The Formidable Stranger (Trilogy)

The Open Road

The time ran off quickly. A usual day's activities were all it took for the new adventure to arrive. Jorge had arrived and everyone gathered at the hangar where the Lee's private jet was. Kasdeya made an unassuming entrance- no drama and strictly business. After a few minutes of farewells, hugs, and kisses, the team of Kasdeya, Casper, Drew and Jorge boarded the aircraft and took flight. Having no idea when they would return, they only had the thought in mind that they had to save Samuel and Jonathan no matter what it took.

Tammy turned to Penny and said, "So trucker chick, take the lead."

The girls climbed into the massive rig as Penelope drove to Sakamoto Distributors. It was early in the morning still, dawn had not yet risen from her slumber and Sophie was already hard at work. While in her office on the 20th floor she received a text from Penelope telling her the truck had arrived in the back. A matter of seconds and Sophie walked into the manufacturing space. The container was being loaded in the door but there was no sign of the driver anywhere. For some reason, Sophie was expecting to see a middle-aged man with a road belly that he earned from years behind the wheel.

"Good morning!" Penny yelled into Sophie's ear from behind. Sophie, being startled turned around quickly to see Penelope and Tammy standing a few inches behind her both with their hands folded.

"Good... morning... Uhm, what are you guys doing here and where's the driver?"

Penelope told her the news as she watched Sophie's facial expression change to that of being pissed off.

"What's the matter Sophie, you're as surprised as I was when I found out she can drive a truck?" Tammy asked.

"What, no... I don't care about that! I should have probably told you I'd be coming along for this road trip. My buyer has requested to meet me in person."

Penny's eyes grew wide with shock while Tammy burst out in an awkward childish giggle.

"Well fuck..." she continued. Tammy knew these two being on the road together would not end well.

It took an hour for the loading to be completed, Penelope to settle into the driver's seat, Tammy into the passenger seat to her right, and Sophie in an extra chair in the back. This was a sleeper rig designed specifically for cross-state journeys; the chair in the back was to be replaced with a bed. With a strong control of the first gear, Penny drove off. The gates closed as the three ladies took on the open road. Five minutes into the journey, everyone was silent. In an attempt to break the ice, Tammy glanced at Sophie in the rear-view mirror, then to her sister through the corner of her eye. She released a melancholy sigh and said "let's see what's on the radio, shall we?"

Reaching forward she turned the little round knob on the radio before her and tuned in to the first available station.

"Screech.. zip zip... New York's most elusive team of vigilantes..zip.. screech"

"Wait. What was that?" Penelope spoke finally "Go back a little"

...The team known as The Shadows has been out of commission for weeks after being targeted and hunted by the authorities. Criminals are beginning to crawl out from under their rocks leaving the people as safe in the hands of the police as they were before the first sighting of the masked ninja a few years back...

This was from a shady talk show that most people enjoyed listening to.

"Oh joy..." Sophie spoke breaking her silence in a sarcastic tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Penelope asked slightly aggressively.

"I don't mean it like that, I just mean... We all know the police here only show up when there's a body to pick up off the streets, or after the fact of anything."