Gun Run

Chapter Three: Tears of the Sky

A row of three black cars waited in the middle of the temple courtyard. Their blinding headlights punctured through the rainfall, lighting up every drop of water that fell through the streams of light. Two of those cars were massive SUV trucks, that howled like angry mechanical monsters, even in the idle.

In between them was a low, long vehicle, that was from between a limousine and a typical high class sedan. Its windows were tinted dark, making it impossible to see anything inside. Shining chrome strips edged the glasses, and another one ran alongside the hems below side doors. The front grill between the headlights was massive. On top of it stood a small sign – a shape of a diamond, surrounded by a circle. They were all coated with chrome, giving the car a proud and noble look. Below the grill, attached to the front bumper, was a blue license plate, that was a mark of a diplomatic envoy.

Four men in black suits stood around the car. They used a small earpiece with a coiled wire running down their neck. Under their suit jackets flashed gun belts with batons and pistol holsters. Waiting for Annie, Thomas and Gabrielle, they cautiously observed their surroundings.

There was an even, hollow growl that Gabrielle heard, as she walked past the driver's side of the car in the middle. As her eyes landed on one of the guards, she felt a strong sense of uncomfortable pressure in her guts, that forced her to look away from him. The mirroring surface of the back door window gave her a glimpse of herself. Thoughts of how hideous she looked crossed her mind. Her red eyes, all dull and swollen from crying gave away reality off the pain she was going through. She didn't know how she could bear sitting with Thomas and Annie in that car looking like that. She felt embarrassed already, and the ride wasn't the shortest one either, for what she remembered from when they arrived here. She started to feel anxious, afraid and nervous. Thinking about them staring at her for the whole trip, making comments of her looks, and how she shouldn't have broken down in the first place.

Two rows of seats were facing each other in the back of the car. Thomas and Annie sat next to each other, before Gabrielle hopped in opposite to Annie. The guards closed the door behind her and entered the other vehicles in a hurry.

The interior smelled like a brand new car, and the black-leathered seats still felt somewhat slippy, however comfortable. They glared at the rain splattering against the windows, barely making any audible rippling sound through. Without even an engine sound around them, it was like being inside a vacuum where no sound traveled across. Gabrielle felt the overwhelming silence extremely uncomfortable.

The cars started to move, rolling out of the courtyard between two side buildings right next to the temple, into the parking lot where other guests were still packing for their travels. The convoy of these three black shining vehicles caught all of their attentions with certainty, as their engines growled loudly in an acceleration. Before making a sharp turn to the driveway, the escort vehicles began to flash with bright red and blue lights on their fronts and tails.

On the road, they picked up speed, passing other cars one after another, changing lanes as they needed. Among the other, regular cars in this Japanese cityscape, this convoy looked like a massive train rolling through the roads.

"Can I get an E.T.A. on our destination?" Thomas called for the men up in the front seats.

"Mount Fuji-Shizuoka airport. We will push it for twenty minutes, sir."

"Very good."

Scenes outside were flowing by as a stream of concrete boxes, that had no details on them. At least Gabrielle couldn't spot a single one of them, as the cars ran through the urban residences. She tried her best to keep track of the passing scenes nevertheless, as it was yet another mind distraction trick for her. Her eyes jumped from one passing building to the next, randomly skipping one or few buildings in between.