PART ONE: THE SHADOW BEFORE
Chapter Two: A Lose-Lose Situation
Maybe I'd gotten cocky. Maybe I'd just played the hand of fate a little too hard.
But now I was stuck, pinned behind a concrete staircase, dodging bullets that flew past me like hailstones. Occasionally a shot would hit the staircase, showering me briefly with concrete dust and shards of rock. They were getting more accurate. And they were getting closer.
I closed my eyes and waited for the gunfire. My stomach tensed in anticipation, preparing itself for annihilation.
A shot rang out in the alleyway. I winced.
Surprised cries. More shots. And then I realised that I wasn't listening to the clack-clack-clack of an AK, but the steady blasts of a Desert Eagle – and the surprised cries were mingling with screams of agony. A cop slumped dead just inches away from me, a neat smoking black hole in his skull. He quivered briefly, and then died.
The air, thick with cordite and the coppery stench of blood, was suddenly blanketed in silence. I cautiously stood up.
"You okay?" Mona asked. My guardian angel. She lowered her smoking gun.
"Fine," I replied, still shaking. "Mona, listen…"
"No time," she said, striding towards me. "We've got to keep moving. They'll send more…"
"Mona, they're cops!" I cried, as she walked up the concrete staircase. "What the hell is going on here?"
She stopped suddenly at the top of the staircase and glared at me. "Do you want to get out of this alive?"
"You're not answering me…"
"Do you?" She reached into a pocket and withdrew a small key. With surprising speed she unlocked the door, and at least one mystery crumbled. Somehow she knew the building, and somehow she had access. But with it came a thousand new questions, and I didn't like the answers.
I grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Listen! You just shot dead three cops without batting an eye! Cops armed with AKs, and they were coming for me! Now either you tell me what the hell is going on, or I'll hand you in."
She stared back at me with steely grey eyes. She didn't even flinch.
"Make the call, then," she said, nonchalantly. "Hand me in. Go on."
She had me. If I wanted to get out of this alive I had to follow her, whether I liked it or not. Damn you, Mona. I released my grip. She frowned and opened the door, slipping back into the apartment building. I followed her in.
"They'll probably surround the building," she said. "If we're quick, we can make our way out of the first floor window and down the fire exit. Then it's just a short run to the car park, hopefully before they surround the place." She locked the back door behind her. "That'll buy us some time. Come on."
And before I could re-assemble my thoughts, we were making our way back through the crumbling corridors of the apartment block. What had began as something simple had suddenly descended into a surreal nightmare. It all seemed so overwhelming… the corridors became a maze of too-bright fluorescents, peeling wallpaper, damp stains. Normality was such a fragile skin. It could be torn and destroyed in a New York minute, and suddenly you'll find your life has collapsed around you again, and all the old ghosts you thought were dead forever are flying back in. The thought terrified me. It stirred old fires back into life.
Mona stopped suddenly as we reached a turning and pressed up against the wall. She cautiously peered around the corner. I could hear it now. Footsteps, on the tiles. Drawing closer.
"More of them," she whispered, reaching for her Desert Eagle.
"Cops?" I asked.
She flipped off the safety. "Three of them. Not cops. Hired thugs."
I reached for my Beretta. Only one way out of this. I'd left the rules behind at the front door. I'd followed this course of action now.
They were talking loudly. I could just make out their words.
"The boss said keep an eye out," one said. "They're slippery bastards."
"Hardcore professionals," another replied. "I've read the stories. I don't like this."
A third voice. Stronger than the others. The leader, I guessed. "I don't care. After what they did to the guys outside, I'm more than willing to plug them both."
Mona gently pushed me backwards and crouched down. "Head for the staircase over there," she instructed. "They're mine."
I followed her gaze to a small concrete staircase leading down into the basement. Crouching low, my knees like jelly, I crept to the staircase and ducked round the corner.
Silence.
Then three shots, deafeningly loud, like thunder in the confined space of the corridor. Cries of horror. Two more shots.
Then a dark, thick silence… and more approaching footsteps. From behind. I suddenly remembered Mona's words about the ambush and a grim panic took over. I carefully peered round the corner. Three more, advancing. Cop uniforms and Kalashnikovs.
The final decision, then. To seal my destiny once and for all.
To be continued…