by Keisha Ervin
Autumn turned on the radio to the all-news station and turned the volume all the way up. There was something about hearing her name and hearing the names of her siblings that was giving Autumn life at that moment. She needed that to help her keep her “fuck the police” attitude. As she drove, she listened to the reports of the havoc she and her sisters were causing all over the nation. She was scared to get caught, but she was also kind of proud of them all. They were fucking stars right now! They had gone from being a few orphans turned thieves to national fugitives. It was so exciting they had a hundred law agencies after them. Even all of the different agencies couldn’t outsmart a few sisters from the hoods of Baltimore. Autumn knew she was being elusive of the cops and the feds, but she didn’t realize that Loe hadn’t given up his quest to find her either, so unbeknownst to her she also had some very dangerous criminals after her that would be showing their faces soon.
Chapter 7 Most Wanted
Loe felt the heat of anger rising from his chest to his face so fast he was starting to get a migraine headache. It had been days and still none of his men could get their hands on the elusive Autumn Porter. Loe didn’t like when he couldn’t get things his way. He was powerful and he wielded his power like a sharp sword.
Now, he was feeling out of sorts because he couldn’t get his way and his power obviously didn’t mean shit to this girl. He reached into his pocket and retrieved his heart medication. With shaking hands, he struggled to open the bottle. When he finally got it opened, he dumped a few pills into his hand and threw them into his mouth; swallowing them without anything to drink. After a few minutes he felt his heart calming down and now he was ready to speak.
“I just got a call from my boys in OKC. Fat Jimmie is dead. Can you fucking believe this shit! He was one of my best runners out there and now he’s dead too,” Loe announced to his crew of henchmen. Everyone looked at Loe with blank stares. They all knew Jimmie to be harmless so his death came as a surprise.
“That’s not the fucking best of it. I heard it was the same bitch that stabbed my sister! The same bitch that none of you dumb asses can’t seem to find! They sent me images from Jimmie’s video cameras and I showed them to Naja. She said it’s the same little bitch that stabbed her!” Loe boomed, finally losing his cool. His heart went right back to throbbing painfully and the pain in his left arm was also back.
“Wait is this bitch on a personal mission against you boss?” One of Loe’s henchmen asked as he stared down at the blurry images of Autumn. Loe seemed to contemplate the question. He had thought about it a lot. Maybe Quinton had enlisted this bitch to ruin Loe so Quinton could take over his business. Loe was already a natural paranoid person, but now all of the coincidences were starting to give life to his conspiracy theories.
“I am starting to think this bitch is out for me because shit can’t just be a coincidence over and over again. First my sister, then my fucking cousin and my workers and now another one of my workers all the way in another fucking state?!” Loe boomed with the veins in his neck pulsing so hard they were visible even from a distance. “What the fuck ya’ll all standing around for?! I want this bitch found!! Now!!!” Loe screamed, followed by a round of uncontrollable coughing. Loe didn’t care if he was having a heart attack; he was so riled up he wanted Autumn’s head.
“The news reports are saying they think she’s trying to make it to the Mexican border so let’s think of the logical path she’d take from OKC to try to make it to the border,” one of Loe’s henchmen told the rest of the crew calmly. Everyone seemed to contemplate what he was saying. Some of them pulled out their phones and started googling shit.
“Probably Texas!” someone finally called out. Everyone else started shaking their heads in the affirmative—Texas. That made sense. It made a lot of sense.
Another one of Loe’s crew members started for the door to leave the room.
“Yo! Where you going?” Loe called out to him. The guy turned around slowly, his stomach doing flips, since everyone knew how unpredictable Loe could be when he was in this type of mood.
“I’m just going to take a piss,” the guy answered nervously. He sounded like a little kid in trouble.
“Hurry the fuck up! We got business to take care of and everybody needs to be on the same fucking page to plan this shit out,” Loe barked at him.
The guy rushed out of Loe’s office and crept out of the building through the back door. He quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number all while keeping his eyes open to his surroundings. If he got caught on that cell phone he knew his ass would’ve been cooked.
“Yo…Q. I can’t talk long man. Loe is planning on sending people to Texas. They think that’s where your girl is now. Yo, they saying she hit Jimmie too. She killing niggas left and right, man. Where you meet this chick at…she’s a bad ass,” the guy whispered into the phone.
“Thanks for the information. What part of Texas?” Quinton asked.
“Whatever part leads a nigga to the Mexican border man. You better get to that chick before these niggas because Loe wants her tortured and killed on sight. I gotta go,” the guy rambled off and then he hung up before Quinton could say anything else.
***
Quinton’s jaw rocked like crazy. He stepped on the gas in his Range Rover and pulled onto the highway. He had to find Autumn to save her life before Loe could get his hands on her. Quinton didn’t know he had a tail of DEA agents very interested in where he was traveling to and whom he was going to see.
***
Autumn’s head throbbed with pain from the lack of sleep, hunger, and just plain stress. She blinked rapidly trying to correct her vision that was starting to blur. She squinted as she read a sign that said WELCOME TO TEXAS. Autumn cracked a dry, halfhearted smile; all that she could manage once she realized she’d finally made it close to the border.
It seemed like she had been driving for a hundred years. She’d already heard on the news radio station that Jimmie’s house had been wired with surveillance tapes that showed her committing the murder, which probably also meant they’d identified the car she was in from all of the “eyes in the sky” cameras all over the streets in the hood. The news reporters had called her the deadliest of the Porter clan so far. That was kind of big in Autumn’s mind because she’d always been considered the most caring and loving one. Autumn had always been the level headed one that never wanted to see anyone get killed or hurt during the robberies and now she had been pushed to kill people left and right. It was survival of the fittest in her mind. Do or die.
Being in Texas, Autumn was so close to Mexico she could really feel it in her bones. She could actually visualize her sisters rushing her with hugs and cheers and her brother playing it cool but rewarding her with a big fat L with the best loud rolled up inside. Autumn still didn’t know if Dayvid was even out yet. So thoughts of reuniting with her sisters and figuring out how to help get her brother out was also constantly running through her mind. As she pulled towards a small gas station, she turned up the radio just to check to make sure she was still good and that the manhunt hadn’t landed near where she was. They were reporting on the same shit…Autumn’s murder spree…Fallon’s murder spree…Rain’s ruthlessness… so Autumn parked up and went inside the convenience store connected to the gas station. She wanted to take a piss, wash her face, grab some snacks and gas up the car. She was sure to pull the hat she had stolen from Jimmie’s house down low over her eyes and the oversized sweat shirt too. It was hot as hell outside, but she was not going to give up her disguise.
Autumn went inside, ordered her gas and headed to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and decided after looking at herself in the small scratched up mirror, that she looked horrible. Autumn had never let herself get run down like this. Facials, spa treatments and body maintenance were always at the top of her list of priorities. She’d realized now how much of a charming life she had been living carrying out heists and robberies and living like the rich and famous off
the proceeds. She shook her head at how low she’d fallen now. Her eyes had huge bags under them. Her skin was ashen, probably from being so hungry and thirsty and the clothes she had on made her cringe. Autumn had always been all about her fashion, so being in disguise in the homely threads she was wearing was driving her insane. “It’s all good. Once you get to Mexico it’ll be nothing but the best of everything…bet that,” she whispered reassuringly.
Once she relieved herself and got her scrambled thoughts together she left out of the bathroom. As she made her way back into the store, her steps were halted by the crackling and fuzzy sounds of a police radio. Autumn stepped back, stood against the wall, hiding, and listen.
“All cars. All cars. Be on the lookout for a white Chevy Malibu with rental car plates XXV 756. Suspect is a black female, said to have a blond ponytail, wearing what appears to be blue jeans. Suspect is to be considered armed and dangerous. Suspect wanted in three states for violent crimes. Be on the lookout.” The dispatcher’s voice came over the radio loud and clear.
Autumn heard the entire police radio transmission and now her heart was beating so painfully fast that she lost her breath. Not again! She thought. This was her second close call being that close to a police officer. She doubled back towards the bathroom. There was no way she was even going to chance taking the car again because now a BOLO had been issued for her and the car. Fuck! Now I have no transportation and I am trapped in this fucking store!
Autumn raced into the bathroom, her body slick with nervous perspiration. With labored breaths, she snatched the hat off and snatched off the blonde wig. She took her natural hair and stuffed it all under the hat, which made her kind of look like a boy. Autumn removed the sweatshirt and dumped it into the trashcan, leaving her in just a skimpy wife beater that she’d been wearing as an undergarment. Just then a loud knock on the door almost made her come out of her skin. She jumped so hard a splash of urine came out of her bladder.
“I’m using it!” Autumn snapped at the nuisance knocking on the door. Then she heard what sounded like a lot of voices. What if it was the police standing outside the door? Autumn whirled around in circles trying to figure out what to do next. Sweat broke out all over her body and her stomach cramped so badly she felt like she couldn’t stand on her legs. Autumn touched her gun and thought about shooting her way out of the bathroom, but decided she didn’t want to commit anymore murders. She wasn’t going be successful shooting her way out of the store, especially with the cops.
“Think Autumn. Think,” she pepped talked herself, flapping her hands in front of her and bouncing on her legs like she had to pee again. Closing her eyes, she saw the faces of all of her siblings.
“It’s over for me Rain, Fallon and Dayvid. There is no way out of here,” Autumn whispered as if they could somehow telepathically hear her words. A cold feeling took over her body and her lips began to tremble and her teeth began to chatter. Autumn rubbed her hands up and down her arms telling herself it was over.
“I give up,” she said with finality. “I can’t run anymore. I can’t kill anymore. I can’t fight anymore. I am at the end of this bullshit,” she said in a low murmur. With that she rushed to the bathroom door, unlocked it and opened it. Autumn’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped down a little bit.
Standing outside the door was a little girl and her mother. The mother cracked a halfhearted smile at Autumn and nodded towards the bathroom.
“Sorry for banging, but she really has to go. Didn’t want to take her in the men’s…they are always so nasty in places like this,” the mother said, pointing across the hall at the men’s bathroom. The door to the men’s bathroom was hanging open and not a soul was inside. Autumn nodded and glanced at the other bathroom. She immediately noticed that unlike the women’s bathroom, the men’s bathroom had a window inside. Her heart sped up again. She looked up and down the small hallway at the back of the store to make sure no one was coming. She listened for a few seconds and she could hear that the police officer was still there. In fact, it sounded like more than one police officer was there now. Autumn rushed into the men’s bathroom and locked the door behind her. She had just gotten an unprecedented second chance. She wasn’t ready to give up after all.
“That was either God, Nanny, or my siblings looking out for me,” Autumn whispered to herself. She climbed on the small radiator under the window and hoisted herself up. The first time she tried she slipped back down and cut herself on a nail. “Ouch! Fuck!” Autumn growled, sucking the blood off her bleeding wrist. She inhaled and exhaled and tried it again. This time she was able to get up on the windowsill. Autumn had a hard time but with some twisting of her torso she finally squeezed through the window and tumbled onto the gravel outside. When she hit the rocky ground she had the wind knocked out of her. She was dazed for a few minutes, but not long enough for anyone to find her and not long enough to keep her from moving forward with her escape plan.
After a few minutes, Autumn scrambled to her feet and took off running into the woods behind the store. With no car and no destination, Autumn decided she would walk in the direction that she assumed was the way to the border. Autumn made up her mind to walk until she couldn’t walk anymore.
After nearly eight hours of walking, Autumn’s feet were swollen and her back felt like someone had hit her in it with a sledge hammer. Autumn knew she needed to rest or she would pass out and probably be found by the police.
While trudging along the side of the road, she looked across to see a few stores and scattered restaurants. Autumn opted to finally stop at a small, greasy spoon diner at the side of the road. Her mind was muddled with thoughts of a warm shower and comfortable bed, but going to a hotel at this point was too risky. Food was essential too because she couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten a decent meal.
Autumn had been thinking about Quinton a lot. She still couldn’t shake how he’d spoken to her the last time she had seen him. She also couldn’t shake the deep feelings that kept popping into her mind for him. Autumn kept imagining how life would’ve been had she been able to settle down with him, become his wife, and have his kids. It was a fantasy for her to believe she could ever have a regular love life with the family and profession she had. It made her sad inside to realize how much she had given up, even as a young girl, to live a life of crime. Along the way Autumn promised herself never to fall in love again if it hurt this badly.
Once Autumn climbed the six steps up to the diner door, she stumbled to the bathroom before she tried to get a table. She was so tired that she could barely squat over the public toilet, so she just flopped down onto the dirty public toilet without a care about the germs. Autumn closed her tired eyes for a few minutes as her bladder unloaded. Being on the run and living on the streets had sure given her a new perspective on life.
Once she relieved herself, she moved slowly to the bank of sinks. Autumn splashed iced cold water on her face. “Wake up. Wake the fuck up and make this shit happen. You’re a fucking Porter. You ain’t about to die in Texas, just a couple hundred miles from the border,” Autumn told herself, speaking through her teeth like Rain would’ve done if she was there seeing Autumn crumble like she was doing.
As soon as the words left Autumn’s mouth, the tears also left her eyes. She broke down into quaking sobs that shook her entire aching body. This couldn’t be life. What had happened to them all? It was like here today…gone tomorrow. One minute she and her siblings were riding high, living a life most people their ages only dreamed of. One minute they had millions in cash in duffle bags ready to quit the game. One minute Autumn was the most sought after chick in the city of Baltimore next to her sister Fallon. Within a flash, or more like a blink of an eye, everything had been snatched away. Someone in the city had to have snitched. The more Autumn thought on it, the more she figured that it had to be someone close to them. No one else knew about the new safe house and the Porter siblings’ plans to leave. It had definitely crossed her mind that Smitty might’ve tu
rned on them, but each time the thought even popped into her head, Autumn would shake it off. Nah, not Smitty. He taught us everything we know and he was like our family. Autumn never thought the ones closest to you might one day grow jealous of you.
Being on the run, with no real place to go and no way to contact the only family she had in the world wasn’t exactly what she had envisioned for herself as a little girl. She hadn’t really ever envisioned any hard times for herself while she was growing up and rolling in stolen money. Autumn never thought further than her next lick, but she did always fantasize about living a normal life. Autumn had to wonder if this was fate that she and her siblings were suffering was karma finally catching their asses. She also wondered about just how much she had really given up for the life she had lived.
Autumn left the bathroom and walked over to the counter. The diner wasn’t really crowded and only a few booths were occupied. She slid up onto one of the bar stools at the diner’s counter, barely able to keep her eyes open. She sat there because she wanted to get a good view and be able to hear the television that was playing behind the counter. Autumn ordered eggs, turkey bacon and cheese grits with a cup of coffee. She needed the caffeine to stay awake. As she waited, she peered up at the small television behind the counter and there she saw her face again. This time she was being added to the FBI’s most wanted list and there were two U.S. Marshalls giving a press conference about catching her and Fallon. Autumn was thinking the feds were so stupid. She had been hiding in plain sight the entire time…right under their nose and had still eluded the capture. She wasn’t complaining though.
Autumn pulled her hat lower and kept her head down so that the diner staff wouldn’t recognize her before she ate her food and rested up for the next leg of her journey. She planned to scarf down the food and hit the road before too many people came into the nearly empty diner.