by Newbiel
Hacking and setting up disposable, non traceable email addresses was falling in that category. He even thought to link this email to the CIA Headquarters in Langley as a little payback but thought better of it. That was simply not worth it to do. There was a not so little part of him who wanted to get payback for Marc death but had decided against it ultimately. He could hurt the agency with his skill, he knew that but he couldn't do it without hurting his country in the process and that would not sit well with him. Not after everything Marc did to protect it, not after the sea of blood he spilled to protect it.
Back to the phone call that he was receiving it was weird because almost nobody knew his number. He had only seven people contact number memorise in it and only the same number of people knew his number, six of whom were currently in the mansion, that leave actually only one person to call him. Taking his phone and looking at the number ID, his guess happened to be right.
"Hi Taylor, you are up early, what's up?"
"Nathaniel! Have you heard?" She exclaimed.
"Heard what?"
"That's on every radio, news site and magazine since last night! You really don't know?"
'She's talking about the Caldwell case? No, that's not possible. Even if I screw up one of the delay timers in one of the emails, that would be way too soon to publish it. What the hell is she talking about?' He thought furiously.
"Wait, I sent you a link." She said and a few seconds later, he received a link by text which he clicked on.
He got sent to a news site where in the title people could read. "Taylor new boyfriend, exclusive picture."
"WTF!" Explode Nathaniel on the phone.
On the site he could see a few pictures where he was with Taylor at the party last week. In fact, only two pictures were on the site. The first one was when he murmured to Taylor ear, the scene hinted to an intimate relationship. The other one was when they were hugging after the song, the picture looked to be taken by a phone on both occasions. He read quickly through the article, it wasn't even saying his name!
"I know, sorry about that. They do this every time I am with a man, it's driving me nuts. I'm really sorry for you, I'm not the best friend to have around I know" She said in a deprecative voice.
"Don't worry about it, I know that you are really famous, I knew what I was engaging myself when I decided to be friends with you. I don't really care what people think or say about me you know." He said with a laugh, soothing her worry.
"Thanks for that but that was not the principal reason why I am calling you, scroll down and look."
Doing just that, he noticed a link which sent him to Youtube. He clicked on it and was sent to the Youtube channel of one the talk show or the network "CBS". Probably the one who released it.
He launched the video and could listen to his own voice. The quality wasn't that great but he thought it sounded pretty good. He notices something that made him freeze and leave his mouth wide open. The video has over one million views and was trending on Youtube with over 5 thousand comments. Once he overcame his shock, he started reading the comment section. People were saying that he sang well, others say he was handsome and the others say that this was garbage. The best comment he found was congratulating him and wanted to know where they could buy it.
"My god… this is unbelievable!' Said Nathaniel full of awe.
"I told you people were going to love it! And this is the first version! When we are going to release the second version, it will blow their minds!" She said joyfully.
In the past week, they were meeting each other everyday in the afternoon to work on it. It was he's much needed break from the atrocities he was looking into. He could not wait that this period end to focus on his music for a while. Something could not be helped and he had promised himself to act when the situation needed it. He knew that this impulse was coming from Marc part of him.
"You are right! I can��t wait to show them the final result! This is my first song and I want it to be perfect!" He said enthusiastically.
"I know! Trust me that I know!" She said with a laugh.
Nathaniel was always flexible but with this song he was uncompromising. The lyrics of it would not be touched for exemple, things that Taylor admit it was best since they had a purity that none could match. Now they were talking and experiencing the melody and choosing which instruments they would incorporate in the song. The conversation would sometimes be hard but Taylor was experienced enough to not care. Like she often said, she worked with authors and singers who were far worse than him.
"Sorry to be a handful sometimes." He said apologetically.
"None taken, I'm a handful too and you know it." She responded, brushing his concern away.
"Want to meet for dinner before we locked yourself in my family music room?" Nathaniel offered.
"Sound good, Meet you later."
���Later Taylor." He said before hanging up and going to sleep for a few hours.
Chapter 19: :
"Did you know?" Said his grandfather when he barged into the music room without knocking. He had a magazine in his hand where they could see him and Taylor hugging.
"Yes, I know grandpa but that's not an excuse to not be civil, we have a guest here." He said with a frown.
"A guest? She's here more often than I am and this is my home!' He said with huff.
"That's not something on her but something on you." Nathaniel answers, circling a couple of notes on the partition he was looking at.
"I'm working, I have responsibilities but that's not the subject of this conversation. I have a question to ask and I will be blunt about it. Are you two dating?"
"No! We are just friends!" Said Taylor while blushing.
"You know that I could beat you up and none of the security guard that you employed will stop me, right?" Nathaniel said, narrowing his eyes.
That made Robert pause and his always present expression start to morph to concern. If what Amal and Jean said, even the both of them combined could not stop him so the other security personnel around the house were not even worth mentioning. That reminded him of a conversation he needed to have with his grandson later, with no outsider present.
"Sorry about that, hello Taylor." Said Robert with a nod.
"None taken, mister Lyndon." She answers while nodding.
"I noticed that none of the articles got your name and that's odd. The photo and video were clearly taken in the party so they should have your name. I started to make phone calls to the people present to see which one leaked the photo, I think it was from the youngling that was present." Robert mused.
"Do you want to make a public announcement on social media Taylor?"
"No mister Lyndon, that always makes the matter worse. I got invited to various talk shows to talk about it and my tour starts next month so it would be best to do it then."
"Suit yourself, Nathaniel we could release a press release to state the truth if you want and tell the world who you are."
"Not yet grandpa, let them speculate on the comet, that would create hype for the song. Leave also the song on Youtube, I found some people who made helpful comments and that gave me ideas. It's a win-win situation."
"I agree, my label was glad once they listened to the collaboration so we're good on my side too. Honestly, they were squeamish about it but seeing the success of the first version, they are now completely on board."
"Nice. When will the song be ready?" Ask Robert in a professional way.
"End of next week I believe."
"Keep me posted. I'm leaving now, we will talk later, Nathaniel." He said before leaving.
"Well, this is always interesting to watch you interacting with your grandfather. In the industry he's a legend that people revere and respect. Where you treat him like a simple man and doting grandfather. Do you see how much that irks him that he can't control you? This is so funny." She said with a giggle.
"Yes, I do it for my own good, trust me." He responded, laughing. "Now I need to crea
te a twitter account and Youtube account."
He then started to create his account. Thankfully, his name was not taken so he could have the same to twitter and Youtube with 'Nathaniel Lyndon'. He was asking the advice of Taylor for his profile picture and what to put when his moms enter the room. They explained to them what was going on with the news article. In the end, that was a blessing in disguise for his music and the media coverage around it even if he thought he didn't need it.
When he started talking about his issues with his profile on social media, Mary, Karine and Taylor looked at each other and started smiling. Seeing that creepy smile on the face of everyone around him, a shiver run through his spine starting to feel a bad omen.
"We are going to take a lot of pictures of you!" Squeal Karine.
His intuition was right, it was a really bad omen.
It was more than three hours later that Nathaniel walked back to his room, finally done and alone. In that time, his moms and to a lesser degree, Taylor, had all but played dressed up on him. They had also taken a lot of pictures, a huge amount if not an uncomfortable amount of pictures of him. Looking at the mess in his bedroom, Nathaniel sighed before starting to pick the clothes that were scattered everywhere and that he was asked to put on at some point. He took him a good twenty minutes to fold everything and put it back into the place they belong.
Once it was done, he sat on the desk that his grandmother had set up for him to work on his study and opened his laptop. First, he opened a window to look at the news and could see nothing of a note. With a smile, he knew that it wasn't going to stay that way for long. Opening a program on his computer, Nathaniel made sure that every mail was ready to be sent and the time was right. After that, he programmed a destruction program on each email address, scheduled to delete themselves five seconds after the mail was sent.
He was finally ready.
Chapter 20: :
Hampton, 28/05/2012. 19:30.
All members of the Lyndon's family were currently sitting on the sofa in the living room. They all opted to take a day off to watch what was going to happen to Caldwell on the news. Since this morning the press has been having a field day with breaking news reports. They seem to have found the moniker "Black Slaver" for him, not overly imaginative but it has caught on rapidly on social media. On television they start to interview every kind of expert to speak on the situation in the country touched by the atrocities. They also call influential politicians who were associated with Caldwell, every one of them stating that they had cut ties for a diverse reason before today. Caldwell has become radioactive and the network of relation that he established with his reputation and money crumble in a single night.
On the news they were replaying the arrest of Caldwell by FBI agents outside of his home in Hampton. He was still wearing pajamas when he was arrested by the FBI and pushed inside of a SUV. Everyone was still shocked by the news, the news networks were currently breaking records of viewers who wanted to know more about the atrocities he commited.
"There is a thing that I don't understand." Finally said Robert, gathering the attention of everyone.
"What is it Dad?" Ask Mary, curious.
"Someone with as much connection as him, I'm surprised he was still in his home and not in a plane on the way to a country without extradition when the arrest warrant was issued." Said Robert, his eyes focusing on someone in the room.
Nathaniel faces the searching eyes of his grandfather with an impassive stare.
"You did not hear? Last night a power surge happened and the cell tower deserving the Hampton was damaged, it was repaired around noon today. And he made the mistake to contract AT&T for his internet and landline… sometimes their service shut down for no reason…" Said Nathaniel with an innocent expression.
Seeing the surprised look of his family, he shook his head laughing.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm not the one who did it. I don't really have the skill set to pull that off whereas an ex Mossad agent could do it easily." He said, turning and looking to the door.
After saying that, everyone turned to Amal who was listening to the news near the door. Seeing the whole family looking at him, his eyes flicker to Nathaniel for a second before nodding. That was of course a lie, he had the skill set to do it but that was best if his family ignored it. The brief eye contact that Amal made in that second show that Amal was suspicious of it but he would say nothing. He was not the kind of person who likes to pry into other people's business.
"That explains why the office could not join me this morning" Say Karine, understanding what was going on.
"How are things going in the DA office by the way Mom?"
"It's a mess, every prosecutor is currently fighting for the case, the DA is currently unavailable and every New York news channel wants to interview him for his relation with Caldwell. That was not really nice to send the file to all the prosecutors of New York and DC, I understand now why you ask for their address email. They even ask me to come back to help sort this mess."
"What did you answer?" Ask Mary.
"That I wanted to spend more time with my lovely son who came out of a coma and that I would come back tomorrow." She said with a lovely smile. "Why did you send the files to every prosecutor in the state by the way?"
"Mainly for redundancy, they could make disappear one or two but not thirty of them. I would love to see their face when they realise that none of them would take the case to court." He said laughing which triggered puzzled expressions to appear on everyone's faces.
"What do you mean sweetie?" Ask Karine, frowning.
"I send the files to the international court of LaHaye. I think they would start the extradition process in the week. I would trust any European court over one of our own. We have a tendency to forget things fast, they don't, especially when you are accused of crime against humanity."
"I'm impressed sweetie, you thought of everything." Said Karine getting up and hugging him.
"I'm proud of you baby!" Add Mary, joining the hug.
"Can they find out from where the information came out? Can they find out that we are the one who did it?" Ask Diane somewhat anxiously.
"We hide our trace very well, there is nothing that can tie us to the emails or the letters sent. Moreover we don't have any alibi to do it and we are rich and influential. If for some reason they wanted to start an investigation, we are not really the usual suspect. We are good." Assure Nathaniel with a reassuring nod who seems to appease Diane worries.
"I wanted to talk about something else with you guys."
"What is it dear?" Ask Diane.
"I finally made my decision, I will go back to school. I'm done with my rehabilitation and it's time that I resume my life."
"Glad that you brought that up sweetie, we were going to talk to you about it albeit not so soon. The school year starts in late august, we could hire a tutor to help you catch on. Hopefully you could start at 9th grader in august." Said Mary
When Nathaniel had his accident, he was in 7th grade, the fact that Mary was even talking of making him a nine grader despite his coma was a clear indication of Mary's faith in him.
"You want to put him, a sixteen years old back in school with a bunch of thirteen years old?! This is disgraceful for him and our entire family! He needs to stay here, I will hire the best tutor for him to catch up and hopefully next year he could go as an 11th grader, he's clearly bright enough." Assert his grandfather with a strict voice.
"This is our son and this is our decision, dad!" Said Mary angrily.
"Ok guys, you need to calm down. I will make the decision myself and I decide to do neither of those things." Said Nathaniel while raising his hands in a sign of appeasement.
"What do you have in mind dear?" Ask Diane, wanting to diffuse the situation before it escalates further.
"I made up my mind, I will go to college next semester." Nathaniel announced.
Hearing that, all the family has a reaction. Robert jumped out of his
chair, Diane seems to have lost her words while Mary and Karine have their eyes open like saucers, their mouths open in an 'o'. Immediately everyone started talking at the same time to rebuke him.
"That's crazy!" Was the last thing that he heard before he raised his hand again to signal he wanted to talk.
"I know that seems crazy to say it but I was reading and catching up with school work the last couple of months. I know i can do it." He replied confidently
"Sweetie, I know that you think you can but that's simply not feasible." Said Karine with kindness.
"Moms, you always knew that I was smart back then and I was hiding most of it. I knew at that time that we didn't have the means to hire a tutor for me and I didn't want to be a bother for you two. The truth was that I didn't have any friends back then because I was too mature for a twelve years old kid. At twelve, I was working on freshman material when I was at school or I was learning a new language because I was bored otherwise."
"Why didn't you say anything, baby at the time? We would have figured something out!" Said Mary tearing up.
"You both loved your work and I did not want you to give it up for my sake. You had made enough sacrifice for me already. Moreover I was confident to start making money for me soon enough." Nathaniel added while patting his mother's hair which was crying now.
"What language can you speak?" Ask Robert.
"I'm fluent in French, Spanish and Mandarin. I know a fair bit of German and Russian too but not fluent quite yet." He answers.
Seeing the sceptic look on his grandfather's face he starts saying things in the language he mentioned previously. He was surprised to see his grandfather respond to him in German and Spanish and his grandmother in Russian. Of course, Karine responded to him in French as that was her maternal language.
"Your Russian is not that bad dear, still need work but this is sufficient if you don't plan to make a living out of it." Compliment his grandmother with a proud smile.