16. Alisha “Kitty” Quinn
ALISHA “KITTY” QUINN
The insurance company issued me a cheque and called to figure out where to send it. Since I had no home, I figured having it go to Sam’s place was a good idea. They told me how much it would be, but I wouldn’t get too excited until I received it and it cleared through my bank account.
After discussing it with Exodus, he had to go meet with his team about his upcoming scheduled.
I decided I’d buy some new clothes and products for my hair.
While he wasn’t impressed with me roaming around Toronto without him, he gave in after I kissed him and promised I’d be careful.
“I know I can’t keep you locked away in a bubble.” He held onto my hand as Sam walked by us, jangling his keys. “Be careful, okay?”
“I will.”
In different cars, we left the front yard.
On the ride, I transferred payment for my car to the mechanic and to have them tow the car Sam’s place. I looked at the remaining balance in my savings account and wanted to cry.
Still, I swallowed my sadness, pushed a smile to my face and wound up my window as the car was getting cold.
I didn’t buy anything expensive.
My hair products were costing more now, but I sucked it up as I remembered it was cheaper than going to the salon.
Doing the washing and treating myself was something that would save me money and the products would last me a little while.
“Sam, can you reach that bottle?” I asked, pointing at the white bottle with the bright orange lettering.
He did and handed it to me.
“I’ve never seen you like this with anyone.” Sam spoke on the other side of the aisle, reading the label on a deodorant bottle.
“Like this? Explain yourself.”
He chuckled.
“Girlie.” He dropped the bottle in our cart then stood. “You’re always so—I don’t know—independent.”
“I’m still independent.” I walked slowly beside him toward the lotions. “It’s just…I don’t know. Exodus makes me blush—and it’s not just because we’ve slept together. He makes me feel, different and that’s good.”
After picking up my favourite lotion, we made our way into the makeup section for me to select a small palette of eye shadow, an eyeliner pencil and an actual tube of lipstick. Instead of going for the typical red, I selected a purple color that fit my skin tone and so pretty I wanted to eat it.
“I think you’re falling for the Yin.” Sam chuckled.
“He didn’t make it hard.”’
“Bùyào liǎn!” Sam laughed out loud. “You’re not even going to try hiding it?”
I smirked after a shrug.
“Why? Y’all knew this was happening.” I told him. “And what does that mean?”
“Bùyào liǎn?”
I nodded.
“Shameless.” Sam laughed.
“Boy!”
We both laughed.
We were wandering toward the cashier when a man entered and immediately began looking around. I could have shrugged it off as just another shopper until he shifted exposing a silver gun in the waist of his pants.
“We have company.” I told Sam. “There.”
“Well, shit.” He muttered already pulling out his phone. “Evasive maneuvers.”
Unable to get who he was trying to call, he shifted his body, blocking me from the man now searching around the front area.
We walked as normally as we could toward the cashiers. Deviating now would draw attention to us and that was the last thing we needed.
We stood in line, my heart hammering, praying we wouldn’t be found out. We paid and was almost to Sam’s car when someone shouted. Glancing over a shoulder, another man was running toward us at full speed.
Quickly, I rolled our cart toward Sam’s car as he hefted the remote to unlock it. While I dumped our purchases into the trunk, Sam stopped to deal with the man coming toward us. I finished and shoved the cart out of the way, slammed the trunk and rushed back to help Sam.
The man grabbed for me, but I kicked him in the crotch once, twice, three times in rapid succession. As he slumped to his knees, Sam roundhouse kicked him to the side of the head, and he slammed into the asphalt.
“Well, damn, brother!” I exclaimed never knowing Sam was capable of that.
“We can talk about how sexy you find me later.” He teased. “Let’s move!”
Quickly, he grabbed my arm, and we tore to the car, got in and he sped out of the lot before I was even in my seatbelt.
But not long afterward, a blue Honda could be seen cutting through traffic towards us. It didn’t take a genius to know what was happening.
Sam called Bambam.
She was angry—when she found out what was happening and in no time at all she had the pursuing car on her screen through street cameras.
“Keep coming.” Bambam told us.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, nervously while glancing behind us.
“Do you really wanna know?” Bambam asked.
She was right—I didn’t want to know.
Plausible deniability.
“Hang a right at the next light, Sam-ma-boy.” Bambam told him.
“Roger.” Sam replied, twisting the steering wheel violently.
Another car narrowly missed ours and I screamed.
The other driver honked at us. But we didn’t slow down—we hadn’t crashed into them so all was fine.
“Two stops ahead, left—” Bambam continued.
I hung on for dear life.
As we made a left, the blue Honda overtook a truck, cut it off to make the left turn and narrowly missed taking out a garbage bin on the sidewalk.
Just as we cleared another intersection, I looked back in time to watch in horror as a truck slammed into the side of the chasing car.
“You can stop now.” Bambam told us.
“What? Shouldn’t you call the cops or something?” I demanded as Sam pulled to the side of the road.
“I didn’t tell you.” Bambam’s face appeared on the screen in the dashboard. “I sent the Yang. And right now, he is not happy.”
Glancing back, I began unclipping my seatbelt as Yang climbed from the truck. He made his way toward the damaged car. Sam and I scrambled from our vehicle and jogged back.
The car that was chasing us looked as though it had gone through some kind of machine to crush it. Yang’s truck didn’t have so much as a scratch.
“Is he dead?” I asked, craning my neck to try seeing the driver.
“Not yet.” Yang growled. “He might just need a doctor but I’m not a magician.”
He pressed his phone to his ear.
“Bam?” He greeted the hacker. “Release the emergency calls. This fool is going to need the jaws of life.”
He hung up.
It took a while for fire fighters to cut the man from his vehicle. By then Squirrel and Yin had shown up. Yin checked on Yang then on me and Sam then turned his rage to the man who’d been following us.
“He’s dead.” A firefighter told Squirrel. “But we have to take him in for a doctor to call it.”
Yang also confirmed the man was dead and by this time, I felt nothing for another Maroon losing his life.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, I guess.
Exodus ensured Sam was okay before letting him go home with Yang and Squirrel. And instead of taking me back, he brought me to a secluded stretch of beach on the lake.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I stared out at the horizon, afraid of how okay I felt at that man’s death. The only thing I felt was anger that he’d put San and Yang in danger and there was nothing I could have done to protect them.
“What’s on your mind?” Exodus stood beside me.
“I’m thinking it doesn’t matter why my father wants me dead.” I swallowed. “We have to stop him before he hurts anyone in your family.”
“There’s no proof he wants you dead.”
“And at this point, does it really matter?” I snapped. “He keeps sending these people after me.”
“And he’s failed every time.”
“For how long?” I demanded. “Any dog can get lucky. This time, Sam was in the car. Not to mention you know Sam’s like a dog with a bone when it comes to his friends and You—Yang—what if they went after Mama Tan? I don’t think I have to tell you they won’t stop.”
He said nothing.
That pissed me off, but I merely looked out at the water again.
“They won’t stop and we aren’t getting any closer to finding him.”
Silence.
“What if we get him to come to us?” I had an idea.
“I’m going to regret this, but, I’ll bite.”
“Use me as bait.”
“No.” Exodus growled.
“That’s cute, but I’m not asking for your permission.” I folded my arms across my chest. “What other choice do we have?”
“It’s dangerous!”
“How dangerous? More than getting killed in a car accident because some fucker is chasing after us?” I demanded. “If I’m going to die, it’s gonna happen whether or not I play bait.”
Yin looked away from me.
My heart softened at the hurt in his eyes before he turned his head from me.
“Look, I shouldn’t have said that.”
He remained silently.
Feeling terrible, I stepped around him, forcing him to look into my face.
“I have Bambam, Yang, Squirrel, Sam, Tha’lab—you. You, especially, would never let anything happen to me.”
I took his hand, stepping in closer. Drawing his arms around me, I rested his palms on my ass and draped my arms around his neck.
“I can’t go back to my life if he’s not caught.” I pushed. “And we can either keep being so many steps behind him until he catches a lucky break, or we could take this in our own hands and kick his ass. Baby, I know you don’t like this idea. I don’t either. But what other choice do we really have?”
Exodus’ large body deflated and he took the moment to kiss my lips then pressed his forehead to the bridge of my nose. I allowed him to embrace me, holding onto me as if the word was ending or a wave would swoop in and take me away from him.
I held him tighter—as tight as his larger body would allow until he sighed and released me.
“I really don’t like this idea, Kitty.” He met my gaze. “But you’re right. What other choice do we have?”
I pressed my lips into a thin line and lifted my chin in determination.
“I want my life back, Ex. I miss my students and my work.”
True to form, when we told the others about the plan, none of them were happy with it. Squirrel was the first to voice his concern followed by Yang and Mama Tan who had driven down to visit with a trunk full of food and snacks she’d made for us.
And while they were hesitant, they understood this had to be done.
As usual, they planned things out but left ways out for emergencies and situations that could go wrong that none of us thought about.