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The Takeover

by  amigo01

Posted: Sunday, April 16, 2006
Word Count: 367




The takeover

His heads down his hearts pounding, struggling to keep his composure as bullets crash into everything that surrounds him. He flinches and guards his face from the falling glass and debris and cracks a faint smile, as he begins to wonder just how he’s landed himself in such a predicament. However, now is not the time to ponder; the roar of gunfire begins to fade until the street is eerily quiet. So quiet that he hears his own heartbeat (which pulsates so heavily he can practically feel it in his throat). The only other sound to be heard comes from their Thompson’s, overworked and overheated, their barrels hiss as they burn through the gunpowder residues left inside. Locking in his second clip he cautiously moves towards the rear of his Buick, (the vehicle now rendered useless due to the sheer number of bullets embedded within its frame), and finds a semi safe vantage point just in time to watch Chase Velez emerge from the centre of his would be assassins.

Know too many as “your favourite gangster’s favourite gangster,” Chase Velez had emerged as one of Harlem’s most thorough and prolific trigger men. His intimate understanding of weaponry learned early on the streets of Havana. Son of a freedom fighter; Chase grew up in a world where bullets replaced your words, a gun, your only platform from which to speak to a regime so deeply immersed in corruption. After the murder and imprisonment of those closest to him Chase fled to the United States, eventually finding a home in Harlem NY, where he was quickly seduced by the mighty dollar and became engaged to a life of crime.
Chase drops his Thompson, the rest begin to reload but stop suddenly as Chase throws a stare over his left shoulder, cold enough to freeze the actions of most hardened criminals. Mouth slightly agape his head slowly pivots back to the direction of the Buick, their eyes meet and Chase breaks into a smile, a smile which on any other occasion could be described as warm and welcoming, however both are aware this smile is sinister in nature and but a brief interlude to intense gun fire.