Enemy In the Room

by Parker Hudson

  “Why gross? I bet you’ve watched lots of adult movies.”

  Now he was silent for a moment. “Well, I guess. But they weren’t my sister.”

  “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Dad: ‘they’ are all somebody’s daughter or sister. This one just happens to be me.”

  “Dad knows about this?”

  “He does. But not Mom, I don’t think.”

  “What did he say?”

  “What do you think? He wants me to quit.”

  “So do I.”

  “Rob, Dad cut me off. And do you know how much money I make?”

  “I don’t care. It’s still gross. You’ll get some disease.”

  She heard the pain in her brother’s voice. “What if it were Jamie Tatum?” she asked, referring to a girl in his high school class.

  “Callie, it’s not Jamie. It’s you. But it’s the same thing. I don’t want my sister or a friend doing that gross stuff on camera for thousands of guys to watch.”

  “But someone you don’t know can do it, right?”

  He paused again. “Maybe it doesn’t make sense. But I’m not their brother. I’m your brother. And I’m asking you, please, stop, no matter how much money you’re making.”

  “Are you still doing those internet games you told me about?”

  He closed his eyes. “Yes.”

  “A lot? Like it keeps you from studying?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Why don’t you stop?”

  “Callie, look…it’s …it’s not the same.”

  “It’s probably closer than you think.”

  “Thousands of guys aren’t fantasizing about me while I play that game.”

  “Isn’t your game one big fantasy?”

  “Maybe, but it’s not the same.”

  “What I do is not all bad.”

  “Gross!”

  “Robbie. Neither of us is perfect. What do you want to do now?”

  “I’ll think about stopping, if you will,” he said, not really meaning it, but wanting his sister out of porn movies.

  “Fair enough. I’ll think about it. We’ll talk again.”

  “Yes.”

  “OK. But now I gotta go. I’m going to be late for class.”

  “Please don’t do another one.”

  “I said I’d think about it.”

  “Gross!”

  “You already said that a few times.”

  He smiled for the first time. “Then you did hear me? I meant it every time. Here, I’ll say it again—Gross!”

  “I get it, I get it. I’ll really think about it. But I doubt anything will change.”

  “Callie, please.”

  “We’ll talk. Bye.”

  Callie remembered Rob when they were younger. How much she had wanted to teach him to do the right thing. And now she was disappointing him. She lingered for a moment, thinking again of her brother. Then she shook her head, locked the door, and left for class.

  Early that Sunday afternoon David was in his study, dressed in shorts, reading through property reports, lease abstracts and tenant fit-out proposals so that he could leave a long to do list with his team when he departed on Friday. Elizabeth was across the street at a neighbor’s, learning how to bake healthy whole grain bread. Rob was out. The doorbell rang. Who can that be?

  When David opened the door, he found Kristen Holloway. She was wearing a light, conservative summer dress, carrying a brown pocketbook, and appeared to be tanned and healthy.

  “Hello, David.” She smiled.

  “Hello!” He opened the screen door and stepped aside. “Come in and get out of the heat.”

  She stepped in, and he gave her a friendly hug. “How are you? And what brings you here?”

  “Well, church just got over, and I haven’t seen you or Elizabeth for a while, so I figured if a cell phone call is bad, a personal visit must be all right. So here I am. Can we talk for a minute?”

  “Sure. Sure.” He motioned for her to walk ahead of him into the den. “Elizabeth’s across the street, but she ought to be home soon. Rob is out somewhere. Can I get you some water, or something?” He offered her a seat at the end of the sofa, and he sat in a large cushioned chair nearby.

  “No, thank you.” She smiled as they sat down.

  “It’s great to see you.”

  “Yes. Me, too. I figured that you would be leaving for Moscow soon, and I just wanted to see you and hear about your trip to see Callie. And tell you how proud I am that you’ve helped move Knox just a little closer to reducing the company’s porn business. Or at least making it less accessible to families and teenagers.”

  He tried to smile and nod, but couldn’t find words.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. It’s just that I haven’t done much.”

  “Knox is still going to do what he said, isn’t he? So that Callie can’t continue. Right?”

  David paused. “Uh. Yes, Callie will be making some changes.”

  Kristen sat back and smiled. “Good! I’ll ask her about how she feels about them the next time we talk.”

  David frowned. “She and I talked a little when we were out there. Elizabeth doesn’t know about any of this, of course, so I didn’t push it.”

  “I see. Well, good. I believe if she can get out of that awful environment, away from the other people caught up in it, before something worse happens, she’ll be fine. We’ll all look back on this in a few years like a bad dream.”

  David closed his eyes for a moment, his stomach turning over. “I hope so Kristen. I really do, with all my heart.”

  “I know. I talk to Callie pretty regularly. Not about her business, but just about ‘stuff”. We’ve adopted each other as the sisters we never had. She really is a wonderful person, but she drinks too much, and she’s so deceived that what she’s doing is just all fun and money, with no consequences.”

  David lowered his eyes and almost whispered. “I know. Thank you for being her friend.”

  “It’s not a problem. Oh, that sounds like Elizabeth.”

  Elizabeth entered the den, and Kristen stood and greeted her with a hug.

  “How long have you been here?” Elizabeth asked, sitting in another chair.

  “Just a few minutes. I dropped by after church to see you and to wish David a safe trip to Moscow.”

  “That’s nice. Do you need anything to drink? No? Well, tell us about your new job, and what you’ve been doing.”

  “I start a week from Tuesday, on July fifth. And I’m really looking forward to working on the investment side with this pension fund.”

  They talked for almost thirty minutes, catching up on the Sawyer children, Kristen’s new job, and the details of the Moscow visit, at least as David knew them.

  Finally Kristen stood and smiled. “Well, I know from personal experience that David must have a lot to do before a trip like this, so I’ll be on my way. David, if there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know. And we’ll all be watching on TV next Monday morning. It should be really exciting for USNet.”

  As they walked to the door, David said, “Thanks, Kristen. You’ve already done a lot. Hopefully everything in Moscow will go smoothly—and also with your new job.”

  Callie and Alex returned to their apartment that afternoon after spending several hours at the beach. Alex went to the refrigerator to get some cold water, and Callie clicked on the phone for a voicemail.

  “Callie, this is Yusef. My father and I have decided that your internship has ended. We don’t need your assistance any longer. We will mail you a check for the time that you’ve spent during the final two weeks. Please do not come by the office, or call. We appreciate your help and hope that you have learned something. Thank you.”

  After the sun set Yusef parked in a dark area of a large retail outlet that was open 24/7. A few minutes later a rental van with Texas plates pulled up next to him, and he transferred to the van’s passenger seat. He smiled and shook hands with Salim, who then start
ed the engine, and they drove out of the lot.

  They took a circuitous route in the event that someone might be following them. An hour later, satisfied that they were alone, Yusef directed his friend to the large mini-storage complex near LAX airport where he had rented a climate-controlled space for a year.

  Knowing that they would definitely be on cameras, they took their time unloading furniture, crates and boxes into the large space. When finished, they locked the van, went inside the space, closed and bolted the roll-up door, then turned on the lights.

  Salim directed his student first to the crates that contained the pieces of the Stinger Missile. Yusef smiled as the two men took their time sitting on boxes and assembling the high-tech weapon. Then they turned to the crates containing the high explosives and detonator for the bomb that would be waiting in the van after the plane went down. When it was all done, Yusef ran his hand over the length of the missile launch tube and pronounced himself ready. “In ten days I will be in Paradise.” He laughed.

  “Yes, my brother. After killing many infidels and throwing these blasphemers into panic.”

  Yusef nodded.

  His mentor continued. “There will be other events that morning that you will hear about as they happen. You are to listen to the airport tower frequency, and take out the first plane that departs after ten. It will be closely timed with another action that will double the panic.”

  “I am ready. It’s time to make the video that you will play that night.”

  “Yes. I brought the equipment.” Salim stood and walked over to a smaller crate. “Here is the background curtain, the head scarf, and your script. I’ll set up the camera, and we’ll begin.”

  “Allah be praised.”

  28

  THURSDAY, JUNE 30TH

  A few mornings later Todd Phelps was at his desk in Kristen’s old office, rationalizing the advantages of a lease for a portion of the brewery in Kansas City, wishing that he had never taken that first financing fee, now that he had the extra income from RTI. But of course that’s how he came to RTI, he reminded himself. And all the extra money. I don’t need both. Now that I know that RTI pays well, after the next finance fee from Mike, I’ll stop taking them. And then hopefully build some distance from him.

  The question he next waited to focus on with more time at the console was: Who was behind RTI?

  The phone rang, and it was Mike Campbell, calling from what sounded like his cell phone.

  “Hey,” Todd said. “I was just finishing our response to your proposal on Kansas City.”

  “Good. Are we going to make the deal?”

  “Yes, I think so. On all the key points, including the rate and term, we’re very close to your proposal. I think you’ll like it.”

  “Great. Way to go, Mister Finance Minister!”

  Todd frowned. “Please.”

  “Fine, but I wanted to give you a head’s up on a little problem that’s come up.”

  “What is it?”

  “It turns out that the land for Brookglen was originally zoned for retail use, and now there’s some question about whether the sewer is sized large enough for offices. The previous developer was supposed to pay for an upgrade, but now we’re not sure that he did. The county is trying to sort it out, but they haven’t done it yet.”

  “What? You’re kidding.”

  “No. There was a misunderstanding.”

  “But you warranted it in our lease, and I didn’t check behind you because I trusted you.”

  “Hey. It happens. They say it’ll be done sometime in the next two years for sure.”

  “Two years? But we’re supposed to be in our space in, what, fourteen months? Mike, David will go crazy!”

  “Well, don’t tell him, at least not yet. Let us see what we can do at this end to fix it sooner.”

  “But we might have to shift to another development.”

  There was silence on the other end for a few moments. “Don’t ever say that, and don’t even consider it. We made a small mistake. But your fee was no mistake, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want anyone to know about it. So don’t let anyone talk about moving anywhere else.”

  “But obviously we have to have sewer, and you said it was there. I should have checked.”

  “So for many reasons you better just ride along with us. We’re checking up here on what to do. But even if the sewer is delayed, we can’t let you break your lease. We’ve got a deal, the financing depends on it, and you’ve got your fee, so we just need to figure out a solution.”

  “And what about Kansas City?”

  “What about it?”

  “What should I be checking on there before we send the response to you?”

  “Nothing. Everything’s good in Kansas City. I know it myself. But even if it wasn’t quite perfect, you need to keep pushing it, assuming you want to maintain a positive and quiet relationship with us.”

  Todd was silent, rubbing his forehead with his right hand. Finally he said, “I see.”

  “Good. So just keep that Kansas City response coming, and we’ll work on the sewer issue here in Minneapolis.”

  “I gotta give David some version of this, and soon. The longer I wait, the more difficult it will be to explain if it does blow.”

  “Well, we should know something soon, so I’d wait a couple of days, at least. Maybe there’ll be a quick solution.”

  “Yeah, maybe. I hope so.”

  Late that afternoon Kristen opened the door to her condo and dropped several shopping bags on the living room sofa. A friend had set up a double date to the baseball game for Saturday, and she had been shopping for a summer hat she could wear in case it was sweltering in the sun. And while shopping she’d found a few things to take home on trial, which might work for the following week, once she found out how dressy the corporate culture was at her new job.

  She put the boxes in her bedroom and fixed a glass of iced tea. The phone rang. She looked at the readout and saw that it was Callie’s apartment number, so she picked up.

  “Hi, Callie. How are you?”

  “Kristen, I’m not good.”

  “Why?”

  “Jane’s dead.”

  “What?”

  “I, like, don’t know the details. She and Alex went to Mexico to pick up their papers. She…” Callie started to cry.

  “Callie, I’m so sorry. What happened to Jane?”

  “I’m not sure. They called me from Mexico a little while ago to tell me that she died—of an overdose. Kristen, she was just here!”

  “I know, Callie. Who called?”

  Callie continued to cry, but spoke. “Alex. An overdose. That’s what he said, and he has to stay there. She was always so happy. They told me the police have to come search our apartment, and that I shouldn’t, like, touch anything in her room.”

  “Oh, Callie.”

  “So I have to stay here in L.A. ‘til they come and, like, figure this out. I don’t know what they’re going to do with her—her body. They asked if I have her parents’ number. And I…I think I may be pregnant.”

  Kristen closed her eyes while Callie began to whimper.

  “Do you know for sure?”

  “I’ve missed for several weeks, and I got one of those test things, but I’m scared to do it alone. Jane’s not here.”

  “Callie, I’m coming out. Just stay there for now, and I’ll call back with my flight information. It may be too late to get a flight tonight, but I’ll be out either tonight or early in the morning. And I’ll get a taxi to your apartment. Will you be all right ‘til I get there?”

  “Kristen—I’ve really messed up. And Jane’s dead.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. But I’ll help. So don’t do anything crazy. Just stay there in your apartment. You’ll be fine there. And I’m on the way. OK?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  Kristen nodded. “We all need friends, Callie. I have some remarkable ones, and you’re one of them. So I’ll call back as soon as I know my tri
p details.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m on the way.” She hung up and dialed the airline.

  Driving home David called Iran via Estonia from one of his cell phones. Omid answered and told him that Goli was a little better, but still depressed. Omid had stopped attending meetings or otherwise participating in the opposition, until he could get Goli to safety.

  “I’ve been working with some people in Tabriz who say that they can move us over the border into Turkey in a few days.”

  “Both of you?”

  “Yes. I think that I must get Goli to Istanbul and safely on a plane to you and Elizabeth. Then I’ll return to Tehran for no more than six months to help the revolution and to train others. Then I will come to the U.S.—or bring Goli back.”

  “I hope you can move quickly. ”

  “I’ll try. Can I put Goli on now, and you can tell her about Callie and Rob? She looks forward to meeting them. Callie must be a beautiful American lady now, and you must be very proud.”

  “Yes. She is. It’s great to see the kids growing up. Please put her on. And when you know about getting out, have a friend call from Europe, and then I’ll get back to you.”

  “OK. Thank you. Thank you for all your help.”

  “We haven’t done anything yet.”

  “But you’re there.”

  “Yes. We’re definitely here, and we’ll help.”

  “Callie, hi, it’s Kristen. How are you?”

  “Not good. The police called and said they’re coming over in the morning to look through Jane’s things.”

  “What time?”

  “They weren’t sure. About ten.”

  “That’s about when I get in. There were no seats available tonight, but I’m on the first non-stop in the morning. Callie, don’t worry about the police. They just have to do it—it’s procedure.”

  “What if they find some ‘stuff ’?”

  “I don’t know. Do you have any?”

  “I did. Not now.”

  “OK. Just take one day at a time. I’ll be up early and out to help you. And, oh, I’m praying for you, and for Jane’s family.”