Poison Gas

Chapter 4: Evening Strike At The Police Station

Above is a the original reference for PG. Which do you prefer?This one or the previous one?

Alright Jake, you've done this last week. No need to freak out over nothing.

As he prepared to board his velocity blue Ford Fusion, 18 year old Jacob Andersen glanced between his car as well as three other fellows as they  prepared to board their own vehicles for the latest run. When the greasy-haired man who wore a purple suit reminiscent of what a pimp would wear, flanked by two thug-like bruisers that served as his bodyguards, approached him to take the job, Jacob was dumbfounded and a bit dubious. Who wouldn't be if they were accosted by a shady-looking racketeer and two greaser broads? It took some convincing and handsome bribes for the high school senior to accept the position. Since that encounter, Jake was now ferrying  contraband items for the Mob with three different dudes.

"Yo Andersen, let's move our asses. I really don't want the capos all over us."

 "Yeah, I know, I'm technically ready," the teen with the golden brown hair replied to the driver of a silver Chevy Silverado, a Van Dyke-bearded guy called Pancho.

"Then let's go!" Pancho called out as he boarded his vehicle. " Leon and Dwayne have been waiting for you to step on it!"

As the cars each left the parking lot with their illicit cargo, Jake, not for the first time, began to wonder if his life would be different should he have turned down the purple-suited hoodman's offer.  He might have lacked the money that was being wired to his bank account to be used for college and whatever leisure activity the lad chose, such purchasing a new video game console  or buying new E-Cigs for him and his pals without his parents being any wiser. It could have ended like this or worse for that matter. The racketeer could have whacked him there and disposed of his body to avoid having anyone rat him out. Thoughts like that brought chills down Jake's spine so he concentrated instead on driving through the traffic on Parker Way, taking a breather.

I will do this until I gain enough dough to pay my way through the University of Gannin and then I'll quit before I'm in too deep. 

As he completed a right turn up Spiner Boulevard, he noticed a maroon Dodge Challenger with its tinted windows going the opposite direction he was. He immediately recognized it as Leon's since no other Challenger had tinted windows and license place that read LEON4U.

Gee, I wonder if his route intersects with mine. Why don't they spread us out to cover more ground in the city? Ah, what the hell. Not my issue. I am in it for the cash.

Waving his hand at his cohort, Jake wondered if Leon could see him through the tint, but brushed it aside as the gesture was only symbolic. Suddenly, his heart leapt into his throat as he noticed Leon's vehicle veer off-road and into the back of a nearby warehouse. The smoke from the crumpled hood trailed up into the afternoon sky as Jake pulled a U-turn at the next intersection and surveyed the cause of his cohort's accident. He peered closer and he felt anxiety and terror claw from his chest as he spotted the hole the size of a large tack on the driver's window. Gulping, he suspected the worst.

Holy Toledo, someone just wacked Leon! Is it a rival mob, a contract killer, or even the cops?

Not wanting to stand around to find out in case the killer was nearby, Jacob Andersen started to shift the wheel to the left to drive off only to learn that the vehicle wasn't responding. Fearing the worst, he checked the engine lights to see that they weren't on so no problems there. 

What was the issue?

Jake stepped outside his blue Fusion and took a critical glance over his vehicle until his eyes fell upon the source of his car's refusal to budge. It looked like his car's tires out of commission. Cursing, the teen tried to ascertain how to remedy the issue, but multiple tires were blown out. It didn't appear like an accident to him. A look of fear crossed through his face.