by Mike Dagons
“Oh my God, it really is beautiful,” I removed it from his hand, and gripped it in mine. The knife had a two finger holes grip that fit my small hand like it was custom made for me. “I like the finger guard,” I held it up and inspected it some more. “Where did you get it?”
“The same place I got this, Bender,” he held up a paper thin square plastic chip that looked a lot like a phone memory card. “Put it in your phone, and it will allow you to send encrypted text messages to us. Bender says it’s undetectable, and it fits into this slot in your buckle.” He pushed it into a slot in the embellished buckled, and like the blade, it became an invisible part of the design.
“It’s like Batman’s utility belt. It is so fucking cool!”
“Bender packed your bag with everything you will need for an overnight stay, which is what you’ll be telling Ceylon you intended to do when you show up at Steven’s.”
“So, this is it?” I exhaled.
“Yep, don’t take any unnecessary chances. Report what you can, when you can, but don’t push the envelope.”
“Ryan already gave me the pep talk. I’m scared, but I’m determined to prove my worth.”
“You’ve already done that, kid. Just work the muthafuckas like any other assignment.”
“I like the gadget belt. Did Rayce get something?”
“She has a lipstick Tasers and a compact explosive. Bender modified the stuff so the release locks are coded to your prints. So you don’t have to worry about anyone discovering you have a weapon until you want them to know it. I know Ryan told you that you’re working this alone, but I’m going to be on the ground, so text me if you need me, and I’ll come running.”
“Thanks, Blue. Thank you so much,” I hugged him, and like Ryan, he mussed my hair. “Wish me luck,” I put my helmet on.
“When you go back to your apartment to pick up your saddle bag, Basin’s men will pick up your trail. You want them to believe you’re too naïve to notice a tail, but you don’t want them think you’re trying to run, or they’ll pick you up before you reach the loft. Don’t hang at home too long. Get your gear and get back on the road right away. If it was me, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight once I located you, so they probably won’t either.”
“Okay,” I hugged him again, and then got on my Ducati. I opened the throttled, gunned the motor, and sped off.
I took the highways home, and I didn’t notice anyone following me. I pulled up in front of my building, and made the Viper dudes parked in the Explorer across the street watching my building right away.
I got off the bike and ran inside, grabbed the saddlebag, and was back out in minutes. One of the men watching me was getting out of the truck as I came out the building. My fast exit took him by surprise, and he squat down and pretended to be checking his tires.
I ignored him, and got on my bike, and tore out of the parking space. I watched him hustle to get back inside his truck through my side view mirror. I slowed down at the end of the block to give them time to catch up with me. When the truck pulled up behind me, I headed for the expressway.
They followed me downtown to Steven’s building, and into the garage. I parked the Ducati, and then stored my helmet on the saddle hook. I draped my saddlebag over my shoulder, and then headed for the elevator. I pretended not to notice the truck pulling into the parking garage, and focused on keeping my eyes straight ahead instead of checking my perimeter as I walked. I was amused by how hard it was for me to ignore the danger creeping up behind me. The instinct to watch my back wasn’t something I learned at Charter. It was inherent from twenty years of watching out for muggers and drive-by shooters on the streets of Englewood.
I took the elevator up to the twentieth floor, and was surprised when I didn’t see any yellow crime tape when I reached Steven’s door. I knocked, and then used my key. “Baby, are you here?” I shouted as I pushed the door open. I stopped short when I saw the strange man sitting on the sofa.
“Please come in,” he gave me an appreciative once over.
“Who are you?” I whirled around in surprise when I felt someone at my back.
“My name is Ceylon, and the man behind you is Mark. We’re friends of Steven. When is the last time you talked to him?” He got up and walked over to me.
Mark closed the door behind me, and I looked back at him again.
Act like a stereotypical white girl, I reminded myself. I’d seen enough of them on TV to know how they would react to being crowded by two big black men with gun bulges under their jackets— I got hysterical. “Where’s Steven?!” Like a clueless chick, I ignored the threat behind me and addressed Ceylon.
“He’s dead, but you know that already, don’t you?” His eyes frisked me.
I screamed, and Mark clamped a big hand over my mouth. Immediately, he snaked his other arm around my neck and put me in a sleeper hold. Here we go, I thought, before everything faded to black.
Chapter 16
The video of Severe being taken from Steven’s loft finished playing.
“Let’s see her pulling up to her place again,” Melvin said.
Bender had used the City’s traffic surveillance cameras to follow her back to her place in Englewood. He cued the recording, and they watched the man sitting in the truck in front of her building open the door and get out.
“Can we get a close-up of his face?” Melvin asked.
Bender tapped the center of the tabletop screen, and the images of the man froze on the twelve multi screen display LCD mounted on the wall.
In a quick gesture, he flicked two fingers across the image, and then pinched opened the face with an outward swipe of his fingertips. Immediately, sections of the image filled each of the nine fifty inch high def monitors. Like giant puzzle pieces, they displayed a super enlarged picture of his face.
“Junius LaRue,” Bender read the name that appeared on the bio now up on the table top screen in front of him.
“I hear that he’s made quite a name for himself at Viper since his encounter with us,” Blue commented.
“I thought he was out of the country. Is his presence going to present an added problem for us?” Melvin asked.
“My source assures me that he is only here to claim the body. Viper has just contracted a big job in Montreal, and he will be leaving for there later tonight. He’s only hanging with this guy sitting on Severe’s apartment until she shows up. He’ll be taking LaRue to the airport after they have her,” Bender reported.
“How in the hell you know that?” Valow asked.
“What source?” Melvin asked.
“My source is the listening device I put in Steven’s air duct. I heard everything that was said in that loft while they were there.” He tapped in something on his table monitor, and they listened to the recording of what he’d heard.
“Man, the thing you do is remarkable,” Blue commented.
“You, my brotha, only know the half of how remarkable the thing I do truly is,” he winked seductively.
“Don’t start that shit!” Blue exclaimed, and they all laughed.
“I know you’re worried, Melvin, and so am I,” Bender said. “But I assume you hired Severe because you thought she could do the job, and not just because she’s cute.”
“She has the skills, but she is a young and inexperienced girl going up against seasoned operators. I don’t think she’s ready for what they have in store for her.”
“You’re right,” Valow said. “She is the most inexperienced person on the team, but she is no novice. The girl has a better talent for reading people than some old timers. And there is no denying she knows how to work a man. Look at how easily she captivated Steven. He never invited any of this other women back home. She’s good, and we have to trust she’s going to do her thing.”
“Not the same thing. Chandler was an easy mark, but these men are not, and they will not be merciful if they find out she is working for us,” Melvin argued.
“They won’t find out,” Bender said. “
Severe is smart enough to be scared. It tells me that she’s going to handle it like a real pro. Just look at how she handled Ceylon and Mark,” he tapped his screen, and another recording started to play on the screens. See how she’s ignoring the truck pulling into the garage. She knows they’re there, but she’s not showing it in her body language. Not so much as a glance in their direction.”
They watched the rest of the encounter, and when they started carrying her out, Bender froze the frame, and they all studied the still. “She reacted like she was genuinely surprised to find them waiting for her,” Valow commented.
“She was genuinely surprised to see Mark. I didn’t tell her that he was going to be there,” Bender said.
“So you ain’t as confident in her acting ability as you want us to believe,” Ryan smirked.
“I’m confident, but ain’t nothing wrong with having a little insurance,” Bender chuckled. “She clearly was not expecting to see Mark, and it showed.”
“It was smart,” Ryan admitted.
“She admires you, Ryan, and she’s determined to prove to you that she can handle this business,” Blue said.
“I told her that she’s on her own, but I want you and Valow to respond if she calls for help.”
“I told her that I would,” Blue said.
Melvin only smiled. All of the people he recruited were independent thinkers. They knew when to follow a command, and when to go against it. They were all also humane, or at least he had thought that they were, until Janie opened his eyes.
He remembered what his father had told him when he was just a child. A killer without humanity spoils everything he comes in contact with, so you hold onto your humanity, and try to give life as often as you take it. He believed in Ethan Cole, and it was why skill wasn’t the deciding factor when he selected the Genesis team. The people he chose were some of the best in the business, but what made them special was they all had big hearts.
The fact that Janie had fooled him into believing she was like them had him doubting his ability to judge. He vowed to be more conscientious in the future. Never again would he look at her, or anybody else with blinders on.
“Bender you keeping satellite watch on her?” Melvin asked.
“Yeah, the helicopter landed at the plantation a little while ago.”
“What’s up?” Chavez stepped through the door.
Blue stood up and shook his hand. “Hey, you’re just in time to help Ryan and Bender hold down the fort. We’re on our way out. Come on, Valow, John is going to meet us at the bird,” he walked to the door.
“We’ll report,” Valow bumped fist with Chavez when he passed him on the way out.
“What you going to do about Janie?” Chavez asked as soon as he sat down at the table.
“Send her on vacation without pay,” Melvin answered.
“Cool…but I think you should wait until this is over to do it,” Chavez replied.
“Why, you think that I’m going to change my mind if I wait?”
“She did mean a lot to you once. You don’t want to do something out of anger that you might regret later on.”
“I’m not angry, and I’m not going to regret it.”
“She’s your kid’s mother. It’s just something to think about, that’s all,” he said when Ryan frowned.
“You saying that’s a reason to let her live, or a reason to kill her?” he joked.
“What she did to the team was bad enough, but what she did to that little girl to hurt you was ridiculous. Maybe she has a mental problem,” Bender suggested.
“I don’t give a fuck about why she did it. She did it, and it is unacceptable,” Melvin growled.
“It was raw, no doubt, but I know you,” Chavez said. “You not like Ice or your father. You’re going to have a hard time looking that kid in her face everyday knowing that you executed her mother. Just give it some serious thought before you do it. It’s all I’m asking.”
“He’s right, Ryan,” Bender said. “You should give it some thought. And if you decide that you really want her dead, then you should let me do it for you.”
“Cool, I’ll do that,” he laughed, but he knew Bender was serious. He was a computer geek, but he was also a stone cold killer. He would kill her, and he wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.
“Okay, now you two should go and get rested up while you can. I’m expecting Choc to get his invitation any day, and once they’re on the move, we will not be sleeping.” Bender turned off the monitors.
They all got up and walked out the war room together. Melvin followed them to the elevator, but he didn’t ride up with them. He walked over to lockup where Janie was being held. As a result of the breach in security, the entry codes for the door locks had been reprogrammed. They were using temporary security passes until the tech team had time to issue new identification signatures.
Melvin stood outside the door for a minute, and then he inserted his pass in the door lock. It clicked opened, and he took a deep breath, and then walked into the narrow hall that led to her cell.
Like all of the other rooms in the building, the cell block interior walls were ballistic glass. Melvin pulled up a chair and sat down outside in front of the glass. He looked at Janie who was curled up on the twin size steel slab protruding from the concrete wall. It had a prison spec mattress attached, a pillow, clean white linen, and a flannel blanket, so sleeping on it was fairly comfortable.
Janie got up when she saw him, and walked over to the glass. He noticed she had a slight limp, but she wasn’t keeping her weight off her injured leg. She stood staring down at him, her expression remorseful. He motioned for her to sit, and she did.
They stared at each other for another long moment, each wondering what the other was thinking. “Why?” he finally asked.
“I was angry,” she answered honestly. “I wanted to hurt you so bad,” she turned her eyes up to the ceiling in an effort to avert her tears.
She had a nasty bruise on her cheekbone from his punch, but she was still beautiful. His eyes dropped to her mouth. Her lips were full and pouty, and he knew now that she probably got that great mouth from her African American bloodline.
When she noticed his eyes on her mouth, she sank her teeth into her bottom lip sexily like she use to do whenever they made love. “You always loved my mouth,” she cooed.
Melvin slowly raised his eyes from her mouth to her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me that one of your parents was black?”
“I honestly didn’t think it mattered,” she sighed.
“So you abused an innocent child to hurt me. You hate me that much?”
“I thought that I did, but I realize now that I don’t. You leaving put me in a dark place, Ryan, but I never hit Mel or gave her cruel punishments. I just couldn’t open my heart to her the way I know I should have because she was a constant reminder of what you did to me. I do love her. I just thought that I hated you more.”
“Then why not bring it to me? Why make her pay for what you think I did to you? Why abuse the innocent kid?”
“Because I knew it would hurt you more than anything else I could do to you,” she answered simply. “It’s no secret how you feel about child abuse. What better way to punish you than abusing your child?”
“How was it supposed to hurt me if I didn’t know it was happening?”
“Revenge is best served cold. Does it hurt more or less now that you know? You’ve been living the American dream while your child was suffering. How does it feel knowing she needed you, but you weren’t there? How you feel about that, Melvin Ryan? Can you even bear the guilt? Does knowing you’re responsible for her years of unhappiness hurt any less because you didn’t know about it?”
She was right, and even though he knew he wasn’t to blame, he still felt guilty. Hearing that she had purposely done things to hurt Melvina made him feel physically sick.
“How much does it hurt Ryan? Well, as much as it hurts, it doesn’t compare to the pain and humiliation I felt when you
got married before your place in my bed got cold.”
“You wanted to hurt me, well congratulations, you did. It hurts, but watching you die slow and painfully is going to go a long way in easing my pain.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. Killing me won’t fix it. I know what I did was wrong, but it wasn’t as bad as my brothers told you it was for Mel. It’s only what I wanted them to believe. It’s what I wanted you to believe, too, but I never endangered her.”
“What about the crackhead?”
“She was never truly alone with Joni. I took her there to upset Jamal. I had cameras inside her apartment, and I was watching Mel from a nearby location. She hadn’t been there an hour before Jamal showed up at the door. He offered the girl money to spend time with her, and she did agree to it,” she chuckled dryly. “He sat there all day everyday babysitting. She was never in any danger. When I relocated here, they packed up and followed me. I knew that Lisa wasn’t a drunk. She was good to Mel.”
“She should have never been exposed to that life. And what about the way she looks? The dirty hair and cheap clothes was supposed to do what? Make her feel bad about herself? Destroy her self-esteem?”
“I was trying to make her hate you for not being there to provide for her, but once again, my nosy ass brothers fucked that up. Instead of hating you, she loves you more than she does me. You really intend to let your wife adopt her knowing she may have ill feelings about taking care of your love child? Maybe she’ll be tempted to abuse her, too.”
“Sam will never do that. She’ll treat her like she’s her own, and unlike you, whatever misgivings she has about it, she will take up with me, not the child.”
“You think Samantha Jawlins is perfect, but she’s no different from any other woman. Raising our child may be easy for her, but loving her will not be. Every time she looks at her, she’ll remember you fucked me to get her. No woman wants to be constantly reminded of her husband’s infidelity.”