His eyes flitted back and forth between the road in front of him and the face being reflected in the rearview mirror, a face for which he felt hatred.

He didn’t know the name of the person appearing in his mirror, didn’t know anything about him and in fact, this was the first time he had ever laid eyes on him.

Despite that, he felt extreme hatred towards him. Every cell in his body was polarised right now with just one overpowering emotion towards this person - hate.

A quick look at the speedometer showed that the car he was driving was travelling at 100 kilometres per hour.

He smiled. “Perfect”, he thought. Just fast enough to keep traffic moving but slow enough to get on the nerves of the driver behind him and that was exactly the reaction he wanted to induce in him.

He lifted his foot slightly off the throttle and the car slowed down by a few kilometers per hour. There it was, the first reaction he was waiting for - the flashing of the headlights…”Get out of my way! Now!”.

A quick glance at the mirror again. He could see the face of the driver clearly but could not see the grille of the car, that’s how close it was tailgating him. The tailgating driver didn’t look particularly bothered yet, just waiting for the car in front that was holding him up from the next meaningless destination of his miserable life to swiftly move out of his way.

Except that the car in front had no intention of moving anywhere ... yet.

He spoke a few words and heard a response through the car’s speakers.

“Dialling…”. The call was answered after just one ring.

He spoke again, “I have a fish on the line. Blue hatchback.”

“We'll join you just before the next junction and do the manoeuvre there”.

The call terminated with nothing further said. 

His palms began to feel sweaty and he could feel his heart beat faster. He realised he was squeezing maybe a little too tightly and adjusted his grip. He tried to slow down his breathing…in-2-3-4, out-2-3-4.

He reached for the volume knob of the car stereo and turned it all the way down. The situation needed a clear head and now was not the time for distractions, no matter how small. This wasn’t his first time but he still felt nervous and these "missions" as he thought of them didn’t get any easier.

He glanced quickly down at the dashboard and stole a look at the small photograph that had been taped there, the photo of a beautiful young woman. She had a broad, bright smile and her face looked as if it was glowing. He saw his own face in the photo and felt a knot in his stomach, realizing that only place he could ever see that face, that smile, those eyes was in a photo like this.

The twenty three years she had been on this planet scrolled through his mind in an instant, from the moment he first held her, just minutes after she was born, to the time he saw her face for the last time in the morgue, peacefully and permanently asleep. 

His seconds-long stupor felt like hours and he forced himself to snap of out it and centered himself back on the mission. He pressed on the petrol pedal and the car picked up speed. The car behind followed, exactly as expected. The cars moved forward together like a small train joined by an invisible coupling.

“Yes, you fool. Stick to my bumper”, he thought to himself.

Another car had now drawn up in the middle lane next to the two cars. Further back, he could see another car pull up being the blue tailgater. All three cars needed to achieve the goal were now in place and the tailgater seemed completely oblivious to being boxed in by the three cars around him.

The trap had been sprung. It was too easy with these reckless types. He was just one person and there were thousands more like him. They were always so focussed on pushing their way through that they didn’t actually pause to think about why they are in such a hurry in the first place.

Such recklessness came at a price and he was determined that no one should ever again have to pay the astronomical price like he had.

Time to rock and roll.