Lavonne shrugged. “Chi Chi confessed she worked the streets. Her original game plan coming from Bronx to Los Angeles didn’t go well in the modeling gig and she found dancing was her way of survival. She faced some heavy hitters, bad men, and tried to rob them, but she discovered they were marked. Chipped. Cashless—all on this chip in their hand,” Lavonne’s voice cracked. She sounded frightened at the thought as she spoke.
“After we got away from them, they took me to an abandoned apartment building. Can you believe this?”
“Yea. I do.” Roya comforted her.
“One of the women captured was working for them under these brutal conditions and it all started to come back to her, who she was, and that she had a daughter. They drugged her. I remember someone came behind me and put this thing over my nose—boy did it smell.” Lavonne waved her hands above her nose.
“But I saw Chi Chi in action. She knocked out one of the guys. Can you believe it?”
“What—they found you in the apartment building?”
Lavonne nodded yes. “We actually ran back to her old neighborhood, I found out when we escaped. And we saw cops outside of her apartment complex.”
“Oh my.”
“Chi-Chi told me to run the opposite direction to save my life as she ran towards the patrol car to bug them.”
“Smart girl.”
“I debugged the phone line. I learned that working in the law firm in Los Angeles and my guy friend’s a computer expert for a database company. He told me how to debug phones and computers not to track you.” Lavonne bellowed.
Roya hugged her and wiped her tears with her fingers at the stop sign. “I’m so happy you’re alright. Joshua will be on his way.”
“I hope so,” Lavonne cried and grew louder to sobs.
“We can track these crooks down and figure out how to handle this! We have to get wiser and be two steps ahead of these critters!”
“Best for us to get out of Dodge. You may have to go back in hiding, Sis,” Lavonne started to cry.
“No telling what I would’ve done to them if they’d hurt you,” Roya swerved the car into Sondrea’s curved driveway.
Lavonne sobbed, relieving her nervous energy.
Roya’s phone rang. She dug in her pants pocket to retrieve her mobile phone. Before the call went to her voice mail, she answered, “Hello.”
“We know your whereabouts. I thought it was you I had, Roya.”
“What are you doing? Who is this?” Roya raged.
“But I discovered it was your sister, Lavonne. Don’t worry pretty lady, we will capture you all! I will have your head…your head, you hear me!” the computerized voice said.
“Who is this?” She asked again. His voice started to come back to her recollection. “Your voice sounds familiar! I’m not down with games right now. You will never get me, my sister, or any of my family members again if I can help it!” She shouted.
Lavonne jumped out of the car. Sondrea stormed out of the front door to Lavonne, embracing her, and kissing her cheeks. Roya didn’t move out of her car seat.
“Luke. This is the “Luke” you spoke to a couple of months back. Does it ring a bell?” She confirmed his voice, saying, “Oh, yeah, you’re Lisa Black’s husband. You’re sick, you hear me. You’re crazy! You will not touch my family ever again. You hear me!”
“Oh, I’m supposed to be scared of your little Alliance Crusaders friends. Your superheroes! They’re punks. Remember, they didn’t save you last time.”
Roya disconnected the call, not hearing anything else he had to say.
“Girl, who were you arguing with on the phone?” Lavonne came back to the car as Roya opened the driver’s side door.
“Luke. I need a computer, tablet, and find out how this guy looks. Come on, hurry.”
“You can use mine,” Sondrea flagged her to hurry inside.
“Hold up. Bernard here? My kids? Mom?”
“What’s wrong with you sis?” She touched Roya’s forehead. “No fever. Hope you’re not delusional. I let you take the keys to my car, but you brought Lavonne home safely, and weren’t followed. So, I’ll give you a pass.”
“Give me a pass!” Roya snapped. “I have to find a hotel or something for the time being since I don’t trust Bernard.”
“Snap out of it, Sis. You’re not going in there talking crazy with my newlywed husband inside!” Sondrea demanded and snapped her finger.
“My kids are still in your house, and yes, if he had something to do with this, I will have a say!” Roya stepped in the mansion, and Lavonne followed behind.
Sondrea took Roya to the computer room, and Roya tapped her foot impatiently. Sondrea quickly logged on. She glanced at Roya and Lavonne and left quickly. Lavonne attempted to call Mark. After several busy signals, he didn’t answer her call.
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t he answer?” Lavonne looked at her phone, and shook her head at Roya.
“What! No,” Roya screamed.
“Dang, calm down, Mark is just not answering his phone. I pray he is alright.”
“He’ll call you back. He may have tapped your phone too, on his way, trust me,” Roya offered. She sat at the computer and tapped at the keys.
“Mom. You made it!” Tavon entered the room.
“Lavonne. Auntie Lavonne is okay,” Javon raced to his aunt’s side and hugged her shoulders. “Praise God.”
“I heard the noise. Glad everyone is okay,” Bernard stood, leaning on the threshold of the door.
“I bet you are,” Roya muttered.
“What did you say? Roya?” Sondrea raised her voice in suspicion as she stood nearly nose to nose with Roya.
Roya refused to answer.
“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Lavonne pondered.
“I won’t go there with Roya. This is my day. My moment. Come on, honey,” she ordered, yanking on Bernard’s arm as they left the room.
“Mom, what’s going on, now?” Tavon asked and drew closer to the desk.
“I can’t tell you now.” Roya waved at him. “Joy, is she…”
“She’s knocked out.” Javon offered.
“Really, Jesus.” Roya rose from her seat, pushing it to the side, ready to race out of the room.
“Sleep—mom. Not literally knocked out,” Javon said loudly.
“Boy, don’t you ever do that again!” She stomped her foot, nearly ready to slap him.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Chill bro.” Tavon raised his hand for Javon to stop talking.
“Let me look up this jerk, Luke.”
“Who’s Luke?” Tavon asked.
“This guy from the old neighborhood. He called me while I was outside. He said he had something to do with Lavonne’s kidnapping, because he thought she was me!”
“We don’t know that, Roya.” Lavonne folded her arms.
“Oh, yes we do. He told me. You didn’t talk to the idiot.”
“Here’s the database. Ah. Ha. Here’s his photo—now assigned as a Special agent. Task Force. Hold on. Why did this picture of B…come up, and shows there assigned to—” Roya voice rose in shock. “Come closer.” Her voice lowered to a whisper as she waved to them.
“No!” They said in unison.
“Mom, how did you find this info?”
“Database leak in the agency. I learned from Joshua. Sol.” A lone tear ran down her cheek.
“Okay, Mom.” Javon rubbed her back.
“They’re working together,” she whispered, “Assignment is your Aunt—”
“What are you guys talking about?” Sondrea stopped at the door.
“Um. Nothing,” Roya said quickly.
“The look on all of your faces is priceless. There’s something, and I wanna get to the bottom of this,” Sondrea sassed, placing her hand on her hip.
“Oh no, a virus on this site,” Roya said quickly, pounding the off button, then pulled the plug and the battery, trying to stop it from damaging the computer. “I don�
�t know what happened,” Roya said, looking at Sondrea apologetically, as the screen flickered back to life. Roya looked at the screen, startled. “How? With no power…”
Sondrea said, “It’s a new computer, made to give you the last site you were at when it crashes. It saves people the frustration of having to find another way to get immediate information.”
Roya’s eyes widened as she looked at Sondrea. Oh, Lord, protect my sister. “Does it crash often, sis?”
“I got a quick glimpse of those two men.” Lavonne commented, pointing at the computer. Roya swiveled herself toward the screen.
“Think, Lavonne. You said you remember faces, not names. Come on,” Roya said, attempting to draw it out of her.
“Okay, at first, they did wear masks when we were in the van. When I went back at the house, nope there was a fat, greasy-looking man, and when I ran to the payphone—hold on. I see another picture freezing on the computer—that’s him.”
Roya nodded, “That’s Luke. He’s built like an athlete with a hint of body-building wrestler. I searched him first.”
“I did see a man peeping me out who chased me. I hid until you came. I wanted to make sure he cleared the spot before I came out.” She cried. “I didn’t want him to grab me before I got to your car.”
“Hold on. Now that I recall, when you ran to the car, there were two men chasing you. I got a glimpse of both of them, but one of them stuck in my head. Actually, this looks like him.” The picture of Luke still flashed on the screen. “I think it was Luke chasing you when you ran to the car!” Roya yelled.
“Fix my computer!” Sondrea shouted in anger.
“Okay, okay. I’ll try to reboot it.”
“I was so scared. I closed my eyes. I thought you were going to hit one of them or crash into one of those cars when you went through the red light. We were blessed there was no heavy traffic when that happened. Cars came after now that I think about it. Thank goodness,” Lavonne spoke so fast, she turned her original experience upside down.
“Are you scared? You’re shivering like it is happening all over again, Aunt Lavonne!” Tavon held her. “You feel cold. You’re shaking.”
“Okay, Lavonne, so you weren’t able to see the guys in the ski masks that were driving the van, but you said, you got away from the captors at the apartment building. And you got to a phone to call me.”
“Jesus. I am sorry to hear this, Von.” Sondrea hugged her. She sniffled.
“So, I’m wondering how you ran into a fat, greasy man…and why was Luke in California if he resides in Florida? This doesn’t add up.” Roya said as she puzzled through the snippets of the information she had.
Lavonne paced the floor nervously. Roya stood up to embrace her, and said, “Go back and see what Bernard is doing, Sondrea.”
“What!”
“Shhh. Please. See if he is contacting anyone at this time.” Roya demanded in a loud stage whisper. “Go now!”
“Okay,” She slowly left, looking back at them as she entered the hallway.
“Let’s go!” Lavonne said frantically. She stormed out of the office room.
“Hold up girl! I’m coming. Wait, I have to call Josh,” She dialed his number on speed dial. He picked up on the first ring.
“What’s up, Roya?”
“Where are you? I couldn’t wait on you. I picked up my sister at the spot. We’re back at the house.” Roya answered.
“No, they’ll track you there. Sondrea’s home, right?”
“Too late,” she responded, “Let me put you on speakerphone so the boys can hear you.”
“I have a crew tracking these men. We’re finding out other disturbing news,” Joshua exclaimed.
“What now?” Roya whined as tears began to flow.
“Mom!” The boys said in unison.
“No. There are thirty agents in Los Angeles.” Joshua said.
“How do you know that information?” Roya pondered, racing to the front door to the house, flagging at her children to get out.
“Mom, I’ll get Joy.”
“Hurry!”
“Are you taking Sondrea’s car?” Lavonne asked.
“No, while on the call, I had already used my app for a self-driver.”
“They’re here,” Lavonne opened the door.
Jewel rushed up behind Joy and Tavon.
“Momma, I don’t have time to explain. Sunny, let’s go.”
“What about Sondrea?”
“We’ll worry about her and B later.”
“We can’t just leave like this,” Jewel fired.
“Yes. We absolutely can. It’s not just their honeymoon night, we’ve got to leave. I’ll explain in the car,” Roya flagged her to move quickly.
Lavonne sat on the passenger side. The others hopped in the back of the van. Joshua’s signal failed on his cell phone, disconnecting the call. Roya placed the cell phone in her cup holder in the car.
The phone rang, and Lavonne picked it up, punching the speaker icon, and listened.
“Okay, Josh. I’ll tell my sister. We will meet you where? Let me write this down.” She pressed the memo pad on the phone and tapped the buttons to put it in. “Hold on. Repeat that. Okay, I got it. Thanks.” Lavonne said.
“What did he say?” Roya asked.
“He said not to go to the hotel. He and the team’ll meet us at Sondrea’s house.”
“What? We just left there. It’s not safe. He told us it’s not—” Roya trailed off, thinking as she drove.
“You’re over there plotting, aren’t you Roya?” Lavonne noticed the distracted look on Roya’s face.
Roya didn’t answer her question. She stopped the car. She stayed focused. She thought since Joshua and his team players would be with him, they could get the truth out of Bernard before it was too late. She’d love to beat the crap out of him. She would let him get a taste of torture like her family did, if only to get answers she wanted to hear.
CHAPTER 19
Misery Loves Company
Joshua
Joshua had reached Yosef and was ecstatic that Yosef was back in action. He had Yosef, Derrick, and Isaiah tag along, and three other militant group leaders. The private jet landed sooner than he intended. A Chevy Tahoe was waiting when they safely landed in Los Angeles. They drove quickly to Sondrea’s house with the help of the GPS system.
Joshua wondered if Bernard was a spy for CIA and only marrying Sondrea as a front, or fully affiliated with Task Force Special Ops, intending to destroy the whole family. Would he spill his guts or keep it concealed from Josh and the others?
“Joshua. He may not spill his information. He’s a Task Force agent. Trained to endure pain, not sharing confidential info with allies, spies, or anyone for that matter,” Agent Derrick “Snoop” blurted in the silence.
“I hear you.” Joshua said.
“I’ve still got all the tools needed though. We’ll wait for you out here, just in case there’s a problem,” Agent Snoop offered.
“Lie Detector. Mechanical tools to get him to talk. I like that.” Joshua cracked a side smile.
Sondrea
“B. I am not sure why no one is answering their phones. They just up and left without saying good-bye.” Sondrea paced the bedroom floor.
“It’s okay.” He reached for her hand and pulled her close to his side.
“Who were you talking to?”
“My friend. To tell him about the wedding.”
“Of all the people we invited, he wasn’t there,” She said slowly, sensing a lie.
He shook his head no.
“What’s your friend’s name?” She gazed into his dark-brown eyes.
“Who? Luke.”
She shivered. She didn’t want to let on that she knew that name. Roya. It cannot be true.
“You act like you heard me say, Devil, Baby. You just jumped out of your bones,” he teased.
“Oh, babe. Not sure what got into me. I am fine.” She shooed. She couldn’t let him know she heard this na
me earlier from Roya. She had no indication now what Bernard was capable of, and she worried that her failure to heed her sister’s warning would be their undoing. She raised her eyes. Please help, Lord?
There was a loud knock at the door, and then someone pressing the doorbell, ringing endlessly until Sunny finally tried the door and opened it.
Sondrea yelled, “Who is it!”
“It’s Roya and Lavonne,” Roya called as she pushed past Sunny.
Before Sunny was able to lock the door, it was pushed open. Sunny recognized Joshua; it had been awhile she last laid eyes on him. She was delighted to see Isaiah, who she hadn’t seen since Solomon’s death. But she couldn’t keep her eyes off a handsome dark-brown hunk of a man. More than anything, she longed to know who he was. Before she could open her mouth, he shook her hand and said, “I’m Yosef. And who do I have the pleasure to know?”
Sunny cheesed, “I’m Sunny. Nice to meet you, Yo-sef.”
“Yes, the pleasure is all mine. Your smile lightens up the room. You are a ray of sunshine, Sunny,” He said as he followed behind the others.
Sunny fixated on Yosef’s physique as she closed the door after they all stepped in. Her heart puttered when her eyes again found Yosef in Sondrea’s living room. He was mesmerizing, her hormones were raging inside, and she didn’t want anyone in the room to see how he had her spellbound. She knew deep in her spirit that the Word of God spoke against the lust of the eyes, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off this handsome African man. She loved his accent too.
Sondrea hollered, “Who are all these people? Roya, answer me. All of these people followed behind you and Lavonne into my house! Is this your Alliance Crusaders crew? Are you all accusing Bernard for something since he’s with the CIA? You already found Lavonne when you stopped by here last night, and everything should be perfectly fine! I’m tired of all this crazy back and forth. I’m done!”
“What the hell are you talking about, Sondrea?” Roya spun around and followed her statement with a hiss. “God excuse me for using a curse word, but I cannot believe that you would marry that man after our sister was missing in action.”
She threw her hands up and paced in frustration, “Then, you have the nerve to say that everything is fine. Do you know how you sound? You are a selfish…” Roya bit her lip not to say another cussword as she got close to Sondrea.
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