As soon as they paid the bill, Joost made sure that Elke's hand was tightly in his. The four rose from the table after a tense meal. Arabella had relaxed since Elke's attempt to sway her in the bathroom and saved the night from being a silent ordeal. Her general chatter with Aggu some times drew in Elke or Joost's forced input, but when the time came to stand from their seats, Arabella was just as relieved that the night was over as the unusually quiet couple.

Joost made sure to keep his pace towards the door. Aggu and Arabella took the lead, the girl hanging off his arm with a bright smile. The blonde took the moment to look down at Elke, who clutched his hand in-between both of hers.

'I have a plan,' he whispered and Elke looked up in surprise.

'You do? What is it?'

'You're going to have to trust me. I've had to agree to his terms.'

Elke's eyebrows drew together and she caught Joost's hard look. Whatever he had agreed to couldn't be good, but like every other time, Elke would blindly follow him into anything.

'Text Alanis,' Joost continued as they stepped outside, making sure Aggu and Arabella were still at a distance. 'Tell her to track your phone.'

Just before Elke could plea for an explanation, Arabella's voice made her and Joost pause. She clenched the fingers that were threaded with hers as Aggu stood with her best friend. His arm was around her shoulders, his smile lopsided and his eyes narrowed at Joost and Elke.

'Well, it was nice to see you guys. Get home safe-'

'Actually liebe, they're going to come to the meet with us,' Aggu interrupted and Arabella looked up to him.

'Oh. You didn't tell me that...'

'Joost and I talked when you guys went to the bathroom. I thought he could help with some of the translations since he knows about cars. You know how bad my Dutch can be some times.'

Arabella hated car meets, Elke thought to herself. It was just another thing that Arabella was ignoring because of her infatuation with Aggu. She felt pathetic, angling herself so that she was partially behind his shoulder. While Arabella sent confused looks to her boyfriend, Elke glanced up at Joost while chewing on her lip.

Whatever Joost and Aggu had agreed to during dinner, Elke had a feeling that cars weren't the main event.

Joost took the lead after Arabella and Aggu. The black Lancer was parked in the street and he made sure to keep a distance as Aggu held the back door open. Arabella slid in behind the passenger's seat, which Elke was thankful for. Even though she would have sit behind Aggu, who would be in the driver's seat, Joost would only be adjacent to her.

But before Joost could step off the curb, Aggu called,

'Joost.'

They stopped and the blonde tore his hard gaze away from the road below.

'You're driving,' the ring of the keys whistled as they were thrown through the air. They were silenced by Joost's catch and Aggu walked around the bonnet to head for the passenger's seat.

The metal keys cut into Joost's hand at his strong clench. He didn't want to spend the drive concentrating on the road while Aggu was free to do as he pleased next to him. But when he thought about it, Joost found some solitude in knowing he could look in the rearview when needed. With Elke behind him, Joost could feel safer with himself and her on one side of the car.

Elke had to pry her fingers from Joost's as she lowered into the backseat. It wasn't from his grip, but from her unwillingness to let go. She pulled the door shut after her and watched Joost do the same in front of her. The ends of his blonde hair peaked out from around the headrest and Elke hoped that he could feel her burning stare.

Joost put the keys in the ignition and pulled out of the parking space. He sat back with his hands on the wheel, the directions from Aggu helpful and casual. Arabella sat with her arms crossed and looked out the window. Other cars passed and Amsterdam's streets bustled with nightlife. She was completely unaware to her friend next to her, who had pulled out her phone and had rushed to find Alanis' contact.

Track my phone,  she texted. We're in trouble.

Pressing 'send', Elke eyed the German in the passenger's seat as she lowered her screen. He was yet to twist around to see her or to talk to Arabella. The windscreen was Aggu's only subject, the directions he gave Joost being momentary distractions. Elke tried to keep her head looking straight while lowering her eyes to her phone screen.

The single vibration made Elke's heart leap and she saw the notification sit over the picture of a smiling Joost. Her thumb went to tap it, when a voice came from her left and she was forced to look away.

'Mum asked about you the other day,' Arabella said. Elke met her gaze and swallowed, remembering that it was just another night out for the black-haired woman.

'O-Oh, yeah?'

'She said she wanted to have you and your mum around for dinner soon. It's been so long since we've all seen each other.'

'I'll call Mum tomorrow and see when she's free...'

Arabella nodded and gave her a smile. She grabbed the chair in front to pull herself up to talk over Aggu's shoulder. At her words, the man inched his chin over his shoulder to listen. Elke looked away to avoid meeting his eye and caught Joost's stare in the rearview mirror. His thick frames did nothing to hide the swirls of anxiety and concern in his irises and Elke saw his dilated pupils from the passing streetlights.

The car rocked as it pulled into an empty carpark. Away from the city's streets, no one occupied the spaces or loitered around the nearby buisnesses. It allowed Joost to park over a collection of white lines and as he put the car into park, Aggu opened the glove compartment.

'Are we early?' Arabella asked aloud, unclicking her seatbelt. Confused, the woman looked around the empty carpark and didn't see her boyfriend pull out the ski mask from the glove compartment.

The driver's door opened and Elke went to throw open her own. But one look through the gap of the chair and the seatbelt made her pause. Joost silently told her to stay put, while Aggu and Arabella stepped out of the car. Elke heard her friend ask why the German was wearing the mask but didn't hear the lie he gave her. Watching Aggu take Arabella's hand, Elke stayed behind and Joost closed the last door.

Lifting her phone up to her face, Elke finally read Alanis' reply. The screen became the only thing she could see in the dark interior of the car. She would usually coo at her lockscreen, which showed Joost standing in her living room with his hands in his hoodie's pockets. A hood sat over his head and his glasses were over his nose. Mid-laughter, Joost's cheeks balled up to his eyes and their wrinkles beamed from his joy.

Everyone's on their way. Call Tantu when you have the chance.

Alanis' direct approach made it easy for Elke to rush back to her contacts' list. Scrolling alphabetically, she came to the man who was saved by his nickname. She lost the light of her screen when she put the speaker to her ear and shuffled her boots against the car mats in an unconscious figit.

As the line beeped, a resistance collided with Elke's foot as it slipped under the driver's seat. In confusion and with jerky movements, Elke looked to the space underneath.

'Are you alright, Elke? Is Joost there?' Tantu's voice filled her ear as she bent forward to grab the object by her foot.

'H-He's with Aggu. I'm in the car-'

'Why is he with Aggu? What's going on?'

Elke couldn't bring herself to explain what she barely knew herself. Her lungs closed as the silver weapon in her hand was heavy to lift from the floor.

Its resting place had been strategic. She didn't even notice Joost place it under his seat as he looked at her through gap between the door and the driver's seat.

It was the first time she was seeing the metal up close. When it was in Joost's hand, aimed away at whoever dared to lay a hand on her, it looked menacing and purposeful. But in Elke's, the gun almost didn't look real.

Joost had left it under the seat for a reason and had instructed her to stay in the car with something in mind. But instead of working out what that was, Elke was dwelling on the fact that Joost was standing out in the carpark with no weapons on him.

'Elke? Are you there?' Tantu asked in a rush.

'Y-Yeah, I'm here...'

---

Two cars pulled up in front of the three that stood waiting. Their headlights were shut off, their doors were thrown open and men filtered out one by one. All wearing puffer jackets, jumpers, sagging jeans and baseball caps, the group of at least eight young men stalked across the empty spaces.

While Aggu held a confused and uneasy Arabella by his side, Joost hung back near the Lancer's bonnet. Just from the look of the men that crowded together, his expectations had been met and superseded. He had met men like them before and they weren't the crowd Joost wanted to be within 100 metres of.

'August?' he heard Arabella ask the man's whose hand had fallen from hers. She had shrunk behind Aggu and looked between him and the men no more than four metres away.

'Do me a favour, liebe,' Aggu turned his head to the side but didn't give her the privledge of having his full attention. 'Grab the bag that's in the boot.'

Joost didn't move as Arabella shakily did as she was told. In her evening dress, the woman met Joost's eye, who tried his best to communicate some sort of comfort. He couldn't follow her for long and looked back to where Aggu stood. The sound of the car's boot opening and closing was heard before Arabella reappeared, this time, on the same side as Joost.

The wretched orange backpack sat in Arabella's arms and Joost was convinced it was the thing he hated the most in the world. It had travelled throughout the country, probably more places Joost had ever visited. He glared at it as Arabella shuffled past him intentionally slow.

'Come here, Bella,' Aggu gestured with his hand. Her place beside Joost wasn't enough for him and Joost almost reached out to stop her from continuing past.

Trying to shrink behind him, Arabella was forced to be against Aggu's side as his arm came around her shoulders. Joost watched him mumble something into her ear before Aggu stepped away from her, leaving Arabella at the forefront, completely exposed.

When she didn't move, Joost was about to step forward and take the backpack for her. But Aggu reached behind to his waistband and revealed his gun, making Joost curse to himself. The German aimed the pistol at Arabella's back and it only took one glance over her shoulder for her to let out a whimper.

'Go on, liebe,' Aggu motioned with the barrell. 'Walk.'