by Navi' Robins
“Welcome, Dr. Bennett, to the show. It is an honor to have such a brave individual like yourself tonight. What made you decide to testify against Kronte, knowing there have been several failed attempts to bring him to justice? What is it about your testimony that’s different from the countless others?”
Daniel was bewildered by Peter’s question, but he knew this was a one-time opportunity, and if he blew it, there would be no coming back from this. He inhaled deeply and prepared himself.
“My testimony isn’t any different from the other testimonies of the people that have suffered under Kronte’s reign of terror. We all have suffered and experienced great loss because of his actions. I am just the only person alive that can identify him at one of the many massacres he’s carried out over the years.”
After hearing Daniel’s response, Peter sat up in his seat as his eyes widened, and he licked his lips as if he were thirsty for more of Daniel’s juicy dialogue.
“Now, that’s very interesting, because I’ve done my research and what you say is absolutely true. It seems he’s been able to keep himself away from any of the crimes he’s accused of. So, your testimony could be damaging to his defense.”
“That’s what we are hoping.”
“We?”
“Yes, I’m not acting alone. I am working with some amazing and dedicated people at the United Nations, and they are just as committed to seeing justice served.”
“I understand you lost someone very dear to you during the massacre of the village that you were volunteering in—your adopted daughter, Victoria.”
Daniel clinched his hands into a fist, attempting to calm his emotions after hearing Victoria’s name. He then nodded his head and leaned forward. Seeing his reaction, Peter placed his hand on Daniel’s shoulder and looked into the camera with a solemn and determined look.
“I know this is hard for you, Dr. Bennett. Please take your time.”
Daniel then sat up straight and smiled before he began to go into details about the events the day Victoria was taken from him. Fifteen minutes later, the majority of the studio audience and stagehands were wiping away tears of sorrow after hearing the doctor’s horrific ordeal at the hands of Kronte and his soldiers. Even the host had to fight back genuine tears, and when Daniel finished speaking, Peter remained silent for several seconds before he continued the interview.
“That . . . tha . . . That is a harrowing account of that day’s events. I can’t even begin to imagine how that has affected your life going forward. You not only lost your daughter, but you were almost killed. How have you been able to cope with such loss and tragedy for all these years?”
“My practice, my family, and close friends have been supportive in my pursuit of some kind of normalcy. But it’s an ongoing battle for me. I will never forget what happened, but I’m hoping that helping to bring Kronte to justice can give closure for me and others who have suffered greatly at his hands.”
Peter immediately jumped to his feet and began to clap wildly as the audience rose to their feet and joined him in applauding Daniel’s bravery. After a lengthy round of applause, Peter settled the audience and returned to his seat.
“So, what are you expecting to happen if . . . and that’s a strong if . . . because like I said, Kronte has been able to avoid conviction several times before, if he’s convicted? What type of justice do you feel would justify his actions?”
“I’m no judge or jury. I trust the International Court will bring about a just sentence for him.”
Peter leaned back, looking at Daniel with a slight smirk while shaking his head. Daniel could see the host wasn’t buying his politically correct response. He wanted something real from him, and Daniel knew that if he stuck to his guns, Peter would peel away any emotional layers he had and expose his bullshit to the rotten core. Leaning forward again, Peter tapped Daniel on his knee and nodded.
“Come on, Doctor, really? After everything this man has done to you? After everything he’s done to that country? Tens of thousands . . . Some would even say hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children slaughtered. You expect me and the world to believe you are fine with the International Courts dealing a just punishment? Hasn’t the International Court’s lack of transparency and not taking these allegations seriously allowed him to continue his genocide against the people of Southern Sudan?”
“Yes, you are correct.”
“So, as a human being, as a doctor that had to deal with the wounded and dead, as a father that lost his little girl in such a barbaric manner, what do you feel should be his just punishment?”
Daniel’s left heel began to tap repeatedly on the floor. Rubbing his hands together, he looked down at the floor and closed his eyes. Although the studio audience was deathly silent, Daniel could hear a loud ringing in his ears. He tried his best to find an answer that could sidestep the question. But why should he? Why should he sugarcoat how he felt about the man that took everything from him and the woman he loved? Why should Kronte get the respect of his restraint? As the ringing in his ears became as loud as a bullhorn, Daniel’s full lips retreated in his mouth, and he shook his head in response to the questions in his head.
“Anything less than life imprisonment or death would be an injustice.”
“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” Peter yelled gleefully, jumping to his feet while clapping and nodding his head in approval. The audience went insane as they screamed, howled, and cheered at the doctor’s response. The interview lasted another twenty minutes, and by the time they were signing off, Daniel was smiling and waving happily at the cameras. According to the news analyst the next day, the interview was a slam dunk, and soon, Google searches about Kronte, Southern Sudan, and the atrocities were peaking at over two million an hour. Social media exploded with the hash tag #JusticeforVictoria# going viral, and the doctor’s interview had over ten million views on YouTube.
It was a great victory, but the battle was far from over, and soon, those in opposition to their efforts to bring Kronte to justice devised their own assault, and it began exactly one week after the doctor’s interview with Peter Spelling. Daniel was back at work and having a fairly good day in the ICU with very few violent crimes victims. There were mostly injuries from car accidents or construction site mishaps due to the recent blizzard that blew through the city. As he was signing another patient chart, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder, and when he turned around, he was face-to-face with a solemn-looking Timothy.
“What? What happened? Is it your research?”
“I wish it were that simple and private, but no, there is a video circulating the net, and now it’s on every major news channel in the country.”
“What video?” he asked, taking a step back.
“I think you know which one.”
“Oh shit! No! Inside?”
“No, but they recorded about four minutes of the two of you howling and moaning like porn stars. They also got you guys walking out of the bathroom, and Ayana fist pumping like she was a revolutionary or something. You know, after seeing you two together, they decided to dig deeper, and now they know she’s also Victoria’s mother. They are claiming that your intentions are not as genuine as you made it out to be. That the two of you are looking for revenge on anyone, and Kronte seems to be the most famous face to place blame.”
Daniel felt the good vibrations he had all day leave his body, and he suddenly felt like a little child caught with his pants down, exposed, and limp.
“I know you guys were floating on cloud nine after last week’s interview, but you had to know Kronte has supporters too. I know you told me Ayana would lose her job if Meagan found out you too were seeing each other, so I know this is gonna sting big time, but you got to get in front of this immediately, before it spirals out of control, and you lose all the support you just got from the public.”
Daniel remained silent, walking away toward his office to clock out and face the music that was playing outside the hospital to the
tune of countless media cameras and reporters . . .
Chapter 20
Crucifixion
Daniel sat in his living room, watching the news coverage of the newly labeled “Bathroomgate.” Reporters and legal analysts were cruel and disrespectful as they described Ayana as an out of control, sex-crazed, vengeful woman, willing to use her body and beauty to get what she wanted, which was Kronte, her ex-husband, to pay for leaving her with nothing. They painted a picture of Daniel as a weak and easily influenced man willing to do anything to keep such a beautiful and wild woman in his life. The fix was in, and Daniel watched as fire as hot as the sun burned deep in his soul. He wanted to smash the television into pieces, but that wasn’t going to solve anything.
He was angry with himself more than he was angry at the news broadcasts because it was his moment of weakness and lack of proper thought processes that allowed this to happen. He wasn’t thinking with the proper head, and now, the aftermath was devastating. His phone has been ringing nonstop since the broadcasts began, with calls from his family, and a never-ending string of blocked calls he assumed was from reporters wanting a statement. No matter who the call came from, he didn’t answer any of them, other than the call he received from an irate Meagan. She called screaming, advising him that she would be in the city tomorrow, and he’d better make time to meet with her. She didn’t mention Ayana’s name, so he assumed she’d already made good on her promise of ending her employment with the UN. The thought of Ayana losing her career and her reputation sent his nerves into an earthshaking frenzy. He buried his head in his hands, trying to cope with the oncoming migraine.
Pastor Donald Bennett sat in his large armchair in the dimly lit family room, surrounded by most of his children and his wife Diana, who was seated on his lap, leaning back with his arms wrapped around her waist. Everyone was watching the news broadcast as it replayed the video of Daniel and Ayana’s embarrassing romp in the nightclub’s bathroom. The coverage was brutal, and tears flowed down Diana’s face as she watched in horror the media’s slaughtering of her son’s and Ayana’s reputations. The pastor was fuming. He could barely breathe, as he would periodically look away every time someone would say something negative about his son he knew wasn’t true. However, what could he say? His son was hardheaded and refused to listen, and now he’d placed himself and Ayana in a terrible situation.
They’d been calling his son nonstop all day, but the pastor knew his son, and it was unlikely he would pick up the phone. Since he was a little boy, he was terrified of disappointing his parents, and he would avoid any contact with anyone until he built up enough nerve to face them. He was always the overachiever of the family, because of a need to impress those he cared for, and so, he was certain when the doorbell suddenly rang, it wasn’t Daniel. He tapped his wife on her thigh and got up to open the door. Diana reached out and held his hand, preventing him from moving forward. He smiled and silently wiped the tears from her eyes. She smiled too and sat down in the recliner, placing her hand over her face trying to hide her pain.
As he walked toward the front door, the pastor prayed that it wasn’t another reporter, because if it were, he was afraid he would lose his restraint and revert to his days on the streets of Englewood, before he found his faith.
Peering through the peephole, the pastor was shocked to see Timothy’s face staring back at him. Opening the door, he smiled, shaking his hand warmly.
“Hey, Timothy! Come in. Long time no see! How you been? If you’re looking for Danny, he’s not here.”
“Yeah, I know. I didn’t come here for him. I came to talk to you and everyone else in the family. Danny needs our help, and I have the perfect way to do that. There’s no way I’m gonna let that animal get away with what he did to Victoria.”
The pastor nodded and walked him into the family room to speak to everyone else . . .
4:35 a.m. Fox News Chicago. Chicago, Illinois
The lobby was teeming with activity and the raised voices of people bellowing out demands for information and coffee. The sound of all the chaos bounced off the ivory-white walls that surrounded the lobby, playing on Timothy’s anxiety. With a quiet disdain, Timothy looked at the Fox News Chicago logo on the wall behind the receptionist. He’d called every news station since yesterday evening, and only the program director at Fox News agreed to meet with him. However, his window of opportunity was very small, and he needed to be front and center at 4:30 a.m. To make sure he wasn’t late, he’d arrived at 4:00 a.m. and looking at his Rolex, it was now 4:35 a.m., and still, no one has come to get him.
It’s only been five minutes—no big deal.
Then he heard a loud gasp directly in front of him, and when he looked up, he almost choked on his saliva. A woman stood before him with her blond hair tied back in a ponytail. She was dressed down in jeans, a white blouse, white boots, and wearing a look of shock and extreme anger. Timothy felt instantly mortified when he realized it was Julie Gates, the woman whom he’d had a racially fueled battle on social media last year after he’d insulted her by calling her a bitch. Timothy took several steps back and considered turning and running once he heard “Security” yelled from Julie’s mouth. Timothy was so disconnected from the many women he’d encountered, that he’d totally forgotten this woman’s name. However, he was on a mission, and not even Julie Gates and the memory of her calling him a “nigger” would stop him from accomplishing his goal.
Karma is a bitch, he amusedly thought to himself. Noticing Julie’s intentions on leaving him standing there for security, he quickly reached out for her, gently holding her hand. Julie immediately snatched away from him.
“Don’t you fucking touch me, you piece of shit,” she whispered while leaning closer to him, trying to avoid anyone hearing her angry reaction to him being in her lobby. Still not deterred, Timothy took another step back, raising both hands in the air.
“Listen, I know I’m not your most favorite person in the world right now.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” she snapped back.
“Hey, I didn’t come here for any trouble. I came here with a story, a video that no other news station has of Dr. Daniel Bennett . . . Something that could change the game for you guys here at Fox. But, well, if you don’t want that kind of exclusive news, that’s fine. I’ll go to NBC with it.”
He slowly started to turn toward the exit, and Julie grunted loudly before grabbing ahold of his arm.
“Okay, stop. What video?”
Looking around, Timothy noticed six large security guards were waiting to pounce on him at Julie’s command. He swallowed hard while looking at each of them with an uncomfortable grin.
“Call off your gladiators first.”
Without uttering a word, Julie nodded at the security guards, and they all retreated to their previous posts. Once Timothy was sure they were gone, he exhaled and took a step closer to Julie, while looking in her eyes. Julie’s aggressive stance relaxed the moment their eyes met. Suddenly, she felt his strong, yet pleasantly soft hands hold her own.
Goddammit, this man is fine!
Noticing his charm working on her, he whispered in her ear that they should speak in private, and she smiled brightly while leading him to her office down the hall. The receptionist looked on, shaking her head while laughing. She knew Timothy was working Julie, and it was amusing to see her always aggressive boss being softened by a man that she clearly didn’t have a great experience with. Once they were in Julie’s office, she sat behind her large mahogany desk, and Timothy took a seat in the chair on the opposite side of it. Still smiling and blushing, she relaxed in her chair and gestured for Timothy to speak.
“As I said, I have video footage of the doctor that no one has.”
“Is it dramatic footage?”
“Oh yeah, it’s pretty dramatic, and I’ll give Fox the exclusive rights to it, but you have to agree to interview his entire family and me on your panel this evening.”
“Wait. You’re cutting
it pretty close. We already have someone lined up for that panel.”
“Cancel them and put us in that slot.”
“You want me to cancel on the governor of Illinois?”
“Yep. I bet the governor won’t be as dramatic as this video and what we have to say. I can guarantee it.”
Julie began to consider Timothy’s proposition while rocking back and forth in her chair. After a minute of silence, she stopped rocking and looked at him with a determined stare.
“Okay, but that depends on what’s on that video. I need to see it now before I make that call. If I make this call, I need to make sure I’ll still have a job tomorrow morning.”
Nodding, Timothy pulled out his cell phone and leaned over her desk, giving her a good angle of the screen. Having him this close to her and smelling his cologne caused her body to warm, and she felt her lower back muscles vibrate as if her chair’s massaging feature were turned on. Timothy pressed play on the phone, and as soon as the video began, Julie’s eyes widened, and her mouth flung open. She never asked during her brief viewing how he got the video. She didn’t need to know why a friend would expose something so damaging, and after only watching one minute of the five-minute video, she reached for her phone to advise her team to contact the governor and reschedule his appearance on their evening panel discussion.
After discussing the particulars of the family’s interview, Timothy got up to leave, relieved that he was able to accomplish the impossible despite the obvious obstacles. However, Julie wasn’t satisfied with the feeling that suddenly came over her that Timothy was using her yet again. She decided it was time for him to make amends for his previous transgressions against her.
“Tim, before you leave, there’s one more thing I need from you to seal this deal. I need a public apology about what you said to me.”
Stopping in his tracks, he turned, puzzled by her request.
“Public?”
