Zya felt her eyelids begin to close, and when she saw the bright white light, she knew her time was up. God, please have mercy on me, Zya thought as she closed her eyes unwillingly.
The bright, white light wasn’t heaven. It was the light from the sun. Someone had opened the rear emergency door.
She felt a hand pull her from the bus and drag her away. Just as they got fifteen feet away from the bus, it exploded, sending burning debris flying everywhere. Zya was dazed from the smoke inhalation, and her heart was beating erratically. She looked at the person who had come to her rescue and noticed it was Matthews.
“Buggy?” she stated in confusion as he continued to drag her up the road. A black car pulled up, and Agent Matthews shoved Zya into the vehicle. He jumped in next to her. “Nothing is going to stop you from going where you are supposed to go,” he said as the driver sped off.
Somebody put a bomb underneath the bus. Anari is trying to kill me. I know it, Zya thought as she coughed uncontrollably.
Zya was somewhat happy that Matthews had instructed her to sit in the back. If she were in the front, she would have died from the explosion. She had never been so happy to see Matthews than when he pulled her out of the back of the bus.
Zya felt the car stop, and she noticed that they were in a big field with a jet sitting in the middle of it. “What the fuck is going on?” Zya asked as she looked out of the window.
“I told you nothing was going to stop you from getting where you were supposed to go.” Matthews exposed an infrequent smile as he removed the handcuffs from Zya’s wrists. “Come on,” he said as he stepped out of the car.
What the hell is going on? Zya thought as she was about to get out of the car. Just before she stepped out, the tinted window that separated the driver from the passengers rolled down. When she saw the face of the driver, her heart nearly skipped a beat. It was Emilio Estes.
Anari set this up. They are taking me to this field to kill me, she thought as she saw Emilio smiling at her. What she heard from Emilio was totally unexpected.
“Thank you, Zya,” Emilio said graciously just before he rolled up his window.
Matthews pulled Zya out of the car and nearly dragged her to the helicopter. Zya was kicking and screaming with all her might, but to no avail. He was much too strong for her.
Just as they reached the jet, the door swung open. Anari appeared, along with Sammy, the pilot, in the front. Zya couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She completely froze up, trying to decipher what was going on. Anari pulled out a briefcase from under her seat and gave it to Agent Matthews.
“One million dollars. Enjoy,” Anari said as Matthews grabbed the suitcase.
Zya looked at Matthews and then at Anari. Anari looked at Zya with welcome eyes and smiled at her. At that moment, it all came to Zya, and the fear that she felt left her heart. Zya smiled, knowing that Anari had set up her escape.
“You were working with her all along,” she said to Matthews as she playfully hit him.
“Sorry for being so rude. I had to play the role, ya know? You have a good life, Zya. I am about to sit back and enjoy mine with my new wife,” he said as he patted the briefcase and returned to the limo.
Zya watched as the limo took off and then turned back to Anari. “You knew all along that Buggy was a cop, huh?”
“I told you. I know everything. I knew you would have to make a decision between loyalty and supremacy. I trusted you from the beginning, and I don’t do that with most people. You became like a little sister to me. I knew deep in my heart that you wouldn’t turn on me,” Anari said as she extended her hand and helped Zya in.
Anari continued to talk. “I want to thank you for taking the fall for us. It showed a lot of courage. I have another surprise for you.”
“What?”
“Turn around.”
Zya turned around and saw Snow sitting in the seat behind her. She immediately embraced him tightly and screamed, “Oh my God, baby!”
Snow cringed when Zya brushed against the stab wound in his waist. “Damn, girl,” he said as he held his sore body.
“I’m sorry. What happened?” Zya asked as she examined Snow’s bandaged mid-section and tenderly touched his face as if she couldn’t believe he was sitting in front of her.
“Your clever friend over here set me up to get stabbed, so they could transport me to the hospital. Then she had one of her men sneak me out unnoticed, and here I am,” he said as he winked his eye at Anari.
“Yeah, sorry about that. That was the only way to get you out.”
“I’ll take a hit in the stomach to be with Zya any day. You almost had me scared, though. The doctor said it was inches away from my liver,” Snow said as he patted his side.
“I made sure that the stabbing was precise and in a spot that wouldn’t cause any permanent damage. The attacker was a professional. Believe me, Boss Sparks is so good that he almost had me hit.”
Zya turned to Anari and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Anari. I thought you wanted to kill me. After what I did to you . . .” Zya’s voice trailed off before she finished her sentence.
“How could I do that? You are right. You did do something to me, Zya. You took all of the weight off of my shoulders and put it on yours. I beat the charge because of you, Zya. I can’t be charged for any of my past crimes. According to you, I was never involved in any illegal activity. This is the least I could do. We will always be friends.”
“Always,” Zya said as she smiled at Anari and placed her hands on her bulging belly.
“Oh my goodness. I have been so pre-occupied with everything that I didn’t even notice. What do we have here?” Anari asked as she rubbed Zya’s stomach gently.
“It’s a boy,” Zya said softly with a smile.
“What are you going to name him?”
Zya looked back at Snow to see what he was going to say, but he just shrugged his shoulders, not knowing the answer.
“Maurice,” Zya said as she looked down at her belly and placed her hand on it.
“I like that name,” Anari added, knowing that Zya had chosen the name as a tribute to Anari’s late son. Anari’s eyes became glossy. “Thank you,” she whispered.
She was honored by the tribute, and began to wave her hands over her face to prevent a tear from falling. “You can take this jet anywhere you want in the world and live your life with your family. There is twenty-five million dollars in the back, and it’s untraceable. I’m going to miss you, Zya.”
“I’m going to miss you too,” Zya replied as they embraced each other. Their bond had surpassed a friendship. They were alike in so many ways and had grown so close that they really were like sisters.
Anari hugged Snow then stepped out of the helicopter as a limo came up.
Zya looked down at Anari and said jokingly, “We need a book wrote about our story. I think it would be hot.”
“I know just the authors to write it, too,” Anari said as she laughed and shut the door to the aircraft. Zya and Snow disappeared into the clouds, on a one-way flight to paradise.
Epilogue
Zya and Snow watched as their four-year-old son boarded the helicopter alongside Anari. It was the first time that their child would be away from them. Anari had convinced them to let her godson stay with her for the weekend. Zya didn’t want to admit it, but she did need some alone time with Snow. For the last five years, they had been living in seclusion in a small town in Jamaica under phony names.
“There goes our baby boy,” Zya said as she waved to her son while the aircraft lifted from the ground.
“He’s only gon’ be gone for a couple days. We need some time to ourselves anyway. It’ll be fun. I’ll even take you to that maze of mirrors you been bugging me about. Since little Maurice is terrified of them, now is the perfect time to go,” Snow replied as he threw his arms around Zya’s waist. They walked back to their villa, which was about a hundred yards away from the open field, and prepared for their well deserved night out.
“Where you at, Snow? I’m gon’ find you,” Zya said as she placed both of her hands in front of her to avoid bumping into the deceptive mirrors. Zya turned her head as she saw his reflection brush past her. Zya laughed out loud as she stepped straight into a mirror.
“You’ll never catch me,” Snow said as he continued to make his way through the tricky maze. Zya could see him, but couldn’t tell exactly which direction he was headed. There were so many mirrors that she couldn’t decipher what was real and what was a reflection.
Got him, Zya thought as she noticed Snow tiptoeing through the maze. She knew that he didn’t see her, so it was the perfect opportunity for her to tag him.
“I know where you at,” Zya said in between her laughter. She spotted him, and she knew that he couldn’t see her. She crept up on him, only to find that it was another mirror.
Damn, I can see him, but I can’t get to him. Zya’s heart dropped as she looked into the mirror and saw a raggedy-looking bum with dread-locks approach Snow from behind.
“Snow!” she yelled as the face of the man became clear. It was Lonnie Wade. “Baby watch ou—” Before she could get the words out of her mouth, Lonnie Wade had grabbed Snow from behind and placed a gun to his temple.
“Zya, where you at, bitch?” Wade yelled as he maneuvered through the maze with a struggling Snow in his grasp. He was choking Snow so hard that he couldn’t breathe.
“Run, Zya, run!” Snow managed to let out. His voice roared through the soundproof house of mirrors. He was helpless against Wade because he had left his pistol at home.
“Wade, let him go. He has nothing to with this,” she stated. Zya’s heart was pounding frantically as she made her way through the mirrors, trying to find their exact location.
Wade strengthened his grasp, almost causing Snow to lose consciousness, with nothing but revenge on his mind.
“Do you know what it’s like being a cop in prison? Do you, bitch?” Wade began to cry, and Zya felt fear creep into her heart when she saw the crazed look in his eye. He was like a madman.
Zya was speechless. She hadn’t even thought of Wade since the trial, and now here he was, threatening to destroy her like he had always planned.
“Please, let’s just talk about this,” she pleaded as she continued to search for them. She could no longer see their reflections, and the fear of the unknown gripped her. “Wade, please,” she cried out as she pulled her gun from its ankle holster. Zya could only hear his voice.
“Every day I got raped like a woman. My manhood was stripped from me, and it was all because of you.” As he talked, he jammed the gun against Snow’s temple. “All because you lied. I have been waiting on this day for four years, and now you will pay.”
Before Zya could even respond, she heard a single gunshot ring throughout the entire maze, causing the mirrors to rattle.
“Snow!” she screamed as she frantically searched for her man. She turned corner after corner, and she found Snow’s lifeless body lying in a pool of his own blood. “Snow! Please, God . . . no,” she begged as she kneeled next to him. Her knees were soaked in his blood, and she struggled to pick him up in her arms. “Baby, please,” she cried as she rocked him back and forth, staring into his lifeless eyes.
Wade escaped, and his mission was accomplished. He knew that by taking the life of Snow, Zya would come back for him to seek revenge.
And when she does, I am going to put her where she belongs ... in a grave.
Zya woke up in a cold sweat, desperately gasping for air. Her heart ached, and she breathed heavily while gripping her chest. She looked over at her newborn baby in the corner of her room, and then over to Snow, who lay sleeping peacefully next to her. She then realized that it was only a nightmare and Snow was alive and well.
Her tensions settled as Zya got out of bed and slowly walked over to the balcony that overlooked the ocean. She took a deep breath of relief and watched as the tides gently washed up on the shore.
“It was all a dream,” Zya whispered as she realized that she was finally at peace. She knew that it was not the last nightmare she would have, but it was a small price to pay for all the wrong she had done.
The baby began to cry, and Zya walked over to her son and gently scooped him in her arms. She rocked softly back and forth while returning to the balcony.
Snow crept up behind them and held Zya while she held their baby. Snow noticed Zya had been sweating. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I just had another nightmare, that’s all,” she replied.
“You don’t have to worry about anything, Zya. I will not let anything happen to my family. You’re safe here.” Snow kissed Zya and then his son. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
THE END . . . FOR NOW
Urban Books, LLC
1199 Straight Path
West Babylon, NY 11704
Copyright © 2006 Ashley & JaQuavis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-5998-3149-7
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living, or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity to other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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