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His eyes caught Kana at the edge of the crowd, arms crossed, watching. Waiting.

He shook his head. Tonight wasn’t about him. He had to get information for Kana, no matter what stupid options he backed himself into. He puffed up his chest, refusing to let this random guy get to him. “So I’m going against you then?”

The man laughed. “No, I’m not into that.” He hummed, glancing back at the crowd. “I could have him do it.” He found Jun across the garage—still on the phone, still looking like he wanted to be anywhere else—and gestured at him like they were old friends. Even at a distance, Alex saw the color drain from Jun’s face.

Luis hauled himself off the ground, spat blood to the ground, and stumbled between Alex and the stranger. “Boss, you don’t mean that, do you?” He spat out blood on the side.

“Augs!”

Alex whirled to see Hal shouldering through the crowd towards him, Kana elbowing people aside with her glowing phone still in hand.

“We… Gotta go,” said Hal, stammering in between his words. “Gotta go. Right. Now.”

Alex looked back and forth between Hal and Kana, both with a look of distress flooding their faces. “Dude. What the fuck is going on?”

“Cops, dumbass!” Kana cried, pointing at her phone screen. Alex didn’t need to second-guess when he recognized their group chat’s layout.

The garage went dead silent. No one moved. A siren—distant at first, climbing, growing teeth—swelled into the space. A second joined it. Then the whooping blare of a third.

The silence snapped. Alex’s world fractured into noise and motion.

People screamed and scattered, rats fleeing a sinking ship.

Cars roared to life.

Hal’s hand was on his arm, yanking. “Augs! Come on! This ain’t fucking worth it! We gotta go!”

Alex looked back. Luis was on his knees in front of the stranger, hands clasped, begging. The stranger’s eyes darted left and right, looking for an exit. That’s when he saw Jun shove through the crowd, running towards them.

But Jun stopped. Their eyes locked. Whatever shit hung between them—the fight, the silence, the distance—none of it mattered right now. They’d been through too much to let it.

Alex flicked his gaze towards the stranger, then the Vanquish. Jun understood. One nod.

Jun shoved the phone in his pocket and ran for the driver’s seat.

Alex let Hal drag him towards the Challenger, a grin splitting his face. Behind him, he heard Jun’s voice cut through the chaos, calling out to the stranger, to a screaming Luis.

It took Jun too damn long, but he was finally catching up.

15

Offer

The screaming from the garage still rang in Jun’s ears. Cars poured across the freeway in every direction, a river of color and headlights. Behind him, red and blue lights strobed in the dark.

Robin’s last message to the group chat that the police were on their way only seemed like a minute ago. Now he was behind the wheel of a sports car he didn’t own, pushing triple digits on a freeway with cop lights in the mirrors.

The masked stranger sat in the passenger seat. The other guy screamed in the back.

“Oh my God! What the fuck!” Luis—that was his name, Jun was fairly sure—screamed every time Jun cut in front of another car. Jun was beginning to think those were the only words Luis knew.

The masked man turned around, and his hood fell, revealing unruly golden-brown hair. “You’re the one that got us into this mess—”

Sirens blared behind them. Red and blue lights flooded the Vanquish’s interior. Luis screamed again and scrunched into a tiny ball in the seat.

The 10 eastbound sign flashed in Jun’s periphery. He didn’t think—just snapped his eyes to the stranger. “You trust me?”

The man chuckled. “Like I got a choice?”