Revealing Revelations (12 page)

I run past him to the shiny one door elevator. I look back at him. “Alright, but I won’t be needing any keys to get it started, though,” I told him.

“I know, that’s another reason I brought you along,” he says with a smirk on his face.

“Tch!” How can he smile at a time like this, I turn back around and look at the board next to the elevator using my right pointer finger and sliding it downward against the glass until I came across the words “motor garage”. It says it’s on level 2B. I push the button and wait for the elevator.

Ding!
The elevator door opens sliding to the right and I step in and quickly press the button reading 2B.

The door opens on the second basement level and I look around before getting out of the elevator. Just in case there’s another mob of lunatics I can remain in the safety by closing the elevator door. The coast is clear, and he was right, soon as I stepped out there’s a big black S.W.A.T. truck. “Thank you, Jesus!” I said with excitement, rushing to check all the doors to see if they were unlocked and from the back to the driver’s side door they were. I jump into the driver’s seat. Closing and locking the door behind me, I bend down and reach under the dash for the wiring chassis. I found it and snatched it down with ease. Looking at several wires I wrapped the two red wires together at their copper tips and grab the black starter wire rubbing it against the other two. A couple of small sparks pop out of the three wires coming in direct contact and the engine fires up.

“Yeah, baby!” I said with relief. I was still amazed. I just hot-wired a heavily armored vehicle. I throw it into reverse and make a three point turn and floor it up the garage ramp and into the city streets. I had to hurry. I didn’t want to leave Jefferey alone waiting on me for long.

PAP PAP!
I pulled up out front just as I heard a couple of dull gunshots. It was him with an assault rifle in each hand aimed and firing at the sky.

“What’s wrong!?” I asked him.

He runs down the steps sideways and says, “I was just letting off warning shots in case someone had any ideas or thoughts of trying me.”

“Always did have to be Yo’ Simmity Sam, huh, Sarge?” I asked him in an angry tone. I was worried he was in real danger, but I was happy to see he wasn’t. Sergeant Birden was just being Sergeant Birden.

“Help me with the other M-4’s and ammo.”

I jumped out. And ran up the stairs and grabbed the three ammo bins and a stack of empty magazines he had put on top. I carried them to the truck and put them on the floor by my foot.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” he shouts closing the passenger door as he jumps in.

I skid off and swing the truck around and head the direction of the diner. Speeding down South Beach streets, we see the streets get worse, more and more buildings are now on fire. Police are just as divided. The few that stand to preserve justice are trying to stop people and other police officers from causing havoc. I watch as a teen beats what appears to be her mother with what looks like a purse. It must have a lot of stuff in there because the older woman does nothing but curl up in a fetal position on the ground. A bit further down, I see three men rush towards a red Ford Fusion and bust out its windows. Passing it up, I look inside to see what’s going on. It was her from the hotel lobby. I stomp on the brakes and hop out.

“Thomas!” Jefferey shouted out.

“Cover me!” I yelled back, running a few steps to the car. I grab the guy that’s halfway through the window and yank him out. He swings with all out fury with his right hand. I duck and raise with an uppercut to the chin and punch the guy next to him in the throat before the third guy gets a chance to get the drop on me. Before I know it, he wraps his big broad arm around my neck, but before he can squeeze good,
Pop!
The guy slowly removes his bare arm. It was Jefferey.

“Hey, I was just jiving, man. No blood no foul, right?”

Jefferey walks towards him, weapon drawn and aims it up the large nostril of the man. With a hard stern look into the man’s eyes he says slowly, “Get her and let’s go, Thomas.”

I didn’t waste any time turning back around and opening her car door. At this point, she was crying heavily with eyes closed in relief at being spared from her attackers. She’s sitting with her back against the passenger door and her legs in the driver’s seat. She appears to be exhausted from fighting off her attackers.

“Hey, remember me?” I ask her in a soft tone, trying to calm her down.

Her face turns red as tears roll down her face. Her lips tremble, but she doesn’t let out even a whimper. She nods her head up and down.

“I know this is too much to bear out here alone, but that’s why I need you to come with us,” I said, still using the soft tone.

She opens her eyes and looks at me then at Jefferey who still has the barrel of the M-4 in the man’s face who tried to attack her. She leans up and peeks through the windows at the destruction around us.

“Thomas, hurry up, I hear gunfire so that means were not the only one with guns!” he says quickly.

I extend my hand out to her, she doesn’t hesitate to grab it and I help out of the vehicle.  Standing to her feet, she turns and kicks the rear driver’s door. “Damn, alternator, piece of…” she stops, gets quiet and slowly backs up and turns around.

“Alright, let’s move,” I tell Jefferey. I help her into the truck and she squats down in between the two seats where there’s only space. I climb in and Jefferey rushes to the other side. I look back at the man that grabbed me earlier, but he was already running into another building.

“Let’s go!” Jefferey yells.

We drive off.

Sniff sniff.

I look down at the receptionist from the Ritz. She sniffles and wipes her eyes as she regains her composure. I turn my attention to the road. I choose to kill the awkward silence. “My name is Thomas and that’s Jefferey.”

He nods at her and turns his head focusing his attention back down the rifles cross sights pointed out the window, I guess what we learned in Iraq clearly stuck with some of us.

“My name is Dana. Thank you for saving me back there,” she says.

“No problem,” I reply, keeping my eyes on the road.

“What happened back there, I mean you had a car, how’d they stop you?” Jefferey asked her.

“It was my alternator that went out. I got a jump at work and was on my way to get it replaced in Old Miami where I stay.” She pauses and looks around seeing this hell on earth. “Or at least, used to stay,” she says.

“What happened here, what’s going on?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine,” Dana says.

Silence once again engulfs the air.

We pulled up to Joe’s diner and the table was still up covering the window. I blew the horn to let the others know we were out here. I see multiple sets of eyes peek out through the blinds.

Jefferey jumps out and opens up the back doors while the four others rush to hop inside the rear of the truck.

I turn and see a slide window that was designed to enable communication and visibility. I see Shane and Auron sit on the left and the waitress across from them. Surprisingly, Jefferey loads the ammo and weapons and sits down, and the doors are closed behind him. I hear the patter of footsteps come up along my side of the truck. I adjust the long wide side mirror and see Bazz jog up to my driver’s side door.

“I’ll drive,” he said opening the driver’s door. “We need a safe haven and I know just the place.”

I hop out and he hops in. I run around to the passenger side and see Dana shake his hand. “Now that we all know each other, I guess we’re one big happy family, huh, Jerome?” I ask, jumping into the passenger’s seat.

He ignores me and skids off.

“What’s going on, why are people doing this?” Dana asks with a red face trying hard to hold back tears.

Bazz glances at her, then his eyes go back to the road. “We don’t know, but we’re gonna find out.”

I open the sliding window and make sure everyone is alright once more. As I look at each and every one of them, their faces all reveal the same things. Heads hung in fear, hopelessness, and more than anything, a sense of being lost. From Shane to Jefferey and all the others it’s all the same look in their eyes. All except one, Auron. He squints his eyes and as I looked closely he was moving his lips as if he was calculating something.

“Has he gone mad?” I ask myself.

The longer I study him I begin to realize he’s calculating. He knows something he always has, soon as things went wrong back at the diner he showed up exactly when things turned left. I was feeling down like the others, but now I’m growing angry. Clearly he knows something and he hasn’t come out and said anything to anyone. I want to say something through the peephole but I know it’s best I wait until I can talk to him alone instead of upsetting the others. Biting my tongue, I slide the peephole window closed, sitting back in my seat fueled with anger. We ride over the bridge and out of South Beach.

“Yeah… Yeah… I know… I’m coming with a few friends and a couple stragglers. Alright, we’re almost there,” Bazz says, hanging up the phone. 

“Who was that?” Dana asked him.

Bazz looks down at her then back to the road. “Nosey aren’t we?” Bazz asked her out of frustration.

“The world is going down the drain, I was attacked and almost maybe even raped and now I’m riding in a S.W.A.T. truck. So, yeah, I believe I’m entitled to be somewhat inquisitive, not nosey,” she says rambunctiously.

He looks at her for a longer period than before. “I’m sorry you’re right,” he replied. “That was a couple of friends, I was making them aware to be prepared for our arrival.”

“So where are you taking us?” Dana asked again.

Taking one hand off the steering wheel Bazz points halfway over the city to a parking garage. Tall, but slender, it wasn’t hard to spot over other smaller buildings. “It’s safe,” he tells her.

“How do you know?” I asked curiously. 

“I trust them because I know them, they’re… well, you’ll have to see for yourself I guess,” Bazz  replied.

We finally approach the closed metal garage door of the tall parking garage. I see Bazz pull his cell phone out and put it to his ear once more.

“We’re here,” he tells the person on the opposite end of the phone. The garage door opens and a loud sound from the motor hums as the door reels up. “Thomas, make sure no one follows us in.”

I hop out and check all sides of the vehicle to see if anyone is after us or watching. It’s funny how the whole Miami was going crazy, even in high society, but this one place in the poverty stricken part of town was somewhat quiet for the most part. The truck proceeds on and I back up slowly into the garage, keeping my M-4 at the ready position in case something goes wrong. The garage door lowers finally and I run back to the truck. I stand on the foot ladder and hook my left arm through the open window inside the truck.

Bazz drives slowly down a single ramp to the lower level and swings right and reverses near a wall between elevator doors and a guard office.  I hop down and rush to open the rear doors and the doors are already open, the doors block the bodies, but I see two sets of dark complexioned legs and tennis shoes. I walk over. Shocked at what I see, I gasp.

“Bazz, you need to hurry!” Shouts a little kid with glasses as he opens the rear doors. “Everyone follow me,” he says, opening one door and runs back in the office that says ‘Security’.

“Bazz, what the hell?” I ask myself. The others one by one come out and follow the kid. Auron comes last in the line of four. Overwhelmed with anxiety, I still wanted to know what he knew. Still wanted him to come forward and stop holding back bits and pieces. I walk through the security room doors and see the kid once more.

“Hey, can you give me a hand?” the little kid asks me.

“Not right now, kid,” I say to the little guy blocking my way. So anxious to get to Auron, I was stopped by another black kid with glasses that blocks my way. They’re identical twins.

“You don’t understand. We all need your help,” the second one tells me.

I give in. “Okay, what do you need?” I ask the twins who obviously aren’t any more than ten years old.

“Surveillance!” the slightly smaller first one says with almost a demand in his voice.

“Surveillance?” I ask him.

“Come with me,” he says as I see his tiny frame scurry off inside the elevator. I look at Auron sitting inside the security room and chose to wait on dealing with him. I followed the little guy while the other ran into the security room as well, I hear a clanking as if he was locking the door. The elevator doors close and the little guy pressed the button numbered 5. It must be the top floor, seeing as how no other number comes after it. A slight jerk under my feet and humming from the motor makes it clear we’re moving.

I eject and double check the magazine at the bottom of my weapon making sure everything was in order. “So, what’s your name, kid?”

He looks at me with a mug through those thin wired oval glasses before turning his head back forward. “Jessie,” he replied, looking straight ahead.

I see the kid has a little spunk about him, but he’s just a kid out here in the middle of this. What were his parents thinking? “Alright, Jessie. Why’d your parents send you up here instead of them?” I see a mug on his face as he stares directly into the elevator doors.

“I don’t have any…parents. Me and my brother been in a group home for as long as we can remember. Our real parents left us at birth,” he said with a tremble in his voice. He turns and looks up at me. “So I hope you done with all the miscellaneous questions!” he yells out.

I felt bad for prying, and recognized how I had irritated a serious situation. “I’m sorry. I just—”

The doors open up and he runs out.

I step out and look at the city of Miami. The elevator was in the corner of the roof. So I walk to the edge and see people yelling, fighting, as the mayhem continued on. Building and homes were being burned down, the fire department was trying their best to put it out, but it was just too much.

“Hey, get over here, I need your help, remember?” Jessie calls out to me with sarcasm.

I run back to the other side of the roof where he stood on the outer side of the elevator opening a box with a lot of wires bolted to the wall.

“We need all surveillance cameras operational. I’ll need you to adjust the positioning of the camera while I try to see if I can fix it.” Sparks fly from the box as he sticks a flat head inside poking at wires.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” I ask him.

His attention fixed on the wire box, he points to the camera mounted high above the elevator. “Up top is where I need you,” he says, squinting through those wired oval glasses into that wiring compartment.