“Military business?”
Cole ignored him.
He stared at Jake carefully.
“I checked your records.”
Jake’s expression remained blank.
“Didn’t find much.”
Victor smirked quietly.
Cole continued.
“But I found something strange.”
The garage became silent again.
Cole slowly pulled out his phone.
A blurry racing video appeared onscreen.
Old footage.
Street race.
Crowds screaming.
A black car drifting impossibly through traffic.
Cole looked directly at Jake.
“The driver moved exactly like you.”
Victor grinned.
“There it is.”
Jake stayed calm externally.
Inside—
Everything tightened.
Cole lowered the phone slowly.
“Who are you really?”
Jake looked at him for several seconds.
Then finally answered.
“Someone trying to stay buried.”
Cole frowned slightly.
Victor clapped once slowly.
“Beautiful line.”
Then his smile vanished.
“But impossible now.”
Victor looked at Jake one last time.
“Tomorrow night.”
“Midnight.”
“Harbor tunnels.”
“We leave with or without you.”
Victor turned and walked outside.
The SUV doors slammed shut moments later.
Then headlights disappeared into the rain.
Cole watched them leave carefully.
Finally he turned toward Jake.
“You gonna explain this?”
Jake grabbed a wrench from nearby.
Started working on the truck again.
Cole grew frustrated instantly.
“Mercer.”
Still silence.
Cole stepped closer.
“You saved my life today.”
Jake tightened a bolt quietly.
“And?”
“And I deserve answers.”
Jake finally looked at him.
“No.”
That hit harder than Cole expected.
Jake returned to work.
Cole stared silently for several seconds.
Then quietly asked,
“Were you really a street racer?”
Jake paused.
Only briefly.
“Yes.”
Cole blinked.
“You serious?”
Jake nodded once.
The soldiers behind Cole exchanged stunned looks.
Cole laughed softly in disbelief.
“You drifted an armored truck because you used to race illegally?”
Jake wiped grease from his hands.
“No.”
He looked directly at Cole.
“I drifted it because everybody would've died if I didn’t.”
That shut the room silent.
Cole suddenly remembered the slap.
The insults.
The laughter.
Guilt crept slowly across his face.
Jake noticed immediately.
But said nothing.
Cole lowered his eyes briefly.
“I was wrong about you.”
Jake shrugged lightly.
“Most people are.”
Cole exhaled slowly.
Then looked toward the storm outside.
“You going tomorrow night?”
Jake didn’t answer.
That answer alone told Cole enough.
Hours later—
The base slept quietly beneath heavy rain.
But Jake remained awake.
Sitting alone inside the garage.
The duffel bag rested beside him.
Old racing gloves in his hands.
Memories attacked constantly.
Engines screaming through city streets.
Police sirens.
Ethan laughing beside him.
“You drive like you’re immortal.”
Jake stared at the gloves silently.
Then finally stood.
Decision made.
The Harbor District tunnels smelled like rust and seawater.
Midnight fog rolled through abandoned shipping yards.
Victor’s crew waited beside armored vans.
Engines running.
Weapons ready.
Jake arrived alone.
Victor smiled immediately.
“Knew you’d come.”
Jake glanced around.
Too many armed men.
Too much preparation.
This wasn’t just a vault robbery.
Victor handed him keys.
Black modified muscle car nearby.
Low suspension.
Heavy engine.
Jake stared at it.
For the first time in years—
His chest tightened differently.
Not fear.
Memory.
Victor stepped beside him.
“Missed her?”
Jake quietly touched the hood.
Like greeting an old ghost.
Then headlights suddenly appeared behind them.
Military vehicles.
Victor cursed instantly.
Lieutenant Cole stepped out holding a rifle.
Several soldiers followed him.
Jake looked stunned.
Cole walked toward him.
“You think I’d let you walk into this alone?”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Oh great.”
“Boy Scouts.”
Weapons immediately aimed both directions.
Tension exploded instantly.
Jake stepped between them.
“Everyone calm down.”
Victor shook his head.
“You brought soldiers?”
“I didn’t.”
Cole answered coldly.
“I tracked him.”
Victor sighed dramatically.
“This night keeps getting worse.”
Suddenly—
Gunfire erupted from rooftops.
Everybody ducked instantly.
A hidden third group opened fire across the harbor.
Victor cursed violently.
“IT’S RAMIREZ!”
Jake’s eyes narrowed.
Ramirez.
The man who betrayed Ethan years ago.
More trucks burst from nearby warehouses.
Heavily armed.
Machine guns mounted.
Cole shouted commands immediately.
Soldiers took cover behind containers.
Chaos exploded everywhere.
Victor grabbed Jake’s shoulder.
“He wants the vault!”
Jake looked toward the tunnel entrance.
Then toward the incoming gunmen.
Then toward Cole’s trapped soldiers.
One fast calculation.
Same as the bridge.
Jake grabbed the muscle car keys.
“Get everybody inside the tunnels!”
Cole stared.
“What about you?”
Jake opened the driver door.
Engine roared alive instantly.
The sound echoed through the harbor like thunder.
Jake’s expression changed completely behind the wheel.
Calm disappeared.
Fear disappeared.
Only instinct remained.
Victor whispered softly,
“There he is.”
Jake slammed the accelerator.
The car exploded forward.
Gunfire chased him immediately.
The vehicle drifted sideways around containers at impossible speed.
Ramirez’s men panicked instantly.
Nobody drove like that anymore.
Nobody except one man.
Jake blasted through the harbor like a missile.
Bullets shattered windows behind him.
The engine screamed violently.
Cole watched in disbelief.
“That man is insane.”
Victor smirked proudly.
“You have no idea.”
Jake drifted around incoming trucks.
Barely inches apart.
Enemies crashed into each other trying to follow.
Explosions lit the harbor orange.
The chase stormed directly into tunnel systems beneath the city.
Dark.
Wet.
Dangerous.
Perfect racing terrain.
Jake knew instantly—
Ramirez remembered too.
The radio inside the muscle car crackled suddenly.
Ramirez’s voice echoed through static.
“You should’ve stayed buried, Jake.”
Jake gripped the wheel tighter.
