CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

All I heard over the phone was nothing but a click indicating she hung up, I sighed and pulled a harsh corner off of the freeway and onto a street.
Continuously looking in my rearview mirror seeing if I lost them yet, nope red and blue lights shined brighter as the afternoon was turning to evening.
"In Hayley's shitty car I don't think we are going to lose them." Jason says, annoyance filled his voice and I pressed on the gas as hard as it would let me.
You could hear the thumping of the engine and the steering wheel was almost impossible to control, veering side to side as if I had a few too many to drink but I still held on.
As I said before nothing will get in my way, not even these law abiding cops who didn't learn when to quit.
There was a voice of the cop in the magnaphone. "Pull over or we will shoot."
I didn't obey, I didn't stop or slow down. I had to get there and soon because if I don't kill us, Chloe will if I don't bring the twins home safe and sound, I wouldn't stop her either.
The windows shook against their panes dating to shatter but stayed in place.
Gunshots were being fired behind us and closer they got to the car, a bullet hit the rear back shield and right between our heads, we both leaned in opposite directions and I stepped on the gas even harder.
More and more bullets were sprayed into the back of the car and I can sense the tension of Jason beside me.
"They won't follow us once we get to the neighborhood." I say to calm his nerves. "That's why they are firing their guns now to scare us into stopping."
I noticed a side road and veered left with the tired screeching.
I looked back but I couldn't see anything but black cloud of smoke from the exhaust pipe bellowing into the rear back shield.
"Relax, we are almost there." I say loudly over the wind whistling in my ears.
"Where exactly, all I see are sketchy buildings and abandoned houses." He replies sarcastically.
"Look behind us the cops didn't follow us out here, this is basically a no man's land especially when it comes to my grandmother's property." I nodded back towards the barely lit road behind us.
He turned his head and noticed I was right.
"Alright, aside from the cops, don't you think it's odd as to how easy it was to get on her property, if she really did have the twins?" He asked suspiciously.
I began to slow down and cruised through the street as if we were on patrol. "Yeah, it is strange."
Most of the abandoned buildings are homes of our retired gang members, our motto is 'always protect our own'.
So, where is everyone?
The engine was nearly destroyed and it was making a clacking sound with every movement.
"The car isn't going to last much longer, especially if a bullet hits the gas tank." Jason says as I pull over to the curb to the right, in front of an old clock shop.
"We are going to have to walk the rest of the way." I say, putting the car into park.
"I don't know man, this whole thing feels like a trap." Jason's hand hesitated on the car door handle.
"We don't have a choice, this thing could blow up and I would rather not be in the car when it happens." I say opening the glove box, looking for my pack of cigarettes and instead found a Glock that was hidden in the back.
I pulled it out and stared at it, it wasn't what I was looking for, so my surprise to pull it out was genuine.
"It was the gun that we killed that crazy bitch with, Chloe thought it would be dangerous if we just threw it away." He says and hurries out of the car.
I shook my head but was proud to know she was smart for her own devices, and that alone frightened me a little.
I finally grabbed the package of cigarettes and turned off the car and got out, sliding the clock across the roof to him, he caught it with a look of confusion. "Better safe than sorry. Now you can really show me what you got."
He placed it in his jacket pocket and we walked onto the vacant sidewalk, he followed securely behind me, he had my back and I had his.
Lucey's voice snuck into my head. "You're not going to make it in time."
"Shut up, you're not real." I say under my breath.
"What?" Jason asked behind me.
"Nothing, it's nothing." I say more to myself than to him.
Her presence is just a hallucination. "If I was only a hallucination why are you replying?"
I put my hand on the butt of my gun as I answered back inside my head. 'Because I'm crazy.'
I thought maybe if I hit my head hard enough in that car crash she would have disappeared. "Oh I'll never disappear, you're stuck with me, for good."
My jaw flexed in irritation at the hallucinations, but never replied.
A hand on my shoulder pulled me back and Jason made the signal for me to stay quiet and pointed around the corner, two men were speaking.
"How long are we going to be waiting here for?" One asked.
"Until he shows up or we get called back." The other replied.
"It's already been three hours and I haven't heard a car yet." The first one complained again, and I already knew who they were waiting for.
"Stop complaining, Freddie, no wonder no one wants to work with you, you complain way too much." The other says.
I dared to look around the corner, both had their backs turned away from us, and I turned back to Jason.
"We need to do this quietly, you take the smaller one, I'll take the bigger one, all we need to do is to put them out, no killing this time." I whispered and he nodded in agreement.
I took another look and they were still facing the other way, we snuck carefully behind them and wrapped an arm around their necks at the same time.
They struggled for a few moments until they finally passed out. We leaned them against the storefront wall, and quickly walked through the side street.