Blood Relations

by Michelle McGriff

“I see they really trust you,” Juanita said with a smirk.

  “Anyway ...” Chance moved away from the two of them and called Trina in Arizona. Trina was no doubt fast asleep so Chance left a voicemail explaining that Rashawn was tired and decided to stay overnight at a hotel. So she would be arriving tomorrow afternoon after making a few stops along the way. This way when Shelby called Trina would not tell her the truth about Rashawn. Trina was just too emotional and was not one to stick with a plan like this one. Chance hated not telling Shelby about Rashawn but the Ams sisters were tight-knit and Shelby would have been torn on what to do—rush to her sister’s side or wait for Reggie who she had no idea could be in danger. None of it mattered—the decision to leave Trina and Shelby in the dark had been made. Carlotta, Rita and Ta’Rae all agreed it was the best one to make—who was Chance to argue with the Ams’ women.

  Hanging up, he climbed in the back seat of the rental with Ovan behind the wheel. Chance caught him looking in the rear view mirror. “It’s going to be all right,” Ovan said.

  “And you know this how?” Chance said in response.

  Chapter 49

  The time seemed snail-like but Reggie refused to dig out his BlackBerry to check the time. He didn’t want to know how long Julia and the stranger had been gone. Besides, he was sure his BlackBerry was even deeper in Junior’s bag by now, with all the scrounging for food he’d been doing over the last hour. He’d gotten up at least three times.

  Finally Julia returned. She was alone but smiling. She slid into her seat and immediately turned around, looking over it at Reggie whose eyes were wide open now. Junior was finally sleeping—or so it appeared. “Hey, wanna talk?” she asked.

  “No,” Reggie wanted to answer, but he didn’t. He had gotten his mind off the pretty girl and gotten it back where it needed to be—his choices for college, his blatant disregard for his mother’s wishes—she was on his mind, heavily. He had accepted finally that things would never be the same between them. He’d crossed the line with this one, and had taken Junior along for the ride. This was serious. What if they had called the cops? What if the cops were waiting at the end of the line? He wanted to call her—to apologize, but pride and inconvenience prevented him.

  Besides, all that was crazy thinking. His folks had done no such thing. He had no worries and Oregon wasn’t his last stop in life. He knew this. It was just the beginning of bigger and better things. Surely his mother had to know that. She had only offered him Moorman and maybe the Art Institute of San Francisco to consider. Both schools meant living at home. With all that craziness going on there ... no way am I staying there.

  “That guy,” the girl began, bringing Reggie’s mind back. “He said he’s going to Eugene too. But his seating ticket says Klamath. Isn’t that weird to you?”

  “Real weird actually. I mean, it seems like a lot of black folks going to one place don’t you think?” he answered with less enthusiasm for the sound of her voice as he had earlier. It was clear she and the man had made some kind of connection for her to have all that information on him, and Reggie wasn’t up for getting in the middle of that. He’d watched his mother—for years—sitting in the middle of Chance of Juanita’s thing. Besides, he had college to think about, right? Julia giggled, getting his attention again. He looked up at her. She was so pretty. Instantly, he couldn’t help but forgive her for the neglect of his feelings.

  “Do you trust me?” she then asked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Do you like me,” she said.

  “No, you asked if I trusted you.”

  She grinned broadly. “I meant ... Do you like me?”

  “Why?” Reggie asked, returning the flirt to his voice. Julia looked around.

  “Because I need to talk to you about something, can we go downstairs?”

  “You wanna go downstairs?”

  “Yeah, and we need to go like now ...” she said, sounding serious.

  Reggie glanced over at Junior who still appeared asleep. “Sure we can talk,” he said standing up. He’d heard about things like this—sex on an Amtrak train. Maybe this was gonna be it. Life was getting exciting and maybe it was about to get—really—exciting, for downstairs was nothing but a room full of old people, baggage, and bathrooms. Surely she was planning for them to duck in one. Condoms crossed his mind as she moved into the aisle.

  “It’s about that guy,” she began.

  Reggie rolled his eyes. All passion for her—gone. All thoughts about a good time—gone. “Wait a minute. Do I want to hear this?”

  “You need to hear it.”

  “Not sure I do,” Reggie balked, thinking he knew what she was going to tell him. He wasn’t in the mood to be her buddy. He wasn’t up for hearing about her new boyfriend.

  Just then ... speak of the perv ... the man came back to his seat. Julia quickly sat leaving Reggie standing. The man then gathered up his few belongings and pulling the seating tag from above his head, he, with a wide grin on his face, motioned for Julia to move over in her seat—which she did without hesitation. The man put his hat and glasses into the seat while he stood looking at Reggie standing there.

  “So, Reggie, you’re going to U of O. That’s a good school—my alumni school actually. I mean, I’m a doctor now but I’m going there to do a speaking thing ...” he stammered. “... for the students ... the new students.” His towering presence up this close gave Reggie the creeps but he shook them off. “Did Julia tell you about all that?”

  “No,” Reggie answered bluntly. The man frowned but then quickly changed his expression.

  “Well I’m surprised,” he asked glancing at Julia. His body language was confident despite his weirdness—in Reggie’s opinion.

  “Look I’m not interested in you or her—especially you. What I wanna know anything about you for?” Reggie asked, noticing that Julia didn’t seem concerned about his comment. “My brother. . .” he hesitantly addressed Junior, “... we’re just minding our own business, and ...”

  “He’s your brother?” the man asked. He looked surprised and Reggie tried to read his face but couldn’t. The train coach was dark short of a few built-in dim reading lights along the floor and up top of the seats. Reggie looked at the man’s hands that rested on his hips. He wore a large pinky ring filled with what looked like diamonds ... It was too dark to tell.

  “Yeah, he’s my brother.”

  “I wasn’t aware ...” the man began and then stopped speaking.

  “Well now you know,” Reggie said, deciding then would be a good time to hit the restroom. Maybe when he came back up, everyone would be doing their own thing.

  Ending the uncomfortable situation, he headed down the narrow stairs to the restroom.

  The train chugged on without much more conversation between any of them, although Julia would rise in her seat periodically to look at him. She wanted to talk—Reggie could tell but now, with her seat mate, their “getting to know one another” time was messed up. Reggie could see even from the seat behind that Julia had put her ear buds in and was nodding against the window after pulling on her sweat jacket and the hood of it over her head. They had made it into the mountains. It was cold, uncomfortably cold on the train but Reggie would just do what he could to stay warm. Snuggling next to Julia came to mind but that was not going to happen now.

  Standing to raid Junior’s snack bag one more time, Reggie could see that the man seemed engrossed in his reading material—a medical journal—from what he could see. Maybe he was legit and not just a pervert, but Reggie wanted no parts of him and the minute he could get Julia alone he was gonna tell her to stay away as well. Dude gave him major bad vibes.

  “Hey, Reg,” the man said noticing him standing there. “You should get some sleep,” he said.

  “I know what I should do and when I should do it,” Reggie snapped, sitting back in his seat. The man smiled and shook his head. Reggie glanced over the seat at Julia who appeared to be sleeping.

  Sitting back and finish
ing his snack, he reluctantly gave into the night, falling asleep.

  Chapter 50

  Rashawn could only wish that her eyes would open. But the dream had taken her too deep. The sleep was far too heavy for her to pull out of. “I wonder am I dead?” she asked herself. She remembered the car going over and she remembered Roman’s face looking through the window at her. He was upside down, or maybe she was the one on her head. He called her name, just like he was calling to her right now. Was he by her bed? No, he couldn’t be. Surely someone would arrest him if he was. He wore a white jacket, the kind doctors wore.

  “I’ll take good care of Reggie,” he was saying.

  “Reggie? What are you doing with Reggie? Please leave my son alone,” she wanted to say but couldn’t. The sedatives were too strong. She closed her eyes. Maybe this was all a dream anyway.

  “I found out my kidneys were shot. I guess it was the drug I was taking. You know the drug, the wonderful drug I shared with you. Well, apparently its murder on the kidneys so mine are shot—how did yours do? But then again, I guess I did take it considerably longer. Reggie is surely a match for me and so why take a chance with an anonymous donor. That’s what brought me here. Our son. I’m going to take his kidneys. Yes, yes, I know without them he’ll die. I’m aware of that chance but listen I’m going to actually give him mine. Here are my thoughts. He’s young. With proper care, he’ll make mine last a lot longer than I could. And with his ... Well, needless to say, I’ll live a long, long time. Of course I’ve done this procedure before. Can’t say I’ve seen the results my patients all died. But at least I’ve seen it done. Besides, I’m no surgeon and well, it’s hard to get good help these days. No, I’m not selfish, Rashawn, not at all. As a matter of fact I was just about to say that about you.”

  At that Rashawn had heard enough. In her dreams she had once had intimate relations with this man. It was obvious that he had the power to affect her deep into her subconscious so deep that she physically reacted to him. Like now.

  Her eyes popped open and her hand immediately went for his throat digging her nails in deep with unnatural strength coming from deep in the otherworld she now resided.

  “Call the floor doctor, IC-5 is in distress,” the on-staff nurse said noting the monitor going off. She had been at her desk reading. Not much usually happened on the ICU floor at this hour of the night. Maybe a code blue, and those weren’t too much to worry about as usually the families were already with their loved ones. But IC-5 ... This one had a woman in there that had been drifting in and out of a coma all day. Her family was on their way back to hang around after hearing about her last drift into never-neverland.

  “I thought Doctor ...” the nurse looked at the file, “Montaq was in there,” she said.

  “Who the hell is Doctor Montaq?” the first nurse asked.

  “He came in about fifteen minutes ago and said he was the patient’s private physician,” the young nurse whined realizing her error.

  “Sorry but no!” the head nurse on duty snapped, picking up the phone to call both the doctor on call as well as security while the other nurse ran to Rashawn’s room, along with several others.

  During the surge of doctors and nurses bursting into the room, the mysterious Dr. Montaq who had stood behind the door as they entered, was able to slip past them. On his way out he passed security on their way in. Later they would have to report to the police that Dr. Montaq looked like a slightly excited, distinguished looking doctor who appeared by all rights just as concerned as those who were hovering over the unconscious patient—Rashawn Ams.

  Chapter 51

  Waking up to Junior nudging him, Reggie noticed he appeared to be keenly concentrating on something.

  “You hungry?” Reggie asked him, before stretching and moving his legs for Junior to get by. He had just gotten warm and comfy in that seat but oh well. The day was barely breaking—who knew how many stops he had slept through. Junior just shook his head. “What’s wrong?” Reggie asked.

  Junior said nothing but nodded toward the seat in front of him. Reggie followed his nod and then quietly shrugged a question. “I gotta hit the john. Come with me so I won’t get lost,” Junior said loudly.

  Reggie was puzzled when Junior nodded to the seat in front again. Reggie agreed to join him. The man seemed not too concerned with their movements behind his head but Junior moved quickly down the aisle urging Reggie to follow at the same pace.

  Down the narrow stairwell they went. Reggie, realizing his own need, headed for one of the empty bathrooms only to have Junior change his direction dragging him into the largest one with him. “What the hell is wrong with you! I’m not going in here with you!”

  Junior ignored him locking them in the lavatory together. Reggie reached for the door only to have Junior stop him. “Foo’ ... how did that Nig ’get your name?”

  “My name?” Reggie asked, showing his confusion. He had no idea what wall Junior’s question was jumping off of but for now these bathroom walls were not where he wanted to look. Junior put his finger to his own lips instructing him to lower his voice. “How did dude know your name? Last night. I heard you guys talking and he called you Reggie. It took me a while but I had to finally ask myself when did you two get introduced?”

  “Julia told him probably.”

  “And when did you tell her? I haven’t been sleep this whole trip. I know you thought I was, but I wasn’t. It’s my FBI training at work,” Junior added. Reggie rolled his eyes. “You’re terrible with women and worse with introductions, seriously trust me, unless you guys talked in sign,” Junior waved his fingers as if signing words in American Sign Language. “Never once did I hear you tell that girl yo name or mine!”

  “Maybe it was on something,” Reggie thought aloud. “My bag, my ...” Junior shook his head. “Oh shit, you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right. How did they know? What’s going on, Reg?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ma go call my mother,” Reggie said, sliding back the lock and pulling open the door.

  Julia then appeared down the stairs. Her face was strained and she appeared under duress. “Reggie, Junior, we’re going to get off this train right now.”

  “What? No. And how do you know my name?” Reggie asked.

  “Don’t argue with me ...”

  Just then the man came down. “Wow, you guys are close. But then, brothers can be like that. What’s your excuse Julia?” The man smiled wickedly showing briefly what appeared to be the barrel of a gun. Junior gasped slightly but Reggie who had already grown agitated showed no fear.

  “What the hell is going on? Who are you?” He then pointed at Julia. “And who are you?”

  “Reggie, he has a gun on us. I don’t think we should be asking anything.” Junior said sounding like the straight man in a deadpan comedy skit.

  Chapter 52

  Juanita was at the counter ordering coffee. The men sat at the booth in the back of the café. “So you’re telling me you don’t know where this cabin is?” Chance snapped.

  “No. I’m not telling you that. But that’s the fact,” Ovan answered calmly. “Thought for sure Maravel would have found it by now but there’s nothing listed for a Craven Michaels or a Hap Washburn in all of the state. The cabin must be in someone else’s name. She’s doing some cross references ... It’s not that easy.”

  “Do you know how big this state is?” Chance whispered trying not to alert Juanita who was finally calm. He looked up and smiled and waved at her. She smiled back. She looked worried but was covering it over well. He immediately returned to the two-man huddle with Ovan. “She performed illegal surgeries there, I’m positive it’s not a cabin she wanted the authorities to find—so how the hell are we supposed to just trip up on it?”

  “Yes, I understand your concern but think about it, Chance, it has to be near here. It’s got to be on the route they are taking or Roman would not have devised this plan. He would have sent the boy somewhere else and used another doctor. We
just need to get Kingsley Field to the Air Guard there, so we can get in the air. I do know how to do what I do.”

  “And what do you do Ovan?” Chance growled slamming himself back in the seat. They’d stopped at a coffee shop to regroup, and for Ovan to check his computer for updates from Maravel. He’d also printed out the Amtrak map on his portable printer. Glancing at his watch he was sure they’d beat the train by hours. Just then Chance’s phone rang. It was Rashawn’s number. His stomach jumped. Ovan nodded for him to answer it.

  “What do you want, you bastard,” Chance growled into the receiver. He knew in his heart Allen Roman was on the other end.

  “Wow, is that anyway to address your wife.”

  “My wife is in the hospital ...”

  “In a coma I might add. She slipped back into one just a little bit ago. Where are you to where you don’t know this?”

  Chance paused slightly, rubbing his head and pushing up his glasses. He tried to hide his immediate concern behind a tough exterior. “Don’t you worry your black ass about me. What are you doing with her phone? Did you take it as a token of your sick success in killing her? I’ma kill you on sight you fucking murderer—I swear it.”

  Juanita who had just reached the table sat the coffees down and covered her face at the sound of his hateful words. Ovan pulled her into the booth next to him and quickly handed her one of the cups of coffee.

  “She’s not dead,” Roman mumbled.

  “How would you know that?”

  “I’ve been to see her.”

  “You stay away from her.”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill her, Chance, you have to believe me. I just wanted to talk to her about our son.”

  “Where is Reggie? Do you have him?”

  “Not yet.”

  The call ended. Chance looked around at Ovan and Juanita. Ovan’s face was frozen for a second before he finally spoke. “Okay ...”

  “Shouldn’t we get the cops involved? GPS and all that ...”