"Ocean Bay Marina..." she read to herself as she looked up at the sign through the passenger window. She looked up at the glass doors that she had peered through once before, only this time they showed a dark and lonely hollowed space. No people walking around, no stories being made up - just the raw truth. She was there in the middle of the night with a man she barely knew preparing to commit only god knows how many crimes. She closed her eyes and tried to push the thoughts away as she heard the back door slam shut.
Joe had left the car and ran into the building, the glass doors unlocked and waiting for him. The car, although not moving, was still running. Lee glanced over at Dom, his face plastered with a serious/nervous guise.
A couple minutes later, Joe ran back out, followed by yet another, younger man. They ran across the parking lot and got into a blue sports car, sitting there in the parked car for a few moments before driving into the parking garage. Lee could hear the echoes of men talking down there, some even laughing. She couldn't imagine what could be funny at a time like this.
Soon after, Marty and the other man also drove into the garage. Lee heard the car screech to a halt and a car door slam shut. Her nerves began to grind even harder as she realized soon she would be in that same parking garage, facing what could possibly be her end.
Approximately five minutes later, Dom followed the other cars' lead and drove into the parking garage. Upon entrance Lee noticed some large vans parked in the far left corner of the garage, surrounded by young street-gang looking boys. One of them looked at her and winked, Lee simply shoot him an arrogant grin, trying to act like she wasn't quite as new at this, even though it was still painfully obvious.
Dom parked the car next to the other two cars parked at the far right end of the garage. He motioned for Joe and Donny to get out and go to greet the boys, taking only one of two suitcases with them. Dom watched intently as the boys grinned, staring down at the cash before them.
"Little pricks," Dom whispered under his breath. After the men showed the other boys the cash, one of the boys went to the rear end of one of the vans and opened the doors, revealing a tanned cloth covering what looked to be several boxes. The boys then tore the cover off, unveiling several large guns and nearly two full boxes of ammo and firepower. The men nodded, pleased with the merchandise.
"Hey, where's the rest of our money, pricks?!" One of the boys yelled out, sounding rather irritated. The two men nodded towards the car Lee and Dom were sitting in. Dom's eyebrows furrowed and he grinded his teeth.
"We've been dealing with some big arms provider through them for almost a year now, and I'm sick of playing cat and mouse with these little cock-suckers. I think it's time we find out who big leader is," Dom growled as he got out of the car, picking up an Uzi he had between the bucket seats of the sentinel. He walked gingerly over to the gang of boys, a fake and misleading grin painted on his face. He and the other gang exchanged words for a moment until a single gunshot was fired at Dom and missed. This began a downpour of gunfire.
Lee listened to the guns as they went off, every shot throbbing in her ears. She sat still for a moment, staring at the battle through the window until she heard a fusillade of gunfire showing the side of the sentinel she sat in. She immediately opened her door and ducked out to the side of the car, trying to shield herself with the steel door. She kneeled there, listening to her surroundings to make sure nobody was calling for her.
Suddenly a python fell into her lap and she looked over to see a crouching Dom hovering beside her, glaring at her with sober eyes and an angry scowl painted across his features.
"We need you, get up and start shooting some of these bastards down," he began, lifting himself up over the hood just enough to see what he was doing and fired a single shot, hitting one of the boys. Lee could hear him scream as the bullet struck him. Dom immediately ducked back down behind the shield of the car. "I want you to stay behind the car and use it as a shield, don't get shot I can't afford to lose you."Lee nodded, confused at what he meant but knowing now wasn't the time for inquiries.
Dom took off behind the blue sports car that was parked near the sentinel she hid behind, and finally darted behind a steel pole, getting another one of the boys in the leg. Lee lifted herself up slightly, peering out over the hood. Her eyes widened as she saw men getting shot, and saw Donny take a hit in the leg.
She grabbed the gun and cocked it, secretly hoping she wouldn't actually have to shoot anybody. Suddenly a man in a blue-jean jacket came hurling himself at her, the barrel of a Mac 10 plummeting toward her. She instinctively lifted the gun and fired, watching the man fly backwards onto the pavement, his blood pooling around his body.
"Marty you stupid prick, you hit Joe!" she heard Dom yell as more gunfire rang from the other side of the garage.
Finally the gunfire dwindled down and eventually stopped, and Lee stood up from behind her massive steel shield. She looked around the parking garage, blood covering more than half of it, even pooled in some place. Then she glanced over at Dom who had one of the boys pinned down on the ground, his Uzi pointed right between the boy's eyes.
"Look you little piece of shit," she heard him say as she inched her way around the sentinel, "I wanna know who your dealer is and I want to know now, unless you want a new piercing in the middle of your forehead," he stated fiercely, flicking the boy's pierced ear with his index finger and thumb. The boy's eyes widened and he opened his mouth. He whispered a name that Lee couldn't make out and Dom stood up, smiling. "That's all we needed to know." Dom glanced up at the man that came with Marty and grinned, acting as if he was going to turn and walk away, but right before he turned he pointed his gun at the boy's head and fired, sending blood all over the pavement and the other man's nice white shoes.
"Damn, and I just bought these, too." The men laughed heartily, but immediately sobered as they heard sirens off in the distance.
"Oh shit," Dom called out and motioned Lee over to him. "We gotta get the fuck out of here right now," he began, taking Lee by the arm and running out of the garage and down the parking lot, all the way to the winding curb where he almost ran her over. At the end of the sidewalk they were greeted by the same van they'd used earlier in the maneuvers they were doing from the other island. They immediately got in and sped off, missing the police by mere seconds.
Lee glanced over to the seat next to her, calming when she recognized it was Marty. Lee's head hurt and her stomach churned at what she saw back there, although it didn't hit her quite as hard as she'd expected it would. It almost seemed familiar...
"Hey, don't think about it, alright?" Marty spoke, breaking the silence that overflowed from the car. Lee looked at Marty with furrowed eyebrows, half wondering what exactly he meant and half knowing exactly what he meant. "Sometimes you gotta kill to survive." Lee closed her eyes and turned her head away, the words implanting themselves on her mind. "Trust me, it gets easier."
As soon as they got home, Lee didn't speak to anybody, she just ran upstairs and ran herself a hot bubble bath, trying to forget that night. She knew the other man would be spending the night in the spare room, for safety purposes. She also knew that if Donny or Joe were alive, they'd be the fall guys. And she also knew if they weren't alive it'd be even better... no squealers.
Lee rested her head on the back of the tub. She hated herself for thinking those things about Donny and Joe; Joe was a nice guy. Donny was just cautious. They didn't deserve to take the fall for such a stupid reason. And it all happened so fast -- it was almost as if one second, she was talking to Joe and grinning at him, and the next minute he was dead. And she wasn't even sure she was sorry he was dead.
"Better him than me," she thought out loud, mentally cursing herself for saying such a thing. She closed her eyes again and pushed all other thoughts away, realizing the words had actually made her feel better than worse.
"Yeah... better him than me."