Reckless Driving Things

The following happened after the events in Dark Alley Things.

The distraction caused by Rupert’s sudden breakdown was enough to give the man who had been addressed as Tommy the advantage he needed. Although all four of them had been momentarily stunned by Rupert’s display of an absolute lack of shame, it was Tommy who regained concentration first. And in that fraction of a second, the odds were once again evened out as the two trench coats behind them suddenly lay on the ground, for all intents and purposes permanently unable to commit homicide or do anything else for that matter henceforth. The two unbelievably rapid silent shots fired by Tommy a second before had cancelled them out for good.

It was after the other two had recovered from the shock of the suddenness that they noticed that while the tall man had his right hand on the gun that was pointed at the man before them, he also had another pointed backwards in the hand which he held protectively across the chest of the whimpering Rupert. He had just fired an upside-down gun.

In all his life, Rupert had never seen a gun fired, so understandably, the events of the last few seconds had done nothing to improve his composure. His whole body trembled now as he stood there, a salty combination of tears and mucus dripping onto his lips, too afraid to do any wiping off for fear of spooking the man with the gun pointed at them; a definite possibility now that his eyes were filled with wild surprise at the sudden demise of his two cronies.

“Tommy…” said the trench coat in a wary voice

“Nicholas, I know you have your orders, but Mr. Grange leaves with me. I would very much like for that to happen without me first having to send you after your boys.”

“You know I cannot go back without the package, Tommy. He would erase me”

“The way I see it is, we start shooting around and mess up this nice little alley, one of us – most likely you – dies, Mr. Grange here wets his pants or passes out, either way, whichever one of us left alive to transport him would have a considerably more unpleasant evening than it already is; or… you walk away from this, gather your family and get the hell out of dodge. You could go somewhere nice and warm. Somewhere even he couldn’t find you. I know you’ve been contemplating retirement for a minute, Nicholas. Your call.”

Nicholas sighed. It was not so much what Tommy had said as how he had said it which broke his will to see this assignment through. To hell with it. He put his life on the line too often and he knew he would get got sooner or later; either by one of the other dangerous men he frequently had to face, or by the employer he faced them for. He was getting old, and he wasn’t as quick as he used to be. That was why two of his boys lay in the alley. And his employer knew that. Job security and life security meant the same thing for him… And he had neither. Tommy’s voice indicated that he understood all this and that he had a genuine choice to make.

“He’s not going to stop until he has Grange; you know that. He’ll just keep sending more after you.”

“I know, Nicholas, but they won’t be you. And to you, that’s all that should really matter.”

“Why?” finally groaned the package.

Ignoring him, both men holstered their weapons and in another second, the trench coat had disappeared behind a shadow.  Mr. Grange and his custodian were  just about to get into the black sedan when a shot rang into the night from the direction of Nicholas’ retreat. It could be safely assumed that Nicholas was dead, snuffed out by a backup team his employer had sent in case he didn’t finish the job. Rupert’s first instinct was to run, but the tall man’s no-nonsense “Get into the car” had him in the front seat in a second. Tommy gave him a look that said “Seat-belt” and the engine purred to life. With a screech of the tires, they were off.

Rupert turned around to see two pairs of headlights getting ever closer to their car. He turned back around and fixed his eyes on the windscreen, seeing nothing. His mind was a haze as he started to beg his kidnapper in a voice that cracked as he swallowed hard every couple of seconds.

“Look… Tommy… I don’t know what you people want… You or those cars chasing us, but I swear, I don’t have it. I own a 2007 Toyota Camry, a small grocery store and £25,000 in the bank. You can have them all, please just let me go… Please! I promise, if it’s the police you’re worried about, I won’t tell anyone. I won’t even report this incident or seek therapy. I just want to go home… Please, Mr. Tommy.”

With eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead of them, Tommy sighed and attempted to communicate with his hostage.

“I know you’re scared. That is good. It would be foolish not to be scared considering what you’re mixed up in…”

Rupert cut him short. “What am I mixed up in, Mr. Tommy?”

“Have you ever heard the name Oscar Philips?”

“No. I’ve never heard that name in my life.”

“That’s too bad, Mr. Grange… Because that name is the reason why you are about to become one of the world’s richest men… And why the men in those cars behind us, and their employer want you dead. Duck, Mr. Grange.”

Just then, a bullet crashed through the rear windshield and went out the front. Mr. Grange passed out.

When the tall man slapped him back to consciousness a few minutes later, Rupert noticed that fewer and fewer buildings flew by and there was more and more open road. They were heading out of town. Suddenly, their car was sandwiched by the two cars in pursuit. Rupert looked to Tommy in fear and in the light of the dashboard, he could make out an odd, almost invisible smirk, the kind he saw people wear when were about to do something horribly mischievous. Was he enjoying this?! Goodness gracious! The backwards shots stunt back in the alley had already cemented his conviction that he was in the company of a very dangerous man.

Rupert had seen enough movies to know what was coming next. The cars on either side would ram them to a halt and there could be no escape. But Tommy had other plans. “Brace yourself!” he barked as he crushed the brakes under his boot. The ensuing jolt had Rupert feeling like his skeleton had been flung out of his body whole and he could swear he had just peed a little.

Tommy’s motives became apparent when the smaller man realized that their two pursuers were suddenly speeding ahead in front of them. This was when Tommy riddled the windscreen with bullets and elbowed the whole screen off. The wind hit Rupert’s face like a wall as it blew the tears right out his eyes, depriving them of their customary slide down his red cheeks and onto his upper lip.

In two rapid movements, Tommy fired incredibly aimed shots into first, the left back tire of the car to the right, and then the right back tire of the car to the left. The speed at which the cars had been going ensured that the result was nothing short of spectacular.

Both cars rose into the air hood-first, seemed to hover there for a second, before they arced roof-for-roof into one another in a firework display of exploding sparks, glass and metal.

For only the second time that night, Mr. Grange passed out.

What happens next? Who is Oscar Philips? Where are Tommy and Rupert going? Will Rupert survive this? To find out, check in next week with “Swimming Pool Things”.

To tell us what you think (will or should happen next), leave us a comment. Thanks.