So I’m up on my feet before I can talk myself out of it, head down and legs driving like a sprinter exploding out of the blocks. Wildly overbalanced forward, ready to go down face-first if my legs don’t keep up or if a foot catches on anything. Vision tunneled down, so all I can see is the dark rectangle that’s the passageway across the alley. I give it everything I’ve got, every joule of energy in my body. Any moment expecting to be blown out of my boots by three bursts of autofire.