Chapter 29 #2
“Hello, Dad.” Sammy’s voice is next to fill the helmet. “Don’t panic. I’m going to be fine.
“Miss Lovie has helped me with a few things. These helmets will show you all what my head is like. While you will still be able to navigate what’s before you. You will also have a view to your right of where I am and what’s happening.”
I glance to my right in the helmet and it’s like I’m in a video game. There is a view of a little box that says feed loading. However, I can still see out of the windscreen at what’s before me. I get to my bike and throw my leg over it, then push the button to bring the engine to life.
I note the helmet informs me that it has connected to my motorcycle’s Bluetooth. A speedometer appears as well. In the left corner is a GSP-like map and the time until my arrival at my destination. I want to roar as it says I’m nearly twenty-five minutes away.
“You will not make it to me in time to help, but I don’t need you. Mom, Dad, this is what I need you to see for yourselves. Uncle Uri and Auntie Val already understand what I’m capable of, but they have never seen it in real live action.
“Tonight, everyone will see and know. You guys need to understand for yourselves who I really am. You need to see why I will not fail.
“They have come to kill me, but they will be the only ones taking their last breath tonight. I am not only my father’s son. I will be my own man.”
The feed comes to life on the right side of my vision. I nearly growl. I swerve on my bike as I lose focus for a moment. This is fucking unreal.
Tasha
My heart is racing as I ride as fast and hard as I can. LaSalle has taken off ahead of us all. Uri and Val are behind me, and I believe Dylan and Jamie are driving behind them somewhere.
To be honest, I can’t focus on any of that. This helmet has my mind spinning. Sammy says this is what his head is like. Oh my God, this is insane.
While I’m trying to ride and reach my son without crashing into something or someone, I have the GPS in front of me on the left. On my right, there is now a feed showing me what’s going on where he is.
A horn blares as I run a light and I do almost get clipped. I gasp inside my helmet and try to focus on the road before me. LaSalle is way ahead now.
This time I do stop impatiently for the light. As I wait, I glance at the feed on the right side of my vision. Sammy rolls out of an elevator into what looks like an underground parking garage. He’s on the hoverboard I gave him for his birthday.
“Is that what he’s been carrying around in that duffel bag?” I mutter to myself.
Right away, I notice there’s something odd about Sammy’s posture while on the hoverboard. It’s like he’s mounted it at a strange angle or something. He’s also a bit slouched and he has Czar’s gray peacoat on over his shoulders as they’re slumped.
My brother and Maldonado step out of the elevator after Sammy, looking vigilant but calm. The feed focuses solely on my son. I note that he’s wearing sneakers.
Sammy is probably the only eleven-year-old I know who owns more dress shoes than sneakers and play shoes. When he left this morning, he was in a pair of black square-cap-toed oxfords. I know this because I whistled and teased him about how sharp he looked.
The smile on his face was so adorable and handsome as he fell into mocking the mannerisms he picked up from the Blacks—Ryan Black specifically—and began to preen and show off his fit.
I laughed so hard while holding my belly and thinking about how much he’s growing up.
I knit my brows, wondering what’s going on.
A horn behind me honks as I remain at the light, distracted by what I’m watching. I curse and pull off, gunning the bike once again. I’m trying to keep my focus on the road, but it’s hard.
With each passing moment, I’m starting to understand what it is like to live in Sammy’s head. No wonder some days he can’t give anyone his focus. I’m so overstimulated right now.
However, knowing my son is in danger, I focus and push forward to his location. He has said we’re not going to make it in time, but I will do everything in my power to get there to cover him. Even if that means breaking every single traffic law there is.
In this moment, I wish I had ridden on the back of LaSalle’s bike. We had thought it would be fun to ride side by side for our date night. It’s something we haven’t done in a while.
Now I regret the decision wholeheartedly. When sound fills my helmet from the live feed coming in, I regret it even more. My heart is pounding and I think I might lose my mind.
“Hey, buddy, you should be careful riding on that thing in here.” A male voice fills my ears.
“I’m not your buddy and you’re the one who should be careful who you talk to,” Sammy replies.
“What did you say to me?” The guy seethes.
“I said you should be careful with me; clean your ears out while you’re at it.”
“Come here, you little son of a bitch. I’m going to kill you.”
“Neither one of my mothers is a bitch, but the one who birthed you will sob over your dead body. I promise.
Then Sammy says. “Miss Lovie, my theme music, please.”
“Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes begins to play, filling the helmet and adding another layer of stimulation. Sammy starts to hum the song to himself. It’s all happening so fast, yet in what seems like slow motion.
I come to another stop behind the truck in front of me just as Sammy flings Czar’s peacoat off, revealing his shoulder holster with two pistols. I snort because the guns look like toys with the Spider-Man Cerakote they were customized with. However, I know better.
Those are no water guns. My mouth falls open as the guy already has a knife out as he slashes at Sammy. Sammy ducks away as the guy keeps coming at him.
Suddenly, gunfire can be heard around them.
However, what has me frozen in shock is my son.
He glides back a bit, then dips back like a scene out of The Matrix and reaches under the hoverboard, grabbing a Mini Draco out of thin air.
When Sammy rights himself on the board, he guns down the guy who’s slashing at him.
Then he moves through the garage like a mini soldier on a mission. Moving behind cars to take cover, then putting down the others who have guns drawn as they try to get to him.
I can’t do this. I have to pull over. I’m going to get myself killed trying to ride and watch this.
I blink back tears as the view switches and I see that my brother and Maldonado are covering Sammy, but Sammy is handling the situation like a beast. The two of them must have been the gunfire I heard earlier.
My tight chest loosens a bit as I can see with my own two eyes that my brother is there to protect my baby. Knowing this is how it is in Sammy’s head while he does this has me in more awe of the child.
Tires screech and an SUV filled with more men appears. Sammy hops off the hoverboard and moves on foot to fill the front of the SUV with holes. The driver doesn’t even make it out of the vehicle.
He’s slumped over the steering wheel as a few of the others do make it out and scatter. Sammy runs to take cover. However, he’s not done.
He lies flat on his stomach and takes two out by the ankles. Maldonado gets to them and makes sure to finish the job. My baby then lifts to his feet and boxes the last two in.
One seems to run out of ammo at the same time Sammy does. Sammy tosses the Draco and pulls his Glocks. The two don’t give up though.
They start to move through the garage, trying to take cover.
That’s when I realize one is out of ammunition, while the other has a jammed gun, frantically trying to clear it as he runs.
One of them shouts something and they split up.
Sammy follows the one to his left—the gunman who ran out of bullets.
Shooting right through the windshield of an SUV, he hits the guy in the head. He then turns to take out the other one. In two steps, he sends a bullet through that one’s head too.
I’m in tears as I pump my fist. However, my joy is short-lived as a guy crawls from behind one of the cars.
He stands and aims right at Sammy, but Czar and Maldonado don’t see him.
That’s when my husband rips into the garage on his bike with his gun out and empties his clip into the motherfucker aiming at our son.
LaSalle climbs off his bike and tears his helmet off. Then he rushes to our son and tugs him into a tight embrace. I don’t know if I want to cheer, sob, or go crazy.
“Thanks, Dad. I saved him for you. I knew you would need that,” Sammy says.
LaSalle can do nothing but snort and shake his head. The feed goes dead, and Lovie Designs runs across the screen. That woman will never cease to amaze me.
I choke out a breath. I think I’m going to be sick. What the hell did I just watch?
“He has always been ready, Bella,” Uri’s voice enters my helmet.
I turn to see him and Val pull up. I had forgotten all about them. This is what they have been teaching our son. I couldn’t be more grateful to them in this moment.
“That’s my nephew. They wanted it. He gave them all the smoke.
“Come on, sis. Breathe. Let’s go get our boy,” Val says.
I nod my head and rev my bike before I pull off with Uri and Val following behind me. Wow, Sammy, just wow.