Vito

8 - Greeting

"We're being followed."

I was half asleep as William drove back to the casino. He offered to drive, saying I could use the rest and I had no complaints. It seemed that life had taken this moment with my guard down to remind me I didn't have that privilege.

I sat up with a heavy sigh. "Tinted windows?" I asked to which William nodded. "Car or van?" 

"Van."

Immediately I had wondered if it was the mayor but setting up spies at the casino seemed more his route, the vans all but confirmed it as I risked a glance in the mirror. Those didn't seem like the type of vans that populated the area, something about them just seemed foreign.

"We can't lead them back to the casino and we can't stop. The moment we stop judging by their consistent distance, they've been trained to trap us onto the sidewalk and then probably open fire."

"So we're gonna have to directly confront them, huh?" I asked rhetorically, digging in the backseat and producing two machine guns. I sat one on William's lap and cocked mine. "We don't know how much they are in the van so we shouldn't face them head-on." I said, dialing a number on my phone quickly. 

"Send backup at the Theatre Drive Bridge." I said into the phone before quickly pressing it out. It was unlikely but I couldn't take the chance our assailants were tapping our phones and would find out where our backup would come from if I stayed on it long.

William made a calm right in order to change his route to the bridge, keeping track of our tails with his eyes. "How do you want to play this?"

"Stop suddenly in the middle of the bridge and reverse, if they reverse back in response force them right off the bridge then swing the car sideways and we use it as cover in a shootout while we tell our backup to come from behind them." It was the best plan I could think of at the moment and would have to do.

William's eyes never left the mirror. "And if they don't reverse and take the hit?"

I stared at him with what I hoped came across as more confidence than I was feeling. "We improvise."

William nodded and I imagined he was forcing the calm much like me.

The calm before the storm.

Eventually we reached the bridge and William seemed as calm as ever as he turned on to it. If I doubted the man's experiences before it all went away behind the seasoned poise he now exhibited. 

With a sudden thrust he slammed on the brakes and in one fluid motion started back reversing. The car behind us was keeping a measurable distance so they had time to make a choice. I stared in shock as they actually sped up to meet our reverse, the two cars rushing towards each other like a magnet and metal.

"Brace yourself!" William shouted as he too sped up. 

I ducked and covered my head as impact was made. I felt the car get crushed as their bumper collided with our rear. Had the seatbelt not been reinforced I would've gone flying, even with a normal seatbelt. Instead, I felt choked as the seatbelt pushed back against my forward force, fixing me in place as chaos ensued around me. 

For a moment it was as if my hearing had been turned off and I was in my own warped bubble, glass flying around me noiselessly. Suddenly there was a pop and my hearing came back with a rush all at once. The sound of glass shattering, men yelling and the car groaning attacked my ear drums causing my heart to pound with adrenaline.

My shoulder felt especially irritated where the seatbelt had been most tight. I didn't dare attempt to move except to unbuckle the seatbelt as the sound of men yelling came closer. I gripped the machine gun, silently praying I would be able to lift it in my current state.