“Where are they going?” Amelia asked.
“Trisha's. Where else?” Shima replied.
That quickly the loathing that both Shima and Amelia felt for Trisha drove them along with Jojo through the ethers continuing in the style of a transporter beam from Jojo's snailing sequence.
“They'll be here in a minute,” Shima predicted of Miguel and Nick as she stood beside Amelia in the driveway behind Trisha's house.
“Look! A pool!” Jojo looked at the large in-ground pool in Trisha’s backyard. Instantly his clothes faded into swim shorts and Jojo took off running across the lawn.
“Help me out here.” Amelia put her hand on her hip and turned to Shima. Her mind was filled with confusing questions.
“What part do you still not get?” Shima asked in a tone that indicated her patience was running short. Amelia shook her head. Despite the gun and betrayal she was surprised to find she still regarded Shima as a sister.
“Why is it that sometimes we can see each other and sometimes we can't? Who's dreaming and who's awake here?”
“It's four-thirty in the morning, Amelia.” Shima sighed. “Everyone is asleep.”
“Even you?”
“Some of us are lucid, some are not. Some are vibrating at the same frequency, others are off a bit.” She looked at Jojo. “Even in waking life a child that age doesn't vibe in harmony with adults. So he can just go off and do his thing and most adults will never notice him even if they’re in the same dream.”
“So… I'm lucid?” Amelia asked.
“Not as much as I am,” Shima insisted.
“How did you get so good at this?”
“I’ve been practicing since before I came to America.” Shima seemed proud.
“It’s a lovely way to leave behind what’s too difficult to bear. Just like the boy over there.” Amelia had a hard time reconciling Shima in a position to identify with Jojo. She saw Shima as undeservedly blessed given the way she had always behaved. She returned her attention to trying to figure out how each person was dreaming.
“And Miguel?”
“What about Miguel?” Shima’s disinterest in Miguel was obvious via the tone of her voice.
“How is he dreaming?”
“Lucid. But not aware of our presence.”
“What about Darius?”
“Dreaming.” She paused. “He has wild dreams. And since Miguel and Nick are dreaming involvement with him, they are able to follow and interact with him.”
“Is Nick,” at last Amelia had a name for her shooter, “is he lucid?” Amelia asked.
“Not yet, but he'll wake up soon. Miguel dreamed him up this morning. Though he had been following you around in your dreams the past couple days.”
“Really?” Amelia asked, “Nick was following me? You said he wasn’t supposed to shoot me.”
“He wasn’t. He was supposed to take out Miguel, but he couldn’t do it, especially when he saw him on the porch with a kid. That was their mutual soft spot — kids.” Shima’s eyes dazed slightly. “So he just shot wildly at the house until he could come up with another solution. But you got in the way.”
“How do Nick and Miguel know each other?” Amelia still didn’t understand the connection.
“Cops. They were cops together.”
“Nick was a cop?”
“Still is. And your interest in finding out who he was drew his detective senses to you on the other side. He thought you might have seen him at the house. He couldn’t let you send him to prison. Cops can’t survive in prison.”
“But I don’t remember him trying to hurt me anywhere in my dreams.”
“Never got a chance, just the sight of Miguel always stopped him. Nick’s really a good guy at heart.” Shima finished.
“Yeah, he seems really nice,” Amelia toned sarcastically, “but he shot David.”
Shima’s body registered immediate tension. “I don’t know why you keep saying that. It can’t be.”
Amelia tried to understand Shima’s denial over David’s demise. Zeroing in on Shima’s thoughts, words were not forthcoming. Instead she felt jealousy toward her relationship with David, and a sense of competition. You wanted David?! Amelia screamed in her head. Trisha wanted David? Shima spun on her heel and stared at Amelia.
“What the hell is so great about David?” Amelia nearly shouted out loud, then felt herself splashed as Jojo ran up and stopped beside her.
“You ought to come to the pool!” Jojo dripped water onto the blacktop watching Amelia and Shima stare at each other while Trisha loaded luggage into her car.
“Why’s she going on vacation?” Jojo commented on Trisha’s activity. “She’s got a pool right here!” He ran back across the pavement to the pool.
“And her?” Amelia nodded at Trisha struggling with the largest bag. “Is she lucid?” Amelia asked.
“Totally asleep.”
“So, what's the point?” Amelia asked Shima. “Why are we here?”
“You'll see.” Shima nodded toward the front of the house. Amelia looked up to see Darius sneaking through the bushes on the side of the house, toward the backyard. She watched in utter amazement as he skulked toward them without noticing them at all. Pleased to see he was invisible to Darius, Jojo started dancing around him making faces and sticking out his tongue. Darius remained completely oblivious to Jojo, as his eyes were totally fixed on Trisha.
As Trisha struggled to land a large suitcase in the back of her Acura SUV, Darius imagined it was full of money. Amelia watched as he suddenly reversed his attention and retraced his steps back toward the street. Trisha was leaving. As Darius opened the door to his Nova, Amelia looked past him and saw that Miguel and Nick were parked on a cross street with a clear view of his activities.
Pause, pause, pause…
“What's he doing?” Nick sounded slightly panicked as he watched Darius cross the street.
“Not sure.” The tone in Nick’s voice reflected his own senses. He watched Darius return from behind the upscale brick house, get in the Nova, and slide down in the seat peeking over the dashboard. What the heck brings someone like Lovelle to a neighborhood like this? Miguel wondered.
A moment later Trisha’s silver Acura started backing out of the driveway. She didn't see the Hyundai or the Nova waiting for her to lead the way as if she was at the head of a parade. In quick succession, Darius pulled down the concrete-paved street following Trisha, while Miguel and Nick followed not far behind.
“Now what?” Amelia asked Shima as they watched the three cars depart.
“Now we head to the airport,” Shima replied. No transporter beam visual effects went off. No one moved or faded from view.
“Oh we do?” Realizing the compliance of her imagination was required to make the transition, Amelia felt empowered. By the look in Shima's eyes, she was.
“It’s your choice.” Shima threatened Amelia. “Either you go with me or you won’t be able to help your Miguel if Nick decides to get rid of him.”
My Miguel. Amelia repeated internally. She recognized the feelings that had started to grow for him in Main Street America had grown into fierce loyalty and a sense of protection, if not other more delicate feelings. She hated that Shima could tell.
“Ah, it’s so cute.” Shima felt mildly nauseous over the sweetness of Amelia’s sentiments for Miguel.
“I’ll go,” Amelia reciprocated, “if you’ll tell me what you did to get the money.”
“Oh, the drug money? Try the remote line through your home computer.” Shima dangled the information in front of Amelia and waited for her to catch on.
Amelia drew a blank. “I don’t get it.”
“That’s what made it all so easy.” Shima smiled, obviously enjoying the confusion she was causing Amelia. “Your files. David accessed your client files from your home computer.”
“For what?”
“Information.” Shima stomped her foot impatiently. “Saleable information.” Amelia looked dumbstruck.
“Competition, consumer groups, politicians, anyone who would pay.” Shima dully studied the slew of connected thoughts that flooded Amelia’s mind.
“Trisha was behind this?”
“Indeed.”
“How did Nick get involved?” Amelia still didn’t understand how Miguel was hanging out with a criminal cop.
“He had access to losers like Darius who could run the packages.” Shima filled in another blank.
“How did she know him?” Amelia couldn’t put together how a lawyer could con a cop into foul play.
“She did an internship at the station.” Shima rolled her eyes as she grew bored. “She just knew him okay?”
“And you? How did you get involved?” Amelia couldn't believe her own sister had been a willing accomplice in a plot that would land her in the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.
“Adopted sister,” Shima corrected. “That's all you've ever thought of me.”
“Well you are my adopted sister!” Amelia shouted thinking how much easier her life would have been as a child and at this very moment, if her father had never found Shima.
“That’s what you thought,” Shima hissed, “but he was my father too. My real father!” The words stunned Amelia.
“Liar!” Amelia accused.
“Why would I lie about that?” Shima raised her hands with an air of exasperation. “Why would I want to be the hidden child? Hidden from you, from the world, from having full investment in the family. He lied to you, little sister. He cheated me and he cheated you.”
Amelia felt the wall between her and Shima thicken. She wanted to strike out. Then she regained her composure and thought better of it. Amelia decided it would be better to win now and ask questions later.
“Now, you must go to the airport with me!” Shima ordered. With Amelia’s compliance the transporter beam again ignited the threesome’s passage to a new location.
Shima seemed to be able to transcend time and see what was going to happen before it actually took place. Amelia realized this was what made Shima more lucid than she was in this dream.
Amelia attempted to process the deluge of information while they were engulfed in the transporter beam where she imagined it would be more difficult for Shima to read her thoughts in the flux of time and space.
Without an agenda of her own Amelia realized she would remain subject to Shima’s dream. Somehow, she needed to get Miguel’s attention. She wasn’t sure that this would be possible since Miguel wasn’t expecting her. Equally as problematic was not making Nick lucid. She hoped that she could get to Miguel before Nick tried to finish her off.
Pause, pause, pause…
The silver Acura pulled into the parking lot for Hanger 22 at Skyward Airlines. Amelia, Shima and Jojo waited on the outskirts of the hangar as Darius pulled past the turnoff into the farmer’s market parking lot. Miguel pulled the Hyundai up to a parking meter outside the small main terminal at Lunken Airport.
“Who do you figure is in that Acura?” Miguel asked Nick. He had long been aware that he was dreaming so hadn’t bothered to contact headquarters for assistance.
Nick had noticed that Miguel seemed to be playing the investigation close to his vest, but had not ascertained why until he himself became lucid with the recognition of Trisha. Now his dream was turning into a nightmare as he realized she was in the process of leaving him holding a bag filled with a big, incriminating mess.
Nick had met Trisha when she was part of the law team for the division of internal affairs at the department. She had represented him when he was investigated for his involvement in the shooting death of a young woman named Tonya Lovelle. Nick had been found innocent of shooting the woman. She had died instantly when she was caught in gang crossfire.
Nick could feel his cheeks redden as he watched Trisha interacting with the baggage clerk in the hangar. He felt abandoned as he had when Miguel pursued his own career and left him humiliated by desk duty. Trisha seemed to understand him then. When she laid out her plan for Nick it looked like a win/win situation with no one losing but big corporations and Trisha’s lawyer boss. Nick admired his new partner in crime as she easily swayed David to retrieve the information from Amelia’s private files. He justified what was essentially a bid for attention on his part, by putting his share of the take in a fund for Tonya Lovelle’s son.
Nick had enlisted Darius as a runner and put his trafficking skills to use with materials less likely to get him shot than drugs. He figured Darius would make good money and have the time he needed to raise Jojo. He had no idea Darius would become so lazy he would actually use the child to make the pick-ups. He never thought David would be dumb enough to start giving Jojo the information or that the boy would tell social services about the packages he was transporting.
In his wildest dreams, Nick definitely never thought he would shoot anyone by accident or deliberately. Everything had become incredibly complicated and shady compared to the Robin Hood feeling he had when it all started.
From the window of the Hyundai, Nick watched as Trisha opened the trunk of her SUV and the baggage handler began extracting the luggage. As he watched the man drop the big suitcase onto the dolly he grabbed the door handle and sprang from the car.
“Nick!” Miguel yelled as he got out of the car and started following his ex-partner across the tarmac. The call caught Darius’ attention and he too got out of his car and bolted for the baggage dolly at Hangar 22. Trisha heard the yelling and went lucid as her dream collided with the dreams of the three men heading toward her down the runway.
Trisha grabbed her purse from the front seat of the Acura and turned to leave the hangar but came face to face with Amelia and Jojo being held at gunpoint by Shima. The three men ran to a stop within a few yards of the three women and the boy.
“What the hell?” The baggage handler stared at the strange group that had assembled in what had just a few minutes earlier been an ordinary work dream.
Shima motioned with the gun and ordered the baggage handler, Amelia, and Jojo to join Miguel inside the hangar. Her business now was with Trisha, Darius and Nick.
“Trisha, what are you doing?” Nick implored.
“She’s leavin’ asshole,” Darius sniped at Nick and looked at Shima. “Why don’t we take this bag from the bitch and split it up between us?”
“Now why would I agree to do that? I am the one holding the gun,” Shima challenged. “I get the money.”
“The hell you do!” Trisha glared at Shima. “You all think I’m stupid enough to carry cash?” Silence prevailed among the foursome.
“Give it to me.” Shima’s eyes were locked on Trisha’s purse as she realized the key to the money must be inside it. Trisha tossed her head and laughed.
“You have no choice.” Shima pushed the barrel of the gun in Trisha’s direction, and brought her laughter to a stop.
Trisha looked at the lump under Nick’s left arm. Seeing that he was armed, she decided to play into his loyalty. “Baby, I was just about to call you,” she cooed. “I knew that Shima was up to something and you weren’t home, so I came here. I was going to call you and tell you to meet me.”
“Liar!” Shima stopped her story. “Nick.” He turned to Shima. “Ask to see the tickets. There’s only one.”
“How do you know?” Nick asked, not trusting either one of them.
“Ask the baggage guy,” Shima challenged, “he knows how many were flying.”
The baggage handler stared at Shima in horror as Nick drew his gun and pointed it at the man. “Why me?” he asked. “Can’t you just leave me out of this?”
Amelia barely noticed the baggage handler stepping to hide behind her as she tried to reconcile the conflicting evidence that was being presented. Despite the fact that she was a pos
sible target for yet another bullet, what caught her attention most was Trisha’s apparent intimate relationship with Nick as well as David.
“You are beein’ reedicoollust!” Darius interrupted waving his arms.
Nick spun around, and pointed the gun at him.
“Listen man,” Darius put his hands up and tried to calm Nick down. “You can’t believe either one of these chicks. They’re both lyin’ to you!”
“So who should I believe, Darius? You?” Nick was becoming lost in his own rage. “I’ve been trying to help you for years and the thanks I get is finding you sneaking up here behind my back just like these two, trying to beat me to the chase.” Nick wheeled at the realization he had become dependent on the likes of Darius Lovelle for help.
“I lost my cell phone, man.” Darius tried to cover. “You know I got your back!”
“Oh, God, Nick!” Shima broke into a voice that showed her feelings for him. He spun around again and pointed the gun at her. “I wasn’t trying to get the money. At least not take it away from you. I wanted it and you. I just let you come this far so you could see that she was not being real with you. I am being real with you Nick. We can take that money and leave right now.”
“What are you talking about woman?” Nick’s face flared with blood vessels popping through reddening skin. “We can’t go anywhere! Look around you! Any single one of these people could put us in jail for life. You’re crazy Shima! It’s over.”
“But Nick, I love you!” Shima cried.
“You don’t know what the hell love is!” Nick shouted back at her.
“But I know you! I know you’re good. You didn’t mean to hurt Amelia and I know you didn’t hurt David.” Shima read Amelia’s memory of the black Camaro leaving the Alley. “Tell her Nick. Tell her it was Trisha who shot him.” Amelia felt completely confused as both Trisha and Shima focused all their interest on Nick not seeming to feel any remorse for the passing of David.
“Wrong again.” Nick dropped his hand to his side letting the gun point at the ground as he acknowledged what he had done.
Gold Lame' (That's le-mayy) (Gold Lame' Series) Page 19