“Where are you?” I shouted.
“What? Why are you yelling in my ear?”
“Don’t worry about it. Where are you? We need to talk. It’s urgent. I need to come see you now.”
“Teresa, not today. I’m real busy. I don’t feel like talking to you about anything right now.”
“Listen, you got five seconds to tell me where you are or else you will find yourself sniffing dirt tomorrow. Where are you?”
Raynetta finally told me what hotel she was at in the downtown area. I rushed out of my apartment to get to where she was. I drove like a bat out of hell on the way there, and while I was in the car, Malik had the audacity to call me. I hit the talk button on the navigation screen to see what he wanted.
“I’m real busy right now, Malik. What’s good?”
“Not us. I got my gas, but I want you to know that you don’t have to worry about me calling you anymore. I . . .”
“Listen, that’s fine with me. You don’t have to announce it. I’m glad you got your gas. Bye and thank you for the good time. It was fun while it lasted.”
I hit the end button and sped up to get to the hotel. When I got there, Secret Service was by the bar area. Both agents were watching a football game, and without them seeing me, I was able to go up to Raynetta’s suite that took up the entire top floor. She opened the door with her brows scrunched inward.
“What’s this all about, Teresa?”
I responded in a panicky voice. “You have to listen to me, okay? I know you don’t like me, but I overheard something today that troubled me. I’m so upset with Stephen for involving himself with that crazy woman. I knew she would one day come after you.”
“Who are you talking about? Michelle? Why is she coming after me? She has Stephen wrapped around her finger, so there’s no need for her to come after me.”
“No, not Michelle. General Stiles,” I said, lying. Stephen would never be involved with her, but I pretended that something was going on between them. “She’s a lunatic and she’s out to get you, Raynetta. You have to stop her. When she comes here tonight, you have to stop her.”
“What do you mean by stop her?”
We sat on the couch and I concocted a plan to deal with General Stiles. I knew she was coming tonight, but I wasn’t so sure when it would be. Raynetta had turned down all the lights and the two of us sat in a closet, waiting. She seemed real nervous; I pretended that I was too.
“Why don’t we just call Stephen and let him deal with this,” Raynetta suggested.
“No. Stephen doesn’t need to know about this. You know how he is Raynetta. He and I have fallen out again. I don’t know what’s gotten into him, and since he’s involved with General Stiles, he may very well take her side.”
Raynetta shook her head, displaying disgust. “This is a mess. If he won’t deal with her, maybe the police or Secret Service can. I’m not staying in this closet any longer. I’m going to call the police and let them deal with this, in case she decides to show up.”
Raynetta rushed out of the closet and hurried into the living room area. I followed behind her, but before I could open my mouth, I could see the doorknob wiggling. Seconds later, the door squeaked open. In walked General Stiles, dressed in camouflage and black combat boots. A cap was on her head—she looked ready to handle her business. The room was dim, but she saw Raynetta and Raynetta saw her.
“Excuse me,” Raynetta said. “Why are you coming in here like you live here?”
It didn’t take General Stiles long to fess up to why she was there.
“I’m here because I have some business to take care of for the president.”
Before she said too much, I walked further into the room so she could see me. I had to distract her, so I stood in front of her to block her access to Raynetta.
“I don’t know what kind of business you came here to take care of, but I think you’d better leave. Nothing is going down in here tonight, okay? Because at the end of the day, Stephen loves his wife and he doesn’t want you.”
General Stiles stood with confusion on her face. She intended to follow through with her plan, and when she attempted to move me aside, I pushed her several inches away from me. She shoved me, and putting on a very good act, I fell to the floor and reached for my gun. General Stiles raised the one in her hand and aimed it at Raynetta. All her wimpy self did was scream, and as she ducked, a bullet whistled from General Stiles’ silencer and pierced the wall.
“My gun,” I shouted to Raynetta. “Pick up my gun and shoot!”
General Stiles looked at me again. She was so caught off guard by my involvement and she couldn’t figure out what to do. I’m sure she knew there would be a price to pay for shooting me. Her delayed actions allowed Raynetta to pick up the gun I had slid across the floor in her direction.
“Now, Raynetta!” I yelled. “Do it now before she kills you!”
To save her own life, Raynetta snatched up the gun and fired it twice. General Stiles fired back, but because she was hit first, her aim was off and the bullet hit the wall again. The shots Raynetta fired hit General Stiles twice in the stomach. She fell to her knees, and with wide eyes, she looked at me before crashing to the floor. Raynetta panicked while breathing hard. Tears ran down her face; she appeared to be in shock. I slowly got off the floor, and after I walked over to her, I grabbed her sweaty face and squeezed her cheeks in my hand.
“Secret Service is in the bar area bullshitting around. You have ten or maybe fifteen minutes before they show up. That is plenty of time for you to get rid of her damn body. If you need my help, it’ll cost you sixty-five million dollars. If you don’t want my help, I’m going to write a tell-all book and start it off with the events that occurred here tonight. The choice is yours. Just tell me what you want to do.”
Raynetta knew she had screwed up. She was speechless, and as she stood there in a daze, pondering what to do, I stepped away from her to call Stephen’s private phone.
“I can’t talk right now, Mama,” he said. “Is this important?”
“Very. Like always, I fixed your little problem for you again. General S. came to where Raynetta was to follow through with everything. Thanks to me letting Raynetta know what was up, General S. is no more. Raynetta’s hands are as dirty as yours. There will be no tell-all book, unless I decide to write it.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Hello,” I said.
“Are you telling me that Raynetta shot and killed General Stiles? Please tell me that’s not what you just said.”
“I don’t want to repeat myself, but—”
“Damn-it, Mama! Why do you always have to fuck shit up! I can’t believe you went there and,” he paused and I could hear his heavy breathing through the phone. “I can’t believe this shit! Fuck!”
I heard him pounding on something, and I didn’t understand why he was so upset. There would be no book, and he would be off the hook for doing anything stupid to Raynetta. General Stiles was nobody to him. Nobody. Then again, my mind started to wander.
“You were screwing her too, weren’t you? That’s why you’re so upset, because you were involved with General Stiles too. Weren’t you, Stephen? Tell the truth and don’t lie to me.”
It took him at least a minute to speak up. “The truth is, you and Raynetta need to get the hell out of there now. I’ll send somebody over there to take care,” he paused as if he didn’t want to mention General Stiles. “To take care of that, but get out of there now. Lock the door and get to the White House. Now, Mama, and don’t you dare ask me another fucking question.”
I ended the call and shoved the phone into my pocket. When I moved back into the living room area, Raynetta was still standing there with her arms across her chest, back against the wall. She stared at General Stiles who was lying there in a pool of blood.
“Come on,” I said. “We need to get out of here. Stephen is going to send somebody here to clean this up. He wants us to come to the Wh
ite House.”
“I . . . I don’t want to go there,” she said tearfully. “You two are very bad people, and I don’t want to be a part of this anymore.”
I put my hand on my hip, looking at her like she was crazy. “We’re bad people, but you’re the one who just shot that bitch. You need to snap out of it and let’s get out of here before the police come to arrest us. Mainly you, because I didn’t kill nobody.”
Raynetta moved slow as she made her way to the car with me. I made her reach out to the Secret Service agents who had been at the hotel with her. She told them she’d been looking for them, but couldn’t find them. She also mentioned she was on her way to the White House with me. They informed her that they were on their way back to the White House too. When Raynetta and I arrived, we went straight to the Oval Office. Several people asked if Raynetta was okay; she was walking like a zombie and didn’t say much to anyone. I knocked on the door to the Oval Office, and when I entered with Raynetta, Stephen was sitting in his chair with his head on the desk.
“Make sure the door is locked,” he said softly. “I don’t want anyone to come in here.”
I locked the door, but when I turned back around, Stephen’s head was up. His eyes were fire red; it looked like he had been crying—hard. I hated to see him this way; I couldn’t believe he was so torn like this over General Stiles. While Raynetta stood there with a blank expression on her face, I moved around her and walked up to his desk.
“Did she really mean that much to you? I’m confused, Stephen, please tell me what I am missing here.”
“It doesn’t matter what she meant to me. This is over with, Mama. I’m done.”
“Done? Done with who and what?”
“With all of this. I want out, and I don’t deserve to hold my position any longer. I can’t keep living like this. I need to get away from you, and I have to free Raynetta and move the hell on. All I ask is that nobody speaks about what happened today. Just let it go and—”
Stephen paused and swallowed hard. He covered his face with one hand; I witnessed many tears fall from his eyes. He was crushed, so was I. My eyes filled with tears too, and when I turned to look at Raynetta, her hand was over her chest.
“Stephen, don’t do this, okay?” I pleaded. “We can work it all out. We’ve come too far to give up everything. Like you said, this stays between us. Just the three of us and no one will know a thing.”
He removed his hand from his face and shook his head from side-to-side. “No, Mama. I’ve heard it all before. We can’t work it out. I need to step down. I have to get out of this place. It is making me so fucking crazy.”
He stood and reached for a piece of paper that was on his desk. I snatched it up before he did, and saw that it was his resignation letter. I pleaded with him again.
“No, Stephen. Don’t do this, please. This is a sign of weakness and I always taught you to be strong. If you walk away, you will walk away from so many people who have faith in you and who believe you are the one president who can bring about real change. Please think about this. Take a few more days to think about this, but don’t resign today. Please, I’m begging you.”
Raynetta finally spoke up. “She’s right. Don’t do it.”
He looked at her, wiped his tears and swallowed hard again. “Don’t do it, huh? I sent General Stiles over there to kill you tonight. That’s how bad things have gotten, and when I’m here, I feel so damn invincible. Like I can do anything I want and get away with it. I don’t want this anymore, and I’m sorry for making the two of you experience this with me. Free yourselves. Free yourselves now, before it’s too late.”
Stephen took the paper from my hand and walked toward the door. I called after him, but he ignored me. Raynetta called out to him; he ignored her too. He walked out, and the two of us looked at each other with tears in our eyes.
“What are we going to do now?” Raynetta asked.
Unfortunately, this time I didn’t have an answer. And the sad thing was, when Stephen’s mind was made up, no one could change it. The media would have a field day with this. By ten o’clock that night, they surely did.
“We are awaiting the president’s speech in the Oval Office,” a news anchor said while sitting behind a desk with multiple other newsroom contributors. “Our sources are telling us that the president is expected to resign. We have no idea why. We’ll have to wait and see what he says.”
I sat on my bed and watched the TV in my bedroom, while trying to control my flowing tears. This was gut-wrenching. I held my stomach tight as I waited to see if my son would really give up on his dreams. Even folks in the media were in a somber mood, and I figured that nearly every household in America was tuned in.
“Here we go, people,” the news anchor said, before taking a deep breath. “President of the United States, Stephen C. Jefferson.”
Black President: Going out with a Bang
Season 2, Finale
President of the United States
Stephen C. Jefferson
Call my term as president messy or whatever, it was. I had gotten myself in a bind and this was the only route I could take to get out of it. Instead of plotting to have Raynetta killed for spilling my horrific past to the American people, I had to put her in a predicament to cause someone else harm. And instead of cussing out my mother for the one-hundredth time and disowning her, she too had to suffer. I had to do things my way, no matter who liked it or not. More than anything, I was grateful to General Stiles for helping me pull this off. Her loyalty to me meant everything. After this task was completed, I intended to extend my gratitude to her in any way she wished. Until then, nearly everyone in the country eyes was glued to the TV, waiting on me to deliver my speech tonight. I was ready, and after I sucked in a deep breath, I eased into my chair behind the Resolute desk and looked straight ahead at the bright white lights and camera. A saddened look was displayed on my face. It was clean shaven and my waves were sharply lined. My attire for the night consisted of black slacks and a burgundy, V-neck Cashmere sweater which showed the definition of my muscles. A platinum watch was on my wrist, and even though Raynetta’s and my marriage was barely hanging on, my silver wedding band was still there. I clenched my hands together, feeling somewhat relaxed.
“Good evening everyone. There’s been much speculation about what I intended to say tonight, and even though some of you have heard I was going to resign, that is not the case. Unfortunately, there was an explosion in Syria today that killed hundreds of civilians and six American soldiers. Our intelligence agencies are in the process of gathering more information about this tragedy and I assure everyone that a thorough investigation is already underway. At this point, we don’t know if this was an act of terror or something else. We do, however, know that we lost some brave Americans, including General Brooks and General Stiles whom I had the pleasure of working closely with to secure the safety of our nation. My heart is heavy tonight and I offer my condolences to the families of our soldiers. I had recently spoken to General Stiles about the ill treatment of women in the military and about how much women deserve the same benefits as men, no matter what position they hold. In honor of her, I will continue to fight for some of the issues that mattered to her the most and after a complete investigation, any individuals sexually harassing or abusing another will be relieved from their duties. That is something we won’t tolerate, and I invite Congress to work with me on drafting legislation that delivers stronger punishments which fall into that category and immediate termination in some cases. As your president, this is my way of paying tribute to a woman who gave so much to this country. Creating legislation, in her name, is the least I can do. Please know that I’m not politicizing this tragedy. I’m only seeking to do what someone asked me to do, and to do what the American people deserve. Some changes will be made through executive orders and I expect Congress to act soon. More specifics about the explosion will follow in the coming days. Until then, may God continue to bless us all.”
; The lights to the camera were turned off. That was when Andrew walked up to my desk. Knowing exactly why I had fabricated this story, he gave me a few pats on my back.
“All done,” he said, straightening his nerdy glasses. “Now go and get closure with this situation regarding General Stiles so we can move on.”
I nodded and stood. My private line started to ring, but I ignored it. It kept ringing back-to-back, but I didn’t answer because I already knew it was my mother who, on purpose, I wanted to feel guilty. I’d put on a darn good act earlier and she, along with Raynetta, were devastated because they thought I was going to resign. They didn’t want me to resign, because being at the White House and enjoying all the perks meant more to them than it actually meant to me. That, indeed, was a fact.
Secret Service pulled out the black Suburban. They drove me to a vacant building where I had scheduled a quick meeting. I went inside carrying a briefcase in my hand, and as I exited the squeaking elevator on the top floor, I saw General Stiles standing by a row of tinted windows. Some of the windows were broken and there were red bricks stacked high that would be used for upcoming renovations. General Stiles’ back faced me as she gazed outside. Her sexy, petite frame was muscle packed and her tight jeans melted on every curve. The black ankle boots she wore elevated her height and her leather jacket had Biker Bitch in bold letters on the back. Trying to disguise herself, mostly all of her hair had been cut off and sharply lined. Dark shades sat on top of her head, and as I moved closer to her, I could see part of the Glock 9 she always carried, tucked behind her. I cleared my throat to get her attention. That was when she turned around and smiled.
“You did well on TV tonight,” she said, before the direction of her eyes moved to the briefcase. “Looked good too, and I hope you continue to follow through on your promises to me. This sexual harassment shit needs to stop and the military needs to be the first place to start.”
Black President Season 2 Collection Page 20
