28Gabriel was stunned. Riley doesn't talk like this, she never has. Riley stormed out of the room, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes. Her vision was getting blurry but she didn't dare blink, she knew if she did, tears would be coming out uncontrollably. She was listening, she heard everything alright, but she'd already knew, Michael had called her 2 days before to warn her. Their next target was her. Gabriel was calling her name. His voice was getting closer and closer. Somehow it only made Riley want to run, and so she did. She ran, as fast as she possibly could. She just wanted to escape, somewhere anywhere. Anywhere would be great but just not here.
Gabriel chased Riley all the way until they got into an alleyway and that's where Gabriel got close enough to tackle her.
Riley screamed and they both went down. Riley was too quick for Gabriel. She yanked her body away from Gabriel's grip, got onto her feet and pulled out a gun to aim at him.
"Whoa Riley, look, there's a better way to do this." Gabriel said raising his hands in surrender. He was still trying to catch his breath.
"You just don't understand!" Riley hissed while gritting her teeth. "You always think you can save everyone, every god damn one of us. How can you understand when all you can think about is how heroic you are?" Riley was clear in her mind she couldn't shoot him, but at the moment that's the only thing she wanted to do.
Gabriel was also thinking of everything he could do or say to distract her.
"Yes, you're right….. Riley, your mother was killed and I get it, you're mad, you're upset. God dammit I really wish I knew what to say, but I don't. Look, we're only trying to help here, we're trying to find the killer. YOU want to find the killer…..right?"
Riley's face had dried tear streams.
"No, I don't! I….I know who…he's back…..he's here….." Riley voice was cracking up, she lowered her gun and her hands cupped her mouth. She turned around. She didn't want him to see her cry. Gabriel slowly walked up to her and took the gun away from her and pulled her in for a hug just as Riley lost control of her emotions.
Riley tried to fight back, she was stronger than that, and she didn't need a guy to comfort her.
"Let GO of me!" Riley screamed. She punched his chest but Gabriel took in the pain. Finally, Riley gave up and sank to the ground. Gabriel went down with her.
"Riley, it's okay, Riley, I'm here, I'll always be here."
Riley looked up as the wind blow across her face, it made her feel a little better that at least someone cared about her.
*****************2 days ago****************
Riley was in her kitchen making herself dinner when suddenly her cellphone rang. She took a quick look at her phone and immediately noticed it was a private number, , she picked it up anyways.
"Hello?"
No answer.
"Hello?"
"Riley?"
It was a male's voice, and it was not Gabriel's.
"Who's this?"
"Me." The unknown male laughed politely
That laugh, it sounded way too familiar, it sounded like a boy she'd spent 9 years trying to protect before her mother gave him up for adoption. She suddenly had a flashback of that day he was left at the orphanage.
Alone. He was begging his own mother to not leave him. He was screaming out that he was afraid. He was holding on to Riley's arm, pleading… begging her to save him. Riley didn't know what to do. So she took off her necklace she had on and gave it to him.
"Wear this for me okay buddy. Michael, I promise, I'll come and find later okay? I promise, I won't leave you again."
"You'll come for me tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow, I promise, I'll be here."
Riley closed her eyes. She wasn't there for him tomorrow. And they never saw each other again. Now, out of the blues, she was on the phone with him.
"Hey, you there Riley?"
"Michael…"
Michael coughed.
"I'm not here to bond with you Riley, I'm here to tell you something else."
"Michael, it is ….you." Riley felt her eyes welling up. Every night she'd been thinking about him, if he was dead or alive. If he was still as tough as the little boy she'd last saw of him
While Michael was trying to talk about something else, all Riley was thinking of was Michael.
"Riley! Stop it! Stop saying my name! I told you, I'm not here for you, I'm just trying to warn you! Your life is in danger, they're back Riley, and they're back for all of us."
"Who's back? Michael, are you okay? You're not making any sense."
"Them, the mafias, have you forgotten? Mom's boyfriend? He was their boss. You killed him and they've been planning their revenge ever since his funeral. But you were under witness protection. They're coming back to revenge their boss, and they're here in Washington, where mom is. Where I am."
"How do you now all of this, Michael, you're kidding me…wait…..don't tell me you're still hacking around."
"I got my ways of knowing."
"Michael, you were ask a long time ago to stop."
"You're not my older sister anymore Riley, u can't tell me what to do anymore. I'm not the old Michael. You broke your promise, so I've broken mine."
Those words stabbed into Riley's heart. She probably will never know what kind of pain Michael must've been through.
"I'm not in Washington." Riley said emotionlessly.
"You're in Virginia, working at cybercom. I know everything Riley, where you live, your occupation. I did some minor hacking of course. But everything's not important right. We need to focus on the mafia. I'd managed to bug one of the gang member's phones, and they're targeting mom first. I just located her address. I'm going over there to give her a gun, and then I'm going over to where you are, because you are their main target. "
"I might be their target but so are you, and so is mom, you should protect her first." Riley didn't feel scared, she'd been waiting for them for strike, for 15 years, she'd been waiting, and now they finally have.
"Don't act tough Riley. I brought a plane ticket already. Departing -"
Suddenly Michael stopped.
"Michael? You there?"
"They're here. Oh my god they're in my house."
"Run Michael, don't fight them, you're not strong enough, run!"
"You're still as dumb as you use to be Riley, nothing's changed about you. That's one thing I absolutely hate." And with that Michael hung up.
Michael acted quickly. He'd been in these situations numerous times. He took his secure phone and broke it in half. He took the microchip out of it and dipped it into a bottle of coke he was drinking. He had gasoline on his shelf and he poured it all over his electronic devices. By now he could hear the people walking up the stairs. He took out his lighters and as fast as a blink of an eye, everything was on fire. Michael took a few steps backward and smiled. He was pleased with his work. He had an escape window and he jumped out. He could hear voices yelling. He assumed they were all caught in the middle of the fire, but when he looked over his shoulders as he was walking, he saw 2 men running out the front door. Michael swore and broke into a run vanishing into the moonlight.