Page 76 of Into the Blue
Waking in a stupor, my body aches in too many places. At some point, my restraints were removed after I had finally fallen asleep.
Looks like you played something right, Rocky.
Still alive another day.
I do some stretches, waiting in the room to see if Milo will come in to check on me or something.
He doesn’t.
I need a shower, badly, but I also need to reach Liezel. I scour the room to see if my purse is any of the places I normally keep it.
It’s gone and my phone is too.Figures.
Hurrying over to the closet, I unzip my suitcase. Inside are all the neatened bundles of twenty and hundred dollar bills I made at the clubs. It's not the safest option to have this much money in one place like this, but no place is safe than Blue Dupont's house. Of that, I can be sure.
I move stack after stack and check under the lining. My right hand stings under the bandage, but I’ll worry about that later. I switch to my left and dig a little deeper until my fingers brush what I’m looking for.
In a few moments, the burner phone powers on. I say a quick thank you that it’s not one of those cheesy ones that has some trilling tone for when it turns on.
I dial the number I know by heart and blessedly, the line clicks over and I hear my friend’s voice. “Who is this?”
“Lee, it’s time to enter phase three.”
“Rocky, where are you? I got everything you sent me two days ago and then silence. Where’s your phone?”
Two days? How has it been two days? Was I out for that long?
Shit.
“I’m still at Blue’s. He caught me getting all that stuff to you. Look, I don't know how long I have to talk, so just put everything we talked about into effect and wait for my call.”
“Why are you always in some shit every time you call me?” Her sigh is heavy on the line then she curses under her breath. “When are you coming home?”
“I don’t know…” I’m not dead. A miracle for sure. But I don’t know what Milo has planned. All I do know is that I have to get as much confirmed and in place as I can. “I’m going to find a way out, but it’s—”
“Complicated,” she finishes my thought. “Just tell me if you’re okay. I can come get you. You know that, right?”
“It’s too—Don’t worry about me for now. I’m fine,” I say that as my palm stings again and I realize that I don’t know that for certain at all.
I have to trust that what I have executed will be enough to carry me through to safety again.
“Rocky,” I hear the watery quality of her voice. “It’s too much. We can do something else. Anything else. I’ll never forgive myself if we lose you.I can’t lose you.”
“You aren’t,” I tell her with as much conviction as I can manage. My body is still covered in the evidence that I am not in control here. My future still rests in Milo’s hands. “I need to go. Wait for my call. I love you, okay?”
My friend agrees though I can feel her uncertainty and fear through the phone line. “I love you. Please be safe. I’ll do what I can from this side.”
I sit in the closet for a moment where I acknowledge my role in this mission and then return the phone in the lining with the money and ID card.
When all this began, long before I came to Louisiana, I didn’t know where it would take me. Taking Lafayette was the goal. An alliance with the Duponts was supposed to be the safer option. One that would allow me the opportunity to deliver on the promises that I made to my people. If I can’t follow through then it means I don’t believe in myself or what I have to offer.I must.If no one else will, then I have to.
Leaving the closet, I strip out of my tattered shorts and sweaty tank top. The last thing left is to remove the bandage Milo put on my hand. It looks different, like it was changed at some point while I was sleeping.
I’m careful with the adhesive trying not to disturb the cuts underneath. Nothing could have prepared me for what was under the gauze, cream and tape. With a tissue, I remove some of the thick white cream over the damaged skin.
On my palm just above the wrist, it spans the width of the lighter skin there. A name. Not his real name. But the one that is symbolic of fear and respect. In all caps, the four somewhat jagged letters are red and stark.
B-L-U-E.
