Ambush

The truck belched black smoke as it charged out of the Eastern District Precinct's parking lot, three Crown Victorias trailing behind it as they headed for the Aparo Expressway.

Wilson held the steering wheel distractedly. He glanced at his partner, hesitated, then finally asked, "Did that guy who walks like a penguin make some unreasonable demand? Why do you suddenly look like you've got so much on your mind?"

"He wants us out front, following the route he picked. He'll give us directions over the radio."

"Heh. Cannon fodder scouting the road. But we already agreed on the price, didn't we?" Wilson pulled a face. "Besides, The Roman's convoy is behind us. Chances are it'll be just like the last stretch-nothing happens, and we pocket a bunch of perks for free."

"Yeah, that's what he said too. With Mr. Falcone's reputation behind us, nothing should be a problem. But we still need to watch out for Fish Mooney doing something desperate." Li Jie slowly tapped his fingers against the AR-15, his brows tightly knotted. "Something's wrong. Very wrong."

"What's wrong about that? Isn't Fish Mooney crazy enough?" Wilson honked twice, forcing a Toyota trying to change lanes back into its own lane. "We just need to keep our eyes open. No need to get so worked up."

"But he stressed it several times-Fish Mooney is vicious, crazy, and never lets a slight go. He even told me he used to be her umbrella boy to prove how well he knew her, and warned us not to let our guard down."

"...Bzz...krr...officers, please turn right at the next intersection and head west along the Finger River."

Cobblepot's enthusiastic, faintly trembling voice suddenly came over the radio. By the time Li Jie snapped out of his surprise, the intersection was right in front of them. Wilson wrenched the wheel right, and the box truck tilted sharply. Both men yelled, "Aaaaah!" as they desperately leaned their upper bodies to the right.

Fortunately, a few seconds later, the wheels slammed back onto the pavement and the swaying truck regained its balance. The two men bounced up and down like beans in a wok, battered from side to side until their organs felt scrambled.

"Fuck, are the shocks on this piece of junk broken?"

"What are you talking about? They never worked in the first place." Li Jie rubbed his forehead, still dazed by the violent jolting. "Where was I?"

"You said Cobblepot used to be Fish Mooney's umbrella boy. That's nothing special. Plenty of people on the street know it. I heard he betrayed Fish and she put a hit on him." Wilson straightened the truck out. "Then he went over to The Roman, and Falcone stepped in for him. That settled things."

"But would you tell a complete stranger about getting chewed out by the Chief for screwing up at work, just to prove you knew Bob was a petty idiot?" Li Jie tapped his knee with his fingertips. "Not unless it mattered a hell of a lot. But when I asked what was actually going on, he said it was nothing and Mr. Falcone had everything under control."

"Put it that way, and yeah, something does seem a little off. You think he's hiding something? The Roman's getting old? Can't get it up anymore? God, at his age, I bet that stopped working ages ago." Wilson gave a slightly lecherous grin. "I think you're worrying over nothing. Forget Fish-even Sal Maroni wouldn't dare seriously challenge Falcone. Otherwise, Gotham would've been at war long ago."

"What did you say?"

Li Jie's shout startled Wilson so badly that his hands jerked the wheel, nearly shoving the car beside them onto the sidewalk. He scrambled to straighten out, only to find Li Jie staring fixedly at him, his face ashen.

"Hey, buddy, don't scare me like that. What did I say? I said if they really dared challenge Falcone, Gotham would've been at war ages ago. No way things would've stayed peaceful this long."

"Exactly." Li Jie nodded numbly. "The last thing Cobblepot said to me was that if we screwed this up, the war in Gotham might begin."

"Huh?" Terror shot through Wilson, and cold sweat instantly soaked the palms gripping the wheel. "They really dare take on The Roman? Then...fuck!" he swore. "We're in deep shit on this run. Why didn't that penguin kid say so sooner?"

"Maybe he was afraid Bob would sit it out if he told him?" Li Jie grabbed the shotgun and began feeding shells into it with a series of clicks. "If we keep going this way, the nearest crossing is Robinson Bridge beside Robinson Park. But that's a busy main road. Fish Mooney couldn't really be that crazy, could she?"

"Then it wouldn't just be a gang war. Every cop and crook in the city would be killing each other." Wilson instinctively tapped the brakes. Ahead, towering glass facades and dense clusters of billboards announced the approaching commercial district. Traffic visibly thickened, forcing them to slow down.

On an ordinary patrol, Wilson would have rolled down the window and started cursing by now. Instead, he kept his head down and drove in utter silence. But the commercial district's streets were congested to begin with. After avoiding several of the busiest-looking main roads, they entered an alley behind a shopping street, where a delivery truck unloading at the curb had reduced the already narrow road to a single cramped lane.

"Fuck, that guy isn't an assassin in disguise, is he? I swear this is how it always goes in the movies." A fine layer of sweat covered Wilson's forehead. "We squeeze past him, and then-bang!"

Li Jie checked the rearview mirror. The three Crown Victorias followed in single file. The last one hung back a little, so at least they couldn't all be boxed into the alley. Turning around, however, would be extremely difficult.

"Tell the cars behind us to stay alert. I'll get out and check. Chamber a round."

He drew his pistol and jumped out, flicking off the safety with his thumb. Keeping close to the cold side of the truck, he bent low and softened his footsteps, creeping toward the delivery truck like a stalking cat.

Wasn't this how I crept up during that prisoner breakout-and took one of them out?

My luck will hold this time too, right?

The engine was still running, its vibrations making the truck tremble slightly. He held his breath, then suddenly leaned out and aimed into the cab. Through its side window, however, he saw the back of a man in overalls, whistling as he leisurely pushed a cart of marinated chicken and lettuce into the restaurant kitchen next door.

"Clear." He gave Wilson a thumbs-up, then returned to the truck. "Squeeze past. You really need to watch fewer Bond movies. You think everyone's a secret agent."

"Got it! Guess I shouldn't watch Enemy of the State either."

Wilson held the wheel steady and slowly squeezed the box truck past the delivery vehicle. His driving really was good: only a few millimeters separated them, but they never scraped. The alley was simply too narrow, though. Past the truck, a tight right-angle turn awaited them. The nose struggled around the corner, and only after they emerged from the cramped back alley did the road open up a little.

"Fuck, what kind of goddamn route did that penguin kid pick?" Li Jie couldn't help growing irritated. Narrow streets like these were perfect for ambushes. He called Cobblepot over the radio. "Are you sure about this route? There are too many places to ambush us."

"...Bzz...no problem. After you leave the commercial...bzz...head north through Coventry, then west. Go...bzz...university, turn south, and cross the river there. You won't be far from Mr. Falcone's estate."

"All right. Stay alert."

For some reason, Cobblepot sounded muffled, as if the reception was poor. Li Jie lowered the radio. Wilson gave him a strange look.

"Through Coventry, then turn at Gotham University? That's one hell of a detour. What the hell is he doing?"

"No idea." Li Jie shook his head. "Either he's trying to draw Fish's forces around, but the longer we're on the road, the more time they have to prepare. Or..." He rubbed his chin uncertainly. "He's trying to avoid something?"

The convoy headed northwest into Coventry, with the Sprang River a few streets to their right. The roads here were much wider than those in the commercial district, and the convoy gradually picked up speed.

"We're two-thirds of the way there. Hopefully nothing else-"

Before Wilson could finish, a roar sounded in the distance. Deep, savage engines thundered up from behind, rapidly swelling into a deafening din!

Li Jie whipped his head toward the rearview mirror. Several heavy motorcycles with outlandish styling were weaving wildly through traffic, their front wheels raised in near-suicidal wheelies.

"Keep your damn mouth shut from now on! Watch out. I don't know if they're after us or just street racers."

He had Wilson move into the left lane, leaving only a tiny gap between the truck and the central divider posts, so any biker attacking the driver from the left could quickly be crushed beneath their wheels. He lowered his own window and braced his gun on the sill against the cold wind roaring inside.

But he seemed to have overthought it.

As Gotham Police Department officers, neither of them could simply open fire in the street before the other side showed hostile intent. The cars behind them had no such concerns. Dazzling tongues of flame instantly burst through the narrow gaps in their lowered windows!

The lead rider jerked violently, as though struck by an invisible sledgehammer. His motorcycle immediately went out of control, tumbling onto the pavement amid screeching metal and shrieking tires. Trailing sparks, it was swallowed by the unsuspecting traffic behind it.

"Wow." Wilson caught the scene in his rearview mirror too. "Aren't they supposed to pull some stunt and dodge the bullets? It's over already?"

"Quit gawking. MP5s-Falcone's fucking loaded!" Li Jie watched the remaining motorcycles slow down, though they continued following at a distance. "I doubt they're ordinary street racers. They'd have run by now. But...pah." He spat. "This is Gotham. Who the hell knows?"

The truck passed Gotham University and turned onto Mifflin Avenue. The view ahead gradually grew bleak and dilapidated. This was a slum slated for demolition, only for the project to stall amid disputes between the parties involved. The residents had long since moved out. Work should have begun at the start of the year, but the investors had proposed a new redevelopment plan, and the ensuing arguments had left everything on hold. Only broken walls remained, silently bearing witness to the decay.

"What were they supposed to build on this huge lot again?"

Abandoned buildings lined the road like hollowed-out skeletons. Scavengers had stripped away nearly all their doors and windows, leaving black holes like empty eyes. Their stares made Wilson slow down involuntarily.

"Affordable housing. But Wayne Enterprises wants to cut the affordable housing area by two-thirds and turn the rest into educational and commercial property."

Li Jie studied the layers of graffiti covering the peeling, mottled walls. Several distorted faces and bizarre symbols looked particularly hideous in the fading sunset. "We busted our asses squeezing a few thousand out of Bob. Apparently, Wayne Enterprises has at least twelve billion dollars in liquid assets."

"That's fucking depressing. Our share of the extra income isn't even a hundred and twenty bucks a month." Wilson grimaced in disgust at the heaps of garbage and excrement along the roadside. "Still, we've got it better than the people living here."

"Something's wrong. There's household trash here, but where are the people? Where are the homeless?" Li Jie looked around. It was too quiet. There wasn't even a stray dog wandering about. "Stay sharp! How much farther?"

"About three or four intersections to the bridge."

The outline of the Andover Road Bridge had already appeared on the horizon. Just as the Chevrolet reached the last two intersections before leaving the slum, a cloud of dust suddenly rose from a side street to the east, piled high with construction debris.

"Holy fucking shit!"

Wilson's hands were faster than his mouth. Before the cry escaped him, he had already stomped the accelerator to the floor. The truck lunged forward, but it still couldn't avoid the Suburban charging out from the side and slamming into the G20's right rear wheel.

With a tremendous crash, the armored steel plate crumpled under the impact like a tin can struck by a hammer. The G20 spun like an iron top lashed sideways, its nose swinging east and its tail west, while momentum carried it diagonally forward. It finally smashed into the concrete base of an abandoned roadside phone booth.

Both vehicles took a hard hit. Fortunately, Li Jie had tensed every muscle beforehand and clamped onto the grab handle above the window. He escaped serious injury, though the seat belt left his chest aching.

"Fuck, what the hell was that?" Still shaken, Li Jie looked out the window. The Suburban sat opposite them, belching bluish smoke. Its side window was webbed with cracks, but he could just make out the driver, pinned back by the airbag, struggling to grab a long gun.

"Fuck!"

Li Jie's scalp prickled. He kicked the door open with both feet, whipped out his pistol, and fired three shots into the Suburban's cab.

The side window collapsed like a waterfall. The first shot punched through the airbag and struck the driver's chest. The second tore a huge hole in his face, spraying blood and brains across the seat back and the driver's window. The shotgun fell aside.

Without sparing the deadly close-quarters weapon a glance, Li Jie ducked back inside, immediately slammed the door, and shouted:

"Call for backup!"