of the hood. I twisted my ankle as I landed on the ground. I aimed the knife at the first pit bulls throat. I had perfect aim, but it didn’t stop the beast in its tracks. I raised my arm, and the monster’s teeth latched on to it. My screams were stifled when the second albino pit bull came to join the party. I quickly grabbed it by its throat. They growled and bit into my clothing and began to shake me like an old rag. I gave the animals a fight, but I was no match for the two beasts at the same time. I could feel my bones being broken into pieces.
TRAE
I kept trying to get through to Mr. Li to find out why he had insisted on sending Charli to handle this business when we had an agreement. In my book, that was a breach of trust. I left several messages. And now Charli was late.
I had a seat at the bar so that I could see everyone who came in. By one thirty, I had waited long enough and decided that it was time for me to bounce. I had my doubts about meeting with her in the first place and was relieved that she hadn’t shown up.
“You out, big Bruh?” Scat, the bartender asked me.
“I’m out.”
I stepped outside into the bright sunlight and headed for the parking lot. There was a crowd of people and two ambulances. I couldn’t have cared less as I made my way around the excited crowd. Everyone was chattering.
“Dang, them dogs ate that bitch up.”
“What was she doing around here, anyway?”
“Probably delivering somebody’s lo mein.”
“Hell, nah, that Chinese ho had a real Gucci bag. She wasn’t no delivery woman. “
“That’s a shame that ol’ hag wouldn’t open the car door for her.”
I had heard the bits and pieces of conversation but didn’t put it all together until I saw Charli’s car. I stopped dead in my tracks and peeked inside the candy-apple-red Beamer. It was empty. I rushed back over to the ambulance as it was pulling off. I went over to the first police officer I saw and asked what happened.
“Who are you?” the officer, whose name was Gilliard, asked.
“I was here to meet a young lady, Ms. Li, but she never showed up.”
“Hey, Paulson! Paulson! This guy says he was here to meet the lady,” Gilliard yelled to one of the other officers. “Who is she to you?” He turned back to me.
“My attorney. She’s an attorney.”
“Well, she was attacked by pit bulls. We are not done putting the report together yet.” He handed me a card.
Whoa. “Attacked by pit bulls? Is she all right?”
“You’ll have to call the hospital for that, sir,” Gilliard told me.
I headed for my truck, wondering how fast I could get word to Charlie Li.
• • •
“Mr. Macklin, good of you to call,” Mr. Li said. “I’ve been away on travel, but Kon told me of your progress and how confident you’ve been in handling yourself on all of your assignments. You’ll be hearing from Kon again. If you have any problems, he’s your point of contact.”
“No questions, Mr. Li. I’m calling because of your daughter. Were you aware that she set up a meeting with me for today? Per your instructions and our agreement I would not have to communicate with her. However, she called and said you had an assignment for me, and since you were out of the country, you gave it to her. I tried to confirm her story with you and could only leave several messages. She was supposed to meet me at one o’clock. By one thirty, when she hadn’t showed, I left. That’s when I found out that she was bitten by a dog and was taken away by ambulance. I was calling to see if you were aware of that and if the hospital had reached out to you.”
“This is the first that I’ve heard of this. Are you sure it was my daughter who was bitten by a dog?”
“I am. The police officer gave me a card with his contact info as well as an incident report number. I have it right here.”
“Give it to me.”
I did.
“Mr. Macklin, my orders to you were that under no circumstances were you to have contact with my daughter outside of my presence. But I will deal with our problem at another time. For now, I must check on my daughter.”