. Andrew raced past her. Shane kicked the bike into action and spun out of the alley, drifting the back tire as she turned the bike to follow him. Andrew laughed as she caught up.
“You could never ride as well as me, what makes you think you could now?” he asked. Shane just grinned, then gunned the engine to get ahead of him. Their fight had turned into a competition. Everything they did was all about competition, right back to when Andrew had gotten his first skateboard, and the challenged each other as to who could learn tricks faster. Now their sister’s life was on the line, they were playing for a bit more than bragging rights.

“Do you even know the last place Roger saw Jess?” Shane asked.
“Yeah, at some hotel in North District,” Andrew replied over the roar of the bikes. He tried to get past Shane and she cut him off. He growled in frustration. His phone began ringing.
“Since when did you get a phone?” Shane asked.
“Since when the Resistance hooked up a close range system for us to use,” Andrew said, answering it. “Hello?”
“Andrew, its Roger. One of the reserve soldiers I’ve been working with has spotted your sister in West District, in Getafe’s apartment blocks,” his voice crackled through the weak connection.
“Thanks,” Andrew hung up.
“Who was that?” Shane asked.
“Roger, he said Jess has been spotted at Getafe’s,” Andrew said with a smirk.
“Wait, our Getafe’s? As in our old apartment block?” Shane asked, incredulous, veering to avoid a tipped over rubbish bin.
“See you there!” Andrew made a tight turn left. Shane swore and swung a u-turn to follow him. Andrew tore down a side street, and Shane leaned dangerously low to turn in time. Without warning she hit a large bit of plywood leaning up against a large bin and was suddenly airborne.

“Hey Andrew!” she yelled, and he looked up in surprise. She threw her legs over one side of the bike and did a can-can trick, remounting just in time to land heavily. The bike strained from the impact.
“Lucky they’re dirt bikes,” Shane remarked. From behind them a siren sounded. They looked to see a police car branded with the AFUR symbol racing towards them, lights flashing. Andrew saw a metal sheet leaning against pile of old wood on the side of the street. He revved the engine and launched up it, spinning his bike 180 degrees to face the car and pulling out his rifle. He fired a few shots hanging onto the bike with his knees and momentum before having to spin another 180 degrees and land. The bullets dented the car but didn’t break through. He hit the ground one handed and wobbled a bit, but stayed on.
“How’d you like that one?” Andrew asked his sister with a grin. She shook her head, and turned to fire one of her handguns at the car. The bullets ricocheted off the hood just like Andrew’s had. Shane spotted a truck up ahead with its car ramps lowered.
“Andrew!” she called, aiming her bike for it. He followed her lead, swerving to avoid the shots coming from the car chasing them.

Shane revved her engine and jumped into the air, the extended her body upwards while holding onto the handle bars one-handed and firing upside down with the other. Andrew launched into a backflip, firing at the apex of his rotation. Instead of firing at the car chasing them, they fired at the truck they had launched off. With a bang it caused a small explosion, causing the car to break heavily to avoid it. Shane and Andrew landed and continued on, racing down another side street.
“I didn’t know you could backflip,” Shane called to Andrew.
“I’ve been working on it,” he called back. Shane laughed as they swung around another tight corner, cutting the bike engines in front of an apartment block. They raced inside, calling Jess’ name.
“Who’s there?” she asked from the stairwell.
“Jess!” Andrew yelled, sprinting towards her and wrapping his arms around her.
“Andrew? You’re crushing me!” she said with a laugh. He let her go.

“What do you think you’re doing here? When Roger said he’d lost you, we thought you’d been captured,” Andrew said, relief in his voice. Jess frowned.
“Roger? Who’s that? What do you mean he lost me?” she asked.
“Roger’s a man in the Resistance. He’s been keeping an eye on you so we didn’t have to worry,” Shane answered. A siren came from outside before the conversation could continue.
“Drop your weapons and come outside!” a voice blared through a megaphone.
“Not a chance,” Andrew whispered.
“Roof,” Shane said. Andrew agreed in a nod and started herding his sisters up the stairs. Andrew slowly opened the door to the roof. A bullet hit the bricks beside him. He jumped back, shutting the door again. Shane unslung her steyr.
“I’ll handle this,” she said, raising rifle. Andrew grabbed the door. At Shane’s nod, he flung it open, and she dove out, taking cover behind a skylight that protruded out of the flat roof. Bullets hit the ground beside it.

Carefully she pulled a small mirror out of her pocket and slowly moved it to where she could see the roof behind her. The man shooting was in clear view, standing beside an aerial. She swung around, raising the scope to her eye, and fired a single shot. The bullet caught the man in the shoulder and he dropped his weapon. Her second shot hit his head.
“Clear!” she hissed, and Andrew opened the door and came out beside her.
“Let’s go,” he said, and together they went to the roof’s edge and began firing. There were only two cars, but about ten soldiers were taking cover behind them, waiting for them to surrender. They didn’t recognise the danger until the rain of bullets started falling, hitting their targets. The blood ran thick on the streets and splattered over the cars as bodies fell on top of each other. The twins stopped firing.
“I think we’re done here,” Shane said coolly. Andrew looked down at the mess they had made.
“Time to get out of here?” he asked.
“Yep,” she said. Jess came out beside them.
“Are we going to the Resistance?” she asked. Shane nodded.
“But first, we’re getting away from here,” she said. Without warning, she ran across the roof and leapt across to the roof the sniper was on, landing with a thud.

“I feel like I’m in a Matrix movie,” Andrew commented with a smile, as he and Jess followed. Jess smiled, happy that they were finally reunited.