The Rider (Complete)

Chapter Thirty-Six

It was late at night when Kade decided to leave his mother's place. He remained positive and optimistic with her to not cause her any more worry, but there was something he wasn't telling her. His health was declining and he wasn't sure why. His body was breaking down. He was experiencing fatigue, lightheadness, slower reaction time, and spouts of vertigo. He figured it was the trace amounts of ghost still lingering in his body or he was concussed. He planned to see a doctor soon, but had some other things he needed to sort out first.

Through the visor of his helmet, Kade analyzed the neon holographic data that glowed in the display. The temperature was dropping, which gave him all the more reason to get home as soon as possible. As it was close to midnight, there were few vehicles on the road, most of which were automated and moved in very predictable patterns. This made speeding around them fun.

Riding through the city back to Cali's apartment, he pulled up to a stoplight and cranked up his oxygen in-take. The sudden rush of oxygen flooded his bloodstream and gave him the acuity and awareness he needed to get home safely.

To his left, a vehicle pulled up next to him. He looked over at the tinted windows and saw his reflection. Then the window rolled down and a gun barrel protruded.

"Pull over," the unidentified man demanded.

Without giving it a second thought, Kade immediately accelerated through the intersection, nearly being stuck by opposing traffic. His heartrate elevated and his adrenaline kicked in. The vehicle gave chase, but was quickly left in the dust as Kade took off like a bolt of lighting, swerving in and out of traffic. He was one of the world's top riders and while his reaction time was diminished, he was still able to outrun just about anyone.

As he made several evasive turns, he considered lying low, but knew that wasn't a good long-term strategy. He wasn't feeling well and wanted to get back to Cali as quickly as possible.

Streaks of light whizzed by as he maintained his speed, creating even more distance between him and his pursuer. As he focused on the road ahead, two other bikes emerged from adjacent streets and began to follow him. Unsure who they were, Kade kept a watchful eye on them through the rear display projected in his helmet visor.

The two other riders closed the gap and were now right on his tail. Being careful to watch both the road and the two riders, Kade had to process a lot of data at once. His vision would go through bouts of blurriness and lights became too bright causing him to see spots. He did his best to adjust.

The other riders pulled out their guns and started firing at him. The shots whizzed by his head and nearly took him out. He ducked and fired off a rapid burst of three shots of his own. The last bullet found its mark, hitting the front tire of one of the riders, causing him to flip end over end.

Kade kept moving. The second rider was still in pursuit, following him like a shadow through the city streets, which were illuminated by a neon glow from the city centre. Kade swung his arm behind him and watched carefully in the rear video, attempting to aim. The rider kept swerving and Kade was too afraid a stray bullet would hit an innocent bystander. That's when he remembered his drone. He had received a new one from Mr. Chu.

With a simple command, the drone blasted out of the back of his bike and rocketed toward the sky. Guided by Kade's voice, the drone came back down with the same velocity and slammed into the chest of the pursuing rider. The rider fell backward off his bike, slamming on the pavement and rolling to a stop.

Kade watched the whole thing in the rear video display. With traffic moving around them, he reduced his speed and circled back around. He pulled up next to the downed rider who was writhing on the ground clutching his chest. Kade dismounted his bike and approached with caution, still brandishing his weapon. In the distance, he could hear sirens closing in on them.

"Who sent you?" Kade demanded.

His arm stretched out and he took aim at the rider's head.

"Saigon," the man uttered.

"Why?"

"Bounty," the man said, coughing up blood. "There's a bounty on your head. Nearly everyone in the city is looking for you."

"How much is the bounty?"

"250,000 units," the man said. "100,000 if you're dead."

Kade quickly mounted his bike and took off. With this news, he had received the confirmation in which he feared — this was not something that Saigon had forgotten about. A bounty that high only meant one thing — whatever was in that package was even more valuable than he had previously thought.