8 days until the job

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"YURI WE ARE NOT ON AN EXPRESSWAY!" Cassandra shouts in the backseat as we zoom across the nearly empty streets of Chicago. Kai snores a little in affirmation, in the backseat.

I just sit back, strapped tightly onto the passenger's seat while sipping my sweet tea, which I absolutely hate. Why does my mind want to experiment at two in the morning?

Should've gotten the iced latte instead, I curse myself as I stare at Yuri's hazelnut latte sitting in the cup holder.

We decided that this particular sleepless night was perfect for city exploration, just to memorise the streets. We will explore the traffic I'm the evening tomorrow, hopefully. Everyone other than Cassandra and Kai was sound asleep, so we dragged them along, and so far, Cassandra has not been having the best time, and Kai fell asleep on Cassie's lap as soon as we began the ride.

Now many of you must be shocked as to why Cassandra had that reaction and I didn't. This is because, even though this looks like a scene from Need for Speed, Yuri knows her craft well.

And she knows that if she scratches the rented car I'm going to claw her eyeballs out with the keys of the rented car and sell those to make up for the damage costs.

So it's all good.

Suddenly we hear sirens in the background. I didn't even say the words out loud, how the fuck did I jinx it?!

"Oh God no! It's the cops! I am NOT going to jail for speeding!" Cassandra screeches, while shielding her eyes for I don't know what goddamn reason.

I curse, "Shit, I didn't carry the fake license with me."

Yuri turns to me, "We outrun them?"

I nod, "We outrun them."

Cassie decided to speak up again, "Are you guys fucking insane?!"

I roll my eyes at her and turn to Yuri, "License plate is covered right?"

Yuri nods whole wearing her usual lazy grin, "Did it while getting the drinks," she says before taking a long sip of her latte which I really want at this point.

I turn to the Google Maps on my phone, "Okay, turn left around the next corner, then switch to the lane parallel to the main road because it has zero traffic and turn the goddamn silencer on this time, capisce?"

I had Mon install a silencer on the motor of our car because at high speeds, it's just way too loud.

"The lack of anxiety among the two of you is just increasing my own," Cassandra mutters from the backseat, and I think she looks a little green. 

Kai is still fucking sleeping.

Yuri turns on the silencer, and then, catering to her need for flashiness, she slips on my pair of Ray Bans before switching the music from a cutesy romantic song to my hard rock playlist. The bitch will never buy her own fucking sunglasses. 

In The End by the Black Veil Brides plays on the speaker as Yuri steps on the gas. And oh she steps hard.

Our speed meter switches up from seventy miles per hour to a hundred and ten miles per hour.

My head feels light, but at the same time my butt on my seat feels like a thousand pounds as we zoom speed faster than ever down the road. I take out a spare pair of sunglasses from the glove compartment and slip them onto my nose, I want to look cool as well.

As we near the end, the sirens get a little distant, I shout, "LEFT!"

Yuri jerks the steering wheel to the right and we drift for a few meters, leaving very prominent skid marks before making a very sharp turn to the left.

We're gonna have to replace the darn tires now! Bitch.

The song plays on full blast: 

In the end, as we fade into the night.

Our tires go screeeeech as we make another sharp turn into a decent sized alleyway. That is not the way I told her to go.

"Wrong alley!" I scream. She's gonna get us killed now!

Who will tell, the story of your life.

"Trust me, Leesh, I know where we're going," Yuri says, before stepping on the gas again. The car, thankfully makes no loud sound as we lurch violently ahead.

And who will remember, your last goodbye.

"Oh I'm about to say my last goodbye," Cassandra mutters, while holding a paper bag close to her face. She better not get the backseat dirty. I look behind and-

KAI IS STILL FUCKING SLEEPING

"Is she dead?" I ask, but get no response. Oh well, let's hope she's not.

We are speeding down the main road, and I can still hear the faint sounds of the sirens behind us, I am so surprised we have still not lost them.

I mean come on, Yuri was only driving at a speed twice the speed limit, big fucking deal.

Suddenly, two cylindrical towers appear in our vision. And so does a main road half-full of cars. And I understand Yuri's plan. I press the button, to remove the cover from our license plate.

Cuz it's the end, and I'm not afraid.

We speed towards the Marina City towers, and towards the gates, and the security doesn't stop us. I would attribute that to the registration of our car to the Marina City parking lot. Yuri slows down as our car makes its way upwards the sloping ground, around and around the white pillar in the center.

I'm not afraid to die.

And our car slides into the parking lot we were assigned, Yuri's hands leave the wheels, and she finishes her latte before turning and grinning at the two of us.

And Cassandra proceeds to run out and find a bathroom to throw up in.

"How the fuck did we get here?" Kai asks, as she stumbles out the backseat. 

You've got to be kidding me.

"How was the driving?" Yuri asks, while taking her sunglasses off.

"Good, but not as Fast and the Furious-y as I would have liked," I say, before opening the door to get some fresh air.

"Hey! It was very Fast and the Furious-y thank you very much. Some would say it was Ghost Rider-y or Mad Max-y or even Lightning McQueen-y, wait no he's a bitch-"

I tune her out as I gaze outwards at the perfect view of the Chicago skyline from the Marina City parking lot.

"Very Tokyo-Drift-y," Kai replies to Yuri before coming to stand beside me. She yawns while opening her mouth wide, not bothering to cover it.

"Thank you- Wait that's the worst one of the franchise!" Yuri complains before climbing into the seat, huffing, "No one appreciates my skill."

"Pretty," Kai says, staring at a weekday nighttime, peaceful Chicago skyline which hopefully won't have crazy people lighting it up with pink and blue fireworks which blow up forests, for gender reveal parties. Like please, stop. We know you're excited for your baby's gender but don't make the rest of the people suffer for it.

{Trigger warning - Mental health, anxiety}

"Are you good Kai? Your sleeping patterns are getting a little concerning these days," I say to her, without thinking twice. It's true! She sometimes doesn't go to bed at all, sometimes stays up till sunrise and then sleeps till sunset. Day before yesterday she went to bed at three in the afternoon and got up twenty-four hours later, yesterday. And now she's here, going to sleep in the back of a car speeding down the streets at a hundred and twenty miles per hour and not even waking up.

Kai rubs her eyes, "Oh it's nothing."

"Bull-shit," Yuri appears next to us, "You've been sulking in your room for the past week!"

"I said. It's. Nothing," Kai grits her teeth. Maybe we shouldn't push her to say anything. This is her choice. And she clearly doesn't feel comfortable yet.

"Come on, Kai!" Yuri does exactly the opposite action required for the situation.

"Yuri, don't," I hiss through my teeth.

And...Kai clutches her head with both her hands, "I'm saying it's nothing!"

Shit.

She starts breathing hard. And her chest starts heaving. Her hands clutching her head start trembling, and I can see beads of sweat forming on her wrists.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

I grab her by the shoulders and force her to look at me as I talk to her slowly, in the calmest voice I can manage, "Listen, I know what you are feeling is terrifying, but it's not going to harm you. Breathe."

Her eyes widen at me as she nods slowly. Her shoulders are still trembling, and her breathing is ragged.

I think back to what Minnie usually does, "Now tell me five things you can see."

Kai takes a breath longer than the ones she's currently taking and looks around, "You, Yuri, the car, Chicago, my shoes."

Good enough.

****

"Okay, so we made this crew, but first, we're going to need the thief," I said to Minnie as we walked through the streets of Hong Kong. It was just Minnie and me in the crew, and we needed more members, asap.

It was such a colorful city because of the neon signs everywhere! Which could not be said when I had arrived with Blue and the crew on the plane. From the plane it had looked like the most business-type, administrative-kind city with officials milling about. Well, it is true, but the majority of it was urban people walking around buying expensive shit.

And oh Lordie that city had been crowded to the brim. There were people everywhere. Not a single shop, restaurant, or park, no matter how bad of a place, had been crowded as hell. Once I was standing on the skywalk between two skyscrapers and it had begun raining. Everyone, at the exact time, opened their umbrellas and the whole street below me became this colorful collection of umbrella's floating around. Blue had said that it felt magical.

That was before I left his crew though, with Minnie.

We finally reached the Victoria harbor sidewalk, and gazed out at the glittering night waters of the South China sea together. I swear the Chinese have some secret lighting mechanism to make the whole place look all the more magical.

Minnie whistled, "I know, Leesh, and I contacted an acquaintance to meet us here. Good thing she's vacationing with her family here. I wonder where she is-"

I remembered grabbing a hand reaching for my wallet the exact second.

I pulled the hand and the person along with it and there she was, Kai Huang, wearing skinny jeans and the biggest grey hoodie I had ever seen on such a tiny person.

Minnie sighed, "Way to make an entrance Kai."

I couldn't even see her face properly as she had sighed frustratedly, "I am just here to tell you that I am not accepting your offer."

"What? Why-" Minnie began but the girl walked off and within seconds, disappeared into the ground.

Oh well, it was time to call my acquaintance. I held up my wrist to check the time on my watch-

"Son of a bitch!" I cursed and ran in the direction that the girl had gone. The fucking bitch made me think she was going for the wallet and nabbed the Swiss Light on my fucking wrist!

"Leesh!" Minnie called after me.

"Your little bitch is going to pay for this," I ran away from her.

I saw her, walking past the docks onto the main road and towards an...inn of sorts.

She was walking fast, holding my watch in her hand, walking towards an isolated alley near the inn. Perfect.

But before I could reach her, a middle aged American-looking man did. And he grabbed her wrist which was holding my watch,

"Who's watch is that?" He questioned, pointing at my watch.

Kai slipped her hood off and stared at the man, "I-"

"I knew it. I fucking knew where the jewellery was disappearing but Yuxi wouldn't listen to me!" He said loudly. He began to drag Kai further into the alley, and my defensive instincts kicked in.

What was happening-

"I can explain-"

"It's done. You're done. Take your belongings from the hotel and never show your face to me ever again! Never show your face at our house. You caused as too much grief, too much worry and wasted so much hard earned money!"

"But-"

"You have always been a burden on Yuxi all these years anyway," was the last thing that the man had said before storming off into the small inn with the bright neon signs.

Kai just stood there, staring after the man, and I saw the slightest tremble in her fists, as well as a small bead of sweat trickle down her forehead. She now stared at the ground, her hands trembling as the sound of her heavy breathing became loud enough for me too hear at the end of the alley. The people passing the streets behind me seemed to take no notice of the girl who looked like she was on the verge of breaking down.

Oh no.

She fell to the floor, on her bottom, with her back leaning against the grimy pipeline, and began clutching her hands to her head. Oh this was not looking good.

I had never been good with dealing with panic attacks.

I ran to her and placed my hand on her shoulder, "Hey! Hey!" She looked up at me through her bloodshot eyes, "I know what you are going through isn't easy, but you'll get to the end, just, breathe."

She took a ragged breath but still trembled, "I-I didn't mean to! I just wanted to..." she trailed off as she began wheezing and clutching her chest.

I placed my hand on her back and made her sit straighter, then began stroking her back. I didn't know if she minded human contact, but she was too out of it to even notice.

"Tell me five things you can see."

"I-I-cant," she wheezed while opening her mouth wide as if to gulp on air.

I ran a hand down her back to calm her, "Do it. Please."

"Y-You, the-the watch, p-people, the pipe, the cars."

"Four things you can hear?"

"You, the cars, the people, and someone's ringtone."

There was a very pleasant flute melody playing somewhere, good ringtone to have.

"Three things you can feel?"

"Y-Your hand, the floor, and your watch," she replied, faster than the last two questions.

****

"Now tell me two things you can smell," I say in an encouraging tone.

"The wind, your sweet tea," Kai says in a less stuttering tone.

"One thing you can taste?"

"The blood on my lips."

Yeah...she bit her lower lip a bit too hard while answering my weird questions, but she seems all the more calmer now.

"You better now?"

She wraps her arms around herself and nods once. I take my leather jacket off and wrap it around her shoulders. And Yuri takes that opportunity to hug her, well, squeeze the life out of her.

"YURI SHE JUST HAD TROUBLE BREATHING!" I scold her before pulling the girl away from Kai.

Ah I feel the chill in the air, I can feel the biting cold on my bare arms.

I hop into the car, turn it on, and then turn on the heater. Instantly I feel better.

Cassandra appears out of nowhere and sits in the car behind, "The cleaning lady is not going to be happy in the morning."

Of course.

And then my phone rings. Who the fuck is awake at five in the morning? I can only think of Dhara and her weird cravings for a dosa from Southern Curries at five in the morning. I swear if she's having credit card problems again-

It turns out to be Blaise, "Hey Alicia, you have knowledge about online payments, right?"

"Yeah..." I trail off. Why would Blaise have a question about the internet for me? She is the fucking assassin of the dark and public web. 

She better not be having weird Uber Eats cravings and credit card problems. 

I hope Pandora eats all their firstborns.

"Do you know how to cancel a dude's Onlyfans subscription?"

What. The. Fuck.

I would prefer the Uber Eats problems now.

"AHHH WHY DO YOU HAVE A PAIR OF BALLS ON YOUR SCREEN?!" I hear Rey shout in the background.

Am I dreaming?

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I am very proud of this chapter, and I really hope y'all enjoyed it as well! Be sure to comment because I love reading all of them.

Yes, yes I know that I said I won't be updating for a while, but I wrote this chapter because I had all this pent up stress and nervous energy and that factor made this chapter really fucking long, and I really wanted to publish it right away because I really like this one.