Page 120 of Never Quiet

Chapter Twenty-Six

June 2017 – October 2017

For months, everywhere Amanda went, she was accompanied by a team of men and women armed and wearing protective gear. Every location was cleared and she traveled in an armored SUV while others moved in front of and behind her.

Until the threat was neutralized, Noel, Rick, and Tawny were permanent members of her team: Hush, Razor, and Red.

Her life felt like a movie.

Ash recovered and she hugged him for a long time. “Only I tall enough, Amanda.” Then he laughed and it made her laugh through her tears. “Not so little man.”

“No, Ash. There’s nothing little about you.”

She gave interviews, answered in-depth personal questions, and explained how she knew the man she’d publicly named was a human trafficker.

Carrying a jump drive with a slide show presentation, she showed that her bounty had now surpassed thirty million and dumbed down the computer science.

With a shrug and a sad smile, she explained, “With people like this, all you have to do is follow the money. No matter what, money always leaves a trail.”

Delkin Acquisitions established a charity to combat human trafficking and Amanda was the public face. Her father mailed the original report she’d written at twelve. She used it in her speeches to compare the information she’d gathered then to the far worse statistics seven years later.

Amanda regularly uploaded messages on social media. She talked about the environment, children’s welfare, and poverty.

Her fans loved her and her popularity grew. As a result, she was recorded everywhere she went. From inside coffee shops, office buildings, and bodegas, people kept their cameras on her when she was outside her well-protected residential high-rise.

That’s why every attempt to take or kill her was caught on video and shared to the internet within minutes.

Noel prepared an extravagant dinner for her birthday and Amanda spent an hour letting Heather show her every new doll, book, and outfit she’d received since her big sister left home. There was laughter and tears, her heart aching, as she realized her parents, grandparents, and friends were celebrating her birthday with cake as if she was with them.

She hadn’t seen the people she loved in almost a year. Never did she imagine so much time would pass without hugging them, talking face to face, or being ridiculous together.

At the end of every conversation, before she disconnected, she told them, “Maybe not too much longer now.”

Through it all, Hayden remained at her side, in her bed, and took up an unbelievable amount of room in her heart.

Her excitement to see her family was coupled with the bittersweet knowledge that it would likely coincide with losing the man with whom she’d fallen deeply in love.

For that reason, she overdosed on him every chance she had.

She decided to love him as hard as she could for as long as she could and deal with the rest when it was time.

Three weeks before Halloween, Noel walked into her apartment and called her out of her in-home lab.

“It’s down. The bounty is down, Amanda.” Her aunt held her up when she would have slid to the floor.

Instant, intense relief was followed immediately by the feeling of a ticking clock deep in Amanda’s heart.

“Winston’s estate in Washington was raided late last night. They found three people chained in an underground building he constructed after Hayden and Roark destroyed his tunnels a few years ago. They’d been executed. Considering the condition they were in, it’s unlikely they would have lived much longer and after what they’d been through, I’m sure they welcomed death.”

“Those poor people.” Amanda pressed her hand to her stomach in agony. “Did they get him? Winston Winters?”

Noel shook her head slowly. “They estimate he bolted two days before the raid. He’s in the wind. It’s all over the news and the bounty was removed an hour ago. No idea if he took it down or the people who run the site, but it’s gone. There are reporters up and down the block outside hoping to talk to you.”

“I’ll just…stay here, thanks.” Then she was sobbing and Noel held her hard.

“You did it, Amanda. You drove Winston Winters out of his normal life without firing a single shot.” She kissed her temple and Amanda realized she was crying, too. “I’m so fucking proud of you. So proud.”

Nodding, she couldn’t speak. There were too many thoughts in her head to form a cohesive thought.

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