Hampton, 28/05/2012. 19:30.
All members of the Lyndon's family were currently sitting on the sofa in the living room. They all opted to take a day off to watch what was going to happen to Caldwell on the news. Since this morning the press has been having a field day with breaking news reports. They seem to have found the moniker "Black Slaver" for him, not overly imaginative but it has caught on rapidly on social media. On television they start to interview every kind of expert to speak on the situation in the country touched by the atrocities. They also call influential politicians who were associated with Caldwell, every one of them stating that they had cut ties for a diverse reason before today. Caldwell has become radioactive and the network of relation that he established with his reputation and money crumble in a single night.
On the news they were replaying the arrest of Caldwell by FBI agents outside of his home in Hampton. He was still wearing pajamas when he was arrested by the FBI and pushed inside of a SUV. Everyone was still shocked by the news, the news networks were currently breaking records of viewers who wanted to know more about the atrocities he commited.
"There is a thing that I don't understand." Finally said Robert, gathering the attention of everyone.
"What is it Dad?" Ask Mary, curious.
"Someone with as much connection as him, I'm surprised he was still in his home and not in a plane on the way to a country without extradition when the arrest warrant was issued." Said Robert, his eyes focusing on someone in the room.
Nathaniel faces the searching eyes of his grandfather with an impassive stare.
"You did not hear? Last night a power surge happened and the cell tower deserving the Hampton was damaged, it was repaired around noon today. And he made the mistake to contract AT&T for his internet and landline… sometimes their service shut down for no reason…" Said Nathaniel with an innocent expression.
Seeing the surprised look of his family, he shook his head laughing.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm not the one who did it. I don't really have the skill set to pull that off whereas an ex Mossad agent could do it easily." He said, turning and looking to the door.
After saying that, everyone turned to Amal who was listening to the news near the door. Seeing the whole family looking at him, his eyes flicker to Nathaniel for a second before nodding. That was of course a lie, he had the skill set to do it but that was best if his family ignored it. The brief eye contact that Amal made in that second show that Amal was suspicious of it but he would say nothing. He was not the kind of person who likes to pry into other people's business.
"That explains why the office could not join me this morning" Say Karine, understanding what was going on.
"How are things going in the DA office by the way Mom?"
"It's a mess, every prosecutor is currently fighting for the case, the DA is currently unavailable and every New York news channel wants to interview him for his relation with Caldwell. That was not really nice to send the file to all the prosecutors of New York and DC, I understand now why you ask for their address email. They even ask me to come back to help sort this mess."
"What did you answer?" Ask Mary.
"That I wanted to spend more time with my lovely son who came out of a coma and that I would come back tomorrow." She said with a lovely smile. "Why did you send the files to every prosecutor in the state by the way?"
"Mainly for redundancy, they could make disappear one or two but not thirty of them. I would love to see their face when they realise that none of them would take the case to court." He said laughing which triggered puzzled expressions to appear on everyone's faces.
"What do you mean sweetie?" Ask Karine, frowning.
"I send the files to the international court of LaHaye. I think they would start the extradition process in the week. I would trust any European court over one of our own. We have a tendency to forget things fast, they don't, especially when you are accused of crime against humanity."
"I'm impressed sweetie, you thought of everything." Said Karine getting up and hugging him.
"I'm proud of you baby!" Add Mary, joining the hug.
"Can they find out from where the information came out? Can they find out that we are the one who did it?" Ask Diane somewhat anxiously.
"We hide our trace very well, there is nothing that can tie us to the emails or the letters sent. Moreover we don't have any alibi to do it and we are rich and influential. If for some reason they wanted to start an investigation, we are not really the usual suspect. We are good." Assure Nathaniel with a reassuring nod who seems to appease Diane worries.
"I wanted to talk about something else with you guys."
"What is it dear?" Ask Diane.
"I finally made my decision, I will go back to school. I'm done with my rehabilitation and it's time that I resume my life."
"Glad that you brought that up sweetie, we were going to talk to you about it albeit not so soon. The school year starts in late august, we could hire a tutor to help you catch on. Hopefully you could start at 9th grader in august." Said Mary
When Nathaniel had his accident, he was in 7th grade, the fact that Mary was even talking of making him a nine grader despite his coma was a clear indication of Mary's faith in him.
"You want to put him, a sixteen years old back in school with a bunch of thirteen years old?! This is disgraceful for him and our entire family! He needs to stay here, I will hire the best tutor for him to catch up and hopefully next year he could go as an 11th grader, he's clearly bright enough." Assert his grandfather with a strict voice.
"This is our son and this is our decision, dad!" Said Mary angrily.
"Ok guys, you need to calm down. I will make the decision myself and I decide to do neither of those things." Said Nathaniel while raising his hands in a sign of appeasement.
"What do you have in mind dear?" Ask Diane, wanting to diffuse the situation before it escalates further.
"I made up my mind, I will go to college next semester." Nathaniel announced.
Hearing that, all the family has a reaction. Robert jumped out of his chair, Diane seems to have lost her words while Mary and Karine have their eyes open like saucers, their mouths open in an 'o'. Immediately everyone started talking at the same time to rebuke him.
"That's crazy!" Was the last thing that he heard before he raised his hand again to signal he wanted to talk.
"I know that seems crazy to say it but I was reading and catching up with school work the last couple of months. I know i can do it." He replied confidently
"Sweetie, I know that you think you can but that's simply not feasible." Said Karine with kindness.
"Moms, you always knew that I was smart back then and I was hiding most of it. I knew at that time that we didn't have the means to hire a tutor for me and I didn't want to be a bother for you two. The truth was that I didn't have any friends back then because I was too mature for a twelve years old kid. At twelve, I was working on freshman material when I was at school or I was learning a new language because I was bored otherwise."
"Why didn't you say anything, baby at the time? We would have figured something out!" Said Mary tearing up.
"You both loved your work and I did not want you to give it up for my sake. You had made enough sacrifice for me already. Moreover I was confident to start making money for me soon enough." Nathaniel added while patting his mother's hair which was crying now.
"What language can you speak?" Ask Robert.
"I'm fluent in French, Spanish and Mandarin. I know a fair bit of German and Russian too but not fluent quite yet." He answers.
Seeing the sceptic look on his grandfather's face he starts saying things in the language he mentioned previously. He was surprised to see his grandfather respond to him in German and Spanish and his grandmother in Russian. Of course, Karine responded to him in French as that was her maternal language.
"Your Russian is not that bad dear, still need work but this is sufficient if you don't plan to make a living out of it." Compliment his grandmother with a proud smile.
"We are getting out of topic." Said his grandfather wishing to come back to the previous subject.
"Where do you want to go to college?" Ask Mary, starting to worry. She didn't want to see him leave far away.
"I will study in New York to be with you guys. I choose Columbia, I want to have a law degree." Said Nathaniel.
Hearing that they were once again surprised unlike Karine who started smiling joyfully. She had graduated from Columbia with mention and she liked the fact that he was going through her footsteps and going to the same university she did.
"Baby are you sure? This is a very competitive law school, it's one of the top five in the country." Mary asked worriedly.
"You would need to have a 170 score in LSAT to apply and that's the minimum, even with that, you could not be admitted. I had 172 to mine and I barely passed." Clarified Karine.
"I will help, I know a few people. But i will start making phone calls after we have the results of your test. When will you take it?" Ask Robert.
"We just finished the song and the guy you sent me to make the music video says that it will take a few days. Let me have two weeks and I will be good." He answers.
"Very well grandson, I will make the necessary arrangement. Do not disappoint me." He warned before leaving.