"Geez, when do they close up!?" Jake exclaimed from the front town house window. "Who the hell wants to buy a second-hand car this late at night!?"

I had to giggle because I remembered thinking a similar thing back when Richy was, well, Richy.

"It must be an automobile thing," I shrugged.

"I have half of a mind to go over and just hold them up," Jake whined. "For fuck's sake, no one's going to come to your no name shop in the smallest town on earth at 9:50 on a fucking Monday to buy a second-hand Fiat! Just close already!"

I walked over to Jake and hugged him from behind, "Someone's a bit cranky."

"I hate waiting for someone else," he mumbled.

I smiled and kissed his cheek, "And you haven't slept."

Jake rolled his eyes, "That's hardly relevant."

"In what sense?" I laughed.

"I just- I want to get us out of here soon. Every minute wasted on these idiots is another minute closer to someone finding the van. Another minute less for getting past the border before daylight," he explained.

"You could rest your eyes for fifteen minutes while I watch," I suggested.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"You still haven't told me your plan, you know. Why don't you tell me that?" I proposed.

"It's simple. We steal a dirt bike so we can get through the forest quicker. We should be able to get out before the helicopters reach the area," he answered vaguely.

"What, ride the dirt bike all the way to the border from here?" I questioned.

"No, we load the dirt bike into that van there. I presume it has significantly less blood than our previous van. We drive that close to the forest, then swap to the dirt bike. Otherwise, we'll run out of fuel," he replied.

"And how many hours have you had off-roading with a dirt bike? Through a forest at night no less," I frowned. "Cause I've had none."

"I've ridden motorbikes before," he responded.

"You answered half the question," I narrowed my eyes at him.

Jake turned his head to look back at me, "I've got this, trust me."

"And that's how I lost my leg last summer," I rubbed my forehead in absolute disbelief.

"I won't be driving that fast," he assured me.

"We'll need helmets too," I pressured.

"Fine," he sighed. "Finally! They're closing!"

"And you're sure you can hack their security system?" I asked.

"MC, I don't even have to hack anything. Look, they were stupid enough to put a camera over their keypad," he held up his phone to show me the CCTV feed. "And they're entering it in now. 1234!? Are you fucking kidding me!?"

I couldn't help, but burst out laughing at Jake's flabbergasted expression. I knew he had been waiting so very patiently for this moment and for the secret, magical code to be such a basic one was almost an insult.

"I am going to come back and steal that fucking Jaguar!" he declared. "You don't get to be that stupid and have that sitting on your lot!"

"I am sure they are very hard-working people," I argued.

Jake shrugged, "Normally I would say their insurance can cover it, but you know when their insurance company sees the footage of me entering 1234 into their keypad in full view of the camera, they may not get anything at all. But I'm not even a little sad about that because holy fuck! How can you be so stupid? They should've been robbed a hundred times over by now! A thousand times!"

"Are you done?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Yeah, ok," he mumbled. "Have you got everything packed up again?"

"Yup, it's all ready to go," I smiled.

"Good, we're going in a couple of minutes," he warned me.

I hugged him tight and sighed, "Is it always so hectic?"

"Need I remind you I was living a nice, quiet, peaceful life by my lonesome a few days ago?" he teased. "Nobody bothered me. I could do what I wanted when I wanted."

"Oh yeah, you were real happy," I rolled my eyes.

"To answer the question though, no it isn't. It just takes a lot of time to shake my pursuers and redeploy defences," he answered.

"Are you ever going to tell me what you were up to here? Why I am suddenly an international criminal as well?" I questioned.

"I was working with others on exposing a very corrupt government. Being within the country makes it easier to operate and open doors for the others," he explained vaguely. "Breaking holes into their cyber defences and exposing their servers does make me their public enemy number one though."

I frowned, "Why does it sound like you volunteered for this suicide mission?"

"Because I did," he admitted. "Enough distraction, it is time to move."

"This conversation isn't over, Jake," I let go of him and grabbed our bag to sling over my shoulder.

"I know you don't approve of me acting recklessly," he leant over to pick up his backpack.

"Understatement," I interjected.

"I was operating under the belief I was a singular entity and the repercussions were limited to me and me alone," he continued as he headed for the front door. "The situation is vastly different now."

"That's no excuse for signing yourself up for a suicide mission," I argued as I followed him out and closed the door locked behind me.

"Someone had to do it and I had no ties," he sighed. "I didn't expect them to draw you out."

"You're not getting it, are you? I am pissed that you would ever value your life so lightly!" I tried to keep my voice down as we walked out to the road.

"My life had no value," he mumbled as we crossed the road. "A lot of things have changed recently."

I shook my head, "It shouldn't have taken me for you to value your life."

Jake paused in front of the chained gate entrance to the car yard, then turned to me and stroked my cheek, "You don't understand. Without you in it, my life has no value. My days were spent simply existing and protecting you however I could. Taking down a corrupt government that aided my enemies at least gave my life some purpose. A distraction from the banal. And to be honest, it was probably the least self-destructive thing I've done."

"Well that just leads to more questions," I frowned.

Jake kissed me tenderly, "Knowing my life means something to someone gives me cause to act more reasonably now."

"It's a start," I kissed him back.

Jake smiled before pulling up his mask, then turned his attention to the padlock, which he quickly picked open. He slowly pushed the gate across as it rattled a little as it rolled across the entrance. Keeping our heads low, we walked across the yard to the main office. The lot had far more vehicles than I had realised. We went past lots of different sedans, pick-ups, SUVs, motorcycles and dirt bikes. They all ranged from recent models to over 30 years old. I secretly was praying that the dirt bikes weren't lemons because the last thing we needed was for them to fail on us.

Jake picked both locks on the main office door with ease, then stepped through quickly to enter the ever-so complicated alarm code before the system could trigger.

"Look for helmets, I'll get the keys," Jake instructed as he went behind the reception desk.

The reception area was cluttered with product displays for everything ranging from floor carpets to air fresheners. At the far end there was a small display for helmets so I grabbed one and tried it on. It was a relatively good fit, so I grabbed a second for Jake. When I turned to return to Jake, I was surprised to find him at my side, trying on gloves.

"You got the keys already?" I asked surprised.

"Piece of cake," he nodded. "Come on, let's get out of here."

As we went back outside, I reset the alarm and pulled the door closed locked behind me. Jake rolled his eyes and shook his head at my persistent conscience while he walked towards a black van. He unlocked it with the electronic lock then opened its rear doors. As Jake pushed the dirt bike up to the van, I placed the helmets inside then gave him a hand in lifting the bike into the back. As soon as it was in, he closed the doors and handed me the keys for the van for me to drive while he worked on his laptop.

Driving out of the lot, I started to question how the hell I got here. Less than a week ago I was making innocent travel plans during my work breaks and today was just an endless string of crimes with grand theft auto now added to the list. Yet Jake kept acting like it was just another day, which made it so easy to ignore the consequences of our actions. I could feel my sense of morality blurring the longer I was with him.

Thankfully the road was empty, the drive to the edge of the forest was a cinch. Jake directed me to a dirt road, then I pulled over in a quiet corner of the forest. Jake snapped his laptop closed and shoved it back into his backpack before climbing out of the van. I left the keys on the dashboard, then got out as well. Jake already had the rear doors opened when I joined him at the back of the van. He adjusted his helmet and put it on, then took out his new gloves and slipped them on. I grabbed my helmet and put it on while Jake took out the bike from the van.

"Make sure you hold me tight," he warned me before starting up the dirt bike.

Taking a deep breath, I climbed onto the back of the bike and put him arms around him. He adjusted my hands to where was best for him and took one last look back at me to make sure I was ok before setting off into the forest.