Bruno waited a moment as Gunz quickly opened one of the gates.
As the vehicle came up to the exit, Bruno nodded to his brother who closed the gate behind him. For a few minutes, he waited out of sight just up the street while Gunz kicked on the power again. Then, when he saw the lights come on, he eased the car forward and watched the fence where they’d come in until he saw Gunz climbing over.
For just a heartbeat, Bruno’s fingers tightened around the soft leather of the wheel and a ghost of a smile washed over his lips. No witnesses. No evidence. No conviction. Bruno reeled off his brother’s mantra in his mind as Gunz approached the car.
This was the fifteenth or sixteenth time Bruno and his older brother had done this, and the setup was perfect. Flawless. They were like a well-oiled machine when they tag teamed. No frills. No mess. On the average run, they could jack six cars. And that could bring them three thousand dollars a night, cash in hand.
Too good to be true? Too good to last, Bruno often wondered. Still, he tried not to think about it, knowing that he wouldn’t be stealing cars forever. He’d move up the ranks soon enough. Time would take care of that.
When his partner got close, Bruno leaned over and pushed open the passenger door.
Gunz leaped inside then slammed the door shut.
Jamming the wheel right, Bruno burned rubber leaving the place towards the highway. As they stormed onto the main road, Bruno floored it. He laughed triumphantly. The job may have been mind-numbingly easy, but the thrill in his veins never died. He loved it, but not everyone around him did. His father had warned him of this destructive streak. Told him, ‘once organized crime gets into your bones, it doesn’t get out again. You change on a cellular level until you need it like your blood needs oxygen.’ And he was right. In spite of that, Bruno knew that walking on the cutting edge of a knife was what he did best. So, what in the world was wrong with playing to your strengths? Besides, was there really any straight and narrow path out there for the son of a mob boss? Of course not. It was in his DNA as much as it was in his father’s.
As the beast roared down the highway, it sent the cool night air jet streaming into the car through the smashed out window.
Gunz swore. “Bruno! You fucked up the window. AGAIN.”
Bruno glanced over at him.
“Leave it to you to break the window when you got the tools and skills you need to pick a goddamn lock!” Gunz grumbled.
“Yep. Any lock in less than ten seconds flat. But where’s the fun in that?” Bruno scoffed. “Picking locks is for pussies!” He glanced at his brother again, a grin curling on his lips beneath his black balaclava.
Gunz barked a laugh. “HA! Well, I like to keep things a little more subtle. I’d rather keep my ass out of jail, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“AND I wouldn’t mind not losing a few hundred on each job every time you do that,” Gunz retorted.
Bruno made no reply, eyes narrowing on the clear road runway of tarmac ahead. Closing his foot down on the accelerator, he watched the speedometer climb past eighty miles per hour.
“Lighten up, bro. We’ve done this enough times before,” Bruno said finally. Relaxing his shoulders, he switched on the car audio. It was as simple as breathing to him as he sped away to the beat ofAfrica, Totosinging from the cassette player, oblivious to the unmarked Lancia pulling out of the shadows of the layby.
Suddenly, a double shaft of light pierced the darkness from the right, slashing into Gunz’s eyes. Out of nowhere, a lone police car peeled up on their path.
Gunz nudged Bruno, anxiously scrubbing his face with his hand. “Shit. We’ve got company.”
Bruno punched off the radio. “What do those fucking ass wipes want?” He growled from behind the wheel.
“Hmmm, let me take a wild motherfucking guess. How about... maybe they heard the music you shouldn’t have been playing through the busted window you shouldn’t have broke! How about they saw the busted window and wanna know how the fuck that happened. That settle your curiosity?” Gunz sneered.
“Quiet! I’ve got this,” said Bruno. Abruptly turning off into an unlit side road, he checked the rear view to see how much distance he had between him and them.
Gunz growled. Removing his holster, he tossed it out the window, then snatched Bruno’s .22 calibre pistol from his belt and chucked that too.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Bruno barked, turning again and doubling back on himself.
“It’s dark out fool! They didn’t see me throw them.”
“I didn’t ask you to throw my gun, I asked you to shut up,” Bruno gritted, mounting the pavement as he veered left this time back onto the main road in the opposite direction.
“Motherfucker! Ahh! Shit!!” Gunz yelled as he was thrown about.
“Shit.” Through the rear window, Bruno saw the car gaining on them in hot pursuit.
Quickly, he shifted into high gear and sped onto a diverging road away to safety.
