Raffie parked the Cadillac in an inconspicuous spot and then trotted the short distance on foot to Suanne’s house. He pressed a hand against his satchel, simply to confirm that his .22 semiautomatic pistol was where it should be. Raffie didn’t intend for this assignment to take all night. His plan was simple: Get Hunter alone, put a bullet in her forehead and then escape back to his vehicle. He would call Shiloh and instruct her to wire the balance of his money into his account.
Raffie had already foreseen that Kevin could pose a problem, because Kevin would have no difficulty recognizing who he was. However, Raffie couldn’t care less. There were enough bullets to go around. Of course Shiloh wouldn’t be happy to discover that he’d killed Kevin, but he didn’t intend to tell Shiloh about it. His heart rate suddenly quickened when he saw Hunter’s Jaguar, parked in its usual spot. But if that wasn’t reason enough to get his adrenalin pumping, seeing his target standing in clear view was a killer’s dream. Raffie took a deep breath and then called out to get Hunter’s attention.
So focused was Raffie on the mission ahead that he wasn’t paying any attention to the danger lurking behind. Kipling – the rogue that Waldo had sent to follow Raffie, dropped back a few feet behind some nearby shrubs. His pistol was at his side, finger steady on the trigger. Waldo had been too lenient with this fool, extending Raffie’s grace period to embarrassing measures. Kipling dare not call Waldo back at this point, because Waldo would only delay what had to be done. Other cats would think they could get away with the same nonsense. But not on Kipling’s watch.
He surveyed the neighborhood. The houses were all wooden and so close together that they appeared semi-detached. He could tell that it was a tight-knit community and that the residents looked out for each other. All the more reason for him to expedite his assignment and get the hell out of the area. With his gaze intently locked on Raffie, he brought the pistol eye-level and waited for a clear shot.
****
During the commute to his mother’s house, Drake had barely said two words to his wife. But Sasha didn’t notice because she’d intentionally busied herself with talking about the new life growing on the inside of her. It was a way to take her mind off the conversation she’d had with Levi a short while ago. And although Sasha was already making plans for a baby’s nursery, the only thing that Drake could think about were those anonymous emails, claiming that his wife had been unfaithful. Ten months before, he was at this same crossroad and if he was to go with how he felt at the moment, the outcome of his actions would be the same, which was to take a leave of absence without telling Sasha. He eased the Mercedes behind an old Ford truck and left the engine idling.
Sasha stared out of the window at the cars lined on both sides of the street, some blocking the entrance to Suanne’s yard. With a bit of incredulity to her voice, Sasha commented, “This place looks crammed way beyond what I was expecting…and there goes Hunter. But what is she doing outside talking to that guy when she should be with Kevin?”
Drake muttered something unintelligible. And although he was burning up inside to ask Sasha about the emails, he kept quiet and tried to mitigate his suspicion. This had to be a test, a ploy of the devil to try his faith and to gauge his response. Did he really have Agape love like he preached in his sermon this past Sunday? Had he really forgiven his wife and trusted God to restore his marriage? Drake’s answer was still a resounding yes, but how did he get past that little voice in his head, encouraging him to give in to his doubts? But the longer he kept quiet, the angrier he became.
Out of nowhere, Drake’s side of the car door opened and someone reached down and pulled him out of the vehicle into a tight hug.
“Man, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Levi beamed. “But I had to thank you again, for everything you’ve done for me. Man, I can’t explain how I feel right now. I keep thinking about church on Sunday and how different I felt after giving my heart to the Lord.”
Drake gently pushed himself out of Levi’s embrace. He could sense genuine love and appreciation exuding from Levi’s smile, in fact, from his entire disposition. That was enough to cause Drake to forsake his pensive mood, if even for a few minutes. Sasha stepped out of her side of the car and gave Levi a subtle glance of the eyes, which was to say that all was well between her and Drake. Levi sighed inwardly. That meant that whatever Mrs. O’Grady had done, hadn’t gotten to Drake as yet.
“You’re certainly welcome, man,” Drake told his friend. “I’m just happy to be a part of the plan of God for your life –”
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Bullets ripped through the Mercedes, bringing instant pandemonium to the quiet atmosphere. Another round of bullets flew by from the opposite direction, puncturing windshields and anything that dared to stand in its way. Drake dropped to his knees and crawled toward his wife, who stood frozen like the Statue of Liberty. He pulled her to a safe spot behind the passenger door of the Mercedes. They’d suddenly been flung in the middle of the wild, wild west and for a split second Drake seriously wondered if they would make it out alive.
****
Kipling let loose a string of profanity. He’d been shot in the arm and he was losing a lot of blood. He thought for sure he would have caught Raffie off guard, but he’d underestimated Raffie’s street skills. Was it possible that Raffie knew he was being followed? Kipling was too stunned to think and to provide any rational explanation to why he’d let Raffie outsmart him. It made no sense now, going after Raffie. The scene was becoming thick with activity and Kipling didn’t want a sketch of his face to be on the six o’clock news. He drew back in the shadows and bolted back to his vehicle. If the police didn’t get their hands on Raffie, then of course, Kipling would return at another time to finish the job.
****
Drake looked around for Levi, but didn’t see where he’d gone. Someone was grunting for help, coupled with the sound of approaching footsteps. But Drake couldn’t tell what direction the noises were coming from. Then suddenly, Drake remembered Hunter. He took a chance and glanced above the car door, only to be jolted by a very disturbing image. There was Hunter, in a chokehold, with the barrel of a gun to her head. She was being detained by the same man she’d been talking to.
But as Drake was deciding what to do at that point, Kevin pulled open the front door with Suanne trailing closely behind. Obviously, they were drawn out by the sounds of the gunshots. Kevin’s heart slammed against his chest at the sight of Hunter being held captive. That was the first surprise. The other was Kevin recognizing Hunter’s captor as the same man believed to be snooping around the neighborhood.
“The hell you doing?” Kevin barked. “Let her go!”
Raffie heaved Hunter several steps back, his left arm still locked beneath her chin, gun pressing firmly against her head. “You know the drill,” he taunted. “You make any attempt to help her and I will put a bullet in her head. She doesn’t mean a thing to me.”
“You hurt her,” Kevin threatened, “and I swear these people will have to peel me from off of you.”
“Oh really?” Raffie swiped his tongue along one side of Hunter’s face and grinned. “Am I allowed to do that?”
Kevin launched at Raffie, but Suanne yanked him back and gave him a sobering slap. “Don’t be stupid,” she spat. “He’ll kill you and then kill her. What I’m gon’ do with the both of you dead?”
Kevin wrenched his arm away from his mother and yelled at the gunman. “What the hell you want with us?”
Raffie scoffed. “You had your chance…fifteen-million-dollars’ worth of chances to be exact. But you just had to feed your doubts into her head…I heard every word of it…I have no other choice but to put a bullet in this pretty face in order for me to collect the balance of my money.”
Hunter’s eyes were rolling back in her head, because of the lack of oxygen getting to her lungs and to her brain. If she could have talked, she would have told Raffie she changed her mind and simply accepted his silly proposal. It was not worth losing her life over selling parts of her jewelry collection. In fact, Raffie could have half of the entire collection, if it meant guaranteeing the safety of everyone.
But Hunter had to ask herself, even though the question didn’t appear appropriate in such a moment. Was this in the plan of God for her and Kevin – to experience such a horrendous disruption in the midst of their joy? What an engagement party this turned out to be, were some of the last coherent thoughts that Hunter had been able to manage before closing her eyes in complete blackness. When Hunter’s body dropped to the ground, Raffie dropped along with her, refusing to lessen the power of his grip.
“Put the gun down, buddy…we don’t want anyone to get hurt…”
Undoubtedly, it was Levi’s voice. A soothing injection into a panic-stricken moment. However, it didn’t come across that way to Sasha. She knew Levi well enough to know when he was about to do something stupid, like trying to play the hero. But as far as she knew, all heroes were in the grave. An unexplainable force suddenly propelled her out of the safety of Drake’s arms.
“Levi,” she cried – too desperate for a woman who denied ever having any romantic feelings for the man. “What are you doing? Drake and I have already called the police.”
“Stay with Drake,” Levi instructed, as he continued his walk of ‘fate’ toward Raffie. He remembered serving drinks to this man at the Blue Marlin and Levi hoped that brief encounter would be enough to put his plan into action. I just need to create a little distraction…“I know what I’m doing, Sasha…stay with Drake –”
BANG!
Sasha saw it before she heard it. A deafening silence then ensued and everything from that point on moved in slow motion. Blood began to trickle out of a tiny hole above Levi’s eyes. His legs collapsed beneath him, right before he crashed to the ground in one heap. Sasha’s scream ricocheted from one end of the neighborhood to the next and it took every muscle in Drake’s body to restrain her from flailing around. In all the years he’d known his wife, Drake had never seen such a display of hysteria. It was almost too much for him to bear, because in that moment he discovered just how much Sasha really cared about Levi. Yet, his loving arms remained wrapped around his wife – to comfort his own fears of losing his friend.
And though Raffie may have made an example out of Levi’s ‘show at bravery,’ it was one of the most irrational moves he could have made. With the gun now away from Hunter’s head, Kevin wasted no time using his body to knock Raffie five feet away from her. The gun flew out of Raffie’s hand and landed a good distance beneath one of the parked cars. It was on after that as the two men began rolling around on the concrete, delivering blow after blow.
Suanne enlisted the help of the women to help pull Hunter onto the porch and began administering CPR. Within seconds the brawl between Kevin and Raffie had turned into a group effort – five men now against Raffie himself. Two yanked Raffie away from Kevin, and slammed him against a brick wall. Raffie fell back unconscious, but that didn’t stop the men from pounding Raffie’s body as if he were a venomous snake. They eventually tied him up and left him on the ground for the police to finish him off.
By then, Sasha and Drake were at Levi’s side praying, and desperately searching his lifeless body for a pulse.