Rival of Atlantis

XXI

3:46PM

APRIL 18, 2018

Avenida Escazu Mall

San Jose, Costa Rica

THE AFTERNOON HEAT OF THE sun felt like scorching the skin. Charlie was traversing a street and was on his way to the parked vehicle that Ron had lent him. The time he spent in Avenida Escazu was well-spent or at least had eased his mind away from all the things that occurred in the past days.

                 After Gillian and Summer bid them goodbye, all the days were spent in boredom at the mining facility. Being an aviation engineer is all he had ever been and all the time spent in facility felt wasted. He waited each hour for the announcement that the tunnel has been cleared and the water flooding it has been taken care of, but no such announcement came in almost a month. Today, he decided for a different experience.

                 Reasoning to Ron that he needs to pick up few things in the mall, he was lent with the pickup truck that was used to ferry him from the airport to the facility. Ron pressed the issue that he needs to be unnoticed especially when unknown people are being sent to eliminate them. A security detail making up of three heavily armed men escorted him. Even though the thought of being escorted sickens him, he gamely bit on the offer rather than spend another day in boredom.  He dressed himself in cargo shorts, T-shirt and walking shoes like he is just going to run in a park and gladly enjoyed the opportunity to be away from the facility.

                 He opted to drive to his chosen mall, being behind the wheel has this ecstatic effect on him like he was being pulled from reality as the rev of the engines felt massaging all the muscles of his body. The chosen mall was Avenida Escazu, one of the famous shopping center in San Jose, and it is a three-hour drive but he gamely made the trek with the passion of a car racer behind the wheel. They hit San Jose in less than three hours.

                 He parked the odd-looking pickup in a lot some distance from the shopping center and after requesting the security detail to be left at the vehicle, he walked his way to the mall. It is almost 11 AM when he entered the mall and ever since then, it had been a shopping spree that ended with watching the latest action film of his favorite Hollywood actor. After the movie, it was out of the mall with shopping bags hanging from both his hands.

                 As the afternoon scorching sun barrages his skin with continuous onslaught of heat, sweat trickling down his face while all his hands were tiring on the weight of the shopping bags. He bought himself the latest laptop of his choice which he will use to design his future or dream projects. Among other things are clothing that included jackets to keep him warm during cold nights when the facility is under a rainy weather. He was walking back to the pickup with a ready smile on his face. It will only be a few moments before he drives away from the city and yet saddened by the thought; it is back to the boring mining facility for him.

                 He was walking on the shoulder of the road which was lined with establishments. He passed by a taxi unloading a couple when his eyes picked up a soft thump. His eyes were thrown at the butt of the taxi just to find a hole that he is sure was not there before.

                 As the cab driver was oblivious to the hole that instantly materialized on his car and was counting change for his passengers, Charlie moved closer to the rear of the car. Groping all the shopping bags, he peered at the hole that mysteriously appeared on the car even though it should be the least of his concerns. Another cab stopped at his back and he was in between them. He moved his body sideways to look at the driver reflected in the side mirror for a chance to be noticed. He had just leaned sideways when the nearest taillight exploded in debris and shrapnel after a second.

                 The exploding light casing startled him and he instantly sat down, not knowing what is going on. The cab driver moved his upper body out of the window and yelled at him but he paid it no mind. He stood to look around just to find someone at a distance from his back. A man is aiming a g*n on his direction. Before the man, in jeans and leather jacket, fired another couple of rounds, he was already crouching between the cabs. The rounds homed unto nothing but to the glass at the back of the first cab.

                 Charlie was no fighter. The firefight done by Gillian and Summer against the assailants at the facility shook his body that almost disintegrated his joints. He was more than glad when it is over and he was never pushed into fighting for his own life. Yet, here he is again, on a life-threatening situation. He almost cursed himself for leaving the guards behind. Being left without any choice, there is only one thing he could do and he is best at it during troubles; run.

                 Trying to move away as far from the gunman and as near to the pickup as possible, he sprang to his feet and bolted away between the cabs. He was oblivious to the flying bullets wherein one of it almost grazed his head. Gripping the shopping bags as his ears were drowned by the heavy and fast beat of his heart, he run over the length of the street and is homing to the pickup.

                 He is running the fastest he had ever been when in a distance at his front another man in black sweatshirt aimed a g*n at him. Adrenaline drowned his senses and his mind quickly ordered his body to cross the street. He banked his run across the street when a white car sped by. With all the adrenaline injected in his blood, he jumped over it in a leap that may earn perfect 10 from the judges of long jump events in the Olympics.

                 Just as he hit the other shoulder across the road, he was running again away from the direction of the first man. He does not know if he is still being shot. All he knows is that these men are trying to kill him. Getting to the pickup is the only way he can be safe within the protection of the heavily armed guards.

                 He made quick glances while he was running like a scared rat. The men after him who turned out to be a group of four people are on the chase and are stopping at some points to shoot him but to no avail. He was surprised that he made it far from all the men trying to murder him.

                 Like someone who is trained in running, he dashed towards the parking lot where he left the pickup and the guards. The parking lot is occupied by over a hundred of vehicles and his startled mind is having a hard time to find the pickup's location from the sea of vehicles. It is no different in finding a needle on a haystack.

                 With the shopping bags still miraculously on his grasps, he crouched low on a vehicle after the other as the four assassins spread in all direction with their guns drawn. He jumped a few times behind a vehicle or had crouched low in time when guns were fired on his direction. He was beginning to believe he won't make it when he leaned his back at the aft bumper of the nearest vehicle. He was catching his breath but paused amid an inhale when he felt the vehicle’s machine is in idle and is producing vibrations throughout the body of the truck. A look at the exhaust muffler confirmed it is on idle.

                 He almost jumped when he found that it is their pickup truck and the guards he left inside have just set the vehicle in idle just as to let the air conditioning system run. He was so relieved that he accidentally stumbled on their vehicle. Wasting no time, he moved around the vehicle to the nearest door and in a lightning move he swung the door wide open.

                 "Help me," he pronounced with stress and haste. "There are men trying to kill me."

                 His last words were barely whispers as his eyes were welcomed by a picture of gore and bloodbath. The guards inside the idle vehicle have been massacred. Bullet wounds were evident in their body and it looks like they were taken by surprise.

                 Charlie have never felt alone and hopeless his entire life. This is the first time he experienced loneliness and helplessness. He was left alone in this fight that he knows he cannot overcome.

                 His mind that was fueled by panic was sent into work. The pistons of his mind crunched on the ideas that his fighting spirit fed on it. A look at the guns still in the holsters of the dead and in their hands made him think about picking one and giving them a fight. Yet he is no Gillian or Summer. He uttered a silent prayer and wished the girls are here with him. He knew they will give up a fight to protect him with their lives.

                 Deciding he was not for guns, he moved away from the truck filled with dead bodies of people that should protect him. Now it is a dash on the open streets towards somewhere with the men intending to kill him on his wake. A bullet may find its mark soon on his body but he wants to give his killers a tough time.

                 Bullets after another missed him as streets after the other he took his turns. He noted that people along the way of the chase are either running or hiding to preserve their dear lives. The bitter reality bit him that no one around will dare save him. As block after the other he ran, the adrenaline faded in his system and he was beginning to tire that was made evident by his long pants. He felt like he was inhaling fire and his heart seems to be making a way out of his ribcage. A little more of the cat and mouse game and he is more likely to die in tiredness than the bullets.

                 Powered only by the reserved energy, he went on running. His life is at stake here and he cannot fail himself. He was already far from the pickup and not knowing the way around San Jose, he felt he was lost in the maze of buildings and streets. A rat can only runaway from the predator as long as it does not get lost in the maze. He knew it will be a matter of time before they cornered him.

                 As he runs, he saw a cab taking its turn on an intersection towards him. If he can get in the cab, he might escape the deadly grasp of his killers. Waving both of his hands with the shopping bags, he called the attention of the cab driver. To his relief when the cab stopped to take him in.

                 "Ubi?" The cab driver asked as he looked at the rearview mirror.

                 "What?" Charlie said after a long inhales and exhales, meeting the cab driver's eyes on the mirror.

                 "Oh, American?"

                 "Yes," Charlie said not knowing if being an American in San Jose meant an advantage or something else.

                 "Where to?"

                 Charlie looked around before speaking. The gunmen have just taken a turn to the street that he last took. "Anywhere!"

                 "Listen, man. I need a more accurate location than the word anywhere."

                 "Nearest police station."

                 "Puerza Publica?"

                 "Army, Navy, Police, I don't care. Just go!"

                 The cab driver, seeing terror branded over Charlie’s face, placed the gearstick on the first gear and launched the vehicle forward. He had gone forward for about ten meters when the cab swerved right. In its sudden turn, it slammed on the forward glass wall of a fast food restaurant.

                 At first, Charlie was unable to discern it. The raining shards of glass and barrage of thumps together with the whizzes of bullets gave him the idea. The cab was being bathed with devious bullets and the driver had just taken a hit. If he had time to study the driver, he might have seen a bullet wound at his nape. He just concluded that the last reflex of the dying driver is to turn the wheel to the left which made the vehicle swerve. Luckily there were no vehicles in the opposite lane which may have made a possible violent car collision.

                 The barrage of bullets went on and Charlie felt like they are coming from a tactical assault rifles and not from handy pistols. In attempt to preserve his life, he went down the floor thanking his slim built which allowed him to squeeze himself between the four seats and almost flat on the floor. Kissing the cab's floor, the bullets harmlessly passed higher or lower than his body. If there are rounds ricocheting, he was too lucky none of them found their mark.

                 I'm going to die! His inner voice cried in his mind. I'm going to die!

                 Out of mind, he exited out of the door that was turned away from the approaching gunmen who are on the act of reloading the guns. He left the shopping bags in the cab and crawled on four legs to no particular direction. His head fortunately hit a glass door that swung in. When he panned his face up, he found himself in a flower shop and the sight of floral decorations on display came mocking to him as if they are for his funeral.

                 Discarding the thought that the flowers are for his burial, he crawled his way to the counter. If earlier he was in fright, this time, a mix of confusion and desperation is in control of his body. He found himself sobbing, panting and laughing as he crawled behind the counter.

                 A female who is the shop's cashier was under the counter and was covering her head with eyes close. Charlie, who was staring on the floor and letting his hands and feet carry him wherever they want to, bumped his head on a shoulder of the cashier. This made the female shriek in fright thinking that something that may endanger her life had touched her.

                 Outside of the shop, the gunmen had silently surrounded the cab with their guns drawn. Upon checking the cab, Charlie was mysteriously not there. They are beginning to believe that he can do magic tricks when they heard a sharp shriek of a female in a distant shop.

                 With all the haste of the born killers that they are, they silently strode in the streets and then stormed in the shop. Their guns were aimed in all directions but there is nothing to shoot at but a variety of flowers in display vases and glass shelves. Planting careful steps on the tiled floor, they spread across the tight space of the shop. After a few seconds, they concluded that the shop was empty of life. One of them, the man in leather jacket, waved his hands in the air in gestures that is ordering the group to move out.

                 Behind the counter, the cashier slowly opened her eyes and gave Charlie a frightened look. He raised an index finger across his lips, suggesting the cashier to stay quiet. Terror struck the cashier for seeing a stranger and her mind thought of many things like he might be a killer or something. Unable to do nothing in fright, he sobbed softly after nodding at him. She decided that whatever this stranger might to do unto her, she will have to endure just to buy time until an opportune moment to escape comes.

                 The lead man, the one wearing a leather jacket that Charlie saw first, led the group out of the door. He just made a step out of the door when the group heard suppressed sobs. In an instant, they all turned around and proceeded to the counter with guns drawn.

                 Charlie c****d his head sideways. He heard hurried steps that suggested the bad men after him are approaching the counter in haste. Charlie knew that the sobbing of the cashier gave him, or them, away. He looked up to just to see the forward ends of silencers aimed deviously down at him.

                 I'm dead.