Invincible: A Novel (8 page)

Nurse Knight walked into Jake’s room with a tray filled with fruits and juices. She expected to find a hungry man ravenous for food and answers to his many questions. But what she found took her totally by surprise: an empty bed. He must be in the washroom. She made a mental note to tell him how important it was for him to take it easy for a little longer. Brenda put the tray down and knocked on the washroom door, “Mr. Billings?”

No answer.

She knocked a little harder and tried calling him again. “Mr. Billings?” Now she was alarmed. What’s going on? There was no way he had the strength in his legs, or any part of his body for that matter, to walk out of the hospital on his own. She
hurried out of the room to the nurses’ station and asked the duty nurse working the desk what happened to Mr. Billings.
Maybe he was taken for some tests
, Brenda thought,
that I wasn’t aware of
.

“What do you mean what happened to him? He should be in his room,” the duty nurse answered.

Brenda was dumbfounded. She pulled out her cellphone and called the doctor. The phone had rung twice when she heard his voice, “What can I do for you, Nurse Knight?” But the voice didn’t come through the receiver of the phone. Brenda spun around and found the doctor behind her with his BlackBerry in his hand.

“Whew, you startled me,” she said.

“You have to cut back on the morning coffee,” he joked.

Ignoring his weak attempt at humor, she said, “I wanted to ask you who came and checked Mr. Billings out?”

“No one,” the doctor said. “Not by my orders anyway. The man can barely move.”

“He’s gone,” Brenda blurted. They both rushed over to the security booth and asked the cop on duty if he saw anyone leave with Mr. Billings.

The cop answered, “No, but I just came on. Let me call Ted; he worked the last shift.” He made the phone call but got the same answer. The nurses called the nurses from the prior shift and posed the question to them. They all said they hadn’t seen Mr. Billings outside of his room. This was the strangest thing that had happened in the hospital since two babies got switched about eight years ago. It was an official mystery: a man wakes up from a coma and disappears.

Brenda thought for a moment. “Aren’t there surveillance cameras on this floor?” she asked.

“Sure,” the cop said, “they’re on all the floors. Follow me.” Brenda and the doctor trailed the cop to a small room containing the machine that received digital feeds from all of the cameras. They fast-forwarded through the twenty-four hours of footage recorded on his floor and found nothing. After reviewing the feeds they knew no more than they knew before. Jake had no visitors, and the only people to come in and out of his room were the cafeteria people, the doctor, and Brenda.

Everyone was totally baffled. How can a man vanish into thin air? Then the cop shouted out, “I got it. I think I know how he did it.” Brenda and the doctor both looked at the officer like,
Then spill it, Sherlock
. “He must have somehow gotten in the cafeteria cart and got rolled out,” the cop proudly stated. It made sense; more sense than anything thus far.

That was until a little old Latina lady in the back shot that idea down quick with a “Nooo waaayyy, officer. I work food carts over twenty years.” Then she went on to further explain why. “One: He can’t fit under cart; too much food with big thermos. Two: I looking at the man when I give food. Then I turn ’round and leave the room and say bye. He was there when I say bye.” That put the cop back at square one.

“Maybe he went through the ceiling in the bathroom,” the cop said, shooting random thoughts out loud.

“It sounds like the only logical explanation,” the doctor semi-agreed, “but it’s nearly impossible with his medical condition. He’s fresh off a coma, his legs barely work, and he has a bad arm. I can’t see it,” the doctor second-guessed himself.

“You must not have seen those Adidas commercials,” a young, sassy NA said, adding her two cents. “Impossible is nothing. Kevin Garnett is my baby.” Most everyone laughed at the girl’s comment, but Brenda was at a loss for humor right now. Something about the whole ordeal was sending chills up and down her spine. She never lost anything … not her keys … not even that five pounds to fit back into her favorite jeans. This was way too eerie. Then, all she could think of was: What a God!

———

Meanwhile, Jake was thinking the same thing—
what a God—
but he also knew that there was a devil, and he had it on his back to prove it. There would be a lot more evil to deal with before this whole situation was over and done with. He turned his head left to face the driver and said, “Thanks for coming to help me, Kim. Somebody might have found out I woke up and come to finish me off.”

Kim was trying to keep her composure. She couldn’t believe that he was actually out of the coma. He had lost a lot of weight and grown a lot of hair, but here he was. “You don’t look so good, babe, let me take you to another hospital somewhere else.”

“I can’t take that chance—the police might be looking for me.”

“Looking for you for what?” Kim wanted to know.

Jake answered as honestly as he could, “I don’t know. All of my memory of that jail shit hasn’t come back to me yet. I can’t remember what happened to me, not even what I was in jail for.”

“Well you couldn’t have committed a crime while you were asleep, so you should be fine,” Kim said with a smile.

Other people knowing what he should know was starting to get to Jake a little. “Tell me what you know,” he half asked and half demanded. “What was I locked up for?”

“Attempted murder,” she calmly answered, and then went on to explain to Jake how some dudes tried to rob him in their store—
my
store, he swore she said—and he shot them. She ended the story by telling him that because he was harmed while in the care of the state, the DA showed mercy and exonerated him of all charges. “You’re a free man, J.B. You ain’t got nothing to worry about. You’re safe.”

Jake’s intuition told him that although he may have been cut loose from the charges, he wasn’t safe. He needed to know who put him in that coma and why. Then he had to return the favor to the person or people responsible. Whoever did it should have killed him, and if they had any idea who they were fucking with they would have. “How were we?” he asked Kim. “I mean … were we on good terms before all of this?”

Kim answered honestly, “No, but I think we should talk about that at another time. What’s important is that you’re alive”—and she meant that. “But I would like for you to tell me something.”

“What?”

“How did you get out of that hospital in such a weak state?”

Jake looked her in the eyes and gave her an easy smile. “Easy,” he said, “I knew what time the nurse would come check on me so I was hiding behind the door, which is left open at all times. When she ran out the room after not seeing me in the bed I used the wheelchair that’s in the closet to wheel myself to
the elevator. The elevators were right next to my room. Once I was in the lobby all I needed was a ride.”

“And I was the first person you thought of,” she interrupted.

“Actually I wanted to call Mitch … but yours was the only number I remembered. I’m thankful you came, though. I don’t know who tried to kill me and I don’t want you involved. So I need you to drop me off by Mitch’s crib and he’ll help me get out of dodge for a while. When I’m situated I want to come back and we can discuss a couple of things.”

Kim wasn’t sure if it was because she felt guilty about what happened to Jake or if it was because she never really fell out of love with him, but what she did know was that she wanted to be with him now. “It doesn’t have to be like that, J.B. I could help you heal, we can leave here and start over somewhere else. You don’t need this shit, baby, ain’t nothing here for us. How could it ever be right for us here? You were given another chance; take advantage of it. We have enough money saved for me and you to keep driving and never come back!”

Jake was curious, “How much money are you talking about?” He really had no recollection of having any money put away.

Kim told him that it was at least $600,000. At that moment Jake felt proud of himself for having some stash tucked away, but he was surprised he didn’t remember something like that.

“Where’s the paper?” he asked.

When she told him she had it all in her possession he took a long pause, thought about it, and told her to just drive, but he knew in the back of his head, once he remembered everything that happened and he was in good enough shape, he would be back to finish what somebody started.

“I’m glad to have you back,” she said. He was looking out the window when she said it but turned around after hearing the crack in her voice. When he looked at her there were tears running down her cheeks.

“What’s wrong?”

“Before,” she started, “you asked were we on good terms and I told you no. But the truth is we were doing really bad. When I had came to visit you in jail we had actually broken up.” She paused before going on. “And when I was leaving the jail I had wished you dead. Later that day I got news of you getting stabbed and I felt like shit. I still feel that way. I felt like I put negative energy on you. I had to tell you this because I don’t want you to hate me when you start remembering things. I swear I love you, J.B., but you had hurt me. I need you to understand that I was a woman scorned when I left you but now that you’re back I will never let you go again. I prayed to God every day and night that He wake you up, and I swore to myself I would be the best woman to you a man could ever ask for.”

Jake wanted to believe her. The things she said felt too real to be contrived. Besides, other than Kim, the only people he could remember having any real dealings with were his uncle Mitch and Mary-beth.
Oh shit
, he thought,
I wonder if M.B. came between us, or was it something else?
As he was thinking, gunshots rang out, shattering his thoughts and the rear window.

Kim screamed and was visibly shaken but didn’t lose control of the car. About two car lengths back was a hooded up figure hanging out the passenger side of an old Acura letting a big-ass handgun go—it sounded like at least a .40 cal. Four more shots were sent flying through the air.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Luckily, none of them found their target. Kim cried out, “God, please!” And prayers were indeed answered, but they weren’t Kim’s … they were Jake’s.

Somehow this life-threatening situation jarred Jake’s memory. Maybe it was because his life was flashing before his eyes, but he could see everything real clear now. As clear as if it was playing on a high-def television screen in slow motion. He remembered the robbery in the store. He remembered going to jail, getting the letter, having a fight, and getting stabbed. He even remembered every face. Then he snapped out of the past and back to the situation at hand. He asked Kim, “Are you hit?” “No,” she said in a low whimpering voice. He looked out the rearview mirror. The gunfire had stopped for now but the car was still behind them. Then Jake saw something he thought he would never be happy to see: two squad cars with blaring sirens.

Mr. Hoody in the trailing car was unfazed. He came up with another burner—this one long and silver—and let it off at both of the cop cars. It sounded like New Year’s Eve in China. Something about the situation made Kim flip. She knew she wanted her man and herself to live. She yelled for Jake to put his seat belt on.

Jake was spent; it took a lot out of him just to get out of the hospital, but he wanted to live. He clicked his seat belt just in the nick of time. Kim punched the gas pedal; the car sped up swerving side to side. The one behind them let off a set of shots that sounded like a young drumroll. The shots tore up a parked car. That’s when Kim made the smartest maneuver she could have made by slamming down on the brakes. The trailing car rammed into her rear. It didn’t flip like Kim had seen happen
on TV, but it was enough to do the trick. The impact caused the shooter to drop his gun out of the window, then Jake heard more sirens. Just when he thought everything was going to be all right he heard: “Freeze. Get your hands up, NOW!” He looked out his passenger-door window and saw that the cops had the trailing car surrounded. He smiled, knowing that he had cheated death once more.

Jake took his eyes off the police, giving his attention to Kim. “Good driving, babe, you saved our lives.” Then he knew what needed to be done. He had to find out who was trying to kill him. He had to get in contact with his uncle Mitch and Mary-beth. He knew he needed to heal fast and he needed guns, too. He also remembered his nigga Nine-One.

“Put your hands up.” This time the police were talking to them.

“We the victims mu’fuckaz; they were shooting at us,” Kim shouted. “Get them guns out of our faces. And before you start with that bullshit about us coming to the station for a statement, I know my rights. We don’t have to go anywhere.”

The cops actually listened. Less paperwork for them anyway. “Sorry, ma’am, but we can’t be too careful.”

“Did y’all get them fools that were shooting at us?” Kim asked.

“Yes, ma’am, they’re cuffed and in the car.” When Jake heard that, he was relieved. Not that they were arrested—he wouldn’t wish jail on his worst enemy—but that he would finally get some answers. This was the break he needed. Bits of his memory started to come back to him—near-death situations have a way of doing that—and he was going to get to the bottom of all this. He just hoped he would be able to heal up
quick enough. The doctor said his hand would be fucked up permanently, but for some reason Jake felt a funny tingle in it.
Maybe
I’m
about to get some paper
, he thought. The thought made him chuckle a little bit.

“What’s funny?” Kim asked. “How could you laugh at a time like this?”

Jake answered, “Sometimes you got to laugh to keep from crying.”

The police told Kim and Jake that they would have to come to the precinct and give a report. Kim assured them that that wouldn’t be a problem, then explained that she would have to do it alone and in the morning because her man had just got out of the hospital. The police said they understood—just some more black folks getting shot at.