The next instant, Marc felt something cold and hard against his head. Everything went black.
***
Quest, Taurus and a host of others finally succeeded in triumphing over the crowd and pulling Johnelle and Josephine away from one another. They secured Josephine at one end of the long corridor where she demanded to be left alone. Michaela pulled Johnelle aside and stood trying to soothe her. Quest and Taurus stood talking with the guards and other courthouse personnel. The confusion in the hallway was still at its height.
“I need to go splash a bit of water on my face,” Johnelle shuddered, casting a horrified look towards the incensed crowd.
Mick nodded. “Okay let’s-“
“No Michaela, I need to go alone,” Johnelle said, already pulling away.
“I don’t think-“
“Please Mick, please. I just need a few minutes,” Johnelle whispered.
Mick desperately wanted to follow, but didn’t have the heart to refuse her. Instead, she nodded and let go of the woman’s arm.
Johnelle headed down the deserted corridor of restrooms. She gave a quick glance across her shoulder before bypassing the ladies room and approaching Josephine who waited at the far end of the hall.
“Incredible performance,” Josephine commended in a hushed tone when they clasped hands.
Johnelle smiled. “So was yours,” she sighed.
Moods sobered then. Josephine looked towards the floor before fixing Johnelle with a firm look. “I’m so sorry. So very sorry for what my sick husband and his brother put you through-put Sera through.”
Johnelle could only nod. Pressing her lips together, she let the tears stream her cheeks.
“Ladies?”
Composting themselves, Josephine and Johnelle turned in the direction of the voice. Yvonne Wilson, Cufi Muhammad’s wife was approaching them.
“Commendable job-a very believable diversion,” Yvonne was saying, her lovely dark face soft with triumph. “Everything went off without a hitch. Marcus’ cuffs on the floor are the only traces of him having been there.”
“What will happen to him?” Johnelle asked.
“Does it matter?” Yvonne countered, smiling when Johnelle rolled her eyes.
“No,” Josephine replied. “Not one damn bit.”
~~~
Michaela kept a lookout for Johnelle; hoping she was okay and debating whether to disturb her in the washroom. She frowned, spotting her down the long corridor where the men’s and women’s washrooms were located. Mick’s frown deepened when she noticed Johnelle in another conversation with Josephine. She prayed a second argument wasn’t brewing and moved to investigate.
She stopped after taking no more than two steps and cocked her head just slightly. A look of stunned disbelief clouded her face as her lips parted. “Can’t be,” she whispered.
A second later, the distinct pitch of gunfire rang out in the distance. Mick pivoted, turning to look back towards the crowded corridor. She saw Quest who knocked her to the floor before smothering her body with his own.
Some time passed before anything was confirmed. The building was promptly evacuated. Aside from the shots fired, the crowd and reporters on hand knew nothing. Only courthouse security, council and members of the Ramsey family remained to deal with the final upset of the day.
Following the shots, security burst into the courtroom to find Houston Ramsey on the floor. Lying dead next to him was Daphne Ramsey who shot herself after killing her husband.
***
“Dammit!” Johari bellowed, when her attempts to budge one of the many windows in the room, went unrewarded. “Son of a bitch!” she raged again. “Oh why didn’t I suspect something?” she started to lament for the thirtieth time. “All expense paid trip to Hawaii and bring a friend,” she muttered, clenching fistfuls of her bright hair. “Why didn’t I sense something was shady?”
Zara; who also sat prisoner in the room, kept her gaze averted out the tower window overlooking the rocky ocean bank below. “They planned this too well Jo,” she reminded her sister for the thirtieth time in the last two days. “They planned it specifically so you wouldn’t suspect anything. It’s what they’re good at.”
“Jackasses!” Jo screamed, kicking a throw pillow across the floor. “God please don’t let Mel give into them,” she prayed before a matter of fact expression crept across her face. “But giving in to them is the only way we’ll get the hell out of here,” she sang.
Suddenly, Zara stood. She smoothed both hands across her wispy azure halter dress and went to the door.
“Gee, why didn’t I think of that?” Jo sarcastically muttered when her sister knocked.
Zara ignored her and patiently waited for the door to open, which it did in less than a minute. On the other side stood one of the men who’d forced her and Johari into the locked room.
“I want to see Stefan,” Zara demanded.
“Wait,” the man instructed, before pulling the door closed.
“What are you doing?” Jo whispered, coming to stand in the middle of the room. “Zara?” she called again when her sister stood mute.
Finally, she turned. “I’m going to get us out of here.”
***
Mick sat with Taurus in the judge’s chamber where they’d been led shortly after the shooting occurred. Reporters and crowds of interested citizens were still camped outdoors hoping for just a snippet of information.
“Can I get you anything, sweetie?” Mick asked, smiling sadly when he only shook his head. “Do you want some privacy to call Dena?” she asked while stroking his back.
Taurus winced at the sound of his sister’s name. “No, I don’t want to tell her this over the phone.”
“I understand, honey. But…you know the reporters may not feel that way.”
Taurus braced his elbows to his knees. “I just can’t,” he sighed.
Nodding, Mick pressed a kiss to his temple. She decided to give him time alone and stood when she saw her husband waiting in the doorway.
“How’s he doin’?” Quest asked when Mick was next to him.
“Alright,” was her slow reply.
Quest smirked knowingly, reading the suspicion in her voice and expression.
Mick cast another look into the chambers. “I’m gonna call Dena,” she decided.
“Alright, I’m gonna talk to T,” Quest decided, kissing the top of her curls when she seemed more leery. “Hey? Trust me?” he urged, brushing the back of his hand across her cheek when she nodded.
Still, Michaela hesitated before she left the room. She turned to watch Quest go over and stand beside Taurus at the windows. The unrest in her eyes faded and she smiled when Quest patted his cousin’s shoulder and they hugged.
“I’m sorry man,” Quest whispered when they stepped out of the embrace.
“We need to talk,” Taurus said after nodding.
“Yeah,” Quest agreed, slanting a glance outside the windows. “I told Mick about Zara,” he shared.
“I’m glad. But that’s not what I want to talk about.”
Frowning, Quest turned. His silence beckoned Taurus to continue.
“This isn’t right, Q. My mother didn’t do this.”
***
Deep groans and breathless cries of feminine pleasure filled the study; dimmed by the drawn blinds. Against one of the walls in the room, Stefan took Zara with all the zeal he could muster. Then, he carried her to one of the overstuffed sofas and completed the act.
“Good as you thought?” Stef asked, once it was over.
Zara resisted the urge to bristle at his undeserved confidence. “Better,” she purred the lie.
Stef kissed her cheek. “Well you were damn well worth the wait. Ready for round two?” he asked, his arousal already re-firming.
Zara smiled. “Actually, I prefer you to take something else out of your pants.”
Stefan’s smile took on a curious tinge.
“Your keys bastard,” she requested, watching his face free
ze.
Stef managed a laugh. “What the hell-” he stopped and swallowed when Zara raised a gun to his face.
Gasping, Stef patted the small of his back and felt nothing but the shirt he still wore. He realized Zara must have relieved him of the weapon while they were against the wall.
“Bitch,” he hissed.
Zara was frighteningly calm. “Right now, Mr. Lyons,” she ordered, her knee connecting with his abdomen as she forced him off her. The gun was still raised.
With shaking fingers, Stef did as he was told. Zara’s cool smile turned grim. A second later, she cocked the gun and fired.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Johari was pacing the room frantically. She prayed and wrung her hands and pressed her ear to the door for any sign of her sister. There was nothing. She experienced a sense of dread. She had no idea what was happening. There was no line of sight out the windows aside from the ominous-looking rocks dotting the ocean bank below.
Still, in spite of the bleak, possibly fatal fates awaiting her and Zara, Jo felt her heart swell. Thoughts of Moses Ramsey raced her mind. God please let me see him again, she prayed. He was truly the man she wanted. If she made it through this hell, she damn well intended to tell him so.
Raised voices and then the unmistakable sounds of gunshots rose just outside the door. Johari screamed, whirling round to face the front of the room.
“Zara?” she whispered, her heartbeat filling her ears.
A second later, the door burst open and Zara stormed in toting a gun.
“Let’s make a move, sista!” she ordered.
Jo wasted no time following. “What happened?! Where’d you get that gun?!”
“Stef,” Zara answered, checking the hall before pulling her sister outside the room.
“And where is Stef?” Jo asked.
“By now, I’m sure he’s knockin’ on death’s door. I can’t imagine him wanting to live with his manhood shot straight to hell. Let’s go!”
It was all Johari could do to put one foot before the other.
~~~
Moses was in the first of two helicopters about to touch down at the compound. Once the decision was made to begin the search at Kauai Moses and his men; along with Fernando and Ken Shaw, set out for Hawaii.
Ken knew exactly where to go for directions to the compound once they were on the island. Fernando defied his brother’s advice to remain behind and Moses didn’t argue. They were both there to extinguish the threat against the women they loved.
“Anybody got a visual?!” Moses asked speaking into the mic attached to the headsets he wore. “The back of the place faces a cliff so chances are they’ll be keeping the women on that end of the house!”
“Boss! We got a visual alright. Ten o’clock!” The pilot of the second chopper announced.
Everyone looked in that direction. Moses felt his hand weaken on the mic. “God no,” he whispered seeing Johari stumbling out of the fortress-like structure. Zara was right next to her and firing a gun as they ran.
“Get us on the ground!” Moses roared.
~~~
“Don’t worry about me! Go!” Zara cried, still firing the gun while ordering her sister.
“Come on!” Jo called.
Many of Cufi’s men fell beneath the bullets Zara fired, but the men kept coming. Zara kept shooting, her aim on the mark each time. Unfortunately, the luck soon ran out. The last round was spent.
“Damn,” Zara hissed, throwing down the gun and racing after her sister.
The young women flew across the massive green acreage of the compound. They constantly looked cross their shoulders to assess the men chasing them.
“Oh God,” Jo breathed. It appeared as if an army was on their tails.
“Keep running!” Zara cried.
Just then, the shots rang out in a horrific medley. The sisters knew they’d been hit. The gunfire, however, had come from Moses and his men. They’d touched down with weapons at the ready.
When Johari looked across her shoulder and viewed the scene, she stumbled to a stop. “Z! Look!” she called.
Zara closed her eyes in relief when she saw their captors on the ground. “I knew he’d come for you!” she told her sister, pressing a hand to her forehead to keep windblown hair out of her face.
Jo looked back and smiled. Smoothing sweat-slicked hands across her Capri jeans, she turned to watch Moses and his men secure the area.
Meanwhile, Zara walked on towards the beautiful view at the edge of the cliffs. The ocean stretched as far as she could see. So much space, she thought. So much freedom-something she’d almost forgotten the meaning of.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, Z!” Jo called, and then looked across her shoulder when she received no answer. She saw Zara standing motionless. “Z?” she called again, slowly walking towards her sister. Closely, Jo studied her with realization growing more clear each second. Eventually, without word, she understood what Zara meant to do-what she’d meant to do probably almost since the day she returned.
“Don’t leave me again,” Jo said when she stood ten feet away.
Zara bowed her head, the profile of her lovely cocoa face set and guarded. “I have no life here, Sis. I died eighteen years ago.”
“No Z.”
Zara blinked and spread her arms about her. “What man would want me once he finds out what I’ve been?”
Jo stepped closer. “You don’t need that. You’ve got me and-“
“You’ve got Moses and Mel has Yohan and I…I’ve had everybody else.”
“Z please!” Jo cried, running to hug her sister. She tried to hold her captive, away from the wind, crashing waves and ominous looking rocks far below. “Please Z, please,” she wailed. “I need you! You can’t do this! I can’t survive losing you again.” She dissolved into an uncontrolled shedding of tears which only multiplied when Zara returned the hug and began to cry a well.
When Jo’s tears began to slow, Zara pushed her sister away but kept her hands tight on her sister’s upper arms.
“I love you,” Zara said, before pushing Jo to the ground. She turned and raced across the edge of the jagged cliffs.
“Zara? Zara! Zara!” Johari’s stunned cries were half full, half breathless and completely hysterical. She was so distraught; panic-stricken with a well of tears blinding her vision. Her mind was consumed by the image of her sister leaping to her death.
Jo was oblivious to all else-including an enraged Stefan Lyons crawling out into the clearing. Stef clutched a .9 millimeter in one shaking hand and aimed to fire at the grieving sister. His intentions however, were dashed when an old friend found him. Stef froze when he heard another gun cock nearby. He looked up.
“Time for your part in this to end,” Fernando said and shot his former partner dead.
Hearing the gunfire, Johari whirled around to find Fernando standing over Stefan. Dizziness overcame her when she noticed the gun clutched in Stef’s lifeless hands. She was in no shape to stand then and crumpled to the ground where she laid on her side and cried.
~~~
Moses had gone hoarse screaming Johari’s name. He ventured out to the rear of the estate and; viewing the scene, his heart almost stopped. His gun slid to the ground mere seconds before he did the same-kneeling next to Johari. Closing his eyes he pressed his face to the back of her head and shuddered in grief.
“Moses…”
The sound of her whispering his name caused his heart to lurch. “Jo?” he muttered, grasping her upper arms and making her face him. His darkly handsome face was a picture of disbelief while he blinked and studied her as if he were proving to himself that he was alright. “God,” he breathed, closing his eyes once more as he hugged her tightly.
“She’s gone Moses, she’s gone…”
Frowning, Moses pulled away to watch as Johari half turned in his arms. His gaze followed hers towards the cliffs.
“She left me again,” Jo whimpered, “she’s left me for good.”
U
nderstanding then, Moses cupped her neck and turned her away from the cliffs. Johari snuggled into the security of his embrace and he rocked her as she wept against his chest.
***
One Week Later…
Ramsey involvement in the Hawaii incident-including Fernando’s role in Stefan Lyons’ death was concealed from the press. The men, who survived in Cufi’s organization, weren’t talking. Cufi himself had vanished during the shootout at the compound. All speculation was that he and Marcus were someplace celebrating another triumph over justice.
Houston and Daphne Ramsey were laid to rest at mid-morning on a Tuesday that week. There were separate funerals held at different locations in hopes of a measure of privacy for the families. Of course, the media made their presence known at both ceremonies.
At a far more private gathering, JahZara Amiel Frazier was buried.
Johari arrived at the cemetery at least an hour before the other attendees and spent the time speaking with her sister, crying and saying goodbye. When the funeral began, she’d taken her place at the rear of the seating and remained there until all services concluded.
Attendees placed their roses on the casket and paid their respects to George and Kathy Frazier seated at the front.
Moses was last to step up. He didn’t feel himself worthy of extending his hand for shaking but George and Kathy quickly removed the decision from his hands.
“Thank you son, thank you,” George whispered, his eyes red from crying as he pulled one of Moses’ hands between both of his.
Meanwhile, Kathy kissed his cheek four times. She was sobbing, but managed to whisper a shuddery, “Thank you,” against his jaw.
“I’m so sorry,” Moses managed. He was quite stunned by the Frazier’s reaction to him.
The bereaved parents held each other close. “You gave us the joy of seeing our daughter again-something we’d lost hope for long ago,” George said. “Apologies from you are the last thing we want, boy.”
“What you’ve done we can never repay,” Kathy said.
“And there would never be any reason for you to,” Moses said, this time bending to kiss Kathy’s cheek. He extended final condolences before leaving the couple to sit at their daughter’s casket.
The Ramseys Boxed Set Page 104
