"I can't fucking believe it. We just got fire-bombed by Michigan Mike from motherfucking Munich!" are the first words Mira hears when she comes to. She feels wind on her face and the sun is a glaring, cantankerous orb in the flawless blue sky above her. Every piece of her feels burned, sore. She tries to sit up.
"Lay down honey, there's nothing to see here!" The voice again. Definitely familiar, but different at the same time. She can't see him. She's laying on the backseat, staring at the gold D's monogrammed on the seat backs. She closes her eyes for in indeterminate amount of time, and when she opens them she finally feels like she might be gaining her bearings. She makes out a lifeless body in the passenger seat, covered in blood and dirt. She gets up quickly without much trouble as she realizes who it is she's looking at.
"Mandrake!" She is shaking him. His head lulls, she tries to climb over the seat and the wind whips at her and threatens to throw her from the car. Whomever is driving is going faster than Mira can ever remember having gone in a car, and she has been in at least two high speed police chases that she can remember.
"Watch yourself honey. that's the thing about convertibles, they don't have no roofs!" She is dumbfounded when she finally recognizes the man in the driver's seat. He looks just the same, but there is something different about him that she can't figure out.
"Delray? What is going on?" The pain in her head, which she has only been partially aware of, intensifies and makes her pay attention.
"Michigan Mike is going on sweetheart. Fresh off the boat I bet," Delray says. He has a cigarette in his mouth, loud Mexican language rap blares from his speakers. Mira feels like she's going to be sick.
"Pull over, Delray!" she screams.
"We can't, have you not seen what's behind us?"
Mira looks. Two police cars, about a car length away from them. "Oh my gosh we're doomed as-" she just makes it over the edge of the car before she can no longer hold back. She tries to remember a time when she has been more miserable than this as she shields her eyes from the blowback of her own vomit as it hits the pavement. They are going so fast, however, she isn't exactly sure it has time to hit the pavement at all. "Stop the car, now!"
"Your wish is my command," Delray says as he pulls over to the berm in a spray of gravel. Mira flies out of the car as soon as they stop, but finds that she is no longer nauseous. She holds her hair away from her eyes and watches as the police cars fly by, Delray saluting them as they pass.
"Is he dead?" Mira asks, approaching the car, her mind only barely registering the fact that the police aren't chasing them after all. Five more wailing police cars pass them by.
"No, just unconscious," Delray says around his cigarette. "he looks bad but they're all flesh wounds for the most part-he hit his head, though. You did too, you have quite the knot. We need to get you both to a hospital."
"And those police that were behind us?"
"Yeah I was just yanking your chain. I won't say there are a lot of dirty cops in Vegas, but the ones there are, I know-luckily a few of them arrived on the scene. I told them I was going to take care of Mandrake, they let me go. Those cops that were behind us were on their way to another call, I'm sure-or not-who cares? All that matters is that they weren't after us. Now I'm gonna get you two taken care of, call it a show of good faith."
Back in the car Mira leans the passenger seat back and examines the mess that is Mandrake. She calls his name, slaps his face, he doesn't bat an eyelash. It is only when she presses her fingers to his neck that she is convinced he is even still alive. "You might be a cop but you're certainly no doctor. There are more than flesh wounds. Where's my cell phone?" Mira asks. Her head begins to pound more severely, and the nausea crops up again. "I need to call Mint."
"Mint already called me, he'll meet us at the hospital," Delray says. "Now close your eyes and try to relax, we'll be there soon."
Mira closes her eyes, and she envisions the explosion, remembers the way it sounded, even recalls Mandrake being flung like a rag doll over a cluster of tables and chairs. Delray looks relatively unscathed however, the untouched house in a tornado's warpath.
She awakes to the sound of a beeping heart monitor, is bewildered by the fact that she cannot recollect losing consciousness in the first place. She is in a hospital gown and the ache in her head has subsided though it still pulses faintly behind her eyes. Mint steps into her view, and she is of course, reminded again of that night he saved her life.
"You probably feel like shit, but damn you look amazing," Mint says with a smile. He touches her face and she flinches, though she is not sure why. Her eyes search the room until they find Mandrake. He is sitting up in the bed beside her. He is wearing a hospital gown as well and he looks much better than he had in the car. Mira tries to sit up, but feels nauseous again and doesn't resist when Mint pushes her back down.
"Delray?" She manages to say.
"That's her first word, asking after this Delray?" Mandrake says. He hops from the hospital bed and leans over to place a kiss on her forehead.
"Well, he did save your lives, and your freedom, no less," Mint says.
"This is true," Mandrake says with a nod.
