ALEC

They had been driving for nearly over an hour. Passing straight through the city onto the highway. As he said, Alec drove. While the two agents sat in the back. Maize was beside him in the front passenger's seat, looking blearily out the window.

Their car was a rental, or at least that's what he assumed. It had shown up a quarter past seven that morning. Alec had already been up and had seen John the driver from the day before drop it off alongside his own vehicle, then head towards Maize's room to deposit under the door before turning away and leaving in his own car.

Maize had mentioned briefly the night before that they would have a car, so Alec wasn't alerted or surprised when he saw this. That left them with the car; a dark grey Hyundai Elantra. It was an older model, not brand new. It was a car that would blend in, be seen, then forgotten the next instant. And Alec had conveniently been the first to stumble onto the set of keys.

He figured Maize would have done it herself, if she hadn't still been asleep.

Granted, the day before had been long for all of them and they all had their own things on their minds. A night of sleep was supposed to have fixed that. But she didn't look like she had gotten much of it.

One glance from the corner of his eye and he could see that something in her seemed oddly restless. Like she was still on edge about something.

"Why so fidgety this morning?" he asked quietly, having picked up on her strange habit and the fact that she couldn't seem to keep her hands still on her lap.

She snapped her gaze over to him, as if surprised that he had caught her. "It's nothing," she dismissed quickly.

"You sure?" he asked, not convinced.

She glared at him, the exact same way she used to when they saw each other in the department. Warning not to press. "Just leave it alone," she said. "We've got other things to worry about."

He glanced out at his side review mirror distractedly. Something had caught his eye, and it hadn't been the first time either. "See that black Chevrolet?" he muttered to Maize, who flashed a sideways glance through her own mirrors and nodded. "It's been tailing us since we left the city..." he said darkly.

"I know."

Instantly he and Maize shared a look, a silent confirmation, before he pushed his foot on the pedal and began to speed up, keeping one eye on the car behind in his reflective mirrors. The fact that the black SUV vehicle increased speed a second after they did didn't go unnoticed by any of them. The two agents had caught on quick.

"That's bad news isn't it..." Kishan mumbled as he stared out at the car through the rear glass.

"Unless the driver's just feeling up for a friendly highway race—which I doubt—then yes, its bad news," Alec answered seriously, as second before their car was rammed into from behind, damaging their rear tailgate.

"Well, that answers that question!" Maize shouted with sarcastic irritation, bracing herself on the dashboard as they were hit from behind again.

Alec cursed loudly.

"I guess they've realized their cover's been busted," Maize muttered dryly.

Then the first round of shots were released.

The agents in the back ducked their heads under the seats as the rear glass behind them shattered. Alec swerved to the side to avoid the following bullets. They sparked off the side of their car instead, though one managed to shoot out the glass of his side mirror.

He pushed his foot flat on the pedal to speed up and hopeful gain some distance, but the car behind them remained directly on their six without fault. Losing them with speed alone wasn't going to work. He mentally cursed. He knew he had to do something, but he was trapped behind the wheel. And it was hard enough to keep swerving to dodge the shots behind fired from behind. If he made the wrong move they could end up right off the road.

"West! Give me your gun!"

He spared a brief moment and tore his gaze away from the road for a second to glance at Maize to his right. "What?!" he exclaimed with disbelief.

She shot him an impatient look. "Shut up and give me your gun!" she ordered before her voice was cut short by the sound of more gunfire from the rear.

"They're trying to shoot out our tires!" Agent Hill informed quickly. "Speed up!"

He did. Swerving around another stray vehicle on the highway with them, he pressed his foot on the gas pedal until it was absolutely flat on the ground. Highway speed limit being under 100 km per hour or not. That wasn't his main concern. They were about to die for christ's sake.

"The gun's in my belt, left side. But I can't avoid these guys with only one hand on the wheel at this speed and give it to you without crashing. That'll kill us all if these guys don't do it first!" he said through gritted teeth.

"And we never got any!" Kishan exclaimed in addition. "Which sucks because having some would be pretty dang useful right about now!"

A muttered swear, and then the unclip of a seat belt.

Alec flashed a quick glance to his right through the corner of his eye with an incredulous look. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he exclaimed distractedly, still trying to keep half his focus on the road.

The bounty hunter seemed to just ignore him as she proceeded to crossover the middle divider between their seats and lean into his side of the car. While maintaining both hands on the wheel, he spared a quick equivocal look down at her as his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"The actual hell are you—?" His question was cut off but another round of shooting that nearly took out their front windshield. He cursed, "Oh shit!" as he yanked the wheel sharply to the left into the next lane. The sudden spurge of motion sent Maize's unbuckled upper half tumbling into his lap and he stiffened.

"Hey! Watch it!" he exclaimed down at her.

"Well then learn to drive!" she shouted up in retort.

The detective's gun was holstered on his left hip, secured into the belt of his jeans with the handle produced at his side under hidden under the fabric of his top. He felt the soft skin of Maize's fingertips graze over the fabric as she reached to grab hold of the gun from her awkward angled position. Within the next second, faster than he could blink, she was up and off him, turned with her body now halfway out the rolled-down window with the gun held tight in her grip. She leaned out as far as she dared and aimed towards the unseen driver of the black car shielded behind the tinted glass. Her finger ghosted over the trigger, but she was hesitant to fire.

Why?

"Maize! What are you waiting for?!" He questioned when she didn't shoot.

She didn't answer.

He didn't get a chance to ask again. The drivers behind them smashed into their rear light, nearly spinning their vehicle of course as they did so again. They were trying to ram them off the road, Alec realized. In her position and the force of the blow, Maize nearly lost her hold and fell out of the car. Alec managed to glance and reach for her flailing arm just in time before she fell over the edge.

"Thanks," she breathed as he held her steady.

"Thank me later," he responded. "Get back in!"

She bit down on her jaw, eyes still staring down the pursuing vehicle with a struggling look. The gun was held limp in her hand now, and felt as heavy as if it were made of pure iron. The next second she muttered something under her breath and twisted right and fell back into her seat. "The windshield's dark but I could make out their silhouettes. Two - one shooter and one driver," she recited quickly. "The shots fired were high grade, and they were aiming so as not to kill us right off the bat. Whoever they are—they're the real deal."

"Professionals," Agent Hill stated with a serious look.

Alec heard her open her mouth to try and say something else when they were rammed into for the fourth time, more forcefully than the last, driving them all forward in their seats from the impact. His arms burned with the effort it took to keep them from losing control as he glared through the mirror at the assaulting vehicle.

"Alright, that's it," he muttered seethingly as he visibly tightened his grip on the wheel enough to make his knuckles go white.

"Oh shit, I hate that look. Alec, buddy, what are you about to do?" Kishan asked from the back, the obvious worry seeping into his words from his tone.

"Something stupid," he replied honestly. And he could hear the muttered curse from Kishan that followed.

"Shit."

"I suggest you all hold on to something," he warned insistently.

He then blocked out the sound of questioning, plus Kishan's unhelpful exclamation of 'we're so going to die', as he eyed the car behind them through the single shard still intact in his side mirror, waiting for the right moment.

Back in the academy, he had been good at almost everything. The one thing he remembered that he got reprimanded for though, from countless instructors, had been his 'reckless' driving techniques. Back then they always had this drill that practiced evading moving objects. He had never hit anything, but it was said his methods usually left the instructors in the seat next to him pale beyond compare and rethinking their will testimonies. However, that recklessness might just get them out of this situation alive.

That—or he might end up killing them all.

Only ever one way to find out.

The black car closed in on them again, gaining speed in preparation to knock into them again. It was right on their tail, a few meters closing. Alec narrowed his eyes and released a tense breath. "Here goes nothing," he muttered to himself.

Before any of them could ask what that meant, their car flew in a circular arc around the head of the black SUV a second before it could connect with them. There were curses and shouts that filled his ears as the maneuver momentarily caused them to glide out of control. They spun a complete 360 before he jerked on the wheel and their course straightened abruptly, directly behind the other car.

But Alec wasn't done. He paralleled to the other car's front tail light and then with one hard motion, drove their bumper as hard as he could. See how you like it, he thought as he watched the car skid out of control and skirt hood first into the shallow grass ditch along the highway.

Alec slowed and let their car come to a screeching horizontal stop a few meters away from the lodged vehicle. He stared ahead of him, his hands still gripping onto the wheel as he fell against the back of his seat, feeling like all the breath had both left him and were rushing into him all at once. His heart was beating so fast in his chest it was almost painful.

They were alive.

The catching of the breath that had left each of them throughout that shortly terrifying ordeal was the only sound in their vehicle, until Maize was the first to break the silence.

"That..." she breathed deeply as she gripped onto her seat belt for support, looking like her life had flashed before her eyes, but she had a regal grin on her face, "...was some nice driving."

Alec was breathing too hard to respond. Not that he thought he could, his mind was completely blank from what had just happened.

Maize sighed, and then fell back into her seat and let out a slight laugh as she looked over to him. "How did you know that would even work?" she breathed.

Alec found his voice. "I didn't," he responded.

Maize just stared at him, and then gave her head a slight shake and laughed again. "Then you're crazier than I ever gave you credit for," she said.

"I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not," Alec admitted.

"Hey Alec," Kishan began from the back, sounding completely shallow of breath.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I'm never getting in a car with you again," he claimed accusingly.

Alec nodded to himself. "Noted," he mumbled as he glanced past Maize through the passengers' side window to eye the other vehicle.

Now for the assailants that tried to kill them. True, they should have just taken the chance and sped off while the other car and the people in it were stuck, but it didn't sit well with Alec how they had managed to be found. They had barely been in the country a day and already they found themselves being pursued. There was no visible action in the black car. No one came out guns blazing. No bullets suddenly whizzing towards them. It seemed the individuals might have been incapacitated in their current state. That was perfect because he wanted answers, and this might just be their chance.

The car door beside him was unlocked and opened by its passenger. Maize seemed to already be one step ahead of him, closing the door swiftly behind her as she walked out and began to head towards the impaired other vehicle.

His eyes drifted down to the seat she left, where she had left his gun laying to stand out against the black leather. She hadn't taken it with her. A frown of worry crossed his face. She hadn't used it before. And she didn't plan on using it now.

"And she calls me the idiot," he muttered angrily to himself as he snatched up his weapon and quickly followed her. He told the two agents to stay in the car, the implied message that if things somehow got dicey while they were out there, the two were to forget them and protect themselves.

Alec caught up to Maize quickly and she turned to meet him as he came up on her side. She gave him an acknowledging glance and in response he frowned, simultaneously motioning to the gun in his hand as if asking why she didn't think the need to take it along if she was going to be the first to confront their unknown suspects. In response, she unsheathed a trio of pointed daggers from behind the heel of her combat boots, her smirk reading all. He guessed he had his answer then. And he shook his head exasperatedly.

One of these days...he was sure Maize Ember would be the death of him.

A click and the first flash of movement from inside the black vehicle drew their attention to immediate alert. Slowly and wordlessly, the two of them synchronized with each other's actions as each of them made a move around the vehicle, making sure to keep a steady distance in case the suspects attempting to shoot through the glass of their windows. Alec had his gun raised and Maize held her handful of daggers steadily, ready to let loose at any moment as the back seat door of the car was slowly pushed open. The ones in the car, it seemed, had to climb from the front seats to the back, as their frontier doors had been crushed inwards and were most likely jammed shut from the collision into the ground.

Out stepped a ghostly form of an individual, followed by another. A man and a woman, each dressed in similar black-suited attire with empty gun holsters around their hips, dagger sheaths strapped to their thighs, and steel-toed black boots that looked tough enough to break a three-inch-thick wall of ice. They had been wise enough to leave their weapons behind, though it was curious that they would come out so compliantly on their own volition. To him, the two had to be siblings—or if not, at least biologically related. Their matching pale skin and facial structure were too similar to deem otherwise; large but narrow kryptonite green eyes, deep lips, and the same shade of ash-blond hair—the woman's long and straight while the man's had been cropped short, almost military style.

Alec shot a quick glance at Maize, only to find her staring at the two intently. But there was something else he saw in her eyes as she looked at the two—a flash of recognition.

The pair of assassins didn't say anything as they faced them, like mirror images of each other, only one side was holding the other at threatening point, and the other...didn't seem all too fazed by it. Trained under the stare of the end barrel to his weapon, they got the message and slowly, leisurely raised their hands above their heads to hold them behind their heads.

This was the part he started getting some answers.