“Gabe, shit, son, I’m here, I’ve got you.” Pop, good Pop’s here, I can let go. Lights out!
I awakened sometime later to whispers in the room. I couldn’t make out what was being said or who was talking, but it was more than one of them. What the hell happened? My body didn’t feel like mine, and only my training kept me from panicking.
I had a bit of trouble pulling out of it, but when my eyes came fully open, my mother, Sheila, and the twins were hovering. “He’s awake, Pop; he’s coming to,” Rosa called out. Why is my little sister crying? I turned my head, and Pop came into view with his phone clamped to his ear and an unsettled look on his face. “I don’t care what the fuck. How far could one little girl get? Find her.”
Little girl, Gianna! It all came rushing back, except for why I was here, in my parent’s room. The last thing I remember is Pop putting his arms around me. I jackknifed up in bed and tried to get out of the bed. “No, son, you stay put; your uncle’s on his way to have a look at you.”
“No, Pop, I’m good. Did you find anything on her yet?”
“No, the boys are still looking. She didn’t drive, so they’re checking out the bus depot and train station; we should get something soon. One of the neighbors saw a strange car pick up someone in the early morning hours, so we’re tracking down the driver, but she wiped the phone clean before leaving it, so we don’t know who it was. We just know it wasn’t a local cab.”
“What do you mean she left her phone?”
Pop looked at the others before answering. “She left everything behind.” That hurt, like a lot. She was basically saying she didn’t want anything from me, a last fuck you to me, I guess.
I didn’t bother asking what happened to me even though it was the first time I’d passed out like that. I’ll think about that later. Right now, I had to concentrate on not letting it happen again, but Pop’s words were making it hard. I felt hot then cold and had to concentrate on breathing to overcome the fear. Where could she have gone? If she were going to Virginia, why go through all this?
“I have to go to my room. I need to get to my computer. I can find her easier that way. Why am I in your room?”
“That’s your mother; she freaked out when Tommy walked into the house carrying you.” Before I could stand up, Uncle Garrett and Lancelot rushed into the room.
“How do you feel?”
My uncle approached with his trick bag and ignored my reassurances that I was okay. I sat through his examination for Ma’s sake because she wasn’t talking, just sat there looking scared while my sisters had tears in their eyes. Rosa kept giving Anna looks that tipped me off to the fact that they were hiding something but the fact that they weren’t talking meant they didn’t want to say in front of the others.
Lancelot brushed by everyone else and came to sit beside me when Uncle Garrett was done. “He’s fine; his pressure’s just elevated a bit for now, but nothing dangerous. What is it now? The idiot cop?”
“No, Gia’s gone.” Pop answered while pacing the room.
“What do you mean gone? Like someone took her? Why?”
“No, we don’t think that that’s what happened.”
I need to get out of here and to my room. No one said anything when I left the bed and walked out of the room with Lance and the twins on my heels. “What really happened between you two yesterday?” I couldn’t bring myself to answer him, couldn’t say the words. “I messed up.” Where are you, baby? Don’t do this.
I went to my computer and looked at her trackers, but they were all in her house. I sat there like a lump, not knowing what to do next. She had indeed left everything behind. The earrings I’d added the tracer to, and the one in her backpack. “Where are you going?” Lance called out to me as I left the room again.
“To Gianna’s.”
“I’ll drive.” The three of them followed me downstairs and out the door. I felt like I was on autopilot, like all of this was happening elsewhere, and I was just watching it from the sidelines. I didn’t see this coming; I didn’t expect her to make a move like this. How could she?
“What are you two hiding?” I sat in the front seat of the Hummer with Lance at the wheel while the twins huddled together in the back.
“We didn’t know what she was planning.”
“Tell me!”
“We introduced her to Diego.” I flung around in my seat in surprise.
“Why did you do that?”
“We didn’t know why she wanted to talk to him, we thought….”
“We thought she just wanted a fake ID like everyone else, to get into places and stuff.” Rosa took over from Anna.
“When did you do this?”
“Yesterday, she called in the evening after school. We’d told her about him before just in passing. We didn’t even think she remembered. It was just something to talk about.”
“Lance, change of plans, head to the dorms.” Diego is an expert at fake IDs but not only that; he has connections to the underground, something not many knows about. To the kids at school, he’s just the go-to guy for fake IDs so they can get into bars and clubs and other stupid shit. I never had any uses for his services, but that’s just the kind of shit these two would get up to.
“If I find out you two bought anything off him, I’ll skin you both alive.” Lancelot threatened and drove a little faster.
“We didn’t. Monique got one earlier this year, but we didn’t. Pop would kill us if he found out.” I didn’t bother asking why they’d even mention something like that to her, didn’t lash out the way I wanted to, I just sat there and listened to Lancelot tear them a new one for even being involved in something like that.
I didn’t let him come to a full stop before hopping out of the truck. The dorm assistant started to spew some shit, but I wasn’t with it. “Diego Santiago, where?”
“Do you have a pass?”
“Gabriel Russo, that’s my pass. Now, where is he?”
He had the good sense to blanch at the name before typing something into his little device.
“Room three-oh-five, on the third floor, the elevators are right over… Hey, you can’t all go up there at once.” I took the stairs because I’d lose my shit if I had to wait for an elevator, and the others ignored him and followed hot on my heels. I found the room and knocked before bursting in as soon as it was opened.
“Did you make a new ID for Gianna Fontane yesterday?”
“Hey, it’s Gabe Russo, uh, who is that?” I grabbed him up and shook the memory back into his five-foot-four ass. “Okay-okay, chill. The hot little number with the eyes, right?”
“You seeking death?”
“Nope, ah, no, she didn’t want that, said it would take too long, so I hooked her up with someone. It’s messed up what was going on with her, huh.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Her dad, the guys who were after her.” I have no idea what that was about, but obviously, it’s the story she’d told him.
“Who did you hook her up with?”