by Jana Janeway
Conflicting options warred; be the bigger man and walk away, or take this unexpected opportunity to collect the reparations owed.
The desire to make someone pay for the hell they had been through – for the lies, and the nightmares, and the suffering – was currently winning that war, and that convenient someone was no more than five yards away, with only Jeramey standing as an obstacle between them.
He imagined the satisfying crunch of bone as his fist made contact with the guy’s face, the blood that would be spilled in atonement for all of the Registry’s crimes against them…
It was obvious that Craddock was about to pass the point of no return. Sure, Jeramey and Wade could have tackled him to the ground, physically prevented him from attacking the Registry’s lackey, but that wouldn’t have achieved much better for them, or their case. Being forced to comply with the rules was not the same as complying on one’s own.
Trying again to reach Craddock through the haze of justifiable anger, Wade furthered his previous warning. “We can’t win this without you. Without you, nothing changes. Do you really want your wife and child to have to live on the run?”
No, Craddock didn’t want that. His main reason for joining Pardaze Ahme, for testifying against the Registry, was to give his family the chance at a normal, stable life. He would never be able to forgive himself if he were to jeopardize that, all over one satisfying moment of violence.
Decided, continuing to glare at the man, Craddock spoke to but did not so much as glance at either Jeramey or Wade. “I’ve suddenly lost my appetite. I’ll be in my room.”
He ignored the eyes and murmuring that followed him, forcing all of his attention on putting one foot in front of the other. If he didn’t leave right then, he knew the guy would eventually provoke him into doing something stupid.
Stupidity was not an option.
Pacing the floor between the two twin beds did nothing to calm him down, not that he was expecting it to. He was just too on edge to sit still. It felt like every emotion he’d ever tried to repress was crashing down on him at once.
He looked like a caged animal by the time Wade entered the room a few minutes later. They stared at each other for a moment before Craddock resumed his pacing.
“I’m proud of you.”
The absurdity of that statement caused Craddock to scoff. “For nearly fucking everything up back there? Yeah, there’s something to be proud of.”
“For exactly that. For nearly fucking everything up. You didn’t, Craddock. You walked away.”
“Barely.”
Wade shrugged, dropping down onto one of the beds. “Still counts as a victory. You’re being too hard on yourself. A lesser man would have punched first and considered the consequences later.”
“A better man wouldn’t have let a peon get to him like that,” Craddock countered.
“They’re good at what they do. They know just how to push buttons, how to bring out the worst in people, especially when they’re desperate.”
That stopped Craddock in his tracks. His eyes locked with Wade’s, briefly glanced around the room, and then returned. “Is it safe to talk?”
“There aren’t any bugs, if that’s what you’re asking. That’s one thing we’ve learned today; that particular form of invasion is very much frowned upon.”
Craddock sat on the other bed, across from Wade. His knee started bouncing within a second. “You didn’t know that before?”
“No. I was a level three agent.”
“I don’t really know what that means.”
“Basically, it means I didn’t have the clearance to know everything. I knew they worked with listening and tracking devices, but I didn’t know they did so against code.”
“Which is why the chairpersons were so interested in that when they were questioning me,” Craddock surmised.
“Exactly. You handled that brilliantly, by the way.”
“I didn’t know… if I should say anything. I kept hoping you guys would give me a sign or something.”
“We couldn’t. It would have been seen as leading the witness.”
Silent for a moment, Craddock thought back on his time in the courtroom, to the various questions and subsequent responses to his answers. “Was it because of me? Something I said? Horace seemed… perplexed, I guess, when he asked me about the pregnancy; about who we told and when.”
“I think so, but I haven’t had the chance to talk with the others yet, to see if they agree. They might have caught something that I didn’t.”
“And they’re desperate because… things are leaning in our favor?”
A grin slowly began to appear on Wade’s face. “Oh yeah, and it’s obvious, too. Pretty sure the Registry was hoping to use you to discredit us. If we’re seen as rogue agents, it might be assumed that we brainwashed you.”
That was Craddock’s theory as well. It fit with how the cross examination had been conducted, the way in which Mr. Connoly kept attempting to cast doubt and subvert loyalties.
The ploy was unsuccessful, and while Wade probably realized that, Craddock felt the need to offer reassurances. “I didn’t believe him, you know. Mr. Connoly? I knew what he was trying to do.”
Wade, nodding his head, dropped his gaze to the floor. “It’s not just his job to discredit us; in a remote sort of way, it’s also personal. We were roomed together at the academy, before he chose legal and I chose field work. They appointed him as the representative on purpose, to rattle me.”
Craddock huffed out a breath. “It seems they don’t do much of anything that isn’t somehow underhanded.”
“Yeah, well, in this instance, they failed in their objective. It’s not like Nevin and I were friends. I’m guessing he told them we were closer than we actually were, so that he could be involved in this. If he wins it for them, the prestige alone would be worth bank.”
“And if he loses?” When Wade made a slicing motion with his index finger across his neck, Craddock gasped. “They’ll kill him?”
“No, but it will be the death of his career. With the Registry, failure is unacceptable. He should consider himself fortunate if he isn’t demoted to filing clerk.”
Craddock couldn’t find it in him to care about the fate of Nevin Connoly. He wasn’t a victim in this but a conspirator, collaborating with the Registry for his own personal gain.
Such a man deserved the outcome he was facing.
“He’s aware of it, too,” Wade continued. “He took a risk; he now knows it’s not going to pay off. By the end of session, he wasn’t even asking questions anymore, just berating and arguing. Horace threatened him with contempt.”
Since that particular subject was no longer of any interest to Craddock, he changed it. “Is our side done calling witnesses?”
“Yeah, that’s why we adjourned a bit early. We concluded, but there wasn’t time for the defense to start presenting. Tomorrow, without the delays of check-in, things should move along at a faster pace.”
“We’ll be done tomorrow?”
“If the chairpersons are quick to deliberate.”
Wade’s tone seemed to indicate the unlikelihood of that. “But you don’t think they will be.”
“This won’t be an easy decision to make. They’ll need more than a couple hours to reach a verdict, but that’s all the time they’ll have left in the day, at most, after the defense presents their case.”
Heaving a deep sigh, Craddock fell back onto the mattress and closed his eyes. The strain of everything had caught up with him. “I wish there was a way to let Jessica know that. She was hoping for the sooner scenario.”
“Bibi was, too. She comes across tough as nails, but I know she won’t rest easy until we’re back.”
“She’s always been like that – the tough as nails act? She uses it as a shield—”
Craddock stopped there, unsure of what he should or shouldn’t divulge, but then Wade concluded with, “To protect herself. Yeah, I know.”
A heavy silence f
ollowed, the atmosphere in the room changing with it. There was something on Wade’s mind; Craddock could sense it, but it seemed he was reluctant to voice it aloud.
Their eyes met when Craddock propped himself up on his elbows. “What?”
Wade looked away, to his hands which were folded in front of him; he had slumped forward, his arms resting on his knees. “Your relationship hasn’t always been easy. With Bibi, I mean. Since meeting Jessica. The way you forgave her… Most people wouldn’t have.”
Collapsing onto the bed again, Craddock stared up at the ceiling, contemplating his response. He didn’t want to have this conversation, but he knew that dodging it now would only postpone the inevitable. It would be better to get it over with.
“You make me sound nobler than I am. If Jessica hadn’t been so quick to forgive… If anything had happened to her…”
Even though he had trailed off, twice, Wade understood what Craddock was implying. “I know. And Bibi knows that, too. She hides it well, but she still feels guilty for what she did, even after I told her that Jessica was never in any danger.”
Craddock immediately popped back up onto his elbows, pushing himself into a sitting position. “Wait. What do you mean, Jessica was never in any danger? Bibi called the Purists! They—” He stopped short when Wade started shaking his head.
“She tried to call the Purists, but the call was redirected. It was Marcy’s cell phone that she used; before Marcy ever handed you that phone, the Registry coded it with a call forwarding feature. Any number you dialed, it would alert them first. If it was considered an authorized call, only then would they patch it through to the person you were trying to reach.”
“I didn’t even know that was possible.”
“The Registry has access to a lot of things – information and technologies – that the general public doesn’t know about.”
Craddock was so unsurprised by that revelation, he simply dismissed it in favor of another thought that had come to mind. “If the Purists were never actually called, then why did Marcy tell us to go buy a new cell phone?”
“It was an in-the-moment, in-the-field decision. She followed protocol, assuming contact had been made with the Purists, compromising the security of the phone. She didn’t know the truth. She was only told to call and get the story – find out why Bibi just up and turned on her friends for what seemed like no reason.”
“She had a reason,” Craddock muttered, annoyed by the memory. “It wasn’t a good one, but it wasn’t random, either.”
“They didn’t know that. The car you were driving – Marcy’s car – was bugged, but the motel room was not. You guys had conversations outside of the car, and those conversations created holes that needed filling. That’s why they were so anxious to get you guys settled in Abdonville, where they could hear and monitor your every word and movement.”
Exhaling sharply, Craddock yanked off his glasses so that he could pinch the bridge of his nose. “I need to stop talking about this, now, before I lose what’s left of my sanity.”
While the statement was made in a dramatic manner, it wasn’t entirely untrue; Wade could tell that Craddock had reached his limit. Hoping to ease him back from the proverbial edge, he jumped topics, radically. “So, baby names, huh? Got a preference, or were you just planning on letting Jessica decide?”
His chuckle was genuine but weary. “As long as she doesn’t name him Dandelion, I’m flexible.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Tensions were high in the lounge; not only were the witnesses for both sides occupying the same limited space, but at that very moment, in the courtroom, the long-awaited verdict was finally being read.
As Wade had assumed, the testimony phase of the hearing ended yesterday, after the defendants presented their case, with little time left in the working day in which to deliberate. And so it was unanimously decided by the twelve chairpersons that they would start fresh in the morning.
That fresh start was seven hours ago. Seven hours of all participating parties, both plaintiffs and defendants, holed up together, in a room that was now at near-full capacity. Thankfully, everyone adhered to the no talking rule.
Becket, having been denied his request to wait in his room, had seated himself in one of the wingback chairs like it was his throne, next to one of the large picture windows and away from the majority of the throng. Right leg crossed over left, flipping casually through some novel on a Kindle, he appeared the absolute epitome of untroubled royalty. The two security agents on either side of him seemed to glare at anyone who even glanced in that direction.
In the hours that followed, monotony joined the awkward tension. While most did little more than stare – at a Kindle, out a window, off into nothingness – others, like Jeramey, rested their heads back against whatever was behind them and dozed.
But there was no one sleeping now. Twenty minutes ago, the bailiff entered and announced that the defendant and all representatives were wanted back in the courtroom. For the plaintiffs, that meant Jeramey, Marcy, Wade, Elsa, and Kiffen.
It wasn’t difficult to deduce what was happening; the subtle nod Wade had given Craddock before heading out the door served as confirmation. The verdict was in.
With the minimal knowledge Craddock had of such things, the time it was taking was starting to seem unreasonable. How long was too long for something like this?
Forgetting for a moment that he wasn’t allowed to, he almost asked Carl that very question; the bailiff reentering stopped him from making that mistake.
“Witnesses for the plaintiff, you’re free to go. Please check in with the clerk in the lobby, to sign out and collect your belongings. Witnesses for the defendant, you will be dismissed in thirty minutes.”
Craddock lunged forward, lining up and shuffling out the door with the others. After being led through the maze of hallways and out into the lobby, he spotted Wade, last in line at the clerk’s station.
And since there was no rule against talking in the lobby…
Craddock nearly assaulted him upon approach. “Well?”
Wade’s expression was patient. “Let’s wait until we get out to the van.” His eyes cut towards the clerk, and were now expectant as well as patient.
The clerk was a Becket loyalist? It seemed so, and so Craddock only nodded and took his place in line. When it was his turn to collect his things from the glaring man behind the counter, he averted his attention, mostly onto the floor. He didn’t care if that made him appear subservient; he just wanted to be done with it and leave, so that he could learn of the verdict.
Jeramey was waiting for him right outside the door, cell phone extended. “You’re chomping at the bit to call Jessica, I’m guessing.”
Craddock took the phone but only held it as he followed him to the van. “In a sec. She’ll have questions; I want to have the answers first.”
They both climbed into the vehicle; Wade and Marcy were already inside, behind the wheel and in the front passenger seat. While they waited for the final three carpoolers and occupiers of the back bench seat to check out and join them, Jeramey gave Craddock the CliffsNotes version of what had happened.
“It was the second best result we could have hoped for. They didn’t vote him out, but the evidence was too much to ignore. They’re launching an investigation, and he’s only the acting president in limited capacity until they reconvene.”
“There’s only so much evidence he can hide.” Wade caught Craddock’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “His days are numbered.”
That was all Craddock needed to know for now; he gave Wade a distracted upnod, ignoring the others climbing in as he pressed speed dial two. They were just leaving the parking lot when it rang over to voicemail.
Jeramey watched him as he dialed the number again. “She didn’t pick up?”
There was only the slightest shake of Craddock’s head. Then after a few seconds, he scowled at the phone. “It immediately went to voicemail that time.”
Jeramey sa
t up a little straighter. “Maybe she’s trying to call you back. Give it a sec, then try again if she doesn’t.”
When the phone sat quiet, not once ringing, he tried again. And again. He also tried sending text messages. He called and messaged so often that, during the four hour drive, the phone eventually died. For the last leg of the journey, he was kneeling on the floorboards instead of sitting in his seat, because the charger cord wouldn’t reach that far.
Everyone offered up excuses at first, like that maybe the phone had died, or maybe she accidentally turned the ringer to silent, but as the hours passed, those attempts to find reason just didn’t hold up. Jessica knew right where the charger was, and she was anxious to hear from him; even with the ringer on silent, she would have noticed the phone lighting up at some point.
Craddock could only be placated for so long; by the time they were up the mountain and nearing the cabin, he was shaking with the adrenaline coursing through him. When he still couldn’t feel her despite being yards away, he almost broke the phone in his tightened grasp.
“Something’s wrong.”
He was just saying out loud what they all knew.
“Where’s Trayden’s van?” Marcy asked; she tried to mask her concern, but she was unsuccessful.
“Maybe they went to the store or something?”
Craddock didn’t turn to see which of the three in the back had suggested that. The second the van came to a stop – as it was coming to a stop, actually – he jumped out and ran inside. Everyone followed, but Jeramey was right on his heels.
They checked every room, but the fact that he couldn’t so much as sense her presence told them that she, at least, wasn’t there. Or worse, wasn’t alive.
“I’ll check the grounds.”
Wade slipped out as Craddock slid down the wall to the floor.
“It’s the Registry, isn’t it? They took them.” He was barely holding it together; he pushed his hands into his hair and pulled, creating physical pain in an attempt to dull the emotional agony.
“I can’t say for certain yet. My guess? Yeah.” As Jeramey answered, he wandered about the room. Then he was kneeling. “Marcy, check this out.”
