Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded - Book 2 Need for Speed (11)

「Holy shit you managed to gather a lot of them. I’m sure I’d be a fucking geezer after I was done with all of them.」

He could hear the laughing voices of his coworkers on his earphones. Even Matoba was stifling his laughter.

「That’s my joke there, cowboy. Come up with your own.」 「Don’t mess with me right now…!」

Whispered Tony into the microphone, but Gyarben replied in confusion.

「Huh?」 「Nothing. In any case, I think we’re set. The cash is this way.」 「Ah, ah….」

Tony and the others returned next to Godunov and the Citroen. On Tony’s command, Godunov opened the trunk and took out a boston bag from it.

「Here it is. Use it well.」 「Right. Darsch Zanna. Darsch Nah Zanna! Zeetha McCloud!」

Gyarben and his two partners started jumping with excitement as they kept repeating the Farbanian word for “thank you” and looked at the bag’s contents. It wasn’t even much money for such a deal. They didn’t even seem worried at all about Tony and Godunov betraying them to begin with. As the scene kept unfolding, they could only feel sorry for the guys.

「Those Rahkebye…」

Said Tilarna, annoyed from the passenger seat. Her face looked particularly flustered. Perhaps she felt embarrassed for them as a fellow Semanian.

In any case, the gang accepted the money. There was enough evidence already. It was time to work. Zimmer whispered via the radio “All units, get ready”.

But then something unexpected happened.

「No. Wait. Two men are coming from the abandoned factory.」 「What? Did no one see them?」 「This is bad, they’re armed.」

Matoba could see them from his position. They were two southeast Asian men who appeared out of the shadows of the abandoned factory, and were getting closer to Tony and Gyarben carrying a handgun and a shotgun.

「Hey, you bastards! Don’t you dare move!」

One of the two men shouted at Tony and the others while pointing his gun at them. Godunov was about to reach for his own gun, but Tony grabbed his arm and whispered “Wait, let’s look at the situation first”.

「Yun. Why are you—」

Asked Gyarben. Apparently the man was Chinese.

「You thought you were going to get away with all the money for yourselves?! Let me remind you filthy bastards that it was us who helped you get all of those fucking mags in the first place! There’s no way that shit fee you paid to us will cut it. You bastards were going to make 50 fucking grand with those magazines?!」 「No, actually it’s just 5 grand…」

Said Tony

「Shut the fuck up, I don’t care. In any case give us the money. Come on! Hurry the fuck up!」

The Chinese man named Yun pointed his gun at Tony’s chest.

Apparently there had been yet another group of people helping Gyarben and the others with their thefts. They were apparently extremely upset at the idea of this trade taking place, and so decided to arm themselves and take all the money for themselves.

「They’re getting violent. It seems like they may be under the influence of a drug of some sort.」 「This is bad.」

Matoba and Tilarna muttered, but then Zimmer raised his voice and gave the order.

「Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re just charging straight ahead like this. All units move forward. Go, go, go!」 「Fuck’s sake.」

He turned on the engine of the Maserati, and pressed on the accelerator. At the same time, the other officers that were surrounding the abandoned factory also turned on their vehicles and sirens, and started moving towards the site of the trade. Matoba’s car came flying to the scene in under 10 seconds. He opened the door, and jumped outside. He pointed his gun at the Chinese man and started shouting at him.

「Don’t move, police!」

The other patrol cars followed suit. Gyarben and the others raised their hands and complied with their orders, but the two Chinese men were completely caught off guard, so their only reaction was to take Tony as a hostage and open fire towards the officers.

「!」

The shot bounced off the bonnet of a patrol car, and sparks flew in the morning sky like fireworks. Matoba tried to shoot the two men, but Tony was in the way and made it hard to get a clean shot. Godunov took his gun out of his jacket, but in the end he couldn’t get a clean shot either because of Tony. As a consequence the two men noticed Godunov and shot him.

The shot hit him right in the middle of his stomach and he collapsed face up on the street.

「Alex!!」

The two Chinese men kept holding on to Tony as a hostage, and slowly got to the parked Citroen and got in. To make matters worse, the engine was still on. The Citroen accelerated rapidly, and quickly got away from there. The uniformed officers shot at the vehicle in an attempt to make it stop. Sparks flew from the bullets and from the barrels of their guns. They managed to break one of its lights but not much more than that as it got away.

「Stop it! You’re going to hit Tony!」

Matoba ordered a uniformed officer who was still shooting right next to him to stop firing at them. He tried to grab the still hot barrel of his gun and pull it back, but the officer accidentally shot once.

「!」

Fortunately no one was shot, but the gun fired right in front of Matoba’s face. His sight went pitch black from both the shock and brightness.

「……」

He stumbled and fell on his butt. Was it from the gunflash? He could hardly see anything. His nose was burning, and his ears were ringing with his heartbeat. The only thing he could make out with his blurry vision was the officer that had accidentally shot the gun shouting something. His eyes were tearing up and he wasn’t able to see much more than that. The first thing to return was his hearing.

「I’m sorry. Are you okay, Matoba?」

Said the uniformed officer.

「I’m fine, go take care of Godunov instead.」 「They’re looking at him already. He seems to be fine. He was wearing some body armour under his shirt so…」 「I’m still alive, Kei.」

That was Godunov’s hoarse voice. He was swearing and he sounded agitated.

「I think I pissed myself a little. Please don’t tell Camie or the others.」 「Nevermind that, Tony’s in trouble…」

We need to chase after them.

Still barely seeing anything at all, Matoba stood up and started running towards his car. Immediately one of the patrol cars turned on their siren, and started chasing after them. The patrol car was so slow and sluggish, he could tell that by the sound alone.

They would never catch up to them like that. Despite how Tony’s Citroen might look, in fact it had been tweaked a lot by his partner. Both the engine and the undercarriage were also equipped with custom made parts. It also had some turbines and mufflers that no legal maker was able to sell, so it was perfectly equipped to beat even an official patrol car.

The only one that can catch up to them is my new car.

He sat in the driver’s seat, but no matter what, his sight was still not back to normal. And he still wasn’t completely used to the car, so he wasn’t even able to find the handbrake or the shift lever. He kept moving his left arm vaguely trying to find them, while just muttering anything that came to mind without saying anything substantial.

「Fuck! My eyes… fuck」 「Leave it to me.」

He could hear a voice coming from right next to him. He could practically feel the other person’s lips right next to his ear.

It was Tilarna.

「What did you say? What are you going to—」 「Move it! Now!」 「He- hey…」

She pushed a still confused Matoba, and got in the passenger seat. She pulled his legs violently, and finally managed to push him completely over to the passenger seat. She probably had used magic or something like that again, because she had some unbelievable strength in those tiny arms of hers.

「Wait, what are you going to do?!」

Shouted Matoba, his upper torso still lying below the dashboard.

「Isn’t it obvious? i’m helping Tony.」

He heard the small metallic sound of the handbrake. He could hear the sound of the clutch being pressed. The shift lever being moved around, and finally the roar of the Maserati’s engine.

「What are you talking about. Stop i—」

He felt almost as if someone had kicked him in the face as the car pushed backwards. He clumsily fixed himself against the passenger seat, but almost immediately his head was violently rocked back and forth once again. He let out a sorrowful scream.

「It’s the other way! Stop! Stop!」 「No. This is the right way.」

The tires squeaked loudly. The car started violently swaying left and right. If he remembered correctly, they would crash into the factory if they kept going. They dodged a few patrol cars and the truck, and then the Maserati came to a sudden stop.

「Wha…?」 「Ready, Kei? I’ll show you the results of my training.」 「Sto—」

Tilarna pressed the accelerator. Matoba felt some intense pressure. He could feel his upside down body being crushed against the seat by the speed. The sky became a blur of color, his brain rattled inside his skull, his inner ear rocked back and forth in confusion.

「Hey, this is pretty easy!」 「You’re still in first gear! Change gears! Change gears!」

Shouted Matoba over the roar from the car’s engine as it kept gaining speed.

「Oh… you’re right.」

They suddenly lost speed. And then a sudden push forward as if someone had kicked the car from behind.

Matoba kept screaming. The same scenario repeated a few times, until the Maserati suddenly stabilized and started swiftly moving forward while gaining speed.

「Ah there we go! How’s that, Kei?」 「Stop this! Let’s switch! Are you trying to kill me?!」 「You can’t even see anything like that. You just shut up and sit down. Alright Tony, we’re coming for you!」

The car kept moving forward. Tilarna kept driving in the direction Tony and his Citroen vanished while violently moving left and right and gaining even more speed. The terrible sudden stops and acceleration had vanished, but it seemed like there was still something wrong. Matoba finally properly sat down on the passenger seat, and tried to take a look with his still poor eyesight. He saw their own car driving fast like a bullet on the left lane.

They were driving insanely fast on the wrong side of the road…!