Rock Her (15 page)

Jacky stood still and watched him go, arms at his side and his
jaw hung open. Then he called out just before Kip entered the elevator, “Kip,
you all ready for the trip to Afghanistan tomorrow?”

Just before the doors closed, Kip’s hand jabbed out between the
doors and they reopened. Kip stepped back into the hall. “Tomorrow?”

“Yes, Kip. It’s all set. We need to be at JFK at zero seven
hundred.”

Fuck
, Kip thought.
That’s right!
How could I have fucking lost track of time like that?

Then, to his horror, he realized that he wasn’t ready at all.
And in that same realization he knew that he didn’t have to be. He needed
nothing. His manager would arrange everything and his band mates would take
care of the little things. All he had to do was pack his clothes and show up at
JFK at seven am.

“Let’s talk tonight,” Kip called down the hall. “I’ll be ready.
Are you and Stabbs and Lock ready?”

“All set!” Jack called out.

Kip let the door go and pulled his head back inside the
elevator. Before it closed Kip called out, “See you tonight Jacky, I have an
appointment today.”

Jack shrugged at the odd encounter he had and turned back down
the hall. Just then Annie opened the door and stepped into the hall, still
combing out her wet hair. Jack stopped again and took her in.

“Oh, Hi Jack.” Annie said. “Are you going to see Kip? He’s not
there I am afraid.”

“No, I just saw him. He went down already.”

“Oh, good. He is getting is a taxi. We are in a hurry.”

“We?” Jack asked.

Annie walked by him. “Yeah we, Jacky. I can call you that,
right?”

“Uh, I am not sure,” Jack said, furrowing his heavy brow.

“No?” Annie stopped.

“Well, I mean, my friends call me that.” Jack looked
embarrassed. “I mean, not that you’re not my friend. I mean, Kip calls me
that.”

“Oh, Okay, I’ll just call you Jack, then, Okay?” Then Annie
turned and headed down the hall toward the elevator.

 
Jack stood and watched
until she disappeared behind the elevator doors. Then he scratched his head and
turned around again. In his mind, Jack’s consternation was not uncalled for. He
had never seen Kip keep a girl in his room for longer than one night. He knew
she was his biographer, but he hadn’t expected an ongoing relationship with
her. She clearly had spent the night, since her hair was wet when she came out
of the room.
Well
, Jack thought.
There should be no danger of a long term
relationship once we leave for Afghanistan
.

Kip and Annie sat in front of Lieutenant Porter. His black eyes
flicked between the two of them, making sure they both understood the danger.

“Mr. Jones,” Porter said. “I can assure you nothing will happen
to Ms. Beecher. She will be completely wired for sound. At the first hint of
anything out of the ordinary, we will be in there.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the movies,” Kip said. “I know how it works. I
am sure all will be fine. But Annie has asked me to be involved. I’d like to be
on site, helping out in some way?” It was a statement more than a question.

“Highly irregular, Mr. Jones,” Porter said, cocking his head.

“I think I’ve shown that I can do my fair share in a pinch,”
Kip reminded him.

Porter smiled. “That’s a Goddamn fact, Jones. A Goddamn fact!
The precinct is still buzzing about your antics yesterday.”

“You mean more so than they were when I was arrested for drunk
and disorderly last year?” Kip asked, only partly joking.

“Even that, Mr. Jones, Even that,” Porter grinned.

Porter was a large, fit black man with a smile as big as his
face. He laughed heartily at Kip’s comment, which Kip thought had softened him
up when he finally said:

“I think we can come up with a place for you to be nearby. But
understand this, Mr. Jones, You are in no way to involve yourself if anything
should happen.” At this, Porter looked at Annie quickly. “Not that anything
will. This is pretty routine, actually. I don’t expect there will be any
trouble. Just do as we discussed and all will be fine. I assure you.”

“Lieutenant, I can say without any doubt that I don’t want to
be involved if anything goes wrong. I have had my fill of gun play for the
week.” Kip said as he scooted back in the chair so he could be reassured his
nine millimeter was still there.

“Great!” Porter said. “Do you have any questions, Ms. Beecher?”

“Where exactly will Kip, uh, Mr. Jones be, Lieutenant?” Annie
asked.

“Well, I think we’ll put Mr. Jones in the surveillance van
which will be parked out front of the building. If that’s alright with Mr.
Jones.”

Kip tightened his lips together. “I was kind of hoping to be a
little closer.”

“We are going to have men in each room beside the office of Mr.
Jansen,” Porter said. “I promise you nothing will happen to Annie here.”

Kip paused for a moment then nodded. Although he was about to,
he decided at the last moment that he didn’t want to throw out his wealth to
get what he wanted.

He looked at Annie and saw the concern in her eyes. Yesterday
he would have been heartbroken to see it, and he struggled with the emotion
now. But he didn’t want to be compassionate about her fears, even though he
knew deep down that he was.

“Anything else?” Porter asked.

Neither Kip nor Annie spoke up.

“Okay then, Ms. Beecher, let’s get you wired up.” Porter stood,
exposing his large frame, and he headed toward his office door. Kip and Annie
followed.

Moments later, Annie was topless in only her bra and the tech
was attaching sticky pads to her chest and belly. Then the wire was attached.
The microphone would be positioned just above her left breast. The tech asked
Annie to dress then he asked her to speak in a normal voice. The tech listened
in his earphones and gave his thumbs up to Porter, who had walked up after
Annie had put her shirt back on.

“She’s all set, boss,” the tech said.

“That’s good,” Porter said, “because we just had confirmation
that he is still in the hospital. I think it is time for him to have a visitor.

Kip nodded and so did Annie.

“Hemorrhage” By Fuel

They arrived at the Hospital less than an hour later. Annie and
Kip road in the Tech van, and Annie climbed out when it came to a stop. She
turned to kiss Kip before she walked up to the entrance. She threw her arms
around his neck and kissed his lips. Kip kissed back, but with no passion. Annie
broke off the kiss and gave him a hurt look.

“What’s the matter, Kip?

“Just worried I guess, Annie,” Kip said.

Annie looked more hurt than before now. She knew there was more
to the cold kiss than Kip was saying.

“Yeah, me too,” Annie said as she stepped away from the van and
toward the door.

Porter met her in the lobby of the hospital and walked with her
to the elevator.

“Mr. Beecher is on the fourth floor, in room four twelve,”
Porter said. “Now, we can hear everything that is being said because of your
mic
, there. We’ve also got men in room four ten and four
fourteen. They are ready to act at any moment. You just say the word.”

“What word is that?” Annie asked.

“The tech didn’t give you a rescue word?” Porter asked her.

“No, he didn’t.”

“Alright, let’s go with rock star, how about that?” Porter
asked.

“Good as any, I guess,” Annie said.

“Okay, I’ll ride up with you in the elevator, but when the
doors open, you walk out alone,” Porter said. “And, Ms. Beecher, relax.
Everything will be just fine. You’re safe, I swear it.”

Annie nodded.

“Okay,” Porter said as he pushed the fourth floor button in the
elevator. “You know what to say?”

“Yes,” Annie said. “I have to get him to confess to trying to
have me killed without saying the words rock star unless I have to. Sounds
pretty easy.”

“Well, it won’t be if you’re nervous.”

“Lieutenant Porter,” Annie said. “I am always nervous around
Stewart.”

Porter looked compassionately at her. “I understand. But it is
critical that you take control of the conversation, understand?”

Annie nodded again and swallowed. “I understand.” The doors
opened.

Annie walked slowly and alone down the hall toward room four
twelve. She could hear her heart beating inside her chest. The constant
thumping made her think back to last night, when Kip was ramming into her with
a constant delicious rhythm.

It made her think of Kip back in the tech van in the parking
lot. Why the cold feeling from him when she left the van? The thought played on
her mind until she reached the door. She looked from side to side, toward room
four ten and four fourteen, and at the distance between rooms. It seemed like a
thousand yards.

She twisted the lever and pushed the door open. Stewart was
immediately in her view. Lying there on the hospital bed with his leg suspended
in a wire contraption, keeping it elevated.

Stewart slowly turned his head toward her, expecting to find a
nurse or doctor standing there. His look of surprise was evident.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said.

“Yes, Stewart, you will,” Annie countered.

“What the hell are you doing here, Annie?” Stewart said. “Come
to see the product of your boyfriend’s handy work?”

“Stewart, you hit me. You’re lucky you got off as easy as you
did.”

“Lucky?” Stewart yelled at her. “Lucky? Do you know that the
doctor told me I may never walk the same again? You call that lucky?”

Annie looked down. As much as she hated him for what he had
done, she felt bad that the damage was that bad.

“Stewart, I am sorry you’re hurt so bad. But you know you
started it.”

“So, is that why you came, Annie,” Stewart said, shaking his
head. “To tell me I started it. That’s rich.”

“No, Stewart,” Annie said. “I actually came to ask you why you
are trying to have me killed.”

Stewart lowered his eye lids. “Have you killed?”

“My apartment? The mall?” Annie glanced up at the television
mounted on the wall. “I know you’ve seen the news.”

“I saw the news about the mall shooting, and the interviews
with your boyfriend. A real hero that one.”

“I was there, too, Stewart,” Annie said. “And you’re man nearly
killed me before Kip shot him. I was the target. Thanks to you. How much is my
insurance policy?”

Stewart shook his head. “What the hell are you talking about?
What insurance policy? Are you telling me you think that I am trying to have
you killed?”

Annie shook her head at him. “Give up the innocent school boy
act, Stewart, you fucking prick!”

Stewart started to laugh. “Oh, this just keeps getting better
and better!” He laughed more and harder. “You came here to accuse me of trying
to have you killed? Oh, that’s good. Listen to me hitch, I wish I had thought
of it. I really do.”

For a moment, Annie was on the verge of believing that she
might have made a mistake. His act was very good.

“Stewart, you and I both know you’re behind it.” Annie said, a
little less forcefully.

“I wish I was, Annie. Not for any insurance money, but just for
the sheer joy of watching you die. But, you crazy cunt, I don’t have any
insurance policy out on you. So watching you die would be the only benefit,
believe me.”

Annie started to think now that maybe they had all made a huge
mistake. If Stewart was behind the attacks, he would have confessed it to her,
just to see her hurt. Annie held her mouth open because she could not think of
what else to say. She took a step toward his bed.

Then the window shattered and the wall exploded directly behind
where she had been standing. Annie immediately fell to the floor, screaming out
all of the air she had in her lungs.

Stewart also started screaming as the room began to erupt in
drywall powder and glass. The TV disintegrated above Annie’s head, and then she
could see the mattress bounce as bullets impacted it. Stewart’s screaming
stopped and Annie looked up to see his hand fall limp over the edge. Just then
the door flew open and uniformed men poured in. the first two took shots
directly in their chest and they fell backward into the second two. The door
swung back closed and the shooting stopped.

Annie laid on the floor beside Stewart’s bed screaming and
crying. “Help me! Help me!” She reached inside her blouse and tore the
microphone from her chest, screaming into it, “Stewarts dead! Stewarts dead!”

Then the door to the room cracked open. The officer on the
outside called into her.

“Stay Put, Ms. Beecher. You have full cover. The shots are
being fired from across the street. We have men on their way there now.”

Seconds later the door pushed open and Kip ran in, stepping
over the cops that were lying on the floor just outside.

“Annie, come with me, quickly.”

The four cops leaped up and followed him in, grabbing him and
forcing him to the floor, where they handcuffed him. Two of the cops stepped
away and caught their breath as they pulled off their bullet proof vests.

Then Lieutenant Porter rushed in the room.

“Let him up!” he yelled at the deputies. Confusion abounded.
The cops pulled Kip to his feet as Porter ran to Annie and helped her to her
feet. “And un-cuff him.”

“Are you alright, Ms. Beecher?”

Annie nodded and cried at the same time, turning to look at
Stewart. He had several bullet wounds in his chest and leg. He was still.

“The shooter is gone. He fled the building before we could get
a team in there.”

“That’s great. That’s just great!” Kip exploded. “You said
there was nothing to worry about. All would go smooth!”