Sorry that it took me this long to update. With work, the whole pandemic, quarantine and stuff caused me to have a writer's block and momentarily lost interest in the story.
But now, here i am and i'll try to update more frequently now that i've regained my motivation to work on the story again.

Cop : Escape To The Beach

SCPD HQ, Fox Lair Pass, 10:00 AM

It had been a couple of days since Umi learned that Honoka had started racing in Seacrest County thanks to Derek for that. This new knowledge however made Umi curious, so curious that it's making her anxious and wanting to learn more about her old friend's activities. She kept asking Derek for any information relating to Honoka's activities to him but it wasn't like Derek could satisfy her needs all the times and not to mention that Derek himself had a limited resources to racers network since he's now a cop.

"I'm sorry, Umi. But I don't have any news regarding your old friend at the moment." answered Derek as Umi would once again approach his desk to ask for any new information regarding Honoka.

"Really, Derek? No news or anything? Have you checked from racers network?"

Normally Derek would just shrug it off but however, this time Umi was persistent. She even asked about any news from his personal social network. Although Derek was no longer a racer, he was still connected to Seacrest County's racers' scene through his personal social network. Feeling that he could no longer ignore her pleas, Derek managed to take his phone and checked his social network.

"Nothing. Not even from my social accounts. You happy now?"

Umi only sighed in disappointment. This time Derek was curious as why his partner would be so interested in this Honoka person "Say, why are you so into this old pal of yours? Do you want to bust her or something? Or is it an old lover's unfinished quarrel?"

That last question caused Umi to fluster "N-N-No no no no. Not at all" she said waving her hands around her face. Her face was beet red from Derek's last question which just amused him even more. Umi then regained her composure and answered "You see, Honoka is my old friend and I honestly never thought that our paths would cross like this. I believe that someday I will have to face her on the streets and make an arrest on her….."

Before Umi could finish, Derek cut her "You or could be another officer that will arrest her. She's a racer now and that means she's our enemy. Your answer doesn't make any sense to me, partner." Derek then gave her a stern and serious look "There has to be another reason on why you're so obsessed with this particular person" Derek paused before giving her a sharp glance "what is it?"

Umi stood still for quite a while before giving him an answer "It's an old feud, Derek. That's all you need to know. And with our paths crossing like this, you know the rest of the story and my reason for doing this." She said with even more serious look.

Derek was taken by surprise for sure. He wouldn't expect that this problem was so serious that Umi just simply telling him to shut up and simply to help her in this problem. He then came up with an idea "Look, I've got an idea. I know someone who can provide you with any info regarding racers' activities in SC. How about I take you to him and maybe he can provide you with anything you want to know about your old friend? Is it good for you?"

"Sure, can we get there now?" Umi answered without hesitation. Derek surely couldn't say no and not to mention he was pretty bored in the office and needed a getaway. He then grabbed his key and left the office.

"Going somewhere, Derek?" one officer asked him on his way to the door.

"Going for a regular patrol. Getting bored here behind the desk. Tell the chief I'm leaving"

"Or is it? Then why is Sonoda tagging along?" said another officer

"I'm just simply taking her along to show her more ropes. She's still new here and may not be familiar with the streets. Now just shut up will ya?"

And so Derek and Umi left the office and headed to the garage. "We're going with my car" said Derek and they then headed to Derek's car; A Ford Shelby GT500 and got in.

"Wow I didn't know that you have such a great car."

"Oh yeah you've never seen it even though you've been here for a while, eh. Since I'm already an experienced officer, SCPD procured this car to me a few months ago." Derek then started the car, giving a strong rumble and an amazing roar of the engine "And let me tell you something; this car is a beast" Derek then shifted the gear and drove off with an impressive tire screeching sound.

Fifteen minutes passed since they left the HQ. It may not be that long but the silence and the lack of interactions made it feel like eternity. Sure for some times Derek's radio would buzz but nothing significant or serious came out of it and not to mention that Derek would immediately reject it everytime a backup request came. Umi had no idea where Derek was taking her to exactly. Sure she wanted to ask, but she decided not to and just to tag along for the ride.

Mission Beach, 10:45 AM

Forty five minutes passed and Derek pulled the car over to some kind of warehouse building around Mission Beach area. It was a big warehouse but from the looks of it, Umi could tell that it had been abandoned for quite a while. Derek then stopped and parked the car and told Umi to tag along.

"Derek, what is this place? Why are you taking me to an abandoned warehouse?" Umi asked.

"This is the place I was talking about" Derek said as he put on his sunglasses. "This may not look like it, but this place belongs to one of the oldest racing crew in SC. I'm pretty sure you've read about a crew called the Black Mamba in our archives."

The Black Mamba, Umi sure had learned about them in one of SCPD's archives. They were one of the two oldest racing crews in Seacrest County, alongside the legendary Great White Crocs whose leader; a notorious racer named Cross was arrested years prior and the crew was soon disbanded following Cross's arrest. Umi also recalled that The Black Mamba's leader had never been arrested but somehow the crew's activities also went quiet, almost like the entire crew just disappeared out of existence. But the fact that Derek was taking her to The Black Mamba's hideout just puzzled her. Did SCPD make some kind of deal with The Black Mamba in exchange for immunity for the entire crew?

"Well here we are!" Derek exclaimed.

As Umi was lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that they finally reached what looked like a back entrance for the warehouse. Outside, she saw a bunch of muscle cars from the late 60's like Ford Mustang Mach 1 to the more modern ones like a pair of 2005 Dodge Viper SRTs. All of them were covered in a familiar color of black with green stripes with a distinct drawing of a snake head on the hood of the cars hence the infamous naming "The Black Mamba".

"Alright, just stick close to me and let me do the talking. These people are kind of nervous when encountering new people, especially the ones wearing SCPD uniform."

Umi just nodded at Derek's instruction. Derek then opened the door to reveal a not-so-big gathering of racers inside. From the looks of it Umi could tell that they were beyond their glory days. Not like they were old, so old to be called grandpa, but old in terms of skills and competitiveness against current breed of racers around the county. In fact calling them racers would be an insult to other racers. They were now more like a bunch of car enthusiasts. Umi kept sticking close to Derek as instructed. He then stopped at the sight of a quite distinctive man. He was wearing a black suit with a green necktie and a black fedora hat. He also had a pair of green gloves on his hands and he also held a fine wood walking cane on his left hand. Upon seeing Umi and Derek, the man approached them.

"Derek my friend, It's been a while." Said the man.

"Kingpin. I'm pretty sure you know the reason why I'm here."

"Of course I do my friend." The man then paused upon seeing Umi "say, who's this lady officer here?"

Derek then introduced him to Umi "Umi, meet the leader of The Black Mamba, Kingpin real name Cedric Ferguson. He's the person I told you about at the base."

"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Umi Sonoda, Derek's new partner in SCPD." Umi said as she extended her hand.

"Likewise, madam." Kingpin then took Umi's hand and shook it "Name's Kingpin" He then let go of his hand and then took off his hat and bow down in a gentleman's way "At your service." He then put his hat back on again "I'm pretty sure you're not here just to introduce your new lady partner here huh, Derek?"

Hearing that, Derek couldn't help but smile "Sharp as always, that's to be expected of you." He then switched to his serious face again "Say, have you heard anything new around here lately?"

"Oh I heard a lot of new things everyday, my friend. Which one is it exactly?"

Before Derek could answer, Umi cut him short "About a new racer and her silver Porsche Boxster Spyder. That's the one." Derek just gave her a confused look but decided not to bother any further.

"Just like she said, Kingpin, we heard that there's this new racer driving around the streets with her new Porsche Spyder"

Kingpin then asked them back in confusion "It's not usual for you to be interested in one particular person. What's so special about this new racer that you two could be interested in?"

"We have two simple reasons for that" Derek then showed his finger "one, she's an old friend of my lady friend over here" He then showed another finger "two, we all know that Porsche Spyder is really hard to order moreover to own one and drive it around the streets especially for racing. I believe those two reasons are more than enough to pique our interests in her"

"'Her' you said?" Kingpin then wondered about what Derek said and he then remembered something "Oh I remember. There's this new racer called Honoka who's been building quite a reputation for herself. Just like you said, she drives this silver Porsche Spyder. No idea on how she got it, but I heard that she managed to wreck a number of cops all by herself a few days ago. Last thing I heard is that she was currently a member of a crew, the one lead by Darius Flynt."

Derek raised his eyebrows upon hearing Darius's name being mentioned "Darius? You mean that Darius?"

"You know him, Derek?" Umi asked.

"I'll explain later" He told Umi before turning back to Kingpin "So you're saying that Darius is now forming a crew?"

Kingpin gave him a nod of confirmation "Yup! The one and only. And I heard that he's quite serious in building this crew. He's got a number of skilled racers and mechanics working for him, including the infamous Aaron Wells the owner of that cesspit garage at Coral Bay. And he's not messing around either in arming his crew. They were armed with the fastest and rarest cars you could think of and my guess is that your friend might get her car from him."

"So this Darius person supplied Honoka with that car? How did he get those cars anyway?" Umi asked.

"I have no idea how Darius got them cars, madam. But if Darius recruited her into his crew, then that means your friend is quite skillful since Darius will not recklessly recruit any drivers into his crew."

"I think we've heard enough, Kingpin" Derek then instructed Umi to leave "We've got what we want, let's get out of here" Derek then left the place with Umi following suit.

Umi then stopped for a while and turned to Kingpin "Thank you, Kingpin. You've been a great help."

Kingpin then waved his hand while smiling "With pleasure, madam. You can always come here if you want. I'll be more than willing to share what I know to the arms of justice."

The two then walked back to Derek's car and got in. Derek once again started the car and drove away. Umi still had some questions in her mind about what Kingpin had just told her in the warehouse, but before she could say anything, Derek interrupted.

"I believe that you want to know about this Darius person, huh partner?"

"Seriously, Derek, you're a mind reader. Who is this Darius person and judging from your reaction back there, you seem to know him quite well."

Derek stayed silent for a while before taking a big breath and removed his sunglasses "You see, Darius used to be a big-time racer in Palmont. If you asked why I know him, that's because I used to drive with him in Palmont before we went separate ways because of a certain mess-up"

Umi knew that Derek used to be a racer, but she didn't expect that he would know such a kind of person like Darius. "What happened?"

"There was this one race that night. A typical high-stakes race with big money, pink slips, ladies, everything you could think of. Darius and I decided to enter that race and had agreed to share the win if any one of us won that race. But what we didn't expect was that somehow, cops were already had their ears on that race."

Derek then pulled up on the side of the road before continuing his story.

"And by cops, you mean they were already expecting you with a number of cars?" Umi asked.

"Cars? It's better if it was just that. We managed to finish the race. In fact, I won that race. But what we didn't expect was that cops were ready to ambush us at the finish line. Before I could share the money, cops were already surrounding us. Cruisers coming from all directions, many racers were caught and arrested including Darius. I barely escaped with a bag full of money in my car. I just kept driving away without looking back. Cops were hot on my tail but thankfully I managed to escape. I just kept driving before having to ditch my car to board a train to Seacrest County. That's how I ended up here."

"Are you sure they didn't have an APB on you? I mean knowing that you could just keep driving and boarded a train?"

"APB? No fortunately not. It's just a local PCPD case and they didn't bother to publish an APB on escaped racers."

"So you just continued racing here then?"

"Yeah, had to use that money I had to get a new car and get started again. I managed to get myself a garage to work with my cars and get rolling again. What I didn't expect was that two years later, Darius would call me and mocked me for my cowardice. He also swore to find me and make me pay for what I did back in Palmont."

"And with you now being an SCPD officer, I guess you two will just have to cross path" Umi then gave him a smile which just confused him "I guess we're just the same then, Derek."

Derek then just chuckled upon hearing that "Just like two peas in a pod. Say, now do you want to tell me your story, partner? Why are you so obsessed with this old pal of yours?"

Umi simply gave him a wink and put a finger on her mouth "It's a secret. For now. I'll tell you when it's time, partner." She said with a cheeky smile.

"Whatever floats your boat, lady." Derek then started his car and drove straight back to the HQ.

And another chapter done.
I know that there'll be some actions expected especially since the chapter's title is a reference to the first cop hot pursuit event but i simply try to expand the story so sorry in advance.
Like always, any reviews and critics will be greatly appreciated.
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And always, stay optimistic.

Resta U, Signing off...