Firestone

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “I knew it!” Aden said.

  Colin and Raz were crumpled on the ground. The horrible Detective Red Bear had a gun to Sandy’s back. The detective didn’t see them. He was focused on Chris in the SUV.

  The back door opened, and someone got into the back seat of her car. Heather squelched a scream. Aden swung around. Seth was pushing Blane’s hockey stuff over so he and Rachel could get in the car.

  “What happened?” Blane asked.

  “It’s Seth and Rachel,” Aden said. “Is that Blane?”

  “He’s in the hospital,” Heather said. “Scoot down!”

  They slid down in their seats.

  “Hi Seth,” Heather said. “How did you . . .?”

  “I heard him. I figured if I didn’t get moving, I’d get stuck . . .” Seth started. “See, she’s locking the door.”

  “How did you get out?” Aden asked.

  “I heard the gunshots and went out the front,” Seth said. “It’s not the first silenced gun I’ve heard.”

  “Shh!” Heather said. “Scoot down! He’s going to see you.”

  They scooted down further.

  “Ok, it looks like he gotten Chris to get rid of his gun,” Blane said. “And keys. He’s shooting at the SUV.”

  “Did he hit him?” Heather asked.

  “No,” Blane said. “It looks like Colin and Raz are okay. Colin’s eyes are open. He’s just waiting to see what the detective will do.”

  “They wear body armor,” Seth said. “All the time.”

  Sandy screamed. Hearing her mother’s distressed voice, Rachel woke up and squealed. Seth tried to calm the baby. Aden reached into the back and took his daughter. Rachel giggled at the sight of her father.

  “He saw me,” Heather said.

  Heather sagged her eyelids. She held her hands to her lips like she was smoking marijuana. She opened the window of the car a little bit as if to let the smoke out. Reaching into the ashtray, she found a nub of moxa stick that Blane used in Chinese medicine. Moxa smelled enough like marijuana to fool almost anyone. Seth leaned forward to hold a lighter. They lit the moxa stick. She held it to the window so the smoke would go out.

  “Good thinking,” Seth said. “You should be a detective.”

  “No thank you,” Heather said. “I don’t have the nerves for it.”

  “Ok. I think he bought it,” Blane said. “What’s Sandy doing?

  “Taking Colin and Raz’s weapons,” Seth said.

  “Shit,” Aden said.

  With just their eyes at the window, they watched in tense silence. The detective and Sandy started walking toward them.

  “She sees the car,” Heather said in a whisper.

  Sandy eyes blinked and blinked.

  “Is she saying something?” Aden whispered.

  “Morse code,” Seth whispered. “Mitch taught her when she was a kid. She’s saying . . . Stay there. No move. He’ll k . . .i . . .”

  Sandy and the detective turned down the dark alley. Heather turned around to watch her go.

  Every step took Sandy away from Heather.

  Every step took Sandy further into harm’s way.

  Heather’s mind repeated what Abi had said, You wield the most powerful force in the universe.

  “Heather . . .” Blane said. “Don’t do it . . . Call Alex. You promised to call Alex.”

  Heather looked at the phone and set it on the driver’s side floor. As if she’d practiced it all her life, she reached behind her for Blane’s hockey stick and a puck. Seth ducked to avoid Heather hitting him in the head with the stick. She hopped out of the car.

  “I love you, hockey puck,” Heather said under her breath. “Now, go brain the guy.”

  She’d done this move a million and one times with Blane. It was something she was naturally really good at. A lot better than Blane. No matter how much he practiced — which was the point of them playing with the puck and stick — she was still a lot better than him. She hadn’t missed her target in the last year. Not even one time.

  She dropped the puck and pulled back. She wacked the puck with all her might.

  The puck flew straight and true. Heather bit her lip and tried to will the puck to hit the detective.

  Thwack!

  The puck hit the detective in the back of the head.

  He fell forward onto his face.

  Sandy screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Heather heard Seth and Aden get out of the car behind her, but she ran as fast as she could toward Sandy. Colin and Raz passed her in the alley. The men got there before Heather. When she got to Sandy, the men were talking a million miles a minute. Raz was handcuffing the detective.

  Sandy saw Heather and ran to her. Sandy held her tight. Heather’s shoulder was wet with Sandy’s tears.

  “You’re okay now. It’s okay,” Heather said.

  Heather looked up to see Aden.

  “It’s Aden and Rachel,” Heather said. “Seth too. They were with me.”

  Sandy started crying in earnest. She let go of Heather and grabbed Aden. Seth hugged her too. Heather stepped back for a moment to watch.

  When she heard a police siren coming in their direction, Heather walked back to the car. She picked up her phone from the floor of the driver’s side. She got into her Subaru.

  “Sorry,” Heather said to Blane. “I just had to.”

  “I know,” Blane said.

  “I creamed him.”

  “Back of the head with the puck?” Blane asked.

  “Damn straight,” Heather said. “Ice cream?”

  “Chocolate,” Blane said.

  “How ’bout Chocolate Brownie Cream?” Heather asked.

  “From Liks?”

  “Is there any other?” Heather said.

  “Not a chance,” Blane laughed.

  “I’ll be right there,” Heather said, and hung up the phone.

  She looked in the rearview mirror, trying to calm her beating heart. A police cruiser flew by her, and then another. She saw a ladder roll down off the one-story garage behind Sandy’s parking lot. A couple of tall, thin people dressed in all black slipped down the ladder. They had compound bows and looked scary-dangerous.

  One of them saluted Heather, and the other clapped. Embarrassed, Heather waved. She started the car and drove to get ice cream. By the time she reached the hospital, television and newspaper reporters were waiting outside the hospital for news from the ER about Sandy.

  “Rescued by a hockey puck,” one television news reporter said as Heather walked past. “If the police know who hit the hockey puck, they aren’t saying. It’s a puzzling who dun it that created this wonderful ending. Both the mother and child are safe.”

  Heather grinned to herself and went upstairs, where she knew Blane was waiting.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Friday night — 9:17 p.m.

  “Are you Tannie?” the nurse whispered.

  Jeraine and Tanesha were standing at a nurses’ desk at Children’s Hospital.

  “Tanesha,” she said.

  “Jabari’s been asking for you for hours,” the nurse said.

  “They just called!” Tanesha’s heart sank. She had no idea Jabari had wanted to see her. “We rushed right over.”

  “Well, it took us a while to figure out what he was saying,” the nurse chuckled. “Then we had to get permission from the social worker and . . . Well. You of all people know what a mess this is.”

  Tanesha nodded.

  “Anyway, you have fifteen minutes,” the nurse said.

  She turned to look at Jeraine. Her eyes squinted while she tried to figure out where she’d seen him before. The nurse pointed to him.

  “You’re Jeraine.” The nurse’s finger bounced up and down. “Jabari is your son?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jeraine said.

  “I sure hope you sort out this mess,” the nurse said.

  “We’re doing what we can,” Jeraine said.

  “Are you Miss T?” the nurse asked Tanesha.

>   Tanesha nodded.

  “That makes a lot of sense,” the nurse laughed. “Jabari kept alternating between Tannie and Miss T.”

  The nurse shook her head.

  “We were completely lost,” the nurse said. She came out from behind the desk. “I’ll take you to him.”

  They walked down the hallway. The nurse stopped at an open door.

  “He is a very sick little boy,” the nurse said in a low voice.

  “I thought he was better!” Jeraine said.

  “We were hoping to take him home tomorrow,” Tanesha said.

  “He is better,” the nurse said. “He’s still very sick. He’ll need to stay with his guardians until . . .”

  The nurse made a gesture with her hand to indicate the custody situation.

  “My parents.” Tanesha said.

  “Your parents.” The nurse nodded. “You look just like Yvonne.”

  When the nurse turned into the room, Tanesha made a face to indicate that the nurse was insane. Jeraine smiled. They followed her into the room. Little Jabari was tucked in the center of the big hospital bed with a pile of stuffed animals on either side.

  “Jabari?” the nurse asked.

  She leaned down to his bed. Jabari opened his eyes and looked at the nurse. He had an oxygen cannula in his nose. His eyes had dark slashes underneath them. He looked sick.

  “We brought Tannie,” the nurse said.

  The nurse stepped aside and gestured for Tanesha to come to the bed. Jabari looked at her.

  “Hi Jabari,” Tanesha said.

  She kneeled down next to the bed. Jabari held out his hand, and she took it. Tanesha smiled.

  “How are you, buddy?” Tanesha asked.

  “Sick,” Jabari said. “Again. But . . .”

  The boy gestured for Tanesha to come closer to him. She hopped up and leaned over the bed.

  “I heard your wish,” Jabari said.

  Surprised, Tanesha leaned back to look at him. The child nodded.

  “I’m going to get well so you can be my mommy,” Jabari said. “Do you want to be my mommy?”

  The nurse’s breath caught at his request. Teary, she moved to the door.

  “I do,” Tanesha said.

  “You wished I was better.” Jabari nodded.

  “I do,” Tanesha said. “With all my heart.”

  “Then it will be done,” Jabari said. His eyes glanced at Jeraine and he smiled. “Hi Dad.”

  “You know what?” The nurse came toward them. “Why don’t you get in the bed with him?”

  “Can I?” Tanesha asked.

  “I don’t see why not,” the nurse said. “In fact, I’m on until six tomorrow morning. If you want to, you can stay. I won’t tell anyone.”

  “Sure,” Jeraine said.

  “I just have study group tomorrow,” Tanesha said. “I can walk from here.”

  “Then it’s settled,” the nurse said. “I’ll wake you up before I get off shift.”

  “I’d really appreciate it.” Jeraine gave the nurse his charming smile. She blushed.

  “Go on,” the nurse said.

  Tanesha sat on the side of the bed and took off her boots. Jeraine pushed the stuffed animals out of the way to make space for her. She climbed into bed to snuggle Jabari. He beamed.

  “You sleep.” The nurse pointed to Jabari. “No mischief.”

  “I will,” Jabari said. The nurse left the room.

  Tanesha lay on her side with the little boy in front of her. She stroked his hair and willed her strength into his tiny form. Jabari fell sound asleep. When she looked up, Jeraine was smiling at her.

  “What?” Tanesha mouthed.

  “Just a nice picture,” Jeraine said.

  Tanesha smiled and held out her hand to him. He kissed her hand. They held hands until long after Jabari fell asleep. Jeraine let go to settle into sleep. Sometime after the nurse checked on Jabari at midnight, Tanesha fell asleep next to her blessing, her little Jabari.

  Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety-five

  My deal

  Saturday morning — 8:14 a.m.

  “You stayed?” Fin asked Tanesha.

  They were sitting at a small table in a private study room at the Anschutz Health Sciences Library. They were allowed to speak with each other in the study room.

  “In Jabari’s bed.” Tanesha nodded.

  “There’s nothing better than snuggling a baby,” Fin said.

  “You and NeNe?” Tanesha asked.

  Fin nodded.

  “She became very ill when she was small,” Fin said. “We were sure we’d lose her. Of course, we didn’t have the kind of medical genius that we’re learning, but . . .”

  He shrugged.

  “You had magic,” Tanesha said.

  “We had fairy magic.” Fin smiled. “Powerful, but woefully limited. Remember, we are not the species that ended up propagating the earth.”

  “Not for lack of trying.” Tanesha smiled.

  Fin laughed. She looked down at her books for a moment.

  “Yes?” Fin asked.

  “Oh . . .” Tanesha looked up at him. “It’s just . . .”

  Fin tipped his head to the side and waited. He’d learned that in order to get Tanesha to speak, she needed a lot of silence to gather her thoughts. He waited. She shook her head and looked at her books again.

  “Yes?” Fin repeated.

  “It’s just that . . .” Tanesha scowled. “I listen to Jeraine talk about the mothers of his children and . . .”

  She nodded.

  “I can’t figure it out,” Tanesha said.

  “You can’t figure what out?” Fin asked.

  “I can’t figure . . .” Tanesha looked through the window out into the library, and then looked back at Fin. “So there’s Annette, right?”

  “Right,” Fin said.

  “She’s the one he was going to marry,” Tanesha said. “He came to Denver to ask for a divorce so he could marry her, and then he changed his mind. According to Jer, she told him she was pregnant then. Schmidty showed me the child support records. Nine months later, she had a male child she named Jabari, and then she started cashing in.”

  “Four and a half years ago.” Fin nodded.

  “I know about Jeraine Junior’s mother.” Tanesha scowled.

  “She was on the television when you were reintroduced to Rodney,” Fin said.

  “Right,” Tanesha said. “She went to see Jeraine for her birthday. She was with Jeraine and put a hole in the condom while he was snorting lines. Bam, she’s pregnant. Everybody knows that story.”

  “Okay,” Fin said.

  “Jeraine Junior is about six,” Tanesha said. “Almost six.”

  “What bothers you?” Fin asked.

  “Well . . .” Tanesha scowled. “Jeraine, I guess.”

  “What’s new?” Fin smiled.

  “That’s the truth,” Tanesha laughed.

  “Spit it out,” Fin said. “We need to get this studying done or we’ll fail on Monday.”

  “Is that a prediction?”

  “That’s a fact,” Fin said. “What’s bothering you?”

  “Okay, so we know about Annette,” Tanesha said. “Jeraine’s said that JJ . . .”

  “Jeraine Junior,” Fin said.

  “Yes,” Tanesha said. “His mother is in radiology school. Jer said that she apologized to him for tricking him into getting her pregnant. He told me that she came from extreme poverty. He said she was using the child support as a way to better her family and herself. She’d bought a home for her parents and was going to college. He was really proud of her.”

  Fin nodded.

  “That’s not the woman who was on my porch,” Tanesha said.

  “How do you know?” Fin asked.

  “Her language was all . . . nasty,” Tanesha said. “Her clothing and . . .”

  Tanesha shook her head.

  “So I asked Jer,” Tanesha said. “He told me that JJ . . .”

  “Jeraine Junior,�
�� Fin said. “You have to get used to calling your step-son by his name.”

  Tanesha scowled. Fin gave her a hard look.

  “Fine, Jeraine Junior,” Tanesha said.

  “What did Jeraine say about the woman on your porch?” Fin asked.

  “He said that Jeraine Junior,” Tanesha emphasized the syllables of the child’s name, and Fin smiled, “was being cared for by his grandparents. The child believes the woman on my porch is his sister.”

  “So not the radiologist who’s using the opportunity to get her life together,” Fin said.

  “Exactly,” Tanesha said. “I asked him, but he’s so defensive about these kids that he . . .”

  “But you’re sure the woman on your porch the same girl who you saw on television?” Fin asked.

  Tanesha thought for a moment. “You know, I think so.”

  “Then he doesn’t know about these women,” Fin said.

  “Is that possible?”

  “He was high . . .?” Fin asked.

  “All the time,” Tanesha said. “Surrounded by fools.”

  “So it’s possible,” Fin said.

  “What’s possible?”

  “That there are three or four mothers,” Fin said.

  “He’s only ever paid for two kids,” Tanesha said. “Jeraine Junior and Jabari. That’s all.”

  “You think there was a secret fund?” Fin asked. “Maybe a one-time payout?”

  “No way,” Tanesha said. “Schmidty had been incredibly thorough. He’s gone through everything with a fine-tooth comb. He even sued the record company to audit their records of Jeraine’s career. And he sends everything to me. Between the two of us, we’d have found it. That’s why it’s . . . confusing.”

  “Why?”

  “Because there are more mothers than money,” Tanesha said.

  “But only two children,” Fin said.

  “Right,” Tanesha said. “Two children.”

  “You sure?”

  Tanesha nodded.

  “So you have at least one extra mother,” Fin said. As a test, he gave Tanesha a simple challenge. “Ok, who?”

  “Annette,” Tanesha said.

  “Because that’s what you want?” Fin asked.

  “Because I don’t think Jabari is her son.” Tanesha nodded.

  “Is that what you want to be true?” Fin pressed. “Or what’s actually true?”