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“I’m a little embarrassed to tell you this.”
Jackie touched his hands. “Yo
u can tell me anything.”
Kid exhaled. “I was really scared to be alone or go outside. Kip didn’t want me to get hurt, but he just couldn’t do what the madman wanted him to do.”
“And what was that?”
Kid shook his head. “You won’t believe me if I told you, so let’s just let it go.”
Jackie didn’t have time to wait for him to fully trust her or warm up to her. She needed to know now. “You just don’t get me, do you? I don’t let anyone in. I have no one . . . nothing but chess, and . . . now you. I feel connected to you in a way that I’ve never felt with anyone. Ever. So please, don’t shut me out when I’m ready to let you in.”
“Have you ever heard of homegrown terrorism?”
She nodded.
“Well, this guy wanted my brother to find willing participants from low income neighborhoods like where we lived to strap a bomb to themselves and blow up buildings and landmarks or something around New York. Each sacrificial lamb’s family would receive a large sum of money, but my brother refused.”
“Did your brother convert? Why was he chosen?”
“Kip?” The Kid smirked. “He wasn’t converting or pleading allegiance to Jihad, Allah, ISIS or any other faction. He was targeted because he would be least suspected, he had the heart of a lion, and he had a vulnerable brother in a wheelchair to threaten.”
Jackie thought for a moment. Was this really adding up?
Kid continued. “Before he was killed, Kip tried reasoning with this guy, but he couldn’t. I had gotten into a scuffle at the park over a chess game, and to show Kip that he was a team player, the guy went and murdered everyone involved. That spooked Kip, and he made arrangements for us to move down south.”
“If it was the way you say, why didn’t your brother go to the police?”
“Oh, he was. The moment he found out about Uncle Junior and his relatives getting murdered he planned on going to the police until the detectives picked him up for a crime that he didn’t commit. Kip felt surely if he told them what this madman wanted him to do that they would laugh in his face and pin the murders on him.” Kid shook his head as if he were reliving his brother’s plight. “We were leaving, and this man knew it. He gunned my brother down in cold blood and left me in this big, cruel world without him.”
“Who is this monster?” she finally asked.
“He has some ghetto name like a rapper. A fast car . . . what is it?” Kid snapped his fingers for recollection. “Lamborghini, u*** . . .”
Jackie was on the edge of her seat. “Maserati?”
“That’s it! Maserati Meek.” Kid fumbled with his glasses again. “He’s no rapper, Jackie. He’s the real deal. He’s Egyptian, quirky, and a sadist. And between you and me, he’s responsible for the two recent bombings.”
“How can you be sure?”
“The girl that was found murdered on the news in connection with the bombings—Jessica Hernandez? That was his girlfriend, and that was her party. She was trying to get away from him too. I guess he was trying to kill anyone who knew of his plan to blow up New York. Miraculously, we all survived and got out, but Jessica must have gone back to him and he killed her. He’s crazy, Jackie. That’s why I’m leaving. I don’t want to leave you, but if I stay I could put you in harm’s way. I’m hoping that the federal government will catch him soon, and then I will come back for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes. I can’t have my future wife living without her man for long.”
Her face glowed with a smile, which turned into a huge grin. “Who said I even like you?”
“That kiss said.”
She playfully tossed a straw paper at him. “How will you be safe, Kid? I’m worried now. Why didn’t you go to the feds for help?”
“Like my brother, who tried to go to NYPD and ended up dead?”
“We’re not NYPD.”
Kid’s eyes widened.
