Chapter 44

“Fluffy”

He calls her name as a little dog comes running from inside the house chasing Bert’s leg before he leaves for work this morning.

‘Hey fluffy, I’m gonna be gone for a bit so look after the house for a bit in my stead okay?’ Bert said while patting Fluffy, a round bodied Chow Chow.

‘You gonna be out late again today?’ His wife, who walks out after the dog bids him farewell as Bert lifts the hood of his car to do pre drive checks before leaving.

‘Yup! I gots another hectic day ahead. The bureau is about to finalize the evidence findings today from the raids.’

‘Sounds like a lot of paperwork.’

‘It does… and I hate all of it…’

Bert sighs as his wife coils her arms from behind, laying her head just below the back of his neck as he can feel the warmth of her breath on his back.

‘You know I won’t be able to leave if you continue doing that.’ He responds to which his wife replies by tightening her grasp even further, pressing her body hard as if she was trying to melt themselves together.

‘I know…’ Bert said with a forlorn expression. ‘Just one more… and I’m done with this…’ He whispered.

He gives his wife a short but sweet kiss on the lips, hugging her tightly before stepping into the car. He turns the engine on as he sighs. As if for a moment he deeply contemplated what it was that he was about to do.

He closed his eyes, laid his back on the seat and placed the car in gear.

‘Tell the kids that I’ll be chargin’ them rent starting next week.’ He said with a comforting smile as he looked back at his wife smiling softly at him.

No more words were spoken. They shared a short moment of smiles before he released the clutch and rolled his car down the driveway. Driving away into the early morning sunrise. He continued to roll down the block, looking at the ever so diminishing image of his wife on the rearview as he turned the knob down the dash to turn on the radio.

‘Gooooooooood Morrrrrningggg Manileños! It’s already 8:05 this Thursday morning. It’s a BRRRIGHTT sunny day, a bright and sunny september morning. Expect no showers this afternoon all the way through the night. It’s all CLEAR-SKIES ladies and gentlemen and if I’m not mistaken it’s also a full moon… So if there’s anyone here who has any spouses, I suggest you boyfriends and husbands out there to BE CAREFUL! You don’t know what can trigger your significant others today so treat them with caution.

Anyways… THE NEWS…

Today will mark the 100th day since the raids have disrupted the lives of many of our countrymen AND our overseas brothers and sisters who were working alongside each other when the fateful night struck us unknowingly. And Finally today is when we can finally say that… WE-ARE-BACK-BABY!

All the malls and establishments have been finally given the go signal to fully open their doors to the public after the National Bureau of Investigation or NBI has, after a long and arduous process of investigating the incident, ended their operations on site and are now letting life back into the deserted SIX-ONE-SIX area in aseana city. Granted that the renovations for some of the badly hit establishments are still on going as of late BUT other establishments who have been lightly damaged and recovered are now opening their doors.

So everyone. Aseana City is back in business and ready for visitors! I suggest you come on down--’

Bert turns the knob to change the station towards a more music oriented content as he grumbles to himself, feeling annoyed all of a sudden.

‘Business as usual eh?’ He muttered. ‘It’s sad to think these sorry souls don’t know that there’s no justice waiting for them today.’ He continues as he glances at the crowds of people who are going about their day expecting big news from the Raids investigation.

It was announced a few days ago that the NBI were releasing a statement about the raids that had rampaged through the streets of the Metro a few months ago.

The media frenzy about the announcement had sent people into a buzz as they can now finally put a face on the horrible event that had affected their lives.

Coupled by the uplifting news that Downtown six-one-six will be opened to the public at the same time as the declaration, gave the whole city in to a celebrative frenzy that Bert can feel radiating in the air around him.

It saddens him to know that there wouldn’t really be anything significant that’ll be announced at the broadcast and that the whole bureau was planning on using the hype that six-one six will be opened to slowly let the memories of the raids fade away in the public mind.

Nonetheless this enormous lie is not what Bert feels annoyed about.

As he takes the next left towards the highway, he finds an empty lane to drive on, which was difficult with the amount of traffic around him, but after a few more minutes of driving a lane finally cleared up for him as he drives on it, switching lanes.

He looks back on his rearview and sees the next car behind to be around the size of his thumb. Far enough for them to react when something happens.

He confirms it, and deems it was safe.

He takes a deep breath and pulls out his phone to press something.

------BOOM!-----

‘Yawn…’

Val’s tired face sits slumped on her arm that hangs grabbing the handrail. She is now standing inside a crowded train on a rush hour and is looking groggy for being up so early.

She wipes her drooping eyelids with her fists to rid her vision of morning glory, careful not to blink too much as she fears her eyelids might get stuck together and closing completely as she tries hard not to fall asleep.

‘Yawn…’

Another wide and lengthy yawn overcomes her as the train stops over another station, getting another rush of passengers into the car she currently stood in. As soon as the people rush in she gradually felt the squeezing pressure from the increase in people within her immediate space. Val doesn’t know whether or not she could consider this incident as a curse or heaven sent, but at least she felt awake because of this.

Not that her eyes were already wide awake and functioning, she can finally take a proper glimpse of the city being basked in the morning sun. Which is someone with her sleep schedule rarely gets.

It was a bittersweet feeling for her to see the city looking vibrant and lively today as she knows that she can’t fully enjoy the day. Not without knowing the things she needed to pull off before she goes to sleep.

As she remembers why she was taking the early morning train to commute and not drive.

Miles strictly told her not to do so.

It was annoying since all of the errands that she has to do, whether for herself or for the sake of the plan would involve covering large distances. At the moment she was on her way to the lower districts of Bulacan. A province north of the Metro where she needed to buy some spare part for the karts back at Champworld.

Normally she’d just drive there, order the parts and take them back with her on the same day, but since she was going there technically on foot, she thought she’d just pick the parts and put them on delivery, which would take them around two days to accomplish.

She hated this, knowing J2 would have a field day back at the garage with nothing else to do but be on standby. Val also thought about sending him back to Jack’s but the plan called for him to stay put in the garage, triggering her severe OCD when it came to efficiency.

‘Yawn…’

It hits her again.

Sadly the feeling of wokeness had faded after a mere few moments as her eyes started to get heavy once more. She looks out to the city, hoping the bright morning sun can wake her up, but a sight of a different thing had caught her attention.

It was the sight of a huge puff of black smoke that bellowed for a moment from a distance. As it rises like a small mushroom cloud, before fading into the background.

It wasn’t as stingy as the bright morning sun, but the black smoke did it’s job in successfully waking her up. In the back of her mind she knew what was happening.

…

…

‘Hi this is Go Ring towing service. How may I help you?’

The voice of a young woman sounded off from the other end of the line as Bert sat by the guardrails at the edge of the highway looking at the smoking void that used to be his engine.

‘Uhhh yeah, this is mister Bertrand Ramos, R-A-M-O-S yes… uhhh… I’m by the lay-by near north of C4… and umm.... I think my engine just expired…’

‘Okay mister Ramos we’ll be there to assist you. Umm may I get your vehicle details and specs so we can assign the right machinery for you?’

‘Uhhh…. Okay.’ Bert replied as he listed down his details to the kind woman on the phone.

Meanwhile that same woman who was assisting him is sitting on her breakfast table, sipping some orange juice while she waits for her maids to serve her some breakfast.

‘Okay sir…. Okay… Uhuh… mmhmm… yes very clear…. Okay! Got it! You can just sit tight there mister Ramos and we’ll have emergency services come pick you and your car up in 15 minutes. Thank you for calling us!’

‘What are you doing?’

Yukino mouths out from across the table.

‘Oh, nothing, just practicing for a gig of some sort…’ Lorna said as she took a sip from her glass of juice.

Yukino just looks back at her with suspicious eyes, trying to pry anything juicy from her sister.

‘What are you up to now?’ She asked.

‘Nothing. Just eat your breakfast Yuki.’ She spat back with piercing eyes as Yukino sighs, annoyed, knowing her sister is up to something interesting again. She knows all too well that trying to pry into this any further would only waste her energy, as Lorna is tough to crack.

[‘Whaddya mean breakfast?!’]

It was a good thing that their maid has a perfect sense of timing as right before Yukino can spit out her thoughts at her sister, two warm plates of freshly cooked bacon and eggs arrive before them. And as it does, Lorna’s phone vibrates once again.

‘Hello?’

‘Val here…’

‘Oh hey, how’s it going on your end?’

‘I’m still stuck in the train… best bet I’ll be arriving at San Jose in thirty minutes…’

‘Oh well, we knew this would happen, so just take your time and enjoy the sights V- yeah… just enjoy and relax.’ Lorna almost said Val’s name aloud. She knew enough not to give Yukino any clues about what was happening as she is always quick to assemble the pieces with the most minimal of evidence. Such is her little sister’s power.

‘Besides… babe… we’re not really up till tonight so just roam around and get the other stuff outta mind for now.’ She continued, quite awkwardly.

‘Is Yuki in front of you?’

‘Oh you know meee sooo much bee! Anywho gotta go duty calls. So see yah later!’

As Lorna puts down her phone to enjoy her breakfast, she notices Yukino looking at her as her face glows with a blood boiling red as she takes her plate and moves someplace else to enjoy her breakfast.

‘Is there something I said?’ She thought as she looked at her younger sister stomping her feet away from the table, as she headed somewhere out of her sight.

She takes a look at her plate as she takes a moment to appreciate the food before taking part in devouring it violently. Lorna felt depressed that there was no other way to get it done besides pigging out on her plate.

‘What a waste…’ She sighs, as she proceeds to devour her breakfast at record breaking speeds.

A few minutes later, she bids her mother farewell as she runs out of the front door in a hurry. Meanwhile Yukino was still enjoying her breakfast in the living room seeing her elder sister frantically run out of the house.

Once again she can’t help but feel that there was something going on.

…

…

‘Godammit Lorna.’ Val muttered, putting her phone away. She was now halfway to her destination and thankfully most of the passengers have alighted the train as she finds herself a seat, with the car no longer being crowded.

She takes a deep breath and exhales with a gleeful shine in her eyes as her eyes observe the passing scenery just outside where she sat. The tall structures and tangled electric lines were starting to thin the farther the train trudges along in her journey as the green of the trees start to take over most of the land and the sky had transitioned into a more vivid shade of blue.

She has now traversed the outer edges of the Metro.

It has been quite a while since she had done so, with the last being when she was still around Denzo’s age. And ever since then she had lived her life within the confines of the metro. This was, of course, excluding her excursion in Japan.

There was something strangely warm about seeing this Philippine countryside. Quite strangely different from a japanese one where it felt calm and serene, the scenery she sees outside was filled with activity and excitement that she couldn’t explain since despite the hype she feels, the activity outside was the same old hustle and bustle from the city, only without the pollution and crowded buildings.

‘...’

She chuckles, a bit faintly, but she still did, catching herself before anything becomes audible. A slight internal laughter for feeling a certain hype all of a sudden. As she chalks up her current feelings about the countryside with the hype that came from being in a new unexplored place.

That was it- as she tells herself.

She was just excited- that is all.

Val had just immersed herself without knowing it, she had planted her attention at the scenery outside that she was dreadfully surprised when the view suddenly ended and was covered by an urbanized looking interior.

‘Now arriving at San Jose Del Monte station’

The speakers had spoken as the three note bell rang.

And right on cue, the train stopped on its final destination.

The end of the line.

‘Welp… time to go do this…’ Val said to herself as she got up from her seat and left towards the station. Blending in with the crowd, and disappearing in it.

…

…

‘It’s quite sunny today…’ Lando said as he tilted his sombrero down to hide his face. He had been walking around the same block for the last ten minutes whilst “trying” to keep a low profile.

“Trying.”

Because five minutes in on his inconspicuous walking task, he got bored.

And bought a slurpee.

So anyone who has a great eye for detail will notice an old man with a sombrero holding a slurpee, who had been circling the same block for the past ten minutes.

Though he might defend that it is only partly his fault, he could’ve helped the situation at least by sticking to what he needed to do.

Nonetheless his goal had been achieved after the twelve minute mark as a white tow truck gave him a honk from behind.

‘Go-ring towing? Oh…’ He reads the signage painted on the truck's door as he gets his cue. He saw the truck continue on ahead as it made a right turn into a sidestreet behind some retail buildings. Keeping his wits on him, Lando kept his slow leisurely pace as he tried to maintain his “low profile”. Taking his time to get to the spot for the sake of his guise.

‘What took you so long?’ He asked the driver, annoyed at the delay.

‘Sorry, I got the call so suddenly while in the middle of breakfast.’ The driver said as she took her cap off to retouch her hair. Lando could only roll his eyes as Lorna fixes herself, looking all haggard and sweaty for some reason.

‘Were you running so late that you forgot to turn on the air conditioning?’ Lando remarked.

‘No…’ She said as she sighs in relief after turning the A/C to full blast. ‘It was intentional. I needed the extra power to gain some time.’ She said as she fanned her chest with her hands.

‘This thing is so sluggish from a standstill, the traffic lights would turn green then yellow and back to red again before it could even get off the line.’

‘Yeessshh…’ He cringed. ‘Can’t you get something better than this?’ Lando complained.

‘No. In case you haven’t noticed, this thing is brand spanking new. They’re just made like this.’ Lorna depressingly replies.

Lando sighs as he starts to feel that this was the beginning of an exhaustingly long day, as the pair rolled out of the sidestreet and back into the main thoroughfares to get to their objective.

‘By the way? You know how to use this thing?’ Lando asked.

‘Nope, I’m learning on the job.’

‘Then why did you volunteer?!’ Lando responds, shocked by what Lorna had said to him.

‘It seemed fun… Besides, it's just these two levers here.’ She said as she pulled one of the levers on the center console. As she does the two of them begin feeling a slight scraping that starts vibrating the truck violently as Lorna quickly puts the lever back to its original position.

‘So that was the jack I think?...’ She quizzically thought.

‘No shit woman…’

‘What?! At least now I know that this thing drops the jack and this thing is now obviously what drops the anchor!’ She proudly stated, showcasing Lando her deductive skills as the detective just stares at her looking peeved.

‘Oh yeah? Then what’s that third paddle below the wipers?’ He mockingly asked.

‘Oh… yeah what is this?’

‘You don’t know?’

‘Oh! Do you?’

‘...’

‘Don’t “at” me old man. You don’t know shit yourself. And I’m the one driving!’ She irately responds as Lando shakes his head and pouts back into his corner of the truck.

‘Hmm… What does this do?’ Lorna said as she pulled the third paddle behind the steering wheel. At the very moment she pulls the lever, both of them starts hearing the sound of chains being violently unspooled followed by a loud bang just behind their heads.

‘The fuck was that?’ Lando jumps from his seat, startled by the sudden bang.

Lorna, meanwhile, looked like she was putting together a puzzle inside her head before reaching out to the paddle again, but this time, pushing it instead of pulling it towards her.

Once again they hear the sound of chains spooling up behind them, as Lorna gets a eureka moment look in her eyes.

‘Ohh so the chain pulley is also motorized huh? I thought these things were manually dragged from the pulley. Who knew?’ She said as she continued to play around the levers and the paddle around the dash as they drove around the dense early morning traffic.

Lando could only look in fear and despair as he watches Lorna looking like a child on christmas day playing with their newly gifted toys. He would’ve been fine if they were both at a standstill whilst she fiddled around with the controls, but they were moving in the middle of heavy traffic and it wasn;t sitting well with him knowing that he will be partnering up with her.

The only thing he can do now is to bury his hands on his face, and hope to god they even live to see next week.

‘Now I wish I had Bert’s role…’ He muttered inside his slowly depreciating mind.

…

…

-Riiiiiiiing!-

-Riiiiiiiing!-

-Riiiiiiii--

‘Yellow?’

‘Where the hell are you Bert?!!!’

A disgruntled voice shouts over the phone as Bert pulls the device away from his ear to avoid losing his hearing.

‘Uhhh.. Hey Sonny… I’ll be late so go on and start the thing without me.’ Bert bluntly states without a care through the phone.

‘Whaddya mean go on and sta-- GODDAMMIT Bert! You were at the scene back at the pier. We need your input to finalize this thing!’ Inspector Pedrosa shouts as Bert chuckles on the line, as he can feel the inspector’s desperation on the other end.

‘What? I already presented myself yesterday and you kept on pushing my statement back, telling me it can wait, and NOW you’re rushing me?’ Bert responds, ridiculing the inspector on the line.

‘Bert…’ He sighed. ‘C’mon we’re professionals here. Let’s not let our differences hinder our work. Ya know? let’s … let’s get on with this shall we?’ The inspector replies while his voice audibly shook. Bert reads it as him trying to hold back his temper, which made it even more satisfying for him to poke it to see how long before it burst.

‘Well I’d love to be there right now Sonny, I really do but…’ He paused as he took a melancholic look at his stricken car. ‘My engine expired… I’m kinda stuck by the highway here without a paddle.’

‘YOu wHaT?!!’

‘Yeaahhh… Bad time to get bad luck I know but… Just go on, I’ll catch up okay. The tow trucks here I gotta go, see yah by lunch hopefully.’

Bert daintily pressed the call end button with a devilish grin on his face as he looks up to see the big white tow truck with Lando and Lorna on the front seat.

‘Howdy!’ Lorna greets him with a salute.

‘Nah… doesn’t suit you…’ Bert shuts her down with a raised eyebrow as she slumps on her seat, feeling disappointed.

‘Aww I just wanna try saying it, like truckers do…’

‘I don’t think truckers here say things like that, Lorna.’ Lando responds as he gets off the truck. ‘Okay! Let’s get this over with and tow this baby someplace safe.’ He said as he raised his arms to guide Lorna on where to maneuver the truck so he could hook it up for towing.

Once the preparations are done, Lando secures the car to the tow hook via a latch under the chassis, along with support chains acting as backup to the main hook, making sure the car stays attached. After that, Both Lando and Bert hitched a ride in the truck, comfortably seating all three of them in front as they drive away into the city, Bert waving farewell to the attending officers who helped him ward off traffic while he was stationary.

‘You got chummy with those beat cops?’ Lando asked.

‘Yeah, helps with the exposure, I need a solid alibi for stalling so I made sure they knew my name and who I was.’ Bert said.

‘Isn’t that risky? You know, with what’s about to happen?’ Lorna asked him with a worried face.

‘None really… As far as we’re concerned we two old boys here are just the setup. It’s you youngins who have the dirty work ahead o’ ya.’ He replied.

‘Ohh goodness… welp… In terms of me and Val this would feel like a normal tuesday. But with the stakes being like they are… I feel the jitters…’ Lorna responds as she rubs her shoulders, feeling the goosebumps rise on her skin.

‘Don’t worry ‘bout that. We got your back. Just don’t forget to look in the shadows for assistance.’

‘Where’d you get that line? From an old video game?’ Lorna chuckles as Bert shoots daggers from his eyes, feeling ridiculed. Lando meanwhile just kept his gaze on the city as they continued driving down the highway, asking himself, how did he ever end up in the kind of mess he was in.

…

…

--Lola’s AutoParts--

The big red sign greets Val as she arrives at her first destination.

A Big cube of a warehouse built out of brick with more than a handful of cars being serviced just outside their doors. The space out front was supposed to be a parking lot but through the years of emergency breakdowns and rush orders, the owner of the place decided to just service the cars right where they were parked, and thus half of the parking lot was fitted with car lifts and a roof above them to protect the merchandise.

They also had the idea of putting up a small restaurant beside their main shop so that the waiting customers can eat while their car gets fixed. And from then on other facilities were added to take advantage of their huge lot, adding a carwash next to the restaurant and lending part of the lot to a convenience store chain to add to their list of services, as well as a salon for the wives in waiting.

And thus a mere small side street garage with a huge grassy plot in the middle of the province became the biggest facility anyone could ever visit around the San Jose area.

Besides the numerous shopping malls that darted every district in the area.

Val was immediately impressed with the place when she first visited it when she returned and is still impressed up to this day. In fact, the achievements that this facility has are the very blueprints Val has for her businesses, trying her best to model her operations as close to how this autoshop had evolved and changed to ride the demands of time.

She approached the front door as it slid open when she arrived, giving her a pleasant surprise.

‘Hmm… so they made upgrades? Interesting.’ She noted, since the last time she was there, the doors were still pushed and pulled by hand.

‘Hello ma’am how can we be of service today?’ One of the clerks had approached her.

‘Oh hello, I was thinking of ordering fifteen sets of sparkplugs for go-kart engines.’ She responds.

‘How big ma’am?’

‘250cc… oh and give me a spare set for a 420cc engine.’

‘Got it! Will be back in a moment.’ The clerk said as he turned away to retrieve her order.

‘Can I roam around for a moment while I wait?’ She asked as the clerk turns back around with a smile.

‘Yes! Sure, please!’ He replies.

As soon as the clerk disappears behind the curtains of the storage room, Val quickly makes a beeline towards what she came for.

--Lane 7--

--Imported Rims--

--Local Rims--

--Tires--

--Tire accessories--

‘If I'm not mistaken it's 245’s and 265’s at the back’ She told herself, trying to recall the size of the tire she wanted to purchase.

She stops near where her required tires were on display. In front of her was a massive wall of nothing but black rubber. Each had their own distinctive pattern and description on performance but with this many choices, Val couldn’t help but still feel depressed, as she gets a quick reminder that car culture is scarce in this country.

Since most of the choices were for utilitarian “daily drive” uses.

She wallowed in this despair for a few minutes until the clerk had found her, brining her initial order in his grasp inside a plastic bag.

‘Hey.... do you have any performance spec tires?’ Val asked as the clerk approached.

‘Hmm performance…’ He thought as he looked like he scoured the whole store's inventory inside his mind. ‘Well… we might have something of that spec, can you please follow me?’ He said as he enthusiastically led Val into another hallway.

A bigger hallway, where most of the products on display are all jumbled without a central theme, though she quickly understood why with all the [NEW!] tags that were stuck on most of the display.

‘Here madam, I think this might be what you are looking for.’ The clerk had stopped right in front of a tall yellow framed display with the brand “Pirelli” written on top of it.

Val squints her eyes as she examines the tire. Without a doubt the tire was indeed of a performance spec, but besides the branding there seemed to be nothing special on the tire besides being the only performance tire inside the shop.

‘Well it’s a sports tire, that’s for sure. But I can’t justify that price… I mean… 45K ($890) is just too much…’ Val contemplated as she knew too well that the next option was to ship some from overseas, which would end up around the same price anyway with the downside of waiting a couple of months.

And with the situation with the docks around the Metro being hindered by the raid investigation, she doubts she can get the order within the remainder of the year.

‘What are these anyway? What’s so special about them?’ Val prys further, hoping the clerk can give her a good reason to buy, otherwise her trip would be “halfly” wasted.

‘Oh it is a good thing you asked madam!’ He excitedly said. ‘These are the new Pirelli Spin-GLO tires. These are running on the same compound as the ones they use in racing, though a bit modified for street use, but the grip is still close to the ones used on track.’

‘Really? So it’s twice as expensive because it’s grippy? That’s it?’ Val answered, feeling annoyed as she could get cheaper tires with better grip than what was being presented. However the clerk still had something up his sleeve.

‘That’s not all ma’am. This tire… you see, just like the ones they use in formula one nowadays, these labels on the side?

They glow. In the dark.’

---

‘They glow?’

‘Yes! The pink labels glow pink at night. And the yellow glows yellow! Just like on TV!’

…

…

‘Hello?...

J2 it's me…

Yeah… you at J&B?

Okay…

Yeah I’m just calling cuz I got something for you…

Yeah…

Before you get home later stop by champworld for me okay?

Huh?

Yup…

I need you to clear the tire rack…

Yeah…

Just put the old ones out of the way, I’ll figure something out.

Yeah… I have a delivery coming in tomorrow morning and I dunno if I can be up early…

Okay…

Thanks!

Bye.’

Val ends the call with a grin on her face and a spring in her step. As she walks away from the Auto shop feeling satisfied. She finds a bus stop just across the street and makes her way towards the line. Usually she’d be irritated at the idea of waiting in line but with the current circumstance, she didn’t even mind that she had to wait.

It took two buses before it was finally her turn to board. For some reason she had struck a vein of luck for the day since no one had lined up behind her, leaving their batch with only five passengers, granting Val with an empty bus.

She puts up her feet on the seat in front of her as she took the time to relax before dropping down to her next destination. It was a stop near the edge of town where only a few industrial buildings were around. It was here where she had to face her first required task of the day.

As a man in a trenchcoat steps out of the corner of one of the buildings holding a gun by his waist.

‘Valentina Fe?’ The man asked.

‘I am her…’

He cocks his weapon and raises it to his eye level.

‘Password please.’