Xavier was relieved as he waited in his cell with a smile on his face. He knew that this wasn’t over, that his captors were still in control, and that he wasn’t free yet. And the fact that he had just broken into a pawn shop and stolen a gun in full view of the security cameras was likely a career-ending event, even if he was able to prove he’d been forced to do it. But he had hope, hope that he had bought his daughter time, at the very least.
The fact that his fellow thieves had used stun guns instead of real firearms had given him some insight into their character. They weren’t murderous thugs willing to end a life without cause. There was a method to what they were doing, and, he reasoned, as long as he did what they said, his daughter would probably be left alone. After all, it was him that they wanted, for whatever reason.
After half an hour of waiting, he spoke to the camera.
“Hello?” he said, waving his hands as if the motion might attract their attention.
“I did what you asked, so when do I get released?”
Silence.
He knew shouting wouldn’t do any good, so he waited. Thirty minutes stretched into an hour. The adrenaline that had been dumped into his system during the robbery was beginning to wear off, and he was feeling tired. More than tired, he was feeling exhausted.
“Senator?”
Xavier jerked his head up and instinctively looked towards the video screen. The clock on the screen informed him that it was just after midnight. He’d fallen asleep while sitting in the chair.
“Yes?”
“You’ve done well. You’ve met the conditions we established for sparing your daughter’s life.”
Xavier closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He was surprised to find himself starting to cry. His daughter was going to live. Whatever happened to him now, at least his daughter would live.
As he opened his eyes and looked up, he saw a picture displayed on the video screen. It was a portrait of a young black woman and her daughter, both smiling as they faced the camera. The child must have been about ten years old. Behind the pair was a fake background photo of several trees displaying brilliant orange, yellow, and red leaves. The ground below was covered with leaves that had already begun to fall off of the hibernating branches. There was something familiar about the little girl.
When the voice spoke again, it was the voice of a woman. Gone was the electronic manipulation. He recognized the voice immediately. It was Shareese Tyrell.
“Twelve years ago, you helped enact some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in the country while serving on the city council for Chesterton, where my mother and I lived. After being assaulted by her ex-boyfriend and having her life threatened, my mom applied for a concealed carry permit so that she could protect herself as she walked to work each day.”
The voice was raw, filled with emotion. It wasn’t hard to know where this was going.
“She applied for the permit,” Shareese continued, “but since she didn’t have any proof that her ex-boyfriend had threatened her life and the neighborhood where we lived had an average crime rate, she was denied the permit. She was in the process of appealing when she was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend on the way to work one morning."
The knot in the pit of his stomach returned. Now the cards were on the table. Now he knew why he was here. This wasn’t some political conspiracy designed to change his mind about something or to extort money or force him to support some bill in the Senate.
This was about revenge.
“I’m sorry, Shareese. I really am.” It was sincere, but he realized even as he said it, that it wouldn’t be enough for her. She blamed him for preventing her mother from being able to legally protect herself from a murderous ex-boyfriend. Ergo, in Shareese’s mind, he was partially responsible for her death.
“No, you’re not sorry! You don’t get to be sorry, yet! But you will be.”
Shareese’s face came on the screen. Tears were streaming down her face; the anger flamed from her eyes. “I don’t think you’ve felt what it feels like to lose someone you love like that.”
“Please don’t. It wasn’t me who killed your mom, Shareese. You can’t undo her death by killing another innocent person!”
He realized he was shouting now, as if the volume of his voice would somehow snap Shareese out of it and she would stop what she was about to do.
“No, I can’t,” she responded. Her voice was calm now. “I’ve wished I could undo her death a dozen times a day, but it doesn’t happen. So, instead, I made it my mission in life to stop the insanity. To overturn the crazy laws that prevent an innocent, law-abiding citizen from being able to protect themselves from violent predators like the one who killed my mom.”
“I see that now, Shareese. I do. You’ve helped me see that I was wrong. Look, I’ve got some ideas about how to change the law so that—”
“Don’t patronize me! You don’t get off that easy! You need to feeeel it deep in your soul.”
“Wait!”
The image on the video screen changed. A door was being opened to a darkened room, the dim light from the next room spilling in through the open door. A man’s frame filled the doorway.
“No…” Xavier said, weakly. As he backed away from the screen, he bumped into the table. The man flipped on the light switch, and Xavier’s legs went weak. He put his hands back onto the table behind him to keep himself from falling down as he saw his daughter lying in bed.
The man stepped forward, and so did Xavier, a father’s protective rage rising up inside of him.
“Stop it! Stop it! I’ll do anything you want! Please! For the love of God!”
There was no sound, just the video image as the man stepped toward the bed. Cam was awake now and was moving backwards across the bed, trying to get away from the intruder, but there was nowhere to go. The man grabbed one of her legs and pulled her back across the bed with one powerful yank. She kicked out at him, but the man deflected the blow.
The assailant’s gloved hands quickly fastened around her neck. As he saw the life being squeezed out of his daughter’s body, Xavier couldn’t move. Absent the ability to intervene, he offered the last service to his daughter he had the ability to provide. He would show her his love by refusing to look away from her in her final moments, by being present with her as she faced a tragic death, even though he knew she would never know.
It was all over in less than a minute. Cam’s limp, lifeless body lay on the bed as her killer released her from his grasp. He stood, looking at her. The man checked his watch, then turned and left the room.
The video screen went dark, and Senator Xavier Sanford started to weep.