Behind, two unmarked cars started after them, leaving a cloud of tire smoke as they forced their way into traffic. The pursuing vehicles were bigger and less nimble than Yoshima’s bike, though, and were doing little more than racking up serious body-panel damage as they receded into the distance.

“Tell me about Fukushima!” Randi shouted as they shot up the white line between two lanes of crawling traffic. The bike’s speedometer read almost eighty as they crossed an intersection against the light, nearly taking out a group of cyclists.

“The nuclear plant?” he yelled back. “What about it?”

The regular police had joined the chase and she saw one turn into the intersection they’d just blown though. Traffic got denser and Yoshima grabbed the brakes, putting the bike into a nose wheelie that barely kept them from going broadside into an SUV. Behind, the sirens were multiplying and getting louder.

“What happened there?”

“I don’t understand what you’re asking me, Randi. A tsunami hit it and knocked out their power. I don’t think now is the time for an explanation of how nuclear reactors overheat.”

“You didn’t have anything to do with it?”

They managed to get around the SUV and were accelerating again. Distracted by her questions, Yoshima didn’t see the car door opening in front of them until it was too late. He tried to cut left, but clipped the right side of his bars and the bike went out from under them. He hit the asphalt and she was catapulted onto the much softer hood of a Ford, sliding across it and managing to land on her feet.

“Kaito!” she shouted, running between cars and lifting the dazed man to his feet. She could hear the screeching of tires behind her but there was no time to look back. People were getting out of their vehicles, calling to the police, pointing at them. From experience, she knew that the situation could devolve quickly. It would only take one bystander to decide he was John Wayne and try to grab them for this disaster to turn into complete chaos.

“Get on!” she said, lifting the still-running bike and jumping on. Yoshima wrapped his arms around her waist and she twisted the throttle, going right for an angry-looking man blocking their path. He briefly held his ground but then thought better of it when she goosed the throttle and lifted the front wheel in preparation for running straight over him.

“Kaito! Which way do we—”

She heard a single shot and a moment later the grip on her waist lost its strength. Yoshima’s mouth brushed her ear. “I’m sorry we won’t spend that night together.”