Emiliano Mancilla

Neon lights illuminate the room while the bullets dance at the rhythm of the beat, someone betrayed us, there is a squealer in the group, now the only option is to keep us alive and get out as soon as possible. I cover myself behind a table, manage to shoot the two bums that spotted me, take Gina and mix with the screaming wobbling multitude, I can still hear Kramer at distance shouting. 

• You are not leaving, motherfucker!

The doors start closing in and there is a numerous line of people in front of us, in desperation, I start pushing away everyone while I do my best to keep holding her. The room is hot as hell and the sweat in our hands makes them slip away constantly, the oxygen is scarce as the other guests are taking big panicking breaths and my muscles are reaching their failure point, however, the exit looks closer every time I glance in its direction and I just spend my final efforts, screaming, feeling how my muscles burn one by one. 

When I was young, I never thought I would end up doing the dirty deeds of an old capo, the truth is that I never thought at all. Now here I am, stealing his desired hostage from the hands of the counter cartel. 

We could get out of the building, but that is only half of the duty, we still have to get in the car and drive 20 miles until we reach a safe place. She tells me she can’t run, her high heels seem like the big impediment, but I don’t have time for childish games, I tell her to shut up and run, but my vehemence results useless as she keeps falling, therefore I have to lift her up and run as fast as I can in my wet sweaty pants which are giving an extra resistance. 

I open the door, get her in and as I am turning on the engine, the left mirror explodes. They are behind us. I tell her to cover her head while I push the pedal down and the chasing starts. There is a dark blinded hummer and a black charger following us, my prey instinct makes me take as much alleys as I can, which helps me with the truck, but the other hasn’t given up. I try to lose them with some maneuvers, but they are good, suddenly I make the mistake of taking a long straight avenue, my car is not as fast as theirs and they will reach me in a matter of seconds. 

I turn my head to Gina and when I see her, I just know they are going to try to stop me but won’t dare to make me crash. So, I keep driving and aim to get as closer as I can to a parking lot entrance I noticed seconds before, and just when they are about to outrun me, just when they are on my left side, I brake as hard as I can, take the exit, get into the parking lot and finally lose them. 

Once there, I ask for an Uber to pick us up 4 blocks away, it takes us to a specific direction where there’s a “clean” car waiting for us, I make a stop at some random gas station so Gina can use the restrooms and buy some food and take the highway to get as far from there as I can in one night. As soon as I feel safe, we will be able to rest in the nearest motel. For now, I send a message telling the job is done, and throw my phone away from us.