The Big Apple Posse Trilogy

by Williams , Wendy R

  “Wow, that is some story. I knew you used to take care of him but I did not realize that you were the only one,” said Amanda.

  “Well, that is what happened. And even though I was horribly sad to not see Thibodeaux every day, Auntie Tina was right. Both Thibodeaux and I did much better once we were enrolled in private schools, and you saw how much I love to dance. I had taken dance lessons before Thibodeaux came to stay with us, but afterwards, there was no one else to take care of him so I couldn’t. Armand would come to the house after he got out of ballet school and he would dance with me, but it wasn’t the same,” said Solange.

  Solange looked at Amanda who was speechless, “Come on, I didn’t want to make you sad. Let’s go downstairs. I want to see the rest of this house,” said Solange.

  Solange got dressed and then she and Amanda went downstairs and walked into the kitchen.

  When Solange walked into the room, Michael looked up and pulled out the chair next to him. “Come over here so I can see your face.”

  “It is just a few bruises,” said Solange.

  Michael tapped on the chair and Solange walked over and sat down.

  Michael put his hand on Solange’s chin and turned her face from side to side. Amanda could see he was trying to hide how angry he was.

  “Hey, Michael, it’s okay. Amanda and I are walking and talking,” said Solange.

  Amanda turned away from watching them and handed the list to her grandfather, “Here you go and thanks so much.”

  Solange, Peter, and Thibodeaux ate breakfast like they were famished. While they were eating, Amanda and her grandfather cleaned up the kitchen. Amanda thought about how she always just pitched in to clean up now, something she never would have done when she was living at home. Then her mother would have to nag her to do her share of the chores. This pitching in without being asked was definitely something she needed to quit doing as soon as life was back to normal. Acting as grownup as Solange was exhausting.

  Miss Gaby’s car pulled up behind the house. She walked in and handed the keys to Michael and said, “Would you please bring the food inside. No one can see the back of my house from the road, so I think it will be okay for you to be outside.”

  Thibodeaux started to walk outside to help.

  “Let me do it alone,” said Michael. “I think we covered our tracks pretty well last night but just in case, the fewer people who go outside the better.”

  Gaby had bought a lot of groceries and once Michael had them inside, everyone helped her put them up.

  Gaby stopped storing the food and looking at Michael and DJ said, “While I was out shopping, I was thinking about what we need to do and I would like to call three of my friends and ask them to help.”

  “Three more people! I don’t think that is a very good idea. We already have two more people, you and Amanda’s grandfather, involved in our problems,” said Michael.

  “Hear me out. I have three really good friends, two of whom I have known since grade school and another friend that went to Yale with Lafayette and me—Lafayette is the man who has the house in Los Angeles. And these three friends would want to help. Most Americans would do anything they could to help bring to justice the guys who bombed New York City and my friends would be honored to be asked to help,” said Miss Gaby.

  “Hey guys, listen to Miss Gaby. She’s one of the smartest women I know,” said Grandpa Wally.

  “Okay, who are these three?” asked DJ.

  Amanda was stunned. They were going to involve three more people? But she just sat down at the table and listened.

  “First, I went to school with a guy named Cyrus Bernard who is now a Superintendent in the Louisiana State Police,” said Miss Gaby. She saw the look on Michael and DJ’s faces, “Hey, not all law enforcement in Louisiana is backwoods. Cyrus may be a redneck but he has been in law enforcement for almost forty years and he is also one of the smartest men I know. And I know he would be a lot of help. I want to call him and ask him to come over here today so he can help us figure out just what to do.”

  “Okay, so who else?” asked Michael.

  “We need to do something about these kid’s school. Solange, are you still in high school?” asked Miss Gaby.

  “This is supposed to be my senior year. I was being home schooled by a nun from my school because I had to be at the ballet every afternoon. Sister Anne was home schooling Amanda too; well, she home schooled her for two days until I screwed up and put Amanda and me in a position to be kidnapped,” said Solange.

  Michael put his hand over Solange’s hand. Solange looked at him and started to say something but then she changed her mind.

  “Well, I can tell by looking that Amanda, Thibodeaux, and Peter should still be in school so I want to call another of my grade school friends, Bernadette Lambert. She is the superintendent of schools for Natchitoches parish,” said Miss Gaby.

  “What’s a parish?” asked Peter.

  “It’s what we call a county in Louisiana,” said Miss Gaby.

  “Oh,” said Peter.

  “I will ask Bernadette to give us the books and curriculum for all of your grades and I will help you stay on grade level so when you go back home, you can convince your schools that you are ready to move on to the next grade. I am sure when the administrators at your schools know what happened to you, they will want to help. But you still will need to keep up next year and Solange needs to convince them that she qualifies to graduate,” said Miss Gaby.

  “Thank you,” said Amanda. “I would hate to be held back a year because of what those terrorists did. It’s bad enough that we had to run, but to be embarrassed…,” Amanda’s voice trailed off. She did not want to give Michael and DJ another chance to laugh at her.

  “I’m not worried about that happening,” said Peter.

  “Well, thanks for sharing that,” said Amanda. But then she thought about it and was glad that Peter felt comfortable enough to be snarky about how brilliant he was, so she smiled at him.

  “So who is the third person?” asked Solange.

  “One of my friends from work, Arnie Gillespie. Arnie is the head of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas. I want to call him and ask him to give us a cover story about how all of you were involved in the Summer Youth Arts program at the school and I was one of your mentors and I have taken you to Los Angeles for pilot season. This is a pretty thin cover story, but it would be enough to fool some local cop who wondered why a bunch of kids are traveling across the country during the school year. We could tell them this yarn about the University of Texas summer arts program and pilot season,” said Miss Gaby.

  “Wow, said Amanda.”You really did think this through.”

  “So, what do you think?” asked Miss Gaby.

  “Should we have a posse meeting?” asked Peter.

  “No, I think all of us should talk about it,” said Amanda.

  “This Cyrus guy, the one that is with the Louisiana State Police, are you sure you can trust him?” asked Michael.

  “I have known Cyrus Bernard all my life and I know he can help you. You know, all the good brains aren’t in New York,” said Miss Gaby.

  Michael actually looked embarrassed. “So call him.” Michael looked around the room, “Don’t you agree?”

  “Yes, call him,” said Amanda and then everyone else chimed in.

  “And I like your other ideas, I think you should call them all,” said Amanda.

  “So there we have it. Gaby, do you still have your skeet shooting set-up. I want to take my girl outside and see how she is shooting. I can buy some clay pigeons while I am in town,” said Grandpa Wally.

  “I can set it up out in the field if you and Amanda will stand in the trees so you won’t be visible. But if you are going to be shooting, I need to call the neighbors and let them know I have company so they won’t call the cops,” said Miss Gaby. “I assume you have your shotgun with you.”

  “I have a couple. Also, do you have a torso target anywhere arou
nd? I have a couple of handguns with me too so Amanda can practice target shooting,” said Grandpa Wally. “When Amanda is older, I want to take her to Scotland to shoot grouse. Hell, she might even qualify for the Olympics someday. ”

  “My Dad had a target and it is still in the garage,” said Miss Gaby.

  “It really is a good thing my mother isn’t here,” said Amanda.

  “Hey, I taught her how to shoot when she was a little girl,” said Grandpa Wally.

  “I know, but she moved to New York and then to Connecticut and she is totally anti-gun and I guess I am too,” said Amanda.

  “But you still like to shoot, don’t you. And don’t you think sometimes people need a gun so they can shoot snakes and other varmints?” asked Grandpa Wally.

  “Well, yes. But still, don’t tell my Mom,” replied Amanda.

  “Mum’s the word. Hey that was funny,” said Grandpa Wally but he quit laughing when he saw the look on Amanda’s face.

  “I’d like to practice too, if you don’t mind and I have my own gun,” said Michael.

  Solange just rolled her eyes and said, “If you don’t mind, Miss Gaby, I would like to take my boys into your living room to watch TV while these guys play Wild Wild West.”

  “You don’t approve of guns?” asked Miss Gaby.

  “No I don’t, but I sure did wish I had one last night,” said Solange.

  “I don’t have cable but there is an old VCR and it still works. There are a lot of VCR tapes. They were my parents, but there should be something in there you would like,” said Miss Gaby.

  “Does anyone need anything else from town?” asked Amanda’s grandfather.

  “No, I think I got everything else. They just need clothes,” said Miss Gaby.

  “And tennis balls,” said Amanda.

  Grandpa Wally looked at the questioning look on Gaby’s face and said, “Never mind.”

  Grandpa Wally left.

  “If you will tell me where the skeet shooting set and the torso target are, I can set them up,” said Michael.

  “I think we had better wait for Wally. I don’t think anyone can see this house, it’s on ten acres, but I would rather be safe,” said Miss Gaby.

  “Okay, DJ and I will keep working on a way to get him back to New York City,” said Michael. “Hey, DJ, give Miss Gaby that extra burn phone so she can use it to make her phone calls to her three friends without there being a record.”

  Amanda wandered into the living room where Solange and the boys were sprawled on the couch and chairs. Solange had put X Men on the VCR. Who knew Miss Gaby’s parents like to watch X Men?

  “What do you think about going to Los Angeles?” Amanda asked no one in particular.

  “It is probably just as good as any other place, and it is about as far away from New York and New Orleans as we can get,” said Solange.

  “I would like to see Los Angeles,” said Thibodeaux. “There is a pretty big market for hip-hop clothing.”

  “A market you won’t get to see this visit,” said Solange.

  “What do you think about Miss Gaby’s friends getting involved?” asked Amanda.

  “I think right now, we should just watch the movie. I don’t know about you, but I would like someone else to fix this right now,” said Solange.

  “Me too,” replied Amanda.

  And so they watched the movie.

  Chapter II

  Amanda heard a thumping noise and woke with a start. She had been asleep on the couch, supposedly watching the second movie which was long over. The sun was setting outside and the living room was filled with shadows. She looked around the room and saw that Solange, Peter, and Thibodeaux were also asleep. Solange was sprawled across the other couch and Peter and Thibodeaux were sleeping with their heads on pillows on the floor. Last night had worn them all out.

  Amanda got up and walked into the kitchen to see her grandfather sitting at the table with DJ, Michael, and Miss Gaby. The thumping sound came from the dryer.

  “Did you wash our coats?” asked Amanda.

  “Yes, I did and I hand washed your dresses in Woolite. They are hanging in my downstairs bathroom. I think they are going to be okay. I am not so sure about the shoes. You probably need to throw them away,” said Miss Gaby.

  “Thank you,” said Amanda.

  Amanda looked at her grandfather. “Sorry, I did not mean to sleep all afternoon. I know you wanted me to shoot skeet with you.”

  “We’ll do it tomorrow. Michael and I already found all the equipment and the target and we will shoot tomorrow morning before I take DJ to Shreveport. Here is your bag of clothes. And you can give this bag to Solange when she wakes up,” said Grandpa Wally handing Amanda a large shopping bag.

  Amanda opened the bag and saw that her grandfather had purchased two pairs of jeans, two shirts, a pair of shorts, a dress, a pair of sneakers and socks, a pair of black suede flats, underwear, pajamas, toiletries, lip stick, mascara, hair gel, hair spray and just about anything else a girl might want from a drug store. The clothes were really nice, a lot like the clothes she would have bought if she had been able to go to a store.

  “Oh Granddaddy, thank you. You shouldn’t have bought that much. But how did you know what to buy?” asked Amanda.

  “There was this really nice lady at one of the stores and I concocted a story about how my granddaughters were coming to visit and I wanted to surprise them with some gifts. Now, don’t look at me like that. I went to other stores to buy the pajamas, the underwear and all the drug store stuff. I didn’t want anyone remembering some old guy coming into their store and buying everything from the skin out for two young girls. I couldn’t exactly say we had a fire. But the nice saleslady helped me pick the jeans, shirts, shorts, dresses, and shoes, so I think I did okay,” said Grandpa Wally.

  “They look great. Thank you,” Amanda hugged her grandfather.

  “So back to business,” said Grandpa Wally, looking a little embarrassed about how happy Amanda was to receive his gift.

  “My friend Cyrus is coming to talk to us after dark. I also reached Arnie at the University of Texas and he is going to set up a shadow file for the five of you after Michael and DJ’s father sends your new identities,” said Miss Gaby. “And, Michael. You are going to have to pretend to be an aspiring actor too. We can’t just tell anyone we meet that you are the bodyguard.”

  “I realize that,” said Michael.

  “And my friend Bernadette is getting the curriculum together and will deliver it all tomorrow. We actually got a lot done while you slept,” said Miss Gaby.

  “I talked to my Dad and he is going to have one of our associates drive from Atlanta to Shreveport to pick me up tomorrow. That is why your Grandfather is going to take me to Shreveport. He will drop me off at a motel where I can get a room for cash and wait for the guy from Atlanta,” said DJ.

  “Wow, you did get a lot done,” said Amanda.

  “We are very efficient fugitives,” said Michael.

  “We’ll talk about this more when Gaby’s friend Cyrus gets here, but Gaby and I have been talking with the guys and we really don’t think those thugs were just jewel thieves. It just doesn’t add up. How could jewel thieves be as sophisticated as they are? How could they find everyone’s relatives? How did they keep finding your mother? Don’t worry, she’s fine. But you would think these guys were CIA or some kind of “quasi mercenary” like Blackwater, not just thieves,” said Grandpa Wally.

  “There’s just got to be more to this story about how some South African jewel thieves used the actual bombs and the powder bombs to hide what was supposed to be their purpose of robbing all the diamonds in New York City. What if being diamond thieves was just another layer to hide their actual goal? I got on the internet and read everything I could about the backgrounds of the guys they have in custody, and none of them seem sophisticated enough to organize that assault on the city,” said Miss Gaby.

  “It’s really been bothering me that they were able to find out abo
ut Solange when she is just Thibodeaux’s cousin and for all they knew, he had not seen her in five years,” said Michael.

  “The thieves they have in custody seem to be just garden variety thugs. I read a report on the internet about how Interpol is reporting that the thieves “cut their teeth” smuggling blood diamonds out of Sierra Leone. So where could a gang like that, who must have relied on brute strength in the past, develop the sophistication to keep finding you and your mother?” asked Miss Gaby.

  “Those guys we taped in Grand Central did sound sort of dumb, not the kinds of guys who could do anything complicated. They were blabbing, talking about the robbery a lot. But when I was recording them, they kept talking about this guy Kilgairn. I thought he might be the smart one. The thugs that beat us up in New Orleans said that Kilgairn would have to take care of us, whatever that meant, which I am sure wasn’t anything good,” said Amanda.

  “And why does Agent Marcum now agree with my Dad that you should not come back to New York and stay there until the trial? Why does he think he can’t protect you? When we left New York to go to New Orleans, he insisted that we return immediately. But now, he just told my Dad not to tell him where we are. You are witnesses in the terror trail of the century and he does not think it is safe for him to know where you are! I know he can’t protect you because if he could, they never would have found your school in New Jersey or found you when you were staying with Solange in New Orleans. But why does he agree?” asked DJ. “It’s like he thinks it is his fault and those kind of guys normally don’t think anything is their fault.”