It’s just the three of us now, and suddenly the silence feels heavy.
“The cop says I won’t be able to contact you after,” Ken addresses his sister.“Ever.”
“I was afraid of that,” she softly acknowledges.
He nods his head, looking at Bess with something that looks a lot like pain in his eyes.
“They want me to tell them everything I know, to be their rat and help them bring down the Squad.Mancuso says it may be the only way you’ll have a chance at a normal life.”
His eyes come back to me for a moment.
“You gonna be there for her?”
“For as long as she’ll have me,” I assure him.
Bess
“Is that what you want, Bess?”
His features become distorted from the tears filling my eyes.
“You want this life?”
I know he wants to hear me say it.To help him come to terms with what ultimately has to be his decision.
“I love my life,” I share honestly, moving around the bed to take one of his hands in mine.
The palm of his hand is callused, but I welcome the warm friction against my own.I file the sensation away to draw on as a tangible memory of the brother I’m about to lose again.
He glances down at our joined hands before his eyes come back up to meet mine.
“I’m sorry…I haven’t been much of a brother.”
He shrugs, his eyes sliding past me to the window, when they suddenly widen.
I’m just starting to turn around when Hugo yells, “Get down!”
At the same time I hear the sound of glass shattering, his heavy body hits my back, taking me down to the ground.
My ears are ringing and my cheek is ground into the linoleum, Hugo’s weight is robbing me of air, as I watch Ken drop to the floor on the other side of the bed.Our eyes lock as chaos ensues in the room around us.People rush inside.There’s yelling, the sharp crack of gunshots, and the sound of screams in the background.
I’m starting to get disoriented, no longer able to see clearly as I struggle to breathe.Suddenly the weight is lifted and Hugo rolls off me.
Or rather, is rolled off me, by Mancuso, who is wearing a grim expression.
“We need medical assistance!”he yells as he starts dragging Hugo out of the room.
I suffer a similar fate, when I’m grabbed under my arms and pulled into the hallway.
Savvy crouches down beside me, brushing the hair out of my face.
“Bess?Where are you hurt?”
Hurt?Am I hurt?
“I don’t…I don’t think so.”
I’m not even sure what happened back there, but other than maybe a few bruises, I don’t think I was injured.
