Langston shook his head and laughed, stuffing the magazine back in the bag. He climbed on his motorcycle, found his earbuds, and turned on the MP3 player. He drove out of the deck and made a right onto the main road. After sitting in holiday traffic for two blocks, he decided to turn onto a side road to circumvent the congestion.
It would take about ten extra minutes to get home this way, but at least the flow of traffic was steady. He sang along with Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” and enjoyed the chilly evening air rushing past him.
He bobbed his head. “I like the feelin' you're givin' me, just hold me baby, and I'm in ecstasy! Oh, I'll be workin' from nine to five to buy you things to keep you by my side!”
A glare in the side mirror caught his attention. The dark sedan behind him was tailgating. Langston sped up to distance himself, but the car closed the gap immediately. He changed lanes. The car followed. Langston tried to make out the model of car, but the driver turned on the high beams.
He opened up the throttle, blinking away the afterimage from the bright lights. Langston squinted, weaving through traffic. The pursuer stayed close, cutting off other drivers, who honked their horns and made lewd gestures.
Langston’s throat went dry as he tried to control his trembling hands. He had to concentrate on a route he could take to get rid of this car. Brake lights lit up a busy intersection ahead.
Oh my God!
Langston checked his side mirror then looked up to see the yellow traffic light. He swerved around an old Toyota and tried to speed up to catch the light, but it turned red. He thought briefly of running the light, but cross traffic had already started to drive through. He had to brake.
As Langston turned to look back, his motorcycle lurched forward. He tightened his grip on the handlebars to steady himself as he lurched forward again. The car was nudging the motorcycle into the intersection. Think, think. Langston braked harder, but he continued to inch over the line into traffic. To his left, headlights barreled down on him. Drivers honked and swerved. He had no choice. Langston punched the gas and made a hard right. The Jeep he cut off slammed on the brakes, and Langston slipped into a narrow space, barely fitting between the Jeep and a car in front of him.
Over the blaring music in his ears, he heard squealing tires and crunching metal. Langston looked over his shoulder and saw that the mystery sedan had followed his maneuver, causing two cars to crash, and was catching up with him. The next turnoff was two miles away, and Langston raced to get to it. The car sidled up beside him after forcing another car off the road.
A tinted window slid down, and a muscular arm holding a gun appeared. Langston panicked and veered to the right, nearly sideswiping a pickup truck. He straightened the bike just as he heard the gun go off. He glanced at the car in time to see the arm aiming the gun at him once again.
Langston ducked. “No!”
The gun flipped out of the shooter’s hand and bounced off the hood of the car behind them. Langston was somewhat relieved until a different arm aimed another gun at him from the same window. He slammed on the brakes, swerved, and went off the shoulder of the road, careening down a slope into a wide ditch.
“Stop, stop, stop!” He braked, but the wheels couldn’t find purchase on the wet grass. Suddenly the bike came to a hard stop, catapulting him off. Langston flipped over the front of the bike and rolled down the hill until he skidded to a halt on his back, groaning loudly.
After a few seconds, he sat up slowly and looked up at the top of the hill where he could hear the traffic whizzing by. He expected someone to be pointing another gun at him, but no one was there.
He tried to get up, but his left wrist gave way, and he cried out in pain. Using his right hand, he made it to his feet. After struggling to gain his balance on the uneven ground, he limped as fast as he could uphill, unwrapping the earbud cord from around his neck. Michael Jackson was still singing.
Gotta get out of here. He found his helmet several feet away and put it back on, grass and dirt falling onto his cheeks. Langston lifted his leg over the concrete barrier, lost his balance, and toppled over to the other side. Getting up, he checked the bike. There was some damage to the front from where it had slammed into the barrier, but at least the keys were still in the ignition. He forced himself to hurry and get on the motorcycle.
Langston put a hand on the keys. “Please start.” The bike’s engine sputtered to a roar. “Thank God.”
Carefully maneuvering, he guided the motorcycle back to the road. After waiting for a lull in traffic, he merged onto the road and exited at the first opportunity. He took the side streets home. He kept checking for the dark sedan, but never saw it again.
Chapter Four
When Langston hobbled off the elevator, he saw Jade knocking on his door. She turned at the sound of the elevator doors opening and smiled.
“Hey, I was beginning to think you’d forgotten…” Her smile disappeared. “What happened to you?”
Langston’s slacks were grass stained and torn at the knee. He was sweating profusely and had difficulty walking, but tried to act casual.
“I got into a bit of an accident.”
Jade covered her mouth before asking, “Are you okay? Should I call someone?”
Langston shook his head. It took three attempts to get the key into the lock of his apartment door. When he got the door open, he limped inside, and Jade followed.
“Langston, you’re bleeding.”
He peeled off his jacket slowly and plopped down on the couch. He looked down at himself and didn’t see any blood, so he touched his forehead and drew back his hand. His fingertips were covered in red. He groaned and closed his eyes.
Jade touched his arm. “Is that… is that a bullet hole?”
Langston lifted up his left arm and checked his shoulder. Why, yes. It is indeed a bullet hole. He rested his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes again.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Jade said. “Open your eyes.” When Langston did not comply, Jade shook his arm. When that didn’t work, she gently smacked his cheek. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” Langston mumbled.
“To the hospital.”
“I don’t need to go to the hospital.”
“I think you have a concussion.”
Langston was having a hard time comprehending. Why is Jade in my apartment? He opened his eyes. “We have to fix your Xbox.”
“No,” Jade said. “We are going to the hospital.”
“Why?”
He heard Jade sigh and keys jingle. She tugged at him. “Langston Crump, you get up from that couch right now.”
Langston laughed. She was cute when she was angry.
“Stop laughing and get up.”
“Okay, okay,” he muttered.
Langston slithered off the cushions, wilted to his knees and flopped onto the coffee table.
“Oh my God!” Jade cried.
Why is she freaking out? And why am I so sleepy? A few seconds later, Langston felt movement. When had he gotten into the elevator? He was leaning heavily on Jade.
He smiled lazily. “Hey, Jade.”
“Hey, Langston.”
The elevator doors opened, and she helped him to his car.
“Jade?”
She helped him into the passenger seat. “Yes?”
“My head really hurts.”
She climbed in behind the wheel and started the engine. “I know. We’re going to get you some help, okay?”
“Okay.”
She paused. “This probably isn’t the best time to mention it, but I don’t have a license.”
Langston found this funny. “Licenses. Who needs ‘em?”
“Langston, please try to stay awake. We’re almost there.”
He opened his eyes and saw the bright lights of the hospital emergency department. When did we leave the apartment building?
He looked down and saw the floor whizzing by. He was in a wheelchair. He heard Jade
talking and knew she was walking beside him, then he passed out.
“Langston… Langston, wake up. Wake up.”
Langston opened his eyes. He felt winded and had to catch his breath. He was in a hospital bed. Jade was standing next to him, looking alarmed and exhausted.
“Jade?”
“You were screaming.”
“Was I?”
She nodded. Langston sat up from his reclined position slowly. His left wrist and shoulder were bandaged, and he was wearing a hospital gown. A curtain enclosed the small space.
“Where…?”
“We’re in the emergency department.”
“How long have I been here?”
“A few hours. Do you remember what happened?”
“I was on my way home, and a car started chasing me.”
“You told the nurse to call the police.”
“I did?”
Jade nodded. “They came, but I couldn’t answer anything. Apparently, there were multiple car wrecks on the 405, and two witnesses called in saying they saw a man on a three-wheeled motorcycle get shot by someone in a black car.”
“Did they get the license plate of the car?”
“No. They just said it was a Mercedes.” Jade laced her fingers together anxiously. “Are you in trouble?”
Langston thought about J.T. and Nate. “No. This has to be a mistake or a really messed up prank.”
“Are you in a,” she lowered her voice, “gang or something?”
Langston tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. “I’m not in a gang.”
She looked over her shoulder.
“I get it,” he said. “I’m freaked out too. If you don’t feel safe, you can go. I understand.”
“I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
Good, because he didn’t want to be here alone. But he didn’t want to look desperate. “It’s okay. Really. It’s late, get some sleep.”
She sat in the recliner next to the bed and hugged her purse. “I’ll go in a little while.”
“Do you know where my glasses are?”
She handed them to him, and he was amazed they were still intact.
“Thanks for bringing me here. I’m sorry about this.”
Jade smiled. “I wanted to spend the evening with you. And I guess I did, in a way.”
He tried to laugh again.
Jade’s smile faded. “The doctor said it looks like you hit your head hard, so you’re going to have a headache for a while, but your CT scan came out clean, so that’s good.” She bit her bottom lip. “Do you need me to call someone? I’m sure your mom would—”
“Oh, no.” Langston held out a hand. “If she finds out about this, she’ll hit the roof.”
Jade nodded slowly. “Who’s Iris?”
He thought. “I don’t know. Why?”
“You said ‘Rise and shine, Iris.’ Then you started screaming. That’s why I woke you.”
Langston sat up a little straighter. “’Rise and shine, Iris?’ Iris? Like a flower?”
“Yeah.”
“Iris… Iris,” he repeated, trying unsuccessfully to place the name. He heard the ghostly voice of the woman from his nightmare. Rise and shine, Langston. “Weird.”
“What’s weird?”
“I think she might be my night terror.”
Jade laughed uncomfortably. “Okay, maybe you need to rest some more.”
“I have a recurring nightmare of this woman, but she’s the one who says ‘Rise and shine,’ not me.”
“What happens in the nightmare?”
“I float around in this big, dark mansion and find a dead woman on the floor. She wakes up and starts screaming at me and blood starts coming out of her face.”
Jade looked at him like he was growing a second head out of his neck.
“I know,” he said. “It’s weird. I had it as a child, but it went away for a while. It started again last night.”
“Do you think you should talk to someone?”
He looked at his hands. “Maybe.”
They heard a voice from the other side of the curtain. “Knock, knock, coming in.” A nurse slid back the curtain and entered. “Good morning, Mr. Crump. I’m glad to see you up. How are you feeling?”
“Sore.”
She nodded. “Mmmhmm, I bet you are.”
She wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his arm and shushed him when he tried to talk. When the cuff loosened, he tried again.
“When can I go home?”
“First you need to speak to the police. They’re on the way. I called them a few minutes ago when you woke up the entire ED.” Langston looked down at the sheet, reminded of the time a friend woke him up at a slumber party in fifth grade. He’d screamed in his sleep there, too. “Then Dr. Perkins is going to talk to you.”
“Okay,” Langston said.
“Your blood pressure is almost back down to normal.” She poised a thermometer by his lips, and he opened his mouth dutifully.
“98.4,” she announced. She put her index and middle fingers on his wrist and looked at her watch. “Okay. Looking good.”
“When will the police get here?” Langston asked.
“Soon, hopefully,” she said. “I’m Emma if you need anything.”
She acknowledged Jade with a smile, then disappeared behind the curtain.
“It’s freezing in here,” he said. “Where are my clothes?”
Jade pointed to a white plastic bag on the bedside table. “Here.” She reached down at the foot of the bed, unfolded a blanket, and draped it over him.
“Thanks.”
Jade sat. “I’m glad your blood pressure came down. They said it was sky high when we got here.”
They spent an hour making small talk and listening to the ailing patients on either side of them. The thin curtains hardly protected privacy. The woman on Langston’s left was having severe abdomen discomfort and called out for Jesus every few minutes, complaining to anyone who would listen that she needed painkillers. The man on Langston’s right seemed to have broken a toe or his foot after he dropped a dumbbell on it.
Two police officers came, and Langston filed a report. It wasn’t as satisfying as he’d hoped. His answers to their questions weren’t helpful, as he hadn’t been able to obtain a lot of information while fleeing for his life. After the officers left, Langston saw that Jade had nodded off. She was leaning on the bed’s railing, her head propped up awkwardly, in a restless slumber. Langston felt like an ass. She wouldn’t have to be here if it wasn’t for him.
As gently as he could, he held up her head with his good arm and shoved a pillow into the free space. It didn’t look much more comfortable, but at least she wouldn’t have a hard plastic bed rail pressing into her neck.
He checked through the narrow curtain opening to make sure no one could see him, then he gently stroked her hair. The sable tendrils spilled over the side of the pillow and Langston looped a lock around his index finger. He refrained from bending over and sniffing. He wanted to smell that spicy earl grey tea again but feared she’d wake up and accuse him of being a creep.
Langston wondered what it would be like to date Jade. Would the novelty of the nerd-who-lives-next-door wear off once she undoubtedly found her Calvin Klein underwear model? Would his incessant talk about engineering bore her until she ran away screaming? What if they dated for a while and she broke up with him? He’d have to see her in his building, waiting for the elevator, getting the mail. Would he be able to stand it? Would she move away after graduation?
Or maybe…
Maybe she would laugh at his bad jokes. Take care of him when he was sick and cover him with a blanket like she had tonight. Maybe she’d smile when he walked in the door.
Langston yawned, his eyelids growing heavy.
Maybe she’d say yes when he got down on one knee, and they’d have two kids. A boy and a girl. Two cinnamon jumping beans who would have a proclivity for science and music. They’d be smart and good-looking. Langston
laughed sleepily. Cinnamon jumping beans.
“Mr. Crump?”
Langston peeked out of one eye, blearily. Jade raised her head from the pillow Langston had placed earlier, sleep lines cutting across her cheek.
“Good morning, I’m Dr. Perkins.”
Langston blinked. “Wha…?”
Dr. Perkins shone a penlight into his eyes.
Langston cringed. “Ugh!”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Dr. Perkins slid the light into his coat pocket.
Langston tried to move. Every muscle in his body screamed. He was feeling worse by the hour.
“You have a lot of bruising, so you’re going to be sore for a while. We got that bullet out of your shoulder. Try to keep that area clean and dry, okay?”
Langston tried to nod. “Okay.”
“Thankfully, no broken bones, but you bumped your noggin pretty good. You have some stitches on your forehead there.”
Langston reached up and felt a row of tiny, hard knots.
“I’m going to prescribe some antibiotics and painkillers. Make sure you take the painkillers on a full stomach, okay? They’re strong. As for the antibiotics, it’s important that you take them all.”
Langston looked at Jade. She was rubbing her eyes.
“Is your primary physician,” Dr. Perkins consulted a clipboard, “James Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to follow up with him in a week, okay?”
“All right.”
Dr. Perkins patted Langston’s foot. “Okay, buddy. Take care and be safe on that bike!”
Langston gave a weak wave.
“Call us if you have any trouble with those painkillers.”
Dr. Perkins left, and Emma came in. She gave Langston a small, clear plastic bag of papers and gauze squares.
Jade handed his bag of clothes to him. “Are you going to be okay getting dressed?”
Langston felt that it wasn’t the time to make an inappropriate comment about her helping him zip up his pants. “Yes.”
The Wiseman Revelation (The Wiseman Series Book 2) Page 4
