Author's Notes: Yes, I know it's been a very very very long time between updates. I met a boy and I got caught up with that for a while, but he's gone. And then I got caught up with the holidays, but now they are over. And after that I don't really have an excuse. But I'm back and hopefully I'll get back onto a more regular updating schedule.

And a grand thank you goes out to wolfchick11, Small-Fri, and heartfallen for reviewing.

Your reviews fed my soul.

Chapter VI: A Dog Day Afternoon

Fredo adjusted himself and popped another vicodin. All this driving was starting to wear on him. The seatbelt chaffed against his forming scars and the constant pain was wearing him down. But he at least had visual site of his target. With any luck, this trip would be over soon and he would be recuperating in luxury back in Boston. He felt his eyes slip out of focus and his mind go blank as the drug took over his body. He wasn't sure how long he was in this state, but the only thing that jarred him back into reality was the shrill cry of his phone. He let out several grunts as he shifted his weight to reach the small cellular. "What?"

"You should not speak to your older brother that way, Fredo."

"You shouldn't send someone of my rank on a fucking goose chase."

"You wanted to go, Fredo. This wasn't business."

"Desi, how's Michael?"

"Completely blind. The Irishman destroyed his retinas. Though I guess we're lucky there was no further damage done. All Michael does is sit in his room and stare at the wall."

"How is Cary taking it?"

"She tried to take the kids and leave him, but I wouldn't let her."

"She knew what she was getting into when she married into the family."

"Fredo, you need to finish this tonight. My consigliere informed me that Don Cicchio is trying to move into Boston's gambling district. I don't want to start another war, so we have to end this tomorrow. We're going to take out Luca."

"Alright, Desi. I'll hit them tonight and be back in the morning."

Fredo tossed the phone into the passenger seat and glanced at his tracker to find his target only a mile ahead of him. He shifted gears and pressed down harder on the gas pedal. Hopefully he could take them out without even leaving his car.

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Since the ominous not left by the mechanic, the MacManus brothers had slipped into stealth mode. Connor refused to stop for fear of an unexpected encounter. It was not that he was unconfident in his and his brother's skills, but battles were more easily won when they were the ones making the surprises. He intently watched the cars around them paying close attention to how long they were near them.

Murphy, on the other hand, was finding it quite difficult to concentrate. He had half a cigarette four hours ago and was already beginning to feel the effects of withdrawal. He was unbelievably restless and the confinement of the car was driving him up the wall. His left leg was in perpetual motion and he was getting increasingly agitated with every little thing.

"Connor, we have to stop."

Connor shook his head and opened his mouth to voice his protest. Before he was could get a syllable in edgewise, their car abruptly jerked to the side smashing Murphy's head against the window. Connor hit the brakes and struggled to get the car back into his control. Once the car stopped swerving, he jerked his head to the left meeting the cold dark eyes of their attacker. Fredo only paused for a moment before sharply pulling the wheel going after the car once again. Connor slammed on the brakes to avoid the impact, but the tail end of Fredo's car clipped their front bumper.

Attempting to avoid the innocent cars on the highway, Connor sped onto the shoulder riding the obnoxious waves that lined the road. Their car reached over eighty miles per hour, but to no avail as the white car still loomed behind them. Murphy hopped into the backseat and shoved his hand under the seat revealing one of the guns they had hidden in their ride. He began rolling down the window, but as it progressed it slowed and eventually stopped.

"Fuckin' piece o' junk! Con, when we get out of this, we're getting a car with electric fuckin' windows."

Murphy dropped to his back and swiftly kicked out the window sending glass flying behind them. He popped his arm out and began firing rounds at the car. Fredo's windshield began to crack as the first bullets struck. He swerved back onto the highway causing cars around to slam on their breaks and into each other. Downshifting, Fredo increased his speed becoming parallel with his victim's car. He pulled out a gun of his own and began firing at Connor, who promptly attempted to duck and drive at the same time. The MacManus car swerved dangerously.

Murphy let out a loud throaty yell as he continued his assault. Frustrated that he was unable to discourage their attacker, he turned his attention elsewhere taking careful aim at the front tire. A smirk graced his face as he pulled the trigger flattening the tire within seconds. But his victory was short lived when Fredo's car skidded towards them recklessly slamming into their vehicle. Murphy was thrown backwards once again slamming his head in to the car's interior. Black spots began to dance in front of his eyes as his world faded into black. Connor struggled to keep the car on the highway shoulder, but the assault from Fredo's car was pushing them off and straight into the wooded area.

The trees came closer at a frightening pace and Connor slammed on the breaks and prayed that he could stop the car in time. The brakes locked up, stilling the tires, but not the car. The tires on their car had such little tread on them that they just seemed to glide over the thick layer of leaves and pine straw. Their car jerked forward as the maniac behind them continued his attack, thrusting his car forward propelling them into the woods. Connor dodged most of the trees with such precision only obtained from many nights playing xbox games. But the forest grew denser scraping deep gashes into the car's paint and windows. He knew that it was only a matter of time before they hit a mighty pine tree with full force.

Fredo once again rammed his car into the Irish brother's vehicle. He had complete disregard for his own life. His world was painted red. The anger that had been bottled up for days was coming out of him like a typhoon. The pedal was completely flat against the floor mat and his car was feverishly pushing the other car downhill, willing the black car to crash and burn.

Connor released a hopeful sigh as he saw the forest edge. He couldn't believe that he had almost successfully made it through with their lives. He still had his foot planted firmly on the brake pedal and risked a glance behind him to see the fat Italian continued to ride their asses. He could only think of one option, so he quickly switched into gear and floored it. Connor quickly picked up speed. It took only seconds before the cars parted. He risked a glance behind him once again, taking his eyes off the path for only a moment. But a heartbeat is more than enough time for life changing events to occur.

The right front tire careened into a large boulder sending the car flying on to its side. Connor watched in horror as the car skidded out of the forested area. Their situation took a sharp turn for the worse as a sudden hill manifested into view that revealed a hidden lake at the bottom. The black car began to slide down the hill sharply increasing speed with every passing moment. It hit the water's surface with such force that it immediately deployed the airbags. Connor was thrust forward into the airbag causing a sharp pain to radiate from his head and throughout his body. A dark haze began to edge around his eyes and his mind began to cloud with little comprehension of the current events.

The frigid water began to pour in. At first it only began to seep through the cracks, but as the car plummeted downward, the broken window from the fight earlier allowed the water to rush in. Murphy was sprawled out in the backseat of the car and was dimly aware of the water creeping up his calf. He let out an involuntary shiver and attempted to swat the peculiar feeling away from his legs. A wet hand returned to his chest causing too much confusion for his hazy mind to comprehend. He cracked his bleary eyes open and stared at the roof of the car with wonder. Surrounding him, he could hear a loud crashing noise, but was unable to place the sound. His legs were freezing and he began to shiver. He rubbed his hand over his face and struggled to sit up. Alarm shot through his body as the previous events began to race back to him. He felt his heartbeat begin to pound and his breaths began to come in short rasps. Murphy threw himself into the front seat fighting the already waist high water. He found Connor slumped to the side, his face half covered in blood from an open head wound. Murphy grabbed the seatbelt and followed it down into the water searching for the buckle.

"Connor! Wake the fuck up! I don't think I can doggy paddle yer ass back to shore."

Murphy ripped the seatbelt off his brother and gave him a rough slap across the face. Connor groaned in protest, rolling his head to the side. Murphy knew he couldn't wait for Connor to fully understand their current predicament. He roughly grabbed Connor by the shoulders and began to pull him to the open window. The car was already half sunk and their only escape was completely submerged. Murphy raised his eyes to the heaven and prayed for the best before covering Connor nose and mouth and diving under.

As the car descended sediments disturbed the water painted it a deep brown color. Murphy struggled to find the open window. He held Connor tightly against his chest as he desperately searched. He blindly felt the door handle and immediately jutted his hand upwards for the window, but his stomach plummeted as he felt the lake's bottom instead of the open water he had hoped for. Their car had successfully landed on the bottom of the lake, but unfortunately their only open escape was impassable.

Panic coursed through his veins as he shoved himself and his brother back into the front hoping to find a pocket of air left. As difficult as their situations was, God's light still blessed them leaving the twins a tiny pocket of air in the far corner, just large enough for Murphy to poked his head through. He hoisted his brother up out of the water allowing him to breathe as well. Connor sputtered and coughed as he regained his normal breathing pattern.

"Holy shit!"

"Are ye ok?"

"We're in a fucking pond!"

"We're trapped."

"Have ye tried rollin' down the window?"

"It won't work."

"Especially if ye don't even fuckin' try."

"I saw it on Mythbusters."

"What the hell are ye talkin' about?"

"Mythbusters. I'll have ye know it's a very reliable tv show. The pressure is too great, we can't break the window and we can't open the door."

"What yer master plan then?"

Murphy took a moment to calm down and survey their situation. Now that he knew that Connor was ok, he could think more clearly. He scanned the car and realized that they found themselves in quite a pickle. The car was almost fully submerged on its side, though it was not totally on its side. The front left part of the car was the only part not underwater. There was a six inch section of the windshield that allowed the boys to pear out at their surroundings. Their setting was dim. Murphy could see no roads around them. All he could see were acres of trees. There was little hope for anyone stumbling upon them. Except for the fat Italian that was chasing them. Murphy vaguely wondered if he ended up in the lake as well.

"I've fuckin' got it!"

Murphy abruptly dove back down into the water. He resurfaced holding the gun that he had been previously using.

"Murph, ye can't shoot it out."

"No shit Sherlock. I ain't gonna shoot it."

Using the gun, Murphy began to pound on the exposed piece of glass with all his might. After several blunt swings the window began to crack and eventually crumbled into the water. After numerous minutes of chipping away at the glass, they had finally made a hole large enough for them to escape. The twins carefully pushed themselves through the opening and swam towards the shore.

Connor and Murphy collapsed into the dirt and laid staring up into the sky. It was a gorgeous day. Few clouds were overhead. They both took a moment to collect their thoughts and to restore their bodies back to normal. Their heart rates and breathing slowed. Neither of them spoke, but they had their arms touching the other. It was reassuring to know that their other half was still there and alive.

Today was a fiasco. And they had yet another close encounter with death.

But as usual, they will pick themselves up and fight back.

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Author's Note again: So what did you honestly think of it? I know car chases are awesome to see and do in real life, but I wasn't sure how fun they are to read about. So please review and tell me if you like it or not.