by Suzanne Rock
“And if I don’t say this?”
He pressed his gun deeper into my side, making me wince. “If your voice won’t help the Tanzanian people, your body parts will.”
I stiffened my jaw and spoke through clenched teeth. “Max is going to kill you for this.”
Vash chuckled. “Oh, I don’t think so.” He pressed his gun deeper into my side. “At least, not before you announce the closing of your blog and paint my family’s shipping business in a much more favorable light.”
“Why?” I whispered. “You have nothing to do with them.”
His smile looked positively evil. “I have more to do with them than you think.” He tilted his head to the side. “I suppose Max never told you that we both had to work the beat before being picked for the SWAT team, did he? Nor did he tell you that our job was to patrol the harbor and the surrounding streets?”
“Ms. Abbott, are you okay?” Dr. Mayalla asked.
I turned to face her. “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry. I just lost myself for a moment.”
Vash put his gun away, and I moved toward the podium. All the while I scanned the crowd, looking for Max. There was no doubt in my mind that Max didn’t call Vash to help out. Vash was here with his own agenda, and somehow he must of have gotten rid of Max so he could get close to me.
“Good afternoon,” I said as I placed my papers on the podium. “Thank you so much for allowing me to speak to you today.”
I had only read about filibusters online and how they related to politics. To create one, a senator would stand at the podium for hours, droning on and on about nothing in particular, so that a vote could be stalled on a certain topic.
I had never done such a thing, but I knew I would have to attempt one now. I needed to give Max enough time to get back to me and somehow signal to him that Vash was the one we had been after all along.
As I began talking, I noticed that Vash took up a position to one side and slightly behind me. I could no longer see his gun, but I knew it was there. I also knew that he was very good at using it. Based on our conversation over the computer last night, I knew that if he had anything to say about it, I was never going to leave this college campus alive.
Of course, the college security in the room only saw a cop standing behind me. To them, Vash wasn’t a threat. I could try signaling one of them, but Vash would get to me long before any of them figured out I was in trouble. The professor was no help, either. After her introduction, she had taken her place in the front row, and was too far away to get to me in time. Even if she could get to me in time, I’m not sure what she could do.
No, the only person I could count on to help me was Maxi, and Lord only knew what happened to him. My only hope was to stall for time and hope that he could find his way back to me before it was too late.
I looked over the crowd and sent up a silent prayer that he’d hurry. Then I plastered on a fake smile. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Max
I groaned and rubbed the back of my head as the room slowly came into focus. Damn, that hurt.
One of the security personnel had mentioned a police cruiser had been spotted on the lower parking garage and had gone to investigate. When his communication went out, I knew that there was a problem. I weighed my options, trying to decide between sending another inexperienced security guard and going myself. In the end, I told one of the college security guys to pay close attention and went to investigate the cruiser myself. From day one, I had suspected that a cop was deeply involved in this. The presence of the cruiser had only confirmed my suspicions.
Imagine my surprise when I noticed Vash’s jacket and duffle in the passenger side of the cruiser. I didn’t have much time to process it, however, because someone had snuck up behind me and stuck me on the head.
I had no idea how long I had been out of it, but my guess was probably long enough for Vash to put his plan into motion. I had to clear my head and get back to Tess before something bad happened.
“Damn.” I sat up and held my head as the world seemed to spin around me. Whoever hit me knew what he was doing. It felt as if I had been run over by a truck.
I took a couple of deep breaths and opened my eyes once more. This time, everything around me looked much clearer. The items around me seemed to indicate that I was in a supply closet of some sort. Lovely.
Wincing, I got to my feet and tried the door. It was locked. I banged my fist on the polished wood and then stopped as the pounding in my head became louder. Thankfully, someone heard me. The door swung open to reveal a short man with gray hair holding a large broom.
“What’s going on here?”
“Call the cops and direct them to the auditorium. Someone is being held hostage.” I didn’t fear the cops, not anymore. I knew that Vash was the one behind all of this. The others were just doing their jobs.
The faster I moved, the more my head began to clear. Now that I knew that Vash was behind everything, it all made a lot more sense. He had all the ammunition he needed to get dirt on me, and who better to plant suspicions than my partner and long-time friend? The only question left was why, and I think I had an answer to that one, too. Ever since he had that arranged marriage a few years ago, he had been acting strange. I was willing to bet good money that his father had arranged that marriage for political reasons, and his new family had close ties to the Wild Ones.
I had to get to Tess before it was too late. The only problem was, I didn’t know where I was going. New York University’s campus was huge. She could be anywhere by now.
“Where’s the auditorium?” I shouted to a couple of women walking ahead of me.
“The what?”
“The auditorium.” I assumed it had a name, but didn’t know what it was. “The place where the lecture on Tanzania is being held today.”
“Oh.” One woman’s face brightened. “I heard about that lecture. You just go down this sidewalk here, and . . .”
“Thanks, I’ll find it.” I didn’t have time to stop and listen, and I probably wouldn’t remember what she said anyway. I hurried down the sidewalk as a clock somewhere chimed three-thirty in the afternoon. Wonderful, the lecture had been already going on for an hour and a half. I hoped that I wasn’t too late. Finally, familiar building came into view.
I suppose I could go in the main entrance, but if I did, then Vash would surely see me. I decided to loop around to the back and try to come in from the side.
It didn’t take me long to find the door to the building, and I hurried in the side of the auditorium where I had left hours before. As soon as I walked behind the curtain, Tess came into view. She was talking, but looked nervous. Behind her stood Vash, and he looked pissed. As he shifted his feet in irritation, I saw a flash of metal at his side. The more Tess talked, the angrier he became. If this went on for too much longer he’d probably shoot Tess at the podium, consequences be damned.
Fisting my hands, I glanced out at the others in the room. I had to find some way to take out Vash without endangering anyone else.
The professor spotted me and quickly moved to my side. “I don’t know what she’s doing,” she said. “Ms. Abbott has spoken for almost ninety minutes and has said nothing about her blog or the politics in Tanzania.”
It was hard not to smile. Tess was stalling in hopes that I would return. “It’s okay. I’ve got it now.” I glanced over the professor’s shoulder at Vash, who turned toward me at the same time. His eyes widened in recognition, and the next several minutes seemed to move in slow motion.
Vash reached for his gun at the same time I reached for mine. He drew his first and swung around to face me. The commotion caused Tess to stop talking. She turned toward me as I pushed the professor out of the way and took aim. Someone yelled “Gun!” as many of the students scrambled over each other to get away from the danger. Screams erupted from every direction. Vash fired, but not before Tess crashed into his shoulder. The shot went wide, and I let out a frustrated so
und. I couldn’t fire back with Tess all over him.
“Stop it!” she screamed. “Don’t shoot.”
SWAT team training had prepared us for many things, but it didn’t prepare us for a six-foot raging female eager to let out weeks of frustration. Tess punched Vash’s face and chest, bludgeoning him with her fists.
“Damn you,” she said as she hit the gun from his hand. “You bastard.”
I slid my gun back into the holster and hurried to her side as a police siren sounded in the distance.
“Tess,” I said as I crouched down beside her. “Tess, it’s over.”
“Get her off me, man,” Vash said as he covered his face. “Get her off me.”
I smiled and stood, changing my mind. “No, I don’t think I will. Tess needs to let out her aggression as much as you need a good punishment.”
Several cops entered the room. Among them I noticed our mutual friend Roy.
“What the hell happened?” he asked as Tess’s punches finally stopped.
I quickly told him the story. “It seems as if Vash has been leading a double life.” I coaxed Tess back as two police officers pulled Vash to his feet.
“Do you have proof of this?” Roy asked.
“He goes by the internet name Anarchy. We have blog comments going back six months that outline his connections to the Tanzanian shipping company Rattan, a company Tess repeatedly scolded in her blog. I’m sure if you search his apartment you’ll find even more information to incriminate him.”
“You have no idea what I’ve been through. My wife’s family has powerful connections.” He winced as they put the handcuffs around his wrists. “You have no idea how deep this goes.”
I put my arm around a shaking Tess. “Oh, I have a pretty good idea.” I shook my head. “I’m so disappointed in you. I thought we were friends and could tell each other anything. You grew up in Boston several houses down from me.”
“My family was chosen for greatness by the Wild Ones. It is through them that we were able to come to America, and it is through them that I was able to afford my education.”
“So this was all a payback, was it?” I asked. “And your wife, was she a payback, too?”
Vash didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. I could see in his eyes that he didn’t love his wife. She was part of some agreement, I was sure, and it would be up to the courts to decide just what role she and her family played in this mess.
Tess snorted. “Well, now that we know about the ports, you can kiss your shipping company good-bye.”
“You have no power outside these borders, and the Wild Ones control more than just the shipping ports. Aides, dignitaries . . .”
She widened her eyes. “My father would never bend to anyone’s will.”
“Not your father perhaps, but there are others . . .”
Tess stepped back. “No.”
“What?” I asked.
Vash smirked at Tess. “You really think that my family was the only one the Wild Ones tapped?”
I glanced from Tess to Vash and back again. “What, what’s going on?”
“Kami,” Tess whispered as she sank into a nearby chair. “Kami is Unity326.” She rubbed her temples. “I’m so stupid. He used his own birthday in his screen name.” When she turned to me, her eyes were hollow, as if all the life had been drained out of them. “He was born March twenty-sixth.”
“And the Unity?”
“He thought that by doing what the Wild Ones wanted, they would leave his parents alone and bring his younger brother back home. His family would finally be united. He never told me.” Tess sank to the ground.
“He has been manipulating you for years, my friend,” Vash said. “It’s just a shame that accident prevented him from finishing his job.
“Roy,” I said.
“On it.” Roy spoke quickly into his communicator as he walked to the other side of the platform.
“This runs deeper than any of you realize, and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“We’ll see about that.” I nodded to the officers holding him. “Take him away.”
As they dragged Vash from the auditorium, he started shouting once more about how his family would control the world. I sat down next to Tess and let out a long breath.
“How did you suspect Vash?” Tess asked after a long moment.
“Some things he said didn’t seem to add up. I suspected him, but hoped to God I was wrong.” I shook my head. “I was such an idiot. If I had only known—”
“You can’t beat yourself up over it.”
“I trusted him, Tess.”
“I know. I trusted Kami, too.”
I slid my arm around her and pulled her close. “I guess we were both betrayed by our best friends, eh?”
Tess leaned against me and signed. “Yeah.” She hesitated, then added. “Kami was everything to me. I’m all alone now, Max.”
“No,” I said as I leaned back and raised her chin until her gaze met mine. “You’re not alone. You have me.” I brushed my lips against hers and pulled her into another hug as tears started to stream down her face. “It’s over now, Tess. It’s finally over.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tess
One Week Later
It had taken a lot of legwork, but most of the perpetrators in the Tanzanian shipping scandal had been caught. No one on the police force had really believed Max to be a vigilante. The force welcomed him back with open arms, and he got right to work rounding up the others involved in the scandal.
Max had put in overtime, and I did what I could, going through old blog posts and paperwork, trying to find evidence to see that justice was done. Everyone involved had been rounded up. There was only one last piece to the puzzle that had to be put into place, and I was the only person who could do it.
As Max opened the door to the police station, I felt my heartbeat quicken. I rubbed my hands together and wondered how things could have gone so wrong. I trusted Kami. He was my friend. It was hard to believe that he had only been using me all of these years.
“You don’t have to do this,” Max reminded me.
“No, I do.” I needed to know why. Why would someone want to try to destroy a person’s life like this?
“Maybe I should go with you,” Max said.
I turned to him and smiled. “No, I won’t be long. I’ll be fine. Promise.” I patted his arm reassuringly.
He hesitated for a moment, then gave me a tender kiss on the cheek. “Okay, but I’ll be right out in the waiting area if you need me.”
“Okay.” Turning away from him, I let the prison guard walk me down the large hallway into the visitation area. When we entered the room, I was immediately struck by how dark and simple it seemed. Whitewashed walls surrounded a dark green table and chair. One of the walls had been cut out and a window had been put in. The table and chair faced the window. Steeling my emotions, I sat down in the chair and noticed that the room on the other side of the window had the same, dark feel as this one.
“Where is he?” I asked the guard. He didn’t respond, but instead took up his place along the far wall with his hands at his sides. His empty stare took in both everything and nothing, and I wondered if he was mentally off someplace sunny and warm, someplace better than here.
Max almost ended up in this place. It was tough to imagine him in prison garb, sitting on the other side of the window. If things had gone differently, I would have been dead and he would have been behind bars, not Kami.
“Kami,” I whispered as a guard brought him into the room on the other side of the window. I wanted to grab the phone and start yelling at him, but controlled myself long enough to let him get situated across from me. Gone was the warmth from his eyes, the easy smile from his lips. All that was left was a cold, hard stare of an angry man, someone I no longer recognized.
Not wanting to wait any longer, I picked up the receiver. Slowly, he mimicked my movements and put his own receiver to his ear.
There
was so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to ask. Unfortunately, everything jumbled up in my head until I could no longer make much sense of anything.
“Why?” I blurted out. “I thought we were friends.”
“We were,” he said. “But some things are bigger than friendship.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t understand.”
“I know. How could you? You have been given everything in life. You have people who protect and love you.” He seemed as if he wanted to say more, but instead pressed his lips together and stared.
I put my hand on the glass. “Make me understand, Kami.”
He started to raise his hand, then lowered it once more.
“It is my job not only to protect the albinos in Tanzania, but the rest of the population as well.”
“Your job?”
“My family was in danger, Tess. I had no choice but to do what they said.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Oh, Tess. You follow the plight of the albinos in Tanzania so closely, but fail to see how the others in the country are suffering as well. You, like the rest of your kind, prefer to turn a blind eye to what is right in front of you.” He hesitated for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully. “You think this is all about your blog and your charities. You are nothing but a thorn in the Wild Ones side.”
“Then why did they go through all of this trouble to try and kill me?”
“Think, Tess. Who is both close to you and has enough power to influence government policy in Tanzania, especially where shipping trade is concerned?”
“My father?” I lowered my hand in shock.
Kami nodded. “Yes. Your father has proposed legislation in the U.N. that will place sanctions on the Tanzanian people until we stop hunting our own. Sanctions that will hurt everyone who lives there, not just the shipping companies.”
“How did I not know about this?”
Kami shrugged. “At first we ignored it. The United Nations are known for a lot of talk and little action. But then your father started gaining supporters. The bill is to go to a vote next month.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. “He claims to be imposing the sanctions to force us to respect human rights, but the sanctions your father is talking about will only bring about more violence and more pain.”
