Autumn (Four Seasons Book 1) Read online

  Before he could wonder about it further, he received a message on his computer. It was from one of the chiefs of the agency saying, “Emergency Press Briefing at 1400 hours. Fed Investigation leaked to public.”

  Greg leaned back in his chair, looking incredulously at the message before muttering, “Fuck me.” He would have to do a press conference this week after all.

  The entire media circus was in tow for the press briefing. It was of great concern to the people and government of New York City if a federal agency charged with keeping the peace in the financial capital of the world was bungling the task. But the news that the agency might be involved in outright wrongdoing was a shock even to the cynical media of the city. Every news outlet and newspaper was there, along with some of the more credible bloggers. This was a public relations nightmare and Greg had to take the brunt of it as usual.

  Greg was looking out at the crowd in the room glumly, annoyed that he had to do a briefing on the investigation so soon. He figured this would come up eventually when he Agent Thomas had called him the previous day, but this was quicker than even he expected.

  “Are you nervous?” a female voice behind him said.

  Greg knew it to be the agency director, Emma Drexel. “I’ve done this so many times, I could do it in my sleep.”

  “The subject matter isn’t the same though,” she added.

  “I’ll make do,” Greg replied glumly. “Director, why didn’t you tell the Fed about Agent Lopez' disappearance?” he added suddenly.

  Director Drexel walked in front of him and said, “What did you tell them?”

  “I told them the person I was engaged to went missing on duty.” Greg replied, surprised by the hard tone that she had suddenly taken. “Why didn’t you tell them before I did?”

  “It was on a need to know basis,” Director Drexel said, coldly. “We aren’t apart of regular federal jurisdiction so it didn’t matter whether or not the FBI knew of what we did here.”

  “Don’t we owe it to them though?” Greg demanded, waving at the media crowd behind them.

  Director Drexel glared at him and said, “Just say what you need to say. That’s all you need to do, Carlton.”

  Greg watched as she went around him and back down the hallway away from the press room. Far from being disinterested, Greg was now confused and angry. He knew he needed to keep a level head at the press conference, otherwise the media might read into something that was not actually there.

  The only problem was that Greg suspected now that something was going on and that now had to go do his best to lie about it.

  Chapter Two

  Rebecca Daniels

  In the first days of the New Year, a brutal cold wave ripped through the Midwestern states, sending temperatures plunging below zero and the wind chill even worse. For an area where unrest had created a near crisis in homelessness, the cold was just another burden to bear, albeit one that was hard to manage and could be deadly.

  It was no different for Rebecca Daniels. The teenaged runaway had managed to find her way to Kansas City, Missouri in the previous year, having trekked the few dozen miles from Kansas’ capital city, Topeka, in search of a place that would be easier to survive the winter in. As the winds blew from the north announcing the cold’s arrival, she was forced westward into Kansas to avoid being swept up by street gangs preying on the homeless. Rebecca knew that she would be forced into prostitution is she strayed too close to the gangs.

  Rebecca was nearly seventeen years old, with long straight brown hair and a slim build, someone who could easily be forced into sex trafficking if she was not careful. She was perhaps a bit leaner than she had been in recent months, but she also had not eaten a normal meal in some time. She knew that other girls her age were being lured into the prostitution rings by the promise of food, but she did not trust these promises.

  The reason she had left her home to risk the dangers of the collapsing city was simple: her home had been worse. The government in Washington was in no fit shape to deal with the crises erupting all over the country and the state governments fared no better. Rebecca had left Topeka when it became apparent that the Governor of Kansas was going to call in the National Guard to basically run the city so the government could conduct its business. Rebecca did not want to live in a city like that and took off eastwards towards Kansas City.

  Rebecca was not leaving much behind. She had never known her parents and had grown up with her aunt who constantly abused hard drugs. Rebecca had long since learned to take care of herself because of this and had no lasting guilt about leaving that household behind. She had made a few friends at high school, but only in a superficial sense for the most part. The only true friend that she had was Anne Orth, a tall red headed girl who had come along with her to Kansas City.

  The two girls had made their way over the border between Kansas and Missouri over the Missouri River earlier that day. Rebecca had been entranced by the steam lifting from the river as the warmer water was subjected to the bitter cold. She would have stayed and watched longer had it not been for the wind blowing right in their faces. They had moved further south since then, moving into the more affluent areas Kansas City, Kansas.

  “Where are we going to eat?” Anne asked suddenly.

  “I’m not sure,” Rebecca replied. “Probably whatever shelter we can find.”

  Anne fell silent; it was hard to walk in the cold wind, never mind trying to talk as well. They made their way further to the south for another hour until Anne spoke again.

  “I can’t keep going like this, Bec.”

  Rebecca nodded; she was becoming exhausted as well. As they continued, they noticed a high school that was operating a shelter for a couple of weeks with school out of session for Christmas. Rebecca gestured to it and Anne nodded. They crossed the street quickly and went into the building, letting the warmth overwhelm them for a moment.

  “Welcome, young ladies,” a voice ahead of them said. “Will you be staying the night?”

  Rebecca looked up to see a man in a dark attire with a white collar around his neck. “Yes, if that is okay,” she said.

  The man nodded and said, “We will find room for you. It may be a bit crowded because of the situation across the river and this cold. Kathleen, could you show them the way?”

  A middle-aged woman came around from behind a desk and said, “Certainly, if you two will just come with me.”

  Anne and Rebecca followed her out of the atrium and down the hall. The woman tried to make conversation, saying, “It’s good we were able to get his set up for you tonight. We had to get special permission from the school district because the shelter the Archdiocese runs isn’t big enough to handle so many people.”

  “How bad has it been?” Rebecca asked conversationally.

  “We set up the shelter last summer when the gangs really started becoming active,” she explained. “We’ve been in overflow since October now. Fortunately, we have some generous donors to help us out with their time and money.”

  Rebecca did not say anything as they went down to the gymnasium where hundreds of cots and sleeping bags had been set up. A line of people was waiting at the end of the hall where a soup line had been set up.

  “Do you want to eat?” Rebecca asked.

  “No, not yet. Let’s find somewhere to sleep. I want to get a cot before they run out,” Anne explained.

  Rebecca nodded and followed her to the far corner of the gym where there were not so many people yet. They sat down on two cots and looked at each other.

  “At least it is warm,” Rebecca said, seeing the tired look on Anne’s face.

  “Anything was warmer than it is out there,” Anne replied. “I’m tired of this Rebecca.”

  Rebecca did not reply. She knew what Anne meant; it had been a hard few months for them living on the streets of Kansas City. This was not the first shelter that they had stayed at. She doubted it would be their last either.

  “Do you think we made a mistake leavi
ng Topeka?” Anne ventured. “I mean there we would have at least had shelter and food.”

  “Not where I lived,” Rebecca said darkly. “This is bad, but I’d still take this over what I had.”

  “We could’ve tried to get in the foster system or something,” Anne suggested.

  “What are the odds of finding a good home through that?” Rebecca asked. “I’m sure those families mean well, but that system is overwhelmed because of how many of us there are. We’re almost eighteen; we’re better off on our own.”

  Anne did not reply immediately, so Rebecca added, “Besides we can’t go back now anyway. They’d pick us off the streets and throw us in jail with the National Guard there now. At least here we can avoid the gangs, instead of being locked up with them.”

  “Barely,” Anne said, laying down on the cot.

  “We’ve made it this far, Anne,” Rebecca said.

  “Okay, but where do we go from here?” Anne asked, looking up at the ceiling. “We didn’t have a plan coming out and we’ve just been wandering around for months trying to avoid getting killed or worse.”

  Rebecca did not respond. The truth was there was no plan. All that they had thought of when they left Topeka was to get to Kansas City. They had passed by Lawrence on the way here because they did not feel there would be anything in the college town for them. Besides that, it was still too close to the capital. They had gone to Kansas City because they had thought there was more opportunity only to find out that extreme gang activity had made large tracts of the city unsafe to even enter, let alone try to carve out a living.

  Their first run in with trouble had not come from the authorities as they expected, but from the gangs. The northern half of Kansas City was especially troubled by gang activity and that is the side they happened to enter. As they crossed Bonner Springs and Edwardsville, they could tell they were being watched, but did not understand what was going on until a gang fight broke out in front of them near the Kansas River.

  The incident still gave Rebecca nightmares months later. Unbeknownst to them, the gangs had seen them walking across their area and decided they wanted to “take them in.” Multiple gangs had converged on the area and settling the dispute diplomatically was the last thing on their minds. A large firefight broke out, giving Rebecca and Anne enough of a window to get out of the situation without the gangs realizing the reason they were fighting had fled.

  As they were fleeing, they had come to the Kansas River, which was far too wide and strong to try to navigate by swimming. They were forced to go upstream until they found a bridge they could cross that was not shut down by police responding to the war zone they had left behind. They had seriously considered going back right then and there until they got news that Topeka had officially been put on lockdown at the behest of the state government.

  For months now they had honed their street knowledge and more importantly, learning to avoid the areas that were ruled by the gangs. They had survived this far, but still had no idea what to do next. For her part, Rebecca was willing to do anything at this point to achieve some security and secure a more regular food source.

  “Will you two be needing anything to eat tonight?” someone said suddenly, breaking them out of their reverie.

  A middle-aged man had walked towards them and apparently noticed that neither of them had eaten. Rebecca looked at him and said, “I think we just needed to get settled first. I’m ready to eat, are you, Anne?”

  Anne nodded, but did not make any motion to get up. The man noticed this and said, “I’ll get your meal for you if you want. Would you come with me though?” he asked of Rebecca.

  Rebecca replied simply, “Sure,” and got up after him.

  “My name is Ed Smith,” the man explained as they walked over to the soup line. “My wife Kathleen and I help out with the church shelter as often as we can.”

  “That’s nice of you,” Rebecca replied. “I think we already met Kathleen. She said you’ve had a lot of people come here recently?”

  Ed sighed. “Yes, there has been. Nobody will talk about it officially, but we nearly have a refugee crisis going on in this city. Thousands of people have been turned out their homes because of the gangs. Nobody from outside of the city has been helping at all and it’s gotten little attention from the city itself. People don’t like to notice this kind of inconvenience.”

  “The inconvenience of thousands of new homeless people?” Rebecca said, shocked. “I’m sorry we’re such a bother,” she added sarcastically.

  “They can be a bit tricky,” Ed replied. “I’ve been trying to get more of my colleagues to get more involved. We’ve been petitioning the privately held companies for help too, since the public charities can’t or won’t. Some have been, but with the economy the way it is, they are reluctant to what little capital they have left to charity. Everyone is suffering.”

  Rebecca did not reply. She had not really given any thought to why she and the other homeless had not been getting any help. Both she and Anne had been perfectly content to fend for themselves, having learned not to try to rely on others from their time growing up in Topeka. “I guess it’s harder for people to think about others when they are barely getting by themselves,” she said.

  “That could be it,” Ed admitted as they reached the soup line. “Kathleen and I try to think differently though, which is why we are here.”

  Rebecca fell silent again as they got some food for herself and Anne. They remained silent as they went back to where Anne was still lying down. She sat up as Ed gave her the bowl of soup.

  “There you go,” he said. “If you two could take care of your trash when you are done that would be great. We are going to do lights out at 10.”

  “Okay, thank you,” Rebecca said while Anne remained silent.

  Ed walked away to tend to other people that were slowing starting to fill the gym. “What did you guys talk about?” Anne asked.

  “We were just talking about how there are so many homeless right now,” Rebecca replied. “And how they're not getting much help from other people.”

  “Ain't that the truth,” Anne sighed.

  Rebecca did not continue, but contented herself to continue eating. The soup was not bad, given the trouble that Ed had just described. She was modestly satisfied when she finished it and took care of both of their trash.

  “What do you want to do now?” Rebecca asked as she got back from disposing of the trash.

  “I don't know,” Anne replied. “Sleep?”

  “This early?” Rebecca asked, surprised.

  “We don't really have anything else to do,” Anne replied. “Not unless they have books or something.”

  Rebecca looked around to see what other people were doing to pass the time besides eating. There were some close-knit groups, but most people were by themselves, either sitting quietly or already trying to sleep. Rebecca took a closer look at one of the groups and realized it was a family of four.

  “I don't think these people know each other,” Rebecca said.

  “And we don't know them,” Anne shot back. “We should keep it that way.”

  Rebecca felt no need to argue the point. They had been by themselves since they got to Kansas City and did not feel the need to change that now.

  “I'm not tired enough to sleep,” Rebecca said.

  Anne sighed. “I'm not really tired either.” She paused for a moment and said, “Maybe we should leave Kansas City and try for Wichita or something.”

  “Wichita is nearly 200 miles away,” Rebecca replied. “That's a long ass way to go in the middle of winter.”

  “So, just wait for it to get warmer, then head down?” Anne added, not to be deterred.

  “We could. But what if we get to Wichita and it is just as bad there as it is here?” Rebecca interjected.

  “Wichita is smaller than Kansas City, so there won't be as many refugees there,” Anne replied. “Plus, it's further from Topeka there.”

  “I don't know, Anne.” Re
becca said heavily. “I'll need to think about it.”

  “Fine,” Anne said crossly. “But we really need to have a plan or something. We can't just wander the streets the rest of our lives.”

  Rebecca knew she was right. She just did not know whether there was much promise to Wichita. It was a long way from where they were now and she had no idea what the gang situation there was like. She resolved to try to sleep on the matter and get back to Anne in the morning.

  Rebecca and Anne remained silent the rest of the evening and eventually drifted off into sleep. The next morning, they awoke to the smell of breakfast wafting through the gym. Rebecca was surprised; this was the first time a shelter they had stayed at had given them breakfast.

  Anne had noticed the food as well and was already making to get up and go after it. Rebecca followed her as they wound their way through the maze of cots and sleeping bags so they could get to the food as quickly as possible. The line was not too long when they arrived and so they were able to get their food quickly. They returned to their cots when they found that Ed Smith was waiting.

  “Hello, ladies,” he said jovially. “How are you this morning?”

  “I’m good,” Rebecca replied. Anne was eating too quickly to be able to reply, but nodded in agreement.

  “I didn’t get your names last night, who are you two?” Ed asked.

  “I’m Rebecca and this is Anne,” she replied simply.

  “Okay, good. Now that we know each other’s names, there is something I want to talk to you about,” Ed continued, looking sterner suddenly. “What exactly are you two doing on the streets?”

  Anne looked wary as Rebecca glance over to her briefly before starting to explain. “We’re from Topeka originally,” she said. “We both were in bad homes and we did not want to be around when the National Guard would be brought in so we left.”

  “And out of all places you came here?” Ed asked.

  “We didn’t know at the time that it was as bad as it was here,” Rebecca explained. “No one told us about the gangs or anything.”