This Time (12 page)

Authors: Ingrid Monique

BOOK: This Time

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Chapter 13

“Sean called,” Lori told Kelee as she walked into the kitchen. Lori and Nadine were shelling pigeon peas at the small dining table. It was almost one in the afternoon. The sky was dark and rain was coming down hard. Lori and Kelee had planned to go shopping but the rain had changed their plans.

“Good for him,” Kelee said, getting a glass of water from the refrigerator.

“He wants yu' to call him. He said it's important,” Lori insisted.

“Good for him,” Kelee repeated and joined them at the table.

“Yu' not goin' to call him?” Lori asked.

“No.” Kelee started to help shelling the peas.

Suddenly the rain stopped and the sun came out. Flash periods of rains were a regular occurrence in the Caribbean.

“So are we still going shopping for the baby?” Kelee asked.

“Sure, why not?” Lori pushed away from the table.

“Yu' won't believe this,” Jack said, entering his office. Sean was on the phone with another one of his informers, who didn't have much to give him. Mike's people were starting to cover their tracks. It was getting harder to find out anything about his operation. Sean told his informant to call him if he heard anything and gave Jack his attention.

“His name is Tyce Thomas and he's Mike's second cousin an' business partner.”

An undeniable fear raced through Sean. All he could think of was Kelee. She had no idea what was going on and she was definitely in danger. He had to get to Kelee before something happened to her. Sean immediately got on the phone, only to be told by Nadine that Kelee and Lori had gone shopping. He immediately called Lori's cell but it went straight to voice mail. He left a message asking her to call him immediately. He had to get to Kelee before they did.

Kelee gazed over at Lori, who was fast asleep in the passenger seat, and smiled. The minute Lori had gotten into the car she had fallen asleep. They were heading home after hours of shopping for the baby. Kelee gazed at her sister's belly while she waited at a light, wondering if she'd ever be in that position. She couldn't see it on her, but it was beautiful on her sister. Kelee had just turned off the main road onto the sloping road that led up the hill when she saw the black jeep blocking her path. The hood was up. The road was narrow with only two lanes, so Kelee carefully inched her way to overtake the jeep. She could see the driver buried under the hood as she passed. She returned her attention to the road, and that was when she saw him. She hit her brakes. He was masked and he had an M-16 aimed right at her. Lori had come awake with the sudden stop of the car.

“Wha'?” Lori asked, looking at her. Kelee looked at her pregnant sister, frightened. Lori looked at the man with the gun aimed at them.

“Oh, God,” Lori gasped. “Stay calm, do whatever he says.”

Kelee looked at Lori. Silently she prayed he wouldn't hurt them, especially Lori's unborn child. Suddenly there was a tap on Lori's side of the car and they looked to see the man that was under the hood, with a gun pointed at Lori. He, too, was masked.

Kelee started to shake.

“Get out!” the man on Kelee's side screamed at her. Kelee looked at Lori. Lori quickly took her hand. “Now!” the man demanded. Kelee jumped and reached for the door handle as a tear rolled down her cheek. She looked at Lori, who also had tears in her eyes.

Kelee's heart was racing with fear as she stepped from the jeep. The man grabbed her and shoved her towards their jeep. Kelee screamed. The man grabbed her from behind and placed a cloth over her face. Kelee panicked, kicking and screaming. Her screams only came out as muffled noise. The scent of the cloth burnt her eyes and nose, and then everything went black.

Sean was about to leave his office when he got the call. They had found a man's body near a junkyard in the parish of Caldon, south of the capital of St. Pala. The thought of it being Penn or Lex had his stomach in knots. It took Sean five minutes to reach the junkyard. A part of the yard was filled with rusty crushed cars, the other part was a mechanic shop. A few cop cars were there. An officer he knew as Sam Manning was questioning the workers. Sam was the one who had called him. Sam was tall, thin, and dark with rough features.

“Do yu' know who he is?” Sean asked as Sam took him down a lane of cars.

“No,” Sam told him. “It kinda' hard to tell, the way he is,” he said.

The body was naked and face down in a puddle of blood. Sean had seen a few executions like this before. It was Mike's signature style. From the body type and coloring it wasn't Penn, but Sean knew it was Lex. On closer inspection Sean noted the five bullet holes in the back of Lex's head. The number of holes in his head told Sean that Lex's face was completely gone. Lex knew too much and now he was dead. Sean thought of his missing man, Penn, as he stared at Lex's body. He feared he'd find Penn the same way. There was a reason why Adams was let go. It was a warning. Sean had to be extremely careful.

“Yu' know who he is?” Sam asked.

Sean looked at him. “Yeah, he was one of my best informants.” He walked away. He had to get to Kelee.

Kelee felt like she was floating. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around. She wasn't in her room. Where was she? Then it hit her. She had been kidnapped. Fear gripped her, causing her heart to race. Who would want to kidnap her? This was crazy. She barely knew anyone in St. Pala. Swallowing her fear, she sat up in the four-poster bed she was on. The room was large and barely decorated. Besides the bed it held a long double-drawer chest and an armchair. She noted the window with its curtains drawn, which made the room dark. She got up and went to the door; cautiously she reached for the knob. Her hand shook as she gripped the handle. She slowly turned the handle. It was locked. She slammed her hand against the door, rattling the knob.

“Let me out!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. But no one came. She banged on the door for a good ten minutes, but still no one responded. Defeated, Kelee walked over to the window, pulled the curtains back and opened the window. She saw nothing but dense trees and a gravel yard below. She was too far up to even try going out the window. There was no way out for her, her kidnapper had seen to that. Closing the window, Kelee looked around the room. She searched the chest but found it empty. Frustrated, she returned to the bed where she curled up and cried herself to sleep.

Quietly he sat on the side of the bed looking down at Kelee as she slept. She was so beautiful. Her face was stained with tears. She had been crying, obviously scared from being kidnapped. He brushed back a strand of hair off her cheek and she moaned, coming awake. He smiled at her. She sprang up, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Oh, Sean, thank God yu' found me,” she cried. He wrapped his arms around her, inhaling her distinct perfume scent. “Please take me home,” she begged.

He knew she was going to hate him, but he had to keep her safe and this was the only way.

“I can't,” he told her and felt her stiffen. She pulled away from him, looking into his face. He watched as she realized the situation.

“Yu' did this. Why?” she asked, confused.

“I need yu' to stay here for a while.”

Her eyes flared with anger. “Are yu' crazy? Yu' can't keep me here.”

Sean understood her anger, but he had to keep her safe. “The kitchen is fully stocked and Kris will be keeping an eye on yu'.”

“Kris?” she asked, confused.

“He's here to protect yu',” he told her.

“Protect me from what?”

“I really don't have time to explain every'ting right now. I just came by to make sure that yu' OK.” He got up and started for the door.

“Yu' can't leave me here!” Kelee cried, running after him. She grabbed him at the door. He turned to look down at her. Her eyes were filled with tears. He hated doing this to her, but her safety was of utmost importance.

“I'll be back soon,” he promised and saw anger flare in her eyes again.

“Yu' can't do this! This is crazy!”

“I need yu' to stay here.”

“No!” she screamed, brushing at the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

“I'm not goin' to lock yu' in. But if yu' give Kris any trouble he will lock yu' in here.”

“Please don't do this,” she pleaded, and it tugged at his heart. He had no choice. He had to protect her. He pulled out a cell phone and handed it to her.

“Yu' can call Lori. She knows yu' safe,” he told her. She took the phone. He walked away.

Kelee couldn't believe that Sean had just walked away the way he did. She didn't know how long she stood there with her mouth gaping open. Sean had kidnapped her and on top of that he refused to give her an explanation. She left her room to find herself at the top of a hallway. She walked to the end of the hall to the stairs. The house was barely furnished, she noted as she entered the living room. It only had a large sectional sofa and a large TV. A very large intimidating man was watching the TV. The evening news was on. Kelee instantly noted his gun beside him on the sofa. He looked at her, not moving.

“Hi, yu' must be Kris,” she said to him and he gave her a slight smile and nodded.

“Which way is the kitchen?” she asked. She was starting to get hungry. He pointed to his left. She went that way; in the kitchen she found bags of groceries sitting on the counter. She started to unpack the food. She was glad when she saw the jar of pasta sauce and bow tie pasta. She made a quick pasta meal.

She poked her head out of the kitchen door and asked Kris if he'd like some pasta.

He smiled at her, surprised, and said, “Thanks.”

She took him a bowl of pasta and joined him on the sofa to watch the news.

“So how long have yu' worked for Sean?” she asked and Kris looked at her, contemplating his answer. She waited for him to answer.

“Three years,” Kris finally told her after shoveling a forkful of pasta into his mouth. She could tell he was a man who liked his food. She wondered how many meals she'd have to make to convince him to let her go. Her culinary skills weren't that good, but from the way he was enjoying the pasta, she knew she had him on that dish.

“What exactly do yu' do for him?”

“Security mostly.”

“Yu' mean baby-sitting,” she taunted and he smiled. At least he had a sense of humor.

“Yu' could call it that.” He stuffed more pasta into his mouth.

“Do yu' know why he's keeping me here?”

“He said yu' needed protection,” Kris said.

“From who?” She was curious. She wanted to know why Sean would go to such an extreme to protect her, and who the hell was he protecting her from?

“Don't know. Yu' have to ask him.”

Kelee didn't exactly like Kris's answer, but she doubted she'd get any information out of him. She finished her pasta.

After she washed the dishes Kelee returned to her room. She noticed an overnight bag at the foot of the bed. She opened it to find toiletries and some of her clothes inside. Sean had gone to the house and gotten her clothes. She wondered how long he'd planned her abduction. The thought of it all only made her steaming mad.

She called Lori.

“Are yu' OK?” Lori asked upon hearing her voice.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” She frowned. “Do yu' have any idea why I'm here?”

“I think it might have to do with a case he's workin' on,” Lori said.

“What case?”

“It has to do with a drug dealer named Curve.”

Kelee recalled Lori telling her about some big case Sean was working on involving a businessman and drug dealer.

“And what the hell does that have to do with me?”

“He feels the need to protect yu'.”

“This is a bit drastic, don't yu' think?”

“I know, Kelee, but just hang in there. I know Sean and if he 'tinks this is best, it is.”

“Thanks for taking his side.” Kelee rolled her eyes.