The Getaway

           The door was waiting for him. Already open for a quick entrance into the inconspicuous car. Tony ran as fast as he could, chucking the duffle bags full of money into the back as he more or less dove into the passenger seat.

       “Drive!” Tony screamed at Jackie, “Drive, goddamn it- drive!”

       Jackie Scaletta did not need to be told. Before Tony had even entered the vehicle, he had popped the clutch into DRIVE. Before the passenger door was even closed he tore down the road like a bat out of hell.

       Tires screeched like a woman getting murdered as the unnoticeable but powerful car growled down Lexington Street. A traffic light had just turned red as the car ran through it, narrowly avoiding collision with an expensive luxury vehicle.

       The driver honked loudly, laying on the horn in shock in frustration but neither Jackie nor Tony D’Amato gave it much notice. They were too fixed on the wailing of police car sirens already going off in the distance. Coming after them.

       “We did it, Jackie!” Tony screamed more than said, “We just robbed Lexington Bank, the cream of the crop! We are gold, my friend.”

       Jackie only nodded in reply. He was too busy focusing on the road, maneuvering cars, hopping onto the sidewalk and the wrong side of the roads to say anything. Tony was shaking and excited as a child who had just scored the game-winning touchdown in a Peewee football game, but Jackie was calm and collected. A professional getaway driver if there ever was one.

       “just a little bit further we’ll be over state lines- then after that, on our way to Mexico to live like kings, Jackie. We did- whoah look out!”

       A wall of police cruisers was creating a blockade to the entrance of the interstate. Tony grew nervous immediately, visions of himself and Jackie being torn up by a barrage of Tommy Gun fire flashed through his mind. Torn apart by bullets as they did to Bonnie and Clyde. However, Jackie had prepared for this. He knew what to do.

       “Hold onto something,” Jackie said with the coolness of an ice-cold killer. His face was determined, his eyes focused.

       “Hold on?” Tony shouted. “Hold onto wha-“

       He reacted just in time as Jackie popped the wheels on the shoulder of the entrance, scraping the passenger side of the car against the cement barriers that blocked cars from falling down the steep hill.

       “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Tony shouted. Sparks flew like crazy fireworks off his side of the vehicle, he noticed with wide eyes.

       The getaway car had attacked the weak spot of the barricade. Cops dove out of the way in fear as the driver side of the car clipped a police cruiser in the rear bumper, the collision was hard enough to knock the law enforcement car on its side. Gunshots fired harmlessly as the getaway car merged with the interstate traffic. The road to freedom.

       “We made it! Holy shit, Jackie, you old sonuvabitch! We made it!” Tony hollered. He was shaking in excitement and fear. A bit of shock had also clouded his mind- he vomited quickly but violently out the window.

       “Calm, down, paisan,” Jackie said calmly, “we aren’t free yet. Look behind us.”

       Tony swore when he turned his head to see black and white cop cars following behind. Traffic had pulled over to the sides of the road to allow a path for the police to drive through. Tony had visions of Moses parting the Red Sea upon seeing this.

       “What do we do?” Tony asked horrified again.

       “You let me do my job,” Jackie told his childhood friend calmly. “You did your part, now it’s my time to shine.” He gunned the accelerator once again, the engine of the car growled like a lion on the attack, except they were the antelope and the police the lions. The rear windshield imploded with a sharp snap! as glass fell to the floor of the car.

       “They’re shooting at us!” Tony yelped, another bullet hit the metal of the car’s exterior with a loud knocking sound.

       “Well,” Jackie told Tony like a father teaching his son a lesson, “fire back.”

       Tony reached between his legs for the weapon. A Thompson Machine gun with a 50 round drum loaded. He racked the first shot into the chamber, aimed intently at the leading cop car, and squeezed the trigger.

       The gun went off, sounding like a barrage of drums, vibrating off the walls. The car Tony had been aiming at lost control and collided with a semi-truck that was pulled over. One down, how many more to go? Tony asked himself in his mind.

       “Good job,” Jackie said calmly, still focusing on winding through the traffic on the highway, most drivers had gotten the message and pulled off where they could, but a few stubborn ones kept on going like nothing was happening. Great, now we have a cop murder to add to our list, Jackie’s mind told him. He shook his head to clear the thought away.

       The car stank of burnt gunpowder and a ringing accompanied the ears of both men as Tony loaded another drum into the rifle.

       “Don’t shoot unless they shoot first,” Jackie spoke, “Or if they get too close, even still, try aiming for the tires.”

       “Don’t worry, I don’t intend on killing anybody unless I have to,” Tony replied. Jackie was thankful for this sentence from his friend. They weren’t murderers. There was no one else Jackie would aid robbing a bank with.”

       A bullet shattered a small hole in the windshield. It narrowly missed Jackie’s throat. His blood went cold as he felt the ripple of air pass by his skin. A second one ripped another spot through the windshield- this one hitting its mark.

       “Fuck,” Tony yelped, throwing his right hand onto his left arm. Blood stained his fingers. Another barricade stood ahead- this one three rows deep with paddy wagons and cruisers blocking the interstate.

       “Tony!” Jackie shouted, momentarily taking his eyes off the path to look at his friend, “Are you okay?”

       “Yeah,” Tony spoke through gritted teeth. “Just took some muscle and skin- missed the bone.”

       “I need you to lay some covering fire when I say,” Jackie told him.

       “What are we gonna do, buddy?” Tony asked, his pain was- at the moment- dulled by the fear that their escape had come to an end. No Mexico. The bullet would have to be extracted from his arm.

       “Just wait,” Jackie replied, his voice getting lower and lower as he repeated, “Wait. Wait. Wait… Okay, now! Fire!” Jackie screamed, Tony leaned out the window and sprayed a barrage of bullets out of the end of the machine gun- aiming over the cops’ heads.

       It was enough to scare the uniformed men to duck behind their vehicles as Jackie screamed the car over the grassy area between the lanes of the interstate, straightening on the wrong side as family cruisers and semi-trucks came dangerously close to head-on collisions with them. He rolled back onto the right side of the road once they had cleared the barricade, passing a sign that happily welcomed the two into the next state.

       “We made it!” Tony shouted, “Holy Christ, Jackie! You did it we are clear! Bravo paisano!”

       They had made it into the next state. Tomorrow morning, they would ditch the vehicle and get into another one to make the drive into Mexico. They were not safe yet. There was still the worry of a nation-wide manhunt or getting stopped at the border, but for now, Jackie Scaletta and Tony D’Amato were safe. They continued down the interstate.