Gun Games (32 page)

“Tell me what happened today.”

“I was supposed to meet Yasmine at Coffee Bean. That’s our regular spot. We’ve been together every school day morning for a long time. Maybe not
every
morning, but most weekday mornings.” He got quiet. “I lived for those mornings. It turned waking up from a chore to something I cherished. This particular morning I was supposed to meet with some bigwigs from a record company in New York at SC. It took my agent a month to arrange this. Lord only knows what Jeff is thinking now.”

“I’m sure his best wishes are with you.”

“Nah, that doesn’t sound like Jeff. And I doubt that Nick is horrified.”

“I’m sure he’s concerned about your condition.”

“That’s true. Neither he nor Jeff wants a lame racehorse. I know, I know. So young yet so cynical.”

Marge patted his shoulder. “Tell me about this morning.”

“I forgot to put in my contacts when I left the house, so I went back to the house, which made me late in meeting Yasmine. I’m, like, texting her, telling her I’ll be late, but she’s not answering me. And that’s a little weird because she usually does answer me. So I get to Coffee Bean and she’s not there. Yasmine is chronically late, but usually not
this
late. And I still can’t reach her, so I’m, like, getting a little nervous. So I call her, which I usually don’t do because we text. But she doesn’t answer, and now I’m getting really nervous.

“In the back of my mind, I’m thinking that her parents found out and she’s in real trouble. And I’m feeling awful and nervous. So I leave Coffee Bean and I’m outside the door. I call her again. And then the fucking ground starts ringing. I look down and it’s her phone. I also found the watch I gave her. I’m thinking she wanted me to know something was wrong. Why else would she leave it, you know? So now I’m really starting to panic.”

Marge nodded.

“I’m thinking maybe her parents dragged her out of the place or she got robbed or mugged or whatever. So I pick up her phone and watch. And I decide to go back to her house to check up on her. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

He put his hand over his mouth.

“I’m getting a little ill thinking about it.”

“You want to stop for a moment.”

“No, let’s just get this over with. So I’m thinking, do I go back or do I look for her? . . . It’s like all in a space of a minute. And then I just flash on Dylan and Cameron. It was like the most nauseating feeling in the world. I start running for the bus stop because Cameron told me she lived near there. And in the distance I see this group of kids walking together. And I see Cameron’s long blond hair. And I’m thinking holy shit! And I start running and running. You know, pure adrenaline. And I catch up to them and bust inside the inner circle. And that’s when I see Yasmine. And I also see that Dylan has a gun to her back—a .22 Smith and Wesson.”

Gabe blinked several times.

“The bastard looks at me and says something like I raped Cameron so he’s going to rape Yasmine. Which is absurd. I never touched the bitch. And then I hear the click and feel the gun at my head.”

Again, he put his hand over his mouth.

“Dylan’s gun?”

“No, no. Some other dude with long hair. Dylan still has a gun on Yasmine.” He swallowed hard and turned to Marge. “If you show me a photo thing like the one with Dylan, I could pick out all of them. I looked at their faces enough.”

“I can do that.” Marge said. “What happened after someone put a gun to your head?”

“It was weird.” Gabe stared into space. “I became supercalm . . . not like my life was flashing before me, but all the panic just . . . evaporated. I was completely focused on how to get Yasmine and me out of this.”

“What did you do?”

“First, I guess I tried to stall . . . acting supercool while he accuses me of raping the bitch.” He paused, and then pointed a finger in the air. “I remember. I told him that I didn’t go home with Cameron because I had an audition with a record company. Dylan bought it. Deep in his heart, every dude wants to be a rock star. And she’s calling me a liar and I’m like ignoring her in the way guys ignore girls who are shit to them. And Dylan can tell that I don’t care what he thinks even though I’m like shaking inside. I kept thinking to myself, I have to get the gun away from my head.”

“How’d you do it?”

“I stopped suddenly and ducked, throwing the dude behind me off balance. As soon as he pitched forward, I grabbed his wrist and twisted, got the gun away. My dad taught me how to do it. It was simple. And with all that adrenaline inside, it was really easy. That gun was a Luger 9 mm semi.”

He stopped talking.

“It gets a little blurry at this point. I think Dylan shot me, but I was so pumped up, I didn’t feel it. Somehow I got behind him . . . Dylan . . . I’m taller than him . . . and I put a gun to
his
head. I must have taken his gun away.” He looked at Marge. “I wound up with the Luger in my left and the .22 in my right hand, which I kept on Dylan’s head.”

“You’re left-handed?”

“No, right-handed but almost ambidextrous. Oh, now I remember. I wanted the 9 mm in my left because it had more ammo and I was holding the group off with a single weapon. I kept pointing it at them, one by one, telling everyone not to move.”

Decker had swiped Gabe’s hands, residue on his left. Now was the time to test his truth gene. She said, “Did you discharge any of the weapons, Gabe?”

“The Luger. One of the dudes made a move into his pocket. I fired a shot or two to scare him off . . . near his arm. I mighta grazed it. I remember thinking, just nobody
move
so I can organize my brain.” He was breathing hard. “That’s all I wanted. For them to keep still with their hands visible while I thought of an escape. Lord knows that I didn’t want to shoot anyone, but they had to know I was serious.”

Marge said, “How many times did you fire the gun?”

“I really don’t remember, Sergeant. I’ll say twice, but I’m not sure.”

“Okay. So . . . you have the .22 to Dylan’s head.”

“Yeah . . .” Gabe had his eyes open, but mentally he was replaying the scene. “I have the .22 on Dylan and I’m like . . . threatening the others with the second gun. And I’m thinking how to get out of this. And then I remember Yasmine.” He looked at Marge. “I told her to run away but she’s . . . like frozen. She just won’t budge.”

“Fear does that.”

“Fear does do that.” He smiled. “And maybe she didn’t want to leave me. ’Cause when I needed her help, she sure as hell moved.”

“How did she help you?”

“All this time I’m thinking about the bus. It pulls up at around seven and I figured if we could just make it on the bus . . .”

He paused.

“Looking back, I suppose we coulda just left or called 911. I had the guns. Maybe they wouldn’t have chased us. But I didn’t know. I made like split-second decisions.”

“I understand.”

“I figured we just needed to be at a public place. So I asked Yasmine for the time. The bus was coming in fifteen minutes and I figured I had to stall them until it came.”

“Okay. So it was about a quarter to seven?”

“Around that time. I told Yasmine to just dump out their shit all over the place . . . the purses, the backpacks, the wallets . . . I wanted something to keep them busy so they wouldn’t be tempted to follow us.”

“And Yasmine did what you told her to do?”

Gabe snapped his fingers. “Like that. The girl just
moved
. She was incredible.”

Marge nodded.

“Finally I see the bus pulling up and we’re about a half block away. At that point, I just grab Yasmine and we take off. We barely make it aboard. And then that’s when I called Peter . . . the lieutenant.” His blood pressure suddenly spiked.

Marge pressed the nurses call button.

Gabe was trembling. “I’m okay . . . really. I just think how . . .
lucky
we were and I become unglued.”

Rina walked into the room and saw Gabe shaking. “I’m going to get a nurse.”

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Gabe insisted. “Just stay here, okay?”

Marge turned off the tape recorder and stood up. “I think I have what I need for now. Sit down, Rina.”

Rina sat and took Gabe’s hand. As soon as he felt her touch, his heartbeat slowed. “Tell the nurse it was a mistake. Please? I don’t want to be sedated. I hate feeling out of control.”

“I’ll tell them.” Marge packed up. “I’m sure I’ll have some more questions, but for now this was very good. Thank you, Gabriel.”

“No problem.”

“Heal up quickly.”

“Sure.” He turned to Rina. “Did you get my glasses?”

Rina pulled them out of her purse. Gabe took out his contacts and wrapped them in a tissue and gave them to her. He slipped his glasses on. “Wow. Better already. Do you think I can call Yasmine now?”

“You can try.”

He punched in the hospital’s outside phone line and called her. The cell rang and rang, and when her voice mail kicked in, he said, “Hi, it’s me. Give me a call. I love you.” A moment later, he called back and gave her the room number. Then he sighed. “She isn’t going to call me. Her mom’s gonna take away her phone.”

“I’m sure her mother will let her visit you before she sends her to her aunt.”

Gabe sat up and winced. “
What?
”

Rina realized that she had spoken out of turn. “I think Peter’s concerned for her safety. She’s going to live with her aunt for a while.”

“Where does her aunt live?” Panic in his voice.

“In the city.”

Gabe threw back his head. “God, then I’ll
really
never see her again.” He was silent but his eyes were windows to his brain. “Maybe after I’m done with my lesson at SC—”

“Gabriel, you know you can’t do that.”

“I can’t help it.”

“You’ll just get yourself into trouble. You don’t want to do that.”

“So let them throw me in jail for stalking her. I don’t care. I love her. And she loves me.” He tried to fold his arms in front of his chest but he was hooked up to an IV. “It’s not like I’m a delinquent or a loser. I mean a lot of mothers would love me for their daughter’s boyfriend.”

“You’re wonderful—”

“Jesus, I put my life on the line for her. Isn’t that worth something?”

“No one is doubting your heroism—”

“So what’s wrong with this picture?”

Rina didn’t bother to argue.

Gabe said, “You think I’m an idiot teenager, but I’m not. I am capable of very deep feelings, you know.”

“Gabriel, I know your feelings are real. And her feelings are real as well. No one would ever call you idiotic.”

“Except my dad.”

Rina said nothing and forced out a smile.

Gabe regarded her face. “What’s going on, Rina?”

“Pardon?”

“Something’s going on. Please tell me!”

Rina sighed. “If Peter thinks that Yasmine is vulnerable, he also thinks that you’re vulnerable. I think he wants you out of the picture for a while.”

“Oh . . . okay.” He paused. “If it’s a safety issue, I’ll leave Yasmine alone. I’d rather be heartbroken than to have something happen to her, you know. I really do love her.”

Rina nodded.

“Rina, you have a strange look on your face. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Peter’s very concerned for your safety. When you get out of the hospital, he’s sending you to live with your father in Nevada until things settle down and he knows what’s going on.”

Gabe’s mouth dropped open. “You’re
kidding
!” When Rina remained silent, he said, “Did my father actually
agree
to this?”

Rina nodded.

“Oh
God
!” Gabe’s head fell back on the pillow. “Just when I thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse!”

“I’m sure it’ll only be for a short while before college.”

“It’s like four
months
. I’d rather face four
hundred
Dylans than spend four months with my dad.”

“If it doesn’t work, let me know. We can do other things.”

“Like what?”

“After things settle down, you can move back in with us. But if things are still up in the air, there’s always your aunt. And I’m sure Cindy would be happy to let you live with her. She’s very fond of you.”

“Yeah, move in with someone taking care of twin infants; that’ll really endear me to her.”

“We love you, Gabe. We’ll do whatever you need. But right now both Peter and your dad think it’s a good idea for you to be in Nevada.”

“That’s just
swell
!”

Rina’s eyes started to water. “I’m sorry, honey. I’ll visit anytime you want.”