Not My Brother's Keeper

Chapter 8: Not Alone

            "How's your arm?" Langston asked me as we waited for his confidant to arrive.

"It doesn't hurt as much anymore," I replied.

"You said the person was the same build as Marlon, right?"

"Yeah, but I know it wasn't him. It couldn't have been. Why would he try to kill me?"

"How could you be so sure the person was trying to kill you? They could've been trying to scare you. Didn't you say Marlon had gotten some kind of note?"

"Yes."

"None of this shit makes any sense. You get attacked by some creep wearing a mask and I get suspended from duty. Whoever is behind this, they are going all out to protect themselves." A car light illuminated the spot we were parked in as the car approached us. Langston pulled out his gun and told me, "Stay right here." He climbed out and walked over to the car. After a few seconds, he turned back towards me and called out, "Come on, Cameron."

I climbed out of the car and walked over to him and some man that had pulled up in a black Lincoln Town Car. I stared back and forth at them as I asked, "Who is this?"

"This is Byron Rowell," Langston told me. "He's an agent with the FBI. Byron, this is the kid I told you about, Cameron Payne."

"You know someone who works for the FBI?" I asked.

"He sure does," said Byron. "Nice to meet you, Cameron."

"You, too."

Langston patted Byron on the back and said, "I called Byron just in case something went wrong, and it has. There's no way I can investigate this thing now that I've been suspended and I wouldn't have been able to do anything even if I wasn't suspended. The only way to get to the bottom of this at this point is to take it federal."

"I agree," said Byron. "I made some arrangements and had Yasmine Culbreath put into protective custody already."

"Who?" I asked.

"Candi Girl," Langston answered. "Her real name is Yasmine Culbreath. Before having it legally changed following her transition, her name was Tyson Culbreath."

"Am I going to have to be put in protective custody?"

"No," Byron replied. "You're actually the only person who can test out a few of my theories."

"Huh? I don't understand."

"Langston has filled me in on a lot, Cameron. And I have a few theories about this whole situation. One theory that I strongly believe is that the people responsible for your friend's death are currently on the Calhoun University campus and are also responsible for the disappearance of those fourteen gay black men. If they wanted you dead, you'd be dead by now. That's where my second theory comes in: they need you for something. You're going to lead us to whatever it is."

"How?"

Langston looked at me and asked, "You told me that your school paper's editor tampered with Thomas's flash drive, right?"

"Yeah, he modified a file that I was later able to restore."

"Did you ever find out anything about him that's out of the ordinary?"

"No. He got a little testy when I confronted him about modifying the file but..." I paused as I immediately remembered Calvin was in the same fraternity as Gabe. "Well, he's in this fraternity on our campus but I don't see what that would have to do with anything."

"Which fraternity?" Byron asked me.

"Kappa Sigma Phi. They're the oldest black fraternity on our campus. They're one of the Elite Eight."