Zero Hour: Where are our Children (A Serial Novel) Episode 5 of 9

by Gary Sapp

she knew that was being said on the TV about Chris wasn’t true. Yet, she wanted to be angry. She wanted to be argumentative. She was a little hurt. That’s all she ever the emotions she seemed to know…anger and hurt.

  “Do you understand that Carver would have gone a lot smoother for me if your brother hadn’t decided to wage his own private war campaign in there? It was just a matter of time and the Choir Boys would have been ousted. I had to get the information about Erica before her trail went cold.”

  “Who doesn’t have the clue now? Roxanne. You want to talk about limited windows of opportunity, well Xavier saw an opportunity to liberate those residents and he did do. No one gives a damn about the tenants trying to raise their families in that hell hole.”

  “But you do care?”

  “I do. My status as a FBI Agent causes me to mute a lot of what I say about what goes on in Black communities. But I am sick to death of hearing these same neighborhoods talk about our problems as a people…single mothers, guns, drugs and the lack of employment opportunities among the ever growing list of difficulties. I know Xavier has performed well as the One. But I can’t help but think that we’ve missed some openings to make things better for People of Color. Like I said, I am sick to death of talk.” He said and rubbed his forehead. “Everyone is interested in talk because the very nature of it is simple enough. I want to see someone be proactive. Solving problems is a lot more difficult than just talking about solving them. When it came to Carver, my brother and his people solved a problem. I’m interested in resolving problems as well. I’m a licensed protector of this community…or at least I was.”

  Was…Roxanne wondered what else had happened to Chris since Denise’s burial.

  “What if what the Peacekeepers accomplished in there was nothing but a temporary solution?”

  “Maybe it will turn out to be a fact, though I highly doubt it.” Chris downed another shot and his eyes lost much of their focus. “Maybe you are right, Roxanne, maybe the drugs and the drug runners will return. But I believe that when you ignite the light of hope…sometimes that hope burns a lifetime.”

  “You believe that.”

  “Yes, I do.” Chris said. “How did you find me anyway?”

  Roxanne exhaled. “An old friend of your father promised him that he’d watch over the two things that were most precious to him. He said that you and your brother, Xavier, are making that increasingly difficult on him as he gets older.” Roxanne showed Chris Benjamin Scott’s picture next to his number on her phone. “He asked if I could lend him a hand tonight.”

  “Scotty did that huh?”

  “Yea, he did.” Roxanne nodded. They both took in the quiet moment. The others in the bar had gone back to their own conversations and their drinks. The bartender looked even more relaxed and assured that he won’t need to call his insurance carriers tonight. He offered her one on the house tab. Roxanne blew the old bartender a kiss but kindly shook her head no to his gracious offer.

  Chris rose to his feet suddenly…and kissed her deeply.

  Roxanne returned his kiss in full.

  “I know for sure that I killed at least one of the Peacekeepers at Carver.” The confession came from her suddenly and without preamble. “Councilwoman Davis, Carver, I did it…I did all of it for you, Chris.” Roxanne said in a voice that was nearly a whisper.

  Chris rested his forehead against hers. She could feel him nodding and muttering something under his breath. “I have to go,” She finally heard say aloud enough for her to hear. “I’m falling in love with you, Roxanne.”

  Roxanne heard the bar door shut behind him after he left. Roxanne wanted to move but she could not. She wanted to wake herself out of this dream but could not accomplish that either. This is a nightmare. The bartender leaned his elbows on his counter and flashed a mouthful of his rotten teeth at her.

  He told her congratulations and that he had seen stranger things in his time.

  “Then I was right about you all along, Chris.” Roxanne mutters almost to herself in the spot that the man of her dreams had just vacated. “You are insane, Chris. If you are truly falling in love with me then I have to ask you this question: How could you love a monster?”

  Xavier

  There had been a flurry of venomous activity heightening already enflamed racial tensions since Thomas Pepper’s announcement.

  Four female young women of color beat their white classmate to death outside the victim’s dorm room in what local authorities called an unprovoked attack. There had been a SUV full of Black teenagers shot at by a middle aged White man over loud music and the threat of violence from the young men parked next to him in front of a convenience store. Two different lethal shooting incidents between White police officers and young Black men were making second page headlines as well.

  Three Admirals in the Peacekeepers had informed Xavier Prince that another of Atlanta’s missing children had been found safely. Unfortunately, those reports had proven erroneous. A group of the Peacekeepers themselves had been fired upon in a drive by shooting that had left one member dead and two others in serious condition. Witnesses believed that it was car load of the Choir Boys using the aged tactics to strike back at a House in Chains for all they had lost at Carver. And finally last night, a Pandora sympathizer physically attacked Warren Washington outside a NAACP convention downtown. The Circle member successfully fought off his attacker and eventually killed him with his own butcher knife.

  Warren and Quincy Morgan briefed Xavier on how and where they disposed of the man’s body. The One had been spending an evening out with Grace Edwards that might have turned into one that was in if not for the late night cell phone call from Percy telling them what happened.

  They had been meeting here on Broad Street at Five Points for a bit over an hour when Xavier finally said to others gathered together with him: “How do you respond to insanity?”

  To his mild surprise none of his Circle responded immediately. Quincy grinned as he knew the obvious answer but tossed his penny once and again without speaking. Warren shifted his one good eye—the other one covered with an eye patch. The ex-athlete had killed his attacker, but the engagement may have cost his at least partial sight in his left eye. Percy stroked his bald head, but hadn’t looked up yet. Grace flipped the page of the notes she was taking.

  Finally, Warren sat all the way up and said aloud: “I’m not sure I understand the context of your question, Number One.”

  “Then you should break the question down to its base…to its lowest common denominator.” He said without anger. “It’s a simple question, guys. Don’t overcomplicate this. We are a Circle. My father asked those who served under him the same question many years ago—in this room.” Xavier stood up. “How do you answer insanity?”

  Percy stopped rubbing in his head, but still didn’t meet any of the other’s eyes. “You meet it with equal insanity.”

  Xavier pointed proudly to where his Number Four was sitting. He thought they, the other members of his Circle knew the answer, but Percy showed the courage to answer him…even if he had been wrong.

  “Yes, equal insanity it our only option now,” He nodded as he said it. “Yes, I think it is time.”

  Grace dropped her pen on top of her notes and looked over her eyeglasses at him. “Are you proposing what I think you are, sir?”

  “I am.”

  “Scar,” Quincy flipped the penny high into the air and snatched it out with a smile.

  “Oh my, God,” Percy found the crease he’d rubbed into his head and began caressing it again.

  “Scar,” Xavier had said again for himself and for Warren in case he’d somehow had missed it. “Grace, I want you to contact your sources within the press and leak it that I have an announcement for 12 A M. I specifically want the fact of an announcement itself and what time it will be to be a guarded secret…at least for now.” He rolled up his cuff and checked his watch. “It’s 8 P M now. I don’t want the media to get wind of this until around 10. I want ple
nty of speculation…and buzz we can generate to happen in a very short controlled burst.”

  Warren stared at him with his one good eye. “Are you sure about this?”

  Xavier flashed the man his hardest glare. He pulled a toothpick from his stash and stuck it in his mouth. “At midnight, I will announce that our House in Chains will give the authorities 24 hours from that point in time to return the 5 remaining children to their families. A former Circle member solicited Thomas Pepper’s services and he had provided us with all of the intelligence and hard evidence we need to justify our response. I’m done sitting around waiting on Pandora. It is time for us to take the offensive against our enemies.”

  Percy looked as if he had a question lodged in his eyes. “Xavier, what if the children are found before tribulation’s hour is unleashed but they…but they are found in less than ideal conditions.”

  Xavier shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Give us an example Percy.”

  Grace spoke up instead. “What if we find that any of them have been beaten…or that they’ve been sexually abused?”

  “Your afforded mentioned conditions are unacceptable to me, Grace,” He gave the room a once over. “They are unacceptable to our Circle.”

  “Here is another scenario,” Quincy stopped tossing his coin long enough to pose his question. “We have somehow retrieved the children into