“Yes,” Adrian answered.
“Well, I never told you how,” Cory exhaled a deep breath. “My brother was killed by the police.”
“What?” Then he exploded. “Cory, why after all this time did you never once tell me about this?”
“I don’t know, Adrian. I just wanted so much to forget the entire thing ever happened.”
“So what did he do wrong, Cory?”
“That’s the thing. Nothing. Collin never did anything wrong. He was completely innocent. He never did anything wrong,” she sobbed even more now. “The police murdered my brother, Adrian.”
Adrian went completely silent. He remained silent until Cory told him the entire story of what few details she knew surrounding the death of her brother.
“So … this is the reason why you hated the police, Cory?” Adrian finally asked her.
“Yes.” It wasn’t her family alone either that this happened to. Many others like hers had to deal with innocent members being killed by the police. And with no avenue for recourse. Civilian casualties didn’t only occur in the Middle East.
“And this is the reason why your father hates the entire military?”
“Yes.”
Adrian shook his head. “Cory, you should have told me this before I came here to your house. Now, not only do I feel like I’ve disrespected your father in his own house. I feel like a complete idiot.”
Cory was afraid to even look Adrian in the eyes now. For the first time since she knew him, he was sounding very angry. He was angry at her. This was the first time she even heard him speak at the top of his voice like that. And it was all her fault.
“When you told me that your brother was killed, Cory, I thought he was killed in an accident or something. Not by the police,” Adrian said. “And I never prodded you because you never wanted to talk about it.”
“Adrian, I’m really, really sorry about this.”
“Sorry? I mean, your brother was killed by the police, Cory, and you neglected to tell me something like that?” Adrian ignored her apologies. “Have you forgotten that I work with the police every day? Look at me, Cory,” he demanded.
But she turned around and picked up a framed photograph on the buffet behind her instead. It was one of her and Collin together, smiling. The photo was taken just one month before he was killed, for his birthday.
“I never introduced you. Adrian, this is my brother, Collin.” Cory showed the photo to Adrian. He glanced at it, clearly in no mood to be looking at any photos. “We were inseparable growing up,” Cory was saying. “We’re only a year apart, just like you and Anna.”
• • •
Adrian wasn’t really listening to her, he was concentrating so intensely on that photo now. Cory and the young man were hugging and smiling. He looked just like her. He too had wild, curly hair, only his was much shorter. There was something about him that Adrian couldn’t quite pin down. He felt like he’d met him somewhere before. Then something clicked. His memory flashed. He started to feel numb, his body went cold. All he remembered feeling was the warm blood quickly draining away from his body. He panicked. Then he bolted.
Chapter 20
Driving home from Cory’s house, Adrian’s mood was solemn. His head was clouded with ominous thoughts. The entire evening kept replaying over and over in his mind.
The police murdered my brother, Adrian.
He heard Cory’s voice over and over in his head saying that.
Adrian, this is my brother, Collin.
No, it just couldn’t be possible. Could life once again be this cruel to him?
Adrian couldn’t reach his apartment quickly enough. By the time he did, he was sick to the stomach, cold sweating and all. He rushed into his bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. That felt better but when he looked at his reflection in the mirror, it was ghostly pale.
• • •
The sound of the alarm woke him at 5:00 A.M. Adrian’s eyes immediately flew open. He had to go to work today. He realized that he had fallen asleep in his dress clothes and that he was crossways on the bed. He must have been more tired than he expected. He had to practically drag himself out of bed. He remembered bits of last night but hoped it was all a bad dream. When he felt the ferocious pangs of a headache coming on, it told him otherwise.
In the kitchen, he turned on the water for his morning coffee. Adrian changed out of his clothes and stepped into the shower. The blasting cold water this morning was exactly what he needed. He felt like crap. Hell, if he didn’t know any better, he would have said he had a hangover. He had one scotch on the rocks last night with Cory’s father earlier on in the evening and only because he didn’t want to insult the man. But this he eventually managed in the end. Just when everything was going so good for him.
He could have done with some more sleep but Adrian knew he had a full day ahead. It was only two days before the start of a summit he and his men were expected to provide protection for, so his hands were full. In fact, all military personnel on the island would be busy. His lack of sleep, this annoying headache, and Lord knows what else he’d have to contend with today made him extremely grumpy.
He headed for the gym, his second usual morning custom. As Adrian was driving out, the sun was rising over the magnificent hills. It was truly a breathtaking sight to behold but not even that could cheer him from his mood. Neither did the coffee, cold shower, or his routine workout.
By the time he did get to work and changed into uniform, the hectic pace immediately set in for the day. Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe it would take his mind off his personal problems for a while. Maybe he would be able to forget about last night at Cory’s house. Her dead brother, her father, her … everything.
His team was part of a big military exercise in the hills again. This time, with a much larger contingent comprising well over two hundred officers from other divisions, soldiers, and tracker dogs. This was no ordinary exercise. This type usually went from house-to-house thoroughly searching for arms and ammunitions, drugs and specific criminal elements that were wanted in connection with several criminal investigations. When they were briefed, it was time to lock and load.
“Let’s roll,” Adrian signaled his team. Vehicle loads of them moved out and converged on the outskirts of the capital and very soon the exercise was underway. Officers were moving from house to house conducting the search and the occupants were not happy. They voiced their visible displeasure every chance they got. The constant whirring of chopper blades hovering low signaled the military’s strong intent of an all out war on crime today.
Everything seemed to be going as planned until a murder suspect was found hiding out in a dilapidated shack. That was when the chaos erupted. When the handcuffed suspect was being taken away into custody, a mob of angry villagers proclaiming his innocence began attacking officers and soldiers.
Stones and bottles began raining down on them as the mob grew larger and angrier by the minute. The roads were blockaded with debris, then set on fire. One police vehicle’s windscreen was smashed and the glass shattered everywhere.
“Not today, man,” Adrian groaned under his breath. The entire atmosphere quickly erupted into a mini-riot and this was one angry crowd, shouting and hurling obscenities at them. Officers were retaliating in return, fending off their attackers the best way they could. Members of the media were quick on the scene filming footage for their breaking news stories. It was ugly.
In the middle of this, Adrian felt his cell phone vibrating. “Not now.” When he checked, it was Cory calling. He definitely couldn’t talk to her now. The phone vibrated again after he ignored it the first time. It was Cory again.
Adrian was having a hard enough time concentrating on this task at hand, he honestly couldn’t deal with Cory. He would have to explain to her what happened when that time came. By the look
s of things, he’d have many things to explain to Cory. Adrian switched off his cell just as a flying missile came aiming for his head.
Chapter 21
It was a successful exercise despite the mini-riot that broke out on the hills. The situation had calmed down considerably and things came under control when other arrests were made, close to one hundred for various offenses. By the time Adrian’s unit got back to base several hours later, the police had a huge haul of illegal guns to process. Not forgetting ammunition rounds, cocaine, and marijuana.
When he switched on his cell again in the relative calm of his office, he noticed five missed calls from Cory. There were also e-mails, texts, and other messages. Adrian didn’t return any of them. He didn’t know what he was going to say to her just yet. He couldn’t even explain why he’d bolted from her house last night. He couldn’t focus clearly on anything until he knew for sure.
It was another long day for Adrian and the remainder of the week went in pretty much the same manner. Since it was pre-summit week, their security arrangements were pushed into high gear now. All the months of training for this were finally bearing fruit. They were busy with patrols and random security checks in the city. They manned roadblocks and provided added security details for entire delegations arriving.
Adrian’s work hours went into overdrive. Twenty-four-hour shifts turned into forty-eight-hours and more for him. He literally only had time to sleep for a few hours, eat, and shower in-between. By the time he realized it, he hadn’t spoken to Cory for a couple of days. Adrian knew how worried and better yet, how pissed off, she would be by now but he wasn’t prepared to deal with her just yet. He had to do something first.
The phone rang and rang before Anna finally answered it. “Hey, bro,” she said.
“I suppose you’re so busy that you can’t even call your own brother,” Adrian returned.
“I’m so swamped, Adrian, you won’t believe. I’m in overdrive for this summit. Can’t wait for it to end!”
“I know what you mean, sis. Don’t worry, it’s exactly the same with me on this end.”
“So what’s going on?”
“I need a huge favor, Anna. And you’re the best bet I have right now. I need some information but I don’t have time to get it myself.”
“So what do you need?” Anna asked him.
“I need you to search for a news story for me. I’m sure you all carried it. It was a police shooting about two years ago. Four men were shot.”
“Do you have an exact date or the names of these men?”
“I can’t remember the date exactly but it was in early March. Check for a Collin Phillips,” Adrian ended.
“Collin Phillips? Is he related to Cory?” Anna immediately asked.
Adrian went silent. He figured he had to be straight with her. She was actually helping him out here.
“That’s her brother.”
“Cory’s brother was shot by the police!” Anna exclaimed. “Why?”
Adrian really had to cut Anna short for the moment because he wasn’t too sure himself. “So how soon can you get this for me, Anna?” he asked.
“I’m going back on air in a few minutes but I’ll work on it as soon as I get a spare moment. How soon do you need it?”
“Like yesterday,” Adrian quickly responded. “Send it to my cell, okay.”
“Okay, sure. I gotta go, Adrian,” and Anna hastily ended the call with him.
Now all he had to do was wait on her e-mail to be positively sure about this one. His future with Cory depended on it.
• • •
It was summit weekend and the military-police units were making their presence felt in all the gang-riddled areas in and around the city, keeping a watchful eye out for any unwanted trouble. Adrian was a bit on edge. He didn’t know which was worse. Waiting on Anna or waiting on Anna in Gangsta-ville.
But these hills were such a beautiful place, offering one of the most breathtaking views on the island. Adrian looked down, concentrating on the developing modern city mixed in with the historic remnants of the city’s colonial past below him. But the criminal elements gave the area such a notorious reputation and made things bad for everyone here.
Everyone knew wherever there were illegal drugs passing through, there were bound to be the guns which ultimately fuelled the gang warfare and spurred on the criminal behavior. And the Caribbean was a known transshipment point for the producers of the south to get to their large markets in the north. And that was just the way things worked around here.
His sister finally came through for him. When his phone buzzed and beeped, Adrian immediately downloaded the clip Anna sent. Her voice could be heard reading the evening news: “Four men were reportedly shot and killed by police in Port of Spain last night. One of them, according to his relatives, is innocent. Collin Phillips was on his way home when he was apparently car-jacked by three known members of a gang. A shootout then ensued with task-force police and soldiers killing all four men at the scene.”
That was all Adrian needed to hear. A photo of Collin Phillips came on his screen. “No!” Adrian shouted at the phone.
The word “innocent” reverberated through Adrian’s head. So this was the reason why Cory and her entire family hated the police so much and by extension the entire military. They had killed her brother. He should have remembered that face. He should have remembered that name but there had to be thousands of people on this island with that same last name.
It finally dawned on Adrian. He had to accept this fact. It wasn’t they who killed Cory’s brother. No matter how hard Adrian had tried to forget that night ever happened, the grim, harsh reality all rushed back to him. He killed Collin Phillips. He had killed Cory’s brother. He’d killed the brother of the woman he loved. How was he ever going to explain this to Cory?
Two years ago and fresh to this task force, he had gone out on a routine patrol with police officers and his soldiers. There were eight of them in the vehicle that night. He remembered them receiving an all-points-bulletin for a vehicle with three suspects. They had just robbed and killed an off-duty police officer in the city. Everyone knew the officer who died. He was one of them.
It all happened so quickly. The suspects were last seen heading right toward them, on the outskirts of the capital. They were ready and on the lookout. When they saw the vehicle approaching, the occupants were firstly warned to stop. Then they began receiving hostile fire from the men in the vehicle. They had no other choice but to open fire in return. And all eight of them had. The car soon crashed into a nearby wall at the side of the road. When silence fell and it was quiet again, there were four motionless bodies in that car.
Four bodies? The APB had said to be on the lookout for three suspects. Who was the fourth man? Where did he come from? They had all wondered about that. As it turned out, the extra body was that of the driver of the vehicle who had received the most gunshot wounds. He had to be taken out first so that the vehicle would come to a stop.
Adrian remembered there was a strange look on the driver’s face. He only realized afterward what that look was. It was the look of confusion. Adrian was the one who felt for a pulse, checking to see if he was still alive. His blood was hot, gushing out of his fresh wounds. Blood was oozing from his wild, curly hair. Adrian had desperately wanted him to live. The driver wasn’t even armed. Adrian didn’t want to have an innocent man’s blood on his hands.
Adrian had questioned himself over and over. Should they have used such lethal force on these men? He prayed that the fourth man was not innocent as initially reported. However, there was strong evidence produced which suggested that he was. He had not one prior criminal record. He wasn’t known to the police. He was just a normal young man on his way home from work that evening when he was carjacked by a group of bandits and murderers.
The eight of them at t
he scene that night were interviewed by their superiors and submitted individual reports on everything dealing with the shootings. Based on this, a formal investigation was never launched into the matter and their names were never revealed to the public.
The ballistic tests on the weapons used by the three suspects confirmed that they were involved in the shooting death of a police officer and several other people before that. When the investigations were carried out after, it was confirmed that the driver of the vehicle had been an innocent victim. The death of Collin Phillips was ruled as an accidental police shooting. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Adrian tried to forget that incident for two years. Now, it was back to haunt him in the worst way possible. Only this time, it could cost him the woman he loved. The woman he would give his own life to protect.
• • •
When the summit finally ended on Sunday and Adrian got off on Monday morning, he was physically and emotionally beat. All he could think of was Cory. He just couldn’t afford to lose her now over all this.
Adrian knew Cory deserved the truth. Honesty was at the top of her requirement list, for God’s sake. Yet, how could he find it in his heart to tell her something so devastating?
He hadn’t spoken to Cory for days now. It felt more like a year. He missed her terribly. Her giggles, her smile, her teasing him to insanity when they made love. He was going crazy from not seeing her.
Adrian mentally went over his options as he paced the kitchen floor. The poor tiles were probably worn from his frantic back-and-forth pacing. He could tell Cory, explain everything to her and run the risk of losing her. This way, he would at least come clean. But what if he couldn’t bring himself to tell her, she probably would never find out. What she didn’t know would never hurt her, right?
But what if by some small chance she did find out? What then? A voice in Adrian’s head kept asking. But how could she find out? Another was asking.
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