Zach and Yuki had been terrified that everyone they saw in the streets was a mobster looking for them, but in the end they were relieved to reach the underground parking unscathed.

A car approached them and they ducked back in the alley they were leaving, relieved to see it was just a cop car out on its nightly patrol.

They found the boulevard in front the the movie theater still surprisingly crowded, which was mostly thanks to the three bars and the only strip club for miles around.

Zach was about to take Yuki by the hand and blend into the crowd, when they heard a voice behind them.

“Hey, ladies,” it rasped.

Zach and Yuki turned in perfect sync, looking like children that had been caught stealing from the cookie jar, expecting to find a gun aimed at their heads.

Instead, they found a man wearing a bandana around his face and keeping a trench coat tightly closed.

They let go off their held breath when they recognized the flasher for what he was. The man responded by executing his hobby.

Neither Zach or Yuki had any idea how to respond to the sudden flopping genitals, though were glad the streetlights barely illuminated the alleyway.

Yuki elbowed Zach in the side to do something.

Unsure how to respond, Zach grabbed the hem of his skirt and dropped his voice a few octaves below his usual speech, “Mine’s bigger. Want to see?”

He arched a questioning brow.

The man closed his jacket, took a few steps, then almost tripped over his feet in a hurry to get away from Zach.

He nodded to Yuki, who was giggling behind her hand and he took the other, cold as always, to lead her into the streets. They did draw some looks, but with the average pedestrian out at this hour visiting bars that had a three drink minimum, very few seemed at all interested in the two girls rushing between them.

They found their way across the road and into the parking lot, where they immediately felt the need to duck behind a car when they heard an alarm, followed by rushing footsteps.

A crackle of a walkie-talkie indicated the footsteps as belonging to a security guard.

“Just the wind, Bill,” was the answer, then the same footsteps receding, the voice trailing, “How the fuck should I know how there’s wind underground? If I knew science I wouldn’t be…”

They never heard what the man wouldn’t be as the sound of a heavy door closing drowned out his words.

“Let’s go,” Zach whispered, quietly getting to his feet and taking point to the motorcycle.

They got to it without incident, which was when they heard voices coming from the ramp that led into the garage.

“Listen,” the first voice said, “The chick said they’s in the garage and you know what they says.”

“What?”

“ ‘Out of the mouths of babes’ and that gal was a total babe..”

“That’s about children, Lucio,” the other replied, “Psalms eight two.”

“Okay, Father Salvatore,” the man named Lucio continued, “An’ what does that good book say about murder?”

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to born, and a time to die…”

“Yeah, yeah. You know I was talking about ‘thou shalt not kill’.”

“I’m not killing anybody,” Salvatore laughed, “We are just sending a warning. Maybe break a leg. Maybe two. The Japs are not getting our turf.”

“Still don’t sound like mobsters to me,” Lucio shrugged, “What’s the description again?”

“Two Asian girls. Late teens, dressed like sailors.”

“See, that’s what I mean. What kind of wise guy dresses like a sailor?”

“Someone fresh off the boat or someone who took loansharking too seriously.”

“Oh, Ha fucking ha, Sal…”

“Wait,” Yuki whispered, “They’re looking for two girls…”

“So?”

Yuki pulled the neckerchief off Zach, turned him towards and used the red cloth to wipe most of his makeup off, then returned it haphazardly around his neck. After doing that, she pulled his wig off and stuffed it in his satchel.

“Get in your riding suit,” she hissed, already taking the lead and a moment they were both dressed, hiding their sailor suits under the leathers. Yuki wrapped her arms around Zach’s waist, then clung tightly to him, hiding her face in his chest.

Zach did not get time to enjoy it. The soft click of dress shoes on stone approached, then suddenly stopped.

“Oi! You two!”

Zach, unsure what to do with his hands, put his arms around Yuki’s neck and looked at the two approaching.

Even though he didn’t know which one was Lucio and which one was Salvatore, he had a pretty solid feeling the taller was the latter. A gaunt face over a black suit, all that lacked to indicate him as a member of the clergy was the white collar. For a brief moment, Zach assumed the lump in the man’s trench coat was a bible, then the reality that it was probably a gun sank in.

“Don’t worry, kids,” the shorter said. A fat, balding man with an inviting smile that seemed to belong behind the counter of an ice cream parlor, “You can keep petting in a second. We just want to ask you a question.”

Zach arched a brow, nervously looking around.

“You look like shit, son,” Lucio interrupted himself, “She wearing that much makeup?”

Zach was saved the effort of making up a lie by Salvatore sighing, “Not important. Look, kids. We’ll leave you alone right away, but have you seen two girls, Jap probably, dressed as sailors.”

“Have you tried the harbor?” Zach tried, struggling to keep his voice stable.

Lucio laughed, “Who knows what’s up with fashion in the east? If you haven’t seen any sailors, how about two girls wearing red scarves?”

“I’ve been busy with her lips,” Zach said, trying to sound as cool as he could in the situation, “Only red things that I’ve been seeing.”

The man laughed, “Fine, son. We’ll leave yous to it, unless the preacher man here has something to say.”

Lucio gave Sal an expectant look.

“Corinthians speaks of premarital sex,” he said gravely, “But for someone in my line to preach about a lesser sin like that probably would be hypocrisy. You enjoy yourself, kids…”

“Thanks, sir… We were just about to go home.”

“Remember to use a rubber,” Lucio called over his shoulder and continued his search of the parking lot.

Zach hurried to collect the helmets and pushed Yuki’s roughly in her hands.

“Itai!” she yelled, “Baka!”

“Shut up,” Zach hissed, “Get on and hold on tight.”

“Hey kid!” Lucio yelled before Zach could start the motorcycle, “Just checking, but yous ain’t with the White Bones are yous?”

Zach laughed, “No, sir. My dad would kill me!”

“Very good, son. Wouldn’t want thems on our turf either…”

“Discretion,” Salvatore snapped, “Let’s get going. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop…”

Lucio shrugged and was about to turn around when he spotted something.

“Hey kids,” he called, already starting to run towards the bike, “Just one fucking second.”

“Lucio, leave the kids al…”

Zach looked behind him and saw the red scarf dangling behind Yuki, having slipped out of the riding suit.

He didn’t wait for Lucio. Instead, he started the bike, checked the mirror to see both men reaching inside their jackets and simply kicked the gas.

Keeping his head down just in case they decided to shoot, he shot up the ramp, then turned the motorcycle into the night streets, almost bowling over a rowdy group of pedestrians who barely managed to jump aside in their drunken stupor. The street itself was save for some waiting taxis mercifully empty and Zach opened the throttle, racing out of the city as fast as he could.

Zach was glad to find that Kevin had kept the main gate to the junkyard unlocked as usual and brought his motorcycle to a stop.

“Christ,” he muttered to himself, “I feel like Sawyer…”

“Tom Sawyer?” Yuki asked, dropping her helmet to the dirt.

“My brother… He always drives like that.”

“Next question. Why are we here?”

“To drop off the bike.”

“And where are we going?”

Zach hadn’t thought that far ahead, more concerned with getting away from the mobsters than deciding where to sleep. An idea struck.

“Summers.”

“What?”

“The Summers used to be my neighbors. Their house hasn’t been sold yet. We can sleep there.

“On the floor?”

“You’re the one that didn’t want to go to a motel.”

Yuki smirked, “I never said no, Zach, but do you have any other options?”

“The old ranch isn’t far...but there might be hobos…”

“I will take my chance with homeless people,” Yuki decided, “Dirt is softer than a wooden floor at least.”

Zach shrugged, “If that’s what you want. Let’s go.”

Yuki nodded.

“Wait a minute though…”

Half a minute later Zach returned with a wrench he’d fished from a pile of debris, “Might need this…”

Yuki didn’t say anything about his choice in weapon, instead grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards the exit, “We should go!”

“Why?”

“Listen!”

In the distance, Zach heard the distinct sound of police sirens and it occurred to him that they must have triggered the silent alarm.

Zach ran after Yuki into the night.

Thirty minutes later, they stood outside the bushes, carefully considering if they should go in.