Family Issues Ch. 13

"Where to?"

"You're awfully curious."

"Brigitte, if I take a car and run away, will you chase me down and force me to come back?"

Brigitte stopped fiddling with the synchronizer and gave him a curious scan. "What's going on, Kev?"

"Nothing."

"Fuck that." She kicked the bike. "50k worth of trash. I'll take the van with you and Nadine. Do you mind riding bitch?"

"He's not riding with us." Nadine stepped out of the garage door, her hands on her hips.

"Where do you want him?"

"Nowhere."

"Huh?"

"He's not coming with us."

"Where is he going to?"

"What the fuck do I care?" Nadine raised her voice high enough for people around to take notice. "I'm fed up with the whiny little bitch."

"What?" Brigitte stared at her, bug-eyed. Aleki stopped the Bugatti he drove and watched with a smug grin.

"You heard me. The sooner I don't get to see your annoying baby face, the better. You've overstayed your welcome, Kevin."

"Wh-what?"

Her dark eyes shot lightning. "Piss off, Kev."

"What?"

"The gate is over there, you idiot." She pointed.

"Thanks," he mumbled and took off. Slowly at first, then he ran in case anyone changed their mind.

Brigitte stared at his disappearing back. "What just happened?"

"Fuck off!"

"He's still super-hot. Now that you're fed up and all that bullshit, what if I take him for a ride?"

"What if I ride over you with a bus?"

"You know, Nadine, under the scary mask, you're just a big softy."

"Shut the fuck up!"

–-

Rain started pouring when he was one block away from the Astor mansion. People scurried indoors, and Kevin zigzagged from one shelter to the next. Soon he was drenched, so he fidgeted under a newsstand, waiting for the rain to weaken. He kept scanning the direction he'd come from in case anybody followed.

Two youngsters in raincoats, probably brothers, were up and about, hopping happily in the rivulets flowing along the sidewalk. A young brunette in a stylish raincoat watched over them under an umbrella and gave an apologetic smile to Kevin when the boys almost sprayed him with rainwater.

The younger kid stopped jumping and glanced up to her. "Mom, when you're old and go to heaven, and then you'll be inside your mom's stomach, and you'll be born and be a kid again, you should jump with us in the puddles, okay? It's really fun."

"I will," she guffawed.

Kevin started sprinting again, skipping from shelter to shelter. His mother would never grow old, and he had always believed that she was watching over him from heaven; now he wasn't sure anymore.

He wasn't even slightly surprised when he spotted the woman waiting for him at the lonely bus stop. The rain hadn't touched her, but her face was wet.

She escaped a desert land, from a family who didn't accept her and her sister. She crawled up from the gutters and built her power on sheer will. She owned an illegal escort service and ran illegal wrestling matches. Hard criminals feared her; crime lords respected her. She taught Kevin the difference between sex and making love. She could make him crave her with a smile, but that wasn't enough anymore.

"Thought you'd take off without saying goodbye?"

He attempted a hug, but she pushed him back.

"That show I gave back there..."

"I know why you did it." Nadine had gained dangerous enemies over the years. The opportunity to hurt her through Kevin was too sweet to miss. Convincing people she didn't care for him that reduced the risk.

"Iman will be devastated," she said.

"I'll visit."

She shook her head. "Not where we're going. This is really goodbye, Kev."

"Tell her... make sure she keeps on reading. She has amazing potential; she just needs someone to believe in her. Tell her, tell her I love her so much and that I'll never forget her."

"I will."

"I'm so sorry, Nadine."

Nadine caressed his cheek. "You know, we could have been amazing together, you and me. I was willing to let it all go for you, Kev. The Lace Boys, and everything else. Just grab the money and find somewhere safe to live. You, me and Iman."

He didn't know what to say, so he went for a hug again. This time around she allowed him. Her body was warm, and her heart beat fast against his.

"But you love Helen, even though she cheated on you."

"I can't help it, Nadine."

"Except she didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"Suzan wanted to keep her away from the meeting, so we texted her, pretending it was you. We invited her to that hotel and drugged her. Brigitte took those ugly pictures with Dima when Helen was asleep. Helen never used my Lace Boys; I lied. For all I know, she was a virgin when she met you."

"Why?" He stepped back, his eyes round with shock.

"Why what?"

"Why did you do it?"

"I wanted you to hate her, Kev."

"Why?"

"It didn't help, did it? I guess some people are just meant for each other." A lonely tear welled in the corner of her eye and went down her cheek.

"Don't!" He choked. She was the villain, and still he felt like an asshole.

"Helen didn't murder William," Nadine wiped her tear. "She's not a murderer. Suzan Owens stabbed him to death. Helen never worked for Suzan either, she never sent any emails. We made sure it looked like she did."

"We?"

"The Syndicate had been working on Richardson and Williams for two years. Not just Suzan and her team. When you have a cake worth seven billion, everyone wants a bite. I supplied the Lace Boys; Brigitte and her team were the muscle. There were other organizations too. Suzan fucked everything up when she murdered William. The FBI was all over the place before we could get our hands on any big money. That's why the Syndicate had her executed; she pissed off a lot of people."

"But, but, why Helen?"

Nadine's jaw hardened. "It wasn't personal. We needed a patsy. Someone to take the blame for the missing money. We've never meant for it to be a murder trial. I still have no clue how Suzan managed to pin William's murder on Helen."

"Why Helen?"

"She was perfect—just think about it. High up in the chain of command but a clueless loner on the other hand. She had no one to back her up, no one to talk to. No family except for a cocaine-addicted sister who was easy to control."

Kevin remembered his last phone call to Helen and grabbed his head. She sounded like she didn't have a clue because she really didn't have a clue. How could he have been so viciously stupid? "Nadine, if you go to the police and testify—"

"If I go to the police, I'll spend the rest of my life in prison. Iman won't survive without me. You 're on your own, Kev."

"Me? Helen's on her own. Everyone has betrayed her. She's all alone in that jail for something she didn't do, wondering why I treated her like a piece of crap."

"She's not on her own; she has you. Frankly, I'd trade places with her in a heartbeat. That's your bus."

The silver bus screeched to a stop. The driver opened the door and scanned the odd couple shivering in the pouring rain. "Getting in?"

Kevin started towards the door, then turned around. He grabbed Nadine and pulled her for a deep kiss, letting go of everything that was and could have been between them.

"Oh," the driver horse-laughed and honked the bus's horn. "D'amour!"

Nadine pushed Kevin back, half smiling, half tearful. "Go now, before I change my mind."

"Goodbye, Nadine."

She nodded. "Go save your Valkyrie."

–-

Seagull, you fly across the horizon

Into the misty morning sun

Nobody asked you where you are going

Nobody knows where you're from

Helen hummed softly a seventies song her mother used to sing when she was five. The black and white bird gave her a nasty screech, then took off into the cold air. She chuckled and started another set of pushups.

The inmates called them Prison Gulls. They prospered on the jail's dumpsters, enjoying the dubious plenty of the chow hall leftovers. Most inmates hated them with a passion. They bombed their stinking white goo everywhere and left a mess that required warm water rinsing and heavy scrubbing to get off. Some inmates even went so far as trying to shoot them down with improvised projectiles. Helen loved them. They reminded her that there was a free world outside.

Everyone followed the same yard schedule, men and futas. To a naïve outsider, the yard was integrated human harmony, but it was only a mirage. Yard segregation was strictly enforced. Black power, white power, Norteños power, Hispanic power, futa power. God forbid if you overstepped those invisible boundaries into another group's territory.

Helen formed her own group on the basketball court's outskirts. Since the cell incident, people kept their distance like she carried the plague. Her cellmates said nothing, but she could feel the volcano bubbling under the dirty tiles. At night she feared retaliation and fought sleep until she dropped out, exhausted.

At least they stopped harassing her.

The air outside was laden with rain, yesterday's terrible sins, and men's sweat. A steady drizzle kept prickling her hair, like sky needles. She didn't mind, and anyway, there was no chance in hell that she was going to spend the precious yard hours indoors. She savored the pain as her muscles stretched, keeping one eye on the group of white inmates playing basketball.

They were futanari-hating white supremacists, not all of them by choice, but that was how it worked inside. Survival dictated you had to belong, or you were prey. The inmates called it GABOS. Game Ain't Based On Sympathy.

"Barbie."

She grunted and kept pushing her body, one hand on the asphalt, one hand behind her back. "Hi, Aziz. Didn't know you were out of the infirmary."

"Released today." His eyes shone, and his dark curls clung wetly to his brow. "I've got something to show you."

"What?" She stiffened. Jail taught her everyone was guilty until proven dead.

"I, I've got a letter from your boyfriend."

"What?" She jumped to her feet.

"Kevin O'Brien?"

"What? You're lying!"

"I have a send in-send out gig with a nurse, so...I thought that since you stood up for me, I should do something nice for you."

Her heart hammered fast. "You, you're bullshitting me. 'Cause that just one fucked-up cruel joke if you are."

He shook his head. "I swear it on my mother's life."

"A, a letter? From Kevin?"

"I don't have it on me, I didn't want Valerie to know I'm helping you. You know how she gets."

Helen nodded fast.

"I've got it stashed behind the laundry room."

She almost hugged him, but he gave her a warning glance, and she kept her hands to herself.

"Let's go. Slowly, try to look casual; the COs are watching."

It was physically painful not to burst into a full sprint even under the correctional officers' suspicious scans. A letter from Kevin? Elation sent electricity charges that tickled her fingertips.

A stretch of muddied black ground lay behind the laundry room. The air smelled of wet soil, sharp laundry detergents, and ripe tomatoes. The inmates made a half-hearted attempt to grow radishes and tomatoes in semi-straight flowerbeds. Empty and half-empty laundry carts were stacked against the red-clay brick wall.

"Where is the CO that watches over this spot?" Helen said.

"Maybe he needed to see someone about a mule." Aziz wiped the sweat off his brow. "Lucky for us. Stand guard near the corner while I get it out. Whistle if you see anyone."

Eager, she dashed to the building's corner, watching the yard, her back to her cellmate. "Did you find it?" She had to raise her voice to overcome the giant washing machines' hum coming from the room.

"Just a sec." His tone rose a notch. She might have sensed his anxiety, but her own excitement blocked her perception. The laundry room's hum intensified, and Helen realized that someone opened the door behind her. She turned. Too late. Powerful arms grabbed her in a nelson grip. Smelly breath touched her face, and strong slippery fingers locked behind her neck. Helen folded instinctively. Her right leg looped back and hooked her assailant's leg. She leaned and closed her hands around a thigh with a pus-infected heroin abscess. She lifted the leg in the air before she collapsed on her back, getting a satisfying scream from her attacker. The hands left her throat.

"Nice try, Barbie."

Someone kicked her in the gut as she tried to stand up, destroying her balance. Heavy hands locked around her neck. Her new attacker was massive and had the muscle power to match her own.

"Grab the bitch's hands!" The harsh scent of garlic hit Helen, blocking her sense of smell. It was Valerie.

Another fist caught her chin. Her vision dimmed. The hands left her throat, and she collapsed forward, face in the warm mud.

I am a real person. I inhabit this earth. I'm not a bitch or a Barbie.

They viciously yanked her back to her feet using her blond locks. The hands locked again around her neck.

She wiggled and tried the same backflip trick, but Daria grabbed her left hand, pulling her up as she leaned. Sofia came from her right and latched to her only free hand. Helen attempted a headbutt, but Valerie choked her windpipe, preventing her from making contact.

Lightning flashed across the sky.

"I'm gonna shank the bitch," Josephine screamed. She limped into Helen's line of sight. The heroin addict held a screwdriver with its edge honed to a point.

"Shut the fuck up!" Valerie whizzed. Holding Helen down wasn't a walk in the park. "Suzan Owens sends her regards, Barbie. Aziz, the syringe, now!"

Helen tried kicking Josephine between her legs. The young futa jumped out of reach and broke up manically. "Not today, Barbie."

Helen sank her teeth into the thick arm that choked her neck and poured every ounce of hate she had into the bite.

Valerie screamed but didn't let go; she tightened her grip, pulling Helen's forehead up. "Stop struggling like a rabid dog! Aziz, the syringe! Now!"

Her eyesight was getting blurrier, and her hearing became dimmer. Aziz stepped forward, holding up a syringe full of dirty brownish liquid. She eased up the struggle, pretending, then kicked high, hitting Aziz's hand. The needle flew away, and the Lebanese guy scurried after it.

"Stop struggling, Barbie, it will soon be over," Valerie said in a soothing voice. "You will just go to sleep. You won't feel a thing, I promise. Easier to let go. No reason to fight. The world doesn't want you. Your Kevin abandoned you. He's not writing letters or coming to save you. Just let it go."

Let it go? She struggled feebly, her head locked in a vise. She was forced to stare up. A seagull somersaulted in the darkening sky above her. She wished she could fly with it to the big bed where a purple-eyed young man once held her and told her she was his everything.

I'm so sorry, Kevin. She closed her eyes and gave it all she had.

Suddenly the pressure eased off her tortured windpipe. Sofia let go of her arm, and Daria let go of the other. Without support, she fell forward, head in the mud, coughing. She rolled with little grace, trying to scramble out of harm's way.

Valerie writhed on the wet earth, clutching her private area. A tall inmate in a red jumper jail uniform head-butted Daria viciously. He used a laundry cart as a makeshift weapon to push Sofia away and then lifted the cart and slammed it down on the Dominican's head. Aziz was nowhere in sight.

Josephine snuck up from Helen's savior's blind side and shanked his hip. The tall man grunted, surprised. He spun around, and the makeshift knife sunk to the hilt in his abdomen, darkening his red jumper. Josephine pulled up her weapon for another strike, but Helen was on her. The marine's fist caught the young addict by complete surprise. There was a sickening crunch, and Josephine collapsed to her knees. Her mouth stayed open, and she shrieked as she tried and failed to shut it. Her jaw was dislocated.

Both Daria and Sofia were up on their feet, but now they faced Helen, no longer surprised and aching to fight. It was over. The soldiers picked up their boss by her arms and limping, made a tactical retreat. Josephine, whimpering, followed them.

Helen turned to her savior. The man was tall, in his early fifties. White, not carrying any White Supremacy gang colors. Not part of any groups she knew, though there were over three thousand inmates in Alexander. She didn't know them all.

"Are you okay?" he said, then clutched his stomach. His blue eyes widened as dark blood flowed through his fingers. "Damnation." He collapsed on his ass. "I," he panted, "I knew they were up to no good when I saw that snake taking you behind the laundry room."

Helen nodded stupidly. "Guard!" She tried to push a scream out through her tortured throat and coughed. "Help! Help over here!"

"Listen, listen, Helen."

"Lie down. Help!" She screamed. Helen sank to her knees in the dark mud and ripped his jumpsuit open. With sure steady movements she located the wounds. She turned him on his side and applied pressure with one hand, supporting him with her other hand. The earth felt warm against her skin.

Another lightning bolt jagged the sky. The gulls shrieked.

"Listen, listen, Helen."

"Don't talk, be still."

A curious face peeked out from the laundry room's door. Another inmate.

"Help! Get help," Helen shouted at him. "Quickly!"

"Helen, listen." He grunted in pain. "You can't go back into your cell, they'll try again. Someone paid to have you eliminated. You need to tell everything to the CO. Ask for protective custody."

"Stop talking!"

"You got to demand PC!"

"Okay, okay, I will. Just stay still." She breathed in deeply and then giggled, a little hysterical. Elation hit her because she had just escaped death by a miracle.

Her guardian angel breathed fast. In and out. "What's so funny?"

"You're the second man with a knife wound they'll find me with. Probably gonna blame me for this too."

"I'm not dead yet," he grunted. "I'll tell them exactly what happened."

"Hey, hey, stay with me." She snapped her fingers when he closed his eyes. "What's your name?"

"I'm Roy."

"Stay with me, Roy."

He gulped again, the pain made him wince. "I'm so sorry, Helen."

"What for?"

"For the horrible deed I've done to you. Your mother... I wish I could take it back."

"What horrible deed? You saved my life."

"It doesn't absolve my sins." He smiled, and there was a world of sadness in it. "You're very beautiful."

She blinked, surprised. That was the last thing she expected to hear.

"And very brave. Everyone heard how you stepped up for that ungrateful snake Aziz, against those criminals."

"Okay, but please stop talking. Just be still."

"It's easy to see why he loves you so much."

"Who does?"

"Kevin."

"What? What?"

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Hey, hey, Roy, stay with me. Stay with me."

"Not dead yet," he grumbled.

"How? Do, do you know Kevin?"

"Not as much as I should have."

Someone opened the tap, and the drizzle turned into a shower. The fat drops splashed her striped uniform with mud. "I, I don't think Kevin loves me anymore. He's angry with me, and I have no idea why."

"He said he loves you with every breath he takes."

"What?" She stared at him, but he gave her a tired smile. His blue eyes were kind, reassuring. "When, when did he say that?"

"Two weeks ago, when he came to see me."

The world was spinning. Nothing made sense anymore. "Kevin came to see you? Who? Who are you?"

"Hey, we'll take it from here." Someone touched her shoulder. It was David, her block's guard. A paramedic gently took her hands off and started treating the wounded man. Helen slumped over on the muddy ground, just breathing, trying to make sense of what she has been told.

"Roy, what happened?"

"The Dominican sisterhood tried to murder her, happened. I intervened and got stabbed. She needs to go into PC."