by S. Ann Cole
“I dunno where the shit I am!” Tevin panicked. “You know around here, Sadie. Where the hell is this?”
“I have no idea. But you better find a goddamn way out, asshole!!” It had been ages since I’d been to ELA, everything looked different and was a lot more structured than in my days. So I was just as lost as Tevin.
“Oh no, baby girl. I need ya strength. You can’t be mad at me,” he said through a half-sob. Tevin was afraid. More frightened than I was, it seemed. And it couldn’t just be of being caught and jailed. He feared something else. The men who are awaiting this delivery, maybe?
The loud sirens behind us and honking of car horns accompanied by vitriolic shouts as we brushed or bumped nearby vehicles would send anyone in a panic attack. And that wouldn’t be good; he’d crash and kill us both.
Taking a deep breath, I spoke in a much calmer tone, someone needed to have their wits about them. “You’ve never been in a car chase before?”
He wagged his head wildly.
In spite of the situation, I laughed. “Some gangster you are, huh?”
“Sadie, this shit is serious. A bloody life-and-death situation we’re in. Aren’t ya scared?”
“Was,” I giggled. And when I looked ahead, I laughed even harder, as loud and crazy as a hyena. The laughing, I couldn’t help it, for I only laughed this hysterically when I’m frightened out of my boots.
“What?!” Tevin snapped.
Obviously, he hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going so I nodded for him to look ahead.
Tevin slammed the breaks, jerking us forward. “Dios Mio!!”
Wrapping my arms around my stomach, I laughed my frightened face off. And soon my laughter morphed into tears as I stared at the towering red-bricked wall before us and the flashing lights of the police cars behind us.
Dead end.
Our ass was grass.
The grotesque giantess flicked out a slimy tongue and winked at me. Yuck! That has got to be the longest tongue I’ve ever seen. I gave a meek smile, walked over to the bars and stuck my face there. It reeked in here. A mixture of urine, feces, and possible dead corpses, who knows?
For over twenty-four hours, I’d been locked in this cell with a flirty giantess and a petrified wafer-thin brunette. What kind of crime had she committed? She looked as frightened as a rabbit. I dared not probe questions about the giantess. Her crime was probably slaughtering a stable of horses or molesting an entire brothel.
Oh God, I need to get out of here.
I wasn’t even allowed the chance to explain that I was oblivious to the illegalities on board because ‘anything I do or say could be used against me in the court of law’. Ugh.
I was hoping Tevin would word me some justice. If he cared about me at all, he would. Because I had all the time in the world to wonder, I wondered how he was holding up. Probably scared out of his wits since he’s never been in jail before. Some men can be tough, yes, until they get caught. That’s when you’ll hear them cry like a female cat getting shagged.
What was going to be done to me? How long would I be kept in here? The fashion bidding’s on Monday, for Christ’s sake. I had to prepare. Would I be out by then? Would I end up missing that opportunity? Geo Lee would be so disappointed. As I would be in myself. Why does everything always go wrong for me? Hell, I’ve been born an execrable birth.
Let me out! Let me out! Let me out! I screamed in my head, my knuckles pale as I gripped the bars of the grill. It was a miracle I wasn’t crying and shivering like a frightened adolescent. I’d been through so much crap in my years of being with him. Cali D exemplified the citizen one should never be. But then, with all of his illegalities, we had never been to jail.
Guess it was just bad luck with Tevin.
“Sadie Francé,” a crusty female voice called.
Dragged from my reveries, I raised my eyes and saw a plump, dark-haired officer keying the grill. “You’re good to go,” she winked at me.
My shoulders slumped as I released a noisy exhale. Relieved, weak, sleepy and worried, I was all of the above. Tevin had done me well. Stepping out of the hell-hole, I followed the officer as she led the way.
“High friends in high places, eh girlie?” the officer whispered over her shoulder.
My countenance frowned into bewilderment.
“Your feet have been washed. Steer clear of the mire from now on,” she added, patting my shoulder.
What in the world was she talking about?
The bald-headed man behind the counter glared at me with a grim expression as he pushed my belongings to me. Sheepishly, I grabbed them, slipped into the filthy bathroom to change from my hideous overalls and was then buzzed out.
In the waiting area, Kelsy was pacing back and forth. “Sadie! Oh my god.” She rushed towards me and locked me in a tight embrace. “Oh god, I was so worried.”
“I’m fine. Now.”
“I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to do. They’re keeping Tev. You think he—”
“I doubt it,” I shook my head. “Not with all that was on board. Come on, let’s get outta here.”
As we exited the building, passing police cars and lazy cops giving us the judgmental eye, I wondered, “How did you know to come?”
Kelsy frowned. “I got a call from some guy. Said I was to come pick you up. You were bailed.”
Confusion clouded my already weary brain. I hadn’t called anyone. Maybe Tevin did? “Huh? Some guy?”
“Yeah. I thought it was strange, too, because it wasn’t a police officer, but I was so glad you were getting out I didn’t care to ask questions.”
This was making no sense. “Bail isn’t possible so soon. Not unless Tev told them I was oblivious.” And as I said it, I remembered the officer’s rambling about ‘high friends in high places’ and something about my feet being washed. Hmm…Natalio. But how would he know?
Because he’s omniscient, duh.
At the moment, I didn’t care how I got out. Grateful I was to whoever had lent aid. That, I could think about that when I’ve showered, had me a meal and some well-deserved sleep.
Kelsy was drowning with tears as I regaled the inauspicious car chase yesterday while she drove us home. She wailed about us chasing death, how stupid Tevin was, and most of all lamented on the possibility that she may never see Tevin for a very, very long time. Whenever my discombobulated mind was back in array, maybe I could telephone my ‘high friend in high places’ and see what favors I can get done? Ha! Would be interesting to see how that turns out.
Kelsy wiped her nose in the most unladylike manner and sniffed, “I’m just gonna make a quick stop by Tev’s to pick up my stuff. There’s no way I’ll be able to stay there by myself tonight. This is just horrible.”
“Okay. You can stay with me until tomorrow,” I offered, knowing that she wouldn’t be contented on her own whether it was Tev’s home or hers. Kelsy liked company and preferred being anywhere else but her own home. She nodded.
Vestigial of the sun, the dim orange glow slowly faded as darkness ate into the daylight. Kelsy steered the vehicle into Tevin’s sprawling complex, muttered something about giving her a minute and hopped out of the car. My stomach churned as I waited and I realized then that I haven’t slept in over twenty-four hours. This was not how I envisioned my weekend after receiving that heart-swelling news from Geo Lee.
Geo Lee! Shoot, I’d missed a day of work and I hadn’t even called in to say why. Would he be pissed? I’ve never seen him pissed off before. I fished for my blackberry. It would be too late to call him now, but that’s better than not calling at all. Darn it. My cell phone battery’s completely dried out. God, I needed to get home. Now.
My mouth grew arid as the wait extended, and I feared I might die of hunger or faint of dehydration, so I slotted out of the car and dragged my lethargic body off into the house.
An eerie feeling brushed me as I stepped across the threshold, but I dismissed it. I was tired and I needed food an
d rest. Kelsy was supposedly packing but I heard no noise coming from the bedroom. The house was strangely quiet.
In desperation of slaking the aridness of my tongue, I journeyed into the enormous kitchen and opened the fridge door to grab a drink. “Hurry up, Kels. I’m in desperate need of a shower and sleep,” I shouted, as I scanned the contents of the refrigerator.
Opting for a V8 Splash, I popped the cork from the bottle and brought it to my mouth, depleting half its fluids in one drink. Quenching, I thought with gratitude as I wiped my lips with the back of my hand. I kneed the fridge door shut and found myself staring into the nozzle of gun.
Shhhhhhhit!
The bottle fell from my hand and went smashing to the ground. Now what?
“Shhh,” hissed the bulky intruder who was clad in black from head to toe, wearing a mask that showed only his eyes and lips.
That must have been the last bit of fright and fear that was left in my body because suddenly I cared not what the hell this man would do to me—unbelievably so. I was, most irritatedly, tired of it all. Tired of my cursed life and everyone in it. Things couldn’t get any worse than this.
Nonchalance remarkably surfaced. “Kelsy?”
The intruder blinked at me, and I assumed he was stunned by my indifference. If he was expecting me to beg and plead, then he had another thing coming because I hadn’t the strength to do so, even if I wanted to. My last twenty-four hours constituted of a long day’s work punctuated with merry news, which later evolved into a heart-palpitating car chase and a sleepless, nail-biting night in a stinking hell-hole. So do with me as you wish. Please. Death would be an infinite respite. Ending all my bloody miseries for sure.
“I’m right here,” Kelsy’s voice was small and shaky behind me. When I turned, my heart constricted at the ashen-faced Kelsy who was wrist-bound by another husky intruder, also clad and masked in black.
“Let her go,” I told them. “Take me.”
If they didn’t, I was pretty sure Kelsy would faint of fright within the next ten minutes or so. She was a spoiled girl from a well-known, affluent family. This nature was not for people of her kind. But on some level, it’s good for her to see the penalties of dating men like Tevin.
“Shit, T. Shit. That’s Nelly’s girl,” Kelsy’s assaulter said.
What? Nelly?
“Fuck, I didn’t—” My assaulter swore again and pressed the gun against my skull. “You weren’t supposed to be here!”
My head was spinning. I honestly could not take any more bullshit. I was afraid I would explode, sending blood, guts and shit splattering everywhere. “What do you want?”
“Hurtin’ you would be trouble. So injury’s off tha’ list. Though, it would give me great pleasure to break your delicate bones,” said my assaulter through clenched teeth. “You’re Nelly’s bitch and his men watch your ass twenty-four-seven. So though we really don’t wanna, we’ll have to let ya’ go unscathed, because we don’t wanna trigger any unnecessary rivalry. Your assigned men are probably outside right now as we speak. So now, you two will ensure that we get what we want and we will ensure that you leave in one piece. You will raise no alarm and everyone will be happy. Got it?”
What the hell? I have securities that follow me around? That would explain how Natalio knows everything. My God, the man is…ugh! “Yeah, sure. But what do you want?”
“Tevin has messed up big time. We’ve lost a great deal. We’re aware he has underground stacks. Let us have it and we’ll be out of your air.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Tevin had underground stacks? The dude was so much more illegal and hazardous than I thought!
“I don’t—”
“She knows,” growled my assaulter, nodding to Kelsy.
Puzzled, I glanced at Kelsy, awaiting her word. But she merely stared at me, wide-eyed and dumbfounded.
Kelsy cried out in pain when her assaulter twisted her arm. “Spit it out, bitch!”
“Kels, do you want to live?” I asked her.
She nodded frantically, looking like an electrocuted cat.
“Then tell them where it is. I don’t think Tev would be able to retain his sanity knowing you lost your life trying to save his dope.” I tried to remain serious, fighting the inexplicable urge to laugh. Why do I always have such anomalistic compulsion to laugh in deadly situations?
I must not laugh. I must not laugh. This is serious.
Kelsy’s assaulter pressed his gun against her temple, his finger twitching on the trigger, and I swallowed. Hard. “Hurry up, bitch! Our beef is with Tevin, but now you’ve brought Nelly’s bitch here.” He looked over to me and blinked with reasoning eyes. “We don’t want no shit with Nelly, okay? We just want to get our worth of what Tevin’s fucked up.”
Why did they keep saying ‘Nelly’? Did that mean Natalio was still heading cliques and still playing Nelly? I had no idea. And how was I his bitch? I haven’t spoken to the man in over forty days. If they knew that, and how clueless I was, they’d retract their suppression of breaking my bones.
Kelsy’s soft, crackling voice spoke, “Okay. This way.”
With rough fingers grasped tightly around my upper arm and a gun pressed against my skull, I followed where Kelsy led. We traveled down to the basement and there stood another three men who seemed to have been searching to no avail.
“Under here,” said Kelsy, pointing to an immense red rug that dominated Tevin’s man cave.
“You two,” Kelsy’s assaulter ordered two of the guys. “Roll it up. Hurry!”
The men rolled away the carpet, and then all eyes averted to Kelsy in questioning. That’s because there was nothing but wooden floor beneath it.
Kelsy pulled from the grasp of her assaulter and walked along the area in a concentrated pattern, then stepped back. Ten seconds later, a rectangular trapped door automatically opened. Reflexively, I leaned over to take a peek and eyed a wide wooden ladder leading down.
Whoa. Tevin had a freaking underground stack-up and I hadn’t known? I think I could guess why he hid it from me; he knew I’d encouraged Kelsy even more to stay as far away from him as possible. But then, she knew, too, and kept it a secret. After all the horrendous things Kelsy saw I went through with Cali D, she still wouldn’t take heed. Oh well…
My assaulter gave me a rough tug backward. “Keep still.” He waved his gun at the other men. “What tha’ hell are y’all waiting for? Start packin’!”
Impatiently I stood, shifting from foot to foot for fifteen minutes and counting. Watching as the men came up with bags and bags of cocaine, guns and ammunitions.
Sweet mother Mary! What the heck was Tevin saving up for? Not a rainy day by the looks of it, but a freaking tempest. The dude was on some American Gangster meets Scarface shit. I’d never seen so much cocaine in all my life. Was he planning on opening a drugstore? Pun intended.
“You know, I was really looking forward to fuckin’ ya lil friend into oblivion. We had plans for her,” whispered my assaulter. “But you just came along and fucked everything up.”
Insouciant, I shrugged. “Sorry.”
“You think because you’ve been with men like Cali D and Nelly, that you’ve seen it all?” he growled, obviously pissed at my nonchalance. “I could still fuck you up, ya know?”
Oh, they know about Cali D, too. Boy, what a history I had at age twenty-four. “Go ahead. Do me the honors. Believe me, this is not an affectation.”
“You lil bitch.” He laughed acrimoniously. “Life means nothing to you?”
“Asks the criminal who’s holding a gun to my head,” I muttered back with hot sarcasm.
“Even though I’m forced to live like this, my life means a lot to me.” His tone was suddenly soft and, if I wasn’t not mistaken, wistful.
One of the men spoke before I could say anything else. “That’s it. We’re good to go.”
In union, both men released Kelsy and I and shoved us towards the stairway. “Good work girls. Now, you two are gonna leave with smi
ling faces like nothing happen. Just in case the men assigned to watch your ass are outside.” He waved the gun at me. “Once you leave, they’ll follow. Then we can leave quietly and undetected. No one getting hurt. No alarm raised. Capiche?”
“Will you take anything else from the house?” I asked. Tevin’s house was huge, abounded with valuables and a garage of cars and bikes. He was my friend, no, my brother—as much as it pained me to acknowledge such. But as rotten as he was, I loved him. It would be pleasing if these men didn’t clean him out entirely.
“No. We’re not paupers! What we have here is worth fifty times more than what Tevin cost us. Served him right,” he said. “Now get ya tight asses outta here!”
I glowered, wanting to say something nasty but Kelsy tugged at my hand and dragged me up the stairs. We tried to look as casual as possible as we exited the house. The news that I had guards who followed me around was unnerving. Oh, this has got to be the worst weekend of my life.
“I’ll drive,” I told Kelsy. She was still shell-shocked and shaky, and I feared she might send us crashing into a wall. I’ve escaped death twice in twenty-four hours and I might not be so lucky the third time around.
As I entered the car, I looked around for any suspicious-looking men or vehicles. Nothing. No one. Night had fallen and the evening was still and dark. Where were these men who were supposedly watching me hiding? Where was Natalio? And why would he still have me watched if he’s ‘moved on’?
Jeez. As soon I get my wits together, I was going to call him and demand my goddamn life back. How dare he!
Ha! Yeah right…
Putting the pedal to the metal, I sped off into the night, trying to convince myself that the inert Kelsy, whose head was slumped onto her shoulder, was asleep and hadn’t actually fainted.
Chapter Sixteen
“They’ve just left, Sir. Unscathed.”
“Those men are smart men,” he gritted out. “Get in. Disarm them. I’m a minute away.”