The Last Chance (9 page)

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Authors: Darrien Lee

BOOK: The Last Chance
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The officer said, “It's probably pig's blood. A lot of those anti-abortion protesters use pig's blood to throw on abortion doctors. You guys did a good job.”
Keilah knocked grass off her pants leg and said, “Thank you, officer. Do you need to interview our client before we take her home? I'm sure her children are pretty shaken up.”
“Just briefly, and then you can be on your way,” the officer said before shaking Keilah and Ramsey's hands.
Ramsey and Keilah walked with the officers over to their client and their employees. Once there, they congratulated their employees for a job well done in protecting the client. Once the officers finished interviewing the doctor, they were allowed to leave. On the way back to Ramsey's car, he looked over at Keilah and laughed.
“What are you laughing at, Stone?”
He unlocked the doors on his truck and said, “You.”
She put her hands on her hips and asked, “Why?”
He opened the truck door for her and said, “Because you can be scary at times. You took that woman down so fast, I didn't have time to blink.”
“She was making her move, Ramsey. What was I supposed to do?”
He laughed again. “You did your job, Keilah. All I know is she's going to be sore as hell in the morning.”
Keilah climbed into Ramsey's truck and smiled. “Oh well. She brought it on herself.”
He started the engine and put it in drive. “You're right about that.”
Ramsey pulled away from the curb and headed back to their office to do paperwork on the incident.
Chapter Seven
A few days later, Ramsey got the chance to meet Major Michael Monroe in the flesh when he showed up at their office with two dozen pink roses for Keilah. Ramsey couldn't help but notice how distinguished he looked in his military uniform.
“May I help you?” Ramsey asked.
The major extended his hand. “Good afternoon. I'm Michael Monroe, here to see Keilah Chance.”
“Oh, yeah, you're Teresa Randolph's nephew. Keilah told me she met you at the charity banquet,” Ramsey stated as he shook the major's hand.
“Guilty as charged. And you are?” Michael asked.
“Ramsey Stone. Keilah and I run the company together.”
“It's nice to finally meet you. Keilah speaks very highly of you.”
“Likewise,” Ramsey replied as he signed some papers and handed them back to the receptionist. “Nice flowers. Does Keilah know you're here?”
“I just stepped off the elevator when you walked up. Your receptionist was just about to announce my arrival.”
Ramsey shook his hand once more before walking away. “Well, I know for a fact she'll love the flowers. I'm sure she'll be right out. It was nice meeting you. Give my regards to your aunt and uncle.”
“I will,” Michael replied.
When Michael was out of earshot, Ramsey mumbled, “Toy soldier.”
An hour or so later, Ramsey walked into Keilah's office pretending not to know anything about the flowers. “Who sent the flowers?”
She looked up and smiled. “Michael brought them by this morning.”
Ramsey walked over to the flowers and picked up the card. “May I?”
Keilah glanced up at him and said, “Sure, go ahead.”
Ramsey unbuttoned his jacket and sat down. He pulled the card out of the envelope and started reading aloud. “‘Thank you for being such a beautiful distraction Saturday evening. I hope to get a chance to know you even better. Yours truly, Michael Monroe.'” He turned his attention to Keilah. “Well, well, well, Miss Chance, I see that Major Monroe is making all the moves to win your heart.”
Without looking up she said, “Very funny, Ramsey.”
Ramsey sat the card on her desk. “So you really like this guy, huh?”
She tilted her head. “So far, so good. We've been talking on the telephone to try to get to know each other better.”
Ramsey scratched his head and then asked, “You haven't told him what you're worth, have you?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Of course not. I learned not to do that a long time ago. I want to be loved for me, not for my money.”
Ramsey got up and walked toward the door and said, “Take it slow, Keilah. I don't want to see you get hurt again.”
“Don't worry, I am,” Keilah said as she picked up her pen and started writing.
Ramsey turned to Keilah and said, “I have a detail to do this evening if you're looking for me.”
She frowned and pulled up his itinerary. “When did you add this one?”
“About two hours ago. I'm doing a favor for Ron Davenport.”
“I see,” she responded. “Well, have fun.”
“I'll holler at you later. Keep me posted on G.I. Joe,” he teased.
She giggled. “I will. He invited me to dinner tonight, so if you're looking for me that's where I'll be.”
“Oh, really?” Ramsey asked.
She nodded mischievously and tapped her pen on her desk. “Really. Be careful tonight and text me when you get home.”
“Will do, and before I go, the lawyers called and said Malik Rivers pled guilty. He got fifteen years, so you can put that chapter behind you.”
“You think?” she asked.
“Quentin gave me his word.”
“If you say so, because the next time, there won't be any survivors,” she announced.
“I understand,” he replied before closing the door behind him. He wasn't ready to let go of his intimate moments with Keilah, and deep down he prayed that Major Michael Monroe would disappear just as quickly as he'd appeared.
 
 
Ramsey followed Ron's directions and picked up a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties from an apartment complex not far from the campus of Howard University. His name was Martez, and he was scheduled to testify against a fellow student by the name Jazera, known around campus as “Jazz,” who'd been selling drugs with Martez on the campus of Howard University. Martez wanted out and agreed to testify against his partner for immunity, or at least a lighter sentence. Martez was the nephew of a friend of Ron Davenport's and the young man he was going to testify against had ties to a prominent family in Chicago. Today, they were headed to a college football game, which would be challenging for Ramsey because of the huge crowd.
“So, Mr. Stone, I guess you know about the trial coming up, huh?”
Ramsey pulled into the parking lot of the stadium and put the car in park. “It's my job to know everything about my clients.”
“Don't you want to know why I did it?” Martez asked.
“It doesn't matter to me. I'm here to do my job, period,” Ramsey replied.
“Cool,” Martez replied as he opened the car door.
Ramsey grabbed his arm and said, “Let's go over the rules again.”
Martez sighed and listened as Ramsey reminded him of the dos and don'ts. Once he was finished, he said, “Do you understand everything I just told you, Martez?”
“Yes, Mr. Stone, I understand. Just try not to look so obvious. I don't want my friends to know.”
“They might not have a choice. Listen, son, there's a reason your parents wanted me to protect you. It's obvious they're a little more concerned about you testifying against that other kid than you are.”
Martez scratched his head and said, “All right. I'll do what you say.”
Ramsey climbed out of the car and said, “As long as we have an understanding, we have nothing to worry about.”
The pair walked toward the gates and into the stadium to watch the football game.
During the football game, Martez and his friends sat together while Ramsey sat on the bleachers directly behind them so he could have a bird's-eye view of the crowd and any suspicious movement.
After the ball game, Martez and his friends attended a victory party at a local nightclub. Ramsey wasn't too excited about the setup because the nightclub had limited parking and dim light, and it was packed to capacity. The room was full of gyrating young adults and Ramsey found himself constantly getting propositioned by college-age females. A couple of them even stuffed their telephone numbers into the palm of his hand with the request that he call them later. Ramsey couldn't do anything but laugh, but took pleasure in admiring their beauty and physical attributes.
Hours later, Martez still seemed to be having a great time dancing with his friends. Ramsey had even found him getting up close and personal with a young woman who wasn't in his original group of friends from the ball game. The young woman danced, rubbed, and ground her body repeatedly against Martez as they danced to the rhythm of the music. Ramsey frowned, walked over to Martez, and asked him to step away for a second so they could talk.
“What's up, Mr. Stone? You're blocking my flow.”
Ramsey leaned down to the young man's ear and said, “It's time for us to go.”
Martez looked at his watch and said, “It's only one
A.M.”
Ramsey frowned and said, “I know what time it is, and the deal was that I would have you home by two
A.M.
, so let's go.”
Martez glared at Ramsey and then said, “Let me go tell that honey good-bye. I'll be right back.”
Ramsey held up his fingers up and said, “You have two minutes.”
Martez pushed through the crowd and over to the young woman. Ramsey watched as Martez spoke into her ear. The woman smiled, took his cell phone out of his hand, and appeared to be keying her telephone number into it. Martez kissed her on the cheek and made his way back over to Ramsey. “OK, Rambo, I'm ready.”
Ramsey didn't find Martez's comment regarding Rambo funny. He grabbed him by the collar and pulled him through the crowd and out the door. Once outside, he looked at Martez and said, “I see you have a sense of humor.”
Martez laughed as they turned the corner and walked across the street to Ramsey's car. “I'm just trying to get you to lighten up, Mr. Stone.”
“I'm working, Martez. I lighten up when I'm off duty,” Ramsey pointed out to him.
Ramsey deactivated the alarm on his car as they approached it. It was at that time that two men stepped out of the shadows. One had a gun, the other a knife. The man with the gun said, “Give up the money.”
Martez put his hands up and said, “We don't have any money.”
The second guy said, “Don't make me cut you. Now give me your money.”
Ramsey eyed the two men and then quickly reached into his back waistband and pulled out his gun, shooting the man with the gun in the shoulder. The gunman fell to the ground in agony as the man with the knife lunged at Martez and screamed, “This is from Jazz!”
Ramsey pushed Martez out of the way and grabbed the man's wrist. He twisted his arm, causing him to scream out in pain until he dropped the knife on the ground. Ramsey looked down at Martez and yelled, “Go back into the club!”
By that time, a group of people coming out of the club saw Martez running frantically toward them screaming, “Call 911!”
Ramsey kicked the man in the face, knocking him over the hood of a car. He glanced back over the man he'd shot and saw that he was still squirming around on the ground.
Ramsey picked the guy up who originally had the knife and slammed him head first into the driver side windshield of a car, shattering it, which knocked him unconscious. Ramsey then turned his attention to the man he'd shot and grabbed him by the foot. He dragged him around to the front of his car and said, “Next time, tell your boy to send more people.”
Someone from the group of people who heard the commotion called the police and within seconds, D.C. police were on the scene taking a report.
 
 
Keilah met Michael for dinner later that night. She wore a lavender suit with matching shoes, and as soon as she walked into the restaurant, Michael stood and greeted her with a tender kiss on the cheek. “Keilah, you look beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she replied as he held out her chair for her. Michael was dressed in full uniform, and he looked so handsome.
He sat down across from her and said, “Keilah, I'm so sorry I couldn't pick you up for dinner. My meeting ran over longer than I thought it would, and our reservations were for seven.”
She placed a napkin in her lap and said, “Stop apologizing, Michael, it's OK.”
The waiter approached their table and showed Michael a bottle of champagne. Michael looked over at Keilah and asked, “Do you approve?”
Keilah nodded in agreement. The waiter turned over their glasses and proceeded to pour two glasses of champagne. Before walking away, he handed both of them menus and said, “I'll give you a few minutes to look over the menu, and as soon as you're ready, I'll be happy to take your order.”
Michael smiled at the waiter and said, “Thank you.” Once the waiter was gone, Michael held his glass up to Keilah and said, “To new beginnings.”
“To new beginnings,” Keilah repeated.
The pair sipped their champagne. Keilah took a longer sip before setting her glass down. She felt a little nervous. Michael was staring at her so much that she could see the candlelight flickering in his eyes. “Keilah, you have a unique name.”
She smiled and said, “Yes, my mother got it from the Bible.”
“Keilah is a city in Judah, right?”
Impressed, Keilah smiled and said, “That's right. How did you know?”
He took another sip of champagne and said, “I was born and raised in the church so I picked up on a few things.”
Keilah blushed. “So I notice. Actually, my mother gave all of us names from the Bible.”
“Really? How many brothers and sisters do you have?” Michael asked.
I have four older brothers. Luke, Roman, Malachi, and Genesis.”
Michael smiled and said, “I see what you mean. Your parents gave all of you some strong biblical names.”
“Thank you, Michael.”
He picked up the champagne bottle and refilled Keilah's glass before refilling his own. “So you're the baby of the family and the only girl?”

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