by Mike Dagons
“You standing guard, Snoop?” he asked.
“Yeah man,” he answered casually. “You had me fooled. I had no idea you were a pork chop.”
“It’s complicated, but I do intend to set the record straight. Where’s the woman, Josh?” he turned to the man sitting next to him whose hair was much too black for his age.
“Would you like a brandy, Geo? Snoop, please get Geo a brandy.”
“No thank you, Snoop,” he said before the man got out of his seat. “I know what you want, so can we cut to the chase and discuss the exchange?”
“Sit tight and we’ll tell you what you need to do to get her back alive,” he commanded.
Trent relaxed in his seat and tried to act cool.
“Lincoln wanted to be here for this, but you know the reason he couldn’t. It was smart of you to turn him over to the feds, and I was quite impressed by the method in which you secured the evidence. I hear only you can access it, and you used Lincoln’s own money to buy protection against it dying with you. We can’t kill you yet, but we can kill the woman.”
“Well, I’m happy I was able to impress you, Josh. Now where’s my wife?”
“Thank you for admitting that she is your wife in every sense of the word. I was on the call when Lincoln contacted you, and I heard your initial reaction to the news that we have her. Her safety means a great deal to you. Almost as much as Xena’s happiness, means to Lincoln. Have you thought about how this has affected her condition?”
Trent wanted to tell him that he didn’t give a fuck, but he was hoping Josh was offering him a chance to really get Kenyah out of this alive. “I care about her, and yes I’ve thought about it. How could I not think about it? Given the baby is mine.”
“She knows that you’re married, and I’ll tell you she’s truly unhappy. I would have shielded her from the truth, but she managed to get the information on her own. However, she does not know for certain you’re truly in love with your wife.”
“Are you saying Xena has my wife?”
“Yes, but her fate is still in your hands. I have not shared any information about your phone conversation with Lincoln. She only knows you’ve been instructed to come here to negotiate terms. Lincoln knows the girl is innocent, and he promises to deliver her to you unharmed if you cooperate.”
Now he understood what Josh was getting at. They wanted him to handle Xena. She loved him. He had seen her stab a girl in her eye for looking at him too hard. Lincoln wanted revenge, but Xena wanted to cut his balls off.
Knowing Kenyah was at her mercy made the threat of her death all too real, because Xena was the only person Lincoln couldn’t control. She was his baby sister, and she was spoiled and impulsive. She would kill Kenyah in a heartbeat if she thought he really loved her, and since Lincoln’s fate was tied to Kenyah’s at the moment. They were willing to deal, or at least pretend to be willing.
“We both know he can’t keep that promise if Xena has her. Where is she?” he asked again.
“True, and that’s why he’s counting on you to make sure he can. Bring her up,” he said to Snoop.
Snoop got up and walked over to the sixty inch telepresence system mounted in a wall cabinet, and turned it on.
Immediately, Xena appeared on screen. She was sitting behind a desk eating cherries she was picking from a bowl of fruit.
“Hi, baby, I don’t like the name Trent Real as much as I do Geo Gardner,” she chirped. “Your side bitch is here. I heard you been looking for her.”
She was looking right at him, so how he looked was just as important as what he said. Trent leaned back on the sofa, crossed his legs at the knee, and slipped into the role of Geo.
“What, you think I’m here for the woman? Baby, I’m here because I want the chance to explain myself,” he lied calmly.
“Don’t lie, baby. We found the man named on the arrest warrant. That would be you, Trent Real. You were seen the night you went up to M-Style Data Company and got into a fight with a man about fucking that bitch you calling a wife.”
He had been careless and stupid not to have foreseen this happening, and once again, he mentally kicked himself for letting Desmond’s wife provoke him into going to Kenyah’s job.
“You know I was fucking shocked out of my mind when I learned that Geo Gardner, the father of my baby. The man I was tearing down the city to find, was actually Trent Real, a vice detective. A vice detective with a fucking bitch wife! The same man that’s responsible for my brother’s arrest.”
“You have to give me time to explain myself, baby,” he tried reasoning with her.
“I don’t have to give you shit!” she shouted. “Show him his fucking side chick!”
The camera panned left, and Kenyah appeared onscreen. She was strapped to a table, and seeing her looking so helpless and scared made his heart skip a beat.
Lincoln was a psycho, but in many ways, his sister was crazier than him. He was scared for his wife, but he knew that letting Xena hear his panic or see his love for Kenyah would be a mistake. So he didn’t. “You want me to admit that I fucked up, baby? Alright, I’ll admit it. I fucked up and fell in love with you. It’s the only reason I didn’t just disappear for good. I couldn’t let the ball I’d put in motion lock Lincoln away for life, and I couldn’t live with the thought of not seeing my baby born. I couldn’t live with never seeing you again, Xena. So I had to continue playing the role.”
“What the fuck you talking about?” she came back on screen, her expression puzzled.
“Can we talk privately, or is she in the room with you?”
“She’s here, but I can have her moved. Take her outside,” she looked at someone off camera, and then she turned her attention back to him. “Whatcha got to say, Geo?”
“She knows nothing about me, Xena. The marriage is not real. It’s just another cover. I married her because I needed her to think our thing was real.”
“You fucking liar!” she spat. “She told me that y’all been married a year. That means you were already in a relationship with me when you married her! You turned your back on me for her.”
“Baby, no, I didn’t. It’s true that our relationship started out as a job, but I fell in love with you. I didn’t want to turn on Lincoln after that, but I had no quick and easy way out of it. I do have a plan to fix it, but contacting any of you would have jeopardized my plans. I needed to be able to dump the evidence without going to jail for conspiracy to commit obstruction myself. The woman you have is another case I’m working on. I didn’t want to marry the girl, but refusing to do it would’ve looked suspicious to my bosses on the job. Xena, you’re going to have my baby. I wanted us to have a life together. We still can. If you just trust me. I love you, baby,” he declared. “Please, trust me.”
It was a good lie, and he could tell by the satisfied look on Josh’s face that he thought so too.
“So you telling me that you don’t really care about this bitch?”
“Yes, I care about her. She’s a valuable asset. If something happens to her, and then the evidence against Lincoln disappears, and then it comes out that we having a baby, I’m going to be put under a microscope by the Department. This is a big deal, and yes, I could have run, but not without you,” he said, because the narcissistic bitch would believe she was just that important. “I need to keep her alive, or my credibility ain’t shit!” he reasoned.
“You sound real convincing, baby, but I don’t believe you. How I know this bitch ain’t as important to you as she thinks she is? I need to know if you care about her more than you care about sending my brother away, Geo.”
“Xena, I don’t give a piss about that woman, but killing her would ruin me. Baby, I know it’s fucked up that I didn’t confide in you, but I couldn’t ask you to keep something this important from Lincoln. You know he’s a hothead, and he would have offed me before I could rectify the shit. I know how much you love your family. I know how much you love me. What was I going to do…ask you to choose between us? No w
ay would I do that, baby. I thought I had time to fix it before Lincoln was arrested, but the DA jumped the gun and issued the arrest warrant early. After the shit hit the fan, I knew I had to hide until I could patch the shit up. I’m being sincere, baby, and I need you to trust me. I need you to explain things to Lincoln for me, and let him know that I haven’t really turned on him. You’re his heart, so you know you can convince him to let us be together like we’re supposed to be.”
“You don’t give a piss about her, really?”
“I don’t love her. The case I’m working on depends on her involvement, but no I don’t love her, Xena. She’s just some chick I’m using.”
“Walt, get up and piss on that bitch.” Her expression hardened, and her ruby red lips pulled back over her straight white teeth, turning her picture perfect smile into a vicious snarl.
Walt rolled his chair into view. He draped an arm over Xena’s shoulders, and hugged her. “What’s up, muthafucka?” he grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ve been taking care of Xena for you.”
Walt had dated Xena before they hooked up, and he made it no secret that he wanted her back. He put his magazine down on the desk in front of her, and then kissed her on her cheek.
Reminded that they could see him, Trent clinched his teeth together so hard, his jaw ached. “I don’t fucking like what I’m hearing, baby. Muthafucka, get your goddamn hands off my woman!” he barked like a jealous boyfriend.
“How you like this?” he asked, and then got up out his chair. The camera followed him over to Kenyah. The picture’s resolution was clear enough for him to see the tears forming in her eyes when he started slowly unzipping his fly.
Xena had lied about having her removed from the room while they talked, and she’d heard every word exchanged between them.
“Xena, you shouldn’t have let the bitch hear us talking. I’m telling you. I need this chick. Don’t do this fucked up shit, baby, please,” he pleaded.
Trent watched Walt take his penis out his pants. “That’s right, baby, close your eyes,” he spoke softly to Kenyah when she shut her eyes tight and braced herself.
Trent’s heart ached for Kenyah, but if peeing on her was all Walt was going to do. He knew he should be grateful.
Trent unconsciously balled his hands into fist at his sides, and moved to the edge of the sofa when Walt pinched her nostrils closed. Held them until she had to open her mouth to take a breath, and then he started peeing in her mouth. “Nasty muthafucka!” he leaped to his feet.
“I thought you didn’t care about the bitch?”
He heard Xena’s incongruous laugh off camera. He wanted to kill that bitch, and Walt, but there was nothing he could do but stand and watch.
Kenyah avoided swallowing for as long as she could by spitting it out, but in the end, she had to breathe. And when she did, she swallowed strangling gulps of the acrid yellow liquid. Piss was everywhere, washing over her face, wetting her hair, and running into her ears.
Her chest heaved violently as her body tried to intake air while her throat was being flooded with urine. Trent had never seen a man pee so long, and thought he must have been holding it all day to have that much in his bladder.
After what seemed like an eternity. Walt finished emptying his bladder in her mouth like it was a urinal, and tapped off his rod on her forehead.
He released Kenyah’s nose, and she lifted her head off the table as far as her bonds would allow and retched, coughed and sobbed hysterically.
“You want me to fuck her now?” he asked, still holding his dick in his hand.
“I got next!” a voice came from off camera.
“Nooooo,” Kenyah sputtered between sobs and coughing. “Please,” she begged.
“I tell you what, baby. If you don’t give a fuck about my life, then why should I give a fuck about Lincoln’s? I told you how important this bitch is to my survival. I thought you loved me, but if you don’t, then fuck you! You go ahead and let them muthafuckas have that bitch, and I’ll run on over to federal lockup and pay some big dick muthafuckas to fuck Lincoln in his ass before I slit his muthafuckin’ throat,” his voice was hard as steel— all Geo Gardner, the hardcore enforcer that she loved with all her heart.
Kenyah was still coughing, weeping, and pleading pitifully, but his words had stopped Walt from touching her, and silenced the cheering men in the room. “Are you threatening to hurt my brother?”
Xena’s face came back into view, and he could no longer see what was happening to Kenyah, but he could still hear her coughing and sobbing. It made it easy for him to look and sound real convincing.
“If your stupid ass jealousy brings me down, I’m bringing that muthafucka down wit’ me. Now, I can fix it so he can get out, or I can fix it so he dies inside, but not before I make that muthafucka regret he left this shit in your hands. Now how you want to play it? We putting our lives back together, or flushing them down the toilet?”
“Y’all leave the bitch alone,” she ordered.
“Now, get her up off that table, and let her go to the bathroom and clean up,” he commanded.
“Take her, T-Bone,” she relayed his order. “If you lying about this, Geo, or you don’t come through for Lincoln, I swear I’ll make her drink something stronger than piss.”
“Can I trust that she’s out the room this time?”
“Yes, T-Bone took her to the ladies room. He’ll make sure she’s safe.”
“Good, we’ve wasted enough time with this shit. I’ll put things in motion, and I’ll have Lincoln out first thing Monday morning. You have to work on making that bitch believe this was a simple case of me getting caught cheating. I need her to believe in me, Xena. You got to sell it for me, baby. Our child needs you to come through for us.”
“Okay, Geo,” she exhaled.
“Okay baby, let me get to work. I love you. You love me?” he asked.
“You know I do,” she rolled her eyes.
“That’s my girl. Take care of my baby,” he forced a smile.
The transmission ended, and Trent closed his eyes and willed the bile he tasted in the back of his throat back down.
“That was very good, Geo. You are a very gifted liar. I have convinced Lincoln that allowing you to continue to work for us would be more beneficial to our organization than your death, so he has agreed to let you and your wife live. However, you will not be living with her. You will marry Xena, and raise your child together, and she will never learn the truth about the legitimacy of your marriage to Kenyah. You have twenty four hours to bring me proof that the evidence is destroyed. Once I have it, we will release Kenyah. Trent, please understand that Lincoln is only allowing you this second chance because his sister is having your baby. You double cross us again, and you will die for it.”
Trent looked down at Josh sitting there all smug with his brandy in hand. “I’ll hold up my end, but if that psycho bitch hurts Kenyah. I’ll bury all of you.”
“Son, I’m not interested in your threats. Call me when you have the evidence, now goodnight.”
Snoop stood up just in case Trent didn’t understand that he was being dismissed.
He followed him to the elevator, and cracked a sly smile at him before the doors closed.
Trent held it together until he was back in his truck, and then he dropped his head on his steering wheel and cried.
Chapter 11
Trent’s truck was parked in front of the building, and he was already inside when Choc and Rayce made it to the penthouse. They drove into the circular drive in front of the building next door, and Choc flashed his phony FBI creds to make the doorman allow them to stand there. “You think we need to go in?” Rayce asked.
“Nah, Desmond said Trent told him they needed him alive. No way are they holding Kenyah in this place, so I believe Ryan is right. This meeting is just to give him instructions on what they want him to do.”
“What the fuck is that dude doing?” Rayce asked when they saw a man get out the car parked behind Trent�
�s truck, and squat down behind his Hummer’s rear bumper.
“He’s planting a tracker. They want to make sure they don’t lose him in traffic.”
The call from Bender came in giving them the address where Kenyah was being held. It was the old Florsheim Shoe warehouse on the corner of Cicero and Division streets.
Valow was already in the area, and he would be at the location shortly.
Valow is a forty year old retired FBI agent. He met Melvin Ryan and Blue in Afghanistan. Unlike them, he’d been taken prisoner by the Taliban and tortured.
The things he suffered had flipped a switch in his head, and turned him into a killing machine. The natives started calling him the phantom killer, because he had the fair skin of the Irish, light blonde hair, and crystal blue eyes. In the States, he was simply the man known as Valow.
Being a stark white man on that side of town at two o’clock in the morning, he would stand out like a red pepper in cream soup. Any other white man would be targeted as an easy mark to rob, but Choc wasn’t worried about Valow. The man emitted a danger vibe that made cats hiss and arch their backs.
He reported that he was going to recon the building and then lay low until he got the word to go in and get the girl.
They had been sitting for about twenty minutes when they saw a man exiting the building. “Is that him?” Rayce asked.
“It doesn’t look like him, but yeah that’s his walk,” he answered dryly.
“He’s real cute, but he doesn’t look anything like you,” she observed.
“We have different fathers, and he looks more like our mother. He’s also emotional like a woman,” he mumbled when they saw Trent lower his head and cry.
“I think it’s sweet that he cares enough to cry,” Rayce said.
“I think he’s a pussy who is always letting his emotions get in the way of taking care of business. He has to know he’s being followed. The fucking car is practically riding his bumper, and he takes a break to cry!” he shook his head in disgust.