The Gauntlet #2
Upstairs, Lewis finished her hair while Halo peppered her mother with questions about her father and the Senator. No news yet. By the time Simo knocked, she was in the mirror doing her own last check: gray silk, white blouse, jacket in hand.
“Appropriate,” Simo said.
“Any problems on your end?” she asked.
“Yes. I should charge you extra for this one.”
“Then charge me. I don't want you or your men feeling cheated.”
He almost smiled. “Theo's driving. I'll be with you at your press conference at Shutters. Chen's watching the Bel-Air Club. Everyone on my team knows your code word ‘Finn’. You get separated, you hear it, you can trust whoever's saying it.”
“Understood.”
Lewis caught Simo on the way out, pressing a small tube into his hand. “Conditioner. My gift for taking care of her. That beautiful hair deserves better than whatever you're using.”
Simo looked at it, then at Lewis, then at the tube in his hand again. He pocketed it without a word. Halo and her mother were still laughing about Simo’s expression when the limo pulled up.
“That fucking whore!” Joel screamed at his hotel room’s TV screen, ready to hurl the remote at it. He turned to Samantha Patterson, who was leaning away from Joel in an overstuffed, gaudy purple leather recliner. “So, now what?” he asked her tersely.
“Well, Joel? Halo was very detailed in her descriptions and accusations; even when questioned, she maintained her side of the story.
I still say you go with what we discussed earlier, it's your only shot. Unless you want to agree with what she said, and we can spin it that you were mentally exhausted at the time, and we can get some doctors to run with it?”
“Fuck no, Samantha, I saved that plane and Xander was the asshole who almost killed us!” Joel paced the floor and looked to Stubbs, his newest bodyguard. “We ready to go?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, let's burn the bitch down. C'mon, Samantha.”
Joel stood at the podium smiling. Nearly all the reporters from Halo's press conference had made a hasty parade up the highway to Joel's event.
Waiting for all the media was a fully stocked and manned open bar.
A free buffet was open to all the media and held everything from caviar to fresh crab and premium prime rib.
The fete cost Joel a bundle; Samantha assured Joel that the media would be happier on free food and booze.
Joel smiled at everyone happily and looked through his notes as the throng of media settled down and quieted for Joel to speak.
Joel tapped the microphone for attention, then began to address his audience.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the media! I am tremendously pleased that everyone was able to attend on such short notice, thank you. I will be reading a short statement about the honest and real truth of Flight 571 and my thoughts on why Halo Raines has ridiculously misled all you wonderful people. I may take a few questions afterward.”
Joel smiled at his audience, cleared his throat, turned and smiled at Samantha, Stubbs, and Alabama, who were off behind a curtain.
“Like so many times I have described before, it was I who subdued that very bad man, Xander Kostinos. He attacked me and the poor flight attendant in a panic. You can trust me on this. It is my belief that our beloved Halo Raines is in love with Xander Kostinos and is doing her best to gain his release. As we all know, that… horrible man was indicted and charged with multiple murders here in Los Angeles by a grand jury and Los Angeles’ greatest people.
Last I heard, this criminal, Xander, was being held on a destroyer bound for Hawaii and is to be handed over to the Marshals Service for arraignment here in our beautiful city.
Trust me on this… after meeting with the highest-level psychologists, it is all our thoughts that our dear Halo is suffering from the Stockholm syndrome.
Yes, the Stockholm syndrome, it is a really evil thing that can happen to any one of you, and you can believe me on that, all the way to the bank.
You know… I think she has fallen in love with this evil Xander guy because he has brainwashed our poor Halo… ”
The crowd suddenly went from dead quiet to a loud cacophony. Joel stopped speaking and looked at Samantha, who stared, wide-eyed, back at him.
“Hello, Joel... long time no see,” Halo said, loud enough to carry.
Joel jumped, speechless for a beat, then furious. “What the hell are you doing here? This is MY press conference!”
Halo smiled sweetly and raised her voice for the room.
“Just came to hear what you had to say. Face to face, like honest people.” He opened his mouth; she held up a finger and shushed him.
“You're right about one thing, Joel. I do love Xander Kostinos.
With all my heart. Now it's out in the open.” She turned to the cameras. “I have a question for you.”
Joel, sensing an opening, smiled and nodded her on.
“Why don't you show everyone how you subdued him? I'm happy to stand in for Xander.”
The room erupted again. Joel laughed it off... “Halo, you're a mere girl, I wouldn't want to see you get hurt”... and Halo let the word ‘girl’ hang in the air a beat before she answered.
“I don't mind getting hurt, Joel. I'll take full responsibility if I do.” She beckoned him closer, turned her face from the cameras just long enough to mouth ‘pussy’ at him, and watched his jaw go tight. “Come on. Quick demonstration, then I'll go.”
“Fine!” He waved the crowd down. “That Xander idiot came at me, I spun him down and around. Ready?”
“Here, let me make it easier.” She held her hand out. “It'll go faster.”
He lunged for it. First mistake. She had his wrist and interrupted his balance before he'd fully committed, and the floor took the rest of him, face-first, hard enough that the crack of it carried through the mics.
He screamed. She locked the arm the way Xander had shown her a hundred times on the island, and thought, distantly, under the adrenaline, that she wasn't the first thing he'd badly misjudged today. Wouldn't be the last.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said over his screaming, applying just enough pressure to keep him quiet, “I've trained with Xander Kostinos for four months.
He holds a black belt in Aikido and Iaido.
Do you really believe this man got the better of him?
Everything I told you is true. Everything coming out of his mouth is not.
Where's Sarah, his personal assistant and his only witness?
I'll be releasing photos from the island. Stay tuned.” She blew a strand of hair off her face and smiled for the cameras.
She eased the pressure, and Joel screamed for Stubbs.
Halo rolled clear as the bodyguard came at her. A fist the size of a cantaloupe caught him on the jaw before he closed the distance, dropping him at her feet. The same hand pulled her back behind the wall of Simo's shoulder.
“See?” she called out to the hushed room, pointing at Joel. “That's the man you're supposed to believe. Can't fight his own battles, sends a goon to do it for him.”
Joel staggered up, holding his arm, hate in his eyes. “You'll pay for this! You've got no proof, just your word against mine!”
“No proof, Joel?” she called back. “I have JJ.”
“No, you don't!” Joel barked, then caught Simo's slight, cold smile and stopped.
Simo kept Halo behind him as Stubbs climbed to his feet and Alabama came up onto the stage.
“Remember the paintball,” Simo said quietly to them both.
“It's not paint anymore. Time to get a new boss, Alabama.” He backed off, unhurried, while Stubbs rubbed his jaw and glared.
Alabama hauled Joel off the stage. By the time they were clear of the cameras, Samantha Patterson was nowhere to be found.
“When you said you were going to throw down the gauntlet,” Simo said in the limo, “I thought that was a figure of speech.
You could've warned me. I almost didn't make it to you in time.” He wiped his forehead, and couldn't hold the anger.
It came out as a short laugh instead. “Fine. It was epic. Whatever the fucking kids say now days.”
“Efaresto, Simo. I'd have told you if I thought you wouldn't have tried to stop me.” Halo dipped her head. “It was harsh. It needed to be.”
“It's going to be hell getting JJ back now. Everyone will be looking for her.”
“Whatever you need, money's not a problem. Turns out my investments did fine without me.”
He gave her a nod and turned to the window, thinking the girl had guts and some sense to go with them.
Ari and Ronson had both warned him about her.
He almost smiled. She had that same fuck-you calm under fire that had gotten under his skin the first time he'd ever watched Jessie work a room.
He shoved the thought down before it could go anywhere.
“Xander teach you that?”
“Mm. Yeah.”
“Anything else?”
“Some other stuff.”
“Don't forget it. Joel's one thing. The men he's hired are another animal, and that's my job, not yours.”
“I understand. Thank you for being there.”
He nodded once and went back to the window.