Tony looked down at the rest of his burger and opted for the milkshake. He was still dressed in the gray hoodie he had blindly put on that morning. Now he could feel the vibrations of the car's engine as he laid down on the hood, and looked up at the starry night.
Jackson had called not long after Tony left the NCIS headquarters, telling him to meet at the same spot as before. Tony had braised himself for another night of heavy lifting, and no sleep, but had been surprised when Jackson had told him to unload it all on their first stop. Then he had offered to pay for burgers and even though Tony wasn't hungry he would never turn down free burgers.
So here they were. In a parking lot of a rundown burger joint, with Jackson on the ground leaning up against his van, and Tony on the hood, almost drifting off. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that Jackson had let him turn on the radio, so they now listened to the fine tunes of some band blasting out of the opened driver's door. He liked the music, even though he could tell that Jackson was getting annoyed by it.
"I seriously don't get why you are insisting on having the damm radio turned on" Jackson crumbled his burger wrapper, and threw it out on the dark parking lot. Tony grinned.
"Tell me Jack, are you against music as a whole, or just the radio?"
"I am against mindless yelling into a microphone"
Tony tapped on the metal he was laying on, to the rhythm of the song. "I think it is pretty good?"
"Then you clearly have a very bad taste in music" he pointed at the half-eaten burger "Are you gonna eat the rest?"
Tony shrugged "Nah, you can take it" He drank the rest of his milkshake and let the empty cop fall down the hood.
"Okay" Jackson got up and leaned over Tony.
"Ey man, you are disturbing the good view"
Jackson laughed and dragged Tony off the van. "Come on, I got to drop you off at the meeting point"
"Meeting point? What meeting point?"
"Ohh you haven't been told yet"
Tony felt something in the back of his throat, and he ran a hand through his hair, hoping Jackson couldn't see how cold he suddenly was.
"Come on, get in the van"
Tony slid into his seat and didn't bother taking on his seatbelt.
"You" Jackson pointed at Tony "must really have done something to impress the man upstairs, if you know what I mean"
Tony smiled at Jackson, but he couldn't stop his heart from speeding up.
"Normally I have a kid a few months or so until they are sure the kid can handle himself, but not you, no!" He started laughing "You just skipped the line" Jackson shook his head and pulled out on the road again. Tony followed the line of the headlights as they started driving back to their neighborhood. Trying not to think about why Russo was comfortable letting him do more now.
"Anyways, I will drop you off at a meeting point, where some other kids are gonna be, I don't know the details, but I know it has something to do with someone that isn't paying on time"
Tony swallowed again. He knew what that usually meant.
"Okay off you go, it is right down there"
Tony opened the door and tried to not give anything away.
"If you keep going like this, you are gonna be on the top soon" Jackson laughed and Tony smiled back, knowing it was a compliment, but unable to take it as one. He watched the van drive off, and looked into the night. He let his hand, slid down his pocket, and swallowed two pills. Then he started walking. It wasn't long until he heard voices.
Tony was fairly sure it was the middle of the night. That's why he jumped when the light was shoved in his face, and the whispering stopped.
"Jesus" he hissed, trying to cover his eyes with his hand, as a headache shot through his skull "turn that light off, are you trying to drive attention to us?"
To Tony's relief, the light was turned off immediately and he blinked a few times before looking at the people in front of him.
They could hardly be described as kids. If Tony had to guess they were both around his age, and he realized he had seen both of them in his school. They were a year over him.
"Great" he mumbled under his breath. It was clear that he was the new one here, and from what he had seen so far, he had trouble believing that the night was gonna go great. the pit of his stomach twisted, and he swallowed.
One of the boys waved Tony into the alley, he noticed how they were both dressed almost the same. Dark sweatpants and a black hoodie. He looked down at himself and felt out of place.
"You are the new kid right?"
Tony couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in the dark "new kid?"
"yea, you haven't done this before"
Tony didn't have time to answer when the other boy interrupted. "Don't worry, you will just be on the lookout, we don't need you to screw things up or chicken out"
before Tony could answer that, a new voice joined them in the dark "If he chickens out, we will just shoot him"
Tony heard the click of a gun and felt everything in him stiffen, as he thought about running away. The others laughed and Tony realized that whoever had come last, was the one calling the shots for now.
"I am Harb, Chip, and Chap over there, and that's Noah and John" He had already had his suspicions about who the two boys were, but he nodded in the dark. His name made it over his lips before he realized how stupid it was that they were introducing themselves. It would just make it easier to snitch on each other.
"Alright, he lives right here" Tony got a phone shoved into his palm "you stay outside, if anyone enters the building you call speed dial number one" And with that Tony was left outside and couldn't help but smile. He felt the tension go away, as he leaned up against the wall. This was pretty anticlimactic. He didn't even know which floor the one they were… talking to, lived on. He made sure not to look up at the windows. He didn't want to know.
Tony slid down the wall and rested his head in his hands. He had no idea how long this was going to take. And even if he could see the door in the dark, he doubted that anyone was going to go in there. If he had to guess he would say it was close to midnight.
Tony stuck a hand down his pocket again, searching for the pills, and realizing he still had the pack of cigarettes. Richi hardly needed them now, so technically it wasn't stealing. He lit the cigarette and leaned back against a wall. He took a pill, just for good measure.
He ran a hand through his hair and tried not to think about what they were doing up there. He could almost convince himself that they were not there to do anything illegal. Almost.
Tony had been sitting there for almost 15 minutes, and he was on his third cigarette when he realized he wasn't alone anymore. He had just managed to panic before he saw the badge reflecting the moonlight and sighed. It was just a cop. He felt safe. Tony frowned, he felt safe?
"Hey kid, mind if I borrow some light?"
Tony stood dumbfounded and wondered what was going on before the cop pointed at his cigarette, and a big 'ohhh' escaped his mouth.
"Sure"
He dug his hand down his pocket and ignored the feeling of the pills, before pulling up the lighter and turning it on. The cop fished a cigarette up from his breast pocket and held it close to the flame.
"Thanks, you saved me there. I left in such a hurry this afternoon, that I forgot my lighter"
Tony smiled in the dark and felt the last of the panic leave his body. The man didn't want anything more from him, other than some light. He didn't even ask Tony what he was doing out this late. He probably didn't want to know.
"You can keep the lighter" Tony reached it to him, and in the combined light from the moon, and the end of his cigarette only saw him raise an eyebrow "This isn't good for me, and they are actually friends" He felt the bitter taste of the last words, but the cops small laughter lifted his mood. He came out in small chunks like he was strangling on his own sounds.
"Thanks, kid! Now I don't have to worry about that anymore, but something tells me you are going to regret the decision. So I will just take this -" He snatched the lighter out of Tony's hand, with the speed that made Tony raise an eyebrow "- before you regret anything" Now it was Tony's turn to laugh, he let the rest of his cigarette fall to the ground and gave a small cough before he was about to excuse himself.
"Hey! Tony!"
Tony felt his blood stop pumping, and the cop turns around to face the three boys walking towards them. Tony tried, but their names were washed out. Like his brain wanted to forget them. He wanted to warn them, but he didn't have such luck.
"Who is this Tony? Who are you talking to?"
Harb. That was the older boy's name. He didn't know the last name. But he had introduced himself as Harb, and now he reached around to his back, and eyed both Tony and cop. Long realizing who he was talking to, and now trying to decide on what to do. The cop must have realized that something wasn't right, and Tony cursed Harb and the other's lack of ability to just play along.
"Is there a problem here boys?" He let the rest of the cigarette fall to the ground and put a hand on his gun. Tony barely realized what was happening. He was sure the cop didn't either. The two boys lashed themself forward, eliminating the space between them, and jerking out the gun from the cop's hand. Tony was fairly sure not any training would have made it possible for him to keep his gun. They were too close, too fast.
Tony barely saw them in the dark, but he knew they were serious. Just like he knew the metal reflection from the moonlight, in Harb's outstretched arm, was a gun. He pulled a gun on the cop. There was no way back from that, and they both knew it.
"Easy now boys, we don't have to do anything we will regret. Why don't we just put down the firearms and walk away?"
One of the other boys was fiddling with the cop's gun, and Harb snitched it out of his hand.
"Give me that" He looked at the pistol, then put his own away again, lifting the cop's gun instead "Not an option old man"
"We all have a choice, son. Now it is time to make yours, just be sure it isn't the wrong one"
Tony had frozen in his spot. It was like his brain had shut off. It didn't work anymore. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized his hands had started shaking. He also realized that it wasn't from the pills, and definitely not from the smoke.
"Come on man" he heard his own voice, without realizing he was talking. It was like he had left his body, and was looking at everything from the outside. Like a bystander. A watcher. "We can't just shoot him, that's ridiculous" Tony's legs were shaking as he demanded them to move, and went to stand almost in front of the gun. He could feel the fear fill every inch of his body. He could see the cop lying on the ground. Blood over his chest. But it hadn't happened. And it wasn't going to happen. At Least that's what he told himself.
"get out of the way Tony, you're the reason we are here"
Tony kept where he was. Even if he wanted to walk away, he was pretty sure his legs wouldn't obey him.
"He is right though. Tony right" The cop looked at Tony, who moved his head just a bit, nodded but kept his back turned to him "Tony is right. You don't have to shoot anyone, we can all just walk away"
He tried. God he tried. But Tony could hear the panic seep into the cop's voice.
"Look, Harb will you list-" Tony didn't manage to finish his sentence before the pain exploded on his face. He had split his lip before. Of course, he had. But never with the force of a gun. Forcing open the skin. He didn't even realize he was on the ground before he felt the wet surface soak his pants. He looked up, convinced he would see his own blood on the gun, but he saw nothing more than a dark silhouette.
"You idiot!" It took a moment for Tony to realize the words were directed to him "He has seen our faces and now he knows my name. Now I can't let him go" Tony opened his mouth, but no words came out. He felt how the newly bleeding hole, ripping itself even more open and he closed his mouth again.
It happened in a second. It took one decision to end one life and change others. One second and the bullet made contact with the skin. The body made contact with the ground. All of that blood was now in the wrong place. Tony watched him go down. It only took a moment. but it felt like more. And then time froze. Like nothing else was happening. Tony was still sitting on the ground. Staring at the eyes, that didn't see anything. Hearing the ghost of a voice in the back of his head "Hey kid, mind if I borrow some light?"
"Shit…" the voice was barely above a whisper. Tony felt himself turn his head and looked at Harb. Looked at the gun. He registered the shaking, the horror, embedded in every single muscle of the boy's body. And Tony realized this was probably the first time he had shot anyone. The first time he had made real of his treats. Everything must feel different when you actually do it.
Tony watched as the gun slipped out of his hands. As his arms felt down his side. Eyes wide, looking at the others. Then it was like something clicked and he stared down at the gun.
"SHIT!"
He bent down and picked the gun up again, and started rubbing it off in his shirt "No one says anything, we weren't here tonight, we didn't see anything, we didn't do anything" He let the gun slide over next to the cop "with a little luck, they will think it was suicide"
Tony watched at the man. Looked at the hole in his cheat "They will never think it was suicide"
"YEA! And how do you know that idiot? This is all your fault, and it doesn't matter now, we are all in it" No one said anything after that. They just looked. Looked at the body, slowly bleeding. Tony felt his own blood. Sliding down his face. He brought a hand up to his lip. It was like someone had pulled a blanket over him. Like someone kept him from feeling what he knew he should be feeling. The only thing he could do was to look at the blood.
"Let's get out of here"
Tony didn't know who said it. But they disappeared. The three of them left him on the ground, looking at the blood, and the blanket was ripped away and his feelings exploded.