*
The pavement rose up to meet the side of her body, and she grimaced as the pain jolted through her. Her face fell against the army boot of one of her assailants, and all she could hear was the sound of more gunfire. The only reference point she had to these sounds were action movies, fireworks, cars misfiring, an army fun day she’d once been to with her father where they’d let canons off. She didn’t know what to do. She closed her eyes, counted in fives, and waited for whatever was going to happen next.
‘Get their weapons, get the plate number, and get out of here before the police turn up,’ Nathan barked at the team of men.
Autumn opened her eyes and saw spent bullet shells and blood on the ground, but she could still hear the jazz band from the party playing from inside the hotel.
‘Autumn, are you hurt?’ Nathan slipped his arms underneath her body.
‘My hip,’ she whispered.
‘Okay, we’ve got to go now. Put your arms around my neck,’ he said, lifting her up.
‘What happened? Were they the men? The ones trying to kidnap me?’ she asked as Nathan ran up the side of the hotel toward the transport.
‘That was two of them,’ he answered. He breathed hard as she bounced up and down in his arms.
‘You mean, this isn’t it? They’ll try again?’ Emotion threatened to overwhelm her.
‘I thought after tonight, I’d know, but I don’t,’ he stated, still running.
‘Is Blu okay? The van just appeared and these men leaped out and started shouting at us. Then they grabbed me.’
‘He’s dead,’ Nathan told her.
‘What?’
‘Teo’s men killed the first guy. The second guy got a couple of rounds off before he was put down, too. Your record producer took the hit.’
‘No,’ Autumn said.
Grief burst like a bubble inside her, and she howled while her whole body shook.
‘Listen, it’s another hundred yards. I can’t carry you if you keep trembling like that.’
‘You heartless bastard! My producer’s dead! He was my friend, a loyal friend, a good man. He has a wife and children!’ Autumn screamed, attempting to get down out of his arms.
‘So, if he was a good man, what was he doing taking you outside of the hotel at the very same time the kidnappers turn up, huh?’ Nathan queried.
‘He wanted to talk. He wanted some fresh air. He doesn’t like the heat. He sweats a lot… he sweated a lot.’
It couldn’t be true! Blu couldn’t be dead. They were just talking about the IMAs and Blu joining her in her performance of her bestselling hit, the one they had co-wrote, the best song she had ever written.
‘You left my side, Autumn. You left my side without a second thought.’ Nathan set her down on the ground.
‘You were arguing with my mother. What was she even doing there? She never comes to my parties. Why did Janey invite her?’
‘I’d like the answer to all those questions, too, but not yet. We need to get out of here. We need to get back to the house.’
‘No! I’m going back there. I’m going back there right now to be with my friend, until someone comes, the police or an ambulance. Has anyone called them, do you think?’
‘I can’t let you do that.’
‘I have to. I mean, if I don’t, what happens to him? We can’t just leave him there, in the street… like trash.’
‘The police will come. They will deal with it.’
She shook her head as all the memories of Blu-Daddy flooded in and the grief began crushing her thought process.
‘I can tell the police what happened, what I saw. That will help them catch whoever did this,’ she attempted again.
‘It’s more important that you’re safe. If you go back there, you’re not just putting yourself in danger, you’re putting me and Teo and Jazz in the firing line. The people I work for, they aren’t governed by the police. We work by an entirely different law.’
Tears were escaping her eyes as she tried to decide what to do. Her record producer was dead, it could have been her.
‘You’re my priority, Autumn; I have to keep you safe.’ He inhaled and put his hands to the back of his head. ‘I should have been at your side when those men turned up.’ His tone was laced with guilt, and he hid his eyes from her.
‘Yes, but I shouldn’t have left the hotel. I promised you I’d do as you said, and I didn’t. It was my fault.’
‘Regan! We must go now!’ Teo shouted.
Police cars wailed in the distance, and Nathan hurried Autumn over to the awaiting Jeep.
‘I can do what you say. I’ll listen. I’ll try harder,’ she said as she pulled up her dress to climb in.
Nathan climbed in after her. ‘Yeah, maybe I need to do that, too.’
Eighteen
Tawanda met them at the front door, and, before the woman could even speak, Autumn ran to her and flung herself into her arms. She began to wail, then the wail turned into loud sobbing, until finally, after much coaxing and soft, well-chosen words from Tawanda, the woman managed to get Autumn into the house and onto the sofa.
Nathan went to the fridge and found it full. Tawanda had obviously been to town for supplies. He took out a bottle of beer and looked for something to open it with. His hands were shaking. They hadn’t done that for a long time, not since…
He closed his eyes as the memory filled his head. Marie’s face, her cries, the explosions.
He ripped the top off the bottle and it fell to the floor. He drank the liquid down as if it were life-giving fluid.
*
‘You need to know, child, that your friend, he is in a better place now. A place where there is no fighting, no guns, no evil people, only perfect peace,’
