Race against time

1 Tasha

I take a long look in my mirror as I do every day. Trying to keep it together.
Trying to wrap my head around something I have no answers to and, given my parents line of work, my twin sister, Taylor, and I will never know what happened and why.

Taylor and I came home from school and we found our father slumped on the kitchen floor, a bullet between his eyes.

Mom was on a reconnaissance mission to obtain Intel in Afghanistan on a group of child traffickers smuggling children to the Pakistan border.

They were both NoC (non associated cover) agents in the CIA.
The CIA lost communication two months ago with Mom.
They sent other assets to try pick up any kind of trail to find out what may have happened to her and came up empty.
Presumed dead, that was they told us.

A lawyer called less than a week after and explained between Mom's supposed death, killed OCONUS (outside the continental United States) and the money she put away, not counting her and Dad's insurance policy, they left us with their home plus just over a million dollars to be shared between us.

We graduated a month later and that's when I opened up my shop and Taylor is still convinced mom is still alive and so she's been obsessed with honing her training.
___________________________

"Marco, can you pass me a 3/8 socket?"
My head burried under the hood of my 2022 Shelby GT 500.

" Here you go, kid." Marco takes a wrench from me and I snap it on the torque wrench.

"Thanks old man." I roll my eyes and Marco laughs.

Marco is a neighbor and friend of the family since I can remember. He's a retired Army first sergeant. I brought him on to when I opened my garage.

"She's ready to put on the dyno. Let's see what she's got."
I said while wiping my hands on a grease rag and start her up. It sounds like hoof beats and I close my eyes and smile.

"You brought it up to 790 horsepower, 655 foot pounds of torque. Marco reading the screen. " I'll admit it, I didn't think you'd be able to pull it off"

"Not bad for a "kid", huh? I grin down at him from with driver's window.

"Not bad at all," Marco leans back against a bench and folds his arms.
"Your Dad taught you right."

Yes,yes he did, I thought to myself.

"Yeah, too bad he's not here to see this monster." I mumbled.

Marco walks over and puts his hand on my shoulder. " Just because he's gone, doesn't mean he's far away. He's watching down on you."

I smiled up at him and patted his hand.

I parked in the last bay to make room for the customers and opened the first bay, waving in a Lexus.

" It's gonna be another long day, call Zaylan and see where he's at." I sigh.

The dude will be late to his own funeral but I love him like a brother.
Zaylan has been friends with Taylor and I since he and his mom moved up the street in 6th grade. His dad passed of pancreatic cancer that summer.
Dad took him under his wing and he went from matchbox to a third gen Camaro in record time.

Marco looks to the lot. "Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear."

I smacked my hands.
"Alrighty, let's get this shit show rolling."

Finally 5:00 rolls around and everyone's exhausted.

" That's the fourth time this month Mr. Thomas brought that piece of shit Sable in. It'd be cheaper just to buy a newer car." Shaking my head.

Zaylan laughs. "Better you than me, girl."

I tilt my head, smirk, and gave him the one finger salute.

" Alright let's call it. I gotta go check up on Taylor."

" She still perfecting her skills like she's not already lethal." Marco replies.

I shake my head. "I keep up my training and spar with her here and there but she's down right obsessive since mom went off the grid. It's almost like she's preparing. For what, I don't know."

I do one last walk through to make sure the building is secure before setting the alarm and head home.

A/ N: I rewrote some of the story.
Let me know what you think in the comments. It should explain things better. Thank you for reading. It means a lot. -Mia