On any other day, Victor would’ve had his window down and let the air of the road blow back his hair as he enjoyed the partly cloudy sky. Today, he was doing one better. He was standing on the roof of a bright red tractor trailer, holding onto the exhaust pipe so the wind wouldn’t blow him off the top. He also couldn’t see the sky, because his head was buried in the cloud of smog that was blown out of the exhaust pipe. While most people would try and hold their breath to avoid breathing in the smog, Victor inhaled it like a prisoner enjoying his last cigarette. It was the only way he’d be able to control it enough to aid him in stopping the van that was speeding down the highway in front of them. They were both going fast enough that the clusters of trees with their mid-autumn foliage became a large red and brown streak. After inhaling what he thought was enough smoke, Victor pulled himself forward and faced the front of the truck.  

“You ready yet?” The voice of his daughter, who drove the truck, managed to pierce the sound of the wind.

Victor raised and opened his free hand and the exhaust smoke drifted towards it in defiance of the wind. It began to swirl in itself into a black smog ball in his hand. 

“Get closer.” Victor yelled back. 

The engine revved and the truck started inching closer to the van. They got close enough where Victor could almost read the faded bumper sticker on the back window. When the smog ball felt dense enough, he threw it as hard as he could. It was a good throw, but his aim was off. The ball hit the road in front of the van and dissipated as the van drove through it. 

“Can’t we just ram him off the road?” His daughter called. It was a rhetorical question and Piper knew that they couldn’t do that. If the cargo was ruined, they wouldn’t get their pay day. 

Victor quickly gathered more smoke and threw another ball. His aim was even worse this time. Had there been any cars on the other side of the road he would’ve taken them out instead. Luckily, they were driving on one of those backwoods roads that was technically a highway, and it was Sunday in the early afternoon, so there was nobody else on the road. .

He gathered more smoke. His goal was to make the van slow down just enough. They had been chasing the van for a little over a mile at this point and all it had done was try out drive the truck the entire time. Piper hit a bump which shook the truck and made Victor lose his concentration and progress. Gripping the exhaust pipe tighter, he quickly gathered the smoke into a ball about the size of a dodgeball. The ball missed only by a hair, but the shockwave of the impact managed to push the van over the median line. The driver managed to keep the van in control, but it was a better result than the first couple throws.

“This is taking too long.” Piper hit the engine hard and the truck lurched forward. The engine roared in pain as she did. It didn’t take long before she was tailgating the van. From Victor’s vantage point, it looked like the truck was going to eat the van. 

“Jump!” Piper yelled. 

“What?” Victor yelled back. 

“Jump on the van!” 

Victor shrugged. It was the most direct way. He crouched down and inched towards the front of the truck. If he landed just right, he could grab onto the sides of the roof of the van and maneuver himself through the back door and then force the driver to stop. He was about to jump down when the van turned sharply into the median. Smoke came off the tires as the van pulled a 180 and sped off in the opposite direction. 

Victor jumped back and hugged the exhaust pipe as the truck lurched. In a maneuver straight out of an action movie chase scene, Piper threw the truck into a wide turn which would’ve thrown Victor off the top if he hadn’t been gripping the pipe. His entire lower half became airborne.

Piper finished her turn and Victor’s feet found metal again. The van had gained some distance, and while they could still catch up, they couldn’t afford to waste more time. Eventually the road was going to end. 

“Speed up.” Victor said. 

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As the truck gained speed, he took both hands off the pipe and crouched low. Victor guided the exhaust out of the pipe and began to condense it at the edge of the roof. As more smog condensed and swirled in on itself, he felt the pressure of it pushing back. It was like trying to keep a ball underwater without it flying back up. 

He looked down at the van. By his estimation, it was a couple hundred feet away. It was going to be a close shot. Using the pressure of the exhaust to keep balance, Victor stood up and backed to the other edge of the truck. Keeping his arms in front, he ran towards the ball of smog and jumped. As his feet touched the top of it, he let it release and it launched him in the air like an arc. 

The first part of the jump was nice. It was like swinging in the air with the wind blowing past Victor’s ears. The falling part felt like a roller coaster going down the first hill. He felt the sinking feeling in his stomach and the road started coming up to meet him. There was a moment of panic when he thought he would miss the van.

Victor landed flat on his stomach, like he had done a bellyflop in a pool. All the air was knocked out of him. Victor managed to fight through the pain enough to grab onto the sides of the roof to avoid falling into the road. 

The next step was to get inside the van through the back doors. Victor carefully turned himself around by holding onto the sides of the roof and spinning in the dent. The tractor trailer came into view and looked like a predator on the hunt. The headlights and grill gave the dark red truck an angry face. Looking down, he saw a handle on the back door and reached for it. He was about a foot off and if he tried to move anymore, he would fall off. The only way Victor would be able to open the door is if he stood on the tailgate, but that was impossible without something to grip onto. Luckily, the back doors had widows. 

Victor turned around again and pushed himself backwards a little bit. He lightly kicked at the van until he heard the thud of his boot on glass. He kicked hard and the glass cracked. It took about three more kicks until he heard the sound of breaking glass and his foot went farther in and his shin knocked against the top of the hole. 

The van swerved back and forth trying to fling Victor off. The dent in the roof proved to be useful again as it allowed his center of gravity to stay in place while he hung on. Once the van stopped swerving, Victor waited a few seconds before moving.

The next part was the most difficult. Victor inched his way backwards while keeping the best grip he could on the van. At first it was just his feet dangling, and then it became his legs and the lower half of his body. The wind enthusiastically helped by threatening to push him backwards and over the edge. When his body was half way over the back of the roof, he slipped and his heart lurched as he almost fell to the ground. Luckily, his feet found the tailgate first which allowed him to grab onto the edge of the window. As he did, bits of glass dug into his skin. He winced at the minor burning pain. Victor grabbed the handle of the door and pulled. The wind did the rest and yanked it open and out of his hand. Avoiding being hit by the door, Victor climbed inside.

The inside of the van was empty, with only the space of a metal floor between him and the front seats. Victor closed the back door with a bang and the driver turned his head. He was about to say something when Victor crouch ran towards the man and put him in a light chokehold. If the driver did anything stupid, he would be able to tighten the grip and make him stop.

“Pull over.” Victor said. He saw the cage with a towel on it in the passenger seat. 

“But I…”

“Either you pull over, or we both go tumbling off the road. I can only guarantee that you’ll make it out of one of those scenarios alive.” 

The man thought for a moment and then slammed his fist on the steering wheel. “Fine.”

It took a minute for the van to slow down on the side of the road. Piper slowed down behind them. The brakes squeaked and were followed by the pfft of the airbrake. Victor kept hold locked in until the van came to a full stop. 

“Now take out the keys and give them to me.” As the man did, Victor threw the dowel onto the dashboard and climbed out of the van. 

Piper was already on the ground and heading towards them, her blonde ponytail bounced as she did. “About time. We barely have enough gas to get back.” She walked past Victor and went over to the driver’s side of the van. She opened the door. “Get out.”

The man stumbled out of the van. He was shorter than Piper who was average height at best. While the sun illuminated Piper’s hair, it shined off this man’s bald head. 

“Are you going to arrest me?” The man asked. 

“Do we look like cops?” Piper said. “We want the cage.”

“Take it. This job ain’t worth the money. Almost getting killed over some stupid animal.” 

Piper walked around the van and came back with the cage. She removed the towel to reveal a large, unnaturally teal-colored lizard. It lounged on a branch in the cage like nothing had happened. 

“It’s alive. Duncan owes us big for this.”

Victor threw the keys back to the man who tried to catch them but tripped and hit his head on the van. “Maybe he’ll give us tickets to his new zoo exhibit.”

Piper handed the cage to Victor. “I hate animals.”