“I see him!” the other man exclaimed, pointing. “See? That’s the backpack.”
“Now we got you, little bugger.”
The men hastened their steps, their prey within sight.
Suave heard them and forced himself to his feet. He wanted to run, but his aching body wouldn’t cooperate, and his right leg felt as if it had died. So, he staggered along, knowing he would be caught soon. “This is it for me, huh?” Suave whispered under his breath, looking up into the sky. “Why am I not surprised, God? You’re never there for me.”
Eeeeee, weeeooee, wooo! The police sirens reverberated in the night air, getting louder and louder with each passing second.
“Police! Let’s go!” The leader took off toward the car, leaving his two men to follow.
The men didn’t need to be told twice. They turned around, plowing through the tall grass and bushes, and raced back to the road. The car’s engine was running when they jumped into the backseat, their boss flooring the gas pedal as they made a quick getaway.
Suave went the opposite direction, dragging himself through the back of people’s houses until he saw the busy main road up ahead. Only then did he lower himself onto a rock under a big mango tree. He took off his backpack and unzipped it. Reaching inside, he pulled out a handful of high-grade Jamaican marijuana. He brought it to his bloody nose and sucked in the aroma, his eyes closed as if in ecstasy. “Safe and sound,” he muttered, a big grin on his bruised face.
Part One
Chapter One
Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, 2003
“Psssst. Hey, baby girl. Hold up.” Raymond “Suave” Brown hopped out of his brand-spanking-new, cherry-red Cadillac Escalade that was parked alongside the curb on Hope Road. With his long dreads hanging down his back, he swaggered over to the blushing young woman, a big smile on his face.
Like a laser beam, Suave’s eyes scoped out the tight, super minidress that hugged the voluptuous body like a second layer of skin. Big, firm breasts strained against the restricted material as the woman stuck her chest out, with her huge behind pointing in the opposite direction.
Suave noticed how she nervously shifted from one foot to the other, her index finger twirling around a long strand of her blond weave as she watched him approach her.
“Hello, beautiful. How is it going?” Suave gave her a wink and licked his lips in a LL Cool J kind of way.
“I’m... I’m fine,” she said in a small voice, looking down at the ground.
The dimples deepened in Suave’s cheeks. He was used to this type of reaction from the ladies. After all, he was “Smooth Suave”—six foot one with silky, chocolate skin wearing a tan Armani suit and a Rolex on his wrist. When money talked, everyone walked were the words he lived by.
“What’s your name, honey bunch?” Suave was laying it on real thick.
“Hmmm, Bubbles.”
“That’s a very pretty name for a very pretty lady.” He reached out and ran his index finger down her cheek.
Bubbles glanced up at him and smiled before looking away. “Thank you.”
“So, Bubbles, where am I dropping you off?” Suave grinned at her when she raised puzzled eyes to look at him. “I’m offering you a ride home, baby.” He spread his arms wide open as if to say, I’m all yours.
Bubbles’s eyes widened in excitement as the impact of Suave’s words hit her. She was just on her way to the bus stop. Glancing over at the Escalade, Bubbles felt her heartbeat speed up.
“I’m going home.” Bubbles gasped in delight. “I live in Pembroke Hall.”
“Pembroke Hall, it is.” Suave strolled over to the passenger-side door and opened it. His grin widened as he watched her rush over and hop into the truck without any hesitation. As she nestled back into the rich leather seat, glancing around wide-eyed, he closed her door.
Suave strutted around the car to take his seat behind the steering wheel. He glanced down at his watch and nodded his head. He had an hour before he had to pick up his main girl, Monica, from the hairdressing salon.
Monica Lambert was the mother of two of Suave’s eight children and was now five months pregnant with the third. She was the “wifey” and lived with their children in his big house in the affluent neighborhood of Jacks Hill, St. Andrew.
“Everything good, baby?” Suave’s eyes locked on Bubbles’s soft, brown, exposed thighs. The minidress had ridden farther up, exposing her thong. “You are one sexy woman.”
Bubbles giggled and glanced out the car window.
Suave started the car and drove off. “How old are you?”
“I’ll be nineteen in six days.” She beamed at him. Just the thought of spending her birthday with him was surreal.
“Cool. A grown woman who I’m sure knows how to handle a grown man.” Suave threw a sly smile at her before turning his attention back to the road. He was a lot of things, but a pedophile wasn’t one of them. He made it a rule never to get sexually involved with any girl under eighteen years old. Of course, if they lied about their age, it wasn’t his fault.
“Where are we going?” Bubbles asked a few minutes later, peering through the window as Suave took a turn off Waterloo Road into the parking lot of the Hide Away Motel and parked. “What’s going on?”
Suave turned sideways in his seat to face Bubbles, impatience splashed across his face. “I was thinking we would get a room and get to know each other some more. You have a problem with that?”
Bubbles looked at him with uncertainty for just a few seconds. Not because she hadn’t done this before. She had had her fair share of men, especially if they had lots of money. She just never expected him to move so fast. But as the bright, warm sun shone through the opened car window and the huge diamond cross pendant around Suave’s neck and the big rock in his ear sparkled, Bubbles felt a burst of excitement wash over her. Money, money, money. “I would like that.” She blushed and looked down at her bare lap.
“Cool.” Suave leaned back in his seat, reached into his pants pocket, and took out a wad of money.
Bubbles’s eyes grew large.
“Here, go get us a room.” He placed a thick bundle in her trembling hand.
After Bubbles hurried over to the small office, Suave drove around to the back of the building and parked behind a huge dumpster. This was one of his regular motels where he took his women for a little rendezvous, so he had to be careful. Who knew.... Maybe Monica was playing detective again. A few days ago, Suave pulled into another hotel to meet one of his women, and Monica drove in and parked right beside him. She was always driving around town trying to catch him in the act of cheating... as if the six other kids he had outside their relationship weren’t enough evidence of that. Shaking his head, Suave pressed his key fob, locking the doors behind him, and walked around to the front. He saw Bubbles coming toward him, waving her hand in the air.
“I got it.” Bubbles handed him the room key. “We’re in Room 303.”
How coincidental. Yesterday he had the same room.
Suave had gone to Sovereign Center to handle some business. As he was walking to the parking lot, deep in thoughts, he collided with a soft body.
“My bad.” Suave’s eyes lit up when he saw the beautiful woman standing before him. “I wasn’t paying attention.” He smiled broadly.
“No, you weren’t, Smooth Suave,” she replied softly and teasingly. “You almost knocked me over.”
Suave