The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  When it came time to take Rain back to the safe house, they were escorted to the Tahoes that were parked out back. Yarissa and Glenda were taken to the second vehicle, and Damon and Alwan remained with them. Then Rain and Wanda, along with the rest of the men that Carter assigned, came out of J.R.’s and got in the third vehicle that Fish and Clinton were driving. The remaining men piled in the other two vehicles for the trip back to the house. Jake, along with the men that Coleman sent went after them.

  They had driven out of the city and were on a long stretch of road when two Chevy Silverado’s came up behind the convoy and were closing fast. Porter was driving one and Dozier was in the other.

  “I got two Chevys coming up on our six,” Clinton said.

  Rain looked back. “I see them.”

  When one of the Silverado’s raced by the vehicles, everybody relaxed until the Silverado that Porter was driving cut in front of the trailing vehicle and blocked its path. Two men stood up in the bed of the Silverado and opened fire on the Tahoe with heavy weapons, killing the three occupants as they tried to exit the vehicle.

  Just then, a black cargo van, with Jake and two more men armed with AK 47s passed Porter as he continued toward the remaining three vehicles.

  Rain and Wanda looked back. “Get us outta here, Clinton,” Rain commanded.

  Seconds later, Dozier slammed into the driver’s side of the lead vehicle.

  “Oh shit!” Yarissa shouted as Damon swerved to avoid the collision.

  “You two all right?” Alwan looked back and asked.

  “I’m okay,” Glenda said, but she was scared.

  Yarissa shook her head to acknowledge that she was okay, but she was scared too. Then they watched through the rear window as a man exited the crew cab of the Silverado and opened fire with AKs. Dozier got out, slid a disk under the Tahoe. All three men got back in the Chevy and sped off just before the vehicle exploded.

  Yarissa leaned close to Glenda. “You regret coming yet?”

  Glenda nodded her head and held on tightly, as Damon sped down the road.

  “We’re gonna end up shooting our way out of this,” Wanda said.

  “I know,” Rain said.

  “Not if I can help it. I’ll get us outta here,” Clinton said and was getting ready to make a move to escape.

  Wanda knelt on her seat and opened one of the cases in the back. “What about Glenda and Yarissa? Can either of them shoot?” She handed Rain a Heckler and Koch MP7A1.

  “I know Yarissa can’t,” Rain replied, as she checked the weapon.

  “I doubt if Glenda can either,” Wanda said as she continued passing out weapons and ammo, before getting one for herself and loading it.

  Refusing to leave Glenda and Yarissa, Rain ordered, “Stay with them, Clinton.”

  “Understood.”

  The cargo van pulled up alongside the vehicle with Glenda and Yarissa. Not really sure which vehicle Rain was in and not really caring, Jake rammed them.

  Damon saw them coming. “Hold on!” he yelled as the van slammed into them.

  The panel door slid open and two men, armed with AK 47s opened fire. Since the vehicles had reinforced steel and bullet resistant windows, Damon continued driving. But neither of those features did a bit of good when the shooters began firing at the tires. Everyone inside held on as the vehicle ran off the road and then flipped over twice before landing upright on its wheels.

  “Did you see that shit?” Fish shouted.

  Clinton drove faster and arrived on the scene just as Jake and his two shooters approached and then opened up on the vehicle. When Clinton brought the vehicle to a halt, he and Fish jumped out and began firing at Jake and his men.

  “Hand me the M4,” Rain said to Wanda and she did so quickly as the two Silverado’s arrived.

  She handed her the M4 carbine, which is a shorter and lighter variation of the M16A2 assault rifle, and then Wanda got out, rushed to the back of the vehicle and opened fire on Porter, Dozier and their men.

  Rain mounted the M203 grenade launcher on her weapon before sliding to the other side of the Tahoe as gently as she could. She put weight on her leg and got out. She limped to the back of the vehicle where Wanda was holding the six shooters at bay as best she could.

  When Porter and Dozier saw Rain take aim with the M4, they dove for the ground just as Rain launched a grenade at them. The explosion that followed took out the Silverado’s and four of the men, leaving Porter and Dozier to take cover.

  With Clinton and Fish firing at Jake and his men, it gave Alwan a chance to shake it off. “You two all right?” he asked.

  “I’m fine, a little shaken up, but I’m fine,” Glenda said and looked at Yarissa. She was slumped against the door. Glenda began shaking her. “Yarissa!” she shouted and shook her until she began to come out of it.

  “What happened?” a dazed Yarissa asked.

  “You two stay here and keep your heads down.” Alwan said as he got out the vehicle and got in the firefight.

  Glenda leaned forward and checked Damon’s pulse.

  “He’s dead,” she said and reached for his gun. Even though she was scared, Glenda knew that she had to be ready to protect them if it became necessary.

  “You know how to use that?” Yarissa asked, still dizzy and holding her head.

  “You can’t hang around this bunch and not know how to shoot,” she said and handed the gun to Yarissa. Then she knelt on her seat, opened the case and got an MP7A1.

  “You’re not planning on going out there, are you?”

  “Oh, hell no,” Glenda said. “I’m just getting ready in case …” Glenda’s voice trailed off.

  “In case what?” Yarissa needed to know.

  Now that the odds were a little more even, the plan turned to retreat. Jake and his men began shooting their way back to the van. When Porter and Dozier got up from the ground, they started running toward the van as well. Wanda fired and hit Dozier in the back as he ran.

  Jake took aim and shot Clinton on his way to the van and he went down. Fish was able to get one of the men with a shot to the head just before he got in the van. Jake shot Fish in the chest and he and his man got in the van.

  Rain hopped on one leg to the front of the Tahoe and took aim as Porter ran for the van. She launched another grenade at the van. But since her shoulder was killing her, Rain missed. The grenade hit right in front of Porter and he was blown to bits.

  As Jake drove away with the remaining shooter, Rain saw that the cargo van had Truckload Freight Transportation markings on it.

  Day Three

  Chapter Twenty-two

  After spending the night at The Peninsula with Jada, Carmen got up early the following morning and went home. After she showered and changed, Carmen headed back out. Her destination for the day was going to be Ingram International to talk to Winston Darby about the shipping manifests that she found in Richard Castor’s house.

  When she was leaving her building, Carmen stopped and looked around. In her current situation, she thought that being a little more aware of her surroundings was a good thing. Not seeing anything or anybody that gave her pause, Carmen stepped into the street to hail a cab. She had been standing there for a minute or two at most as cab after cab passed her by, and Carmen considered driving her own car.

  When she glanced down the street to where it was parked, Carmen saw the man that she now knew was her bodyguard sitting in a parked car. She very quickly turned and began walking in the opposite direction. When Carmen saw a bus coming, she knew it would block his view. But only for a second or two, so she had to be ready.

  As soon as the bus passed, Carmen dropped behind the cars that were parked along the street. Then she peeked through a car window and watched as he got out of his car and looked around for her. Carmen waited patiently as he looked to his left and then to his right. She laughed when he kicked the tire on the car, before he got back in.

  Carmen took that opportunity to rush across the street. From there, it
was easy for her to blend in with her fellow New Yorkers, work her way down the street, and surprise him at his car window.

  “Hi.” Carmen said and startled him.

  “Hi.”

  “Can I get in?”

  “Sure,” he said, feeling embarrassed that Carmen could first lose him and then sneak up on him. But her sister, Desireé, didn’t call her Carmen the sneak for nothing.

  “Well, I guess introductions are in order.”

  He smiled in response.

  “You already know who I am, so why don’t you start.”

  “My name is Kamau Garner, and for the last two years I’ve been your bodyguard.”

  “Kamau,” Carmen paused and rolled it around on her tongue. “That’s a very unique name.”

  “It means quiet warrior in Kikuyu.” He smiled when he saw the puzzled look on Carmen’s face. “The Kikuyu are the largest ethnic group in Kenya.”

  “Oh. Are you from Kenya?”

  “No, I’m from Brooklyn. I was named after my great grandfather; he was born in Kenya.”

  “I see,” Carmen said and stared into his intense eyes.

  “My friends call me Kay-Gee.”

  “No, I think I’d like to call you Kamau,” she said, and a million things ran through her mind, but she had questions, lots of questions that she needed answers to first.

  “Okay, Ms. Taylor.”

  “Why don’t you call me Carmen.”

  “Okay, Carmen it is.”

  “Well I’m on my way to Ingram International.”

  “That’s good to know,” Kamau said.

  He was feeling very uncomfortable with her in the car. His job was to keep his distance and protect her. And then there was the fact that Carmen was able to not only lose him, but then she snuck up on him. Like I was some amateur. But that wasn’t the only reason Kamau was uncomfortable.

  “You might as well take me there, because now that I know what you look like,” Carmen leaned closer to him and smiled. “I’ll just end up losing you again.”

  “Yes, Ms. Taylor, I mean Carmen,” Kamau said and started up the car. And now she’s talking shit about it.

  “Good.” Carmen put on her seatbelt. “I was having a hard time getting a cab anyway.”

  As Kamau pulled out into traffic, Carmen looked at her bodyguard. Although her initial reaction was and still is appreciation, there was a part of Carmen − a big part − who thought her having a bodyguard, without her knowledge, was a major invasion of her privacy.

  Not that I was doing all that much other than working all the time anyway, Carmen thought. But that’s not the point!

  She really couldn’t be too mad at Kamau; he was just doing his job. It was Mike Black that she should be mad at. And she planned to give him a good piece of her mind the next time she saw him. But even though she was mad, she couldn’t be all that mad at Black either.

  After all, if he didn’t get me a bodyguard, I might be dead now.

  “So, now that we’ve got introductions out of the way, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

  “Okay. What do you want to know?”

  “Everything. I mean, it’s only fair; you know all about me,” Carmen smiled, but she was serious. “Let’s start with how deeply you’ve invaded my privacy?”

  “I’d say not at all.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what not at all means?”

  “Most of what I do for you is threat evaluation. I watch your news broadcasts, so I keep up with what you’re doing, and I make a determination about what level of security that I need to provide.”

  “So you’re not with me every day all day.”

  “No. Not at all.” Kamau laughed. “Being your bodyguard is a job, not a lifestyle, Ms. Taylor … I mean Carmen,” he said quickly, noticing the look on her face. “So, no, I’m not sitting outside of your building every night.”

  That makes me feel a little better, but, “What about when I go to Atlanta to see my parents? Do you go with me there too? Like are you on the same flight or something?”

  “Nothing like that. I have been to Atlanta once and both your parents and Mr. Douglas live in secure, well policed, gated communities, therefore, I deemed it a safe environment for you. So unless there was something that I deemed to be a threat, and it hasn’t been, I saw no reason to travel to Atlanta,” he said, trying to sound as professional as possible. Hoping that it would be enough to conceal the way he really felt about her. “Most of the time, it’s pretty lax. I keep my distance and try to be invisible.”

  It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, not exactly sure what I wanted to hear, but it wasn’t all that big of an intrusion, and then there was that thing about saving her life. Carmen was about to move on to asking the handsome man sitting next to her about himself when she thought of a question.

  “If you don’t follow me all that closely, what were you doing outside the diner that night?” Carmen asked thinking that she had caught him in a contradiction.

  “I knew that you and Ms. West were going to Paris.”

  “How?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “How did you know that me and Ms. West were going to Paris?” Carmen really needed to know.

  Kamau took a deep breath. “Since Ms. West chooses to go out without any security when she’s with you, her personal assistant, Caprice, calls me to let me know.”

  “So let me get this straight. You weren’t following me that night; you were there to protect Jada?”

  “Yes, Ms. Taylor…I mean Carmen.”

  Carmen laughed. “So since you were there to protect Jada, when she left, did you stay with her?”

  Kamau hesitated. “Yes. I assessed the situation, I saw the killer when he parked, so I knew that he was alone, and the police were on their way. Once I determined that you weren’t in any apparent danger…”

  “You stayed with Jada.”

  Carmen’s laughter was borderline hysterical, but it was infectious. So much so, that Kamau, not really knowing what was so funny, began laughing too.

  “Oh, I am never letting her live this down,” Carmen laughed. “Who’s idea was it for you to protect her when she’s with me anyway?”

  “Mr. Black.”

  “Oh.” Carmen stopped laughing. “Which brings me to another question. How well do you know Mr. Black?”

  “I only met him once, the day he offered me this job.”

  “Why you?”

  “He thought I was the most qualified candidate, I guess.”

  “What I’m asking is what is it about you that made you the most qualified candidate?”

  Kamau told Carmen that he was a Naval ROTC graduate, and then served ten years in naval intelligence before getting out. At that time, he was recruited by the CIA.

  “What happened with that?”

  “I walked away. I didn’t like some of the things I would have been required to do as a field operative, so I walked,” Kamau said.

  “How did you get from there to here?”

  “I was referred to Invulnerable Security by a friend.”

  “A friend?”

  “Well, he’s more like somebody I know through the military. An Army colonel, he referred me to Mr. Black. He thought the skill set I had, both from the Navy and my brief time on the farm, made me his guy.” Kamau laughed. “That’s what he said. He pointed at me and said you're my guy. It’s pretty much all he said.”

  “Sounds like Mr. Black,” Carmen said and wondered if he knew about Mr. Black’s other businesses.

  When they arrived at the office of Ingram International, which was located near the pier, they found that nobody was there. The pair exchanged ‘what now’ looks.

  “Mind if I ask a question?” Kamau asked.

  “Do you need to talk to him, or do you need to find out what’s up with the shipping manifests?”

  “The shipping manifests.”

  “Then may I make a suggestion?”

  “Please do.”

  “Why
don’t you break in and search for what you need?”

  Carmen thought about it for a second or two. “Definitely would be easier than asking,” Carmen said and began digging in her purse for something to pick the lock.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for something to pick the lock with.”

  “After you,” Kamau said.

  When Carmen looked up, he had the door opened and his hand extended toward it. “Thank you, sir,” Carmen said and thought, I could get used to this, as she went into the office.

  Kamau followed her into the well-furnished one-man office. With gloves on, Carmen and Kamau searched the office and had been through the files and hadn’t found anything useful. Kamau went in a storage closet and went to an old file cabinet that was in the corner. He grabbed the handle of the top drawer and pulled, but it didn’t open. He tried the latch and pulled again; it still didn’t open. Kamau looked for a lock, but there was none.

  “Did you find anything?” Carmen asked when she came into the closet.

  “I was trying to get this open, but I can’t for some reason.”

  “You want me to hold the latch while you pull?”

  “Worth a try,” Kamau said and pulled the handle while Carmen held the latch. Both were surprised when instead of the top drawer opening, the entire column of drawers opened like a door to reveal a safe.

  Kamau stumbled back and Carmen grabbed his arm to steady him while he regained his balance. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” Carmen said and looked at the safe. “I bet what we’re looking for is in there.”

  Kamau stood next to Carmen and stared at the safe. “I bet you're right.”

  “You wouldn’t just happen to be a master safe cracker,” Carmen paused and saw the look on his face, “would you?”

  “I wouldn’t say I was a master, but I can open this safe.”

  “You can?”

  “This is a Gold Series electronic lock safe,” Kamau said as he approached it. “It’s made by a company called Murphy Safe. They advertised that it was fireproof and burglar proof.”

  “How’d that work out for them?”