Summary

Henry James and Roberto De La Cruz, writers for "Dark Sides of the Truth" magazine, face professional challenges as their stories are consistently overshadowed by their assistant, Sunny Alexander-Johnson, who is also the wife of the NSA cybersecurity head, and they are on the lookout for a compelling new story.

Abstract

Henry James and Roberto De La Cruz are struggling with their recent articles being undervalued by their assistant, Sunny Alexander-Johnson, who is now an influential figure at "Dark Sides of the Truth" magazine due to her pregnancy and her husband's high-ranking position at the NSA. Despite the setbacks, they are determined to find a significant story, as emphasized by Sunny and their editor, Rick McDonnell. The situation becomes more intriguing when they learn from Donnie Sullivan and Gorgie Lastra that Gorgie is experiencing supernatural encounters, possibly with Sunny's deceased brother, Dante, suggesting a story that could be both dark and truthful, aligning with the magazine's theme.

Opinions

Henry and Roberto are frustrated with Sunny's editorial decisions, feeling their work is being unfairly criticized and buried.
The writers are skeptical about Sunny's authority, referring to her as "the terminator" for her ruthless editing.
There is a sense of camaraderie and shared history among the characters, as indicated by references to past collaborations and the evolution of their relationships.
Rick McDonnell, the editor, is seen as a mediator between the writers and Sunny, trying to maintain a balance between quality content and the writers' morale.
The writers are challenged to return to their roots of investigative journalism to uncover the darker truths, as suggested by Sunny.
The team's dynamic is complex, with personal relationships intertwining with professional responsibilities, as seen in the interactions between the characters and the mention of potential family changes, such as Manny Hermanos possibly adopting Gorgie.
The revelation of Gorgie's supernatural experiences is met with shock and could potentially lead to a significant story for the magazine, though there is apprehension about how it will affect their relationships with the Alexander family.

Fiction

Vengeance From The Grave Part 1

A Henry James And Roberto De La Cruz Series

My name is Henry Allen James and I’m Roberto De La Cruz and we’re writers for Dark Sides of the Truth magazine.

As our opening tag line proves, a lot of things can change in a few short months.

Our partner in crime, Ms. Sunny Alexander-Johnson is currently flying a desk these days. With a pair of twins seemingly caught up in a monstrous expansion mode in the womb, Sunny was more than happy to sit out the hectic pace of story hunting.

With sit being the operative word.

Which turns out isn’t that great of an arrangement for us. As an assistant to Rick McDonnell our editor in chief, and the one who has the final editorial say on a writer’s work, she’s made quite a name for herself.

We now refer to her as — the terminator.

Victoria Hermanos now works for Cynthia as her personal assistant. The last one Cynthia hired just didn’t seem to work out. Especially since she shot Donnie Sullivan and intended to kill every one of us.

Once he was released from the hospital Donnie Sullivan easily slipped into his new role as a personal driver and pseudo bodyguard for the family. Over the last couple of months Gorgie, Victoria’s little brother, and Donnie’s relationship have flourished. It was strange indeed to see one without the other.

So who did we leave out? Oh yeah, Manny Hermanos. Ex special director of the FBI. After a rocky start with Robert Johnson, Sunny’s husband, and head of the NSA cybersecurity and homeland security office in Austin Texas, Manny finally realized who was actually in charge.

And it wasn’t him.

Normalcy at last. We two chasing down stories, Sunny ripping them to shreds, featuring other writers and burying ours on the last pages of the magazine. First, we had the feast, now we seemed to be getting a whole mess of famine.

“Dammit, she did it again Roberto.”

“I can see that Mr. Henry. I told you I didn’t think that story about the Texas Rangers would fly.”

“Who appointed you resident expert boy?”

“Nobody Mr. Henry, but come on this is Dark Sides. That old-west theme we had going there isn’t this magazine’s cup of tea.”

“Not only did she sink our last story, but she cut it in half.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t trash it altogether.”

“Come on.”

“Where to?”

“We’re going to get Rick involved.”

“Uh Mr. Henry, I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“Since when have I ever listened to reason?”

“Well, you have a point. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

We stormed across the bullpen floor to the open door of Rick’s office. Well, slight correction. One of us stormed the other followed at a distance that would protect him from errant shrapnel when the bombs started going off. Without bothering to knock we both stepped into Rick’s office.

And we both discovered, as usual, one of us had led the two of us into a minefield. Rick and Sunny were on opposite sides of Rick’s desk going over the copy, both engrossed in reading, yellow markers in their hands.

“Rick, this is bullshit.”

Sunny twisted in her chair and stared at us as Rick took a deep breath, shook his head, and gently placed his marker on his stack of the copy.

“What’s bullshit, Henry?”

“You let Johnson bury me and Roberto’s last story. Just like she’s been burying them for two months and…”

“Stop right there old man. First of all, Rick didn’t let me do anything. I didn’t feature that last story because it stunk to high heaven Henry. You and Roberto are better writers than that. Your job is…”

“Don’t try to tell me what my job is, princess. I was doing this shit before you were in diapers.”

Rick smiled and gazed at Sunny who after several seconds of glaring took a deep cleansing breath and started over.

“You and Roberto’s job is to dig out a story, the dark side of the story Henry. It’s what you both are good at and what the readers of this magazine have come to expect. All I’m saying is you two need to start looking harder. Just like we did when we were working in the field together Henry. The more you look sometimes the story finds you remember that Henry?”

“Now if you two will excuse us, Sunny and I need to finish this copy and get it back to the layout team. Like she said, you two need to double down and find something. I have a feeling Friday’s storyboard session won’t be pleasant if you two bring us stuff like what you have lately.”

“Fine, Roberto let’s go. This is getting us nowhere…”

“Try bringing us a real story this time James.”

“Bite my ass, Johnson.”

We were surprised to see Donnie Sullivan and Gorgie Lastra waiting for us in the bullpen. We’d been hearing rumors from Manny and Victoria of Manny possibly adopting Gorgie, but the young boy seemed content to carry the last name of his murdered father like a badge of courage.

“Hey Gorgie what’s up dude?”

“Hey, uncle Henry.”

“Uh, Henry? Roberto? Is there someplace private we can talk?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“Not here.”

“Henry, the south wing’s conference room is open. I just passed it coming from the breakroom.”

“Got it. You two follow Roberto. You want something from the break room?”

“Water’s good right Gorgie?”

“Yeah.”

After settling in and while everyone enjoyed a quick succession of sips of water and coffee we finally prompted Donnie to spill the beans.

“So Roberto you weren’t there but Henry was. Henry, remember when you and Ms. Sunny saw and talked to my sister, Suzanne?”

“Yeah, Donnie. Are you seeing her now?”

“No. But Gorgie is. Well, not Suzanne, but somebody else. He’s seeing him and he’s talking to him.”

“Him who?”

Donnie took a deep breath and then exhaled loudly.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think Gorgie’s talking to Sunny’s brother.”

For several seconds there was not a single bit of conversation between any of us. Gorgie remained quiet, seeming embarrassed when Donnie stopped and stared across the table at us.

“Sunny’s brother Dante?”

“That’s it. That’s it, uncle Henry. He said his name is Dante and he needs to get something.”

“Oh, santa madre de Dios.”

“You got that right Roberto. Oh, holy mother of God. I think the story just found us. And I don’t know how in the hell we’re going to write this one without the Alexander family shitting all over us.”

Read On — Vengeance From The Grave Part 2

Let’s keep in touch: [email protected]