Family Business--Book I

by Vanessa Miller

  As Pastor Marvin ended his prayer, Maxine began, “And Lord, my Lord, I just want to thank You for bringing my daughter back to us safe and sound just as You promised during the many nights of seeking You through my tears. I thank You that not one tear was shed in vain and I thank You for the additions to our family. Watch over DeMarcus and Demetrius, Lord. As DeMarcus grows, send someone to teach him about You, so that he may one day serve You in spirit and in truth. And Father, I pray that Demetrius and Angel come to know You as their Lord and savior, and that they come to know what it truly means to walk up right before You. Whatever You have to do, Lord, do it to bring them in line.”

  Demetrius wanted to stop the praying session. First, Pastor Marvin prayed for God to do something to his daddy and then his wife was praying for God to do something to him. He didn’t like any of it. He tried to stand up, but he felt like some force in the room was holding him down. Then he felt pressure on the back of his neck as his head bent against his will also.

  Maxine then concluded her prayer with, “In Jesus’s holy and un-matchless name I pray.”

  The weight lifted off of Demetrius and he was able to lift his head and stand up. He looked around to see if anyone was behind him, but no one was there. Something weird had just happened to him, and somebody needed to explain it, so he asked Pastor Marvin, “Who was holding me down?”

  “Excuse me?” Pastor Marvin looked just as confused as Demetrius.

  “I tried to get up while y’all were praying, but some kind of force kept me on my knees, and then somebody put pressure on my neck to make me bow my head.”

  Grinning as if he knew a secret and wasn’t about to tell it, Marvin steepled his hands and looked to heaven. “Thank You, Father, for I know that You always hear us, when we pray.” Then he squeezed his wife’s hands and as they lovingly looked into each other’s eyes, he added, “For where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is there in the midst of them.”

  “Amen for that,” Maxine said.

  But Demetrius was standing there looking at them as if they had flown over a coo-coo’s nest. “What are they talking about?”

  Angel hadn’t read her Bible in a long time, but she hadn’t forgotten that scripture. “It’s a scripture out of the book of Matthews,” she told him.

  “The book of who?”

  Angel let out a long suffering sigh as she turned to Demetrius. “You have a Bible in the top drawer of your dresser. Are you telling me that you’ve never read it?”

  When he didn’t respond, with agitation in her voice, Angel said, “Just forget it. The book of Matthews is in the Bible, and my parents are trying to say that they believe God was here with us as they prayed.”

  “Well, why didn’t they just say that? These people are weird.” Demetrius shrugged his shoulders, still looking behind him, trying to make sure that nothing else was about to happen to him in this house.

  Angel went upstairs to check on DeMarcus.

  ~~~~

  If Saul had a feather he would have brushed it across Demetrius’ nose just to spook him a bit more. The boy needed the fear of God, because the way his life was going, Saul just didn’t see how he and Angel could raise up a child that was going to usher in the last day revival. But that wasn’t his business. He was there to watch over Demetrius and Angel, and he would do just that.

  And even without calling the Arc Angel, Michael’s name, by praying for warrior angels, Pastor Marvin had released heaven to fight this battle. Saul felt a comfort in that, because he would not have to deal with the enemy alone. Even now, he could hear the sound of warriors marching this way.

  Sixteen

  They had been driving around the city for over an hour, getting lost at every turn. Finally, they made it back on the side of town where Full Gospel Church was. Don said, “Pull over.”

  “Why, what’s up? You see something?” Al asked as he put on his signal to get over.

  “Yeah, pull into that gas station.”

  Al pulled into the station and then spoke with the attendant. The attendant pointed him in the direction of the gold and black Cadillac that had pulled up to the pump. Don put some money in the man’s hand and then walked over to the Cadillac. Right away he knew the man was a street hustler. It wasn’t because of the way he was dressed, or anything about his demeanor. But game recognize game. Don almost backed off, because he wondered if a street hustler would even know who Pastor Barnes was.

  “You need something?” the hustler asked him.

  Don needed a lead, so he decided to just go for it. “Yo my man, can I holler at you a second.”

  The guy finished pumping his gas, then put the pump back in its spot as he glanced over at Don. “You new in town?”

  “Just visiting. But dude over there,” Don pointed at the attendant, “told me you know everything that goes on around here.”

  The man looked over his shoulder at the attendant, “He did? Well I just might have a talk with him about that.”

  The attendant caught the look and scurried back inside the gas station, locking the door behind him.

  “No worries, my man. I’m Josh Howard, out of Virginia.” Don extended his hand.

  The man shook it as he said, “I’m Fleet Smith, been living here all my life.”

  “Is that so? Then you might be just the person I’m looking for.” Don pointed towards the two cars that he and the others were in. “We’ve been driving around this city for over an hour trying to find a certain street, but we can’t seem to find it.”

  “What street are you looking for?” Fleet asked.

  Don told him, “I don’t actually know the name of the street. We’re looking for Pastor Marvin Barnes. I’m attending church tomorrow, but I wanted to say hello to the family today.”

  Fleet responded, “I know where Pastor Barnes lives. It’s about twenty minutes from here.” Fleet then pointed towards his beeper. “I need to make a call real quick. But after that I can take you over there.”

  “I’d be happy to pay for your gas... for the trouble and all,” Don told him, grinning as if the two were becoming best buds.

  “I’m good. Just let me make my call and then y’all can follow me.” Fleet then went to the phone booth.

  Don hopped back in the car with Al and said, “Dude knows where the Barnes’ live. He’s going to take us over there.”

  “And you’re okay with that,” Al asked.

  Don shook his head. “No, but we’ll be long gone before Fleet knows anything about what’s about to transpire. But if he runs his mouth, I’m sure this gas station attendant will know exactly where we can find him, if we need to shut him up.”

  “Good thinking,” Al said as Fleet gave them the thumbs up before getting back in his car and pulling out of the gas station.

  “We’re off.” Don got comfortable in his seat. “I wonder if my son has had the good sense to get out of dodge yet. I as much as warned him that I was on the way.”

  “Demetrius might think that he got us off his trail by making that call from Concord,” Al told him.

  “That little act of betrayal from my own child stings. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with that boy once I get my hands on him.”

  Al had a few ideas, but he was keeping those to himself.

  ~~~~

  “A penny for your thoughts,” Angel said as she sat down next to Demetrius on the back patio.

  “Too much swirling around my mind right now, a penny just won’t do it.”

  “Okay, well then just spill it. Why are you sitting out here all alone looking as if the world is about to come to an end?”

  “For one,” Demetrius said, “It’s nice out here. Back home there’s snow on the ground and it’s normally too cold to hang out on a patio. But it feels so good out here, we might as well fire up the grill and put a couple of steaks on.”

  “December is normally pretty mild in the day time, but it does get chilly at night. Now what’s number two?”

 
His brow furrowed. “Number two?”

  “You said, ‘for one’, so there has to be a number two... something else on your mind. You’re not just sitting out here thinking about the weather.”

  He wished that was all he had to think about. But no, Demetrius was actually wondering if he had finally gone too far with his father, and if Don Shepherd was going to do more than put his foot on his chest this time. “Just thinking about my dad. All my life my daddy has taught me that when someone gets wronged, then someone else has to pay. Well, I’m the one who wronged him this time, so just how do you think I’ll be forced to pay for it?”

  They looked at each other, saying nothing, then Angel began shaking her head. “You don’t think that your own father would have you killed? I’m mean... I don’t even like my father, and don’t understand how in the world my mother could have taken him back and even re-married the joker, but I doubt he’d have me killed.”

  “We come from two different worlds, Angel. Your father is a preacher and my father is a gangster.”

  “Different worlds or not, your father is not going to kill you, Demetrius.”

  “You might be right, but I’m thinking that I don’t want to keep sitting here, waiting on him to come find us. I think we should leave.”

  “Why do we have to leave now? We’re out of here tomorrow evening anyway when we take the Johnson’s to Columbia. Let’s just enjoy the rest of the evening, then we can attend church with my family in the morning, and maybe do brunch before we get on the road.”

  Demetrius shook his head. “You don’t want my father to come here and shoot up your parent’s home do you?”

  Rolling her eyes, Angel said, “There is no way that your father would be stupid enough to stir up trouble in this quiet neighborhood. Don Shepherd don’t want no trouble with the Winston-Salem police department.”

  “Go get your stuff, Angel. And tell the Johnson’s we are heading out. I don’t want to be here when my father and his crew show up.”

  Angel stood up and stomped her foot. “Now you listen to me, Demetrius Shepherd. I’m not going to be running away from your daddy for the rest of my life. And you don’t even care about the fact that I haven’t seen my brother in three years.”

  “I do care. I’m the one who brought you back home, remember?”

  “But my brother isn’t here. Ronny is on a missions trip with the church and they won’t get back until tomorrow. I just can’t leave before I get a chance to see him. He starts college next year and then who knows when I’ll be able to see him again.”

  He was shaking in his boots at the thought of facing off with his daddy, but Angel wasn’t afraid. This girl was tough as nails. He remembered how she spat in Frankie’s face even after the man had shoved and punched her in that alley. But if he and Mo hadn’t shown up, Frankie would have hurt her, and that’s the part that Angel didn’t seem to get.

  Demetrius may have rescued her from Frankie, but he had never been able to rescue himself from Don Shepherd, and didn’t think he was suddenly going to be able to do it this weekend. Why hadn’t his father just left it alone? He told him that Coach didn’t want the money anymore.

  “You know something, Demetrius? I listened to my parent’s prayers. And even though I haven’t been living right, I believe that God is bigger and badder than Don Shepherd. So, just chill because I’m not going anywhere.”

  He didn’t even want to discuss those prayers. “So, I guess you want me to leave without you,” Demetrius said.

  “If you plan to leave tonight, then yeah, I guess you have to leave without me.” With that, Angel walked back into the house and left Demetrius to his pity party. Her mother was in the kitchen fixing a snack when she walked back in.

  Maxine asked Angel, “Everything okay?”

  “He’s worried,” Angel admitted. “His father is not someone to play with, so I understand why he’s worried. But I’m not.”

  Maxine smiled at her daughter. “You’ve always been fearless.”

  Angel sat down at the kitchen table. “Oh believe me, I have been scared plenty since leaving home. But after you and dad prayed today, I don’t know, I guess some of that fearlessness is starting to come back. Because I don’t believe that God is going to allow Demetrius’ father to get near us.”

  Maxine put her plate down on the table and then sat across from her daughter. “You want something to eat?”

  She shook her head. “I’m still full from dinner.”

  As Maxine dug into her second helping, she said, “It’s good to hear that you still have your trust in the Lord.”

  “I’m not going to lie to you. I haven’t been to church since I left home; haven’t prayed or read my Bible. But I guess I can’t get away from all those lessons on faith that you taught us.”

  “I think your father did more teaching than I did when you and Ronny were younger. As I recall, he even helped you teach those Sunday school classes you did in the back yard.” Maxine laughed as she thought of those sweet memories of yesterday.

  But yesterday wasn’t so sweet for Angel. As far as she was concerned, the whole family had been bamboozled by Reverend Marvin R. Barnes. “How could you marry him again, Mama? Hasn’t he done enough damage to this family?”

  Maxine looked at her daughter a moment. She then pushed her plate aside and wiped her hands. “I forgave him, Angel. After that, falling back in love with him was easy.”

  “But how could you forgive him? He made a fool out of you. How many women had he slept with before you caught on? Wasn’t one of them a close friend of yours?”

  There was compassion in Maxine’s voice as she said, “I pray that you never have to endure what I went through with your father. But it wasn’t the worst time in my life. You running away was the worst thing I ever endured. Your father was here for me during that time. We both repented to God for our actions. And I truly believe that your father is a changed man.”

  “I am, Angel. I know I hurt this family terribly, but I promise you that I will never do anything like that again.” Her father was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against the wall. “I never thought God would forgive me for the man I became, but He did. And I pray that one day you will too.”

  She could tell that he wanted her forgiveness. But her father had broken a trust that Angel wasn’t sure could ever be repaired. She got up from the table as she told her mother, “I think I’m going to go lay down with DeMarcus. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Seventeen

  “Where is he taking us?” Don asked as Al followed Fleet up a long road that was lined with trees and more trees.

  “I don’t know, but two more cars just pulled in behind Joe-Joe and Stan, so we can’t even back out if we wanted to,” Al told him.

  Don’s head swiveled around. He looked at the cars coming up behind them and his mind went in overdrive. He had messed up and now he needed to figure a way out of this. “How many guns we got in the trunk?”

  “I got two shotguns and about four pistols. But there’s also a pistol under your seat and mine.”

  “Good thinking. Let’s hope Joe-Joe and Stan are on the ball too.” Don reached below the seat and put his hand on the gun. “Speed up and ram his car, run him into one of these trees.”

  Al grabbed his gun and said, “Sho’ ya’ right.” He then hit Fleet’s Cadillac so hard that the bumper was about to fall off. Al then rammed the car again and it crashed into the nearest tree.

  While Al was ramming the car in front of him, Joe-Joe put his car in reverse so hard that he slammed into the car right behind him and almost snapped the driver’s neck with the force of the crash. Things started happening fast then. Al popped the trunk. He, Don, Stan and Joe-Joe jumped out of their cars and Al threw the guns at each of them.

  Two more cars came up the pathway, but Don was ready for the fight. Taking a negro down was the kind of thing he lived for. “Come on wit’ it,” Don screamed as he shot off a few rounds. His crew then escaped behind the mo
unds of trees, determined to camouflage themselves until they had taken out each and every sucka that dared to come against them.

  ~~~~

  Don Shepherd wasn’t nobody’s joke. He’d won many fights in the boxing ring and on the streets. None of the hustlers in his hometown would have been foolish enough to try an ambush like this. But he wasn’t at home; and he wasn’t just fighting against these street thugs who thought they could get off a quick robbery today.

  Don Shepherd’s only problem right now was that when he was done fighting against these men, God’s angels were on the scene and they had next.

  “The mission is clear.” Seth, the mighty warrior had fought against the enemy and his demons on many occasions. He’d only retreated once, and that had been because the Lord had said, ‘enough’. “He must not continue on to Pastor Barnes’ home.”

  “It ends now,” another angel responded as he held up his mighty sword.

  Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop! Gun fire was going off and bodies were dropping.

  “We better hurry, he’ll be done with those thieves in short order and then back on the road to find Pastor Marvin’s home,” Seth told the angel of destruction.

  The angel of destruction then lifted his sword and began twirling it in the air. Dust swirled around until a wind storm swept through the city that was so strong the electricity was knocked out in several areas as poll lines were uprooted.

  ~~~~

  “I think we got all of ‘em,” Al said.

  “I’m hit,” Stan hollered.

  “Hold your fire.” Don lifted his hands. “We need to find Stan and get out of here.” Don was pretty sure that they’d taken care of business. He listened for footsteps as they made their way to Stan. But he hadn’t heard anything since he put a bullet in one of ‘em and then watched from his spot between the trees as three guys shot off their guns, then made a run for their car and took off. They found out the hard way that Don Shepherd’s crew wasn’t no easy prey.