Chapter 3
Atlas
I grab my bag and head to my car. My destination is about twenty hours away. Flying would be ideal but I do not want a record of me going there. As it is, I will be taking all back roads to avoid cameras and if the car is caught on camera the plates are cloned. The real owner of the plates is about 90 years old and lives in an assisted living facility. I’d love to see them try to pin anything on him. I get in the car, put the baseball cap and shades on, and head towards my destination. I left my main phone at home because I know Jabarri can trace it but I have my calls forwarded to my secure phone. I have made sure it is untraceable and untrackable. I have a tight timetable to get there, get the information I need, and get back here, so there will be no sleep.
I finally have the name I have spent the last thirty years trying to get. I am exhausted but it was worth the forty-hour drive there and back. He really thought trying to reach me through my humanity was gonna work. Did he really think I would care that he is a grandfather? My parents will never get the chance to be grandparents. I gutted his ass just like his bitch ass deserved, but before he died he whispered the name of the man who I truly want. As soon as I get home I can try to find everything I can on Victor Sanchez.
I take the truck to the chop shop to be broken into pieces and either destroyed or sold and walk a couple of blocks over to my car and drive home. I head directly to my room to shower. I changed clothes and burned them at the garage but I need a long hot shower to clear my head of everything I had to do these past couple of days.
I look in the mirror at the scar that runs across my entire face and I can still feel the blade as it splits my face open. I wasn’t expected to live but I did out of sheer hate and determination. I shower until the water turns cold and I still stand there, waiting but I don’t know what for. I eventually turn the water off and get out. I towel dry my hair and wrap a towel around my waist and sit at my desk. I open my laptop and put the name Victor Sanchez in. He is a business owner of a real estate company of all things, is not married, and has no kids listed for him. He has a mansion….am I reading this right? He's in Texas? This whole time he’s been two states over? I want to be angry by this revelation but how can I. I could have walked right past him and I wouldn’t have known.
All I remember is the fear in their voices when they talked about him. Even at that age I knew he was the boss, he was calling the shots. It has taken years to finally get high enough to get his name and now not only do I have his name I have a picture and his address. He is an average-looking black man? But no he’s not just black he is definitely mixed with another race but I cannot pinpoint what that may be.
After all these years I am finally going to finish this, I am going to fulfill the promise I made to my father. But this has to be planned just right. It has to be a surgical strike, get in, kill him and get back out without a trace. I need to take my time, research, do some reconnaissance, and when I feel the time is right….strike. Every instinct I have is telling me to go to Texas right now and kill his ass, but I’d probably get killed trying something so reckless. He is undoubtedly very protected, well I know what I’ll be doing the next few weekends. I grab my go kit and pull out an ID and the credit card that goes with the name so that I can find a place to rent while I am getting intel on Victor. I continue researching this bastard until I hear a knock on the door.
“Yeah!” I yell.
The door opens and in walks my favorite person, Savvy.
“Hey sis,”I say to her.
“You didn’t come down for dinner and I wanted to make sure you were ok,” she says as she strolls further into the room.
Looking out the window and seeing the sun has risen and set, lets me know I’ve been sitting in front of the computer for hours. Putting the computer to sleep, I go into my walk-in closet and grab some sweatpants and a tee-shirt, and put them on. I come out to see she has brought me dinner.
“Sit down and keep me company,” I tell her.
She sits down on the sofa next to me as I begin eating the meal she brought to me.
“What’s going on Atlas?”
“What do you mean Savvy,” I ask like I do not know what she is talking about.
“Don’t do that Atlas. I thought we were closer than that.” Savvy says with hurt in her eyes.
“We are Savannah, but you are not going to have Joshua coming after me. There is only one man I know for sure who can beat me and that is your husband.”
She just sits there looking at me, “I love you,” she says softly,
“I love you too.”
“Please ask for help when the time comes.”
“I will not make that promise Savvy, I wouldn’t know what to do if something were to happen to one of my brothers because of what I am into,” I tell her.
“Atlas, your brothers would bring an ice storm to hell if you needed them to,” she reminds me.
“I know that,” I say.
“Well at least promise me that you will keep the option open, please.”
“For you, I will Savvy.”
She stands to take my plate and I grab her up in a hug and of course, right at that moment, Jag walks in. “Atlas get your hands off my wife you fucker.”
I pull Savannah even closer, “she doesn’t seem to want to let go of me,” I say to him. “Stop it Atlas,” Savvy laughs as she wiggles out of my arms and goes into Jag's arms as she grabs my plate and walks out the room.
“Don’t break her heart, Atlas,” he says and walks away after his wife.
I go to bed with my plan firmly in place.