“So, you stayed at the church?” asked Scarlet.
“We were caught in the act. Retreat was our only option.”
Scarlet slumped her weight forward, glaring at Shane. “Next time, you keep your men in the streets, and you push them back. I don't want to find you responsible for the troops getting close again. Last time that happened, I lost a home and had to settle for a derelict school I still have to live in. We can't repel them a second time.”
Much to Adam's surprise, Ethan lowered his crossed arms and spoke. “When did you get back this morning, Emilio?”
“About twenty minutes ago. Why?” the chiseled capo asked.
“Shane found a nanny for the children you brought in.”
Children? Adam's mind screamed. Words vomited from his mouth against his will: “What children?” When the other, more important people in the room stared at him in shock, he apologized. “Sorry, I just, uh... I didn't hear anything about children.”
Scarlet replied, a slight chuckle in her tone. “Emilio found six. Pulled them from a basement, nearly starved to death. Which reminds me. Ethan, I want you to check on their babysitter after the meeting. See that she's doing her job. Make sure they're fed and unharmed. Products need to sell.”
“Who was taking care of them before?” asked Adam.
“No one,” Emilio replied.
Adam then asked, “Well... why were they in a basement?” but he got no reply from anyone.
“Is that all?” asked the boss to her men. They gestured that there was nothing else to say. “Very well. Adam...” The butler placed the binder in his hands on the table before Scarlet. “As Ethan already made mention of, we have six children here. I will exchange them for food, and more importantly, to forge an alliance.”
“An alliance with whom?” asked Emilio.
“Marcus Solomon.”
Emilio's eyes opened wide. Adam was eager to finally learn what that name was about. “Solomon? I thought they were exterminated.” He looked at Shane, then back at Scarlet. “I mean no disrespect, ma'am, but do you think this is wise? Never do business with a Solomon; everyone knows that.”
Shane stepped in. “I'd have to agree, ma'am. Is it wise to align with a family that's wanted you dead for forty years? And with the other families out of reach – the Marsdens, the Krohns...”
Ethan interrupted. “My family is still your ally.”
“Yes,” said Shane. “But Phoebe is not in charge anymore. When your mother died, the Krohns ceased to be a reliable ally. When was the last time Lilith contacted us, or you? Not once since she took the reins. Not once. We can't rely on your sister.” Shane turned to Scarlet. “If we can't rely on the other families for support, we risk too much trusting the Solomons.”
“What would you two suggest?” she asked both Shane and Emilio.
“Don't make any deal,” said Emilio.
Adam took a moment to assess something he had just heard. As the others continued to talk, he noted what Shane said. Sister... Adam knew Ethan didn't officially belong to Scarlet, but he never knew who Ethan was in the Krohn family. Lilith is his sister? Despite finally learning the truth, it raised more questions in his mind than it answered. Most prominently: Why is Ethan even here? He's been here for months without leaving the area even once. Scarlet can't just be borrowing him.... He thought deeply, eventually remembering that Phoebe, the original boss of the Krohn family, was Scarlet's sister, which made Ethan Scarlet's nephew. But that understanding failed to explain anything about Ethan being there. It explained how Scarlet trusted him, being a non-member. Family and business, he thought. A poisonous mix. Scarlet Lancaster and Phoebe Krohn were two enterprises among the same relatives. He wondered how they were able to successfully achieve that for forty years.
“Hello? Adam!” the boss nearly screamed.
“Sorry! Yes, ma'am?”
“The door!” Adam's head pulled itself in the direction of the entrance. Someone was standing there, with a small slip of paper – a messenger Adam saw on occasion. He approached the man and took the paper, then provided it to Scarlet. She read the lengthy paragraph for a moment. “Late afternoon,” she said, tearing it up. “Marcus will arrive late afternoon. Scouts report trouble on the road.”
“What kind of trouble?” asked Shane.
“The troops. Apparently they're everywhere in Northeast now. Taking prisoners, raiding houses, shooting civilians, blah blah blah...” She sighed. “Report back to me at three o'clock, unless the scouts report Marcus will arrive sooner.” She slowly stood up. Her two captains swiftly rose first, nodded toward her, then proceeded out of the room.
Adam helped his boss straighten her legs. I'm going to develop back problems doing this much longer, he thought. Once she was standing, her eyes locked onto Ethan, who had not moved at all. “You may leave,” she said.
“Adam, find me the clan's records of the past six months,” Ethan said.
As Adam took a step back to obey the order, Scarlet grabbed his arm then looked at Ethan again. “Excuse me? What for?”
“Something important.”
“And that is...?”
Ethan made no reply.
“The answer's no. You're pulling nothing for him, Adam.”
“Scarlet, I need to see those records.”
Her glance turned to a glare. “You won't refer to me by my name again, Ethan. Not unless you want me to ship you back to your sister in a box, piece by piece.”
Scarlet waddled away. Adam could see Ethan look at the back of her head, feeling his rage. He never knew Ethan to ever want anything but solitude. How could a stack of papers be so important? Then he heard the boss speak. “Ethan, I gave you an order. If I have to remind you of anything again, I'm replacing you. Now out, both of you!”
Ethan sighed. He left the room in silence.
In the hall, Adam asked Ethan, “Are you going to check on the kids? I'll do it for you.”
Ethan examined him. “Why not...”
Adam would have run but he felt some obligation to wait. When Ethan started leaving, silently and probably still angry, Adam walked the other direction, nearly stumbling into a guard. He made his way across the building to the room where he would find 'the merchandise.'
MERCY
The past three nights were sheer terror. It was a nightmare that didn't exist in her dreams, but existed in the real world, with real monsters. For a moment she had believed Ethan started to sympathize with her, until he had her thrown back in with the lions. Karl ceased his subtleties and had immediately made an attempt at his prey once the door shut behind her. She had relied on her hearing to 'see' him. As he had chased her, attempting to tackle her to the floor, she eventually found something to hit him with. Whatever it was, it helped. It kept him at bay for the rest of that night. In the morning, her eyes were finally able to see him, and Wes. Fortunately, Wes wasn't interested in her. Had he been, she knew she couldn't fend them both off. When night returned, it was the same situation all over. Deprived of food, fresh air, and having to drink from a filthy water dish like a dog whenever it was given to them, Mercy was thoroughly weakened, feeble and in a constant state of partial consciousness. After the third night, if Karl had finally had his way with her, she wouldn't have known, or cared. But she was pulled away from the den just in time by Ethan himself, who, on the fourth morning, had abruptly entered and ordered her to follow him without another word. She felt she was dragging herself as he brought her upstairs and told her to remain in a certain room.
What she found inside were six young people. Children. Innocent, defenseless children, who did not deserve to fall victim to a bunch of mobsters. They all looked equally as deprived of sustenance as she.
Before she knew it, the guard was throwing her down before the youths' eyes and slamming the door behind her. She had only asked to be able to feed the kids, but she would have been spared the humiliation had she not insisted. When Mercy rose up again, she pretended that it never happened.
“Are you okay?” one of them asked. The concern recollected her admiration of a child's innocent heart.
“I'm fine. And are you okay?” She was asking all six of them. Their responses were more groans than words.
Despite Mercy's valiant effort, the fact remained that they were starving. There was no food, nor any means to be occupied or distracted. Like every other room in the building, they were in a classroom, but it was void and empty, except a whiteboard without markers, and barricaded windows no one could see through. None of the kids had stood up since she met them. Weak legs? she wondered. She had never gone too long without food, but she was well on her way to finding out. Games couldn't keep them occupied because they had no energy. They at least had blankets – two in total that they had to share. Before Mercy met them, they arranged a system of sharing the 'middle spot' each night so that everyone got a fair share. She admired their maturity.
“Why are we here?” one of them, a little girl with long black hair asked. She was the only girl, and the one least spoken to, Mercy noticed.
“I don't know. To be honest, I don't know why I'm here, either.” She smiled at the girl. “I'll take care of you though. As best I can.”
Mercy had rapidly grown an affinity for the children from the moment she met them. From the start, though, she made a point not to learn their names. There were six of them, held hostage by a notorious underworld boss. It was guaranteed that she would soon be separated from them, one way or another, and never know their fate. Even then, part of her already loved those kids.
Approximately ten minutes following her consequential request for food, she heard a soft, surprisingly-gentle knock on the door. It was inviting and reassuring to hear, and she answered the call without fear. Standing before her was a face she had never seen. “Yes?” she said.
“I'm Adam. I'm here to check on them.”
“...The kids?”
“Yes.”
“What's to check? They're still here.” Mercy felt regretful, speaking that way to a man who never wronged her. Not yet, she thought.
“Are they sick?”
“They're starving.”
“Damn. Why haven't they been fed?” Adam turned around to the guard directly across the hall. “The boss wants these kids to eat. Why haven't you fed them?”
The mute sentry's eyes were heavy as if he was about to fall asleep. “If the boss wants them fed, she'll let me know.” She was surprised the man spoke at all. Judging from his appearance and stature, he looked far too decrepit to even stand, let alone speak.
“She already has,” said Adam. “She sent me to make sure. Now get them some food!”
The guard clenched his fists with the utmost disgust, but he ultimately obeyed and headed for the storage on the first floor, or so Mercy assumed.
“Thank you, so much,” she said to Adam, smiling.
A smile was brought to her face. Mercy felt nervous about the guard leaving, though wasn't certain why. That stormed throughout her mind as they uneasily stood in silence waiting for his return. Mercy mentally prepared for the worst. But if he wanted to kill me, or Adam for yelling orders, he wouldn't need to walk away first, she thought. Nothing was ever certain in that building, her safety more than anything.
She learned her fear of the guard was unfounded when he returned with a bag full of cereal and grain snacks; nothing that required cooking. The guard threw the bag on the floor with rage and irritation, like he had thrown Mercy, then returned to his post a few feet across the hall. Mercy watched with delight as the kids flocked to it. Her felicity was so great she failed to notice how they clamored over each other to get the most.
Adam intervened to tame them. His gentleness stood out to her in more ways than one. He was unusually kind to the captives for someone belonging to Scarlet.
When Adam separated the kids from each other and returned to where Mercy stood by the door, she asked him, “You're not from here, are you?”
“Not really,” he laughed.
“Where?”
“Originally, just about a mile from here. When everything ... fell apart, a lot of my relatives came to live at the house with me – my brother, my parents... Things didn't go so well, though.”
“Same,” said Mercy. She felt a liking toward him already. “My dad stockpiled food and guns for months. He always believed the war would come home. I guess it did, right?”
“What happened? Did your family go crazy the way mine did?”
Your family went crazy? “No, most of them were killed by the troops.”
“What? Why? I've never heard of American soldiers killing civilians in cold blood.”
“Neither did I... I don't know the whole story, to be honest. I was there and everything, just... I don't know. We were the only ones that survived – me and Haley, my niece. We hid downstairs until it was over. But when it was over...”
“...everyone was gone,” said Adam. Mercy nodded. “I'm sorry to hear that. My family couldn't get along. As week after week passed, and food was becoming harder to find, everyone started to go crazy. It's not like we got along with each other before that. After my dad killed my mom, I... Well, I had to leave. I had to leave all of them. I just... wandered around, hoping someone would put me out of my misery. What other option was there, you know? The world's gone to hell. But... that's when Scarlet took me in. I got too close to this place. That must have been shortly after she took it over because everyone was still getting settled in. I didn't know who Scarlet was, but I liked the idea of being part of a functional family for once. Everyone calls each other a family here. So, that was nice. I needed a new family.”
Mercy listened to his story, but could only feign interest. Not that she thought little of Adam's struggle, but that once Haley's name was brought up, most of her attention was shifted.
That was until Adam paused, then asked, “Where's Haley now?”
Mercy almost didn't answer. At that moment, if he were anyone else, she wouldn't have. “She's... with the rest of our family.”
Adam's posture sank. His eyes virtually became sadness itself. “I'm so sorry for your loss. How did... Sorry, never mind.”
Since the cat was out of the bag, Mercy figured she ought to divulge the most important part. “Someone shot Haley. And then, when we got here, Shane just let her die.”
“Shane, huh? I'm not surprised. The guy's a lot like Ethan. They've been best friends since high school. From what I've heard, he's the only friend Ethan ever had. Heartless and ruthless. There's a lot of those around this place.”
“Haley's still in that church, rotting on a table... They wouldn't let me bury her. Do you think they would let me now, if I asked?”
“Not likely. Even if I vouched for you, that wouldn't mean anything to Scarlet. I haven't made my bones yet. Well, not exactly.”
They both glanced across the room when the kids seemed to finish their snacks simultaneously. As expected, they begged for more. Mercy was saddened to hear Adam say: “I wish I could give you more. I'll tell you what, though: after I leave I'll ask for you, okay?” None of the children acknowledged him, but their faces sank.
Mercy could see a sadness in Adam's eyes. “You want to help them, don't you?” she asked.
He looked at her. “Of course.”
Mercy lowered her voice, though it was unlikely the kids could hear them anyway. The guard across the hall certainly couldn't hear them with the door shut. “How can we help them?”
Adam shook his head. “I don't know. They're being sold today. Did they tell you that?”
“Sold? No, they didn't tell me anything.”
“Yes, to some guy named Solomon. Old enemy of the four Matriarchs, if I gathered that right. Scarlet hopes to gain him as an ally with this trade.”
“Children? She's selling children to her enemy?” Mercy doubted what she was hearing. The information took a moment to register in her mind. “When will this happen?”
“Today. Later this afternoon. I don't know what t
o do to stop it. Half of Scarlet's people will be there when the trade takes place. I think... there's just nothing we can possibly do.”
She thought deeply... Believing there was nothing they could do was not an option.
“Ethan asked the boss about records or something. Seemed pretty adamant about getting them.”
Mercy scowled, looking away for a moment. “Thinking of asking him for help?” If it were a plausible option, she knew she'd consider it.
“No,” Adam quickly responded. “He's the last person you should ask for help.”
“Can we find out where this Solomon guy is taking them? I mean, what could he possibly want with them?” Her mind drifted to places that made her want to vomit. Then she thought of Haley, who was only slightly older than the kids in that room. They would have sold her with them, she thought. What's better, then? Being dead, or being a slave? A child slave...
The door opened behind them abruptly, almost violently. That was of no surprise to Mercy, once she saw who was entering.
Ethan...
The enforcer glanced once at the children, then at Adam. “Have they been fed?” Mercy felt like she suddenly became invisible.
“Y-yes, they have.”
“Then, out,” said Ethan, standing aside for Adam to exit the room.
But Adam did not move. “Why did you want those records from Scarlet?”
Ethan said nothing, instead stepping into the room, straight toward Adam. Mercy knew; the man was about to either throw Adam out himself, or beat him until he decided to leave. Either way, Mercy interfered. “Wait!” she shouted. “I need to talk to you.”
Ethan glared at her. “About what?”
“Please. It won't take long.”
He paused. “Three minutes,” he said. He grasped Mercy by the arm and dragged her out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He looked at the obdurate guard. “Leave us.” Without question, the man obeyed Ethan's command. “What?” he sighed.
“Last night you asked me to stay. Why?”
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