Children of Hope

by Michael Fine

  The group stood and people watched for a few minutes until, finally, Eddie Townsend strolled up like he didn’t have a care—or an appointment—in the world.

  “Greetings and salutations, gentlemen. And m’lady,” Eddie said with as much suaveness as he could muster.

  Quinn stared at Eddie until Eddie dropped his gaze.

  Charlie started their conversation. “Okay, listen up. The vote on the ‘Sanctity of Life’ bill is supposed to happen in less than a month, on the 15th. That doesn’t give us much time. We need to rush but at the same time go slow, if you know what I mean.

  “We need to make sure we give ourselves enough time to scope out the area, the Capitol building, and the Senate floor itself, if we can. I propose we give ourselves a week to do some recon; we need intel on the building’s layout, the Capitol Police, surveillance cameras, and exit routes. We’ll meet here one week from tomorrow at a coffee shop somewhere nearby. I’ll text a time and an address, but figure a coffee shop somewhere near here and probably in the morning.” He looked directly at Eddie and added, “Be on time, Eddie, or I’ll find someone else.”

  Hope looked at Eddie, who was half listening and half ogling a young mother walking with a baby stroller.

  “Eddie!” she shouted.

  “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” he said. He hadn’t heard a word, but Charlie would have his back.

  The group disbanded and the other men went their separate ways. Charlie wrapped his arm around Hope’s shoulder and pulled her close. He kissed the top of her head.

  “Let’s get some soup,” he said. “I’m freezing.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Tuesday, February 20 (the next day)

  U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area

  Washington, D.C.

  23 days before vote on the Sanctity of Life bill

  On Tuesday morning, Hope took the Metro into D.C., bought several maps from the Capitol visitor center, and walked around. She held one of the maps open as she walked, something she would not normally do, hoping it would give her a measure of “cover” for surveilling the Capitol area: just another stupid tourist trying not to get lost. She turned on the voice recorder app on her phone, put her bluetooth earbud in her ear, and dictated important observations so she could listen to them later.

  Quinn woke up and made an online reservation to take a standard visitor tour of the Capitol and another of the halls of the Senate, but learned that neither tour would include entry into the Senate chamber. The automated chat bot providing support told him that, for that, he needed a pass, which he could get from a Senator. He called his junior Senator, a young woman, put his magnetism on level eleven, and charmed himself a pass for the following day. He needed to see the doors of the Senate from the inside.

  Charlie spent Tuesday shopping. He found a local Goodwill, which had most of what he wanted: an old overcoat, a wool cap, and some old leather boots. He bought a few more items at other second-hand stores. A quick trip to a pharmacy netted him baby wipes. He completed his shopping spree with a final stop at a hardware store where he bought a box of firewood, some lighter fluid, a box of matches, and a small box of extra strength garbage bags.

  Sanam spent the day in his hotel room, thinking. From the very first moment Hope explained what she needed from him, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to come through for her. He had no qualms about helping her; as a dark-skinned man, he was constantly harassed by people thinking he was a Muslim terrorist from the Middle East, and he was convinced that these people’s spite and ignorance was fueled by conservative politicians. Throughout the day, he drew diagrams, then crumpled and burned them each time he realized his ideas were unworkable.

  Eddie had a few old contacts in D.C. He called them when he woke up at noon, made arrangements to meet on Friday, then watched porn on the hotel pay-per-view system the rest of the evening.

  Wednesday, February 21 (the next day)

  U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area

  Washington, D.C.

  22 days before vote on the Sanctity of Life bill

  Hope spent Wednesday listening to the audio notes she’d recorded for herself and poring over the map of the U.S. Capitol area and a second map of the floorplan of the Capitol building itself. How could they get in? How could they do so without having to kill anyone? God, she really, really didn’t want to hurt anyone but the Senator. How could they get away? After hours of spinning, she realized she was way out of her depth. She needed to call Charlie and get his help. Around 4:00 p.m., she received a short text message from Billy that read “xander’s ok. r u?” She did not reply; she didn’t really know the answer to his question.

  Quinn arrived on time for his tour of the Capitol. As the group walked and the guide gave her spiel, Quinn memorized as many layout and security details as possible. After a quick lunch, he took his second tour, this time of the halls of the Senate. Although he was distracted by the exquisitely decorated corridors and stunning works by Italian-born artist Constantino, his professionalism was strong enough for him to memorize how many guards appeared to be on duty and where they were stationed.

  Charlie woke up at 4:00 a.m., collected everything he needed for the day into a garbage bag, hoisted the bag over his shoulder, and headed out of his motel. He walked east for an hour and just before sunrise arrived at an abandoned strip mall under a highway overpass, where he unloaded a piece of firewood, the lighter fluid, and the matches. He tossed the piece of wood on the crumbling concrete loading dock behind the mall, doused it in lighter fluid, and lit it. While the wood burned, he changed out of his regular clothes into the clothes he’d bought around town the previous day. The pants were paint-stained and the three garish shirts he’d purchased clashed awfully; he ripped holes in everything. Charlie stuffed his street clothes into a garbage bag and waited a few more minutes for the wood to char. After stamping out a few remaining flames, he broke off chunks of charred ash and rubbed them all over his pants, shirt, and overcoat, and his hands, face and beard. Seeing his reflection in a broken window, Charlie was convinced he looked the part he was trying to play. He found a tree just inside the tree line nearby and stashed the trash bag that held his normal clothes and the box of baby wipes. He took out a protein bar, scarfed it down, and made his way toward the Capitol, where the city would host one more loitering apparently-homeless man for the day.

  Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday for Sanam, and he worried that his pacing was wearing a path in the threadbare carpeting of his hotel room. Near the end of the day, he arranged a tour of D.C., figuring he should probably do some first-hand recon.

  Eddie slept late again, took a train into the city, and wandered. At five in the evening, he found a strip club that served dinner. After a lousy twenty-dollar steak, a bottle of Stoli, and six hours of watching naked ladies, Eddie made his way back to his hotel and passed out.

  Thursday, February 22 (the next day)

  U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area

  Washington, D.C.

  21 days before vote on the Sanctity of Life bill

  At Hope’s request, Charlie came over to her hotel. Charlie had picked a low-class joint, but Hope had thoroughly outdone him. “Holy Christ this place is a dump,” he said once she’d let him in. “Decorated it myself,” she replied. She smiled and hugged him firmly for several seconds. Letting go, she added, “God, it’s good to see you.” Hope nodded toward the maps on the small desk in the corner, and the two friends sat down to review the maps and forge some kind of plan. Later that evening, Charlie did some more shopping on the way back to his motel.

  Quinn spent Thursday planning out the details of what he needed as far as explosives for the doors. This was “the big boom” matériel, as he thought of it, compared to the “small boom” explosive for use within the body cavity of Hope’s intended victim, which he still needed to think through. He was finishing up his calculations when Charlie came by and dropped off a bag of supplies and told him to meet Hope the fo
llowing morning.

  Sanam took his tour, but was so distracted by his sensor problem, he didn’t notice much of anything that would be of value to the team.

  Eddie went back to the same strip club, had another steak, drank another bottle, dropped another five hundred dollars for lap dances, and passed out again.

  Friday, February 23 (the next day)

  U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area

  Washington, D.C.

  20 days before vote on the Sanctity of Life bill

  Friday morning, Sanam was in a near panic. He’d never failed in his entire life. A star student, he’d been accepted into and received his degree from the esteemed India Institute of Technology, and had never let a client down in his years of private consulting or in his work with Charlie and Quinn. He feared that he was not going to be able to figure out how to solve the puzzle before him, and the thought of failure shook him to the core. He called Hope.

  “Good morning. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  “No, no. Been up for a while,” Hope said. “What’s up?”

  Sanam explained his concerns.

  Hope thought back to her first year in college when she was certain she didn’t know a single answer to any of the questions on a calculus exam. But she’d closed her eyes, taken several deep breaths, and then tackled them one at a time.

  In an attempt to calm Sanam, Hope said, “I know you’ll figure it out,” despite knowing no such thing.

  Eddie, pissed that he had to set his alarm, met his contact at a nearby convenience store a few minutes after nine. The man told Eddie he could pick up his weapons and ammunition the following Tuesday, and they agreed on a time and place. Later that night, he was back at the club. He decided he really had the hots for the chick who called herself “Lexus.” He spent a fortune to keep her with him most of the night, and the two talked while she moved her hips.

  When Quinn arrived at ten, Hope had already had breakfast and three cups of coffee. She was eager to get going, curious what Charlie had up his sleeve. He’d texted her to expect Quinn and to spend the day with him. Her mind raced when Quinn walked in with a large garbage bag over his shoulder. He plopped the bag on the bed.

  “Get undressed, lassie,” Quinn said. When he saw Hope’s face flash from heat to fear to anger, he quickly added, “Calm yourself, child. Bad joke.” Dumping out the contents of the bag, he motioned at the items Charlie had purchased.

  “Funny. Real funny.”

  “Seemed to me you were interested there for a second,” Quinn said. He smirked.

  Hope blushed. “Just tell me what Charlie has cooked up.”

  Quinn explained.

  Forty-five minutes later, an elderly couple, one nobody at the front desk had ever seen check in or visit, left the hotel. The woman had grey hair, wore a matronly dress and sensible shoes. She had what looked to be bad varicose veins under her panty hose, an effect that took Hope twenty painstaking minutes with a ballpoint pen. The stooped man had white hair and a white beard, wore an oxygen mask, and walked with a pair of oxygen tanks trailing behind him.

  It was time to see if they could get the oxygen tanks past the security check and into the Senate chamber.

  Saturday, February 24 (the next day)

  U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area

  Washington, D.C.

  19 days before vote on the Sanctity of Life bill

  In a rare stretch of sobriety and professionalism, Eddie decided he should probably help scout the Capitol building. He woke early, took the train to the Capitol, and walked toward the loading dock of the Senate Office Buildings located on D Street. After scouting the area for a while, he spotted his mark: a Hispanic janitor about his size leaving the building, his overnight shift apparently over. Ten minutes later, the man lay in a hedge unconscious and with a growing welt on the back of his head, and Eddie, donning the man’s overalls and wearing his employee badge, made his way into the building. He pushed an empty trash can around for several hours—he refused to pick up trash, especially in this place of all places—until he worried someone might find the rightful owner of his uniform.

  Hope spent the morning sitting at a small coffee shop across from a local Planned Parenthood, watching the women going into and coming out of the facility. After her third cup of coffee, she was almost about to go to the restroom when she spotted a young teen, probably only sixteen or seventeen, come out of the building. The girl was bundled up in a pink coat and was wearing pink earmuffs but seemed to be losing her battle against the arctic winds that were whipping across the entire East Coast. The girl walked over to a nearby bench, sat, and immediately began sobbing, clearly beaten down by more than just the wind. Hope rushed out of the coffee shop, walked over to where the teen was sitting, said hello, and asked the girl why she was so forlorn. The young lady let her grief flow. She explained that she’d been molested and made pregnant by her drunken uncle, who was also her legal guardian, yet had to carry the baby to term because Virginia’s state abortion law did not have an exception for incest. Hope quietly explained that she had an alternative, that she could remove the fetus from the girl’s uterus so she wouldn’t have to continue carrying the pregnancy to term. The girl immediately stopped crying and barraged Hope with questions. Hope explained that the medical procedure would remove the fetus, but that it would not be abortion. She said nothing about her intentions or Senator Royce Carrington. Hope told the girl to think things over, wrote down her phone number, and told the girl to call by the end of the day if she wanted help. This was a part of the plan that Hope hadn’t told anyone else on the team.

  Quinn spent the day working through the “small boom” explosive device. Hope had been very clear: the device must be potentially deadly to the man in whom it was to be inserted but could pose no harm to anyone else. After some research online and some time doing the calculations, he felt confident he could deliver. He spent the rest of the afternoon fantasizing about Hope. The woman was crazy sexy and didn’t even know it.

  Eddie returned to his hotel, took a nap, and showered when he woke up mid-afternoon. After an early dinner, he headed back to his new favorite strip joint. He waited a few hours and watched the stage show until Lexus started her shift. Man, she was hot. Maybe he could convince her to give him a little something extra in the back room. The rules were bound to be more lax back there.

  He didn’t see Charlie follow him throughout the day and into the men’s club.

  Lexus was grinding on Eddie, facing away from him, trying hard not to think about the man’s greasy hair and scarred face. It was a skill you picked up pretty quickly if you wanted to last in the business. She was just about to turn and straddle him face-forward, when a handsome older man sat down close to Eddie.

  “Hello, Eddie,” Charlie said.

  Eddie jumped, causing Lexus to lose her rhythm. “Well hello there, good looking,” she said to Charlie. “Want a dance?” She winked at him and Eddie flashed to anger.

  Charlie took out a hundred dollar bill and waved it at the woman on top of his weapons man. “No, thank you, dear. In fact, here’s a hundred if you give my friend and me a song or two to talk in private.”

  Lexus didn’t hesitate. She snatched the Benjamin from Charlie’s hand and rose up off of Eddie’s lap. “Catch ya later, Eddie.”

  “Hey! I paid for this song. The song’s not over yet.”

  Lexus looked at Charlie and gave him a “you’re really a friend of this guy?” look. Charlie shrugged, tilted his head, and raised his eyebrows.

  Lexus flicked a twenty at Eddie and sashayed away.

  “How ya doin’, Eddie?”

  Although he was someone who scared most people, and who didn’t scare easily himself, Eddie found himself very much afraid of Charlie, despite the man’s cheery demeanor and the handful of jobs they’d worked together. “All good, Charlie. We’re all set.”

  “Yeah? You’ve got everything?”

  “Well, not exactly.”

  �
�What do you mean, ‘not exactly?’”

  Eddie explained that he was going to pick up the merchandise on Tuesday.

  After a few more questions, Charlie got up to leave. “Keep in touch.” Eddie nodded vigorously.

  On his way out, Charlie passed the girl who’d been dancing for Eddie. “He’s all yours again,” he said. “But, before that, I’ve got another hundred if you’ll answer a few questions about our friend.” After a few minutes that netted him no useful information, he gave the girl his phone number and asked her to call him if Eddie told her anything interesting.

  Sunday, February 25 (the next day)

  Lincoln Memorial

  Washington, D.C.

  18 days before vote on the Sanctity of Life bill

  The girl with whom Hope had spoken outside the Planned Parenthood office called Saturday night and asked if they could meet. Now, the following morning, at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the Lincoln Memorial, Hope sat with the young girl again. The girl had visited the website of Hope’s research lab and had few remaining questions. She was eager to be spared the horror of her pregnancy. When Hope asked the girl if her uncle knew she was pregnant, the girl laughed derisively, saying her uncle was blackout drunk half the time when he was at home between his trucking jobs. When Hope asked the girl if she would promise to keep the pregnancy and procedure secret, she nodded her head resolutely and agreed without hesitation.