Chapter 19

“10-43 on Pink”

There was heavy static on the radio as the operator switches the frequency on her receiver

“- - Pink vehicle”

“I repeat 10-43 - -”

‘Can you get a visual on the model?’

“No confirmation - -”

“ - - on model”

‘Copy, waiting on description…’

“...”

“...”

“Vehicle is a Nissan Skyline”

“99 model”

...

...

‘Godammit..’

‘Pick up…’

‘Fuckin Pick up....’

‘...’

‘...’

‘...’

‘Hello?’

‘Lorna! Thank Goodness Listen I’m--’

‘Sorry but I’m not available right now. If there’s anything you need to inform me, leave a message after the--’

‘Fuck--Fuck--Fuck--Fuck!’

...

...

‘Are you sure you wanna be driving tonight Lando?’ Bert asked as they sped along the boulevard trying to catch up to the scene. They had just left the premise inside ground zero and were now on the verge of joining in the chaos of cars speeding around the rail highway, where apparently the perpetrators were racing directly on the train tracks itself.

‘I’m good Bert. I miss pursuits, it’s been a while…’

‘Exactly… I don’t really trust rust ya know? Plus, we have a kid on board so… I don’t really need to explain Lando.

‘It’s okay this seems fun!’ Yukino replied as she eagerly watched from the backseat. Absorbing every moment that was happening in front of her as they see other police cars frantically swerving around the streets in front of them.

‘See Bert, She thinks this is awesome!’ He said as he goes on to powerslide the car into the next corner.

He catches up behind a large group of police cars that were chasing after the main group as Lando tries to get in front of the pack to get a glimpse of the cars they were chasing.

‘Any Carbine cars?’

‘None, These are just normal gas cars.’

‘Damn it… Control, this is Night Hunter. Any reports from other units chasing Black electric cars of unknown models?’

‘Standby for confirmation Night Hunter.’

‘...’

‘There have been similar reports that match your description running north on the Boulevard towards the Pier.’

‘Shit they’re quick… 10-4… Lando ya heard the lady, let’s go.’

‘Roger that…’

...

...

‘Why do I miss things?’

Denzo whispered to himself as he fixed his gaze into the stars above. His back lying on a soft used blanket that serves as his cushion against the cold steel roof atop the house he ran away from. He had been there for the past hour just staring blankly at the night sky asking what else he will do next in his life now that he’s back to where he started. So far things weren’t too bad after his return since the situation after the raids required everyone to practice the same strict curfew he had been forced to follow ever since he was born, so it was a nice change to see that everyone was on the same cage as he was but he knows that these days would not last and that in time everything would go back to how it is, as he gets left behind once again.

‘Two weeks… two weeks… I wonder… how many more nights… How many more times will I count these same damn stars… I can’t smoke, I can’t watch T.V, and I can’t even use the internet. What else?’

The wind blew a gentle breeze that sent shivers up his spine as he sneezed from the cold air passing around him. He was about to pack up his things when he heard a low rumble approaching from below. He tried his best to figure out where it was coming from when he saw a faint silhouette of a car crawling across the road behind their house with its lights turned off, slowly disappearing around the bend a couple of blocks away. For some reason he felt like he had seen the car from before but he just couldn’t point out when, as he spots red and blue flashing lights coming towards his position, forcing him to hurriedly return to his room as he observes what was happening behind the curtains of his window.

Two police units pass by as their lights blind him for a brief moment, their engines silently creeping by the house seemingly searching for something. He thought to himself if they were looking for the car that passed by ahead of them as he remembers how suspicious it moved around the block with its lights off.

‘Denzo are you awake?’ His mother echoed from the corridor outside his room. Denzo did not answer, instead, he jumped back in bed as quietly as he could and pretended to sleep. His mother opened the door to check on him and sees that he’s fast asleep. Even with his eyes closed he can feel her gaze as he tries to compose himself to sell the lie of being asleep. He briefly opened his eyes in a squinting manner to check her whereabouts as he spotted her looking outside the window, muttering things to herself that he could not understand before she walked straight out of his room, closing the door as she left. He gets up as quickly and carefully as he could and hops straight by the window to continue lurking on the scenes outside but the police have gone, as the flashing red and blue lights now appear in a distance.

‘Dammit…’ He whispered as he walked back to his bed. Once again he had missed something. It was starting to become a trend for him that he was over the feeling of being frustrated and has now gained a feeling of normalcy for the fact that this might be his luck in life from now on. He stared blankly at the ceiling wondering if he should count sheep or climb back out the window as his mind was running circles around what he saw.

-What was that about?

--Why were they looking for that car?

---Were they looking for the mastermind?’

----Is that connected to the raids?

-----How was Uncle Thor doing?

------Nica

‘Wait?’

Denzo reaches for his phone on his bedside as a purple glow instantly illuminated his dark room.

(Hey you awake?)

(Yup watsup? =] )

...

...

Two weeks ago:

‘Mr. Asia it’s… good to hear from you... Umm… I didn’t expect you to be calling this hour--’

‘Valentina Fe.

I know you must have plans today but, if you may, I have a proposal for you.’

‘I’m really sorry Mr Asia but… I believe I have already moved on from these proposals.’

‘I understand, but I’m sensing a great opportunity to work with you again, and this time it is “Together” unlike the way we used to do things when you were under my care.’

Val paused as her lips were beginning to tremble. She took a deep breath and composed herself, before answering back at the man she dreaded on the phone.

‘I understand, I will at least hear you out.’

‘Good.

Well, to start let me say this.

You will have a chance to see an old friend. You know the one that you borrowed back then?’

She gasped, her heart started racing after hearing what she thought she had just heard.

‘You mean?’

‘Yes!

I have plans for the both of you. But don’t expect too much. After all this is just a one time deal. And in return I’ll give you some… “Additional Funding”.

I know you have plans Val.

Let me help.’

‘So what would be the plan’

‘I’ll tell you once you get your old friend back. Right now I just need a Yes or a No.’

‘Yes…’

‘Good answer.

Tell you what, If you can bring me that old rusty car of yours, I’ll throw in an upgrade for it. After all, I don’t want my partners rolling around in a dump.’

‘Understood Mr. Asia. And may I ask when would we be doing the meetups?’

‘Three hours from now. My associates will send you a location.

Be ready.’

‘I will...’

‘Good.

It’s nice to be working with you again, Valentina Fe.’

And just as the phone call ended,

J2 runs frantically downstairs to check on her burning cooking.

...

...

Manila Port Area: 1:45am

The dense city streets of the residential areas surrounding the port authority had been swarmed by the countless sirens of the police department. The situation had already escalated to Alert Level 4 as the full roster of police cars saturated the streets to stop all renegade drivers from racing in public roads. Police are already instructed to use force on all suspect vehicles as a means to stop them at all costs. Although an exception has been made, specifically on a certain Salmon colored car.

‘Hey J2, Val here…’

‘Oh thank goodness that was the longest radio silence I’ve ever experienced! What’s happening?’

‘Did you make any stupid calls?’

‘Nope…’

‘Godammit… You really don’t trust me getting out of this don’t you?’

‘I do… I’m just…’

‘Whatever J2 I’m kinda in a pinch here just make sure to call Jun in about five minutes.

And set a timer on my mark.’

‘Okay… Ready!’

‘Now!

Radio out…’

There were four cars in the cue in front of her. Three of them were unknown to her and the fourth one was the bright green Lamborghini that now leads the pack. All cars in front of her seem to act as if the race hasn’t ended yet, as they continue to jockey for position in a race that has been disbanded many miles ago. Chasing them were a swarm of police vehicles trying desperately to catch up to them as they exited the main boulevard and into the tight narrow streets of Tondo.

Through the years of the Metro’s growth into an international hub for tourism and trade the overall aesthetic of Tondo has remained unchanged. Underdeveloped structures and filled to the brim with informal settlers it was easy to paint a picture of it being the “Ghetto” area of Manila, which to whomever was leading the five car renegade pack, was a wise choice as the narrow roads were literally littered with unconventional challenges as the pack swerves around misplaced concrete barriers and temporary tarp shelters used by the informal settlers as they occupy part of the street as their own front yard. One of the police cars was unluckily caught off guard as he collided with an inflatable pool that was still filled to the brim with water, causing a pile up of police cars behind it, clogging the road.

Val was also starting to struggle to keep up as the cars in front seem to change route every few blocks as she tries her best to anticipate where they were going next, which is a dangerous proposition, since Tondo was filled with deceptive roads that are wide on entry but gets significantly narrower further in, sometimes leading into complete dead ends due to the residents occupying the narrow roads as part of their property, and one wrong turn could mean an instant arrest for all of them.

So far they have reduced the number of police chasing them by half, but since all of the police force were hunting for their heads, the number just keeps on replenishing as if supplies were unlimited. One of the Mystery cars had already suffered some damage after hitting a row of parked motorcycles in one of the streets, losing one of it’s headlamps in the process as they made their way back into the main road that leads out to Old Manila where the roads are straight enough to run at full throttle.

‘Operator this is Night Hunter, we’re en route, requesting update on suspect location.’

‘Umm… Suspect currently traversing thru Recto Avenue. Orders are to engage on site.’

‘Copy Operator.’

...

...

‘Ya hear that Lando? Hope ya ready to pit someone into a gutter cuz you’re cleared to wreak havoc tonight.’

‘Yeah looks like it. Hope you don’t mind gettin this car beaten up.’

‘Ehh I’ll just charge it to HQ.’

The trio of Lando, Bert and Yukino had been listening to the police chatter for quite some time now after deciding to follow suit, and has now decided to drop back to avoid any major collisions as they hear reports of accidents from the police side of the pursuit, which added to Yukino’s excitement. But things have started to pick up speed once more as they heard of the direction the pursuit was taking and were now ready to intercept into the chase while they sped across the river into Old Manila. It didn’t take long for them to spot the sirens ahead as a swarm of police vehicles were also converging near their location.

‘Hey officers let’s go straight towards the campus area. If Google maps is correct we might be able to leap frog the other police cars.’ Yukino bursts out after checking her phone as she seems to be tracking their route through her phone’s GPS.

‘Copy that.’ He replied as Lando sent sparks flying after bottoming out at the base of the underpass, pushing the car to the limits of what it was capable of, while most of the police cars made a turn up the interchange. Both of them figured they could get ahead by cutting through the University ahead, gambling on the chance that the suspects would pass through the wide stretch of road beginning near the campus. They already know through police chatter that they might be trying to escape north towards the cities in Bulacan and have now set up multiple roadblocks in major roads going there.

Lando, on the other hand, was starting to feel uneasy about the situation. The police were all too eager to focus their forces on this particular chase even though there were hundreds of other cars that participated in causing havoc that night, for some reason they were being directed towards these particular vehicles. As far as the police were concerned they are the cars that fit the Carbine description but they were only chasing three out of the plethora of Carbine cars that were reported on the scene with no evidence on the radio chatter that they have secured the others. Something wasn’t right and he was starting to form more questions in his mind rather than answers as he snaps back into reality after nearly crashing into an oncoming car.

‘Lando!’ Shouted Bert, as he was holding on for his dear life on the grab handle just above the window. Meanwhile Yukino looked busy on her phone as if nothing had happened, texting away her experiences like the other kids her age. A sight that deeply concerned Bert.

‘Unit five here be on alert they seem to be making a left to University’

The radio chattered once again as the pack made another sudden change in direction, which coincidentally puts them exactly in the same block, as Lando suddenly slams on the brakes, stopping the car at the edge of the intersection.

‘Let’s wait here and chase them as they pass.’ Lando explains.

‘But they might get away!’ Said Yukino with a concerned look on her face.

‘Don’t worry kid he’s just thinking of your safety, we’ll catch em’ Bert replied ‘Now hold on tight cuz here they come!’

Right on cue three black cars that looked all too familiar to the ones they saw on their last mission, ran past them on the intersection at full speed. Lando was about to step on the gas when Bert stopped him.

‘What is it?’

‘The other two cars. They’re gone?’

‘Who cares?’ Lando grumpily responds. ‘We’re after the Carbine cars remember?’

‘Control this is Unit five be advised there’s a 10-53 entering the campus area. Multiple car accidents.’

‘Copy unit five, what’s your status?’

‘We lost them. Requesting multiple 10-93’s in a ten kilometer radius. “Unmarked” if possible. Suspects are highly evasive to pursuit maneuvers please be advised.’

‘Copy.’

‘I thought as much... ‘ Bert exhaled as he stepped out of the car to check the surroundings. He takes a peek around the corner of the fence surrounding the campus as he is blinded by some lights flashing before him. He takes a good gander at the object on the far side of the fence to see that it was one of the gas powered cars they were chasing, as it slowly makes a turn inside the walls of the campus. He runs back to the car, urgently knocking on the window for Lando to open it.

‘Something’s up! We’re going inside the campus.’

...

...

‘Was that good or was that good?’ Jun Tagama, one of Mr. Asia’s wingmen, said as he spoke with a smug tone on the phone with Val as she yanks the handbrake in fury after all she had been through that night.

‘Good but not efficient. Next time use a semi truck to block the path. It's easier to orchestrate than a multi car pile up isn’t it?’ She replied.

‘Doesn’t matter, job done. Just don’t forget to leave the keys inside the car before leaving.’

‘I know I know…’

Val had parked the car inside one of the parking garages inside the University campus grounds and was wiping every single surface inside the car before detaching all of her installed equipment inside of it. She had almost done packing everything inside her bag when she sensed a car coming her way making her dash out in a frantic attempt to put some distance from the car in question.

‘Hey! Hey you! Stop!’ Bert shouts as he draws his gun from his holster aiming it at the suspect as they briskly walk towards the stairwell prompting Bert to burst into a sprint to which the suspect does so as well.

‘Freeze Police!’ He shouted once more as he aimed down the stairs but to his surprise there was no one there to aim at. He goes down another level to check any visual signs of the suspect but there was no one there that matched the description. Only plain clothed students making their way to and from their dormitories.

‘I lost him’ Bert radioed in as Lando curiously approached the car that was left behind.

‘I think you should get your ass back up here Bert.’ Said Lando as he examined the abandoned car. It took him a minute to catch his breath after climbing up the stairs but Bert had arrived at the sight of both Lando and Yukino curiously looking at the car in question.

‘Wait? Is that… What I think it is?’ Asked Bert who now has a wide eyed expression on his face as he takes a closer look at it.

‘It is, and I had Yukino confirm it. It’s an old Skyline. The last remaining one existing.’ Lando replies in awe as tried his best to refrain from touching it.

‘Current asking price. 75.5 million dollars US.’ Yukino butts in as she scrolls furiously at her phone. ‘I’m taking a picture of it!’

‘No! It’s evidence.’ Bert responds. ‘We can’t have its image leak into social media, kid…’

Yukino lowers her head in dismay as she walks back towards the police car and into her seat. She reached again for her phone to pull up her messenger app:

(Package delivered)

(Copy, Have them bring you home after. THX)

She smiles as she receives the reply. Finally she feels she has earned the right to be relaxed as she rests her tired head on the cushion of the backseat. Turning her gaze towards the night sky through the parking garage as she closed her eyes hoping to finally fall asleep.

...

...

(Hey denzo)

(Yea?)

(You ever get bored looking at the sky?)

(Sometimes?)

(Why?)

(I dunno)

(But lately i’ve been thinking)

(How many people are doing the same thing as i do?)

(Like you)

(And you reached out cuz ur bored)

(XD)

(Yea sorry bout that)

(No no its okay)

(Its nice to think im not alone even tho I technically am)

(Oh cool then)

(Yea)

(Its just crazy to think how many more people are out there)

(Doing the same thing)

(And we just haven’t met them yet)

(How many more people are out there who are like us?)

(It would be nice to find people like us)

(Yea)

(Yea)

(Wanna find them?)

(=])