10 Chicago

Before I started running for Adal I hadn't really left my little town. Through his jobs I visited the big city for the first time. I had been to a few cities around Iowa since I started, But Chicago seemed to be the biggest yet.

A layer of snow dusted the city over. The gray walls of the buildings sat capped with pure white of snow. At the edges of sidewalks, a mucky mix of dirt and snow sat from the snow plows running in the morning.

By now it was well into the afternoon. I hadn't exactly gone the speed limit on the highway which was a dumb idea with cocaine in the trunk, but I made it there without a hitch. Clouds from earlier in the day where giving way now and the dying sun was blazing the sky.

"You ever been to Chicago?"

Johnny asked as he analyzed the map on his phone. I shook my head and took a turn onto an empty street.

"Nope. I don't leave town often. You?"

"Back in the day, before my family went broke and we moved to your town. We vacationed up here for like a week"

"Was it nice?"

"I was little back then. Big cities scared me"

Johnny guided me to the concrete parking garage we were supposed to meet Adal's men at. Once we entered Johnny came on edge. He slipped his phone away and pulled his Glock from the glove box. I put it up to nerves, but seeing Johnny on edge made me on edge.

"You got a feeling about this?"

I asked him as we made our way up the ramp to the second floor.

"Yeah. Kind of. I just feel better with it in my hand."

I looked around the second floor as we ascended the garage.

"Load the shotgun then."

Johnny set aside his gun and pulled the Mossberg from my side. He slipped the shells in one at a time. I listened to them click in before he pumped the gun. He handed it to me and I flicked the safety button before setting it back down between my seat.

We climbed to the top of the four-story structure and came to a stop hard. A set of three SUVs sat against the far wall. The night of the run came back to my mind and I remembered the image of Adal standing next to a truck. Adal liked trucks. That affinity for trucks reached out to his men. All of Adal's men where to drive black or white Chevy Silverados.

"I don't like this Johnny. Call Adal right now"

Johnny pulled his phone out and sent out the call. I kept my eyes locked on the SUVs ahead. Each one sat with their tails to the walls and the hoods pointed at us.

"What?! Adal are we compromised?"

I shot my head to Johnny quickly just as figures began exiting the cars across the parking lot. He looked at me eyes full of panic as his other hand reached for his gun again.

"Adal can't reach any of his men on radio!"

That was all I needed to hear. Of course, my answer came soon after when shots rang out ahead of us. I didn't know what they were firing at us because I didn't stop to look. My hands flew across the shifter putting us in reverse. The car lept backwards down the ramp and through a combination of luck and skill I managed to get us back down to the third level in reverse.

The car slid to a stop as the both of us sat there like idiots. The gun shots stopped, but I knew that couldn't be the end of it. I was half deaf from the shots and shell shocked from being shot at so trying to leave hadn't crossed my mind yet.

That's when the first SUV came flying after us. Johnny yelled something that amounted to a slur of multiple swear words. I sprang to action dropping the clutch and getting us moving out of the way. The SUV missed us sliding right into the concrete wall just out of our reach. More shots fired after us and skipped across the fox body as I gassed it down the next ramp.

I didn't stop this time. I kept going sliding like I was in Tokyo drift down the parking garage. We came to the last floor and saw two SUVs we hadn't noticed when we entered. One on each side of the garage flying across it at a breakneck pace. I dropped a gear and hit the gas but sadly I wasn't fast enough.

The fox body couldn't cross the space quick enough and the SUV's slammed together creating a block. The fox body's hood came next slamming into the two SUV'S fronts hard enough to make them slide almost out of the way.

The crash jolted me hard throwing my face into the wheel. My world spun for a moment as a few colors flashed behind my eyes. I yanked my head back up to the sound of Johnny emptying a clip from his Glock into the SUV on the right. My windshield was all gone now and he was half leaning out of it.

Before a second thought could enter my head I found my hand wrapped firmly around the grip of the Mossberg. I pulled it and aimed right for the driver seat on the left SUV. The shot was deafening and shattered out the whole windshield. A body in the front seat recoiled painfully and rolled out of the door.

Acting out of self-preservation more than anything I racked another shell and fired it off into the vehicle. I tossed the gun behind me and sat back in my seat throwing the Fox body in reverse. Thankfully it complied and I rammed it into the cars once again causing them to give way a hole big enough for us to make it through.

The car made a horrible sound in the front when I smashed the gas but at this point the only thing I could hear was a ringing in my ears. Guns going off all over the place, Cars revving up and down the parking lot, lead flying in all directions. It was all horrible.

Johnny was yelling something next to me, but my brain was too occupied with getting us gone to notice. I slid down a few roads and took enough turns to satisfy myself before stopping in an alley somewhere.

I parked the car and damn near fell out throwing up in the paved ally way. I heard Johnny's door open but I didn't know where he was. I was too busy vomiting up everything I had ever thought of eating.

Once I was done with my bout of puking I could hear Johnny in hysterics behind me.

"Holy shit! Jesus Christ Jack! What the hell just fucking happened?"

I held up my hand trying to get him to slow his roll. My head was pounding like a bass drum, and his rambling was nowhere near helping me. Over the rushing blood in my ears Johnny's hysterical breathing came in clear. I stood up as best I could; leaning against my wreck of a car. The world decided to spin right out from under me when I did, but I managed to stay on my feet.

"Jack what was that?!"

"A shoot out? What do you want me to say Johnny?"

He grabbed at his hair groaning like a distressed animal.

"Fuck Jack I don't know!"

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to spit the taste of vomit out of my mouth. It didn't work.

"Just grab your phone. Update Adal. We are going to need his help to get home"

Johnny took a few quick breaths and rubbed his face vigorously.

"Ok. Ok I got this"

He went back around to his side of the car I assumed to find his phone. I focused hard on the near impossible task of standing up straight. I reached up to whip my mouth and paused in horror when my hand came away stained red.

My nose was in bad shape after smashing into the SUVs at the garage. Blood was currently pouring from my nose at a dizzying rate. Thinking quickly, I tore some cloth from the bottom of my shirt and tried to stop up my nose. I had to look like a horror show now, but more pressing matters demanded attention. Like where the hell Johnny and I could lay low. Thankfully Adal had that answer for us.

"Adal wants us to go to a cafe up the road"

Johnny called from across the car.

"It's one of his fronts he says. We go there and hide out till a car comes for us"

"Did you happen to ask about what to do with our car?"

"Adal said to leave it, and he will have a tow truck come for it"

I took point with Johnny telling me where to go close behind me. He kept track of our rout with the map on his phone. I hoped to God no one on the street would notice my blood-stained face. We dodged in and out of crowds moving here and there on the street paranoid that the men at the garage where just steps behind us.

The cafe was empty. Apparently closing time was early for this place. It was a small little hole in the wall on the corner of a street. Johnny took a seat trying to calm his shaking and I went straight for a bathroom.

With the help of a roll of toilet paper and the sink I managed to get myself cleaned up. The bridge of my nose was swelling up and already starting to bruise. I was by no means an expert, but it didn't seem broken.

I came back to Johnny tossing my jacket on the table he was sitting at. He was somewhere between terrified, and scarred for life. I was somewhere between mildly annoyed, and absolutely pissed.

"That was totally FUBAR! Adal dropped the ball hard on us!"

I was yelling and it was totally unnecessary, but I wasn't going to be reasoned with at the moment.

"No kidding"

Was the only remark Johnny could muster. I closed my eyes and buried my face in my hands. The image of the man in the SUV snapping back from the shotgun blast replayed over and over. Every little detail. The fear in his eyes, the way his head snapped back sickeningly, The way the SUV window shattered like it was nothing. I couldn't remember what he looked like, but I could see those eyes in my head. Wide and terrified.

I swore into my hands under my breath repeatedly. Johnny was shaking so hard I could feel it through the table between us.

"I killed a man Johnny"

There was a silence between us for a moment before he spoke.

"I'm sure at least a few of my bullets hit someone. I did empty the whole clip."

I looked up at him from my hands. A cold sweat started to break out on my neck and head. He looked down at me with wide, shell shocked, pupils. I could barely see the blue in his eyes as the black threatened to swallow it.

"Jack..."

He said my name slowly. His voice had this odd hitching sound in it like he was trying to choke something down.

"Are we killers now?"

I closed my eyes and let my face fall back in my hands. I didn't want to answer that question. I didn't want to be the one to break the innocent shine I had always seen in Johnny's eyes. He pushed though. Like he couldn't answer it himself. Like he didn't want to answer it himself.

"Jack tell me. Are we killers?"

I took a deep breath and plunged into my best attempt at rationalizing this horrible situation.

"Johnny what happened back there. That was self-defense. We had to do that. We tried to run"

I looked up to him again and lifted my head from my hands.

"You know that right? We tried to run. They chased us"

"Right... They chased us"

Johnny said the words but they didn't seem to help him. I reached over the table and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I promise Johnny. This wasn't our fault. We aren't killers"

Johnny tried to say something but it got stuck halfway. He choked on his words before a little sob let itself out of him.

"Listen to me Johnny. We are good people. This was just an unfortunate situation"

There was something in my words. Something that sounded like a desperate plea. It made me doubt them myself. They clearly didn't help Johnny. He choked again on his words before he finally said something.

"Jack... Are we really good people?"

I let my hand slip from his shoulder. It fell limply on the table and I hung my head. I was tired. So tired. I was drained on a spiritual level as well as physical. I could feel him looking at me. Waiting for an answer.

"Johnny. I don't know. I don't know a damn thing anymore"