The Awakening (28 page)

With Lee and the stocky dude still in front of me, I could only conclude that it was the third man in this abduction, the tall dude from the club, who was trying to choke the life out of me.

It was only a matter of time before I would pass out, but I was not about to go down without a fight, period. I kept struggling against the ropes on my arms, trying to figure out how to wiggle free to fight against the tall dude, but it wasn't happening.

Jasmine continued her demands over the phone. “He's okay, for now, and he will stay that way until you bring your pretty little ass over to my house. Oh, and don't forget my darling ex-husband. After all, it is only fair. You helped take my husband away from me, so I might just have to return the favor.”

That was the last thing I heard before another sharp pain hit me square across the back of my head, covering me in darkness once again.

34
NEFERTERRI

God, I can't lose my husband…not like this.

A million thoughts and emotions went through my mind while Candy and I were on the way to get Jay.

Candy tried hard to keep the mood even keeled and tried to talk about other things to keep us both from losing it. Neither of us had ever been in this situation before. The only good news we received was from paka. She told us the police had found Amenhotep and He was a little dehydrated, but no harm had been done. But He was upset to say the least and had begun making phone calls from the officer's phone to locate his former apprentice.

Jay was speechless when I explained what his ex-wife had done. He sat down on the couch with his head in his hands and couldn't stop the tears from flowing. “It's my fault. I never thought she would stoop to such a level. Kidnapping?”

“Look Jay, you might be the only one who can save Kane from her. She's not listening to anyone right now.” I pleaded with him, at the same time attempting to keep my own emotions in check. I was beside myself with fear and anger at the same time, but it wasn't Jay's fault. Jasmine had made this choice to go down this path, and there was no way to change it. It was going to end one of two ways: jail or death. I shuddered at the thought, but being a part of a law enforcement family, there was no other way to think.

Candy sat next to Jay and rubbed his shoulders. “I'm with you, Jay. I know this isn't easy for you, but your best friend is in trouble. We need you, baby. Please.”

Before we left, I rushed into the office and went through Kane's black book he had hidden in a drawer he didn't think I looked into. It contained information and phone numbers of people he only used for certain “emergencies” that require something outside of police interference. He'd have to kill me later. I was desperate to find out where he was, and the only people who could find him without arousing too much suspicion were at my fingertips.

I found the number I wanted, but before I could dial it, my phone rang again, and my hand shook as I attempted to answer it. It had the same private call message on the ID, and I tried to garner the strength to answer.

Something came over Jay. Without warning, he walked over to me, snatched the phone away from me and answered it harshly. “You could have left our friends out of this, Jasmine.”

I could only hear one end of the conversation, but it was clear there was a power struggle going on as well. “Jasmine, Kane didn't hurt you…look, you need to listen…I don't think so, you've hurt enough people…look, where are you, and don't bullshit me, Jasmine…okay, I'll be there in ten minutes, alone.”

He hung up the phone, and when he looked up, Jay saw two rather shocked faces staring at him. It was clear we hadn't seen this side of him before, but then it clicked inside of me as to how he and Kane were when they were both single, and I began to slowly realize I had Jay pegged wrong. I think we both did, considering the look on Candy's face as well.

“I've got to go, ladies. She has got to be stopped before she really does hurt Kane,” Jay said, kissing Candy softly across her lips. “I
want you both to go to Amenhotep's house. You're going to need some people around you after this all goes down.”

Jay knew his shotgun partner would do the same for him, and he had to resolve this, once and for all.

But by then, I was already on the phone with Dominic, asking him for a favor since he was off-duty. I explained what had happened to my husband, my voice trembling with each word that came out of my mouth. I told him I didn't need the police involved, I'd called a couple of the other ruffnecks Kane had always used in the past whenever something needed to be handled off the record. He might have had a clue that I knew about the book, and while I wasn't naïve, I kept out of the madness when I needed to stay out of it.

Upon hearing me finish my tearful rant, Dom let me know he'd ensure that nothing happened to Ramesses. “He'll be cool, sweetness. Tell Jay that we'll meet up with him at his house in twenty minutes, and to stall until we get there,” he told me. “In the meantime, go and see if your friend Amenhotep is okay. I just heard on the scanners that they found him tied up near where they kidnapped Kane.”

35
RAMESSES

All I heard were gunshots…sirens and gunshots.

Everything felt so surreal. I could have sworn that I saw Jay and Dominic fighting with Lee and the stocky dude. The tall dude was nowhere to be found, no matter how hard I tried to twist to find him.

I thought I saw Jasmine on the floor, bleeding from her chest, struggling to breathe…

Feeling the carpet against the left side of my face, I prayed that through all the gunfire, no one had been killed. Someone had been shot. I felt a pain in my shoulder that proved that much, and watching Jasmine not a couple of feet away from me bleeding out, reality was going to be a bitch when I finally became lucid.

My eyes were still glassy, but I thought I saw ghosts drop Lee and the stocky dude where they stood with kill shots.

Ghosts that probably were figments of my imagination. At least, that's what they were supposed to be until they were needed.

The officers finally broke through the door, guns drawn as I saw the ghosts disappear. They immediately started securing the place, a couple of officers helping me out of the chair and the rope I was tied in. I heard police radios going off, asking for EMTs to be brought in to see about the wounded, possibly dead on scene.

As I was brought to my feet and helped out of the door, I took a quick look around the room, taking count of the dead bodies on
the floor, swearing my mind was playing cruel tricks on me. Maybe I was hallucinating because I'd been treated like a Whack-a-Mole all night.

The scary thing was…I had a funny feeling this was not a hallucination.

36
NEFERTERRI

Patience is supposed to bring good luck…please let that be true tonight.

Waiting on phone calls while at Amenhotep's from anyone to give us a lifeline to figure out what happened to Ramesses and Jay was absolutely excruciating. I couldn't stop pacing the floor, stopping abruptly whenever any phone rang within earshot of me. Candy was as I had never seen her in a long time: agitated and at a loss as to what to do. She had always been the rock for me whenever Ramesses had to go somewhere with his father and he couldn't tell me the specifics, but now the shoe was on the other foot and we had to lean on each other. It had been a couple of hours since Jay split from us, and the silence was killing us all.

Amenhotep worked every back channel at His disposal, and even He was finding it difficult to get any information. I saw the worry on His face. He's
never
been this nervous before, or at least He's never shown it in front of any of us. paka tried to settle Him down, but it wasn't working. Thankfully, He was in one piece when the police arrived. He had a good knot on the back of His head, and He was a little pissed off the assailants had gotten the drop on them both. He told us there were four of them, three men and a woman, and they came out of nowhere while they were on the way back to the car. He knew it was Jasmine because,
according to Him, she wanted Him to know it was her before he was knocked out.

I thought I would have heard from Dominic by then on word of the location. I wasn't going to go down there, I wouldn't be any good to anyone, but I at least needed my mind calmed to know they were able to find my husband. The whole ordeal was driving me insane. I kept his mother and my mother updated to keep the girls calm because they knew one of us would have picked them up from their grandmother's by then. His mother made sure to tell them that “Daddy was with Uncle Amen taking care of some last-minute business.” Knowing those three, they would treat it as a sleepover night and not give a second thought about it. In their minds, their daddy was bulletproof.

I hoped at least on this night they were proven right.

Finally, Amenhotep's cell phone rang, and He picked it up before the first tone could finish. “Yes? Okay, we'll check it out.” He then exhaled before walking to the big screen to turn to the local news. “I think we're all going to have to sit and watch this. I understand things didn't turn out as the officers had planned.”

Officers?
I uttered under my breath.
Police weren't supposed to be involved. Dominic promised me that there wouldn't be.

I didn't know whether to scream or faint, Amenhotep's words were so chilling. He turned on the television, and we saw a house somewhere in Tyrone, which wasn't far from where we lived. I read the ticker at the bottom of the screen:

“Hostage standoff ends in fatalities…”

I kept screaming,
Oh my God,
in my head over and over again, praying for once they would get to the heart of the story quick and not try to build suspense. As the female reporter on scene began to recount what had happened, I could see in the background
paramedics were treating both Ramesses and Jay, with Dominic in tactical gear nearby checking on them. I distinctly saw blood on both of them. I didn't see any sign of the other guys who were supposed to be with Dominic, but I guess I should've figured I wouldn't. They had to be ghosts for a reason, especially considering cops were brought in after the fact.

“Be calm, ladies, the contact who called Me said they are fine, just flesh wounds from what I understand. But it doesn't sound good for the young lady and the others that were involved,” Amenhotep stated flatly.

As He said that, we saw four gurneys being rolled out in front of the cameras, and then they quickly panned to the police spokesperson to get further details of the incident and confirmed what Amenhotep was saying: four people dead, two officers and the hostage shot in the gunfire exchange. Three males, one female were dead on the scene, with more details to follow.

I felt this uneasiness come over me. Yes, this nightmare was over and my husband was in one piece. But they had been through an ordeal, to say the least. And Jasmine…my God, poor Jasmine…and whoever the other people were were now dead because of a severe bloodlust for revenge. I didn't know how to feel. I kept my eyes fixated to the screen until the broadcast was over, keeping my eyes on my husband the entire time, just to make sure that I wasn't dreaming or my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.