Rae’s face scrunched up a little and then her voice came out, very meek, but definitely alive. “What’s that smell? Is it garlic?”
“No, it’s onion. I had some sour cream and onion chips for lunch. Come on.” Jasmine put her arm under Rae’s shoulders with me and helped her sit up.
“You okay?” I asked Rae, relief pouring through me. I wanted to bawl out of sheer relief, but I held it back. Kootch was being such a badass, there was no way I could go all pansy on everyone like that and still keep my man-card.
Rae put her hand up to her head. “I think so. What happened?” Reaching over to touch her injured arm, she inhaled sharply at the pain, wincing when she noticed my repair work.
I grabbed my dirty shirt and threw it on. It was shorter now since the bottom part was wrapped around Rae’s arm, but it felt better than running around completely shirtless. I looked up to see what Kootch was doing. He’d climbed off Rae’s kidnapper who he’d beaten senseless, but was sitting on his butt, looking up at another guy. The driver. He had a gun pointed at Kootch’s face.
“Oh, shit,” I said softly, my heart stopping for a few precious seconds.
“What?” asked Jasmine, as she was turning around. Her voice came out strained. “Oh, fuck me sideways. Please don’t shoot him, dude. Please don’t.” She wasn’t talking loud enough for him to hear; more like she was praying out loud. It was the first time I’d ever heard her sound scared.
“Okay,” said the only conscious kidnapper, wiping off his upper lip, “everyone in the SUV. Come on. Get in. And put my friend in the back while you’re at it.” He waved the gun at Kootch and then at us.
I stood. “What are you talking about?”
“Are you deaf? You speak English? I said, get in the fucking SUV or get killed. Now!” He backed up, giving us space to follow his orders.
Jasmine leaned over to help Rae to her feet. Rae winced but didn’t cry out or complain. I was so in awe of her bravery at that moment.
Once Rae was upright, I put my arm around her and gave her the support she needed to walk. We limped our way over to the car.
“What are we going to do?” I asked under my breath.
Jasmine got in front of us and walked backwards to answer me so the kidnapper wouldn’t hear her. “Follow his orders until we get a chance to get away.”
Kootch got to his feet and worked with Jasmine to put the battered kidnapper into the trunk part of the vehicle, being sure not to be gentle at all. The guy’s head got dragged in the dirt, and I was pretty sure he’d have the abrasions to show for it for a long time.
I walked Rae over to the back seat and helped her climb in, getting in right behind her. No way did I want to be left behind with Rae driving off into the sunset again. It had actually made me physically ill to see her leaving, and I knew for a fact it wasn’t Rainbow-itis making that happen. Rae was a part of my life now. A part of my heart, even. I didn’t ever want to be away from her, ever again.
“Cell phones out and on the ground,” he said, pointing at each of us in turn.
Everyone did as he said, throwing the phones down in Kootch’s direction.
The kidnapper frowned at us as he walked over. Stomping on all of them, he made sure they were just a pile of electronics and plastics.”
“You too,” he said to Kootch.
“Dude, you just mashed mine! Look, it’s right there!” He pointed to a red battery cover. “Fuck, that had all my chicks’ numbers in it, man. What’d you do that for?”
“Shut up,” the guy said, sounding annoyed. “Turn out your pockets. I only counted three phones.”
Kootch complied. “Look, dude. No phone. You fucking wrecked it.” He bent down and started picking pieces up and examining them. “Maybe I can save the SIM card and keep the contacts.” He held parts up to the light, acting like we weren’t in the middle of being carjacked. I shook my head at his ridiculousness.
“You in the front seat,” he said to Jasmine. “You’re driving since you like to ram cars so much.” He pointed his gun at Kootch. “You stay.”
Kootch stood, dropping the phone part he’d been holding. “What? I ain’t stayin’ back here while all a-them go with you, dude! That’s not cool!”
The kidnapper looked at him like he was crazy. “Cool? You want me to be cool? How about this … I won’t shoot you before we drive away, how’s that for cool?”
Kootch’s eyebrows went up and his tone did a one-eighty. “Ahhh, yeah, that’s cool. I can hang with that. Not getting shot. That would be good.”
“That’s what I thought. Now back the hell up and don’t even think about coming near me.” The kidnapper waited until Kootch had moved well away from the SUV before getting into the front passenger seat. Once we were all in, he rolled down his window. “You do anything stupid, and I’m gonna shoot your girlfriend, got it? You tell no one what you saw here today and maybe I’ll let her go when I’m done.” He pointed the gun at Jasmine, sitting in the driver’s seat with her hands on the wheel. Her jaw tensed but other than that, she gave no sign that her life had just been threatened.
Kootch nodded. “Yeah. I got it. But can I say one thing to her before you go?”
“No.”
“Aw, come on, man. What if you kill her later? I need to tell her this just in case.”
The guy sighed. “Fine. Famous last words, let’s hear ‘em.”
Kootch took a step sideways so he could see her through the open window, around the profile of the kidnapper. “Yo, Butts,” he said, aiming his voice at her, lifting his chin a little.
“Yo, Kootch,” she said, staring through the windshield. Her jaw tensed again.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about your eye. I take full responsibility.”
“It’s about time,” she said, her voice rough. “I’m scarred for life you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” His voice was shaky. “Good thing you’re still pretty. I’ll catch you on the flip side, ‘kay?”
“Yeah.” She still wasn’t looking at him.
“I’m gonna work on my ninja skills.”
“You do that,” she said. And then she turned to look at him once and nodded slightly before going back to staring out the front windshield.
“Are we done here?” asked the kidnapper, sounding bored. He didn’t wait for an answer, he just rolled up his window. “Drive,” he ordered, pointing his gun at Jasmine’s ribs.
As we pulled away, I stared at Kootch, getting choked up at the expression on his face. He looked exactly like I would have, watching Rae disappear in the distance, only he wasn’t looking at Rae. He was looking at the driver.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Rae
WE HAD TO STOP ONCE so I could vomit on the side of the road. I had a splitting headache, but no one would let me sleep. My arm was killing me.
“She might have a concussion. Don’t let her even close her eyes,” said the kidnapper for the third time, looking back at me while keeping his gun trained on Jasmine. “We don’t have much farther to go.”
“Where are we going, anyway?” asked Jasmine.
We’d been driving for a half hour, working our way through light traffic, out of the main part of the city and into an industrial area.
“You’ll see when we get there. Just drive and shut up.”
“What’s the point of kidnapping all of us?” Malcolm asked. “We can stop and let Jasmine out right here. I can drive if you want.”
“Nope. She’s my insurance that your buddy back there keeps his mouth shut.”
“We can be your insurance that she keeps her mouth shut,” Malcolm offered.
“Sorry, no can do. I have orders to bring her with us, so she goes. I don’t question orders, I just do what I’m told.”
“Former military?” Jasmine asked, glancing at him.
“Maybe.” He sounded proud.
“I’m from a military family,” she said. “But we’re a different breed than you.”
“Oh yeah? How so?”
>
“We’ve got pride. Honor. Shit you obviously know nothing about.” She didn’t even duck when she said it. I’ve never known anyone as brave as Jasmine, or Kootch for that matter. How did I get so lucky having friends like this?
“Oh, shut the hell up. What would you know about pride and honor anyway? You’re a fucking teenager.”
“I know that honor means you don’t kidnap people … use kids to control other people.”
“No, that’s where you’re wrong. Honor means doing what has to be done for the greater good. A few sacrificed for many. Honor is having the balls to do what needs to be done, even when it’s hard to do it … when people have to die because they get in the way of what needs to happen.”
“Iiii’m pretty sure what you just described there is actually the definition of terrorism, soooo, yeeahhh.”
He punched her hard in the upper arm. “Fuck you. Shut up and drive.”
She rubbed her arm with her opposite hand, her expression murderous. “You’re going to pay for that later. I promise. I so fucking promise.”
He laughed. “Yeah, right. I’ve gotta say … you’ve got guts, even though you’re stupid as shit.”
“Pot meet kettle,” I said, before I could stop myself.
“What’s that?” he asked, looking back at me and frowning.
“I said, stop that prattle. You’re giving me a headache.”
“What’s prattle?”
“The shit coming out of your pie hole, that’s what prattle is,” said Jasmine, snorting in disgust.
The kidnapper punched Jasmine in her arm again. “I can do this all day, bitch. Just keep it up and pretty soon that arm will be useless.”
She did nothing this time. She just stared out the windshield.
I kept my mouth shut too because I didn’t want her to suffer for my sins anymore than she already had.
Ten minutes later we pulled up to a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Someone came out of a small guard shack nearby, and after waving at the kidnapper through the front windshield, he opened the gate, closing it behind us after we rolled through.
“Pull up to that hangar,” said the kidnapper, pointing with the gun at the building on the left. There were several others just like it beside it and behind it too. We were in some sort of complex, and many of the buildings were connected by tubes or enclosed hallways. It looked very space agey. What are the chances that we’d get sent to the city where they had such a big place? I felt even sicker knowing someone working for the Butts must have suggested we go up here. Someone they trusted.
Jasmine drove up to the door of the hangar and put the car in Park. “Now what?” she asked, sighing heavily at the guy like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“Now you get out and keep your mouth shut. There are other people here not as nice as I am. Better keep your opinions about honor and all that shit to yourself if you want to live.”
He exited the vehicle and stood back, giving us plenty of space to get out and not be in a position to mess with him.
I stepped down from the high back seat and took Malcolm’s hand, holding onto my injured upper arm with my other hand. He looked worried, staring at me like he was trying to see into my head.
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Just a little dizzy from the head banging I did earlier.”
“The football tackling, you mean,” he said, smiling faintly. “Please don’t do that again, Rae. You’re going to give me a heart attack before the day is finished.”
I glanced up at the sky, noticing the fading light. “Not much more of the day left, is there?”
“No. I hope this will be over soon.” He walked with me to the front of the car. People were coming out of the hangar, heading towards us.
“Over in a good way,” I added, knowing it was just wishful thinking. These people didn’t mean anything good for us. Get ready to get used by terrorists. I just prayed nothing bad would happen to Jasmine. I couldn’t see any way out of this for her except in a body bag. She knew too much. She knew where they were located. She’d seen faces. I swallowed the lump in my throat, steeling myself to be strong for her. I had to protect her, no matter what. Her and Malcolm.
“Hello, Rae,” said an older woman, walking up and stopping in front of me. “My name is Helen. Welcome to the compound.” She held her hand out.
I refused to take it, looking at it in disgust. “You kidnapped me. Please don’t insult me by welcoming me here like I’ve answered a dinner invitation.”
She nodded once. “Fair enough.” She turned her attention to Malcolm. “And who might you be?”
“I might be Bill. Then again, I might be Frank. I guess you’ll just have to wonder about that.” Malcolm stared her down, making me so proud to be with him.
“A wise mouth. Interesting.” She moved past him and stopped in front of Jasmine. “And this young lady … a friend of Rae’s, I imagine?”
“I’m just the driver.” Jasmine stared her down, revealing nothing but distaste.
Helen looked at me and smiled. “Okay, then. We have Bill Frank and The Driver.” She looked over her shoulder at a big guy who appeared to have very close DNA links to the silverback gorilla family. “Put them in a cell.” She looked at me. “Rae, you may come with me.”
“I don’t want to come with you. I want to go with Mm… Bill Frank and The Driver.”
She gave me a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “In here you get what I want, not what you want. Come.” She turned and left me standing there, assuming I’d follow.
“Just go. We’ll find you later,” whispered Jasmine, keeping her voice so low no one but me would hear. “Do whatever you can to get away, and don’t worry about us.”
I bugged my eyes out at her, but didn’t have time to respond, since another man had come forward and taken me by the elbow. This one was younger and very FBI-ish, with a dark suit and sunglasses. His face was bland, boring. Something that would blend into nothingness in a crowd. He was big around the middle.
“Catch you on the flip side,” I said as I was pulled away, trying to be brave when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. I caught Malcolm’s eye and didn’t let the contact go, staring at him with all the feeling I had for him beaming out, hoping he’d understand what I was trying to say. I’ll find you, Malcolm. I’ll get back to you, and then we can leave this place and never come back. Never be apart again…
Chapter Forty: Malcolm
A COUPLE OF GOONS LED Jasmine and me to a room with a table and four chairs in it. They removed two of the chairs and locked the door behind them after leaving. Something told me at least one of them would be sitting right outside in the hallway, making sure we didn’t get out.
“What the hell, man,” said Jasmine, dropping down into one of the chairs, “talk about a total mission fail.” She leaned over and put her forehead on the table, leaving her hands in her lap. Her voice came out muffled being so close to the tabletop. “My parents are going to shit biscuits over this.”
“I think we’ll be lucky if that’s all they do,” I said, going to the door and knocking on it. “Excuse me!” I said loudly, testing to see if anyone was out there. “Can we get some water in here? We’re really thirsty.”
No one responded.
“Do you think they’re out there?” I asked, coming back to the table and taking the other seat.
“Probably. Who knows?” She lifted her head up, and for the first time I noticed how bloodshot her eyes were.
“You okay?” I asked.
She lifted an eyebrow. “Okay? Are you mental? I’m facing spending the last few hours of my life in a hangar outside Chicago with the agent of darkness as my last companion. What do you think?”
I half-smiled. “I think your life pretty much sucks ass right now.”
“Yeah. You can say that again.” She put her forehead back down on the table. “I’m going to sit here and think about all the regrets I’ve built up over seventeen years so I can go
to my grave really miserable. Then maybe I’ll have enough juice in the spirit world to haunt some of these bastards later.”
“Is that how it works?” I asked, putting my chin on my crossed arms on top of the table. “The last thing we do is what we carry with us?”
She brought her arms up to the table and propped her chin on her arms like me. “I don’t know. I hope so.”
“So what do you regret most?” I asked softly, wondering if she’d tell me. She was so tough, I knew she rarely let anyone into her head like that.
She pursed her lips for a few seconds before answering. “I regret not sleeping with Kootch.”
My jaw came a little unhinged and fell off to the side. “Uhhh … what?”
She put her elbows on the table and leaned her chin on her hands. “Yeah, I just said that out loud.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “I must be losing my mind.” Opening her eyes again, she looked at me, the saddest expression on her face. “I’ve spent most of my life giving him shit and mocking his ass hard. But the last year or so … I don’t know. Things changed. His mom left and his dad started beating him up … he got different. Went softer or something. Showed me a part of himself he never let out before. A guy who can do that is okay in my book. Plus, he’s got all those damn muscles now too. Those don’t hurt.” She smiled.
“Wow. I don’t know what to say to all that.” I had totally not expected her to unload all that girl stuff on me. I was lost.
“You don’t have to say anything about it. I just needed to hear myself say it out loud.”
“What’s he going to do, do you think?” I asked, sitting up straight and leaning back in the chair a little.
“What can he do? He doesn’t have a phone, no wheels, no phone numbers. He’s out there in the weeds. At least he’s not going to die. I can leave this dimension knowing that.”
“He’s got numbers,” I said, unable to hold back my sneaky grin.
“Where? In his head? Don’t count on it. His memory’s not the greatest.”
“No, in his phone. His didn’t get smashed. He had it in his back pocket.”