phrase as coming from an old movie about her industry. Network, it was called.
Ironically, the film was a satire, and the character who’d coined the phrase ended up dead. She wondered if anyone here remembered that. Probably not, she concluded. No one here was old enough to have seen it in its first run, and she doubted that anyone here was intellectually inclined to view even a newer movie for anything other than its entertainment value. Who was the leader, and what was his agenda? What did he hope to accomplish with this rabble-rousing?
Alex didn’t have long to wait to find out. As the leader raised his arms in a quieting move, the chant died down as quickly as it started.
“It’s been awhile since our last demonstration,” he began, when the last of the chair-climbers had clambered down and taken their seats. “Unfortunately, we were too subtle. The girl survived, but hasn’t pointed her finger at us. We need a more visible incident this time. As usual, we want the suspicion to fall on us, but the evidence must be too little to go on. If we can frighten some of these wetbacks into going back home, it will be a start.”
Alex almost objected, but common sense prevailed at the last minute. What good would it do to point out that Dawn wasn’t illegal, or even Latino? How ignorant were these people, anyway? She restrained her indignant response, and instead started wondering how and why they wanted the finger to point at them. What evidence did they leave that would have done so, and why hadn’t it been discovered?
She was so preoccupied that she almost missed the end of the discussion. The leader and three volunteers were to come up with a plan, and the entire group would be involved in one way or another. Alex found herself assigned as a lookout for whatever was going to go down. Now she was in, but she still didn’t know, none of them did, what she’d signed up for.
When the meeting broke up, Alex caught up with one of the women. The leader had never been introduced. Did they all stay anonymous, or was she expected to know? She fell into step beside the other woman.
“Good meeting, huh?” she said, hoping the other woman would open up with no more introduction than that. It worked almost too well. The woman stopped walking, forcing Alex to stop as well.
“You’re new,” the woman said, in almost accusatory tones.
Alex stood her ground. “Yeah? So?”
“So how do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t have to. They do,” Alex said, indicating the meeting room with a backward jerk of her head. “Listen, I don’t have to take any shit. You don’t like new people? Fine. Sorry I spoke to you.”
The other woman hesitated only a second before huffing out a laugh. “You’ve got spunk, I’ll say that much for you. Alice Johnson,” she announced as she held out her hand.
Alex took it and shook it once, firmly. “Misty Jenkins,” she replied.
“Well Misty, to answer you, yes, that was a good meeting. Ever since Harvey went to jail, we’ve needed a guy like him to step up and lead. Looks like we’ve found him.” Alice resumed walking, with Alex hurrying to make up the step she’d lost when the other woman started off abruptly.
“So listen,” she said. “Like you said, I’m new. Am I supposed to know his name?”
“Sure, why not?” Alice asked.
“Because I don’t,” Alex said, giving a small sound of exasperation. “They didn’t introduce him. Was I the only newbie there?”
“Guess so,” Alice replied. “His name’s Jim Atkins. Joined a few months ago, and really livened up the group. We’d been kind of lost since Harvey got picked up.”
This was the second time she’d mentioned Harvey in the same context, but Alex didn’t want to seem too eager to know too much. She could look that one up on the internet, probably. Her curiosity about everything else would have to wait, too. Now that she knew for sure the Patriots were behind Dawn’s attack, she had some leverage. Only now, it looked as though she might be in a position to foil the next one. She’d have to be careful not to give herself away before she could do some real good.
~~~
Dylan was on his way to Tempe in a moving truck with the boys on the seat beside him when Alex’s text pinged him with her special ring. He didn’t dare look at it