The Ties That Bind (17 page)

"Cas!  I missed you so much!" she said in between kissing all over my face.

I pushed her back from me a few inches so I could look into her eyes. Still laughing at her antics I said, "I missed you, too, Baby.”

Mom was just walking into the room when Zoe grabbed my hand and started pulling me to the stairs.

"We'll be back in a little bit," she said over her shoulder as we went up the stairs.

Forty-five minutes later, and a lot more tired, we dragged ourselves back down stairs. Mom just looked at us, snorted, and went into the kitchen to fix some lunch for all of us.

When Zoe and I sat down at the table, watching Mom work, Zoe said, "So what happened while we were away?”

"A lot. Let’s see, the demonstration went off without a hitch, we got an immediate order for five drones, and a long term order for twenty more.”

Mom stopped cooking and turned around, "Cas, that's wonderful news. So I guess you guys are solvent now?”

"Yep, Ted is going over the numbers, and I am going to sit down with Charles later in the week about the finances, and everything; but, things are looking up.”

"I'm so proud of you," she said, giving me a soft pat on the cheek before returning to cooking.

"Besides work, I had a chance to talk to Tina about her little personality change earlier in the year. Turns out she was trying to fight, ummm, feelings she has for me.”

"I coulda called that," Zoe said with a snort.

"Yeah, well, it's not over yet. She has agreed to table it for the time being, but made it clear she isn't going to give up chasing me.”

"And this is a problem?”

I chose to ignore her, "Also, Margaret seems to be slipping. She is starting to build some weird conspiracy theories, and throw tantrums.”

Mom looked concerned, "Has she done anything drastic?”

"Not really. At least, not yet.”

"There isn't anything you can do but wait and see.”

"That's pretty much what I said to Tina. She wasn't doing anything and Emily came over and joined us on New Years'. We all fell asleep watching TV. She was terrified about what was going to happen when she went home, so I went with her. We had a little … confrontation.”

"Is he ok?" Mom asked.

I held up my hand, stopping that line of questioning, "It wasn't like that. We had words and I made it clear things would go bad for him if the abuse continued.”

"You're playing a dangerous game there, Cas. That could seriously backfire," Mom said, looking concerned.

"I know, but I couldn't think of what else to do. Had I just let her go home alone, we all know what would have happened.”

We all sat quietly, contemplating for a moment before Zoe broke the silence.

"So, Vicki and Tami will both come back tomorrow. They already told their parents they were spending the night with me.”

"Excellent.”

"I better go invest in some ear plugs," Mom said with a laugh.

I chose to remain silent, but Zoe gave her mother a raspberry in response.

"So that's about it for my holidays. Did you guys have a good time?”

"Yes, it was very nice. My brother and his kids showed up, which was a surprise because they had said they weren't coming, but I guess they changed their mind," Mom said.

Zoe rolled her eyes, "Who are you kidding. My cousins are holy terrors. They are the most spoiled, least disciplined children on the planet.”

"How old are they?”

"Five and eight, both boys. They broke all of their presents before Christmas Day was over, plus several other people's presents, besides.”

"Zoe, I told you we would replace that picture frame.”

"Whatever," Zoe said rolling her eyes again.

"So they were a handful huh?”

"The Mongols were a handful; these kids are more like Satan's minions.”

"Zoe!" Mom barked, chastising her.

"Psh…you know it's true.”

"Well, it's not polite to say that.”

I couldn't help but laugh at the conversation, "Well, it sounds like you two had a good time. I'm glad.”

"More than you know.”

"Ohh, really?”

"You wouldn't believe what Mom got me," she was practically bouncing as she was talking.

"A car?”

She stopped for a second and stared at me, "How did you know?”

"A sixteen year old girl is excited about a present. You either got a pony or a car and we don't have room for stables.”

She stuck her tongue out at me, "Smarty pants. We are going to go pick it up this week.”

"It's not that fancy. It's a used sedan," Mom interjected.

"Yeah, but it's mine. No more begging for rides. We've got wheels!”

Mom brought food to the table and we had a rather sedate dinner. I spent most of it listening to the two of them talk about their trip and their presents. As we wrapped up the meal, I excused myself and went upstairs for a moment. When I returned, I set a wrapped present down in front of each of them.

"Since I couldn't go with you, I figured we could do our presents now.”

"Ohh, in that case," Mom said cryptically and walked out of the room. A minute later, she came back carrying two presents.

"This one is from me, and this one is from Zoe," she said setting each present in front of me.

"Ok, you open first," I said to her.

She opened her present to find a box. Inside was a small perfume bottle.

"Ohh, you have excellent taste, Caspian.”

"Well, to be honest, I had help. I admitted my ignorance on all things womanly, and asked Mary Ann from work for help.”

"Smart boy," she said admiring the small glass bottle.

Zoe opened her present to find a small silver necklace with a blue stone dangling at the end.

"It's beautiful," Zoe said after a moment spent gazing at the jewelry.

"Not even half as beautiful as you are”

Zoe carefully put the necklace back in its box before launching herself across the table at me. Mom was clearing the table as Zoe pulled me towards the stairs, clutching the small case holding the necklace.

"Night, kids," Mom said with a laugh.

The next morning we got an early start. First, Mom drove us to an auto shop just outside our neighborhood. Before we left she had dropped her car off with them, to get a final once over. The old man who ran the place proclaimed Zoe's car to be in good shape, and admonished her to remember to change the oil regularly.

We left in Zoe's new car. It was a little Toyota sedan. It wasn't fancy but it wasn't a junker either. We said bye to Mom as she got out at home, and I climbed out of the back and got into the front passenger seat. We spent the rest of the morning driving around. The only downside to this was that I had to ride around with Zoe driving. Turns out, she's hell on wheels, and more than once I was pretty sure, we were going to careen off the road. I made a mental note to myself to talk to Mom about Zoe's driving, or at least the speeding, because I could see a lot of tickets in her future.

We ate a quick lunch and then headed over to Vicki's. They had just made it home, and Vicki repeated the welcome that Zoe had given me the day before.

"So, how was the ski trip?" I asked once we were all in Zoe's car.

"It was so much fun, although Dad gave me a lot of strange looks. Mom never goes out on the slopes, but every year I go out with Dad. I am pretty sure he noticed that I have gotten a lot better since last year.”

"Really?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah. Maybe I'm not a better skier but the increased reflexes and muscle strength show up a lot when doing something that physical. I actually wiped out a few times on purpose, just so he would stop looking at me so weird.”

"We have to swing by the mall real quick before we go get Tami," I said switching subjects.

"Why?" Zoe asked.

"You know why," I replied.

It took a moment before she said, "Ohh.”

Our errand finished we headed for Tami's. For this, Zoe parked down the block, and she and Vicki walked down to Tami's house. Considering how Tami's family felt about dating, we all thought it best if I just stayed in the car.

About ten minutes later, they came back down the street. I noticed a scowl on Tami's face and the other two girls were looking pretty worried. I started to say something but Zoe waved me off with a small shake of her head. We all rode back home in silence.

Once back home and in our room, I pulled Tami down onto my lap.

"What's wrong?”

"It's my parents!  They are the most bigoted, backward, kowtowing pieces of shit.”

"I take it something happened at your church thing.”

"You bet your ass, it did. I am so tired of that fucking cult, and my parents for giving in to it.”

"What happened?”

"This is the event every year when Pastor Joseph names his new 'Chosen Girls', meaning the young girls he is giving himself the right to have sex with for the coming year … the fucking pervert.”

My heart stopped for a moment, "And you were chosen?”

"No. I am considered too wild and untamed. Even though my parents keep me on the qt, I have voiced my dissent to church 'doctrine' too many times in front of too many people. I am considered something of an embarrassment, and the only reason I haven't been kicked out is because I am still a minor.”

"Then…”

"He chose Judy. She's terrified. She has experienced enough life outside the church to realize how sick it is, and what is going to happen.”

"And your parents are going along with it?" Zoe asked.

"Going along with it?  They are thrilled. Having a daughter 'chosen' is considered a big deal. They will get all kinds of rank and status with Joseph and his sheep. I have to figure out how to get her out of this.”

"You're not alone, Tami," I said reaching back to hold her hand. "We will help you figure out something. Just don't do anything rash that could get you into serious trouble.”

"Ok, but in three months they will have what is essentially a wedding ceremony, at which point he will feel free to start raping these girls. Not that many of them protest, they are well into being brainwashed by this point. If nothing is fixed, by then, I swear to God I am going to kill him. I will not let him touch Judy.”

"I promise it won't get that far.”

Our reunion had lost a lot of its joy with Tami's news, and no one was in the mood to do anything but cuddle. I had an idea for a course of action, but it would take time. Hopefully, not too much time, because I agreed with Tami. I would kill him before I let him go after Judy. Judy was a good kid, and did not deserve having her childhood ripped from her.

I woke up well before anyone else in the house. My brain was still working on what Tami had told us the night before. I had some ideas on how we could intercede and help Judy, but I didn't want to go off half-cocked. I had already gone into the situation with Emily's dad ill prepared, and there was a chance my choice of actions could blow back in my face. I didn't want to set up any more time bombs for myself.

I spent a longer amount of time than normal for my morning run as I worked out some of the details. Everyone was up when I got back, and we had a fairly subdued breakfast. I know Mom was curious about everyone's mood, but she was kind enough to let it pass and let us eat in silence.

The girls had all arranged to go to Vicki's house for the day, and I encouraged them to check in on Emily and hopefully get her to join them. Of course, they needed no further prodding. I did make them promise to call me and let me know what they heard or saw there.

Before they left, I grabbed Tami and pulled her aside.

"Hey, hold up a sec.”

"Yeah?" she said a little miffed. She had been in a bad mood all morning. Most likely, she had been working through the entire situation as well.

"I have the beginnings of a plan to help your sister and I am going to call around to some people and get some of this worked out. I need you to play it cool for just a little while. We don't want to make this worse for you or for Judy, and I think we need some good ammo on our side if we are going to make this work.”

"I only need one kind of ammo.”

"Tami, I don't want you talking like that. I know you're angry, and you would do anything to protect your sister, but this isn't who you are. Please trust me and give me a chance to try and figure this out.”

"I do trust you and we will play it your way for now. But, I promise you if things get too close to her having to go through with this, I will step in. Consequences be damned!”

"I know, and I don't blame you for that. If it gets that far, I will be right there beside you. But that is a last resort, ok?”

"Yeah.”

"Try and have some fun with our girlfriends today. Don't let that bastard control your life.”

"I'll try.”

I gave her a quick kiss and she ran out to join the others in Zoe's car. Once they pulled away, I sat down at the kitchen table and pulled the phone receiver off the wall.

"Hello?”

"Jonathan, it's Caspian Grey.”

"Hey, Cas. Congratulations on closing the deal. I just got off the phone with Ted. The contract for the purchase of the initial test units is done. They are moving fast on this, which is unusual for anyone at the DOD as far as I can tell. The additional twenty units are going through he more traditional route, and the contracts are pretty convoluted, so they will take some time.”

"Not to sound like I am questioning your abilities, but did you bring in some help?”

"Yes, I have. This is all pretty far outside my experience, and it isn't an area where we want to be making mistakes. I got some names from that Colonel of yours, and brought in a beltway guy. He's sharp, and with his contacts added to what we already have, things have been moving well. It will still be another couple of weeks on the larger order, though.”

"I'm just happy to have the initial five in the works. We needed that cash flow, but that wasn't really why I was calling. I wanted to run something by you.”

"Okay.”

"I have a problem, and I need your help sorting it out. Tami's family is involved with some sort of religious, second coming cult. She is generally left out of most of it, but their leader has this thing about 'young brides.' He has worked it into their belief structure, so that he's acquiring a new set every so often.”

"Is he going after Tami?”

"No, like I said, she's too independent and not brainwashed. She's actually considered kind of an outcast, the way she tells it. No, it's her sister Judy.”

"How old is she?”

"Twelve”

"Mother fucker.”

"That was almost my exact words. But the family has totally bought into this crap, and they're going along with it. I have very little information on these guys, basically just what I have gotten from Tami, and like I said, she is an outsider. I want to do something to help her sister, but I'm flying blind.”

"It sounds like you have a plan.”

"I do. I wanted to see what it would take to get a private investigator to look into them, and put together as much info as possible. My first thought was to use that information to go to the authorities, although they don't have the best track record with these guys.”

"Yeah, I remember Waco.”

"Exactly. My other thought was to use any incriminating info we can come up with as a threat to pull Judy out. Guys who run these things tend to be a pretty good at self-preservation. Thankfully, Judy has spent enough time with Tami and her friends at school that she hasn't totally bought in, but she's still young and I think her parents are putting her under a lot of pressure.”

"I know some guys I can talk to. But, Cas, be careful. Groups like this can be very dangerous, and can react in very unpredictable ways.”

"Yeah, I know, but I can't think what else to do. Tami is so pissed she is ready to do something … anything … about it, and damn the consequences. I got her to hold off, for now; but the closer we get to the beginning of summer and their twisted ceremony, the harder it'll be to keep her from doing something she can't come back from.”

"I'll make some calls. Give me everything you have.”

I walked Jonathan through all the information I had on the cult, on Judy and her parents, and on anything else I could think of. He said he would get someone on it right away, but not to expect any results for a few weeks, at a minimum.

We didn't discuss cost, but I told him this was important and I was willing to pay. Thankfully, some of the income from the upfront order was coming to me, so I had money to work with again. Now I just had to wait, which is probably the thing I am worst at. Not that there was an instant need to do anything, since nothing was set to happen until the start of summer. I knew, though, that Tami would be on edge until this was resolved. Besides, I hated seeing her so angry. She's always been so calm and reassuring that it is a bit jarring to see this other side of her.

The rest of the week seemed to drag on. School was back and the new semester had started, so there was that to take up most of the days, but the lunch table was subdued every day, as people seemed to be picking up on Tami's mood.

It wasn't much better at home. She stayed overnight twice that week and while she didn't start raving about her parents or their church again, she was still in a pretty dark place.

Thankfully, on Friday, Jonathan stopped by with man I didn't recognize. Mom was at work, and Vicki had something she needed to do with her parents; but Tami and Zoe were home, with me. I ushered them into the kitchen, and we all sat at the table.

"Cas, this is Carter Talmon, the private investigator I mentioned.”

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Talmon," I said extending my hand.

He shook it warily, "Nice to meet you, too.”

"Let me guess, I am not what you were picturing?”

"Honestly, no," he said with a wry laugh. "Jonathan filled me in on some work he needed for a client, but didn't go into any details. I was expecting someone much older.”

"I get that a lot. I would understand if you decided not to take the job, if you feel that uncomfortable.”

"Hey, as long as your check clears, I don't care if you're a purple elephant, you know.”

"A pragmatist, huh?”

"Nope, just a bit greedy.”

I am not sure if he was what I expected either. He was a big, stocky man in his late 40s, a little balding on the top. I couldn't place his accent, it was kind of nondescript. I also found that my initial impression was that I liked the guy.

"So, Jonathan filled you in?”

"Yep. I pulled some background information on this group. The guy who runs it had a group up in Montana about twenty-five years ago and he ran into some similar problems with some of the church's … younger members.”

"But he didn't go to jail.”

"No. They couldn't get a reliable witness on him. The families of the girls put a lot of pressure on them to keep quiet. This is one of those things that it's hard to get enough proof to do anything about.”

"And they couldn't set up surveillance?”

"I'm sure they could have, but there are limits to what they can do with that, and keep it admissible in court.”

"So, what do you think about our situation.”

"Of your two plans, the 'turn him into the cops' option has problems. We can run surveillance, but since we are not official, most of what we produce would be inadmissible.”

"But can't we..." Tami started to interject. I placed my hand on hers hoping she give me just a few more moments before she started to panic.

"I was afraid of that. And the other option.”

"Depends on how you plan on doing it.”

"Well, if he isn't thrown by a threat of police intervention, then I'll threaten to go widespread with the information. Get it in the hands of as many members of the community, here and elsewhere, as I can. I might not be able to get the cops, but with enough ammo, I can certainly get a mob. If nothing else, I can scare him into packing up and going somewhere else”

"That's a little cold blooded.”

"Yes, but does it seem like there are any other options?”

"Short of actually intervening physically, no.”

"Do you think it could work?”

"Maybe, if you get enough on him.”

"Can you get enough on him?”

"Yes. It won't all be legal and the vast majority of it would never be able to be used in the court, but I can get it.”

"Do it.”

He looked over at Jonathan who held up his hands and said, "Don't look at me. Caspian is calling the shots on this one.”

Carter stuck out his hand and I shook it firmly.

"It's going to take some time to get what we need. I will get as much as I can on him, but it will take a month or two to get enough, I think. From what I was told, that is within your window.”

"Yeah, we have until the start of summer. If we are going to act, we need to do it before then.”

We said our goodbyes, and I showed the two men to the door. As soon as it was closed, Tami was all over me.

"Is this going to work?”

"I think so. If we bring enough heat on him, I think he will, at the very least, keep away from Judy. Hopefully, we can get him to pack up all together; but, one way or another, we will make sure Judy is safe.”

When I hugged her, she was trembling so much it seemed like she might actually hurt herself.

"Baby, calm down. We will make this work.”

"I hope so, I really do.”

"We just have to give it time to happen. One way or another, we can make sure she's safe.”

"Good. I have been so worried. I'm glad we are doing something.”

I took her upstairs and tucked her into bed. It was early but she had been sleeping badly. I knew she was exhausted. Zoe and I held her tight and whispered reassuring words into her ear until her muscles slowly relaxed and she drifted into sleep. Quietly I eased out of the room and closed the door.

"Do you really think this will work?" Zoe asked as we went back downstairs.

"I do, actually. These guys operate on the fringes. You put a big enough target on them and they'll run for cover, just like the cockroaches they are.”

We had just made it downstairs when there was a knock on the door.

"Now what?" I asked to no one in particular.

I opened the door only to have Amanda push by me suddenly, already talking a mile a minute.

"Oh My God, Cas!  Why didn't you tell us? This is so amazing."  She stopped babbling for a moment to hug Zoe, and then continued, "And you, too. I can't believe this is happening. It's so incredible.”

I shut the door and wondered what she was worked up about. Looking at Zoe I could tell she was pretty confused. Maybe she heard about the tests and our big contract.  Or maybe something about Emily?

I grabbed her by the shoulders to try to get her to stop bouncing around, "Amanda, what's incredible?  What are you talking about?”

"About you guys. You know, your superpowers or whatever.”

I closed my eyes, and pinched the bridge of my nose. Fucking Josh. I don't know why I trusted him to stay quiet about this, I mean, I knew he was unreliable. I'd thought that just this one time he might get what I was trying to tell him about staying quiet.

"What did Josh tell you?" I asked. I saw the light go on for Zoe as soon as I said that.

"God damn it Josh!" Zoe said.

Amanda turned to look at Zoe, "What?”

I pulled her back to look at me, "Amanda, what did Josh tell you?

"He said you guys were like, extra strong and fast and stuff. It explained so much. I mean, I've seen you guys work out, and then what you did at the marathon. Why are you mad at Josh?”