The Other Brother

by Brandon Massey

  It was Isaiah.

  Fear clenched Theo's heart like an iron fist.

  "Happy Father's Day," Isaiah said.

  He swung a dark object at Theo's head.

  Chapter 5 2

  C abriel walked down the hallway toward the kitchen. Anxiety quivered through his knees. He was so worried about what Pops was going to tell him that it was difficult to maintain his balance.

  Maybe it's not as bad as I think it'll be. What could be worse than learning I have a crazy half brother? Is Pops gonna tell me I have a psycho half sister, too?

  Possibilities circled through his mind, and they only made him more anxious, more eager to get this over with.

  As he passed through the hallway, he saw that the women had moved out of the sunroom and into the grand salon. They were still talking about the wedding, of course. Gabriel looked away, fearing that they would try to snare him in the conversation. This was one time when he truly could not be bothered.

  He walked into the kitchen. He reached for the refrigerator handle.

  Before he could touch it, the door opened.

  Tingles cascaded over his hands.

  The last time he'd exercised his telekinesis, he'd been at the hospital, fighting on the stairwell with Isaiah. He'd been unable to access the talent since, and, after numerous attempts, had given up, deciding that for some mysterious reason the gift had gone into remission, like a side effect of some weird medical condition.

  Now it was back.

  But why?

  "You forgot about our father-son fishing trip, didn't you?" Isaiah whispered into his father's ear. But Pops was unconscious, his lips lolling open, saliva gathering in the corner of his mouth. "Well, I didn't forget"

  Slinging his father's arm across his shoulder, Isaiah dragged him toward the French doors that faced the patio and quietly opened them. Cold rain spattered his face. He draped a jacket over his father's head to keep him dry and asleep.

  After the shit went down at the hospital, the Reids, naturally, had changed the house locks as a security measure. But they'd neglected to replace the lock on the terrace doors. That was the downside of living in such a big-ass crib; it was impossible to remember everything.

  Isaiah had suspected that they would have a family gathering on Father's Day. He'd hidden in the basement for hours, biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

  He didn't want a confrontation with Gabriel or anyone else in the family. This time it was solely between him and his father.

  "I promised Mama that no matter what, I was going to get you," Isaiah said. He pulled his father outside and toward the far side of the rambling yard, staying close to the exterior walls to avoid being seen by someone inside. Rain slanted in his eyes, forcing him to squint, but he was thankful for the downpour and the premature darkness the thunderstorm brought. It would provide cover.

  "But before we get to that, we're going fishing, Pops. You never did take me fishing, but you took Gabriel all the time. We're going on a fishing trip of our own, just you and me ""

  The wrought-iron gate on the east side of the property was locked from the inside. He hit the lever to open it, forced the gate open wide with his shoulder, and lugged his slack-jawed father across the damp grass toward the white Ford Econoline cargo van he'd parked against the curb at the edge of the cul-de-sac, out of a direct view of the estate windows.

  He'd stolen the van late last night out of some poor sucker's driveway. ROBERT'S HEATING & AIR-CONDITIONING was painted in red across the side and rear doors. An unsuspecting neighbor would assume that he was a technician visiting the community to make a service call.

  He slid open the side panel door and hauled his father inside.

  Gabriel stood in the middle of the kitchen, his palms crackling with psychic energy.

  Why had his telekinesis suddenly returned?

  Dana entered the kitchen carrying an empty glass. She picked up a pitcher of sweet tea but put it down when she noticed the look on his face. "Something wrong, baby?"

  "The power's back" Gabriel flexed his hands.

  A mirror, he thought. Look in a mirror.

  As Dana watched him, curious, he rushed into the hallway. A large mirror hung on the wall in the foyer.

  Heart drumming, he moved in front of the glass.

  He saw Isaiah.

  Isaiah was pulling his father inside a van. Fishing poles and tackle boxes covered the floor behind him.

  "Oh, shit," Gabriel said.

  "What is it?" Dana said. "What's wrong?"

  Gabriel scrambled to the basement door. He pounded down the stairs, leaping over the last five steps and landing on the hardwood floor with a bone-knocking thud, he barely felt in his rising panic. From a distance, Dana followed.

  "Pops!" he shouted, running into the rec room. "Pops!"

  The patio doors were open. They swung in the rain.

  His father was gone.

  Chapter 53

  • fter Isaiah had stolen the van last night, he'd cleared all the technician's tools and junk out of the cargo area and remade it into a work space to suit his purposes. There were no rear or side windows, but he'd suspended a heavy, dark blanket from the ceiling, behind the front seats, to keep his work and captive hidden from anyone who might peer through the windshield. Then he stored his own tools on the floor: a coil of rope, duct tape, a utility knife, and fishing gear.

  With his father lying unconscious on the cold metal floor, the first thing Isaiah did was remove his father's gold Rolex. He laid it beside him. The watch, much like Gabriel's pen, would prove useful.

  Moving quickly, Isaiah knotted a length of rope around his father's wrists. He tied his ankles together, too.

  As he was bending over his father, preparing to slap a piece of duct tape on his mouth, Pops's eyes fluttered open.

  "Isaiah," he said in a garbled voice. He blinked, groggily. "What're you doing?"

  "I'll tell you in a minute. We've gotta roll."

  Driving the heating-and-air-conditioning van offered him a reasonable amount of cover. Nevertheless, being parked so close to the Reids' crib made him antsy. The cops were still on the prowl for him.

  "Help," Pops said. He rocked back and forth, struggling to break free from the ropes. "Someone, help me!"

  Isaiah dug into the tackle box beside him and extracted a large barbed fishhook. He waved it in front of his father's eyes.

  "I'll thread this through your lips like a catfish if you don't shut up and stay still," he said. "You want me to do that?"

  A fat drop of sweat rolled down his father's temple.

  "Please don't do this," Pops said. "This isn't the way, son-"

  "Shut the fuck up!"

  Flinching as if struck, Pops fell silent.

  Isaiah pressed the duct tape across his father's mouth. Pops's chest rose and fell rapidly as he breathed through his nostrils in a petrified wheeze.

  "Now, to answer your question: we're going fishing," Isaiah said. "You told me that you and Gabe would always take a father-son fishing trip on Father's Day at your cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains. I decided it was my turn to enjoy the tradition with you. That's only fair, right?"

  Pops said something unintelligible. He shook his head wildly.

  Check out the big-time CEO now. He looked like a frightened old man. He'd probably pissed on himself. If he hadn't yet, he would soon.

  Isaiah picked up his father's Rolex. He rubbed his thumb across the fine Oyster band and sapphire crystal face. His father wore this watch, a Yacht-Master model that listed for something like twenty grand, all the time. It was perfect for Isaiah's purposes.

  This was going to become more fun very soon. He was just warming up.

  Isaiah had abducted Pops. The vision in the mirror had told Gabriel as much, but he'd needed to go to the terrace to confirm with his real eyes his physical eyes-that it was true.

  "Wasn't your father down here?" Dana asked. "Where'd he go?"

  Gabriel didn't answer. He
hurried to the far corner of the recreation room. A large closet was set in the wall, the double doors made of sturdy oak, a keyhole in the center. Gabriel dug out his key ring, found the right key, and jammed it into the slot.

  "Damn it, Gabe," Dana said. "Tell me what's going on!"

  "Isaiah was here. He took Pops" He pulled open the closet doors; they were so wide it was almost like opening a bank vault.

  A tall gun cabinet stood within. Several rifles and shotguns gleamed darkly behind the tempered glass.

  Dana looked from the firearms to Gabriel, shock and worry taking turns on her face. "How do you know? Did you see him?"

  "I saw it in a mirror." He inserted another key into the gun-cabinet lock. "Isaiah was pulling him into a van. He's taking Pops to the cabin."

  "How do you know that?"

  Gabriel opened the cabinet doors. The bracing yet oddly comforting smell of well-oiled steel and gunpowder penetrated his nostrils. The guns, comprising his and his father's hunting collection, stood like soldiers at attention.

  "I saw fishing poles and tackle boxes in the van," he said. "Isaiah knows Pops and I would normally have a Father's Day fishing trip, so he's taking him up there himself. He never got to go on a fishing trip with Pops, you know. That's how the crazy bastard thinks."

  "So what're you doing?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're going after him."

  "That's exactly what I'm doing. I promise you Isaiah isn't taking Pops there to drink beer and catch perch he's got something else in mind. I'm not gonna let it happen"

  Gabriel selected a Mossberg 500, twelve-gauge, pumpaction shotgun outfitted with a scope and a nylon sling. He'd purchased the gun well, Pops had purchased it for him the previous year. The shotgun was ideal for hunting and home defense, and he was about to embark upon a little of both.

  "Please, Gabe, don't go," Dana said. "I'll call the police."

  Gabriel pulled open one of the cabinet's lower storage areas. Boxes of ammo lay inside. He ripped open a box of shot shells and began to load the gun.

  "Don't call anyone," he said. "This is family business."

  She crossed her arms over her bosom, shuddering. "Are you sure about this?"

  "As sure as I've ever been sure of anything." He rose, touched her arm. "Dana, you've got to trust me on this. Okay?"

  Trust. The same principle that, only a week ago, had knocked them flat on their backs and left their relationship in tatters.

  Dana hesitated for a beat, gnawing her lip. Then she nodded.

  "All right," she said. "I'm scared but I'm going to trust that you know what you're doing."

  "Thank you" He turned back to the closet. A camouflage hunting vest hung on a hook beside the gun cabinet, along with a few jackets. Gabriel grabbed the vest and slipped it on. He loaded the front pockets with extra rounds of ammo.

  Mom, trailed by Nicole, appeared at the rec room doorway.

  "What's all this commotion?" Mom asked. "What are you doing with that gun?"

  "I'm going to save Pops" He strapped the Mossberg by its sling over his shoulder. "I don't have time to explain everything else. Dana will fill you in."

  As they gaped at him, Gabriel moved past them, and mounted the staircase. He halted on the steps, struck by an idea.

  "Dana, can you give me your makeup compact, please?"

  Dana gave him a puzzled look, but she rushed upstairs to get her purse. He followed her. She dug out the compact and handed it to him.

  He snapped it open. He examined the small rectangular mirror.

  He saw Isaiah behind the wheel of the van, eyes squinted in concentration as he navigated through the rain. Windshield wipers ticked back and forth. A dark curtain fluttered behind Isaiah, separating the cabin from the cargo space.

  Gabriel was willing to bet that Pops was imprisoned on the floor behind that sheet. Pops might be safe, for the time being.

  "How about your pepper spray, too?" Gabriel asked. A gift from Gabriel, Dana carried the weapon on her key ring. It could be useful in tight quarters.

  Nodding, Dana removed the small canister of pepper spray from her key ring and handed it to him.

  Gabriel stuffed the items in his vest pocket. He quickly kissed Dana, and then Nicole and Mom, ignoring their protests and pleadings.

  "I promise, I'll bring back Pops," he said. "Alive"

  He opened the front door and ran into the storm.

  Chapter 54

  7y son's gone crazy and it's my fault.

  Theo lay on the floor, bound at the wrists and ankles. The ropes were so tight that, after a halfhearted effort to break free, he had given up. His hands and feet had grown as numb as bricks from his constricted blood flow.

  Beneath him the cold floor thrummed; rain hammered the walls and ceiling. It was like being trapped in a tin drum; it was so loud he could scarcely hear himself breathe.

  Fishing rods and the contents of a tackle box clinked and rustled around him. The sight of outdoor gear, and its promise of tranquil days spent on a sun-spangled mountain lake, usually had the unfailing ability to relax him. Now he viewed the stuff as potential torture equipment. The fishing line could be looped into a garrote around his neck; a hook, as Isaiah had already threatened, could be used to puncture his flesh; a casting rod could be used to beat him. There were dozens more painful uses for the implements, and Theo could not stop thinking about them.

  And you deserve it, Theo. You deserve every lick of pain and suffering he gives you.

  Theo could not argue with that soft voice; it was his conscience. The same conscience that, over the decades, had counseled him to do the right thing by his son.

  He should have moved Isaiah and his mother out of their crime-ridden neighborhood and into a more peaceful community. He should have communicated with Isaiah on a regular basis, invited the boy to Atlanta during the summers and introduced him to a different side of life. He should have sent Isaiah to college, should've prepared a job for him in the company.

  He knew he should have done those things. His conscience had told him so.

  But he'd ignored the voice, as he ignored most advice when it was something he didn't want to hear. He'd been too concerned with what his colleagues might think. Worried about what people in church would whisper behind his back. Fearful of earning the scorn of his friends, and eavesdropping on conversations in which they would say, "Yeah, T.L. has a kid out of wedlock. Negro cheated on his wife, uh-huh. He's no different than any of the sorry brothers out there-he just looks better on the surface"

  He'd hoped Isaiah would eventually go away. Even after the chaos of a week ago, during which he had foolishly opened up himself and the family to the boy, he had hoped that the madness at the hospital would be the end of it, that he'd never see Isaiah again.

  Denial had protected him in the past, but it was, ultimately, merely a comforting fiction. Gabriel had warned him that Isaiah would return. Gabe had an unerring sense of what Isaiah would do.

  He wondered if Gabriel realized Isaiah had abducted him.

  He wondered if Gabriel would come to save him.

  He wondered if, after all the wrongs he had done to his wife and children and so many others, he deserved to be saved.

  Chapter 55

  F lowing through the rain, Isaiah took I-285 North, looping around the northwest side of metro Atlanta, and connected with 1-75 North at the top of the Perimeter. 1-75 North would take him to 1-575, which turned into the Georgia Mountain Parkway. The Georgia Mountain Parkway would carry him into the Blue Ridge Mountains, where his father kept his cabin, and where they would get down to serious father-son business.

  Isaiah had slipped the old picture of Mama and Pops out of his wallet. He imagined that Mama had to be proud of him just then. He had promised her he would get his father for how he'd treated them, and he was keeping his vow. If there was one thing Mama had always held sacred, it was the importance of being true to your word.

  Don't be one of them sorry-ass Negroes, baby, promising folks the sky and th
e moon. Keep your word and God 71 keep you.

  Admittedly, Isaiah hadn't been concerned much about God lately, but it seemed Mama was right. A week ago his plan appeared to have fallen apart. But he'd gotten away. He'd found a safe refuge. He'd pulled himself together.

  And he'd gotten in his father's shit for real this time, no more fucking around with Gabriel. He despised the golden boy and had wanted to make his life miserable, but his real beef was with Pops, and he couldn't get sidetracked anymore.

  Although the curtain hanging behind Isaiah's seat had made the rearview mirror useless, Isaiah glanced at it out of habit and almost swerved and hit a car in the next lane when he saw who was staring at him.

  Gabriel.

  The weird psychic connection of theirs that had been dormant for the past week had returned.

  Gabriel was driving, too. Worry spun through Isaiah's mind. Was Gabriel following him? Did Gabriel know where he was going? How could he know?

  Isaiah checked the side mirrors but he didn't see a Corvette the last vehicle he'd seen Gabriel driving-on his tail.

  He returned his attention to the rearview. Gabriel looked upward, presumably into his own mirror, and spotted Isaiah. His eyes glared hatefully.

  Isaiah flipped him the bird.

  Gabriel looked away at something out of sight. A few seconds later he put a cell phone against his ear.

  Isaiah's cell phone beeped. He answered it.

  "I see you, little brother," Isaiah said. "I'd say you were ugly if we didn't look so much alike."

  "You'd better not hurt Pops," Gabriel said. "If you lay a hand on him, I'll kill you"

  "Pops and I have some personal business to discuss. It has nothing to do with you. Stay home with your girlfriend and mind your business."

  In the mirror, Gabriel's jaws bulged with anger. "I'm warning you"

  "You're warning me? What? You spoiled motherfucker . . ."

  Isaiah veered off the highway onto the shoulder of the road, the tires spitting up gravel and mud. Holding his cell phone in one hand, he grabbed the rearview mirror with his other. He ripped the mirror away from its base, plastic snapping.