Caught Stealing - Charlie Huston [70]
I flinch and blink. When I open my eyes, we’re at the gap. I have to jerk the wheel to get us back on line. We swerve through the narrow space and I think I feel the bumper clip something as the rear end gives a slight tug. We’re through but come out veering to the right. I try to put us straight on the road. It’s too late. We broadside Roman’s car as he comes through on the other side of the ramp. His car is much bigger than ours and we rebound back to the center of the road. He loses the wheel for a moment and scrapes the side of his car down the iron fence on that side of the road. A fountain of sparks roostertails into the sky and we pull away again.
The road takes a nice easy arc to the right, passing Corlears Hook Park on our left. Just ahead it narrows down to one car’s width as it passes the pier’s storage yard. Roman is just about on us as I gear down and brace myself.
—Russ, hold on to Bud.
I catch his rapid nodding out of the corner of my eye as we hit the eighteen-inch speed bumps at just over forty miles per hour. The front end springs up and, as it starts to drop, the rear hits the bump and pops up, driving the front down at an even steeper angle. I pump the brakes and try to keep the wheels pointed straight ahead. We bounce and skitter to the next one and hit it hard. We come down skidding to the left. I try to steer into the skid and goose the gas. We get traction and I straighten us out for the last bump and ease over it at twenty. Just behind us, Roman hits the first bump at top speed.
He just about flips but hangs on. The second one pops him off the road and into the chain link of the storage yard. His car plows to a sudden stop against the fence and we’re in the parking lot. I cut the wheel hard right, heading for the exit, jump the light at the intersection there and hairpin us straight up the FDR on-ramp, picking up speed. We pass Roman’s car, still pointed the opposite direction on the access road. He’s already moving, headed for the FDR.
I try to get lost in the traffic. I mix in and slow down to match the flow. We pass under the Williamsburg Bridge again, going north this time. Russ is nuzzling the back of Bud’s neck and whispering to him and Roman drives right up on us.
We’re in the far right lane and he pulls up on our left. I look out the window. Bolo is there, just a few feet away, sucking his scratched thumb. Roman doesn’t spare me a look, just keeps his eyes on the traffic. I can see Whitey still in the backseat, but I can’t tell if he’s alive or dead. I’ll never lose them as long as this is a race about speed. I need to slow the chase down. I pull onto the Houston Street exit ramp. Roman brakes fast and veers over to follow us. At the top of the ramp, I ignore the stop sign and blaring horns of the other cars and take us halfway around the traffic circle and onto Houston headed west. Roman trails.
Traffic is heavy and Roman stays right with us. From the middle lane, I take a right off Houston onto Avenue A. I cut in front of several cars and the drivers all lean on their horns. Roman gets tangled in the mess and I take a lead down the avenue.
The weekend traffic has us slowed way down by the time we get to 9th Street, Roman is back with us. But that’s OK, because I can already see the lights up ahead.
It looks like a movie set up on my block: cop cars, news vans, barricades and rubberneckers galore. Roman has caught on and he’s dropping back. It might be worth it to me to