Antebellum (49 page)

While I was at the window, SaTia made her way over to my friends. She spoke softly.

“You guys ran over here so quickly that I didn't have the chance to fill you in on a few things. Moses has gone through some... umm...changes, since the last time you saw him.”

“Moses?” Ray glanced at me, and then back at SaTia. “Since when anybody 'cept his Mama call 'im Moses?”

“Since he stopped responding to anything else.”

“Hey, Moe!” Henry yelled at me. “Moe! What's she talking 'bout, son?”

I didn't turn around.

“Moe!”

The people in the window on the other side of the building were having some sort of party. It seemed as though they were having a good time.

“Moses!”

I turned around and faced Henry, wondering what he wanted. He looked at me strangely as he spoke. “Damn...you really ain't hear me, huh?”

“I tried to tell you,” SaTia said. “Also, and I'm not sure how far or how deep this goes, but he seems not to like white people around him very much.”

My three-man entourage looked at each other, and then burst into laughter.

“Hold up...wait, wait, wait...” Brian managed to choke out his words through his cackling. “You mean this nigga comes back from da brink of death, only to find out he ain't got no love for white people? Son, you better get over that quick...you know they run the world!”

The three of them continued to laugh, but as they looked at my stoic face, their laughter ceased. Before long, an awkward silence had embraced the room.

“Yo, Moses,” Everything was serious now. No more joking or laughter. Henry spoke up hesitantly, unsure of his words. “You know you can't leave out this room talkin' 'bout you don't like white folks, right?”

“He's right, dogg,” Ray chimed in. “How serious is you 'bout this whole thing? I mean, you turn Muslim while you was in yo' coma or somethin'? You 'bout to start rappin' 'bout white devils on the corner? What's good?”

I didn't have an answer for him. Even if I could talk, I wouldn't have had an answer. I took a step back, realizing this was what I'd asked for. I wanted to know if I was the same person or not. Now I was finding out.

“So what if he does begin rhyming about white devils on the corner?” SaTia stepped up and placed herself in the conversation. “Where will you be?”

“Me?” Ray pointed to himself, as if he was surprised to get the attention. “I'm gonna be right here wid my homie. I mean, I ain't goin' on stage talkin' 'bout all dat black power stuff, 'cause it ain't
me. But as long as he still want me in da crew, I'ma be in da crew.”

“Real talk,” Brian interjected. “I'm the same way, dude. My man just came outta coma, feel me? I ain't leavin' no matter what. Jus' wanna know what we dealin' with.”

“Same,” Henry said, and gestured toward himself. “I'm here till he tell me I gotta go.”

I looked appreciatively at each one of my friends, and then walked back over to the window. Even amid the room's new dreary appearance, the window still helped to center me.

“Alright guys, look.” The tone of SaTia's voice hinted that she had mentally switched gears. “We can finish up this conversation later. For now, we have to worry about leaving. The security personnel just texted me and let me know they're on their way up, and the limo has been here for the past hour. Are you ready to get out of here?”

She sounded as if she was asking everyone, but when I looked up, SaTia was looking directly at me. “Are you ready to get out of here?” she repeated.

I looked around the room. My mother and Big Mama were putting the last of their belongings into their bags. Ray, Henry, and Brian were discussing how they would shield me from the press outside when we left, and SaTia was searching my eyes for any hint that we should stay. I didn't give her one.

I stood erect and nodded my head. Inside my head, I was mentally screaming,
Let's go!

SaTia stared at me until her phone went off once again and brought her back to reality. She looked at her message, gathered herself, and then walked forward and went out the door. Several seconds later, she returned with eight men behind her, all dressed in black suits, black ties, dark sunglasses and earpieces in their ears. They were all my complexion or darker.

I took one look at them, and then looked at SaTia. This time, she nodded at me.

“I got you,” she said, and smirked.

“Yo...” Henry looked the guards up and down. “These cats look pretty serious.”

“They should.” SaTia gathered up the last of her things as well. “They're military contractors.”

“What? Contractors? So what, like, they fix up houses for the soldiers?” Ray, in his curiosity, had invaded one of the guard's personal space. The guard never said a word, just cocked his head slightly and lowered his right hand closer to his sidearm.

“They mercenaries, you dummy!” Brian looked up to see the interaction between his friend and a killer. “Like in da video games. And I suggest you move back, son. If he blast you, you ain't goin' in no coma...”

Ray, heeding his friend's advice, took more than a few steps back, and the guard moved his hand away from his pistol.

Mama looked at the men with uncertainty. “How did you manage to get eight black mercenaries?” she asked SaTia.

“The National Guard wouldn't let me pick and choose who I wanted, so I decided to take my business elsewhere.”

“Ma'am.” One of the guards stepped forward and presented himself to SaTia. The room fell quiet as he spoke. “It is my understanding that we are to protect Mr. Jenkins at any and all costs. Is that correct?”

“Yes, it is.”

“And our first order of business is to get him from this room to his grandmother's residence unharmed, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Alright, here's the situation. There are more news cameras out there than could've been anticipated. We can only guarantee
that he will not be touched or harmed. We cannot guarantee that he will not be seen or photographed.”

“We'll take care of that,” Henry said, nodding to the guard.

“Fine. If you guarantee that he won't be seen, we'll guarantee his safety. We will depart from this room in five minutes, at exactly 10:47 a.m. It will take between eighteen and twenty-four minutes to get to the limo, depending on resistance from the crowd and media. After Mr. Jenkins is in the limousine, one of our men will stay in the vehicle with him, while the rest of us provide cover from the SUVs on the road. The residence, which is 11.82 miles away, should take twenty-two minutes to reach. If a situation occurs on the road, we will divert our course to the address of a predetermined safehouse. If all goes well, when we arrive at the grandmother's residence, we'll take position around the house. With the owner's permission, we'd like to keep a man inside the house at all times as well. Is that acceptable?”

SaTia looked at Mama and Big Mama for approval. They nodded nonchalantly, seemingly caught up in the mystique of these eight black men who could likely overthrow a government.

“That is acceptable,” SaTia responded.

“Excellent. We depart in four minutes and thirty-eight seconds.”

Four minutes and thirty-eight seconds later, the doors to my room slid open and the press found themselves looking at a human wall. The hired men had made a circle around me, and even though there wasn't enough space in the hallway for the people congregated there, my guards still managed to bully their way through the crowd at a steady pace. In fact, they were shoving and manhandling people with such force that after a while, as an
exercise in self-preservation, many of the reporters and media personnel just moved out of the way.

Inside the moving fortress that the mercenaries made was Mama, Big Mama, Henry, Brian, and Ray, all standing very close together as instructed. And I stood in the middle of them, hunched over slightly, wearing a large hoodie that Henry had brought for me. The hood was pulled up tightly over my head, and the shades that went with it made me seem like I was on my way to rob a corner store. I barely recognized myself.

Still, even with all of the security entourage, and family surrounding me, I almost passed out as I was taking those first steps out of the door. The terror was indescribable. It was as if I stepped out into a building full of people who wanted to kill me.

It didn't even seem like the same place once I'd left my room. I found myself tumbling around in an abyss. Each camera flash was like a spring on a pinball machine. I'd look one way and—
ping—
get bounced back, only to have it happen again and again. And the noise was deafening, like out-of-tune wind instruments being blown in my ear. Henry tried to check up on me a few times as we were walking, but it was of no use. I couldn't hear what he was trying to say.

I glanced over at Mama and Big Mama, and could tell immediately from their faces that they were unprepared for this assault as well. I stopped our progress to check on them, but noticed that SaTia was keeping both of their heads down and leading them calmly along with me. Comforted that they were taken care of, I began to focus once again on myself.

After several seconds, my entire sense of direction was gone. Either Ray, Henry, or Brian ended up spinning me to the left or right to get me back facing the right direction.

By the time we got to the limo, we were all exhausted. Even my
security was breathing heavy as they blocked off the crowd and allowed us to enter the vehicle. As promised, one of them stayed with us, and the rest got into two SUVs, one in front of us and one behind us.

I sat down on the long seat and let my head fall back onto the leather.

“Moses, you good?” Henry tried to check up on me, but I was already asleep.

THUD!

I jerked awake, wondering what was going on.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The sounds were coming in rapid succession. The world was out of focus as I looked around, but even with blurry eyes, I recognized everyone I'd left the hospital with. They were all watching me and making sure I was okay.

As my vision sharpened and the world became clearer, I recognized where I was. I was back in my old neighborhood, no more than two blocks from my house. The basketball courts and corner stores tried to welcome me back, but the people surrounding the limo and SUVs stole all their glory.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The palms of fans slammed against the windows of the limousine, rocking it back and forth as we crept through the crowd. There were so many people that the banging of their palms began to sound like heavy rain.

I watched as SaTia read the worry on Mama and Big Mama's faces.

“Don't worry, Mama Jenkins. The police have a perimeter set
up around your house, and your street is blocked off to anyone who doesn't live on it. Plus, our very own private security will be posted around the house. You don't have anything to worry about.”