White Lines III

by Tracy Brown

  “Where are you?” Born asked breathlessly.

  But he was met by the voice of his son’s captor. The same voice of the man he had encountered in the McDonald’s bathroom. “I warned you, Born,” the man said. “No cops. You didn’t keep your end of the bargain.”

  “What are you talking about? Nobody went to the cops. Bring my son back home.” Born couldn’t get his words out fast enough.

  “I’m smarter than you give me credit for,” the man said. “I told you the rules, and you didn’t listen.”

  Born frowned. “You got your information wrong. We were at a funeral all day. We just got back. For the last time, nobody spoke to the cops.”

  “There are police outside of Jada’s house right now,” the man said. “Just because they aren’t sitting in a squad car doesn’t mean that I can’t recognize police when I see them. And I specifically said ‘no cops’.”

  Born shot a look at Ava, who was sitting across from him with a strange look on her face. “Cops at Jada’s house?” he repeated.

  Ava hung her head in her hands.

  “Now the game is going to be played differently,” the man said. “I do not want to hurt your son. But if I don’t have the money you owe me by tomorrow, you will never see this kid again. I promise you that.”

  “I’ll get you your money,” Born said anxiously “Just bring my son back safe.”

  “I will call you back with instructions.”

  The line went dead. Born roared with frustration. He barreled down on Ava, demanding answers.

  “Why is this muthafucka telling me there’s cops outside?” he demanded.

  Ava was crying. “I thought I was helping,” she said. “I just called a friend of mine who’s a detective. I thought he could put some undercovers outside to look out for anyone suspicious.”

  Ava’s tears did little to quell Born’s fury. He took off his sling and threw it across the room in frustration.

  “I was just trying to help,” Ava pleaded. “I know that you can’t go to the police, but this is crazy. The man detonated a bomb at your house. He attacked Jada at the hospital. He’s sending threatening messages, approaching you in the street. I just wanted to do whatever I could to end this.”

  Born wanted to strangle her. “I told you that all of us are being watched. And I specifically said that we can’t involve the police. Why the fuck would you go behind my back and call some detective to do some half-assed stakeout?”

  Ava shook her head. “I thought that whoever it is would be following you and Jada, instead of watching the house. I thought—”

  “Fuck what you thought, Ava!” Born’s voice thundered. “Now this man has my son!”

  Ava wanted to die. “I’m so sorry, Born. I was just trying to help.”

  Born blew out a heavy breath and dialed Maury’s number, frantically. As soon as he answered, Born dove in, telling him that Ethan had been kidnapped after Ava had been foolish enough to think that she could outsmart the mystery man.

  As he spoke with Maury, Jada’s phone rang. She picked up the private call and was met by a sinister laugh. “Hello, my darling, Jada.” The voice was familiar. For a moment, Jada’s heart seized in her chest. She thought it sounded like Jamari back from the dead. She was reminded of the nightmares she’d been having about Jamari taunting her from the grave. But as the caller continued speaking, she realized that it wasn’t Jamari at all. Instead, it was another voice from her past.

  “Are you ready to give me what you owe me?”

  Instantly, she knew who the kidnapper was.

  “Elliot!” she said, breathlessly. She looked at Born, everything suddenly making sense.

  “Ah, you remember,” he said. “It’s been a very long time.”

  Jada clung to the phone, speechless.

  “You cost me dearly,” Elliot sneered. “You stole my drugs, and then you sent the police after me.”

  Jada shook her head. “No! No I didn’t. That wasn’t me who tipped them off.”

  Elliot wasn’t trying to hear her. “They killed my brother and two of my cousins in that raid.”

  Jada squeezed her eyes shut in despair. This whole thing was a nightmare. Elliot was the Guyanese drug distributor who supplied Jamari and his cohorts with cocaine back in the day. Jada had double-crossed Elliot and Jamari when she stole the drugs that she was supposed to deliver to Jamari, and sold it herself instead. That money had given her the freedom to get away from Jamari once and for all. It was the money that Jamari had come for when he ambushed Jada in a parking lot, resulting in Sunny blowing his brain out in defense of her friend. The newspapers had said that Elliot, too, had been killed in a gun battle with the police all those years ago. As if reading her thoughts, Elliot spoke again.

  “The newspapers claimed that I was dead. But it was my younger brother that they turned into Swiss cheese. He looked just like me, and for that he paid with his life. While he was shooting it out with them, I was lucky enough to escape with just a bullet in my back. But then I had to go underground. So far underground, in fact, that I had to leave the U.S. I never even got to bury my brother. Do you know how that feels, Jada? To lose somebody close to you and never get the chance to say good-bye?”

  Jada held the phone in silence. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Elliot was alive. He knew what she had done. And he had Ethan.

  Elliot continued. “Years later, I snuck back into the country, and I went looking for Jamari. I believed that he crossed me. But he was already dead by the time I came back to the U.S.” Elliot chuckled at that. He had searched high and low for Jamari, only to find that someone else had beaten him to the punch. “I thought that was the end of it. But then I heard that you are a big-time author now. People told me that you wrote a book about your life as a hustler’s wife. Imagine my surprise when I got my hands on your book.”

  “Elliot, that story isn’t true. It’s just a book,” Jada interrupted.

  Elliot laughed. “Your character double-crossed the distributor and sold the drugs to some dealers she knew from way back when. And it just so happened to be the exact same amount of drugs that you stole from me. That’s when I realized that Jamari might not have been the guilty one. Did you give my drugs to Born to sell for you?”

  “No!” Jada insisted. “I’m telling you that story is not true. Born has nothing to do with this.” Jada felt like she was going to self-destruct. It made perfect sense now. Aware that Born used to be a hustler and that Jada loved him, Elliot assumed that he had been in on her scheme all along. It explained why he targeted Born with the bomb at his house, why he approached him at McDonalds and kidnapped his son.

  “I thought you were so sweet, Jada,” Elliot continued. “You were so young and soft-spoken. I’ll admit that I never thought you had it in you. I thought Jamari put you up to it. But the more I dug into your background, the more I learned who you really are. You are a crackhead. And everybody knows a crackhead can’t be trusted. You stole my drugs and sold them so that you could get high. And now look at you, Jada.” Elliot chuckled sinisterly. “Jamari is dead, and you got away scot-free. You and your boyfriend are living on top of the world at my expense.”

  Her hands trembled from the shock of all of this.

  “I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. I thought to myself, No one is stupid enough to try and cross me. But you surprised me, Jada. You took my kindness for weakness. So now it’s time to pay up. I called you now because I want you to know who you’re dealing with. Do not play with me. I want my fucking money. And if I don’t get it, I’m going to kill this kid. And then I’m coming for you, bitch.”

  Elliot hung up. Jada stared at Born in silence, with tears of terror streaming down her face.

  “Oh my God,” she said. “This is all my fault.”

  18

  RESURRECTION

  Born felt powerless. He stood in the living room at Anisa’s place, watching her fall apart, and there was nothing he could say or do to make it better. Ethan
had been gone for three hours, and with every minute that ticked by Born and Anisa became more anxious. He walked over to where Anisa sat on the sofa and sat down beside her. He pulled her close to him, and held her, comfortingly. Anisa held onto Born for dear life and cried into his chest, her sobs rocking her.

  “I’m gonna find him,” Born said. “I’m gonna bring him back.”

  Anisa wanted to trust him. God, she did. But the longer he was gone, the harder it was for her to believe that the outcome would be positive. She pulled away and looked at Born.

  “How can you be so calm?” she asked. “That bitch is the reason our son is missing. If anything happens to Ethan, I will kill Jada myself.”

  Born shook his head. “It’s not her fault.” Before he could say another word, Anisa lunged at him, scratching, kicking, and punching at him wildly. He held his good arm up to fend off her blows, but it did little to shield him from her vicious attack. Hearing the melee, Miss Ingrid rushed into the room and pulled Anisa off of her son.

  “Calm down!” Miss Ingrid demanded. “What the hell are you hitting him for?”

  Born stood up and put some distance between him and Anisa. She had hit him hard in the face, busting open his lip. He touched it gingerly, the metallic taste of blood on his tongue.

  “It’s okay,” he said to his mother. “She’s upset.”

  Anisa was far more than upset. She had had enough of Jada. “How fucking dare you sit here and defend her after she got our son into this mess? This man is after her! He has a problem with Jada, and he’s taking it out on your child. And all you can say is this ain’t her fault? This IS her fault, Born! She owes him money, and she got his brother killed. Why didn’t he kidnap her crazy-ass son?”

  “Anisa—” Born tried to reason with her.

  She wasn’t having it. “If anything happens to Ethan, I am going to—”

  “Listen!” Miss Ingrid interrupted Anisa’s tirade. “That’s not gonna bring Ethan home. Now just calm down and let’s figure out what we can do to get him back.”

  Anisa sucked her teeth and walked off to sulk in a corner. She was distraught over Ethan’s abduction. Hearing that Jada was the reason for all of this, and having Born defend her was just too much for her to accept.

  “Anisa,” Born said, softly. “I’m not defending anybody. I’m just as pissed off as you are. All I want to do now is make sure that he doesn’t hurt Ethan. I just want to get him back home safe and sound. I need your help, though. Please.”

  Anisa stared out the window.

  “Don’t go to the police,” he pleaded. “Just let me get the money together and I will go and get Ethan back.”

  Anisa shook her head in dismay. She cried softly. “I keep thinking about how scared he must be,” she said. “He’s just a kid. He doesn’t deserve this.”

  Born closed his eyes, trying not to imagine that. He hadn’t let himself think of what Ethan must be going through. The thought of it was enough to drive him insane.

  Anisa turned and glared at Born. “You’ve put him through so much,” she hissed. “Exposing him to that crazy bastard Sheldon.”

  “Anisa, don’t talk about him like that. He’s a child,” Miss Ingrid said, chastising her.

  “Oh, give me a break!” Anisa frowned. “He drowned a damn dog in your bathtub. He took an overdose of prescription pills. The kid is crazy.” She turned back to Born. “And his mother is an ex-crackhead with skeletons coming out of her closet left and right. Now Ethan is with some crazy man who has a vendetta against Jada. A man who is threatening to kill him if you don’t pay him what she owes him plus a shitload of interest. And I’m just supposed to be okay with not involving the police. I’m supposed to trust you. You? The same man who lets Jada toy with him like a damn yo-yo, pulling you into her life one minute and pushing you out the next.” Anisa shook her head again. “You’re pathetic. Any love I still had for you is gone now. And if Ethan gets hurt because of you and your bitch, I will never forgive you.”

  She stormed out, leaving Born and his mother reeling in her wake.

  * * *

  Jada handed a mug of tea to her sister. Ava hadn’t stopped crying since the phone call from Elliot. She felt so bad, knowing that her attempt to help had backfired so terribly. It was late, but none of them could sleep. Sheldon sat on the couch playing Xbox, and Jada didn’t even mind since it allowed her to keep an eye on him. Ethan’s abduction had put them all on edge.

  Jada sat down near her sister and sipped her own tea. “Stop crying,” Jada said, sternly. “It’s gonna be okay.”

  Ava sniffed. “How do you know?” Ava was devastated. “If anything happens to that little boy, his blood will be on my hands.”

  Jada set down her mug. “I know that we’re gonna get him back safely. God answers prayers. He won’t let anything happen to that innocent little boy. Ethan is going to be fine.” Jada was trying hard to convince herself that it was true. She had spent the past few hours pooling all of her financial resources. She certainly didn’t have a million dollars. Neither did Born. But they had some savings, a few assets, and a lot of favors that they could call in. Ava had already offered them every penny that she had to her name. DJ, too, had assured Born that he could have anything he needed without question. Jada was certain that they could get the money together in time. The only question was whether or not Elliot intended to keep his word.

  “Ma, is Born coming back?” Sheldon asked. He had set the game controller down, and was sitting with his chin resting on the arm of the sofa.

  Jada looked at her son. “Yes,” she said. She tried not to think about the fact that Born was over at Anisa’s house comforting her. Especially since they had only recently been intimate again. To add to the problem, it was Jada’s own fault that Elliot was terrorizing them. She reminded herself that she and Born were back on track, and she silently reassured herself that he was not reuniting with Anisa in the midst of their grief.

  Sheldon could tell that this situation was serious. He had been instructed not to answer the door or the phone under any circumstances. He was not to go outside or log on to the Internet without an adult present. He had been told that Ethan was missing, but he could tell that this was not the type of random disappearance like he saw on television shows. From the way that Aunt Ava was crying and carrying on, it was clear that this situation had several layers.

  Born returned with a downtrodden demeanor. He had left Anisa locked inside of her home like a fortress. His mother had agreed to stay in Anisa’s spare room until Ethan returned. It served a dual purpose, ensuring that no one in their family was left alone for the night. Born reasoned that there was strength in numbers. Even though Anisa hated his guts right now, he wanted to make sure that she was safe. Ethan’s return was enough to worry about.

  Jada went to him, unsure whether he was in the mood for her presence right now. She knew that somewhere deep down inside, Born blamed her for this. After all, she was the one who had stolen from Elliot. His beef was with her, not with Born or his family. Still, Born pulled Jada into his arms and held her close for several wordless moments. Jada was grateful for his love, even at a time like this.

  Sheldon watched them, a dozen unasked questions languishing below the surface. Born noticed him sitting there, and had to fight back his resentment. Sheldon had singlehandedly wreaked havoc on their family, and yet Ethan was the one being traumatized by some disgruntled associate from Jada’s past. It was hard not to wish that the kidnapper had chosen a different kid.

  Born pushed down those feelings, and greeted Sheldon and Ava. Then he plopped down on the couch and kicked off his sneakers.

  Sheldon stared at him for a while before he found the nerve to speak up. “Born, is Ethan gonna be okay?”

  Born let out a long sigh. He nodded. “Yeah. I’m gonna make sure he’s okay.” Born looked at Sheldon and forced a smile. “I’m gonna make sure you’re okay, too.”

  Sheldon was happy to hear that. He was too tough to admit that he wa
s scared. But he was. Ethan’s disappearance had unsettled him, and for the first time he was happy that Born was there with them. Having him around, even with his arm in a sling, made him feel more at ease. He picked up the Xbox controller and resumed his game.

  Ava glanced sheepishly at Born. “I’m sorry, Born. I know you probably hate me right now—”

  “I don’t hate you.”

  “I just wanted to try and help catch this bastard. I never expected anything like this to happen.” Ava’s eyes misted at the thought of Ethan suffering at the hands of a crazy stranger.

  Born shook his head. “I know. It’s gonna be okay.” He laid back his head against the sofa, a headache creeping up on him.

  Jada watched him. “How is Anisa?” As much as she despised Anisa, her heart went out to her. No mother should have to go through what Anisa was dealing with.

  Born shook his head. “Not good.”

  Silence lingered. Ava decided to be the one to cut the tension. “I’m going to bed,” she said. “Sheldon, why don’t you come upstairs with me? Let’s give these two some time to themselves. It’s been a long day.”

  Sheldon didn’t argue. He placed the controller on the coffee table and stood up to follow his aunt upstairs. “Good night.”

  Born and Jada watched them go, and Jada sat beside Born on the couch. She didn’t know how to approach him. There was no manual for dealing with things like this. She wasn’t sure whether to hug him, or hold his hand, or leave him alone.

  Sensing her hesitation, Born looked at her. Despite everything they had been through, he loved Jada so much. “Come here,” he said.

  Jada scooted closer to him, and laid her head on his shoulder. Born scooped her into the crook of his arm and kissed her forehead.

  “It’s gonna be alright,” he said.

  Jada exhaled deeply. “Baby, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. Not Ava’s fault either. The only person to blame is the muthafucka who did this.” Born couldn’t bring himself to say Elliot’s name. It filled him with an unhealthy rage.