He took the stairs three at a time and didn’t stop until he was pounding on Sylvia’s door. She opened it and went wide-eyed when she recognized him.

“Oh, Ron!” She threw her arms around his neck. “We thought they killed you!”

He kissed her, long and warm and hard, forgetting about Al and Dewey and everything else except her.

Finally she pulled away from him. “Al’s called a war meetin’,” Sylvia said. “All th’ gangs’re doin’ it. Th’ Muslims made a lotta trouble yesterday an’ all th’ gangs’re tryin’ to figger out what t’ do.”

“The hell with them,” Ron said. “We’re getting out of here.”

“Whatcha mean?”

“You and me and Davey. We’re getting out. Right now, while they’re all busy making war talk. We’re going to live in the market, live like real human beings. Get Davey and let’s go.”

“You’re crazy,” Sylvia said, backing away from him. “You can’t just quit th’ gang.”

“Yes we can. And we’re going to do it right now. Where’s Davey?”

But Sylvia was shaking her head. “No, Ron, it won’t work. You can’t quit a gang. They’ll come after you and kill you. They’ll find you, wherever you go. Nobody’s allowed t’ quit.”

Ron stood in the doorway, feeling his face twisting into a frown. “Listen. Nobody owns me. Or you.”

“Al went to bat for you,” Sylvia said, talking more slowly now, trying to explain. “He letcha into th’ gang when he coulda left you out on the street t’ die. Right? He hadda go against Dino t’ bring you into th’ gang. If you buzz off on him now, it’ll make things rough for Al. Catch?”

Ron muttered, “I don’t owe him—”

“He saved your life, Ron!”

Ron slapped a hand against his leg. “Does that mean that he owns me? And you?”

She shrugged. “It means you can’t quit th’ gang. Unless he says it’s okay.”

“And you? If he lets me go, will you come with me?”

“Al won’t lemme go.” She looked away from Ron.

He reached out and touched Sylvia’s shoulder. “But if he was willing to let you go, would you come with me?”

She wouldn’t look at him. She stared down at the floor.

Ron lifted her chin with his outstretched hand until she was gazing right at him. “Would you?” he asked.

In a voice so low that he could barely hear it, Sylvia said, “Yes.”

Ron smiled at her. “Okay. I guess I’d better get to that war meeting, then.”

“Don’t do anything that’ll hurt Al in front of Dino,” Sylvia called to him as he started for the steps.

The roof was packed with guys, warriors and others that Ron had never seen before. As Ron edged through the door to join the crowd, he could hear Dino shouting: “Them Muslims been gettin’ too smart for their own damned good! It’s time we taught ’em a lesson!”

“Yeah!”

“Right on!”

“Hell yeah!”

Then one of the guys standing next to Ron suddenly called out, “Hey look who’ here! The fix-it dude!”