No Such Thing as a Lost Cause (32 page)

Sherese stole a glance at me, and I could feel the pain in her dark, pleading eyes.
It pushed the fear out of my own. My heart beat slowed, and an unnatural calm washed
over me as my brain clicked into survival mode. No. Warrior mode.

I took quick note of the enemy. He was shorter than I’d envisioned, about five foot
nine, with hair that hung in thick dreads and draped over one eye like a curtain.
The hand that held the gun was large and sported long, dirty fingernails. He opened
his mouth and smiled wide showing a missing front tooth. All in all, he was quite
the catch for some lucky girl.

My eyes swept the room in search of something I could use as a weapon. The coffee
table that once held a week’s worth of dishes and cutlery was maddeningly empty. Sherese
couldn’t have picked a worse time to go become a model housekeeper.

I tucked my left hand into my right to hide the Clear Knuckles and forced myself to
return his smile. “Mr. Harwinton? Or may I call you Torch. Actually, I was hoping
to run into you.”

His smile faltered. “Is that so?”

My voice held steady betraying no emotion. It seemed to throw him off-balance. “Well,
we’re running in the same circles lately. Mario Lewis, Calvin Doyle. And I’m pretty
sure you’re the one who’s been taking pot shots at me. I thought it would be nice
to have some face time. Get to know each other better. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Yeah?” he asked, amused. “Like what?”

“Wade Stoller for starters. You’ve been working for him, right? He hired you to kill
me and make it look like the gang did it, didn’t he? The only thing I don’t get is
why.”

“Cause you a nosy bitch is why. You need to learn to mind your own business.”

Funny, he wasn’t the first to point that out to me.

“So,” I said, ignoring his excellent advice, “Let’s see if I got this straight. Stoller
was using his dog sniffing business to help smuggle drugs into the country. He hired
you and your friends to distribute the drugs. But Mario fucked up. So, he asked you
to get rid of the mess. Only, Cal told him he’d left evidence behind, so he sent you
to look for it. But you haven’t been able to find anything.”

“Not yet I haven’t. I need for Sherese to cooperate.” He puckered his lips and leaned
into her, and laid a slobbering kiss on her mouth. Sherese recoiled, as the tears
she had kept in check now streamed down her face.

“That’s right, Baby,” Harwinton crooned. “You give me what I want, and I’ll give you
what you want.”

Wow, this guy had a tough time reading social cues. Sherese was clearly not enjoying
his overtures, romantic or otherwise.

My bravado was beginning to wane and my legs were on the verge of collapse. We needed
to buy some time, so I decided to take a gamble.

“Okay,” I bluffed and prayed Sherese would go along with it. “Maybe Cal did leave
something at the house. Something that could put Stoller away for life. But, if we
gave it to you, how do we know you wouldn’t kill us anyway?”

Harwinton’s face contorted into a cruel smile. “You don’t get it, do you, bitch? It
ain’t a question of if I’m gonna kill you. It’s a question of how you gonna die. Now,”
he pointed the pistol directly at my chest, “I could do it quick and merciful—” he
paused and stuffed the gun into his belt and, with a showman’s flair, pulled out the
blow torch— “or slow and painful.” Lovingly, he fired it up and grinned as a jet of
blue and orange flame burst from the nozzle.

Sherese’s knees buckled and she pitched forward. Harwinton caught her and yanked her
back up by her remaining strands of hair, and she whimpered like a wounded pup.

Stoller’s insane lackey shook his head, as if marveling at the peculiar nature of
man. “You know, whenever I set fire to a guy, it’s always the same. They turn into
little girls. They be wailing their heads off as the pain gets worse and worse. And
pretty soon they smell their own flesh burning, and they start making noises that
ain’t even human. It’s a beautiful thing. Like nothin’ you could ever imagine.” He
pressed his face against Sherese’s. “Cal was funny. He cried like a baby before I
even got started.’”

I felt my bowel spasm. Ever since I was a kid I’ve had an unholy fear of being burned
alive. And if I’ve learned anything over the course of the past year, it’s that nightmares
do come true.

Harwinton cranked up the flame. “Now,” he demanded. “Why don’t you show me what y’all
got?” He took some tentative steps in the direction of the bedroom.

“No!” Sherese screamed. “There ain’t nothin’ in there.”

“Really? Cause you acting like you hiding something.” He beckoned me forth with the
flame of the torch and propelled Sherese forward.

And that’s when we saw her. Sherese’s young daughter, Ayana, stood motionless in the
hallway, her eyes wide with fear.

Oh, holy mother of God. How could I have forgotten about the kids?

Harwinton shot her a chilling smile. ‘Well, what we got here?”

The little girl stood mutely rooted to the spot.

“Sherese, why don’t she speak when she’s spoken to? Seems I need to teach your girl
some manners.” We watched, horrified, as he turned the flame toward the little girl.

“Don’t you touch my baby!” With the strength only a mother protecting her child could
summon, Sherese wrenched out of Torch’s grasp and knocked the lit canister from his
hand. It sailed across the living room and landed in the corner.

“What ‘chu doin’ you crazy bitch?” Rearing back, he made a massive fist and punched
her in the stomach. Sherese flew backwards from the force of the blow and slammed
her head against the wall. Her body went limp as she slid to the floor.

I dove for Harwinton knocking him off- balance. He toppled over onto his stomach,
and I followed suit, landing squarely on his back.

“Mama!” Ayana ran to her mother and knelt down beside her, crying.

“Ayana,” I shouted. “I’ll take care of your mom. You go get your brother. Now! Take
him out the back door to Candice’s and tell her to call the police.”

I watched her run off in the direction of the bedroom and then turned my attention
to the monster I’d landed on. With little effort, he flipped onto his back and grabbed
me by the arm. I brought my leg up and kneed him in the nuts. Harwinton let loose
with a torrent of curse words and tried to work the gun out of his belt, but in his
rush, he only managed to push it farther down into his pants.

With my free arm, I landed a Clear- Knuckled blow to his chin, momentarily stunning
him. Before he could react, I slugged him again. His head bounced against the floor
and he lay there not moving.

Suddenly, I became aware of a weird, orange glow emanating from the corner of the
room.
Fuckin’ A. The drapes are on fire.

I scrambled to my knees and tried to rouse Sherese, but she was out cold. Quickly,
I grabbed her by the ankles and maneuvered her toward the front door.

As the fire steadily grew, the air became thick with smoke, infusing my lungs with
a heavy, burning sensation. I watched, terrified, as the flames spread to the couch.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. What do I do?

There was a sudden tugging around my waist. I dropped Sherese’s legs as Harwinton
dragged me to the floor and straddled me. His face was shiny with sweat, his breathing
labored, his pupils so enlarged they looked like Oreos.

His hands reached for my throat and clamped down. “You god damn cocksucking bitch,”
he rasped, tightening his hold.

I thrust my arms up between his and broke his grip on my neck. Harwinton tried to
reposition when something else caught his attention. I followed his gaze with my eyes.
The blow torch lay about a foot from my head.

“Slow and painful,” he hissed.

Simultaneously, we reached for the canister. As the fleshy part of his arm hovered
over my face, my South Philly grammar school training automatically kicked in. I bit
him. Hard. Harwinton flinched and pulled back leaving himself wide open. I reached
up and shoved my thumb directly into his eye.

Enraged, he flung out his other hand and smacked me in the mouth. It hurt like hell,
but it was just the diversion I needed. I twisted away from him and snatched the canister
off the rug and brought it up to one side of his face. I couldn’t think about the
moral aspect of what I was about to do. It was either do it or die. So I did.

His screams were everything he’d described; long, piercing, animal-like wails as his
dreads burst into flame and slapped at the blistered flesh on his face.

With frantic desperation he leaped to his feet and made a jagged run for the front
door.

Sherese began to stir. She sat up and coughed; her voice barely audible over the din
of the fire. I rushed over and stuck my arms underneath her and dragged her to her
feet.

“We have to get out of here, Sherese. Don’t talk. Here, cover your mouth with your
shirt and let me lead you.” She was too confused to argue and docilely allowed me
to lead her through the kitchen and out the side door.

Out on the street a crowd had gathered. Judging by the muted sounds of the sirens,
it would be a few minutes before the emergency vehicles arrived. I wondered, briefly,
where Torch was, but I didn’t let myself dwell on it. Wherever he was, he was a hurtin’
buckaroo.

I spied Roger and Candice King in the crowd. Candice held onto Ayana’s hand and tried
to comfort the traumatized child. An immediate and all consuming fear came over me.
Battling our way through the crowd, we reached the Kings.

I crouched eye level to the little girl. “Ayana, honey. Where’s your brother?”

Ayana began to shake all over. “I couldn’t find him. I looked and looked.”

Sherese howled and flung herself toward her rapidly disintegrating home. Roger scooped
her up holding her in his protective arms.

The fire engines were still a ways away and time was running out. If there was any
other choice, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. But there wasn’t. I raised my
eyes to heaven and thanked God for chocolate, my friends and my family and made a
dash for the side of the house.

Half way there, I heard my name. I turned and saw Nick running to catch up with me.
“Are you okay?” His face was pale; his jaw set as he silently checked me for injuries.

I nodded, barely able to speak. “The baby. He’s still in the house. I have to go.”

Before I could finish the sentence he pulled me by the arm and handed me off to one
of Sherese’s massively large neighbors. “Don’t let her near the house and there’s
a thousand bucks in it for you.” To me he stated quietly, “I’ll find him, Angel.”

“No. I can’t let you do this,” I sobbed and struggled to free my arm from the neighbor’s
grasp.

Nick gestured to the guy, who grabbed both my arms and twisted them behind my back.

“Go easy,” Nick admonished. “I expect her back in one piece.”

In less than a year’s time I had witnessed the Zen side of Nicholas Santiago, the
gritty, and the sophisticated. But as he entered the burning building I made a mental
note to add one more. Super hero.

Mere seconds had passed, but it felt like an eternity. I watched in helpless wonder
as the fire grew to seismic proportions, spewing thick black smoke from the chimney.
There was an enormous popping sound as the front window exploded spraying chunks of
glass onto the lawn. Burning embers floated from the sky and landed on my arms. Ash
got in my eyes and filled my lungs, but I barely noticed. All I could think of was
Nick.

And then, the unthinkable happened.

As I strained my eyes against the dark, smoky night, suddenly, the roof collapsed.
Candice picked up a shrieking Ayana and held her close, shielding her from the debris.
Sherese moaned into Roger’s shoulder.

“We need to get them over to our house,” Candice instructed her husband. She turned
to me, her voice gentle. “You should come, too, honey.”

“I’m fine where I am, Candice. I need to be here for when Nick comes back.”

Roger patted my shoulder. “Of course you do. We’re right across the street if you
need us.”

Rescue workers now filled the narrow street. Fire fighters leaped from their trucks,
and, in a flurry of orchestrated activity, unleashed torrents of water on the burning
building.

The captain stood on the sidewalk barking orders to his crew. He was a big man in
his late forties. I thought I recognized him from the gym. I pushed my way through
the crowd to reach him. “Captain Greco,” I read off his name plate.

“Ma’am, please step back onto the pavement. We need to keep this area clear.” He cut
me a quizzical look. “Hey, aren’t you related to Frankie Brentano?”

“He’s my uncle. Listen, there are people trapped in the house. A man and a little
boy. Please. You have to help them.”

Captain Greco gazed at the inferno and then back at me. “We’ll do everything we can,
but I’ve got to be honest with you. It doesn’t look good. I figured if you’re Frankie’s
niece you’re tough enough to handle the truth.”

Oh, for the love of God, man. Why would you think that? Lie to me!

I was on the edge of full-blown hysteria, when a deafening cheer rose up from the
crowd. A man had emerged from the side of the building. He walked slowly, as if he
bore the weight of the world, which, in a way, he did. In his arms he carried a squirmy
thirty pound package. The man was drenched in sweat and covered in soot, and he never
looked more beautiful in his life.

Ambulance workers rushed to Nick’s aid. One of the EMT’s took Sherese’s son from his
arms while the other tried to place an oxygen mask over Santiago’s’s face. He waved
them away and sank wearily to the pavement.

My heart filled to overflowing, I knelt down beside him and threw my arms around his
neck and kissed every inch of his magnificent, grimy face. “What took you so long?”
I joked to keep from bawling.

“He wouldn’t leave without this.” Nick held up the hobby horse, now blackened from
the fire.