“Can’t that wait?” Hiro asked.
“No,” Vermillion said. “Today’s events are a riptide, creating dangerous waters that you can’t see unless you know what you’re looking for. Jason wants you out of those waters as quickly as possible, and I want the same for Victor. He’s become something of a friend and I believe you have the best chance of persuading him to get out of the water before he drowns.”
A black town car pulled up. It had sleek and aggressive lines, clearly a luxury car but not a model Hiro recognised.
“This is Jason’s car,” Taika said, having ridden in this variant of Shade in the past.
Hiro didn’t even recognise the manufacturer’s badge on the front, even after stepping up to examine it. It looked like a starry sky with a floating cloak containing a daylight sky. It didn’t belong to any car maker he was familiar with, and he was familiar with most, at least at the high end.
He guessed that it was from one of the boutique companies that made short production runs of wildly overpriced custom cars. The license plate was in the thin, European style, white on black. He noticed the plate number: 5H4-D0W.
“Shadow?”
“What’s that, boss?” Taika asked. “Oh, right, the plates. I noticed that too. The numbers for letters thing is a bit naff, though, right? It’s not 2004.”
Vermillion got in the back with Hiro, while Taika took the passenger seat.
“There’s no driver,” Hiro said. He had heard about Jason’s self-driving car, but it was still startling when the car pulled into traffic with no one in the driver’s seat. “Are we sure this is safe? I’ve heard these self-driving systems can go wrong when faced with unexpected situations.”
“I think you’ll find,” a voice came from the dashboard, “that this self-driving system is quite capable of handling any situation you can imagine, along with many that you cannot.”
“Boss, the car is talking,” Taika said. “It’s like Team Knight Rider.”
“Team Knight Rider?” Hiro asked.
“Yeah, boss. It’s the best one.”
“It’s really not,” Hiro said.
“The best what?” Vermillion asked.
“TV show about talking cars,” Hiro said.
“I don’t watch television,” Vermillion said.
“Bro, you’re missing out. You know, if someone told me last week I’d be talking to you about Team Knight Rider, I’d have said they were crazy. You’re all right, bro. It’s a bit weird that you think vampires are real, though.”
“They are,” Vermillion said.
“You know any vampires?” Taika asked.
“I am a vampire.”
“The sun’s out, bro. If you were a vampire, you’d catch fire or blow up or something.”
“It would be best, I think,” Vermillion said, “to wait until Jason is with us before we get into explanations.”
“This is too much,” Hiro said. “A few hours ago, there were people shooting at us from motorcycles. Now we have talking cars and people claiming to be vampires? I need time to stop and sort all of this out in my head. Time and answers, not this deluge of new questions.”
The car stopped at a traffic light and Jason slipped into the driver seat.
“I’ll do my best,” he said.
Anna managed to carve out a few minutes to call her wife.
“I’m probably not going to be home tonight,” she told her.
“I knew that was coming when I saw the news,” Susan said. “I bet the conspiracy theorists are all over it.”
Anna groaned.
“You have no idea how annoying they are when they’re right,” she said.
“Well, it doesn’t match up to your day, but I had an interesting encounter of my own.”
“Oh?”
“You know that strange painting I told you about? Someone claimed it. He was a rather odd man. Very intense. He claimed to be the subject of the painting, even though there were no people in it.”
“Oh?” Anna asked, her instincts tingling. “Tell me about him.”
The car took off again as the light turned green. Jason was in the driver’s seat but was leaving control to Shade.
“Uncle, Taika,” he greeted. “Thanks for looking out for them, Craig.”
“Craig?” Hiro asked, looking at Vermillion.
“Sorry, Vermillion,” Jason said. “I’ll keep it professional, yeah?”
“I think the mystique went out the window when we started talking about Team Knight Rider,” Vermillion said.
“Ick,” Jason said. “Why they kept trying to use Mustangs instead of a Trans-Am is beyond me. I’m certain that’s why all the follow-ups failed.”
“Could we please stop talking about Knight Rider?” Hiro asked. “There’s something somehow even less plausible we need to discuss.”
“There is,” Jason acknowledged, the amusement gone from his voice. “Shade is taking us somewhere we can have a talk, given that what I have to tell you is the kind of thing that requires proof.”
“Shade?” Hiro asked.
“The car,” Jason said. “I’m assuming you were talking about Knight Rider because he spoke to you.”
“Jason, what’s going on?” Hiro asked.
“Well, you know those things I said I didn’t want to tell you about? It’s time to tell you about them.”
“Because of the people that attacked us?” Hiro asked.
“Yes,” Vermillion said. “The public nature of the attack has kicked the hornets’ nest. Although the attack didn’t involve the EOA, they’re going to approach things differently in the current climate. When they move in on Sydney’s underworld, they’ll be less tolerant of the resistance Victor is looking to put up. I want you to help me convince him that his efforts are futile.”
“At which point Vermillion will handle Victor’s next move, and I’ll see to your safety. For now, I’ll get you out of Sydney. Today. You too, Taika, now you’re caught up in this. We can organise the details of the handover to the EOA later. For now, I’ll explain what’s going on and then we’ll go see Victor.”
Vermillion’s phone rang. He pulled it out to check the caller.
“I have to take this,” he told them. “Mrs Tilden,” he said as he turned his attention to the phone.
Anna’s voice came angrily through the phone without preamble. Jason’s bronze-rank hearing was easily able to make it out.
“Do you know where your friend Asano was while we had his uncle in custody?” she asked.
“He was laying low after what happened,” Vermillion said. “I would have thought you would appreciate that.”
“I don’t suppose you know where he was laying low.”
“I do not,” Vermillion said, his gaze moving to Jason.
“My wife’s art gallery! At the very moment you were convincing me to treat him respectfully, he was standing next to my wife.”
“Ah,” Vermillion said. “Jason, did you threaten the wife of my counterpart at the Network?”
“He’s there?” Anna asked. “Where are you?”
“Hand me the phone,” Jason said.
Vermillion gave Jason an assessing look, then passed it forward.
“Mrs Tilden,” Jason said into the phone. “This is Jason Asano.”