Trail of Destruction

Prologue

Prologue

The evening twilight cast eerie shadows over the park as the boys huddled between two bushes. It was early spring in Lake Forest, a suburb of Chicago, and although there was a chill in the air, neither boy felt it. Brad leaned towards Terry, his voice hushed. "He should be here any minute now."

"Are you sure he walks home this way?"

"Positive. Are you ready?"

"Totally, man. I'm psyched."

Brad peeked around the bush. "No sign of him yet." He paused. "We've got to get this done today or tomorrow. The scout for Duke's track team is going to be at our meet on Saturday and I need them watching me, not Rivera. They've got one more full-ride scholarship to offer and I want it."

"Why's it so important to you? Your dad could swing tuition, couldn't he?"

"Of course, but I deserve that scholarship. I've been busting my butt on this team for four years. Then Rivera transfers in this year and suddenly he's the star."

"He shouldn't even be allowed to live here. I can't believe they let illegal aliens go to our school. I mean this is Lake Forest, not Wheeling."

Brad shifted his weight, peering down the path again. "Fucker better get here soon." He turned to his friend. "So what about you? Are you still set on the army?"

"Yeah. I want to go overseas and kill me some towel-heads."

Brad laughed. "I have to admit the idea's appealing. But, God, could you imagine my dad's reaction if I chose the army over college? He'd have a fit."

"College is where you belong anyway. You've got it all mapped out. College, law school, a couple years in your dad's law firm, and then politics. I'm counting on my best friend being president some day so we can rule the world. With you in office, we'd finally get rid of all these assholes that don't belong in our country. Ship 'em all back to where they came from."

"Then stick with me, because it's going to happen. I'm not going to let anything get in my way. Just like now - I'm not going to let Rivera take away my scholarship." Brad peered around the bush again. "Speaking of... here he comes. Pull down your ski mask." He tugged his own mask down and held his finger to his mouth.

The boys waited in silence until they heard footsteps approaching where they were crouched, hidden from view. The noise grew louder until their quarry was right next to them. Brad held his arm against Terry, forcing him to wait a couple more seconds. Then he leapt up. "Now!"

As they rushed to their feet, their target turned around, his eyes like saucers, his mouth open with shock. "What the hell?"

Terry flew at the boy and tackled him to the ground. He began to pummel the boy's face with his gloved fists, his arms moving in manic frenzy. "Get the fuck out of our school, you wetback. Go back to your own fucking country."

Brad could hear the thwack as each punch landed, followed by sharp cries of pain, until the boy lay still and silent. He reached down and grabbed Terry's arm. "That's enough. We don't want to kill him."

Terry rocked back and landed one more punch before getting to his feet. Standing over the boy, he kicked him in the gut. "Fucking trash."

Brad yanked his ski mask off, knowing the boy was unconscious and couldn't identify him. "Go get me the bat."

He watched as Terry went over to the bushes and retrieved the weapon. He smiled as his friend handed it to him. "One more thing to make sure this piece of garbage doesn't stink up our track team any longer." He raised the bat over his head and with all his strength swung it straight down on the boy's knee. A loud crack echoed through the still evening and his face broke into a huge grin. "Now we're done here."

* * *

The next morning when Brad came down to breakfast, his mom was at the stove making bacon and eggs; his dad and brother were at the table, hunched over the newspaper.

"Good morning," Brad said, going over to kiss him mom on the cheek

"Hi, honey. I was just going to wake you. How did you sleep?"

"Great, thanks." Brad flashed his patented golden boy smile. God, his parents were so clueless. As long as he followed "The Rules" -- get straight A's, earn a varsity letter, and take the prettiest girl to prom -- he could do no wrong.

Ryan looked up, his eyes wide. "You've got to read this, bro. A kid in your class got beaten up yesterday on his way home from school. In fact, he was coming from track practice. Juan Rivera, do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's on the varsity team with me. What happened?"

"A couple of kids jumped him in Lake View Park. Beat him up pretty bad. Broke his leg." Ryan shook his head. "It's really sick. Paper says it was a hate crime. While they were whaling on him, they were telling him to go back to Mexico."

"It's terrible," his dad chimed in. "Obviously, I'm opposed to illegal aliens. Anyone who wants to come to our country should follow the legal procedures to do so, like Maria did," he said, referring to their Mexican housekeeper. "But still, that doesn't give anyone the right to beat some poor kid up."

Brad felt his stomach clench as he looked at his father. He had found out his dad was banging said housekeeper after he came home from school early one day and walked in on them. He had made a quick exit before they saw him, but the memory was burned into his skull. "You're right, it's horrible. I can't imagine anyone doing that. So, is the kid going to be all right?"

"Yeah, at least physically," Ryan said, "but can you imagine how he must feel? I'm going to see if I can interview him for the school paper. It's important to get his story out there for the other students to read - a firsthand view of racial intolerance."

"You're right," Brad said. "That's a good idea." God, his brother and his causes, he thought. What a loser. Like Don Quixote flailing away at his windmills. "I wonder what his family's going to do."

"There's a quote in the paper from his mom that they're probably going to move out of Lake Forest. Go somewhere where there are more Latino families."

Brad manufactured his most earnest look. "That's probably the right thing to do, don't you think? Maybe they'll even decide to go back to Mexico. Not have to worry about something like this happening again."