"Everybody down!”
The voice booms out loudly causing Micah and I to freeze outside. I know that voice, it belongs to Calvin. My breathing hitches inside my throat and I reconsider storming inside the coffee shop. From inside, I hear his voice again.
"Get down now! Do you want to die?”
I expect his voice to be full of venom and anger but instead, it's laced with desperation and urgency. It completely takes me by surprise and Micah quickly places a hand on my arm, pulling me out of the trance that I'm stuck in.
"Hunter, you need to make a decision. We either go in there now or we leave in the next ten seconds. If we're spotted, this entire thing crumbles to the ground.”
His words are enough for me to take action.
I push down the lump in my throat, squeezing my eyes shut for a brief second as I pray for the innocent civilians stuck inside. I hope no-ones hurt because the decision I'm about to make could cost them their life. I turn around and run back to the car, Micah directly behind me. My breathing is heavy and jagged as I slide in, slamming the door shut.
"I couldn't go in there.”
"You made the right decision.”
"This doesn't make sense!" I think out loud, confusion filling my mind. Micah pauses, his hands on the steering wheel as he turns towards me.
"What doesn’t?"
"Calvin sounded so . . . scared." I reveal, my eyes glued to the door of the coffee shop. I can see numerous members of the public stood outside, their phones glued to their ears, no doubt calling the police. Micah tenses besides me, his face flashing with anger.
"Scared? He just fired inside a coffee shop full of civilians!" He shoots back, his words blunt.
"You don't know that was him for sure." I argue back, narrowing my eyes at him.
"Gunshots went off and nobody entered after him Hunter! Why are you so blinded when it comes to Calvin Black? What does he hold over you?" Micah almost yells at me, his eyebrows creased together in frustration. I exhale deeply, forcing myself to remain calm and ignore the anger I'm feeling towards Micah right now.
"I'm just saying, it doesn't make sense!" I yell back, unable to diminish the anger bubbling away inside of me. In that moment, terrified screams can be heard coming from outside and I snap my head away from Micah. My entire body freezes and I feel my heart rate pick up pace, thumping wildly inside my chest.
Calvin Black has exited the coffee shop, a gun in his hands. Behind him is a man with his face covered by a mask, clutching a machine gun. He points it at the public, barking commands as he leads Calvin to the side of the coffee shop. The look of terror that flashes over Calvin's face confirms my suspicions, he doesn't want to do this.
"He's scared." I mutter, my legs itching to jump out and help him. I know I can't do that otherwise the entire mission will be gone. Destroyed.
"Is that Christopher Black?" I whisper to Micah who's taking picture after picture, his fingers twitching quickly against his camera.
"No, he doesn't match the profile. The height is completely off.”
"Who is that then?”
"I have no idea but we're going to follow them, strap in." Micah says firmly. I nod my head grimly, clipping in my seatbelt. Calvin disappears from view with the Masked Man and Micah instantly turns the key in the car, the engine roaring to life. The cur larches forward and police sirens fill the air outside, bouncing off the walls of every building.
"How did he get in? The guy in the mask?" I question, taking the camera from Micah's lap and snapping pictures of the coffee shop as we soar past it. A dark grey sedan suddenly screeches in front of us, tyres burning on the roads. Micah slams on the brake pedal and we both fly forward, taken by surprise. The sedan doesn't slow down at all and instead speeds up, desperate to get away from the scene of the crime.
"My money is on that car." I mutter, lifting the camera up and rubbing the back of my neck with my free hand. I'm grateful that our windows are tinted and the car is a rental because if Calvin caught a glimpse of me, I'd be terrified to see his reaction. The thought of him knowing the truth about me makes me feel sick to my stomach. I push the feeling aside, focusing on the sedan driving dangerously in front of us. It skips a red light, tyres screeching loudly.
"He could have entered from the back. The asshole is going to kill someone if he carries on driving like that." Micah mutters, swerving to the right as he narrowly dodges colliding with a camper van. I flinch and tense my entire body, hating that I'm sat in a huge death metal machine. The chase between us and Calvin Black's escape car continues and I spend the entire time snapping pictures and praying for my life.
"What do we do when they stop?" I question Micah. He turns towards me briefly, his hands tightly gripped against the steering wheel as he focuses on not losing the crazy Sedan in front of us.
"I haven't really thought that far ahead.”
"Pull back." I respond quickly, glancing around at our surroundings. Micah frowns, ignoring my request completely. The buildings around us are growing taller and the roads are getting less busy. The Sedan keeps turning down small narrow roads, leading us somewhere specific.
"Pull back Micah!" I yell at him.
"Why?" Micah blows out an annoyed breath.
"Because it's a trap, they know we're following them! Pull back!" I scream at him, reaching over and grabbing hold of the steering wheel. Micah instantly steps on the brake pedal and for the second time in twenty minutes, I fly forward, almost smacking into the front window.
As soon as we stop, the Sedan does too.
My breath hitches in my throat and Micah and I both freeze as the lights of the Sedan switch on as they come to a halt.
"Shit, you were right.”
"Reverse." I say in monotone.
The doors of the Sedan swing open and the guy in the mask suddenly appears, machine gun in hand. He raises it up and turns towards us, the gun pointed directly towards us. His eyes are narrowed in thin slits, burning with anger.
"Reverse!" I scream and Micah finally responds but loud gunshots fill the air. The noise defeats me, taking over all of my senses. I automatically duck, my hands flying up to cover my ears. All the noises around me muffle out into one loud bang, suffocating me. I feel like the breath from my lungs is being squeezed out of me slowly, each gunshot taking away the majority of my oxygen supply.
The screech of the wheels under us carries on for what seems like an eternity. Eventually we pull out into a large road where Micah violently steers the car, soaring off in the opposite direction.
I remain ducked for a long time, my eyes squeezed shut tightly, focusing on my breathing with my hands over my ears.