CHAPTER TWO THE 12: The Vision Made Plain (Episode 6)

“What are you doing?” Michael asked her as the others stared at her.

“I’m fine now,” she said, her eyes were all swollen from the much crying.

“Are you sure?” Maxwell asked.

“Yeah,”

“Dinner will be served soon.” Lindsay told her.

“No, my antibiotic drugs are finished. Maxwell, will you go with me to the pharmacist so I can get some?”

“I can go with Maxwell and get it for you,” Ben said.

“Thanks Ben but I equally need some air. That practice was suffocating me and I couldn’t wait to get out of that place.”

“So you had to cry, so you can free us?” Maul asked.

She nodded.

“Hmm, we love you,” Zodiac said and the others smiled at her.

She managed a smile. “Can we go now?”

“Sure,” Maxwell said.

“Be careful out there,” Shelly told them as they walked out.

“Can you drive?” Cindy asked as they approached the car.

“Nope, can you?”

“I have a car,”

“Really, that we don’t know about?”

“We hardly use it but our so called lawyer taught us how to drive,” she went to garage and it opened automatically as she touched a button. Maxwell was surprised but more surprised when he saw the six fine cars well parked with their sealing papers still on.

“Wow, have you ever used it?”
“Actually no, help me unwrap it.” She went to the fourth car.

“Cindy is everything alright?” Maxwell asked.

“No,”

Maxwell noticed she was angry about something.

“What did Jan tell you?”

“Something about our lawyer not being dead,”

“What? How is that possible, how did she find out?”

“Jakes told them and we are going to find out if this whole thing is true,”

“Where are we going?”

“To Mr. Lennon’s old house,”

“What are we going to do there?” The thought of the adventure was scaring Maxwell.

“We are going to find out what really happened ok,” she broke out in anger and tears then she calmed herself down. “I can’t tell the others that the man we trusted all our life’s even in death sold us off to Jakes because of some stupid money he owed Jakes father,”

“Cindy what are you talking about?”
“Jan told me ok, she told me that our lawyer sold our talents off to Jakes to pay for what he owed his father and because of the shame of what he did he went into hiding and proclaiming himself dead,”

Maxwell was now getting the picture.

“We are going to find the document which they signed then I will have proof of what Jan told me then I can tell the others.”

“Do you still remember where he used to live?”

“Where we keep the horses,”

“O my God,” Maxwell felt bad. “Can you still drive?”
Cindy ignored the question, she opened the door with the key and got in, Maxwell got in though he still doubted if Cindy could drive. When she steamed the car and started moving it and doing it well, Maxwell relaxed his mind in that area but he was still shocked about what he heard concerning the lawyer and Jakes. As they drove out of the compound, Randy’s car was parked at that same spot and he had same intensions as the last time he came stalking them.

“Isn’t that Cindy driving out?” he asked himself. “And there she was pretending to be sick…. What are they up to now?" he started his car ready to follow them. “We will see,” he followed them keenly.

While the other twelve were having a quiet dinner, they heard the sound of the bell. Thinking it was Cindy and Maxwell returning, maul went to open the door but she didn’t expect what she saw.

“Jan,”

“Hi maul,”

“What are you doing here?” she asked. The others wondered why she was guarding the door.

“Please can I come in?” she asked timidly.

Being polite, maul let her in and the others were surprised to see Jan.

“Good evening to you all,” she greeted.

“Good evening,” they replied.

“Sorry for coming so unannounced, I heard what happened to Cindy so I came to check up on her,”

“She’s doing ok,” maul replied. “She and Maxwell went to the pharmacist to get her some antibiotics.”

“How long have they been gone?” she asked.

“More than thirty minutes now,” Lindsay replied.

“Why ask?” Ken asked.

She paused for a while, and then she said. “I presume she hasn’t told you guys yet. She has gone to find out if what I told her about your lawyer still being alive is true or not.”

“What?” the girls exclaimed, they started dropping their spoons and stood up one after the other, they met Jan and maul in the sitting room with the boys following.

“What did you say?” Shania asked her.

“I know you girls must be terribly shocked by what I said but Jakes told us everything…..” Jan told them the same story she told Cindy and they could not believe it, they felt shocked, betrayed and hurt.

“I think Cindy and Maxwell went to your lawyer’s old house because that is where he kept the signed document which proofs that your talents belong to Jakes.”

“So what do we do now?” Michael asked

“Girls,” Jan called out to them but they were too shocked and bitter to think about anything. “Girls… girls, you have to be strong. There must be a way out.”

“What is the way out?” Shelly tearfully asked. “What can possibly be the way out? We have been slaves to our talents and to Jakes all this while…. Do you know how it feels right now?”

“I know you are hurt, but there is a way out.” Jan assured them. “Trust me; I think we should go to Cindy and Maxwell, they might be in danger.”

Maul tried calling their phones but neither of them picked up, it increased their anxiety.

“No, no, no, no...” Lindsay said. “They can’t be in danger…….no it can’t be.”

“Do you know where the house is, can you remember?” she asked.

“Yes,” Shania managed to speak.

“Unfortunately my car is not big enough to carry you all,”

“I will go with Shania,” Larry said. “Shania… let’s go, there must be a way out for you girls.” She stood up.

Shania wiped her tears, sluggishly took herself up.

Jan stood. “Boys, please take care of them and girls be strong, have faith, all will fall in place and it will turn out good.”

Larry held her as they walked out with Jan following them.

The girls were totally silent, they only mourned in their heart and tears could hardly be seen dripping from their eyes.

Maxwell and Cindy dropped in front of Lennon’s old house with no idea that Randy had followed them. They left the car packed well and Cindy was rushing to the door.

“How do we get in?” Maxwell asked.

“This was our first home so I got the keys.” She brought the keys from her pocket and opened the door. When they got in Randy stepped out of his car and watched the lights come on. The house was still organized and Cindy felt like she missed the place.

“Where do we go from here?” Maxwell asked again.

“Basement,” she took a hissing breath. “Follow me,”

Together they climbed upstairs and went to the basement. The door was closed and Cindy pushed it open, she turned on the lights. Dusty and dirty it had become.

“You girls never cleaned up here?”

Cindy ignored Maxwell’s question, she was looking for that spot where Lennon used to keep his personal documents. She went to the dusty cupboard and opened it. The first one had nothing as she searched through, she skipped to the next hoping she finds it there but there was nothing. Then Maxwell decided to help, he looked through some of the stuffs on the table in the basement. While the search was going on Randy got into the house, in his mind he thought that was the place the twelve kept this so called treasure he was obsessed about, he couldn’t find them anywhere there then he decided to go up. In the basement Maxwell found a wooden box and it contained some files.

“I think you should check this Cindy,” he presented the box to her and Cindy collected it, she went through the files and found what they were looking for.

“This is it,” She said and swallowed the fright that was almost shocking her due to what she might discover. They opened the two leafed file and read some few lines which told them all they needed to know. That tears started streaming down her eyes again and she felt like reaping the papers to shreds but she didn't the chance, Randy walked in on them clapping.

“Bravo,” he said. “Bravo, bravo, bravo…”

“What are you doing here?” Maxwell asked him. “How did you find us?”

“Stars don’t hide right, specially the very bright ones.” Randy smiled. “I wasn’t wrong about my hunch, there’s something you kids are hiding from the world and until I find it and get it I won’t let you be free from Jakes and his men.”

“We already know the truth.” Cindy said.

“Yes that’s the truth. Your lawyer who is probably enjoying his peaceful life somewhere sold you off like some piece of furniture just because he couldn’t stand the shame of losing his license. Do you know what that means? You own nothing,”

“Get out of our way Mr. Randy because we have to go show this to Jakes so he can give us explanations, this whole thing has got to stop.” She said and started for the door but Randy stopped her with a gun pointed to her face. She got scared and stepped back, they were both scared.

“What are you doing?” Maxwell asked shivering.

“You are not going to be free from Jakes because I have to use this,” he snatched the papers from Cindy’s hands. “To my advantage, Jakes has gained a lot from your talents already and now it’s my turn to use you to gain the kind of life I want. I’m privileged because you’re twelve now,”

“How will you do that?” Cindy tearfully asked.

“Jakes will never want the world to know about this, he knows the implications and he will lose everything so I will use blackmail, he either makes me a beneficiary or I will expose this document and fish your lawyer from where ever he is hiding.” He giggled but his triumph was cut short, Randy was hit down by Jan. Shania rushed and hugged Cindy while Larry hugged Michael. Jan took the document from Randy as he laid there unconscious. The girls sobbed on each other, the boys and Jan felt sorry for them.

“Is it true?” Larry asked Michael.

“Yes it is,” Maxwell replied. “It’s all in the paper.”

“He sold our entire lives for just thirty five million,” Cindy said to Shania. “What did we ever do to him, to make him betray us like this?”

“Cindy,” she wiped her tears. “We are all asking that same question but let’s go home ok,”

“Thanks Miss Jan,” Cindy said to her. “Thank you very much.”

“It’s nothing dear, now that we have this document we can find a way out. For now you kids should go home, I will get the cops to arrest Randy for attempted murder.”

Larry took Cindy’s hands. “Let’s go home.”

And they all left the place back to their home. They twelve read the paper and kept mourning over it while Jan was doing all she could to find a solution for them. She called Chris and told him all what had happened and how Randy attempted to kill Maxwell and Cindy after revealing the whole truth to them, which was her story. Chris called Jakes and gave him the same story, as usual he went mad as he called his partners and gave them the news. Jakes promised hell on Randy for ever trying to mess with his girls.

               Few days after the twelve had learnt the truth, an appointment was booked with Rubel to discuss a way out of the contract that had been signed without their knowledge. Since Rubel had a full idea of what was going on he called his boss and told him about it. Moscow took the first flight to New York City so he could personally talk with the twelve. Ro and Jo were present in wait for Rubel at the meeting room.

“How are things with you and Duncan?" Ro asked.

“We don’t care,” Cindy replied. The girls were completely broken, their enthusiasm and high spirit was shattered and replaced by a feeling of defeat and dejection. They boys were doing all they could to bring them back to believe that they were stronger than any storm, that storm especially.

“Jakes is pressing hard charges on Randy; he won’t be free from prison that easy.” Ro told them and they said nothing.

“We recently put a blog for the children’s world; we equally launched the auditioning program for kids ranging from age 10 to 20. Anyone interested can sign in for the auditions which will take place on the date you guys will pick.”

“The boys will handle that; they will take care of everything.”  Zodiac said.

“And what will you girls do?” Ben asked.

“Nothing,” Shelly replied. “The road ends here for us.”

“What!” the boys exclaimed looking at them, Ro and Jo saw how hurt and broken the girls were.

“Why are you girls talking like this?” Ro asked.

“Can’t you see what’s happening?” Shania said.

“I see what’s happening, we are making plans on how to move forward, we are making progress.”

“No Jo,” Lindsay said. “We are slaves to Jakes, we were sold off to be his slaves and as selfish as Jakes is, he will never allow us live the life our dreams,” she sounded cold because that’s how she felt in her spirit and so were the other girls. They had a surprise, Moscow. He walked in with Rubel; they both looked like they were in mourning for a dear loved one.

“Moscow,” The twelve said looking at him. They were surprised for sure.

“Yeah,” Moscow managed an encouraging smile. “That’s the expression I wanted to see on your faces.”

“We didn’t expect you will come here,” Michael said.

“I heard all what happened and you think my butt will keep still in my office after that?” he wished they will at least smile but they didn’t. He sat down and Rubel did same.

“You kids look tired,” Moscow said.

“That’s because we are tired…” Larry replied. “I mean how could people be so selfish, how?”

“You will meet worse people in life I tell you, we are going to find a solution. Since the lawyer is not dead, we will use every measure to fish him out so he can fix this mess he started.”

“We don’t want that,” Maul said.

“Why not,” Maxwell asked.

“We don’t want Lennon in our lives anymore. He is the only man we ever trusted since our parents died,” Shania tearfully said. “We thought he loved us and wanted nothing but the best for us but look at what he did; he sold us off like some piece of… of… Cake,”

The other girls wept insight of them and Moscow to see the wind of discouragement that had swept over their hearts, spirits and souls.

“What he did is unspeakable but that shouldn’t make you girls give up just like that, what about your dreams?”

“The boys will take care of it,” Shelly said. “This is the life he wanted for us so we are going to live through it.”

A brief moment of silence passed.

“What did this Jake say?” Moscow asked.

“He hasn’t shown his face to them, neither of them.” Jo replied.

Moscow shook his head, no amount of words could make the girls change their minds. After hearing all what the girls said, the boys felt like they were being slaughtered.

Chris paid Randy a visit at the police station, the warder brought Randy out at Chris’s request.

“I warned you about this paranoia of yours,” Chris said to him. “See where it landed you, behind bars. You are charged for attempted murder and to top it all attempted murder on the lives of two people who belong to the most loved group in the world, do you know your fate right now?”

“Pardon,” Randy said as though he was day dreaming.

“No, a long time in jail…” Chris woke him up. “Very long at that,”

“That gun was empty; you seriously think I am capable of killing, killing the twelve? Common Chris, don’t think so highly of me, I’m not an assassin.”

“What were you doing with a gun then?”

“Just scaring them off, wanted to get the document and if that emotional freak who calls herself Jan didn’t blab the truth to the twelve my plans could have worked out just fine.”

“Thank God it didn’t,”

“How are they taking it, the truth?” he asked not concerned though.

“Bad and Jakes wishes he could pluck the hand you used in pointing a gun at his kids,”

“His kids,” Randy grimed.

“He will definitely council the concert,”

“Oh Duncan is a dead man,” He suddenly felt a little regret for what he did. “Duncan will die if he does that.”

“And it will be your fault.”

“I can’t believe you girls are giving up so easily,” Zed said to the girls as they walked into the house back from their meeting with Rubel.

“There’s nothing left to do,” Maul said. The girls sat but the boys didn’t.

“There is something you can do,” Larry told them.

“What?” Cindy asked.

“You can make a choice Cindy,” Ken said. “Either to live by that document or not,”

“Don’t bounce too much Ken,” Zodiac said. “It’s not working.” She took her jacket off.

“Bounce,” Ben stood in the middle of the living room facing all of them. “You call this bouncing? You feel relaxed about your decision because your lives doesn’t depend on it right, after all if you go back to being Jakes puppets you will still make your millions and live comfortably on it right?” Ben was gathering the coals and was gradually fanning the fire to light again in their spirits. He went on. “What about those kids out there, those people whose lives depends on the message of salvation and truth which you are assigned to tell them so they can come out of bondage…”

“Ben we are in bondage ourselves,” Lindsay said. “How do we help others out?”

“You have all it takes to step out of this; you just have to make a choice to break free.” Michael spoke as calm as he was.

“We don’t want our lawyer coming into our lives again.” Maul said.

“He is not coming in,” Ken said. “And beside it’s not about what you want, remember what you told the children that we sent out, always do what the dream demands from you. This is what the dream demands from you; God wants you to trust him and not to waste this opportunity of gaining total freedom from any source of limitation in your life. You’ve got to appreciate God for letting you know the truth and just like the bible says, you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free, let this truth make you free, free from the hands of those who want to hold you back from fulfilling purpose.”

The girls had tears all over their faces and the boys sat down while ken was talking.

“The talent you have is in you, God blessed you with it and so much more,” Maxwell said. “Nobody can take it away from you unless you freely give it. If you don’t like what your lawyer did you won’t want to stay in it, you will fight to get out no matter what it takes. That’s how we fought to get here no matter what it could have cost us.”

“If we kept on mourning about the position life kept us,” Larry added. “We would still be at the shore, on the streets by now probably worse than before.”

The girls were quiet, pondering over what the boys had told them.

"Jakes, why did you lock up Randy?” Duncan had come to the Jakes office.

“He messed with my kids, threatened them with a gun,” Jakes yelled.

“Why are so angry? Is it because they finally learnt the truth? You are so wicked and selfish that you accepted to enslave the destiny of young children like the spice,”

“That is none of you god forsaken business and nobody has the right to mess with my kids,”

“They are not your kids Jake,” Duncan shouted. “They are your slaves and that’s exactly how you’ve been trying to treat them,”

“I will never treat them like slaves. I love the twelve,” He looked at Duncan sincerely. “I love my girls……”

“No you don’t. You are a selfish and arrogant person.”

“You’ve got the gods to talk to me like that because I got you closer to them isn’t it? Well for your information, the concert is terminated.”

“What!” Duncan stared at him in consternation.

“You heard me, now get out of my office rising super star my stockings.”

Duncan couldn’t believe Jakes cancelled the concert, his whole world of dreams came crashing on him. He felt like he was in a trance. He slowly took himself out of Jakes office; slowly he walked out not seeing or hearing anything going on around him. Jakes only noticed something was going on when he heard the siren from the ambulance car as it dropped outside, Duncan was rushed out on a stretcher, because he had missed his way and bumped his head so hard on the wall leading to the exit door. He was rushed to the hospital and kept under strict observation with Jan and Chris always coming around to check on him.