The Bugatti was hidden in a garage beneath a rooftop club. Above, loud music vibrated, and lights flashed. Vina lent Rhea clothes that were more suitable for the job, and the three walked the streets in black coverings and gloves. Aisyah had a backpack with a flashlight, lockpick tools, knives and clippers, screwdrivers, rope, a small collection of throwing knives, and a loaded MP-443.
"Rhea, keep a lookout," said Vina when they approached the garage.
Aisyah opened the backpack and pulled out the lockpick tools.
"Can I do it this time?" she asked her mom.
"If you think you're fast enough," said Vina.
Aisyah got the side door open in under thirty seconds. Vina darted to the security system's main access panel against the wall, removing the AC power to the system directly off the wall. She unlocked it with a small screw, opened the system's backing, and disconnected the blocky wire attached to the main battery.
Aisyah got onto the floor and reached her arms on the underbelly of the car, careful fingers tracing for the presence of explosives. When she located the electric blasting caps, she blindly did her work to detach the elongated shells.
Vina grabbed lock by-pass tools from the backpack and got to work on the car door. It was a swift four minutes, and the car door was open, blasting caps removed, and Rhea was in the front seat. She removed the plastic cover on the steering wheel with one of the tools and found the wiring harness connector. She pulled aside the battery, ignition, and starter wire bundle and stripped one inch of the battery wires' insulation, twisting them together. She connected the ignition on/off wire to the battery wire and carefully stripped the starter wire. The engine rolled to life. Aisyah cheered from the back seat, and Vina rushed to open the garage door. Rhea cranked the wheel hard to either side to break the steering lock and after Vina got in the passenger seat, Rhea floored the gas pedal.
"Where do I go?" asked Rhea as she sped down the street. She could feel her pulse in her ears.
"Well," said Vina, "we got a hell of an engine on our hands. Let's see what you got, mechanic."
A smile grew across Rhea's face. She had never been behind a 603 hp engine before. The gas pedal got lower and lower to the floor as the car began to hit speeds of 80 and then 90 mph. Though roads were never jammed with traffic, there were enough cars that Rhea needed a careful hand to weave the car between vehicles as they surpassed all limits.
But their joy ride was quickly interrupted when a black Jaguar and a red Dodge Challenger swung behind them. Rhea hit the break and made a quick turn that the Dodge missed, but the Jaguar kept on their tail.
"Oh no," said Rhea. "Who are these guys?"
"The bastards we stole the car from. Some of the triad's men," said Vina.
"The Pisac triad?" Rhea asked.
"The one and only."
Rhea paled. She would not have so leisurely gone along had she known she was stealing from the triad. "How the hell am I supposed the lose them?"
A silver Porsche fired down the road and swung in to accompany the Jaguar. Rhea made another fast turn, pushing the car into neutral for an instant as the car drifted the corner. Both cars followed.
"Don't worry. We can take them," Aisyah grinned from the back seat. She was pulling the knives and handgun from the backpack. A gold-colored Mazda and another Dodge Challenger swung from a road ahead and closed in on the Bugatti.
"I sort of doubt that," Rhea yelled.
"Don't panic," Vina said as she cocked the handgun and began to roll down the window. "Head for the marina and keep your eyes on the road."
She was in too deep to turn back now. Rhea tried to take a deep breath, tightened her grip on the wheel, and focused on the road ahead and the wheels beneath her feet. The Mazda slowed quickly, the bumper nearly swiping the front of the Bugatti, but Rhea jerked the wheel at the last minute and turned down an opposite road as she tried to track the path to the marina in her mind. It did little to shake the triad, and Rhea cursed at the skill of the drivers.
Vina swung her body out the window, gun in hand, and aimed for the tires of the Jaguar. After landing a shot on the front left tire, the car skidded, and after a hit to the other front tire, it lost its traction and skidded onto the sidewalk, where two pedestrians were smushed under the force of the vehicle. With the release of Vina's firing, the triad responded with their own weaponry, firing at the open window just as Vina sunk back into the passenger seat. The eruption of gunfire so close to Rhea made her tremble, but she used that fear to keep alert.
"Mom, hit the windows," said Aisyah as she flipped the small knives between her fingers.
"Rhea, get us as close as you can to the driver's window."
Rhea complied, and with the passenger window partially rolled down, Vina fired on the windows. Clean hits shattered the glass. Vina then turned around and shot out the rear windshield of the Bugatti. The triad men were now firing back through the shattered window, and Rhea swerved so as to not to be hit by a car stopped at a red light. She sped through the intersection, car horns blared. The gold Mazda didn't time his crossing and was smashed by an oncoming car, the two tumbling into crumpled metal.
Rhea reangled the Bugatti by the Dodge Challenger. Aisyah waited for a break in the fire and then swung out from the car's rear and flung two knives through the passenger window. She hit the driver through the cheek, and the Challenger flung out of control.
Bullets pierced holes in the Bugatti metal, and Rhea did what she could to keep the car away from the flying bullets while Vina and Aisyah worked to take out what tires or windows they could. Whenever there was a fire break, Aisyah would fling knives into the openings. She never missed.
"Can I ask why you have decided to piss off one of the most dangerous organizations in the city?" Rhea asked as she began to gain distance between the cars. She kept taking turns that led her away from the marina to keep the triad from getting too close.
"These assholes need to be taken down a peg," said Vina. "They think they can close down my market just because I won't pay up to them. They think they own the northern Talun district now just because they eliminated the Leper Brothers. Most do what they say since nearly everyone in the district north of Mahkota is an opioid addict, but I'm not going to bend to their will. I don't need their drugs or their 'protection.' They hit me, then I'm gonna hit back."
Rhea smiled at Vina. It may be a suicide mission, but she admired the woman's audacity.
They were a few blocks from the marina, posts of sailboats increasing in height as they got closer to the docks. "Okay, so, what do I do once we get to the marina?" Rhea asked.
"When you get to the southern dock, head along the bank until we get to the warehouses. There's a place we can stash the car."
When Rhea glanced in the rearview mirror, she saw the distance between them and the triad cars growing. There was a pit in her stomach.
"We beat this poor guy up pretty bad," Aisyah said as she stroked the leather seats. "I was hoping to take him for a spin myself."
"You would crash it in two minutes," said her mother said with a laugh.
The light mood quickly dissipated when their path was cut by flashing red and blue lights, seven cop cars ahead, and as they approached, eight more rolled behind them. Rhea hit the brakes and looked at Vina. She was beginning to tremble, but Vina and Aisyah let no anxiety reach their expressions.
Among the police approached a tall, lean Asian man with thick black hair and a sharp black suit. He was in his late twenties, a handsome face with black eyes. His looks were enough to tell he was threatening.
"Wow. Kamon actually came out himself," said Aisyah as she poked her head between the front seats.
Rhea's blood grew colder. "What are we supposed to do?"
"We'll let him make the first move," said Vina. "Cut the engine."
The car ceased its rumbling, and the three women sat in the car looking at the police that pulled their guns at Kamon's command.
"Get out now, and I won't kill you immediately," Kamon shouted.
Vina lent her head out the shattered passenger window. "That sounds like a lie!"
"Vina?" Kamon glared at the woman.
"Hello, asshole," she grinned.
"Don't smile. You're not walking away from this."
"Oh, I beg to differ. I've walked away from horrors worse than you."
"You don't think I'm horrible? That hurts my feelings."
"My daughter is in the car."
"Good. I'll kill her first. And who the hell is that in the driver seat?"
Rhea timidly rolled down the window and poked her head out. "…Hello."
"Who the fuck are you?" Kamon spat.
"Uh…I'm Rhea…I'm a mechanic."
"Mechanic? Wait, are you the one who stole from Irvin in Kampot?"
"…Yeah."
Kamon smirked. "Get out of the car. All of you."
Rhea complied, but Vina hesitated to let her daughter out.
"It'll be fine, mom," she said and dropped the driver seat so she could crawl out from the back.
"I told you, Vina," said Kamon as he approached, "that if you want to keep that ugly market and apartment, then you'll have to pay up to me. That's my territory now."
"It's not yours! It never was yours! All you assholes do is blunder around and try calling everything yours. You're just possessive monsters who weaken people to use them. You claim you give me protection? You know I don't need such a fragile thing like that. Go ahead and kill me if you can. I'll come back if only to be another phantom that haunts this island. And then I'll come for you."
Kamon glared at Vina, then at her daughter, then at Rhea. "And how is it you got involved in such matters?" he asked the freckle-faced woman.
Rhea paled. "I didn't realize who I was stealing from. I just liked the idea of driving a Bugatti."
Kamon gave a small laugh, and Rhea stared. "You seem like a talented girl, and you're Rusakov's property, so I'm reluctant to kill you. But as for you two…"
"You can't kill them," Rhea interrupted.
"Oh? And why not?"
"If you don't, I'll fix your car for you. No charge. And anything else you need repairing."
"Why would you stand up for trash like them?"
"I don't like bloodshed."
"Well, sweetheart, then you're in the wrong city."
"I am painfully aware of that."
Kamon glared again at Vina and her daughter for a moment, thoughts tracing his irises, and then said: "You fix all my cars. Whenever I want."
Rhea nodded, and Vina and Aisyah stared in stupefaction. Never had they seen such an act of selflessness. They didn't believe such a thing existed.
Kamon dismissed himself, the police following, and Rhea turned back to Vina and her daughter. "I'll have to take the car to my shop, but I can take you guys back to Talun first."
"You've done enough," said Vina. "I still hate that bastard, but I guess I'll live to piss him off again another day."
"Try to stay out of trouble," Rhea smirked.
"Won't do but thank you anyway."
Rhea got back in the Bugatti and headed toward her shop, watching Vina and Aisyah shrinking in the distance in the rearview mirror.