Page 71 of Memphis

We hadn’t found shit.

“Whichever one of them did it covered their tracks like a motherfucker. You heard back from your hacker about the surveillance or the missing bodyguard?” Ray questioned. “What you say his name is?”

I frowned. “Jafar O’Connor, but that could be an alias.”

“Gotta be,” Jerryn interjected.

“And as a matter of fact, Ihaven’theard from her, which is strange,” I continued. “Let me call her.” Picking up my phone, I realized why I hadn’t heard from her. “No signal.”

“Shit, my bad. I thought I turned that thing off,” Ray said, leaving to move deeper into the safe room and returning with a device I recognized as a cell phone jammer. “Just bought this one. An upgrade. I was playing around with it earlier.”

“What the hell you need with that? You ain’t in the field no more,” I pointed out.

“I mean…just in case,” he said, wearing a sheepish grin as he switched the jammer off.

Instantly, all three of our phones resurrected with beeps and buzzes. Sure enough, I’d received several messages from Montana asking me to call her. There was also a voicemail from the hospital. Bo’s condition had declined.

There werea lot of thoughts in my head as I rode to the hospital in silence, the loudest being:I shouldn’t have left him.

I really shouldn’t have, but once I saw that he was stable, I went into the mode most comfortable for me. I became laser focused on seeking revenge, killing, blowing off steam the bestway I knew how when I should’ve been by his side like he’d been by mine throughout my ordeal with Polycythemia Vera.

I was a shitty fucking wife.

“Get out your head blaming yourself. You thought he was good. You did what came natural and got to work,” Ray said, knowing me way too well.

I nodded, glancing over at my sister’s husband. “I hear you, but what if it was Lilith in the hospital? Where would you be right now?”

“With her, but we ain’t got the same history as you and him,” he replied.

“The history is we’ve loved each other most our lives, together or apart, and instead of sitting in that hospital and seeing him every chance I could, I went on a fucking killing mission.”

“It’s in you. It’s in me, and I fight that shit every day. You wanna stop it from being a reflex? Fight that shit. One thing I know is you’re good at fighting.”

I chuckled. “That’s the truth.”

“And so is he. A nigga in his position shouldabeengone, but he ain’t. He’ll make it.”

I nodded, fixed my eyes outside the passenger window, and hoped Ray was right.

We were in our backyard.I was on the grill while my wife sat and watched me the way she always did when she thought I wasn’t paying attention—with real love in her eyes. I smiled to myself because while any hate she once or still held for me was real, so was the love. We had a love so strong that it literally stood the test of time, a love so strong that years of separation couldn’t weaken it. All we needed was a chance. I’d always known that was all it would take. I always knew if I could just touch her, hold her in my arms again, the time apart would mean nothing.

“The shrimp are done, baby,” I said, observing the skewers on the grill. “Bring me something to put them in.”

No response.

I turned to see that she was gone. The back door was closed. It was almost as if she’d never been there, and I inexplicably panicked. Was I losing my mind? Was sheeverhere?

“Baby!” I yelled.

Nothing.

“King!”

Still, nothing.

Dropping the long fork I held, I took off for the house, bursting through the back door. “Baby! You in here?!” Silently, I pleaded,please be in here.

“I’m right here, baby,” she said, coming from the direction of the bathroom located between the kitchen and living room. “I’m right here.”

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