Liberation Day

Chapter 53

He fell out of the window headfirst, gasping in pain as his shins scraped against the metal rim of the frame, before he hit the ground with a crump and a muffled cry.

I followed, trying to keep my weight off my chest as I wormed my way through, fighting to stop myself shouting with pain. I finally tumbled down beside him on the dried mud of the track. Sirens wailed in the distance. I got to my knees, trying to suck oxygen into my lungs without moving my ribs. Every intake of breath still felt as if I were being stabbed. I was sweating all over, the pulse throbbing heavily in my neck.

On my knees, I lifted Goatee by the armpits, manhandling him back onto my shoulder. I struggled to get myself upright, using my legs to push, and my free hand to claw my way up the wall. I tried to take deeper breaths, but the effort just made me cough up more blood that in turn blocked my nose.

As I stumbled toward the train tracks and Lotfi’s Focus, the sound of sirens got closer, coming down the road behind me and following the river.

I made my way to the end of the building and peered around it, toward the factory entrance. The white police patrol car was blocking it. The Lexus had smashed into its rear, spinning it around in its attempt to get away, and ending up off toward the farmhouse in the right-hand corner.

I couldn’t see any sign of the black-leather brothers, but the three policemen were ducking up and down on the far side of the patrol car. Their main attention was toward their left and the farmhouse area.

Lotfi appeared in the open ground, staggering toward the police with his weapon dangling in his hand. They started screaming orders at him as he made his way slowly toward their line. He was buying me time to get away. The gap between this building and the next was about two yards; after that I’d be in cover right down to the train tracks. He raised his hands as more orders were screamed at him, but held on to the pistol. He moved forward, blood drenching his clothes, taking his time to come level with the Lexus, making sure they were following his every move.

Would they spot me as I crossed?

Lotfi moved to the right.

I tried to fill my lungs, adjusted Goatee on my shoulders as Lotfi moved to the right, toward the farmhouse, firing at the black-leather brothers who were over there somewhere, firing back.

I went for it.

Sirens seemed to be coming from everywhere. I couldn’t tell if I’d been seen or not as I crossed. It didn’t really matter. All that did was getting to the car.

I lurched along the path, a stone building to my right and the brick wall to my left, bumping into both. My vision was blurred; I was feeling dizzy, I needed more oxygen, but it just hurt too much to fight for it. I heard a fusillade of shots from the police that seemed to last forever. If it meant they were still shooting at Lotfi as he ran out of rounds and went at them with his bare hands, I could only hope his end came quickly.

The track disappeared into a cutting, which was lined on both sides with bushes and caked with soda cans and cigarette packs. The cutting was no more than five or six yards deep on each side, but that would be enough to hide Goatee in while I went to get the Focus.

I scrambled and slid down toward the train tracks. Goatee was making spasmodic attempts to free himself, but they only lasted a few seconds. He lost it once more and slumped onto me. I could feel his blood soaking into my tar-covered sweatshirt and mixing with my own sweat. His beard rubbed against my right forearm as I struggled to keep him in position.

Signs that probably said “Do not cross here” were nailed up to warn users of the dangers of this rat run. I picked my way carefully over the stone bedding, then crossed the tracks. My nose was still blocked, and by the time we were on the far bank my mouth was full of blood again, making it hard to breathe.

I couldn’t muster the strength to get him up the other side of the embankment. I tried, but we fell together onto the dry earth path just a yard up the bank. Sirens were directly above us, on the road beyond the station. It was decision time.

I lay there in much the same condition as Goatee, both on our backs and desperately trying to take in oxygen. He mumbled to himself, then screamed out. I swung a clenched fist to make him shut up, hitting him somewhere in the face. I wasn’t too sure where, because my eyes were still wet and blurred, but it seemed to do the trick.

I rolled onto my front and crawled over him, leaving him where he was, and headed slowly up the bank, finally coming level with the cracked and potholed asphalt of the packed parking lot. The station itself, a dirty cream brick building, was immediately to my right. I lay there for a minute, fighting for breath, and against the pain that each breath brought with it. Blood continued to pour out of my mouth each time I coughed.

Craning my neck around the tires of the car nearest me, I spotted the Focus, parked facing the road about fifteen yards away, its tailgate toward me. People had stopped, trying to see what was happening, and were getting on their cell phones to tell their friends about all the excitement. More police cars swooped into the area, one passing left to right on the main road.

There was nothing I could do to hide myself. I just had to go for it, and get us both into the Focus before there was no way out.

It was fuck-it time again. I got up and staggered toward the black station wagon, squinting in the sunlight, trying to walk upright and stop myself coughing, and failing at both.

I burped up some more blood and spit it out. I was going to need to control my breathing soon, and McDonald’s came to my rescue. A garbage can to my right was overflowing with McDo burger containers and grease-stained brown paper bags. I picked one up, tipped out the used napkins and ketchup packets, and shoved it into my back pocket.

It was then that I heard the gentle thwack of rotor blades up above me somewhere. I couldn’t be bothered looking up, just focused instead on the car.

The glare of the sun made my eyes water even more as I bent down and started to pull at the thin rectangular license plate. With the key and fob in my hand, I pulled myself upright to go around to the driver’s door, and found myself face-to-face with a skinny, middle-aged black woman with a freckled face and multicolored dress. She stood on the pavement by the Focus with two bags of shopping. She just opened her mouth and stared at my bloodstained, tar-streaked sweatshirt, and at the blood and snot all over my face.