by Mikey Lee
“What do you mean what’s so great about my car?” Tom canked his head to the side, “my car is Nissan Skyline R34 GTR, bro.”
Erik just stood there shaking his head side to side, waiting for the answer to his not rhetorical question.
“The Supra and Skyline have been the biggest competitors for years now. Both are insanely customizable and has an enormous amount of aftermarket parts. Both of them have a straight six engine, for the Supra its the 2JZ and the Skyline has the RB26, both twin turbo,” Tom explained.
“So which one’s better?” Tank shrugged.
“Which one’s better?” Tom laughed nudging Dryce with his elbow.
Mirroring Tom’s laugh, “Which do you prefer? A redhead or a blonde?
As the sunlight started to fade outside, Tom threw his rag down on the top of the toolbox and looked over at Dryce.
“Let’s go, pretty boy. Time to get washed up and head over to tonight’s race,” Tom called over to Dryce.
“Works for me,” he replied. “Erik, time to get ready to party.”
Erik rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone to update Mr. Ngo.
10
The exhaust sound vibrated Erik’s knees as Tom’s Skyline started and the engine revved. Being an American muscle fan himself, even he got a bit excited. But he had to put all that aside right now. He was there to protect Dryce and there was no way Erik wanted to be on Austin’s bad side, though a small part of him hoped for some action and excitement tonight. The last four years had been somewhat boring compared to what he’d done just before having to leave the
states and come watch over Dryce.
While driving to the gathering spot, Erik looked over at Dryce.
“Hey kiddo. Check this out. I’m not a fan of having to kill anyone anymore. You know, like Mr. Ngo did. So, tonight can you do me a solid? Stick to the rules… you know what they are. Just keep me in sight. So if you can see me, I can see you. Please.” Erik’s tone became the most serious Dryce had ever heard.
“No… you got it man. I promise. But, I’m still gonna mack on some honeys,” Dryce said playfully. “So don’t stay too close, unless you plan on joining in.” Dryce winked at Erik mischievously.
“And as you should, Your Highness,” Erik replied with a smile, bringing the mood back. “But I don’t particularly play well with others when it comes to sharing.”
Dryce, following Tom’s Skyline, pulled in at what appeared to be a multi-level parking garage at a shopping mall. On the ground level cars were lined up, blasting music. The trunks were open and each car’s trunk seemed to be completely lined with speakers from left to right. The rear view mirror on the Supra rattled and shook as Dryce drove down the line of cars. Women walked up and down line of cars in their mini skirts, energetically bouncing along with the bass of the techno music. Every one of the girls wore only a bikini top and there was a set of cleavage for every tire in the place.
Tom and Dryce crept on through to the upper levels. A few levels up was where the American cars were staged.
“Ahhh, ya see… home sweet home. This is my love right here.” Erik nudged Dryce with the back side of his wrist.
Dryce laughed and shook his head. “You do know, that due to the sheer weight and the difference in the cams… there is no amount of money that you could put into any of these cars that would make it compete with my ride,” he said.
“Don’t blame the car. Blame the driver, kiddo.” Erik continued to look around, watching for anything out of place and stealing glances at each of the cars as they passed.
As Erik gawked at the line of Ford mustangs, almost lined up in order by year, he noticed a guy standing off in the corner. The man did a triple take at the sight of Dryce and franticly dug around in his pocket for his phone. Dryce turned the corner heading up to the next level of the garage and Erik kept that guy in sight for as long as he could. The phone went to the strange man’s ear while he stared directly at Dryce. With one last look at him, Erik noted the man’s bizarre clothes. Fuckin’ skinny ass tool wearing a red and black plaid long sleeve shirt in the fuckin’ desert. That should be easy to spot.
Dryce tapped Erik in the chest with the back of his knuckles, “Hey hey… this is our level here. Every car up here is worth over a mil.”
“A million dollars?” Erik said, twitching his eyebrows.
“Yeah… and you remember what I was saying about cars being like women? Just wait until you see these chicks,” Dryce said as he cracked a devilish smile.
“Yeah, well remember what I said about sticking close to me,” Erik said.
Tom pulled ahead to the middle of the platform and angled the Skyline to the right. Dryce followed, pulling the Supra up next to him angling his car to the left. The front of the cars nearly touching. With the Skyline being a right hand drive, and the Supra a left, Tom and Dryce got out of the cars facing each other.
In no time at all, girls lined up and began to surround Dryce and Tom. Erik got out and walked to trunk of the Supra and leaned over, his eyes more observant than ever.
Dryce was quick to fill his arms with two girls on each side. “Ladies, ladies…” was all Erik could make out over the noise of the crowd.
Dryce leaned over to one of the girls milling around him in the bunch. She was a bit taller than he, and her huge tits were stuffed into what seemed like dental floss bikini top. Dryce’s eyes and head nodded towards Erik as she turned around and checked him out. Dryce slapped her ass and propelled her over to him.
Erik shook his head ‘no’ at him, while Dryce nodded his head back ‘yes’. The grin on Dryce’s face showed that this was him. He was in his element. The music, the cars, the half-to-mostly-naked girls. Every kid there was dressed like Dryce. The top two buttons on his fifty-thousand-dollar shirt were undone. The hundred thousand dollar suits, the ten pounds of gold wrapped around his body. This is where he was happy and Erik knew it.
“I was told to call you Tank,” she giggled as she stood there in front of Erik, flaunting her tits at him. “I’ve never rode a tank before…you think we can change that tonight… Tank?” she said licking her lips suggestively.
Almost flattered and yet embarrassed, Erik smiled. About to reply to her, he caught a glimpse of red and black flannel in his peripheral walking out of the stairwell. With his face toward hers, he focused in on the flannel with only his eyes. Oblivious to being ignored, the bimbo tried to cuddle up to Erik as he tried to walk around her. Moving her to the other side so he was now in between her and Dryce, Erik scanned the crowd of people again. The flannel shirt had vanished. A petite brown haired girl with pigtails walked out of the stairwell.
Erik looked around again then looked back at Dryce. He was still there surrounded by even more girls, smiling and trying to run through a conversation with Tom. Across the platform, Erik spotted the brunette again. She had high pigtails over her ears, wearing a white button down shirt tied in a knot just under her pushed up boobs. She was wearing by far the longest skirt at this gathering thus far. Erik watched her walking away towards another group. She turned and their eyes met over the sea of people. She winked at him before mixing in with the mass of bodies..
Is that? Erik was unsure if he said that out loud or in his own head. He blinked and looked over again. The pig tails were gone. Erik surveyed the platform, scanning group by group off in the distance.
Over the loud music, another girl stood in the doorway to the stairs and screamed. “Help. Oh my God!” she squealed over and over.
Tom and Dryce started to rush over but Erik extended his arm, holding Dryce back and keeping him guarded behind his arm. Tom poked his head into the stairwell and looked back, looking directly at Erik and Dryce. He waving his hand at Erik to come over.
“Tank… come look at this,” Tom shouted.
“Stay tight next to me,” Erik muttered over his shoulder at Dryce.
Slowly walking towards the commotion, pushing through the masses and scanning the area for anything suspicio
us, Erik shoved onlookers out of the way. Before poking his head in, he looked around again, searching for the pigtails. Planting his size seventeen shoe on the door to brace it open, Erik reached back and grabbed ahold of Dryce’s arm.
He peeked in. It was the flannel kid. His body lay face down on the landing while his head was face up in a completely unnatural way. His left hand, also face up, was still cupped like he had been holding a phone, but there wasn’t one.
Turning back around, still holding on to Dryce, Erik pulled him back to the Supra.
“Get in the car. I’m driving,” Erik ordered.
He opened the door for Dryce, and forced him in quickly. Erik jogged around the car to the driver’s side. Before getting in himself, he looked up and called out to Tom, “You need to get out of here. Now!”
Not trying to argue with a guy that damn big, Tom nodded his head up and down in agreement and jumped in the Skyline.
11
With Dryce safely locked in the car, Erik sped out of the parking garage. Reaching in his pocket for his cell phone, he tossed it over to Dryce. “Call Mr. Ngo. Now.”
Trying to follow Erik’s direction while being bounced around in the passenger seat, Dryce fumbled around with the phone. “Got it. It’s ringing.” Dryce clicked the speaker phone button.
“Go for Ngo,” Austin answered.
“Austin… it’s a no go. We’ve got some shit,” Erik franticly shouted while trying to navigate through the city towards the hotel.
“Is the Prince okay?” Austin asked.
“I’m fine, I’m right here,” Dryce was quick to answer.
“What’s going on?” Austin tried to get a grasp of what was happening.
“There was a murder. Some guy got offed in the stairwell. I didn’t see what happened. I didn’t think it was a good scene for Dryce to be at once the cops and everyone showed up. So, I got him out of there as soon as I could before we got stuck in the garage,” Erik shouted into the phone. Glancing back in the rear view mirror, he noticed a set of headlights coming up on him fast. “And, I think we’ve got a tail.”
Dryce looked back too, “No no… it’s just Tom.”
Erik looked at him quickly then back at the road. “How do you know? It can’t be—we left him way behind.”
“Tank… those are the headlights of a Skyline R34. I could tell what those look like from a mile away. Plus, that car is actually way faster than this one.”
Austin shouted, his voice frenzied, “Erik, get the Prince here now!”
“We’re on the way and we’re coming in hot,” Erik barked, swerving around traffic.
“I’m on the way down to the loading docks of the hotel. I’ll meet you there.” Austin was back to his refined self as he hung up the phone, though his tone left no room for argument. Everyone knew what could be at stake.
Roughly twenty minutes later, having backtracked and made extra turns to avoid being followed, Erik power slid around the corner leading to the hotel’s loading docks. The muffler from the Supra backfired as he skidded to a halt. Dryce slowly opened the passenger door while Austin and three armed security guards from the hotel staff quickly surrounded him.
“Where’s Tompika?” Austin directed his question over the roof of the car at Erik.
Standing there with his right foot still in the car, Erik turned. “We lost him somewhere in the traffic.”
Austin nodded and directed Dryce and the guards inside as he followed behind. Erik cautiously brought up the rear.
Back in the hotel suite, Erik locked the door behind Austin and Dryce. Hotel security stayed positioned outside in the hallway, explicit instructions not to let anyone near the suite doors.
“Ok, now tell me everything that happened,” Austin said taking a breath.
Shrugging his shoulders, Dryce looked back and forth between Austin and Erik. “I don’t know; I was just following Tank’s direction.”
Taken aback, Austin cocked an eyebrow at Dryce. “You followed direction? Without a fight?”
“Yeah, look I know what you did the last time, and I know why. I also know what it did to you, and I don’t want you and Tank having to go through that again shit because of me.” Dryce slowly made his way over to the couch. “I’m not an idiot. I heard that girl yelling and I saw the look on Tom’s and Tank’s faces after they looked in the stairs. I get it now. Something was going on. You guys are putting your lives on the line for me and the least I could do was not get you guys killed. Not for me.” Dryce crouched down, sitting on the edge of the couch’s armrest, looking completely dejected.
Erik took a few steps toward him. “C’mon, don’t think of it like that. Just remember this: no one is forcing me to do this job. I’m here because I actually want to be here.” Erik sealed his statement with a nod.
Austin reached out placing his hand on Dryce’s shoulder. Looking at Erik, he said,“So, again tell me what exactly happened?”
Erik turned, his face puzzled like he was trying to figure it out himself. “Hey, what does Yally actually look like?”
Austin continued to talk over Erik. “Did you? Were you the one that killed that guy? Am I going to need to get PR involved?”
“What? No, I…” Erik started to think back. “Alright, when we were driving on one of the lower levels there was guy in a flannel that stood out to me.”
“How? Why did he stand out to you?” Austin’s tone softened.
“Well, for one, he was wearing a long sleeve flannel shirt in the desert. Then he did this double take when he noticed Dryce.” Erik’s head tilted in Dryce’s direction. “He seemed sketchy, franticly reaching for his phone and practically yelling into it when it was answered on the other end. He kept gesturing in the direction we’d gone . Whoever he was talking to, I was sure it was about the Prince.”
Austin stood there listening, nodding his head as he understood the details.
“I tried to keep a look out for him. When we got to the top of the parking lot, I… I could have sworn I saw him.” Erik blinked a couple of times. “Then, when I looked back to confirm, all I saw was a girl leaving the area where I thought I saw the flannel guy.”
“Then what?” Austin asked, wanting him to continue.
“Then… I don’t know. I watched the pigtails until they disappeared. Then a few seconds later, at most, some other chick started screaming her head off over by the door to the stairs. I went to look to see what it was all about and, there on the landing of the stairwell, was the flannel guy. Dead. Broken neck.”
Shrugging it off, Austin took over, “Oh, that could have been anything. He could have fallen on his own.”
“No, sir. No one’s head turns that far around without some assistance,” Erik said matter-of-factly. “Just from falling down… what like only five or six steps.”
“It was like that, huh?” Austin said squinting.
“His phone was missing as well.” Erik slightly shook his head. “I don’t know; it could have fallen the down the stairwell. I didn’t stop to look for it but I would venture that whoever killed him took the phone.”
A loud bang on the main suite door interrupted the conversation. The knocking continued, sounding like someone was trying to kick the door down. Without hesitation, Austin and Erik both drew their weapons as loud voices filtered through the suite doors. Erik stealthily walked towards the door on the right, holding the .45 caliber in his left hand. Austin positioned himself on the left side with his gun pointed at the middle of the door. Erik looked at the door, irritated that there wasn’t a peep hole, crossed his right hand over his body and quietly grabbed the door handle.
Austin nodded ready. Erik swiftly opened the door just enough for him to see out and, with his body standing in the way, no one was going to be able to see in.
“Tank… Sup man?” Tom stood in the hallway with an entourage of women. “You gonna let us in or what?”
Austin recognized the voice and holstered his weapon, while Erik looked back behind the door at him, sha
king his head no, placing his sidearm away as well.
Dryce jumped up from the arm of the couch and made his way to the foyer. “Guys, last time I promise.”
Austin whispered and pointed at the door furiously, “Did you call him?”
“No.” Dryce shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
Austin gave Dryce a hard and pointed look and then nodded to Erik, indicating to go ahead and let them in.
Erik opened the door and lifted his arms as he stood in the doorway letting everyone know that they were about to get frisked before entering.
“Damn bro. I tried to keep up with ya but you got some mad skills behind the wheel,” Tom said while getting patted down by Erik.
Dryce greeted Tom at the door and said over Erik’s shoulder, “Hey man. How did you know where I was?”
Tom smirked, “Really bro, c’mon… Look,” Tom turned and pointed back out in the hallway at all the girls, “I brought ya some fun.” He turned back around and walked past Erik, looking around for the bar. “Where’s the booze man?”
The party seemed to never end. Crowds of girls swarmed the entire suite. The music muffled conversations and Erik shifted around from group to group. Austin stood off to the side in a corner for the best vantage point to oversee as much as possible.
“Hey baby, you wanna come hang out with us?” a girl said walking up to Austin, blowing a kiss and squeezing her tits.
In the corner of his eye, Yally appeared. Or so he thought. When he turned to look again, she was gone. Austin turned to his side, waving his head back and forth attempting to get another peek of her.
From across the room Erik looked up. Bringing his wrist to his mouth, he called Austin over the radio whispering, “I think I recognize that girl from the parking deck. And she may have been at Prince Tompika’s party too, but I can’t say for sure on that.”
Pushing his earpiece deeper in his ear trying to help drown out the music and the rest of the noise Austin replied into his mic, “I think I just saw Yally.”
