Dark Impulse Ch. 15

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"Are you okay, buddy?"

Gabriel felt a strong arm helping him up, and he realized that he must have blacked out. He opened his eyes and allowed them to gradually focus on the man beside him.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Thanks a lot."

Minutes passed as Gabriel recovered from his episode. After a while, he expected the homeless guy to understand that his help was no longer needed and just leave. However, he just stayed where he was, staring at Gabriel as if he was expecting a royal ass kicking. He gave a slightly embarrassed smile and Gabriel blinked hard, finally looking beyond the tattered rags to see his friend's face.

"Mose, what the hell are you doing here in New York?"

Mosely calmly cleared his throat; he had expected Gabriel's reaction.

"I'm here to check up on Grace and to see what I could make of the situation."

Gabriel rubbed his forehead, clearly annoyed by Mosely's interference.

"So what you mean to say is that you didn't trust me concerning Grace, you didn't believe me earlier when I said that I don't want to hurt her, and you decided to come over and play 'Good Cop / Bad Cop.' Am I right?"

Mosely sighed and looked briefly at the sky before meeting Gabriel's eyes.

"It's not as cold-blooded as that, damn it! I just... I don't know, Bud. I wanted to see for myself how she is, and what she's done with herself all this time. That's all."

Gabriel watched his friend for a long moment, remembering how extremely angry Mosely had been at Rennes-Le-Chateâu when Gabriel told him that Grace was gone. For days afterwards, Mosely had shouted at him through Gabriel's barricaded hotel room door, calling him all forms of bastard and blaming him for Grace's abrupt departure. He believed that he deserved all of it, and at the time he had understood Mosely's pain. He looked as his friend again.

He was wildly in love with her from the beginning, and perhaps he still is.

"I hope that's true, Mose. I know that over these past few years, Grace has been a very sensitive subject between us. Our emotions always run high whenever she's concerned, and we tear at each other like wild dogs. I hope that somehow we can bury the hatchet once and for all, and that you can find it in yourself to help me instead of compete with me. This isn't a race, Mose. It's not a question of you versus me. What really matters is that Grace and the child are safe."

Mosely froze, his eyes widening. "How did you know that there's a child?"

Gabriel stared at him. "I had another vision. That's why I was on the ground."

Mosely licked his lips, which had gone dry. "What did you see?"

"The seeing part wasn't until the very end; I felt very cold, both inside and out. I couldn't breathe and I felt like my lungs were going to burst. I heard gasping breaths and then a huge thud of someone falling down. Then I was able to see that it was Grace lying on the ground; I went to her and then I saw the boy calling for help. And then you came..."

Mosely ran his hands through his thinning hair and refused to meet Gabriel's eyes. Gabriel could tell that he was deeply upset over Grace's collapse, but he needed the information.

"Tell me what happened, Mose."

"Thank God that I was actually there to help, you know? Jesus, Knight! She was lying there like a rag doll, so helpless and vulnerable. She didn't have a clue about what was happening around her. The kid was innocent and so fucking scared... he was terrified from what happened to his mother, desperate to get someone to come and help. There were lots of other people in the park but they didn't even turn around to see what was going on! Nobody came before I showed up, not one person."

Mosely's eyes narrowed sharply at Gabriel, and he sneered at him.

"So you're upset about my coming to New York, you say? You know what? Screw you, Knight! If I hadn't been there to step in and help at that moment, who knows what could have happened! Instead of me, it could have been some purse snatcher that would have helped himself to Grace's jewelry and watch before running off..."

A malicious grin appeared on Mosely's face, and for a moment Gabriel didn't recognize the man before him. What Mosely said next confirmed his thought and made his blood boil with white-hot rage.

Mosely's voice lowered to a whisper. "Or maybe the oh-so kind stranger could have been an abductor, a lowly pedophile whose taste runs to young, innocent and pretty Asian boys with a hint of..."

Gabriel's fist slammed into Mosely's smirking face, drawing blood.

"MOSE! What the fuck is wrong with you, God damn it? What's gotten into you?"

Mosely spat blood onto the concrete before facing Gabriel again. His entire body trembled as he thought over the horrible thing that he'd just said, and he was immediately regretful. Gabriel watched him through narrowed eyes, noticing that his friend's brown orbs no longer held the savage gleam from before.

"Christ! I'm so sorry, Bud. I... I don't know what happened..."

Gabriel angrily jammed his finger into Mosely's chest.

"What you just said was not only extremely nasty, it was downright cruel, Mose! You don't even know that kid, yet you damn him just because Grace had him with someone that wasn't you! How dare you? You have no right! No right at all!"

Mosely met Gabriel's eyes directly, his voice hoarse.

"I'm sorry, I have no excuse for saying something so terrible. I just...God! Look, I have to return to Washington soon so I can get back to work in the morning. I dug up some info on Anami if you're still interested. Think of it as a peace offering because I was such an asshole. Please, Bud. I really feel bad about before. Forgive me?"

After a long moment, Gabriel cautiously nodded. Mosely visibly relaxed and was about to speak again when Gabriel held up a hand to stop him.

"Mose, this is the last time that I'm going to tolerate this. If you say anything else that is even remotely offensive about Grace or that little boy, the game is over."

Mosely nodded. "Understood."

Gabriel looked him up and down. "I had a thought that we could find a place where we could grab a bite and talk, but maybe you should change first."

Mosely's mouth turned up at the corners in a smile as he shrugged off the too-large brown rain poncho that he wore - despite the fact that it wasn't raining - to reveal a polo shirt, jeans and sneakers underneath. He balled up the poncho and tossed it in a nearby trash can. "Okay, no problem. Let's go already. I'm starving."

The clouds parted to make way for the bright afternoon sun as they walked out of the park in search of a restaurant, and Gabriel slowly began to relax with Mosely again. "Starving, huh? I guess you really get into the character when you go undercover. James Bond - no wait - Jack Ryan's got nothing on you, Mose."

Mosely chuckled softly, slapping his friend affectionately on the back.

"Oh, ha ha! Shut up, Knight."

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