“She’s across the bridge,” Bash informed his cousin. “Head east.”

As the car crossed Mill River, Luke slowed.

“Turn left up here,” Bash instructed.

“You know these things aren’t exact,” Luke insisted.

“We’ll just have to park and walk.”

Nodding toward a small, dimly lit shop, Luke gave his cousin a pointed look. “We need to avoid them.”

Despite the weakness that had suddenly gripped Bash’s legs, he painted on a stoic face. “Avoiding people like them is my specialty,” he threw out with feigned nonchalance.

“And if it becomes necessary, distracting them is mine,” Luke smiled, obviously much calmer than Bash.

For over five years, Bash had not encountered the terror of his youth, the utter recognition that if he wasn’t fast enough, wasn’t smart enough, he would be beaten, tortured, killed, or maybe all three. He had forgotten his fear, the depth of it, the raw way it stripped every ounce of his strength.

“Bash,” his cousin seemed to sense the change in Sebastian’s mood. “You are going to be okay. Because I’m here. And things are very different now than when we were young. I am a different person, and I can do different things.” He placed his hand on Sebastian’s arm, “Breathe, little cousin. You’re not a child anymore. You have to find Piper.”

The words woke Sebastian up, surged through him with a steeling presence. For a while – he didn’t know how long it would last – he could do what needed to be done.

“You start down that street with the locator,” Luke commanded, and Bash stepped toward the street just south of the parked car. Luke headed north, strolling casually past the crew where they shimmered in the cloud of smoke emitting from the cylinders that burned at their lips. With a casual nod, Luke caught the eye of the young man who turned to take in the stranger invading his turf. Sufficiently secure in Luke’s respect, the young man turned back to his friends and ignored the figure that retreated down the street.

As Bash crept down his road, the houses seemed strangely ambivalent about their condition. Several new structures stood with well-kempt yards and pristine surfaces. Next door or across the street or a few houses down, siding seemed scraped of its paint and bricks crumbled onto dusty driveways. As he neared mid-block, he watched Piper’s position grow closer. He approached a tiny, one-story home with a white picket fence. Several of the pickets had been knocked out, and Bash ducked down and through the resulting opening. Glancing at the dark edifice, he couldn’t help but wonder if, in a neighborhood like the one in which he now stood, the homeowners would bring out a gun to shoot intruders.

Determined, Bash stuck to the shadows and continued onto the lot. As he approached the back of the structure, he noted some patio furniture, but after a moment’s perusal, he knew he would find nothing there. A small shed stood in the back of the property as well. The doors wore a padlock, but Bash continued around the perimeter, checking for potential hiding spots.

A chain link fence ran along the east side of the lot, and as Bash approached the north east corner of the shed, his eye caught a cold, blue glow emitting from the adjacent lot. In an instant, he had scaled over the six-foot chain link and was sprinting toward the light. A moment later, Bash’s panic returned as he encountered Piper’s body laid out in a thicket of bushes, her phone brought to life by a text message.

Are you okay? it read, the name “Mitch” attached to the message.

Turning the phone down to hide the light, Bash scurried over on his hands and knees to assess Piper’s condition. After feeling her cheek and listening for breathing, he determined that she had just passed out. A quick perusal of her limbs and head showed nothing more than a couple of small scrapes from the tiny branches of the bush. Relief washed over him.

“Piper,” he whispered close to her ear. “Piper, wake up.”

When she didn’t respond, he climbed into the bushes himself and pulled her into a sitting position, leaning against his chest.

“Piper, you’re safe,” he crooned, wrapping his arms around her. “I need you to wake up so I can get you to my car.”

He could have carried her for a few hundred feet, not necessarily in a pretty fashion, but the quarter mile back to the rental seemed unwise. If the group he had seen before decided to come after him at that point, even his speed would not have saved Piper.

“Okay, girl, I’m really sorry about this.”

He began a light tapping of his open hand on her cheek, as gently as he could manage while stimulating her skin. “I need you to wake up.”

With a groan, Piper finally moved a little, albeit only a little. She turned toward him and laid her cheek against his chest, as if to settle down to slumber. Though Bash petted her hair, he continued to insist that she wake.

“Piper, sweetheart, I need you to wake up.”

Sebastian’s shirt smelled so good, and he felt so warm under her cheek. Piper never wanted to move again. Of course, once she realized that she was smelling Sebastian’s shirt and that she was lying against his chest, she almost sprung away from him. Fortunately for them both, she held in the small squeak of surprise that tried to jump out of her mouth.

“Don’t move yet,” Bash whispered, holding her firmly in his arms.

For the second time, she complained internally, before processing her surroundings. Suddenly, she found herself clinging to the sides of Sebastian’s jacket.

“Am I alive?” she whispered, and for the first time in ages, he flashed his smile. More nerves than his usual confidence, but the sight still eased her anxiety.

“You’re fine,” he whispered back. “I think you passed out.”

“How did you find me?” she demanded, letting go of his jacket and rubbing her hands on her arms. She had grown very cold lying on the ground.

“Molly. Put this on,” Sebastian insisted, slipping his arms out of his sleeves and setting the jacket on her shoulders. She gratefully slid her arms in the sleeves.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I want you to stay here,” he instructed, gently pressing her away from him and helping her lean against the fence behind her. “I’m going up to the street to see if we have any company. If the coast is clear, we will head toward my car.”

“I don’t want to be alone.” She grabbed his wrist.

“Just for a few seconds,” he assured her, climbing to his feet and heading to the front of the lot in a crouch. Peering around the front of the fence, Bash took in the abandoned street. He motioned to Piper, but she just stared at him. She was either fully in shock or close to it. Quickly, he scuttled back to the corner and pulled Piper to a stand.

“I need you to look at me,” he ducked his head in search of her eyes. Once they had locked, he spoke in a focused tone. “I think you’re in a little bit of shock,” he explained. “I want to make sure you’re okay, but we need to get out of this area first. I want you to repeat what I tell you so I can make sure you understand.”

As he spoke, Piper felt her eyes refocus on Sebastian’s face. “Okay,” she agreed.

“We’re going to head up to the front of the lot, understand?”

“Front of the lot. I understand.”

“My car is at the end of the block. We are going to cross the street and walk to my car.”

“Cross the street, walk to the car. I think my mind is back.”

Sebastian reached out and squeezed her hand. “That will make things easier, I imagine.”

When his smile flashed, Piper knew her mind was back, because her heart reacted, and she felt her face mimic his.

“So, you hold tight to my hand. I won’t let go. If we run into trouble, I will get you past it. Just hold on.”

Finally, Sebastian took Piper’s hand and pulled her to her feet. He led her to the front of the lot, glancing up and down the street. When his eye encountered nothing, he cautiously began to cross. Making the other side, he breathed a calming breath. He shouldn’t feel so scared – he had moved past the streets of his childhood. Ironically, his need to protect Piper boosted his strength.

He could see his car at the end of the road, only a couple hundred feet away, and his muscles began to relax. Suddenly, he became aware of resistance against his hand. Turning, he realized that Piper was pulling back, staring down a side road.

“Piper, come on!” he insisted.

“But I saw him,” she wondered. “He said he wasn’t coming.”

“Who?” Bash queried, inspecting the street behind him to make sure no one had entered the road.

“I don’t think that Mitch knew this area as well as he thought. He might get lost,” she sounded concerned. “I don’t want him to run into those people who were chasing me!”

“Piper, what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. That guy is in Rhode Island. Come on!”

“But it’s him!” Piper insisted.

When Sebastian glanced behind him again, a young man had rounded the corner near the car. From the tatts, the man was a gangbanger, and Bash felt his strength flee despite his resolve. To his horror, Piper chose that moment to yank her hand out of his.

“Mitch,” she shouted, and Bash glanced over at the young man with the tatts whose head whipped up at the sound. The young man whooped around the corner where he stood, and a moment later, a crew of at least ten began to shriek and hoot after Sebastian and Piper.

Bash’s strength returned. Even though he hated to take his eyes off of the approaching squad, he spun toward Piper and sprinted after her. In front of her, a familiar figure stood staring.

“Thank God, Piper,” came a voice vaguely familiar to Bash. “When I realized what I had done…”

Mitch didn’t get to finish, because at that point, Sebastian reached Piper and grabbed her waist from behind.

“Piper!” he commanded, fury brimming in his tone. “They’re behind us!”

“Run, Mitch!” Piper yelled as Sebastian wrenched her away.

“Over here,” Bash insisted, grabbing her hand and dragging her down a driveway. The footfalls of their pursuers sounded behind them, and Bash found the familiar speed that had carried him through his younger life. Apparently, Piper could run fast enough to stay on her feet at his rate.

At the back of the lot, they hurdled a small bush, and Bash relaxed for a moment at the empty lot before him. He could see the back of his car only a few dozen feet from him.

“But Mitch!” Piper cried even as Bash could feel the vibrations of the nearing gang through the pavement.

“I will carry you if I have to, Piper!” he announced, not looking back and tugging her arm with as much strength as he could safely do.

Sebastian immediately felt his arm slacken as she began to run in stride with him. She outstripped him after a couple of yards and began to fiddle with a gate latch.

With sudden terror, Sebastian recognized the lock on the other side. He considered trying to scale the fence, but with the group almost upon them, he knew that he or Piper would trip up and be pulled down. To his right, a three-foot fence led beside a driveway, and he tugged with all his strength on Piper’s arm. “Come on!”

Glancing toward his pull, Piper spied the short chain-link fence, and the two of them sped toward it. On the other side, Luke waited to lead them to the car, which he had moved. Bash leapt the fence in one motion, but Piper wasn’t as tall. She pressed her foot against the fence for traction and threw her other leg over the fence, but her shoe wedged.

“Sebastian!” she cried, but Luke was already on his way. He reached her in only a second, but the pursuers dashed toward them only seconds from reaching the fence. Having heard her cry, Sebastian turned back and recognized where his cousin struggled to free Piper’s foot. Even if Luke managed it, there would be a brawl unless Sebastian could avert it.

He leapt back over the fence, grabbing a large trash bin and heaving it at the oncoming mob. “Get her out of here!” he commanded his cousin just as the shoe pulled free.

In accord with Bash’s command, Luke lifted Piper off the ground and sprinted to the rental car.

Despite her earlier resistance, Piper couldn’t complain even at the indignity of the moment. Behind her, one of the mob pulled a gun, pointing it at Luke.

Without warning, a flower pot few past the faces of the crowd, and most of them spun in the direction of the projectile. Piper watched in horror as Sebastian slipped past a small shed and disappeared from her view. She couldn’t take the time for mourning, though, because Luke made it to the car and dropped her onto her feet. He threw open the driver’s side door and shoved her in, pressing himself almost on top of her as he slid behind the wheel. As he started the engine, Piper felt the tears heat the corners of her eyes.

“Sebastian,” she gasped, and though she ducked when she heard gunshots, she twisted in her seat to peer in the direction Bash had gone.

“He’s fine,” Luke insisted, shifting the car into drive and pressing the gas to the floor. “We’ve done this a hundred times. He’ll hide until he’s safe.”

Frustrated, Piper closed her eyes, desperate to create some kind of internal calm as the car sped away from the chaotic scene. Only when Luke pulled the car to a stop did she open her eyes. “Bash,” she gasped again, and Luke reached for her hand.

“I told you, he’s fine, and I need to get you to safety. Come with me.”

When Piper didn’t respond, Luke gripped her waist with his hands, sliding backwards from the car and dragging her out with him. He was honestly surprised at himself, calculating calmly as he abandoned his cousin. Still, it was true that he and Sebastian had played the game with the Langley crew for years, and Luke felt less concerned about his cousin than about the realization that he finally had Piper alone. If he were to make his move, he would need to make it before Sebastian finished the protocol. Luke had about half an hour.