“Would you like me to talk to her sister for you?” Dr. Ford offered.
“No, I’ll do it.” My mother wouldn’t want her sister to hear about this from a stranger. It would be the hardest conversation I’d ever had, but I owed that much to the woman I loved more than life itself.
“Rome.” I felt Denny’s hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go get some air.”
“Nah, man, I can’t leave her.” I shook my head and went back to sit by the bed. “I’ma be here with her for the next fourteen days. I ain’t going nowhere.”
“Listen, I’ve given her a fairly strong sedative. She’s going to be asleep for the remainder of the night. Why don’t you go home, get some clothes, and come back in the morning?” Dr. Ford suggested. “If anything happens, and I’m saying that’s a big if, then we’ll call you.”
“A’ight,” I said reluctantly. “But I’m coming back tonight.”
“I understand,” Dr. Ford said.
I leaned over and kissed my mother’s forehead. “I’ll be back in a little while, Mama.”
Vegas
50
While the rest of my family headed to the house, I went out to look for Johnny Brooks. He didn’t answer the number he’d called me from earlier, so I hit up some of the spots he used to hang at. No one had seen or heard from him. It was like he’d vanished, which worried me. Had KD’s people already gotten to him? I was tired and about to call it a night when he finally sent a text, telling me where to meet him.
“Lemme get a rum and Coke,” I said as I sat down at the bar at Benny’s, a spot we used to frequent back in the day. Even though it was damn near two in the morning, there was still a good number of patrons inside the dark hole-in-the-wall, shooting pool and listening to outdated music coming from an old jukebox.
Benny Jr., the bartender who also happened to be the owner, mixed my drink and placed it in front of me. He leaned over and whispered, “Why don’t you take that drink into my back room?”
“Johnny?” I asked.
He nodded, sliding a key across the bar.
I got up and walked behind the bar. The key he’d given me opened the door to the back room, where I walked in and saw Johnny sitting at a small table, nursing a bottle of Jack. I locked the door behind me.
“You drinking? I thought you stopped a couple of years ago.”
“Man, I did, but I’m dealing with some shit right now. I gotta cope. Hell, you may wanna get a refill yourself,” Johnny said, nervously shaking his head.
“Johnny, what the hell is going on?” I asked.
“I just can’t believe this. You ain’t . . . I mean, nobody would even believe this. I don’t know how to tell you.”
“I’m gonna need you to calm down and tell me what the hell is going on.” I pulled up a chair and sat at the table with him.
Johnny looked around nervously like there were people listening through the walls or something. “Man, listen. I’m in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” I folded my arms and got straight to the point. “Trouble with KD Shrugs?”
Johnny winced like even the sound of the guy’s name scared him. “Yeah, man, he’s after me and . . . and when he finds me, he–he’s gonna kill me,” Johnny stammered.
“What did you do?”
“I know too much.”
“Were you driving that fucking truck?” I grabbed his arm and forced him to look me in the eye.
He held eye contact for half a second then dropped his head, looking down at the table. “It wasn’t just that truck.”
“Damn it, Johnny. Did you kill those girls? And Lex?”
He snatched his arm away. “Hell no! I ain’t kill nobody. You know me better than that,” He sounded offended. “And I don’t know who did. Some young boys jacked me. But KD don’t care about that. He’s just gonna kill me.”
“No, he’s not.”
“Vegas, you don’t know what he’s capable of. KD is a sick man.”
Finally, we were getting somewhere. I needed Johnny to open up and give me whatever information he had on KD Shrugs. This wasn’t just about Johnny—this was about my family’s safety.
“What’s KD up to?”
“We been friends a long time, Vegas, and I know I fuck up a lot, but this . . . you . . . your family . . . you’re the only one who can help me. LC Duncan is the only motherfucker KD is afraid of, and I’m not even sure he’s afraid of him anymore.” Johnny’s face was full of terror. “I need you to promise you’ll protect me.
“You know I got your back, and my dad does too. You’re like family. Now, tell me what KD is doing.”
Johnny looked around again then leaned in and spoke in a whisper. “That sick bastard is selling girls, Vegas. He’s shipping them all over the country and making a fortune.”
“Sex trafficking?” That shit didn’t surprise me. KD Shrugs was a scumbag, for sure. But then Johnny blew my mind when he explained how much deeper it really was.
“Nah, not that. That’s his front, believe it or not. This is something way different. He’s taking them and fattening them up like pigs for slaughter. Prostitutes, working girls, runaways, especially illegals. He brings them to his place and cleans them up, feeds them good, gives them medical care and the whole nine. Makes them healthy. It’s like a fucking lab. He tests ’em and uses ’em for whatever he can. Blood, plasma, bone marrow. Rich motherfuckers with sick relatives call him, and he’ll get them what they need.
“He’s saving lives out here, but for a big-ass price and at the expense of other people’s lives. There’s a sick bastard in New York doing womb transplants. That’s one of his biggest clients. This ain’t no sex trafficking.” Johnny’s eyes were wet like he was tearing up just thinking about it. “He’s
