Saved and SAINTified (32 page)

“And who is this karmic debt paid to?” S
aint reflected on James’s dying words right after he tried to heal him.

“It is paid to our Creator and they know that they owe
  ...  and they know it won’t be pretty. They will be punished, and it will be brutal.”

“That’s all fine
and dandy. Angel Children running around wackin’ each other off for power. This is bullshit!  We’re supposed to be the good guys! What the hell happened? Never mind, I don’t even care.” He waved him off. “We’re keeping Isis,” Saint said dismissively. “We planned her, we want her. She deserves to be here. That’s
my
baby!” He pounded his finger on his chest. “I can’t even believe I’m having this jacked up conversation.”

His father smiled. “Is
that her name?”

“Yes, Isis Min Jae Aknaten.”

His father’s smile turned into a huge, toothy grin. “After your mother  ...  Min Jae,” he said softly. “I love it. What a beautiful dedication. Thank you.”

“Yes, Min Jae is her middle name.” S
aint sat up and reflected. He weighed the severity of the situation and realized he had to devise a game plan. He couldn’t simply dismiss the information as he’d intended.
Something
was going to happen, with or without him. “Dad, how do I get out of this?”

His father’s smile immediately faded
. “Saint, I’m not sure but I do have a suggestion and advice.”

“Okay, tell me.”

“Well, firstly, I would normally not advise keeping secrets from a spouse, but ... ”

“Oh, yeah.” Saint rolled his eyes. “You told Mama everything . Me? Not so much! I didn’t get a damn thing but a walk in the dark off a cliff!”

He couldn’t help it. He wanted his old man to pay. Unsatisfied as he was, he floated in a well of angry despair.

“Can we talk or not?” Osaze shouted. “Saint, I understand that you’re angry, but you...”

“You’ve put me at a handicap! Look at what’s going on now? I could’ve been ready for something like this if it wasn’t for you! Excuse me for hating your guts right now.”

And there it was. The ugly words he didn’t really mean, but wanted to say nevertheless. He was hurting, hurting so badly. He looked at the light inside of his father disappear inside him. He’d never had the gall before to say such a thing.

“Just give me a minute,” Saint asked softly, looking down, feeling beaten and wore out.

“I
t’s best Xenia not know this, at least not right now,” his father said gently after a pause.

“
On this, I agree with you. I had no intentions of telling her that some crazed cousin of mine is out to get us. Not only does it sound ridiculous, it will stress her out and she needs to stay healthy and content. You know what? I think I’ll take her on a getaway. It may be our last calm before the storm.”

“I agree. Also, I want to go to
Egypt and...”

“No, no and no!”

“Saint, yes! You don’t know them like I do. I need to meet with the family and discuss the matter. Not to mention, this is protocol. They will know soon; we must intervene
now
. I’ve been monitoring them, though some signals are blocked. They’ve made no plans to come right now. You are safe, but that may not always be the case. Time is ticking.”

S
aint shook his head.

“I have to, S
aint. Besides, Osiris and I used to be friends. Maybe he’ll remember that.”

“
So, all those visits to Egypt, you were visiting Osiris?”

“Yes, we visited many times.
I would see my family—my cousins, great aunts and the like. It was customary. The last visit for me was the final straw. Before that, many years ago when I was still a child, my father and Osiris’ father got into a terrible argument, and my father never returned after that. I went several times when you were little, as you know … and one time, when you were less than two, I took you. Osiris had just had his first son as well, your cousin, Nizsm. You two actually played together. I couldn’t afford to go there, but he always insisted I come, sending me the money to visit, saying how important family was. All the while, he was raising a tyrant.”

Saint swallowed and fidgeted with his hands.

“I went one last time, right before you were shot, to visit my aunt. She’d been sick. Osiris repeatedly tried to get me to return, but I refused. I told him what I thought of him and how he was conducting business. I haven’t been back since.”

S
aint sighed. He punched the couch, leaving a deep imprint from his fist. “Do you mind if I make a quick phone call, please?”

“No, go right ahead.”

Saint removed his cellphone from the coffee table and immediately called Lawrence.

“Lawrence, it’s S
aint.” Saint looked over at his father who had leaned back in his easy chair, crossed his ankles and closed his eyes, exhaustion clearly taking over.

“Hey bro, what’s up? You ought to see this basketball court near my house. They just revamped it and
...”

“
Lawrence, that’s great, but I have something pretty heavy to tell you so if you don’t mind.”

“Oh
yeah, what’s wrong?”

“I’m still out here with my dad, in
New York. Remember I told you how he left our house without so much as a word?”

“Yeah, you were pretty
steamed.”

“And I told you that
Xenia and I were expecting.”

“Yeah, and I told you congrats.”

“Well, you haven’t seen Xenia for a few weeks, and I don’t know if you’d even know but my father has ... he told me Xenia is carrying the next Princess of Life.”

S
aint was met with immediate silence. After a few moments passed, he hollered into the phone. “Lawrence, are you there?”

“Uh, yeah
. Saint, I just felt like I was going to pass out is all. If this is true ... Jesus Christ! Do you know how serious this is?”

S
aint felt a sense of forlornness envelope him as Lawrence spoke.

“My dad told me
about this when he was explaining where we all come from, people like us,” Lawrence explained. “He described the hierarchy. I never really put much thought into the tie between your paternal ethnicity and your power. It makes total sense.”

“Yeah, but my dad is one too
  ...  although we are different,” Saint replied in a whisper as he tried to grasp what was happening.

“I didn’t know that
, but I knew your mom was. This is truly fascinating!”

“Well, I’m not feeling very enthused right
about now. My father wants to go to Egypt to speak to his family about the situation...”

“Yes, he should. That is probably the best course of action.”

“How can you agree with that? My father is elderly and he—”

“S
aint, he is stronger than you think.”

“I can’t let him fight my battles for me
.” Saint shot his father a glance. Osaze slowly opened his eyes and clutched the arms of his chair. “This is
my
child; I will take care of the situation.”

“You’re going to need help, S
aint. This is not a one man job. I don’t think you realize who you’re dealing with, what you’re up against. This isn’t like the white supremacist group or Stanley. That was no big deal for you, in the grand scheme of things. This, though? Whoa...”

Saint shut his eyes, bracing himself.

“I don’t know these people obviously, but I heard enough about them to know I want to be nowhere near Egypt. Your father has an inside track. Let him utilize it. You’re in danger if you go before he has a chance to speak.”

S
aint felt himself slipping into an abyss of torrid anger and despair. The helpless feeling began to overwhelm him, from the inside out. He struggled with the urge to board a plane, commit a heinous murder and high-tail it back home but instead, he was stuck listening to the chaste advice he was being given.

“S
aint, I can feel you. You’re like a bull in a China shop right now. Calm down.”

“How can I calm down when my father just told me some power-drunk stranger wants
to kill my daughter? If I do nothing, and ignore this situation, I put my entire family at risk. If I take action, the war officially begins and I have no idea what I’m stepping into.”

“S
aint, let me go with your father.”

“But you just said
...”

“Nevermind what I said
. This is really important and I believe I should be there.”

“
Lawrence, no. You’d be risking your life, not to mention, it would be wrong of me to let you do that to Donna. This is
my
mess, I’ll deal with it.”

“He won’t be risking his life,” S
aint’s father chimed in as he clasped his hands tightly together. “They wouldn’t do that. This visit will not include a murder or attack. That is one rule they won’t break, because then it would mean instant death. There is no gray area with this process. I am going in peace, and if your friend escorts me, then that is fine.”

S
aint felt more confused than ever. “Hold on a sec, Lawrence. Dad, break that down real quick, please!”

“If someone is murdered during negotiat
ions, all bets are off. If we go in peace, which we clearly will be, and we are killed per Nizsm’s request or by his own hands, he will die almost immediately. It is law. He wants to continue on as is, so he’ll resist. Everything else, he can do, and just keep up that karmic tally—but to kill another Angel Child not in self-defense during a negotiation process, well, that would be a done deal and though he is powerful, that death is delivered from the Creator. His heart will stop, just like that. It’s in the bylaws and we’ve all seen it happen already.”

“Okay, okay
, let me think for a minute.” Saint withdrew within himself, trying to devise a plan. “Alright.” He gripped the cellphone tighter, as if it provided comfort. “You can go to Egypt. Lawrence, please escort him.”

“Of
course. Hand your phone to your father. Let me speak to him so that we can make the necessary arrangements.” Saint sighed, stood and handed his father the phone. He felt disjointed, and unlike himself. At times, he was tongue-tied and his mind swam in confusion. He continued to fight his basic instincts, which were to annihilate anything that stood in the way of a blissful life with his Queen—and this
certainly
would.

For the next several minutes, he listened as
his father and friend spoke on speakerphone to work out the details for their pending trip clear across the world. He’d landed in the middle of a horrendous nightmare, unable to rouse. He recognized that there was no way out of this; to keep what was most precious to him—Xenia, Hassani, Dakarai and his unborn child—safe, he must hope and pray that the dialogues work. He wanted to go and take care of the nasty control freak himself, but his father’s warning was clear, and this was no time to jeopardize or challenge protocol. Too much was at stake. He knew deep down, however, that he was fighting an uphill battle, despite the efforts planned.

S
aint turned his attention back to the conversation. His eyes narrowed as he gathered the material of his jeans, wound it, and squeezed with anxiety. Dad nodded a few times when Lawrence poured out accolades and reverence periodically during the conversation.  In typical Saint fashion, he forced himself to move past his shock and not dwell there long. He had no time to sit and stew, not after tasted the possible outcomes and nearly vomited. He knew what this meant, because what he’d been taught for years must ring true. Just as in a chess game, the Queen is the most powerful but the King is the most important and he’d protect her—that was what he was hell-bent on doing, come heated Egyptian Hell or heavenly high waters from the raging Nile...

****

Three days later...

“I’m so excited!”
Xenia exclaimed as she giddily bounced up and down in her flowing orange sundress, gripping Saint’s arm. “I’ve never been to Puerto Rico, before. What an awesome surprise, baby. It’s beautiful out here!”

“Mmmm hmmm,” S
aint smiled weakly as he leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Just thought we may need some alone time, a little getaway.”

“Well you won’t hear any compl
aints from me.” She giggled, squeezing his arm tighter.

Finally
, their cab pulled up in the long line as airport security motioned to pedestrians and flyers mingling on the sidewalk.

“Oh, here we are!” She grabbed her p
urple luggage. Saint snatched it out of her hand, and carried it along with his own.

“I’m not helpless, S
aint. Goodness!” She got into the cab, while the driver popped out and placed their bags in the trunk.

“We’re going to the El San Juan hotel
,” Saint instructed, shaking the man’s hand.