DANTE and LULU are on the bus, dressed again as themselves, heading further south along the Eastern seaboard.
LULU
You think we actually lost those two guys back there? My trick with the disguises seemed so lame. Hard to believe they actually bought it.
DANTE
It looks like they fell for it. Or for your Southern charm. Whatever the case, I haven't seen any signs of them since we left Georgia.
LULU
Kind of scary to think that such idiots walk around with guns all day.
DANTE
Organized crime attracts all kinds, Lulu. There are guys who get into the life because they have no marketable skills whatsoever. They just do really well at taking orders and throwing muscle around.
And then there are guys who are smart, greedy, and ambitious enough to build an empire off of the thuggery of those in the lower rungs. They worm their way around laws, taking whatever they want from whomever they want, whenever they want.
LULU
Like Sonny.
Dante responds by throwing his hands up.
LULU (con't)
You can say the same thing about people who go into the military or law enforcement. There's pure muscle on one end, and the ones pulling the strings on the other. All of them carry guns. All of them kill.
DANTE
It's a difference of ethics. It's the difference between killing for the good of others and killing just to get ahead. There's killing that saves lives, and then there's killing whose sole purpose is destruction and fomenting unrest so that the guy on top can swoop in and steal as much as he can from the people left reeling in the wake of the violence.
LULU
You could say the same thing about war, Dante. That it's about creating unrest so a few people on top maintain control and get rich.
I mean someone has to hold that position of power on top. Isn't it just about power and who gets to maintain it? Lawful or unlawful seems kind of beside the point sometimes.
I mean...how do you know, Dante? How do you know that you're living a moral life and people like Sonny aren't?
DANTE
I don't think morality just happens, Lulu. It's constructed. Sure, we have this inherent need to cooperate...no man is an island, and all that. But the development of morality is consciously constructed by every individual person. It's built on choice and free will, not innate predispositions. No one is born immoral. And you can't teach someone to live morally. It's built inside of you by your own take on past experiences.
And you ask yourself: do you live morally because you want to avoid punishment? Do you live morally because you see what's in it for you? Because you want people to like you? Or because it's the law?
Or do you live according to an inner code that says that laws are open to interpretation? They're worth following as long as the most people are protected?
Or do you live morally because you can genuinely imagine what it would be like to walk in another's shoes? You're totally empathic and you just know what's the right thing to do, no matter whether it's useful, or expected, or legal.
LULU
It all depends, doesn't it? Do you really think about living morally when you're doing it? Isn't it just intuition? How much of living morally is simply just caring about your fellow human beings?
DANTE
Look, all I know is that there is a system in place and it's a system that works right most of time. I have to believe that it works right most of the time. When we let the system of law work, bad guys are tried fairly and pay for their wrongdoing and the good guys get to go on living their normal, nine to five, lives.
LULU
(softly)
I'd like to believe that too, Dante. I just don't know if it always works like that.
Both grow silent as they realize that they've reached an impasse in this irresolvable debate on morality. In their silence, Dante glances sheepishly at Lulu.
DANTE
You know I really love that you think about all this stuff and you can so passionately share what you're thinking with me.
LULU
And I love that you're here talking to me and listening and letting me share with you what I think about all this stuff.
They reach for each other's hands at the same time and smile as they entwine fingers. Lulu pulls Dante's hand closer to her and kisses him. With her other hand, she grabs the front of his shirt and pulls him closer for an even deeper kiss. His free hand goes to her hair and behind her neck. Someone in the back of the bus coughs, breaking the spell.
DANTE
(stammering)
Bus...uh...we're on a bus.
LULU
(smiling)
Yeah.
By the way, where are we going?
DANTE
End of the line, baby. Miami. I mean, unless you want to keep going down to Key West?
LULU
(smiling)
No, Miami works for me.
Dante and Lulu reach Miami in late evening. Having left the bus, they walk into a bar and notice that although the salsa music is blaring, the place is eerily calm. Only a few patrons are there, quietly huddled in booths. Dante and Lulu settle at the bar.
Before they have the chance to order drinks, a shot rings out from the back room.
The few patrons in the bar scramble out hurriedly. Dante puts his arm around Lulu and they duck under the bar. He brings out his phone and hands it to Lulu.
DANTE
Call 911. Tell them shots have been fired. Stay right here under the bar until it's clear, okay?
LULU
(flipping open the phone)
Okay...but where are you going? You're not...?
DANTE
It's all right Lulu. This is what I do, remember?
He squeezes her shoulders, and then reaches behind him to pull out his gun. With the weapon drawn, he stealthily goes to the back of the bar. He stops at the door and listens. Not hearing anything, he slowly opens the door and steps in.
Inside the room another shot is fired, and then another, from two different directions. Dante ducks behind a file cabinet.
Trying to determine where the shots are coming from, he looks around to the half of the room he can see from his vantage point behind cover. Dante's gaze stops at a figure in the shadows, who is also cowering behind a file cabinet. The figure stands up, takes a shot, and goes quickly back behind the cabinet. The shooter on the other side of the room fires his weapon too and scrambles to a different spot. The figure in Dante's range of vision also moves. Dante sees that it's Sonny. He stares in shock and disbelief.
Sonny turns his head, sees Dante, and stops cold in his tracks, his mouth open in shock. He is frozen and in full range of the shooter, who proceeds to fire off several rounds. Dante leaps to knock Sonny down out of the line of fire. He fires a clean shot at the shooter and hits his mark.
The shooter groans, gasps, and, finally, goes quiet. Dante walks across the room with his weapon drawn, and finds a still, collapsed body. He puts his fingers on the body's neck to confirm that he is dead. He looks around the room to assure that there aren't more shooters lurking in the shadows. Once he sees that it's all clear, Dante tucks his weapon into the back of his jeans.
He turns around and sees Sonny lying on the floor, in a pool of blood. Blood is soaking through Sonny's shirt at his chest and stomach. Dante hurriedly kneels down and takes Sonny's head in his hands. He pulls his hand back out, and it's covered in blood.
DANTE
(distraught)
Sonny. Oh, god.
SONNY
(struggling to speak)
Dan...Dante? Wh-What are you doing here? You're not supposed...to...be..here. Did he get you? Did that son of a bitch Luis get a shot at you?
Sonny struggles to try to get up. Dante holds his arms down to stop him.
DANTE
No, Sonny, I'm not hit. But...you...oh, god.
Dante starts to cry. He tries desperately to contain the blood flowing out of Sonny's head. His own hands are swimming in blood.
DANTE (con't)
Don't move, Sonny. Please...don't move. Help is coming.
Sonny's breath is panicked until he inhales deeply. He then reaches up his hand and pats Dante's face gently.
SONNY
(softly)
My boy....my son.
Sonny drifts off into unconsciousness. Dante holds Sonny's head and tries to stifle cries that can't be contained.
DANTE
(choked shouting, through tears)
Help, somebody help! A man's been shot!
Lulu rushes into the room with Dante's phone still in her hands. She surveys the scene in disbelief.
LULU
(speaking into the phone)
Please, send an ambulance! A man's been shot.
A/N When I first started this fic, this was as far as I saw it going. Now that I'm here, I can see some new directions the story could take. I don't know yet whether I'll be following the thread. So let's just consider this conditionally complete. In case I don't pick it up again: In my mind, Sonny lives but he's out of the picture for a while, allowing other characters to live and flourish in their own diverse storylines.
Thank you for reading! As always, your comments are much appreciated.:)