Dead Shot

by Ethan Johnson

  “Hmmm?” She kept her forehead pressed to the glass.

  “Diana, look at me, please.”

  She took pains to reposition herself in her seat, and sat upright, facing him. “Yes, Gabe?”

  He looked down at his knees, then into her eyes. “Two things. Number one, I accept your apology. I forgive you.”

  Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she fought them back. “Thank you,” she said, simply.

  “Number two, let me trade you. Give me that call code and I’ll give you this one.” He folded the scrap of paper and offered it to her. She slid her hand out from under the blanket and handed him the crumpled note from Bob. She accepted Gabe’s offering and unfolded it. Gabe smoothed out the paper from Diana and snickered.

  “Jesus, he drew a heart next to his name.”

  “I told him to,” she said, giggling. She looked at the scrap from Gabe. “No heart from you, though.”

  “I don’t give it away that easily,” he said, quietly.

  Diana felt her cheeks redden. “Kinda makes a girl wonder what to think.”

  Gabe closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then exhaled, and looked into her eyes. “I’d like to see you again sometime, Diana Pembrook.”

  She tipped her head and smiled broadly. “Not Fellner?”

  “Pssh. Nice made-up name. That will keep him guessing for a while.”

  Diana looked at Gabe’s hands and reached for his left one. She pressed his warm hand between both of hers and returned his penetrating gaze. “I’d like to see you again too, Gabriel Hinajosa.”

  Wilma threw her head back and clapped her hands as she laughed. “Trenton is coming right up. Young love got here first. Lord, almighty.” She cackled and looked around the train car.

  The train slowed down, then screeched to a halt. Bob brushed past Wilma and glared at Diana as he departed.

  CHAPTER 10

  Diana and Gabe departed the train at Penn Station, and the platform reminded her of the connecting stop in Chicago. Immense rusted steel beams and slabs of concrete were the prevailing architectural elements, and she cowered a bit as the overhead speaker sounded, issuing a warning about standing behind the yellow line. Gabe waved her on and led her to the station interior.

  She was relieved to have the ambient noise around her drop a few dozen decibels. The walls appeared to be polished marble, with low ceilings and animated advertisements on the wall depicting how businesses run on the latest devices or scenic vistas in Ireland. Diana gawked at the shimmering displays, and Gabe tugged on her arm.

  She picked up her pace and passed through an archway into the front of the station, which caused her to stop in her tracks, and just feel the energy of the place. The atrium was massive, filled with worn wooden benches that reminded her of church pews, and bas-reliefs that seemed to belong somewhere else. She couldn’t put her finger on it, and as she imagined a memorial of some sort, Gabe pulled on her arm again.

  “Come on, you don’t want to hang around here.”

  “It’s amazing,” she said, awestruck.

  “It’s just a train station,” he said with a shrug.

  “It’s beautiful. It looks like God built it.”

  Gabe scrunched up his face at her, then paused for a moment, glancing around the room. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then nodded to her. “It’s not half-bad, for Newark.”

  Diana looked up at the ceiling, then felt light-headed, and returned her gaze to Gabe, and a sign in the distance. A long-haired woman leaned toward the passing crowd, scanning faces for somebody, and holding a hand-lettered cardboard sign that read DIANA.

  “Mabel’s cousin is here. I guess this is it, for today.” Diana smiled up at Gabe, who looked over at the dark-haired woman, and grimaced.

  “Maybe she’s looking for someone else.”

  The woman looked further down the line, waved to Diana, then pointed at her sign. Diana returned her wave, which prompted the woman to tuck the sign under her arm and walk quickly toward her.

  “Nope, that’s Veronica.” She looked her up and down for a moment, then looked up at Gabe. “She’s prettier than I thought she’d be.”

  Gabe didn’t look over. He looked her in the eye and put his hands on her shoulders. “When can I see you again?”

  Diana studied his face and didn’t want to frustrate him. She had no idea where she was going, and no idea where he lived. She just had his call code, and no idea as to how she could connect to it. She inhaled to speak, and Veronica approached from her right. “Diana Pembrook…?”

  Diana nodded. “That’s me.”

  “Veronica Freeman. Mabel told me all about you.”

  “Hi. This is Gabe.”

  Gabe nodded, and reluctantly shook her hand. “Hey. Can we have a minute?”

  Veronica looked at them and put her hand to her mouth. “Whoops, I am so sorry! I’ll be right over there.” She pointed to an animated display, detailing the wonders of cross-country train travel. She strutted away in high-heeled boots and tight jeans, and Diana watched Gabe to see if he took any interest in her. He did not, and he put his hands on her shoulders once more.

  “Will I see you again soon?”

  Diana took a deep breath and nodded. “I hope so.”

  “I hope so too. I’m going to miss you. Hopefully, you don’t get into any trouble. This isn’t Nebraska.”

  Diana smiled. “I’ll do my best. And same goes double for you.”

  He cocked his head. “Why double?”

  “Because… if you get too careless, bad things can happen. So, don’t be careless.”

  “I’ll remember that.” He looked down, then took a nervous breath. Diana felt something tingle inside of her that she had never felt before. “Diana… is it alright if I—”

  She pulled him closer to her and kissed him. His eyes widened, then squeezed shut as he kissed her back. After they pulled away, Diana grinned. “Yes.”

  Diana’s eyes were closed, and she had a wide smile on her face as she thought about kissing Gabe. She hadn’t expected to meet anybody on the train, and now she clutched a scrap of paper with a call code written by a man named Gabriel Hinajosa. She tried to get comfortable with his last name, and practiced it internally, imagining seeing her name as Diana Hinajosa. It seemed otherworldly, or musical. Maybe a bit of both. Die-yah-nah Ee-nah-hoe-sah. She wondered what Mabel would think.

  Or her father.

  Her eyes snapped open, and she leaned toward Veronica, who sat awkwardly beside a polished metal pole that cut through a row of molded plastic bus seats. “Did I what?”

  Veronica rolled her eyes. “How was the train ride in?”

  “It was good,” Diana said, smiling dreamily.

  “I’ve never tried it. I mean, I’ve taken the subway, but I hope to God it’s nothing like that.”

  “I’ve never been on a subway, so I don’t know. But I liked it. It was… different.”

  “Different is good,” she agreed and grimaced as she tried to shift herself away from the pole that dug into her leg. “Mabel says you need a fresh start.”

  Diana nodded. “I tried to stay in Nebraska, but she sent me to you.”

  The bus stopped, and a large man got up and exited through the rear doors. Veronica slid over and patted the seat beside her. Diana squinted at the trap she had laid for her and figured it was punishment for being new in town. She wheeled her suitcase and took Veronica’s old seat. She regretted it immediately. The gleaming pole pressed into her thigh, and Veronica rubbed hers to restore proper circulation. Diana kept the luggage pressed against her knees.

  “She told me you don’t have any papers or anything. You some kind of illegal?”

  Diana shook her head and hit it against the pole. “No, but my Da—my father, um, misplaced them, I guess.” She recalled a similar conversation on the train up to Chicago, and she modified it for her needs. “It’s been a nightmare, trying to get them back, but the fricking government loves screwing me over. I blew half a paycheck on
rush service, and for what?”

  Victoria cocked her head. “Paycheck? How did you get them, without filling out forms with your job, and with no ID?”

  Diana winced but passed it off as irritation with the pole. “I meant my cash. They paid me in cash.”

  Veronica leaned over and spoke close to Diana’s ear. “Do you have lots of cash on you?”

  “No… not lots, why?”

  “But, you’ve got cash.”

  “Yeah.” She felt nervousness creeping up on her. She hoped Veronica wasn’t planning on robbing her. Not only would she be utterly destitute, she’d have to give Sally the satisfaction of being right about how going to New York was a terrible idea, and she’d get mugged within the first five minutes off the train.

  “Keep that to yourself. Don’t show it to anybody. Let me pay for everything until we get to my place, then you can pay me back there, where nobody can see it.”

  “Okay. But… I don’t have very much, honest.”

  “We’ll figure it out later.” Veronica sat upright and brushed her hair back with her fingers. Diana looked around the bus and watched some of the dynamic advertisements sell the benefits of Level Five Accounting, traveling to Iceland, and the spring line at Maddie’s. Veronica elbowed her ribs. “You’ve never seen those before?”

  “Y-yes I have.”

  “Wow, Nowhere, Nebraska has them? I wouldn’t have laid money on that.”

  “At the train station, when I got here. But I didn’t have time to check them out.”

  Veronica gave her a sly smile. “No, you were checking out your boyfriend. I get it. We all have our priorities.”

  Diana leaned back in her seat and exhaled slowly. She thought about Gabe and felt the sensation of kissing him. She slipped the crumpled paper into her front pocket and wondered when they’d see each other again.

  The bus came to a halt, and Veronica rose to her feet. “Almost home. Hope you can still walk.”

  Diana got up and clutched the pole like a drunkard on a lamppost. “I’m fine.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Just over a month later, Diana hurried to work past a patchwork of buildings, all pressed together and giving the impression they were one solid unit. New graffiti covered the scrubbed bricks with bolder designs. Diana glanced at one of them and wondered what the significance of SMET was. She was running late, and despite being paid in cash under the table, Mister Leotis had a simple policy: Late three times, and you’re out. She was looking at strike two if she didn’t hustle.

  Hustling was all she had done since arriving in Newark. Veronica had a small one-bedroom apartment, and when they came home from the train station, she pointed at her loveseat and said, “That’s yours.” Her back ached every morning as she stretched from a fetal position, but she was grateful for the roof over her head and grateful to Mabel for making the arrangements.

  Diana had found the job on her own. She hustled and went door to door, looking for work, always inquiring at the back or side entrance as a coded signal for “cash.” Most places put on a show of turning her away, but as she hoped, when she was about to move on to the next block, a swarthy man in a bloody apron waved her over after looking both ways.

  From that day onward, she worked in the stock room at a small neighborhood market and butcher shop. Mister Leotis worked the meat counter, speaking Greek to his regulars and passable English to her.

  Athena, his daughter, pushed the back door open and scowled at her. Her hair was pulled straight back into an oval hair clip, and she wore a black dress cinched with a thin belt and glossy knee-high boots. She liked flirting with the young men who came into the shop, to her father’s chagrin.

  “You’re late again. I’m telling Papa.”

  Diana didn’t have a watch, but the last clock she passed said she had five minutes before work, and she was sure it couldn’t have passed by that quickly. She drooped her head and shuffled toward Athena. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “No, it no happen again, ‘cause you gonna get fired.” She karate-chopped her upturned palm. “Whack! Bye-bye.”

  Diana attempted to brush past her and get to work, but Athena put her arm out, barring her from entering. Diana looked up at her, and Athena chewed gum, smirking.

  “Hey, how much you got?”

  Diana didn’t carry much cash and lived hand to mouth as it was. She grabbed $10 to last the day. She had her cleaning job to get to later that afternoon. She reached into her front pocket and produced a single worn bill. “Just this.”

  Athena snapped it from her hand and put it down the front of her dress. “I forget this. No more late, huh?” She slapped Diana’s cheek lightly and winked.

  Diana felt the loss of her food money but put on a brave front. “Thanks, Athena. You’re the best.”

  Athena popped her gum and ushered Diana into the back of the market.

  “S’another nice day out, huh? People go outside. Shop here, maybe.” Mister Leotis shuffled to the end of the meat counter and switched on the television. He waited for the picture to appear and clicked the remote through a series of channels all showing the same thing. Black smoke billowed from a building, and police cars ringed the site as a reporter spoke intently into the camera.

  “Where sports? Too early?” He kept clicking the remote and found an infomercial for the new way to slice pears. He shrugged and tossed the remote on a pile of boxes. He turned around and saw Diana sweeping the floor, preparing for the market to open. He called to her. “Diana, you remind me put sports on TV. People no wanna see that crap.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, looking up from her labors.

  Athena huffed and slid the cash drawer into the register, then slammed the drawer shut. “Papa, why we no have Instant Pay by now? Cash is stupid.”

  Mister Leotis waved her off. “Ahhh, fancy business. Cash is good.”

  Diana nodded to herself as she swept. Cash was very good, and now she didn’t have any, thanks to Athena. Her, and running late. She resolved to find a way to wake up earlier.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal on glass. A crazed woman slapped on the front window and pulled on the locked door. She shouted in another language—Greek, Diana assumed—and Athena gestured back at her to read their posted store hours.

  A group of people ran down the street, followed by police cars, lights flashing. Diana ducked behind a shelving unit stocked with olives. The woman slapped the glass again, and Mister Leotis poked his head up from the meat case. “What she want? Not time yet.”

  Athena popped her gum. “I dunno Papa, she looks crazy.”

  Diana rested her hand on a shelf and watched the drama furtively. They got the occasional crazy person, but she recalled seeing the woman in the store before, and she seemed fine then. What was she upset about? Why all the commotion? As she peered over the shelving unit, she felt something move under her hand.

  Another tremor sent a stack of tomato cans crashing to the floor. Mister Leotis stood up quickly. “Diana! Clean up mess!”

  She dropped the broom and rushed to pick up the cans. Another tremor shook the building, sending more cans and boxed goods to the floor. A sound like thunder roared somewhere beyond the walls of the market. The woman at the door screamed and smacked the glass once more with her ringed fingers. She looked to her left in terror, then ran to her right.

  Athena ran to the back of the store.

  Mister Leotis put his hands to his head and looked at the front of the store in a daze. Diana stepped through an obstacle course of cans and boxed rice and made her way to the back door. She hoisted a thick wooden bar and dropped it into its cradle, which was welded into the door frame. Something was terribly wrong, and without knowing the specifics she knew they needed to bunker down. She’d read it repeatedly in the Good Book, at her father’s behest.

  “What are you doing? Trapping us? Why? What we do to you, huh?” Athena pressed her hands to her cheeks, unsure of what to do, or what was going on.


  “Keeping us safe,” Diana said, with a voice like steel.

  “What happen?” Mister Leotis took small steps behind the meat counter.

  Diana pointed to the TV. “Put the news on.”

  Mister Leotis rubbed his balding head, and lunged for the remote, remembering where he left it. He flicked through the channels, then tossed it to Diana. “You find.”

  She nodded and pressed the channel selector buttons until a local news channel displayed an aerial view of Manhattan, and east New Jersey. Black smoke rose from all over. As the scene shifted on the screen, another explosion rocked another part of town, and the three of them heard a dull thud from behind the store. Diana looked at her employers and waved at them to duck down behind the meat counter. Athena clip-clopped behind the counter as she was told, and Diana flicked the breakers on the back wall. The TV screen went dark, as did the rest of the store.

  “Why? Meat need to stay cold.” Mister Leotis started to get up, and Diana urgently gestured for him to stay down. She dropped down beside him as a group of young men pounded on the glass.

  Mister Leotis trembled, and his forehead glistened with sweat. Tears welled up in Athena’s eyes. Diana felt… strangely exhilarated.

  “Where’s your gun?”

  His eyes widened. “What…? Gun? I don’t got no guns here.”

  Diana scowled and peeked through the glass display case. The men pounded at the window again, and cupped their hands to their eyes, looking for movement. One tugged at the man next to him and motioned him onward. “They got nothing. Come on.” They vanished off to the left, and Diana leapt to her feet. She reached up under one of the tables behind the meat case and produced a shotgun.

  “Found it,” she said. “Do you have more shells?” She pantomimed reloading the gun. Mister Leotis began to play dumb, then nodded in defeat. He shuffled over to another part of the table on his knees and opened a plain cardboard box, producing a dozen or more shells. Diana stuffed as many as she could into her pockets.