Races 002: In service...

I stood staring at the crumbling brick slowing uncovering the desks where I sat the week before scouting a route, opening an account and walking out with a brand new bottle cozy and beach ball. A brick dangling from 10 feet up dropped pointedly onto the light atop of the cab causing a sparking, breaking of glass and the decidedly accurate Not In Service light to switch on.
We picked 3/4 Bank for it's location near the course and for how busy it usually is giving us ample time to sit in a bank manager's office staring out the windows at the streets being blocked off for Sunday's big run. I had to endure the benefits of direct deposit checking along with how great the tiered interest rates system for MaximumSuperSavingsSupreme accounts were. I was to set up an account to keep suspicion aside if anything ever came back to what were we doing the days leading up to the race to give credibility to why I was here. $200 would be enough and I could easily close the account at a later date without any penalty according to my SuperSavings Associate Kent.
Kent had a gap tooth grin but the gap wasn't between the front two teeth like normal people. He had an unearned swagger walking through the office shaking his ass like he was spreading incense to the people with it. He was God's gift to women if you're an atheist. A mullet would have completed his package nicely.
"Why don't you let me put down the initial minimum deposit for you and see what kind of interest I can earn."
Never one to cause a scene, I pretended not to notice the gesture and silently laid the check in front of him and told him, "No, thank you." It took the strength of the chair as I clenched the arms of the chair to prevent myself from making a scene. It gave my some small sense of satisfaction to watch Kent's nameplate now embedded in the windshield of the cab that tried to run me down. If I ever see Edward again, he'll be on the business end of the tazer my mother bought for me when I told her I was moving to the big city.
It had seemed for about an hour now that there was no longer a team atmosphere. After the misdirection from John and the coffee fiasco with Jen, nothing surprised me after that. Not even the lead up that led to Cab 626 racing into the 3/4 Bank really surprised me at this point. Startled, yes. Scared the living hell out of me, of course. But everything seems feasible given our scam and odd congregation of players. $300,000 can turn most anyone a little deviant. Even Pastor Conners had his part in this. Churches need money too. I suppose that's why I didn't even blink when a couple of the choir boys appeared next to the crushed cab with baseball bats. When the first one swung at me, that was a bit of a surprise.
As I narrowly dodged the second swing, I noticed the cab at end of the block with Edward in it. There was no traffic, but it had stopped so Edward could watch the choir boys do their job as he was well aware of what they were there for.
As tired as I was from the crash he had caused, I began a full out sprint for his cab. He was not expecting that as his eyes grew to twice their size and he began frantically screaming at the cab driver to drive. I can imagine screaming is a little distracting to any driver. Quite obviously, this driver was not ready for the task at hand as he stepped on the gas for approximately 12 seconds before the delivery truck completed the T and the cab began to roll.
The desired effect was achieved for the rest of the team as I stood watching the cab tumble with Edward inside. The choirboys began to run away realizing the ramifications of being a part of this. I imagine some Hail Mary's were flying as the feet hit to pavement and the sound of wooden bats hitting the street rang behind the crushing of steel.
I stood in disbelief at the cab now swaying back and forth on its roof for about 3 minutes of wondering and worrying if Edward was alright. I wanted him to suffer for the betrayal, but I didn't want him to die. Maimed and beaten, but not dismantled. If he had taken a gear shift to the groin in the roll, that was preferable as well, but death was more than I was willing to live with.
The scenarios began to run through my head of the questioning by the police, the looks of his family and the abject denial by the rest of the team of any knowledge of Edward when the screeching of metal began again. Edward's face was now clear and the blood dripping down his forehead could not disguise the rage he now felt towards the one the had to be to blame for his current condition. No one blames themselves.
It was now almost 10 am and the regular runners were getting near to the end and it was time to get moving if any of us was going to even come close to matching the real runners for the prize. Edward just gave me a little more motivation as a I rushed the corner and took down the nearest alley heading towards the finish line.