The Safe House

by Kiki Swinson

  “Got it,” I assured him. Once again, he ended the phone call.

  Anxiety stricken, I tried to collect my thoughts. How was I going to proceed with my plan of getting my mother safely out of harm’s way? While I was going over my plans in my head, Rich said, “You think my boys outside are going to let that cat walk out of here with me?”

  “We shall see,” I commented, and then I started stuffing the money I took from Rich into my pocketbook. When I finally saw my mother, I was going to hand her my bag with the money inside. She didn’t know this, but she would find out later that she was gonna need this money to live on after I was gone. I mean, this was the least I could do for her, knowing that none of her family was going to be around to help her go on with her life. I just hoped that she did the right thing and went into hiding. She could be a stubborn lady at times and she didn’t like change. Hopefully, after realizing that I was gone, she would move on with her life.

  “So you just gon’ drag me into your shit?” Rich asked.

  “I didn’t drag you into anything. You volunteered for this job. And now you don’t wanna get caught in the middle of it? I mean, you was talking all that tough-guy shit since yesterday. And now today, you wanna sing a different tune. You’re a weak-ass, wannabe gangsta!”

  “Oh, so you think you’re tough shit because you shot me in the leg? Bitch, I’d murder your ass right now if I could get my hands on a gun.”

  “You had a gun on you when I walked into the house, but you didn’t know how to hold on to it,” I replied sarcastically.

  “Give it back to me and I’ll show you how I’ll use it,” he insisted, giving me the look of death.

  “Nah, I’ll pass. You look better on the floor with a bullet wound in your leg. I figured it would be better to injure you enough so that you wouldn’t resist what was about to come,” I warned him.

  “You fucking ho! I knew I should’ve let Monty rape your ass! But nah, I caught myself looking out for your stinky ass! If I hadn’t stopped Monty, he would’ve made you his bitch! And he would’ve beat the hell out of you!” Rich roared. He tried to get up from the floor, but the pain from his leg wouldn’t let him. He even looked around to see if he could find something to throw at me, but nothing was in reach. He was becoming more and more angry by the minute.

  I don’t know why, but I started laughing at him. I was chuckling like I was looking at a comedy on TV. I swear, I don’t know where it came from, but everything he was doing had cracked me up. “Oh, so you think this shit is funny, huh?” He gritted his teeth.

  “Yeah, it is,” I replied nonchalantly.

  “How the fuck can you laugh when you got a motherfucker coming over here to kill us?”

  “Because I’ve already accepted the fact that I’m going to die. And where I’m going, I’m gonna be very happy,” I replied, and smiled while I was doing it.

  “You’re sick, bitch! And—” he tried to say.

  “Hold that thought,” I said, cutting him off in midsentence. I pulled Mike’s cell phone back out of my pocket and made another call. “Agent Sims, this is Misty,” I said, and then I put the call on speakerphone. I wanted Rich to hear my entire conversation.

  “Misty, where are you?”

  “I’m in Norfolk, on Bland Street. Not sure if you know a drug dealer named Rich. But he’s the son of my mother’s deceased boyfriend, Carl. Well, I’m hiding inside of his trap house. He and his street soldiers killed family members of Sanjay and Amir tonight inside their Indian restaurant.”

  “She’s fucking lying!” Rich yelled, hoping Agent Sims would hear him.

  “And then they took a woman named Sania hostage and made her take them back to her house. When we got there, he and the rest of his boys killed the grandmother and Sania. He didn’t kill the little girls. They’re running somewhere around her neighborhood, crying and afraid. So please send someone out there to find them.”

  “Is there someone else there with you guys?” Agent Sims wanted to know.

  “No, it’s just Rich and me.”

  “She shot me in my fucking leg and I’m losing a lot of blood!” Rich yelled out.

  “He’s shot?” Sims continued with the questions.

  “Yeah, but he’s okay. Enough about him. I hope you’re on your way here, because I just got off the phone with Ahmad and he’s bringing my mother here to this house. So I’m gonna need you and your agents to make sure everything goes off without any hiccups. Getting my mother back is my main priority. And if that doesn’t happen, then there will be hell to pay.”

  “Do you know what kind of car Ahmad is driving?”

  “No, he didn’t say. But whatever it is, he will have a gang of guys with him, because he knows that Rich had something to do with killing his family and he knows that Rich is here.”

  “Are there any guns in the house where you are?”

  “Yes, but I have them both. So, are you on your way?”

  “Yes, Misty, but I’m gonna need you to do me a favor,” he pointed out.

  “What is it?” I wanted to know.

  “I’m gonna need you to call me as soon as you talk to Ahmad again. I need to know what kind of car he’s driving and how many people he’s bringing with him. But more important, I’m gonna need to know how you two plan to make the switch.”

  “I can do that. But where will you guys be?” I asked him.

  “Don’t worry about that. Just know that we’ll be watching. And when all of this is over, I’m gonna have to bring you in for Terrell’s murder,” he mentioned.

  I let out a long sigh and then I said, “I know.” And then I ended the call.

  * * *

  The second after I ended my phone call with Agent Sims, Rich said, “Oh, so you did kill that nigga, huh?”

  “I gave him everything he had coming to him,” I replied, and then I walked over to the window and peeped through the mini blinds. I didn’t see anyone but the cats that hustled on the block. I saw a handful of crackheads and dope fiends running around like their heads had been dismembered from their bodies. I couldn’t believe where I was, speaking about this house and in this neighborhood. My mother and grandmother made it their missions to keep me and my cousin Jillian away from places like this. But look at me, caught up in a mess of organized crime that killed all my family except for my mother, which was why I got to make this thing right.

  “You think because you called the feds that they’re gonna help you? They couldn’t care less about your ass! All they care about is locking our asses up!” Rich shouted at me.

  “I wish you would just shut the fuck up! You lost your privilege to talk when I took the gun from your dumb ass!”

  Rich punched the couch again, this time bringing a greater pain to his hand. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He was yelling like a little bitch.

  I chuckled. “Go ahead and bruise your hand up.”

  “What? Like your face? You smart-ass bitch!” he yelled at me.

  “Exactly.” I smiled at him.

  Before he could say another word, Mike’s cell phone started ringing again. I knew this time it had to be Ahmad calling me back. I took a deep breath, exhaled, and then I answered the call. “Hello,” I said.

  “I’m outside in the dark blue Cadillac SUV,” he said.

  I rushed over to the window and instantly saw the truck. I couldn’t see inside the truck because all the windows were tinted. From where I was standing, the windshield even looked tinted. “Where is my mother?” I asked him.

  “She’s here in the back seat,” he replied.

  “I need to see her. Show me something. Like maybe let her stick her head out of the window?” I suggested.

  “Roll down the back window and let her poke her head outside of it,” I heard Ahmad instruct someone who was in the SUV with him.

  A few seconds later, my mother stuck her head out of the window. I swear, it felt really good to see her face again. It also felt good to see that she was still alive. “Tell her to wave at me.”
r />   “Wave your hand,” I heard Ahmad say.

  Once again, Ahmad had my mother show me proof that she was, in fact, where he said she was. This brought joy to my heart, even though I knew my joy would be short-lived after I turned myself over to Ahmad. I just hoped my mother would find a way to live with my decision to do this.

  “Now let’s make this exchange,” Ahmad instructed me.

  “Okay, I’m gonna send Rich out first,” I told him.

  “I’m not going anywhere. You’re gonna have to drag me!” Rich roared, and then he started scooting himself away from me, in the direction of the kitchen.

  “No, fuck that! You ain’t going nowhere.” I gritted my teeth and threw the phone down on the couch next to me. I ran over to where Rich was and tried pulling him back in the direction of the front door. I grabbed his shirt, but he was strong and ended up coming out of the shirt he was wearing. Because of this, I lost my balance and fell backward on the floor. I hit the back of my head against the edge of the TV stand. “Owww!” I screamed, and immediately grabbed the back of my head. It felt like a sharp pain shot through the back of my head and exploded. I got up from the floor and walked around in a circle while I grabbed both sides of my head. Boy, is my head throbbing! “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I yelled, trying to get my pain under control.

  When I looked around to see where Rich was, he had made it to the back door of the house. This negro had managed that quickly to get the back door open. I raced to the couch and grabbed the cell phone. “He’s trying to get away. Send one of your guys to the back of the house!” I shouted through the phone.

  “Go around back,” I heard Ahmad say.

  I ran back to the window and peeped through the blinds again. In a flash, one of Ahmad’s men hopped out of the front seat of the SUV and fled on foot, going in the direction of the back of the trap house. He had his gun already drawn. I knew that in a matter of minutes, Rich was going to be staring down the barrel of a gun and would wish that he hadn’t fucked with me. It felt like a weight was about to be lifted from my shoulders, and that was the relief and satisfaction that I needed.

  “Ahmad, you can go ahead and send my mother out of the truck. I’m gonna open the front door so you can see me,” I told him.

  Feeling a knot in the pit of my stomach, I hesitated for a second or two, and then I walked over to the front door. And when I grabbed the doorknob, I heard three gunshots. Pop! Pop! Pop! It startled the hell out of me. My heart did a somersault underneath my rib cage, because I knew that Rich was dead.

  “Come on, Misty, I know you’re scared, but the hard part is almost over,” I mumbled underneath my breath. I needed this pep talk.

  The back door opened, but then nothing else happened. The anticipation of my mother walking out of the truck was taking too long. “What are you doing? Send her out!” I was getting nervous.

  “She’s coming now,” he said calmly over the cell phone, and then I saw a foot appear from the back door. I swear, it felt like everything was going in slow motion. I’m talking about some Matrix-type shit.

  “Tell her to step down onto the ground,” I instructed him.

  Without saying a word to my mother, he stepped completely out of the back of the SUV. Then a second later, she appeared from behind the back seat’s door. I was finally able to see her face and, I swear, it was a relief. But then I had to realize that we were not out of the woods as of yet. “Now, why don’t you open the front door and come outside, because she’s not moving another inch until you do,” Ahmad stated. I knew he wasn’t bluffing because I heard the finality in his voice.

  I dreaded this moment, but I knew that it was either now or never, so I grabbed my purse that contained the money Rich and Monty had taken from Ahmad’s family’s house; then I slowly opened the door. “I’m gonna hang up with you now, since you can see me fully,” I told him.

  He didn’t know it, but immediately after I disconnected our call, I called Agent Sims back without looking at the key panel or saying hello after I heard the phone ringing. What Ahmad didn’t know was that I had just gotten off the phone with Agent Sims, so all I had to do was press the Send button because he was the last person I had called. That’s what I did. I held the phone down by my waist area of my pants; this would give Sims a clear and detailed account of the movements that Ahmad and I were having.

  What Ahmad also didn’t know was that I had Rich’s gun underneath the front waist area of my pants. I had to do this because he wasn’t a trustworthy guy. He lied to me the first time about bringing my mother to his family’s house, but that bogus-ass ploy of his went south. I couldn’t let that happen this time.

  “Come from behind the door, Mama,” I yelled from where I was standing.

  “Okay, I’m coming,” she yelled in a whining tone, and then she took two steps around the back door.

  When I saw her entire body, a calm wind brushed over my face. My plans to get my mother away from Ahmad were finally becoming a reality. “I see you, Mama!” I yelled back at her, but she wouldn’t move.

  “She’s not going anywhere until I see you walk away from that door!” Ahmad yelled.

  With a ton of apprehension consuming me, I tried to move a few steps away from the front door, but my legs wouldn’t move. I felt paralyzed. “What is taking you so long?” I heard Ahmad yell from the truck.

  “I’m coming,” I managed to yell back. And right when I took that first step, I felt a strong force pulling me backward. I stumbled a bit. “Move, you dumb bitch!” I heard a male’s voice say. And when it hit me that that voice was coming from Rich, I froze. I tried to turn around toward him, but he fought that from happening by pushing a pistol into my back really hard. I was able to turn my head to the side, and that was when I realized that he was using his one good leg to position himself to stand up to me from the waist down.

  “Move now or I’m going to shoot you in your fucking back,” Rich hissed. I knew he was livid. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he wanted nothing else but to see this guy Ahmad finish me off, once and for all. “Now give me that fucking money back,” he instructed me.

  “You want me to give it to you now?”

  “Fucking right! Slide your purse strap from over your head and give it to me.”

  “What are you doing? I said to walk away from the front door!” Ahmad yelled from the truck. He was losing patience with me.

  “I am going to do this,” I said underneath my breath, trying to come up with a foolproof way to escape the clutch of Rich’s hands.

  Without giving it much thought, I shook Rich off me and made a dash for the truck. “Mom, run the other way!” I yelled while stooping down.

  I raced toward the front grille of the truck and ducked down low the entire run. And from there, everything went in slow motion. I heard gunshots fire from both directions, all while taking the purse strap away from my neck.

  “Here, Mom, take this!” I managed to yell at her despite all the firepower coming from Rich’s and Ahmad’s guns.

  My mother turned around and looked at me, but when I threw the purse at her so she could catch it, it missed her by one inch. “Get it, Mama! Get it!” I yelled at her.

  Thankfully, after failing to catch the purse the first time, she was able to get the purse off the ground and continue to run away from the war I had created between Rich and Ahmad.

  Instead of moving from the front right tire of the truck, I hunched down behind until I felt like the coast was clear. I didn’t care if I died, but I didn’t want my mother to see me die. I’m sure Ahmad had her boyfriend killed in front of her, so having another tragedy happen in her face, I knew that it wouldn’t have been a good idea. Planning this whole thing out this way took the proper calculations and, magically, I made it happen.

  The gunfire stopped completely. But I hadn’t known that it was over until I saw a set of shoes coming from the driver’s side of the truck. I pulled Rich’s gun from my front pants pocket and aimed it right at the feet. But I was shaking so
badly that all my shots missed. Before I could decide what to do next, he was right in front of me, and I knew my life was over.

  My heart was beating uncontrollably. My hands even started sweating profusely. I tried to slow my breathing down, but it just wouldn’t happen. Resigned to my fate, I felt my gaze roll up from the feet, to the pants, and to the shirt. When I looked up to the neck, my heart took a nosedive into the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t believe that by looking at this guy, my life had come around in a circle. I wasn’t about to meet the end I’d thought was near.

  With his gun aimed directly at me, he said, “Misty Heiress, ‘you have the right to be silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.’ Now, do you understand the rights I have just provided for you?”

  Hearing Agent Sims’s voice reading me my rights gave me a relieved feeling that I just could not describe. I’d never been so happy to know that I was on my way to jail. The whole time, I had been waiting to be killed by Ahmad, but instead of a murderer standing before me, I was now being recaptured by the law.

  After Sims helped me up from the ground, I looked at him and said, “How were you able to get in this truck? I was talking to Ahmad the entire time. And where is he anyway?”

  Agent Sims moved out of the way and pointed to Ahmad, who was sitting in the back seat of the truck.

  “Remember when you walked away from the window so you could get Rich to come out the front door?” he asked me while he was putting me in handcuffs.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, that’s when it all happened. My men and I were able to sneak up on them without them even noticing. And thanks to you, we came at the right time. So I wanna thank you,” Sims said. “This was more work than I expected, but we’ll finally be able to wrap up this case.”

  30

  WHAT NOW ?

  I couldn’t believe that I was sitting in the back seat of a fucking unmarked FBI agent’s vehicle. To add insult to injury, I was handcuffed and heading down to the county jail.