Lottery 1
The cameras were set up at the arrival gate. Christine stood on the sidelines and watched the people exiting the plane. Aston walked out of the hallway pushing an unconscious Lucy in a wheelchair.
Christine pointed him out, and the cameras sprung to life. Shaniqua had four cameras behind her following his every move and blocking the end of the walkway. One cameraman whipped past Aston and focused on the reporter.
Shaniqua stood in front of the wheelchair, “Is this Lucy Stymes winner of the Tri-State Lottery?”
“No, you must have her confused with someone else.” Aston said and panned the crowd to assess the situation.
Christine cowered into the crowd and tried to disappear into it, but she had already been spotted by Aston.
“Are you sure?” Shaniqua pushed. “Because according to my findings this is Lucy Stymes the so called winner of the Tri-State Lottery. Except she’s not the winner of the lottery, this woman over here is. Christine Barrett.”
Two of the cameras spun to the crowd, but Christine was no where to be seen.
“I see no one.” Aston said confidently. “Please let us by.”
Shaniqua was unmoved. “I demand to see this woman’s passport, and I want an explanation as to why she’s unconscious.”
“She’s a nervous flyer.” Aston remained cool. “As for the rest, I have no reason justify myself to you or anyone else here.”
“Is it true that you work for the notorious gangster Lou Artou and this is all a scheme to steal the Tri-State Lottery winnings for his organization.”
Aston said nothing.
“This is Lucy Stymes, and I can prove it if you show her documentation. I know she’s been missing.” Shaniqua continued to confront Aston.
“Did someone report her missing? Are the police looking for her?” Aston stalled. “We really must be going now. Please don’t be a further embarrassment to your station,” he paused and looked at the side of one of the cameras. “KKRY.”
Shaniqua wouldn’t move, she was concrete. She reached over and began trying to wake up Lucy.
Aston reached down and tried to stop Shaniqua from touching Lucy. The cameras were rolling, people in the crowds were uploading live streams from their phones.
Lucy started to wake during the scuffle and noticed Shaniqua.
Lucy’s eyes widened with recognition, but she couldn’t speak. None of her muscles would respond to her thoughts.
Aston’s phone vibrated in his pocket.
Lou Artou watched the breaking news as it was happening. He held his cellphone to his ear and waited for Aston to pick up.
Aston reached in his pocket, and answered the phone.
“Cut her loose.” Lou said and hung up.
Aston hung up the phone and walked away from the crowd standing there.
Shaniqua wanted to follow him but had no choice other than to stay with Lucy. She leaned over and asked, “Are you Okay? Can you speak?”
Lucy blinked her eyes, because it was all she could do. She was very grateful it was all over. She breathed in as deeply as she could and closed her eyes for a moment. She could hear Shaniqua talking still, but it sounded as if she was at the end of a tunnel. Then she heard nothing, and fell asleep.
“We need an ambulance!” Shaniqua called out.
Christine emerged from the crowd and rushed over to Lucy’s side. “Is this her? Is this the one?” she asked.
“Yes.” Shaniqua said checking to make sure Lucy was still breathing. “She’s the one.”
Lou’s phone went off. “What is it?”, he answered after the first ring.
“Someone in the office put out a tracer request on Marvin Devine.” the woman on the other line states.
“What do you know?”
“Suspicion of racketeering.”
Lou hung up and called Devine. “You got a tracer comin. Move him.”
Devine let out a heavy sigh and destroyed the phone. He had two days until every move he made was known to the FBI. He grabbed his stuff and packed it in the car, then grabbed Steven and forced him into the trunk. Marvin let out a small growl of contempt as he slammed the car door and drove away from his peaceful cabin.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t planned for this. He had a map route of towns without cameras, and several places to stop along the way.