"So that's him then?" Kiba motioned to the boat coming in at the end of the beach. Eating a burger by the shade of an umbrella was not a bad way to spend an afternoon, but after a couple of days in Key West he was starting to get a little bored.

"Has the right look and the boat seems right." Shino stuff a few fries in his mouth before taking a drink of his soda. "For him to come in at midday like this means he's either confidant about bringing in goods, or he's made other arrangements."

"Likely he has that accomplice of his, what was the name?"

"Haku."

"Yeah. Most likely they have a system to move their cargo that totally confuses the authorities. But to behonest, having done a few cases down at the docks I can't blame the cops out here for not being able to catch him with anything. Working out at sea is hard."

"And yet Captain Kisame makes it look like child's play."

"Don't remind me of that blowhard." Captain Kisame of the Konoha Harbor patrol was known for two things: his manners and his arrogance. He was good at his job, but he was the kind that Kiba just couldn't get along with.

An audible whistle from Shino caught Kiba's attention. Picking up his binoculars and zooming in on Zabuzaquickly caught him up to speed. "Is that the new Ferrari F40? Say what you want about this guy, he's got good taste in cars."

"Come on Kiba, looks like he's going to be driving out of town soon. We need to keep on his tail." Throwing their trash away they got in the Fang and started tailing Zabuza. As far as top speed was concerned, the F40 was better than the RX-7 in every respect, but to avoid suspicion Zabuza would obey the speed laws.

"Gotta make sure we stay far enough back, don't make him paranoid. Wait until I get a car between him and us until you use the radio." The roads out of town were pretty clear for mid-morning. The Overseas Highway usually made for a drive just over three hours to get to Konoha from Key West, but if Zabuza were to make a mad dash in the F40 he'd be there in under an hour. After a few minutes on the road, Kiba was finally satisfied Zabuzacouldn't see their cabin in his rear view mirror so Kiba gave Shino a nod.

"Shino to Tenten, you there?"

"You're coming in loud and clear. What's the situation?" She sounded bored, but that was to beexpected, as she was given a police cruiser for her part of the assignment.

"We're following Zabuza, just passed the Navy base. Nothing suspicious yet."

"Any longer and we might have to move to stay ahead." Tenten and a second police car were on Big Pine Key, another 15 minutes or so ahead.

"What's the news from Neji? Did he get any info on Zabuza's accomplice?"

"Haku? No. Police had tabs on him up until yesterday. He checked into a hotel all the way up in Key Largo but he gave them the slip, must have come back down the Highway last night."

"These two have these local cops spinning in circles." Kiba was doing his best to drive casually, but the van in front of him was really starting to annoy him. For now it was a visual shield, but while it obscured Zabuza's view of them, it made it hard to see the Ferrari, which made his job hard, and was also tragic because it was such a pretty car.

"Lee in the air?" Shino asked knowing that a helicopter would be a dead give-away to Zabuza.

"We've got Lee on the ground here in Big Pine too; he can take off at a moment's notice."

"That Bell he's in is fast, but if Zabuza can drive at top speed, he'll outrun it in no time."

A distinct sound from just up the road tipped Kiba off to Zabuza's acceleration. "Tell Lee to get in the air, I think we've got a chase." Letting the wheel slip in his grip, Kiba dodged around the van and started speeding down the Highway.

"Why's he accelerating? What tipped him off?" Shino put down the radio receiver and adjusted his seat belt.

"Not sure. He's known for spontaneous moves though."

"Perhaps he did this just to see if anyone like us was following him?" A trick like that would be just out ofZabuza's paranoid playbook, but something in the way Zabuza was accelerating without looking over his shoulder made Kiba question that.

The radio buzzed with static as Neji's voice came on. "Inuzuka, you read me? Don't lose track of him, we just found out he's got a port on Big Pine Key along Ships Way. If he gets in his Cigarette Boat it'll be hard to catch him."

"Damn it." Kiba shifted to accelerate after Zabuza, who had a demanding lead on them. While good on streets and offroad, the RX-7 just didn't have the pickup on freeways. Catching up to the Ferrari was pointless, but they still had a chance to catch him before he was able to get his boat up and running.

"Hold on Kiba." Shino advised, "It's safe to assume he knows the police are watching him, he might even know we were the ones following him. It's safe to assume the Ferrari doesn't have any cargo, but if it's in his boat, he's probably confident he can get away even with pursuers."

Shino was clearly trying to be reasonable, but Kiba saw something in Zabuza from the profiles and the way he drove. This was a man who loved speed, but wasn't a daredevil; cold and confident, but not the biggest thinker. If there was reason to be had here, it wasn't coming from Zabuza.

Finally reaching Big Pine Key, Kiba turned off the Highway to the dock houses which were canals dug into the island itself. Large enough to house speedboats, cars, and cargo, but mostly these held recreational boats. This was an odd place for smugglers, perhaps that was why Zabuza was so successful.

Thankfully it had been dry the past couple of days. There was still some dust in the air from where the Ferrari had passed through. Finding a quaint little house, Kiba and Shino jumped out and kicked in the door with their guns drawn. A roar of an engine and a spray of water in their faces knocked them down. Zabuza was speeding away on his Cigarette Boat with a wicked smile on his face.

Finally righting himself Kiba saw that Shino had already gotten up and was struggling with a young woman with long dark hair. She fought like a maniac and had Shino on edge. A hard foot stomp and a head-butt sentShino back to the ground. Rushing in, Kiba caught a high-heeled boot to the face, which sent him into the water behind him.

Treading the water, Kiba got back up to the dock and found Shino firing at an escaping car, but it wasn't the Ferrari. "They had a second car Kiba, VW Golf MkII."

"Let's get a move on." Rubbing his jaw as he got into his car, Kiba revved the engine and turned around in the street to get back towards the highway. Shino was already on the radio calling up the others.

"Tenten, eyes peeled for a light blue VW Golf. We confronted Haku, but he gave us the slip." Kiba was glad that Shino had left out the part where Haku had beaten both of them up. Truth be told Kiba had not expected a man with such delicate features, the photo they had of Haku was clearly out of date.

"This is Lee in the helicopter." The radio line was open at this point; Neji and the others were in hot pursuit of Zabuza's boat but were having a hard time of it. "We're covering the west side from the air, looks like he's going North-Northwest along Hurricane Key, I'll watch him on the west side while one boat circles around the east side of the Key and the other two try to stay on his tail."

"Which one has the guns?" Officer Tenten questioned, trying to yell over the static.

"They probably have it split up between the car and the boat. Tenten, send one of the cars back to secure their dock and the Ferrari." Kiba added his thoughts to the scene while he got back on the Highway to continue his pursuit. The Golf was a great car, but it was loaded down with guns and it didn't have the horsepower to get away.

"Lee," Neji shouted over the radio, "Watch out, he's firing something." Kiba fought to keep his hands steady as he heard a scream over the radio.

"What happened?" Tenten's voice fought to stay collected right as a loud electronic burst sounded on the radio, ending just as abruptly as it came.

"Zabuza shot off a flare at Lee's helicopter. Went right into the cockpit." After a pause, Neji continued. "That lucky son of a bitch." Relief was present in Neji's voice. "He managed to land that thing even with all that."

"Do you have a handle on Zabuza?" Shino asked.

"He's still in sight, but without Lee in the air I'm not sure we can keep track of his position."

"Up to us to make the collar on Haku then." Kiba shifted down and finally caught up with Tenten and the Golf. Haku was driving evasively, keeping Tenten behind him and keeping just enough speed to stay ahead. "Time to show them how Red Fang got his name." Patting the shift stick, Kiba sped ahead just as Haku was weaving to avoid Tenten. "Sorry about this girl." With a sharp turn, he rammed the Golf and quickly spun the wheel to get enough room for another quick ram.

Without losing his tempo, Haku hit his brakes as he turned his car to hit against the back of the RX-7. Knowing the hit would send him spinning; Kiba turned his wheel to the left to align the wheels with the car's momentum. As the car went perpendicular to the road, Kiba hit the gas and let the car go into a controlled spin just as the bridge ended and hit land on Bahia Honda key. Narrowly missing both the bridge rail and Tenten's squad car, Kiba got back in gear and kicked up a flurry of sand as he got back in the chase.

"That was too close and you know it Kiba." Shino did his best to look unimpressed, but Kiba smiled at knowing how hard Shino had been holding onto the car.

"Right, next time I do that I'll try to avoid bridges."

Catching back up, Kiba saw that Tenten was pressing against the side of Haku's car. The lane was definitely not wide enough for two cars, and oncoming traffic from the left side of the road were pronounced with loud horns, but Tenten's siren drown them all out.

"Keep it steady, I've had enough of this foolish driving around." Pulling out his .38 Special, he took aim at the Golf's tires and snapped off two quick shots which took out the back right tire. Between Tenten's pressure and the tire deflation, Haku was unable to drive further than Little Duck Key, where they forced him into the small island's parking lot.

Tenten was out of her car first, holding her S&W up to the door, she didn't take her eyes off him as Kibacame up, opened the door, and pulled Haku out of his car.

"Good afternoon officer, how's the head?" Haku sounded polite, but he was being smug.

Pushing him into the car, Kiba did a quick frisk before cuffing Haku and throwing him in the back of the cruiser. The officer who rode with Tenten was giving him his rights as Shino started examining the Golf. The rear hatch opened to show the back seats had been removed to make room for six large crates. Pulling one to the ground, Shino carefully examined the edges before making his way to open it, but he was pushed out of the way by Tenten.

"Ooh," She was entirely too excited as she examined the firearms, "A Vektor SS-77. I didn't think they were moving proper machine guns; too many times it's just sub-machine guns. What's in that one?" The second crate held Steyr AUG rifles. Another crate had Imbel MD-2 sub-machine guns.

Carefully handing one of the Steyr rifles, Shino announced, "Serial numbers have been scratched off."

"I noticed that." Tenten agreed. "We've got guns from South Africa, Austria, and Brazil here. Quite the global representation." Standing up, she stretched her back and started walking back to her car. "Well Officers, great chase, but I've got to get this collar back to Konoha. Do be good and bring the Golf and the guns back with you. Bye!" And without another word, she had pulled away and was on the road.

Kiba noticed that his mouth was agape and tried to shrug off Officer Tenten's attitude, Shino put on his sunglasses and held out his fist to Kiba. With a quizzical look on his face, Kiba rolled his eyes when he saw Shino nod his head towards the Golf. One round of Rock-Paper-Scissors later, and Kiba was sitting on the ground with his spare tire, thankful that the tires were close to the right size. Shino took a moment to walk out to the beach before lying down in the sand.