by Unknown
“Are you here alone?” she asked trying to gain his confidence.
“You shouldn’t ask questions,” he said.
“I’m concerned about your health. I’m an EMT, but waiting for a position to open. I guess that doesn’t matter anymore since I won’t live long enough to fulfill my dream of savings lives and to become a new mother. Do you have any kids or grandkids?”
“Yes. I have five kids and ten grandkids. They are the joy of my life.”
“I bet. Are they boys and girls?” she asked feeling her pants pocket to see if the taser was still there.
He nodded. “Three girls and two boys. All are grown with families and careers. I’m very proud of them.”
“That’s great. I don’t know the sex of my baby yet.” Playing on his emotions, Carla dug in deeper. “I lost a very close friend recently and I haven’t recovered from that. Now I won’t have a chance to hold or cuddle my baby. I’ll never get to know what traits or whose features will dominate my baby either.” Her fingers curled around the base of the taser. Using her thumb, she loosened the Velcro strap.
“You can stop using the mind-game tactic—I’m not falling for it. I’m doing this to save my grandson’s life. Soon as he is released I’m out of here.”
“You don’t have to do this! Let me go and I won’t say a word to anyone.”
“They will kill him and me. I can’t take that chance. I’m really sorry your life is ending, but my grandson is more important to me than you or your baby.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but your grandson is not important to me!” Carla whipped the taser from her pocket and pressed it to his chest letting the volts of electricity tear into him. His eyes grew large, and his body tensed and shook from the current ripping through him. He fell to his knees, and she pulled out the pepper spray and gave him a good dose.
He didn’t scream or struggle but lay slumped on the cold, wet floor. At first Carla wanted to check on him. If he had a pacemaker, the electricity would throw off his heart rhythm and possibly cause him to have a heart attack.
Carla stalled letting her conscious get the better of her. Then her common sense kicked in; she had to get out of there before anyone came to check on them. She came to a door that was slightly ajar. She heard voices, maybe three or four of them. On her tiptoes, she eased near the door. She was not equipped to play hero with a stun gun and pepper spray.
She made it past the door and down a flight of stairs. She went through the building checking doors. All were chained or locked. She found a window that was not boarded up. This is my only way out. Looking around she spotted part of a lead pipe on the floor. She picked it up and swung at the glass shattering it to pieces. Climbing out the window and not looking back she ran across the parking lot and up the street as fast as she could.
*****
“Zach, look over there!” Rodney shouted with excitement.
“I see her,” Zach said. He pressed on the accelerator guiding the car through the empty parking lot until he caught up to Carla.
Rodney opened the door and dragged her inside. She fought. “Let go of me!”
“Carla, it’s us. We got you,” Rodney said holding her on his lap. “You’re safe.”
Zach pulled the car over and threw it in park. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. “Baby, are you okay?”
She cried in his arms. “I don’t know, Zach. I was drugged and tied up. I don’t know if the baby is okay or not.”
“I’ll take you to the hospital to get checked out.”
“No, you have to get these guys, Zach. I can’t survive another freaking abduction. If this were a horror movie, I’d be dead already. The black people are the first to get killed.”
“Carla, how many people are in the building?” Rodney asked getting his gun ready.
“There was one older man in a room with me. I tased him, and he fell out. I don’t know if he is dead or not. I went past a room and heard men talking. I didn’t see how many were in there, it was more than two from what I could hear.”
“An older man? About how old was the man, Carla?” Zach asked. He had to know if it was Lowes.
“Early to late 60’s, maybe. He said he was forced to do this, or his grandson would be killed. He didn’t mention any names.”
Zach shook his head. “That’s definitely not Lowes. Rodney, get Agent Anderson with the Cleveland FBI field office on the phone; we’re going to need backup for this.”
“What are we going to do with Carla? We can’t set up a stakeout and leave her sitting in the car.”
“Please, guys, wait for help. The man said Ty and Phil are no longer an issue, but you are the target, Zach. This person is after you.”
“Then it’s me he gonna get.” Zach removed his seatbelt. He leaned over and kissed Carla and rubbed her stomach. “I love you and the baby more than anything in this world.” He picked up her hand and took the ring from his pocket sliding it on her finger. “I’m putting this back where it belongs. We have a wedding to plan once I take care of business.”
He got out of the car and Carla called after him. “Zach, don’t do this, please!”
Rodney restrained her. “It’s no use trying to stop him, Carla. Look, he’s going to need my help, and I can’t do that unless I can trust you to stay put.”
“Okay, I promise to stay put. Just help him, Rodney. They had to hear me break the window.”
“I need you to move the car a safe distance from here. Blend in with those apartments up on the hill but make sure to watch your surroundings. We don’t know if we’ve been followed.”
Her eyes widened with fear. “Zach could be walking into a trap?”
Rodney pulled his phone from his pocket sending a text. He looked up at her and said, “Anything is possible. I have to get in there to help him. You stay hidden from view. He’ll never forgive me if anything happens to you or his baby. I’ve never in the years that we‘ve been friends, seen him care about anything until now. Carla, he loves you.”
“I love him. I want this over with, so we can move on with our life together.”
“Today is the day,” Rodney said getting out of the car.
*****
Zach positioned the gun in his hands squeezing the butt tight, as he moved stealthily through the damp nightclub. He paused to listen for any unusual noises other than the dripping water from broken water pipes. He leaned against a wall and peered around it. The body lying on the floor twitched. Zach went over and touched his neck for a pulse. The man was barely alive and probably in full cardiac arrest.
He moved away from the man not concerned about his condition. A loud bang came from behind him. Zach raised his gun as he went to investigate the noise. It could be Rodney, but he would never make that kind of noise. The scuffle got louder the closer he got. Zach saw Rodney in a fight with an unknown assailant. The man had his hands around Rodney’s neck as he sat on top of him.
Rodney’s legs were kicking but slow. Zach knew he was losing consciousness. He raced up behind the man putting the gun to the back of his head. “Get the fuck off him or I’ll paint the walls with your brains!”
The man lifted his arms up, and Rodney rolled slowly from under him clutching his neck. “That was right on time, Zach.”
Zach grabbed the man from behind pulling him to his feet and asked? “Who is this scumbag?”
Rodney picked up his gun. “I don’t know.”
A clapping in the distance took both of them by surprise. “Well, done Agent Murphy. You came to the rescue once again. My plan to use her to lure you here worked liked a charm.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “Lowes. You rotten sonofabitch. I knew you were behind this shit.”
Lowes smiled and said, “Aw, don’t be that way. We can’t all wear white hats, Murphy.”
Zach didn’t flinch. “I’m here so wha’cha got for me?”
“A slow painful death.” Lowes turned to Rodney. “Excellent work, Shell. You’ll be rewarded shortly.”
>
Zach narrowed his brow and turned to Rodney. “What is he talking about?”
Lowes interrupted. “You don’t know. Well, let me tell you. While you were chasing Yezhov across the globe, someone under my command tracked my every move. He tipped off the Section Chief about me leading to an investigation. Luckily, someone had my back and let me know what was going on.”
Zach clenched his jaw and vowed not to let Lowes goad him into thinking Shell was dirty. “I knew you were up to no good. Are you taking over Yezhov’s operation?”
Lowes laughed. “You are all muscle and no brains, Murphy. I am the top dog, idiot! Yezhov was my underboss. That little operation he ran in Russia was nothing until I took it over. Your assignment to hunt down Tyrone and Phillip was a rouse to get rid that bumbling fool, Yezhov. I thought that was done in Port Clinton, but you had to keep digging. The more you dug, the more the Section Chief breathed down my back. This stops today.”
“Lowes, you’re the idiot. You threw away a lucrative career to be a criminal? I hate to break this to you, boss. But ATF and FBI agents will storm this place any minute, and it’s over for you,” Zach said with a smirk.
“You underestimate me, Zach. No one is coming because the call was never made. However, I wasn’t expecting to eliminate both you and that annoying woman at the same time, but I guess bonuses do come to those that wait.”
“So, what are you waiting for? Why not shoot me and go on about your day?” Zack asked with a raised brow.
Lowes laughed. “I will as soon as Shell brings that prissy little bitch inside.”
Zach squeezed the gun in his hand questioning his friend. “Rodney, what the hell is going on—are you working for him?”
“You don’t have the authority to question my men, Murphy.” Lowes booming voice echoed off the walls. “But he is. I thought I’d let Agent Shell have the pleasure of wasting your blood over the floor. See, he secretly has been working for me and wants you dead just as much as I do. Isn’t that right, Agent Shell?”
Zach swallowed hard. There was no way Rodney would double-cross him. He didn’t believe it and would never believe it. But then again, he did have pertinent information about Carla’s cousins. He also had limited access to information. He wouldn’t have known about Phillip’s protective custody or the exact location where Carla was being held unless he already knew. Was his struggle with the assailant faked, also? It had to be, Rodney would have taken the man down without much effort; he was an expert at hand-to-hand combat. It was all adding up and making sense. The man he trusted had turned against him.
“Don’t look so perplexed, Murphy. The chase has been fun, but now it’s over. I’m tired, your girlfriend is tired of running, and Shell is ready to move on to better things in the organization.”
Zach frowned. “Fuck both of you!” He turned to Rodney. “I trusted you with my life, man. Did you kill Carla and my baby already?” Rodney didn’t answer but held the gun up and pointed it at Zach’s head. Sweat beaded on his forehead. “Did you, Rodney? Answer me dammit!” he shouted.
“Quit stalling and shoot him, Shell!” Lowes ordered.
Rodney’s face formed a deep scowl as he yelled. “Lowes, you want me to shoot him! Then I will!” He squeezed the trigger, emptying his magazine into Lowes' chest.
Zach heard footsteps behind him. He realized he still had his weapon and turned and fired killing the man behind him before he had a chance to return fire on them.
Rodney inserted a new magazine. “Take cover. There are at least six other men in here. We are about to be ambushed.”
“We don’t have any backup coming?” Zach asked as he scurried for cover.
“Until they arrive, it’s just us. Shit, here they come. On three, we take them down.”
Zach cracked his neck. “I’m ready.”
When the smoke cleared, the two men stood facing each other. Six men lay wounded or dead. Rodney spoke first. “There is no way I would ever shoot you. Zach, this was the only way I could prove Lowes was dirty.”
Zach kicked a weapon from the reach of a wounded soldier of Lowes. “You could’ve clued me in,” Zach said.
“I couldn’t tell anyone. Only the section chief was in on the undercover operation.”
“Rodney, where’s Carla?”
“She’s okay, Zach. I had her park up on the hill in that cluster of apartments. I would never hurt her or your kid.”
A weight lifted off Zach’s shoulders. His legs felt numb and his chest heaved from his heart pounding against it. He was glad he didn’t go with his first instinct to attack Rodney. He would have killed the only true friend he had.
AFT and FBI agents flooded the building in full tactical gear. Agent Anderson approached Zach and Rodney. She lowered her weapon. “I guess you couldn’t wait?”
Rodney shrugged his shoulders. “We did what we had to do, Agent Anderson. You guys were a little late getting to the party.”
“I had to wait for verification from your section chief. Good job, guys. Oh, Agent Murphy, there is a young lady waiting anxiously outside to see you. Please go calm her down before she has a stroke.”
Zach smiled and trotted out of the building. Carla was standing behind yellow tape in her bare feet and shivering from the cold wind whipping around her. He went over to her and hugged her. “I’m fine, baby. It’s all over.”
“Is Rodney okay?” she asked.
“He’s okay too.” He picked her up in his arms and said, “You’re frozen solid. I’m taking you to the hospital to get checked out and then home where I can take care of you and my little one.”
“Yes, I think I need to do that and then let you take care of me, only I will cook. You can’t cook, baby.”
Zach laughed carrying her to the car. “I promise to leave the cooking to you.”
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
“You look so handsome, Zach. I wish Mom were alive to see you get married to the woman you truly love.”
“Patty, don’t get me more emotional than I am already. I don’t know if I can face those people out there,” Zach said drinking a sip of water to calm his nerves.
Patty smiled. “Look at you; you’re a nervous wreck. Honey, just focus on Carla walking down the aisle to you. I guarantee your nervous stomach will go away.”
“That’s easy for you to say. Patty, what if I’m more like Dad than I thought.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” She picked up the baby. “Hold your baby, Zach.”
The wedding had to be postponed until Carla delivered. As her pregnancy progressed, complications arose and Carla was ordered on bed rest. Zach didn’t want to risk losing Carla or the baby and made sure she followed the doctor’s orders to the penny. He put everything on hold until she was given the green light to continue with planning their wedding. He was grateful that Paula and his sister stepped in to help her.
He reached for his daughter cuddling her close to him. He remembered the day the doctor put Sofia in his arms; he was afraid to move. Her tiny body seemed so fragile wrapped snug in a pink and blue blanket and sleeping in the crook of his big arm. He stared at her for hours not believing she was his and that he could create a human so perfect. Her brown eyes and tiny button nose reminded him of Carla, but Sofia had his firm chin and light brown hair. But it was when she curled her hand around his finger that he broke down and realized he was a father and would not take that title for granted.
He kissed her soft cheek and a smile curled at her lips. Her tiny fingers played with his nose and lips. He nipped her fingertips with his lips. “I love my daughter, Patty.”
“I know you do. Carla said how you are the first to jump up when she cries or you think she has slept too long. You’re always checking on her.”
“I’m making sure she’s okay and to let Carla get a break. She’s working long hours as an EMT now and I don’t want her to get burned out.”
Patty smacked her lips. “See, that right there makes you not like Dad. He w
ould never do that for Mom.”
“You’re right. I did invite him to the wedding and he hesitated about coming.”
“Don’t let it bother you, Zach. Dad is who he is and we can’t change that. Interracial marriages are hard, but I have faith that you and Carla will overcome all obstacles and be together forever. She is a very strong and opinionated woman but you two go well together.”
“Yeah, she keeps me in my place. Well, it’s almost time for the wedding to start. I better finish getting dressed.” Zach gave Sofia one last hug before handing her back to his sister.
“Okay, we’ll go check on mommy and see if she needs a pep talk,” Patty said bouncing Sofia on her hip.
Zach's head whipped around to face her. “Do you think she’s having second thoughts about marrying me? What if she changes her mind and backs out, Patty?”
Patty rolled her eyes. “This is going to be a long day for you if you keep stressing over silly stuff. I’ll see you later, Zach.”
Zach paced the small dressing room. He wished he had a drink to settle his fears. Marriage, fatherhood, job change; it all happened too fast.
Rodney knocked on the door before pushing it open. “Hey, aren’t you ready yet?”
Zach went to the mirror to fix his tie. “Yeah, I’m almost ready. How is everything out there?”
“Everything is in order, Zach. You are marrying a terrific woman and have a beautiful baby girl; what more could you ask for?”
“How about one more favor,” he said putting on his suit jacket.
“What do you need, Zach?” Rodney asked sarcastically.
Zach ran a brush through his hair. “Carla and I want you to be Sofia’s Godfather. We discussed it, and both agree you’re the best person to look after Sofia if something happens to us.”
Rodney stuttered. “I-I don’t know what to say. I’d be honored to serve as her Godfather.” He put his hands on his hips and said, “It wasn’t easy keeping the information about Lowes from you. I wanted to tell you what was going on. Lowes was a sneaky dude and could have gone behind my back to get someone to do you in if he’d found out what I was doing. I couldn’t let that happen.”
