Texarkana, Republic of Texas/NUSA Border.
Old Hickory House Restaurant.
"Let me have a Diablo Sandwich and a NiCola and make it fast, I'm in a got-damn hurry." came the sharp command from the Sheriff of Texarkana, Buford T. Justice III.
The cashier being familiar with the man, and the man's family as something of an Institution in the Texarkana region got to work fixing up the man's order.
The Diablo Sandwich was a sandwich of pulled "pork" scop really but it looked right, drenched in Smoky BBQ sauce, Texas Pete Hot Sauce and topped with a small mountain of freshly sliced Jalapeños, that was it. Shredded "Meat", Smoke and Fire. It was like the Justice family, a Texarkana institution.
It was as he sat back in his car just a few kilometres past the border station that the call came in, a Rayfield Caliburn had illegally crossed into Texas by going around the Interstate posts and crossing the much less armed post on US-82 at almost 230km an hour.
Which while far over the speed limit was almost sedate compared to what the Caliburn could do.
As he bit into his Diablo, the Rayfield blew by, it was painted the deepest black trimmed in gold and featured a Japanese phoenix in gold on the hood. He swallowed, called in the pursuit and set off after it. The sumbitch had Night City plates, got-damn that place, the only thing to ever come out of there was a complete lack of respect for the Law.
Malcolm was having more fun than he thought he would, so far the run had been easy and he could really push the Caliburn on the Interstates running between the various Aldecaldo camps. He had had, the suspension jacked a bit to ensure he didn't destroy the car when crossing terrain to the campsites, and the trunk was essentially just another fuel tank for now.
They'd also loaded up with CB radios when they crossed into Arizona, on the recommendation of the Nomads, as the old CB Radios were sometimes the only working coms on the roads in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Cell connections were only possible in the towns. Both of them found the nearly 120-year-old system hilarious, the people they'd talked to on the roads were good people, and things always got a bit freaked when they told them they were NC boys, but after some reassurance that the stories that had come out of Seattle in the past couple of years were widely overblown. Night City, wasn't a good place sure, but they didn't send out random Murdergremlins or Cyberpsychos to other cities.
They'd gotten to Atlanta just fine, spent two days recuperating, then found the stash container they were supposed to pick up, and set out westwards again.
Now though came the "fun" part, the stuff Hiromi wanted picked up required interference, and granted they'd set up logistics with the Aldecaldo's but Ichi's Truck absolutely could not be stopped, it had to keep those eighteen wheels rolling, LoA's for NC didn't carry any weight outside of California, thankfully when they got back home, if the bordercops got weaselly, they had Jun's permission to name him as the recipient, ain't no Bordercop, gonna mess with an LoA going to The Oni.
So anyway... getting back into his own mind.
His baby, his Caliburn was going to be that interference, with a top speed of 340km/h he was going to get and keep police attention on himself. Playing keep away as Ichi kept on trucking. Absolutely worst case once they crossed into New Mexico they could get some actual firepower help from the Aldecaldo's. But first they had to get through Texas.
"Breaker, breaker for the Bandit in the Caliburn"
"Come on back, breaker."
"Bandit, I got a smokey report for you. Come on!"
"Well, talk to me..."
"You got trouble comin' for ya..."
"Well what's your handle, choom, and what's your 20?"
"My handle's Smokey Bear and I'm tailin' yo' 200km ass right now!"
"Smokey huh, never talked to an Omawari before, you gonna try catch the Bandit of NC in a beat-up Cop Car, Choom?"
"This beat-up Cop Car has a cop motor, a 740 cubic inch plant, it's got the good cop tires, better cop suspension and cop shocks. I'll run you down on the interstate or in the Mountains, you Sumbitch!"
"That all sounds Nice!, But Omawari, You wanna know what I've got? I got an Open Road and a 340km Top Speed. Just Try and get me, Bandit Out!"
That said, he looked back at the cop in the mirror and pressed down hard on the pedal.