Previously, on Rogue:
Simon simply sat there, watching the Mustang disappear down the road as the crowd of people soon dispersed and the racers went their way.
All except the red MR2. Which remained where it was, watching and observing.
A few silent minutes later, the car simply backed away too and drove off in the opposite direction, eerily.
Huh. Weird.
Speaking of weird things,
The buzzing of Simon’s cellphone caught his attention as he turned to look down; his face losing all color as he noticed fifty or so missed calls from none other than Adrian.
“Shit…”
…
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The roads turned to a blur as Simon shifted between gears; speeding down the freeway, now heading towards Coal Harbor.
Adrian’s going to chew him out a new one – and for good reason too.
This one was all on him. And he really didn’t have any valid excuse to back him up this time.
Within the next couple of minutes, the roar of the VQ from the Z echoed through the air as Simon entered the Dockyards, making his way through the double grated gates which led to the ships’ loading bays.
There, at the far end of the row was Adrian leaning against his red IS 300 and right next to him stood Mona, chatting away; both smoking a cigarette each.
Adrian tiredly exhaled a long puff of smoke as he dropped the cigarette, crushing it under his loafer as Simon rolled up and parked right in front, stepping out.
“Took you long enough,”
Mona began, shaking her head in disappointment. She sounded serious, and rightly so, Simon thought to himself. He did promise to meet up with them shortly after losing Gina’s goons. Which was more than an hour ago now.
“Look, I can explain-”
“You’re off the job.”
Adrian interrupted stepping forward, as two of the workmen got into the green 350Z and started reversing it into the awaiting container. Even Mona turned to look back at him as if she didn’t quite register what he just said.
“What?”
“I don’t want you working with us anymore. Clearly, you’re a liability,” Adrian continued, his tone deathly neutral and his face devoid of any expressions, which made it seem even more final.
“Adrian… come on man,” Simon replied, “Not when we’re so close to getting all the cars-”
“Like that’s what you care about!”
Adrian snapped, his tone rising an octave.
“Only thing you care about is joyriding these cars! Especially when I specifically told you NOT to, and how we can’t afford to attract any unwanted attention toward us! Not only that, you then go around street racing with the ONE CAR the underworld will turn cities over for! What were you thinking?!”
Simon just stood there; head hung low as he took it all. Every word landing like a blow to his ego.
He knew what he did and what it would entail.
And he did it anyway. Because he wanted to.
Not because of Nikki. Not even because he wanted to show Gina and his former crew members – or whoever was left, that he was back for blood.
But because he, specifically, wanted to feel alive once again. Alive to be back.
Alive to know that he still had the blood of his father coursing through his veins.
Adrian rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly as he spoke on,
“Thanks to you now, our little crew is on the radar of every single street racing forum in the city. There’s talk of Rachel’s lost 350Z being resurrected; gatecrashing car meets and destroying any newbie dumb enough to challenge it,”
The three now stood in silence before Mona finally cleared her throat to speak up.
“But, isn’t this what we were kinda looking for, though?”
“Eh?”
Adrian raised an eyebrow at the girl as he looked back up.
“Part of your deal with Simon was if he helped us get the stolen cars back, you and the Arellis will represent him in the Underground Rivals League. And the only way for that to happen is if he gained enough rep to be noticed as someone serious enough to get an invite. What’s more badass than schooling a bunch of nobodies in a street race using THE Rachel Teller’s car?”
Adrian opened his mouth to object but no words came out. Simon simply rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
Sure, everyone might’ve believed it was Rachel behind those tinted glasses, and sure she would have gotten all the credit for tonight’s wins. But damn he’d be lying if he said winning like this, in her high-powered car tonight didn’t feel good.
The three were interrupted as a set of multiple bright white headlights flooded the surroundings, forcing them to look up and shield their eyes as a metallic silver Audi S4 followed by matching metallic silver Cadillac Escalades rolled up.
Simon and Mona immediately stepped back instinctively. Gina and her men, again?
No. This was someone else. Someone more… serious.
The S4 stopped right in front of the trio, its headlights flashing twice, commanding their full attention – as if it didn’t have that already.
“Who the hell is that?” Mona mumbled under her breath,
“The Organizers.”
Both the youths’ eyes grew wide; exchanging looks between each other as Adrian answered. His voice calm but still holding an air of uncertain nervousness.
THESE were The Organizers?! The mysterious, powerful duo that ran the underground street racing scene across the west coast as well as the two people controlling the strings to the underworld’s involvement?
Of course, if there was talk of the thought-to-be dead and pawned off infamous green 350Z belonging to the one and only boss of the Rachel’s Ryders crew, back in action on the streets of their city; they would take interest.
Or offense, however which way you put it.
“You two wait here. I’ll go see what’s up,” Adrian began calmly, holding a hand up for both of them as he started walking towards the Audi.
Just as he was no less than a few feet away from the car now; one of the rear passenger seat doors swung open almost automatically, as Adrian calmly slipped inside and closed it behind him.
Minutes passed as Simon and Mona simply stood motionless, basked in the light of the three cars like deer caught in headlight. Too scared or nervous to make a move or even say anything.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Mona whispered to Simon, who simply shook his head,
“My guess is as good as yours.”
Should they go see what’s up?
The uneasiness was getting unbearable now.
A few more minutes later, Adrian climbed back out of the Audi. His expression unreadable as he took one look towards the car, nodded in acknowledgement and slowly made his way back towards the duo; a large manilla envelope in his hand.
The three cars backed up slowly and left without so much as another word, the sound of their engines echoing through the night sky,
“What happened?” Simon began,
Adrian simply held up the envelope in his hand, a small smirk breaking across his lips. A silver and grey ‘Underground Rivals’ sigil engraved on the front of the envelope.
“We’re in,” he began, his voice reinvigorated with newfound confidence and something neither of the two had seen in a long, long time,
“Now let’s heat it up!”
...
A.N; Wowee! This update took forever to put out, so I apologize for the unannounced delay. Real life happened, and I had to step out for a bit. Hopefully now, updates will be published sooner and more timely, so please accept this slightly shorter update until then. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to any one of you who’s taken an interest in Rogue!
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