Chapter 263 - 263: 263 | Welcome To Orlando

<🎧 Song Recommendation: 'Bout It by JMSN>

...

Inside the front lounge, Miller was waiting by the kitchenette table with a folder of signed transport manifests.

"Trailers are hooked up, Mr. Varley," Miller said with a smile. "Air lines are holding pressure, and all fourteen rigs are logged into our dispatch system."

"Appreciate it, Miller," Von said, leaning against the counter. "You guys got here ridiculously fast."

"We caught a lucky break," Miller chuckled. "We had twenty empty sleeper cabs returning from an overnight run near the turnpike corridor. When your priority dispatch hit the board, dispatch had them pull a quick U-turn at the next exit and head straight to your mile marker. Good timing."

"It saved our entire Orlando show," Von said. "Make sure every driver on your crew gets an extra priority bonus billed directly to my account."

"Will do, Mr. Varley. We'll lead the convoy straight into the arena." Miller gave a polite nod, stepped off the bus, and jogged toward the lead rig.

Von exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair as the tension finally left his shoulders.

"Von?"

A soft, groggy voice came from the hallway.

Von turned.

Emily had stepped through the pocket door, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Her hair was messy from sleep, and she was wearing an oversized black hoodie that swallowed her frame.

She looked out the front windshield, seeing the line of Vanguard trucks pulling onto the highway lanes.

"What's going on?" she asked, her brow furrowing. "Why are there Vanguard trucks outside? Did something happen to our engines?"

Von walked over, a faint smile on his lips. He reached out and gently smoothed down a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"Nothing broke down," Von said softly. "Just a minor bump on the turnpike. It's handled."

Emily blinked, her eyes dropping to the carbon-copy citation sitting on the galley table. Her manager instincts snapped on instantly. She snatched the paper, her eyes darting across the lines before her face drained of color.

"An Out-of-Service hold?!" Emily gasped, her voice rising. "Seventy-two hours?! Von, that would have forced us to cancel Orlando! Why on earth didn't you wake me up?!"

"Because you were exhausted," Von said gently, taking both of her hands in his to calm her down. "And because I told you backstage in Miami that you don't have to carry every single disaster by yourself."

Von quickly gave her a quick breakdown of everything that happened.

​Listening to him, the panic on Emily's face faded as she realized she was stressing over a problem that had already been resolved.

The sharp tension in her posture melted away, replaced by a quiet wave of relief and awe.

"...You used Vanguard to swap the tractors," she whispered, connecting the dots. "You bypassed the driver hold entirely."

"Yeah," Von smiled. "Turned out pretty clean."

Emily leaned her forehead lightly against his chest for a brief, quiet second, letting out a long breath. Von rested a hand on the back of her head, letting her relax.

When she stepped back, her expression had turned focused.

"This wasn't a normal safety check," Emily said while crossing her arms in thought. "Holding fourteen production trucks over a system ping? Someone paid whoever did this to sabotage our opening week."

"I know," Von agreed.

"Did you get their names? Or can you remember how they looked?"

Von smirked, pulling out his phone and tapping the screen to display the high-resolution photo of the two inspectors cowering against the cruiser.

"Better," Von said. "I got photos."

Emily stared at the screen, a dangerous smile spreading across her lips.

"Perfect," she said. "I'll call Zack this morning. We'll file civil rights violations, regulatory abuse, and extortion complaints directly with the state commissioner. I'll make sure they're locked in a cell by tomorrow."

"Don't just lock them up," Von added with narrowed eyes. "Squeeze them. State inspectors don't ambush an arena tour on their own. Someone wrote a check. Use the charges to make them talk."

"Consider it done," Emily agreed with her hands on her chin.

"They harassed you on an open highway. That's more than enough reason to keep them in an interrogation room until they give up whoever funded it."

Von laughed softly at her intensity. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"You're already on it for leaving me asleep," she shot back playfully while nudging his shoulder toward the back hall. "Now go back to bed. You've been awake since four dealing with highway cops. Go sleep, just like you made me."

Von held up his hands and laughed. "Yes, boss."

As he stepped into the corridor, the other bunks were beginning to stir. Max was groaning about his back, and Conor was muttering half-asleep from his berth.

Von climbed back into his top bunk and pulled the dark curtain shut.

The moment his head hit the pillow, Loki crawled out from beneath the blanket, stepped onto his chest, and curled into a warm ball once again.

Beneath the floor, the fresh Vanguard diesel engine settled into a smooth, steady hum. The coach accelerated onto the open turnpike, gliding north toward Orlando.

Von closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

***

A gradual deceleration pulled Von back awake.

It simply rolled down a wide concrete slope, the engine echoing against enclosed walls before coming to a smooth, final halt.

Von opened his eyes.

Bright dock lights peeked through the gap in his curtain. Loki was still asleep on him.

Von gently took her off and slipped out of the berth, pulled on his sneakers, and walked up to the front galley.

Through the massive front windshield, the highway was gone.

The coach was parked inside a vast, air-conditioned underground loading bay. Steel trusses and equipment cases were neatly stacked along the walls, and a large sign hung from the concrete ceiling:

[AMWAY CENTER — DOWNTOWN ORLANDO]

Sitting in the passenger jump seat with a steaming paper cup of coffee was David.

Hearing footsteps, David turned around with a wide, relieved grin.

"Morning, boss," David said, raising his cup. "Welcome to Orlando!"