by Rashaad Bell
I rose slowly, Dakota straddling my lap, kissing me. “Wait…” I said. She didn’t of course and it was hard for me to stop kissing her as well. “No…wait.” I repeated again.
“Um…sure.” She said. “Okay.” She sat there, her legs wrapped around my waist, her arms around my neck, her blood scent so strong it was as if it was mine and not hers.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
I wasn’t completely sure. “I don’t know.”
She started to kiss my neck again, but I moved against it. “Do you hear that?” I asked.
Dakota paused to listen. “Hear what?” She said finally.
No, of course she couldn’t hear that Madison, you barely hear it. “Is your mom expecting company?”
“At this hour?” She climbed off my lap, coming to rest next to me, her head on my shoulder. “God no.”
“Well she’s about to get some.” I said. “A lot of it.”
I could hear shuffling across the front lawn. It sounded like there were at least three…wait, make that four of them. They were at the front door now.
Knock Knock.
Dakota looked up. “How did you…”
I positioned a finger over her lips. “Sshh…”
I could hear her mother rousing, getting up from the couch and moving over to the door.
“Who is it?” She called out.
“Ma’am, my name Agent Barcel and I’m with the Homeland Security.” Said the man outside. “Do you mind if I come in to talk?”
She hadn’t opened the door yet. “May I see some identification please?”
Good girl.
“Why are the police here?” Dakota asked.
“They’re not the police.” I replied. “What here.”
I could hear a shuffling outside briefly.
“Thank you.” Mrs. Theia said. “Never can be too careful.” She was opening the front door now.
I made my way towards the bedroom door, opening it slowly, slipping through. I crouched as low to the ground as I could, making my way towards the steps, risking a glance.
Four men were filing into the house. They were attired in dark suits and were all clean-shaven.
“Do you know this girl?” Agent Barcel handed Mrs. Theia a picture. I inhaled suddenly. It was a picture of Dakota and me.
Mrs. Theia looked over the photo. “Well, that one is my daughter.” She pointed to Dakota. “But the other one, I’ve never seen her before. What’s this got to do with Dakota?”
The other three men with scanning the living room while trying not to make it look obvious.
“This photo was taken from a traffic cam earlier tonight.” Barcel explained. “This girl.” He pointed to me in the picture. “We believe that she was abducted not long after this picture was taken.”
Kidnapped? WTF?
Mrs. Theia gasped. “Oh my God.”
“We have witnesses reporting that she was physically forced into a van by an unidentified assailant. Right now we have an Amber alert…”
An Amber alert? How ironic is that?
“…issued in the hopes that we can locate her safely, except we are having a difficult time locating anyone who can identify the victim.” Barcel explained. “Is your daughter home Mrs. Theia? If she could impart any information that could assist our…”
I was back in Dakota’s bedroom. Kidnaped? Forced into a van? Whoever these people are, it’s not Homeland Security. There’s only one individual I know affiliated with the government that would even be searching for my identity...
Colonel Hawking.
“What’s going on?” Dakota asked.
“Bad business.” I replied. “We have to get you and your mom out of here.”
Dakota appeared mystified. “I don’t understand.”
“Those men…” I explained. “…you and your mom are in danger.”
“Dakota!” Mrs. Theia called out. “Can you come down here?”
I grabbed Dakota by her hand. “Whatever those men ask you, just tell them.”
“What do they want?” She was whispering, walking backward towards the door.”
“Dakota!”
“They want me.” I whispered back.
I could tell she didn’t comprehend what was happening as she left the bedroom. I did a slow circle trying to think. If Hawking was here…no, don’t even think about it. I reached for my back pocket, grabbing for my cell phone, except it wasn’t there. It was in my other jeans; I hadn’t switched anything in my pockets over to these. Not that it would work anyhow, not after that tumble I took earlier. I moved back towards the door, creeping along, trying to get a bead on the situation.
Dakota was downstairs now. “Yeah mom, what’s up?”
Mrs. Theia passed her the photo. “These gentlemen are with Homeland Security.” She said. “Do you know this girl?”
Dakota took the photo, giving it a good once over. “Yeah, well, kinda.” She handed the picture back. “Her names Madison.”
“Do you know where she lives?” Barcel asked. “How can I locate her parents?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno.”
“What about her last name?” He questioned.
“I dunno.” She repeated again.
Barcel didn’t seem like he was buying it. “You don’t know her last name?”
“I just met her.” She explained. “Tonight. We walked on the beach, kissed for a little bit…”
“Dakota!” Mrs. Theia didn’t seem to like that last part.
Dakota just rolled her eyes. “Oh please mom, we’ve had this conversation before, get over it already.”
“You just met her tonight.” Barcel repeated. “Right. Of course.” He turned towards one of the other Agents. “Call it in.”
One of the men pulled out a cell and stepped into the kitchen.
“Why are you guys looking for her?” Dakota asked. “She in trouble or something.”
“Or something.” Barcel replied. He looked over to the Agent in the kitchen. “Status report?”
I strained to listen harder; I wanted to hear what they were talking about on the phone, but it was only a sequence of beeps on the other end.
“Everything’s a green light.” The Agent made his way back into the living room. “Just waiting for YBR transport and we should be good to go.”
Something wasn’t right. Where had I heard that term before? YBR transport?
Yellow Brick Road transport…
Barcel pulled out a small handgun and fired once; shooting Mrs. Theia once in the forehead, blood splattering the wall mounted TV behind her. The Agents gun didn’t even make a sound when it was discharged. Dakota turned, watching her mother’s body propel backwards, slamming against the wall, a dark streak of blood following her head as she slid down the wall to the ground. Agent Barcel was turning his weapon on Dakota now…
I was downstairs, my fingers wrapping around Barcel's gun hand as I spun into his body, my back flush against his chest. I forced a change in the weapons direction just as he fired, shooting the Agent on Dakotas left who was closest to the kitchen in the chest. I repositioned his arm again and pulled the trigger, shooting the Agent that was situated just behind her on her right in the throat. I spun away from Barcel, taking the gun with me and fired directly in the center of his head, then turned again and aimed the gun at the last Agent by the door. Everything happened so fast he was still in the process of reaching for his weapon.
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” I advised.
Begrudgingly he held his hands up. I moved forward, gun aimed in at his head. I reached into his jacket and pulled his weapon out, tucking it in the small of my back before taking a few steps away.
“Dakota, on me.” I yelled. I risked a quick look, but she was disorientated, frozen in place by the carnage surrounding her. “NOW!” I said a little harsher. She snapped out of her fugue state and was behind me on my right. I could hear her crying. So many people were crying around me today, it seems to be a thing no
w.
“You.” I called out to the Agent. “You work for Hawking?”
He didn’t say anything.
I fired twice into his left shin, the bone exploding apart as his leg gave way and he crashed into the ground.
“They’re going to have to amputate that.” I said. “Answer my question.”
The Agent was stifling his scream, yet refused to speak.
“No?” I fired twice in his right shin. This time he did scream. “Now you’re in permanent wheelchair, artificial prostatic territory.”
Even after all that he still declined to talk. “Damn, they breed you motherfuckers tough.”
“Madison…” Dakota was calling my name.
“What is it baby?” I asked.
“What are you doing?” She was in shock; I could hear it in her voice. I needed to get her away from all of this, but I had something to do first.
“Not now sweetie, momma bear is working.” I replied
“Um....okay.” She was starting to look around at the dead men on the ground. She turned, her gaze falling on Mrs. Theia. “Mommy…”
I rotated to look at her then a little further to see what she was staring at. “No, no sweetie.” I said. “Eyes up here.”
I pointed at her eyes then to mine.
“Mmkay.” She whimpered.
“Don’t look at that.” I said, pointing at her eyes then to mine again. “Look at me.”
“Everybody is dead.” She murmured. “They’re all dead.”
“Not everybody.” I glanced at the Agent hemorrhaging to death on the floor and then looked at Dakota. “Look at me.”
“Okay.” She slowly met my gaze.
“I don’t want you to be afraid anymore.” I didn’t want to mesmerize her; I didn’t want to force unreal emotions on her.
“You’re never going to be frightened of me.” I said. “I will always be there for you.”
Her eyes were hazed over. “You’ll never leave me.” She said.
“You’ll…” I paused, looking at her, looking at how much I wanted her. She belonged to me now. “You’ll always love me; you’ll only want me and no one else.”
“I’ve always loved you anyway.” She whispered. “From the first moment I met you.”
The Agent was staring at me in revulsion. “Monster.”
I turned to him. “Oh, now you wanna talk?” I shot him once in the upper leg. “Fuck you.”
I turned back to Dakota. “Don’t worry about your mommy, she’s with Jesus now. A better place. Don’t dwell on it. Now go upstairs and pack some clothes.”
Dakota spun around and darted up the stairs.
I turned my attention back to the Agent. “I’m not even at half a clip yet. You still got nothing to say?” The Agent just grunted from the pain he was in, but other than that, he continued with the silent treatment. I pointed the gun at his left hand then at his right. “Which one do you jerk off with?”
I just looked at him, resting in a massively increasing pool of blood. “Why haven’t you bled to death yet?”
I drew up close to the Agent, so we were face to face. “You don’t want to talk to me, fine. I gotta a message for your boss. You tell that prick motherfucker that Palm Coast is my city.” I grabbed his face by the chin. “MY CITY!” I screamed. “You tell him if he comes after me or Dakota again I will find him and I’ll personally slit his goddamn throat myself. You tell him that for me bitch.”
I backed away slowly. “Dakota.” I called out. “Time to go sweetie.”
A few moments later she came bounding down the steps, backpack full of clothes in hand.
“You got everything you need?” I asked.
“Not everything.” She admitted. “But enough.”
“Don’t worry baby, I know a rich dude that likes to spend money on frivolous shit, so it’s okay.” I placed my hand around her waist, ushering her to the door. “Come on lets go.”
We were heading out when she paused, looking at the only Agent left alive. “What about him?”
“Don’t worry about him baby, he’ll be dead soon.” I pulled her out the door.
We were on the front lawn and I looked up and down the block, searching for more Agents, but I didn’t see any. I headed towards the black SUV that was parked in front of Dakota’s residence and let off two shots, one to the front and rear tire. I tucked the gun in my front waistline.
I looked at Dakota. “You okay?”
“Sure.” She replied.
Something was wrong, her voice was all slurred.
“Why do you sound like a heroin addict?” I grabbed her face with my hands, holding her steady as I inspected her eyes. They were still cloudy, obscure, not the sharp, winter cold ice blue that I remember. “Damn it.”
I focused everything I was, every ounce of mentality that I could gather inside of me, the complete totality of my soul, mind and heart. All of my determination and ferocity, everything that made me what I am, I pulled it all together in one place in my mind and then I spoke.
“I want you to act as you were before. I want you to be as you were before, but I also want you to do as I instructed earlier.” I let go of her face.
She stood there momentarily as if in a stupor, then it was like someone had given her an invisible blow to the chest and she stumbled back, dropping her bag, falling to the ground. She brought her hands up, staring at her palms, a state of confusion on her face. Slowly self-awareness began to flood her features and her eyes began to revert back to their original color. She looked at the house then looked at her palms again, then back at the house.
“Mommy...” Dakota began crying, her hands at her face in an attempt to conceal her sobs.
I knelt down and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”
She placed her arms tentatively around me, crying in my shoulder before scurrying backwards from my grasp, not stopping until there was a few feet worth of distance between us.
“You!” She cried, looking back towards the house, then towards me. “You killed them all!” She was scared, more frightened at this moment than any other time in her life. What she had just been through, what she had just witnessed, it was sufficient to drive even a grown man insane, let alone the delicate flower that she was.
“I know.” I sat down fully on the grass, Indian style and just waited, not wanting to rush anything. I needed to let it all take its course; I needed to let her absorb what was going on at her own pace, not at mine.
“You saved my life.” She stretched her legs out on the grass, setting her book bag in between them. She was just staring at it, turning it around, over and over. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I said.
“Who were those men?” She queried. “They said they were from Homeland Security but…”
“They weren’t from Homeland Security.” Dakota looked up at me when I told her this. “But they were from the government.”
“They were looking for you.” Dakota said. “They were after you.”
“Yes.” All this death is my fault.
“They killed her.” She was starting to cry again. “They killed my mother.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” I wanted to hold her in my arms, I wanted to wash all the pain away, but I couldn’t.
“They shot my mother in the head because of you.” She wiped her eyes. “They almost shot me because of you.”
“Yes.” My heart just broke. “I’m sorry.”
Dakota shook her head in disbelief at her situation. “Who are you?”
“I’m Madison.” I said.
“Right. I’m Madison.” Dakota said mockingly. “What the fuck does that even mean?”
“It’s not safe here.” I stood up. “We need to go.”
She didn’t move. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“It’s your choice.” I acknowledged softly. “I’m not going to force you Dakota.” She was still just looking at her fingers, not even bothering
to concede my presence.
I came over to her, taking a knee, placing my hand on her shoulder gently, but she jerked away from my touch. I pulled back, not wanting to hurt her anymore.
“I truly am sorry for your loss.” I turned and walked away, leaving her where she was, alone on the front lawn of a house that contained four dead bodies and possibly a fifth. All this death because of me. If I had never stopped her today, if I never had that conversation, never took that stroll down the beach, then her mother would still be alive. Dakota would still have her innocence. Yet, if I had never stopped her, if I had never walked on that beach with her, then the one positive thing to come out this night wouldn’t have happened.
“Hey!” Dakota called out from behind. “Wait up!”
She wouldn’t belong to me now.
“No problem.” I flashed that razorblade smile of mine for just a moment to myself, then became stoic in my demeanor before turning to face her. “I would never leave you behind.”
She continued to jog to make up the distance. “Sure as hell looked like it.”
Dakota grabbed my hand and our fingers locked as we strolled down the street.
“So what’s the plan?” She asked. “What do we do now?”
“We’re going to my house.” I said.
“Your house?” Dakota seemed doubtful about my strategy.
“Yes, my house.” I repeated. “It’s really not that far from here.” I paused. “I think.”
“You think?”
“Well…I’ve never really done it at this speed before so I don’t know.” That sounded idiotic even to me and I’m the one who said it.
“Okaay.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Well, is it at least safe there?”
I contemplated her question. “Probably not.”
“Oh.” Dakota was glaring at me cynically. “FYI, your plan sucks.”
“Well I do have my friends and my family there.” I added.
“They all have superpowers like you?” She asked.
I squeezed her hand. “Maybe.” I could see she was still scared even though she was trying to put on a valiant front.
“Here.” I said. “Take this.” I reached behind me and pulled out the gun that was inserted in the small of my back and offered it to her. “Do you know how to use it?”
