Dance Moms - Chlobird

Chapter 18 : Company

There were no calls, and Chloe wondered how Brooke was doing. She didn't like the idea of the girl sleeping outside again, especially not in this cold, and the way they parted in that awkward feeling bothers her.

Again she had to remind herself how people choosing their lifestyles was not her business. She asked for a quiet life, by doing so she must stay away from trouble, so everyone around her can be safe too.

But trouble just keeps coming to me! She grunted at the rear view mirror.

The pair of headlights has been following every turn she made, so her instinct kicked in, gently applied her foot to the brake pedal, forcing the vehicle to overtake, but instead it backed into a distance.

At the intersection she made a left turn, from the mirror she saw the vehicle stopped at the crossing, with its front wheels slightly over the line. Chloe knew this tactic, its position offers a direct view for the driver to keep track of her, yet not breaking traffic laws to attract attention.

To confirm her intuition, Chloe made a right turn, now running parallel to the main road. She pulled into a gas station, parked her car and exited.

She went inside the store and bought a bag of zip-ties and a wire cutter, paid at the cashier and asked for the key to the restroom.

She carried the key out of the store and entered the lady's room few doors down. From the reflection on the shop window she spotted a brown sedan slowly crawling up around the corner.

The restroom was stinky and dirty, like all public restrooms. She found a narrow window in the last cubicle, big enough for ventilation, too small for an adult to crawl through, but not for a girl.

She lowered the toilet cover and stepped on top, pushed the window fully open, and squeezed herself through the narrow space.

Coming out on the other side was a fenced-up storage area, stacked with pallets, dumpsters, and other items that can withstand the weather. Chloe climbed on top of a big dumpster, over the fence and landed on the street again.

She snuck up the brown sedan from behind, emptied the bag of zip-ties, wrapped the plastic bag over the exhaust pipe, sealing it with a strap. She pulled out another strap, inserted an inch of tail through the locking head, forming one big loop.

Tailing was a two-person job, with the driver staying in his seat, strapped to the seatbelt, ready to start the car at a moment's notice. For comfort reasons, this driver would carry his weapon underarm instead of at the hip, limiting his access for a fast draw.

But that doesn't matter, because shooting is the spotter's job, he will keep his weapon within reach. His job is to get ready to exit the car and handle situations in close proximity. And right now both members were keeping their eyes on the restroom door, in the direction to their left.

First the spotter thought he saw something fly past his eyes, like a blurry bug, but instantly he felt his windpipe shut down. In panic, he grabbed his neck with both hands, desperately trying to locate whatever was strangling him, but instead his fingers grabbed nothing but his own flesh. The zip-tie was digging deep into his skin, and there was no way his fingers could slip behind the plastic loop.

The driver reacted too late. One moment he was looking over to the restroom, next his partner was struggling for air. He quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, pulled out a penknife from his jacket pocket, one hand keeping his partner still, the other hand trying not to cut an artery, too occupied to notice a figure rolled across the hood.

Another strap came in from the driver side window, looped over his head like a lasso, pulling out so hard his head struck the window frame. In panic he dropped his penknife and fought with both hands, but another tuck on the strap secured his neck to the grab handle.

"Who sent you?" Chloe asked to his ear.

"You don't know who you're messing with. Young lady!" the driver choked out his word.

"I heard that one before. It didn't end well." Chloe twisted the zip-tie, cutting the strap deeper into his throat. "Aldama or Harish?"

"Al... Aldama... and this is only the beginning!" the driver fought for his pride.

Chloe reached under the driver's jacket, pulled out his gun and disassembled it with one hand. She went to the passenger side, found the spotter's gun and did the same, scattered the parts over the street. After checking there were no more weapons in the glove compartment, she pulled out the wire cutter and broke the zip-tie around the spotter's neck.

"Tell your boss that I have no interest in his business. Tell him to leave me alone!" Chloe tossed the cutter into the dark of his feet and ran away.

Still dazed from the suffocation, the spotter hurried to find the wire cutter, it was kicking between his feet, and had put on a struggle to locate it.

The driver was at the point of blacking out when he finally caught his breath, and faintly heard his partner screaming at his face, telling him to start the car.

Watching their target get back into the white Ford, the driver started the car and stomped on gas, but the engine died instantly. He tried it again, repeating the process, but the engine would not run. The plastic bag on the pipe was keeping the exhaust gas from expel, unable the piston to perform its second intake, stalling the engine each time it starts.

With all eyes watching the white Ford speed away into the night, the two fell into complete silence, thinking how to report their failure.