Play@YSDC

"Oh boy. Excuse me but I think someone might be in need of help outside." says Thomas.

He dives to the floor and kicks the shop's door open to find out what is happening, before getting out of the way to leave an opportunity for Maksim (by far a better shooter) to fire if needed.

Caroline has already learned to surpress the urge to immediately rush to the scene of an injury or other trauma. It meant surpressing her old instincts, but her newly developing instincts told her that charging ahead could get her killed or seriously hurt, and then she would need help herself rather than be able to help anyone else.

Instead, she gets down, imitating Thomas's move.

Thomas kicks the door open, but the courtyard contains only the three winos.

The gunshot sounded like it came from some distance away, suggesting that Andrei may still be out on 137th Street.

[OOC: I'll PM Laraqua to let her know that we're waiting for Maksim (I guess this could be that life-threatening moment). In the meantime I've made this post so that you can both post again if you like]

Maksim Rukov unholsters his gun and rushes for the sound of the gun shot. "Stupid buerocraft," he snarls and motions for the other two to follow. "With me!" It was unsafe in the alley but he didn't fancy having everyone going off in different directions. He really wished Timour was here. They'd listen to what his brother had to say. Not that his brother ever had sensible things to say.

Thomas gets up, swearing to himself and losing his cool for a moment. He had tried to be as discreet as possible so that Silas wouldn't notice anything weird about their group, but it had obviously failed, for a yet unknown reason. Hopefully a valid one.

What is that son of a bitch up to?

Thomas excuses himself and runs with Maksim.

Caroline trails close behind the two men as they chase after the source of the shot. Hope Andrei's all right, she thinks hurriedly.

When the three reach the alleyway they can see that Andrei is no longer stood at the far end. The alley is unoccupied.

The winos don't move from where they sit. Silas N'Kwane closes the door of his shop.

A car horn beeps repeatedly somewhere nearby.

Thomas runs in the car horn's direction, while making sure the three of them remain as a group.

Caroline follows Thomas's lead without hesitation.

Maksim tries to cover his gun as he runs so as not to attract too much unwanted attention.

The alleyway – Near Ju-Ju House, Harlem, New York
2:45pm – Friday 16th January, 1925

As the three investigators rush along the alleyway Timour’s Studebaker touring car screeches to a halt at the end of the alley.

The windscreen and driver’s side window are shattered, Andrei sits behind the wheel sounding the horn repeatedly. He is covered in blood, as is the hood of the car.

Lots of people’s faces are starting to appear at the windows of the overlooking tenements, some of them look very hostile; others look frightened or just plain curious.

Andrei slams on the brakes and jerks the car into reverse.

"GET IN THE CAR!" he roars through the gaping windshield. He glances behind the car in the direction he came.

Andrei is almost unrecognizable. His face is a mask of smeared blood and gore, speckled with glittering shards of glass.

"Good Lord, Andrei--? Are you hurt?" Caroline asks as she reaches the car.

"No! But we all will be if you don't HURRY UP! GET IN!"

Andrei's voice breaks into a yell again, and he glances over his shoulder toward Lenox Avenue again. - obviously, he's very pumped up on adrenaline.

Caroline can see that the front passenger seat is also smeared with blood. In the middle of the smear is Andrei's large officer's revolver, looking like it's covered in sticky red jam.

[OC: But its not jam! ]

Maksim gets into the passenger side, wincing as he sits in the warm, wet blood and wishing he could be in the driver's seat. One thing was for sure, he didn't trust Andrei behind the wheel. He leans out the window, looking to see if he should try shooting at someone but not really wanting to let loose a shot in case he took down an innocent out for a walk.

Thomas reluctantly jumps into the car. It doesn't seem like a good idea to him, especially as the driver is covered with blood and shattered glass... but running away on foot sounds like an even worse idea.

"Ok, what exactly happened?" he asks.

Caroline gets into the car as well, nervously looking around.

West 137th Street – Harlem, New York
2:45pm – Friday 16th January, 1925

There are a few people already beginning to emerge from the tenements onto 137th Street. It isn’t possible to tell yet whether they are hostile voodoo cultists or just locals coming to investigate the gunfire and the car horn, but either way Timour’s battered and bloody car obviously attracts their attention. Some of them look angry.

Before the doors are even closed, Andrei presses down on the gas, jamming the car into reverse and turning away from Lenox Avenue.

"Watch out behind us!" he shouts angrily, ignoring Thomas' question.

As quickly as possible, he screeches the car to a halt again, shifts the car into first gear, and accelerates down 137th, away from Lenox Avenue, as quickly as possible. He's not going to slow down for people in the street, but he honks the horn when he gets a chance.

From one nightmare into another, Caroline thinks as she glances behind her at the scene they leave behind them.

"What on earth happened, Andrei?" she asks, both wanting and not wanting to know.