The Coldest Love She's Ever Known

by Leo Sullivan

  The elevator dinged as it opened, and I clenched my jaw.

  “Just trust me,” she pleaded.

  We piled out the elevator and there was commotion everywhere with cops and Marshalls scrambling around like they were running a drill.

  “Everybody against the wall!” a voice hailed as several cops and Deputy Marshals moved in aggressively. I happened to glance out the window and, from a distance, I could see herds of young Black people throwing objects and running wild. A car was on fire as well—it was pure pandemonium.

  The judge took my arm and nudged me towards a metal detector with a slight nod of her head as police jostled about. An elderly white man with a mane of white hair, like the color of sheep’s wool, stood in front of the metal detector as people rushed around. The deafening shrill from the alarming was still going off.

  The elderly man raised his hand at Judge Duncan.

  “We finna lock the building down, your Honor. I don’t know why yet… maybe some type of attack or something. I can’t let you out,” he said, looking around with a grim face at all the sudden upheaval.

  I glanced outside the window again and all I could see was a sea of angry brown faces, mostly juveniles, doing mayhem and destruction. What surprised me was a lot of them were women. I thought of Bulletproof and Dolo. This was their age group, and their fans. Their rebellious culture.

  “I know, but me and my assistant have to get out of here before it gets worse. I have a flight to catch so that I can see my father. He is not doing well, as you know from when we spoke a while ago. I really need to go!” Her voice had an urgent demanding plea of authority to it.

  Then, a mechanical voice came over the intercom.

  “SECURE ALL ENTRANCES NOW! LOCK THEM DOWN. RIGHT NOW!”

  As the voice blared, there were several people already at the door ahead of us about to exit and they continued to walk out without being hindered since the call had only just been issued.

  “That alarm means a have a code red emergency. No one is to leave at this point,” the old guy said with his head cocked to the side, observing the bedlam outside. “And it’s not safe out there.”

  The judge took several steps closer to him with yet another desperate plea.

  “I really need this favor. Please, just this once!” Her voice was stringent. The officer studied her for a second as I stood with my hand on the pistol in my pocket. Several officers were matching towards us from down the hall, their faces twisted with malicious purpose.

  “Okay, y’all hurry. Since they just made the announcement and you’re damn near at the door, just go. Be careful out there. They are mostly looting stores and attacking police cars, but I don’t want you to be recognized as a judge.”

  “Thank you!” the judge said and took off.

  I was right behind her with my hand in my pocket. I didn’t like what I was seeing, there was too much commotion with cops and federal agents everywhere. An armored SWAT truck with a line of other military vehicles pulled up, and the men piled out single file, dressed in some type of black army fatigue. The each frowned, watching as waves of youth and young adults rushed by in hundreds, destroying vehicles, and throwing objects. It was crazy, and the police were outnumbered.

  The streets were congested as the armed tactical unit moved about, but without control. Instead of suppressing the chaos, they were out of sync as they were all driven to protect themselves. Then, I suddenly heard a reverberating roar, like tumultuous thunder. I looked up in the sky, ensconced in an orange ball of luminous sun. There were a police helicopters, hovering ominously, so low I could make out the model of the AR -15 rifle that one of the cops was holding in his hand. He sat perched on the edge of the helicopter wearing some type of dark helmet with bug-eyed glasses. The assault rifle in his hands was aimed down at the streets which were teaming with people, as he spoke into some type of radio apparatus that was attached to his helmet. I knew that though he was watching the riot below, they weren’t his target. He was looking for me.

  I lassoed my arm around the judge’s shoulders, pulling her tight so she could feel the gun in my pocket, subconsciously reminding her that she was still danger.

  “Where is your car parked?” I asked, walking briskly in herds of people. It was perfect camouflage.

  She nodded with her head towards the parking garage just as several masked SWAT team members rushed in. They were heavily armed, wearing helmets, body shields, and followed by some type of armored vehicle like the ones I had seen in the military.

  “We can’t go in there,” I said under my breath.

  Taking her arm, I inconspicuously lead her through throngs of youth, then across a busy street into traffic as people bumped into us. She stumbled but managed to keep her balance in her pump heels as I towed her with me, determined to escape.

  “Where we going? You said you would let me go!” she shouted above the roar of noise; her face was suddenly panic-stricken.

  “Right, I am going to let you go when we get out. We still in the middle of a war zone.”

  My mind was frantically searching for a way out. It was matter of time before an all-points bulletin would be placed out on me with a picture, possibly the judge, too. With all the modern technology, I was certain that there was going to be a video of me up adducting the judge from the building and walking out the courthouse.

  The thing was, I didn’t have a set plan, didn’t have any idea of how to escape. I was moving on instinct and fueled by the adrenaline rushing through my veins. All of my moves were by happenstance and blind, like a precarious destiny of walking across a path full of hungry lions. I couldn’t stumble or fall. I had to distance myself from the courthouse by any means necessary.

  As we walked with people rushing by, I heard a gunshot. Suddenly, there was an explosion, a large canister sailed past my foot. There was smoke coming out of the fuse and my eyes began to burn along with my throat and nose. It was teargas. My mind formulated a plan and it was risky as fuck. As I took the judge’s hand and moved even faster, a store shop window suddenly exploded. Rioters ran inside in droves as the police just looked on in horror.

  As soon as we turned the corner, I spotted a guy seated in a black Infinity, he was talking urgently on his phone. Directly across from him were looters, busy burning a car. In front of him was a homeless person leaning against the wall at awe. The homeless guy appeared to be mentally disturbed; he was moving his hands all animated like he was engaged in a conversation with an invisible person in a heated argument. His dark skin was a swarthy-black and dirty. His clothes were tattered and filthy; they looked old enough to date back to the Jesus era. In fact, so did he, but he could serve a purpose in my escape plan.

  “Wait right here,” I ordered the judge and pulled out my pistol. She flinched, like I was going to shoot her. My intent was to let her know that if she did attempt to run, then she would be shot.

  I marched up to the guy in the Infinity and eased the passenger door open before sliding in next to him and pressing the gun against his ribcage. He looked up, startled. He had been so engrossed in sending a text on his cellphone that he hadn’t noticed me approaching until it was too late.

  “Give me the phone,” I demanded.

  Instead of moving, he hesitated, as if weighing his options.

  “This is a robbery. Don’t make it a murder,” I said evenly as I established eye contact. I lifted the gun to let him know that I was fully intent on pushing his wig back.

  “Hey, buddy, take whatever you want. Just don’t kill me. I have a wife and children.”

  “Get the fuck out the car and leave the keys. Then go stand over there next to my partner over there wrapped in that blanket. He’s hiding a bomb and if you try to walk away, he is going to detonate it and blow this place to smithereens,” I said, nudging my head towards the homeless man. Appearing crazy as ever, he was still in a heated argument with himself.

  The white guy nodded his head and hopped out of the car to do exactly what I’d sai
d. The homeless man stopped talking to stared hard at the other man. With his dirty fist lifted, he hauled off and punched the white man hard, yelling that he was standing too close. Something about their quick altercation inciting the passing rioters and they joined in, kicking the white man in the stomach and head. This was insane; I had never seen anything like this. It was like the end of days.

  I stole a glance at the judge. She was nervous, jittery even, as her eyes darted around. I could tell she was thinking about making a run until her eyes settled on me.

  Once I started the car, I waved for her to come over and, again, she looked around with devastation showing clear in her eyes before she complied. She ambled over in a fog of smoke and I eased down the window, watching her mop at the tuft of hair on her forehead as a whist of wind pushed her it all over her face. She held her hand to her mouth and her eyes were red and puffy from the tear gas.

  “I didn’t kill those people in the house or molest that child. I was framed,” I said, putting the car in gear. It was going to be a problem trying to maneuver around all the herds of people.

  “I know you didn’t do it,” she said, shocking me with her admission.

  “Well, why didn’t you rule in my favor?” I raised my voice but tried to maintain my control.

  Taking a glance behind her, she then responded, “Politics. It’s election season and I couldn’t risk being seen as lenient on violent crime. I hated the decision that I had to make, but I was positive that you would have been released once granted another appeal.”

  “An appeal that could have taken five or ten years,” I clarified.

  She shrugged. “Better than a death sentence.”

  I rubbed at my eyes, just about to drive off when suddenly the loud, reverberating sound of a helicopter echoed in my ears from up ahead. And then my worst fear became a reality when I looked up and saw a cop on a loudspeaker peering down, directly at me.

  “MALIK SHIELDS, STEP OUT OF THE CAR WITH YOUR HANDS UP!”

  Fuck.

  I grimaced and looked down at the guns in my hands. This couldn’t be the way I let things end.

  Reaching out the window, I snatched the judge by the neck and pushed the barrel of my pistol against her dome. She screamed bloody murder and tried to fight me. Sadly, I had just been about to let her go, but that was no longer an option.

  Holding her closely, I used her as a barrier between myself and the helicopter and headed towards a parking deck located adjacent to where we stood.

  “Hey, that’s King!” I heard somebody yell, followed by the repetition of other voices saying the same thing.

  Luck was on my side yet again when the crowd of looters then turned their attention to the helicopter and began tossing various objects at the officer. Someone, most likely the person setting the police squad cars on fire, tossed a Molotov cocktail and I heard the officer begin to panic, urging his pilot to fall back. I took advantage of the quick diversion and released the judge to flee into the parking deck before rushing into another building nearby, hoping that I would throw off the police on foot once they came after me.

  It didn’t take long before I reached a dead end; an alley with a single door at the end. I tried it, but it was locked. Preening my ears, I picked up on the sound of shuffling feet coming from the same area that I’d just been in. The police were closing in. Looking fast, I saw a small door a few yards ahead from where I stood and I ran up to try it, praying that the door would give. It did, but I groaned when I saw that it was only a small outdoor closet. With no other option available and the people tracking me closing in, I dove inside.

  “He’s over here,” someone outside said. “I saw him. Try that door.”

  Sucking in a breath, I clutched both of my guns and positioned my finger on the triggers.

  The door then burst open and, before I knew it, I was looking down the barrel of a gun. With my finger still on the trigger of the weapons in my hand, I was already aiming and prepared to shoot when something made me pause.

  “SHIT! King, what da fuck? Nigga, I almost shot you!”

  Never before had I been so happy to see another man in my life. Bulletproof lowered the pistol in his hand and stepped to the side to reveal Dolo who was standing next to him.

  “Damn, you put in work! They been talkin’ ‘bout them bodies you left at the courthouse. You on the radio and the news,” he marveled for a brief second, a look of admiration on his face.

  I was so dumbfounded; I couldn’t even speak.

  “We gotta get out of here now,” Bulletproof said and took a glance behind him. “The hood is rioting for you hard, creating the distraction we needed to get you out of here, but the SWAT has really moved in. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  That was all I needed to hear. They’d brought me a weapon much better than what I had on me, so I dropped the Glocks in my hand and exchanged them for the AK-47 that Dolo was holding out to me. Once we stepped out, taking a side street, it took me a couple seconds to adjust more chaos outside. It was pure pandemonium. Masses of Black people—my people—were still running around wrecking shit in every way they could. They were relentless, propelled by their unified goal.

  The armed security and bailiffs were using batons, tasers and pepper spray to try to control the crowd but there were too many of them. I knew that there was only a matter of time before firepower became their next method of choice and I hoped to be long gone before that shit got started. If necessary, I wouldn’t hesitate to bust shots, but I didn’t want it to come to that. As it turned out, it wouldn’t. The moment we got a few steps out the door, about five other men, all JDBs, surrounded me with their weapons in the air.

  “Gunner is around back with the getaway car ready to go. Let’s move!” Bulletproof shouted out and everyone began to move. They created a shield around me to the point that I couldn’t see shit, but I could hear it all.

  “Jo… behind you!”

  The next second I heard shots fired, coming from Jo’s weapon as he gunned someone down. The team of men didn’t miss a beat. They ushered me out of a back alley and the second the bright sunlight hit my eyes, I felt a joyous feeling erupt in my chest.

  “There he is! Get King inside!” Bulletproof gave the order and in the next moment, I was being pushed inside of an open door in the back of a Brinks truck. Once I was inside, the men took off in opposite directions, heading toward other vehicles to make their escape.

  “Welcome back, King,” was the last thing Dolo said to me before he smiled, gave me a quick salute, and then slammed the door closed.

  “Welcome back, boss,” another person said. I looked up and was relieved to see my nigga, Gunner, sitting in the driver’s seat.

  “I’m happy as hell to see you, bruh,” I told him as he took off driving away from the courthouse.

  A simple nod was his response before he placed his full attention on the road, driving carefully and attentively to our next destination. The other members of The JDBs had us surrounded, making sure that we didn’t run into trouble.

  Falling back, I let out a deep, long and much needed breath and then closed my eyes. It hadn’t happened like I wanted it to, but Malik ‘King’ Shields was finally free.

  As soon as that thought sunk in, another one crossed my mind. I couldn’t push away my desire to see Sunday. She was laid up in a hospital bed, not too far away, fighting for her life. If something happened and I missed the chance to see her, I would never forgive myself. I had to be near her. It was crazy, reckless and stupid, but I loved her.

  9

  Sunday

  * * *

  Sometime during the night, Kelly and my mama left to get some rest before what my doctor told them would be a long and difficult next few days. Once my baby was born, they would not only be watching me fight for my life, but they’d have to watch his fight as well. I found myself floating in and out of some unexplainable state of consciousness. I was in limbo, caught somewhere between life and death. Sometimes I didn’t know what w
as real and what was fake. It all felt like a dream.

  My senses jolted when I became aware of my room door opening and a hum of sounds coming from the hospital corridor rushed in. Once the door closed, there was silence, with only the muffled sound of the machines that were keeping me alive churning. In my head, my aching heart was palpitating with a rhythm of its own. Suddenly, I smelled a scent—a manly scent that my body immediately responded to like when a woman knows her man is near. I inhaled him deeply through my nostrils and his intoxicating, invigorating and manly musk entered my soul, impaling my mind with lust, love and all kinds of emotions I was at a loss to explain.

  I could feel his breath on my cheek and the fine hairs on his chin brushing against my neck. He was watching me; I could feel his eyes on my body, dancing along my skin. He observed me closely but there was nothing eerie or creepy about this moment. Somehow, I felt like I was in the presence of someone who loved me deeply. My soulmate, someone who had given me his heart.

  Is this Caesar?

  Though the thought occurred to me, something told me that it wasn’t.

  I was in a pleasant state, like a blissful dream, and the moment was so tender and peaceful, I wondered if I were actually in a dream. It felt so real but yet, I wasn’t sure. But then he spoke, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was definitely dreaming. Even still, at the sound of his voice, my heart melted.

  “Sunday… I don’t know if you can hear me but I’m sorry. I never meant for it to be like this…”

  He choked up and buried his face in the crook of my neck. I felt my heart beating a hundred beats a minute. The dream felt so real.

  “I… I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what went wrong but, Sunday, I ain’t have nothing to do with this or the shit that got me locked up. I promise you one thing, I’ma find out who did it. I would never let anyone do some shit like this to you… to your baby… and get away with it. A bunch of niggas ‘bout to get eternal dirt naps over this. I put my life on that. I would lay my life down for you.”