“I won’t lie and say that wasn’t part of it. To be honest, the deal just made sense. I told you the business was only good for me when it was about us. Without you, it wasn’t the same. When you were away, I cared for that business the same way I cared for Tanya and those boys. I was keeping them safe for your return. Now that I’m convinced you don’t want it, what’s in it for me?”
Loretta’s words pierced Preacher’s heart. How empty Loretta’s life must be if a drug business was her substitute for family. He began to pray silently, but earnestly, that she would find true fulfillment behind bars the way he had. “How much time are you looking at?”
“Not clear yet,” she said. “Maybe as little as a year and a day.”
He squeezed her hand tighter.
“There you go worrying again,” she said. “I’ll be fine. My cutie-pie lawyer is getting me tucked away in one of those resort prisons, whatever that is. I’m getting a sweet deal, so be happy for me. I’ll do the time, and then I’ll come back and hook up with you and the boys.”
Preacher wanted that more than anything. “Are you going to be safe?” he asked, knowing that there was sometimes greater danger getting out of the business than staying in it.
“I’ve giving enough information to confirm what they already know, which will make Andre angry, but shouldn’t cause much more damage beyond that. Apparently, Andre has more connections than I do. They get enough information from me to convince him to give information on others. It’s all about what you have to give the government. Talk about a racket.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “That Andre surprised me,” she said. “I never would have guessed he had it in him.”
“What about his partner and the dealership?”
“Everybody has a lawyer but that’s all I know.”
“So when do you have to report to the prison?”
She bit her lips together. “Today. As soon as we finish talking.”
Preacher shook his head. “Not today,” he said. He needed more time with his sister.
She patted his hand. “It’s all right, Preacher. They want me under lock and key to make sure I don’t skip town on them, and I want to get started serving my time now. The sooner I start, the sooner I get out.”
“I don’t know what to say,” he said.
“Say you’ll call, visit, and write.”
“You know I will, ’Retta.”
She nodded.
“I’m proud of you, Sis,” Preacher said. “It takes a lot of courage to do what you’re doing.”
She smiled back. “Don’t get carried away, Preacher. I’m getting the better end of this deal, so there’s not a lot of courage involved.”
Having no more words to say, Preacher pulled his sister into his arms and rocked her back and forth. God had answered his prayer, not in the way he had wanted, but He’d gotten Loretta out of the business. Preacher believed it was only time before this blood sister he loved became his sister in the faith as well. He pressed a kiss against her forehead and continued holding her close.
CHAPTER 25
Sean had gone from the Boss’s star pupil to a wanted man in no time flat. The enemy had swooped in and snatched Preacher and his friends from their grasp so quickly that Sean hadn’t had time to mount a counterattack.
Despite his failure to regain Preacher or acquire any collateral damage, Sean didn’t want to be sent to Third Hades. He’d been hiding from the Boss since Preacher had been reunited with his kids. He knew his time was short, though, because he had no support. Jessie, his only real friend, had disappeared on him until her unexpected call this morning. She said she’d been in hiding, too. Apparently, the Boss held her partly responsible for Sean’s failure and planned to send her to Third Hades along with him. Sean feared for both of them.
He arrived at the address Jessie had given him about half an hour after receiving her call. His heart raced as he knocked on her door. When she opened it, a bright smile on her face, he closed his eyes and breathed a relieved sigh. When he opened his eyes, he moved to pull Jessie into his arms but she stepped back and another set of arms engulfed her. Sean’s eyes followed the arms to the face—the Boss!
His knees grew weak as the door slammed closed behind him. Two big burly men grabbed his arms, ending whatever ideas of escape he may have had.
Jessie’s smile did not falter.
“What’s going on?” he asked her.
She turned to the Boss, pressing a kiss against his cheek. “You’re right,” she said to the Boss. “He is an idiot.”
The Boss kissed her deeply. “Have I ever lied?”
Both of them broke up into hysterical laughter at the question. Sean’s legs buckled under him as understanding dawned. He would have fallen to the floor without the support of the two goons.
Jessie turned back to him. “Have you figured it out yet?”
Sean nodded. “You’re working with the Boss. You’ve been working with him all this time.”
The Boss snorted. “Leave it to you, Jones, to state the obvious. I don’t think I’ve met a denser executive. Not only am I sending you to Third Hades, I’m also sending the idiot who brought you into 3Sixes.”
Sean considered a last-minute plea, but he knew it was no use. He’d been given chance after chance and he’d still failed. Preacher and his friends had ruined it for him. He hated Preacher and longed to see his soul in Third Hades one day soon.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Sean,” Jessie said, as though she’d read his mind. “You were going to Third Hades, regardless of what happened with Preacher.”
Sean raised questioning eyes to the Boss. “What?”
The Boss snapped his fingers and a guy in a black suit placed a glass of wine in his hand. He took a sip. “You heard her, Jones. I knew you were a lost cause from our first meeting, but I gave you a chance anyway.”
“You lied to me,” Sean exclaimed. “All this time you’ve been lying to me.”
The Boss and Jessie laughed again. When they sobered, the Boss said, “You really don’t get it, do you, Jones? That’s why you’ll never make it here.” The Boss thumped his chest with his forefinger. “I’m a liar. Lying is what I do. Why did you ever think I was telling you the truth?”
Preacher had no response. Of course, he knew the Boss was a liar. He was a liar himself, but he thought they only lied to the enemy and souls they wanted to win, not to each other. What was the purpose of lying to each other? They all had the same goals, or he thought they did. He said as much to the Boss. Then he added, “Why not just ship me straight to Third Hades instead of sending me through all these hoops?”
The Boss shrugged. “It was fun,” he said. “And it gave Jessie here a chance to prove her worth to me.” He kissed Jessie’s cheek and patted her bottom. “She did a fine job, too. When she goes after prey, she gets him.”
“Guess who my prey was, Sean?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with delight.
Sean couldn’t answer, didn’t want to answer. Jessie was liar, too. He knew without asking that she’d never cared for him. Everything between them was a lie to gain his trust. It had worked.
“Come on,” she said. “I know you’ve figured it out.”
“Me,” Sean muttered. “I was your prey.”
“Ding, ding, ding,” the Boss chimed. “Give that man a one-way ticket to Third Hades.”
“It was either me or you, Sean,” Jessie said. “Nothing personal.”
Nothing personal. Sean closed his eyes as he absorbed the pain of her words. She’d treated him as callously as he treated the souls he tried to win. He wondered if they felt the way he felt now. When he finally opened his eyes, Jessie and the Boss were gone.
“It’s time,” the goon on his left said.
Sean tried to shake off their arms, but they held on tight. “I’m not going to run,” he said.
The goon on the right laughed. “But you’re going to try. They all do. Nobody goes to Third Hades willingly and you’re not going to be the first.
”
The sounds Sean had first heard on the Boss’s iPod rang in his mind, growing louder with each passing moment. Sean had reached his destiny, a dark, dreary place filled with screams and wailings. As the goons pushed him forward, the sounds grew louder, so loud Sean thought they were in his head. Then he realized the sounds were coming from him.
EPILOGUE
Three months later
Preacher strolled down the hallway of Faith Community Church. He’d finished his consultation with the pastor about the funeral being held at Faith Community tomorrow, and thought he’d peek in on Barnard. Though he prayed for his dear brother and Serena every day, he hadn’t spoken to either of them in three months. In fact, it had been three months since he’d stepped inside Faith Community.
Barnard’s closed door signaled that he wasn’t in, but Preacher knocked anyway.
“He’s not here.”
The soft familiar voice made him smile and he turned in its direction. Natalie stood before him, the welcoming smile that he recalled from their first meeting shone prominently on her face. It told him she was as happy to see him as he was to see her. “Natalie,” he said. “It’s good to see you.”
She came closer and pressed a kiss against his cheek. “It’s been too long, Preacher,” she said. “Much too long.”
He shrugged, unsure what else to say. Her warmth humbled him. “I’ve been keeping busy,” he said, not wanting to bring up the past events that forced his absence when it might make her uncomfortable.
“With boys as active as Jake and Mack, I can imagine,” she said. “We miss them around here. How are they?”
“They’ve settled in well at our new church and they love the day care there. You know kids, they’re pretty resilient.”
She nodded. “I’m happy you worked things out with Tanya.”
“Me, too,” he said. “The boys are still staying with her mother during the week, but as soon as I finish school, they’ll be moving in with me.”
“School? I didn’t know you were in school. Good for you.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I have to complete some course work to get licensed to run the funeral home.”
“I’m impressed,” she said, her eyes full of pride for him. “I don’t know if I could go back to school.”
“It’s amazing what you can do when you put your heart and mind to it,” he said. “It took me a while to get in the rhythm of going to class, studying, working, and spending time with the boys, but it’s turned out well. I’m enjoying it.”
“Sounds like you are,” she said. “I still remember the day you told me you believed the Lord had given you a sign about the funeral home. Look where moving in faith gets you.”
Preacher shook his head in amazement. “It’s been a trip, Natalie. When I was released from prison, I knew exactly what God had in store for me.” He chuckled. “My life is nothing like that today.”
“You have your boys,” Natalie said.
“Yeah, I do, and I thank God for them every day, but you know what I mean. Tanya’s seeing some high-profile attorney, Loretta’s in prison, and my boys are living with their grandmother. My godly family didn’t quite materialize the way I thought it would.”
“God had something better in store for you.”
He nodded. “Right now, I just know it’s different. Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m happy with my life. I just wonder sometimes about the cost others paid in order for me to have it.”
Natalie pressed her hand against his arm. “Don’t think like that, Preacher. I’m sorry about Loretta and even about Tanya, but God knows what He’s doing. He always does.”
“I know you’re right,” he said. “It’s you that has me talking like this. It’s always been easy for me to talk to you, since the first day we met.”
“Same for me,” she said. “I think about you often. I miss our budding friendship.”
“Me, too,” he said. Then when the past could no longer be avoided, he asked, “How are Barnard and Serena?”
“Getting better,” she said. “They’re on vacation now. A sort of second honeymoon. Barnard surprised her last week with a two-week trip to Bermuda. They should be back next week.”
Preacher laughed. “Barnard, the romantic, who would have thought it? That’s my boy.”
Natalie laughed with him. “Serena was pretty psyched.” She sobered. “She really is getting better, Preacher. I know you don’t believe this, but what happened has strengthened their marriage and their faith. Don’t be surprised if you get a call from her one day soon.”
“That’s my deepest prayer. I never meant to hurt her or Barnard or you. If I could change everything, I would.”
Natalie shook her head. “I wouldn’t,” she said. “The Bible tells us that all things, not some things, work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. I thank God every day that you came into our lives.”
“I can’t believe that,” he said in all earnestness.
“Believe it,” she said. “If you hadn’t come into our lives, I could be married to Dante and then where would I be? Serena would still be hiding from the shame of her past and her marriage to Barnard may have been crushed under the weight of her guilt. The pain we’ve suffered has been like the fiery fire of trials that God puts us through to build our faith. I thank God for you. I really do.”
Preacher didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. Joy welled up in him and threatened to spill out in unmanly tears. Here he was, a reformed drug dealer, a man who’d made a living wreaking havoc in people’s lives and profiting from their despair, being told that God had used his life to strengthen and make a difference in the lives of others. It was beyond his comprehension.
“See, there you go. You old softie.” She pulled him into her embrace. “I love you, Preacher,” she said. “And I thank God for you.”
With tears spilling down his cheeks, Preacher wrapped his arms around Natalie and returned her embrace.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Up Pops the Devil made its way into print due to the hard work of a lot of people. I want to thank each and every person in the process for their contribution. Though it is impossible for me to name them all here, I’d like to single out a few.
Natasha Kern, my dear agent, thanks for finding a great home for me and my baby. Your tireless efforts on my behalf did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
Carol Craig, my personal GPS, thanks for keeping Up Pops the Devil on the right track. I don’t know what I would have done without your fresh eyes.
Likisha Renfroe, my “insider” contact, thanks for sharing your knowledge of the Georgia penal system. Everything I got right in this book is because of you; everything I got wrong is because of me. Thanks so much for your help.
Carolyn Marino and Wendy Lee, editors extraordinaire, thanks so much for the care that you took with my story. I trust your instincts and appreciate your guidance. I look forward to working with you on the next book.
I offer a special thanks to the other members of the Avon/HarperCollins team who worked to get Up Pops the Devil into print and into bookstores. Without a doubt, I have the best cover in book publishing history along with the best back cover copy. Thanks so much for your excellent work!
About the Author
ANGELA BENSON is a graduate of Spelman College and the author of numerous novels, including the Christy Award–nominated Awakening Mercy and the Essence bestseller The Amen Sisters. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Alabama and lives in Tuscaloosa.
www.angelabenson.com
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Also by Angela Benson
THE AMEN SISTERS
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real
. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
UP POPS THE DEVIL. Copyright © 2008 by Angela Benson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition JUNE 2008 ISBN: 9780061983061
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