The Mark

by Kiki Swinson

  “I told you to hurry up and get out of here now. Get as far away from this place as quickly as you can. And don’t look back,” she warned me for the last time.

  “Why don’t you come with me? You don’t have to go through with this. And especially behind that piece of shit in the next room. You’re a beautiful person, Lisa,” I told her. I really didn’t wanna see her kill herself, especially not over that nigga Matt. She was better than that. He was a fucking loser, not her.

  “It’s over for me, Lauren. I’ve done a lot of shit for that nigga in that room. And when the cops catch me, they’re gonna try to lock me up for a very long time. So I might as well end it now. I mean, it ain’t like I got something to live for like you do,” she replied as she pulled a cigarette lighter from her pants pocket. The sight of the lighter spooked the hell out of me. I knew then that it was my cue to leave.

  “Thank you for saving me and my baby’s life.” I turned to leave. I heard Matt’s voice while he was trying to tear that bedroom door down.

  “I’m gonna fucking kill both of you bitches! I swear, I’m gonna make you pay if that’s the last thing I do!” he roared. But all of that ended after I opened the front door, walked outside, and closed the front door behind me. I couldn’t hear his voice anymore. It was like I had experienced freedom all over again. A nice breeze came through and whisked by my face. It felt so good.

  I rushed over to Lisa’s car. It was a midsize sedan. It was just perfect for me. I tossed the two backpacks of money in the backseat and then I hopped in the front seat with Lil Derek in my arms. I didn’t have a car seat for him so I laid him down on the passenger seat and hurried to start up the engine. I put the gear in drive but before I sped off I looked back at the window and saw Lisa peering out at me. I whispered “thank you” once again, hoping she could read my lips. Immediately after I uttered the words, she backed away from the window and I didn’t see her face anymore. I didn’t waste another second and sped away from the house. As soon as I got to the edge of the open field, I heard a loud explosion and when I looked back through the rearview mirror, I saw a mushroom cloud of smoke in the distance. I knew what that cloud of smoke meant. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach knowing that Lisa took Matt’s life as well as her own. The thought of her actually going through with the murder-suicide fucked my head up. Anyone who could take someone else’s life and then their own is a mental case. I just hoped she got what she was searching for. If not, then all was definitely lost.

  26

  SAFE PASSAGE

  I still couldn’t believe Lisa helped me get away with my baby. She was heaven-sent. Without her I knew I wouldn’t have gotten away from Matt. He was for sure going to kill me. So as I continued to drive away from the house I watched as the flames literally engulfed it. This scene was like something you’d see in a movie. Never thought I would experience anything like that. I thank God I got out of there when I did.

  Now, even though I was out of the house, I still wasn’t out of the woods. It was still dusk outside, but slightly darker than it was fifteen minutes before, so while I was driving away through the dirt road, I left my headlights off so I wouldn’t attract any attention if cops were in fact waiting alongside the street. But then I thought about it: If the cops were parked alongside the street, they would’ve seen the explosion and would’ve driven up this path by now. So without further hesitation I bolted down the dirt road in less than twenty seconds flat. When I reached the end of the road, I looked in both directions to see if any cars were coming and when I realized that the coast was clear, I sped out onto the main road and traveled in the opposite direction I figured help would come from.

  I looked down at my baby at least ten times before I could even get a mile away from the house. I mean, I’d traveled a long way to get him back with me, so I just want to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. He was all I had left. And he was all I had left to remind me of Derek. I just wished that Derek was still alive to move into this next phase of my life. Matt’s psychotic ass took away the only man who sincerely loved me. Now look at him. Burning to death in that locked bedroom. The fate he suffered was destined for him. He was a lying, cheating, conniving dog. The love of money consumed him. He didn’t give a damn about anyone but himself. I hoped he burned in hell!

  Three miles into my drive Lisa’s face kept crossing my mind. I remembered her telling me she did a lot of stuff for Matt that would put her behind bars for a long time, but that wasn’t enough cause for her to kill herself. She seemed like such a reasonable person. So why did she get hooked up with Matt? Matt must’ve fucked her good because any woman who would take her life because a nigga didn’t want her is fucking insane. I only pray that she made things right with God!

  * * *

  After driving five more miles, I finally hopped on the first highway I saw. It was I-64. And the first thing I thought about was seeing that young guy Quincy before I left town for good. I wanted so badly to let him know that I was fine and that I got my son back. But I knew that wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do because the cops were crawling all around him. I was sure the news media was down behind him too. So I couldn’t jeopardize myself to play hero. But then again, I felt like I owed it to him to let him know that his friend Trevor was dead and where Preech and Juice dropped off his body, so his family could give him a proper burial. Knowing that his body was lying underneath an underpass where bums lived didn’t sit well with me. I mean, they threw him out of the truck like he was a piece of trash. How coldhearted and callous can a person be? Matt and his boys really did a number this time around. Just think how this whole thing started. They all went to New York and found me. Then they kidnapped my husband and son. Killed my husband, after they took what money I had left from the last score. Then they took my son and brought him back to my hometown, which lured me back to Virginia. And then when I got back here, I had no other choice but to do another score just to keep my baby boy alive. Now everyone who had a hand in my family’s kidnapping was dead. Karma is definitely a motherfucker!

  I had to drive another twenty miles, and then I headed south. I was thinking I’d be okay if I started over in one of the small towns of Tennessee. No one there would know me so that would be a win-win situation for my son and me.

  En route, I stopped off at a gas station to fill up Lisa’s gas tank before I crossed over the North Carolina and Virginia state line. Immediately after I got out of the car, I locked the doors just to make sure no one tried to steal my son while he was asleep in the front seat. Once I felt he was safe and secure, I went inside the convenience store to pay for the gas. While I was walking up to the counter, I noticed the black store clerk watching TV. She was glued to the news station. She was facing me but her attention was focused on that news broadcast. “Can I get fifty dollars on pump three?” I asked her.

  She looked at me and then she took my money from my hands. “I’m sorry, which pump did you say again?”

  “Pump three,” I told her, and then I waited for her to give me change from the $100 bill I gave her.

  Once she gave me the change she owed me, she put her sights back on the TV screen. “What’s going on?” I asked her while I stood there for a few seconds. I looked outside at the car just to make sure no one was standing near it.

  “You didn’t hear about this?” she asked me.

  “No, what’s going on?” I asked her. But I could clearly see that the news broadcast was about the house that blew up with Lisa and Matt inside of it. Chills instantly bubbled on my arms while anxiety filled up my stomach. From the way the news camera was facing, it looked like at least a dozen cop cars were at that house, along with paramedics and two fire trucks. That area that was surrounded by a cornfield and dimly lit by only two light poles was now lit up like a Christmas tree. It looked like pure mayhem.

  “A couple of Chesapeake police officers went to this house earlier this afternoon because they received a tip that the two kidnapped victims they were looking for were t
here. But they said that when they got there and knocked on the door, no one answered. Fast-forward to now, someone calls nine-one-one saying that the same house was on fire. So the police, paramedics, and fire and rescue rushed out there and discovered that a male and female were trapped inside the house. The firefighters were able to pull the guy from the house and rush him to the hospital. But they said he was burned pretty badly so they aren’t sure if he’s one of the kidnap victims or if he’s even going to make it,” the store clerk explained.

  “What about the lady?” I asked the clerk, hoping to hear that Lisa was still alive.

  “I don’t think she survived the blast,” the woman said.

  No! No! No! This can’t be true! I screamed inside of my head. The shock of the possibility that Matt could still be alive was tearing me apart inside. No words would come out of my mouth. I felt like someone had set all of my organs on fire. I watched in horror while my jaw dropped wide open. I even winced trying to imagine how in the hell Matt was that fucking lucky to get pulled from that house fire. He was in the back bedroom. So how were the firefighters able to get him out of there? Now he was on his way to the hospital, so does that mean he’s going to survive? Whatever the case, I didn’t need to stand around and wait to see what happened. I needed to get me and my baby out of Virginia and never look back.

  I swear I hoped he didn’t live through this. He couldn’t. If he did, he’d find a way to find me. And I couldn’t have it. Not then, not ever.

  I didn’t thank the store clerk for her time or the information she gave me. I just rushed off and left the store. I returned to the car and pumped my gas. Immediately after, I got back in the driver’s seat and started up the ignition. I looked down at my son. He was still sound asleep. “Son, Matt may still be alive. So we’ve gotta get out of here and never look back,” I said aloud, even though I knew he didn’t hear me nor could he understand a word I said. “I promise I’ll never let anyone else take you from me. I’m gonna protect you from this day forward. I’ll die before I let someone else take you away from me.” I continued. I got teary-eyed just looking at my son lying in the passenger seat with his eyes closed.

  I quickly got myself together after the car behind me beeped their horn. I looked through my rearview mirror and noticed that I was in their way of getting to the gas pump. Without hesitation, I put the gear back in drive and drove off. I got back on the highway and took it until I saw I-95. I took the ramp and merged onto I-95. Yes, I was on my way down south. No one would find me down south. So that’s where I was going.

  EPILOGUE

  IN NEED OF A LIFELINE

  “We’re not sure if this is the kidnap victim or one of the kidnappers but we have a male burn victim around the age of thirty with first- and second-degree burns covering the right side of his face and neck, his right arm, and half of his torso area. Fire and rescue pulled him out of a bedroom of a burning house. They found him lying underneath a mattress that was barricaded by the bedroom door. We did a defibrillator one time,” the lead paramedic said as he and his partner rolled the stretcher into the ER unit.

  “Do we have a pulse?” the woman from the respirator unit asked.

  “Yes, but it’s faint,” said the lead paramedic.

  “Let’s transfer him over and start compressions,” a male doctor said. “Continue compressions and let’s verify airways. Do you know if he’s allergic to anything?”

  “No, we don’t have any of that information. There were two people inside the house and he was the only one who came out alive,” the same paramedic replied.

  “I see he has gray under his nostrils and some nasal singe,” the doctor said.

  “His pupils are dilated,” the lead nurse noticed.

  “He’s gonna need oxygen therapy,” the doctor pointed out.

  “What was the last EPI?” one of the female nurses asked.

  “Stop for one minute and check pulse please,” the doctor instructed.

  “I have pulses. His pulse is ninety-two,” the lead nurse announced.

  “What’s his temperature?” the doctor wanted to know.

  “His temperature is ninety-eight point six,” another nurse replied.

  “And his respiration?” the doctor questioned.

  “His respiration is twenty-six,” the same nurse replied.

  “We need to intubate him now,” the lead nurse stated.

  “Start the IV,” the doctor said.

  “What are the vital signs?” the male surgeon asked as soon as he stepped in the burn unit.

  “His vital signs are one-twelve over sixty-five and his CO-two level is twenty-six,” one of the female nurses said.

  “We’re gonna need to put him on a ventilator now before we take him down to surgery,” the other doctor announced.

  “Let’s move this along, you guys,” the surgeon demanded.

  “I’m administering five mgs of morphine now,” the lead nurse stated.

  “All right, let’s keep this man alive,” the surgeon’s voice boomed as he watched the nurses and the other doctor prep for surgery.

  “Alexandra, will you call down to surgery and make sure that they’re ready for us?” the surgeon said to the lead nurse.

  “Sure, doctor,” the woman replied, and then she left the room.

  “How are his pulses now?” the other doctor asked.

  “His pulse just dropped ” the Nurse Alexandra answered.

  “We’ve gotta get him out of here now,” the lead doctor spoke with urgency.

  “Let’s go before we lose him,” the surgeon agreed.

  “Are we clear?” the lead doctor asked.

  “Yes, we’re clear,” the same nurse replied, and then every medical staff person standing around unlocked the wheels of the hospital bed and began to roll it out of the examination room.

  “Let’s go! Let’s go! We gotta get him to the OR. We’re losing him. His blood pressure is dropping,” the lead doctor announced while they were wheeling the hospital bed down the hallway.

  “Stay with us, sir. Stay with us,” I heard a male’s voice say, and then I didn’t hear another sound.

  Kiki Swinson, the bestselling author known for “fast, tension-packed” (Library Journal) novels featuring the glamour and grit of Virginia’s most notorious streets, shows what happens when a criminal partnership takes a detour that puts its members on the road to jealousy, revenge, and murder. . . .

  THE SCORE

  On Sale Now

  LAUREN

  Present Day

  My feet moved at the speed of lightning. I could feel the wind beating on my skin so hard it made snot wet the inside of my nostrils. My entire body was covered with a thick sheen of sweat and I could feel it burning my armpits. My breath escaped my mouth in jagged, raggedy puffs and my chest burned. My heart felt like it would burst through the front of it. Even feeling as terrible as I did, I would not and could not stop moving.

  “Move!”

  “Get out of my fucking way!”

  “Watch out!”

  “Move!”

  I screamed command after command at the nosy-ass people who were staring and gawking and being in my damn way. My legs were moving like those of a swift and agile cheetah as I swerved and swayed through the throngs of people on Virginia Beach Boulevard. I was met by more than one mouthful of gasps and groans and I could faintly see more than one wide-eyed, mouth-agape stare as people gawked at me like I was a crazy woman. I guess I did look crazy running through the high-end shopping area with no shoes on. I had run straight out of my Louboutins, my expensive embellished Balmain skirt was hitched up around my hips, my vixen weave was blowing in the wind, and my Chanel caviar bag was strapped around my arm like a slave chain. I could feel that my makeup was a cakey, smudged mess all over my face and eyes. But I didn’t give a damn. I wasn’t going to stop running. No matter what. Looking crazy was the least of my worries.

  I had run track in high school and it was still paying off now, but clearly I wasn�
�t in the same athletic shape. Still, I wasn’t about to go out like this. I wasn’t going to get captured on the street and probably murdered for something that wasn’t totally my fault. I had been pushed and provoked to do everything that I did. All of the mistakes. All of the grimy shit I had done over the years. All of it was because I was born at a disadvantage from day fucking one.

  I didn’t want to die. I had always seen myself growing old with a few kids and grandkids surrounding me when I was ready to be settled. I would’ve given anything to be old and settled at this moment. But, of course, life threw me a curveball.

  I could hear the thunderous footfalls of the three men chasing me. If they weren’t so damn gorilla big and slower than me they would have caught me by now.

  “Hey! Are you okay?” I heard a man on the street yell at me as I flew past him, nearly knocking him over. Why the hell was he asking me such a dumb question when you could clearly see that I was being chased by three hulking goons dressed in all black with their guns probably showing on their waists or maybe even in their hands. Thank goodness I am always so alert or they would’ve walked right up on me while I unsuspectingly ate my lunch at the posh restaurant and grabbed me. It was the fact that I had only been back in town for a few hours, the disappearance of my lunch companion, and the suspicious looks that had alerted me in the first place. How could I have been so trusting? So naïve and stupid, too.

  I could feel the look of terror contorting my face, so I know damn well passersby could see the fear etched on every inch of it.

  Finally, I dipped through a side alley and the first door I tried allowed me inside. Thank God! With my chest heaving up and down I rested my back against another cold metal door inside and slid down to the floor. My legs were still trembling and my muscles were on fire in places on my body I didn’t even know existed. I tried to slow down my rapid breathing so I could hear whether the men had noticed me dipping into the alley but the more I tried to calm myself the more reality set in about the grave danger I was in. I was probably about to be murdered or worse, tortured and then murdered right in a dank alleyway in the place I thought I would never return to. If I hadn’t gotten that call, it would have been years before I crept back here. I thought about Matt and wondered if he was the one who had sent these men after me. But how would he have known I was back? I knew Matt had a lot of selfish ways about him and although shit had gone south with us, I never thought he would try to do something like this to me. I expected that if he wanted to confront me, he would come himself. Even if it was Yancy who had sent the goons, I would think Matt would have tried to spare me.