Flint Book 6

Book 6: Flint

by Treasure Hernandez

Genres: African American Urban; Romantic Suspense

Synopsis

The love story with a hood flavor is back, but there is still no happy ending for Halleigh and Malek. Their situation has just taken a turn for the worse. Halleigh has been kidnapped by Malek's adversary, who's holding her for ransom. Malek only has 72 hours to save her, or she will be gone forever. With the help of Scratch, a seasoned junkie with a soft spot for Halleigh, Malek terrorizes the city to get his true love back. Will Halleigh make it out alive, or will she finally fall victim to the game. Treasure Hernandez brings you an action-packed, suspenseful story that will have you wanting more of Flint. Welcome to the most dangerous city in America.

Release date: October 27, 2009

Publisher: Urban Audiobooks

Print pages: 288

Sample

Halleigh’s body was racked with violent shivers as she hugged her knees close to her chest and tried to hide herself in the shadows of the dreary basement. She had just come to, having no idea exactly how long she’d been unconscious. For a second there she’d forgotten about what had taken place just moments before she blacked out, but when she looked down at her body, she was quickly reminded.

She looked around the room, her eyes darting from one corner to the next, almost as if she was on drugs, but drugs were a thing of the past. She had been drug-free for a long time. Although no one appeared to be in the room with her, she could feel eyes burning through her.

After a few more moments of scanning the basement, she finally spotted what she could sense was there—the eye of a camera. She could see the tiny red blink of a camcorder in the upper corner of the room. Once again, she felt violated.

She reached out in an attempt to grab something to cover herself, but nothing was there. She had no choice but to resume her earlier position, knees to her chest and her arms curled around her legs as she rocked slowly. A sharp pain forced her to let out a gasp. That’s when she recalled that she’d been bleeding ever since Bugz had violated her, and now she feared for her baby’s life.

She buried her face between her knees as tears fell from her eyes. She didn’t want whoever was watching her to be empowered by her tears, so she felt the need to hide them. She couldn’t help but wonder if anybody had been watching her while she was being raped. Who had sat in front of the monitor and witnessed the horrible act without intervening? What type of person could do something like that? Whoever it was, she hated them. Their voyeuristic sin was cruel, and she was desperate for an escape.

Suddenly, Halleigh got a flashback and lifted her head. In the split second between her being snatched from the shower and a cloth being put over her nose and mouth, she’d looked into the bathroom mirror and saw something. Someone. Someone familiar.

“Mitch?” The word fell off her tongue as she realized that all of this was possibly his doing. “I need to see Mitch,” she whispered to herself.

If Mitch was behind this entire thing, she knew she had a chance to survive after all. As far as Halleigh knew, she’d never done anything to Mitch to prompt him to do something like this to her, so she could only assume that this had nothing to do with her at all, but everything to do with him and Malek. She didn’t know what had sparked a beef between them, but she did know that Mitch had been sweet on her at one point. She was hoping he still was. If so, perhaps she could use it to her advantage. She knew that his attraction toward her was probably the only way she could ever get out of the situation alive, and she was willing to do whatever she had to in order to ensure her baby’s safety.

Where are you, Malek ? Trembling with fear, her eyes darted frantically around the room. She didn’t know what to expect next. It had been a full twenty-four hours since she had been given any food, and she hadn’t seen another face besides Bugz’s. The thought crossed her mind that, now that Bugz had gotten what he wanted from her and she could identify him, she would be left for dead.

She shook her head in an attempt to erase those dreadful thoughts. She hoped and prayed that Bugz was gone for good, but that someone else would come see about her. Bugz wasn’t in this alone; she knew that much. There had to be someone else assigned to keep guard over her, but who? Maybe her eyes had deceived her. Maybe it wasn’t Mitch she’d seen before blacking out.

She closed her eyes and ran the scene through her mind. The scene had happened so quickly. She visualized the shadowy figure that stood off to the side, and unless her mind was deceiving her, it was indeed Mitch.

Opening her eyes, Halleigh wished to God this had all been just a bad dream, but the fact remained, she was still being held hostage. The torment of being locked in the basement reminded Halleigh of when Manolo had imprisoned her in his basement for weeks. It had been sheer torture, and she truly believed that a part of her had been forever locked in that basement. When she was finally released, she was a partial image of the person she used to be. She could only wonder what kind of emotions this time would bring upon her. How much of her soul would she leave behind this time, if she made it out at all?

Everything in Halleigh just wanted to get up, go beat on that door, and cry out for help, but she was all out of screams. There was no fight left in her. All she really wanted to do was just go home. She would do anything to be back home, safe and sound in her bed, next to her man.

She closed her eyes once again, and instantly, Malek’s face appeared behind her lids. Her heartbeat began to speed up as she thought about the possibility of never seeing him again. She couldn’t understand, for the life of her, why it seemed as though the two of them were always teetering on the edge. Why was their love so hard to keep? Just when it appeared as though they’d picked themselves up and dusted themselves off again, they were being kicked back down. Something always seemed to be in their way, keeping them apart.

Halleigh thought, Perhaps, we’re not supposed to be together. True love couldn’t possibly be this hard to maintain, could it?

Tears ran down her face as she kept her eyes squeezed shut. She could see him smiling at her. He was holding her baby—their baby—in his arms. A sob escaped from her lips as she imagined Malek staring lovingly at her, rocking a baby boy back and forth in his arms. Halleigh had never seen that much joy in Malek’s face, and she was mesmerized by the child he was holding. He was the most beautiful baby boy she had ever seen. His smooth chocolate skin was flawless, and his big buck eyes were innocent and sweet. She fell in love at first sight, even though it was just a dream.

As quickly as she fell in love, grief took over. She saw Malek fall to his knees with the baby in his hands. His face donned a look of pain, as the front of his white T-shirt filled with crimson blood. Halleigh reached out for him, but she couldn’t get to him. She heard her baby crying, but she couldn’t move. The only thing she could do was cry.

Halleigh’s eyes shot open at the sight of her love dying, and she stared into space. “God, please help us,” she pleaded.

She couldn’t help but think that her vision was some type of premonition. That’s why he hasn’t come for me yet, she thought. Please, God, let Malek be okay. Her love for him was just that deep. Even while she was in distress, she prayed for his well-being. Even if a part of her was angry that he wasn’t there for her, she still couldn’t help but love him. They were soul mates, and her love for him was unselfish and unyielding. It was evident that, no matter what, she couldn’t force herself to not love that man. Only death itself could keep her from loving him. She hoped, though, that wouldn’t be the case.



Mitch entered the trap house, his authority causing his henchmen to straighten up and pretend as if they hadn’t just been distracted from the game of NBA Live they’d been playing for some hours. Mitch stood in the living room in his Pelle jacket, black hoodie, and Sean John jeans, a Styrofoam food box in his hand. “Turn that bullshit off,” Mitch stated in his low, serious tone. He walked over to the TV monitors and looked at Halleigh on the screen. “She ate?”

Bugz continued to play the game. “Nah.”

“Since when?” Mitch pulled his baggy pants up on his waistline.

“Shit, I don’t know, man. Yesterday, I think,” Bugz replied, refusing to turn his attention away from the game.

“Why not?” Mitch asked calmly as he went over to where Bugz and two other corner boys were sitting.

“The bitch ain’t got no act-right in her.” Bugz hit the blunt that was being passed around. He chuckled as he thought about his sexual tryst with the captive.

Mitch walked over to the game and snatched the cords out of the wall, interrupting their tournament. “Fuck am I paying you niggas for? Huh? Didn’t I give y’all strict orders ? Why didn’t y’all feed her? She’s pregnant!”

Bugz frowned and shot back, “Damn, fam! I didn’t know we was running a luxury hotel out this bitch. We kidnapped that broad. So I forgot to feed her. I don’t see why we hanging onto this bitch anyway. I say we pop her ass and pop that bitch-ass nigga Malek.”

Mitch shook his head in disdain and then lunged at Bugz, hemming him up by his collar, and pointing a threatening finger in his face. “You feed her because I say feed her, nigga. I’m boss. You don’t need to know why we hanging onto her. I’m not paying you to be sitting around with these mu’fuckas glued to an Xbox. Understand?”

Bugz, embarrassed that he had been degraded in front of his peers, snatched away from Mitch. He humbled himself and replied, “Yeah, I got you, fam.” He brushed his shoulders off as if Mitch had gotten dirt on him by touching him. “Damn! My fault, my nigga.” Bugz headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll go feed her now.”

“I got it.” Mitch started down the stairs with the food he had for himself, to give it to Halleigh. He mumbled to himself about how incompetent Bugz was as he made his way to the bottom of the steps.

The loud noise his Timberland boots made as he descended the steps sounded identical to Bugz’s footsteps, and Halleigh cowered in fear, huddling farther into the corner of the basement.

As Mitch reached the bottom of the steps, he could see her through the darkness. He looked up and fumbled around before he pulled the string hanging from the ceiling to illuminate the room. A yellow glow shone throughout the basement, and a funky smell, like fresh blood, filled the air. Mitch immediately frowned up and walked toward Halleigh. “Halleigh, come and grab some of this food.”

Mitch’s voice caused her to turn around. “Mitch?” she called out weakly.

He didn’t respond.

Halleigh blinked a couple of times, adjusting her eyes to the light. Once she could see clearly, she was able to confirm that she had been right all along. Mitch was . . .