Bugsy the Clown: Part 19

   I’m setting up crates with the lift in one of the hangers, I’m almost done before lunch time. My head’s full of thoughts and I barely pay attention to what I’m doing but I’m so used to doing it that everything is staking up just fine, one crate at a time. Soon the day will have passed by in a flash.

   Suddenly, abruptly, Marlon comes running into the hanger and scares the crap out of me.

   ‘Some Yuanjia boys are fucking up some of your shipments!’

   I jump out of the lift and as I land Marlon starts running to lead me to it. We head towards the secluded areas, the warehouses hidden to plain sight, those in shadow, where the illegal dealings usually take place. We arrive before long in front of warehouse fifteen, the third one in the last row, the security guard’s nowhere to be seen! He must’ve been paid off! I look at these thugs and they don’t even realize we’ve arrived. There they are, just smashing the crates down and breaking all the contents and flushing away my payday!

   ‘HEY!’

   They jump and turn back. When they see us standing there ready to fight it turns into the most chaotic scramble ever. They’re running each and everyway but there trapped inside. Marlon and I storm in and start to fight. They smash bottles and one takes out his knife. I run up to these two crooks and we exchange punches, I can’t connect but I’m also too fast and too skilled for these guys, though they do know Kung Fu. One of them slams his bottle against a post, I just ducked that one! I step back, this is intense! WHOA! I almost get one right on the nose. I get an opportunity, I grab one by the back of the head and slam him face first into a crate, I think I got rid of him for a few seconds, I start to fight the other guy.

   This guy’s more skilled but I’m better, I GOT HIM! I punch him once, twice, then in the stomach and he reels back curling up in pain. I hear a crunch on the ground behind me, the other guy’s back! He just put his weight on his left leg, I can tell he’s gonna’ swing from the left, I duck and I see the metal rod crash into a crate above me, shards and splinters fly off all over, can’t let any into my eyes! I jump back up and hold the rod down with my left hand and punch the guy straight on his nose and I feel it break just before my fist recoils. He falls to the ground, I think he’s knocked out.

   I study the surroundings and see Marlon’s got his hands full with these two other jerks but where’s the skilled crook that I was dealing with just before this guy?

   I leap over some crates and dropkick one of the guys keeping Marlon busy, it sends him head first into the metal wall of the warehouse! BANG! This other guy Marlon is dealing with is also quite skilled though he’s now outnumbered. I rise back up from the dropkick and swing in a kick but miss and the crook gets right back into it and exchanges fists with Marlon. Together we fight him out of the hanger but that’s when the other thug I had lost track of run’s out carrying something in his arms, clutched safely like a football. They were here for something specific?! I have to leave Marlon and the other guy and I dash after the thief!

   I chase him through the secluded warehouses towards plain daylight. This guy is fast and agile! WHOA! He ducks and slides under a lift that nearly slams into him from an alley between two warehouses and just keeps running. SHIT! The lift driver isn’t stopping! I run around it almost getting struck but unlike the thief … OUF! I lost precious time.

   I think this guy’s heading for the Yuanjia owned sector eastwards, I’ve got to get him before he gets there. I’ve got to quicken the pace, my lungs are burning already but the adrenaline keeps me from stopping. We’re clear out of the warehouse sector and he breaks left, just like I thought, he’s heading east!

   As if this thief wasn’t hard enough to catch up with, he just leaps like a frog onto these huge containers like if they were simple steps. He’s going up another and jumps once more to run atop a warehouse! This guy’s unbelievable!

   I give up on climbing those containers and run alongside the warehouse and try to keep him in view, but I know where he’s headed and there aren’t two ways to get there!  

   I catch up to him, but he’s still up there and about to get to the edge of the roof. He’s going nowhere! WHAT?! He jumped down?! I don’t believe it! He’s already running off away from me northwards!? After him! He arrives by the corner of the warehouse to the right, he’s hesitating?! NO! A lift from the left! He jumped on! I’m gonna’ lose him! I get to the corner, delivery truck ten o’clock! I grab onto the rod and pull myself up next to the truck’s cargo door. There he is! A little ahead of me but I’m catching up! I can’t jump, pillars every half second! He’s looking back, he doesn’t know what to do … HAHA! … Wait! NO! He’s off again, headed back south in between two warehouses! I jump off the back of the truck, I head into the narrow corridor a few steps behind him! He stops, dives to his left through the door and into the warehouse! I’m right behind him but I skid a little too much! COME’ ON! I put more weight on my right leg and catapult my way inside. WAIT! Where as he gone?! I run passed the crates stacked up left and right. SWOOSH! I almost get struck by another rod! Too many rods today. He tries to hit me again but I duck, I dodge … he’s too slow with that thing he’s stolen! He realizes that now and he throws the rod at me and starts running towards the other end of the warehouse but I catch the rod and throw it right back at him!

   GOT YA! He slams into a conveyor belt! Ouch! He stumbles but he’s right back up and I’m just a few steps from him! He’s clever though, he’s tossing boxes and parts of I don’t know what in my way, he’s slowing me down!

   BOOM! Out into the open! There’s a lot of circulation here, delivery trucks whizzing left and right! He’s crazy, he jumps right into it, I’m even crazier going in after him! He criss-crosses through them like if there was no fear in him! I slam on the brakes and nearly get hit! This is nuts!

   ‘You fucking nuts or what?!’

   Looks like the truck driver thinks so too. I dash forward and look up and I see the labyrinth of containers, they’re stacked up four, even five high in some places, it’s imposing. The guy’s headed right in there and I’m still just halfway across the street.

   I’m finally inside. Where the hell is he?! I look right, no sign of him. Left? There he is! He’s up atop a container! Damn it, enough of this monkey business! I arrive by the container and he’s already up atop another one. This place is too confusing, I’m gonna have to climb up after him this time if I don’t want to lose him. He’s gaining ground all the time, I just can’t climb like he does, he’s like a spider.

   I’m up three high and he’s gone down one since then, heading south but now he’s gotta climb back up two more to keep heading in that direction, it’ll give me some time. I take a less direct route but I don’t have to go up nor down. There I am, right next to him! AAARROUGH! He kicked me … I’m on my back looking up … my ass hurts! He’s climbing to the fourth container … so high. I toss the pain away and get right back up … THERE! Atop the third again, FOURTH! Wait he’s still there, he’s hesitating, but now he jumps across! SHIT! I get into it faster, no fear, no consequence, I run to the edge and jump! OUGHF! … I’m across! He’s up further, atop three high looking down. I gotta take a moment … NO! He’s getting away! GET UP BRANDON! I run and jump my way towards him and he jumps down like a candle! Unbelievable, he’s down on the ground, up and running southwards and heading outside of the container labyrinth.

   I can’t make that jump … I’ll snap my legs! I jump alongside the containers, keeping my grip on the edge and letting myself fall to the edge of the other until I get to the asphalt. He’s far away now, I have to hurry! He’s at the cranes now and he’s headed behind some crates, I’m gonna lose him but these damn delivery trucks again!

   I’m at the crates under the cranes, I can’t see him, I lost him! WAIT! A noise, he’s hiding behind some crate. I stop moving, gotta be absolutely quiet but I can’t stop running …

   ‘What the hell are you doing there?! Get outta here!’

   There! Behind this row of crates! He’s pissed off the wrong harbour employee. He’s up and running again and headed towards me but he can’t see me now, behind these crates. Wait for it, wait for it … NOW! I push a crate into him and it crashes and sends him into the crates on his right. Beautiful! I jump over and land at his feet. OOW! He kicks me on the shin and fall to a knee. He gets up like a cat and dashes east again. I’m up right behind him. WHAT?! This crane swings a container off a ship and above us, he jumps and grabs on to it as it keeps swinging away, too fast for me. He’s off and running a great distance from me, I have to catch up somehow but the odds aren’t in my favour. He jumps onto some containers again, he knows he’ll gain more ground in doing that. I follow him up climbing, my hands hurt. He’s already passed the containers and onto the ground again and a delivery truck is about to hit him! He spins about and grabs on to the back and as I fall onto the ground and do my best to run as fast as I possibly can, my feet are killing me! He’s a mile away waving goodbye!

   ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!’

   There I am, in the middle of the harbour screaming out my lungs in anger! He got away! I had him! I HAD HIM!

   ‘Outta the way SHIT for BRAINS!’

   Just my luck, that’s when the other delivery truck decides to show up, a little earlier and I would have caught up. In the distance I see the thief jumping off the truck and running into Yuanjia Shipping grounds. Touchdown.