Chapter 9: Midnight Run
523 Words
*Midnight Run*
The city clock hit *00:00*.
Jayden crouched behind the broken billboard across from Mary’s building, the stolen bike humming low beside him. His jacket was zipped, gloves on, helmet in hand. The drive was gone — hidden far from this place — but *the risk still pulsed through his chest like a second heartbeat*.
He watched her window. Third floor. Lights off.
A flicker — then movement. The curtain shifted.
Two minutes later, *Mary slipped out the back exit*, a slim backpack on her shoulders and a hoodie pulled tight over her braids. She moved quickly, checking corners the way he’d taught her when they were kids playing tag in the alleys. But this wasn’t a game.
She reached him, breathless. “Jay… what the hell is going on?”
“I’ll explain on the move. You trust me, right?”
Mary looked him dead in the eye. “Always.”
He handed her the helmet. She climbed on the bike behind him, arms wrapping around his waist.
“Where are we going?”
“To disappear,” he said.
Then they were off.
***
They weaved through the South Loop, taking only side roads. Jayden avoided all drones, all lights. He’d memorized the gaps in the surveillance net. *The whole route had to be perfect.*Halfway through the Industrial Zone, *Mary tapped his shoulder twice* — their signal.
“Car behind us,” she shouted over the engine.
Jayden checked his mirror.
Black sedan. No lights. No plates.
*Maestro’s men.*
He floored the throttle.
The old bike screamed, rattled, and surged forward. Jayden took a sharp turn into a drainage path under the bridge. Tires skidded. Sparks flew. The sedan followed — fast, heavy, gaining on them.
“Hold tight!” he yelled.
They burst into the tunnel — cold, narrow, echoing with the roar of engines and water slapping against stone. The sedan couldn’t keep up in the tight curves, but its bumper kept scraping closer.
Mary yelled, “End of the tunnel’s blocked!”
Jayden didn’t slow down. He reached into his jacket and tossed a *flare grenade* behind them — homemade, small, dirty.
The flash lit up the tunnel like fire.
The sedan veered to avoid it — *just enough for Jayden to slip through a side crack* in the tunnel exit, a gap barely wider than the bike.
They popped out into an abandoned loading bay.
Jayden didn’t stop. He knew they were still being tracked.
“Where now?” Mary shouted.
“West Line. Safe zone. If we make it past that freight yard, we’re ghosts.”They crossed the train tracks just as a cargo hauler screeched past, cutting off their pursuers. Jayden slid the bike under a barrier, tires burning, and shot through the final gate into the *dead zone* — the area where no city signal reached.
Silence.
Darkness.
Only the hum of the bike and their heavy breathing.
They made it.
Jayden pulled off his helmet and looked at her. “You okay?”
Mary exhaled, smiling shakily. “That was insane.”
He nodded. “That was only the warm-up.”
- Writer
