by Carly White
Civ didn’t like the tone of her daughter’s voice, but she liked even less the idea of giving up her small moment of fame. She became a news reporter instead of a writer, not because of the stories, but she wanted the fame that came with it. She had always imagined herself the person everyone would want to talk to and now she was it. It was not quite the way that her imagination had made it happen, but she didn’t want to lose her minute in the light.
“We don’t have to leave Namadi, just stay away from those men. They will do nothing but cause you more trouble. Trust me on this, I know.”
She spoke as if she had experience with the bad boys, but she didn’t want to say anything one way or another. There was something in her eyes, the faraway look that made her daughter wonder what it was.
“I have to do something. I can’t just sit in this room anymore. While you are having your moment or whatever, I am stuck in this tiny room. I am going out. The whole time they have been here, they have been preaching non-violence. There hasn’t been any and I really want to get out. I’m going tonight to get out and if that is a problem, I will leave. I can’t stay here any longer. I am going to go crazy.”
Civ looked at the stance and the rebellious look in her dark brown eyes. She wasn’t budging, that much was clear and Civ didn’t know if she should push her or give in. Civ was still trying to get the differences of her being an adult. She didn’t have to listen anymore and as she took in the squared jaw and the arms crossed over her chest, Civ decided that it wasn’t the moment to put her foot down.
“If that is what you have to do Namadi, but please be careful. There is no sense looking for trouble.”
“Where do you think I get it from? Whenever there is a problem anywhere, you are traipsing off to see what is going on there. I get it from you and if you want real information mom, you can’t just keep hiding in this hotel room. I will go out and see if I can get some information.”
Namadi smiled back at her mom, knowing she wasn’t sure if she should believe her. It was just thrown in there to make her think. Namadi had no intentions on asking anybody about some bald-headed Sheriff. She just wanted to get out and knew that her mother couldn’t refuse the idea of some hint how to crack the case.
Civ was sitting at the small wooden table in front of her laptop, trying to patch together her next clip. The man had not made it very easy and he was so vague. Someone was going to figure it out and if it was her, she could quickly sky-rocket her way to investigative reporting. That was where the real fame and awards came from.
“I don’t like the idea of you going out there. It should be me.”
“No one likes a pushy reporter mom. And no offense, but you are in true form the last couple of days. You are too hungry for it. I look like I could care less. More people are prone to talk when they don’t think you want to know.”
There was no science behind it. Namadi was just throwing it out there, anything to get her out of the small box that she was supposed to live in. There was no way that she could stay there another day. It didn’t matter what got her out. Namadi just wanted to get out of there any way she could.
“I don’t know Namadi. I don’t like the idea of you around those men. There are so many of them and if something happened, I don’t know what I would do.”
Namadia paused, rethinking her plans. It was clear that her mom meant it and she knew that she loved her. “Nothing is going to happen, mom. The whole world is watching what is happening here. They are waiting for your clip. You get that ready to send out and I will see what kind of information that I can get.”
Civ was torn between the story and her family. While she would like to have said that nothing mattered more than her daughter, it didn’t, but the idea of learning the truth and getting exclusive was too much of a temptation for her to pass up. All she wanted to do was make a name for herself and if her daughter could help her, what made it any different than when she came with to video it all? She couldn’t think of an answer and against her better judgement, Civ agreed to let her daughter go.
“Just promise me that you will be careful. If you get a bad feeling, just leave.”
Namadi shook her head that she would and gave her a quick hug before she left. “I will be back in a little bit. You get that next clip out and hopefully we will have information about what is going on later. That means another clip for later, so you might want to start on an introduction. You want to be the first with any new information.”
Civ nodded, her daughter playing into her ego. “Just be careful Namadi. You never know what will happen with those types.”
Chapter 4
The party that sprung out at Andre’s house just kind of happened. There had been too many days of nothing going on, the guys were starting to get a little stir crazy. Everyone that had agreed to help his father make a stand was used to freedom and running around, riding their bikes, but it was not happening in the small town. The police made it so that if any of them left, they would not be able to get back. This was not a good idea if they wanted to protect Maxwell and the rest of them. Their only power was in large numbers.
So those large numbers had decided that a little drinking and drug therapy were in order, if for no other reason than to battle the sheer boredom that they were all facing equally. Andre at first didn’t like the idea, but as things started to get more to his kind of normal, he started to relax. Andre figured if Maxwell could relax at a time like that, then he should be able to as well.
The man looked around his old home and it was filled with party goers. Several women were trying to catch his eye, but he wasn’t looking for any of them. Andre was still thinking about the dark-haired beauty from before. She had gone against her mother’s wishes to give him a name and just the name was enough to get his attention. When he saw her in the distance getting a beer from a cooler, he walked up to her.
“I bet you are not supposed to be here Namadi.”
She turned around and smiled at him. Andre found it hard to breathe with his throat closing up like it was. Why would she affect him in such a way?
“I can’t believe you remembered my name.”
“How could I not remember the name of the most beautiful girl that I had ever met?”
She looked down and blushed. “Well thank you for that Andre, but I think you are playing with me.”
He wasn’t. There was something about her and maybe it was the act of innocence that drove him crazy, but there was something about her. “So what are you doing here? Did you sneak out?”
She shook her head. “I am an adult. I don’t have to sneak out.”
Andre liked the information. At least he could think of her in the same way as he had been. She was young, that much he could tell, but she wasn’t too young that he couldn’t notice her. “She didn’t seem so happy about you being around us before.”
Namadi agreed, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She had never let Civ stop her from what she really wanted to do. “Well here I am. So what is there to do in this small town besides have a party?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t been here for a long time. I used to go down to the ridgeline up top and watch the city lights. There was usually a girl with me and we would get to know each other better.”
Namadi liked the sound of that, but she was still nervous around him and being alone with him seemed a scary idea. Did she really want to be alone with him? Her body told her that she did, but Namadi wasn’t so sure. “I was thinking we would stay around here.”
“So you are afraid to go with me?”
He said it as if it was typical and it upset her. She wasn’t afraid of him. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t go. I had just figured that we would stay around here. I came looking for you, so that hardly counts as frightened. I was just hoping that you would show me around.”
Andre bought it and she smiled at her in such a way that made her heart beat a little faster in her chest. What was the pull of the bad boy? Why did knowing that his masculini
ty was so high that it would overwhelm her as he talked her into things she would never imagine before, sound so good? Namadi wasn’t even sure what she was missing out on, but she wanted him from some gut recess inside of her.
“That’s okay too. I will be more than happy to give you the tour. Do you want to start on the top or on the bottom?”
She looked up the staircase and didn’t like the darkness that afforded her u there. It would be just the two of them and though she had gotten out of going away with him by staying, it didn’t seem like it was going to be any safer. “Um, I guess the bottom. Does this place have a basement?”
He nodded and took her hand, leading her away from all of the people around them. The noise started to lower as they went into one of the back rooms facing away from the road. The house was small from the front, though Namadi was starting to realize that some of it was hidden. When she could barely hear the loud noise behind her, she started to get a little chill. “How is this even possible, to be this far back?”
Andre chuckled at her. You wouldn’t guess that we are underground right now, would you?”
She shook her head and looked around her. There was no natural light, the only real instance that would have told her where she really was. The lighting was done well thought and only after he said something, did she even noticed. The change of light source had been gradual and she was a bit amazed. “No I wouldn’t. I was wondering how this place could be so big when it is so small.”
“It used to be part of a tunnel system that they used to bring in whatever they wanted from Mexico. Most of it is inoperable now, cave-ins and such, but we have always kept a section of it taken care of. Have to or the house would start to sink as the walls fell in.”
His words made her more aware of the dangers of it happening while they were in it and Namadi felt uneasy. Andre noticed the shift and took her hand. “That is not the best part. Come on.”
She paused, but felt that she had no choice. Namadi did not want him to think that she was afraid to. It didn’t serve her, but never knowing she was claustrophobic, the last thing she wanted to do was go any deeper, not knowing what was in front of them. “I think I have seen enough of this place, why don’t we go back?”
***
“I am telling you, that is all there is. I have checked all of the local channels and they just keep playing this one clip over and over again. It is heavily edited but I have been told he wasn’t being the easiest interviewer. He wants the public to figure out what you have done. I don’t know if he is smart or just incredibly stupid.”
David shook his head, replaying the new clip coming out of Waterton for the fifth time. He watched Andre’s face and he realized that the man did not know what he was there for. It was Maxwell that was orchestrating it all. He knew the man well and years ago, he had requested the whole family be wiped out, now the reason was in front of him. Everyone would know what he had done so long ago. He had paid well to keep it a secret, but like all things it couldn’t be swept under the rug forever. David would never know how much of it would trickle out or how Maxwell had found out.
“Maxwell never was stupid, so he has a plan.”
“What do you want me to do Sir? It is almost impossible to get close to him right now. The town is surrounded and as long as they stay peaceful, there is to be no aggression from the police force.”
“Well we need to make sure they don’t stay peaceful then, don’t we?”
Buzz smiled and he already knew what had to be done. There were many people in the town that worked for David and though he was not in Waterton to talk directly, the conversations between them were enough. He could see the way the man’s small eyes narrowed to nothing on his face. It was to be Buzz’s job to take care of things while he was away and unable. There were too many eyes on him now and David knew that he would have to play his cards right. He had to get them out of there and he didn’t care if they were locked up or killed, but someone had to stop the public from looking and the truth from coming out.
“Make sure you get them riled up enough that the police have to come in and then you find Maxwell and his father. You have to get them arrested, so make sure that they are in the middle of it.”
“What about the reporter?”
David wasn’t sure about her. She had been the problem from the beginning. Of course there had to be a reporter there. Cursing himself and the woman that was in the middle of all of this. One moment of pleasure had turned into the worst decision of his life. Now, he had to deal with the aftermath and it was just as bad as he had envisioned it to be so long ago.
“We can’t do anything to the reporter. That is why Maxwell has the place under the public eye. He knows that it will be pushed back to me. That is why you have to make sure that you get them going good, but don’t get caught stirring the pot. I don’t know how we are going to do this, but if I can get those two locked up, the people will quickly forget. There is always something else to focus on.”
Buzz nodded, but waited. “Are you sure you don’t want to silence the reporter?”
David shook his head. “I would love to more than anything, but not yet, maybe when everything dies down. You just make sure that you do what I say and to the rest, they need to get rid of any evidence that we have any dealings together. If they do get wind of it, I want to make sure that it is all just conjectures and rumors. I don’t want any proof.”
“You got it boss.”
He sighed. “Don’t call me that. Just let me know when it is done. I have more important things to worry about than Maxwell Grindle and the ghosts from the past.”
David hung up and still there was a sinking feeling in his gut. There was no doubt that he deserved what Maxwell had in mind for him, but David would do anything to prolong the inevitable. He had faith that something would happen to change it all. It was not going to be the end for him. He refused for it to happen.
He pushed play on the video one last time, taking in the man’s features. They were so similar to the ones that he seen every day in the mirror. What was he going to do and why didn’t he ever see it before. The man who wanted to see him locked up for the crimes he didn’t even know about, was his own son and he didn’t even know it. David never wanted him to know, because then there would be so many more questions that were going to be impossible to answer. Maxwell had been unable to give the boy up when he had lost his mother, keeping the secret.
Chapter 5
Namadi followed Andre deeper into the tunnel and now that she knew where she actually was, she was almost shaking with fear. Andre took her hand at some point and convinced her to keep going. He wanted to show her the way out and when she finally breathed in the fresh air around her, she could help but smile back at him. They were on the bluff that he had talked about half a mile from his small house.
“Wow, it is a nice place to go.” He had gotten what he wanted anyways and Namadi was just as taken with him as she was the view. There was a moment when she was looking up at him, that she had thought he was going to kiss her. She leaned in slightly, reading herself, but it never happened. Instead his phone ringed and he was soon cursing into the small device.
Namadi tried to keep up with the conversation, but some things became clear. There was something going on back where they had come from. The voice on the other end was sharp, but Andre’s was sharper. “I don’t want any fighting, no guns!”
He listened for a minute and looked back into the tunnel. There was no way that he was going back to get arrested. Andre’s men had gotten into a brawl with some of the bikers from Colorado and now the police were moving in. His father had been clear of nothing more specifically than violence, knowing that once the police got involved, everything would be shut down. If they fought back, there side would always be tarnished.
It was already too late though, so going back would do nothing but secure himself a prison cell. There would be no telling what he would be charged with as the ring leader and Andre didn’t want to find
out. It was then that he remembered who was next to him and who she was. “Just get all of mine back in the house. Close up the back entrance and cooperate.”
“You heard me. Call me back and let me know if they get my dad.”
Andre hung up and shut the heavy door behind him. Pushing the vines back to cover the door, he looked around for a minute to get his bearing. IT had been some time since he had been out that way and he was worried that the police had the place surrounded. After a few moments of no moving or sound, he figured that they were safe. He grabbed her hand. “I have to go. You can go back to your mom, but I have to take off.”
“Why, what has happened?” Namadi had been quiet through it all, but she had to know that her mother was okay.
“There was a fight between some of the bikers and the police are moving in. It could be dangerous and I don’t like the idea of you walking into that. If you come with me, I can make sure that you are safe until it all blows over.”
She could hear sounds from behind her and it sounded like some kind of gunfire. There was no way that she wanted to go back there and she moved towards him. “Where are we going to go?”
He wasn’t sure, but Andre lust started off towards where the small stand of trees hit the road. He had a friend that he could get transportation from, but he hated to think of what was going on behind him. Andre didn’t want to leave his father in the grips of the police, but he didn’t seem to have another choice. Maxwell wouldn’t want him to get arrested and there was nothing that could be done at the moment. At the moment, it was going to be a mad house and the cops would come through and arrest everyone. It was just easier for them and then they would sort it all out after it was done.
Namadi looked scared next to him and though he had wondered about her, she seemed to resolve herself to the situation. He tried to imagine her on the back of his bike and when he finally got to his friend’s house, Gavin’s bike was all there was around.