Sharon made a call and spoke quietly into the receiver so Dro couldn’t make out what was being said. She hung up and then smiled as she pointed over his shoulder.
“If you could wait there, someone will be with you shortly.”
“Excuse me?”
“Please wait over there,” she repeated.
Irritated, Dro was about to respond when someone said, “Family of Mr. Germaine?”
Not giving her another thought, Dro dismissed the representative at the desk and strode toward the woman waiting patiently by the glass doors.
“I’m Mr. Germaine’s son, Dro Reyes.”
The two women shared a speaking glance before the newcomer said, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Reyes. I’m LaTanya Wright, the hospital’s family liaison. Can you follow me?”
“Thank you,” he replied a little louder than necessary.
He followed her through the triage rooms and a hall lined with chairs. A few people leaned against the walls, either talking on or scrolling through messages on their cell phones.
She scanned a badge and opened a door. Stepping aside, she motioned for Dro to precede her.
When he walked through the door, he stopped short. Almost all of his former classmates from Macro were gathered in the waiting room. One had an intense focus on the cell in his hand. A few were buried in a heated discussion.
“Like I told the rest of your brothers,” she said with a hint of skepticism in her voice, “There hasn’t been a change in his status at the moment.”
Dro ran his hand through his hair, standing it on end. His voice was laced with ice when he said, “The moment there’s an update—”
“We’ll let you know. All of you,” she smiled sweetly before turning on her heels and leaving.
“You’re slipping a bit, aren’t you, Dro?” Shaz said, shaking his head. “Sad. I thought you’d be much older before you lost your touch with the ladies. With your El DeBarge looking self.”
Chuckles echoed from Kaleb, Grant, and Jai.
Turning, Dro spotted Shaz sitting by himself. His long legs were stretched out in front of him. Dro walked over and claimed the seat next to him.
“Talk about me,” Dro shot back. “You’re the lawyer. Aren’t you supposed to have the power of persuasion?”
Shaz chuckled. “Tried it on three different nurses. We all did. None of us got any further with Marva, Flo, Joyce, Rochelle, and Ellowyn than you did.”
“Daaaaaayum,” Dro taunted Shaz, the heartbreaker when they were in school. “On a first-name basis with all five of them and still didn’t get no love.”
“Maybe we should’ve come up with a plan before we arrived,” Jai countered, waving off the men’s laughter.
Reno and Vikkas stepped into the private waiting room and Vikkas introduced Reno by saying, “Not quite Cali.”
“And not quite Vegas,” Shaz chimed in.
“It’s Reno, all the way, baby,” all of the men chanted their high school taunt, then laughed and welcomed Vikkas and Reno into the circle of their embrace.
Reno’s lost his smile as he pulled away and let them have it with both barrels over their treatment of Kaleb.
Duly chastised, Shaz cut in when Reno finally took a breath, and he could get a word in edgewise. “The surgeon arrived and Khalil still stalled long enough to speak to each one of us. Said he’d sent you on a mission of mercy.”
“Stubborn old man.” Vikkas shook his head.
Reno laughed. “Don’t let him hear you call him that.”
“Do they know who did it?” Shaz asked, moving until he was closer to Vikkas.
“Police are all over The Castle grounds searching for clues and collecting evidence.”
“Vikkas?” Shaz gestured toward his bandage.
“Grazed my arm. I took one there when my father tried to jump in front of me while I was trying to get in front of him to protect him.”
Shaz shook his head, the locs shifting with that small movement. “The man is the most peaceful person I know. We were some hardheads, but he was patient.”
“Speak for yourself,” Reno shot back. “You were a knucklehead. We knew how to act.”
“See, why you bringing up old shit?”
The men shared a laugh.
Vikkas scanned the faces of everyone. “This was a professional hit, fellas. Deliberate. The only thing the shooter didn’t plan on was that my father and I would change positions to protect each other. That threw his trajectory off.”
“The question is, why?” Jai said, leaning against the wall. “Khalil’s only been back in the country for two weeks.”
“Three,” Shaz corrected. “From what I’ve learned, he’s been trying to clean up the illegal activity going on at The Castle for a while now. It’s the main reason why he’s back. The board wasn’t moving fast enough, and most of them don’t want things to change. They were hoping that Khalil would continue to stay in the background like he had been for all these years.”
“His return was hardly a secret,” Dro reasoned. “It was all over the news. I was working on helping him with a few issues.”
“You have to admit, not one of these men who have a hand in running The Castle was happy to see him back.” Shaz paused, mulling a few things over. “Khalil’s arrival was the bell tolling on their shady dealings. Any one of them could’ve been responsible for trying to take him out.”
Dro’s expression turned grim. “We should’ve come to help out the first time he asked us to get involved. We all could’ve done more to turn things around before it came to this. We all have connections, Shaz.”
“Not powerful enough,” Grant pointed out.
Vikkas glanced at each one of them. “Did you all receive that package from him?”
“About a month ago,” Shaz confirmed, and the others nodded or verbally affirmed their answers.
Vikkas fell silent. The fact that none of them had come when his father requested stung. “He needs us to unravel the mess The Castle has become. While we were traveling the world, teaching the principles of working from a higher consciousness along with racial and gender equality, the politicians he left here cut deals with crime lords and all kinds of unsavory businessmen who stormed The Castle and plundered every good thing that my father had built.”
Vikkas paced in front of the group. “Now, some of the finances and properties are tied into things my father would never approve. There’s even whispers that the place had been used to house women who’d been shipped from Europe in metal containers.” He focused on each one of them. “It is not a one-man job. The FBI and police have their fingers on the wrong side of this pie. He needed you. I know this is a lot, and you all have your own lives—but this is bigger than us. Much bigger.”
“Do you think that the contents of that envelope he sent us had anything to do with the attempt on his life?”
“Possibly. Not everyone is happy with his new moves.” Vikkas paused in his movements, glaring at them. “Why didn’t any of you accept his challenge?”
Silence permeated before varying excuses.
“This means whoever it is, they’re trying to warn him before there’s a legal change in ownership,” Shaz said.
“You mean take him out,” Reno said with a pointed look at Vikkas. “You would be next in line.”
“Then evidently you didn’t read past his Letter of Intent.”
They didn’t confirm or deny.
“We’re not family,” Grant said. “Why would—”
“If you have to ask, then you don’t realize how special you are to him.” Vikkas left his spot to move several steps forward into the center of the room. “He mentored boys who had more than potential. They had courage. They had strength. They had determination.” His expression hardened as he asked, “Was he wrong about you? All of you?”
CHAPTER 24
Before Dro could respond to the question Vikkas had posed to everyone, the door opened and Marva came in with a pitcher of water and some glasses.
All the men stopped talking and rushed to the nurse’s side.
“Any news?” Vikkas asked.
“Not yet,” she confirmed, pouring a glass and handing it to him. “They’re still in surgery.”
Dro took in Vikkas’ disheveled appearance and what looked to be droplets of blood on his shirt.
“Are you okay?”
Vikkas downed the entire glass as though he wished it was actually something stronger. “If it weren’t for a jammed gun, I’d be dead. As it is, Dad’s in there fighting for his life. I tried, but …” he said, the anguish evident in his voice. “Dad was holding his own ‘til one of the intruders got the jump on him.” Vikkas scanned the solemn faces in the room. All eyes were on him. “These men made it past our security and found a way into our home,” he stressed. “The Castle has state-of-the-art surveillance, yet they practically walked through the front door.”
“I have ears to the ground as we speak.” Daron stepped forward. “If it was an inside job, I’ll know about it.”
“Any idea what happened to the team?” Dro asked.
“I haven’t checked since Daron came through to do damage assessment and control,” Vikkas replied. “Last he mentioned was that one was in critical, three others were injured.”
“Did you see any of their faces?” Shaz inquired.
Vikkas shook his head. “Just one, but he didn’t look familiar. He could’ve been for hire.”
“Which only confirms this wasn’t random,” Kaleb observed. “The men sent after Khalil were professionals.”
“You still have that woman on the media blackout?” Vikkas moved closer to Dro.
“Lola’s on it,” he replied. “None of this has made it to the press yet. But it’ll only keep for so long. Someone on the police force might be getting paid to slide information a journalist’s way.”
“Snitches,” Kaleb said, shaking his head. “The kind that don’t get stitches.”
“Mr. Germaine?”
They all turned to see a strawberry blonde woman in scrubs near the door. Vikkas moved forward. “How’s my father?”
“Would you rather we go into one of the conference rooms and talk?” She gestured to an area several feet away.
“No, if there’s an update, you can tell me right here. We’re family,” he said, motioning to everyone else. “They’re my brothers.”
She blinked, gave a wary glance to all of them.
“Papa was a rolling stone,” Shaz taunted. “Left a few pebbles here and there.”
The nurse tried to keep a straight face as everyone rushed to Vikkas’ side.
“Well, your father made it through surgery, but his condition is still tenuous. We were able to retrieve the bullets and stop the bleeding, but … in the delay, your father lost a lot of blood, Mr. Germaine. And with the entry point so close to one of his vertebrae, there could be some complications. It’s too soon to tell.”
“But will he live?” Vikkas pressed.
Dro held his breath, wishing he’d arrived sooner.
“Barring any unforeseen complications, but the next twenty-four hours are critical.”
“Can I see him?” Vikkas asked.
She shook her head, her eyeglasses slipping a few inches down the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry, but he’s heavily sedated and will be out for the rest of the night. If his condition improves, you’ll be able to see him first thing tomorrow. Once again, it’ll be one at a time,” she clarified. “You might as well go home and get some rest. Visiting hours begin at ten o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“Understood,” Vikkas said quietly, echoing the sadness of everyone in the room.
She squeezed his arm and promised to call him if there were any changes.
When she swept past the group and out of the room, Vikkas collapsed in a chair, his head in his hands. “If anything happens to him …”
“It won’t,” Daron vowed.
“I’ll call in some favors with our friends at the precinct,” Shaz spoke up.
“No need for that,” Daron said. “There’ll be men watching him twenty-four hours a day. No one gets in his room but family and us.”
Vikkas nodded. “Nothing can happen to him. There’s so much left undone.”
“It won’t,” Dro promised. “Why don’t we take this conversation to The Castle? We have much to discuss and we shouldn’t do it here.”
CHAPTER 25
Sunrays peeked through the clouds as Kaleb drove around the bends of a sleepy area in Wilmette. The city boasted of manicured lawns and homes with modern architectural charm. Far enough away from the burned structures and old-school muscle cars of his old neighborhood, Kaleb felt as though he could breathe easy.
Breezing through the grassy acreage moving toward The Castle, Kaleb inhaled the scent of fresh-cut grass as he lowered the window. His heartbeat took an uptick as he wondered how this meeting would go. Kaleb hadn’t seen Khalil in over fifteen years and had ended a relationship with the only positive male role model he had in his life with a call telling him that he wouldn’t be returning to Macro Prep. He hadn’t even been given the chance to provide Khalil any justification for the rushed decision.
Kaleb drove into a driveway that was the length of the entire front of The Castle. The majestic, sandstone structure featured two-story leaded glass windows on all sides and stately turrets. Kaleb was impressed, thinking that an ordinary family couldn’t have lived there at any time—a castle of this sort is where one would find kings and queens, not everyday people. A quick scan of the parking spaces showed that he had arrived before the others, but Khalil’s legendary roadster was parked along with several other cars, one of those vehicles was a Wilmette Police Department Cruiser. Yellow caution tape crossed the opening of the estate; an ominous sign.
Jogging the length of the space from his car to the entrance, Kaleb quickly moved to the castle’s vaulted entrance. He thought about the word Zephyr used to describe his home—“cozy”. Zephyr’s place looked like a miniature version of the building he was now approaching.
Though Wilmette was a nice little distance from South Shore, Kaleb hadn’t made it his business to visit any city near his hometown until Reno put an offer on the table. The caution tape stretched across the entrance was a stark reminder of why even a day trip was not in his best interest. However, the projects Reno had slated to work on in the Chatham and South Shore neighborhoods intrigued Kaleb, despite the potential dangers. He rarely thought about his former life, but it was all he could think about when yesterday’s secret visit had him riding through his old gang territory. One cruise down Halsted resulted in a migraine and a cold sweat after he saw someone who reminded him of J-Killa, a rival leader.
Casting all other thoughts aside, Kaleb bent under the yellow plastic barrier and eased his way to the Castle’s open front door. He recalled one of the few conversations that Khalil had with him, mentioning a family castle. Kaleb had enjoyed the talk, believing his mentor was fantasizing about big things in life. Khalil had always been encouraging that way. He thought about the efforts Khalil made to take him under his wing, and show him a better life than the rumors told, but anger about his father’s death had consumed his thoughts and strained all of his interactions.
Kaleb glanced over his shoulder, taking a glimpse at all of the cars that were parked in the lot, wondering if the police had gathered any clues that would tell them who had committed the crime. For a brief moment, he also wondered if he should fill Reno in on a few details that he wasn’t aware of.
Stepping close to the threshold, Kaleb was surprised at the sound of deep, echoed murmuring. His heart jumped into his throat with one glance to spots that looked like blood spatter, something he’d seen too much of growing up on the block of his old neighborhood.
Following the voices that bounced off the stone interior walls, Kaleb moved steadily, without hurrying, to the source of the noise. Surveying his surroundings, he took note of the large rooms and ornate fixtures that adorned the t
ables and walls, being careful not to touch anything.
Who on earth would try to kill a man as honorable as Khalil Germaine? And why did one of his so-called “brothers” believe Kaleb had something to do with it?
CHAPTER 26
The man at the horseshoe end of the semi-circular conference table was a carbon copy of his father. But for his midnight-black hair, minus that shock of silver in his widow’s peak, Shaz would have believed Khalil was sitting with them. One thing was clear, while Khalil Germaine was the visionary and spiritual leader, Vikkas Germaine was all business.
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