Baltimore Chronicles

by Treasure Hernandez

  “Let’s just say I was in a political office.”

  Cecil’s eyes went wide. “Ooohhh shit! That’s right. I knew it. You the grimey-ass mayor. I’m lookin’ for you too. You look mad different, though. I didn’t know you was some fiend. All sweaty and jumpy. No wonder you was corrupt. Your ass was needin’ a fix.” Cecil laughed.

  Mathias ignored all of the insults being hurled at him. “Why are you looking for me?”

  “I’m gonna kill you.”

  Mathias almost shit himself when he heard those words. His muscles locked up and he stood frozen. He wanted a line of coke.

  “Wh–wh–why?” he stuttered.

  “You see, like Scar ruined your career, you ruined my woman’s career, and I promised to get revenge for her.” Cecil cocked his gun.

  “Wait, wait, wait, wait.” Mathias put his hands up in front of his body like he was going to block the bullet. “I’m sure we can come to some agreement. Are you positive I’m the one who wronged your woman? I’ll make it up to you—to her. Who is your woman?” Mathias was talking a mile a minute, saying anything that came to mind in order to stall for time.

  Cecil cut him off. “Nigga, I know you the one I been lookin’ for. You done fucked with my woman. She had a good ole job as a judge, and now she on the run.”

  “I promise, please, I’ll do whatever it—Wait, did you say she was a judge?” Mathias stopped his babbling when Cecil’s words actually registered.

  “You have trouble hearing? Yeah, that’s what I said, nigga.”

  Mathias started laughing uncontrollably, to the point of being almost psychotic. Cecil swore he could see Mathias’s eyes glaze over with crazy. There was now a decision for Cecil to make: Put this crazy motherfucker down, or get some information out of him. He chose the latter.

  Cecil side-kicked the laughing Mathias in his stomach. “Stop yo’ fuckin’ crazy-ass laughing.”

  Mathias doubled over from the blow, clutching his stomach at the point of impact. Although in pain, he continued to laugh. “Your ‘woman’ wouldn’t happen to be Tiphani Fuller, would she?” Mathias stayed hunched over.

  “Don’t matter who my woman is. You fucked with her, and now you gon’ pay.”

  “Go ahead, kill me. You’re with that black widow; she’s gonna eat you up and spit you out. Your fate will be worse than mine.” Mathias cackled a demonic laugh.

  “Don’t tempt me, old man.”

  “Do you even know anything about her?” Mathias unfolded himself and looked directly into Cecil’s mismatched eyes, one blue and one brown. It was Cecil’s trademark, the reason his nickname was Two-Tone. “She’s a manipulator, a user. She’ll get what she needs from you and then leave your ass high and dry.”

  Mathias’ tone made Cecil listen. It was the tone of someone who was speaking from experience, not someone who was begging for his life.

  Cecil flashed back to the day he caught Tiphani trying to leave him in Florida. I should have trusted my instincts then. I knew that bitch was grimy, but I let her talk me out of it, he thought.

  Mathias continued. “Do you even know what happened? I didn’t run her off. She fucked with the wrong people and had to go into hiding so she didn’t get killed.”

  “You were the one who tried to kill her,” Cecil said, repeating part of the story Tiphani had told him.

  Mathias let out one short burst of laughter. “Is that what she told you? I have known Tiphani a long time. She is a very driven woman and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. She also has an insatiable appetite for sex, which helps her get what she wants. Men will do anything for her once they get a taste of her. Me included.

  “I was fucking her for a while and she made me think I was special. Turns out she was making most of the men in City Hall feel special. Once I found that out I stopped it, but by then it was too late. She had gotten exactly what she wanted. She held it over my head, and in order to keep her from telling the world, I was forced to promote her and give her whatever she wanted.”

  “Sounds to me like you just got played. I won’t let that shit happen to me.” Cecil replied, although he wasn’t feeling as confident as he sounded.

  “You have already been played, my friend. You’re out trying to clean up her mess. You know why she wants me dead? Because I was forced to have her arrested. You know why she wants Scar dead? So he doesn’t kill her first.

  “Look, Scar isn’t a saint, and I want him dead as well, but that’s for personal reasons. Tiphani is just mad because Scar played her. She started fucking him, and she fell in love. He used her and her judicial power to get himself acquitted. When things went bad for them, they went very bad, and now both of them are out for blood. But I can assure you that Tiphani Fuller is by no means an innocent victim.

  “If you don’t believe me, there are plenty of newspaper articles written about it. In fact, there’s a video tape of Tiphani and Scar having sex. Feel free to look it all up.”

  Cecil was livid. This was exactly the opposite of what Tiphani had told him. She had painted herself as a victim, a sort of damsel in distress. Everything the mayor had just said made sirens go off in his head. His suspicions about Tiphani were stronger than ever. He was definitely going to do some research, but he was almost sure he was going to find out that Mathias was telling the truth.

  This bitch thinks she can play me? She’s sadly mistaken, Cecil thought.

  “They say don’t kill the messenger, but in this case, my brother, you about to die.” Cecil smiled wickedly.

  As his finger tightened around the trigger, the door to the room opened and hit him in the back, causing him to stumble forward and misfire. The bullet whizzed past Mathias’s head and lodged into the wall behind him. In a split second, Mathias reacted and ran forward, knocking into Cecil and Best, who had entered the room. The impact of Mathias barreling into them sent all three tumbling to the floor.

  The gun that Cecil had taken from Mathias landed right in front of Mathias’s face. He quickly picked it up hopped to his feet and ran for the door. Cecil took aim and fired at Mathias. The bullet landed in the doorframe. Mathias made it through the door just in the nick of time.

  Cecil jumped up in pursuit, knocking Best back to the ground as he frantically ran by him. Mathias haphazardly pointed his gun behind him and let off two shots as he ran out the front door. This stopped Cecil momentarily and gave Mathias a chance to separate from the melee. Lucky for Mathias, the three dudes who had been in the living room were nowhere in sight. They either hid when they heard gunshots, or had left before any of it started.

  By the time Cecil made it to the front door, Mathias was nowhere in sight. There was no telling which way he had run.

  Best came running up behind Cecil. “Yo, let him go. I don’t need nothin’ attractin’ attention to my place.”

  “Fuck!” Cecil screamed as he scanned the empty street.

  “Let’s talk inside,” Best said to Cecil.

  “You right. Let’s go inside.”

  When Best turned to enter the house, Cecil shot him point blank through the back of the head. No witnesses. That’s how Cecil liked to keep it. The three dudes that saw him before would get theirs later.

  Chapter 9

  Common Ground

  Sweat was dripping from Halleigh’s forehead. She had been vigorously rubbing the toothbrush handle against the carpet for hours. She stopped and inspected her progress as she wiped the sweat away with her forearm. Unfortunately, the fibers on the carpet weren’t doing much to alter the shape of the handle. If anything, the back and forth motion of the rubbing had started to wear away the carpet and create a hole. The plastic on the toothbrush had barely been affected. Definitely not enough to satisfy Halleigh, especially with the amount of effort she had been exerting.

  Halleigh sat and caught her breath for a moment as she tried to keep herself from getting discouraged. She kept her mind focused on her son, the main reason for her escape.

  Sitting on the floor with he
r back against the wall, Halleigh’s eyes randomly roamed the room. She was stuck. It was her prison. No way out except through the locked door. She had to start thinking like a prisoner. She had to fight for her life, and as she’d learned earlier, she wouldn’t be able to overpower Derek; she just wasn’t strong enough. The only weapon she had was a toothbrush, but at the rate that was going, it wouldn’t be sharp enough to use for days, possibly weeks. Her situation was looking bleak.

  The fluorescent light in the ceiling flickered and caught her attention. She was in a trance, staring at the tubed bulb when it hit her. She could use the light bulb as a weapon. She could swing it like a baseball bat at Derek. When it broke, she could use the broken glass to cut him and then flee. She contemplated breaking the bulb first and just using the glass, but was afraid Derek would hear it smash, thus defeating the “taken by surprise” tactic she was going for.

  Halleigh reached up, stretching her arm as high as it would go, but was unable to reach the plastic covering. She thought for a moment then dragged the mattress and box spring across the carpet, placing it just underneath the light. Standing on her toes on top of the mattress she was able to extend and reach the cover. She removed the cover, exposing the fluorescent light. The bulb was too warm to touch, and she quickly pulled her hands away. The switch for the light was on the other side of the door. Even if she were able to turn it off, it would be a while before it would be cool enough to touch.

  Halleigh heard movement upstairs. Derek was heading toward the stairs to the basement. She quickly took off her shirt, using it like an oven mitt as she turned the bulb and pulled it down. With the bulb in hand, she jumped down from the mattress and ran to the door just as Derek was opening it.

  She swung the long bulb like a baseball player swinging at a fastball. It connected with Derek’s left arm and exploded with a loud pop. Derek instinctively tried to shield his face from the attack. Halleigh leaped at Derek, attempting to stab him with the broken piece of glass left in her hand, but he was too quick. His training on the police force prepared him for such attacks, and he easily blocked her advances.

  In one fluid move, Derek knocked the weapon out of Halleigh’s hand, spun her around, and forced her onto the bed face down. Halleigh struggled to break away from Derek, but he had her hands firmly secured behind her and his weight was too heavy for her to move.

  “Calm the fuck down!” Derek commanded as Halleigh continued her fight. She was like a wild dog that wasn’t about to be tamed—teeth bared, foaming at the mouth and growling.

  Derek had enough. He cocked his fist and punched her in the back of the head. The force of the blow knocked her out instantly.

  Halleigh was disoriented as she slowly opened her eyes. It took her a moment to figure out where she was and remember how she had gotten there. She replayed the attack on Derek in her mind. The last thing she remembered was lying face down on the bed, hands behind her, with Derek on top. She was still face down, but when she tried to touch the pain stemming from the back of her head, she was unable to move her hands.

  Shit. I’m handcuffed. Halleigh unsuccessfully tried to free her hands from behind her back.

  “Welcome back.” Derek was cleaning up the broken glass strewn about the basement.

  “Let me go.” Halleigh squirmed on the bed, trying to flip herself over.

  “That ain’t happenin’. Just relax.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Listen, bitch. I could do some serious damage to you, to the point of killing your ass. So, if I was you, I’d shut the fuck up and just chill.” He roughly flipped Halleigh onto her back and straddled her.

  Halleigh looked into Derek’s eyes with hate.

  “Now look at this. I’m on top of a fine piece of ass and she don’t have a shirt on.” Derek traced a finger around Halleigh’s upper body.

  Halleigh remained silent. She clenched her jaw and braced herself for whatever was to come. From her days as a prostitute, she was able to mentally separate herself from a situation. She would just let Derek do whatever he wanted to do.

  “What’s the matter? You got nothing to say? You’ve been naughty and need to be taught a lesson, but if you’re a good girl, maybe I’ll let you go.” Derek rubbed Halleigh’s breasts over her bra. Halleigh still said nothing. Derek could see that she had checked out.

  “Seriously, what the fuck is your problem? One minute you’re attacking me every time I come down here, and now you’re lyin’ here like a rag doll. Bitch, I’m about to rape you. You should be fighting for your life.”

  Halleigh’s eyes welled up and a single tear fell slowly past her temple into her hair.

  “Goddamn, snap the fuck out of it. Speak.” Derek slapped her across the face.

  “What do you want me to say?” Halleigh’s voice was just above a whisper. Tears were steadily streaming from her eyes now.

  Derek didn’t know what he wanted her to say. He was just pissed that she seemed disgusted by him. A small part of him wanted her to be attracted to him. He didn’t want to rape her. Yeah, he wanted to fuck her, but he would never force himself on her. He was just playing mind games with her, showing her who was boss.

  “Just stop being stupid and attacking me. I’ll always win,” Derek said.

  “I’ll never stop fighting for my son.” Halleigh wouldn’t look at Derek.

  “You got kids?” Derek swung himself off of Halleigh and stood up.

  “Just a son. He’s the most important thing in my life. So, do what you want to me.” Halleigh slowly turned her head to look directly at Derek. “But I will tell you this: I will never stop fighting for him. He needs his mama, and I will not let him down. Not like my mother did to me.”

  Derek couldn’t bear to make eye contact with Halleigh. Her words hit him directly in the heart. He felt the same way about his children. He would do anything for them and would stop at nothing to protect them. He was feeling guilty because he was unable to come to their rescue. He was letting them down.

  “What’s his name?” he asked.

  “Malek Jr. He’s named after his father. I feel like I’m letting him down.” The tears began again.

  “I know what you mean.”

  “You have a son?” she asked.

  “And a daughter. I would do anything for them. Including kidnapping. That’s why you’re here.”

  “Why me? I didn’t do anything to your kids.”

  “You didn’t, but Scar did. You’re here so that your man will hurry the fuck up and help me find my kids.”

  “Day has nothing to do with that. Let me go. I’ll find them for you. I’ll help Day and we’ll get them back.” Halleigh’s speech was rapid as she pleaded.

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Yes, you can. Our kids need us. I promise to find them. Just let me go. From a mother to a father, I promise. Please.” Halleigh was sitting up. Hope was running through her body. She was going to appeal to the father in Derek. This was her chance.

  “No!” Derek yelled.

  “Please.” There was desperation in her voice.

  There was a long silence. Neither one said anything as they thought about their children, each feeling helpless. Each was determined to be there for their children any way possible.

  “I’m sorry.” Halleigh decided to change tactics.

  “Just stop trying to overpower me, all right?”

  “I’m sorry your kids got kidnapped. I understand your hurt. I would do the same thing if I was you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It kind of turns me on, seeing a man fight for his family, doing whatever he has to to protect them. So many punks out there that wouldn’t do anything. Takes a real man.” She gave him a seductive look.

  “The fuck you doing?” Derek asked.

  “Nothin’. I’m just tellin’ you like it is. It’s makin’ me a little horny.”

  “Stop the bullshit.”

  “Seriously, Daddy, take these cuffs off and I’ll make all the hurt go away. I want
you to take your anger out on my pussy.”

  “Yeah? You want Daddy to fill you up?”

  Derek approached Halleigh slowly. Suddenly, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t played the sex card right from the beginning. Men were so stupid, always thinking with their dicks.

  “Yeah, Daddy. Fill me up,” she said, mentally preparing herself to pounce as soon as Derek uncuffed her.

  Derek was standing right in front of Halleigh with a big grin on his face. “You think I’m stupid?” He punched Halleigh in her face as hard as he could, knocking her out cold for the second time.

  Chapter 10

  Truth Kills

  Cecil exited the library on the warpath. He had gone on the library computers and read article after article about Tiphani and her affair with Scar. There was even a clip of the press conference the mayor had given where they played a blurred-out version of the video of Scar and Tiphani fucking. If there was one thing that Cecil couldn’t stand, it was being manipulated. He figured himself to be pretty straightforward and he expected the same from others; so when someone was untruthful and trying to manipulate him, he took it personally. He felt it was his duty to teach the untrustworthy person a lesson, and that was what he was about to do to Tiphani. He would teach her not to fuck with people’s emotions.

  Driving back to the hotel, Cecil had a death grip on the steering wheel. His body was tense with anger as he thought about Tiphani. He was running through ways in his head to torture her, make her regret ever trying to play him. He would bring her to the brink of death, make her think he was going to kill her, and then back off at the last second as she begged for her life. Cecil still wanted her money, and killing her would lose him access to all of her offshore bank accounts. He might be angry and want revenge, but he wasn’t stupid when it came to money. He knew where to get it, and he wasn’t about to cut off his supply line.

  By the time Cecil made it back to the hotel and parked the car, his emotions were a mixture of anger and excitement. He was looking forward to the torture and beating he was about to inflict on Tiphani. Torture may be against the law, but that didn’t stop the military from teaching Cecil the intricacies of torturing information out of the enemy. There was a fine line between torture and interrogation, and Cecil was one of the best at walking that line. He was now looking forward to stepping over the line into torture territory. He always found it fun trying to find exactly the right technique that would put the enemy over the edge and make them spill all their secrets. Watching the enemy squeal in pain always brought a smile to his face.