The Sun, a golden orange yolk on the western side of the sky, as the day transits from afternoon to dusk. Victoria stood on the sidewalk outside the South Gate of Central Park, keeping her eyes locked on a yellow-striped city cab as it gradually sped away.
"Bitch", Victoria cursed under her breath as the thought of the culprit getting away steadily was becoming a reality. 8645...8645...8645....Victoria tried to carve the cab's number in her soft, clay-like mind and dry-harden it with the flames of her burning rage.
The road before her was quite barren, void of any traffic, enabling the cab to move further and further away without any hindrance of sorts.
A few uncomfortable seconds later, Victoria heard the loud noise of tires screeching on the street turn to her left.
An Olive green Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, '08 model, sped up after turning and then gradually slowing down as it approached Victoria.
The Hellcat had two parallel black stripes running along the middle of the car's chassis.
The passenger door opened as the car came to a halt beside Victoria.
Vrrr...Vrooom!!! The Hellcat purred to attract her attention.
Luke was there in the driving seat with a grim look, his green eyes burning with rage and resolve simultaneously.
"Get in," Luke's voice reverberated, not on the street or anywhere else but in Victoria's heart. She felt her body heating up with excitement; the sense of failure and disappointment that she felt a few seconds ago was now being stepped on by determination; she felt the joules of adrenaline gushing in her veins.
Victoria got in the car, she didn't say a word, she didn't, in that moment, she understood that Luke understood her.
Both Victoria and Luke were elite warriors and leaders of their respective families. They may not see eye to eye, but a couple of principles were ingrained in them. One: 'Family over Self' and 'Enemy must not remain undead', especially when it targets the 'Familia'.
Vrooom..Vrrrooom!!! The Hellcat roared now as Luke shifted gears, applied the gas, and gradually released the clutch.
The metal beast took off, and the speedometer displayed a hundred within a matter of seconds.
Although John had a head start, how can a mere city cab compare to the Hellcat, and so within a matter of minutes, Victoria and Luke caught up.
"8645...that's it," Victoria broke the silence.
The cab was just about to take the turn at 115th street, toward the Purple City sealink, which connected the island city to the mainland.
The cabbie was startled when a beast of a car screeched and blocked the path in front, stopping abruptly.
He was a foreigner, middle-aged and balding with a pale complexion.
After a moment of shock, the cabbie started hurling obscene remarks in his mother tongue.
Luke and Victoria were already out of their car, cautiously approaching the yellow cab.
It took a minute for them to find out there was no one else in the car, sans the driver.
"Where is he?" Victoria was the one to start with the questions firmly.
"Who you, huh? The cabbie retorted with broken English.
"The man who hitched the ride in your cab from the Park, where is he?" Victoria's patience was already wearing thin.
"Faagg u, shyukha! " Say I sorry me" the cabbie was adamant, he wanted Luke and Victoria to apologise for scaring him.
And at the exact moment Victoria lost it, she was about to deform the cabbie's face permanently.
Luke understood Victoria's intentions. He stepped in and caught Victoria's hand, signaling her not to do it.
What the...what is he doing? Victoria pulled her hand free.
Luke glanced at Victoria without saying a word. She understood he wanted to handle this, so she walked over to the side, looking annoyed.
Tsk...this idiot...No one had ever stopped Victoria like that and lived, but today she had other 'fishes to fry' so she let go.
Victoria saw Luke and the cabbie conversing. Luke spoke with the cabbie in his language fluently; this slightly impressed Victoria. Later, Luke pointed at Victoria, and both he and the cabbie burst out laughing.
This vexed her very much.
"What the fuck are you doing, jackass? He is getting away. Stop wasting my time."
Luke took out a couple of big bills of currency and stuffed them in the cabbie's pocket.
"Let's go," Luke started towards his car.
"What did he say?" Victoria took the passenger's seat.
"The driver said he dropped our guy a few blocks ago on 118th street." Luke hit the gas once again.
"Wait, but why the 118th?" Victoria was trying to think. As they approached the said block, both Luke and Victoria were confused.
"Aahhh, that rat got away." Victoria felt a deep sense of frustration; the man was nowhere to be seen as they circled the block.
"Let's think this through," Luke spoke with a calm voice.
He thought for a while, "I got it, I got it...The old dock," Luke's eyes were sparkling.
The old dock? Yes, the abandoned dock. Of course! Sudden realisation hit Victoria, and she smiled unknowingly.
"Oh shit!" Luke exclaimed.
"What?" Victoria felt worried for a moment.
"So you do know how to smile after all," Luke said with a boyish grin.
Victoria felt a little embarrassed; she was not angry at Luke or his childish flirting.
"Let's stop wasting any more time and catch that rat bastard before he gets away." A cold demeanor returned to Victoria's face.
That's right, both Luke and Victoria concluded that John would set up his getaway via boat. This could have been the most logical reason to get out of the cab (taxi) on this block.
Soon, they were at the old abandoned dock.
A huge metal gate was locked, blocking their path, barring them from entering.
Victoria was about to exit the vehicle when Luke asked, "Wait, let me call for some backup, you know if shit got messy".
"Yeah, you do that, and don't bother me, matter of fact, stay here till I come out with that rat. I cannot babysit you through this." Victoria, although sarcastic, wanted to get John alone, as she was the target to begin with, and there is a high chance that the guy was involved in Vincent's brutal murder.
"Wait...wait...wait." Luke switched on all the door locks, grounding Victoria in the car.
"Are you out of your mind, boy? What do you think you are doing?" Victoria gripped her handgun tightly; she was enraged.
"Hold on, listen to me, I will definitely follow you in there, but we need a plan. We cannot barge in just like that. This is the opp's zone, I mean, enemy territory, we need to tread carefully for now." Luke was calm and spoke softly.
He is not a dumb chocolate boy after all...Victoria sarcastically laughed in her heart.
"Yeah, that would be wise, so you got a plan then?" Victoria's face was cold, ice-like.
"Hehe....yeah," Luke gave a mischievous smile.
Luke and Victoria got out of the car.
"Viola," Luke opened the trunk.
For a second, Victoria was taken aback; her eyes were filled with sparks the next second.
In the Hellcat's dickey(trunk) resided all sorts of instruments of death: half a dozen handguns, a couple of AR-15 assault rifles, a dozen or so grenades, and an old 7.62mm Draganov sniper rifle.
Victoria and Luke suited up, dividing the weapons and ammo backpacks. Soon, only the sniper rifle remained.
Victoria was about to grab it when Luke quickly took it, "This is my practice gun, 'Gojo', I know his caliberations."
Victoria did not argue any further; she knew what naming a gun meant...' Gojo', what an absurd name.
Victoria was now wearing Luke's sweatshirt and track pants, as her clothes were torn and muddy from running and crawling in the park. The clothes smelled nice, but she felt a bit weird.
"Alright, let's connect through call, and here take these earphones, without communication, we will be completely blind." Luke was making the decisions with conviction and logic.
Victoria couldn't help but admire this a little.
"So once we enter, I will search for our guy, you take a position with a vantage point of the dock, and cover me as much as you can, you got it?" Victoria's eyes met Luke's.
"I got it," Luke replied. Luke and Victoria probed the huge metal door for entry, but it was locked and did not budge.
After surveying for points of entry, Luke found out that there was a service door connected to the abandoned guard booth.
They entered the guard both.
It was in a pathetic shape, walls cracked all over, floors broken, paint had already faded away, and rust and mould at every corner.
Luke accidentally kicked a broken, discarded flashlight on the floor, which startled Victoria. She looked around one last time, and there were no living souls or their shadows nearby.
Here we go...let's catch that stupid rat bastard...Victoria's heart was flaming with determination.