The Desert Lion's True Colours

by Ikechi Hayden

  ‘How do you know he had not arrived from before and IS in there right now?’ Na’talia said.

  ‘Come on Nat. Do you really believe that Karim, the FBI’s most wanted would be meeting up here in the lower part of the Bronx in broad daylight?’

  Leon paused for his question to settle, but before she could answer he said ‘And think about it. If those men are working for Karim why would they need to meet up with Black again if they already have the bags… ?’

  Before an answer could be made Jay called ‘Yo, look at this.’

  The three of them watched as the short bald guy came back out of the warehouse smiling. He approached Black and Perry with his arms held out wide. Black was walking towards him and when they met they gave each other a friendly hug.

  ‘Well they’re definitely not strangers.’ Jay said out loud.

  The three of them watched Black introduce the short bearded man to Perry and then partake in what seemed to be a very quick but detailed conversation. The man led Black and Perry to his Maxima which was parked in front of the two Maserati’s. After opening the trunk Leon could see Perry, Black and the bald guy all start to laugh.

  ‘I wander what’s so funny?’ Jay said curiously.

  Holding her arm up, Na’talia said ‘Give me back my phone and we can all find out.’

  Jay hesitated for second, looked over at Leon and said ‘What you say dawg?’

  Nodding his head Leon replied ‘It’s cool… Let her have the phone.’

  Getting the phone back in her hands she tapped the screen a few times and said,

  ‘The trackers in the bags can also be used for audio.’

  ‘What… !’ Jay exclaimed. ‘. . . And you’re only telling us this now?’

  Na’talia shook her head and decided not to give her answer as to why she did not use the trackers audio facility before. Instead she continued to tap away at the screen a few more times and then as if they were standing right next to Perry they heard Black’s unmistakable voice come through the phones speaker.

  ‘Did you hear that?’ they heard him say.

  ‘Hear what?’ Perry said.

  ‘That… That beeping sound.’ Black replied.

  From the Yukon they could see Perry lean forward and look over the open trunk.

  ‘Uncle all I hear is the alarm that tells you the trunk is open.’

  Behind the Yukon’s tinted windows they watched Black stand still, slowly turning his head from side to side. The short guy touched Black’s shoulder before they heard him say ‘Your nephew is right. I don’t hear anything. Everything ok Black? You seem anxious.’ He had a distinctive accent; identical to the other men they had met earlier that day.

  They noticed Black shrug off the guys arm. ‘Nothing’s wrong…’ He said. ‘. . . Let’s just get this over with.’

  Leon, Jay and Na’talia watched Perry turn around, motion to the Mercedes and through the phones speaker hear him say, ‘load em’ up.’

  With that the front passenger door of the Mercedes opened and out stepped a very large man. About 7'FT at least, dressed in Jeans, Timberlands and a long black leather jacket that was buttoned up to his chest.

  He could have been a relation to Bo but this guy’s body was more in proportion. As he made his way between the two Maserati’s and to the rear of the Maxima Na’talia said, ‘We’re going to have to cut transmission. If they open the bag housing the tracker I’m using. They’re bound to hear.’

  Leon cut her off as Black’s voice came through the phones speaker again. ‘So I should trust you have not taken any of the money yet?’ He said.

  The bald guy replied, ‘Black. You should know I would never do anything like that. While the money is a big reason for me to do this my main goal is to see Karim dead. It serves me no purpose to say you short changed me.’

  Black started to laugh.

  Surprised Jay said, ‘Did I just hear that?’

  ‘Shh’ Na’talia insisted.

  Smiling Jay said ‘Oh! Now you wanna hear what people gotta say.’

  ‘Dang you two… Give it a rest.’

  Leon said unimpressed. Waiving his hand at the both of them to be quiet they heard the guy say

  ‘It is not a joke. This is nothing to laugh about. After we found out what Arif’s plan was we decided to pick the right time to turn against him.’

  ‘I’m sorry…’ Perry interjected. ‘. . . Who’s Arif?’

  ‘Arif “Red Death” Karim.’ The guy replied.

  Tapping Na’talia on the shoulder Leon whispered, ‘Please tell me this is being recorded?’

  Na’talia smiled.

  Looking up at Black’s towering frame the guy said ‘In the beginning when the CIA sent Karim, me and others to the training camps in Pakistan. They thought they had us in the palm of their hands. Before we were given armed training we were taught in their best schools, given all kinds of contacts and so they thought we were indebted to them. But our plan was to take all that training and follow in the footsteps of the Great Osama, but they got to Karim. They showed us more money and a life not even Karim could have imagined growing up. So he agreed to be their main unspoken weapons dealer.’

  Knowing that’s exactly what he wanted Black said ‘That doesn’t sound so bad to me.’

  ‘It does when the weapons your selling is used to blow up your own people, your brothers and sisters.’ The guy replied.

  Black did not respond to that. He just turned to the guy who had been patiently waiting by his side and said ‘The money is for my friend, Mr Usain here. Keep the bags when you’re done.’

  The tall guy waited for Perry to move out of the way and then reached down into the back of the Maxima, picked up the first Gucci sports bag and after emptying the money back into the trunk rested the bag onto the floor. He did this to the first two bags which caused Na’talia to say, ‘Guys, we really need to end the transmission. He could pick the bag we’re using right now.’

  ‘Not yet.’ Leon replied.

  They watched the guy reach for the third bag right before they heard Mr Usain say, ‘Three of my comrades are dead and two others are presumed the same. You must give me your word their lives were not taken in vain.’

  Black halted the guy from opening the bag, turned to Mr Usain and said. ‘I’m sorry about that. But I told you those two are FBI. They’re good. Especially Nathan - goes by the name of Leon.’

  Jay Na’talia and Leon heard Perry in the background say ‘Whatever.’ Before Black continue ‘. . . Look, my contacts have people looking all over the Tri-State area right now. They’ll be dead by the end of the day.’

  ‘How can you be so sure?’ replied Mr Usain.

  ‘Because my contacts are the best at what they do, that’s why. They have ways of finding people you and I could only dream about…’ Black paused but before his short friend could say anything in reply he said ‘. . . Trust me. Those two are as good as dead.’

  Leon, Jay and Na’talia could hear Perry laughing.

  ‘Look, just take the money,’ Black said urgently ‘and then when I need you later I’ll give you the signal.’

  From their location down the street Leon could see the guy nod his head, shake Black’s hand and then through the phones speaker say, ‘Ok.’

  Black turned back to the guy who was still holding the bag in his hand and motioned him to continue with what he was doing. Na’talia was not going to wait anymore and cut the signal to the tracker.

  ‘What you do that for?’ Jay blurted.

  ‘It was too risky!’ Na’talia shouted back.

  Jay was waiting for Leon to say something to back him up but Leon kept silent.

  ‘Sorry.’ Na’talia said finally. ‘. . . I shouldn’t have shouted at you.’

  Jay was silent for a moment and the
n said. ‘It’s cool, I guess.’

  The three of them turned their attention back to the men in the parking lot and watched Black’s new muscle man empty all six bags into the back of the black Maxima, while Perry picked them up one by one and removed the hard base from inside each one. They looked like giant sized sticks of gum.

  ‘I can’t believe we didn’t check the base of the bags.’ Na’talia said.

  ‘Why would we. We all thought we were carrying money and that’s it.’ Jay said reassuringly.

  She was about to say something in reply but Leon cut in, ‘He’s right…’ He said. ‘. . . Why would we be looking for something we didn’t even know existed? The problem we have here is that we still don’t know what those papers are.’

  No sooner did Leon say that, Perry handed the six, thin leather bound pieces of board to the guy in the leather jacket who tore the ends off of each one and pulled out several A4 sized documents.

  ‘Bingo!’ Jay said.

  Black’s new bodyguard handed the documents back to Perry who then placed them in a brief case he had taken out of the back of the Maxima. They then watched Black shake Mr Usain’s hand, give him a hug and then return to the Mercedes with Perry and his guard close behind.

  ‘Now what do we do… ?’ Na’talia said. ‘. . . Follow the money or Black?’

  Leon did not answer right away. He just watched Black, Perry and the guy in the leather jacket enter the Mercedes and slowly make a U-turn in the parking-lot. In the meantime Mr Usain walked over to one of the Maserati’s and got in. The black S Class Mercedes exited the warehouse’s fenced parking lot made a left and came back down the street, over the intersection and passed the black Yukon the three of them were sitting in. By the time they reached the next traffic lights the two Maserati’s had exited the parking lot making the right in the opposite direction.

  ‘They left the Maxima with the money.’ Na’talia said.

  ‘No they didn’t.’ Jay replied.

  Na’talia took her eyes off of the Mercedes waiting at the traffic lights 20 feet ahead and turned her attention back to the parking-lot. The door to the warehouse was open and walking through it was another man of Arabian decent. He was wearing all black and sporting the same full beard and bald head. He walked over to the Maxima, got in and drove it out of the Parking-lot in the same direction as the Maserati’s.

  ‘Quickly, we should follow Black.’ Leon said.

  Na’talia looked up through her windshield to see the traffic light had turned green and the black Mercedes was casually making the right over the intersection onto Zerega Avenue. Quickly Na’talia started the engine but by the time they had got to the intersection the lights had changed back to red.

  ‘Can your phone track a car by the registration number?’ Jay asked.

  ‘Yes and no…’ Na’talia replied. ‘. . . I can use the Agency’s optical satellite system to give us an overhead visual of the car, but I would have to log into the CIA’s surveillance database for that. They’ll know where we are within seconds.’

  ‘Is there nobody you trust within your department?’ Leon asked.

  Regretfully, Na’talia shook her head.

  Clearing his throat, Jay moved forward, rested his chin on the edge of Na’talia’s seat and said ‘That was an S Class Benz right. I’m pretty sure it has GPS. Couldn’t we find a way to remotely log into that instead? We wouldn’t have to use the FED’s eye in the sky for that.’

  Leon started to go over his partner’s suggestion. However Na’talia said ‘Question. How are you going to do that, if you don’t even know who the car is registered to? And you can’t call the GPS Company and tell them your car is stolen because they will report it immediately.’

  Jay was a little insulted Na’talia cut down his suggestion, however he had to appreciate she had a point. Jay was about to provide another idea but before the words could escape his mouth the traffic lights turned back to green and Na’talia smashed down on the gas causing Jay to fall back in his seat.

  The speed Na’talia accelerated across the intersection onto Zerega Avenue caused the tires to leave two curved lines of burnt rubber on the tarmac. Both Leon and Jay were struggling to stay seated as Na’talia’s fast right turn plus the Yukon’s high centre of gravity made the vehicle lean heavily to the left. Fighting to stay upright Jay said ‘Yo! Is that necessary? Slow down.’

  ‘They’ve got a head-start…’ Na’talia replied. ‘. . . We need to catch them right.’

  ‘Yeah, but not at the expense of us getting caught for speeding.’ Jay responded.

  ‘He’s got a point…’ Leon cut in. ‘. . . We don’t need to track any attention to ourselves. Not now. They can’t be that far ahead and my guess is they’re going to be heading back to the freeway. Stick to the speed limit and we should catch them when the traffic starts to build up before Cross Bronx Expressway.’

  Na’talia’s expression told Leon she was not happy with being told what to do. However Leon thought this might be a good time to appease her by calling his father.

  As Na’talia tried her best to weave in and out of the two lane traffic and keep her eyes peeled for the black Mercedes ahead of them, Jay did his best to scan the side roads as they passed but nothing resembled a black S class. They had travelled five blocks and the traffic was starting to build up a couple of streets away from the Expressway.

  Not to anyone in particular Na’talia said ‘Can you see them?’

  Leon looked over the top of the car directly in front of them and down the right side of the traffic for the Mercedes S Class. ‘I can’t see anything.’ He said.

  Na’talia started to shake her head and say ‘I think we should.’

  ‘I know, I know.’ Leon interrupted. ‘Call my old man right?’

  Na’talia let out a sigh of exasperation.

  ‘If it’s any consolation,’ Leon said, ‘I was just thinking now would be the best time to call him.’

  Na’talia smirked at his statement. In her mind, what was the point? The money and the papers were gone along with Black and any connection they had to where Karim could be hiding.

  The lights turned from red to green and the line of traffic Na’talia found herself in started to ease forward. As the space between each car began to widen Jay started to smile. ‘All is not lost.’ he said.

  ‘Do you see them?’ Na’talia asked.

  ‘I do!’ he said.

  Trying his best to locate the Mercedes himself, Leon asked ‘Where… ?’

  ‘There,’ Jay said pointing. ‘Isn’t that them joining the ramp?’

  From the driver’s seat Na’talia was unable to see down the right side of the traffic jam or the cars turning onto the Cross Bronx service road so she increased her speed and stuck close to the car in front. She barely made it through the lights before they changed back to red however as the Yukon turned right onto the ramp, Na’talia let out a sigh of relief as the S Class Benz came into view four cars ahead.

  ‘See,’ Jay said. ‘. . . Didn’t even need your fancy toys to find them.’

  Frowning, Na’talia said ‘Yeah, luckily…’ Then after a short pause she turned to Leon and said ‘. . . So you’re going to call Aaron now right?’

  Without saying a word, Leon retrieved the phone - Na’talia had placed back into its holster and started to look for his father’s number. Jay then moved up close to the back of Leon’s seat and said ‘You sure you wanna call him now?’

  Leon did not answer strait away, he was too busy still trying to locate the last number received. Patients was not one of Jay’s strong points so again he said, ‘So what’s good dawg? You gonna call?’

  Leon looked up through the windshield to see they were back on the Cross Bronx Expressway heading in the same direction they came. After looking back down at the phone in his hand he realised somet
hing and like a 100' volt lamp being turned on in the dark the missing piece of the puzzle finally dawned on him.

  CHAPTER 19

  ‘Yeah, I’m gonna call him.’ He said. His words were harsh and angry. Not the heated, hot kind of anger but the kind of cold hostility you would associate with someone who had deep emotional issues.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Na’talia asked softly. She noticed his change in tone immediately.

  ‘Nothing’s wrong.’ Leon snapped.

  ‘Yo! Yo,’ Jay interjected, ‘. . . Why you buggin out man?’

  Leon took a deep breath, let it out slowly and then turned in his seat to face Na’talia.

  ‘I need you to be real with me Dean right now!’ He said.

  Keeping her eyes on the vehicle Black and Perry were riding in, she said ‘What do you mean be real? I’ve told you everything.’

  Leon looked down at her hands, tightly wrapped around the steering-wheel and noticed how ridged her wrists and arms were. ‘The hell you are.’ Leon replied. ‘If you’ve been telling us the truth, then look me in the eye and tell me that.’

  ‘Err, I’m driving.’ Na’talia said sarcastically.

  ‘That’s the wrong mother-fucking answer to the question Chick!’ Jay said reaching for his gun.

  ‘What… !’ Na’talia replied. ‘. . . Are you two being for real right now? I mean are you fucking serious? I saved you two sorry asses not just a few hours ago and now you’re questioning my loyalty? You’re thinking I’m not telling you the truth? Maybe you haven’t noticed but I’m tied up in this too.’

  Leon smirked, ‘Yeah, now.’ He said.

  ‘Now what’s that supposed to mean?’ Na’talia replied. Her voice was starting to crack, so she paused to clear her throat. She was about to speak up again but Leon cut her off.

  ‘Don’t bother.’ He said.

  Raising Na’talia’s phone in his hand he showed Jay the call list that was on display.

  ‘What am I looking at?’ Jay said slightly confused.