26
Mecca
“Take us to Jackson Regional,” I instructed Marshawn. I was not taking Tash to that dump my cousin recovered in. I had considered upgrading Rayland to a better hospital, but he had been right where he needed to be.
“I’m okay, Mecca. I don’t need to go to the hospital.” Tash said, lifting her head from my shoulder.
“No. You’re not. I should have gotten you the fuck away from there the moment you started working for me.”
Most of the men that worked for me chose to live on or near the territory they ran. Although they preferred to stay close to where they worked, I made sure they had their own places.
Some wanted to get away from their families, and others wanted to upgrade their families. They all wanted better, and although slinging dope wasn’t a moral career path, it was all some of us had.
“I’ll get you your own place after you’re discharged from this hospital. And you will be going to boot camp. You have to know how to protect yourself,” I briefed, attempting a stern voice, but too emotional to pull it off.
I called it boot camp, but over the years, I had invested in a facility of my own with only top notch trainers like former military and former special forces types who ate, slept, and breathed effective survival and evasion methods.
My heart was hurting for Tash. No one would know my true level of despair because I had learned to suppress my emotions. They usually reemerged as anger.
“Okay,” Tash replied without protest. She didn’t know it, but she was on my shortlist of people I would go to hell for like my cousin, Desiree, and now my husband, who was probably going to kill me for pulling a stunt like this one.
There was no doubt in my mind, the extra fire power I spotted earlier was coming from men he had sent. He may have even been one of them.
Once I had Tash checked in to one of the best rooms in the hospital, I requested a private talk with her doctor.
“Doctor, this is a rather unorthodox thing to ask, but I’m asking that you not discharge her until I find her someplace else to live. I’ll pay whatever it will cost to keep her here longer.”
“Of course, Mrs. Vallin. I won’t know how extensive her injuries are until we run tests, but at a glance, I can see that she’s been beaten and possibly sexually assaulted. I think we should get a therapist to speak with her as well. How long are you thinking?”
“Thank you. I’m thinking a few weeks, until I can straighten a few things out. A therapist could do her a lot of good. She won’t listen to me.”
After I finished up with the doctor, the waiting room became my hang out spot while they worked on Tash. I needed to see her again before I left, to let her know that I would be there for her, especially after what she went through.
My buzzing disposable alerted that a text had come in.
“6”was the number that appeared and made up the whole text. It was Angel letting me know that six members of the Haitian crew were already dead. Knowing those two, no one would notice them missing until they stopped showing up.
Their bodies were never going to be found. If Angel and Devil weren’t injured or killed in the act, they weren’t getting caught. I had that much confidence in them because they had blessed me with some of their training.
Devil had taught me how to handle knives like an expert. Angel taught me everything I needed to know about guns and how to use and clean them properly. Because of those two, I had learned to kill with precision at a distance and with sharp intensity, up close and personal. My own crew didn’t know the level of effort I had put into arming myself with tactical knowledge and survival skills.
I rapped softly against Tash’s door, my knuckles barely connecting before stepping in. The IV taped to the back her hand was attached to a beeping machine that pushed clear liquids into her.
“Hey, Tash,” I said, stepping closer to the head of her bed. She looked like a little kid, no more than twelve. Thin, but strong. Angry blue and black bruises and scratches marred her neck and decorated her body. They had dressed her in one of those blue hospital gowns that swallowed her.
“They said they want to keep me, but I’m okay. I don’t need to stay here.”
I took her small hand, which was trembling despite the determination set in her expression. “I want you to stay here, Tash. Let these doctors and nurses do their job and take care of you. You’ve been through a traumatic experience. You may not feel it now, but once the realization of all you’ve been through comes to light in your head, trust me, you’re going to want to be here.”
I reached into my purse, took out a disposable, and handed it to her.
“If you need me, call me. I may not be able to make it right away, but if I say I’m coming, I’ll be here.”
“I know. I knew that if you found out the Haitians had me, that you or someone would come. You are the only person that has ever had my back. That’s why I wanted to work for you. You care if I live or die. You risked your life…”
Her eyes flooded with tears, and although she fought to keep them hidden, a rush of emotions shook her body.
“You risked your life to come and get me. No one, not even my own mother, has done anything like that for me before.”