Happy Birthday to Mar :)

Initially, Semi was either scared enough or still just about trusted Xiumin enough not to look.  They were almost at the car when she twisted around with a frown and suddenly piped up.

“Are you messing with me again to try to get close or something?” she asked suspiciously.  “You won’t let me look – is that because they’re not actually there?”  She turned to glance over her shoulder.

Xiumin caught her cheek again with his hand.  “Look when we’re in the car.  If they catch on that we’ve caught onto them, they’re probably going to act.”

Semi eyed him distrustfully.  He leant in as if to press a kiss to her forehead, but stopped just short.

“Play along for now.”  His voice was incredibly soft and held a hint of request.  Semi closed her eyes and gave a sharp nod.  Xiumin withdrew, sliding his arm around her shoulder and shifting her so that he was half behind her.  He didn’t dare risk another glance over his shoulder to try to ascertain what weapons their followers had, but he didn’t think he’d caught sight of gun holsters.  That wasn’t to say that neither man had a pistol, but they were in a quiet area, just the four of them, and he suspected that they would already have been shot if their orders were to kill.

More worrying, though, was the fact that this was supposed to be Luhan’s turf, and they most definitely weren’t Luhan’s men.  He was going to have to get hold of Luhan as soon as possible to inform him.  Letting go of Semi, he drew out the car keys and unlocked the car, urging her to get in through the driver’s side as a precaution (she threw him a disgruntled look, clearly unimpressed).  Just as he was about to follow on, a few light footsteps on tarmac caught his attention.

He was already turning when his name was called – presumably in an attempt to distract him – and he knocked the car door shut with his elbow in time to use the space to duck an incoming punch to the head.  With a quick twist, he hooked a leg around the man’s waist, lunging against the car bonnet for leverage as he used his free arm to help throw the man over him to a hard landing on the ground.  A quick glance through the windscreen revealed Semi gaping between him and the man in shock, but he didn’t dwell on it: the second man was approaching much more warily with a drawn knife.  Xiumin glanced quickly between him and the driver’s door, which now was obstructed by the bonnet, and decided it was much better to just get out of the place.  Three quick steps took him to the rear door and he scrambled inside and between the front seats, shoving the key into the ignition before he was even fully seated.

“Belt up,” he told Semi as he threw the car into reverse.  She squeaked as she was nearly thrown out of her seat and quickly reached for the belt and buckled herself in.  “We need to get out of here.  And get hold of Lay.  Or Kyungsoo.”

They both flinched when the knife hit the car windscreen hard enough to cause a small crack.  Xiumin pulled the car around and headed for the carpark entrance.

“The crack’s not too bad,” he muttered to himself as he shifted gears.  “With any luck, they haven’t had time to call for back—oh, sh*t.”  He swerved to avoid an incoming object from the right, automatically throwing out an arm to make sure Semi wasn’t jolted too far forwards.  “They did call in backup.”  With a quick glance into the rear view mirror – then a wince as headlights on full brightness drenched the car and nearly blinded him – he then checked over his shoulder and floored the pedal.  “We need to get out of here.  Can you ring Lay or Kyungsoo for me?”

With trembling fingers, Semi pushed his arm away and dug into her pocket for her phone.  She also couldn’t resist a tentative glance over her shoulder.

Before she could react, however, there was a fizzle of static as the car’s radio came to life.

“Why’s there a crack in the screen of the car?” Kyungsoo’s voice asked, Xiumin attempting to squint into the rear view mirror again as a car engine roared behind them.  “Is somebody shooting at you?”

Semi jumped at the unexpected intrusion.

“You can control the car remotely?” she asked, dropping her phone into her lap.  Her voice was a little weak.

“Yeah,” said Kyungsoo.  “But what’s going on?  What’s with the bright lights?  Why’s the car system wailing at me?”

Xiumin had to force himself not to look over his shoulder or into the mirrors as another engine revved loudly behind them.  “Somebody from Suho or Mighty Mouth spotted us on Luhan’s turf and they’re trying to—whoa.”  He braked sharply and did a quick fork prong over to the right as something skimmed along the side of the car.  Semi let out a high-pitched gulp.  “Holy smokeballs.”  He floored the accelerator again.

Kyungsoo spoke again, but this time his voice was a little more distant.  “Jongin, take over communication.  I’m getting CCTV and I think I need to send out security, so I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Hello?” said Jongin’s voice immediately, filling the car.  “Kyungsoo says you have an issue.”

“Yes,” said Xiumin, slowing down just enough to take a sharp turning at the end of the street, lights from the following vehicles still blazingly brightly.  There was a sharp vroom as a motorbike came up alongside them.  He shoved the wheel round to cut in front of it and force it up onto the pavement.  “Is it okay if I break the speed limit?”

Jongin apparently had no problems with it.  “Be my guest.  What’s going on?”

Xiumin floored the accelerator again, causing Semi to grab hold of his arm, and watched as the speedometer crept up to eighty miles per hour.  “We got spotted down by the river by somebody either of Suho’s or Mighty Mouth’s.  They followed us all the way back to the car, tried to stop us leaving, and they’re now—” he dodged swiftly around a car, “—chasing us.  At least two cars and a bike, though I can’t see properly because they have the headlights on full and they’re using them to blind me.”

“Antisocial,” said Jongin.  “I think— oh, Kyungsoo’s hacked the police cameras and traffic lights for me.  Hop any reds you see and I’ll try to green the lights to clear the roads for you and then block them again afterwards.  We’ll get you somewhere safe to ditch the car where security can meet you.”

“Great,” said Xiumin tersely.  Semi’s grip tightened around his arm as he swished out into the other lane to overtake another three cars and he let go of the wheel with his right hand to allow her to cling onto it.

“It said you drag raced on your profile,” Jongin added, “so trust your instincts.  Just don’t crash the car.”

Xiumin took an involuntary glance at Semi.  She had both her arms wrapped tightly around his, almost crushing it to her body, and her face was paper white as she scrunched her eyes closed, cringing back into the seat.

“Semi’s scared,” he told Jongin.  “The quicker we’re safe, the better.”

“I know.”  There was a soft sigh.  “Stay brave, Semi, right?  We’re not going to let you get hurt.”

Semi gave no response to indicate that she’d even heard except gripping Xiumin’s arm even tighter.

“You’ve got a big crossroads coming up to this locator,” Jongin told Xiumin, getting back to business.  “Take a sharp right into it and then an immediate left, and then go straight across the original road.  I’ll turn all the lights red after you and it’ll hopefully lose you somebody.”

“Got it.”

“Great.  Hold on a second.”  His voice suddenly became muted, as if he’d turned the microphone away from his face, and as Xiumin shot through the amber light and swung the car around to the left without indicating, he thought he made out a “thanks, Kyungsoo”.

“Left here,” Jongin told him, suddenly returning, and Xiumin obeyed, cutting across the avenue.  “Kyungsoo’s picking out a route to get you back here and we’re going to try to lose you your tail along the way.  He and Ryeowook say that there are unusual traffic movements in various areas of the city from several solitary vehicles and there’s also a fleet of bikes heading more or less in your direction, and we don’t want them to meet you.”

“Are you sending out people?”

“Yeah.  We’re going to try to stop the incoming ones before they get to you first, though – they’re much closer.  It’s going to be at least fifteen minutes to the police station even at this speed.”

Xiumin shot another helpless glance at Semi.  It looked like she was biting her tongue.  Over the radio, he could hear Jongin swearing under his breath and muttering something that sounded like why am I in charge of this when I’m new to this city?

“There’s a… God, how do you pronounce this name?  Myo… Mwo… okay, you know that square about a ten minute walk east of the police station by that coffee shop Lay’s taken you too?  The one with the fountain?  If you can get there, we can have an waiting for you and put up barricades to stop them all getting through.  We don’t have enough time to get them further out.”

“I’ll get there.  Just give me directions.”

Kyungsoo’s voice joined again.  “We’re going to send you through the one way system for a bit to thin them out.  The cameras are giving me five large cars behind you and three bikes.  It’s possible they’re armed, too.  We just can’t see with the feed quality right now, but if they have guns the bikes are likely to come up alongside and try to pick off either you or the wheels.”

Semi definitely heard that, because she gave a little whimper and gripped Xiumin’s arm so hard it began to go numb.

“Can you spare those kinds of details?” he asked.

There was silence on the other end for a bit.

“Fork right at the next opportunity,” Kyungsoo said eventually.  “The road should take you round and up and then you can turn off into the one way system.  You’ll have to slow a bit in the narrow alleys, though.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Xiumin mumbled with another glance at Semi as he switched lanes so that he would be able to bear right.

“Bike incoming on the left,” Jongin added.  Xiumin revved the engine and the car leapt forward again.  He nipped in behind another car just as the road began to split and the bike was forced off to the left.

“The bikers don’t seem to have guns,” Kyungsoo said suddenly.  “I think they’re just supposed to be harassing you to get you to pull over or something because they can go between lanes with more ease than the muscle cars they have can.”

Not that much further along, the street began to rise and the traffic began to fall away.  Now much more conscious of the monster cars behind him and the bikes coming up on either side, Xiumin swung around into the one way system.  The road was so narrow that the bikes were forced back almost immediately.

“Gun the engine and go as straight as possible,” Kyungsoo told him.  “Ignore the signs.  If you’re going the wrong way, we’ll tell you if you’re about to meet somebody and send you down a different street.  Bear left here and then just keep going.”

Xiumin did as he was told.  He’d lost feeling almost completely in his right arm now, and was mentally thanking not only the amount of driving he’d done over the past few months holding Semi’s hand but also all the drag racing he’d done as a teenager, where he’d pretty much learnt to drive with only one hand on the wheel as if it were the norm.  The headlights from the Merc as well as the cars behind lit up street signs ahead, some of which definitely told him he couldn’t just gun straight down the alley, but he did.

“Are you confident taking corners at a hundred miles an hour?” Jongin asked him with interest.  A glance at the speedometer showed him that they were going