Officer Mike Thomas’ radio came to life.
“Dispatch to Unit 976,” the woman on the radio said.
Thomas thought it was Marie, but it could have been Cathy. He didn’t remember who was working tonight. He picked up his mic.
“Unit 976. Go ahead,” Thomas said.
“Respond to 417…”
The dispatcher went on to give Thomas the address information. It was a coffee shop he frequented in his sector.
“Received,” Thomas said, then added: “Responding. Be there in less than a minute.”
‘417’ meant ‘person with a gun’. Thomas knew the presence of a gun could mean a lot of things. It could mean a person was about to go on a shooting spree with an AK-47, but Thomas had learned a week back not to assume the worst.
As he drove he thought back to his previous ‘man with a gun’ call. Some soccer mom at a 7-11 had called it in. When Thomas arrived, Soccer mom had been standing outside, waving her arms and jumping up and down, while pointing inside the convenience store, yelling: “He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!”
Thomas had put his hands over his eyes and looked through the window. Inside had been a guy standing in line, apparently oblivious to the commotion. He was waiting to pay for a carton of milk with a pistol in his holster. After checking his License to Carry, Thomas had explained to the woman that he wasn’t doing anything illegal. Thomas found out she had just moved to Texas.
“That shouldn’t be allowed. There aren’t any guns in New York,” the woman had said with an air of spoiled self-righteousness. She looked like she had never worked a day in her life, or lived anywhere but the best areas of a city, where people could count on the police and security guards to protect them.
Why did you move here? Thomas had thought, but did not say.
Thomas’ mind returned to the present. He turned right into the dark parking lot of the coffee shop, his headlights coming to rest on a girl in her early twenties yelling at a young man who looked also to be in his early twenties. The young man was also dressed like he was from the 1920’s -in a vintage brown suit with a bow tie and wingtip shoes. He was wearing some sort of fedora.
Thomas didn’t see a gun, but he drew his, just in case. He kept it to his side as he stepped out, scanning the area with his eyes. He didn’t see anyone but the young woman and the nerd in the suit.
“You call the police?” Thomas yelled out to them from behind his car door.
“Yes! I did!” the young woman said. Then she pointed at the young man. “He has a gun, and he threatened to shoot someone!”
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Complete Story Available Here: https://www.amazon.com/Come-Read-Stories-Outside-Space-ebook/dp/B07D6FXKLT