Chapter 9
The black Cadillac Escalade ESV, or Extra Sized Vehicle sat a regulation six inches from the curb. It idled almost silently. The cabin was perfectly air conditioned, and insulated from outside noise. It was an island of peace in the shadow of the Metro PCS store, in the middle of the crowded busy streets of Philadelphia.
It was sitting in the diamond lane. This drew a few resentful looks from the passers-by, but otherwise no undue attention. The windows were darkly tinted so that the occupant could not be easily seen from the street. He sat reading the latest issue of CAR Magazine on his Kindle Fire, reflecting that this was a far less expensive option than having it sent from the UK, while on the radio two intellectual types debated the pros and cons of the hotly controversial Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as "Obamacare." He thought this laughable. Only in America did politicians try to demonize something by naming after someone they hated. Nobody ever in the UK would you ever hear things like "The Tony Blaire Witch Hunt" on mainstream media. Well not yet anyway, though the way the bloody internet was getting these days European news outlets might soon desperate enough to ape the fear-inducing panic-mongering style of journalism, just to keep up.
He sighed and swiped to the next page, giving a yawn as he did so. He cracked his neck, more to stretch more than anything, and glanced across the street, but nothing was happening yet. The two NPR guys had broken out of their little argument, and were moving on to the news for a moment.
"Well, let's get to it, shall we? Our top story this morning is... whoa. Did you hear about this Jack? Apparently a bomb went off in Indiana,
leaving four dead."
"Wow who the heck would do something like this?"
"A
dead person apparently," said the reader sardonicaly. "It happened outside of town near a self
stodrage in a town called uhm,,, Storage Solutions. This is Terre Haute, Indiana."
"Mkay..."
"They've only released one name in connection with this so far- they haven't said if they think it's an act of terrorism, or and accident, or like a ... car bomb. Hey maybe it was a Mafia hit."
"Oh yeah, maybe they were 'Hitting the Mattresses' or whatever they call it. Old school."
"Could be, sure. Anyway the name is Raul Muyres-"
"FUCK ME!" said Bernard loudly. The orc set the Kindle aside and pulled out his mobile phone. He pulled up his contact list and sent a message to someone name Flicker: "Oi. Nd intro for Terra Hote IN ASAP, this is 911." He sent the message and shook his head for a moment contemplating what this meant. The old man had lost his last race then. Balls. He hoped the car at least was-
Across the street he noticed a commotion. Two men and a halfling in ski masks and holding dangerous looking automatic rifles were coming out of the Sovereign Bank holding duffel bags, and crossing the street. They saw his vehicle idling, and made their way over to him. People on the street had noticed them and were taking cover, some of them pulling out their cell phones.
The two masked men were heading toward the back doors of his SUV while the halfling was heading towards the front passenger door. He pulled the handle a couple times, but while the back doors had opened smoothly, the front was locked.
Bernard rolled down the darkened window enough for the halfling to see his face, his eyebrow raised as if to say "Really?" and nodded his head toward the back seat. He rolled the window up while the halfling, looking upset, but knowing there was no time to argue, got in the back.
"THIS is what you got man? An SUV? Man, we're never gonna outrun the cops in this thing, I thought you were supposed to be a professional," said the halfling, as he pulled off his mask, his spikey blond hair sticking up all over now. Bernard put the Cadillac into gear and pulled smoothly out of the diamond lane, and preparing to turn from Market Street onto North 11th, which was illegal, but cut 45 seconds from the drive time, and put him on a route with better options for evasion.
"You know," he said, "I'm not sure if you lot are the biggest morons in 'istory or bloody fucking brilliant. Seatbelts please gentlemen." He completed the turn and was now headed for the Hilton Garden Inn tunnel.
******************************* Chapter 9 part 2
Okay got something up anyway. Fell asleep part way through, and couldn't pull out of the dive. But I wanted to get to the part where they started the getaway. I'm not thoroughly familiar with Philadelphia, but fortunately I have Google Maps, which shows me exactly what I need to know. All Hail the Mighty Internet!
Comments and Suggestions welcome.
Thanks for Reading!
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