Savages

177

They sit in a stolen Volvo station wagon half a mile from the grow house back out in Ortega country.

Yes, a Volvo station wagon.

“A Volvo?” Ben asked when Chon came back with the work car. “Seriously?”

“These things are tanks.”

They handle for shit, but they crash beautifully.

So they sit in the Volvo and watch the BC van go in and then wait for the transaction to be completed and for the van to come back. There’s only one road in so they know that the van will come back the same way, loaded with a shipment of primo Ultra.

“Your seat belt buckled?” Chon asks when they hear the van coming.

“Tray table locked and seat in an upright position.”

“Ramming speed.”

Because everyone loves Animal House.

They hit the van at a diagonal angle in the front right quarter panel. Chon is out of the driver’s seat before the car even stops. He shows the startled van driver the shotgun and jerks him out of the seat. Ben gets the drop on the rider. The driver is flat on the ground, Chon starts to get in and then—

Shit doesn’t happen slo-mo the way it does in the movies.

It happens so freaking fast.

Sick fast:

Chon is hopping into the driver’s seat when—

The shot goes off

So loud

The rest happens in silence, well,

Not silence, there’s this weird sound of rushing water in Ben’s ears as—

Chon spins and tumbles backward and Ben—

—screams, then

Starts shooting into the back of the van, and—

—the van door slides open and this guy tumbles out, bullet holes all over him as

Chon straightens up and fires the shotgun—

—and this guy slams back against the van like a crash-test dummy.

Chon pulls the body aside, gets behind the wheel.

Ben jumps in and they head down the road.