THE HUNT

The mission was supposed to be a breeze. Our target was a neighborhood bank. We chose it because it had just enough cash to meet our needs and little protection by the way of security.

We didn’t choose to rob a small bank because we were petty robbers, the kind you see on crime shows on TV, pointing guns at gas-station cashiers and demanding for the few bills in the till, no. We were already handling big jobs at that point, jobs that involved powerful cartels and government agencies across the globe. 

So why were we robbing a neighborhood bank? We’d blown through our budget in the middle of a mission and rather than supply us with more cash, our employers told us to get creative.

According to our gang member who handled intelligence – I’ll call him W – the bank had just enough money in its vault for us to finish the mission, he was right. W also said it was off the grid and so the police would take a while to get there if an alarm went off, he was wrong.

An overzealous cashier triggered the silent alarm, and unfortunately for us, I scattered her brain on the wall too late to stop the police from surrounding us.

***

The police arrived much earlier than we anticipated. They surrounded the building and announced their presence to us over a loudspeaker. They told us surrendering ourselves was the only way to make it out alive. 

We weren’t planning on surrendering, and we were determined to make it out alive.

***

The police figured out that there was a vent in the bank that linked the underground parking lot of the building, they believed we would try to make an escape through it, so they stationed some of their operatives there.

I led the way out of the vent.

Before I landed on the ground and took cover, bullets were already being fired in my direction. I ducked as quickly as I could and took cover behind a car. I launched some smoke canisters in the direction of the police to create a smokescreen that would allow my gang exit the vent unseen.

“We’re taking fire! Any plans?” I shouted into my walkie-talkie. 

“I’m trying to figure something out!” W replied, he sounded rattled. That was bad. He made bad judgments whenever he was anxious. We’d have to figure a way out ourselves.

“Anything?” J asked, referring to my conversation with W. I shook my head. 

“We’ll have to rough it out. Each of you,” I turned to the others, the entire team was taking cover between two cars parked side by side. “Pick a car and move towards it! First, we’ll lose some of this heat!”

We fired at the police and took out enough of them to get ourselves an opening. Once the opportunity came, no one needed ask any further questions, we knew what we were to do next. Each of us took two garbage bags full of money and headed in different directions, every man was responsible for himself from that point.

I picked the closest sport car to me and broke the window to gain access to the vehicle. Once I had the engine running, I reversed out of the parking space and floored the throttle.

The gunshots attracted more police officers to the car-park, they gathered around the entrance to block our escape. As I raced towards them, they decorated the body of my car with bullets. By the time I sped out of the car-park and hit the street, the windshield of my car was broken and smoke was issuing from the bonnet.

I would have to find another car soon. 

I turned left and sped down the road, away from a roadblock the police had mounted on the street. They were taking the robbery more seriously W predicted they would. As I drove down to the end of the street, I started to worry that they were leading us into a trap. Why had they blocked just one part of the road and left the other open? I don’t know if any of my gang members was thinking along the same lines, but I was determined to disappoint the cops. They wouldn’t take me down easily.

Rather than take a left or right turn, I powered ahead and crossed the sidewalk onto the lawn in-between two mixed-use buildings, narrowly missing a tree. The car began to glide sideways on the grass but I kept control of the steering and made it across to the safety of the street on the other side, then I turned left and sped down the road. 

We had scouted this area for a week before we launched the attack on the bank, on my way home on the first day of scouting, I’d taken the wrong turn and ended up on a route that led out of town. That mistake would now come in handy.

I weaved through traffic as best as I could. The road was unusually busy, so I had to keep my eyes locked on the road.

When I turned to take the route that would lead me out of town, I discovered a police roadblock on the far end of the road. Police officers in the middle of the street were directing drivers to turn their cars around. I slowed the car down and tried to act normal, hoping they would not recognize my car, but I noticed a few of them had a keen interest in my car. When one of them stepped forward and reached for his gun, I knew I had been made.

The road leading back in the direction I came from was congested with cars, so I had to find another way. I noticed the entrance to a car park, and with a quick glance at the GPS, I realized there was a way out on the other side. The only problem was that I’d have to get past the approaching officers to get to the entrance of the car-park.

I took a deep breath, picked my semi-automatic rifle, and began to shoot sporadically at the policemen as I guided the car in their direction and charged down the street. I sped past them while they took cover but they didn’t let me go unbruised. As my car sped past them, they fired at me, smashing all of the windows that were left. The fresh spray of bullets darkened the fumes issuing from the bonnet. I would have to find another car in the car-park and I would have to do it fast.

As soon as I entered the car-park, I began the search for a fresh car. A white coupe parked very close to the exit on the other side of the car-park caught my eye.

I parked my car beside the coupe and alighted from the vehicle with my bags of cash. I wiped my sweaty hands and wiped the sweat forming on my forehead before I ran to the coupe and tried the doors, they were locked. I slammed my semi-automatic into the window and opened the driver-side door from the inside. It only took a few seconds to get the car started, and then I was on my way.

When I exited the park, I drove slowly to blend-in with other cars. I was about to heave a sigh of relief when I heard police sirens blaring behind me, and when I checked my rearview mirror, I saw three cop cars approaching my position from the other lane. The policeman in the passenger seat of the car leading the pack watched my car as he tried to determine they had the right vehicle. If I stayed in place, they might not have recognized me, but if they did, I’d be trapped with no way to escape.

I broke out of the line of cars waiting on the traffic light. As soon as I did, the policeman opened fire on my car. I floored the throttle and sped past the traffic light and then made a left turn towards the bridge that would lead me out of town. 

While the police were still hot on my heels, I was starting to think all I’d have to do to escape was to keep expanding the safe distance between us, but it was not to be.

As I approached the bridge, a police car sped out of a side-street and rear-ended my coupe. The car started to spin – just what the policeman behind the wheel intended – and I struggled to keep it in control. I managed to keep the vehicle right side up, but I had now spun a hundred and eighty degrees. For a brief moment, time froze and I locked eyes with the police in the car closest to me. 

A policewoman was alighting from her vehicle, gun at the ready, when I floored the throttle. The tires screeched as the coupe began to reverse on full speed. The policewoman opened fire, but I was out of her range.

Police cars came at me from every direction, and each one of them had an officer aiming at my vehicle and shooting whenever they got a clear shot. As thick, dark smoke began to issue from the bonnet, I wondered how I would find a new vehicle with all the cars chasing after me. I could only hope the coupe would hold out long enough for me to get to my safe-house.

After I exited the bridge and started down the expressway, it seemed like I had the entire police force on my tail. Had they given up chasing my other accomplices and determined I was the person of most interest in the case? Did they know I shot the cashier? Was that why it seemed all police cars in the city were on my tail? Or were they just trying to punish me for disrupting their donut break? I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t care to know. I had a destination in mind and I was determined to get there in one piece.

The world around me started to blur as I pushed the car to its limits. I zoomed past an overhead bridge and smiled as I felt an adrenaline rush. The police cars behind me were starting to disappear as the gap between us widened. My smile turned to a grin as I watched them in the rear-view mirror. I was on my way to freedom.

Or so I thought.

I was still watching the rearview mirror when I felt something slam into the right side of my car. As the car spun out of control, I tried to keep it balanced. I had no problem with it spinning, but if the car tumbled, it would be a big problem. The car lost its balance and tumbled onto its side violently. I watched helplessly as the car rolled multiple times before settling on its back. The smoke from the bonnet thickened and my eyes widened as I watched petrol leak from it.

I felt a chill in my bones. I had to get out of the car.

I scrambled around as I tried to free myself from the car. The car would be on fire in a few seconds and I didn’t want to be anywhere near it when that happened. Once freed, I crawled out through window, bloodied and wounded. I looked around me and it was then I realized that a police car had exited from the overhead bridge just in time to ram into my car.

No time for lamenting now.

I looked around for another vehicle. Police cars had arrived the scene and a helicopter was flying overhead. I took cover behind the coupe as they all emptied their guns in my direction. The only way to get another car was to cross over to the express lane leading in the opposite direction I had been driving towards. Cars were zooming past, and although it was risky, it was my only way out of this mess. 

I was about to make a run for the other lane when some black jeeps arrived the scene and parked a short distance away from me. I thought about taking cover behind the concrete partition between me and them but I thought against it. I had to get as far away from the coupe as possible. 

When I charged towards the partition, I exposed myself to the bullets coming from both sides, they tore at me mercilessly. It was when I got to the other express lane that I realized the folly in my decision, the black jeeps were blocking traffic, so the cars I was hoping to choose from were lined up behind them.

When the coupe blew up, I took it as an opportunity to make a run for the cars behind the black jeep. I didn’t realize the cops were far enough from the explosion, so they were not distracted by it. They continued to fire at me with a variety of weapons.

I had hardly taken three steps when my knees buckled and I dropped to the ground. The bullets kept tearing at me even after I lay still. I saw myself pulling away from my body and ascending to the sky. I stared down at my lifeless body as my view blurred and then darkened.

“You’ve played this mission three times now,” my brother complained, “I told you to use the cheat-codes. You won’t finish this game without using cheat-codes. Even the pros use them!”

“Whatever!” I replied, rolling my eyeballs.

He returned his gaze to his mobile phone. “You’re just wasting time and energy playing this mission over and again. And you’re the Mr. Climate Change in this family! Stop wasting our electricity, bro! Use the cheat-codes.”

I exhaled. Repeating the same mission was becoming very frustrating.

My character reappeared on the TV, he was in-front of a hospital. 

I exhaled and pushed the joystick forward, and as my character broke into a run towards an exact replica of the white coupe, I whispered to myself, “Here we go again.”