Rogue Ranger

Chapter 2 Unexpected Intentions

The cab sped through the winding roads of the city. Laura pulled out her phone and called a friend of hers.

"Addison? Yeah it's me. No, I'm free tonight. You wanna go do something? I -" she stopped as twenty car horns blared in front of her. A large truck was speeding out of control towards the cab and the driver in a panic swerved left to avoid it. Laura gasped as the truck turned towards them, her heart stopping as she knew it would crash into her. The next moment, there was a terrific crash with shards of metal and glass flying everywhere, the entire road getting blocked because of the two disfigured vehicles. Laura felt several knocks and suddenly a sharp shooting pain shot through her body. She heard the wail of sirens before her vision blurred and the next moment, everything went black. The sounds grew muffled until it all finally faded to silence.

9 hours ago...

Andrew opened his eyes after a quick nap. He was seated in the backseat of the office-provided car driven by a chauffeur. The car glided along at a comfortably smooth speed through open fields and grassy farmlands, not a house or sign of life in sight aside from a few jersey cows. The warm morning sun unhindered by city smog blazed through the glass and Andrew put on his sunglasses.

"Ah, that punk sure picked a peaceful place to hide away." He said to himself. He checked his watch. It showed five minutes past ten in the morning.

"Oswald, how long till we get there?" he asked the driver.

"About fifteen minutes sir. But I should warn you the trip back to New York will be much longer. The traffic hadn't kicked in so we were able to make it in three hours."

"That means I'll have to convince him to come back with me before the day is up." Andrew said, biting his lip. "I hope he's not as stubborn as I remember."

In a few short minutes, the car pulled up in front of a rundown old farm house. Next to the house stood a large garage with a paint peeled sign above it saying 'One-stop Repairs'. A few bikes were parked in front of it and inside the open garage was a young man sitting in the midst of a ton of machinery parts and wires. He wore dusty overalls tied at the waist, a white grease stained vest and goggles. Apart from his shabby appearance, he had dark hair and sharply attractive features distinct of Asian roots, not unlike Andrew. His body bespoke military training with its heavily toned muscles and slender waist.

"Yah, Kim Ji Hoon!" Andrew called as he got out of the car. The man raised his head to see his visitor, not having heard the car come up since he was too absorbed in his work.

"You idiot, I told you not to call me that in public." He said with a slight grin. Andrew chuckled and went and gave him a bro hug.

"It's been a while." He said in Korean.

"Not long enough to miss your ugly face." Ji Hoon replied lightly. Andrew gave him a fake pout.

"My girlfriend says I'm the most handsome guy she's ever dated." He said. Ji Hoon gave a snort of disbelief.

"Poor girl, she hasn't dated much." He said. Andrew laughed.

"Same old Ji Hoon."

"Since you're sticking to our patriotic names, what have you been up to, Tae Wook?"

"It's good to hear you call me that. Only my parents still use my Korean name."

"What do the white collars call you?" Ji Hoon asked, eyeing Andrew's stiff white and blue suit.

"Andrew, what else?"

"Uh-oh, you've switched to three worded answers. Sounds like this is getting serious." Ji Hoon said, narrowing his eyes. Andrew cleared his throat.