The Speed of Lights

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A busy, bustling afternoon, it wasn’t quite rush hour but it was certainly  get a hurry on hour. Everyone wanted to be somewhere else, home, the gym, the pub, anywhere but stuck on the streets of the city, breathing in the fumes, trapped by the sheer number of people. Brakes screeched and horns honked as cars jockeyed for positions trying to gain a minute advantage to knock a minute off the journey. 
Evan darted along the pavement, keeping his eyes down and his feet moving. He was walking at the speed of lights, a perfectly timed walk he’d honed so he never had to stop for the dreaded red hand on any of the many junctions he had to negotiate. And he was pleased of that skill now as he was pretty certain he was being followed.

The man in the black coat had been on the subway platform with him, got on the same train then off at the same stop. Now the big, ugly scary looking fella was just ten yards behind Evan and not too subtle about following him; in fact he wanted Evan to know he was there.

Evan wondered who it was. There were three options, it could be one of Tanda’s men. He still owed Tanda money and so had been laying low in the forlorn hope Tanda would write him off.  But Tanda had the memory of an elephant and the tentacles of an octopus, so it would be no surprise if one of his men had picked up Evan’s scent.  Or it could be one of the husbands. Evan played the game, he took the risks. He knew he’d have to pay the price one day. Or thirdly, and he hoped it was this, it could be the police. Evan was small fry; if he was being followed by the cops then it was to lead them to the bigger fish. Being tailed by the law was the least threat to his own welfare of the three options.

Evan swallowed hard, and crossed another junction, dodging around a cab with a neat side step. Although his mind told him to speed up, he knew doing so would be pointless, it would only mean the lights would turn against him and when that happened it would be impossible to regain the rhythm. Beads of sweat formed on his brow and what was worse was that he needed to pee. But there was no time for that right now.

Evan paced across another road, another block gone by, but still the shadow was behind him. He didn’t look round but used the reflections in car windows to provide the evidence that the tail was still there. He’d abandoned his original destination. Now he was just walking, walking but not going anywhere. His brain raced while he thought of an escape. On the main Avenue he was safer, but if he ducked down an alley to get away he’d set himself up for a beating. But he couldn’t just keep walking, could he? His bladder was near bursting point. This had to stop soon. 

Then a shot rang out. Evan jumped. Had he been hit? No, he was fine. He kept walking despite the panic around him. People were screaming, and running in all directions. Evan risked a quick look around and saw a scary man in a black coat lying bleeding on the floor. Evan’s pursuer had been shot. He relaxed and felt a warm, damp patch spread down his leg as the relief flooded down his body.