Wheels of Time Car Club Event—

The air smelled of gasoline, vintageness, and pride. In a blocked off street that led to a shopping center’s main parking lot, the space was generously used in order to display a variety of classic vehicles: Ford Mustangs, Chevrolet Corevettes, Pontiac Firebirds, Ford Coups, Chevy Impalas, Mercury Flight, Chevy Bel-Air, and many, many more. It was heaven for any car enthusiast because not only did it give them a chance to show off their expensive, hard work, it also allowed them to meet with their own close knit group of friends. Their inner circle of people that few, if anyone, could manage to break into.

Strolling through the lot, dressed in a simple black leather jacket, flannel shirt underneath and jeans, Vicente de la Sangre smirked as many of those showcasing waved and nodded to him. Vicente looked as if he belonged to this age and time. In a way he did, he knew about cars, his father had taught him much about them, along with his Aztec training, but he did not have the obsession that many of them did.

But that didn’t mean he could not appreciate an excellent car when he saw one.

Stopping in front of a ’69 Firebird, Vicente paused to gaze at the gleaming black paintjob and smirked silently to himself. Reminded him slightly of a man who used to live in his neighborhood. Guy was a car nut who spent every waking hour of his day working on his damn Firebird and only drove it around his neighborhood for the holidays. Shaking his head at the memory, he briefly became lost in his thoughts and did not notice the appearance of another man.

“Hello there friend,” the portly, white haired man said cheerily.

Shaken from his thoughts, Vicente looked up to the man and nodded.

“You a fellow car enthusiast?”

“I can appreciate them. Don’t own one, myself,” he said with a nod. Really Vicente didn’t own one of these cars and his interest in doing so was taking a back burner for the moment. What he rather preferred was his black Harley Davidson that he had acquired long before he came to New York, so he knew how to care for a piece of machinery.

“Well we’re always good to have fans!” the man beamed proudly as he nodded to his own car. “Restored this baby myself!”

“Impressive,” Vicente muttered. Then cleared his throat. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Gracin Holden is, do you?”

“Holden? The guy with the 1940 Packard? Oh yeah, he’s somewhere further down the lot. Friend of his?”

Vicente smirked. “Something like that…” he nodded his thanks and strolled away. Time to continue stalking his target…

As she sauntered down the street Cree couldn’t help but notice what a nice day it was, the sun was shining, the breeze was cool and it reminded her of home. Which then reminded her of Ron, the man who taught her everything she knows, including her knowledge and passion for cars. Or was it the faint smell motor oil in the air that reminded her of home? Either way she didn’t care, she was just glad to be on her way to the first thing she was actually excited about in New York; a car show. She was just around the corner from the Wheels of Time Car Club Auto Show and her excitement was so high she thought she just might lose it. This was the first car show she had been to in years, she didn’t like to go alone and it was always difficult to get Ron to leave his raggedy old garage. But she figured she had been in NY for a week now and hadn’t gone anywhere but the grocery store so it was time to get out and do SOMETHING, even if she didn’t have the pleasure of company.

As she finally reached the entrance to the car show she saw all the masteries on display and instantly felt a sense of comfort, one that she hadn’t felt since she stepped on the train to NY. Although this place was tainted by humans she was still surrounded by the things she loved, engines, wheels, gasoline, raw beautiful machines so she was able to deal with it. She was also in hopes of finding another mutant to become friends with, one who could possibly introduce her to more, a network of mutants! At least she hoped that’s how it worked, Ron was pretty much the only mutant she’d ever known other than herself.

“We’ll start with admiring this beauty before I try to make friends though” she said smirking to herself as she walked up to a seemingly flawless 1940 Packard.

She knew it was disrespectful but she just had to run her fingers up the hood of this mystifying piece of perfection. If the owner comes by who cares he’s probably human, doesn’t deserve my respect, doesn’t deserve this car. As she continued to admire this work of excellence she let her mind wander, it journeyed to her crappy little studio apartment that she paid way too much for and how she’d rather just live in this fine piece of work. It would certainly fit her better. Maybe she’d just propose a trade with the owner.

“His sight or his car? That would be an offer he couldn’t refuse, he’d never have to know his sight would return in minutes, if I played it right.” She muttered to herself in sickening confidence.

1940 Packard… Vicente repeated the words over and over again inside of his head. He knew actually what car that was. His old boss in Los Lobos drove that exact make and model of car around for his daily use. A little inconspicuous but the man had nothing to fear. He had the majority of the city’s police in his pocket. This situation, well it was not exactly all that different. As a matter of fact it was surprisingly similar.

Gracin Holden was a man who had his hands in a lot of pots. He dabbled in everything that was legal and illegal and because of this had had great connections. The problem is that the man was becoming too big for his breeches, becoming far too bold, and quite frankly, just annoying to a crime family figure like Falcone. The man’s exorbitant spending, his track record with the law, and this latest incident which involved him and a 20-something girl he picked up and then had her face rearranged, had all piled up to the point that Falcone was sick of the man.

“Take him out,” that was all Vicente needed to hear.

Though the assassin rather work in a more freelance capacity since his last crew was decimated by the FBI, but Falcone paid well and gave him a lot of breathing room. Hopefully he would keep it that way.

But as Vicente stalked on he kept scanning the cars, looking for that single vehicle that he needed. He passed many classics and they were all absolutely beautiful. The paint was restored, the cars were in running order, everything built from the ground up, Vicente had to admit that he was absolutely impressed. He had never been to one of these car expos before and though he knew about cars, his lifestyle didn’t afford him the luxury of restoring one. Though…maybe he would find the time…

He turned…and there he saw the gleam, metallic paint job of the vehicle he sought after: the 1940 Packard.

A smirk crept across his features as he headed towards it. There was already a young woman there, apparently a gear head, who really seemed to enjoy looking at that vehicle. He was always impressed when he stumbled across a woman, especially a young one that knew anything about classic cars. Casually he headed towards the car, his eyes peeled for Holden.

And low and behold, he was not let down.

Holden walked away from a small table in which guys were playing cards. The older man, with slicked back white hair, a gray goatee and mustache and dressed like he was some old gangsters sneered as he saw the young lady manhandling his car. He took on a far more confident air than someone of his age should as he strolled up to the woman and arched a brow.

“Uh, Miss, you know that you’re smudging the hood, right?” he asked as he eyed her, shamelessly, up and down.

Vicente only smirked as he slowly circled his way towards them, eyeing a neighboring car. He would listen in, then just in when he could get Holden alone. For now…it was simply more fun to observe…

Cree paused with her finger still gently resting on the hood as she saw as older man, looking far too full of himself walking over to her. He seemed to stare at her in a creepy provocative way that just screamed nasty old man. The man carried himself and was dressed as if he thought he owned the world, which naturally disgusted Cree. As he found his way over to her he settled in far too close to her for comfort, then he spoke.

>>”Uh, Miss, you know that you’re smudging the hood, right?” His words seeped sickening perverse cockiness.

It was at this moment, Cree lost any ounce of respect for the man that she may have had. Did he know he was talking to?! I probably know far more about this car than he does! He probably didn’t even restore this baby himself! Dressed like that he’s probably afraid to even check the oil himself, and he dare mock my intelligence of mechanics?! Pure fury ran through her veins in response to a simple demeaning question. But she decided to play it cool with him for her own benefit, hoping if she played nice for a little bit he’d be more responsive

“Oh I’m sorry, why I didn’t realize. I was just trying to get a feel for it because I’ve been looking into getting one myself. How would a girl like me get her hands on one of these a little more permanently?” She said trying her best to sound girly, flirtatious and clueless, which wasn’t something she had much practice at.

The man snickered as if owning a car like this was to masculine for a woman to keep up on.

“Well young lady, it’s a lot of handy work that goes into a machine like this. I’d know I rebuilt this thing from the ground up with my own two hands.” He said holding up his hands as if to show battle scars.

This tickled Cree, she noticed his hands looked as though they had never seen a hard day’s work in the man’s entire life. So in turn she showed her rugged, calloused, tired hands as if to say “F*** you”.

“Oh I think I can keep up on it, I’m quite talented. Now what’s it gonna take for you to hand me over the keys?” She said unconcerned of if she had blown her ‘nice’ cover.

“Look honey, do you know how much this car cost me? I’m not handin anything over, I don’t care how fine a piece you may be.”

Now Cree knew it was time to get to business, he sounded irritated and she didn’t want to make too much of a scene.

“Look Mr…What’s your name?”

“Holden, Mr. Holden”

“Well, look Mr. Holden, you wanna leave here with your sight I suggest you hand me the keys, because I don’t play and I can treat this vehicle better than you ever wished you could.” She said in a low threatening whisper. Cree wasn’t in the mood to play around anymore, she wanted this car now just solely for the purpose of him not having it and was prepared to do whatever it took.

Vicente smirked to himself as he looked at a very impressive 1951 Hudson Hornet and listened to the conversation as it unfolded. Holden was being the jerk that his reputation had already given him. He was treating the young lady as if she were little more than some dumb bimbo who had no clue at all as to what a car was able to do. But the innuendo was there, Holden was laying that on thick. Whoever this girl was, it was obviously that the dirty old man was going to do everything in his power to get into her pants.

But it did not take long for those discussions which quickly descend into irritation. Vicente knew that the girl was simply playing along, but to what end, he didn’t know. All he knew was that she was playing dumb in order to get the man’s attention. And boy she got it…until she was tired of allow him that satisfaction.

It quickly became apparent that Holden didn’t appreciate that.

Tones were raised…and the conversation suddenly became far more interesting…

>> “Look Mr…What’s your name?”

>> “Holden, Mr. Holden”

>> “Well, look Mr. Holden, you wanna leave here with your sight I suggest you hand me the keys, because I don’t play and I can treat this vehicle better than you ever wished you could.”

Vicente arched a brow. His hands inside of his jacket pockets, he slowly turned and was struck by the sight of the teenager. She looked…almost exactly like Reaper. Obviously she wasn’t her, Reaper was in her late twenties the last he saw her that was over was twenty-five years ago. There was no way this woman was Reaper, especially because she had both eyes, but damn that attitude. It was scary how much she reminded him of her.

Holden, smirked as he looked at the feisty woman. “Listen, sweetcheeks. I don’t take threats, I give them. Now walk that pretty little derriere of yours away from my car before I call the cops, or worse, I[/b] deal with you. Capiche?”

The older man only laughed at the thought of this girl’s threat. Even in a city with mutants, Holden was not stupid enough to believe every single threat that was given to him. Instead he merely glossed over it as if it were absolutely nothing to working about.

“Dumb broad,” he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear him as he leaned over and began to smooth out the smudge she left on his car with his sleeve.

Vicente, finally shaken from his musings about Reaper, watched the woman for a reaction. He had a feeling it wouldn’t be good…

Cree was in utter shock at the thought of how big this mans balls really must be to call her sweetcheeks, then the audacity to follow it with dumb broad. This was it, the final straw, she was at a full on blood boiling fit of rage. Cree grabbed the man by the back of is gray well kempt hair, pulled his face towards hers just close enough that he had no choice but to look at her.

“Look you worthless piece of s***, this is MY car and I’ll be leaving here with it today and you will be leaving with nothing but your two dollar Salvation Army wanna be gangster suit, and about ten times less dignity than you arrived with because if you don’t hand me the keys your about to get you’re a** kicked by a teenage girl!” She said still speaking in a low threatening whisper, but her tone and voice were beginning to rise with her blood pressure.

The man was still looking at her with just a smirk almost as if he was getting a kick out of this. So she did it, it was time to show him she could do more than talk and she truly wasn’t messing around. He looked her in the eyes and with a wink she could tell he knew exactly what happening. His vision would start to blur and in about 30 seconds the world for him would go black and all he would hear was the sound of Cree’s voice telling him how stupid he was for testing her. Then all would be lost for him as Cree gave him a right hook to the dome knocking him well off his balance so she would have a chance to search him for the keys.

“You weren’t bluffing you little b****! You don’t know what kind of power I have, you’ll get yours sweetcheeks, and you best believe I’ll get mine too!” He yelled at her in exclamation while she was searching for his keys, he knew there was nothing he could do being blind and having no sense of up or down.

Cree couldn’t tell if these were honest or just fearful threats. Either way she didn’t care, she’d already put him in his place once and would be more than happy to do it again. Now just to find the damn keys.

Vicente looked up. Holden had completely disregarded the young woman and turned to return to his business. Of course not without letting a derogatory word or two fall from his lips. As he buffed his car, the assassin turned to look at the eighteen year old. She angry, seething, he could have sworn that he saw lava bubbling out from her ears at the angry look that she was giving his target. If anything he figured that she was probably going to storm away in a huff because she could not seduce him enough to claim what she wanted.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case here…

She got violent. And not just some little girl, “I’m-angry”, shove or slap. Instead she full out, grabbed the man by back of his shirt and forcefully spun him around to face her.

>> “Look you worthless piece of s***, this is MY car and I’ll be leaving here with it today and you will be leaving with nothing but your two dollar Salvation Army wanna be gangster suit, and about ten times less dignity than you arrived with because if you don’t hand me the keys your about to get you’re a** kicked by a teenage girl!”

Both she and Holden locked eyes and Vicente could only watch curiously. Not that he was the only one watching this display. Several other nearby vendors, car enthusiasts and bystanders were watching the commotion as it went down. All they saw was a girl screaming at another man while Holden laughed, apparently thinking the girl cute for her little outburst. As a matter of fact, he probably would have given her a second chance if he had been able to get the words out.

Instead his vision quickly began to evaporate and the man screamed in horror, especially after she delivered a hell of a punch to his jaw and sent him tumbling to the ground…

>> “You weren’t bluffing you little b****! You don’t know what kind of power I have, you’ll get yours sweetcheeks, and you best believe I’ll get mine too!”

Vicente watched her search his pockets and looked up in time to see a pair of Holden’s cronies dashing down the lot to get to their bosses aide. He rolled his eyes. This assignment should have gone much smoother but of course the girl had to mess everything up. A sigh and he stepped towards her, pulling a collapsible baton from his jacket pocket. He did not care for blunt instruments, he preferred his knives, but Falcone wanted this man taken care of in a “special” way. And he of course had to follow orders. A flick of his wrist as the baton extended as he looked down at the young woman searching the man’s pockets.

It was only when she looked up and he smirked.

“Inside left coat pocket,” was all he said as he looked up, spun and struck on of the charging cronies with his heavy duty baton. The sound the man’s jaw snapping in half echoed throughout the lot as the man screamed. Vicente then quickly swung down and effectively took out the man’s kneecap, sending him into a crying heap on the concrete. He then turned to the next thug. Once the girl grabbed those keys, both she, he and Holden were going to go for a little ride…

Cree was having some trouble finding the man’s keys, she was too worked up to really focus on what she was searching for. Her adrenaline was pumping through every vein in her body and she was beginning to shake with excitement. Once she realized how long it was taking her it occurred to her that this was a very public place and everyone could see what she was doing. So Cree took a quick glance up and around to see reactions, to prepare herself for whatever her next encounter may be. At that moment she saw three men heading towards her, two coming straight on and one walking up to her side with a baton extended from his hand. Her attention remained on the man with the baton as he was the biggest and most intimidating in appearance, not to mention he had a weapon. Cree then noticed this man looked much more unorthodox than the other two. He was wearing long hair and looked pretty heated up, the man had on a leather, a flannel and some jeans where the other two looked like your typical monkeys; suits, slicked back hair, very dressy for rough work.

By the time the man got up to her Cree was fairly certain she was about to be roughed up pretty bad and was mentally preparing herself, still searching for the keys hoping she’d find them and get away before he got ahold of her. Right when she was ready to the flee the man gave her a piece of advice which came as quite a surprise to Cree.

>>" Inside left coat pocket." The man’s voice was gruff, like he had been a hardcore smoker for years. She liked this, it was a sound she had come accustomed to.

Cree reached into the pocket the man led her to, still watching him just in case it was a trick. Before she could grasp the keys she saw the tall man take out what must have been Holden’s henchmen. She cringed when she heard the larger man’s knee crack when hit with the metal baton. This to Cree translated directly to time to go! Quickly she found the keys in her hand and jumped up with excitement. She gave the tall man a nudge and dangled the keys in front of him.

“Hey big guy, need a ride?” With this said she began to walk over to her prize, letting the man decide whether or not to follow.

“The cops will be here soon, I’m not stickin around to tell them what happened.” She said over her shoulder when she was almost to the car, not bothering to look to see if the man was following her or not. Assumption led her to believe the man would have to be a complete oaf to want to stick around.

Vicente turned as another of the suited goons can directly at him. Between himself and the girl that was fishing through Holden’s pockets, it was obviously which of them was more dangerous. The goon would attempt to take down the massive and muscular man before tackling the young girl. That was just being a smart tactician. That’s not saying it would turn out to be successful though. No, far from it.

As the man ran up, he pulled a switchblade from his pocket, and eyed Vicente, as not realizing that he was this tall up close. He looked the assassin up and down, growled and then just decided to run at him with everything he had.

The assassin only smirked as he shook his head. Another quick motion and

FWWHAP!

FWWWHAP!!

FWWWWHAP!!![/b]

The assassin moved fast enough to strike his assailant several times with his metal baton, each strike aimed to perfection. One to the knee, one across the left eye socket, and the other under the man’s ribs. Each strike was followed by the cracking sound that was then followed by a grimace and a cry of pain. Before anyone knew it, the goon was on the ground, trying to clutch every part of him that was shattered or broken but there was just too many. He grinned until he heard himself being addressed…

>> “Hey big guy, need a ride?”

He turned to her and smirked. She was a smart girl. Either way they needed to get out of here. But instead of moving to the passenger side of the car, Vicente walked past her and roughly called the blind Holden up into the air. The massive assassin had no trouble lifting Holden up, opening the passenger side of the car and shoving the man into the narrow backseat.

>> “The cops will be here soon, I’m not stickin around to tell them what happened.”

“Don’t worry, we have at least another five minutes before they’ll show,” he grinned. Quickly he subdued the flailing Holden before he slipped into the passenger seat next to the woman. He would have taken the wheel but he doubted he would have been able to pry the keys from her new toy from her hands. He grinned as he nodded. “Let’s go.”

Cree was happy to see the big man did decide to come along with her, mostly because she was so new in town that she hadn’t the slightest idea where to go to make a quick and hopefully painless get away. She was a little irritated however when she saw him toss Holden in the back, it wasn’t ideal and she didn’t understand why he needed to tag along. But she wasn’t about to question the guy she just saw take out numerous thugs with ease like he did it on the daily. Cree was a brave gal but there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity and she knew where to draw it. Instead he spoke next giving her reassurance.

>> “Don’t worry, we have at least another five minutes before they’ll show,” He said while dealing with the idiot in the back seat, before hopping in himself and telling Cree to go. The only problem was she had no idea where to go, she almost wished she had let him hop in the driver’s seat but couldn’t let herself do it. She instead decided to wing it, she backed out of the parking spot and maneuvered her way to the entrance of the car show which doubled as the exit and hung a right hoping wherever they got they got there fast and safe.

Any suggestions on direction? Maybe a safe place to go? Out of town? Something, somewhere? Cuz man I don’t have a clue where to go, I’m new in town! Cree was freaking out on the inside and was pretty sure it was showing on the outside too. She was very embarrassed by this as this guys seemed fairly calm and collected like he was used to excitement. Her embarrassment just made her freak out more, she needed a cigarette bad. So despite the rush and confusion Cree pulled a cigarette out the pack in her pocket, and was left searching for a lighter. She couldn’t find one to save her life, it must have fallen out when she was searching the man’s pockets. Cree began to mumble profanities as she continued to search, she needed something to calm her nerves and now was not the time to be without a means to her nicotine. She was swerving all over the road, had almost hit two people walking, just to find her lighter. This needless to say was not going how she had hoped.

Vicente had climbed into the car and paused as he looked, waiting for the girl to take off. There was a moment of hesitation, even he could see that, but she managed to rev the engine (which purred beautifully) and took off out of the parking lot. He smirked silently as he watched people stare in awe, many of them scrambling for their cell phones in order to call the police. It was funny, in emergencies, people love to call the police over and over again to report every new finding. He was sure that the cops were probably sick of it.

But he knew they had time. Even as the girl pulled the car into the open and drove for the exit of the lot, he knew that the police were still a few minutes away. That should at least get them well on the road and into someplace where they could hide this heap, at least until the panic passed over.

He glanced at the girl. Did she even have a plan beyond just taking the car?

>> “Any suggestions on direction? Maybe a safe place to go? Out of town? Something, somewhere? Cuz man I don’t have a clue where to go, I’m new in town!”

He sighed. Of course she didn’t have a plan.

Though he didn’t let it show on his face, in his mind he just had to shake his head and smirk. What did she really just think that she could take something from one of the small league bosses in this town and just walk away from it? Even if she was a mutant that was just some flawed thinking right there. He could only try his best not to laugh.

But with a calm and collected tone, he nodded to the road ahead.

“Make a left up there, follow it down, make one right, one left and watch out for the cops,” he grinned. He barely noticed that when he finished talking there was the sudden sound of sirens and a flashing police lights in the horizon behind him. He smirked. “Via con dios.”

The man was still as calm as could be, even with Cree freaking out. She thought he must have had some kind of plan in his head. He sighed like he was disappointed at her for not knowing what to do, and she couldn’t blame him. He seemed like a seasoned criminal, maybe she could take some notes from him. Cree was looking to get into the business of taking what she wanted and getting all she needed from it. Still remaining calm he gave her an answer.

>> “Make a left up there, follow it down, make one right, one left and watch out for the cops,” It seemed that as soon as he said cops they appeared, they must have been listening for him to beckon them. This shook Cree up a bit, she had never had any experience with the cops other than filling out the accident report for her mother before she left and had a feeling if she had to deal with them now they wouldn’t be quite so nice. The fear caused Cree to speed up, it was a good thing she knew how to drive well. If you know how to work on a car you ought to know how to drive one just as well. The first street the man pointed to came up very quickly and she took the turn fast and sharp, she saw Holden in the back seat fly to the other side and smash his head against the window. This made Cree laugh a bit, he deserved it for being such an a**. The cops were trailing fairly close, at least it seemed close to Cree. They were about 5 car lengths behind her and as she turned she saw more coming out from streets ahead. Once she got on the street she was told to turn on the road ahead was mostly clear. So she sped to the next right and took another very sharp turn and to the next street with another sharp left. Once she got on the street it came to her that she didn’t know what if anything she was heading towards or if this was just a random maneuver to try to lose the cops.

If it was an attempt to lose the police she thought it worked, she could still hear the sirens but no longer had any in view. “Am I heading anywhere in particular?” She asked beginning to slow to a more normal speed as to not attract any more attention in case they really had lost the cops. “By the way I’m Cree, thanks for all the help” She said offering a hand to the large man.

Vicente calmly watched the world slip by the speeding vehicle. He eyed the road ahead, already thinking about what the possible outcomes would be. The woman was a good driver, she had fast eyes, that allowed her to make snap decisions and to speed without fear of crashing but the problem was that she was drawing attention to herself. After all, how many speeding classic cars does one see in the great city of New York? It was not hard for the police to get a tail on her and now they were following a few car lengths behind.

A silent curse fell from his lips.

He disliked this much attention but he felt confident enough to not resort to panicking. So long as the driver actually continued to listen to him, there was a fairly good chance that that pair of them were going to get out of this alive.

>> “Am I heading anywhere in particular?”

He nodded. Not really revealing any more than that as he glanced down to his watch.

>> “By the way I’m Cree, thanks for all the help”

“Blood,” he said quietly in return. “Rafael Blood…” He just until just as Cree made her the last turn he commanded her to earlier, he suddenly spoke up again. “One more left then slow down to 25mphs and blend…”

His direction was rather brilliant. The police cars were starting to get lost and their sirens were dimming from memory. When Cree makes the last turn, she would notice that he directed not to some hidden getaway or underground lair, but instead she would see that he lead her to an Elementary school. A school which was just getting out from a halfday which meant that several school buses were just preparing to leave as well as several other family vehicles.

So long as Cree blended in, exactly like he said, they would be fine...

Rapheal Blood, an interesting name Cree thought. Then again her’s wasn’t exactly average either so she couldn’t really question it. He told her to slow down after the last turn and blend in, she wondered what she would have to blend to. It wasn’t an easy task in such an extravagant car, she was hoping more for a garage for them to momentarily ditch it in. But at least the cops were out of sight and hopefully not catching back up. She made that final turn and slowed down to the required 25 mph as Raph had asked. Raph is the nickname she decided to give him in her mind, Rapheal sounded too much like a hero from a Disney movie to her and he didn’t quite look like Prince Charming.

As she came around the turn she saw a school, there were children coming out they were all over the place. Cree was kind of freaking out on the inside, she couldn’t stand kids. They were careless and irresponsible, they did stupid things all the time. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to blend in especially here, the place was filled with minivans and SUV’s, soccer moms and stay home dads and little waist high loud creatures.

“Why did you bring me here, how are we supposed to blend into a school dismissal? We stick out like a sore thumb, have you seen the car we’re in?” Cree knew it wasn’t smart to criticize Raph as he was much larger than her and could definitely do some damage, but she was too on edge to care right now. This entire situation was a mess and she knew she had caused it, which just made her even more frustrated. She wished she could just flee from all this, she was stressed and embarrassed and her mind was just all over the place and now she was stuck going 25 mph watching kids get out of school and trying not to hit any of the little monsters. Cree felt as if every mother and child in the place was staring at her, and they probably were.

“After this where do we go? And please tell me it doesn’t have anything to do with kids, cops or a**holes like him!” She asked gesturing to Holden in the back seat.

Cree turned the corner and Vicente smirked as he saw that school was letting out and there were kids, moms and dads running around everywhere. The crowd of people hustled and bustled around, kids running up to their parents and squealing with joy. For the most part Vicente paid them no mind because they simply were not worth his time, but they could prove to be annoying when they wanted to be. But for now, they could prove to be the exact asset they needed to shake the cops. Especially since--

>> “Why did you bring me here, how are we supposed to blend into a school dismissal? We stick out like a sore thumb, have you seen the car we’re in?”

He rolled his eyes as he glanced at her. Was she really questioning him right now? After she had the brilliant idea of mugging a small-time crime boss for his car, in a public place, from which she needed HIS help to get her out of? It was absolutely insane and worthy of him just smacking her over the top of her head with a brick.

But instead he settled for just a look of “question-me-again”. He really was in no mood and could easily leave her wherever he chose to let her deal with the police and Holden’s gang.

He nods forward once again to bid her to go on…

>> “After this where do we go? And please tell me it doesn’t have anything to do with kids, cops or a**holes like him!”

He grinned. “Forward…until I tell you to stop…”

If she did as he said, she would see that the crowd of people were beginning to loosen up and that they could easily pull next to one of the school buses that were letting them go by without question. But when she pulled up to the corner of the school, Vicente would then command her to stop the car. It was only when that was done that a man would walk up to Vicente’s window…

“Blood,” the man regarded him in a curious but non-questioning tone.

The man was tall, almost as tall as Vicente but with a clearly less tone physique. His large beer gut pressed against his jeans and buttoned up flannel shirt that was stained with various spots of dark color. He scratched his white beard as he eyed Vicente and his passenger.

“The grey goose flies low…”

“…So catch it with your bare hand and break its neck.” he replied, finishing their hidden code.

The man nodded and stepped aside. He walked over to the fence that separated the rest of the school from the world outside and unlocked part of it that could not be seen. He then pulled it open so that there was a direct pathway from the street all the way down into the heart of the school. Pointing down the parking lot of the school, the mysterious man grinned. “Building 22B is open.”

Vicente nodded and then turned to Cree. “You wanna get out of this with your new toy, drive down to where he says.”