Chapter 4: Run In with the Protectors

Sometime later

Agent Kallus' P.O.V

"Yes, sir, I am aware of the rebels and their race that they are participating in." I said, on the phone with the FBI director as I continued my assignment of following the race route that the rebels were on in my personnel vehicle, a blacked out Lamborghini Aventador in matte black. "Then if you are aware, why haven't you made a move on them yet, Agent Kallus?" the director asked."Sir, these rebels are just too good, too good for law enforcement, too good for any other races in this race, and even too good for some of our top agents in the field." I responded. "Then perhaps it is time for Plan B for apprehending these rebels."

"Sir, if I may ask, are you suggesting that we disp-" "Yes, Agent Kallus, I am suggesting that we dispatch the Protectors to deal with these insignificant street racers. I'm ordering you to roll with them, and to burn those rebels once and for all." "As you say, sir. Where are the Protectors held up now?" "They are in Vegas currently, helping local law enforcement with some street racers. We have received word that the rebels are out of the city, and are heading north towards Utah. We have a squad of Protectors en route to the last known position of the rebels on that route. The leader of the Protectors branch of the agency are with them. Get to him, and deal with those rebels. Is that clear, Agent Kallus?" "Completely, sir. It will be done."

I hung up, and sped up to meet the leader and his group, ready to catch those street racing fiends.

Meanwhile

Ezra's P.O.V

After a long night of driving on the road, we were finally closing in on Utah, going through Arizona in the process as we continued driving through the night in our super cars. Since we left Vegas, we've also gotten our positions higher as well. We went from the lower 150's to the 110's in the last few hours as we drove, and we so far were making good progress. If we kept this up, then we would be in the 90's possibly by the time we get to Denver, maybe higher.

We finally got to the Utah border, crossing into Utah. "Welcome to Utah, gang." Kanan said to us via our conference call as we drove. "I also have some info from Fulcrum: Fulcrum says that currently a large amount of the drivers in this race are offline, resting now. What do you think, should we rest up?" I yawned, which was a "yes" on my end. "I'm with Ezra on this one." Alex responded. Everybody basically said yes, and we pulled over at the nearest motel. We all got out of our cars, taking our stuff out of them, with Kanan going to get us room keys. He came back later with room keys, and we headed in for some R and R.

Meanwhile

Agent Kallus' P.O.V

"This seems to be the location of them currently." I informed the Protectors group with me, arriving at the motel where our friends are getting some rest. "Let's move on them now while they are asleep." one of the Protectors suggested. "No. We can't spook them that easily, especially for when it comes to Kallus' approach." Fenn Rau, the leader of the Protectors responded. "Rau is right, people. Let's give them some rest, for they are unaware of who is going to be coming for them tomorrow." I told them. "Everybody power down, and wait until morning." I added, putting away my phone, and going to sleep in my Lamborghini.

The next morning

7:30 am

I heard the sounds of cars being started at the motel, and recognized that they were the cars of the rebels. I woke up, and immediately woke up Rau and the Protectors. "Everybody up! They are on the move." I told them, starting up my car, waiting for some distance between us and our friends, and then we rolled out, tailing them. "All units, do not move in until I give the signal." I instructed them.

Kanan's P.O.V

We decided to get an early start to the morning, and we were now rolling with all of us present in the group. We got on the highway, continuing the drive to Denver, which was our next stop in the race.

I was also glad to be traveling in a nice car like the Pagani, which was relatively comfortable, and was some good extra horsepower like the rest of our super cars. However, I still had a feeling that trouble was going to be coming up, possibly Agent Kallus back on us. I got him out of my head when we saw five racers up ahead of us.

"Alright, gang, racers incoming. Get ready." I informed them via our conference call, which we've had going since we began the race yesterday in the morning. I pressed down more on the gas, with the rest of my crew doing the same, moving in now on the racers. And let's just say that these cars that they were driving were nothing thanks to our super cars.

All of those cars were battling for position, and we were able to pass them with ease no problem, thanks to the increased speed and horsepower that our cars packed. "That was easy." Ezra said over our conference call, which we had going since we got back on the road. "Never get ahead of yours-" I was cut off when we started hearing sirens. "Crap." I said. I looked at my rear view mirror, and guess who was after us with some backup, all of them driving Aventadors colored in black, including himself: Kallus.

"Guys, get ready. Agent Kallus is coming for us with some backup." I told the crew. We hit the gas hard, speeding away as fast as we could from those Aventadors, but Kallus and his backup were coming up fast on us. One of the Aventadors got in front of me, and I saw this on the right door, and I thought that it was on the left door also: it was a Protector symbol, which meant that not only were we dealing with Kallus, but we were also dealing with the most dangerous drivers in the FBI as well. Now we had a new objective: keep driving towards Denver, and avoid Kallus and the Protectors at all costs.

The Protector in the Aventador that was on me was trying to ram me off the road, hitting me on the side, but I wasn't gonna let that happen. I started ramming him back, but this guy was just too good. I needed backup. "I need assistance over here." I said. "I'm coming in now." Hera responded, her Mclaren ramming the heck out of the Protector Aventador. The both of us double teamed it, and we got it totaled, the Aventador crashing into a pedestrian vehicle on the road. "Thanks, Hera." I said. "You're welcome."

"Guys, I need help against Kallus, he's on me." Alex radioed. "I'm coming, love." his girlfriend responded, with me seeing her Ferrari in the mirror ramming Kallus' Aventador. Eventually, more people in the crew started having Protectors get up on them, and we had to get rid of those Protectors as we drove to Denver.

We saw more racers on the road during the run in with Kallus and the Protectors, but surprisingly, they did not go for those racers, and instead regular cop cars were dispatched. I guess it could have been because Kallus may have been tasked to deal with us with the Protectors only. Either way, we still passed those couple of racers, while managing to deliver a blow to some of the Protectors by getting a few of their Aventadors out of commission.

Now there were only five Aventadors left, including Kallus' Aventador, and the leader of the Protectors. The leader had his car black like the others, but had his Protector symbol in white to distinguish himself from the others that had their symbols in red. I saw him gain up on Sabine's Agera, and I decided to go help her. I engaged my handbrake slightly, and then sped up again once they were near me. I engaged my nitro, and then came up on the leader. I came in from the side, ramming him, and then Sabine and I were double teaming him, all of us hitting him one hit after the other, keeping him at bay in the middle of our cars. After one last blow by the both of us, the Protector leader was out of commission as his car stopped working after enough damage was done, and the crew managed to get rid of the rest of the Protector Aventadors on us.

All that was left was Kallus, who was right in front of me and Sabine, and the both of us moved in to help out Zeb and Ezra who were boxing him in, along with the rest of the crew helping us. We all seemed too much for Kallus to handle, and with one more swift hit by Ezra's Bugatti, Kallus was done for, his car being put out of the picture. I guess he deserves that after he scratched our cars himself. After that, we got back to our main objective of driving to Denver, and we continued the ride, now that we had less resistance.

A few hours later

We were still on the highway that went to Denver, and we were now in Colorado now, located about 15 miles out of Denver. We were making good progress still in the race as we went from the 110's to the the upper 80's, and that was really good right now, considering that we had more racers ahead of us, and we would be higher, possibly the 60's or higher.

And like with last time before the Kallus and the Protectors got up on us, we were able to pass these couple of racers with ease with our super cars, and we kept on doing that for the next couple of miles, our positions in the race going up higher by the numbers. By the tine we reached five miles to Denver, we were now in the lower 50's, going into the 40's now if we passed these next couple of cars ahead of us, which we did.

By the time we got into Denver, we were now officially in the 40's, which meant that if we kept on making good progress like the way we've been doing, we would be in the 20's by the time we get to Omaha, and then one of us would take the win for those 25 million dollars in the end by the time we hit Chicago. We headed through the city, making a very, very quick bathroom stop at one point, and then continued on the road to Omaha.

By the time we were out of the city, we continued driving to Omaha on the highway that goes there, passing some more racers along the way, while avoiding cops who were dispatched to deal with us, and we were in the clear eventually as the drive continued. Our position was now in the 30's, and we were making good progress still.

Later

Sabine's P.O.V

We just entered Nebraska as of an hour or two ago from Colorado, driving through the state at night. The time now was around 9:30 pm or so as of now, and we were driving just the seven of us with no other car in sight as of yet. We were coming up on another motel right now, and we all agreed to stop here for the night after Kanan informed us that Fulcrum contacted him, saying that all of the drivers were offline and resting, so we took advantage of that. As a driver with quite a good amount of experience behind the wheel, you know that when you take a race that goes across the country, you try to take advantage of a motel or hotel when they present themselves to you and/or your party.

We parked the cars there, got our room keys, and went to our rooms. I asked Ezra if he wanted to be with me earlier since I didn't mind company in my room, and he said yes. Now we were in our room the two of us, watching TV, and then Ezra asked me something. "Sabine, I'm thinking about heading out to Dairy Queen to get something. You want to come with me?" he asked me. "I guess I could go for it. Besides, I haven't really eaten as much today, so I'll go." I answered. "Great. Do you want to take my car, your car, or should the two of us take both our cars?" "I guess we'll go in one of our cars." "How bout mine?" "Sure." "Ready to roll, Sabine?" "Let's go."

The two of us got out of our room, but we asked the others if they wanted anything from Dairy Queen before we left, in which they said that they were okay and didn't want anything. We then we got in Ezra's Bugatti, leaving the motel for the nearest Dairy Queen, located not too far from here. He drove us from the motel to Dairy Queen, and we went in, and got ourselves ice cream and a drink, and then sat down just the two of us at a table.

We talked about a lot of things while we hung out. We talked about how we're liking our super cars, and a little bit about our lives. We talked about our childhoods in our hometowns, funny things that occurred during those times, and talked about various other subjects. While we were talking, I noticed something about Ezra that I seemed to have noticed for a while now.

He seemed to be smiling a lot while we talked, and so was I, which indicated that he seemed attracted to me. However, I somewhat noticed that from the day we first met during dinner a month ago, and I became more attracted to him also as time went on. But he would not admit it to me, I would not admit to him, and both of us wouldn't admit it to the others. I think that he's a cool guy who's likable, and he thinks that I'm a cool girl who's also likable, and I've never felt so attracted to him before until it was just the two of us having ice cream on the road at a Dairy Queen on this day.

I wanted to really make my move on him, I was just ready, but I hesitated a lot. But at the same time, I thought about if he was ready to make his move on me, and if he was just waiting for the perfect opportunity. I told myself to wait until after we were done here, and then make my move on him either once we get back to the motel,either in our room or the Bugatti, or when we leave the building to make my move outside if at all possible.

We eventually finished our ice cream, and then left the Dairy Queen with our drinks that were unfinished. We got back in the car, and I agreed that I would make my move once we got back to the hotel. I thanked him for taking us out here, and he said that it was his pleasure as we drove back to the motel.

We came back later, and then he shut off his Bugatti's engine, and then looked at me in the eyes, a smile on his face, and mine showing up on mine. I had a feeling that he was making his move here, and I was prepared for the moment. Turns out it was false when we got out of the car, bringing our drinks in with us into our room, and then lied down on the bed the two of us. I was prepared to make my move on him in our room. I was ready now.

"Ezra?" I said. "Yes?" he responded. This was my move on him, and I had to pick my words wisely. "I just wanted to say once again thank you for taking us out tonight, and I think you deserve something in return." His face brightened up, which indicated to me that he may have been possibly ready for what was coming. Mine did too. "I think that we all know what it is. The thing is, Sabine, though I haven't admitted it to you, I will now, I'm attracted to you. I think that you are a super cool person, and I'm glad to have gotten to know you in the last month. I was especially glad to get to know you better on the road, and I'm glad that we got to hang out just the two of us, and I thank you for an amazing time that we've had since I joined the club." Ezra said. Wow. He actually admitted it, and that was when my face brightened up, in which I said, "Ezra, you're welcome for everything since you joined. I'm also attracted to you. I think that you are a great guy, and I think you deserve this for the good time that we've had on the road."

Both of us closed our eyes as our heads started moving towards each other, with our foreheads connecting, and eventually our lips connected in a kiss. As we kissed, I rolled on my back with Ezra on top of me, my arms wrapping around his neck and my hands touching the back of his buzz cut haircut. He kissed me quite passionately as well, and he seemed to be a pretty good kisser. From that kiss, not only was my move on him successful, but it felt amazing. My chest has never felt this warm, my heart has never beat this fast, and I have never felt this good until now, until the moment I kissed the boy who was just a new blood on the streets of L.A. a month ago, and was now with me on the road to Chicago in a race for 25 million dollars with our friends. It was one of the best moments in my life.

"Thank you, Sabine. You have made this night unforgettable." he said in between his kisses. We continued making out further in bed, and then we eventually drifted off to sleep, his arm around me as we slept on our right sides facing the bathroom of our room. It was a great night, and that kiss stuck with me throughout our slumber.