Page 47 of Turn

There was screaming now, a shrill, incoherent level of wailing that blended into the noise of the approaching sirens. In another moment the sole window was aglow with flashing red emergency lights that seeped through the curtain and danced around the room. I heard the crackle of police radios and voices right outside but I still wouldn’t budge from my protective position down on the floor. I couldn’t, not as long as the possibility existed that I was the only thing standing between my little brother and mortal danger.

“Man, this carpet reeks like old piss,” Brecken said but I could hear the shakiness in his voice, a kid trying to bravely make a small joke.

“Just a few more minutes,” I told him.

I had no idea how much time elapsed before I heard a series of staccato raps on the door.

“Police!”

“Stay down here,” I ordered Brecken as I cautiously got to my feet. I pushed the dresser away from the door and opened up slowly.

A clean-shaven uniformed cop was on the other side. He couldn’t have been on the force too long since he was only about my age.

“Everyone all right in there?” he asked in the loud, authoritative voice that every cop possessed, like it was a skill specifically taught in cop school.

“We’re fine,” I said. “Just me and my brother in here.”

The cop threw me a look and swept a flashlight around the room. “Hey, kid, you okay?”

I turned to find Brecken right behind me even though I had told him to stay on the floor. He winced at the glare from the flashlight but nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine. My brother kept me down on the ground while the shooting was going on.”

The cop relaxed and lowered the flashlight. Maybe he was used to seeing so much bad shit he never knew what to expect when a door opened at a seedy motel.

“Everything’s all clear now,” he said. “Looks like a fight broke out during a drug deal gone bad. One dead and one guy who was just sitting in his room was shot in the leg but it seems he’ll make it. You guys take care.”

I shut the door the second the cop moved on to the next room.

“What now?” asked Brecken. He looked exhausted and frightened. The cop’s words kept bouncing around inside my head.

“Drug deal. One Dead. One guy sitting in his room shot in the leg.”

“Get your stuff,” I said. “We’re leaving.”

I didn’t have a plan for where we’d go right now. I just knew that my first call of duty was getting my little brother out of a hellhole where people shot one another over drugs in the middle of the night.

I’d prepaid for the rest of the week and I figured there was no getting that money back but I’d have to live with that.

Brecken was stuffing his clothes into his backpack with almost furious haste. Maybe he was afraid if he dawdled I’d change my mind. He must want to get out of here as badly as I did.

There were still some cops around taking statements and doing whatever cops did when there was a gunfight. A few inhabitants of the motel were mutely watching from the second floor balcony. They looked ghostly and grim. I wondered if one of them had my watch.

Leaving the Empire Motel behind in the rearview mirror was a relief.

The feeling of relief expired when I realized I didn’t know where to go next. The dashboard clock indicated the time was after two a.m. It was too late to get a room somewhere else. Reputable lodging establishments didn’t cater to cash customers in the middle of the night and I didn’t have enough cash on hand anyway. I could think of a few parks that would be fairly safe but they would be officially closed at this hour and I didn’t want to risk a run in with cops asking why I was trespassing on municipal property and sleeping in my car with a kid in the backseat.

There was only one place I could think of to go and it wasn’t very far away. No one would be there now. If I parked in the back the car wouldn’t be visible from the street.

“Where are we?” Brecken asked with a yawn after I parked and cut the engine. I took a sunshade and spread it out across the windshield so the morning summer sun wouldn’t blind us. We’d have to be out of here early or else face a bunch of questions but in the meantime we could get some much needed sleep. I couldn’t recall when I’d ever been this tired.

“Get some sleep,” I told my brother and listened to the sound of him stretching out in the backseat.

After cracking the windows a little to let in some of the cooler night air I pushed my duffel bag against the window to serve as a pillow and closed my eyes. Morning would arrive in a few short hours and I had no idea what we’d do then but I needed to close my eyes for a little while before I had the energy to deal with it.

The next thing that startled me awake was another sharp sound but it was different from the last one. This wasn’t gunfire, just a sharp knock on one of the windows.

When I opened my eyes all the way and managed to focus on who was responsible for the noise I saw the troubled face of Cord Gentry.

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