CHAPTER 6
Audrey Hanson, Matt Parkman, and Mohinder Suresh
Queens, NY
Parkman moved first. He slowly pushed the false wall out of his way and with his gun pointed outward, stepped into the living room. The next few seconds were a bit of a blur. Parkman heard the man scream as he jumped out from his hiding place against the wall. Matt didn't know what hit him… well, he knew, he just didn't expect it.
The man started whapping away at Parkman's back with a spatula. Highly annoyed, Matt grabbed the man by the rim of his sweater and threw him to the ground.
"Please…" the man spouted out, "Take what you want… just don't hurt me…"
Parkman looked at the crumpled man on the floor. He grabbed the spatula out of his hands and looked at it, the guy on the floor, and back at the spatula.
"This coming from a guy who just assaulted me with kitchen wear?" he said, waving the kitchen utensil in the air.
"Who are you people?" the man whimpered. "What do you want? Please, take anything… Just go!"
Mohinder and Audrey watched as the man pushed himself up against the back of the plastic covered chair. He was afraid; very, very afraid.
Audrey stepped forward. "Do your thing, Parkman. I want to be sure." She said this so coldly Mohinder could almost feel the air in the room freeze. Audrey hated Sylar. This was the first time she had seen him since she practically handed Ted Sprague to him on a silver platter. "Make sure you go deep."
Matt pinned the whimpering man to the chair and leaned in to listen…
Who are these people? Oh my God, they are going to kill me... I don't want to die… Please… Why do they have guns? I've never been shot… I don't want to be shot… Someone please help me… maybe if I scream someone will hear me… Please don't kill me…Please…I think I'm going to be ill… Oh God… help…
Matt was sick of listening. He let go of the man whose rambling thoughts were now annoying the hell out of him. "He's clean."
"What?" gasped Audrey. She couldn't believe that this man was not Sylar. "How?"
"I can only think of one guy who can do something like this…" Matt said turning away from the cowering man on the floor, "The Haitian man that used to travel with Bennet." As he said this, Matt's face turned dark. The Haitian had erased his memories before. Maybe, just maybe, he did it to Sylar. "He has the ability to block… well… abilities. And erase memories."
"How do you know this?" Mohinder asked, intrigued more by the fact that there was a man who could block someone's abilities.
"Let's just say… we've met…" Matt said darkly.
The three looked down at the trembling man who looked whiter than a sheet. He looked at them in horror as if they had just told him they were going to torture him. Mohinder reached down with his hand open. The man shuddered and stared, but then took Mohinder's hand and stood.
"We aren't here to harm you…" Mohinder stated in as much a calming voice as he could muster. "What's your name?"
The man just stared blankly at them. The minute of silence that passed felt like an hour, but finally, the frightened man spoke…
"Gabriel." He choked out. "My name is Gabriel."
Mohinder looked in awe at the man. If this person were Sylar, you would never know it. He was wearing a light blue sweater over a white collared shirt that was fitted cleanly to his lean frame. His pants were a brownish color and had a neat crease on the front of each pant leg. His hair was neatly combed and he wore a pair of black-framed glasses. He was the personification of the word: Nerd. He was no Sylar. This man was frightened and weak. A mere shadow of the man they thought they were hunting.
"Gabriel." Audrey scoffed, her gun still aiming. "And you do what? Fix clocks?"
"Yes." Gabriel responded matter-of-factly. "I own a watch shop in Brooklyn."
"Yeah, yeah. We know." Started Parkman. "What we want to know is how is it you've come to live here and own that dorky little shop of yours?"
"What does he mean?" Matt heard the thought swiftly pass through Gabriel's mind. The thought accompanied a look of inquisitiveness.
"I've always worked in that shop. It was my dad's." Gabriel stated. "Now, please… if you're not here for anything else but my biography, please leave."
Mohinder heard it. It was in Gabriel's voice. Sarcasm. This man didn't have a big enough backbone for sarcasm. Especially when he was staring down the barrels of two guns.
"Maybe that is what we want." Mohinder said. "Or maybe… we want to kill you." The words left his mouth in the same tone he had used when he had Sylar tied to a chair. It was a venomous tone. A "and it's going to hurt…" tone. "Audrey?"
"Yes?" Agent Hanson steadied her gun to face Gabriel's forehead.
"What is she doing?" Matt heard another thought pass. Actually, he wanted to know what they were up to as well. Why were they threatening this loser? He wasn't Sylar. He had no memory of Sylar. Matt didn't understand.
Mohinder looked at Audrey. She waited. She didn't need to be Parkman to know what Mohinder was thinking.
"Shoot him." He said coldly.
"What? No! I thought we were going to scare him…" Apparently she did need Matt's ability. She wasn't ready to shoot a guy a mind reader has cleared as innocent.
"If you won't…" Mohinder reached and grabbed Audrey's gun from her hands. "Than I will…"
He aimed and pulled the trigger without any hesitation. There was a loud: BANG!
The three of them just stared… as the bullet stopped mere inches from its intended destination.
"Now, now, Mohinder…" Gabriel's voice turned from frightful to frightening. His eyes turned cold as he watched the bullet drop down to the floor with a small clink. "I didn't think you had it in you."
