Cougars (31 page)

“Oh fuck!” Travis hollered out. He quickly turned and hauled ass as fast as he could before the dogs reached him. Travis continued on, but only made it to the end of the street before collapsing from a combination of blood loss, pain and exhaustion.

Moments later, Travis was surrounded by police officers. Once he was handcuffed, he was yanked to his feet when he saw Lauren approaching him. Travis smiled smugly as if none of what was happening was of real concern. When Lauren got within striking distance, she punched him in the face.

“That's for trying to kill my sister, you sick bastard! You're lucky she didn't die because if she had, I'd put a bullet between your eyes!”

“She's alive? That means it worked.” A deranged expression formed on Travis' face. Lauren felt as if her message had not gotten
through his thick skull, so she kicked him in the balls to drive her point home.

“Fuck you, too, bitch. This is police brutality. My rights have been violated.” Travis argued as he coughed and gasped for air.

Lauren ignored him and began reading him his Miranda Rights. “Travis Adams, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you.”

“I don't have a damn thing to say!” Travis glared at Lauren with arrogance and superiority as he was marched over to an emergency medical team who had just arrived for treatment.

T
RAVIS
WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY and driven to the police station where he was placed in an interrogation room. A short time later Lauren entered with another agent and sat down on the opposite side of the table.

“I don't have to tell you why you're here. You already know what this is about, am I correct, Travis?”

“I'm not saying a word without a lawyer,” Travis answered insolently.

“Travis, the evidence found in the car you were driving will pretty much serve as the nails in your coffin. Why don't you make it easier on yourself and tell us how and who helped you distribute the drugs.”

“I'm not saying anything until my attorney is here and a deal can be made.” Travis stared directly into Lauren's eyes.

“Fine. We'll wait for your legal counsel to arrive. But answer this one question for me. Why did you do Jasmine that way?” Lauren had to know.

Travis squirmed around in his seat and tilted his head upward trying to decide if he should answer the question.

“Tell you what. Off the record, tell me why?” Lauren gave him another option.

Travis met her gaze once again. As he stared at her, he thought about how brilliant he was. Then his mind split and the psychopathic spirit within took full control.

“What's wrong with you? Why do you suddenly look like an insane lunatic?”

“I'm perfectly fine, Lauren.” Travis inhaled deeply, then exhaled loudly as if he were taking in air for the very first time. “In fact, I've never felt better.”

“Then answer my question.”

Travis laughed and then said, “It was for the good of science. It was a necessary evil. Besides, she tried to control me and keep me from fulfilling my destiny…I couldn't have that.”

Three days after she'd been poisoned, Jasmine was at home and feeling much better. The toxins were now out of her system and thankfully, the test results from the blood, which was drawn before she was released, had come back normal. The attending physician explained to her how fortunate she was to still be alive because she could've easily gone into cardiac arrest.

Tiffany and Millie had both taken time out of their busy schedules to visit with her and nurse her back to good health. They'd cleaned up her house, cooked for her and done anything else which needed to be taken care of.

They were now all sitting on lawn chairs in Jasmine's backyard enjoying the beautiful warm day and drinking sun tea.

“I still can't believe that psychopath almost poisoned you to death,” Millie said as she tried to comprehend Travis's madness.

“I just feel so stupid right now,” Jasmine admitted. “I was his fool. I tried not to be but I was. I didn't want to think that he could stoop so low. He seemed so sincere and I believed in him. I'm still having a difficult time wrapping my mind around why he allowed himself to go down the road of madness.”

“Because he was a crazy motherfucker, that's why.” Tiffany chimed in. “He thought he was above the law and couldn't get caught.”

“Hello, ladies,” Lauren greeted everyone as she stepped through the sliding-glass patio door.

“Come here and let me give you another hug,” Jasmine requested. Lauren approached her, leaned over and hugged her sister. “I love you so much.” Jasmine started crying.

“I know,” Lauren answered.

When Jasmine finally let her go, she noticed that both Millie and Tiffany were teary eyed. “I love you guys, too,” Jasmine said.

There was a long moment of silence before Millie broke it. “So how's the investigation going?”

“It's not pretty.” Lauren exhaled as she sat down.

“Not to change the subject here, but how did the probe into your case-fixing allegations turn out? Well, obviously it turned out fine; you're still a judge but what was that about?” Lauren asked.

“Honey, that's a long story for another day but the short of it is this: Another female judge who I didn't get along with started all of the bull. Apparently she used to date the young intern I was having an affair with. He broke up with her just before he started dating me. You can pretty much fill in the blanks on why she tried to ruin my name,” Millie explained. “Then there was the issue of my husband and his affair and oh, it was just one big mess. How-ever, I'm happy to be divorced, single and available.”

“Vindictive women. Ugh, they make my stomach turn.” Tiffany scowled.

“So you're not seeing anyone right now?” Jasmine asked.

“No. After my husband and lover had a fistfight on the front lawn, that incident was pretty much the nail in the coffin on both relationships.”

“I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you like I should've been,” Jasmine said.

“Don't do that. There was nothing you could've done. That's behind me now and I want it to stay there,” said Millie.

“Do you want to know what's going on with Travis?” Lauren asked.

“Yes. I want to know,” answered Jasmine.

“We all want to know,” Tiffany chimed in.

“Travis had all of his research documentation in his possession when he was arrested. He also had nearly a quarter of a million dollars stuffed in a suitcase. It is clear that the drug is something he designed and sold. He says that drug kingpin Hatcher McKean is responsible for distributing Cougars. When we apprehended Travis, he was on his way to meet up with Hatcher in order to save his friend Alex's life.”

“Why would he poison the hell out of Jasmine but try to save his boy? That sounds crazy,” Millie said perplexed.

“There is no rhyme or reason to Travis's actions. He was ambitious and arrogant that caused him to blindly jump into the ring and wrestle with the devil. Needless to say, he lost the battle.”

“So how's Alex mixed up in all of this?” Jasmine asked.

“That's the really tragic part. Alex had a gambling problem and got into debt with Hatcher. In order to repay him, Alex flew cargo, money, or whatever for Hatcher.”

“So has Alex been arrested, too?” Tiffany asked.

“No. Alex is dead.”

Jasmine gasped. “What?” She didn't believe what she was hearing.

“Yeah. Another unit found his remains in an airport hangar. He was tortured to death,” Lauren explained.

Jasmine felt sorrowful and buried her face in her hands. She took a few deep breaths. “His family must be devastated.”

“That's another bizarre thing about Alex. From what I understand, he came from a good family that had money. He didn't have to do what he did, he chose to.”

“So what about Hatcher? Has a warrant been issued for his arrest?” Millie inquired.

“We don't truly know the real identity of Hatcher McKean. Travis and his lawyer have been cooperative with sharing infor
mation but whoever Hatcher is, he's well connected and was informed about Travis's arrest. He was able to stay a step ahead of us because the makeshift lab where Cougars was being made burned to the ground. Travis gave us the location of the houseboat in Florida where he met Hatcher, but the houseboat is gone and the property itself blew up in a suspicious gas line leak. Authorities in Florida are conducting a full investigation into how that happened.”

“So Travis is going to be the fall guy for everything,” Jasmine asked, wanting to make sure he paid the price for what he'd done.

“There is a very strong case against him. Sam, the security guard where you work, has also come forward with information after he'd heard about what Travis did to you. I think he was also afraid of being implicated for his role. But we're not interested in him,” Lauren answered honestly as she reached over and placed her hand on top of her sister's.

“Don't you want to go and see the son-of-a-bitch and ask him why he tried to kill you?” Millie asked.

“I don't care if that asshole rots in his prison cell, so I definitely don't want to see him. I'm just as pissed off with him, as I am myself. I should've known better. I should've seen the signs but I put blinders on and chose to see what I wanted to.”

“Well, I asked him why when I was interrogating him,” said Lauren.

“What was his response?” asked Millie.

“He said it was your fault, Jasmine,” Lauren answered.

“My fault? How am I responsible for all of this?” Jasmine couldn't believe Travis had said that.

“He says that you deceived him. He is very angry and bitter about your role in shelving his experiments. So he wanted to get even with you and prove a point,” Lauren explained.

“The experiments were failures. He created poison and he knows that. For Christ's sake, Cougars has killed people. That's not science, that's madness.” Jasmine growled and clenched her teeth. “If I could shoot that bastard and get away with it, I would.”

“Okay, let's change the subject,” Tiffany blurted. “What we need to do is celebrate the fact that we're all here together. We need to be thankful because this situation could've turned out worse.”

“Amen to that, Tiffany,” Jasmine supported her position. “We should celebrate the fact that this isn't
my
damn funeral. Travis Adams is a chapter in my past. Like Millie, I'm flipping the page because I know the best is yet to come.”

National bestselling and award-winning author Earl Sewell has written twelve novels including
Have Mercy, The Good Got to Suffer with the Bad, Through Thick and Thin, The Flip Side of Money, When Push Comes to Shove, Keysha's Drama, If I Were Your Boyfriend, Lesson Learned, Love Lies and Scandal,
and his debut title
Taken For Granted
, which was originally self-published through his own publishing company, Katie Books. His work has also appeared in four separate anthologies including
On the Line, Whispers Between the Sheets, Sistergirls.com
and
Afterhours: A Collection of Erotic Writing by Black Men
. He has written numerous romantic short stories for
Black Romance
magazine and has been featured in
Black Issues Book Review
and
Upscale
magazine. Recently the African American Arts Alliance presented Sewell an Excellence Award for outstanding achievement in literature for his novel
The Flip Side of Money
. He is also the founder of a travel agency, Earl Sewell's Travel Network, (
www.earlsewellstravelnetwork.com
). In addition Earl is a lifelong athlete who has completed several marathons and triathlons. Earl lives in South Holland, Illinois with his family. To learn more about Earl Sewell, visit his websites at
www.earlsewell.com
,
www.aabookclubs.ning.com
and
www.myspace.com/earlsewell

IF YOU ENJOYED “COUGARS,” PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS EXCERPT FROM

H
AVE
M
ERCY

BY
EARL SEWELL

A
VAILABLE
FROM S
TREBOR
B
OOKS

CHAPTER 3 MARSHALL