Strength Unfolds

Mary looked at the small seedling pushing through the dark soil. It was one of the tulips she planted before winter. Seeing the baby plant broke her heart. Jesse had been dead long enough to have new life spring from his grave.

Mary wiped her face and turned to leave. She couldn’t keep coming here every day. On the way home she made a decision.

“Jake, I’m leaving Seattle for a while. I’m leaving the car parked outside. Use it, if you want to. And please water my flowers.” She left the message and turned her phone off. She couldn’t bear the thought of talking to Jake, Jesse’s identical twin brother.

A day later, Mary stepped off a plane at Kennedy Airport. She took a yellow cab to town. She had never seen New York and from the bottom it looked like any other big city; crowded, dirty and unfriendly. The only place she found to rent for a price she thought was reasonable was in a part of town that looked as if the police had long ago given up on passing through.

The newspaper’s classified job listings were bleak. Wedged between large ads for nurses was a two line entry searching for EMTs. The only qualification Mary had. She called and was hired over the phone. The guy on the other end wasn’t worried about her credentials.

‘What an inhospitable city.’ Mary thought as she stood in line at a 24 hour diner in the morning before work. The place was packed with people who made it a point to stare into their coffee or away from her.

“May I sit here, please?”

The young man grunted, “Yeah.” He looked up, his face changed. His eyes twinkled as if he was telling a good joke, “You’re an EMT?”

She felt out of place and cautious, but replied. "Yes."

"My name's Danny." He said after looking her over, pondering for a minute. "What's yours?"

"Mary."

They started to drink the coffee a waitress had left on their table, not staying long enough to check if they needed anything else. The conversation started out light; the weather and such. Mary started to open up to Danny. Something about him that made her feel safe and the people around didn't care to listen. They were all too involved in their own troubled lives to care, she realized. She even found herself talking about why she left Seattle.

"Wow." Danny rubbed her shoulder, comforting her. "I'm sorry."

She surprised herself by saying, "I had to get away. Tired of men; all they want is to get into my pants."

"I know how you feel." Danny replied. He had to laugh at her confusion from his response, then explained. "My ex-boyfriend is a cop and he had sex with another cop for reasons I still don't understand."

Mary couldn't help but sneer at 'cop'. She understood now why she felt so comfortable around Danny. He didn't look at her like a piece of meat and he'd never try to get into her pants.. Finding common ground took the conversation to another level and she started to feel better about the move. At least she'd found someone friendly in that cold hearted city.

She looked at the clock, concerned. "I have to go or I'll be late for my first day." She didn't want to go but knew she had to make a living somehow. "Are you busy tomorrow morning?"

It was his turn to be surprised. Danny didn't have to think long. "Not at all. Wanna meet here, same time tomorrow?"
“Sounds great.”

Mary walked smiling to the train station. Danny wasn’t so bad. To have made an acquaintance that could become a friendship on the first full day here filled Mary with optimism.

At her new job she was greeted by a guy who sat in a small office. He had short brown hair that clung oily to his scalp. His mustache was yellowed from chain smoking. His eyes were bloodshot from spending his days in the smoky room.

“You’re Mary?” he didn’t wait for an answer, “The key is in the rig. Bob, your partner is sleeping on the gurney. Wake him up. He knows where to go first.”

“Don’t I have to fill out any papers? You never told me how much you pay.”

“We'll do that later. For starters I’ll pay you twice minimum wage.”

A man slept in the ambulance. He sat up, grumbled, “You drive, I navigate.”

Mary drove them to a nursing home. An old lady in a wheelchair needed driving to a doctor’s appointment. Before lunch they did three more of those boring jobs. Eating a taco behind the wheel she asked, “When will we get something real; action, blood – a true emergency?”

Bob laughed, “We don’t do 911.”

“Why not?”

“Too much scrutiny. Driving old people from here to there doesn’t attract any attention.”

Mary wondered what kind of attention the company feared. The day passed with more of those mind-numbing chauffeur rides. The boss paid her cash, more than she expected.

Back in her apartment, with take-out food and a paperback from the newsstand, Mary thought of Danny. She looked forward to seeing him in the morning. As she fell asleep she thought how nice it was to have somebody friendly to look forward to; somebody without too much drama in his life.

Meanwhile, Danny spent most of his day running errands. He arrived back at his apartment as the sun began to set. During the day he felt distracted. His mind kept going back to his new friend, Mary. She seemed nice but he couldn't help think about her loss and wonder if he was making too big of a deal over his ex.

After closing the apartment door, Danny tossed his keys on a table. He jumped at the sight of two men sitting on his couch. They were members of the family.

"Hello Daniel." The one in the blue suit said.

"What are you doing here?"

They both gave each other a look, one that didn't go past Danny. He started to feel a little concerned since he hadn't seen any of the family after telling his secret to his father. The last thing he remembered was the vase being thrown against the wall.

"Daniel," The blue suit said, "you might want to sit down. We have some bad news."

Sitting on the seat, he felt a little drained. Danny didn't know what to expect. "What is it?"

After an uncomfortable pause, they let it out. "Your father was shot down last night." After letting that fact sink in, one of them added, "You're the only one who can take over. It was your father's wishes. But you need to lay low for a few days until we take care of business. They will come after you."

"I can't..." Danny stared at the floor. He didn't want to run the family and had no idea what he should do. "I need to be alone."

They left him, but warned against leaving the apartment first.

Even so, he still planned to see Mary in the morning. Maybe she'd have some advice.

“Danny!” Mary was happy to see him. She was exuberant enough to garner frowns from bad humored New Yorkers. The anticipation of fifteen minutes in his company had built up to a point that she went right into a barrage of talking about her previous day. “My job is so boring, no action. I thought we’d see blood and guts. We drive old folks from here to there. Man, I got paid in cash last night. Is that normal around here?”

Danny cringed and only now did Mary see how tired he looked.

“That company you work for is a money laundering business. It’s common. Nobody stops an ambulance. Maybe look for another job.” Danny went silent and brooded over his coffee.

“Are you ok?”

Sighing Danny shook his head, “My dad died. I found out yesterday.”

Mary felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her head. “I’m so sorry. Was he sick?”

“Murder.”

A deep crease formed between Mary’s eyebrows. In a low voice she asked, “Do you know who it was? Do you want me to take them down? I’m better at that than saving lives anyways.”

Danny stayed silent. Mary insisted, “I’m not joking. If I can get my hands on a decent rifle it’ll be easy.”

“No, Mary. I don’t want that. The family will send a hitman after them. Fuck!” Danny reached across the table and threw Mary on the ground. As he flung himself on top of her the windows to the diner shattered in a hail of bullets.

The attack lasted only a few seconds. Most people ducked in time, some were injured. Danny was hit. He pressed a hand on his shoulder. Whispering soothing words Mary pulled his hand away to assess the wound.

“You’ll be ok.”

Danny sat on the floor for a minute stunned. He'd been warned but hadn't believed it would happen that morning. He almost didn't hear the kind things Mary said to him while she took care of his small wound. The side of his shirt was soaked with blood but he didn't care.

"Are you okay?" Mary asked, a little concerned.

"We've to get out of here." Danny answered as he snapped out of the trance. "The cops will be here soon or another round of shots. Either way we don't want to be here."

His reaction surprised Mary. She looked around to make sure all injured were attended to before agreeing. But she didn't want to have to answer to the cops in New York. "Okay."

Danny led her to a safer block, one that he knew was being monitored by the family. They were stopped only once, by one of the henchmen.

"Who's this?"

Standing up for Mary, he replied, "She's a friend of the family from the west." That was a sufficient answer and they were left alone. There they found a quiet place to talk.

After a few minutes of explaining the family and how they wanted him to take over, he asked, "What should I do?"

"Well," Mary wanted to be careful with her word choice. "You're not with that scum cop anymore. So you don't have a reason to say no."

Looking at the ground, Danny muttered. "I think I love Mike."

She didn't know what to say. Her own experience with cops made her want to tell him to move on but having lost Jesse made her reconsider. After a few minutes of thought she decided to ask him what he wanted to do.

Biting his lower lip he decided, "I'm done running away."

Danny straightened his shoulders and looked Mary in the eyes, “You have to go back to Seattle. You’ve been seen with me. It’s not safe for you to stay here.”

Mary took a breath to say she didn’t want to abandon him. At that moment her phone rang. It was Jake and sighing she clicked the talk button.

“Yes?” Mary’s voice was soft and gentle, as if speaking to a child, Danny noticed. He stayed silent to let her listen. Mary’s face became sad and finally she said, “I’m coming home, Jake. Today on the first plane I can get.”

“Bad news?” Danny asked.

Nodding she reported, “Jake is Jesse’s twin brother. They were closer than close. Before I came along they slept in the same bed even as grown men. I’m all Jake has left and I simply left.” She laughed mirthless, “All I worried about was me. I need to be responsible.”

Danny stood up, “I’ll have you escorted. Don’t try to talk me out of it. You’re in danger because of me.”

A man in a blue suit walked Mary to her place to grab her duffle bag and then drove her to Kennedy Airport.

Jake waited for her at SeaTac. He pulled Mary into a tight hug, “Don’t go away again, please.”

“I won’t.”

At home Mary went right to her rifle safe. She took out her precision sniper rifle and weighed in her hands. She smelled the cleaning oils and faint burnt stench of gunpowder. In slow, deliberate moves she took it apart and reassembled it. This was her passion, not driving an ambulance.

“Jake,” she said fitting an armored vest over her torso, “Let’s get back to work!”

He smiled, stating, “New York has invigorated you.”

“You have no idea how right you are.”

Tired, Danny was glad to be at his apartment. The whole day had been taxing. He'd never been one to stand up to others or order people around but today was different. He managed to establish his place in the family and couldn't let any weakness show.

While he climbed the stairs up to his floor he couldn't help but think of Mary. He missed her already but knew she couldn't have stayed. Putting himself in danger was one thing but he couldn't do the same to her. Maybe he would go to Seattle one day when things had settled down and the family had taken care of the current threat.

Unlocking his apartment door, Danny wanted to collapse on his bed. He couldn't keep up the act for much longer. Once alone he'd be able to mourn for his father, properly, without several eyes watching him at all times.

As soon as the door closed he felt a hand grab his arm.

Danny reacted fast, smashing the assailant against the door while pulling out his pistol, placing it to the man's neck.

"Danny?" A scared voice stammered out.

Still holding the pistol up, Danny was able to get a look at the man. Once he figured out who it was he put the gun down, "Mike." Relieved Danny wrapped his arms around Mike and let go of everything that he'd been holding back. He could cry at last, now safe in the arms of the man he loved.

2349 words total.