“Where you get hit at?” Joe-Joe hollered as they tried to find Stan.
“It’s my leg,” Stan yelled back. “Somebody shot me in the leg.”
“Okay, I see you. I’m almost there,” Al told him. But that’s when the dust kicked up as if it was circling around them. If the dust wasn’t bad enough, the wind started raging and blowing everything every which way.
“What’s going on? I can’t even see what’s right in front of me,” Don yelled.
“Me either, Joe-Joe said.
“Keep talking Stan. We can’t see you,” Don told him as he soldiered his way through the winds and the dust. “We all came in here and we are all leaving back out.”
“I know you got me, Don. I’m not worried about it. But this dust is crazy. I can’t see y’all either.”
“How does your leg feel,” Al asked, they were trying to keep him talking, hoping that he wouldn’t pass out.
“I ain’t never been shot in my leg before. It stings like I don’t know what.”
“Just be thankful they didn’t put a bullet in your head. Because I’m positive that that’s what them young guns brought us back here to do,” Don said as they kept walking, trying to find Stan. The wind was still blowing harshly, but the dust was letting up.
“Yeah, but we showed them,” Stan tried to laugh, but the pain in his leg got the better of him and it sounded more like the whimper of a wounded animal.
“It’s letting up. We’re coming. Just hold on,” Joe-Joe told his friend.
No sooner than those words were out of Joe-Joe’s mouth, from out of nowhere a tree uprooted and came at them like a torpedo. “What the dev-” Before Don could finish his sentence he was on the ground, knocked unconscious with a thick tree branch pinning him to the ground.
~~~~
When the electricity went out in the Barnes’ home, Demetrius wished he had taken his own advice and got out of Winston-Salem. Pastor Marvin had a battery operated radio, and from what they were hearing on the news, strong gusts of wind had knocked power lines down all over town. It was being estimated that some neighborhoods would be without power for up to four days, while Duke Energy assessed the situation.
Demetrius slept with one eye open, and with every creek of the floor or sway of the trees, his heart danced around in his chest. He’d never been so terrified in his life. But by morning, even though the lights still hadn’t come back on, the sun brought him comfort and he was able to pretend as if nothing bothered him as he drove everyone to church that morning.
From the back seat Coach asked, “How’d you sleep?”
“I slept so good, for a minute there I thought I was in my own bed,” Demetrius lied through his teeth.
“I wish I could have slept like that,” Coach told him. “I was jumpy all night. Any little bit of noise I heard, had me reaching for my pistol.”
“Me too,” Demetrius sheepishly smiled as he admitted the truth.
“I knew he was scared, but I wasn’t gon’ bust him out to Coach while he was trying to sound all brave,” Angel told the group.
“You’re learning early, dear. The best thing a wife can do for her husband is to learn when to speak, when to say nothing and when to pray,” Katherine told her.
“You tell her Mrs. Johnson. These young women don’t know how to treat no man.”
“Whatever,” Angel said and then twisted her lip while staring at Demetrius.
The mood was light in the car. In truth they were all just thankful to be alive. Coach even turned to Katherine and said, “I’m glad that I’m able to go to church with you this morning. Once we get settled in our new home, I promise that we will find a church that we can attend together.”
You would have thought he just promised to buy her a big diamond ring or a mansion, but actually he promised something much more important. Her eyes lit with astonishment. “You really mean it, Sam?”
He squeezed her hand. “I mean it. You’ve been going to church by yourself for too many years now. It’s time for me to do right by you like I promised on our wedding day.”
Katherine put her head on Johnson’s shoulder as they rode the rest of the way to the church.
It was the cutest thing Angel had ever seen. She only hoped that the love she and Demetrius had for each other would survive the test of time.
“What’s on your mind?” Demetrius asked Angel as he pulled into the church parking lot.
“Oh, just wondering if I could possibly love you more than I do right now.”
“We’ve got a lot of years ahead of us and I sure don’t want you to love me less. So, we need to work on that.” Demetrius pulled Angel close to him and kissed her like he was trying to make that love grow right now.
“Come on, Katherine, we need to get out of this car and leave these young love birds alone.” They got out of the car and went into the church.
Angel pushed Demetrius away. “We are in the parking lot of my father’s church, control yourself.” She opened the door. “Let me get DeMarcus. You might need to sit here and cool off before you come inside.”
“Don’t blame me, you got me all worked up with all that talk about love.” Demetrius got out of the car, took DeMarcus out of his car seat and then handed him to Angel.
With a new bounce to her step, Angel told him, “My brother should be here in about an hour. I can’t wait to see him.”
No matter the way it all transpired, Demetrius was glad that he brought Angel to see her family. He didn’t know if he would be able to go back to his home after what he’d pulled off against his father. But wherever he laid his head, he wanted Angel to be there. He held open the door and let her walk into the church. But as he attempted to go in behind her, someone put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.
Demetrius balled his fist, ready to give as good as he got. But Joe-Joe told him, “Boy put your fist down, this is serious business.”
“I’m not letting you take Coach Johnson out of here.” Joe-Joe had been with his father’s crew since Demetrius was a kid. The man was like an uncle to him, but he was still about to get a beat down if he thought Demetrius was going to back up and just let them bum rush this church.
“It’s your daddy, he’s not doing good. I need you to come with me?”
Demetrius wasn’t falling for it. “Y’all just want me out of the way so you can bust up in the church and drag Coach out here. I’m not having it.”
Joe-Joe gripped Demetrius’ arm as he showed him the gun in his belt. “I don’t have all day to play games with you. Now your daddy might die at any minute, so I need to get you to him. Got me?”
“I got you,” Demetrius said as he walked away from the church with Joe-Joe.
Eighteen
Joe-Joe drove him to a motel on the other side of town. They pulled into the lot and drove to the back. The motel had outside doors so they didn’t have to walk through a lobby or be seen by the hotel clerk. “Why are we here? I thought you said my father was hurt?”
“He is, but because of circumstances beyond our control, we couldn’t take him to the hospital, but he’s being cared for, believe that.” Joe-Joe looked as if he would do great bodily harm to anyone who dared stop him from getting Don Shepherd what he needed.
“Where is he?” Demetrius asked, figuring he was being set up for some sort of ambush. He only hoped that Coach Johnson and Angel had realized by now that he’d gotten snatched up and that they had then gotten ghost.
Joe-Joe pointed towards a door, he then grabbed Demetrius’ arm and looked him in the eye. “Don’t upset him anymore than you already have.”
Offended, Demetrius said, “I didn’t do anything to him. I asked him to stop pursuing Coach Johnson... told him Coach didn’t want the money anymore, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re perfect in all of this, and it’s the rest of us that’s wrong. You better be glad that you’re Don’s son or I’d be helping you understand the hustler’s code real good right about now.”
He shoved him, and turned his head as if he couldn’t stand the sight of Demetrius. “Get on in there and at least have the decency to pay your respects.”
What was he talking about? He sounded like his father was at death’s door? Don would never leave him alone. The man had always been around, telling him what to do and what not to do. Who to date, who not to date. He had tried to control his life for so long that Demetrius hadn’t even noticed how desensitized he had become to the evil things his father had done... until he turned his sights on Coach Johnson.
Demetrius knocked on the door and stood back. He expected to see his father on the other end of that door, standing there with a menacing look on his face. Then Don would most likely punch him.
He did receive a menacing look as the door opened, but it was from Al. “Well the prodigal has returned. Welcome back Judas, how was the Bahamas?”
Demetrius wasn’t in the mood. And he sure wasn’t going to apologize to Al for lying about going to the Bahamas, not when Al was lying in wait for Coach. “Get out of my way, man. I came to see my father.”
As Al stepped aside, Demetrius’ attitude changed quickly. There were too beds in the room. Stan was on one of them with his leg bandaged and sweat dripping off his body like it was raining in here. But that wasn’t the worst of what he saw, because his father was in the other bed.
Don Shepherd had always seemed larger than life too him. Don was the Incredible Hulk while everyone else was Peewee Herman. But he looked so pale and weak as he laid in that bed gasping for air. A man in a white lab coat was putting a needle in Stan’s arm and his father was being attended to by some woman who looked scared out of her wits.
Suddenly, Demetrius was a kid again, looking up to his father and wanting nothing more than to be near him. He rushed to Don’s side. “Daddy, Daddy, can you hear me?”
“Step back and let the doctor and his nurse do their job,” Al warned.
Demetrius swung back around to Al. “He needs to be in a hospital?”
“How do you suppose we get him there without getting him arrested, Genius?” Demetrius stared at his father as Al continued, “If you see Don and Stan down like this, you got to know that the other guys didn’t make it.”
Al pointed toward Stan. “Why you think I dug that bullet out of his leg myself? Now Stan done caught an infection.”
“Did my father get shot too?” What had these guys gotten themselves into?
“A tree fell on him.”
Demetrius turned towards the doctor and asked, “How does it look, doc? You think you can fix him up.”
Clearing his throat, the doctor pointed toward Stan, “I just gave him an antibiotic. His fever should start going down.” Then he looked over at Don and said, “And I’ve done all I can for your father, but if he doesn’t get to a hospital soon, I’m not sure that he will make it through the night.”
“Why you think you here, Doc?” Al waved his gun around. “You better hope he makes it, because if he don’t, you might not make it home for dinner either.”
“This is ridiculous,” Demetrius turned on Al. “What did you do? Kidnap these two from a hospital, and now you’ve got the nerve to threaten their lives if they can’t perform a miracle.”
“I need to be threatening your life, but Don didn’t give the order yet. And I’m not about to let him lay there and watch you die. So, just sit over there by your father and shut your mouth.”
“No, no, I will not!” Demetrius wasn’t just going to sit here and watch his father die. He wanted to save Coach, but he never imagined that saving Coach would cost his own father his life. Why hadn’t he just stopped pursing them?
“Look, Dad is down and so is Stan, so I’m in charge,” Demetrius told Al. “You don’t tell me what to do because I’m running this show. Either deal with it, or put a bullet in me. Because you will have to kill me in order to stop me from saving my father’s life.”
Al stepped toward Demetrius, but Don made a grunting sound and flapped his hand. That was enough for Al to put his gun away. “Okay Judas, you’re in charge. But I’m watching you, so keep that in mind.”
Demetrius turned back to the doctor and said, “No one is going to hurt you. Do you hear me?”
The doctor nodded, but he glanced over at Al.
“Can you get an ambulance here?” Demetrius asked the doctor.
“A paramedics is going to take them to a local hospital. Don wouldn’t want that. We got to get out of this town.”
Ignoring Al, Demetrius kept talking to the doctor. “Do you know any of the paramedics personally? Is there someone you can call who could drive him a few states over?”
The doctor shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know anyone like that.”
“Think hard doctor. If you can help us, I’m paying big dollars. How much do you make in a year?” Demetrius asked him.
“About ninety thousand after taxes. But there’s nothing I can do. I’d lose my license if I did something like this.”
The nurse said, “My boyfriend is a paramedic. He could get his hands on an ambulance. But it’ll cost you the same ninety thousand for him and me.”
Al pulled his gun back out. “You trying to rob us?”
Demetrius stepped in between Al and the nurse. He said, “Deal, now get your boyfriend over here.”
“Don’t try no funny business. Because if he shows up with the cops, I can guarantee that you’ll be in need of that ambulance yourself," Al told her.
“Relax. We’ve fooled around in that ambulance before. I’ll just tell him that I want to go for a little joy ride.”
The nurse didn’t seem to be as nervous as she had been when Demetrius first walked into the room. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was in the room, holding Al back, or if it was the thought of making all that money. Either way, he really didn’t care just as long as she got her boyfriend over here so his father could get some help.
~~~~
The nurse had been true to her word. Her boyfriend arrived with the ambulance and didn’t make much of a fuss when he discovered that there wasn’t going to be a play date, but a long drive down the highway. No, the paramedic didn’t have one problem at all, not when he found out that he was about to get a ninety thousand dollar payday.
The doctor was the only one who had the issue. But Demetrius wasn’t giving him any options. He would pay the man, but he was getting in the back of that ambulance and watching over his father until they arrived at the hospital.
It took five hours, but they made it to a hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Al and Joe-Joe had followed behind the ambulance all the way to the hospital. As Stan and Don were being wheeled into the hospital, Al walked over to Demetrius. “What now, Boss?” The word boss was said in the same tone Al had used when he called Demetrius a Judas.
“I need you and Joe-Joe to stay with Dad while I drive to Dayton.”
“Why are you heading home?”
“I’m not. I’m going to Don’s house to get the money I promised these people. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Al shook his head. “Don isn’t going to like it. You don’t need to pay them anything. They should be happy that they’re still alive.”
“Give me the keys, Al. I’m in charge, remember?”
Shaking his head, Al handed over the keys, and he went into the hospital but not before saying, “You too soft, Boy.”
“No, I just believe in honoring my debts. Maybe I got that little personality defect from my mother. I don’t know, you tell me.” When Al didn’t respond, Demetrius walked away from him and got in the car.
Demetrius pulled out of the parking lot and headed straight for his father’s house. Demetrius had watched his father open the safe so many times that he’d memorized the combination. So, opening it proved to be no problem at all. Stacks and stacks of cash was crammed into this safe.
His father was greedy. That was the only explanation for why he would hoard all this money while killing a man instead of paying what
he owed. Well, he was about to pay dearly today. Demetrius counted out two hundred and seventy thousand, and was about to close the safe when he thought about the ten thousand he’d given back to Coach. His father owed him that money, so he grabbed an extra ten. Even with all of the money he took out, it still didn’t make a dent in the load that was in that safe.
Demetrius’ beeper had been going off non-stop while he rode in the ambulance. Angel was trying to get in touch with him. But he couldn’t stop to use the phone, he had to get back to the hospital. Once he made it back to the hospital, he paid his debt and then sent the doctor, paramedic and nurse on their way, but not before Al warned that he would be coming after them if the police showed up at this hospital.
“Your father’s in surgery,” Al told him as they sat down in the waiting room. “The doctor had been telling the truth. If we had kept him in the motel room, Don would have died. He didn’t just have broken ribs, there was internal bleeding that would have done him in.” Al shook Demetrius’ hand. “You did good kid.”
“Oh, I’m not Judas now?”
“You took care of your father and I have mad respect for that.”
“Thank you,” Demetrius said, and then his beeper went off again. He glanced at the number and saw that it was Angel.
Demetrius got up and went to the pay phone that was just outside of the emergency room. He wasn’t looking forward to this call because Angel’s father had prayed against his father. Now his dad was fighting for his life, and Demetrius felt a great deal of guilt for that.
He was no longer convinced that Angel was the woman he needed in his life. What if her father got upset with him, would he pray some prayer of destruction over Demetrius’ life as well? How could a man fight against God? There’s no possible way.
Angel picked up on the first ring. “Demetrius, is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry it took me so long to call you back, but I was on the road and couldn’t get to the phone.”
“What happened? Why did you leave church?”
“Joe-Joe came and got me.”
“Have they hurt you? Do you need me to call the police?”
Family Business--Book I Page 13