Silencing Joy (5 page)

“What’s going on?” I asked softly, whispering
like someone might hear us. Derek rested his head back on the
seat.

“The plan was to pick you up and get you out
of town. My boss decided to put the plan into action way too soon.
I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”

We sat quietly for a few minutes, the
underground garage as silent as a grave. A squeak of wheels
precipitated headlights shining in front of us. Derek moved to get
out of the car.

“Wait here,” he said without even looking at
me as he slammed the door. He walked to the other car and opened
the passenger door. The interior light came on inside. The driver
looked familiar. I squinted and tried to see. I sat forward more to
really focus. It took me a second to realize...
Will!

“Holy shit!” I burst out of the car and ran
to the driver’s door of the new car.

When he saw me coming, he got out quickly. I
jumped at him, never losing momentum, throwing my arms around his
neck and squealing the girliest squeal.

“I can’t believe it! You’re not dead!”

He hugged me back, speaking into my neck
because I wouldn’t let go; in fact, my feet weren’t even touching
the ground. “Nope, not dead,” he winced. “But still hurting
though.”

“Oh, sorry...sorry.” I let go and stared at
him, overjoyed to see him. I didn’t realize how upset I was
thinking he was dead, until I saw him alive. All of the stuff that
happened to me during the past week finally made me crazy,
apparently.

“Great,” Derek said with sarcasm. “She gets
emotional and sees me, she slaps me. She gets emotional and sees
you, you get a hug.” I ignored Derek.

“Wow, your face is really healing up. You
know, I told my friend Jen that I didn’t think I would recognize
you when you didn’t have a fat lip and two swollen black eyes,” I
laughed like a giddy little girl. Relief at seeing him showered
over me.

“Yeah, now my eyes are just yellowish-green,”
Will comments, eyeing Derek.

“Well, got to go,” Derek said. “Thanks for
the car.”

“Wait a minute. What about Will?” I asked,
perplexed as to why Will was even here.

Derek retorted, “Will’s dead...remember? He
can’t be seen. Run along now, Will.” He made a little shooing
motion.

“What the hell is going on?” I shouted. “This
is completely insane!”

“Will is dead so we can catch a criminal.
Okay? Now, get in the car.”

“Not good enough.” I crossed my arms,
shifting my stance to say
I’m not moving until I get more
answers!
Derek sighed and held his head in defeat.

I had been searching for explanations within
myself, but had no one to ask or confide in except for Jen. I had
to know. It was like watching a horror movie, knowing the lead
shouldn’t have open the front door, but they couldn’t resist and
did it anyway, regardless of what was on the other side. I felt
like that stupid person. I needed to know, regardless of the
consequences of knowing.

“Alright...” Derek exchanged a deliberate
glance with Will, then looked back at me and said, “The plan was
get you moved to a safe house. I wasn’t even the one that was
supposed to do it. Then, Will’s death was to be faked to up the
ante on Tommy and his crew. We’re trying to flush him out. He is a
huge drug trafficker. And he does it right through Pittsfield High.
It is an unbelievable operation. Will and I have been trying for
two years to get him to screw up. The police could only get him on
misdemeanors. The FBI wants to stop Tommy right at the source and
put him away. He’s eighteen now. He’ll be tried as an adult.”

“Wait...aren’t you two in high school?” I
ask, pointing a shaking finger between the two of them.

“Remember, I told you after I had the crap
beat out of me that I stayed back?” Will jumped in, “Well, I did
more than stay back. I was recruited by the FBI. They trained me
and put me back at school as a narc. I was in a lot of trouble a
couple of years ago: drugs, stealing, and a lot of petty shit. I
was the perfect candidate for the job.” He paused after declaring
his life story in a nutshell. “Tommy is getting some serious help
from someone. Derek and I have embedded ourselves to find out
answers. My faked death is a ruse to flush Tommy’s boss out. We
have learned a lot about Tommy over the past couple years, and the
only thing he fears is a charge he won’t be able to get out
of...murder. Not just any murder. The murder of a local teenager at
the high school he goes to. The campus will be flooded with
outraged parents, police investigators, and, worst of all, the
media.”

“Tommy and his boss have moved on from drugs
to human trafficking. He is taking girls and selling them. He’s
been shipping them overseas,” Derek cut in.

“That’s horrible!”

My stomach churned in disgust as I took in
all the information behind the door I shouldn’t have opened. The
thought of being stolen from your life, being ripped away from
everything you’ve known, sold like a TV or a microwave.

“What does that have to do with me?” I
asked.

“You’re a witness to Will’s beating. The
media spread of Will’s death was not supposed to be broadcast until
one of our agents picked you up and moved you out of state. Did you
see how fast Tommy reacted when he saw the media clip? Those
weren’t bikers out for a joyride. They were out for a
Joy-abduction.”

The callous play on words with my name hit
home. No matter how many times I went over it in my head and tried
to rationalize it, it came back to one thing.
I am in some
serious life-threatening shit!
My body ordered my brain to calm
my heart down. My rational-side was trying to take control. I tried
to focus on the issues at hand, but the frustration and fear just
continued to build as these problems became more cloudy and
complicated.

“Where am I supposed to go? I have a life.
How long will I have to stay away?”

“Look, you have to stay away for as long as
it takes to catch them. So far we have been eating, sleeping, and
breathing this case, but our superiors are getting ‘trigger-happy.’
They want this over with just as much as you.”

“You said the information about Will’s death
was supposed to happen after I was moved. Well, YOU’RE the only
person who has EVER contacted me. Where is this
mysterious
FBI agent who is supposed to be in charge of me? The beating
happened days ago!” I yelled at them, trying to control my
hysteria.

Will interjected, regarding Derek for
confirmation. “We’re not sure. Believe me, I was just as shocked as
you when I saw the news I was dead.”

“I’m just a student from RISD. I keep to
myself. I stay out of everyone’s way. I don’t do drugs, drink,
smoke, or even drive fast. How did I become a witness to a felony?”
Whenever I got emotional, I started talking with my hands, like
that was going to make someone understand me better. My hands were
speaking all by themselves at this point, and hysteria was climbing
up the sides of my esophagus.

“Hey, you’re not going to hit me again, are
you?” Derek joked, rubbing his cheek. His attempt at levity brought
my blood pressure down...a little.

“Ha ha...” I said dryly.

“Why don’t I take her to the safe house?”
asked Will. “I’m dead now anyway. You need to get back to your
little pack of assholes and do some damage control.”

“How am I going to do that? They already saw
me grabbing her. We were in a car chase with them,” Derek said
incredulously.

A loud
THWACK!
echoed through the
garage, and Derek’s head snapped back as Will punched him in the
face...hard! I ran to Derek.

“Holy crap!” I scream. “What did you do that
for!?”

“There you go. You’re all set. You can tell
Tommy you had the witness for him and you were running from the
Feds. They caught up to you and snatched Joy, but YOU got away.”
Will’s smug look was followed by, “You can thank me later for
saving your ass.”

Derek held his swelling cheek, astonished. I
wasn’t sure if he was in shock from the punch or Will’s plan.

“What are you going to do ‘dead man?’ What if
someone sees you?”

“I’ll get a disguise,” Will said
triumphantly.

All of the bickering, arguing, punching,
skulking in doorways, and scary car chases had given me a headache.
The events of the past week were catching up to me, and I wanted
nothing more than to call Jen, cry, go to sleep, and forget
everything
.

Shaking my head, I stalked over to the
un-chased car. I opened the passenger door.

“Make up your minds because I am getting
really tired. I would have been asleep for an hour already.”

“Are you kidding?” Derek called out as he
checked his cell. “It’s only nine-thirty.”

“Yeah, well. I need a lot of sleep.” I said
sarcastically as I slid into the car.

Finally, the gentleman that joined me was
Will. He tossed my duffle bag in the back. He stuck a baseball cap
and sunglasses on, revved the engine, and then leisurely drove the
car down the winding ramps that led to the exit. I rested my head
on the doorframe, wishing sleep would just come, but I couldn’t
help it anymore. I had to say something.

“You realize that a hat and sunglasses,
whether day or night for that matter, is the oldest trick in the
book. And that you are drawing more attention to yourself now
because you are wearing sunglasses at night.”

“It’s the oldest trick in the book because it
works,
” Will said in a very self-satisfied tone.

“Yeah. Right. Whatever.”

I lay my head back against the seat and
closed my eyes.

Derek and Kara:

September 1
^st
Six
weeks earlier

The first time he saw her was math class. Derek had
failed Algebra II already, so he was a senior in a class of
juniors. You would think, with the type of job he had, he did it on
purpose – but, no...he just really sucked at math.

Kara's chestnut colored hair fell in waves down
around her round face. She was tipped over her notebook doodling.
Derek immediately noticed she looked sad. He plopped down in the
desk next to her. The September sun streamed in through the row of
windows lining the classroom.

No matter how many years Derek spent in high school,
he kept growing bigger and the desks stayed the same size. He
glanced at her notebook. The doodles were of black-inked flowers
with thick leaves. She was good. Derek wondered if she was in art
class.

The classroom continued to fill with chatty students.
The first day was always loud with ‘hello’s’ and ‘how are you’s.’ A
few people threw a ‘hey’ Derek's way, but no one seemed to even
notice the chestnut-haired girl next to him. He stole another
glance her way, and she still continued to draw.

“
Hi. I'm Derek,” he said, introducing
himself.

A barely audible ‘Hi’ came from Kara's mouth. She
never even looked up.

“
Do you like math?” Derek asked.

Kara shrugged, “It’s okay.”

“
Well, I think it sucks. This is my second year in
this stupid class.”

A couple of guys were play fighting, pushing and
shoving. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet. One of the guys staggered
and stumbled right where Kara was sitting.

Without thinking, Derek jumped out of his too-small
desk and got between Kara and the asshole horsing around. He
grabbed the guy and twisted his arm around his back.

“
Stop fucking off,” Derek hissed in the guy’s ear.
When Derek let go, the guy immediately made his way back to his
friends on the other side of the classroom.

Derek returned to his seat and noticed a very
startled Kara. Her pen was in mid-stroke as she sat there
blinking.

“
You okay?” Derek asked.

Kara nodded quickly, not meeting Derek's gaze, and
went back to drawing.

I must have finally fallen asleep because,
the next time I woke, I sensed car turning and slowing down. I sat
up and rubbed my eyes to clear them.

“Where are we?”

“We’re pulling off into a motel. I’m getting
too tired to drive,” Will said through a yawn.

I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It
was three in the morning.

“Wow, we drove for a while.”

“Yeah, we’re about five hours away from Rhode
Island,” Will stated through another large yawn.

I didn’t have to ask which direction...I knew
as soon as I opened my door.
North!
The freezing temperature
gave it away.

“Will, I don’t think I packed for this
weather.”

Will didn’t say anything. He just walked over
to the lobby entrance of the Motel 6. I figured he must get cranky
when he’s tired, too. I hurried to catch up to him, wrapping my
arms around my mid-section to get warmer.

Within five minutes, the drowsy clerk at the
desk handed us a key.

Wait, stop...one key!?

“Why is there only one key?” I asked
Will.

“Come on.” He grabbed under my arm, leading
me outside back into the cold.

“Uh, Will?” I asked. “Why is there only one
key?”

“A couple of reasons. Can we just discuss
this in the room? It’s freezing out here.”

We made our way to room 106. He carried my
duffle for me, and I realized he had no bag.
Well, I guess it
was a spur of the moment thing.

I opened my mouth again to ask the same exact
key
question.

“I am hoping the third time is a charm. Why
is there only one key? Who said I was going to stay in the same
room with you?”

Will got very close to me, making my heart
race in a way that I had never felt before.

“Listen and listen
carefully
...

A: You are murder witness.

B: I am here to protect you.