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Part III: The Heist
"I see it!" screamed Dom, braking so hard the car pivoted a full 90 degrees just short of the construction barrier.
"Swear to God," he panted, turning to Clarissa, "That wasn't there when we practiced."
-Dom
"I know it wasn't there!" Clarissa snapped, muttering angrily about "gentrification" and "this fucking town."
The sirens were there again, getting louder and louder. Clarissa peeked at her sideview mirror, and saw blue-and-red flashing right glare in the distance.
Trying think quickly, Clarissa said breathlessly, "Drive."
"Drive where?" asked Dom, perhaps stupidly.
"AHEAD! THROUGH THE SITE! GO!" Clarissa shouted, slamming the dashboard frantically.
"Oh," Dom looked ahead, a sick smile spreading across his face, "Well, if you say so, boss..."
He accelerated, crashing right through the protective barrier at the edge of the sight. The wood flew apart in a cloud of splinters and dust.
Clarissa braced herself as Dom sped the van through the barrier and right into the site. They weren't building some place here like she thought, but tearing up the road (this country's it's godforsaken infrastructure...), which means there were several holes in the street for Dom to swerve away from.
Taking a gander out her window, she noticed the cops were still in hot pursuit, three squad cars in total. "They didn't get the message. Looks like we'll have to WATCH OUT!!!"
A gap in the asphalt was straight ahead!!!!!!!
"Got it!" proclaimed Dom, evidently enjoying himself. He swerved recklessly around the opening in the pavement, in the process knocking over a cheap bit of scaffolding, most of which missed the van, clattering onto the ground in their wake.
"We should juke them," said Dom, "Just to shake 'em off."
-Dom
Shake them off, they did. Well, one car, at least, heading straight into the ditch Clarissa was confident just a moments ago was destined for them.
Clarissa tried to think quick, knowing they were supposed turn right somewhere to get back onto their route. The only thing is there was a dead end right end with nowhere to turn but...
"The alley!" Clarissa pointed shouted. "Sharp turn into that alley over there! Quick!"
"What if it's a cuck the sack?"
"WHAT?!" Clarissa bellowed, before proceeding to understand his butchered English. "Cul de sac! CUL DE SAC!"
A megaphone from the squad cars behind them sounded. "Pull over immediately with your hands in the air!"
Clarissa shouted out the passenger window. "FUCK YOU!" Turning back ahead of her, the dead end was in plain sight. She screamed once more, "TURN!!!!!!!"
"TURNING!" Dom turned into the alley which, it turned out, was not a cul de sac.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and they can't fit."
It was a sharp turn at the last second, which was enough to fool one squad car into crashing into the dead end. The last one, though, was able to adapt, and followed them close behind.
"Really?" Clarissa replied to Dom. "They're skinner than us." Pointing up ahead, she commented, "There's Fowler. That should put us back on the main route. We just have to..."
Gunfire from behind, a few bullets even piercing the van!
"Oh, shit!" Clarissa cursed. It was only a matter of time before they got impatient and just tried shooting at them. As they turned onto Fowler, Clarissa figured she'd make herself useful (and to also make up for being tackled by a senile geezer), commanding Dom, "Keep us steady! I'll take care of this!"
"Ah fuck, my Dad's gonna have my ass," Dom grimaced, "What're you gonna do? Shoot 'em?" he sounded inappropriately excited at the prospect.
-Dom
Clarissa put her mask back on, giving Dom one of those "What else?" looks from underneath. Taking her automatic weapon, she stood up and sat on the open window. If she had peeked her head out one second too soon or too late, Clarissa would have been victim to bullets arriving in an almost rhythmic pattern. She had to time this just right...
She took her shot. Gripping onto the car roof with one hand and onto her gun with the other, Clarissa leaned out of the car, firing at the car. She didn't need to be specific, just had to get...
...the tires! The police car had not just one flat but two, flipping forward and onto its top.
Clarissa couldn't help but laugh, feeling victorious. "Haha! That's right! I did it! I..."
A sudden impact from the other side of the van, so harsh the Clarissa's door opened and she almost fell to the street, if not for her quick reflexes enabling her to drop the assault rifle and grip onto the open window. A police van had come out of nowhere and now side-by-side with the van.
Clarissa struggled to keep her grip, her legs dangling just barely above the asphalt. Another hit from the van wasn't making this any easier. Thinking quick, she lobbed her pistol over to the passenger's seat, urging Dom, "Take of them, quick!"
"Happy to," Dom growled, picked up the pistol, cocked it, and fired twice, ostensibly aiming for the tires but missing each time. The shots instead struck the passenger side window, cracking it, and the rearview mirror, causing it to snap off...
And fall to the pavement, where the front tire got caught on it, causing the van to skid with a horrible screeching sound, listing dangerously toward one side, nearly crashing into them.
"Shit, shit, shit..." still using only one hand to navigate, Dom accelerated, the rear half of their van scraping against the cops' as they gradually edged their way out...
"Yes!" Dom cheered, once they'd gotten clear of the obstacle.
-Dom
Clarissa would congratulate Dom on singlehandedly taking out a police vehicle, but she wasn't exactly in the most comfortable position to do so. In fact, her grip was slipping.
"Close the door, Dom!" she begged, hoping to at least get a foothold on the side of the van.
"Oh, right," Dom reached out, swinging the door shut, restoring a comparative quiet to the inside of the van, "You good?"
-Dom
"Yeah," Clarissa answered breathlessly. Then, for some reason--call her insane--she started to laugh. This 37 year-old woman, clutching for her life on the outside of van, with a band of kids, guns and thousands of dollars, a swarm of cops on their tail...
She wouldn't admit it, but Clarissa was having just a bit (a tiny, tiny bit) of fun. So close to death, this was the most alive she had ever felt.
So she laughed, near maniacally. Cackling.
Even near unconscious Clyde in the back, who was only now recovering from his stupor with the aid of Dom's Monster energy drinks, couldn't help but laugh (though he wasn't sure why).
-Clarissa and Clyde
Dom waiting until he was sure Clarissa was actually laughing laughing, and not that thing chicks do when they laugh and then they cry and then they ask for a divorce and you have to figure out how to get them to stop.
Once he was sure it was a laugh, he laughed too. He'd been holding it in for a while.
-Dom
After what felt like an eternity, Clarissa's laughter died down, as did Clyde's. Then there was some peaceful quiet, as Clarissa looked ahead, still clutching to the outside of the van, feeling almost content.
"Hey, Dom?" she spoke up calmly.
"'What's up, girl?" he asked easily.
"We're supposed to take the 9W Exit, right?" Clarissa asked, equal parts curious and serene.
"Yeah," he nodded, "So?"
Clarissa chuckled, before muttering near unintelligibly, "there's traffic."
"Traffic?" Dom repeated, "But it ain't even rush hour!"
"'It ain't even rush hour...'" Clarissa chuckled, shaking her head. "Well, Dom, that's what it says according to my reliable traffic report but I could just double-check with MY OWN TWO EYES!" She exploded, chinning towards the cluster of cars surrounding the 9W exit.
"There must be an accident or something," she suggested, worming through the window and back into the van. "Y'know, one we didn't cause." More sirens from behind. Clarissa bit her lip, trying to work up a new plan.
"We can't escape on the highway, but right now that's our best way out of this town." She paused. "Unless..."
An uneasy silence.
A more aware Clyde, having slightly recovered from his fatigue, chirped in, "Unless what?"
Clarissa considered it once more before declaring, "We're not going on the highway." She turned to Dom. "We're going under it."
-Clarissa and Clyde
Dom blinked, "What, like an overpass? That's work, but there's no road," he grinned, "Unless..." he leaned forward expectantly.
Clarissa nodded. "There you go. See? You can be smart." Looking ahead, she tried to map out where Dom should go next. "Our best bet is through that guard rail, down that hill, and by the river. You just have to make sure we don't flip over the guard rail, tumble down the hill, and drown in the river." Then, concerned she was asking too much, she asked, "You can manage that, right? If we're fast enough?"
How fast can this crate go, though? She didn't ponder the answer to that, beyond "fast enough." That's what she had to think if they wanted a chance of getting out of there alive.
"I knew this thing was a good investment," Dom self-congratulated, "Hold onto your hooch," he winked at Clyde, then turned to Zoe, "Hold onto something, I guess," and then to Clarissa, "Wanna kiss the driver for luck?" he puckered his lips.
-Dom
Before Clarissa could roll her eyes at that, there was a resounding, "YOOOOOOO!" from the back. Clyde, now awake enough to feel disgust, lamented, "That's gross, man! Isn't she, like, 40?"
Clarissa turned back in an instant and snapped, "I'm 37, you little shit!" Realizing that didn't make much a difference, she added, "Shut up!" and turned back around, only to find the guard rail coming up closer and closer...
She braced herself for the impact.
-Clarissa and Clyde