The black SUV before the one they just derailed slowed down a little, then sped up and gained on the cars Gloria, Keryn and the other two men in black imposters were following.
“So there’s one more car. ” The driver took his probably hundredth deep breath: “Now - please tell me you can do that again - because that’s awesome, and our lives kinda depend on it.”
“I don’t think so.” Gloria narrowed her eyes then turned to Keryn and unfastened her seat belt to change seats with her so she could be closer to the left window: “Your turn now, detective. ”
“Not looking forward to it.” Keryn sighed and squeezed into Gloria’s seat.
The man in the passenger seat shuffled through the glove compartment - it turned out he already gave Gloria everything that can be thrown. He looked at the door, and then under his seat - there was nothing in either place.
The second black SUV slowed down and began approaching their car from the front. Keryn had her gun ready, yet just looked out the window with a relaxed look on her face to fake being just mere civilians.
The passenger seat of the black SUV slid down, a bald man with a scar across his left eye and a nose ring looked out of his passenger seat window. As the window rolled down, his right arm was gesturing to reach out of it.
“Bang bang!” Without even a hint of hesitation, Keryn fired two shots at the man. One shot struck his right shoulder and the other struck his face, splashing blood all over the windshield and the dash. The black SUV swerved to the left, but pulled back just when it was about to hit the railing.
The right side back seat window of the SUV rolled down, and another gun stuck out. Before this gun could fire, Keryn fired her final shot while it was only halfway open, and they could hear a man’s groan coming from the window.
The SUV kept going, and gradually slowed down so that it would become completely parallel to their car. The right side back seat window remained halfway down, so Gloria just reached over and threw the empty glass wine bottle at the right passenger seat window. The bottle knocked off a small splinter from the top of the frame, then ricocheted to the driver seat.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The SUV swerved again, this time it also spun in the road and its momentum ground to a halt on the side of the road.
Keryn cheered and high-fived Gloria. The driver and the man in the passenger seat also cheered. Their car sped forward to catch up on the rest of the group in front of them. Before long, the unfinished buildings in their target apartment complex came into their sight.
Gloria and Keryn looked back again. There were a few vehicles charging at them from the forks and junctions of the road behind. Good news for them was that they were still very far away - far enough that there was still room for Gloria and Keryn to wish that they were just ordinary SUVs, maybe people just going on trips; or maybe just people trying to make it out of the city.
They charged through a fence gate broken open by the first vehicle. They made a few turns through the dirt, around cement and brick piles laying in the construction site, and eventually made it to the front of a half finished building with a height of about three or four storeys tall.
They stopped, one vehicle at a time. One man in black from the second vehicle carried Mick out, who was in regular clothing now but still appeared to be under the influence of anesthetics. Then came Kevin and Tae Kuo, followed by Kelvin, who was holding a plastic bag containing Mick’s scrub.
“Mick!” A middle aged woman ran out from the shadows behind the gate: “My son! Are you okay?” A middle aged man followed her out, with a tall, muscular man in sunglasses and what looked like a combat-ready suit closely behind him.
“Who are you? ” The middle aged man pulled the woman as she was about to rush into a group of strangers to hug Mick: “Why are you here? Jensen, why are they here?!”
“Sir, they helped us rescue your son from them.” The leader of the men in black answered: “They were onto us, onto him. Without them we couldn’t have gotten him out.”
“Oh, thank you!” The middle aged woman ran to hug Mick, her son: “Thank you! I’m so glad he’s safe - what happened?”
“He’s injured.” Gloria came forward and explained: “We need to find a healer who can help with this - maybe even an elder from a temple. Because a hospital can only do so much - ”
“So you’re from the 17th Precinct?!” Mick’s father raised his voice: “You got him involved with all of this?”
“He volunteered to join us on our mission. We did not force him, not one bit.” Keryn stepped forward: “There were multiple points where he could have quit. Captain Ko gave him plenty of chances. He chose this road. And he did good.”
“What the fuck is your mission!?” The father raised his voice: “What happened to him!?”
Before anyone could answer, the sound of vehicles approached.
“We need to go. They tracked him here.” The bodyguard took off his sunglasses.
“Son. Let’s go.” Mick’s mother tried to pull him away: “We’re gonna get out of here - maybe even - ”
“No!” Mick seemed to have woken up from the effects of anesthesia, and he just pulled his mother back: “We can’t leave like this - they’re tracking me, and they’re tracking my friends. ”
“How?” Mick’s mother asked, looking him up and down: “What are you talking about?”
“This.” Mick reached at the back of his left shoulder with his right hand. His fingernails dug into a piece of slightly red skin, then after a hiss and a groan, he peeled this piece of skin clean off his body.
“What are you doing!?” Mick’s mother immediately pressed on the open wound with her sleeve: “Are you out of your mind?”
Mick did not answer, he took a look at the piece of skin on his fingertips before tossing it onto the ground and turning to his teammates: “Let’s go - we need to hide.”
