Sinner (23 page)

“It's over?”

“I think so, Billy. I think they will do whatever I tell them to.”

“You're alive,” he said, stopping in front of her.

“Then kiss me.”

She wasn't wearing any glasses, and looking into her intoxicating eyes, Billy realized that he desperately wanted to kiss her, more than he'd ever wanted to kiss anyone in his entire life.

“Do you love me?” he asked.

He heard her thoughts before she answered.
Of course I do, you silly
boy. I never stopped loving you
.

“Yes,” she said.

He took her into his arms, lifted her from her feet, and spun her around. Their mouths met and he kissed her deeply.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Day Five

THE COUNCIL sat around the same conference table, in the same order, wearing the same glasses the next morning. Oh yes, they would definitely wear the glasses now, wouldn't they?
Maybe they should consider getting
the lenses surgically implanted
, Darcy thought.

Most of the rioters had vacated Union Cemetery and the surrounding area within an hour of Darcy's pep talk. Without an enemy to engage, the lingering hostiles slipped out during cover of darkness that night. Thirteen arrests were made, a fraction of the guilty, but by all accounts, the FBI's last-minute intervention was a smashing success.

Footage of Darcy jogging in from the war zone of Kansas City like some kind of Special Forces hero made the news, and that news spread fast and far, a byproduct of her feat that concerned Kinnard deeply, he said. Putting her to the test in the field where any potential enemy wouldn't likely see her was one thing, but exposing her to the nation was troublesome.

They covered her as best they could. She wasn't with the FBI or the SWAT team. She was a negotiator, a highly trained mediator who specialized in talking common sense to combative personalities in the most difficult situations.

Cued by “sources,” talking heads throughout the Net extended Darcy's credit beyond this one situation. There was no telling how often the State Department dispatched negotiators to conduct secret meetings deep behind enemy lines. Or barter for trade policy, for human rights advocacy . . . the list was endless. And Darcy set an example for them all.

With just a little common sense and tolerance, any conflict could be avoided.

But the message fell on deaf ears. And the dawn brought unnerving news after a night of peace.

Sunday morning, three blacks hung from a tree behind a Pentecostal church in St. Louis.

Two whites hung in a graveyard next to a Catholic church twenty miles east of the first.

No rioting. Not yet. But the media was both stunned and expectant. The nation was a keg of gunpowder, silent and dormant.

“They're wrong,” Lyndsay Nadeau said. The attorney general wore her perpetual smile. “It's not one spark, like the one in St. Louis, that will set off this keg. It's a thousand sparks.We all know that.”

Darcy scanned the others for reaction: Ben Manning, the black Democratic senator from Nevada who had demanded they be kept locked up, stone faced.

Fred Hopkins. No better.

Annie Ruling,White House chief of staff. A slight amusement nudged the right side of her mouth northward.

Sanchez Dominquez. Might as well be a rock.

Associate director of the FBI, Newton Lawhead. Frowning, watching Darcy like a hawk.

Kinnard had excused himself after delivering them, explaining that he had someone else to pick up. Some mystery guest. For all she knew the president was coming.

She and Billy sat at one end, hands on the table, drumming their fingers lightly on the wood. She hadn't felt so alive in years and she decided to point this out.

“It's good to be alive,” she said.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing, just thinking aloud.We enjoy freedom in this country. That's a good thing. Hopefully we can all keep it that way.”

“Random,” Billy said.

“Ain't it great?”They were both smiling.Their moment of shared humor was lost on a few of them.

“I'm not sure you appreciate the gravity of the situation we're facing in this free country,” Annie Ruling said. “So tell us—I'm curious—what was it like?”

“What was what like?”

“Doing your . . . thing in Kansas City yesterday.”

“I spoke, they listened. They were persuaded.”

“So you can just persuade anybody to do anything?” Ben Manning asked.

“Shall we test it with you?”

His flat lips curved downward. “It's that kind of ego that concerns me.”

It had taken Darcy the better part of the week to wrap her own mind around her power.Manning and the members of the council were finally catching up. Perhaps she did owe them an explanation. The last thing she wanted was the council itself gunning for them.

The moment the thought occurred to her she knew that she'd hit on something. Kinnard feared that people like Ben Manning were as great a threat to them as the Catholic Church.

“To answer your question, no. I can't randomly persuade anyone to do anything. I'm not God.”

“From what we can gather she can only persuade others to do what they know is right, or what they have a desire to do,” Lawhead said.

She nodded once. “That's right. The rioters either realized that my suggestion to disband was the right thing to do, or deep in their minds where it counts, they wanted to disband.”

“So what was it like?”Annie asked again. “I mean, having this kind of power must be quite exhilarating. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Do we have a choice?”Billy asked.“We are what we are. The only question for this council is whether we will use our power to help you.”

“This isn't an arbitration,Mr. Rediger,” the attorney general said.“We're not a court of law.We're simply trying to determine if you can serve your country in a capacity never before appreciated.”

“Are you?”

She removed her glasses and looked at him with sincere eyes. “I don't know, Billy. You tell me. Am I?”

“Yes. You at least believe you are.”

“Thank you.” She replaced her glasses. “This country is facing a crisis it hasn't faced since the Los Angeles riots or even the Civil War.We could use your help.”

So at least the attorney general was being straight, Darcy thought. Maybe she'd been too quick to distrust this group.

She continued.“Annie, why don't you help our friends understand the scope of the crisis.”

A knock sounded on the door behind Billy and Darcy. She turned as Brian Kinnard stepped through and a well-built man with blond hair, dressed in black slacks and a white button-down shirt filled the doorway. He wore glasses, no surprise.

Darcy didn't recognize him.Was she supposed to?

“My friends, please meet Johnny Drake.”

Darcy's heart skipped a beat. A tremble overtook her fingers and spread to her hands.
Johnny?
This was Johnny from Paradise?

“Hello, Darcy. Billy.” Johnny stretched out his hand. “Good to see you.”

Billy stood and took the hand. “Johnny Drake . . . no kidding, is it really you?”

“In the flesh.”

Darcy stood and he embraced her gently, then stepped back. They stood in an awkward moment of silence.

“Johnny heard the news, made contact with me yesterday, and agreed to come out.We consider Johnny to be a survivor of Project Showdown, though he was not a student there. As some of you know, Johnny is also quite . . .” He paused. “Special.”

Darcy stood next to Billy, speechless.

Lyndsay Nadeau was the first to stand and take Johnny's hand.“Lyndsay Nadeau, attorney general. Good to meet you, Johnny. I've heard a few things here and there.”

“Not too frightening, I hope.” He smiled.

She grinned and turned to the others. “Our government has some classified history with Mr. Drake. Suffice it to say we can all be grateful for the sacrifice this man has paid on our behalf.” She began pointing the others out, making personal introductions as they shook his hand.

“Okay, sit.” Kinnard pulled out a chair next to Darcy's. “Like I said, you'll have time later.”

Johnny looked at Darcy. “You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.”

“I'm sorry, I just never . . . Frankly, I'm a little speechless.”

“Well, there's some hope for us all then,” Annie laughed.

Johnny folded his hands on the table. Strong hands, but not rough like a bricklayer's. Certainly not the frail hands he'd had the last time she'd seen him as a boy. Darcy couldn't figure out how she felt about his dramatic reappearance.

“And what is your special gift, young man?” Ben Manning asked.

Kinnard spoke for him. “He can open the eyes, Mr. Manning. To see what the natural eye can't. Does that about cover it, Johnny?”

“Close enough.”

They faced each other in an awkward stalemate. So Johnny had a backbone, Darcy thought. She liked that.

“Well then, can we continue?”

“Please,” Kinnard said.

“Continue with what?” Billy asked. “Forgive my confusion here, but I still don't quite understand what you want from us.”

Darcy pried her mind away from Johnny and glanced at Billy. True enough.

“You've seen what we can do,” she said. “I think Billy's asking what your intentions are now. At the risk of imposing, of course.”

Again Annie grinned, and Darcy grinned back. She liked the woman.

“Fair enough.” The chief of staff slid her chair back and crossed one leg over the other. “Although I have to point out that forty-eight hours ago we didn't even know you existed.You can hardly blame our caution.”

“Fine, Annie. But now we all know, so how are we going to help you change the world?”

Judging by the amusement on the faces of Annie Ruling and Lyndsay Nadeau, neither of them seemed to mind her boldness.

“President Chavez's primary concern extends beyond the recent hate crimes, however tragic they might be,” Annie said. “Our real concern is in the news coming out of Los Angeles and Miami and a dozen other metropolitan cities. Racial and religious prejudice has been emboldened by the lynchings.We face a war of murderous words.Newton, what were those stats you had for us?”

Lawhead pulled a sheet out of the briefcase by his chair. “As you're well aware, both the CIA and the FBI track certain kinds of content on the Net. Over the past forty-eight hours, the incidents of racially and religiously motivated denigration have increased 437 percent.”

He slid the paper onto the table. “A big number, and it's already out-dated. That stat is from two hours ago. What's most disconcerting is the rate at which it continues to grow. The charts are all there; we can track it by the minute if we want. If our analysts are correct—and they are—as things stand, the rate of incidents will double again in the next twenty-four hours.”

Johnny sat in silence. He struck Darcy as someone who'd seen far more than most men his age.And hadn't they all? But with Johnny, there was more. It was his statuesque stillness, his very slow breathing, the way his fingers were interlaced without so much as a slight twitch, the lean muscle on his bared forearms.

She was listening to the others, but behind her glasses she was watching him.

The attorney general continued. “Nothing less than racially and religiously motivated hate speech.”

“Let's not forget the First Amendment,” Manning interjected. “Free speech—”

“The president is the first to defend every citizen's right to free speech, Ben,”Annie interrupted. “We're here to calm a storm, not generate one.” She took a deep breath. “Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Drake?”

Johnny considered thoughtfully and answered in a soft voice.“Hatred is your enemy, Ms. Ruling, not racial insults.”

“But hatred must find expression before it can affect daily life, isn't that right?”

“In a social arena, yes. But it can just as easily eat a man's heart out and leave him dead long before his pulse stops.”

It was the simple truth, Darcy thought. Spoken by the man with hands that looked like they could strangle anyone in this room, perhaps with the exception of Kinnard, who'd proven he knew a thing or two about killing.

Annie smiled. “Well spoken. But we all know that this kind of hate mongering has to be stopped. Maybe these lynchings will allow us to finally change the law to curb certain kinds of speech. Someone has to muzzle the bloodsuckers.”

All eyes turned to Annie. Darcy wasn't sure she'd heard correctly.
Bloodsuckers?
Meaning Christians, of course. It was strange to hear such an offensive word spoken in a place of such power. Clearly there was no love lost on Christians among this so-called council.

She could hear each breath.

Annie forced a smile to offer her apologies. “Pardon the French. The president is going on the air at six eastern tonight to address the nation, urging restraint. He will promise that any violation of our nation's laws will be prosecuted swiftly and with force.”

“Messing with free speech will cause an uproar,” Billy said.

“And what do you call the riots?”

“Do you know how long it's been illegal to display a Swastika in Germany?” Lyndsay Nadeau said. “Since Germany's constitution was changed at the end of the Second World War. A sensible restriction on free speech, I'm sure we would all agree.”*

“Just a tad different, don't you think?”

She pressed on. “The United Kingdom's restriction of free speech has proven to be an effective deterrent to runaway bigotry in that country. Even here, speech is already restricted in some ways: perjury, contempt, treason, and sedition are all forms of spoken communication and are illegal in the United States, for good reason.”

No one argued.

“We all know our history well enough to remember the highly debated so-called Noose Bill of 2008, which very nearly made the public display of any symbol offensive to race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender a hate crime.* The day is coming, ladies and gentlemen, when offensive remarks, gestures, and/or symbols will be—must be—considered hate crimes. Some freedoms must be sacrificed on the cross of social progress. Frankly I can't believe that this country still allows pundits to get licenses from the federal government to broadcast offensive hate speech.”