Brian's truck eased into an alleyway, headlights blinking out just before it parked behind a nearby building. After adjusting his leather jacket, he climbed out of his truck and gently closed his door, careful not to make any noise. Keeping his head low, he slid past his truck and to a nearby fence, glanced over his shoulder one final time, and pulled himself up and over.

It was the best place he could find to both easily and cleanly break into Hector's garage. There was no way it was just a coincidence he needed the parts for three Honda Civics. It had to be related somehow.

Brian crept along the edge of the building, stopping just before he got to the end. Taking just long enough to get a good look, he poked his head around the corner. He found just what he was looking for across the street.

A bar. El Gato Negro. Music floated out of the parking lot as some party bustled just outside it, loud enough to make him question if the music was coming from inside or pumped out of one of the many car's stereo systems. There, right at the edge, was Hector, chatting up some woman and, more importantly, confirming he wasn't inside.

Making his way back to the edge of the garage, he paused at a window and glanced in. Good. Nobody. From the sound of the muffled Spanish groove metal across the street it was pretty clear where everyone was, too.

Unfortunately, nobody really meant nobody. No sign of the kids, either. HIs report had been pretty concise but, especially filtered through that Wade kid, it was definitely clear. Had they just not gotten his message?

The extra help would have been nice, but he supposed it didn't matter. After wrapping his jacket around his fist, he tucked in his arm, took a deep breath, and smashed the window in. Quickly, he reached in with his other hand and tried to flip the latch, but his brows knit in confusion as he realized it was already unlocked.

Weird. Hector wouldn't just leave an easy way into his garage, would he? His body tensed as he slid the window open, suddenly on edge. Slowly, he climbed through and took a step toward the stairs, clenching his flashlight tight in his hand.

Before his paranoia could get the better of him a shadow silently dropped from the roof out of the corner of his eye, followed by a crash as another fell to the ground behind it. He heard a high pitched giggled, followed by a lilted, "Seven!"

Brian's eyes adjusted, giving him a better view of the unamused looking shadow, and he immediately relaxed. "Really? A literal breaking and entering? I woulda expected something more subtle from you."

Ron stood up behind her, brushed himself off, and stretched his legs. "Man, and we've been waiting here for ages. I was starting to get cramped up there." Rufus climbed up onto his shoulder, put away a miniature '7' sign, crossed his arms, and shook his head in disapproval, letting out little clucking 'tut's.

"Sorry," Brian said. "Had to make sure it was clear. How did you even get in? Hector doesn't play. As far as I know every entrance is locked up tight."

Kim smirked and pulled a black, credit card shaped object from her pocket. As she turned it to show him it practically disappeared. "Flexible nanofiber card. I just slipped the latch from the outside, no noise or property damage needed." She flicked the card back into her pocket and pulled out a flashlight. "Let's take a look around so we can jet. I wouldn't be surprised if someone heard that."

Brian deadpanned. Of course she'd have some kind of weird tech. She did know not everyone had a gear junkie on call, didn't she? He shook his head, but didn't push it. "Right," he said, turning on his own flashlight. "Let's go."

The trio made their way down the stairs and into the storage area. "Alright," Kim said. "Let's split this up. You check over there-" She pointed to the back of the room where several cars were lined up along the wall, each covered in a tarp. "I'll check the back."

Ron laughed. "Do we really need to look that hard? I mean, it's not like it's that easy to hide a car. Especially not the kind Ed deals with, right?"

"But we're not just looking for cars," Brian reminded him.

"Right," Kim added. "We're looking through parts and paperwork, too. Anything that might clue us in on what's going on."

Ron nodded, and Rufus nodded along with him. "Right. That makes sense. Don't need to find the whole body to know there was a crime. An arm is plenty."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Right," she said. "So that's what you're in charge of. Go over to those shelves and see if you can't find that arm for me."

He snapped a quick salute. "On it!" Spinning on his heels, he turned and started walking toward the separate parts, but paused and opened his mouth.

"Still part of the metaphor, Ron," Kim assured him. "You really are looking for car parts." Ron gave her a quick thumbs up, turned back around, and started his search.

After several minutes of searching, the three met back up at the stairs. "Nada," Ron started. "Everything was clean. Very clean, actually. All his parts were surprisingly well organized and really easy to look through."

Kim shook her head. "Same here," she said. "If he's hiding anything he's better than anyone I've seen before, and I'll be honest. He really doesn't seem like the type."

Brian sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah," he said. "Found a Civic, but the treads didn't match. We should probably call it here. We can check back some other time if we get more info, but right now it's looking like he's in the clear."

"Anyway. You kids need a ride back? I wouldn't want to get caught alone out here in the middle of the night. Especially not after that party across the street lets out."

"I parked pretty close so I'm not worried. I'll walk with you for a bit, though. I wanna go over a few things with you. Something about this whole sitch is bugging me."

Careful not to disturb anything else, Kim, Ron, and Brian regrouped outside the garage and made their way back to the fence. Brian climbed first. The moment he landed, however, a loud crack exploded through Brian's skull and he reeled forward, falling limp against the wall.

Kim and Ron didn't hesitate. The moment they heard the sound they vaulted up and over it, landing on the ground right beside the no unconscious Brian. The moment they saw what was on the other side, however, they froze and raised their hands.

Standing right in front of them was a man holding a shotgun level at their chest. A man both of them knew. "Vince," Kim greeted.

"Shut up. Hands where I can see'em. In front of me," he hissed, grabbing the back of Brian's jacket with one hand and keeping the shotgun trained on them with the other. "Walk. I'll tell you where."

While it felt like an eternity because of the shotgun pointed at their backs, it wasn't long before Kim, Ron, and Vince arrived at whatever their destination was. Without taking the shotgun off of them, he threw Brian to the ground and took a step back, keeping at least two of them in his sights at all times.

Brian's face contorted in pain and he groaned, slowly pulling himself to his elbow. Vince clicked his tongue and gestured at him with the barrel. "He moans like a cop," he said.

"And how does a cop moan?" Kim asked, quirking an eyebrow and smirking. "Is moaning cops something you hear a lot, Vince?"

"Oh," Ron added. "I think it's something like 'Augh, I can't rip up the citation because it's already written, oooh."

"Shut up!" Vince shouted, sweeping his shotgun across the three. "Funny seeing you two together again anyway, miss hero. You think that ain't suspicious?"

"Three," Ron reminded him. Rufus poked his head out of Ron's pocket and raised his hand, indicating that it was actually, in fact, the four of them together. Vince sneered and pointed the shotgun right at him. Ron squeaked and took a step back. "Or two," he said, letting out an awkward chuckle. "I'm not great at counting. My math grades prove that. Plus I guess it's not suspicious seeing me, Rufus, and Kimmy together so-" He crossed his arms over his eyes, still keeping his hands raised. "Please don't shoot me."

Before anyone could reply, a tall bald man stepped out of the shadows and everyone fell silent. "Brian," he said. "Kim. This is one of those times you need to be very clear about what you say." Brian gulped, keeping his hands raised as best as he could while on his back. "Nod if you understand me."

Brian hesitated. "Nod!" Vince shouted, swinging the shotgun down to point at his face. Slowly, he, Kim, Ron, and Rufus all nodded.

"Sit up," Dom ordered. Carefully placing his hands on the ground behind him, Brian pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Tell me what the hell you're doing down here."

Brian quivered a little and leaned forward. "Shit," He muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "What I'm doing…"

"Don't tell him, Bry-Bry!" Ron shouted. "Who knows what they'll do if they know we're cheating!" Rufus put his hands together and shook them, pleading for Brian to stay quiet. Ron opened his mouth to say something else, but Vince's shotgun swung around to point right in his face.

"Quiet! And shut your bald little hamster up too!" In spite of Vince yelling, Dom seemed to relax just a little bit.

"Dom." Brian's cringed and shook his head. "I owe you a ten second car." Dom quirked his head, quietly listening.

"No! There's still-" Ron started, but a quick glare from Vince shut him up.

"Boy, do I have to knock your ass out?" Ron and Rufus both mimed zipping their lips, and Ron took another small step back.

"Race Wars," Kim quickly added. "This is about Race Wars. I'm new and was hoping I could get an edge by scoping out the comp."

Vince pointed the shotgun back at Brian and kicked him, prompting him to talk. "Exactly," he said. "We were just in there-" He pointed in the direction of Hector's garage, trying to catch his breath enough to talk. "Hector is gonna be running three Honda Civics with spoon engines. And on top of that he just came into Harry's and he ordered-" He started counting on his fingers. "Three T-66 turbos with NOS and a MoTeC system exhaust."

Dom furrowed his brow and glanced at Vince, who just scowled back and shook his head. "It's true," Kim added. "I wanted to see if he had anything else planned. I found the invoices."

Dom turned his attention to Kim, glancing between her and Brian. "So what are you saying?" he asked. "You're gonna go around, check everybody's shit out?" One garage after another?"

Slowly, Brian pulled himself to his feet, careful to keep his hands in front of him. "Yeah," he said. "Because Dom, you know I can't lose again. The girl has some skills. I told her if she helped me I'd let her have second place and share the cash."

Kim gave Dom a sheepish smile. "My whole shtick is 'I can do anything.' Got a lot of pride riding on this."

Vince shook his head. "They're cops," he said. When Dom didn't respond he repeated more firmly,"They're cops,"

Dom licked his lips and glanced between Vince, Brian, and Kim, stepping a little closer. "You cops?" Brian shook his head without hesitation.

"I'm not even old enough to be a cop," Kim assured him.

"Me neither!" Ron said. "Trust me. We don't want any cops butting into our fun any more than you do, sir."

"Nuh-uh!" Rufus agreed, making a small 'X' with his arms.

Ron shifted from one leg to another and awkwardly chuckled. "I'm just glad you're not mad about the whole cheating thing. Really thought we'd lose points there."

Dom took a deep breath and sized the three up, considering them for a long moment. "Let's go for a little ride."

The group split into two cars to make the drive. Dom and Brian met up with Jesse, already waiting at the wheel of his Jetta while the still-shotgun-toting Vince had Kim lead him and Ron down the block to her Ferrari.

Kim rolled her eyes as she climbed into the driver seat. "You can cut it with the gun, Elmer Fudd. I think we both heard Dom. He didn't say it out loud, but it's pretty clear we're on the same side now."

"What's clear," Vince said, "Is that for whatever reason he's giving you guys a chance. He thinks this is a good idea, so he's going along with it. That doesn't mean I trust you or your boyfriend."

Kim snorted and turned the engine over. "Friend," she corrected.

"Friend!" Ron agreed from the back. "Hey, I skipped dinner to meet up at Hector's garage, do we have time to swing by somewhere for a burger or something? Oh, there's a Bueno Nacho nearby, right?"

"What is with you and that shitty fake Tex-Mex place?" He knit his brow and shot Kim a sideways glance. "I have a damn shotgun and he's back there going on about food. Is he always like this?"

"Funny how many times I get asked that question."

"Hey!" Ron yelled from the back. "Bueno Nacho never claimed to be authentic Mexican food and have every right to take artistic liberties in their presentation! That doesn't make it any less delicious!"

"Whatever." Vince lowered the shotgun, resting it barrel-down beside his leg. "Just shut up and drive."

Before long it was clear where they were headed. "Little Saigon," Kim muttered as a large, Vietnamese inspired arch came into view. "We're hitting Tran's place."

"No shit," Vince said. "Did the squiggles on the signs give it away?"

Kim deadpanned. "One," she said. "Not cool. Two, did you even case the place first? Do you know it's going to stay clear?"

Ron leaned forward, putting himself between Kim and Vince. "Pffft, amateurs," he agreed. "Where are Dom and Brian?"

Vince put his hand on Ron's chest and pushed him back into the back seat. "Dominique didn't have to waste time babysitting so probably already inside. We didn't need to case the palace because we know how Tran operates. Jesse is already playing lookout. Just park a bit down the street so we can catch up."

After finding an inconspicuous, out of the way place to leave her Ferrari Vince led Kim and Ron to a fence surrounding Tran's garage. He'd left his shotgun in the car, instead pulling a pistol and gestured for them to climb over first. In three bounds, Kim was already over, Ron following a bit behind.

Vince heard a quiet "Booyah, third time climbing a fence today and I haven't gotten caught once. All articles of clothing intact, baby. And that one was particularly spiky." After a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure nobody was around to hear Ron's outburst, Vince grumbled and followed.

By the time they got onto the roof the skylights were already open. Just below they could hear Brian and Dominique, having just started looking around themselves. A moment later all five were reunited.

Kim and Ron moved to split off, Kim planning on looking through paperwork like she had at Hector's. Before she made it two steps, Vince held up his hand. "What are you doing?"

Kim cocked an eyebrow. "Uh… Investigating? You know. What we're here to do?"

"We're here to look at cars. Not to audit his Taxes. You stay here where I can see you."

Kim raised her hands and took a step back. "Whatever you say. I just wanted to go through invoices for parts he might not have yet, but you're the boss here apparently."

Vince shook his head. "Fuckin' kids," He muttered, clicked on a flashlight, and started sweeping it around the garage. He cringed a little when, in only seconds, he heard Ron's voice and turned around.

"No way!" Ron said. "They took out the engine to make their car lighter and faster! Diabolical and genius!"

"Yo, Dominique!" Vince turned around and swept his flashlight over the open hood. Ron was right. The front was empty. Soon everyone was standing together, hovering over the car. "There's no engines."

Dom glanced from the engineless car to Vince. "What do they plan on racing with, hopes and dreams?"

"I don't know," Vince said. "But I know they're sneaky as shit and they got enough money to buy anything."

"That's why I wanted to check paperwork," Kim added, taking a step back. While Vince and Dom talked, Kim and Brian continued looking around the garage. Their flashlight beams swept almost simultaneously over a stack of boxes, and they briefly exchanged looks. Slowly, Brian continued inspecting the garage, making his way over to the boxes to get a better look at them. DVD players. He gave Kim a small nod and backed back off.

"And you really think that kinda shit is just gonna be-" At almost the same time, both Dom's phone and Kim's Kimmunicator went off, cutting Vince off.

Without taking her eyes off of Vince, she answered. "What's the sitch?"

"I saw you decided to head over to Tran's early," Wade said. "Just thought you'd like to know that he's on his way, and it looks like he's bringing a guest."

Apparently Dom had the same news, because Vince and him both took off for the back of the garage, shouting, "Alright, we got company! Spilner! Possible!"

"Got it. Thanks, Wade." She shut off the Kimmunicator, took Ron's arm, and took off, hopping up to take hold of a group of pipes and hide herself in a dark corner. Ron stumbled a bit, but managed to wedge himself between the wall and a stack of boxes right below her.

Brian was the last to move and took off right as garage lights came on, sliding behind a car in the corner of the room just in time. She couldn't see Vince, or Dom from where she was, but that was probably a good thing. If she couldn't then neither could Tran.

The garage door slid open and several motorcycles rolled in, followed by Tran's Honda. The door shot open and Tran stepped out, followed by Lance, and an out-of-place looking middle aged white man in a gray golf polo.

Lance pulled out a gun and waved it at the man. "Come on," Lance said, grabbed onto his shirt, and shoved him toward Tran. "Move!"

Tran turned and slowly stepped toward the engineless car. "Let me ask you a question, Ted," he said. Ted, apparently the middle aged man, followed, glancing nervously at the gun Lance kept pointed at his face. "Do you see anything wrong here?"

Ted ran his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip, looking almost as annoyed as he did nervous. "No."

Tran calmly closed the gap between them before grabbing the back of Ted's head and forcing his face into the car's empty chassis. "We got no engine, do we?!" Ted fought, but Tran kept him pinned against the car. "Do we?!" he repeated.

Finally he let go and Ted took a couple of steps back and adjusted his shirt. "Couple'a Nissan SR20 motors'll pull a premium one week before Race Wars, huh?"

"Oh," Ron whispered. "Yeah, that makes more sense than racing without engines." Kim nudged him and he shut up.

Ted trembled a bit as he nodded, whatever calm he'd kept in the beginning quickly dissolving. "Yeah, probably."

"You're a smart fence, Ted," Tran continued. "Maybe too smart." He looked away, walking a half-circle around Ted. Kim winced as a small smile twisted his lips and he peeled his leather jacket off. "What're you feelin', Lance?" he asked, setting his jacket to the side. "Forty weight? Fifty weight?"

Lance's eyes didn't leave Ted's. "Forty weight sounds nice," he replied.

Without warning, Tran grabbed Ted's collar with both of his hands and threw him to the ground. Ted fought, but Tran pressed his knee into his sternum, easily pinning him to the ground. He reached back, holding his hand out to Lance, who unhooked a nozzle from a drum of 40W oil and passed it to him.

Kim's hand shot to her mouth as she suppressed a gasp. While it was true she didn't know that much about cars, she knew exactly what was in the barrel. Could she really just stand by while Tran waterboarded -oilboarded?- this man? Even a fence didn't deserve to be literally tortured, right?

She looked over at the car Brian hid behind, where she saw both him and Dom. Brian returned her look and shook his head. Using every bit of self control she could manage, she stood down.

Ted writhed, futility trying to break free as Tran pressed the nozzle to his cheek. He was already hyperventilating before Lance started to pump, but forced his mouth closed as thick, dark oil spilled across his face.

It was all he could do to force himself to breathe through his nose, but try as he might, he couldn't escape the viscous deluge. Unable to stop himself, he tried to gasp for air. The moment his lips cracked the oil filled his mouth, and he just barely managed a gurgling groan of disgust and pain before he forced it closed again.

"Where are they, Ted?!" Tran demanded. Ted's head tilted back, but trying to pull away only made it worse. The oil splashed across his mouth again before running up his face, into his nose and eyes. He wanted to scream, cough, anything, but his nose and mouth were both too full, making it impossible for any air to get in or out. "Where are they?" Tran repeated.

Ted managed to move his head to the side and spit out just enough of the oil to gurgle, "Enough!" but Tran didn't stop.

"Where are they?" Tran demanded again.

Ted rolled his head over and heaved, forcing more of the oil out of his mouth. "In the warehouse." His words were a garbled slurry, but he prayed to whoever was listening that Tran still understood. While his throat was still clear enough he repeated louder, "They're in the warehouse!"

Tran's nose curled in disgust as he dropped the nozzle to the ground, looking at his oil covered hands. Lance took the gun off Ted just long enough to toss him an oil rag and he attempted to wipe the worst of it away from his hands and shirt.

No longer pinned under Tran's knee, Ted rolled over and pulled himself to his knees, hacking and gagging in an attempt to clear whatever oil he could from his nose and throat. Finally, he looked up at Lance and right down the barrel still aimed between his eyes.

"Ted," Tran said, pulling his attention away from the gun. He gulped and turned toward him. "Kiss my shoes." He just knelt there, dumbfounded. Lance swept the gun toward Tran's feet, gesturing for Ted to move.

Still on all fours, Ted crawled toward Tran, unable to lift his eyes from the floor. As soon as he leaned down to actually kiss Tran's shoe, Tran pulled back and smashed his foot into his face, sending him reeling backwards and onto his back. White rings exploded in his vision and he found himself writhing around in the oil in pain.

Tran threw the dirty rag at Ted and walked away, sneering at him. "Let's go get our engines."

"My superiors are flying in from DC the day after tomorrow. I want something to show for it." Agent Billkins paced back and forth in front of Brian, glancing between him, Kim, and Tanner, who was sifting through a pile of files.

"Now we have a top echelon fence with a loop hose in his mouth," he continued. "Automatic weapons, a jacket full of priors on every one of these asian punks, a garage full of DVD players, and generally psychotic behavior. Tell me why we shouldn't move on Johnny Tran right now and see where we are when the dust settles."

Brian leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. "Because all we have is behavior," he said.

"Really, really messed up behavior," Ron added. "I mean really, drowning someone in oil? Who does that? Not to mention the poor guy who has to clean all of that up. Gotta say, 40W? Not easy to clean off anything. Even just a little bit of that stuff wants to stick around, but that had to have been at least four gallons."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Does anyone else think it's really cramped in here? Why couldn't we meet in, like, a normal office or something?" He pointed a thumb at a cop standing in the hall with them. "And who even is this guy?"

"Muse," the guy grumbled. "I'm working this case too?"

"Yeah," Kim said, adjusting herself on the countertop. "I honestly think we should have done something to stop that." She paused. "The pumping oil into that guy's face, not meeting in a hallway. I don't really see why we can't just move in because of that. It was literal torture."

"But we're not trying to get him for pouring oil on a sleazeball," Brian said. "We're trying to get him with the whole thing and hopefully find some ties to Ed we can use to track and nail him, too."

"And these two," Bilkins added. "How much are your 'consultants' actually even contributing?" He turned to Kim. "I let you two into this because you have experience with Eddy Lipsky, but it doesn't look like you're bringing anything to the table besides playing tagalong so far."

Kim fixed Bilkins with a glare. "I've found a few things, but I'm still following up on them," she said. More pointedly, she continued, "I don't just want to drop a raid on someone to say I'm doing something."

"Look," Brian said. "Just let me get some hard evidence, because what we have now is just circumstantial ev-"

"What we have now is probable cause," Bilkins interrupted. "And truckers arming themselves for some good old fashioned vigilante mayhem."

"Tell us about Hector, Brian," Tanner said, not taking his attention off of the files as he spoke up for the first time.

Brian shook his head and mulled it over. "Hector's still working on the engines for the cars but the tires don't match." He threw his arms up in annoyance. "Would someone just give me a cigarette?"

"Get him a cigarette," Bilkins ordered.

"I'll get him a cigarette," Ron volunteered, desperately grasping for any chance to leave the claustrophobic hallway for even a moment. He paused. "Didn't you say you quit?"

"I did quit," Brian said. "Please, just get me a cigarette."

"No!" Tanner shouted, finally turning around. Ron stopped, raised his hands in the air, and leaned back against the countertop near Muse. "Tell me about Torretto," he continued.

"No way," Kim said. "Dominique Torreto is way too calm and level headed for something like this."

"Yeah," Brian agreed. "I told you, I think he's too controlled for this. I mean, what, going suicidal on semi trucks? No way."

"Vince would do it," Ron said. "I could see it. Vince is just the kind of guy Ed would have in his crew."

"Yeah, but he's too stupid. There's no way Toretto would go along with it, and there's no way Vince would go behind his back and get away with it."

"I think the kid sister's blurring your vision," Muse said.

Ron theatrically jumped and grabbed at his chest, startled. "Holy cannoli, I forgot you were even here," he said. "You need, like, a bell or something."

Brian's nostrils flared as his eyes shot toward Muse, ignoring Ron. "What did you say?" Ron chuckled uncomfortably and took a couple of steps back, making sure he wasn't between the two.

"I don't blame you," Muse continued. "I'd get off on her surveillance photos too, buddy."

"Okay, ew? If that's how you act then I'm nor surprised you'd need creepshots. What's your problem?"

"I guess maybe he doesn't have to cozy up to her," Muse said, leering at Kim and sneering. "Not when he's got a pretty little schoolgirl right up his ass, huh?"

Kim started to reach out and grab onto Muse's collar, but scooted back as Brian shot past her and grabbed him first. Tanner grabbed his shirt and pulled him back while Bilkins shoved Muse away, separating the two before a real fight could break out.

"Knock it off!" Tanner ordered. He looked at Kim. "Both of you. What, are you two going native on me?"

"Seriously?!" Ron asked, raising both of his arms in exasperation. "That was gross! He would have deserved that!"

Tanner ignored him and shuffled through the files, grabbing one in particular. "Have you read Torreto's file lately?"

"Yeah," Brian said, not looking away from Muse. "I memorized that file."

"Me too," Kim said, lifting her Kimmunicator. "Got a self-updating copy right here."

"Yeah, well, read it again. Better yet-" Tanner riffled through an envelope and pulled out a few photographs. "Take a look at these. Remember I told you about the guy he nearly beat to death?"

One after another he dropped three photos, each of a different angle of the same man. The entire left side of the man's face was swollen and bruised. Blood ran down his broken nose, and Brian's lips tightened when he saw the red, pulpy flesh slurry that was left of the man's eye. "Toretto did this with a ¾ inch torque wrench. He's a model of self control." He stepped back to let Kim and Brian get a good look, looking between the two as they did.

Kim bit her bottom lip as her and Brian exchanged looks. Finally, Brian sighed. "Give me a few more days," he said, starting toward the door. He stopped next to Bilkins and repeated, "I need a few more days."

Sensing the meeting was over, Kim hopped down and followed, giving the two a small wave. "I'll let you guys know everything I can as soon as I'm done following up on this lead, alright?" she assured them. Without waiting for a reply, she turned and left behind Brian. Ron stopped just long enough to glare at Muse and stick his tongue out at him before following close behind. On his way out Rufus poked his head out of his pocket and did the same.