Courageous (38 page)

Adam studied the guys’ uncertain faces a moment, then jumped in. “First, I wrote down something Tom Lyman said to me the other day.” Adam opened the flyleaf of his Bible and read: “‘At the end of his life, no man says, “I wish I had spent less time with my children.”’”

Nathan nodded. “The regret is always the opposite, isn’t it? Wishing they’d given less time to work or golf or projects or a dozen other things and more to their children.”

Adam said, “I want to read something from Charles Spurgeon’s
Morning and Evening
. Spurgeon was a nineteenth-century British pastor. It’s old-fashioned English, but it’s still relevant:

“Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right. You will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe; but for the love of Jesus you must thus be courageous. For the truth’s sake to hazard reputation and affection, is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you; yet turn not your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow right manfully in your Master’s steps, for he has traversed this rough way before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.”

Bronson leaned forward. “This guy Sturgeon was a preacher?”

“Spurgeon. Yeah.”

Bronson propped his chin on a fist. “Always thought church was for women and sissies. Fearless? Courage of a lion? Be a man? I like this guy. Even if he
is
named after a fish.”

Jade’s long braids spilled over the shoulders of her blue- and white-striped tee; she sat next to CeCe, a church friend. The school cafeteria buzzed, students everywhere.

Derrick Freeman made his approach with a self-aware swagger and planted himself across the table. “’Sup, Jade? Hey, why don’t you answer my calls?”

“After I canceled the get-together at Lisa’s, you were pretty mad, remember?”

“I forgive you. But you should answer my calls.”

“I told you I don’t answer my phone or text after ten now. And besides, I have an agreement with my dad. He has to approve of a boy before we spend much time together, even at school.”

Derrick almost made a comment about Jade’s father but refrained.

“Well, I been thinkin’ about you a lot lately, Jade.”

“Yeah?”

“As a matter of fact, I picked up somethin’ for ya.”

He pulled out a thin gold bracelet and draped it over his fingers. “Looks real, don’t it?”

“Where’d you get that from?”

“My cousin gave it to me. Now I’m givin’ it to you.”

He assumed she would fawn over it. He’d seen what the girls did when TJ iced them out with the bling.

“I can’t take it.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re friends, Derrick. That’s all.”

Derrick stared at her, then pulled the bracelet back. “Well, you’re the one missin’ out.”

Jade raised an eyebrow.

“Hey!” Derrick noticed her left hand. “Where’d you get the ring?”

“My daddy gave it to me.” She glanced at CeCe and smiled as she looked back at Derrick. “Looks real, don’t it?”

Derrick lifted the bracelet, glittering under the cafeteria lights. Several girls saw it and stared. “You sure you don’t want this?”

“I’m sure.” She fingered her ring.

Derrick’s phone vibrated. He looked down at a text: C U in 2.

“My ride’s here,” Derrick said, standing. “Gotta go.”

“You leaving early?” Jade asked.

“Personal field trip. Later.”

Derrick strutted off, thinking he might shop a little more to find the fortunate girl who would receive the ’jacked bracelet. Jade didn’t know what she was missing. She’d be sorry.

Chapter Forty-four

Derrick walked out the high school’s front door. While he tried to look like he didn’t care who watched, he scoped out the spectators, wanting them to see the righteous dudes who picked him up.

Derrick got in the back of TJ’s tricked-out dark-green Cadillac DeVille. Antoine rode shotgun.

“Wassup, D?” Antoine asked.

“Hey, little bro,” TJ said. “We just picked up the mother lode. We gotta get it to the house and meet Tyrone. We got some serious weight here.”

“How much?” Derrick asked.

“Forty stacks, dawg!”

“Forty stacks? TJ, that’s crazy, man!”

“We ain’t playin’ Little League, D. We goin’ prime-time. This is more benjamins than you can count, math whiz. Dawg, I got two keys in the trunk.”

“Two kilos?”

“That’s right. All we gotta do is cook it up.”

“That’s four hundred benjamins.”

“Cash money. You help me get this done and you gonna be ridin’ phat for a while.”

Derrick smiled.
Ridin’ phat.
Maybe he’d buy Jade a diamond bracelet. That would change her tune. He imagined her in the backseat of a car with him, proudly wearin’ her bling. And if not Jade, then Lisa or Doniece. He smiled wider. Life was gettin’ good.

At that moment, Nathan and David drove the outskirts of Albany.

David, a look of terror in his eyes, said, “I’ll stand up there with you guys, but public speaking’s my biggest fear. Dying is second.”

“Javier won’t do it either. He wants to be there; we all do. But the Resolution was Adam’s idea. He should speak.”

Nathan answered his cell phone. “Adam. Hey, we were just talking about you.”

“Where are you guys?”

“We’re comin’ up on Denson.”

“I’m three miles behind you. Listen, we need to talk about this Father’s Day deal. Can you guys come over sometime this week?”

“We already talked about it. We decided that since you came up with the Resolution, you’re gonna be the spokesman.”

“That’s only fair,” David called.

“No, no, no. We didn’t agree to that. We gotta vote.”

“We already voted. David and I chose you, and you know Javy will side with us.”

“Man, standing in front of a whole church? Look, if I do this, you guys owe me dinner. At Campbell’s Steakhouse with all the gals, including Amanda. Tell her they have lots of salads!”

“You’re on, man! I’ll cover David and Amanda.” Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll talk about this later. I’ve got a green Cadillac with a blown taillight.” He ended the call. “Hey, light ’em up for me, David.”

“Got it.” David flipped on the blues.

TJ saw the lights in his rearview mirror. “Hold up! What this cop doin’? I ain’t even speedin’! We can’t do this, man.”

Antoine turned to TJ. “They bust us this time, that’s an automatic ten years.”

Derrick looked behind them to see the sheriff’s car. “Ten years? Whatchu gonna do, man?”

In the squad car, Nathan frowned. “What’s he doin’? He’d better pull over soon or I’ll get him for more than a busted light. Go ahead and call it in.”

David reached for his radio to inform dispatch of the situation.

TJ set his jaw. “I’ll take him out before I go back to jail.” He reached between the front seats and pulled out a sawed-off shotgun.

Derrick stared at the shotgun. “Take him out? You gonna
shoot
him?”

TJ whipped his head around toward Derrick. “Look, you wanna go to prison? Huh? ’Cuz if he searches this car, that’s where you goin’.

“I got my three pieces under the seat,” TJ said to Antoine. “The deuce-five auto’s right under you. Trey-five-seven under me, and the revolver’s here.” He patted the seat by his right leg. “Grab what you want, solja.”

Antoine reached under the seat.

“You got that nine I gave you?” TJ asked Derrick.

“No way, man. I came from school!”

TJ finally pulled over but kept the engine running.

Nathan stopped ten feet behind him and took out his ticket book before he and David exited the car.

Ahead of them, inside the Cadillac, Derrick said, “Wait, man, I can’t do this. Can’t shoot no cop!”

“We ain’t got no choice, D! Be cool. I’ll get rid of him; then we’ll make the drop and ditch the car.”

Derrick, sweating profusely, turned to see Nathan and David get out. “There’s
two
of ’em, TJ! You can’t shoot both!”

“Shut up, man! You do what I tell you.”

TJ looked in his side mirror and saw Nathan lift his sunglasses as he noted the license number.

“Oh, man, I know this cop. He’s ’bout to get what he got comin’ to him.” He eased the shotgun into his lap and chambered a round.

Derrick saw who it was. “TJ, that’s Jade’s daddy!”

TJ put his right index finger on the shotgun’s trigger.

David had a bad feeling. He and Nathan still stood behind the car. “He hasn’t turned off the engine,” David said. “You want me to take this one?”

Nathan shook his head and walked toward the driver’s side door but stopped a few feet short. “Sir, I need you to turn off the vehicle and place your hands on the wheel.”

TJ left the shotgun on his lap, out of Nathan’s view. He switched off the engine and placed his hands on the steering wheel.

Nathan walked up to the window. “I pulled you over because—”

TJ grabbed the gun and raised it in a flash.

The instant before TJ fired, Derrick got both hands on TJ’s right bicep and pulled back with all his strength. Then came the deafening blast.

“Nathan!” David screamed as his partner fell backward into the road directly in front of an oncoming pickup.

The driver punched the brakes. The truck skidded toward the deputy’s head. Nathan lay motionless, curled into a ball.

David, the explosive shot still in his ears, thought Nathan had been hit. But he drew his .40-caliber Glock 23 and trained it on the back of the Caddy.

“Go, go, go!” Antoine yelled as TJ hit the ignition and gunned the engine.

TJ yelled back at Derrick, “I’m gonna lock up with you, tiny!”

Nathan grimaced as he lay on his side. He felt a numbing pain in his left bicep.

At that moment David found his range and fired a round through the Caddy’s back window. David let loose six more rounds in succession, four of which hit the car.

“No!” Derrick shouted, covering his face and pressing himself down on the seat.

Glass fragments covered Derrick’s prone body.

Nathan sat up and fired three rounds, one of which hit TJ in the left shoulder. TJ screamed, and the car turned sharply to the right, veered into a shallow ditch, and hit a fence.

“Back up, back up!” Antoine yelled, his side of the car now exposed to David and Nathan. TJ gunned it. Gravel and dirt sprayed everywhere, but the car didn’t budge. Antoine extended his right hand and fired off three shots from his nine, all of which pierced the windshield of the truck. The driver ducked just in time.

Nathan shouted at the driver, “Stay down, sir! Stay down!”

Realizing their car was bottomed out, Antoine yelled, “We can’t stay here; we gotta move! Get out! Get out!”

TJ opened his door and fell to the ground while Derrick did the same. Antoine continued to fire from the passenger seat.

Two other cars pulled up behind the pickup truck, then hit reverse as they heard shots.

David grabbed his radio off his left shoulder. “This is 693d. Shots fired, Denson Road! Backup, repeat, we need backup!”

Adam was less than a mile away when he heard the message. “693c in route!”

Antoine launched himself out the driver’s door and fired from the car’s far side.

TJ was on top of Derrick, right hand on his face with a vise grip.

“Whatchu think you doin’, man? You crazy? You tryin’ to save a cop? You ain’t nothin’. I should kill you myself!”

He grabbed the shotgun, stood, and opened fire on the cops. The shotgun’s backlash against his injured shoulder caused him to recoil and cry out in agony. A barrage came back at him. As he stooped, he pounded the car door with his elbow and shrieked with pain and frustration.

Two more cars came down the road from behind the cops. Nathan waved and yelled, “Stay back, stay back!”

David pulled a fresh clip from his belt and reloaded. He heard a siren blaring from behind him and took a deep breath. “Adam’s coming, Nathan!”

Adam barreled ahead at high speed, finally spotting Nathan and David crouched behind the vehicles and firing toward the Caddy. He floored the pedal, swerved around the truck, braked, and spun the car sideways to provide more protection between the gangsters and the officers.