The sound of car engines echoed around the warehouse In a very specific order, about 15 various cars sorted in neat rows and columns turned on their headlights and one by one drove forward through a newly-opened garage door. They dispersed to specific places around Manhattan.

“Hey Vicki, do you wanna go to dinner with me and the guys tomorrow?” A young man laying perpendicularly on a queen bed reading something his phone above his head said to his fiance who was on her laptop across the room. “Uh… maybe.” Vicki said back.

“What do you mean maybe? We don’t have anything to do for like a week-” The man was cut off by his implant: “An emergency SOS has been set off and you are needed for assistance, a car will be outside in five minutes.” A non-automated voice said.

Vicki somewhat-violently shut her laptop, “You fucking jinxed us.” She said, hustling to get ready. The man left his phone on the bedside table and quickly put on his socks and shoes. The two walked out of their apartment, down one set of stairs, and out on the lamp-lit street. “Do you wanna come with us?” The man asked Vicki. “Sure, where are you going?” She asked out of curiosity. “Hatsuhana. On 48th and Madison” He replied.

The man was cut off again by a dark-blue Chevy Tahoe rounded the corner and stopped in the street right in front of the couple. They got in the driver and passenger seats of the car which promptly locked its doors and drove off.

Yeah sure, since I’m so available I guess I’ll go." Vicki said from the driver’s seat. “What time?”

“One… Why are you-”

“Did you guys just schedule this like fifteen minutes ago?”

“A week ago.”

“Then why did you just now tell me?”

“I don’t know, I just kid-

“If you guys are ready!..” The voice of the same woman that sent the message to the couples’ implants boomed through the car.

“How much of that did you hear?” The man asked.

“All of it, or at least the part in the car. Sorry, I’m just tired. My shift would’ve ended like three minutes ago but someone just had to go get themselves kidnapped…”

There was a moment of silence.

“So someone’s kidnapped?” Vicki asked trying to get back on track. “Yeah,” The woman said back, “and they seem to be headed east, probably into Queens and the Bronx. Other teams have been deployed, your job is to be backup and to trail them just in case you’re needed.”

“Description of vehicle?” The man asked.

“A black Chevy SUV, similar to yours, their estimated location is marked on the map that should be on your screen now.” A night-themed map took up the entire giant display that was the entire dashboard. They are currently heading South on second and are probably taking the Koch bridge.

The car trudged on. The couple sat in silence as the car took them over the East River, down an impatiently long stretch of highways, and then down some grid streets.

In a car next to the couple, two men and a woman were riding in a Honda Civic. “Are you sure that the car is going the right way?” the man in the passenger seat asked the completely different woman’s voice.

“Yeah, it’s trying to funnel the car to a certain place. Trust it.”

“Okay.” The man agreed,

A few blocks later, the car turned right down a small street, then ran a light to turn left, then got stopped at a a red light. More cars piled up behind them. “Okay, go on the beep.” the woman said. Two seconds a medium-duration beep sounded throughout the car, and all three got out.

The whole thing was chaos for the next ten seconds, but everything somehow sorted itself out.

“Hi, mom” Josh said. His mother came up and hugged him, “I was so worried. I’m so glad you’re okay.” she said, still holding him.