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“What’s Evie doing there?” Tazeem asked, but Chess didn’t have time to answer because right then, the door slammed shut, and Chess heard a thud on the other side of the door then a low cry.
“Kendall.” Panic immediately led Chess to slam her fist on the door and shout, “Kendall. Kendall.”
Before she could knock again, she had several snaps as if someone was removing the locks. A second later, the door flew open. Chess was expecting to see Kendall – or Evie. She wasn’t expecting to see Evie standing there while holding a gun that was pointed right at Chess.
Perhaps it was the shock, but Chess didn’t react fast enough. Before she could even fully register the weapon’s presence, Evie lunged at her then violently yanked her into the room.
“Argh!” Chess let out a low cry as she swept into the room in a flurry of flailing arms and awkward, running steps.
Kendall was lying on the floor just a few steps from the door, and because Chess didn’t have control of her body, she tripped over her. Chess fell half over Kendall with the rest of her body crashing into the tiled floor. In the process, she lost her grip on her purse and phone. The phone went flying a distance from her, but she didn’t even notice because she was too busy moaning because of the pain from falling.
Meanwhile, Evie slammed the door to the room shut.
By the time Chess got off Kendall and got on her hands and knees, Evie’s gun was trained on both of them.
Horror curling inside her, Chess turned her head to stare at her attacker. “What the hell is going on here, Evie?”
But Evie didn’t even get a chance to answer because right then Tazeem’s voice echoed over Chess’s phone. “Chess! Chess! Chelsea! Are you okay?”
“Tazeem, HELP!” Chess screamed as she lunged for the phone.
But Evie had the same idea too and she raced toward the phone too.
Chess got to the phone first but before she could pick it up, Evie stepped on her hand. Hard!
Pain! Excruciating pain. That pain swiftly moved to her head when Evie pistol-whipped her. With a cry and clutching the side of her face, Chess fell to her side.
“Chelsea! Chelsea!” Tazeem kept calling out even as Evie grabbed the phone from the floor.
Her thin lips set in an angry, straight line, she pressed the side of the phone. Seconds later, the phone was off and Tazeem was silent.
Evie dropped the phone to the floor, then slammed her sneakered foot down on the screen. The screen shattered.
TERROR WAS NOT AN ACCURATE enough word to describe the intense emotion that had Tazeem in its grip. It was a good thing that he was seated in his car when he heard Chess scream, otherwise his legs would’ve buckled under him. He could feel fear in every inch of his body, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, and it rendered him unable to think of anything other than getting to her.
“Chess. Chess. Chess,” Tazeem, called out in a panic seconds before realizing that she’d hung up.
“Daddy,” Jay drew his attention. He and Frankie had somehow managed to wedge their bodies between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat, and they both looked just as worried as Tazeem felt. Jay asked, “Is something wrong with Mommy?”
“Give me a second.” Tazeem’s fingers trembled as he punched three numbers into his phone.
“Nine-one-one.” A dispatcher picked up the call on the first ring. “What’s your emergency?”
Tazeem fought to keep his voice steady as he said, “I think my girlfriend is in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“I’m not sure but-” Tazeem went on to explain everything that had happened from Chess going to meet Kendall at that weird motel, the scream after seeing Evie, some kind of scrambling, her yelp for help, then her phone going off. By the time Tazeem was done, the dispatcher sounded just as worried as he was.
“Okay,” the dispatcher asked, “what’s the address?”
Thank God Chess had the common sense to give him all the details of her location. Tazeem quickly rattled out the name of the motel and the number of the room where Kendall was supposed to be.
“We’re sending officers to go check on her right now.” The dispatcher advised, “But keep calling her just to see if you can reach her.”
“Thank you.” Tazeem ended the call.
Jay pounced immediately. “Is Mommy okay?”
