“OI!” the busker shouted.

But Brett was already ten metres away, fifteen, twenty. Some of the coins fell out and scattered on the pavement. Brett let them go and squeezed the bulging baseball cap between his anxiously trembling hands.

Someone was chasing him. Brett could hear running feet over the sound of his thumping heartbeat.

“Stop! Thief!” the busker shouted, and Brett realised it wasn’t him chasing; the running feet were much closer behind.

“Move!” Brett hollered.

People on the pavement pulling cases looked around. He sent one young woman flying. Most of them just got out of his way. Someone up ahead heard the shouts of “Thief!” and stuck a foot out to trip him up.

Brett leapt nimbly over the leg and shoved the guy in the face. The guy went sprawling.

Brett reached the edge of the terminal building. He took the corner at speed. He ran across the road, darting between cars that blared their horns at him. He would reach the edge of the car park in under a minute.

Suddenly a great strength yanked him backwards. Somebody had a grip on his T-shirt.

Brett stumble, broke free, tripped and righted himself. He was up and running straight away, but it was too late. Someone was on top of him instantly. They grabbed him from behind. Brett swung in their grip but they didn’t let go.

Then they pushed him. He was pulling against them at the time and he went flying. He hit the ground at an angle and skidded across the concrete.

The cap flew out of his hands. The money went everywhere.

NOTES:
I always wanted to avoid having the coin stolen too much (indeed, I think this is the only mugging I allowed myself to write). There are enough unsavoury characters in the story, and having it stolen would be a rather cheap contrivance to have it move from person to person. It would also inevitably get it stuck with those unsavoury characters, whereas I wanted to get away from them to normal people most of the time. Brett was probably named for Bret Easton Ellis.