Verron_Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  The man named Carlos sat as close as possible to Katelyn and extolled the virtues of her having a black man and that she’d never be the same afterwards. His three friends were chiding her along with him and neither of her friends were disagreeing or defending her. She finally had enough and reached into her purse and withdrew the valet parking token and handed it to Julie, who she knew had only consumed two drinks in the four hours they had been out. She then looked around her one more time and told her friends, “This may be your lifestyle and I’m not judging you for living it, but it’s not my lifestyle and I’ve had enough of it for one night. I’ll see you back at the house. Do cabs run on this side of town?” She stood to leave and Carlos put his hand on her shoulder a bit too firmly to suit her and said, “Where you think you’re going bitch. You don’t leave until we’ve had a dance.” Before he knew what happened he was face down on the table with spilled drinks and popcorn splashing in his face. The snap of his wrist could be heard above the music.

  Katelyn quickly pushed her way past the spectators and headed for the exit before a bunch of bouncers showed-up. She was in a bit of a daze as she worked her way through the crowded dance club. She recognized drunk when she saw it but couldn’t help but notice the smell of weed and the hollow eyes of those using drugs even stronger as she pushed numerous men and women out of her way when they tried to make time with her. The big doorman gave her a strange look when she asked, “Do cabs run in this section of town?” He pointed to the corner and reached for his cell phone, asking, “What’s it worth to ya?” She dug in her purse and handed him a twenty. The big man pushed a speed-dial button and said, “Got a pick-up Lewis, on the corner by the club. Waiten’ there now.” He put his phone away and informed her, “Ten minutes. If it don’t say Lewis Solomon on the ID, don’t get in it.” Katelyn didn’t bother to thank the man, she figured the twenty was thanks enough and began to walk across the narrow parking lot toward the end of the street. She had only traveled half-way across when six young black men with guns came out from between parked cars and circled where she stood. Carlos, holding his left hand gently in his coat pocket, was pointing a gun at her as well. He spoke for the others, saying, “This is 226 turf and don’t no white bitch treat a brother like that. Now come with us and we’ll teach you what black is all about.”

  Katelyn shook her head at the thought of these pitiful creatures thinking themselves powerful by victimizing those weaker than them. She smiled and told Carlos, “Put those popguns away before I take them away and spank you. Didn’t your Momma teach you not to play with guns? Now go back inside and impress the people who might actually give a damn about who you are.” She remembered that she did in fact have on her forcefield and turned to leave. She heard the click of guns cocking and looked around at the dozens of people watching the events in the parking lot. She also noticed that the bouncer and doorman had conveniently gone back inside the club. She could not allow any of these innocent people to be struck by a bullet intended for her. She took a deep breath and did what she had to do, knowing that if she took another step, they would shoot. Drawing The Power, she focused on the elevated heartbeat of the armed 226 gang members, and unleashed it in a quick burst. Six men dropped their guns to grab their chest when the unbearable pain hit them, but one man however dropped his gun at an angle that caused it to fire.

  Seventeen year-old Maria Gonzales had managed to convince her Mom that she was going to spend the night with her fictitious friend Libby. She instead went directly to the apartment of Bobby Andrews, the twenty two year-old man she worked with at McDonalds. They had been intimate for the afternoon and then went to a late dinner out. They were arm-in-arm stepping from Bobby’s shiny ten year-old 350Z looking like a couple from a fashion magazine. He was a handsome young man with curly black hair and green eyes and dressed in a designer knock-off suit. Maria had borrowed a spaghetti strapped emerald green silk dress from her older sister, without her knowing it. She looked almost like a young Jenifer Lopez as she smiled at the man she loved. The sound of the gun going off didn’t have time to register before Maria felt a burning feeling just above her right breast and below her bare shoulders. The shock of suddenly not being able to move or breath gave her panic as she slumped in Bobby’s arms gushing blood from her chest. Katelyn ran to the young petite girl as quickly as she realized that a bullet had hit someone. She took Maria from the shocked Bobby’s arms and laid her down on the cold pavement. She then attempted to do something she had never done before, but knew had been done once years before by her Uncle Paul. As she placed her hands over the open wound to stop the gushing blood, she said a quick prayer and called up more of The Power than she had ever used before. At first it almost made her dizzy, but she held on to it and concentrated on the process of how the wound occurred and mentally attempted to reverse it. She didn’t know if she was actually doing any good until she felt something hard touch the palm of her blood soaked hand. She lifted her hand just a little and picked the 9mm slug out of the rapidly closing hole with her other hand. Clamping it tight in her palm she continued to hold her hand in place. Feeling completely drained of her strength, she finally removed her hand. The entire process couldn’t have lasted five minutes. She began to cry when she saw the hole closed and not a sign that Maria had ever been shot, other than blood all over her breasts and her sister’s dress.

  Maria’s eyes opened with a gasp of breath. She looked terrified. Amber heard the sound of sirens in the distance and knew she had done all she could do. She handed Maria the 9mm slug she had just removed with the comment, “Stay away from this place.” She looked at Bobby and added, “If you really loved her, you would keep her far from places like this.” She began to walk away and noticed the awaiting cab. She didn’t bother with it. She yelled “Let the doctors check you out!” then turned the corner to get out of sight of the dazzled and confused crowd, making a gateway back to Jenifer’s house, quickly colleting her things and then making a gateway to her room in Area 51.

  Katelyn removed the dress and laid it in her ceramic tub. Using The Power, it quickly disappeared in a flash of flames. She took a long hot shower to get the filth of the day off her skin and put on her jeans and T-shirt, then went to the BOQ common area and joined several of the men in a game of pool and ate what was left of their pizza. She then hit the vending machine and got out two Philly Cheese Steaks and a Diet Coke. She was ravenous with hunger. The Power had drained her so much that she knew she would be eating everything in sight for days.

  It was only Tuesday morning when Katelyn was called to General Johnson’s office. When she entered the General’s office she couldn’t help but notice the rather handsome man in a black tapered-fit golf-shirt and tan pants. He was over six foot, probably 6-3, trim, tan, and fit. His longer than regulation blond hair was still well groomed, but it was his eyes that grabbed Katelyn; they were the deepest blue she had ever seen. Only after he was introduced, did Katelyn notice the embroidered FBI seal over his shirt pocket.

  FBI Organized Crime Investigator Bartholomew C. Brown was not what she expected when she stepped into the office. He explained that there had been six members of a gang killed at a club in Chattanooga on Saturday night and one young girl found drugged, raped and murdered behind the club. Her first thoughts were of the young girl she had healed. She remained amazingly calm. She asked, “And this concerns me because?” The Agent kept a poker face and responded, “I understand that you were in Chattanooga and at the scene of the crime. In fact there is a young Hispanic girl that claims she was saved by an angel. There are 22 witnesses that identified an unarmed woman in a conflict with the six dead men before they all suddenly dropped dead of heart-attacks. It is also reported that you were good friends with the deceased victim behind the club, a Miss Jenifer Barnes. That statement did get to her but though she shed a tear, she did not panic. She commented, with tears and a shake in her voice, “I went to Chattanooga for Jenifer’s 21st birthday. We’ve been friends since I was two. I hope you get
the bastards that killed her.” The Agent informed her, “We believe it was a retaliation killing by 226 for the death of their leader and five of the gang members.” Katelyn decided to end the conversation before she said something she shouldn’t, saying “Agent?” He responded, “Brown – Agent Brown, but you can call me Bart.” Katelyn continued, “Well agent … Bart, I was in Chattanooga but decided to return to Area 51 because I just didn’t fit in with my friend’s lifestyle. What time did this happen?” Agent Brown commented, “At 2:45 AM Eastern Time.” Katelyn replied, “Well sir, I was here playing pool and eating pizza with six Air Force pilots at 0100 Mountain Time. If you think I could be in both Chattanooga and Nevada within the same 15 minute timespan, then you’ve made a long trip for nothing. Even if I had a spaceship, which I do, I could never make the trip that quickly.” Agent Brown did in fact verify Katelyn’s story, except for the ridiculous part about the spaceship, and knew he had no physical evidence placing her there. The crowds were so drunk or high they made horrible witnesses, what few pictures that were taken did not show a decent face shot; all were obscured by the hat the girl wore and on top of that, no one saw the girl in the parking lot do anything but stand there, then run to help an injured girl struck by a stray bullet. Agent Brown turned in his report to the Gang Task Force and eliminated Katelyn Verron from his suspect list.

  The next couple of days were extremely stressful for Katelyn. She wasn’t stressing about the death of the six gang members, but was becoming angrier by the day about the brutal and senseless murder of her friend. The more she thought about it, she realized she was not just angry at the men who had killed Jenifer, but at Jenifer for allowing herself to get caught-up in the whole drug scene that went with the club life she had chosen and the people she had chosen to hang out with. A lot of inner city youth have no choice in the matter, life on the streets guarantees exposure to drugs and violence, but Jenifer had chosen the life of her own free will. There was a Memorial Service held on Thursday at the church the Marcus Verron family had attended with Jenifer and her family. When Katelyn told her Dad about what happened, everything that happened, on Wednesday night, he and the entire family decided to attend the service. Most of the people there didn’t recognize the Marcus Verron family, Marcus, Danyel, Katelyn, Chase and Tala. They had decided to leave MJ at home with Lydia. After the service Patricia, Julie and Emily came over and spoke, wondering what had happened to Katelyn. She told them that she had caught a cab and missed the entire thing. By the time she got her things and went back to Nevada it was already over, the first she heard about it was the morning the FBI came to see her. Jenifer’s Mother came over to talk with her old next-door neighbor Danyel who she had spent many a day with her watching their children play together.

  As they were exiting the church they couldn’t help but observe the loud volume of music as a dozen cars drove slowly by the church with music so loud the church windows rattled. The members of 226 were letting it be known that this was not the end. Emily made the comment to Katelyn, “Ever since Saturday, none of us can go anywhere without at least one of them being around. Julie’s the lucky one; she leaves after the funeral for Rhode Island. No way 226 can stalk her on the Navy base. Patricia and I are thinking about moving, my Mom is worried they may come after me since I live in the neighborhood with a lot of them.

  While everyone else was talking pleasantly and remembering the life they used to live in Harbor Hills, Emily pulled Katelyn aside and spoke softly, “I don’t know how you did what you did, but Maria Gonzales’ Mother works at Chattem Chemical with my Mom and Bobby Andrews went to school with me. Bobby says he saw the girl that saved Maria surrounded by six armed gangbangers and when they all fell over, one of their guns went off and hit Maria. He watched you remove a bullet and close a wound in Maria’s chest. He wasn’t about to snitch you out after what you did, but he definitely got a good look at you. Maria is still convinced it was an angel. I just want you to know that Jenifer is not your fault. There were bad feeling developing between Jen and 226. She owed them for some drugs she hadn’t paid for and was sort of working it off with Carlos, but had decided last week to put an end to it. Carlos was treating you like he was thinking he would make Jenifer mad. It did. Four of the gang members followed Jenifer when she went to the restroom at the back of the club before the incident happened in the parking lot. They would have done what they did even if nothing had happened with Carlos and his crew.” Katelyn was maintaining her composure, but wanted to scream. She commented, “Those bastards are gonna pay! Do you know who the four were that followed Jen?” As Emily nodded her head, she asked, “Why? What are you going to do? A few people have already told the po-lice that the guys followed her. But no one saw what happened and they have dozens of friends who will swear they were inside the club when it happened.” Katelyn reached over and gripped Emily’s arm and informed her, “I’m gonna do what the po-lice can’t or won’t do. Please ask me no more questions. But I need to ask you one. Do you know where I can find the guys that killed Jenifer?”

  For the next two weeks Katelyn immersed herself in her work in an attempt to not dwell on Jenifer and her brutal death. She had Lucy pull the police report and the details of the investigation. She had to go to the bathroom and throw-up when she say the pictures of her beautiful 21 year-old friends mutilated body and thought about what she must have endured in the last moments of her life. It was finally Friday night and she made a decision. After Emily had told her the names of the four 226 members who had killed Jenifer, she had Lucy put surveillance drones in the area where they frequented. She knew that the four would be in their safe-house on Saturday night for a few hours before they went out on the town together. One of the four was now the official new leader of the gang since the death of Carlos.

  As soon as work was over she told Tala she was going to make a trip to Verron for the weekend and to have fun on her mountain bike ride she had planned with Brad. Her gateway back to Verron was directly to Paul Verron’s office. Inga informed her that Paul was in a meeting with her Grandpa Kary and would be out in a short while. Katelyn smiled and replied, “Perfect, I need to talk with him too” and headed for the door. Neither of them seemed upset that Katelyn had barged in on their meeting. Paul could tell she was being polite and trying not to interrupt but could see in her face that she was dying to speak, he asked, “I know you’re not here just to see my smiling face, so what’s up?” Katelyn slumped into the chair beside her Grandpa and answered, “I know you two are going to think I’m awful for wanting to take the law into my own hands, but I plan to declare war on the 226 members that killed Jenifer. I know who they are, and where they will be tomorrow night. The Chattanooga Gang Task Force is doing nothing. The FBI is clueless and these guys just keep on doing anything they feel like doing with no repercussions whatsoever. I knew that Uncle Paul had a little experience in this sort of thing and wouldn’t judge me for what I want to do.”

  Kary looked at Paul and the two brothers smiled at each other. Paul shook his head and commented, “Sort of like what the terrorist are doing all over the world, right?” Katelyn thought a moment and answered, “I really don’t see any difference between terrorist and gang members myself, only that those inside the U.S. are protected by and hiding behind all kinds of laws. And if I go after these killers, then I become the criminal.” Kary quickly replied, “Katelyn, Uncle Paul, Hunter and most of our family are considered criminals by millions for the things we’ve done. But the question is, is it the right thing to do? Is it ever going to change if someone doesn’t step up and attempt to do something about it? Gang members; and you know I used to be in one myself, will do anything they think they can get by with and that includes selling drugs, porn, and even murder. You just now are realizing that you want to be part of the solution.”

  Paul rose and walked around his desk and said, “Let me show you something you’re Grandpa just invented with the help of Tlase. We plan to add it to our arsenal of weapons for fighting terror
ist. It has the result of leaving behind no bodies, but without leaving the big holes all over the place.” He held up a typical 9mm round and handed it to Katelyn. Kary got excited that his new invention may soon get used. He jumped right in, saying, “You remember the Demented Vine and how Tlase used the same DNA based technology used to kill it to make a specific DNA version for humans and virtually anything else. It was a weapon of mass destruction and would kill anything nearby. It was not an up-close and personal kind of weapon. Well, I’ve lowered the dosage and put some in the end of the 9mm round along with a detonator that will release the Rapture Formula into the individual shot. It will disintegrate the person and only that person, leaving behind only metal objects and clothing that is free of any human DNA. Clean-cloths get left behind. I can supply you with enough for three or four 17 round clips for a Glock 9mm. If you need to kill more than that then wiggle your nose and make them explode or something.” The reference to Bewitched was one of Kary’s favorite ways of teasing his grandkids about their powers. Katelyn looked at both men and asked, “Can I have them by tomorrow 11:00 PM East Coast Time? Kary walked over to a picture on Paul’s wall and slid it aside to reveal a safe. He opened the safe and removed a box of 100 Rapture Rounds. Handed them to Katelyn and walked over to a gun case and removed two silenced Glocks. Then commented “No need for the neighbors to be disturbed by gunfire while their trying to sleep. Make every round count sweetheart.” Paul ended the conversation with, “Meet us in my private office off my suite in 22 hours. I’ll make sure you have drone support for when you go in.”