Page 73 of 25 Alive

“Can you expand on that, please?” Yuki asked her witness.

“Yeah, sure. Miguel was telling me that Dario was a sex magnet. That he had slept with a lot of girls and women, no strings attached, and Miguel said, like, ‘Have you ever heard of snuff films? Well Dario does them without the cameras. It’s the real thing.’”

Gato went on, saying, “Dario got very mad at Miguel for talking about him like that and to me. So, he pulled the car off the road and took a gun out of the glove box and told Miguel to get out of the car.”

Yuki said, “Please go on,” but this story had changed since Gato had told her about that June 15th. Wherever he was going, she couldn’t stop him now.

“Dario was aiming his gun at Miguel,” said Gato. “I got out of the car and I had my phone out. So, I took pictures of the gun in Dario’s hand, and Miguel was in the frame, and I was getting scared, so I said, ‘Dario, don’t do it.’ And he told me to shut up, so I said, ‘Miguel, run,’ and he did. And then Dario shot Miguel, and he turned his gun on me, so I jumped behind a parked car.”

This was the first time Yuki had heard about a threat on Gato’s life. She felt as if she were walking on a high wirebetween two skyscrapers without a net. There was no way to talk to Gato privately, even if she could pause his testimony now. Everything he said was being broadcast into the Judicial Building on the Folsom Prison grounds.

“And then what did you do?” Yuki asked.

“I watched him,” said Gato. “He muscled Miguel’s body into the trunk of the car and took off.”

Yuki was absorbed in Gato’s narrative and didn’t see Dario rise from his seat. He yelled, “He’s lying! Nothing but lies!” He shot Gato a threatening look, saying, “He did it.I demand to testify!”

Dario’s outburst so derailed Gato’s testimony that Yuki barely noticed Judge Walden banging her gun butt on the bench. Attorney Jon Credendino grabbed Dario by the arm and tried to pull him back into his seat. But Dario shook him off, insisting, “Don’t I have rights? I want to speak to the jury.”

A new sound filtered into the courtroom. It was a muffled rumble like that of an old car engine, and for a moment Yuki conflated the engine sound with the roar of Dario’s car, which was in her imagination.

But this new engine sound was coming from the south and outside of the building, and it was not imaginary.

The jurors grabbed at and talked to one another, and even Gaines was shouting, “What the hell?” By then, everyone in the courtroom knew that something was going very wrong.

CHAPTER107

YUKI WAS CONFUSED by the roaring sound. She knew everything about this building and couldn’t figure out what the rumbling could be. Credendino was on his feet, with his briefcase in hand.

He yelled at her over the noise. “Yuki! You and Gaines get the hell out of here!”

“What’s happening?” Yuki called back. But no one was listening to her.

Judge Walden shouted, “Court is adjourned. Everyone take the stairs and vacate the building!”

A guard came toward the counsel table, on his way to detain Dario Garza.

Panic erupted as something enormously heavy thumped onto the roof. Yuki looked up and saw the plywood ceiling start to splinter. The sounds were unmistakable now. A helicopter had landed on the roof of the Judicial Building, which had not been built to bear the weight of an aircraft.

Yuki crossed her arms over her head, and Nick Gainesguided her toward the courtroom’s side door, which was blocked by terrified jurors trying to get out.

Just as the logjam at the door began moving, the chopper broke through the ceiling of the makeshift courthouse, the body of the helicopter crashing to the floor, shattering the titanium blades and causing the floor to shimmy and buckle underfoot. And now the walls were vibrating.

Gaines was doing his best to hold on to Yuki as the motion toward the side door propelled them forward, causing her to stumble in her high-heeled shoes. Gaines put his arms around Yuki’s waist and lifted her until she was wobbling on her feet.

“Hold on to me, Yuki. No. Leave the shoes.”

Now gunfire came from the helicopter. Guards and court officers returned fire.

Nick had gotten her to her feet when the helicopter’s engine finally cut out. The silence lasted for only a second, before being filled by the sounds of gunfire and the warbling shrieks of sirens coming through the gates.

Inside the courtroom, agonized wails could be heard from a man who was lying across a young man’s body, crying out in Spanish.

“Son, son! Speak to me! Please. Damn it, boy. Speak!”

CHAPTER108

YUKI LOOKED AROUND the courtroom, which was littered with helicopter parts and debris lying on the gray linoleum floor. The wounded cried out and begged for help.

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