Chapter 7 – A Deadly Plot
Anakin could not settle down. He paced restlessly across the living room, pausing every so often to stare out the window, where the world was rapidly being blanketed in white. Something felt very wrong, yet he couldn't place the source of his unease.
"Mr. Skywalker, you make me nervous just looking at you," Alzina informed him, looking up from her cross-stitching. "What's wrong?"
"Ever since Xizor left, something's felt… off," he replied. "I can't put my finger on it."
"You're probably still antsy from the boys' little spat," she assured him.
"It isn't that," he countered. "I pray that Luke isn't in danger."
Mr. Pratt walked inside, brushing off his snow-crusted sleeves. "It's late, you two. You might want to turn in."
"Mr. Pratt, check on everyone," Anakin told him.
He stared. "Why?"
"Just do it. Your wife, your daughter, Austin and Liberty, the children, everyone. Something is wrong. I sense it."
He stared a minute longer before moving off.
"Don't think he believed you," Alzina noted.
Cody entered a few minutes behind Mr. Pratt, sporting a rather spectacular bruise across the bridge of his nose from his "aggressive negotiations" with Brigham earlier.
"How was Christmas Mass?" asked Alzina.
"Didn't go," Cody replied. "Went to confession instead." He flopped down into the recliner with a sigh. "I feel rotten for what I said to Ruth and Brigham today. I just wish I could fix it somehow."
"A lot of things were said in the heat of the moment today," Alzina told him. "I'm sure once things cool down, you'll find yourself back in good graces."
"I can only hope…" began Cody.
Mr. Pratt appeared in the living room doorway, a look of fright on his face. "The children are gone!"
"What?" Alzina and Cody exclaimed, shooting to their feet simultaneously. Alzina's stitching fell to the floor in an untidy heap.
"They're gone! Austin's boy, Judy's twins, Hyrum's kids, they're not in their room!"
"Calm down, Mr. Pratt," Cody told him. "Maybe they just snuck out of bed and are planning to spy on Santa Claus."
"All the same, let's organize a search," Anakin replied, taking charge instinctively. "Mr. Pratt, wake up the others. Cody, check the basement. I'll start upstairs."
Within minutes the formerly quiet house was a circus as the adults tore the place apart searching for the children. Closets and cabinets were opened and emptied, furniture shifted around, bedrooms ransacked. Not a sign of the children could be found – and even worse, a check by Lydia showed that their coats were missing.
"You don't think they could've gone outside, do you?" asked a half-hysterical Judy.
"Not likely," Felix replied. "Someone would have noticed them, wouldn't they?"
"When's the last time anyone saw the kids?" demanded Austin. "Who saw them?"
"Xizor, I think," Ruth offered. "He stuck his head in their room an hour ago to tell them to keep the noise down…"
"I told you! I TOLD YOU!" Cody shrieked, shaking a fist at Ruth. "I told you that snake was up to no good! And now he's run off with the kids! So much for changing his tune, eh?"
"Enough about Xizor!" cried Mr. Pratt. "You have no proof he did anything!"
"I don't have any proof that he's the born-again man he's now claiming to be, do I?" countered Cody.
"He's changed!" Ruth screamed at him. "He's done a lot of good things and tried to make amends for all the bad he did! He's repented! Why can't you accept that? He's a good man now!"
"Oh, so just 'cause the lizard's talking about converting to Mormonism, you're gonna blow his whole rotten past off?" Cody retorted.
"Men can change, Cody," Brigham told him angrily, going to stand beside his sister. "God forgives sins. And if Xizor is truly converted to the Lord, his past is absolved."
"I don't believe this!" Cody cried, throwing his hands in the air. "He's the slimiest crime lord in the galaxy and you sing his praises as if he were a saint!"
"Shut up!" screamed Opal, storming forward to stand between Brigham and Cody. "Shut up all of you! I'm sick of this!"
Anakin, who had been on the verge of shouting himself, closed his mouth and stared at Opal – quiet, shy, mousy Opal who wouldn't have had the guts to give anyone the time of day an hour ago. But this was a transformed Opal, one whose pale-gray eyes flashed like lightning and whose fair skin was pink with rage.
"Opal, stay out of this…" began Brigham.
"You shut up!" she shouted. "Stop this, all of you! I've put up with this ridiculous argument all week, but this is the last straw! How can you turn on your best friend and ridicule his family, Cody? And how can you reject your friend to defend a criminal, even a reformed one, Brigham?" She turned to the others, eyes still glinting. "How can ANY of you choose Xizor over one of your own family?"
"We've never put Xizor over the family…" protested Felix.
"And what am I, the next-door neighbor?!" cried Opal, fists clenched.
That wiped the indignant looks off everyone's faces.
"And it's been this way ever since Vance died," she fumed, three years worth of bottled-up grief and anger exploding out of her mouth. "I went through Hell three years ago. I'd lost my fiancé, I'd lost faith in the God I'd believed in all my life, and I needed the family to help me through. But you all turned your backs on me when I needed you most. Not once did I get so much as a letter, a card, a picture of my nephews or nieces! Only Brigham had the good Christian decency to speak to me. And when I did show up at reunions or family functions, the only attention I ever got was pressure to rejoin the church.
"And then this… creature shows up. He charms Ruth, sweet-talks her parents, and mentions something about wanting to learn more about the church. All of a sudden, he's practically family! He gets invited over for Christmas, he gets attention showered on him… and what do I get?" She jabbed a finger at Anakin. "He's the only one who showed any interest in me this week! Do you have any idea how much it tortures me to see that my own family values Prince Xizor over me!"
"Opal, we…" Clinton protested lamely.
"You do," she hissed. "As far as I can see, you wrote me out of your lives the minute you found out I'd left the church."
Anakin's heart ached for the girl. He stepped forward and took her in his arms as she broke down into agonized sobs. She had indeed suffered much at the hands of those who should have been her closest friends. And witnessing the attention lavished on Xizor had only served to twist the knife deeper.
"She's right," Anakin said sternly, leveling a humbling gaze on everyone. "Everyone has had their priorities distorted. Xizor has taken higher priority to you than a member of your own family. And tonight, when children are in possible danger, you all choose to argue over the presumed innocence or guilt of a former crime lord instead of acting to find them."
After a long, shameful silence, Liberty finally spoke up. "What do we do now?"
"If no one objects," Felix said quietly, "I think we could use a prayer right now."
Anakin waited for someone to veto the suggestion, but to the group's credit everyone murmured assent. Brigham volunteered to give it, and everyone respectfully lowered their heads.
"Our Father, which art in heaven, we come before thee at this desperate hour…"
While he pleaded with his family's deity for aid in finding the children and protecting them until they could be located, Anakin drifted into meditation. He extended his senses, seeking the presences of the children. They weren't in the immediate vicinity… wait. There was one close to the house, accompanied by…
As soon as Brigham said "Amen," the front door was flung open. Luke was ushering in a shivering, ghostly-pale Gideon.
"Gideon!" screamed Lydia, throwing her arms around him.
"He almost walked right in the path of our cab," Luke told them. "He's pretty badly chilled and disoriented."
Anakin snatched a blanket from the children's room and threw it around Gideon, bundling him up closely to warm him up. The boy trembled uncontrollably and couldn't seem to stop gabbling.
"Help me!" he cried. "You gotta help me find them! It's all my fault! I shouldn't have teased them about Santa! Somebody help!"
"Slow down, Gideon," Anakin told him firmly. "Where are the others?"
"I dunno… it's all my fault… let me go, I gotta find them…"
He placed his hands on Gideon's temples, releasing the Force into his panic-clouded mind to calm him. "Relax, Gideon. You're safe now. Tell us where the other children are."
It took a few minutes, but they finally got out of him that they'd all finally decided to settle the does-Santa-exist-or-not debate once and for all, that they'd snuck outside to watch him arrive, and that they'd gotten separated in the snowstorm. He couldn't stop blaming himself for what had happened, but somehow Anakin go the feeling that it hadn't been entirely the children's idea to spy on Santa.
A strange expression came over Ruth's face all of a sudden, and she turned and went upstairs. Her departure went largely unnoticed.
"Austin, call the police," Luke ordered. "Everyone else, we need flashlights, jackets, a first-aid kit, blankets. Let's divide and conquer, search the neighborhood. They can't have gone far."
"I can fit four people in my car," Felix volunteered.
"Our van'll hold seven," Mr. Pratt offered.
"Maybe it would be best if a few people went on foot," Cody pointed out. "It's too easy to miss something when you're in a car…"
Ruth's piercing shrieks tore through the house. Brigham charged up the stairs, Anakin just steps behind him.
"Ruth, what is it…" began Brigham, flinging open her door.
She was in a state of near hysteria, sobbing and screaming and staring at something cupped in her hand. A handwritten note lay upon the bedcovers. Anakin picked up the message and scanned it while Brigham went to comfort his sister.
Ruth, I thank you for your friendship and hospitality. It has made it all the easier for my plan to go forth. It is with great regret that I must terminate our relationship. I'm sorry to end it this way – I was truly beginning to grow fond of you. But it is for the best – what with your religious beliefs, you wouldn't have made a suitable mistress. Also, my baptism will have to be canceled. After tonight, I doubt your church will be in much of a condition to accept new converts.
"Anakin!" Brigham exclaimed, obviously stunned.
He looked up. Brigham was holding up the object that had driven Ruth into hysterics – the CTR medallion and chain Xizor had taken to wearing. But the shield no longer depicted the "choose the right" acronym.
Emblazoned in black, obliterating the letters entirely, was the flaming-orb insignia of Black Sun.
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Flashes of blue and red from the lights of the police cruisers illuminated the snowy night. Alongside the glossy black and white cruisers parked before the Pratt's house were dull green and tan military vehicles. The spectacle had attracted the astonished stares of the entire neighborhood.
Inside the house, Luke addressed a cluster of officers and National Guardsmen.
"…the entirety of Temple Square and a mile radius around it," he ordered. "Every man, woman, and child must be evacuated. No exceptions."
"Right, Master Jedi," replied the chief of police.
"Meanwhile, keep an eye out for the kids. We don't have positive proof that Xizor abducted them, but we'll take no chances."
"Will any effort be made to disarm the bombs?" demanded a Guardsman.
"We have no idea how many explosives there are, when they're set to go off, or even if they can be disarmed," Luke replied. "All possible efforts will be made to acquire this information and act on it – but it will be handled by a qualified Republic expert. Earth's responsibility is to protect its people."
"Yes, sir."
Once they had departed, Luke turned to the others. "You can all keep searching for the children. Just stay out of the evacuation zone."
"Just who is this 'expert' that's gonna defuse heaven-knows-how-many bombs scattered all over Salt Lake City?" exclaimed Austin.
Luke turned to Anakin. "You know what to do."
"Yes, sir," he replied with a mock salute. "Mr. Pratt, is there a vehicle I can borrow?"
"Uh…" Mr. Pratt was at a loss for words for a moment. "There's the Harley D…"
"That will do."
Luke watched gravely as the family scattered to begin their search and Anakin set off on his mission. So Cody had been right all along. Xizor had been behind this entire scheme. And not only had he goaded the children into putting themselves in danger, he had set a deadly plot into motion that could very well cripple Utah and shake the entire planet to its foundations.
He ducked out the door and plunged into the whiteness of the night. He had to find Xizor at all costs.