Authors: Arlene Brathwaite
With stealth steps, Saint crept up on him and placed the muzzle of his gun on the back of his neck.
“CHECKMATE.”
Both Josephine and Olivia would’ve paid a million dollars a piece to have a snapshot of the shocked expression on Van’s face.
Saint sensed he was about to try something stupid. “I’ve come across some pretty quick people in my time, but never one quick enough to outrun a bullet.” He felt around Van’s body and pulled the gun out of his waistband and put it in the pocket of his overalls.
“I thought you were in Africa.”
“I guess I’m not as predictable as you thought.”
“How’d you get in? All the doors and windows are locked. I double checked them myself.”
“I stopped using doors and windows a long time ago.”
“I have men with me.”
“However many you have, subtract the two that carried Seeger’s body down into the basement.”
“That only leaves one,” Josephine said with a smug smile. “And he’s upstairs with Glenn and the rest of them.”
“This might sound ludicrous, right now, but I was actually doing you a favor,” Van said to Saint.
“How so?”
“My plan was just to send you to jail for the rest of your life, she, was planning on killing you.”
“Won’t be the first time. Isn’t that right, Josephine?”
She got up from the floor and headed toward the basement.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to go get my sledge hammer.”
“No, stay put,” Saint said, pulling Van’s gun out his pocket and pointing it at her. “I don’t trust neither one of you.”
“Saint,” Josephine said in a hurt tone.
“Where is everybody?”
“They’re in the bedrooms upstairs,” Olivia said.
“I know your man has a phone on him. Use the one you’re still holding to your ear to call him, and tell him to bring everyone down here.”
Van dialed Max’s cell phone number. “Bring everyone down here… Just do as I say.”
“Both of you go and sit on the couch,” Saint said to Josephine and Olivia. “When they get to the bottom of the stairs, call them to you.” He grabbed Van by the collar and shoved him to the couch on the opposite side of the room. He sat him down and backed away from him. He kept his gun trained on him as he stood under the stairs. Ten minutes later, Max herded Baby, Glenn, Grace, and Miki down the stairs.
“Hurry up, y’all,” Olivia said, beckoning them to come to her.
They all ran to Olivia and hugged her.
Saint waited for Max to walk off the last step before running up behind him and bashing him in the back of the skull with his gun.
Everyone turned when they heard him collapse to the floor.
“Saint!” Glenn called out and ran to him. He hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.
“It’s good to see you, too,” he said, keeping his gun trained on Van. “Reach into my left pocket, take out those plastic restraints and bound sleeping beauty before he wakes up.”
“What in the hell is going on?” Baby asked Olivia.
“Girl, you don’t want to know.”
“Glenn, listen, down the road, about a half a mile, there’s a brown Buick. I want you to take the girls out of here and head home.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“You’re not coming with us,” Olivia said. “I got to finish up here.”
Olivia looked at Josephine and then to Van and it dawned on her what he meant by finish up. “Saint.”
“Get out of here, now!”
“Look out!” Miki screamed as Seth, one of the men Saint knocked out in the basement came flying through the doorway. The sudden attack would have caught anyone else flat-footed, but Saint wasn’t anyone else. The only thing that moved on his body was his thumb flicking on the gun’s safety. He became absolutely still until the two hundred and twenty pound brawler threw a jab. Saint struck with the quickness of a cobra. Throwing the left jab, exposed the left side of Seth’s ribcage. Saint ducked the jab, and with a right hook, he clubbed him in the ribs with the butt of his gun. Seth grunted in pain as he stumbled backward, holding his ribs. His sudden back pedal gave Saint enough room to set him up for a spinning round house. The kick came high and fast. The back of his heel connected with the bottom of Seth’s jaw, shattering it as the back of his head slammed against the living room wall. Without waiting to see him fall, Saint turned back to face Van, only to find him no longer in sight. Glenn pointed toward the kitchen where Van disappeared into. He pushed Glenn towards the women as he approached the kitchen door from the side. He flicked off the gun’s safety and pushed the door open. He stole a peek inside and didn’t see Van. As he filled the doorway, Van stood up from behind the counter.
Everyone in the living room screamed when they heard the shotgun blast and saw Saint lifted off his feet and hurled across the room. Van ran out of the kitchen and stood over him. He looked down at where the slug hit him and laughed.
“I should’ve known you’d be wearing a vest,” he said, kicking him in the side.
Saint was too focused on getting air to his lungs to feel the kicks and stomps.
Van dug into Saint’s pocket and took his gun back. He then picked up the gun that fell out of Saint’s hand. “I’m a fair man,” he said. He ran over to Max, who was just coming back from La-La land. He slapped him a couple of times to speed up the process.
Once Max realized where he was, Van took the restraints off of him and gave him the guns to hold. “If they move from that couch, shoot them.” He turned back and watched Saint struggle to get on his knees. He cracked his knuckles and rotated his head from left to right. “I’m a fair man. So much so, that I’m going to give you another chance to save your friends.” He kicked Saint in the stomach, causing him to curl up in pain. “The deal is simple. Hand to hand combat. Kill me, you live. I kill you… they all die.”
Saint looked up at him, barely able to breathe.
“Let me help you up,” Van said, as he tore open the top of the overalls and started pulling at the Velcro straps of the bullet proof vest. He finally got it off and flung it. He saw the redness the size of a fist where the slug had impacted on Saint’s ribs. He kicked him in the mouth, drawing blood.
“You’re a fucking coward!”
Van looked at Olivia. “Is that so?”
“He can’t defend himself.”
Van looked down at Saint pitifully and then kicked him in the head twice, knocking him out. With a triumphant smile, he faced Olivia. “I’m a fair man. I heard you’re quite the kick boxer. Come on,” he said taunting her. “If you can hit me just one time. Just once, I’ll stop beating on your boyfriend. What do ya say?” When Olivia didn’t respond, he turned around and started kicking Saint’s limp body.
“Stop it!” Olivia took a step toward him. Baby grabbed her arm, but she pulled away from her.
He looked at her over his shoulder. “That’s what I’m talking about.” He turned to face her.
She circled him until she got near Saint and then stood in between him and Van.
“Give me a break.” Van sighed and grabbed her by the front of her shirt.
Olivia kicked him in the shin and shot the palm of her hand upward, connecting with the bottom of his chin. Van bit his tongue as Olivia’s blow snapped his mouth shut. She kept attacking him like an angry mama bear protecting her cub.
Van swatted her punches to the side. He feinted like he was going to throw a punch, but threw a kick to her midsection instead. Olivia folded over and fell to her knees.
Van put his hand to his mouth. He winced when he felt the huge gash on his tongue. “You stupid—” He kicked her in the ribs. Baby, Grace, Miki, and Glenn were all screaming for him to stop. Glenn attempted to run to Olivia’s aid, but Max raised the gun at him and shook his head, stopping Glenn in his tracks.
“Do something,” Grace screamed at Josephine who was standing stiff as a statue.
“I am.”
“And what’s that?”
“Waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
Van raised his foot, intending to bring it down on Olivia’s head. She put her hands out in front of her to cushion the blow.
“I knew you were a lot of things,” Saint said, wobbling to his feet. “But I never took you to be a woman beater.”
Van spun around and smiled. “Look who’s finally awake.”
Saint shook his head, clearing the cobwebs.
“I’m tired of wasting my time with you. It’s time to end this,” Van said.
“I agree.”
Van was feeling himself so much so, that he never realized that Saint had carefully strung him along up until this very moment. Van was going to learn a very important lesson. It would also be his last.
He came at Saint without caution. He threw a left jab to Saint’s face, which Saint allowed to connect. He appeared to be dazed, which is why Van decided to put his all in the haymaker he was about to throw. He growled as he fired his right hand at Saint’s nose. Saint waited for Van’s fist to get an inch away from his face and then he vanished.
Van’s face knotted in confusion. In his peripheral, he saw Saint standing on the side of him, watching the momentum from his punch take him off balance. In this moment of vulnerability, he turned his head and looked into Saint’s eyes.
You knew I was following you that night when you went to Butta Cutz, you knew I had something to do with Josephine getting shot, you knew I would expect you to be in Africa when you called, which is why you jumped on the first flight back to the states. All this time, you’ve been toying with me, playing me… like a game of chess. What I can’t figure out is how did you know where to find us
? As this last question flashed through his mind, Saint smiled, making Van believe that he had just read his mind. If he had gotten a chance to ask, Saint would’ve told him that the phone he had left Glenn behind wasn’t just a phone. It was outfitted with a GPS chip. Once activated, he could track Glenn from his laptop from anywhere in the world.
Saint’s smile turned to a snarl as he finished his move. He stepped behind Van and yoked him in a headlock. Without giving him time to counter, he dropped to one knee while at the same time slamming the top of Van’s spine on his other knee. The impact was so brutal, that Van’s head snapped back, breaking his neck.
Max looked on in shock as he saw Van’s neck snap. He stared at Saint like a rabid dog and fired.
That was the moment Josephine had been waiting for. By the time he saw her, it was too late. She grabbed the vase she had been standing next to and smashed him in the face. Josephine snatched the gun out of his hand as he slid down the wall. When she got a hold of the gun, her first shot hit Saint in the forearm, the second his shoulder, and the third would have been a headshot, but the gun clicked as the empty chamber slid back.
Saint charged her as she bent down to retrieve the shotgun. He got to her as soon as she stood. They both had their hands wrapped around the gun, tussling for dear life. Saint head butted her and wrenched the gun from her. Josephine stumbled back into the wall and didn’t move.
Saint pumped the shotgun and pointed it at her.
“Do it,” she screamed.
Saint’s finger twitched against the trigger.
“You killed me a long time ago,” she sobbed. “When you left me here unprotected. I don’t blame them for killing our baby, I blame you!”
Saint blinked.
“I was two months pregnant with our child.”
“You’re lying!” Saint’s voice came in a whisper.
“When have I ever lied to you?”
Josephine’s revelation put a halt to the adrenaline coursing through his body. The sharp pains from the gunshot wounds, caused him to lower the shotgun. He bent down and snatched Van’s .45 out of Max’s waistband.
A thundering voice came through a bullhorn from outside. “Attention in the house! This is special agent Dale of the CIA. Come out with your hands up.”
“Olivia started to run toward Saint. He stopped her in her tracks when he raised the .45 at her.
“Get out of here!”
“Saint—”
“All of you need to get out of here, now. It
all
ends tonight.”
“It’s not going to end like this. I refuse for you to—” Olivia’s words were cut off when Glenn grabbed her around the waist.
“Go!” Saint said to Glenn. “They won’t shoot.”
It took Baby, Grace, Glenn, and Miki to restrain Olivia and carry her out of the front door. As they passed through the threshold, Olivia turned to look at Saint. His tears were falling faster than he could wipe them away. He ran toward them. Olivia held her hand out to him. He grabbed it, kissed it and then let go. He closed the front door and locked it.
They didn’t get fifty feet from the house before agents converged on them and told them to put their hands in the air. After being checked for weapons, they were escorted to a van.
Agent Dale stopped in front of Glenn. “Is he in the house?”
“Who?”
“Clayton Andrews.”
“I don’t’ know who you’re talking about.”
Agent Dale walked off and put the bullhorn to his mouth. “Mr. Andrews, I thought we had a deal.”