Chapter 2 #2
He scratches the back of his head. “Mi did hear it, but it seem like it deh pan silent. Mi try answer the last one, but mi miss it.”
I frown and reach for the phone. It’s right where I left it on the table, but the screen’s dim, and the ringer’s off.
Mi nuh put mi phone pan silent mode.
I check the settings. The ringer turned all the way down. Phone muted. Not a sound would’ve come through. This feel… off. My eyes scan the room. Everybody’s focused, pulling files, scanning footage, still trying to locate the bwoy Adonis.
Then I see her. Juaqína. Sitting in the back, eyes on her own phone. Cool. Too cool. My phone had been on the table. Right near her.
A she, enuh. Jah know.
I shake my head and check the screen again. Zara called. Five times. My stomach twists. Mi and her did done talk already… so why she a call mi so? Sup’m nuh feel right.
I press her name and call. Straight to voicemail.
Mi chest feel like a knot. “Yow,” I mutter, more to myself, and redial instantly. This time she answers, voice soft like it carry tears.
“Yes, baby.”
I exhale, only just realizing I was holding my breath. She good.
“Yuh good?” I ask, trying to stay calm.
She sighs, and mi swear mi heart stop again. “Mi a wait fi you come home,” she says softly, then pauses. “But I really called about a weird call.”
My body tenses. “Weird how?” I ask, easing down into a chair.
“A number been a call me from last night. When mi answer, dem ask fi Zara. But the voice? Altered. Like one of dem robot-sounding thing deh inna movie. Right away mi know something off, but mi play along ‘cause mi did want know why dem call.”
She takes a breath. “So mi tell dem seh Zara is mi sister and mi name Sarah. The person sound confused… like him a follow instructions from somebody else. Then him seh mi fi tell Zara seh… ‘an old friend called.’”
My jaw tightens. Smaddy wah dead?
My eyes finds Genius when he starts speaking. He’s my technician. “Yow G mi check the address weh yuh gimme and from the shooting him nuh guh deh back enuh.”
Bay foolishness a gwan.
“Mami, stay pan di phone,” I say, stepping closer to the computer. I stare at the screen while Genius explains a whole heap of code business that honestly flies over mi head. Still, I listen. Watch. Try to piece together what I can.
“Ah mek dat stay,” I mutter under my breath, trying to calm the rage bubbling inside. “Him cya hide forever.”
“Mami?” I call again.
“Yeah,” she answers, voice low and drowsy.
“Mi wah yuh give mi the number weh call yuh,” I tell her, and I hear her start shuffling around. I turn to the others in the room. They’re all paying attention now. Waiting.
“Yow, a number call har zeen, but dem alter dem voice. And the fact seh dem never private di number? That alone a say supm.”
Everyone quiets down, focused. “Like dem want har call back,” Gutta says from the side, arms folded.
My point exactly.
“But dem know seh wi can find dem easily if dem nuh hide it, so wah dem bout?” Junior asks, a little flustered.
My eyes narrow. My brain is already ten steps ahead. Too easy. And when things feel too easy, they’re usually a setup. If you don’t hide your number, and you’re smart enough to disguise your voice, then you know I can trace you. So why leave a trail?
Because you want to be found.
Sup’m still nuh right. I can feel it.
“Like dem wah yuh find dem,” Junior mutters, watching me carefully.
I don’t say anything. I just nod. One slow nod that says I already know.
Zara calls my name soft before she starts giving the number. I stay silent. Listening. Memorizing. Five minutes pass. I’m still on the phone with Zara, waiting on the technician. My fingers tap against my leg, controlled, calm. I don’t panic. I never do.
“Mi find suh’m,” Genius finally says.
I step over to him, moving fast, but quiet.
“See the address yer enuh,” he points, and my eyes land on it.
St. James.
I exhale a low laugh, but there’s no humor in it. Just confirmation. I already know. A the bwoy Adonis. Well, more like someone he’s puppeting. Zara said the voice sounded like it was taking orders.
Yah man. He wants me to know it’s him.
“Adonis a do this?” Gutta asks, shocked. “Deh man deh fi dead man.”
“Him a distract we,” I say, voice cold. “But I don’t know from what yet.”
“What’s happening?” Zara asks through the phone.
“Mi mother brother did the shooting at the funeral. We a try find him but see him call yuh and we sto—”
Dat him want we do enuh… stop.
Shift our focus. Pause the chase.
But I don’t buy it. Mi nuh feel him deh a Mobay. The voice? Yeah… that one is in Mobay. Adonis is pulling the strings from somewhere else. Someone else is just doing the talking.
Tell yuh seh yuh too smart fi this enuh Nickoi, my inner voice whispers.
I smirk. “Yow,” I say, eyes locked. “Just go back pan di thing weh wi did deh pon before. Dis idiot know seh wi on to him, and him a try fi throw wi off.”
“Nickoi,” Zara says on the phone. “Mi a go sleep now.”
“Alright, mami,” I say, still focused on the screen as I hang up.
“Still nah see nothing from the address weh yuh gimme,” Genius says.
I hiss, a thought striking sharp and quick. License plate number.
I look at Gutta. “Scar dem did drive him down?”
“Yah, him and Keno and some other man,” Gutta replies.
“Ah call dem and see if dem member or did tek the picture of him license plate,” I instruct. Gutta nods and picks up his phone.
I chug the liquor. If dem nuh have the license plate, mi woulda bend, enuh.
Just hope fi the best, no way dem wouldn’t take it when dem see seh him a get weh.
True to that.
I wait while Gutta comes back smiling. “Keno say him did take it.”
Nuh that mi wah hear, man. “Him sen yuh?” I ask, standing up as he pulls the picture up on the phone.
It’s blurry, but Genius leans in. “Google Earth mi a go use, enuh, and di drone,” he says, typing fast on the computer.
All I want is fi find him, him a hide too long.
He searches the license plate, using the drone and Google Earth track it.
“Yo, look here,” he says. I step closer.
“Yuh know seh a Spanish Town him deh… not even far from wi,” he points.
Yuh nuh see Adonis mean business.
“Respect, enuh,” I say to Genius. He nods.
Smaddy dead yah now.
“Always mi G,” he says.
I glare at the screen. “A the worst thing yuh coulda do,” I say, as the drone picks up the Voxy.
Him a head to mi mother yard, but mi a go reach him before him even get fi reach Johns Road. Trouble.
“Him nuh deh far… wah yuh seh?” Gutta asks. I pull over the ski mask. Junior and Juaqína get ready, walking out behind me.