Lonely Thieves

Act II, Part IV

Norah's Side (April 8, 11:00 pm)

Norah's dashboard beeped, letting her know that she was receiving a call. She picked up the call and Kolya's name appeared on the screen.

"I've found the girl. She and her friend are hiding out in one of my safehouses."

"That's a huge weight off my back, but I can't really celebrate since we've got Dogs on my tail here!"

"That sounds bad. Well, hurry up and lose them. I'll send you the address to the safehouse, so get here as soon as you can."

Kolya hung up before Norah could even retort. She clenched her teeth and looked in the rearview mirror. The Dogs were still hot on her tail, and the narrow streets made it hard for her to increase the distance between them.

Daryl, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked out uneasily at the Dogs, who were dashing towards the car at an inhuman pace. "Hey, are you going to be able to lose these guys?"

"Be quiet for a moment," Norah grunted out as she wracked her brain for a way out. In the distance she caught sight of the highway. If she could get onto the highway, then she could increase her speed and get away from the Dogs. Their modifications made them run as fast as thirty miles-per-hour, so if she could boost up to highway speed, she could get away.

Norah stepped on the accelerator and made a sharp turn to the left, dodging oncoming traffic as she made a beeline for the highway. The Dogs followed behind closely, leaping and hopping over the cars as they continued to pursue her. However, Norah ignored them and headed up the ramp onto the highway. Fortunately, there weren't that many people on the highway this late at night. Norah pushed the car's speed up to sixty and zoomed down the roads, leaving the Dogs behind in the dust.

"We did it!" Daryl cheered as he watched the Dogs from the rear window. "I can't even see them anymore."

"Don't celebrate yet," Norah remarked as a familiar flash of red and blue began appearing on her rearview mirror. Two Overman police cars appeared in the distance, and they began to close the distance with Norah's car.

"This isn't good," Norah observed as she tried to increase her speed. "Overman police car AI drivers can hit up to a hundred miles an hour easily, but I'll have trouble trying to keep control of the car if I tried going the same speed. We'll be overtaken if we don't do something about this."

"What can we do, then?"

"You got a gun, right? I saw it in your coat."

"Huh? I do, but..."

"Take it and shoot out their tires. It's the only thing that's gonna stop them at this point."

"Woah, hold on!" Daryl's face was a mix of fear and reluctance. "I've never shot a gun before! I'm not going to be able to hit those tires!"

"If you don't do it, then they'll catch us in no time!" Norah yelled back. "And we don't have time to switch drivers. Hurry up and shoot at them already!"

Daryl winced, but he knew that he had no way of arguing himself out of this. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the pistol that he had gotten from that black market gun store. He had an inkling of how to use a gun, but little of it was from actual practical use. He awkwardly switched off the safety and cocked the pistol, then aimed it with shaking hands outside the window at the police cars that were gaining on them. Daryl squeezed the trigger and the recoil nearly sent him out of the car.

His shot unfortunately didn't manage to hit its mark, and the Overman agents riding in the car returned fire, forcing him to retreat back in the car.

"I really can't do this!" Daryl cried as tears began to form in his eyes. "There's got to be another way of handling them!"

"I can't think of one, can you?!"

Daryl groaned. Norah sighed and took a look at his hands. "First of all, trigger discipline. Letting your finger sit on the trigger like that is just asking for a misfire."

Daryl awkwardly took his finger off the trigger. Norah leaned over and indicated the sights on the top of the pistol.

"Line these up in order to make your shot. Also, make sure to brace yourself before firing so you don't get taken out by the recoil. You've got no experience firing a gun, so I don't expect you to do it perfectly, but if it improves our chances of getting away, then all the better."

Daryl nodded, and while he was still a little unsure, he decided to take another shot at the car. He waited until the agents stopped firing, then leaned out of the window again, taking care to aim his shot at the police car's tires.

Once again, the recoil shook his arms, but he managed to keep them from flying away like last time. Unfortunately, the shot missed again, and Daryl retreated back into the car as the Overman agents returned fire once again.

Sure enough, the police cars began to gain quickly on Norah's car. Desperate, Daryl learned out of the car and fired several shots at the tires. By pure luck, one of the bullets ended up piercing the tire of the car directly behind them, and the car quickly spun out of control, slamming into the other car.

"That'll do!" Norah shouted as she slammed on the accelerator and burst down the highway. In no time, the police cars disappeared in the horizon, but Norah knew that once they resumed the pursuit, they would catch up soon. She quickly spied an exit off the highway into the Lunar district and took it. The Lunar district was still being patrolled by Overman agents, but they didn't seem to pay her any attention. Norah drove the car down a few streets, then quickly parked alongside a nearby curb in an area with no patrols.

"Why are we stopping here?" Daryl asked. "Shouldn't we look for that safehouse?"

"They'll be looking for a car, so being in one isn't going to do us any favors. We're in the Lunar district, so it won't be too hard to get to our destination on foot." Norah used her phone to look up the address Kolya had sent her by text. "It's a bit of a walk, but we can handle it."

The two of them walked out onto the Lunar District's main streets. Despite it being late at night, there were still a handful of pedestrians walking the city, and while there were a few Overman agents here and there, the patrol was not nearly as suffocating.

Norah wrapped her arms around Daryl's as they walked down the street. "Try to look like we're a normal couple walking about town," she remarked coolly. "We'll draw less suspicion that way."

"You think we make a good couple?" Daryl joked casually. He received a heel to his foot as a response.

The two fugitives walked around the edge of the Lunar district's main business zone while keeping a careful eye on the few Overman agents patrolling the area. After walking nearly halfway around the area, the two of them cut into a residential zone filled with apartment complexes that led to the storage lot where Kolya's safehouse supposedly was.

"What are we going to do once we meet up?" Daryl asked Norah worriedly.

"Not sure," Norah replied honestly. "Honestly, this situation might be more complicated than we think."

"Why don't we discuss it, then?"

Norah whirled around to see a woman in a uniform aiming a gun at her. Behind her were two other people in uniform, both with their pistols out. Norah clicked her tongue as she put her hands up in the air. She recognized their uniforms in an instant – after all, she had seen a bunch of them only last night.

"Hayasaka Security! I was hoping that all the Overman agents meant you weren't moving around."

The woman in front smirked as she kept her gun trained on the two fugitives. "My name is Ingrid Hayasaka, Captain of Hayasaka Security. You are Daryl Haddock, are you not?"

Daryl gulped as he heard his name uttered. "I suppose you already know the answer to that."

"Indeed I do." Ingrid nodded to the security officers behind her. "Put them in restraints. We're bringing them in for questioning, Hayasaka-style."