Invincible: A Novel Page 9

  Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! The shooter was still there.

  Something hot hit Jake in the head, causing him to fall back. He actually thought it was over until he put his hand up to his head and felt it in one piece. A piece of metal from the car had struck him; not a bullet. Nine-One was just telling him about how the streets was calling him Mr. Invincible, and now his man was dead for nothing.

  Jake sprung to his feet and dove toward the left side of the street. He gave it his all but it wasn’t good enough to make him land behind the other car to keep him covered.

  FUCK IT. Might as well die letting off shots at this motherfucker. I ain’t the type to die with a fully loaded gun, he thought before standing up. His timing was perfect because the shooter was just tucking his automatic back in his jacket and was trying to grab the shotgun when Jake let loose the .357.

  BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

  Two of the three shots rocketed through the dude’s hip and the third shot missed, but the two that hit took care of business, knocking the dude from the car he was standing on. He fell and cracked his face on the concrete. He looked to be unconscious when Jake started to move in. After getting a couple steps closer, Jake didn’t take any chances on this killer gaining consciousness; he let the remaining three bullets fly into the dude’s head.

  The whole ordeal left Jake exhausted, but he managed to quickly step over to the bloody body to check it out. The .357 slugs had tore the dude’s face up so bad that even if Jake did know who he was, there was no way he would be able to recognize him now. He searched the body as fast as he could. Nothing. He took the shooter’s automatic just in case someone else was waiting on him.

  Jake knew that with all the gunfire that had gone down the police would be coming soon. He didn’t have the strength to lift the shooter’s and Nine-One’s bodies from their spots in front of Mitch’s car, and besides, Mitch’s car was tore up from all the bullets that ripped through it. Jake had no intention of driving around in a car scattered with bullet holes; that’s like asking the police to pull the vehicle over.

  He made his way up the block in the direction the shooter came from. His reasoning was that maybe the shooter left a car running, and that proved to be one of the smartest thoughts he ever had because as the sound of the sirens were getting closer, Jake saw the shiny black Corvette. The car was running so quietly he almost missed it. Jake had his own theory on how the situation had panned out. He figured that after the shooter took his first shot and saw the Caddy come to a screeching halt, he probably pulled into a spot where he could watch his handiwork unnoticed. Once the shooter saw Jake get out of the car instead of Nine-One, he probably sprang into action, leaving the car running in case he had to get away in a hurry.

  Jake would never know for sure, but it didn’t matter. He hopped in, shoved it in gear, and peeled out in the opposite direction of the bodies. As he was driving he wondered, how the fuck am I managing to stay alive? There must be a good reason for it; did God have him here for some special reason? Damn, I don’t even have any kids to carry on my name. He drove at high speed to get to Kim and ole Neb—he hoped they were all right. And it was at that moment he realized he didn’t know how to get back to the hotel they were staying in. It was the first time he had been outside. He pulled over, took a deep breath, and asked God for guidance, direction, and forgiveness for playing a part in Nine-One’s death. He even asked for forgiveness for the shooter he was forced to kill in order to save his own life, and while he was at it he even threw in Phat Murphy, his crew, and whomever else he harmed in his lifetime, then he peeled off and found his way back to the hotel.

  When he walked in the room he found Kim and ole Neb sitting around watching television, oblivious to the fact that anything had gone wrong.

  “We have to leave here immediately.” Jake rushed the words out. He was exhausted from all the exertion.

  Kim answered first. “What’s wrong, baby, what’s going on?” She rushed over to his side.

  After giving them the abbreviated version of what happened while he was gone, Jake told Kim to give Neb fifty thousand dollars and suggested he go his own way; Jake didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s life.

  When Kim tried to give Nebbie the money he put up his hands, shooing her off. “Mitch already gave me all the money that is required; there is no need for any more.”

  “It’s cool,” Jake assured him, “take the money. Let’s just call it gratuities for the work you done on me.”

  “Okay, I’ll take the extra money, but you take this.” Nebbie handed Jake a book that contained the recipes for the nasty teas along with a few meals that Nebbie said would help bring him to a hundred percent. “Natural healing will bring your body, mind, and soul together.” Kim handed Nebbie the money and gave him hug, a kiss, and a thank you. “You’re welcome.” He smiled and Kim ran back into the bedroom to finish getting everything together.

  Now it was Jake’s turn to thank the man who helped to restore his health, but before he could, Nebbie said, “You’ve thanked me enough. What I really want you to do for me is to try to get up and meditate in the morning and do the same before you go to sleep. It will help you get your memory back and give you a clear vision on how to go about certain things.” Then ole Neb walked out the door. Jake wished he could meditate at that particular moment; he wanted to know why Nine-One said he didn’t think his uncle could help. What did he know, and why didn’t he mention the twenty-five-thousand-dollar reward for the info on my whereabouts before? Jake wondered. Was Nine-One down with the other side? No, he didn’t believe that. But was Nine-One trying to warn him about something or somebody? Mitch? Kim? Who is this 300 Crew, and why me?

  “I’m ready,” Kim said stepping out of the bedroom.

  “I’m going to need you to get Nine-One’s things together.” His stuff was in the room adjacent to theirs. When Kim went into the other room, all she saw was a zipped-up backpack. The closet and dresser drawers were empty. He’d never unpacked. She grabbed the backpack and left the room. Jake met her outside.

  “You ready to get out of here?” he asked.

  “Sure, this place was starting to get me a li’l stir-crazy anyway. Where are we heading though?” she asked as they hopped in the Corvette as if it was their car. Jake had to drive because Kim didn’t drive stick.

  “We ain’t going nowhere,” Jake informed her. “I’m dropping you off at the airport and you’re gonna get a flight to a different coast.” Before she could interrupt he said, “Right now I don’t know how they keep finding us but they do, and I can’t risk losing you.” From the look on Kim’s face Jake was positive that it wasn’t Kim who was trying to get him killed. He could feel the love she had for him; it was in her eyes. He felt like shit for mistrusting her.

  Kim was crying. She had waited two years to be with him again and now he was trying to send her away. “Why can’t we just leave together on the plane and try to hide?”

  “We tried hiding, and Nine-One is dead for my efforts. Something has to be done. I’m going home so whoever wants to find me ain’t gotta look far.”

  BIT OF TRUTH

  Jake turned to Kim and asked her: “You don’t have any ideas or hear anything on the streets about who wants to kill me?”

  Kim answered: “Pull the car over” in a tone of voice Jake had never heard from her. He pulled the Corvette over on a somewhat empty road with feelings of paranoia entering his body. He knew something was wrong. Kim looked into his eyes; she looked as if she thought these would be the last words she would ever say to him. “Baby, I want you to understand that the way I feel about you is real. I truly love you more than anything, and living life the way I’ve been living it for so many years has become difficult.”

  Jake interrupted her. “What up, Kim? What you trying to tell me, baby?”

  Kim didn’t say a word. Tears dropped from her eyes. Out of nowhere she jumped out of the car, and yelled, “You can’t trust Mitch!” Then, as she fell to the ground, i
n a God-forgive-me-for-what-I’ve-done voice, she said, “You can’t trust me, either!” As she said that, Jake knew he was in even more trouble than he had thought.

  “WHY THE FUCK SHOULDN’T I TRUST YOU OR MITCH, KIM?”

  “Because we’ve both betrayed you before, Jake!”

  “How?” Jake demanded.

  “We had an affair,” Kim blurted out.

  Jake was shocked and at a loss for words. He grimaced—his face looking as if he had just inhaled and tasted the nastiest shit in his life. Kim could almost see the steam coming off his head. Jake told her, “I don’t believe this! When did this happen? When I was in a coma? Before that? ANSWER the fucking question, Kim!”

  “We’d been messing around for a few years off-and-on before the coma,” Kim replied sadly.

  “How the fuck could you do that, Kim?” Jake asked. “Was you trying to get me back for M.B.? You fucked my uncle to get revenge on me?”

  “Jake, I don’t know why I did it to be honest with you. Maybe she’s the reason, I don’t know,” Kim said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But don’t sit there and act like you ain’t do me dirty time after time! Our whole relationship was a joke to you!” Kim started getting loud like she could feel the pain of the past running through her body like a cold gallon of water.

  By Kim’s reactions and her body language, Jake thought maybe she was telling the truth. But my uncle wouldn’t do that. Mitch was too real to let a woman come between them, but anything was possible and he wasn’t putting anything past anyone right now.

  “Kim, get in the car! We’re getting out of here. It ain’t safe for us to be staying still like this.”

  Kim did as she was told and they drove off. For a couple of hours no one said a word. Jake started to ponder, to put things together in his mind. As they got closer to home, Jake felt relieved that he hadn’t put Kim on the plane. He never would have the answers or the info he needed. Before they got to their destination Jake asked Kim, “Why you trying to play me for a fool? What’s the real deal? What’s really going on? There’s been three attempts on my life and you’re gonna try to throw me off? I just got out of a fucking coma and you gonna pull some shit like you and my uncle fucking? Besides that, are you lying about the money, too? I didn’t have no five hundred fifty thousand dollars! Whose money do you have and why you keep lying?”

  It was dark out and the parkway they were driving on was mostly empty. With the frustrations of being a marked man and really wanting the answers to his questions rolling through his mind, Jake pulled over and faced Kim. “Make your decision,” he said. “Is this the spot you wanna die at?”

  Kim started to protest, but before she could get the words out Jake caught her with an open-palm blow to the forehead, then grabbed her throat with one hand and wrapped his other around her pinky finger. “I’m gonna ask you again. Is this the spot you wanna die at?”

  Kim could tell by the look in his eyes and the energy he was giving off that he would do it. He would kill her right here. She regretted telling him about her and Mitch, but she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She said, “No Jake,” shaking her head like a toddler desperate not to get a beating. The inside of the Corvette on a dark parkway was not where she wanted to die.

  “Listen to me good then, Kim! Are you telling the truth about Mitch?”

  “Yes,” she whimpered in a little-girl voice. “I said that so you know to stay away from him. You think he’s a good man, but you can’t trust him.”

  “Who’s trying to kill me?” Jake asked. He started to bend Kim’s finger back with the intention of breaking it. He wasn’t feeling her answer. How could she sleep with his uncle and how could he sleep with her? Jake was enraged. He never felt so hurt and betrayed at any other time in his life. He wondered if it could get any worse. Then it dawned on him that maybe that’s what Nine-One was trying to school him to. Maybe that’s why he said he didn’t think my uncle could help me. He knew what was going on with Mitch and Kim?

  Kim was crying hard; her eyeliner was running and her shirt was soaking wet from a mixture of tears and sweat. She was scared for her life.

  “Shut the fuck up, you dirty bitch,” Jake yelled.

  During all of these years Jake had never laid a hand on her. She didn’t expect him to get violent. “It was Phil Rosenberg. He had me set you up, Jake! He’s the one trying to kill you! I’m sorry, baby, I’m so, so sorry!”

  “You fucking bitch,” Jake whispered. Snap. Her finger was broken. “How you like those apples, bitch?”

  “Jake, please please please please stop!”

  “Please what, Kim? Why did you do it?” Snap. “Now that’s your ring finger you fucking bitch! I can do this all night, Kim!”

  Kim yelled, “Stop please! I did it because of your baby, Jake. I wanted you to hurt like I was. I’m supposed to have your child not that BITCH!”

  “Mary-beth has a kid by me?” Jake asked his question with a look of confusion on his grill.

  “Yeah, Jake. A li’l girl.”

  “And that’s why you want me dead? Because of that, Kim? Is that worth getting a nigga killed? Huh? So how much did you sell me out for?”

  “That five hundred fifty thousand that’s in the trunk. Please stop hurting me,” Kim begged. “I will tell you everything, Jake.”

  Jake could tell Kim was being truthful from the sound of her voice. She became too weary, couldn’t take the pain any more. He was actually thinking to himself that he should kill her and leave her right there, but he decided not to. He let his grip of her throat and fingers go before he went too far and killed her for real.

  That was exactly what Kim was waiting for. Without hesitation she reached to her side and came up with a .38 revolver with no hammer and aimed for Jake’s head. She felt she had to kill him because he was on the verge of killing her. It was a move purely based on self-preservation.

  “Motherfucka, stop hitting me,” she screamed.

  “What the fuck?” Jake yelled. He smacked the gun from her hand. In the process, a shot went off and hit Jake in the leg. He didn’t feel it but he knew he was hit. The gun ended up on the floor on his side of the car. The Corvette was a tight fit for him so as he was fidgeting around to get the gun, Kim, scared for her life, jumped out of the car. “KIIIMM,” Jake yelled. “Get the fuck back here!” Jake hopped out of the car and tried to see where she was running to and what was around.

  BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.

  Four gunshots suddenly went off. “Jake, help! Help!” Kim was screaming.

  “Where are you?” he yelled, pulling the automatic he took from his last victim off his waist. “Where are you?” Jake couldn’t believe what was happening.

  BOOM BOOM.

  Two more shots rang out. Jake’s right leg felt hot from the bullet he’d caught in the car and he felt he was on the verge of falling out. He looked down at his pants and noticed two holes, one where the bullet entered and another where the bullet exited. “Oh shit,” he said to himself, but he had to block out the pain. “KIIIMM!” No response from her. He was hoping she wasn’t dead. Then he saw her about fifty feet away, laying in the street, and ran over to her. “KIM! KIM, you a’ight?” She was laying facedown. He turned her over. “Kim!” From the looks of it she was done. Jake counted three bullet holes in her. He put his hand under her nose to see if she was still breathing. She was.

  In a voice that was a little lower than a whisper Kim said, “I’m so sorry, Jake! I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  “Ssshhhh! Sshhhh! Just hold on, Kim. You gonna make it. Stop talking!”

  Kim knew she wouldn’t make it and felt horrible for setting Jake up. She would try to make it right before she passed on; this would be her last chance to confess her wrongdoings.

  “Jake, listen to me! Don’t go back! Keep moving. Besides Phil wanting you dead, there’s other people who want you dead. Phat Murphy has family who runs that 300 Crew. I don’t think you can trust anyone. You’re a marked man!”

  �
�Take it easy, Kim! Tell me later. We got to get you to a hospital.”

  “Please listen to me, Jake!” Kim was stressed. “I loved you and you’ve always been good.”

  Three more gunshots went off in rapid succession. This time Jake saw where it was coming from. A Corvette that looked just like the one he had been in was flying toward him with the shooter hanging out the passenger-side window squeezing off something large. Jake let every shot off he had in the automatic and it didn’t stop a thing. They were still speeding toward him and Kim. The only thing left for him to do was to try to pick up Kim and move out of the way. As he attempted to pick her up, he prayed that God would spare Kim’s and his life and allow them to make it out of the situation they were currently in. He felt God was listening because he scooped up Kim and moved out of the way in the nick of time, as the car barreled past them. Jake hoped his bullets touched the shooter in the passenger seat and that the driver decided to just keep it moving.

  He wondered if those were Phil Rosenberg’s people. Maybe it was Phat Murphy’s brother or maybe it was the people who sent him the mystery letter in jail. Jake looked down; Kim wasn’t looking good. He thought she was dead until she coughed up blood.

  “Hold on, baby! Hold on, you’re gonna make it! You’re gonna make it,” Jake repeated over and over in her ear until they reached the car. As he put Kim in the car all kind of thoughts were running through his head. Then he raced to the hospital. He didn’t want to go there but he knew time was against them and his choices were limited.

  As Jake was driving, he noticed three more Corvettes in the rearview coming toward him. “You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Jake said. Then he looked over at Kim, and he knew she was dead. “Fuck!” He tried shaking her hoping he could get her up, but it was over. She was gone. He had a lump in his throat and a sharp pain in his chest. He was furious and had a taste for blood. He was feeling under his seat for the .38 that had landed there, while keeping an eye on the Corvettes. The cars were gaining on him, which was exactly what he wanted. He finally found the gun. It had five shots left. Jake let the cars gain on him a little more. Then he pulled into the right lane and made a quick U-turn. He was now headed northbound in the southbound lanes with the pedal to metal. He was going straight toward the three cars that were after him.