The Battle Lines

Mason

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Laina asked. She was sitting in the passenger seat of Rick’s Jeep—his daily driver—and had twisted around to look at me in the back seat.

We were slowing cutting through the crowd gathered for the last race before the final showdown of The Streets. This was the biggest turnout so far, and there would only be more and more people coming over the next hour and a half leading up to the start of the race.

I nodded to her. “Everything will be fine.”

“You don’t think we should have come a little later?” she asked, looking out her window at the people outside. “We won’t be able to keep it a secret that you’re here. We’re basically handing over the opportunity for Mark and Sid to concoct their master plan.”

“Master plan?” Rick chuckled. He had one hand resting lightly on the top of the steering wheel as he put the Jeep in park with the other. “You make them sound like movie villains.”

“They m