Ma?l got in the car. He looked serious.

  “Where to?” asked Ma?l.

  “We are heading southeast.”

  “There is a man on a motorbike at the intersection and I don’t like the look of him. It’s most likely nothing, but he will see us when we exit the garage. Watch him and tell me what he does.”

  “OK, let’s head northeast for a bit. If the biker follows us, we should mislead him first before we lose him.” Kaori said.

  The car GPS displayed the somewhat familiar map of Tokyo. Ma?l didn’t know Tokyo all that much, but he knew that area very well, especially the small roads he used to roam in search of food after training—good times.

  Kaori ordered the car to life and Ma?l exited onto the main road, driving at a normal speed. Speeding now would only get them noticed, as if they weren’t already far too visible. A pink car, of all things! At least the car was quiet, as long as you didn’t push up the revs.

  He made the first turn and drove straight for a bit.

  “What is he doing?”

  “Looks like you were right; he’s following us.” she replied. If she was scared, it didn’t show.

  Ma?l took a look in the mirror, assessing the distance. What was that line again? Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. The bike remained far in the background, but he was there. Ma?l turned suddenly to the left into a small street. If the bike followed him, there would be no more doubt, he thought.

  Sure enough the bike made the turn, and he was picking up speed, as expected. He would start to worry about losing them. Ma?l had a vicious smile on his face. Bikes chasing after cars was one of his pet peeves in movies and he finally had a chance to demonstrate just how stupid that was. He pressed on the gas pedal, turn on the main street with speed. The man on the bike had to accelerate or he would lose them, and so he did, pushing his steel mount to its limits—he had been spotted, there was no point staying far behind. Ma?l made another turn heading north. He was picking up speed but the bike was fast gaining on him. The man had drawn a gun. Bad mistake.

  “Kaori, get down and hold on” he commanded, accelerating one more time. Their pursuer was almost upon them when Ma?l slammed on the brakes. The bike swerved, nearly crashing into their trunk, the biker frantically trying to regain control, and letting go of the pistol in the process. It was too late already: Ma?l was right behind him and the car lurched forward like an angry beast, clipping the bike’s front wheel and sending it straight into a wall.

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  Whoever that man was, he wouldn’t be chasing after them no more. And that, he thought with a wicked grin, is why bikes don’t belong in car chases!

  Ma?l backed up and picked the gun with the sleeves of his shirt. Gloves. I knew I was forgetting something, he muttered to himself, scanning the surroundings. There was no one else around. Ma?l jumped back in the car and took off. They really needed to get out of here.

  They might have killed a man, but the guy had been kind enough to pull a gun on them, precluding any ethical quandaries. Ma?l’s moral compass was pretty straightforward. He was not a killer, but if someone aimed a gun at him, he strongly believed he had every right to do whatever the situation called for. He looked at Kaori. He was far more worried about how she would react, but she seemed fine as well. Either her moral boundaries were similar to his, or she was used to this kind of violence. Probably the latter, he reasoned. This was his first (unconfirmed) kill, but who knew how many she had? It could be quite a bit more.

  “So, where to, Boss Lady?” He tried to sound like a mob henchman from the 1920s, complete with the matching pose and a thick Italian accent.

  The man had acting potential, and a strange instinct for comedic timing. She liked that.

  “Just drive, Soldato. And try not to scratch the paint this time. It’s my car, you know?” Kaori retorted. She looked every bit the lady of a great clan, but she hardly deserved any acting credit for that. She was the lady of a great clan.

  They both exchanged a smile, while Kaori started entering the coordinates in the navigation screen. Ma?l stopped laughing immediately and held her hand, gently but firmly:

  “Is this thing connected to a GPS network?” he asked nervously. He could drive fast and deal with a few pursuers, but if the pink menace was also broadcasting a GPS location, they wouldn’t make it, no matter what they did.

  “No, don’t worry. This car is a bit special. I like my privacy,” she added with a satisfied smile. She looked down at her hand that Ma?l was still holding. “Can I finish typing now?”

  He withdrew his hand as if bitten by a snake. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

  “No worries. You had to check.” she said reassuringly. She was surprised he needed reassurance at all, but he clearly did. Ma?l was a puzzle. The man was smart, resourceful, had no issue taking out a pursuer, even one armed with a gun, and he took it all in stride, as if it was the most natural thing in the world… but holding her hand had made him blush.

  Logic dictates I should be the one to be scared, she pondered. She was alone at the mercy of a stranger, a powerful man she couldn’t possibly defeat or stop, and yet she felt more completely in charge than she had ever been, as if he was an extension of her will.

  They had known each other for less than a couple hours and she would have trusted him with her life. Not that she had much of a choice on the matter, but she really did trust him.