TEARS OF RAGE

Chapter 21

And if his assumption was correct, then Kenny had double-crossed his cousin.

Nothing else made sense.

He was supposed to have been there to watch out for Pluto, he lamented in silence.

If that fool had hurt his sister, Broderick vowed to hunt him down to the ends of the earth, and kill him with the utmost of prejudice.

But, even the thought that Shonda had been murdered was too much to deal with...

Broderick stared at the payphone, torn between dread and curiosity, wanting to call his mother for information.

"I understand that one of the men believed to be involved in the bank heist was found dead by police, in a woodland off of the I-285 highway?"

asked Cindy Strowder, as video footage displayed several cops hovering about a motionless body.

Broderick could feel his heartbeat accelerate.

His emotions were running rampant.

It was difficult to contain the broil of anxiety that threatened to consume him.

He blamed himself for not being there to protect his sister and cousin.

"Has there been any word on how many people were killed at the bank?"

asked Cindy Strowder, from the newsroom.

Paul Hamilton, a co-host to the show, gave a somber nod.

The video footage began to repeat the image shown earlier, with forensic technicians removing a series of body bags from the bank.

"According to reports from the scene, there were three employees slain during the bank robbery. One loan officer, and two security guards. The names of the victims have not been released yet, but an official source involved in the investigation has informed us that one of the security guards slain was the twin brother of ADA Brad Riner, with the DeKalb county judicial circuit."

Footage of Brad Riner, seated before the curb of the bank, crying was shown on the television.

It was obvious that he was consumed with grief.

Once Broderick Williams saw the news segment, he knew that everything that they had feared Kenny would do had come true.

And the inability to do anything meaningful to protect his sister or his cousin was driving him insane.

Guilt and grief seemed to consume him like grains of sand, cascading from a water tower.

There was no way to escape its enveloping force, as it buried him beneath his emotions.

He could hear Pluto's voice in his head, calling out to him for help...

It was as if they were kids all over again, confronting a group of other kids, coming to fight them.

Pluto was twelve at the time, afraid, but refusing to abandon his fifteen-year-old cousin.

"What are we going to do, Broderick?"

he could recall Pluto asking, as a group of eight guys began to surround them.

Every guy in the group was older and stronger than his cousin, but Pluto refused to leave him.

They were there to jump Broderick, after an altercation involving a female from their high school.

Pluto had not even graduated from high school at that time, so he could have run. Broderick dropped his backpack and squared off with his adversaries.

"It's time to wear it or tear it... I'm not about to run like no punk!" he spat and rushed at the group of boys.

Amidst the scuffle, he heard Pluto cry out for help.

One of the boys had pushed him into a flower bed of roses.

When the prick of thorns tore into his exposed flesh, Pluto cried out like a piglet in a branding pen.

It was a cry of pain and desperation.

A cry that seemed to motivate Broderick to fight harder than he had ever fought before.

"Broderick help me!"

At that moment, it was as if he could hear Pluto's voice in his head, crying out for his big cousin to help him...

Except he was not able to help him make it home safe.

As the hands of grief and anguish began to drag him into an abyss of guilt, rage, and madness Broderick was summoned back to reality when two deputies opened the cellblock and called his name.

"Broderick Williams, get dressed... You have a visit."