by Tamara Black
“And I need you to come and help me.”
He laughed. “Good luck with that.”
The call disconnected. I tapped Tanesha’s name in my phone. It went straight to voicemail.
“Fuck,” I said, glancing around the room.
With no windows or other means of escape, I prepared to dash out of the room and try to make it past them and back to the elevator. The plan didn’t make sense, but I had very few options. I reached out to open the door, but my phone rang.
“Hello?” I answered.
“My sister said I had to call you back.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. We’re coming to save your ass. Hold tight.”
“Thanks,” I said, not meaning it at all.
I disconnected the call and moved to the other side of the room. With my back to the wall, I watched the door, waiting for it to open, not knowing if it would be friend or foe coming through – even once I saw their face.
“I’m leaving,” the man on the computer said.
I nodded in his direction, not saying a word.
After he left, I continued to stare at the door. Minutes turned into hours in my mind.
The door opened. I tensed up, ready to rush forward if necessary. Andre walked in, followed by Tanesha.
“There’s no one out there,” he said, laughing.
“They were there,” I said.
Tanesha walked over. “I believe you.”
“Well, I’m here now,” Andre said. “Have you come to your senses?”
“No, but I don’t have many options. You’re it, unfortunately.”
“Knock it off, you two,” Tanesha said, lightly pushing me.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Cleveland.”
Tanesha and I both turned to him at the same time.
“What? Why Cleveland?” I asked.
“If you’re on the run, who in their right mind would think you go to Cleveland.”
“Makes sense, I guess.”
“Flee to the Cleve,” Tanesha said. “I just don’t want to leave my children.”
“I’ll check in with Kendrick for you,” Andre said. “He’s a good guy.”
He stared at me with that last part, turning it into an insult against me.
“Tony’s a good guy too,” Tanesha insisted.
“Where in Cleveland are we going?” I asked.
“It’s better you don’t know a lot. Two men will be stationed at the house with you until the trial. Our main goal is to keep you safe until then.”
I didn’t like it, not one bit, but I kept my mouth shut because Tanesha acted relived at the news – expect for being away from her children.
“When are we leaving?”
“Tonight. I’ll be going with you guys.” I glared at him. “You can check out their identification once we arrive. Would that convince you this is all real?”
“Anything would help at this point.”
“Let’s go,” Tanesha said, grabbing my arm. “We have a long trip in front of us.”
The entire flight, I studied Andre – the way he interacted with Tanesha and everyone else around him. Why do I think I can’t trust him? Is it just because I love his sister? By the time we landed at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, I hadn’t come up with answers for any of my questions.
EIGHTEEN
Tony
In the morning, her brother Andre knocked on the door a few minutes after the sun had risen into the sky outside. I opened it and let him in.
“What’s up?” I asked. “Any new news?”
He shook his head, frowning at me.
“Bullet is out on bail somehow, and he’s gunning for you.”
“I called him last night.”
“What?”
“Yeah,” Tanesha said, walking up and putting her arm around my waist as she leaned against me. “I want to go with Tony.”
“No, this is just for him. I can’t get you into the program,” he said, looking nervous.
“What is up with you?” I asked. “You never have straight answers, and nothing you say makes any sense at all.”
“I’m trying to protect my sister…”
“Look,” I interrupted. “Until you prove to me you’re on the up and up, I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“What do you mean?” Tanesha asked, looking up at me.
“I’m serious, baby. He’s your brother, but why haven’t we talked to any other police officers or anything? Something isn’t right.”
“All that weed has you paranoid, Tony,” Andre said with a laugh. “If you don’t want protection, that’s fine, but Tanesha is coming with me.
He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her toward him.
“Wait a minute, now. That’s her decision.”
“Exactly,” she said, stepping back from both of us. “It’s my decision, and I’m going to decide.”
Andre and I both looked at her.
“I’m going to go outside to my car. You two should both come down and get in if you want to survive.”
“I’d rather take my chances on my own,” I said, glaring at him.
“Whatever.”
He raised his hands in the air. I watched him closely as he left the room, leaving Tanesha and I alone.
“What do you mean you’re not going to let him help us?” she asked, hands on hips.
“I told you, I don’t know if we can trust him.”
“He’s my brother. And a cop.”
“Okay, so brothers and cops are never the bad guys?”
“My brother is not a bad guy,” she insisted. “You’re tripping.”
“I’m not, Tanesha. I can’t explain it, but something is wrong with this whole situation.”
“You smoke too much damn weed,” she said, turning to walk across the room.
“Maybe I do, but I’m not wrong in this case. Trust me.”
She grabbed her overnight bag and walked toward the door.
“Are you coming or not?”
“You’re not staying with me?”
“I need to be safe and alive to take care of my children.”
I walked over, stopping in front of her.
“All I ever wanted was safety and security for my family,” she said. “I thought maybe you could give that to me, but I was wrong.”
“No, you weren’t,” I insisted, putting my hand on her arm.
She pulled away.
“Are you coming or not?”
“No.”
As I watched her leave, a million emotions ran through my mind at the same time. Overwhelmed, I try to figure it all out. Can I prove to her something is up with her brother? Probably not. Why doesn’t she trust me? Is he really a bad person or am I just tripping?
I stood in a daze, trying to make sense of everything. The only thing I kept coming back to was Tanesha. She meant the world to me. I opened the door and ran down the hall toward the elevator. When I saw the closed door, I continued around the corner to the stairs.
Please don’t let her be gone, I prayed to myself as I took the stairs two at a time. I got to the first floor and threw the door open, almost hitting an elderly man carrying a sequin purse. “Slow down!” he shouted to me as I rushed through the lobby to the front entrance.
Two security guards tried to stop me, but I managed to get past them. Outside, I saw Tanesha in her brother’s four-door sedan. She put her hand to the glass. I rushed over, but he drove away. Two of my fingers tapped the trunk as it passed.
Tanesha turned around and looked at me with terror on her face.
“Fuck!” I shouted.
“Drop the weapon,” a security guard shouted, pointing a taser at me.
“I don’t have a fucking weapon,” I yelled.
“You asked for it,” he said with a smile on his face.
What felt like a trillion volts hit my body, causing it to spasm as I dropped to the blacktop in the parking lot. As I shook, all I could think about was Tanesha. She needed
me more than ever, and I had fucked up royally.
TWENTY
Tony
I looked at the house in disrepair, not believing my eyes.
“This is it?”
“Welcome to Cleveland,” Andre said. “Let’s get inside.”
The three of us walked up to the porch. Before we got there, the door opened. A man in a suit glanced around then stepped back to let us in.
“What’s up, Jerome,” Andre said, patting him on the back as he passed.
I stopped to let Tanesha in first.
“It’s worse on the inside,” she said.
“You two won’t be here long,” Andre said.
“How long until the trial?” I asked him.
He looked away. “It’s still up in the air.”
What? That doesn’t sound right.
“This is Jerome,” Andre said, pointing to the man who had let us in.
He looked like Will Smith in Men in Black, but I didn’t think he had the same demeanor.
“He’ll be watching you guys with Tom.” He glanced around the room. “Where is Tom?”
“He’s out getting pizza,” Jerome said.
“Great. I have a few people I need to meet while I’m here in the mistake by the lake, but I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait,” I said. “Who do you know in Cleveland?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, walking to the door.
Before I could complain about his lack of an answer and attitude, he was outside. Jerome closed the door.
“Here’s the rules,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m in charge. Follow what I say, and I’ll keep you alive.”
I rolled my eyes. Tanesha put her arm around my waist.
“Where’s our room?” I asked.
“We’re all sleeping in here together. It’s safer.”
“Hold on,” Tanesha said. “I want my own room at least.”
“Fine, but no closing the door.” He stared at me with cold, hard eyes. “You got that, Tony?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You’re the boss. Let’s go Tanesha.”
I led her to the bedroom, closing the door halfway in defiance.
“They’re just trying to protect us,” she said.
“I’m not so sure.”
“Then why did you come?” she snapped.
“Because I care about you and want to keep you safe.”
I penetrated the space around her. Standing just a few inches from her body, I glanced into her eyes.
She stared back. Neither of us said a word or broke eye contact. I gently rested my hand on the side of her neck.
“I love you, Tanesha. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
“I love you too, Tony.”
We kissed until the door opened.
“Keep this open,” Jerome said, a Glock holstered in his belt.
“Can we have some privacy, please?” Tanesha begged.
“No,” he said simply before walking away.
♥ ♥ ♥
Tanesha stood up and walked across the room.
“I can’t take this anymore. It’s been two days and nothing.”
“We just have to wait and trust your brother,” I said.
“Keep it down, you two,” Tom said, poking his head in the room through the open door.
“Give us some privacy,” Tanesha said. “Where’s my brother? Why can’t we have our phones?”
“We need to keep radio silence,” he said. “That means no phone calls or text messages or checking in on Twitter.”
“Hashtag this fucking sucks,” she said.
He actually smiled before going away.
“I hate that guy,” she whispered to me.
“Both of them,” I said. “Your brother said he was coming back. Let’s just give him some time.”
“Oh, so now you’re sticking up for him? You just like to argue with me or something?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t do that,” she said. “I hate that.”
“Well, don’t say stupid shit.”
“I’m going into the living room. I need to get away from you for a bit.”
I shrugged even though deep down I cared considerably.
After she left, I sat down on the edge of the unmade bed we had been using. While I didn’t have a Criminal Justice degree, I still felt something was wrong. This can’t be the way the witness protection program really works, I thought to myself. Then again, knowing how broke the government is these days, maybe I’m just being paranoid.
I stood up and stretched, feeling like a caged lion in the zoo. Another fifty push-ups wouldn’t hurt me, but I’d exhausted all the excitement I could get out of exercise over the last couple of days. As I walked back to the bed to sit down, I heard Tanesha scream.
“No!”
Her voice caused me to jump up immediately. I ran out into the hall and kept going, not knowing what to expect in the living room. Jerome had his hands on Tanesha’s arm, trying to stop her from opening the front door.
“Cut it out,” I said, rushing over.
I pushed him on the chest.
He let her go and turned to me.
“That was a mistake.”
Before I could hit him, I felt a jolt of electricity hit me. My body shook as I fell to the floor in a heap.
Tom walked up with a tazer in his hand and laughed.
“That never gets old.”
“Fuck you!” Tanesha yelled, getting down on the ground next to me. “Are you okay, baby?”
“Settle down so we don’t have to tie you guys up,” Jerome said.
I sat up after a few seconds. Tanesha put her hand on my back, helping me.
“You guys are monsters,” she said. “What kind of cops are you?”
Both men erupted into laughter.
“Get in your room and behave,” Tom said.
Tanesha helped me to my feet. I staggered to the bedroom with her.
“I’m going to be so sore tomorrow,” I said.
“Can I do anything?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“Just lay with me, okay? I need to figure this out.”
She curled up next to me. The pressure of figuring out our current dilemma weighed heavily on me.
TWENTY-ONE
Tanesha
I gave Jerome one of my sexy looks.
“You can trust us.”
He frowned, looking at me.
“I don’t know.”
“What’s there to know? You guys get a good dinner and drink and we get some time alone.”
“We’re here for a reason.”
Tony walked into the living room and put his arm around my shoulder. “What’s up?”
“Jerome was just saying they’re going to leave and give us a little privacy.”
“What?” Tony looked at me, confused, just how we’d planned.
“You know, privacy so we can…”
I nudged him with my arm.
“Why do you have to talk about that with this guy around?” he asked, stepping back.
Don’t overdo it, I thought to myself.
“I can talk to whoever I want.”
“It’s whomever, you ignorant bitch.”
I slapped him across the face. Jerome’s eyes opened wide. He laughed, stepping between us.
“Seems like you have some problems.”
“What’s going on in here?” Tom asked, walking in from the kitchen.
“Lovers’ quarrel,” Jerome said, still laughing.
“Get that fucker out of my sight,” I yelled, pouring it on thick.
Before we could put the rest of our plan in action, the front door opened. Andre walked in.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “I could hear you guys outside.”
“Lovers’ quarrel,” Jerome repeated again.
“Really.” A smile spread over my brother’s face.
Why would he be happy about us fighting? Is Tony right abo
ut him?
“I have some good news and bad news,” he continued, walking over to us.
“Well?” I asked impatiently.
“The good news is my meetings here in Cleveland went well.”
“How does that help us?” Tony asked.
He chuckled. “It doesn’t. That’s the bad news.”
“This is ridiculous,” Tony said.
My brother turned to Jerome.
“It’ll be over soon,” he said.
What does that mean?
I stared at my big brother, wondering what was going on in that mind of his.
“What are you two fighting about?” Andre asked, looking at Tony like he wanted to murder him.
“It was nothing,” I said. “We just wanted to give them a reason to get ahold of you. I have questions.”
“Yeah, me too,” Tony said, standing by my side.
“You’ll get them answered soon enough,” my brother said. “For now, hang tight for a few more days, okay?”
“We need to be able to leave and contact the outside world,” I said.
“No, that’s the last thing you want to do,” he said. “Look, sis. I have mad love for you, but this is some serious shit over your head. You don’t know the whole story.”
“Then tell us the whole story,” Tony said, an I-told-you-so look on his face.
“I can’t right now, but if you two promise to stay here and not go anywhere, I’ll tell them to give you some time alone every day. Would that make you feel better?”
“Yes,” I said. “Finally. Was that so hard? You don’t know what it’s like to be trapped here with those two idiots.”
I nodded my head in the direction of Jerome and Tom.
“Well, they’re here to protect you, but if all goes to plan, everything will be back to normal soon.”
“I need a laptop,” Tony said.
My brother turned his head toward him. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” I asked. “I just want to read the news. We’re not dumb enough to post anywhere.”
“Maybe, but I’m not taking any chances. Any other questions?”
I shook my head.
“Good. I’m going to take Jerome and Tom to dinner. We’ll bring you two back some food. Stay here.”
