by Keta Kendric
When I strolled into my apartment, Rob was there with the building manager and two firefighters. I expected the scent of smoke in the air, but Regina’s scent lingered.
“Mr. Knox, I apologize for this mishap. The sprinklers in your gym were triggered, but there isn’t a fire. We think it may be a malfunction. I assure you, Sir, we are going to do everything in our power to find out how this happened.”
Without rendering a reply, I walked away from the men. When I stepped into my gym, the floor was a small lake of water. I scanned the room from top to bottom, but nothing appeared out of place.
“Mr. Knox, we have a team on the way to clean this up. We will replace your equipment if any of it is damaged.”
Again, I didn’t answer. I swiped and pressed the number I needed and lifted my phone to my ear.
“Ansel,” the voiced sounded in my ear.
“D, I got a big fucking problem.”
“What’s up?” he asked.
D and I had gotten to know each other relatively well, so he was aware that if I called in a problem, shit was serious.
I stepped away from the building manager and firemen as they remained in the gym talking about what they thought had happened to the sprinkler system.
“D, someone triggered the fucking sprinkler in my home gym. I think they did it to get Regina out of the building. JG is taking her to the safe house. Marcus and Scott are trailing them. Is there any way you can get eyes and clues as to who did this?”
Before I could finish my question, D’s fingers striking keys, registered. “I’ll see what I can do. Call you back.” Click.
The men talked in the background as I headed for the elevator. Rob sent me a quick head’s up as I acknowledged him with one of my own. They would take weeks to give me an answer D could provide in hours. I wasn’t sticking around for them to ease my mind over a wet room when Regina was out there being targeted by a fucking predator. One who’d been crafty enough to lure her out into the open.
For a second time, I placed my phone to my ear. “Yes,” came my cousin’s groggy voice.
“Aaron, Regina’s been lured from my apartment. JG is taking her to the safe house.”
“What? Why the fuck aren’t you with her?” Aaron questioned. The sound of him running around getting dressed registered in my ear. He and Megan had just returned from their trip the day prior.
“Aaron, what’s wrong?” Megan’s question sounded in the background.
“Something’s going down with Regina,” he told her before the unmistakable sound of a gun being charged registered in my ear.
“I want to come with you, Aaron,” came Megan’s pleading voice.
“Megan, please, baby. Stay here for me, and I promise if we can use your kind of help I’ll call you, okay?”
If he meant her help on how to torture someone, he may as well bring her. Megan had an innocent face, but there was enough horrific shit swimming around in her head that she could scare the devil. It was why I believed I got along with her so well.
“Ansel,” Aaron’s voice came back loud in my ear. “Why the fuck is JG taking Regina to the safe house? Where the fuck are you? It’s after one in the fucking morning.”
“I was out,” I stated, knowing my cousin knew what ‘out’ at that hour meant.
“You put your fucking obsession with killing before the woman you were supposed to be protecting? Fuck, Ansel! I left Regina with you because I knew if anybody could keep her safe it would be you. Regina is smart and strong and caring, and I clung to the hope that maybe she might have been able to help you too.”
The silence that followed left his words echoing inside my head.
“I’m on my fucking way,” Aaron announced before he hung up in my face.
I couldn’t even be mad at Aaron. I already felt like a sack of week-old shit for not being with Regina. Having my cousin angry with me for fucking up had me feeling lower than a yellow belly weasel. My fucking jaw ticked so hard, I was grinding the enamel off my teeth. If something happened to Regina because I couldn’t control my shit, I don’t know what the fuck I would do.
I swiped her number. “Regina,” I called into my phone.
“Yes,” she answered, fear lacing her voice.
“It’s going to be okay. I need you to believe that I will not let anything happen to you.”
“Okay,” she replied. Her shaky tone was followed by the unmistakable squeal of tires that sent my nerves jumping up like juiced up jumper cables.
“Regina,” I called as a loud impact exploded in my ear. “Regina! Regina!”
45
Ansel
The gas pedal of my black Audi touched the floor. The stars had aligned tonight and kept the local cops from spotting me because I’d broken every traffic law made. I glimpsed the aftermath of two near-miss accidents that I’d almost caused. My side mirrors showed that I’d avoided as many more.
I swiped and dialed D. With D, shit that took days or weeks was reduced to hours—like catching a plane versus driving.
“Ansel?” he answered.
“D, can you track my Mercedes? I’m texting you the VIN number. JG and Regina might be compromised. I can’t get either of them on the phone and Marcus and Scott aren’t answering either.”
I couldn’t track the car the legal way since it was under one of my aliases.
“Give me a second,” D’s voice sounded. I could picture his fingers weaving magic into the keyboard or computer in front of him.
As I waited for D, I continued driving towards the safehouse in case JG and Regina were already there.
“Ansel, they are on the John-James expressway, near mile marker 128,” D confirmed.
“Fuck!” I roared as I slammed my foot on the brake, making the car scream as a cloud of white smoke flew from beneath it and littered the atmosphere.
Going way too fast, I yanked the steering wheel, spinning the car in the opposite direction. The car protested my demands by squealing, jerking, and wobbling along the highway. The angry roar of the engine sounded, but I was more determined than the ton of twisted metal. D’s information confirmed that eight miles of distance separated me from Regina.
“D, are they moving?”
“No,” he confirmed, and I didn’t miss the hint of concern in his word. “You need me there, Ansel? I’m close. In Vegas. A quick plane ride, and I’ll be there in a few hours or less.”
“Yes. I think DG6 is back on the prowl and if they put a fucking hand on Regina…” Unable to finish the sentence, my hard breaths filled the cab of my car. “If you can swing it, come,” I stated to D before hanging up.
This was going to be a long fucking night. It was also the longest eight miles of my life as I sped past one-twenty. The swish of slower cars blew past my view in a blur. When I came to a screeching stop at mile marker 128, I didn’t see anything amiss.
Two tall and isolated telephone poles affixed with dim lights illuminated the area with scarce lighting. Not even the moon’s ominous glow, as it peeked through billowing clouds, helped break the darkness apart.
Smoke floated into the darkness, catching my eye, billowing against the dark landscape on the other side of the interstate. The lights on the poles hummed with electricity and seemed to allude to some ominous shit going down.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The unmistakable sound of gunfire pulled my attention across the freeway. I squinted against the darkness. Was that a dark car turned on its side? I prayed it wasn’t JG and Regina. My eyes adjusted and made out three vehicles parked near the overturned car. I jumped from my car, leaving it running on the side of the median.
I hopped the cement barricade that separated the interstate and sprinted across three lanes of traffic, nearly getting clipped by a white Toyota that honked and kept going.
More shots rang out, and I acknowledged that I was in the middle of a gunfight. If shots were being exchanged it meant that Scott, Marcus, and JG were taking out whoever had come after Regina. I prayed my
crew recognized me sneaking into their active firefight.
Upon further inspection, both sides appeared too busy shooting at each other to notice me. My heart dropped when the view of the car turned on its side became clearer. It was my black Mercedes. The realization stabbed me in the heart. The knife twisted as her name fell over my lips.
“Regina.” I prayed she hadn’t been hurt. “What have I fucking done?”
More gunfire revealed that the concentration of it came from the area nearest the Mercedes. When I was about to step towards the flipped car, I lifted my gun ready to pull the trigger at the figure that ran towards me.
“It’s Scott man, don’t shoot,” he called out, running hunched in a zigzag pattern towards me. He bent, breathing hard. “Marcus is out there getting some sniper bonding time with Tina. He’s lighting their asses up as I try to make it to the Mercedes. I believed JG is hurt. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to keep us back. There were at least ten, and we’ve taken out three so far.”
Considering Scott’s words, I weighed my options. Seven of them left against, me, Scott, and Marcus. It would be lucky sevens tonight because nothing was stopping me from getting to that car.
“They are trying to keep us from getting to the Mercedes,” Scott’s faint words sounded and confirmed my thoughts.
An explosion of fury overwhelmed me before I stepped away from Scott with him yelling for me to hold up. I put my faith in Marcus and Tina to keep a bullet out of me. There was no way I was waiting. Regina could have been in that car bleeding to death.
The swish of hot lead as it whizzed past my head should have stopped me, but I kept charging onward. The first shadow that filled my view, I aimed and let off rounds until the unmistaken cry of the wounded sounded. The first vehicle I came across had been damaged on the passenger side and abandoned.
A bullet struck the front fender, encouraging me to duck. It also reminded me that I was a target. With no bulletproof protection on, all that kept me alive was willpower and Marcus out there in the darkness with Tina, my sniper rifle.
The driver side door of the SUV had been left open, so I climbed in. I waited with bated breath for the sign I needed. When the muzzle flash of multiple weapons sparked against the darkness, a demented smile passed over my lips. I didn’t want single flashes. I wanted the area where there was a crowd.
After I cranked up the SUV, I threw it into drive, and slammed my foot down on the accelerator. I roared towards the dark area I’d programmed for attack. When I was close enough, I flipped on the lights, ensuring I blinded whoever was unlucky enough to be in my way.
My actions caused bullets to pepper the SUV as they thumped loud against the metal. I ducked and kept moving as part of the front windshield exploded, sending glass raining over me.
The jarring impact of the SUV slamming into something hard send me into the steering wheel. The squeal of a dying man was music to my ears, letting me know that at least one of them had been too slow to move. Random bullets continued to pelt the truck, but it didn’t stop me from exiting. The Mercedes was about a hundred feet away.
As I retreated away from the SUV I’d used as a battering ram, I turned, aimed, and fired two rounds in the gas tank. It was sluggish to blow, so I sent two more hot slugs into the tank. The loud boom that followed the shots shoved my body, the force of the impact strong enough to make me stumble as it blew my short hair sideways.
The shit didn’t blow up neat and contained like it did in the movies. Pieces of metal and fire flew through the air as the deafening sound and force caused my ears to pop. The heat from the flames lit up the sky. The shrill yells of two distinct voices sounded, praying in Spanish as the fire extinguished what little life they had left in them.
The unmistakable sound of sirens in the distance alerted that we were running out of time. The SUV I’d blown up would lead the authorities to us quicker. Tina sounded right before another series of loud moans, indicating that Marcus had taken down another one.
The eerie silence that followed had goosebumps rising on my skin. On instinct, I turned and fired, sending hot lead into head and heart. The man flew back into the darkness from the impact of the bullets. It didn’t matter that I didn’t see but a shadow of his face. As a part of the crew attempting to take Regina, he had been marked for death.
My feet beat up the ground as I ran towards the Mercedes, not caring about my life, but hoping and praying that Regina was alive. I didn’t care if I got there with half my head intact. I was determined to get Regina out of that car. My trek towards the car wasn’t met with any gunfire, which indicated all of them were dead or injured.
The telephone poles were spread wide on this stretch of highway, but the nearest few gave me enough illumination to see JG inside the vehicle. I didn’t see Regina in the front of the car, but it didn’t mean that she wasn’t inside. JG had likely done what I would have done, which was put her in the back seat behind him.
Since the vehicle was turned on its side, driver’s side down, I couldn’t pull JG out. The squeal of the sirens grew louder, causing me to cast a glance in the direction of the sound. Faint traces flashed blue, no more than three or four minutes away.
I climbed on top of the overturned car and peered into the busted passenger side window. The movement of JG’s chest brought a spark of relief.
“Regina!” I yelled, glancing around the darkness and making myself an easy target as I remained on top of the flipped car, searching the back.
“Regina!” I called a second time as I jumped from the car. My heart thundered, threatening to explode. Overwhelming fear pummeled me, refusing to ease its devastating blows. I ran into the darkness in every direction, unwilling to accept what my mind yelled.
Regina was gone. These men were a decoy. They were holding Marcus and Scott back while the person or persons that took Regina made a clean getaway.
“JG!” Scott yelled behind me as he climbed onto and peered into the sideways turned car as I had. He jumped from the car and stood beside me. “We gotta go, Ansel. JG is still breathing but appears to be in bad shape. The medics will get him to the hospital. We’ll get him out later if we have to.”
I heard Scott, but at the same time, I didn’t.
Dread and helplessness kicked my ass with lead boots. I had one friend seriously injured that we’d have to leave. Two more that had been trading fire with motherfuckers who’d led them into an ambush. And the worse news, the news that snatched my heart out…someone had gotten away with Regina. I’d let someone get their hands on her when I was supposed to be the one protecting her. She could be someplace right now being tortured, and that shit was on me.
“Ansel, man, we gotta go!” Scott yelled as he gripped and shook my arm. “There are too many fucking bodies out here. We go and regroup so we can track down Regina.”
Scott’s words jarred me from my trance. I didn’t care if I had to set the fucking city on fire. I would find Regina, and I didn’t care who I needed to go through to get her back.
46
Ansel
An hour later, we’d all gathered inside my apartment. Aaron, Scott, Marcus, and Rob were with me, discussing the best way to track down Regina.
I’d gotten into the CCTV feed to see if I could spot anything that would lead to Regina, but I’d come up empty. I knew the basics, but I didn’t have D’s level of technical expertise. Aaron hadn’t spoken a word, other than sharing his suggestions on how to get Regina back. I was the one that had fucked up, but I knew he’d already taken the blame.
When D stepped off the elevator and into my living room a half-hour later, I started to breathe again. He had a black carrying case slung across his shoulder and a leather briefcase dangling from his hand. He had the power to pool all our clues together and give us a lead on where Regina had been taken.
We greeted each other and gathered around my large dining room table. We waited as D set up, hoping he could give us the edge we needed to find Regina. I sat at the table, my mind a f
reeway of random ideas. My face dropped into my palms as the voices of the men around me faded.
I’d assumed life would kick me in the ass when I was on my deathbed. That I’d lie there writhing in pain, remembering all the horrible shit I’d done. That I’d be tortured to death. Or that I’d experience all the pain and hurt I’d cause throughout my life. These were fates that I’d willingly accept compared to the hell that had been dumped on me this night.
Knowing that Regina was out there with someone we hadn’t yet identified was fucking me up. Helplessness kicked my ass. Any number of fucked up things could have been happening to her. The burn of uncertainty had spread to all my senses. I saw flames, I smelled smoke. Heat licked my skin, I tasted ash, and I heard the chimes of hell.
Failure taunted me, and guilt was taking a jackhammer to my mind. I’d chosen to leave Regina at a time when she’d poured her heart out to me. The woman had handed me the most precious thing she owned, and I’d left her.
“I love you.”
The ghost of her delicate voice faded once more as it reminded me of what I’d turned my back on. The whisper of her soft kiss lingered on my lips, her touch alive on my skin. I needed to suffer for the mess I’d allowed to happen. I’d run away from the most valuable thing in my life to chase a quick fix I believed I’d needed. Aaron warned me that I’d get knocked on my ass when I figured things out, and he was right.
Just when I was about to aim at something and start letting off rounds to calm my anger and rage, D called out, “I’ve got something here.”
My hand fell from my forehead before my gaze shot across the table at him.
“The CCTV images are dark, but I’ve brightened one enough to see one of the SUVs fleeing the scene before the shootout. The last images of the plate, which I ran, were taken on Crossover Boulevard, about fifteen miles from here, just outside the city limits.”