A special thanks goes to Lily9876 and Rebadams7 for their help with the French found in this chapter. I dedicate this chapter to the readers who have placed themselves in dangerous situations to help others, and those that have loved ones in those situations now. The facts regarding some dangers when working in a humanitarian capacity are mentioned in the chapter, so I'd like to thank you for your bravery and for your service to humanity. Brightest blessings.
"Oh, damnation! I will have it back; and I'll have his gold too; and then his blood; and hell shall have his soul!
It will be ten times blacker with that guest than ever it was before!" (13.63)
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
The ringing of Edward's phone stirred them from their peaceful rest, forcing him to peel away from her body to answer it.
"That was fast. Did you have any luck, Jane?"
His smile grew as he listened to her response. Bella turned her body to watch his facial features brighten as the seconds stretched into minutes, his countenance mimicking the sun rising in the boundless sky and filling the room with a new lightness.
Judge Jane Volturi kept her word. Within hours of her initial phone call with Edward, Ms. Sinclair was placed under investigation. Due to the unexpected scrutiny of the Secretary of State, the UN was motivated to act quickly. No one was more surprised by Mrs. Clinton's sudden interest in the incident than Heidi White, who was taken into custody within hours of the UN being alerted of the incident.
With unprecedented swiftness, under the dissection of a secret, emergency assembled panel of UN officials, she was found guilty of the Geneva Convention's AP 1, Article 85, for willfully making a civilian the object of an attack. She was accused of the perfidious use, in violation of Article 37, of the distinctive emblem of the UN, recognized by the Conventions and Protocol. Under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Switzerland Sentence Execution Agreement for Swiss Citizens, she was immediately sent to prison in Zürich for an irrevocable sentence that would span five years.
Heidi White - with her hobnobbing with royal progeny at the obscenely expensive La Rosey boarding school … with her being groomed for perfection in the pristine and superior Swiss air … with her distinguished tutelage at Le École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne … would spend her time using the echo of her fabricated, pretentious European accent to keep herself company as she scrubbed toilets and gathered soiled linens at one of the exclusive Zürich Prison concordats of Strafvollzugskonkordat der lateinischen Schweiz.
Her achievements were quite a mouthful, as was her main purpose behind bars.
To accompany her frequent mental breakdowns and begging for mercy, Heidi was able to gain first-hand knowledge where Michael Newton had not. Her throat was a favorite among the guards and many of her fellow jouets sexuels … among other things. They all found her to be rather juicy.
Four years into her five year sentence, Heidi was found hanging from a torn sheet in her cell. Her last thoughts were not of regret or sorrow over her actions concerning Bella's welfare. Her last thoughts were not of regret over the many she hurt during her life trying to get what she wanted, at any cost. Her last thoughts were over the fact that she did not take better care to cover her despicable tracks.
As infinite darkness overtook her, she heard the demonic sounding laughter beckoning her towards her final destination. Her new horror began with the realization that Osama Bin Ladden was being tortured nearby, followed by three words welcoming her by a master of unspeakable torment …
"Welcome to Hell."
7th of January, 2011
"Edward, we need to call my father."
"He knows. He returned my text earlier … "
" … Ha! my father is still in the stone ages. He doesn't have a cell phone."
"I bought him a new phone for Christmas so that he could reach us easier if he was on his shift. Getting us messages through texting is often easier when he has to do it on his shift and can't be making calls."
He smirked before continuing.
"Of course, I gave him the standard speech about not upgrading it just because he gets promotional offers in the mail."
Bella's boisterous laugh filled the air as she shook her head.
"My father doesn't replace anything. I guarantee that he'll have that same phone ten years from now, if it's still working. And he managed to figure it out? The man who has difficulty with his own microwave?"
Edward handed her his phone, the message displayed on the screen:
Have a nice honeymoon. Have Bella call me next week.
"Huh. What about your family?"
"They are ecstatic. But … "
"But?"
"Alice. She's … her message is there, directly after your father's."
This may be romantic but it is not a free pass. You will still have a wedding and reception HERE and I will plan every detail. Love you both!
Bella smiled at reading the thoughts of her best friend. Sister. The sister she always considered her to be.
"At least she'll plan everything, Edward. All we'll have to do is show up."
He shook his head in disagreement.
"I … I wanted to have the chance to explore the world with you, without restraints. If we agree to this, it will tie us down to a time frame and I'd rather not have my hand forced like that, when traveling back might take us farther away from new opportunities. What do you want to do about this, Bella?"
She shook her head just as he did.
"I agree with you. What … what if we could convince them to come here? You said that the Great Migration was something to see, and I think my father would love being surrounded by the wildlife here. He gets excited with seeing a few trout in a stream. Imagine what will happen when he witnesses the kind of wildlife that we did yesterday."
Edward's smile grew as he responded.
"And that's nothing compared to the overwhelming experience of watching the Great Migration in action. I'll talk to Ben and see if we can arrange something special. Alice will have to manage it from there, but she loves a challenge, so I don't think she'll protest too much given the fact she'll get to plan something special for us in such an exotic location. We'll be done with Habitat in February. I thought I could show you so many things while we are in this hemisphere. Then we can return here when the migration descends on the Mara in early July. Does that sound alright with you?"
Bella was beaming with excitement.
"Perfect! I … I'd like to go back to Forks, eventually. But I'm in no rush to leave now that I'm here, Edward. I hope that our families agree."
Edward nodded as he responded.
"I'm confident they will. Alice will be happy to run with the setting and your father is going to love it here. I'll feel better about the extravagances because virtually everything spent here returns to the Maasai people to help them sustain their often difficult lives here on the Mara."
She smiled in response, certain he was correct about Alice's pending excitement.
"Want to take a walk around the camp? I'll show you the contributions I made during my time spent here. I can show you how they turned this area into a luxurious yet sustainable and environmentally conscious development."
Bella nodded and accepted Edward's hand as they ventured down the path into the lush vegetation.
Ben watched them walk past the administrative building towards the filtration center. He caught up with them as Edward was showing her the different functions of the control panel, joining in the discussion as they made their way towards the large map on the far wall.
Ben's voice was filled with excitement as he spoke.
"Bella, I can show you here on this map. This development lowered the use of generators and petrol to reduce our Co2 emissions. We also added twelve-hundred hectares to the Game Reserve, making them even more sustainable by reintroducing cheetah, leopard, giraffe, black rhino, duiker, suni, guar, buffalo, elephant and reedbucks. We've added additional rangers to the field and hired additional researchers to implement future conservation initiatives. That … "
Edward found Ben's facial expression to be curious. He almost looked nervous.
" … That leads me to why I came to join you here when I saw you pass by my window. Edward, Bella … you both would be an important asset when we begin expansion next January. Would you both be interested in joining our research division when that time comes? I could arrange for a hut to be built on the property, but I'll have to gain the approval from the Maasai elders first. Edward, I know you often need to suddenly join other projects and that Bella would go with you. I would be veryopen to accommodating those needs if it meant that you both would agree. Would you both consider it?"
They hesitated only long enough to smile at each other before they answered in unison.
"Yes."
They decided to join the other guests in the main dining area for their last dinner on the Mara. As their dessert was being served, they smiled and invited Ben to join them when they saw him approaching.
"Did the newlyweds enjoy their meal?"
Bella's voice was filled with happiness as she spoke.
"We did, Ben. It was delicious."
"Well, I'm glad to inform you that you will have many more in your future. The Maasai Laibon is convinced that Bella belongs here."
Ben turned to address Bella directly.
"After greeting your soul at the ceremony, he firmly believes that you have a connection to the earth's energy here, that your spiritual journey begins here, unlike anything he's ever seen. The Maasai are strongly connected to this land and the Laibon is adamant that you are too."
"Did he give any details as to why he feels this way?"
"He didn't. He insists that your journey truly begins now."
She smiled and nodded in response, turning to her husband.
"It looks like I'll be earning more than my glass slipper."
Edward laughed in response, and turned to address Ben.
"The hut?"
Ben shook his head in response.
"Nothing permanent or environmentally destructive. They will allow a tent, much like the one you are staying in now."
Bella nodded in agreement as she spoke.
"I'm glad they chose a tent. I would prefer that anyway, as it seems in keeping with future plans for the community."
Edward nodded too before addressing his friend.
"Ben, please tell the elders that I will cover the entire expense of the tent and will make all the contributions necessary to alleviate any impact the construction of the addition may cause … "
" … They know this already, Edward. You have built trust with them over the years, and they also feel strongly that you respect this land. You need not explain anything to them, or to me. Now, about this celebration you plan to hold here in July?"
"Ben, my sister Alice will be in contact with you in a few days. Please reserve us four of the tents in the main camp for the first week in July and, my sister will add more if necessary. She'll be in charge of every detail."
"Excellent. And either of you can reach me if you need anything before then."
A bottle of wine was delivered to the table and Ben rose to leave.
"Safe travels back to Oputi, and wherever you end up after your time there is through. See you lovebirds in a few months!"
He smiled, walked away from the table before they could stand to bid him goodbye. They knew that they would see him again soon.
"Let's bring this bottle of wine back to our tent, shall we?"
Bella nodded enthusiastically and grabbed two wine glasses from the table. The other guests watched the handsome couple disappear beneath the cloak of night.
A/N: Please keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, nor am I in a position to fully understand how International Law would actually apply to Heidi's case. I am writing for fun … in other words, I'm doing my best with the research but I'm still guessing, stretching reality and playing with events. While I'm trying to be as mindful as possible, when it comes to the details of this story, this Heidi issue was exceptionally challenging. Reading International laws and UN Mandates are headache inducing. I tried my best to be realistic and thorough with Heidi's outcome, and I hope that I did an adequate job to make it believable for readers within this story's context. *crosses fingers, eyes and toes* It I missed the mark regarding her sentence, I beg you for some latitude and understanding. Here are the links, if you are a masochist and are in the mood for a headache, have at it (remove spaces):
www dot legislation dot gov dot uk / ukpga / 1997 / 13 / section / 4
www dot icrc dot org / eng / resources / documents / misc / 5zmgf9 dot htm
en dot wikipedia dot org / wiki / list_of_prisons_in_Switzerland
"Yes, they do look rather juicy."
~ Heidi to Demetri in the movie New Moon.
jouets sexuels can be translated to mean a fuck toy, and when I hear this term I think of Combichrist's song Fuckmachine, so I'll credit it as my source.
Www dot masai-mara dot net/masai_mara_great_migration/migration_calendar dot html
www dot atta dot travel/member_detail dot aspx?AT_ID=544
Last, but certainly not least, Satan's welcome was taken directly from one of my favorite songs to dance to – Welcome to Hell by Terrorfakt. The song is on the YouTube channel on my author's page.