Slow Motion

My goal is to update this story every other Wednesday. That's what I am aiming for. So, here's the new chapter and the next will be out the Wednesday after next.



Brendon assumes that they're going to the police station downtown. It doesn't take long to get there, ten minutes at top's. They'll drive past the grocery store and maybe Brendon will see his own car sitting in the parking lot. Maybe Brendon will remember the blowjob he had gotten from Matt in that same parking lot.



They've been driving too long though. They should've been to the police station by now. Tom seem's to think this too as he turn's to Ryland and whispers something so Brendon can't hear. Ryland look's at Tom and shakes his head.



"Don't worry about it." Ryland says out loud and Brendon desperately wants to believe that the words are directed at him but he doesn't think they are. Tom nod's and Ryland keep's on driving. Tyga is still quietly cursing death on Brendon and the other boy still doesn't care.



When Brendon see's the outskirts of the city he knows for sure that they're not going to the local police station. He wonders vaugely if they're going to some out of town prison or something like that. The sun is setting in the sky, casting deep orange ray's of light across the ground. Beyond the city lies the desert, maybe not a stereotypical desert but miles and miles of dry dusty earth and little to no surroundings.



Brendon thinks that maybe they're by the strip club where Nate work's. How awful would it be if his boyfriend saw him in the back of a cop car? They keep driving and Tyga is bitching up a storm in the backseat, demanding to know where he's being taken. It feel's like they've been driving forever and the sky is a mix of orange and a deep purple now.



Brendon knows that Spencer and Ryan must be home by now. They must notice that he is gone. Nate will be out of work soon too, he wonders what will happen when they call his cell and notice that it's sitting on the kitchen table. The boy is also having trouble dealing with the fact that Ryland is turning him in, he knows that Ryland isn't loyal to him but he was sure the man was loyal to Gabe and hadn't Gabe put some sort of protection out on Brendon?



Finally after what feel's like an hour and a half of driving the cop car is pulling over on the side of the dust filled road. Brendon look's up and his stomach lurches because there on the side of the road is Gabe's white sports car. Brendon is confused, is it some weird coincedence that Gabe happens to be out here? Or maybe it was all planned?



Ryland is staring out the window at Gabe's darkened car. Brendon is peering out the window but he can't see Gabe anywhere.



"Ryland, what's going on?" Tom is asking, he look's confused and that only serves to make Brendon more anxious. He honestly doesn't know what's going on. Tyga too seems to be lost. He's complaining about them stopping, like he's actually eager to get to jail, maybe he's looking for Travis to bail him out.



Ryland leans over and pat's Tom on the shoulder. "It's nothing, just give me a minute alright?" he tells Tom. The cop in the passenger seat nod's but he peers back at Brendon and Tyga like he's afraid they're the cause of this whole situation before he turns his gaze to Ryland.



The tall boy head's toward's Gabe's car, his hand on his gun. Fuck, Brendon doesn't think this is good and maybe Ryland did turn on Gabe, maybe he was tired of being on the wrong side of the law. Maybe he was taking care of Gabe right now. Brendon's eyes are glued to the scene outside as Ryland taps on Gabe's car window.



The window roll's down and Brendon see's a flash of Gabe, just a split second. The two men are talking and Brendon's heart is up in his throat. Tyga is still rambling a string of swears and it continues before Tom whips around and hit's the metal grate seperating the front and back seats.



"Shut up now!" he shouts and his eyes are still locked on Ryland and Gabe. Tyga replies with an unpleasant swear. Brendon turn's his gaze back to Ryland, see's the man nod and he's walking back to the cop car, except he's pulling open Brendon's door instead of getting in his own.



Brendon is looking up at Ryland with wild, fearful eyes as he's pulled from the car.



"Ryland! What are you doing?" Tom yell's, he's wheeled around now so he can look at his partner. Ryland doesn't say anything just pull's Brendon from the car, the boy falling to his knees in the sand from the sudden movement. He's looking up at Ryland and his face is blank. Brendon doesn't know whether or not that's a good thing.



Ryland goes in for Tyga and the younger boy is attempting to kick the cop, screaming "Fuck you!" all the while. Brendon flicks his eyes to Gabe's car, he's staring at the dark tinted window, trying to see into it, trying to see Gabe for support. The tinted window rolls down a bit and Brendon see's fingers dip out into the air, in something akin to a wave. Brendon takes that as a good sign.



Tyga is pulled out of the car as well and deposited down into the sand next to Brendon.



"What the fuck man! What the fuck is going on?" Tyga is screaming and Ryland is standing before them and before he know's it the cop is slapping Tyga hard across the face. Tyga's head flies to the side and he stares up at Ryland, his eyes burning with an intense hate and Brendon is scared all over again.



They hear a car door and Brendon look's to see that Tom is now ambling out of the car and heading toward's them.



"Blackinton! What the fuck are you doing?" Tom is shouting but it's not like there's anyone around to hear him. Ryland look's over at Tom and his face is still creepily blank. Brendon just want's Gabe to come out and save him, take him home, take him back to safety. "This isn't protocal!" Tom add's and Ryland sighs deeply.



"Sorry, Higgenson, I'm not following protocal this time." he replies and his gaze flickers down to the two handcuffed boys on the ground. An even worse thought fill's Brendon's head. What if it wasn't Ryland that turned on Gabe but Gabe that turned on Brendon?



Brendon's sudeenly aware of the black gun that hang's around Ryland's hips. He's also aware of every favor he's ever asked of Gabe, of how much trouble he's cause the older man. He honestly doesn't think it's enough to be deserving of death but maybe Gabe thought so.



Brendon didn't want to die out here on the side of the road, not next to someone related to Travis. He didn't want to die without telling Nate that he loved him more than anything or telling Spencer to please take care of Ryan. Brendon didn't want to die without telling Pete how proud he was that he had gotten clean, plain and simple, Brendon didn't want to die.



He's vaugely reminded of Brent and the way he died, alone in the hot dirt of the park. Maybe he does deserve this afterall.



"Ryland, we need to take these two to the station." Tom reminds his partner. Ryland isn't looking at Tom though, he is instead looking at Gabe's car. At this point the large white door swings open and Brendon can see white shoes step into the sand. Gabe is out of the car and he look's calm, again Brendon isn't sure if that's good or not.



"Who is that?" Tom questions. It's becoming obvious that he, just like Brendon and Tyga have no idea what's going on. Gabe swings his door closed before he leans against his car, white suit unusually bright against the setting sun. Ryland's watching Gabe for a moment before he turn's his attention to Tom.



"He's a friend." Ryland responds. Tom's eyes narrow while Gabe is smirking and making it a point to avoid Brendon's fearful gaze. Tom shakes his head, his hand's finding the brim of his police hat, he tugs on it almost nervously.



"Ryland, I'm going to go call some backup...I don't think you have the best intentions with this case." Tom says, Brendon watches as he turn's and head's back to the car. Ryland shakes his head and in a quick fluid motion he has the gun up off his hip and pointed at Tom. There's about a split second in time between when Tom turns around and when Ryland pull's the trigger.



A loud earshattering bang, a flash of sparks and Tom is on the ground clutching his knee. He's screaming in pain, he backs himself up against the tire of the police car. Tom's hands are clutching his knee, ruby red blood painting the pale skin.



"Ryland! What-What the fuck?" Tom screams, his head tipped back against the metal frame of the car and his brown eyes, wide with pain, lock with his partners. Ryland tuck's the gun away and Brendon is shaking now. He doesn't feel safe, he's glancing between Gabe and Ryland who are standing. Gabe only look's mildly surprised at this turn of events, like he hadn't expected it but hadn't ruled it out either.



"I'm sorry Tom. I didn't want to shoot you but at the same time I can't have you calling backup either." Ryland says, his face stony, hard to read and still Brendon has no idea what's going on.



"Why are you doing this?" Tom gasps out, his pantleg is wet with blood. Ryland's eyes darken a bit and he flickers his gaze over Gabe.



"We have some very important things to do tonight. Things that require cooperation." Ryland near whispers and Brendon shudders on the ground. He's tempted to crawl away but he knows it would be in vain, he's still handcuffed and he can't imagine he would get very far without someone noticing. Tyga must have no such thought process though because Brendon see's him fall to his back and the boy is kicking his leg's scooting away from the scene before them.



"Ah, ah, ah." Brendon hears Gabe start and he watches as the white clad man moves to where Tyga is scrambling away, Ryland turning to look back at the prisioners. Gabe reaches Tyga and the younger boy is cussing up a storm but really, Brendon isn't blaming him. "Where do you think you're going?" Gabe asks as he leans down, grab's Tyga's arms and pull's him back up to his knees. "You happen to be the key to this whole thing. You're not going anywhere." Gabe tells him, his hand's resting strong on Tyga's shoulders.



"Get the fuck off me!" Tyga grits out and he attempts to shake Gabe lose but the older man just holds him tighter. Brendon's confused by Gabe and Ryland's word's. Something was happening tonight? Something involving Tyga? None of it made sense and if this was some kind of plan cooked up by Gabe, well, Brendon didn't think that was a good thing.



"Gabe? Gabe, what are you doing?" Brendon pleads out. He's sick of waiting, he doesn't even care if it end's badly, he just want's to know what the fuck is going on. Brendon can hear Gabe laughing softly behind him.



"Ryland, think we should fill them in?" Gabe is asking the cop that's not currently wounded.



"A good idea." Ryland replies back, his eyes are still trained on Tom, who is still leaning against the car, panting in pain.



"Okay." Gabe starts and Brendon look's back as Gabe pushes Tyga down hard, the younger boy falling on to his stomach in the dirt. He than moves around back to his car, once again leaning against the white frame. "Brendon, remember when you came to me and told me that you met Travis's cousin?" Gabe starts and Brendon nods and he can see Tyga glaring at him wide eyed from the ground. "And remember how I said the cops would be back to check on you?" Again Brendon nodded and Gabe was smiling.



"Well, I talked to Ryland here and the two of us came up with a genius solution to everyone's problems." Gabe says and his smile is wider, creepier, Brendon shivers into the night air.



"Urie knew we were coming after him? What the fuck Ryland?" Tom shouts out and now Ryland is sighing and he moves towards his partner, dropping on his knees beside him.



"I guess I might as well tell you Tom. I'm a dirty cop." Ryland whispers and Tom gasps and look's up in shock.



"No.." Tom trails off and Ryland nods and continues talking.



"I've been on Gabe's payroll for awhile now." Ryland says, flicking his head motioning towards the older man who was still grinning and leaning against his clean white sports car. Tom's eyes are wide as if he couldn't believe that his partner was anything but a straight cop.



"And that little partnership came in very handy when little Brendon here murdered Brent Wilson." Gabe adds from his spot by the car. Brendon's mouth drops as does Toms. He can't believe Gabe just admitted that, granted the only one who could do much damage would be Tom. But still Brendon would perfer if Gabe didn't mention it so casually.



"What? Urie killed the Wilson kid?...and you knew Ryland?" Tom questions. His eyes look faded slightly, Brendon thinks it's because he's finding out that the person he looked up to appeared to be nothing more than a crooked police officer.



"Man, what's this shit got to do with me? I didn't kill nobody! I didn't hurt nobody!" Tyga shouts but he doesn't dare move out of fear of what Gabe or Ryland might do to him. Gabe's looking down at Tyga, a grimace on his handsome face.



"No, you didn't hurt anyone...but your cousin did." Gabe starts, his voice has dropped low and dangerous, the same kind of tone that send's shivers along Brendon's spine. "Your cousin raped a fucking special-ed kid! Raped him when he didn't even know what was going on, hurt someone who didn't deserve it and upset Brendon. Now...well, now we're hurting someone Travis loves."



Gabe stops talking and moves to stand by Brendon. He bend's down and peers into the brown eyes of the younger boy.



"See Brendon, I told you I'd get you some revenge." Gabe whispers into the boy's ear and his hand squeezes the boy's shoulder. Gabe straightens up and look's over at Ryland.



"Revenge? If you're getting me revenge than why am i handcuffed?" Brendon asks, he's trying not to sound so angry but if this whole thing was for his benefit than why did he have to be cuffed?



"All for show dear Brendon." Gabe states and he motions at Ryland who nods and stands and moves behind Brendon, unlocking the boy. Ryland pull's Brendon up and lightly shoves the boy towards Gabe.

The white clad man reaches out and grab's hold of Brendon, tugging him close.



"Why do you think I told you to call Tyga over? Why do you think I told you to call me before you had Tyga over? It was all part of the plan!" Gabe exclaimes and he sound's excited as he waves his arm's around a bit. Brendon's eyes are wide as he stares down Gabe. He doesn't understand what the older man is doing, what this all is for. Gabe's looking at him like he wants the younger boy to be as excited about this plan as he is.



"I don't understand the plan." Brendon whispers, Gabe just smiles and squeezes Brendon's shoulder.



"It's fine, I'll explain it to you. After you and William left my house the other day I called up Ryland and told him to wait to go to your place until i told him to." Gabe tells him, he wait's for a moment to see if Brendon get's it but the boy isn't saying anything so he continues.



"So, When you called me and told me you had Tyga around, I called Ryland and had him come over and arrest you two." Brendon's eyes narrow but Gabe raises his hand up to silence him. "Ryland arrested you to make it all look natural. Brendon, you were never going to get in trouble. All we wanted was him." Gabe says and he's looking over at Tyga who isn't moving, Brendon thinks that the youngest of them has finally learned just how dangerous Gabe can be.



"What are you going to do to him?" Brendon asks, his voice is low and slightly scared. Gabe's mouth raises in a smirk. He's looking past Brendon and over to Ryland.



"Wanna take this Ry?" he asks, Ryland focuses on Gabe and he seem's a little distracted but he nods all the same.



"The plan is that we frame Tyga for Brent Wilson's murder." Ryland says it so casually that Brendon almost misses it, except that he doesn't. He couldn't miss something like that. Tyga hears it too, of course he does, just because they had been talking about him like he wasn't there didn't make it happen.



"Fuck, that!" Tyga yells, the same time as Tom let's out a shaky 'What?'



No one bothers to anwser Tyga but Ryland does turn and dip back down next to his partner.



"See that's what I meant earlier about cooperation." He tells Tom and he's smiling a bit. "All I need you to do is go along with the story. Say that this kid confessed to killing Wilson, that he shot you. Than we'll take him to the jail and everybody wins." Ryland is whispering, he pats Tom's face softly, not in a lovers way Brendon is thinking, more of a mob boss kind of way.



Tom is staring at him with deep eyes, he's thinking hard.



"It's not right Ryland." Tom says moments later and Ryland's face falls blank. "That kid didn't kill anybody...and I cannot believe that you knew Urie was the killer and didn't do anything...what kind of cop are you?" Tom spits out.



Ryland's eyes narrow at his partner.



"I'm the kind of officer that is sick to fuck of the legal system! Do you really think it matters what we do? That we're helping at all? Let me tell you that we're not, we risk our lives and it doesn't even matter Tom! You're much better off on my side." Ryland is angrier than Brendon's ever seen. He's suddenly worried that the cop might just kill the whole lot of them.



Ryland turns away from Tom, thinking that the other cop had finally agreed with his view.



"No, Ryland...I can't." They hear Tom say and ryland turns back to look at him. He's slipped lower against the frame of the police car. His pant leg is torn and stained dark with blood. He's sweating and grimacing but he's looking at Ryland, at his partner with determined eyes.



"I won't help you."



"You sure?" Ryland says, his voice is so dark and frightening, Brendon can't believe that Tom is going against it. Tom doesn't say anything but he nods.



"My dream was to be a cop Ryland...not a dirty one either. I'm a straight cop." he replies, his voice is smaller and weaker and Brendon thinks that the man is in desperate need of hospitalization.



"That's really too bad." Ryland says quietly. Brendon doesn't know how he the cop manages to have such a fluid movement. He has his gun in his hand and he fires at Tom. It hits him in the chest this time.



Brendon has a theory, one that he see's death in slow motion. It all runs so slow to him, and it's the most horrible thing he's ever seen. Tom is slumped and still against the car, deep crimson is staining through his shirt and there is no denying that the cop is dead...or dying.



"Why'd you do that?" Brendon half screams, Gabe's hand is on his arm like he's afraid that the younger boy will run. Sure, he didn't like Tom that much and he didn't want to go to jail but he also didn't want the cop to die.



Ryland turns back slowly to face Brendon and Gabe. His long face is grim as he tucks his gun back into the holster at his hip.



"I had to. He wouldn't have went along with it. He would've turned us all in." Ryland says quietly. Brendon can't tell if he's upset, he doesn't know the man enough to know his emotions. Gabe runs a hand over his face but he nods.



"He did the right thing." Gabe tells responds and Brendon shivers. Gabe releases Brendon and moves forward to Ryland, his hand coming up to rest on the cop's shoulder. Ryland tilts his head in Gabe's direction and the two stare at each other for a moment. "Shall we get down to business?" he asksand Ryland is silent for a beat before he nod's.



Ryland takes his gun out the holster on his side before both he and Gabe turn, training their glances on Tyga.



"Yeah." he says so low that it sounds more like a mumble than anything else. "Let's do this."