The Golden Goose of Los Angeles Extended Edition

by Travis Adams Irish

very edge of the sofa.  “Tell us everything. NOW!”

   

  Michaela seems to be prepared for this part of the conversation and slowly opens the manila envelope.  She reaches inside and pulls out a large stack of papers, looking closely at the cover page before setting them on the coffee table in front of Kelly and Rory.

  “Those are all death threats?” Rory asks through gritted teeth.

   

  Michaela nods slowly, looking down and away.

   

  “What is in these pages?” Rory demands, pointing at the thick stack of papers on the coffee table. 

   

  “There have been about three a week for the past eight months,” Michaela answers; her face stricken with guilt and frustration.  “We have sent each threat to the FBI for follow up, and Governor Hayes has been coordinating with them as well.”

   

  “You and Governor Hayes have both been keeping this from us?” Rory asks with disgust, folding his arms indignantly and leaning back into the sofa cushions. “If we had known about these, we would have made a statement on TV right from the beginning-“

   

  “Which is absolutely the dumbest thing you could have done in this situation, Mr. Chambers. These sick people have a little bit of humanity still left inside them. On some level, they know that what they are doing is wrong. Going to the press is a HUGE mistake; I promise you that. These people are unstable and misguided, but if two or three reporters somewhere in the Nation send out any type of message that they agree, or even partially agree with their sick logic, then that is enough vindication for them to act!”  Michaela finishes intrepidly, raising her eyebrows.

   

  Kelly puts her right hand on Rory’s knee and looks him in the eyes as if telling him to listen and relax.  He nods and lets his guard down, waiting for Michaela to continue.

   

  “By keeping this away from you and by keeping these out of the media spotlight, we have extinguished any vindication or satisfaction these people were seeking when they sent these threats.  The Governor and I have managed the threats this way for his entire term, but the reason I am coming to you tonight is because this story is going to run on channel 5, and it will appear in the newspaper tomorrow.  Also, Corba Strong is no longer restricted by the UCLA board of ethics, which means that most likely she is going to be the media source that may tip a few of these people over the edge.”

   

  “That woman is a fucking cancer,” Rory says without reservation, reaching back down and squeezing Kelly’s hand tight.

   

  “Now our attorneys are trying to issue an anti-defamation order against Corba Strong and XLevel Pharmaceuticals, but we can’t guarantee that we will stop them.  Over the next few days, if they don’t back off, I’d like to entertain the idea of giving them 200 milliliters in blood a month to cease and desist.”

   

  “Unfuckingbelievable!” Rory exclaims, shaking his head in disgust.

   

  “No, it gets a little worse,” Michaela continues with the disposition of military leader. “Corba has friends in Congress and the Senate.  Governor Hayes has heard rumblings that they want to approach The Supreme Court to find out if they can get a warrant to extract your blood and continue the clinical trials.” 

   

  “You can’t be serious!?” Rory asks with shock and disgust.

   

  “The Congressmen have asserted that your blood may produce a cure for terminal illnesses and that if our enemies are able to develop the cure first; it could produce a new threat from biological weapons.  However,” Michaela interrupts before Rory gets too frustrated, “there is a 95% chance that they will get denied without the court even considering the case.  It would be unconstitutional for The United States Government to ever demand blood from a citizen; whether free or incarcerated.  The only threat this poses is that it would create a lot of unwanted publicity.”

   

  “I want a security team,” Rory declares, standing up from the couch as he puts his hands on his hips.

   

  “That probably isn’t the best idea-“ Michaela begins and is interrupted by Rory.

   

  “Look, I appreciate you playing mommy to Kelly and I for the past few months, and we understand that you’ve been smart and careful, and kept this from going up in flames.  But from what you’re telling us about this goose video and that stack of letters, it has already gone up in flames, and; I really need to get some security here.”

   

  “I really don’t think-“ Michaela tries to speak again and is denied by Rory.

   

  “Kell, who was that security contractor we met with at the big gun show in Vegas?” Rory asks, showing Michaela that she is done making decisions for them.

   

  “His name was Jack Stansbury; I think he wanted some type of private consultation, but we didn’t have time for him.”  Kelly says, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

   

  “We have time for him now,” Rory says quickly, running upstairs to grab his laptop.

   

  “There’s one more thing,” Michaela adds with a shaky tone of voice. 

   

  “Okay,” Kelly says with a sigh, feeling frustrated and relieved to finally get all of the information.

   

  “There have been death threats to Rory’s mother.  We have been coordinating with her and the FBI to monitor-“

   

  “You should go,” Kelly says with an emboldened stare, “I’ll tell him about this, but you don’t want to be anywhere near him when he finds out…  He’s never hit a woman in his life, but tonight… You should just go, because if I want to hit you for lying to us, I doubt he’ll have as much self control.”

 

  “I’m sorry…” Michaela finally admits with sincerity.

   

  “That’s not enough,” Kelly replies with a firm voice. “This is our lives you’ve been playing with.  We deserve full disclosure if Governor Hayes wants to keep up his dog and pony show with Rory.”   

   

  Michaela nods with a somber expression and makes her way to the front door with the remaining contents of the manila envelope.  After she leaves, Kelly holds her right hand up against her brow, shaking with fear, and looking at herself in the reflection on the double pane window.  The woman looking back at her seems nothing like her old self.

  VIII. International Trade War

  The following morning is quiet and uncomfortable as the young couple is trying to cope with the news in their own way. Rory and Kelly sit at the large, round cedar kitchen table glancing at each other as they read through more of the death threats. Their normal lavish breakfast of fresh meats, eggs, and fried potatoes, has been economized to on-the-go foods. Everything they eat now is: dry, canned, or refrigerated in a small cup. Today’s breakfast is: canned pears, strawberry yogurt cups, bagels, and beef jerky. Kelly is still wearing her green, silk pajamas, and her hair is tied back showing off her pale face. Rory has taken advantage of a day off to revive an old pair of white cargo pants with a hole in the right rear pocket and a black fitness shirt with a stain from a protein shake. They both appear exhausted as they’ve spent much of the night trying to sift through the death threats and make sense of all these new developments.

  “I talked to Jack Stansbury last night,” Rory says with a yawn, setting a small stack of death threats just to the right of his breakfast.

 

  “Oh yeah?” Kelly replies, still reading halfway through a page from another stack of threats. “What did he have to say?”

 

  “He said that he’ll provide security, but wants us to sign a non-disclosure agreement before he tells us what he needs my blood for.” Rory says with boredom, turning his thumb sideways and rubbing it between his
eyes.

 

  “HIV or AIDS?” Kelly asks without looking up from her pages.

 

  “Yep, that’s what I’m thinking.” Rory responds shaking his head.

 

  “Wife and kids?” She asks with a dry tone, continuing to read. “Wife and kids aren’t infected, but the husband tested positive? Husband is wealthy and has a lot of time on his hands…”

 

  “I don’t know,” Rory answers, grabbing an empty glass from the table and filling it with cranberry juice. “But he is sending a few security guys over here later tonight; I think we’re going to be fine.”

 

  “Fine!?” Kelly asks, dropping the stack of pages on top of her food. “We are not fucking fine, Rory!” She declares with a look of frustration and fear. “Other couples, normal couples, are reading their newspapers this morning. But not us, we are reading our stack of death threats from the latest batch of sick, twisted assholes who decided that killing us just makes sense.”

 

  “Look, I know this has been rocky, but we’ve got the FBI-“

 

  “We’ve got the FBI for what?” Kelly asks in despair. “To help clean up our bodies and locate our killers after we’re dead? Maybe you’re calm because most of these people don’t want to hurt you, they want to hurt me, or Michaela, or Governor Hayes, or your Mom.”

 

  “What about my Mom?” Rory snaps back immediately; his eyes full of mistrust.

 

  “Yeah, that’s right; Michaela told me that she and The Governor, in their infinite wisdom, decided to withhold a death threat that was issued to your Mom.”

 

  “Are you kidding me? Why didn’t she call me!?” He asks with a puzzled expression.

 

  Kelly doesn’t say anything, but