“Then let’s hear it,” Charles said, faking amusement.
“You’re risking war now. You know that, right?” Travis asked.
“A war that we would easily win.”
“Maybe, and maybe not. Do you really want that fight, though, if it’s avoidable?”
“Have you seen New Vegas? This is a place that thrives on violence, sex, and absolute chaos. I have a gigantic army of outsiders who would do anything I told them to for fear of what would happen if they didn’t. My insiders would love nothing more than to watch the bloodbath, and at the end of it all, we would own Raines. I don’t see the downside of a fight.”
“Is that what you’re actually trying to achieve?” Travis asked in horror.
“Of course not. All I really want is a better trade deal that favors my city and puts a few credits in my pocket. Can you tell me how to get that, boy?” Charles asked with a devious grin.
It was obvious that there was something they didn’t know. Charles had a secret, and his eyes had already betrayed him. Unfortunately, knowing that did them no good. All they could hope for was to somehow survive this.
“Maybe, but it involves letting those two go,” Travis said.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because if you did, my parents would be more willing to work with you. They know they can’t win now. We tried, and even if we did get Veronica back, we ultimately failed.”
“I’m not a fool. I know they won’t negotiate.”
“I’m telling you they will!”
“Perhaps, but I think I have a better way to get their attention. We’re going to schedule a little display,” Charles said and grinned.
“What are you planning to do?” Alisa asked.
“Something simple but effective. Once they hear that we have their son, they won’t be able to bring themselves to leave New Vegas. We’re going to schedule a new fight in the pit. Their son will be participating.”
“That’s madness!” Lee snapped.
“No, it’s strategy. It won’t really be him who’s in the pit. It’ll be you, a useless plebian. No one in New Vegas actually knows what the boy looks like, though, so how will they know the difference? It’ll draw a big crowd, and it’s certain to bring Alex and Sarah out to play. From there, we can confront them in person. I might even throw the girl in there with you. The two of you can fight as a team. Then you might last a round or two.”
Lee looked over at Alisa. She seemed like she felt as hopeless as him. Were they truly meant to die while people cheered for them to be torn apart, and would Lee be used to lure his parents into a trap? Only time would tell, but right then Lee knew one thing for sure. If he ever got half a chance, he was going to kill Charles Boyd and burn down this Godforsaken city once and for all.
Chapter 12
Negotiations
Alex and Sarah stood watching as Veronica and Roger walked out of the tunnels. They were relieved to see their daughter, but where was everyone else? Had they only traded one child for another? Despite their desperation and the sinking feeling that this was all going to come crashing down around them, Alex and Sarah walked straight to Veronica and threw their arms around her.
“I’m so sorry it took us this long. I swear we were coming as quickly as we could. Did they hurt you?” Sarah asked.
“No, Mom. They wanted me healthy for the exchange. I’m afraid that they might have Lee now,” Veronica said as her expression shifted to one of extreme guilt.
“Hey, we don’t know that yet. They could be right behind us,” Roger said.
“What exactly happened in there?” Alex asked.
Roger told him everything, and Alex knew the truth. There was no way Lee and Travis got out of there unscathed while trying to drag Alisa with them. Why had Lee been so stupid? She was just a girl, and one that he barely knew at that. He should have left her behind. Then they would all be safe and together again.
Alex knew the truth, however. His son was a lot like him in at least one way. A long time ago, Alex had the opportunity to betray a pretty girl to give himself a better life, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. That girl would become his wife, and the rest was history, but that still didn’t mean that Alex wouldn’t rather his son was colder hearted than he had been as a young man. Still, this was the situation they were in, and it was obvious by now what had happened. At best, Lee and the others were captured, and at worst, they were dead. Either way, Alex planned to find out.
“It’s been long enough. They aren’t coming,” Alex finally said.
“No, they’ll be here. We just have to wait a little longer,” Sarah said, although it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than him.
“We need to take the next step, Sarah.”
“And what would that be!” she snapped at him without meaning to.
“We have to schedule a meeting with Charles. I’ll talk to the front guard and get him to pass a message along. Roger, you need to get Veronica as far away from the city as you can. Take the truck, and go home.”
“What are you talking about? We’re not leaving now,” Veronica said desperately.
“I agree. How will you even get home if we do?” Roger asked.
“We’ll find a way, but they’re going to be looking for you two. If you don’t leave, Veronica will be captured all over again, and then we’ll have double the problems.”
“Okay. I’m so sorry, though. We’re never going to get him back now. If I hadn’t . . .” Veronica managed to say before Sarah cut her off.
“You did nothing wrong. That could’ve happened to anyone. In fact, I was taken once when I was younger, too. We should have never let you leave to begin with,” she said and once again hugged her daughter.
Veronica didn’t like the idea of leaving, especially when on some level this was her fault. Her parents’ logic wasn’t flawed, however, so she didn’t have a choice. After telling her parents goodbye and getting the keys, they walked away.
“Can you get us a room over there? I would say we could stay inside the city, but I think it might be safer out here for now,” Alex said.
“I can, but I thought we were meeting with Charles,” Sarah said.
“We are. It’ll take time to get a message to him, though. It might be morning before we even know something.”
“All right, but Alex, are you sure this is the right play? Maybe we should go down into those tunnels and shoot our son out of trouble.”
“Believe me when I say if I thought that was a realistic option I would be doing it right now. They’ve been alerted by this time, though, and there will be hundreds of armed men on high alert. It would be suicide, and if Lee’s going to make it through this, then we can’t throw our lives away so quickly.”
She nodded and started to walk away, but Alex grabbed Sarah’s hand and pulled her back to him. Then he wrapped his arms around her and made a promise. “I swear on my soul that no matter what I have to do, I’ll make sure both of our children are safe by the end of this.”
“I know you will.”
“Good. Now, let’s get started. We’ve beaten worse odds than this before,” Alex said before turning and walking away.
Alex didn’t feel as sure as he sounded to Sarah. He felt like he had to pretend everything would be fine, though. If he didn’t, she might lose it. Still, he was panicking on the inside. He had gotten his daughter back, and that was amazing, but were they only trading one child’s life for another, and could he live with that? Alex had ultimately signed off on Lee going into those tunnels. On some level, this was his fault, too.
“Halt!” one of the guards by the front gate yelled, snapping Alex out of his inner panic.
“Relax. I’m the man you’ve probably been looking for over the last hour. The name is Alex Morgan, and I’m pretty sure Charles Boyd would like a meeting with me.”
The man drew his gun, but Alex had anticipated that reaction. He drew his just as quickly, and then they paused. It was just a
s he had suspected. This man was ordered to bring him in, but he couldn’t kill him under any circumstances.
“Drop your gun, or we will kill you,” the second guard said as he circled around Alex with his gun drawn.
“No, you won’t. Your orders are probably to capture me, but you can’t kill me because your boss needs me alive to negotiate the deal he wants. Well, guess what? There’s no way I’m letting you take me anywhere, so you have two choices here. You can go against orders and put a bullet in my back, or you can deliver a message to Charles Boyd. Tell him that I want to meet and discuss our terms,” Alex said.
“Where will you meet him?”
“Wherever he chooses to. It’s clear that he doesn’t plan to harm me, so why not give him that choice? I’ll be staying at the Hole in the Wall. Leave a message at the bar telling me where to meet him in the morning.”
At that point, Alex walked away with his gun still drawn but lowered. His job was done, and now all that was left was to try to sleep. It seemed like an impossible task, but he would need a clear head the next morning. This last meeting would probably determine his son’s future. Little did he know that a surprise awaited him and Sarah, and what they found would shake them to their core.
* * * * *
A few miles away from New Vegas by now, Roger was finally able to concentrate on Veronica. Before he had been constantly looking into his rearview mirror expecting to see someone coming after them, but he thought they were in the clear. Judging by the pained expression on Veronica’s face, however, she obviously wasn’t feeling as optimistic, and Roger thought he knew why.
“They’ll get him back. You know that, right?” he asked.
“No, I don’t. It’s a miracle that you were even able to get to me. Charles Boyd will be prepared this time. I have a bad feeling that Mom and Dad are walking right into a trap,” Veronica said and scowled.
“Trust me. I’ve seen what they can do.”
“How many years ago was that?”
“Does that matter?”
“Of course, it does! They aren’t as young as they used to be, and a man like Charles Boyd won’t be easily outmatched.”
“What do you know about him?”
“Quite a bit, unfortunately. When we first took this job, I thought we were just making a trade with a city like ours. New Vegas has a messed-up history, though, and it’s mainly thanks to that man.”
“What did he do?”
“Do you remember reading about the second Los Angeles colony in school?”
“We didn’t even know it existed when I was a kid, so not really. I think I heard a little about it when I was seventeen, though. Why?”
“Because it doesn’t exist anymore. New Vegas traded with them, but it wasn’t for the reason most cities would. They were seeing how much Los Angeles had by constantly asking for more in their deals. The more Los Angeles was able to give them, the more Charles reasoned they must have. Whatever they could spare more of was telling, too. Eventually, they had a rough estimate of exactly what Los Angeles had, and instead of trading with them, they took everything in one night.”
“How is that even possible? That settlement was huge.”
“I know it was, but they didn’t allow their outsiders to have guns there. The government thought the outsiders would eventually rise up if they had them. Over ninety-five percent of the population consisted of outsiders, so when a fully armed New Vegas marched on the city it was a massacre. They took their food, supplies, machinery, and even some of their more useful people. The maid who cleaned my room was one of them. She used to be a doctor, but they reduced her to being a servant,” Alisa said while shaking her head.
“Do you . . . do you think that’s what they’re planning to do to us?” Roger asked in shock.
“Absolutely. I think the moment my parents assure them that we can give them all of the things on their long list in exchange for my brother’s life, they’re going to know the truth. Raines is rich in so many important ways compared to the other cities. We’re practically a gold mine, and all he cares about is excess.”
“It doesn’t matter. They won’t give him what he needs, so he’ll never know for sure that we do have that much.”
“Don’t be naïve. You’re the older one here.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“That Lee is the baby of our family. Mom and Dad were great leaders, and they care about Raines, but they care about their family more. When they see that there’s no other way to get him back, they’re going to give in. At that point, given that all of this was never really about getting a better trade deal, they’ll be able to kill Lee and everyone else because they won’t need them anymore.”
“What do you think we should do?” Roger asked as he pulled the truck off the road. He wasn’t so sure that they should be leaving now. If Alex and Sarah were about to be in for a fight, then he wanted to be there with them.
“We need to go home and get help. I have a plan, but it won’t be easy to accomplish. Are you with me?”
“Always,” Roger said and put the truck in gear. He didn’t know what their next move was truly going to be, but he knew one thing. This time he and Veronica were going to finish it together.
* * * * *
The following morning, Sarah opened her eyes early and looked over to see that Alex was sleeping soundly. She hadn’t been able to doze off at all that night. She was too worried, but Sarah thought it was good that he was finally able to sleep. During most of the night, he tossed and turned, making it obvious that he was as worried as she was. At least one of them might be somewhat rested for what was ahead now.
Sarah couldn’t lay there another minute, so she got up and slipped her clothes back on. Then she walked downstairs and found that, as requested, a note had been left for them with the bartender. Sarah found that they were going to get their meeting, but the place for it was suspect. They were going to negotiate at the fighting pit. That didn’t make any sense, and she knew that this couldn’t be good. They were told to be there at noon. It was only six now, so Sarah decided to wait on waking up Alex for now. After all, he needed the sleep.
“You don’t look like you belong around here,” the bartender said as she pointed to a bottle of liquor.
“I don’t,” Sarah simply said.
“Why would the government be wanting to talk to somebody like you unless you were important?” he asked.
Sarah didn’t want to say too much. She knew two things concretely. One was that saying she was an insider would immediately make everyone in the bar hate her, and the other was that if they knew she was someone important, there would be those who would try to use that for their own gain in the same way that Alisa’s original kidnappers had.
“I do jobs for Charles Boyd every so often. Me and my partner procure items and sometimes even people for him,” Sarah lied.
“Interesting. I’m sure you’ve made quite a few credits through the years. I’m not even mentioning the stories you must have,” he said, now sounding enthusiastic.
“I do have quite a few, but it was a tough night. Do you mind if I save them for another day?”
“Of course,” he said and left Sarah with her drink.
She took a sip, only to find what she should have remembered. Sarah smiled as the foul taste filled her mouth and the burn radiated in her throat. Outsider’s liquors weren’t known for their taste, but they certainly were potent. It was almost enough to make her forget the battle ahead. What would they find at the pits? Was Charles simply setting the stage with a bloody display to show he was the one in power, or was there more to this? Sarah didn’t want to believe so, but all of her instincts were telling her that everything was about to change.
Time passed slowly, but finally, it was time to wake up Alex. She told him the news, and they got ready. After having to do a familiar dance at the front gate all over again, they were let into the city where they quickly found the fighting pit. They could hear the roar of t
he crowd from outside, and just as they walked in, two men approached them. Alex immediately got into a fighting position, not knowing if these people were a threat. Thankfully, they had simply been waiting on them to take Alex and Sarah to Charles Boyd’s location, which was a luxury suite at the top of the stadium.
“Good! You’re here,” Charles said.
Twelve armed men were in the room. They immediately disarmed Alex and Sarah, and then they were shown to their seats. Alex would be sitting beside Charles, while for some reason, Travis was seated on the other side of him.
“Hey, I’m so glad to see you, Dad,” Travis said while shooting him a look as if to say just go with it. Alex didn’t know what was going on, but he decided to play along for now.
“As you can see, your son is safe and sound here. Some of my guards were killed by your people, though. That requires payment. I decided to have the meeting here so you could see firsthand what that payment will be,” Charles said and smiled.
“What are you talking about?” Sarah asked.
“Two hired hands of yours were also captured, and they’re going to fight in the pits until they die. It’ll entertain my people and give them the deaths they deserve.”
Now Alex and Sarah were panicking. Those weren’t hired hands. In fact, one of them was their son. Why had Travis posed as Lee? This didn’t make any sense.
“We’ll give you everything you want, and you can keep my son as insurance until we get back. You can’t kill these people, though. I’m loyal to them,” Alex said with obvious desperation.
“Oh, so now it can be done. Let me ask you something. Did you not want to take my deal because you didn’t have all the supplies I requested back in Raines, or was it because you didn’t feel you could influence the people to basically give it all away?”
“It was neither. We have those supplies and a lot more. I also know that most people in Raines would die for us. We just didn’t want to betray them,” Sarah answered.
At that moment, Charles’s eyes lit up. They had the supplies. He had requested everything from food to rare metals and gasoline. The pure volume he had asked for was unbelievable, too. He had expected Alex and Sarah to eventually say they could give half that. That alone would have been enough reason to invade Raines, but this was spectacular. Alex and Sarah didn’t know it yet, but they had just shown their hand and doomed the city they loved so much.
The Divide_Legacy Page 12
