“It’s wilder than I initially thought. If my suspicions are correct, this thing goes all the way up to the top. They’ve been experimenting on people. This sh*t so wild that once it comes to the light, a lot of folks are going to have to die because of what they know. You’re going to have some real big enemies. And so will I for being the one that uncovered this sh*t.”
“Protect my sista, I wouldn’t be surprised if they start trying to do damage control now. I’ll holla at you in a few days.” The screen went blank before my initial screen came back up.
F***!
He said a mouthful and nothing at all. What the hell did he mean, this thing went all the way to the top? What thing? He said he wouldn’t be surprised if whoever this proverbial they were, didn’t start trying to do damage control.
Is that what this recent blackout was about?
Damn! His cryptic message has left me back at the starting point. Because I didn’t know who I could trust outside of Nak and Albert, and now, as much as I hated to admit it, Rome, I was pretty much grounded until he got back to me.
However, his warning about protecting Journey and Ayana only solidified my plans. I picked up my phone and dialed Albert.
“Yeah boss…” he said into the receiver.
“I’m going to need two days to prepare everything. Stay close to them till I give you the go.”
Journey
It’s been two days since I saw or heard from Jo. Two gut wrenching, horrible days. The fact that he hasn’t called or tried to come by only solidified what I’ve come to learn about him. He didn’t care about me, all this time he was only using me. As soon as I called it off, he was out the door and hasn’t even looked back.
I expected him to at least try to come by and see Ayana. Nothing! I’ll never admit to the fact that I missed him something terrible. I missed his warm body next to me at night. I missed him always trying to talk me into doing something nasty with him. I even missed when he came up in my greenhouse and pretended to be interested in my plants.
I was suffering so bad y’all. If not for Albert, who surprisingly had been here for the last two days, I don’t think I would have made it. Poor Albert, he was missing my mother, although they talked on the phone with each other all the time. Heck, I don’t know who was more blue, him or me, which is why when he fell asleep both nights downstairs on the couch. I just covered him with a blanket instead of waking him to go home.
Truth was, I was glad he was here. He kept me distracted so that I didn’t do anything stupid, like pick up the phone and call Jo, telling him Ayana needed something just so I could see him. Plus, it allowed Albert and I to talk about some things that I couldn’t discuss in front of my mother.
The morning after the first night he slept over, he and I were sitting at the table having coffee and tea. I’d had Jo’s split personality heavy on my mind and I knew that if anybody knew what was going on with him, it would be Albert, seeing as to how Jo said the older man had practically raised him.
“Albert?” I asked as I stirred a little honey in my tea.
“Mmm?” He didn’t look up from the paper he was reading.
“Something strange happened the last time I was with Jo, and I don’t understand what I saw.”
He looked up then. “Oh yeah? What did you see?”
I took a sip of my tea. “Jo was different. Something happened to him. He changed.”
Albert chuckled. “You’re going to have to be a little more descriptive than that, little lady.”
I sat my tea cup down and looked him square in the eye. “I saw Jo fight and defeat nearly thirty men, leaving more than half of them dead. He did it in record time, moving like some kind of—of…” I searched for the right words.
“Machine! I don’t know, he was fast and strong. Deadly!” I shook my head. “I’ve never seen anything like that. Not even on TV.” Albert didn’t speak right away, so I continued.
“And you know what the crazy thing is? I haven’t seen or heard about it on any news outlets. It was like it never happened.”
I hit the table. “And Kyle! Oh, my goodness! He beat the hell out of Kyle!”
Albert chuckled. “First of all, you can forget about seeing any of Jo’s dirt on the news. His family has the best cleaners in their employ, and they’ve been cleaning up after Jo for many, many years.”
“Cleaners?”
“Yeah, fixers…they go around and tidy up crime scenes, erasing all incriminating evidence. You’ll be amazed at some of the things the very wealthy do that will never come close to the news. And as for the dweeb Kyle,” He shook his head.
“He had it coming. He better count his blessings, Jo took it easy on him.”
I held up my hand. I didn’t want to discuss Kyle. I knew that everybody around here disliked him.
“I know your opinion of Kyle. Tell me what’s going on with Jo.”
He exhaled settling back in his chair. “Jo was in the Navy for a long time.” I nodded.
“Yes, I am aware of that.”
“Our government has sent him into some real sh*t holes. And when you’re in situations like that, you have to do what you have to do to survive. I’ve seen cases where men or women have blacked out in temporary insanity to pull their way up out of the hole, having to do things that their minds cannot justify.”
He gazed down into his coffee cup remembering the horrors. “Something very similar happens to Jo, when he feels threatened or if his loved ones are threatened…” He snapped
