The Circle: Fallon's Story (THE CIRCLE SERIES)

by Danielle Santiago

  “Andrew, you stupid motherfucker! Why would you be out here smoking and shit?” Fallon screamed rushing towards where Ben was handcuffed and being able to lean on the back of the trooper’s car.

  “Whoa, whoa…ma’am I’m going to need you to back up. You can talk to your friend here at the station,” the trooper rushed towards Fallon so that she wouldn’t get to Ben.

  “Move out of my way. He should know better!” Fallon yelled as she still moved forward. The trooper turned his back for a quick second to try to move Ben from the path of Fallon’s wrath. Fallon was quick on the draw; she dropped the plastic bag exposing her gun. Two quick shots to the shoulder dropped the state trooper like a deflated balloon. Fallon grabbed his handcuff keys, but she didn’t bother to release Ben. She grabbed onto Ben and pushed him towards the car.

  “What the hell Fallon? You shot a cop,” Ben whispered frantically as she forced him into the car. Fallon jumped into the driver’s seat and peeled out of the gas station. She was so mad she could picture herself taking her gun and blowing Ben’s brains out too. The motion of the car and the fact that he had on handcuffs and couldn’t sit in the seat properly made Ben unstable in the seat. Fallon hit the gas so hard Ben’s body lurched forward and he hit his face on the dashboard. Of course, he started crying out like the bitch that he was.

  “I’m warning you Ben, shut the fuck up right now because the way I’m feeling if you don’t you will be worse off than that state trooper,” Fallon growled. Her nerves were on a hairpin trigger as it was. As Fallon pulled out onto the main highway she heard the wails of the sirens from the state trooper back up cars heading to the gas station.

  “You damn idiot! I didn’t need this! Not right now!” Fallon yelled, slamming her hands against the steering wheel. Fallon’s chest rose and fell so fast and hard she could barely catch her breath much less drive straight. Ben was still yelling and panicking about the shooting and he was giving her a headache.

  “Ben! Shut the fuck up so I can drive! If your ass wasn’t so stupid none of this would’ve ever happened! I feel like fucking shooting you in the head and throwing your body on the side of this fucking road, so I suggest you just shut the fuck up!” Fallon screamed at the top of her voice. Ben snapped his mouth shut. After seeing first-hand what Fallon was capable of, he wasn’t going to take any chances.

  Fallon finally got her nerves under control enough to steer the car calmly. She was driving the speed limit because getting stopped by the cops was not an option now. The atmosphere in the car was tense and that’s exactly how Fallon wanted it. She had nothing to say to Ben.

  When Fallon finally drove the car over the Colorado state line she sighed with relief. Ben was asleep and the peace and tranquility of the road had worked to calm Fallon down a bit. She purposely had not listened to the radio because she did not want to hear about the trooper shooting, which she was sure was all over the news by now.

  Fallon pulled into a quaint Marriot Residence Inn in Denver. She pulled her wig down so that the bangs were practically covering her eyes and took Ben’s fitted cap and put that on as well.

  “Sit the fuck here and don’t say a word or move until I get back. You think your dumb ass can manage that?” Fallon said to him. Ben looked at her and just shook his head.

  Fallon walked calmly up to the front desk. The attendant and several other hotel employees had their backs turned watching the television that hung on the wall behind the desk.

  “That’s a shame, but at least he didn’t die,” one hotel employee said to the group.

  “Yeah but he’s probably paralyzed. They said one of the bullets traveled and could’ve possible damaged something in his spine,” another employee said. Fallon’s heart began banging painfully in her chest when she looked up and saw the gas station and all of the crime scene tape on the news. The place was crawling with investigators. Fallon felt like she would throw up. She needed a room and fast.

  “Ahem,” she cleared her throat. All of the employees turned and started rushing back towards their respective jobs. The front desk clerk rushed over to Fallon.

  “Sorry for making you wait ma’am. There was a big shooting in Nebraska…a cop. This world is so crazy,” the young girl said, smiling softly at Fallon.

  “Yes, crazy,” Fallon replied. “I need a room for two nights. I’ll pay cash,” Fallon said.

  “Ok. But we need to have a credit card on file for any incidents.”

  “Just don’t charge my card. I’ll pay for everything in cash,” Fallon said, sliding an extra twenty to the girl. She wasn’t going to take any chances right now, but she knew that she would need those credit cards for show that was why she’d asked Drew for them.

  “No problem,” the girl said flashing a huge smile thanks to the extra cash she had in her pocket.

  Fallon returned to the car and without saying a word to him she freed Ben from the handcuffs.

  “Thank you,” Ben sighed, rubbing his wrists. “We got a room? Are we staying here tonight? We gonna get some grub? What we gonna do?” Ben rambled off questions at Fallon. She grabbed her small duffle bag of things she’d accumulated while on the run and ignored him. Fallon closed the car door and started towards the hotel. She could hear Ben’s dumb ass finally exit the car and close the door. Fallon hit the alarm to lock the car. Ben was running up behind her.

  “Fallon…you can’t keep ignoring me. I want to know what we are going to do. I mean, with everything that happened,” Ben whispered breathlessly as he approached her at the elevators. Fallon didn’t bother to look at him. Ben kept rambling until they entered the room. Fallon put her bag down and started to undress. She needed a hot shower to clear her mind. Ben flopped down on the bed and immediately turned the TV on.

  For the first time since she’d escaped from the BDC, Fallon felt hopeless. Now, not only was the entire state of Maryland’s law enforcement looking for her as an escapee, but another state’s entire police force was looking for the person who shot their fellow officer, which also happened to be her. Fallon was sure it would only be a matter of time, between surveillance and other shit that they get a whiff of her trail.

  Fallon sat on the toilet and put her face in her hands. She wished so badly that she could at least speak to Rain or Autumn or even her brother Dayvid. They always knew how to cheer her up when shit got rough. Fallon cried into her hands as she thought about her siblings.

  ***

  October 2006

  Fallon sat at the end of the long, black lacquer dining room table staring at the empty chair across from her. The candles on the birthday cake in front of her had burned all the way down until the wax had melted into the cake frosting. The house was completely silent, which gave Fallon a feeling of dread.

  Fallon looked at her cell phone again; still no calls. She had not one call from her siblings and even Linx had not even bothered to come home since the night before. Fallon had bought her own birthday cake and candles for the first time in her life. She couldn’t stop the tears from falling. It was so unfair. She’d chosen Linx over her siblings, but she didn’t think that meant they would totally neglect her on her birthday. She wondered if they even remembered that it was today. This had been the loneliest birthday she’d ever had. This wasn’t how she’d envisioned spending her eighteenth birthday. In fact, she and Autumn had always said that when each of them turned eighteen they would go on a trip some place exotic. Yeah right, even Autumn hadn’t reached out.

  Fallon wiped the tears off her cheek for the fifth time. She blew out the candles on her cake and got ready to call it a night. She picked up the bottle of red wine she had opened and took it straight to the head.

  Fallon jumped when her cell phone finally buzzed on the tabletop.

  “Hello,” Fallon answered anxiously. She closed her eyes in defeat when she realized it wasn’t any of the other Porters calling her. It wasn’t Linx either. Fallon listened and it was all bad news. More tears spilled from her eyes. Linx had been arrested in a narcotics
round up. Great! This was just what I needed on my birthday. She scrambled up from the table and grabbed her pocketbook. She was heading to the stationhouse downtown to see about her man. At least she could feel a little better that he wasn’t out with some bitch on her birthday. For Fallon, Linx getting arrested was an acceptable excuse for missing her day.

  Fallon rushed through the doors of the Baltimore Police Department stationhouse; the lobby was packed with women, dudes, old ladies, kids, you name it. Fallon assumed that everybody there was just like her, trying to find out about loved ones who’d gotten scooped up by the narcos. Fallon rushed over to the desk officer, a fat female officer who looked like she didn’t want to be a cop at all. Fallon had to damn near bang on the desk to get the woman’s attention. Still, the woman only half paid Fallon any attention.

  “Um, hello. I’m here to see about my husband. I think he was brought down here tonight,” Fallon said. The officer looked up from her newspaper uninterested. Fallon immediately noticed how ugly this officer’s face and personality was. It was no wonder they’d stuck her fat ass behind a desk.

  “So are the million other people waiting out there. If he was picked up in the sweep he’ll be at court tomorrow morning but tonight no information, no visits, no nothing. He won’t even get processed tonight. Too many people,” the officer said dryly, her double chin jiggling and distracting Fallon.

  “Can you at least look up his name and tell me if he’s on the list of people that got grabbed. Or if he is even at this station house at all?” Fallon pressed. The officer let out a long breath and shot Fallon an evil look.

  “Miss, do you understand English? I’m not looking nobody up. I’m not giving you any information. If you want to find out where your husband is you will have to go down to district court in the morning. That is all.”

  “Fucking lazy bitch,” Fallon mumbled, her cheeks flaming over red with anger. She turned away defeated. This wasn’t the life that she wanted to have with Linx. Fallon was not the one to ever want to step foot in a police station. She had learned that early from Smitty and Nanny that they don’t fuck with the police even if we are victims of a crime was their motto. Dayvid had tried to warn Fallon that being with a street hustler like Linx was going to bring many interactions with the police. Fallon hated to admit that her brother had been right.

  In tears, Fallon returned to the condo she shared with Linx. As she exited her car to head inside she heard a noise in the parking lot. Fallon whirled around, as she swiped at the tears running down her face. She clutched her bag, which held her stun gun and a very sharp switchblade that she never left home without. Fallon heard the noise again, this time she was able to see where it was coming from.

  “Did you think we were going to miss your fucking birthday?” Rain said grabbing Fallon roughly into a bear hug. Fallon’s heart skipped a beat and adrenaline rushed all over her body until she felt all warm and mushy inside.

  “Oh my God! I thought ya’ll were too mad to call or come see me today. I really thought ya’ll forgot about it,” Fallon broke down. Her body was wracked with sobs. “I’m so sorry for turning my back on ya’ll,” she cried some more. “It has been so fucking hard living without ya’ll.”

  “Get off her and stop hogging all her hugs Rain,” Autumn chimed. She was next to hold onto her sister. “I can’t believe I haven’t laid eyes on you in a year and some change. I hate that we are separated like this. I don’t even have a best friend anymore…nobody to share my boy stories with and nobody to shop with. I’m telling you this shit is torture,” Autumn cried into Fallon’s shoulder.

  “Me too, I miss you so much baby sis,” Fallon sobbed. “There have been so much going on. I am so sorry. I’m so glad you came. I needed to see ya’ll today more than anything.”

  “Stop apologizing and shit. We need to celebrate not cry and shit,” Dayvid grumbled. They exchanged a long stare into each other’s eyes. The love was apparent, but so was their stubbornness. Fallon decided to be the humble one this time.

  “Dayvid, I regret every minute I’ve spent away from ya’ll. I was so dumb for turning my back when you were just trying to teach me. You don’t know how much you coming here mean to me, for real. I am so grateful that you even showed up because I know how you are big brother,” Fallon cried some more. Her face was a caked mess of tears and makeup. Her brother’s strong arms were just what she needed to feel right at that moment. Fallon melted into his embrace and sobbed.

  “Man listen. I ain’t trying to hear all the past bullshit. Let’s go home and celebrate your day because I damn sure ain’t breaking bread in that nigga’s crib,” Dayvid replied, leading his sister towards his car. Fallon managed a smile through her tears.

  “I must look a mess,” she said, trying to clear her face.

  “Nah, beautiful as always,” Rain said.

  When they arrived at Dayvid’s house, Fallon was shocked to see that they had already gotten her a cake and a bunch of gifts. Of course, each of them gave her a different bottle of perfume like they had done for years on her birthday. Fallon was a lover of all things fragranced, especially expensive perfumes. Then the best surprise of all, Smitty showed up.

  “Oh goodness. Smitty! How are you? I haven’t seen you in so long,” Fallon screamed throwing her arms around Smitty’s neck. Smitty was still his old cool self, wearing his fedora, his toothpick hanging out of one side of his mouth and his swagger was on ten.

  “I’m good. I should be asking you that question. Heard about your boyfriend,” Smitty said, his eyes and tone like a father’s. Fallon lowered her eyes feeling a bit ashamed.

  “I know. I know. You know I was always the one who marched to my own beat Smitty. I just needed to go through this, but it doesn’t mean I love any of you any less. If it’s meant to be it will be if not, what can I say? At least I would’ve learned a lot,” Fallon explained. She didn’t want them to think she was going to leave Linx just like that. She loved him, a fact that she wanted her family to understand. She had to see things through with him.

  “We are not going to talk about this tonight. Tonight we are celebrating a beautiful young lady who just turned the big one eight,” Smitty said, giving Fallon a huge kiss on her cheek. He handed her a wad of cash. Fallon laughed and shook her head in amusement.

  “Ain’t nothing changed, huh? You still give the same gift Smitty,” she chuckled. From the time they were kids, Smitty never gave them tangible birthday or Christmas gifts; instead, he would hand them a fist full of cash.

  It was a night of laughter and love. Fallon felt right back at home with her family. She hadn’t forgotten about Linx though. Fallon knew she wasn’t ready to give him up.

  Fallon was in Dayvid’s kitchen checking her cell phone for any messages from Linx when Autumn walked in. Fallon jumped. She hadn’t told anyone that Linx was locked up.

  “You don’t have to worry about me. I know how it is to be in love and feel like you can’t have both. Our brother is pretty damn demanding, but he knows a lot Fallon,” Autumn told her.

  “Thanks baby sis,” Fallon croaked on the brink of tears again. “He’s locked up. On my fucking birthday…he’s locked up. He have court tomorrow, Autumn, I’m so scared. What if they don’t let him come home?” Fallon confessed her feelings.

  “I’ll go with you down there tomorrow. No matter what we think is right for you, I’m not going to act like you’re not my sister. You don’t have to be alone Fallon. I’m here for you,” Autumn said, squeezing Fallon’s hand. Those words meant the world to Fallon and so did her sister.

  The next day Fallon and Autumn sat in the back of one of the courtrooms inside of the Baltimore District court waiting for Linx’s initial court appearance. Fallon had already contacted an attorney for Linx and the fat, Jewish crook attorney had already shaken her down for four thousand dollars as a retainer, which Fallon had taken from her own stash of cash.

  After two hours of sitting on the hard, wooden benches waiting for Linx to be seen by the
judge, it was time.

  “The matter of state of Maryland versus Lincoln Drake on today for initial appearance,” the court clerk announced. Fallon moved to the edge of her seat when she saw Linx being escorted into the courtroom from a door at the side of the judge’s bench. Linx looked like he was scared, tired, worried all rolled into one. Fallon had never seen him look so distraught in his face. It actually pained her to see him like that. He would barely look at her although she had tried to get his attention. The judge and lawyers were speaking what sounded like a bunch of mumble jumble to Fallon. Even Autumn had to whisper and asked Fallon what the hell was going on.

  “Linx baby I’m here,” Fallon whispered out loud as she listened. A chick on the row of benches in front of Fallon turned around and glared at Fallon. She was so noticeable with her eye screwing that Autumn caught on.

  “What the fuck is she looking at so hard?” Autumn whispered. Fallon wasn’t paying it any attention until one of the little kids with the same chick noticed Linx standing up at the front of the courtroom called out, “Daddy! Daddy!”

  Fallon looked from the little boy back up at Linx and back again. Fallon was confused as hell. Daddy? Fallon said to herself.

  Just then, Linx turned around in response to his son’s cries and smiled at the little boy and the chick in front of Fallon that had given Fallon the dirty look a few minutes prior. Fallon waved thinking Linx was smiling at her at first, then she noticed he wasn’t looking at her. She felt like someone had kicked her in the chest with a steel toed boot. Fallon felt like her heart would explode.

  “What the fuck?” Autumn hissed. “He got a wife and kids?”

  She had caught on right away to what was going on. Fallon had her hand clasped over her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

  Linx was removed from the courtroom just as fast as he came. Once he was gone, Fallon couldn’t contain herself any longer. She needed to get to the bottom of this bullshit. Fallon boldly tapped the chick on her shoulder. “You know Linx?” Fallon got right to the point.