The Obsidian Collection

by Rebel Adams

  Trevor went off to college at USF in Tampa, just far enough away to have some freedom from his uncle. But that didn’t stop Phil from calling and threatening the Baileys until Trevor agreed to do more work for him. The jobs got bigger and bigger, and the amounts ballooned. In his senior year, Trevor began to leave little markers that would eventually get him caught. He was tired of being a pawn. He figured he’d rather be the fed’s prisoner than continue stealing for a cruel man who’d never been a father to him.

  PART TWO: THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN

  * * *

  Trevor Landon Kyle #05555-055

  FCI victorville

  FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION

  P.O. BOX 5555

  VICTORVILLE, CA 61555

  June 30, 2010

  Dear Shanice:

  You may not have Isaiah and Brenda Bailey’s blood, but you’re certainly their daughter! For three years, your letters have been my lifeline, my grip on reality, my only hope in this seemingly hopeless place. But it was your visit last week that finally convinced me your unwavering faith in me is not misplaced. I’m willing to accept it, because as you said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

  You put your complete trust and confidence in me the first day we met, but I’ve held myself away from you, because everyone else in my life has left me. I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that you would never forsake me until last week. For a little woman, you’re certainly not a pushover. You say I’m the one who schooled you, but I can’t remember being as strong for you as you’ve been for me over the years.

  From this day forward, I’m yours in good times and bad, forever and always. What I hate now more than pushing you away after David and Elena died, or pushing you away again before I came here, was not realizing my mistake and acting on it while you were here. Thank God you didn’t take my irrational doubts to heart.

  Since we were children, I’ve hoped for so much for both of us, despite my life taking tragic turn after turn. I’m so happy the Baileys were able to give you the stability you deserved. I can only hope when I’m released, we can take the time to build the kind of life we’ve always longed for…together.

  I love you so much, Shanice. I’m sorry I didn’t say it while you were here in front of me, and I promise when I get out of here, I will not fail to say it, or to show it to you every day of our lives.

  Eternally yours,

  Trevor

  * * *

  June 27, 2014

  Trevor Kyle shuffled in restraint chains to his exit interview with Special Agent Donald Hemphill. There was no eagerness on his part, even though he’d be free the following Monday. But he wouldn’t miss the hand and leg jewelry.

  The guard escorting him stopped at one of the holding cells that masqueraded as a lawyer/client meeting room, and opened the door. Hemphill sat in the hard plastic chair on the opposite side of a metal table. After his restraints were removed by the guard, Trevor took the chair opposite the agent who’d visited him frequently asking for favors since he’d been locked up. They were on a first-name basis, but Trevor addressed him formally when he was being sarcastic or needed to make a point.

  “You don’t look like a man who’s getting out of this joint in a couple of days, Trevor,” Hemphill said.

  Truth be told, Trevor was not as happy as he should have been about leaving. Now he had no more leverage against the man who liked to call himself his foster father but who was nothing more than his legal guardian. He’d have to give Philip what he wanted or risk losing the only person who mattered to him in some horrific way he couldn’t do a damn thing about.

  “What do you want, Donald?”

  Donald looked down at a lone manila folder sitting neatly in front of him. “I’m going to tell you what I’ve discovered in the last couple of weeks, and you’re going to listen, so we can partner up and we bring to justice the mastermind behind this crime for which you took the lone fall.”

  Hemphill had cajoled, threatened, manipulated, enticed, and used all kinds of persuasion he could in the seven years Trevor had been in prison to get him to tell him the location of more than one billion dollars he’d stolen by hacking into each state’s unclaimed property accounts. Hemphill had also offered him deals to get him out of prison earlier, believing this would be the one incentive that would make Trevor talk, but he’d needed more. He’d made it clear there would have to be assurances made regarding the safety of Shanice Bailey and her family.

  Trevor didn’t dare get his hopes up. He knew if there was anyone who could get inside the criminal mind enough to catch an oily scumbag like his uncle, it was Special Agent Donald Hemphill.

  “Show me what you’ve got,” Trevor said. “Then I’ll let you know if we can deal.”

  Hemphill smiled and pushed the folder toward him like he was moving a chess piece.

  Within the hour after his exit interview, Trevor was out of his prison garb and wearing regular clothes for the first time in many years. It felt weird. He and Hemphill were making their way to Las Vegas, in what was undoubtedly a federal vehicle.

  If he’d been smart enough to siphon off a few million of what his uncle had instructed him to steal, he would have had new identities and passports waiting for him and Shanice upon his release. They could’ve disappeared this weekend and not even have had to deal with his goddamned uncle at all. No one would have been able to find them, including the small cadre of federal agents Hemphill had working every angle.

  Hindsight was twenty-twenty, of course, and if Trevor wanted to prove to Shanice he was indeed a changed and/or much better man than the federal government had proven him to be seven years ago, he needed to do it this way.

  They were in the city limits of Las Vegas when Donald shared some pertinent information with him.

  “Shanice Bailey is already here.”

  Trevor slipped his hand underneath Hemphill’s tie and twisted. He tightened it like a noose around the agent’s neck. “What the fuck kind of games are you playing, Hemphill?”

  Hemphill gasped and pulled the car over. “Listen…What would you have done if you’d known a couple of hours ago? Agonized over it all the way here?” Trevor loosened his grip but didn’t remove his hand from the loop of the tie. Hemphill said, “She sweet-talked your release date out of your frazzled caseworker and came to surprise you. There was nothing we could’ve done to stop her, unless we’d gone in to talk to her without your knowledge. We wanted you to take this deal, not piss you off by talking to your girlfriend first.”

  “Where is she?” Trevor yelled.

  Hemphill pried Trevor’s hand away from his neck and shook him off. “Do that again, and our deal is off the goddamn table.” He adjusted his tie and straightened himself out. “She’s staying with a friend who graduated with her a couple of weeks ago. Apparently this girl’s father is friends with the pastor.”

  Trevor shook his head. “Is there anything else you need to tell me before this shit goes down next week? I need to figure out how to get Shanice out of harm’s way before I meet my dear old uncle Monday morning.”

  “We’ve got a room for you at the New York, New York Hotel. Our treat.” Hemphill reached into his inside suit pocket and handed Trevor an envelope. “Here’s a little pocket change to get you around while you handle your personal business. We’ll touch base Sunday afternoon about the sting operation.”

  They rode in silence until he pulled into a gated community north of the Air Force base. “Call a cab or something, when you get ready to check into the hotel. It wouldn’t do to have me hanging around your girl and her friend looking like a federal agent.”

  Trevor sighed. “Look, Donald, I’m sorry. I’m not rational at all when it comes to Shanice, okay? You should’ve told me sooner. If you want my full cooperation, you need to keep her out of this as much as possible.”

  Hemphill waved him off. “We’ll figure out together how to keep her out of Philip Kyle’s crosshairs
until we get him into custody. I’ll see you tomorrow, ready to rock and roll.”

  “Thanks, man,” Trevor said and opened the car door.

  As Hemphill sped off, Trevor realized the bag containing all his worldly goods was still in the trunk. He could only hope someone would drop it off in that room the feds were paying for.

  Trevor went to the door and knocked. He was so nervous and wondered how Shanice would react. A girl he assumed was Shanice’s friend, answered the door.

  “Yes?” she said.

  He looked in and saw Shanice eating Doritos. When she looked up and saw Trevor, she dropped the bag and ran over it, and he could hear the remaining contents being crushed. She collided with Trevor on the stoop and jumped into his waiting arms. She wrapped her legs around his torso, and he hefted her into his arms. Tears rained down her cheeks as she bombarded him with sloppy kisses all over his face.

  “Oh my God! Oh my God!” she reiterated like a mantra.

  When their lips finally met, they latched on and didn’t let go for an awkward amount of time.

  “Um, you guys might want to get in here before those yapping dogs bring the whole neighborhood out to watch you two make out on my doorstep,” Lisa said.

  They stopped kissing just long enough to notice Lisa, who stood with her arms folded, watching them in amazement. Shanice showered him with more kisses.

  “Sorry,” Trevor said. “Didn’t mean to be rude.” He closed the door and did a bow-legged walk toward Lisa, still carrying Shanice in his arms. Holding her carefully with one arm, he reached the other hand out to Lisa and introduced himself. “Trevor Kyle.”

  “I would certainly hope you’re the Trevor she’s bent my ear about for the past four years and not some random guy who showed up on my doorstep to make out with her.”

  Trevor laughed. “That’s one thing I’ll admit being guilty of.”

  “Make yourself at home,” Lisa said. “I’m going into my room to watch some riveting Friday morning TV, unless you brought a sex-starved friend with you from prison who I can play with today.” The girl had the nerve to look hopeful.

  Shanice tore her lips away from him. “Lisa!” Then to Trevor, she said, “Remember how I told you she has no filter?”

  “I’m beginning to see that firsthand,” Trevor said. “And the answer is no. I tried not to make any friends while in prison. Sorry.” His mind went to Donald Hemphill, the federal agent had been the closest thing he’d had to a friend while he’d been inside. He might have to ask the guy for another favor. Later.

  “Too bad,” Lisa said. “Hey, aren’t you out early? I thought Shanice said you were getting out on Monday. We had the GPS ready to pick up your ass early Monday morning.”

  “Yeah, baby. How did you know I was here?” Trevor scrambled to think of an answer. He was grateful when Shanice said, “Oh, you called my parents.”

  “Something like that,” he said.

  Lisa backed towards the hallway, “Well, you kids catch up, fuck like a couple of bunnies, or make sweet love on my parents’ couch. It’s leather, so you won’t leave stains like I did on their other sofa that one time when I was in high school.”

  Trevor shook his head, and Shanice grew almost purple with embarassment. When Lisa disappeared down the hall, they collapsed against each other and laughed.

  Trevor said. “Where are her parents?”

  “After our graduation, her father had to go out of the country on Air Force business and her mother went along. I’ve been here with Lisa for three days. . .waiting.” Her brown eyes clouded up again, and her chin quivered. “And now you’re here.”

  Trevor pulled her close into his arms and molded her to him. His body had yearned for this kind of closeness when she’d visited him the few times she’d been able to or on nights after he’d talked to her on the phone. Even when he read one of her letters. Now he had the woman he loved in his arms, and he never wanted to let her go.

  Of course, he’d have to for however long it took for Hemphill and his team to get enough on his uncle to take him into custody. Trevor hoped like hell it would be as easy to get him to confess his part in the scheme, while simultaneously providing the other part of the code to retrieve the stolen funds.

  His face grew warm when he realized he was sporting a boner the consistency of granite. He gently held Shanice away from his body, but she pressed back into him. “Sweetheart,” he said sheepishly,“If you don’t stop that I’m going to have a messy and embarassing situation on my hands.

  “What?” she mumbled against his chest. “Oh!” She jumped back, but her focus was drawn to what was going on in his pants. He felt his face heat up, and he turned away from her to try and discreetly adjust himself, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. Then he decided it might be better if he sat down, so he strode over to the couch, where Shanice promptly joined him.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’d be more worried if you didn’t have that reaction to me after seven years.”

  “I know, but that’s not all I want from you, Shanice. I love you, and I want us to do everything how Isaiah used to say, ‘decently and in order.’ Just like he did with your mother.”

  “But why?” Then her plea turned to resolve on a dime. “Trevor Kyle, I have done without you for seven years, except on paper and by telephone most of the time. I’ve been married to you in my heart since you admitted your feelings for me after three years of langishing in that prison, hoping we’d all forget about you. If you don’t make love to me tonight, I’m going to explode!”

  He became more and more shocked as she kept on talking. “What if it had been Monday when I’d gotten out?”

  “Semantics,” she said. “I promised myself you would make love to me on the day you got out of prison, and that day is today.”

  “What’s the rush? The world isn’t ending. After I’ve gotten on my feet, we’ll get married in your father’s church and have that honeymoon in Africa you’ve always wanted.”

  The tears came again and broke his heart. All he could do was look at her with all the love he had in him as she pleaded her case.

  “You pushed me away, not once, but twice,” she whispered through a pained voice that affected him almost as much as the first time he’d rescued her from the bullies. “I won’t survive it again. I need to have something of you that will assure me you won’t push me away again.”

  “If I took advantage of you like that, I’d be as dishonorable and untrustworthy as the monster my uncle made me.”

  “You are the honorable man my father and David Kyle created, not who your uncle tried to make you. So, no more waiting. I need you to make love to me, Trevor, because I need you to know from this day, not some arbitrary date in the future, we are one and we will never be separated again.”

  It was all he could do not to grant her wish. As much as he wanted to, he knew if he took her before they were married, he wouldn’t be able to look his future father-in-law in the face. Long ago, when Isaiah came to terms with the way his daughter felt about Trevor, he’d exacted a promise from him, and as much as Shanice had tried to get him to break that promise even before he went to prison, he couldn’t do it. He had only one alternative.

  “Let’s not wait, then.” He paused for effect. “Marry me, tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Yes. We’re in Vegas, the elopement capital of the world. There are little chapels all over this city,” he looked at his watch. “Let’s go get our paperwork done at City Hall.”

  She stood as if the action was her answer and gave him a level stare. “Let’s go do this.”

  “Yeah?”

  “But, before we go, I need you to ask me again, and this time do the down on one knee thing.”

  Trevor could only comply.

  Special Agent Donald Hemphill took the stool next to Trevor at the hotel bar. Trevor was having a boilermaker. Hemphill flashed his credentials and waved the pretty blonde bartender away, but not before he gave her a broad smile
and an “I’m your man if you want to get out of here later” wink.

  Trevor glared at the FBI agent, who was almost as much of a chick magnet as James Bond, a fact he’d come to know in the almost eight years they’d known each other. At least once a year while Trevor had been imprisoned, Hemphill had collaborated with him on one case or another. “Last I checked, drinking wasn’t on the list of no-no’s for ex-cons.”

  “Maybe not, but I know from experience brides don’t care much for sloppy-drunk grooms on their wedding nights. It dulls the performance.”

  Trevor did a double-take. “How’d you know about that?”

  “Connections. I got the memo. And if I got the information this fast, what makes you think Phil won’t? He has ‘connections,’ too.”

  “I don’t care. With all that’s going on, she’s the one good thing in my life. I want to make her happy.”

  “But you’re putting her in danger. He’s threatened her to get to you.”

  Trevor shook his head. “I can take care of myself. And Shanice. I’m going to give her a honeymoon, too.”

  “Trevor,” Hemphill said and sounded like he was trying to control himself. “Phillip could already be in town. You should be holed up in your hotel until we do this thing. I knew it was a mistake when you refused protective custody.”

  “I’ve been in prison for seven years. You guys standing guard while I sit in my room would be the same thing.”

  Hemphill put his hand on Trevor’s arm. “But if something happens to you, our whole case falls apart.”

  “Isn’t what you’re doing considered harassment or something? I don’t need babysitting. I’m a man of my word. I’m going to help you get Philip.”

  Hemphill narrowed his eyes. “I’m not so sure. Can you even think straight where Shanice Bailey is concerned?”