10 Chicago (1/2)

Before I started running for Adal I hadn't really left my little town. Through his jobs I visited the big city for the first time. I had been to a few cities around Iowa since I started, But Chicago seemed to be the biggest yet.

A layer of snow dusted the city over. The gray walls of the buildings sat capped with pure white of snow. At the edges of sidewalks, a mucky mix of dirt and snow sat from the snow plows running in the morning.

By now it was well into the afternoon. I hadn't exactly gone the speed limit on the highway which was a dumb idea with cocaine in the trunk, but I made it there without a hitch. Clouds from earlier in the day where giving way now and the dying sun was blazing the sky.

”You ever been to Chicago?”

Johnny asked as he analyzed the map on his phone. I shook my head and took a turn onto an empty street.

”Nope. I don't leave town often. You?”

”Back in the day, before my family went broke and we moved to your town. We vacationed up here for like a week”

”Was it nice?”

”I was little back then. Big cities scared me”

Johnny guided me to the concrete parking garage we were supposed to meet Adal's men at. Once we entered Johnny came on edge. He slipped his phone away and pulled his Glock from the glove box. I put it up to nerves, but seeing Johnny on edge made me on edge.

”You got a feeling about this?”

I asked him as we made our way up the ramp to the second floor.

”Yeah. Kind of. I just feel better with it in my hand.”

I looked around the second floor as we ascended the garage.

”Load the shotgun then.”

Johnny set aside his gun and pulled the Mossberg from my side. He slipped the shells in one at a time. I listened to them click in before he pumped the gun. He handed it to me and I flicked the safety button before setting it back down between my seat.

We climbed to the top of the four-story structure and came to a stop hard. A set of three SUVs sat against the far wall. The night of the run came back to my mind and I remembered the image of Adal standing next to a truck. Adal liked trucks. That affinity for trucks reached out to his men. All of Adal's men where to drive black or white Chevy Silverados.

”I don't like this Johnny. Call Adal right now”

Johnny pulled his phone out and sent out the call. I kept my eyes locked on the SUVs ahead. Each one sat with their tails to the walls and the hoods pointed at us.

”What?! Adal are we compromised?”

I shot my head to Johnny quickly just as figures began exiting the cars across the parking lot. He looked at me eyes full of panic as his other hand reached for his gun again.

”Adal can't reach any of his men on radio!”

That was all I needed to hear. Of course, my answer came soon after when shots rang out ahead of us. I didn't know what they were firing at us because I didn't stop to look. My hands flew across the shifter putting us in reverse. The car lept backwards down the ramp and through a combination of luck and skill I managed to get us back down to the third level in reverse.

The car slid to a stop as the both of us sat there like idiots. The gun shots stopped, but I knew that couldn't be the end of it. I was half deaf from the shots and shell shocked from being shot at so trying to leave hadn't crossed my mind yet.

That's when the first SUV came flying after us. Johnny yelled something that amounted to a slur of multiple swear words. I sprang to action dropping the clutch and getting us moving out of the way. The SUV missed us sliding right into the concrete wall just out of our reach. More shots fired after us and skipped across the fox body as I gassed it down the next ramp.

I didn't stop this time. I kept going sliding like I was in Tokyo drift down the parking garage. We came to the last floor and saw two SUVs we hadn't noticed when we entered. One on each side of the garage flying across it at a breakneck pace. I dropped a gear and hit the gas but sadly I wasn't fast enough.

The fox body couldn't cross the space quick enough and the SUV's slammed together creating a block. The fox body's hood came next slamming into the two SUV'S fronts hard enough to make them slide almost out of the way.

The crash jolted me hard throwing my face into the wheel. My world spun for a moment as a few colors flashed behind my eyes. I yanked my head back up to the sound of Johnny emptying a clip from his Glock into the SUV on the right. My windshield was all gone now and he was half leaning out of it.

Before a second thought could enter my head I found my hand wrapped firmly around the grip of the Mossberg. I pulled it and aimed right for the driver seat on the left SUV. The shot was deafening and shattered out the whole windshield. A body in the front seat recoiled painfully and rolled out of the door.

Acting out of self-preservation more than anything I racked another shell and fired it off into the vehicle. I tossed the gun behind me and sat back in my seat throwing the Fox body in reverse. Thankfully it complied and I rammed it into the cars once again causing them to give way a hole big enough for us to make it through.

The car made a horrible sound in the front when I smashed the gas but at this point the only thing I could hear was a ringing in my ears. Guns going off all over the place, Cars revving up and down the parking lot, lead flying in all directions. It was all horrible.

Johnny was yelling something next to me, but my brain was too occupied with getting us gone to notice. I slid down a few roads and took enough turns to satisfy myself before stopping in an alley somewhere.

I parked the car and damn near fell out throwing up in the paved ally way. I heard Johnny's door open but I didn't know where he was. I was too busy vomiting up everything I had ever thought of eating.

Once I was done with my bout of puking I could hear Johnny in hysterics behind me.

”Holy shit! Jesus Christ Jack! What the hell just fucking happened?”

I held up my hand trying to get him to slow his roll. My head was pounding like a bass drum, and his rambling was nowhere near helping me. Over the rushing blood in my ears Johnny's hysterical breathing came in clear. I stood up as best I could; leaning against my wreck of a car. The world decided to spin right out from under me when I did, but I managed to stay on my feet.

”Jack what was that?!”

”A shoot out? What do you want me to say Johnny?”

He grabbed at his hair groaning like a distressed animal.

”Fuck Jack I don't know!”

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to spit the taste of vomit out of my mouth. It didn't work.