“It’s Volkov. We can’t let him find out we’re heading to the library. Do you think you can lose him?”
“I’ll try,” Ezra replied as he pushed his foot down on the accelerator, dodging a charred couch in the middle of the street. The taxi van expelled clouds of black smoke from the exhaust pipe as Ezra accelerated. Moments later a loud clanging noise filled their ears.
“I think we just lost the exhaust.”
Alex turned to look out the rear window. “Affirmative, we’re going to need to change vehicles. We’re about a block away from the library. Turn here.” She instructed Ezra who promptly turned the vehicle into the opposite direction in an attempt to lose Volkov. It didn’t work. With the exhaust gone, the minivan was losing power — and with that their head start.
“There!” Alex pointed to a parking garage up ahead. “Hopefully we might gain enough distance between us to allow time for us to abandon the car and find another one.”
The basement parking was dark and totally deserted. A few overhead lights flickered, emitting orange sparks every couple of seconds. Ezra maneuvered the van around the garage, increasing speed on the straights. It took three more corners before he headed up the ramp, bouncing over a metal studded speed bump. Alex had her head turned to face the back, expecting Volkov to come around the corner, but remarkably they had successfully managed to gain enough distance to have lost sight of them.
“Pull in under the ramp,” she directed Ezra who screeched the van in a hundred and eighty degree circle and pulled in underneath the ramp; wedging the roof between the cramped overhead concrete space. The tight positioning prevented either of their doors from opening. “Out the back!” Alex yelled already climbing over the rows of seats to the boot. The dilapidated state of the vehicle proved in their favor as it only took one kick for the rear door to open and they fell to the ground. The screeching sound of car wheels around the corner warned them that Volkov had caught up and they rolled underneath the row of abandoned cars to the left of the van. Obscured by the darkness and wall angle, Volkov’s car sped past and up the ramp to the next level.
Alex and Ezra crawled out from underneath the cars and bolted for the stairwell.
“Hurry, they’ll figure out we dodged them somehow,” Alex yelled as they barged through the stairwell door of the floor below. Her eyes searched for a car that would be easy enough to hot wire.
“I got this,” Ezra declared and Alex watched as the young soldier shoved his elbow through the window of a nearby car and climbed in. A mere second later the engine started without a key even before Alex had a chance to shut her door properly.
“I’m impressed,” she remarked.
“Yeah don’t ask. I did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid.”
The gray sedan navigated the corners far easier than their previous mode of transportation and shortly after they had already reached the parking garage exit. Alex glanced back. “Looks like we lost them. Well done Ezra.”
“Shall we chance it to the library?”
Alex nodded as Ezra gathered speed the moment they exited the parking garage. A split second later bullets hit their vehicle’s roof, catching them both by surprise. Bullets slammed into Alex’s door and behind her seat the window shattered into a million pieces.
Ezra cursed out loud then said, “Now they know what car we’re in.”
“They have a bird’s eye view from up there so go around. If they see we’re heading for the library they’ll come for us there.”
Ezra took a sharp left and another sudden right turn; disappearing between a row of tall office buildings. In that moment of safety Alex felt the sharp pain in her shoulder and reached to rub it. When she pulled her hand away from her arm she felt the sticky wetness between her fingers.
“You got shot!” Ezra expelled as he noticed the blood on her palm.
“I’m fine. We need to get as close to the library as we can and go the rest on foot before they find the car. Park up in that alleyway.”
Still concerned with her injury, Ezra did as she instructed and hid the car in a narrow street between the buildings. Blood seeped from Alex’s arm leaving tiny droplets on the paving. Ezra searched the car and found a shopping bag with linen in the boot. Relieved he ripped one of the sheets and tightened the expensive cotton rag around her bleeding arm.
“That should do for now. We need to make a run for it,” Ezra voiced as he fastened the last knot. Aware they were now an open target for insurgent groups, they readied their guns and set off down the street. The sudden sound of men’s voices coming from the entrance to a nearby block of flats alerted them and they ducked behind a garbage bin. Alex searched for another way through. Turning back wasn’t an option. Blood had started to seep through the bandage and she felt lightheaded.
“This way,” Ezra whispered as he pulled Alex to her feet and opened a rusted metal door behind them. The door shut loudly behind them and Ezra cursed at his negligence. Convinced it had alerted the gang to their presence, he pushed the leg of a nearby broken barstool across the door handle. It wouldn’t hold but it might buy them some much needed time. Behind the door it was dark and they realized they had come through the back entrance of a street club. Old cigarette smoke hung thick in the air. The sharp acid stench of old urine stung their nostrils when they ran past the toilets. The loud banging of the metal door behind them warned them that their suspicions were correct and the gang had caught up with them. Alex pushed away the frantic wave of fear that engulfed her body, which was now weakening under her straining legs. Dozens of dead bodies lay strewn across the bar floor. Many of them already decomposed and it took nearly everything for Alex not to expel her stomach contents. Ezra paused briefly at the green stained-glass front door before he flung it open and stuck his gun out. Alex followed suit. Their path was clear and they bolted down the street. Ezra pulled Alex by the arm around the corner just as they heard the bar door bang behind them. With any luck they had turned the corner just in time. Oxygen pumped vigorously through her veins as Alex pushed her body to the extreme. She was no longer in control of her legs which seemed to give way with every step she took. Her temples throbbed and her mouth was dry.
“Almost there, Alex.”
Alex was aware of Ezra’s comforting voice moments before everything went black.
The soothing warmth of a damp cloth against her forehead brought Alex back to consciousness. Her lips stuck together as she tried to open her mouth to speak.
“Shh dear, just rest.”
Her eyelids were heavy and the room spun fiercely when she heard a woman’s shrill voice pierce her aching head.
“Ez, bring your aunty some water!”
Confused, Alex forced her eyes open to see a short, overweight black woman seated next to her.
“Where am I?” Alex murmured confused. “Where are my clothes?” Suddenly aware she was in her underwear under a blanket.
“Hey, you’re awake. Shh, it’s ok. We’re at my aunt’s house. We’re ok. Here, drink some water.”
Alex leaned her head forward to take a drink of water from the glass Ezra held up against her lips.
“What happened?” Alex whispered.
“You passed out while we were running away from the gang. It must have been the bullet wound. You lost a lot of blood.”
Alex recalled the gunshot to her shoulder and instinctively reached for it. Her fingers slid across a fresh bandage.
“My uncle is a vet. He managed to remove the bullet while you were out.”
“A vet?” Alex panicked.
“Yes, yes, desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s the same procedure so you were in good hands, don’t worry. You might start barking like a dog soon though.”
Alex smiled at Ezra’s silly attempt to make her feel better.
“You need to eat some soup, dear,” the shrill voice of Ezra’s aunt cut in. “My mother used to say nothing fixes you up faster than homemade chicken soup.”
“This is my aunt Nozipho. We call her Aunty Nozi for short,” Ezra introduced them.
“How long have I been out?”
“Not that long; about eight hours. It has given us enough time to evade Volkov and the gang. There’s no way he’ll find us here.”
Alex searched the room. “Where are my clothes? We need to get to the library.”
“Not so fast, you’re still recovering. My uncle gave you a strong sedative. Besides, it’s almost midnight. Eat your soup and sleep it off. We’ll head out tomorrow morning first thing.”
There was no reason to fight it. Ezra was right. She hardly had enough energy to lift her hand to feed herself, much less run away from Volkov.
The sun peered through the small single window in Aunty Nozi’s kitchen. Her house was entirely made from corrugated tin sheets and the size of an oversized garden shed. Against the one wall a tin bowl stood next to a kettle, a toaster and a two plate stove. Against the opposite wall was the single bed Alex had slept in and a small chocolate brown couch pushed up against the third wall. As tiny and cramped as it was, it was as neat as a pin and evident Ezra’s aunt took great pride in her humble abode.
“Eat dearie, you need to build up your strength.” Aunt Nozi placed a breakfast bowl with steaming brown sludge in front of her on the table. Alex stared at the runny chocolate colored goop in her bowl.
“It’s porridge. We call it Maltabella — made from malt. Here, add some sugar and milk,” Ezra explained as he added a sprinkle of white sugar and a dollop of milk.
As non-appetizing as it appeared, Alex was starving. The instant strength after the first spoonful was welcoming and she found herself tucking in with fervor. Ezra smiled in the knowledge that no one had ever been able to resist his Aunt Nozi’s famous porridge.
When they stepped through Aunt Nozi’s front door, Alex was instantly greeted by several boisterous black kids who clung to Ezra’s legs. They ranged between the ages of five and eleven and beamed with happiness. Their joy was infectious and simultaneously admirable. Even though their clothes were either several sizes too big for them or several sizes too small, and they were all barefoot, they had not a single care in the world. Bubbling with life they followed Ezra as he led Alex through the bustling township. Once at the edge of the community of patched shacks, Ezra handed each of the kids a lollipop and a handful of candy. “Off you go now. It’s time for school,” he added as they skipped happily off down the path.
“They’re not mine just in case you wondered.”
Alex smiled. “You’d make a great dad though.”
“Maybe one day when all this is over. Come, I have a friend who found us a new car. We’re a solid twenty minutes from the library. I’d say we get on with it.”
And true to his friend’s promise, they found their transportation parked and ready under a nearby tree. Looking every bit like a drug lord’s car which clearly didn’t belong in a rural settlement such as this, Alex dared not ask where the shiny black Mercedes came from. The less she knew the better and when Ezra threw his hands in the air communicating a silent ‘don’t ask’, her suspicions were confirmed.