Blood began to seep from his nose and cover his shirt. Reiner Senior seemed distraught at the attack and began to howl in pain. Meanwhile the other two men were oblivious, and laughed as they looked down at him. Jorge took a photo and examined it.
“Yep… Looks just as good as I expected,” and he handed the phone back to the Don.
“Good idea kid,” Angelo playfully punched his little assassin in the arm. “Now all we have to do is send this to Carl and he’ll be hurryin’ into our arms in no time,”
Angelo pressed the send button and breathed a sigh of satisfaction. Now all they had to do was wait.
~
Carl and Anna were still entwined on the couch.
“You know with you in my arms it’s easy to forget that we’re in this God forsaken hellhole,” he looked around at the abandoned apartment. “It’s a shame. Would have been nice once,”
“Hmmm…. Yeah,” Anna agreed sleepily. “I wonder who lived here,”
“Some poor bastard,”
Carl looked up to the ceiling and started to feel sleepy too. The couple were enjoying each other’s company so much and Anna wished they could lie here forever. But they knew they had to run.
“Would it be cool if we could just move in here and be you know… normal. And no one would ever find us,”
“That would be kinda nice,” Carl thought about what life could be if they were a regular couple.
He looked out the window and saw it was getting dark.
“We better make a move soon,” he stroked the top of Anna’s head and gave her a kiss.
“Yeah…” she seemed sad at the idea of having to run again.
Carl could tell she was desperate for a normal life and he wasn’t sure he could ever give her that. But what choice did she have? He at least vowed to try and make her happy. He got up from the couch and strode over the window. Lighting a cigarette he poked his head out on the fire escape and looked down. This truly was a gruesome neighbourhood, but in this moment they were part of the degenerate demographic and were fitting in nicely.
The air was frigid as it drifted across his face. It blew his smoke into the distance and Carl watched it fly away out of sight. He pulled himself away from his thoughts and turned to Anna who was sitting on the edge of the couch dressing herself.
“I’ll be two minutes,” she smiled at him.
To look at her, you could never have imagined the things she had been through; the pain, the violence and the loss. She was a real diamond in the rough.
“Hey Carl….” She seemed to be hesitating. “What are we doing?”
“We need a car,” he blew smoke out the window and looked down to the street. “And there’s a couple down there that look like they might not be missed,”
“Really?” Anna came over to join him.
“Like that old Hyundai over there,” he pointed down the way.
“Hmmm…. Think you can hotwire it?”
“I know I can,”
“Well… what are we waiting for?”
As they climbed out the window and onto the fire escape steps the wind caught them and Anna stumbled for a moment with her fiery hair drifting up to the sky like flames. They moved quickly and before long they were at the old, battered Hyundai.
“You really don’t think someone owns this do you?”
“Fuck, I hope not,” he laughed. “The state of it!”
And he pulled out a multi tool from his back pack and got to work. Soon they were inside the vehicle and were protected from the cold wind.
“Nearly there!” Carl’s lips were pursed with concentration as pulled out wires from inside the dashboard.
With a few adept movements and some muttering under Carl’s breath he soon got the car started. The engine roared sadly into action and soon they were away and back out on the open road. The highway stretched before them in streams of light.
“So Mexico…. Are you sure?” she asked
“I think so,” he wasn’t sure at all.
“Have you been before?”
“A few times?” he didn’t elaborate and quickly changed the subject. “So have you been outta Chicago before…. You know until recently?”
“Nope. Not ever,” she admitted sadly.
“That’s a shame. But you can go anywhere you like now…” Carl trailed off as he realized the ridiculousness of his statement. She’d never be able to live normally.
There was an eerie silence in the car and all that could be heard above the sound of the engine was the heating as it pumped hot, dusty air into the vehicle. Anna was looking straight ahead at the future and couldn’t believe the things that had happened over the last few days. She nibbled on a fingernail and shivered into her coat, feeling the constant need to keep glancing at Carl as though he’d disappear if she looked away too long.
“Hey. What’s up?” he sensed her unease.
“Just thinking…”
“About what?”
“About a million things,” she looked back to the road and all the cars they were passing. She wondered where the people were going. Were they in as much trouble as her?
“I hear ya kid. I got countless things runnin’ through my mind too. We’ll be ok though. Just don’t look back. It’s not where we’re headed,” and he reached a hand out and squeezed her thigh.