Blackness Awaits

by Karlsson, Norma Jeanne

  “You deserve every happiness in this world. I hate that you ever closed yourself off from the possibilities of a future. If Kellerman brought that hope back into your life I need to thank him,” Nicky says softly stroking my cheek with the backs of his fingers.

  “Kel didn’t bring hope back into my life. He brought me back to life. After Daddy died Uncle Mick pulled me from the ashes and started my life over but it wasn’t a full life. After Liam attacked me the boys and their families brought me back to life even more than I was with Uncle Mick. But when Kel walked into my life the blackness that had lived in me for twenty-two some odd years turned to light. Kel did that. Kel brought me back to life.”

  Tears prick my eyes as I finish but I hold them at bay. I refuse to turn into a puddle of mushy hormone blubbering. Instead I smile because I’m happy. I’m filled to the brim with life and love. No one can take that from me now. No one.

  “You’re gonna make me cry with that shit, Shanny,” Nicky says with choked emotion in his throat. “I can’t be cryin’. I’m gonna take a piss. Take my piece,” he instructs holding his .45 out to me. I grab it and slide it under the covers next to my thigh (don’t want to freak out the hospital staff). I can’t explain the added calm that washes over me with the feel of a gun in my hand, but it’s the best feeling I get other than holding Johnny. I know Nicky’s got his secondary weapon on him so I’m not worried about him being in the bathroom unarmed. Nicky presses a kiss to my forehead and disappears into the bathroom. I’m so fucking sick of hospitals.

  The hair on my arms raise and I know something’s wrong. Horribly wrong. Then I hear his voice.

  “Keep your hand where I can see them.”

  Kellerman

  Kid was right, getting out of the hospital for a few minutes feels good. Johnny is happy and cooing away as Thomas and I stroll around. He and I have to look like quite the odd couple. There’s a park right next to the hospital so we’re strolling around enjoying the temperate weather on Labor Day. I wonder what kind of tank stroller Kid will import for the twins. This pregnancy is going to be such a positive change from what I experienced with Cassie. I’m happy Kid is pregnant…no elated is a better term. Once the trial is over in Chicago I’m taking Kid away for a while. She needs a break and I need some serious caveman time; Kid, Johnny, my unborn twins and me in a cave sounds pretty good right now. Alarm bells go off in my head before I hear his voice.

  “Both of you keep your hands where we can see ’em,” his rodent voice commands from behind Thomas and me. I keep my hands on the stroller bar and Thomas balls his fists at his sides. I feel the pressure of a gun muzzle pressed into my back as another man reaches into the back of Thomas’s pants and removes his gun. I keep my eyes forward checking down to Johnny every two seconds.

  “Walk,” the guy behind Thomas commands. I take a tentative step forward. “Make any move or noise to alert anyone and I’ll blow that baby’s brains out.”

  I’m pulsing with adrenaline and forcing my mind to calm down and figure out a way free from these two. I assume it’s just two because I can only hear their footsteps and see two shadows behind us when I look to the side. The park is pretty empty so I doubt anyone will see what’s happening to us.

  “Back to the parking lot,” the voice commands again.

  We’re at the far end of the park if I stick to the trails I can buy us some more time. They try to push us into the grass to cut across.

  “If he gets bumped around too much he’ll start screamin’. I doubt you want that,” I caution them with a lie. Johnny wouldn’t give a shit but they don’t know that.

  “Fine. Move faster,” the voice growls. I move a fraction faster and try to think. If I take off running are they really going to open fire in the middle of a park? I don’t think they would but I have no clue. They could have other men out here or back in the hospital or in the parking lot waiting. If they have Kid…fuck I bet they have someone with Kid. I can’t run.

  Okay no running. That leaves me with fight. How do I fight them and keep Johnny safe? If I push the stroller out of the way it’ll surely fall over or ram into something. If I just turn around and the gun goes off it’ll be aimed near the baby. I could go for the gun but there’s no assurance that I’ll get it before it goes off. Fuck!

  We’re almost to the parking lot where there’s a waiting SUV running. I see one man behind the wheel but that’s it. I’m running out of time. I won’t let us be taken. I’d rather us be shot and fighting for a chance. If they take us we’re dead.

  Kavanagh

  As Cal, O’Sullivan and I pull into the hospital parking lot I feel goose bumps cover my body. Something’s wrong.

  “Something’s wrong,” O’Sullivan steals the words from my lips. I look to Cal in the passenger seat and his hands are showing a tremor. FUCK!

  I whip the SUV into a parking spot and we all dash out toward the hospital when something catches my eye and I stop dead in my tracks.

  “What the fuck, Kav?” O’Sullivan yells as he smashes into my back. I point to my right. Cal and O’Sullivan track my line of sight and tension pours over us.

  Kellerman and Thomas are being led to an SUV pushing Johnny’s stroller. There is a man behind each of them though they’re shorter than Kellerman and Thomas so I can’t make them out. The looks on Thomas and Kellerman’s faces tell me all I need to know. They’re pissed and scared and furious and thinking.

  O’Sullivan takes off in a sprint across the parking lot using cars as cover. He’s going to try to come around the back of them. Cal heads straight for the SUV. We’re on the opposite side of it so in theory he could open the door and pull them through, at least Johnny. I move down the sidewalk in plain sight of the group of men. I’ll be a good distraction.

  “Kellerman!” I shout. He’d already seen me, but the guys behind hadn’t. All eyes are now on me as I continue moving toward them at the side forcing them all to look my way allowing Cal and O’Sullivan free passage. I see the men have guns in the backs of Thomas and Kellerman.

  “You headin’ in?” I yell playing dumb like I can’t see what’s going on. Cal is almost to the SUV and I’ve lost sight of O’Sullivan.

  Kellerman listens to what the guy holding the gun on Thomas says before responding.

  “Nah, not yet. We’ll meet you in a bit,” Kellerman bellows in a voice I’ve never heard come out of him. It’s fueled with fury and pain. He’s trapped with his son and Kid’s not here so I’m guessing she’s in danger too. He’s spread too thin with nowhere to go. I fucking hope Cooper is good at his goddamn job and has Kid safe. I can’t think about her now. I have to get the baby.

  “I’ll take the baby up to Kid for you,” I yell picking up my pace a bit. I can see the men behind clearer now. They look rough. They look nervous. They look fucking tiny.

  “Stop where you’re at,” the guy behind Thomas yells jamming his gun into Thomas’s back harshly. Thomas doesn’t move. He locks eyes with me letting me know he’ll take the bullet if I can get the baby safe. I see O’Sullivan break through some trees behind the group as Cal makes it to the side of the SUV.

  “You’re makin’ a fuckin’ mistake man. Let them go,” I command moving another step. The guy is shaking from the adrenaline and nerves. He doesn’t know what he’s bought himself today. I can see there’s a driver waiting in the SUV but he’s made no move to get out and assist. O’Sullivan is moving silently toward the group. I’m only fifteen feet away now. The guy can’t take his gun off Thomas to point it at me so he’s stuck. I keep moving in.

  “I said fuckin’ stop where you’re at!” he screams. “I’ll drop this motherfucker!”

  “Go ahead and drop me bitch,” Thomas roars.

  I’m ten feet away now. In a good lunge I’m at them in three steps. O’Sullivan is the same distance from behind. I can’t see Cal but he’s the closest at the end of the SUV. Someone is going to get shot. I can’t stop it so I need to make sure it’s not Johnny.

  “Kellerman,
put the baby in the SUV,” I instruct. His eyes bug out and I try with every magical power I possess to convey to him with my eyes that Cal is waiting for Johnny. I hear the scrape of the asphalt as Cal moves his feet in position. This is our chance.

  Kellerman looks over his shoulder at the guy behind Thomas who nods his head in agreement. They only want the baby. That driver is going to take off once Johnny’s in the SUV. Kellerman looks back at me for a moment and I offer the slightest of nods confirming we’ve got this.

  Kellerman scoops Johnny into his arms tightly and moves to the back door of the SUV. I hear the locks open. The guy with the gun in Kellerman’s back moves with him. Kellerman opens the door as O’Sullivan moves within five feet of the guy behind Thomas. Kellerman opens the door and climbs into the SUV with Johnny in his arms and all hell breaks loose.

  Cal rips the door open from the other side of the SUV simultaneously as O’Sullivan lands a single blow to the back of the guy’s head behind Thomas. His gun goes off and Thomas hits the ground. O’Sullivan continues to wail on the guy’s head that is obviously unconscious. The guy behind Kellerman swings his gun on me and then back at Kellerman as Kellerman kicks a leg out knocking the gun wielder off balance. The SUV takes off at the same time and Kellerman topples out the door without Johnny in his arms. FUCK! Kellerman is on his back on the asphalt and sweeps the legs of the lone gunman as I sprint to get to the SUV. Cal is in there with Johnny.

  The SUV is flying through the parking lot when I hear shots in the distance. I don’t know where they’re from and I don’t give a shit I keep motoring toward the SUV. Suddenly the SUV banks hard to the left and smashes into a row of parked cars. I reach the backdoor in a matter of seconds ripping it open. The airbags are deployed and the driver is out cold. Cal is curled in the floor of the backseat with Johnny smashed to his chest. I don’t think Cal’s conscious.

  “CAL!” I scream surging into the backseat. He’s out cold. I grab Johnny and pull him from Cal’s iron clad grip. He’s still sleeping like nothing ever happened. There’s not a mark on him.

  “KAV!” Kellerman screams in the distance. I slide out of the SUV as he sprints toward me.

  “He’s fine,” I reassure Kellerman as he grabs Johnny crushing him to his chest. “Cal’s out cold.”

  I see movement coming toward us from the front of the SUV and push Kellerman behind me.

  “Sorry I was late to the party. Traffic was murder,” Kieran fucking Delaney calls out to us shoving a gun in the back of his pants. “Baby okay?” he asks when he reaches us.

  “Yeah,” I reply confidently.

  “Good,” he says as he passes us by and heads to O’Sullivan. I follow.

  O’Sullivan is covered in blood. His fists are mangled and his arms are shaking. Thomas is laying on the ground on his back gasping for air as I see hospital workers running in our direction. The guy that had been holding the gun on Kellerman was O’Sullivan’s second victim by the looks of what’s left of his face.

  I look to Kellerman to see a little blood on his knuckles but not enough to cause that damage. As we reach the group a pain runs through my middle and I stop dead in my tracks. Before I can speak Kellerman runs to Kieran, forces Johnny into his arms, rips the gun from the back of Kieran’s pants before racing toward the hospital with me hot on his heels.

  Kid.

  Shannon

  I keep my hands where they are and stare down the man that’s entered my room. His hair is grey and age appropriately smoothed to the side. His face is regal and distinguished with crystal blue eyes. He’s wearing a tailored charcoal three piece suit, a crisp white shirt and a patterned American flag hued tie. His shoes gleam from the shine he no doubt pays too much money for. The cufflinks at his wrist bare his initials, “S. G.”. I see no weapon other than a smart phone gripped tightly in his left hand. His gate is purposeful and his face stone cold. He stops his entry into my room at the foot of the bed pulling the privacy curtain around us.

  Once shielded he is at my bedside facing me with a peculiar grin on his lips.

  “You’ve grown into a lovely woman, Shannon,” he states matter-of-factly in a tone that suggests that fact annoys him. I don’t respond.

  “Your ‘son’ and that Neanderthal you call a boyfriend have been taken. If you assault me, alert anyone to my presence, or in general do anything that displeases me one of them will die.”

  Never show weakness. It only offers others strength.

  Uncle Mick’s words glide through me with a warming timber dragging calm behind it. My breathing slows as does my heart rate and everything in the room fades to the background as this man becomes my only focus.

  “You don’t seem bothered by my information. Have I misread your connections to the child and its father?” He’s trying to goad me. It won’t work. I don’t panic.

  “No matter. I have some things to discuss with you and then our business will conclude.” The formality he speaks with shows me his nerves. He’s playing a character…poorly. The character I’m about to play I’ve been coveting my whole life. Everything Uncle Mick taught me is about to flow.

  “Governor Grady, you have misread the connections I have with my child and his father,” I state blankly.

  “So I should have had your roommates taken or the women you refer to as your mothers?” he asks in a cocky smarmy tone.

  “You shouldn’t have taken anyone that belongs to me. Now you’ve sealed your fate in this life and that of your wife and children. I’m sorry you made such a grievous error. It’s truly unfortunate.”

  There’s the crack in the character at the mention of his family. A tremor appears at the hand that cradles his phone and his eyes dart to it willing it to be still.

  “You’re in no position to threaten me. And you certainly have no ability to hurt my family,” he growls in a menacing tone.

  “No? Funny I feel very confident with the information I just provided you,” I remark dismissively. “You’re unarmed, old, slow and much less intelligent than I am. You won’t leave this room. Your wife will be tortured and raped to death. Your daughter sold as a sex slave. Your son will be fed to pigs while he’s still clinging to life. Anything you love will feel my wrath until there is not a speck of you left on earth.”

  I try to make my voice loud enough for Nicky to hear yet seem like I’m doing nothing untoward. I have heard not a sound from the bathroom and based on Grady’s body language he thinks I’m alone.

  “Your mother should have aborted you when I told her to,” he fumes. That catches my attention.

  “She wasn’t a very good listener as I recall,” I reply with no hint of the questions that rumble in my head.

  “She was quite helpful if providing me the information necessary to get rid of John Murphy. If only she hadn’t been fooled into believing you were dead.”

  My mind is spinning to catch up with what he’s saying. He thinks I know what he’s talking about so I have to play along while I simultaneously analyze.

  “She was stupid,” I say in a joking manner. This throws him. We’re playing a game and I have the advantage. While he stumbles, I think.

  My father and I weren’t caught in a turf war crossfire. Grady ordered a hit, no doubt Mancini had a hand in that. A hit made possible by information my mother offered. Did I ever see her again after the shooting? My mind is trying to pull the memories when he speaks again.

  “She was easy enough to deal with later,” he says trying to goad me again.

  “I don’t doubt that.” My mother is dead. I feel nothing. She was at the hospital…fuck I can’t remember seeing her face. Didn’t she put me in a car with that driver to send me to Uncle Mick?

  “This is becoming a trip down memory lane that I’d prefer not visit. I’m here to discuss your testimony at my trial next month.” I meet his gaze with an icy stare that informs him I’m not doing shit for him.

  “You can posture all you’d like, but you and I know you’ll let no harm come to that boyfriend of your
s or his child. Really Shannon with your pedigree you should be in a relationship with someone worthy of your breeding.” What the fuck does that mean?

  “I wasn’t aware of any such pedigree, Governor.”

  He cocks his head at me and a wry smile covers his lips.

  “I figured you’d see the resemblance now that I’m here in front of you.”

  NO! No fucking way! I’m not falling for this. Fuck him for trying to make me.

  “The only thing I see in front of me is prey.”

  “So you’d kill the only remaining family you have?”

  “Yes,” I answer quickly. He wasn’t expecting that. My soft spot for family is not dictated by blood. He’s misread me. I reach up to thumb my pedant realizing it’s at home. Kel must have taken it off me when I was sick. That piece of jewelry has become my connection to him in his absence. I imagine the feel of the gold and diamonds beneath my fingers and ready my mind for a battle.

  “That’s unfortunate. I’ve managed to put together quite a case for you and I. See you were hidden away from me by your uncle for so many years that when you returned to Chicago to go to college and I finally found you, you couldn’t wait to reconnect. As our relationship grew so did your need to please me and it overwhelmed your sense of morals. It took a great deal of time and money but I found a brilliant forger that did an amazing job of producing your signature on multiple documents showing your willing cooperation in racketeering, money laundering, and campaign funding fraud.”

  I don’t react. I sit and wait for him to finish. I only hope that Nicky is in the bathroom recording this entire conversation. It’s silent on his side of the door so I know he’s listening.

  “You’ll take the stand at my trial and admit to your hand in my demise. You’ll do this so your child and boyfriend can keep their lives.”

  “No. I won’t. You won’t do anything to my son or my boyfriend. You will release anyone that you actually have now or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes in the next thirty seconds. I’m done playing your games.”