Here are episodes 115 through 119 for your reading pleasure.
The United States is in slow-motion economic collapse. The Three Strikes Act funnels the unemployed masses into a national network of work camps for the most trivial of infractions.
Lando Cruz is a scrappy rebel who risks his final strike on the streets of Philadelphia by trading illegal currencies under cover of a burrito stand. He spends his days bribing dirty cops, fending off undercover federal agents and shepherding his little sister through adolescence.
Lando is getting by until beat cops seize his savings and kidnap his sister for ransom. He has thirty days to raise the hard cash he needs to free her before she is sold into sex slavery. His only chance is a lucrative job offer from the black market rebellion's paramilitary startup, the Core. He risks both his life and his principles to get his sister back before time runs out.
Episode 115: Most Wanted
Lando walked into the tattoo shop at Union Station. He walked around the corner of the entryway and stood out of reach of the station’s cameras. He removed an invisibility cloak.
“I need to see him,” Lando said. He walked up to the clerk. His face was frozen.
The young man jumped. “You — No! How did you —? You can’t be here.”
Lando pulled out his tablet and dialed Henry. He waited. He put the tablet back in his pocket. “See? No answer. He’s avoiding me. I need to know what is going on.”
“You made the most wanted list. You’re endangering all of us right now!” He cocked his head and studied Lando. “How did you get in here, anyway?”
Lando leaned over the counter. “I am in danger, every day, every moment. Hell, I almost got shot twice in the last twenty-four hours. When was the last time you had a gun to your head?”
He looked at Lando.
“Exactly. Never.” Lando took a deep breath and blew it out. “I’m the one in the frying pan and Henry and the rest of you guys are the ones who convinced me to get into it. You promised to back me up.”
“We did not,” said the clerk.
“You’re going to!” yelled Lando.
He sat down in his stool and looked at the floor. “I haven’t seen Henry in three days.”
Lando scowled. “Where did he go?”
“No idea. He was downstairs at the computer and then he wasn’t.”
“Is there another way out of there?” asked Lando.
“Not that he ever told me about,” said the clerk.
“Are you sure,” Lando asked, “that he really is, you know, true to the cause?”
The young man stood up straight and put his finger in Lando’s face. “Don’t you dare question him. I’ve been through serious shit with him. I’m not even going to tell you about it.”
“How do I know you’re not a fed, too?” asked Lando.
The clerk sneered. “A fed? Are you kidding me? Who is saying that?”
“Someone I —“
“It’s that guy, what’s his name —“
“You don’t even remember what I told you guys? Nice.” Lando turned to leave.
“Hold on.” He ran out from behind the counter. “I could use your help to find Henry.”
“You guys are tight. Been through a lot, right? I think you can handle it. I’ve got my own problems.” Lando turned, pulled his hat down over his eyes and walked out the door.
Episode 116: All by Myself
“The nuns, they kicked me out,” said Mari. Static crackled on the line.
Lando sat in the coffee shop across from the safe house. He sipped his mocha and ripped off a chunk of croissant.
I was supposed to visit her. Lando shook his head at himself. “What do you mean they kicked you out?”
“I’m on the street,” she said. “Can you please, please come and pick me up?”
Lando controlled his anger. “What did you do?”
“I — I didn’t do —“
“Is there no way they will take you back?” he asked.
“They just dumped me out here! I’m on the sidewalk, Lando. I’m all by myself!” she yelled.
Lando firmed his jaw.
“You have to come and get me!
Episode 117: Heaven
Lando exited the indie taxi and crossed the street. He glanced south towards the blimps. He pulled his hat down on top of his eyes. He inspected the convent. Mariana was not in front of it.
He walked around the corner. Nothing. “What the — ?” He tapped his ear. “Call Mariana.” Her number rang but she didn’t answer.
His stomach fell. What have you gotten yourself into now, Mari? He ran back and around the other corner. A fat woman on a bench looked at him.
“Ma’am, have you —“ he started.
The woman recoiled from him. “I got nothin’. Nothin’!”
Lando took a step back. “Relax. Ma’am, I’m looking for my sister. She was waiting on this corner back over here just thirty minutes ago. Were you here then? Did you see —“
“I don’t know nothin’.” She turned her head away from Lando and crossed her arms.
Lando sat down at the other end of the bench and sighed. He held his head in his hands. He thought for a moment, then got up and ran to the convent. He pushed on the metal gate. It did not move. He leaned over the fence and jiggled the mechanism.
“Can I help you, sir?” a woman’s voice said.
Lando looked around.
Something crackled. “Sir?”
“Oh! Yes, I’m looking for my sister, Mariana Cruz. Is she in there?”
Lando waited. He spoke louder. “Mariana Cruz. Is she —“
“Sir, we released her an hour ago to family,” said the female voice.
Lando scowled. He popped the mechanism and walked to the large wooden door. He pounded on it. “I demand to speak with Sister Mary Luise.”
The door flew open. A priest stood in his path.
Lando took a step into the convent.
The priest pushed him back.
Lando focused on the priest’s eyes. “I just want my sister.”
The priest’s jaw danced up and down. “Who?”
“Mariana Cruz!” Lando stepped into the convent.
The priest stepped back.
“Where is Sister Mary Luise? I left Mariana with her.”
The priest put up his fists. “I’ll have you know, young man, that —“
Lando pulled out Harold’s pistol and pointed it up in the air. “Don’t mess with me right now, Father. I will have my sister or some of you are going to heaven. Your call.”
Sister Mary Luise came running towards the door. She stopped short. “Mr. Cruz,” she said, “would you mind putting that away for a moment?”
Lando put the pistol in his waistband at the small of his back.
“Let me look it up in the logbook,” said Sister Mary Luise. She walked into another room.
The priest eyed Lando.
She came back out of the room. “I have it here in the logbook,” said Sister Mary Luise. “You signed Mariana out exactly one hour ago.”
“You let her go with someone else, didn’t you?” asked Lando.
No one replied.
“You let her out of here on her own. She called me. I know what you did,” Lando said.
Sister Mary Luise opened her mouth. “I honestly don’t know, Mr. Cruz, what has gone on here.” She balled her fists. “But I am going to find out! I can assure you of that.”
Lando walked towards the steps to upstairs.
“Where do you think you’re going, sir?” asked Sister Mary Luise.
“I’m going to search this building,” he said.
Sister Mary Luise waved her hand. “That’s entirely out of the question.”
Lando pulled out his tablet. “I will have to call the police.”
“We’re happy to cooperate with the police,” she said. “We work with them all the time.”
Lando narrowed his eyes. He took a step towards the nun and grabbed her habit on both shoulders. “Where is she? Who did you give her to? How much did they pay you?” Tears welled up in his eyes. What am I going to tell Dad?
Lando ran out the front door of the convent and onto the street. He ran around the whole block, looking from side to side for any clue. He kneeled down outside the convent, put his hands together and leaned against the metal fence. “Please, God. Please,” he whispered.
Episode 118: Kidnapped
“Lando, you’re soaked,” Ryan said.
Lando slogged into the office. He splashed into a chair and sighed.
“Want some coffee?” David asked.
Lando nodded.
Ryan looked at him. “What happened?”
“It’s raining.”
David handed Lando a cup of coffee. “Take a sip. Might make you feel better.”
“Ryan.” Lando cleared his throat and sat up. “I need your help.”
Ryan looked at him.
“My sister has been kidnapped. I’m pretty sure she was taken by a sex trafficking gang. I’ll do anything to get her back.” He looked Ryan in the eye.
Ryan folded his arms.
“I know, I haven’t been the best employee here but I am begging you. I will support you one hundred percent. I will train every day. I will do whatever you want. But I need to get my sister back.”
Ryan leaned back and rubbed his chin. “So, they bribed her out of the camp?”
Lando swallowed. “They took her out of a convent school in the Northeast.”
Ryan nodded.
Lando rolled his eyes. “I didn’t tell you at the time but I bribed her out of the camp a few days ago. And, in the process, some members of this gang tried to take her. I shot some of them.”
Ryan’s face hardened. His eyebrows went up. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You bribed your sister out several days ago. Where you got the money remains to be determined. In the process, you killed some gang members with — Don’t tell me you used our weaponry for that?”
“No,” Lando said with an embarrassed smile.
Ryan massaged his temples. “Well, there’s one thing you didn’t fuck up. Did you steal it from someone? Where is it now? Did you wipe it clean?”
“No, that’s all fine,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I put her in a Catholic school in the Northeast under the care of some nuns. She was doing alright. But today she called and said she had been kicked out. She was standing on the corner and I didn’t get there in time, I guess.”
“Who signed her out?” Ryan asked.
“The nuns have a book that they say has my signature but I never signed her out. I think they paid off one or more of the nuns.”
“And now you want me to do what exactly?” Ryan narrowed his eyes.
“I have to find her. They might ship her out of the country. They might be hurting her right now. I don’t know what to do.”
“This changes a lot, Lando. You procured a large sum of money that I still don’t know how you got it. You engaged in a gunfight in front of a work camp and left bodies behind you. You have another source of weapons.” He stood up and walked away from Lando.
“You hid all of this from me. And now,” he said, turning around, “you want help from The Core to sort out your personal mess? Really?”
“Yes.” Lando looked down. “Please.”
“What’s in it for me?” Ryan asked. “What’s going to make it worth my while to clean up your mess instead of just taking you out back, right now, and putting a bullet in your head?”
Episode 119: On Your Own
“No,” said Ryan. “You’re on your own.” He closed the door.
Lando stood in the living area, his clothes pulling at him. He shivered.
He headed for the shower. He programmed it for a hundred and five degrees and peeled off his clothes. He got in and closed his eyes. The water ran over his head. His mind flowed.
Things are closing in. It’s time to get out. What’s my next step to find Mari? The thought of it tied his stomach in a knot. He bent forward to ease the pain.
And where is Henry? He looked up and his body tensed. What if he just disappears? What if he is a fed and he got me to stay so that I wouldn’t leave his jurisdiction?
A memory flashed in Lando’s mind. “Never ask ‘Why me?’” his father said. “Accept the path God has given you. Embrace it. And ask, ‘What now?’”
Lando stood up straight. He took a deep and breath and started to feel better.
What Next?
I’m working on a couple stories right now, a post-apocalyptic zombie thriller and a cyberpunk detective story called Scorched Myelin. Stay tuned!
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