Page 34 of Gator

“I’ll let Bodwick know that we’ve found the evidence,” said Luke. “Get all of this to the tech boys and make copies of it. We may want to listen to some of this ourselves.”

“May I ask a favor?” asked Dylan.

“Of course, Dylan. Anything. We owe you a great deal,” smiled Eric.

“You don’t owe me anything, but would it be possible to isolate a few clips of my father’s voice and my mother’s if it’s on the tapes as well?” They all stared at her. “I don’t remember what they sound like. I don’t remember their voices, and I’d really like to have a memory of that.”

“I can do that,” said Hiro, smiling at the woman. “In fact, I can make sure it’s only positive conversations with their voices. I’ll cut out anyone else for you.”

“Thank you, Hiro,” she smiled. “It means a great deal to me, but I hope one day my son will get to hear their voices as well.” Eric handed her the letter with her father’s crisp, beautiful handwriting. She smiled at him, nodding, and held the letter to her chest.

Watching the men carefully remove all of the evidence from the heart, she felt a gripping in her chest and wanted to scream. The one thing she had of her parents was now destroyed. Hex saw the pain in her eyes and quickly sent a text. A few moments later, Gwen was at the door. She was carrying a small box with her. Kissing her husband, she sat down at the table, staring at the big pillow.

“Well, it seems I can mend a broken heart,” she smiled. “Let me get one of the guys to run up to the shop and get some new stuffing. We’ll have this repaired in no time.”

“Oh, Gwen,” sniffed Dylan. “Thank you.”

“I know what history means, honey. Whether it’s a thousand years old or ten years old. It’s still your history, and it’s important.”

Dylan sat with the woman for almost an hour, helping to restuff the pillow and make the repairs. When it was finished, it was as light as a feather. She could only shake her head, wondering how she hadn’t figured out that the pillow was too heavy before.

Taking it into Joey’s bedroom, she set it on the floor in the corner, just as it had been in her bedroom for years.

“Hey! Everyone, in here!” called Hex. On the television was Matilda Cooper Provost. She was seated beside a reporter, who was peppering her with questions.

“Mrs. Provost, you have to understand that I’m just trying to figure out how you can vote for gun reform, but you refuse to sign a bill that would allow the banning of automatic weapons. That’s confusing?”

“Is it? I don’t find that confusing. You’re confusing.”

“Mrs. Provost, this is not the first time you’ve contradicted yourself. You’ve done it by agreeing to ban books, but by placing propaganda in our school’s libraries. You’ve done it by voting to overturn Roe v. Wade but allowing for the morning-after pill and other measures. You even said that we should privatize our military. Can you explain?”

“Of course, I can explain everything I say. We all saw the circus that those hideous men from REAPER-Patriots created. They’re murderers. All of them! They were all in the military, and they should all be killed.”

There were boos coming from the audience, and she jerked her head, staring at the offenders. Her eyes went wide and crazy.

“How dare you boo me! These men should all be killed, and President Bodwick refuses to give more names and details. He should be shot as well!”

“Ma’am! You’re making a terrorist threat,”said the reporter.

“Call it what you like,”she smiled. Turning to face the camera, she stared straight into the lens.“I will help the world be free of those men by killing them all. Then, when I am president, I will follow through on everything I’ve told you here today. Everything.”

The camera blacked out and then came back to two news members in the studio. Both looked shocked, their faces white and frightened.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed anything so terrifying, Carl.”

“I think I can agree with that, Holly. We’ll be right back after this break.”

“Well, I’m not sure she needs our help to sabotage her campaign, but it’s always fun anyway,” smirked Hex.

“She’s crazy,” said Dylan. “That woman is completely nuts!”

“Yep,” smirked Gator. “But we specialize in crushing nuts.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“You may have gone a little overboard, Matilda,” smiled Metzger backstage.

“That’s my style, Hanz. You know that. Besides, you never seemed to mind me going overboard in the bedroom.”

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