He gave me a look before shifting his green eyes to the man with the gun, now closer to my head.
“They’re stuck.”
“She got this one down, fucker. Don’t play with me,” he snapped, moving in closer.
“That one isn’t stuck,” Ethan replied coldly.
“Oh, you’ve got jokes—”
“Wait…he looks familiar.” Another one of them bent over to try and look at Ethan. “Where you from, hombre? You ain’t 15th, so why do I know your face?”
“It’s a popular face,” Ethan replied.
“That’s it, funny guy. Get out of the car,” he demanded, pointing the gun at me. “I SAID, GET OUT OF THE CAR.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I’d rather not,” I replied before winding up my window.
“The fuck—Light their asses up.”
As they opened fire, I reached into the backseat, pulling out my duffle bag. “How many did you count?”
“Eleven,” Ethan said.
“There are twelve; the cashier is behind the car on your left,” I said, offering him the mask. “I call dibs on the one who pointed a gun at my head.”
“Let’s make this fast. I promised Gigi.”
“Yes, Boss.” I grinned before putting on my mask, adjusting it over my face. I grabbed my machete and handgun as he lifted the machine gun.
It took them a full round of ammo to realize they hadn’t put a dent in the old 1978 Jaguar, which had been refurbished with a bulletproof interior and exterior. They would need military-grade armor-piercing bullets to even start to make a real impact. When they finally stopped, Ethan popped the trunk. All of their heads turned as the dark smoke came pouring out, burning their eyes and choking the air they breathed, blocking out visibility.
“Three…. Two…”
“One,” I said, kicking open the door and firing first. The sound of my bullets sounded nothing like Ethans. I fired once into the gut of the man who was in front of me before taking my blade across his neck.
Knives were much more satisfying than bullets.
Ethan, didn’t give a shit today and fired like Tony Montana in Scarface. His bullets flew like a swarm, spraying everything and yet he still managed not to lose control and hit me. Managed chaos…that was Ethan.
I stepped close to the man now holding onto his bleeding neck, crouching down as he tried to gasp for air.
“Ow, hombre,” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “You know his face, ‘cause he owns this godforsaken city…and you cunts decided to knock with bullets this morning…you also ruined my day, just in case you were wondering.”
His eyes widened. “Cal…ala…call…”
“Yes. Callahan…you all ran away before we could answer the door, so we thought we’d come to you,” I said, lifting up my machete. “Surprise.”
5
“I cannot be a character in a bad movie
I can't be.”
~Robert McKee
CALLIOPE
I knew a lot about Ethan.