by Navi' Robins
Bill looked down at Kelly and let out a quiet “humph” before spinning around like a ballerina and storming toward the far side of the studio.
That man has more bitch in him than I do, she thought while watching Bill prance out of the room.
Back at Daniel’s condo, everyone just sat there in silent amazement after the broadcast was over. Daniel and Ayana had experienced so many different emotions while watching the interview that they both felt dizzy trying to comprehend everything. Meagan was still in the chair with one hand covering her face.
“He’s right, you know. This is personal, and destiny all rolled into one big mess,” Meagan said, still appearing dazed by the interview.
“Meagan, you don’t believe in destiny,” Ayana declared, confused by her comment.
“A long time ago, I did. I believed in God, destiny, the Holy Trinity, and even the Easter Bunny. Experiences change you, and it definitely changed me.”
Meagan then sat upright in the chair and looked at both Daniel and Ayana. Her eyes were now red and filled with tears.
“Daniel, you are right. I shouldn’t have even considered leaving my friend out to dry. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without her. But like your father said, this is personal for both of you and also for me.”
Ayana was confused and looked at Daniel as if he might have an answer, but all he did was shrug his shoulders, looking just as confused as she.
“How is this personal for you, Meagan? I don’t understand.”
“I wasn’t born Meagan Quinn. My maiden name is Fellows, Meagan Fellows. I am the daughter of the televangelist William Fellows.”
After hearing Meagan reveal who she really was, Ayana gasped and covered her mouth. She immediately started to tremble, and Daniel could hear her beginning to wail in sorrow. Meagan became alarmed by her reaction, not having a clue why grief overcame her so badly. She turned to Daniel, and all he could do was shake his head, refusing to look her in the face. She then looked over at Ayana, searching for answers. Meagan believed that Ayana was devastated by her deception, so she began to plead her case to her friend.
“Ayana, I’m so sorry for deceiving you. I have no excuse for my actions, besides wanting to make the man who killed my father pay.”
“So, you did all this to avenge your father’s death?” Daniel asked, trying his best to hide the fact that he knew something that could possibly change Ayana and Meagan’s friendship forever.
“Not just his death but forty-three other volunteers from my father’s church,” she yelled back, trying hard to fight back the tears.
“I was a true believer, not because my father was, nor because it’s been a family tradition, but because in my heart, I believed there was a God, and as long as we did his will, he would protect us. My father was a good man. He wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but in his heart, he was a good man who wanted to help people, so he and forty-three other volunteers decided to go to Sudan to help the people there. I was fresh out of college then, and my mother and I didn’t agree with them going over there. We’d heard the stories, and we knew it wasn’t safe, but my dad kept saying God would protect them.
“Well, after being over there for less than a week, they all ‘disappeared,’ and to this day, no one has heard from them. A few days after their disappearance, the US Embassy confirmed that the village where they were stationed was attacked and burned to the ground, no survivors. The US didn’t do anything about what happened, saying it was a ‘sensitive’ situation, and if they sent in troops, it could turn into an international incident. After I discovered God wasn’t willing to protect my father, I decided I wasn’t willing to believe in him any longer.
“My mother committed suicide about a year later, and I decided to dedicate my life to seeing that monster pay. I knew if I tried to join the UN Security Council under my maiden name, it would be a dead giveaway, and they wouldn’t have hired me as the liaison to Sudan. You know, that whole thing about conflicts of interest or being too close to the situation. So, I got married and divorced about a year later, but fought to keep my ex-husband’s last name. After they hired me, I dove right in, going after Kronte, but after several failed attempts, I discovered that some very powerful people were profiting from his genocidal campaign, and they were protecting him. He purchases over six hundred million dollars’ worth of weapons annually, and all the land he’s stolen from his victims is rumored to have oil, which skyrockets the earning potential of anyone that’s in league with him. He’s a multibillion-dollar business to many greedy and powerful people.
“Then I met Ayana, and her input and dedication brought us closer than I’ve ever been. So you must understand my frustration when I felt we were gonna lose again. Daniel, you have an amazing family, and your friend, Timothy, is nothing short of a genius. He handled Kelly Dewitt as if she were a child, and he was her teacher. That was beautiful. They just revitalized our efforts and made it so the two of you can be a couple without hiding your feelings from the public. Absolutely amazing! I will have to thank him personally when this is all said and done.”
While Meagan was talking, Daniel constantly rubbed Ayana’s back and shoulders, trying to calm her down, but she was overcome with guilt, and the longer Meagan talked, the more hysterical she became. Meagan became alarmed and attempted to walk over to her, but Daniel raised his hand, stopping her.
Meagan became more concerned the longer Ayana carried on, and Daniel knew it was only a matter of time before she would start asking questions that no one wanted to be answered. He leaned over, whispering into Ayana’s ear, attempting to calm her down, but it seemed she was oblivious to the sound of his voice as she continued to cry in agony.
“OK, I know what I’ve done was bad. But the way Ayana is crying, something else is going on. Daniel, what’s wrong with her?” Meagan asked, looking at the two lovers suspiciously.
“It’s just been a really emotional day, that’s all,” Daniel responded, still refusing to look Meagan in the face.
“No, no more lies or secrets,” Ayana wailed through her cries of pain. “I was there, Meagan. I watched the entire thing,” she screamed.
Sitting up in the chair with her head slightly turned to the right, Meagan asked, “You were where, Ayana?”
“There! When Kronte killed your father and his followers. I was there, and Kronte made me watch the entire massacre! It was a game to him, proving to me that Allah was the one true god, and the god of the Christians wasn’t real! I’m so sorry, Meagan, I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know. Otherwise, I would’ve told you years ago!”
Meagan’s lips began to tremble, and her eyelids fluttered as she processed the devastating revelation Ayana just told her. All these years, she hoped in the deepest recesses of her mind that Kronte held her father and his followers prisoner. That one day, he would use them as leverage to demand something from the US. She hoped against all the evidence that somehow her daddy was still alive. Now, that hope was taken from her, the truth coming from the mouth of the most unlikely yet reliable of sources. Her father was dead, and her best friend was there to watch every terrorizing minute.
Meagan’s entire body went numb as she flopped back into the recliner. She began shaking right before she covered her face with both her hands, screaming her pain into them. Daniel sat there feeling useless as he watched these two strong and heartbroken women sink deeper into their emotions.
Ayana kept repeating, “I’m sorry,” as she rocked back and forth on the couch, holding herself around the waist as if she had a stomachache. Meagan slowly removed her hands from her face and stared at Ayana for almost a minute. Her face was wet with tears, eyes red, and flooded.
Daniel inhaled deeply, finally building up the nerve to look Meagan in the eyes, expecting to see an unbridled rage burning in them. But what he saw was compassion and deep sorrow for Ayana as she remained in a trancelike state of pain. Shaking her head, Meagan got up from the chair and walked over to Ayana. Standing over Ayana for about te
n seconds, Meagan looked down at her as she rocked back and forth, repeating the same two words and hoping they would rescue her from her guilt. Daniel watched Meagan with deep concern. He didn’t want to have to confront her physically, but if she attacked Ayana, he wouldn’t hesitate to protect her.
His anxiety grew the longer Meagan stood over Ayana. Then Meagan reached down with both her arms, wrapped them around Ayana, and said, “It’s not your fault.” Ayana’s eyes widened as she felt Meagan’s loving and warm embrace, and she responded by embracing her back, causing Meagan to cry again. Unable to move, Daniel sat in silence as he watched Ayana and Meagan share a much-needed cry together . . .
Chapter 22
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble
Forty-eight days later. Beverly, Illinois
A few days before their departure to Sudan, Daniel’s family decided to throw a going away party for him and Ayana. The house was filled with Daniel’s coworkers, friends, family members, and reporters that wanted to cover his journey to what the media was calling “the trial of the century.” Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and Daniel decided to pull Timothy away from the noisy crowd to have a man-to-man.
“Tim, I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me over the years. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be where I am today, Ayana wouldn’t be in my life, and I could’ve lost my practice because of a dumb decision in the heat of the moment. You’ve been a much better friend to me than I’ve been to you, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart, bruh.”
Timothy looked at Daniel and smiled. Daniel had no idea how much Timothy looked up to him and saw him as a big brother and role model. He admired his strength and resilience after everything that’s happened to him. Everything he did was to show Daniel just how much his friendship meant to him. He wanted to say so much to him, but he knew too many words would ruin the moment, so he simply raised his glass and responded, “You are welcome.”
“By the way, how did you do that to Kelly Dewitt?”
“You mean Kelly Nitwitt? Dude, that bitch was so transparent, I saw through her arrogance as soon as the cameras started rolling, and her ugly mug appeared on the monitor. I knew she wouldn’t be able to resist tearing down you and Ayana. I’m almost certain they were instructed by some very powerful people to smear you guys all over the wall. I couldn’t have that. People keep forgetting I’m a genius. They keep looking at me as just a simple black man, and I used that to my advantage.”
“I bet she won’t be interviewing you again.”
“Who knows? Maybe she’ll call me back to talk about a secret rendezvous on the lakefront,” Timothy said while shrugging and taking another sip of beer out of his bottle.
“Wait, would you bang Kelly Dewitt?”
“Hell yeah! She’s good and ugly, but she’s a freak! I could tell by the way she reacted when I challenged her about the lakefront. Oh yeah, she could get it, because I know she’ll be a lot of fun in the sack.”
Daniel leaned back on the wall behind him and laughed until his sides hurt.
“Tim, to be such a genius, you make some really questionable decisions when it comes to women,” he said, wiping the tears from his eyes.
“True, but even Superman has Kryptonite. I got Pussy-ite.”
Daniel spat out the remaining beer in his mouth and began roaring with laughter . . .
Four days later. Juba, South Sudan
Daniel, Ayana, and Meagan arrived in Juba, South Sudan, accompanied by a contingent of UN and South Sudanese security personnel. Daniel stepped out of the plane, and emotions, as well as the dry and intense African heat, immediately overcame him. It felt like several lifetimes ago since he’d stepped foot on African soil, and the feeling of pride and fear immediately filled him. As soon as they stepped out, they were greeted with cheers from a crowd of thousands, while concussive and hypnotic African drums played with such emotion, it almost brought the doctor to tears. It felt like he were home after years of being lost in the wilderness, and the people of Southern Sudan missed him dearly. It took the group almost thirty minutes to get into the armored vehicles as the awaiting crowd rushed forward to get a glimpse of the man that could change their future.
Inside the vehicles and heading toward the hotel, the South Sudanese UN Representative in Juba, Patrick Wek, began to brief the group on the particulars of the trial and the dos and don’ts while they were in his country. One thing he kept reiterating to the group is no matter the circumstance, Daniel should never leave the hotel without his security detail. After he mentioned Daniel’s confinement to the hotel for the fourth time, Daniel became increasingly nervous, because something was telling him there may be a bounty on his head in this country. They were less than a week from the start of the trial, and Meagan wanted them to visit the site where the massacre occurred, in hopes of jarring any other suppressed details Daniel may have hidden deep in his memory. Daniel didn’t feel too comfortable visiting the place that held so much pain and death attached to it, but he knew it was a part of the judicial process.
Daniel’s heart, as he looked outside the vehicle’s window, sank to the depths of his chest as he took in the aftermath of a country still struggling to find its place in the world. The country was hopelessly underdeveloped, and the people looked beaten and torn after decades of war and famine. He used to love this country and its people, and he suddenly felt ashamed that after Victoria’s death, he refused to keep himself abreast of the events that shaped the newly independent nation of Southern Sudan. The country of Sudan was divided into two nations: Sudan and Southern Sudan, to end decades of war. People believed that by separating the two warring factions, both sides would be able to move forward in peace, but it seems the people ran from their northern aggressor . . . right into the arms of Kronte, and he was just as brutal.
It was an hour-long drive that seemed like a tour through the land of the lost, and by the time they pulled in front of the hotel, grief had overcome Daniel. Although the vehicle’s air-conditioning was working overtime, sweat covered him. Meagan decided that all three of them should share a two-bedroom suite to reduce the risk of having security spread too thin, guarding multiple rooms. She thought the two sex-crazed lovers would protest her decision, but they agreed without hesitation. They understood this wasn’t a vacation. They had a job to do. It wasn’t going to be easy, and everyone needed to be focused. They were in enemy territory, and they couldn’t relax one second while they attempted to put away the most powerful warlord on the African continent. Despite it being a third world country and lacking many necessary services, the hotel was elegantly appointed, and the room was decorated in a regal and luxurious fashion. Daniel gritted his teeth at the irony and stormed into the bathroom to calm his nerves.
“What’s up with him?” Meagan asked, confused with the doctor’s anger.
“It’s been so long. So many things have changed, and most not for the better. I think he blames himself for not being involved,” answered Ayana, staring at the closed bathroom door with sadness.
“But it’s not his fault how things are,” Meagan protested, still confused by the doctor’s reaction to the state of the country.
“Our daughter was Sudanese, and Danny feels a direct connection with my country because of her. So, even though it’s not his fault, he still feels responsible as do I.”
Meagan nodded and turned to go to her room to unpack and contact her supervisor so that they could get their schedules in sync. Ayana wanted to knock on the bathroom door but decided against it. She knew Daniel needed some time so that he could get himself together to deal with a very emotional time ahead. She walked into their room and began to unpack her bags and wait for further instructions from Meagan and the UN legal team.
Three days after their arrival, a convoy of armored vehicles pulled out from the front of the hotel at three in the morning. The UN legal team was heading out to the massacre site that claimed Victoria’s life. Being confined to the hotel almost drove Dani
el mad, and although the trip to the site was going to be a hard experience, he still welcomed the change of scenery. It was going to be a very long trip to the far northern border of Southern Sudan. There were concerns that they may meet opposition from the Northern Sudanese border patrol, so the UN decided to send extra security and advise the northern country of their intentions since they would be that close to their southern border.
The ride was bumpy, uncomfortable, and after four hours, everyone in the vehicle was ready for a break, so Patrick decided to make a stop in a small village for a while to stretch their legs. Stepping out of the vehicle, Daniel felt as if his legs were made of wet noodles, and moving too fast would result in him collapsing on the dry, cracked earth beneath him. Holding Ayana’s hand, Daniel walked toward what appeared to be a small store and bar. Seeing them moving toward the store, Patrick silently signaled for two security personnel to follow the couple. They immediately rushed toward the doctor and Ayana, following them into the dimly lit makeshift store.
They walked into the store, and their noses were immediately met with the nasal-burning stench of funk, mildew, and strong alcohol. Daniel and Ayana seemed unbothered by the rancid odors, but Meagan immediately placed her hand over her nose and coughed slightly. Daniel turned to her, silently signaling her with his eyes to “suck it up.” He didn’t want the owner of this store offended by her reaction and refuse them service. Daniel doubted they would find another store for another five hours, and he was thirsty beyond madness.
He walked up to the counter and greeted the old man that possessed a skin tone so dark that it was hard to make him out in the dark shade behind the counter. Short, grey hair covered his head. He scratched repeatedly before extending his hand, smiling brightly to greet the doctor and Ayana. He displayed rows of uncannily clean and well-maintained teeth that caught Meagan off guard, and she gasped without thinking about it. Daniel looked down, shaking his head and praying the nameless barkeep wasn’t offended by her reaction.
