Free Red Ice by Craig Reed Jr

magazine into place.
    “What are you doing?” Chi asked. “You’re not going to shoot them, are you?”
    “Only if they shoot first,” Liam said. “If these are Rhee’s boys they will not surrender meekly. They’ll fight to the death, so we’d better be ready to do just that.”
    They shot across Twenty-Fifth Street, followed the police cars. Just as the third one shot through the intersection, a van came flying out of Twenty-Fifth Street, made a hard right turn, and broadsided the third police car, crushing the entire passenger’s side the black and white vehicle and sending it sliding into a traffic light pole. As the van accelerated, gunfire from the van struck the cripple police vehicle, shattering windows and ripping through body work and the officers inside.
    The van roared into pursuit of the other vehicles.
     
    #
     
    Ahead, the OUTCASTs pursued the dark Buick. The suspect car shot around a Nissan pickup, narrowly missing a cement truck coming from the other direction. Dante increased speed as the traffic in front of them got out of the way.
    “Can you read the license plate?” Dante asked.
    Stephen shook his head. “It’s obscured by some sort of glass.”
    They went past Twenty-Fourth Street, both doing better than twice the speed limit. The Buick crossed the intersection with Twenty-Third, just missing a panel truck making a turn into Illinois. The Suburban missed the truck by even less.
    The radio crackled to life. “3-Boy-15 to all units! 10-53! 3-Boy-19 has crashed at intersection of Twenty-Fifth and Illinois! Shots fired! 10-56! Suspects are in pursuit of us in a dark gray van!” The sounds of automatic weapons mixed with breaking glass and bullets hitting flesh stopped the transmission.
    In the rear view mirror, Liam watched the rear-most police car veer off-course, cross the oncoming lane and crash into a parked car with enough force to send both vehicles onto the sidewalk.
    “3-Boy-22 to all units!” a different voice said. “3-Boy-15 and 3-Boy-19 are both10-80! 10-56!”
    Liam raised the radio mic. “3-Boy-22, this is Oscar-2. Take the lead in pursuit of the Buick. We’ll handle the 10-56.” He glanced back at the two men. “Steven, Danny, change seats. Dante, get ready to let Boy-22 past us, then block the road. Stephen, roll down the window and get ready to fire.” He lowered his own window.
    Behind the police car, Liam could see a gray van coming up fast. “Dante, Now!”
    Dante twisted the wheel to the left and the Suburban sped into the opposite lane, clear of traffic for the moment. The police car shot past the van. As soon as the car sped past, Dante jammed on the brakes and turned the SUV’s wheel to the right. The three-ton vehicle straddled the center line, blocking the road in both directions. As soon as the Suburban made the turn, Liam and Stephen had their P-90s out the windows, pointed at the oncoming van.
    Someone in the van stuck an AK-47 out the open cargo side door. Liam snarled, “Fire!”
    Firing 900 rounds per minute, it took both men less than four seconds to empty each fifty-round magazine. The van’s hood was ripped apart and the windshield shattered as a hundred slugs pierced both with ease. The van slowed and veered right, plowing into a pair of parked cars.
    Liam and Stephen changed magazines amid the chaos.
    “Danny!” Liam barked. “Cover us! Stephen, with me! Dante, get ready!”
    “There’s an MP5 the bag!” Stephen yelled as he opened the door and climbed out. Choi dug into the bag until he found the German submachine gun.
    Liam and Stephen advanced toward the crashed van, weapons held at the shoulder and pointing at the vehicle. Fifty feet from the van, the driver’s door was shoved open. The driver staggered out, wearing a cheap suit and clutching an AK-47 assault rifle. Blood covered his face, chest and hands, and the left side of his face had been ripped open. His left eye was missing. He screamed in fury as soon as he saw the pair and