Another shot rings out.
Glass splinters somewhere behind me.
“Idiots,” I mutter, adrenaline flooding my veins.
They picked the wrong man to chase.
I slam the accelerator to the floor. The engine roars as the car launches forward, tires screaming against the asphalt. In the mirror, the sedan barrels after me, headlights cutting through the dark.
Another muzzle flash. Another shot.
I veer sharply around a corner, forcing them to overshoot, then cut the wheel again, threading through the empty street with practiced precision. Years of running dangerous routes through darker cities kick in without thought.
They’re trying to box me in.
Not happening.
I blow through an intersection just as the light flips red, horns screaming behind me as I shoot across the cross traffic. The sedan barely makes it through, skidding sideways to stay on my tail.
Good, keep chasing.
Keep your attention on me.
Another flash from their window.
BANG.
The bullet punches through my rear window, glass exploding inward. I duck instinctively, wrenching the wheel left and sliding around the corner onto a narrower street.
My tires scream across the pavement.
They follow.
“Stubborn bastards,” I mutter, shifting gears and gunning the engine again.
I know these streets better than they do. Years of running shipments through the city and avoiding cops and rival crews, taught me every shortcut and choke point in Manhattan.
I accelerate down a long stretch, letting them think they’re gaining. Then I slam the brakes and whip the car sideways into a tight alley barely wider than the vehicle.
Their sedan overshoots the entrance by ten feet before correcting.
Too slow.
I shoot through the alley, clipping garbage cans and sending them scattering like bowling pins. The alley spits me out onto the next avenue. I cut hard right, merge into traffic, and disappear into a cluster of taxis.
For three seconds I think I’ve lost them.
Then the sedan bursts through the intersection behind me, nearly clipping a delivery truck.
Fuck, they’re persistent.
I pull onto the elevated roadway that runs along the river. Fewer cars here. Long stretches of open asphalt.
It’s a bad place for them to try shooting again.
Or a good place for me to end it.
The sedan closes the distance again.
