Crimewave

by Sean May

"You're not going to use--"

  "I said don't worry about it."

  Ty felt feverish now, his head dizzy in the situation. Now that there was a gun involved, things were serious. This was real crime now, there was a good chance somebody was going to get hurt. He felt a lump grow in his throat, but he shoved it down and stuck to the task at hand.

  The guy walked down Bleecker for a few more blocks, passing NYU, finally turning onto Thompson street. The crowds thinned out more and more as they got further away from the station.

  "Right there, that's where we'll do it." Quan said, pointing to a parking garage about halfway down the block. It was an automated parking garage, so there wouldn't be an attendant to see what was going on. "Stand behind him, I'll go around the side."

  Ty closed in on the guy as Quan sped up, almost breaking into a jog as he caught up with him. Ty saw him pull up his shirt and pull the pistol out. Ty's heart raced for a second as he thought about people seeing Quan with the gun, but then he saw that nobody was on the block close enough to see anything. Quan turned on a dime and shoved his hand out with the gun, sticking the gun into his ribs. Ty saw the guy jerk his head to the side at the sudden pressure, not initially realizing what was being done to him.

  "I don't know how much English you speak, motherfucker, but I think this gun says the same thing in every language."

  The Chinese guy turned around, trying to get away from Quan...to get away from the gun, really, but he was met by Ty giving him his best scowl. He began talking, mostly to himself since neither of them understood Chinese. He tried to find a way out, but he was pinned in by Quan and Ty, unable to escape.

  This whole thing was making Ty feel both giddy and sick at the same time. He'd never been involved in something like this before, something this serious. It was too late for him to back out at this point, so he was determined to see it through. Still, it didn't make him feel any better.

  Quan pushed the Chinese guy, who was still gibbering, toward the dark parking garage. The garage was sparsely populated, not many cars, which Ty was fine with. Quan kept shoving the guy until he was in a corner of the parking garage, between a concrete wall and a big black van that had a boot on the front driver's side tire.

  "The computers, bitch. Come on, drop 'em" Quan rattled the gun, but the Chinese guy just kept talking. Quan clicked back the slide on the gun and chambered a round. He put the gun to the side of the guy's head. Ty didn't know if Quan had any intent to use the gun, but if he did the echoes inside the parking garage would be as loud as fuck, bringing the cops down on them quick.

  Ty wanted to help the guy out, he really did, he wanted to just tell him to just drop the bags and they'll be on their way, but it was obvious that the guy didn't speak a word of English. Ty approached him and poked at a bag, then pointed toward the ground. The guy didn't seem to understand. Ty did it again, and the guy got the point. He took the three bags into his left hand, all under the close watch of Quan's gun, and put them on the ground. Ty grabbed them and slid them across the ground so the guy couldn't make a last minute grab for them, a grab that would result with a bullet in the guy's head

  "Quan, come on, let's go." Ty said, gathering up the computers.

  "You know I've never seen a gun go off in real life."

  "Quan, man what the fuck are you thinking about right now?"

  "Don't know man...I just wonder what it would be like."

  Ty thought about bolting right then and there just to get away from whatever Quan was planning. Fuck the computers, he wanted to make it out of this alive.

  "Freeze! drop the gun right now!" A voice screamed from twenty feet away. the officer's voice boomed against the walls, startling Ty more than any gunshot could have. Ty turned around to see the stocky cop, gun drawn, pointing it right at Quan. The Chinese guy's expression went lax but with a gun still to his head he wasn't out of the woods yet, not even close.

  Quan looked back at the cop and smiled. He let the gun dangle from his finger as he turned around.

  "Put the fucking gun on the ground right now!" the cop bellowed. Quan complied with that as well. His cousin's gun clacked against the floor, ruining the matte black finish.

  The cop began a slow walk over to Quan and Ty, his handcuffs rattling with every step.

  Quan glanced over at Ty and whispered "You ready?"

  "For what?"

  "To get out of here."

  "He's gonna shoot us if we run, man."

  "Look how much of a fatass that guy is. No way he can keep up with us." Quan was right...the guy was a fucking tub. Just the short walk over to them seemed to get him winded.

  "I don't think it's a good idea man..."

  "You can stay, but I'm outta here."

  Ty thought about it, running or staying here and getting arrested. Of course there was a good chance he'd get arrested if he ran, but at least there was a chance of him getting out of the situation before his mom would have to come down to the station, head hung low, to bail her son out.

  Ty looked over at Quan and Quan nodded. The cop was still five steps away. Ty looked over to the wall of the parking garage. There was a slit, about four feet off the ground and just wide enough for Ty to get through along with the computers, and best of all the cop wouldn't have a chance squeezing himself between the foot-thick concrete slabs that formed the walls.

  "OK. Run for the wall and jump." Ty said. Quan tilted his head and saw what he was talking about.

  Both of the boys made a break for it at the exact same moment. The cop didn't even have time to react before Quan and Ty were both turned around and heading toward the wall, the booted van providing them cover if the cop shot. Quan made the jump first and cleared the wall with ease. Ty, still loaded down with the computers, took a little bit longer. They were both out of the garage before the cop was done yelling.

  They tore their way down Bleecker toward the nearest subway station. They got a block before they heard the siren on the cop's car wailing, coming closer to them. Ty's chest was exploding every time he took a breath, a combination of his exertion and the pure adrenaline of outrunning a cop. The siren got closer, closer, closer.

  "He's gonna get us before we get to the subway, Quan, we need to do something."

  Quan pointed to a chain link fence spanning the distance between two buildings. It was about ten feet wide by eight feet high.

  "We'll cut through there, just need to jump the fence and we're home free...there's a sub stop half a block if we can cut through."

  Quan and Ty tried to run up the fence, but it was too tall for them to do it on their own.

  "C'mon man, toss the computers over and give me a boost." Ty's heart was racing, the siren getting dangerously close at this point. He took all three bags and flung them over the fence, all of them landing softly in a dumpster on the other side. Ty cupped his hands and Quan stepped into them. Quan jumped and reached the top of the fence with Ty's help.

  Quan rolled his way over the fence, dropping down safely on his feet. Ty looked up, tried to figure out how this was going to work.

  "Quan...how are we...?"

  Quan smiled and walked away without looking back. He reached into the dumpster and pulled out the computers. "Thanks man, for everything." he said, and walked down the street on his own.

  Ty heard the siren stop ten feet away from him. He heard a car door open and he heard the safety of a handgun click.