“We all mad as hell. I need your help, you understand me? Now don’t go acting crazy until I tell you to go crazy,” I pulled him by the collar to me. He was so close to the bubblalicious bubble gum he chewed tickled my nose.
“I got you. So what the fuck we doing then? ’Cause, this shit ain’t going to ride, not long as it’s breath in my body,” his jaw clenched, and his fist balled.
“There are five guys involved. They were mingling with the crowd. From what I can tell, they ain’t professionals. Street-level type shit.”
“Imma put my scouts out there and see what comes back. Somebody knows something about this shit. They fucked with the wrong ones, goddamn it!”
“Listen, I know you fucked up right now, but I need you to keep a business head about this. I can’t be putting out your fires. You hear me? She didn’t train you like that, ok?” I patted his back and hugged him tightly.
His body shook a little, but he stood firm.
“I promise you won’t have to worry about me. But, you better worry about the mothafuckas that did this. I’ll let you know the first thing I find out. I gotta get out of here,” He straightened his coat.
“Start with the street Tanz. Don’t let them know we are looking for them,”
I said before he left the dining room.
“I can’t stand them. Flashy muthatfuckas,” He continued out the door to his car. He sped off down the driveway.
One thing I couldn’t afford was for anything to happen to my family while I figured this shit out. I wasn’t about to lose anyone else to this bullshit. In the kitchen, I found my mama and Mama G. I joined them at the island where they sat.
“Baby, I know you are hurting right now, but….” Zalan started.
“I’m hurting, but this doesn’t feel right to me,” I put my head in my hands.
“It ain’t right. Somebody is going to pay for my baby’s blood. I put that on everything I love,” Mama G’s tears rolled down her face as she sipped her drink.
“I keep getting this strange feeling. I can usually feel everything she feels. I don’t feel like her spirit is gone,” I whispered.
“Well, hell. We saw her laid out up there. She was fucking beautiful, wasn’t she, y’all?” Mama G slurred slightly.
Zalan made a helluva drink. Mama G was on her way to being drunk, and before she got there, I wanted to get them settled.
“Y’all have to get out of here. You can’t go home until I say it’s safe. Y’all understand me?” I snapped out of a trance.
“What do you mean I can’t go home? I have work and prior engagements, DellaKae. I simply can’t stay here forever,” my mama protested.
“Not now, ok? I’ll make sure you are escorted home to get your things. I need you to go to the beach house and watch the kids until I can figure this shit out,” I stared at her dead in the eyes. I hoped mine showed how deadly serious I was.
“Kae?” my mama said.
“I need to find out what the fuck is going on. I don’t know if they’re coming after me or any one of you next, but I damn sure won’t leave shit to chance. You said when I needed you, you would be there.”
“You know I love every chance I get with the kids. Well, now that’s settled, when do I go get my stuff?” she asked as if she had made a final decision.
She was good at doing that shit.
“I’ll arrange for the Godfathers to escort you, Mama G, and the kids home. Pack for a vacation. I’m going to go talk to the kids,” I walked away before either one of them could protest any further.
I found it’s easier to tell them what to do than to ask. My mama would always find a way to make it seem like she called the shots. She could have it. Before I hit the bottom step, I stared at them as they watched TV. They didn’t look like babies anymore.
“Listen, guys. You know I love you, right?”
They nodded their heads.
“I’m going to be honest with you like always.”
“Mama, are you leaving us too?” my daughter, Talin, asked.
“For a little while. I gotta figure things out, and I don’t want you guys to be worried. I need to make sure you are safe.”
“You don’t have to hide it from us. We are not babies anymore. We know it was no accident mommy was murdered. Are you gonna find out by who?” Kari’s son, Imari, held my gaze.
The four of them will be turning 13 next year. He was right. They were not babies anymore. He and his twin brother looked and acted so much like DaKari. For a moment, I was lost for words. Their eyes made my heartbreak for them. But, I kept my emotions under control. I owed it to them and to myself to figure out who took their mommy away.
“Mama, who would want to hurt Mommy?” Khari asked.
“Don’t y’all get it? She ain’t coming back, and now I’m going to lose my mama ’cause somebody took my mommy,” cried my other daughter, T’Lynn.
“It’s ok. Let it out.” I hugged and rocked her, “I’m coming back. Don’t y’all ever think for a second I won’t come back for you.”
“We know whatever it is y’all do can get dangerous. So just promise you’ll be careful, please? We can’t lose you too.” Talin spoke with the level-headedness of a little me. It was scary.
“You go do what you have to do. We’ll take care of ourselves and grandmas’. I mean, it’s what we do ’cause we are a family, right? We’re Romaines.” Imari piped up, sounding like Kari.
“That’s right, son. We do. We are a family, and Nothing is going to ever change. I’m going to make this right, I swear,” I kissed Imari’s forehead.
“Is he going to come and take us away?” Khari asked.
“Who?” I asked.
“My father. I don’t want to go with him. I want to stay with you, Mama G, and Grandma Z.” the trepidation in his voice was real. He sounded terrified.
“Hey, listen to me,” I took his face in my hands, “I promise with every fiber of my being that y’all ain’t going anywhere. Nothing or no one is going to take you away from me, not even him, Ok?” I stared at him directly in his golden fire eyes. I kissed and hugged each of them.
“You’re going to the beach house for a while. The Godfathers are going to take you home to pack. I want you guys to pack like we taught you. Make sure you get everything.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.
I promised them I wouldn’t be gone long and they would have a fantastic time. Each of them understood death; I’d made sure like my mother had done for me. The sooner I figured this shit out, the sooner I’d get back to them. I let the Godfathers know the new game plan. They had three hours to get back and secure the safe house for the night. I headed back to the kitchen.
“The Godfathers are going to take you home and then the kids. They know what they are doing. Trust them. I gotta go.”
“Where are you going? I don’t think that…” my mama started.
“Do as I ask. I don’t have time to argue with you. This is business now; it’s personal. I’m going to handle it.”
“I’m not trying to argue with you. I’m worried about you. You’re still my daughter, no matter what the hell it is you do,” her stress showed.
“I’m sorry. I’m on edge, and until this is resolved, I’m going to stay on edge. You can be considered a target in somebody’s endgame.”
“I stay strapped. Let somebody come for me. Imma blast that ass. Don’t worry, Za. I got us.” Mama G pulled her .357 from her purse.
I put her hand down and guided the gun back into her bag.
“Slow down, cowgirl, that is what the Godfathers are for. Y’all are going to the island.”
“The island?” my mama asked.
“You’re going to the beach house in Elounda,” I replied quickly.
“What?!” they said in unison, wide-eyed.
“Didn’t I say no arguing with me? Yes, that is where you’re going. I want y’all as far away as possible.”
“Where the fuck is Elounda? I ain’t never heard
of that shit before,” Mama G wasn’t slurring anymore.
“It’s an island near Crete. You know, Greece,” my mama answered.
“Girl, I ain’t never been to Greece. We all can’t jet-set like you,” Mama G rolled her eyes.
“Don’t try me. You can go anywhere. You’re too scared to go anywhere that is not on this continent. I’ve never been to the island, but I am sure if the girls own a house there, it’s beautiful and safe,” She lovingly gazed at me.
She tried, and I appreciated her for it. She was on my side; they would make it without killing each other. I hugged them quickly and was out the door and down the driveway before they knew it. I needed to get back to the letter. It was the only clue to finding out what had happened to DaKari. The clue to whose neck I had to shit down. Did my security check before I headed downstairs. And retrieved the letter and ring from my drawer. I rolled the gold ring around in my fingers. Unfolded the letter and began to read. The more I did, the smaller the room felt. I couldn’t catch my breath.
‘For the time being, she is safe- only on the strength of the business. You buried a doppelganger. No one crosses me without consequence. There is someone in your organization that owes me, and I want what is mine. I will keep coming for you and everyone you know until I get what I am owed. The endless legion of hell hounds will stay at your door. If I don’t get my money, I won’t stop them from tearing at her bones. If I find the rat before you, they will die like rats together. Don’t make me wait too long. Tick Tock Tick Tock.'
The letter was signed with an orange diamond starburst stamp of the Tanzanites. Would they be involved in this street-level beef? Apparently, it’s not street-level anymore. They would not stop, and neither would I. If it was blood they wanted, then it was blood they would get.
“Ernie, sorry to bother you so late. I need you to get something done for me,” I said as soon as he picked up.
“It’s never too late for you, doll face,” he cleared his throat.
“I need my family on their way to Elounda first thing in the morning. I already transferred your fee to your account and a little extra for the trouble,” I wired him $150,000 as I spoke.
“You know I’d do anything for you.”
“Make sure they get there safely. It’s life or death.”
“Say no more. I’ll have the plane ready by five in the morning. I’ll be ready when they get here.”
“Thank you, E-Man. You’re a lifesaver.”
“Anytime, doll face.” he hung up.
If there was one pilot that was bat shit crazy, it’s Ernie. He used to fly cocaine from South East Asia to Miami during the Vietnam war. He’d seen more combat action than I cared to hear him tell about. However, if you wanted to get anywhere on the globe undetected, he was your man. Ernie was a good friend to have. I called the Godfathers and informed him to have the family at the airstrip by 5:30 AM. At my desk, I tried to figure out how I’d gotten to this place. How did I miss some sign that people were after my wife? Had I become so jaded I couldn’t see immediate danger in my own backyard? If she knew something, she would’ve told me; we have no secrets.
I locked the letter and ring in my drawer then climbed the stairs to the third floor. Everything reminded me of her. I peeled off my clothes and turned the shower on. In the mirror, Kari’s face stared back at me or through me was more like it. Her spirit was with me, even as a faint heartbeat. The steam filled the bathroom and clouded the mirror. In the shower, before I knew it, I began to cry my eyes out. The tears and the weight crashed into my body with the hot water. A moan of agony deep from my soul escaped my lips. The last time I cried like that was at my grandpa’s funeral. I was 12, and since then, death had not touched me quite the same until now.
The drive to find Kari grew as the tears flowed. She was out there and was alive. Nothing but death would keep me from her; not a goddamn thing. I had watched the life drain out of thousands of eyes in my day, and whoever this was wouldn’t be any different. I oiled my body, put on some clothes, ready to go at a minute’s notice. Checked on my babies and mamas and talked to them before they went to bed. My back to the headboard. I put my .45 in my lap and checked to make sure my .38 was in the drawer of the nightstand.
“Kari’s alive for now,” I said when he answered the phone.
“What the fuck is going on?” he was shocked.
“Are you by yourself?”
There was a brief pause, and he came back on the line.
“I am, now; what the hell is going on? She’s alive?” He whispered.
“Yes, she is. The Tanzanites have her. I don’t know if it is Femi or one of his brothers. Whoever it is, I’ll find them.”
My tone didn’t portray my fear or worry.
“I’m on my way. We’ll find her together. How the fuck…” the urgency in his voice was palpable.
“Doppelganger. Now go get some sleep. Ernie’s going to take them to the island in the morning.”
“You shouldn’t be alone right now,” sincerity surrounded his words.
“Someone owes them money. According to the letter, they’re in our organization. We don’t have an organization, and we don’t deal in products, so what the fuck is that shit?” I whispered through clenched teeth.
Not sure why I whispered. If I yelled to the top of my lungs, there was not anyone close enough to hear it.
“The hell?” Black said in shock.
“Houston’s on it. When he finds something, he’ll let me know. Do you think Femi would put his people on this?”
“I don’t put anything past anyone when money is involved. You can’t trust anyone who says anything different. Did it say how much is owed?” The click of his boots against the pavement echoed around him.
“No, but we don’t have much time to find her. It said the ‘hell hounds’ will keep coming. Another reason why we gotta get the family out of here.”
“Dallas is checking into who was on those bikes on the trail. We can work this from both ends.” A car started.
“Where are you going?”
I knew the answer.
“I’m on my way to you. I don’t care what you say. How are the kids?”
“Surprisingly, they are handling it better than I thought. Imari wants me to find who killed his mommy. Khari’s scared he will have to go to live with his father. Talin’s ready to take control and run the family, and T’Lynn’s scared she will lose everybody.”
“They have been through enough today,” he sighed.
“Our kids are stronger than we give them credit for. But, honestly, they aren’t babies anymore. Hell, they told me that themselves,” I sighed too.
“You’re an awesome mother, and I know you’ll make the right choice when it comes to them. I’m pulling up.” his car door slammed, and the garage door to the kitchen opened.
I came downstairs, as he unarmed the system, and met him in the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly and gently in place. Black had a way that made me feel safe. Even when I didn’t know, I was scared. I’m glad he didn’t listen to me sometimes because I shouldn’t be alone. I didn’t always listen to myself. He kissed my forehead.
“Don’t stare at me like that.”
“Ok, so how about this.” He changed to a fake GQ magazine pose.
“Remember, Mr. Swimsuit model? That is how we ended up with the girls in the first place,” I chuckled at the memory.
“You’re an amazing woman, and if something like this happened to me, you’d be the one I’d want on the case. You’re like a bloodhound. DaKari knows you’re on the job, and she’s waiting for you.”
The tears stung my eyes as they welled up. I turned my back to him and looked out of the window into the dark forest. Sometimes I swear shit stared back at me, but Nothing was out there. Finally, he walked up, wrapped his arms around me, and rocked me slowly.
“I don’t understand it. How could she not know? How did they catch her off guard? None of this makes sense. She’s alway
s careful.” tears slid down my face.
“I don’t know; none of this makes sense. Kari was always preaching about paying attention. What was she working on?” He turned me around and wiped my tears away.
“As far as I know, Nothing. The Broker hasn’t called in a couple weeks. It was ok because we were enjoying the moment’s rest,” I sniffed.
“Let’s go check her desk. Maybe she was working on something she didn’t want you to know about.”
“She has never done that before. It’s dangerous in this business, you know that. We need to know everything the other is doing. For shit like this. Goddamn it!” I punched the wall hard as hell and left an indent. I was slipping into the abyss.
“It won’t hurt, and who knows, we may find something interesting, to say the least.”
Downstairs at Kari’s desk, we combed over papers and files. I showed him the letter and the ring. As he read, the panic shifted in him. His passion was enough to set the room on fire. When he set his mind to something, trying to change it was a lesson in futility. He loved her too and would help me bring her home.
“There is no ransom number specifically,” I picked up some papers from a stack on her desk.
“It means he will have to reach out again or send another message some way,” he read a note from her desk.
“It said that the rat will know the amount. So whoever took the money knows how much it is. The sooner we find the rat, the sooner we get her back.” I sifted through more papers.
Chapter 2
Edge of the Desert
-Femi-
My three brothers and I sat in a conference room of the Black Opal Hotel. We owned it, and everyone employed here worked exclusively for the Tanzanite Family. From the bellhop to the master chef was some form of an assassin. The Black Opal, our Fort Knox, sat on the outskirts of Jewel City. Some of its rooms faced the Carnation Desert, our personal graveyard in our backyard. The beautiful sunrise showed its vastness. In Jewel City, there is not a safer place; no one would search for you here. They would not make it back to tell the story. It was not as beautiful as the Serengeti back home, but in the States, it would do fine. We lived in The Black Opal with our families, including my mother. It had forty floors above ground, five below ground, and top security was of the utmost importance. Amare, my father, helped build this Empire and put in a lot of work- both clean and dirty- to get to the head. My mother, Akinyi, was right by his side. He left big shoes to fill. As the elder son, I intended to make him proud of our family and me. I studied the faces of my brothers as we sat around the table.
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