Against the Grain (23 page)

“Go get Lady,” Kay told Brick. Brick went out to the car to get Lady. When they returned, she saw Tank and jumped on him. They pulled her off him and stood him up again.

“What?! Ya’ll niggaz want me to beg for my life? Fuck that! If you gonna kill me, do it! I’m going out like a soldier.”

Lady walked up to Tank, opening her butterfly knife. The movement of her hand was so swift that Tank didn’t even see her jab the knife under the bottom of his chin, sending it through the roof of his mouth. He fell to his knees, then collapsed at her feet. Lady then quietly turned to Kay and cried in his arms.

“Now he’s got to deal with Scatter when he gets where he’s going,” Bush said as they all left.

“Ya’ll go ahead. I’ll meet you at the car,” Brick said as he shut the door behind them. A few minutes later he rushed out and jumped in the backseat. They all noticed he was covered in blood.

“What did you do?” Kay asked him.

“That nigga had too much mouth. And I didn’t come all the way from Canada to not have some fun, so I cut his fucking head off and stuck it facedown in the coke on the table.”

•         •         •

About a block away, Mike was sitting in one of his hooptees watching. He’d been there ever since they drove up. He knew it was too late for Tank. He sat there for another minute while he finished his blunt and beer. He rolled down the window and said, “For my nigga Tank,” as he poured out the rest of his beer. He started the car and left.

•         •         •

While Brick changed clothes, Kay and Bush talked for a while. “I remember when you was a little snot-nosed kid always hangin’ around grown-ups. I always knew it was something special about you. Scatter would always tell everybody the same thing. He used to say, ‘That boy is special. He changes the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. Either for the good or the bad and that’s a gift.’ Now look at you. You own the city and shit. They say everybody is somebody because of somebody else. Scatter definitely raised you to be somebody,” Bush said to Kay. They hugged and Brick came downstairs.

“Yo, it’s time to hit the highway. You know it’s all over town by now that we’re here. I ain’t tryin’ to go to jail on no humble,” he said.

“Ya’ll need anything?” Kay asked them.

“Nah, we’re alright. Scatter sent us plenty of money the past few years,” Bush said. They walked over to the couch and kissed Lady. She was staring out the window and didn’t even acknowledge them.

“Call us in a few days and let us know how she’s doing,” Bush said, looking at Lady.

“Yeah, and if you have any more problems, call us,” Brick told him.

When the door shut, Lady called out Scatter’s name, thinking it was him coming home.

Kay sat next to her and held her. “Bug, you can’t stay here. It’s not safe,” he told her.

“I know, baby. Tia talked me into going down south with her. She’s at Janita’s now. She and her husband are driving back in the morning. I’m going to follow them.”

“Well, c’mon, let’s get you packed.”

“I’m already packed,” she said.

“I’ve got something for you then.” He pulled her to her feet and took her upstairs to the third-floor apartment. Kay started kicking big holes in the walls and pulling out bags of money.

“What’s this, Kay?”

“It’s Scatter’s money. That’s where he stashed it. Said he didn’t trust banks or lawyers with that kind of money.”

“There’s got to be at least a million dollars here,” she said.

“It’s about two million and it’s all yours now, so let’s load up the car and get you over Janita’s,” he said.

25

The next morning Kay was in his Benz. Dre was in his Benz and had P-Nut with him. Big Duke had his cousins with him in the Excursion. They all rushed over to Mama’s house. Sonia, Lil ‘C’, Kaneeka, Tramaine, and his family met them there. Without saying too much, Kay rushed everyone out of the house. Mama, Caleek, Sonia, and Lil ‘C’ got in Caleek’s car. Tramaine, Kaneeka, and his family got in his truck. Kay ordered everyone to follow him to his house.

Before he could get in his car, two black vans with tinted windows turned onto Mama’s block. One from each end. They blocked off the street, stopping anyone from going anywhere. Big Duke and his cousins jumped out with guns in hand. Big Duke went to Kay’s side. Dre and Nut jumped out with guns and took cover. The van doors opened and five armed men jumped out of each van. They surrounded Kay and everyone with him.

Mike’s Bentley came up the block and stopped. He and Gee got out.

“Where you going, playboy, on a little vacation or something?” Mike asked as he walked up to Kay. Then he looked around at Kay’s people. “You must be going to the North Pole or some shit like that. I see you packed plenty of heat.”

Kay walked around Big Duke to face Mike. “Yo, you was plannin’ on doing something to my moms?” Kay asked as he shoved Mike. Mike’s people moved closer. Kay’s people did the same. No one took an eye off each other.

Mama jumped out of Caleek’s car as Mike regained his composure. “NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOO! What are you two doing? You’re best friends for God’s sake. You’re family. My baby got both ya’ll’s blood in his veins,” Mama yelled, pointing at Caleek. She stood between Kay and Mike, crying uncontrollably. Kay and Mike stared each other in the eyes without saying a word.

“Now, I am sick and tired of all this stupid shit that’s going on. We just buried Scatter and Kahdijah yesterday.”

Before she could say anything else, Mike cut her off. “And now Tank’s dead!”

Mama put one hand over her mouth and the other on her chest.

“Ask Kay how Tank died, Mama,” Mike said, never taking his eyes off Kay.

“Did you have something to do with that, Arkadian?” Kay knew she was upset because that’s the only time she would call him by his real name.

Before Kay could say anything, a bunch of young boys that he’d told to meet him at his mom’s house came around the corner. There were about ten of them and they all loved Kay like a brother. The oldest one was maybe seventeen years old and was the leader. He reminded Kay of himself growing up. These young boys carried big guns and they didn’t care about shit. When they saw all the gunplay that was going on, they pulled their burners and separated on both sides of the street, surrounding everyone like a bunch of wild cowboys. Mike and everybody watched in amazement. Kay smiled. He knew he had the upper hand. Kay pointed to Mike’s chest. Mike looked down. There were three infrared dots on his chest. When he looked back up at Kay, there were two more on his face. Mike knew that he had no wins. He made a rotation motion in the air with his right hand. All his boys got back in the vans. Mike and Gee walked back to the Bentley.

Mike looked at Kay, “All is fair in war, huh?” He got in his car and backed down the block. The vans followed him.

Kay walked over to the seventeen-year-old and gave him a pound. The young boy apologized for being late. He said he had to round up the whole crew. Kay told him not to worry about it. He did good. Then Kay gave him the keys to Lady’s house and car. Kay told him that there was money and a kilo of heroin in the house that he could have.

“Everything is yours for your loyalty. Put your crew on and they’ll be loyal to you. And make sure you watch your back, ’cause Mike’s gonna come for you.”

“Shiiiiiit! That’s what I want him to do, so I can murk his fuckin’ ass. Don’t nobody like Mike. He treats people like shit. I would have killed that ho-ass nigga a long time ago if it wasn’t for you. We don’t give a fuck about them niggaz that be with him, his bodyguards. I’ll lay them niggaz down, too,” the young boy said.

“Yo, I’m out. The city is yours. Be careful when you go to Mexico to find a new connect,” Kay said as he got in his car and led the small convoy out of the hood. The young boy smiled. He knew Kay had just, in a roundabout way, told him how to re-up once the kilo of heroin was gone.

26

Later that evening, Mina had just gotten off work. She pulled in the driveway and parked behind Dre’s old Lexus. The Benz and the Escalade were gone, so she knew he wasn’t in yet. She got a grocery bag from the backseat and shut the door. She turned the car alarm on and walked toward the house.

A big-ass nigga was kneeling down on the passenger side of the old Lexus coupe so that Mina couldn’t see him. As she turned her back to him to walk up the walkway, he came around the front of the Lexus. He was down so low, the tip of his gun scraped the ground and Mina heard it. She stopped in her tracks and turned around slow. When she saw the huge figure running out of the dark at her, she dropped to one knee and punched him in the groin so hard she shoved his nuts up in his stomach. The huge man dropped his gun and fell to the ground like he’d been shot. Mina picked up the gun and pointed it at him. She would have pulled the trigger, too, if she had not felt the tip of a gun resting on the back of her head. She dropped the gun and put her hands in the air. The big-ass nigga on the ground in front of her holding his nuts and trying to catch his breath had brought a friend along.

“C’mon, nigga, get your ass up. You ain’t dying,” the voice behind her said to the figure on the ground. When he finally got up, he walked over to Mina and with the back of his right hand slapped her in the mouth.

“Motherfucker!” she yelled as she charged him like a wildcat with the taste of blood in her mouth. He stepped back out of her reach just in time. The voice behind her snatched her back by a handful of her hair.

“C’mon? Man, pick up that bag and them keys and open the door before someone sees us out here.”

They walked Mina over to the front door, looking around to make sure the neighbors hadn’t seen what was going on. When the first guy opened the door, they rushed her inside and turned on the lights. Hearing the ADT alarm system beep, they knew she had twenty seconds to disarm it. The man with the gun to her head ordered her to enter the code. She did as she was told, and the system shut off. When the guy behind her finally let her hair go, she turned around and saw that it was Mike’s bodyguard, Twan.

The bodyguard looked around and realized that there was no furniture in the living room, just an expensive-looking keyboard and hundreds of books scattered all over the carpet.

“Yo, man, let’s have some fun with this bitch before we kill her,” the one with the bruised nuts said.

“Mike said put two in her head and get the fuck outta here,” the bodyguard responded.

“Yeah well, Mike ain’t here and this bitch hit me in the nuts, so I’m going to make her kiss ’em,” the first guy said as he pulled his gun and walked toward her. He snatched her hospital scrubs by the collar and tore it down the middle, exposing her bra and stomach.

“Oooh shit, man. Would you look at that? This bitch is bad as shit! She got her navel pierced. That shit is getting my dick hard just looking at it.”

Twan laughed and said, “Hurry up, so I can get mines.”

The first guy passed his partner his burner, then pushed Mina, causing her to stumble over a stack of books and fall on her back. But when he reached for her pants, she kicked, punched, and screamed ferociously. He had just about pulled her scrubs all the way off when the front door flew open and cops rushed in. Mike’s bodyguard turned around with both guns in his hand, which would be his undoing. The police opened fire on him, killing him instantly. More police came in through the back door. They handcuffed the first guy and took him out the house.

“Are you all right, Mrs. Black?” the officer in charge asked Mina. “It’s a good thing you had that ADT alarm system. When you put the code in backwards, we knew to come full force. Do you want to go to the hospital? Or we could drop you off somewhere else if you don’t want to be alone.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll call my husband in a minute. I just need to get myself together.”

After removing the dead body and a few more questions so that he could finish his report, Officer Friendly and the rest of them fucks left the scene.

•         •         •

Kay, Big Duke, Nut, Caleek, Tramaine, and Big Duke’s cousins were all in the game room. Shu-Shu had come home earlier, so all the women and children were upstairs with her. Even Sonia was up there. Dre’s cell phone rang and he stepped to the side to talk. When he finished talking, he threw the cell phone against the wall with all his might, smashing it to pieces. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. Kay rushed over. Dre had tears in his eyes.

“What’s up, yo?”

“Mike violated me, man. I’ve got to kill him now.”

“What are you talking about? What did he do?” Kay asked his friend. Dre told Kay what Mina had just told him and the two of them left in a hurry. When they got to Dre’s house, Kay saw for himself how much Dre loved Mina by the open display of affection he showed for his wife in front of him. They both held each other and cried. Dre went in the bedroom to his walk-in closet and opened his safe. He took out his Ruger P89 9mm that was fully loaded with Black Talon bullets. They were called cop-killers because they could go through a bulletproof vest. Kay stopped him.

“Yo, chill for a minute. I know you want to kill this nigga. By law you’re suppose to kill him. But I’m asking you as a friend and a brother, let me handle this. Just take all your dough and your wife and leave town tonight. You said you wanted to see the world, so why not leave tonight? Shit is hot around here anyway and it’s about to get hotter,” Kay said.

“Do you realize what you’re asking me, Kay?”

“Yeah, I know. But I promise that nigga won’t live another twenty-four hours,” Kay told Dre. Dre trusted Kay. He and Mina packed a few things along with all the money he kept in the house and they got in their Benz and left.

Kay drove home thinking of his next move. He’d been trying to avoid it by staying away from Mike, but now Mike was a dead man. He had to kill him. He gave Dre his word.

27

The next morning Kay, Big Duke, his cousins, and Nut kicked in Gee’s door while he was still in bed. Kay sat down in the living room while the rest of them made Gee get dressed. Sandra and the kids had left already. The cousins were standing over Gee to make sure he didn’t try any “Super nigga” shit. Once he was dressed, he came out and sat next to Kay on the leather sofa.

Kay looked at him with a smile. “What’s up, sleepyhead? You about to sleep your life away, ain’t you?” Gee didn’t say anything because he didn’t know how to take Kay’s statement. “You want something to drink? Yeah, you look a little thirsty. Yo, Chris, get this nigga something cold to drink for me.” Chris turned and walked to the kitchen.

“Yo, I’m going to get straight to the point here. By the code of the streets I’m suppose to kill you because you crossed me. But we grew up together and plus I know that you were just doing what you were told. That’s your fuckin’ problem; you’ve always been a follower so I don’t blame you. That’s why I’m going to let you live.”

Chris came back and handed Gee a glass of water while he drank a bottle of papaya juice.

“I’ll allow you to live under one condition, Gee: I want you to get in your car right now and leave town.”

“What about mi family, mon?” Gee asked in his Jamaican accent.

“Don’t give me that Shabba Ranks shit right now. I’m not going to harm your family. Wherever you decide to relocate, just call Sandra. She and the kids will be there. I promise. There’s no negotiations here. It’s a onetime deal. Take it or leave it,” Kay told him. And with that said, Big Duke pulled out his gun and handed it to Kay. Gee knew that he didn’t have a choice. Life was better than death.

He looked to Kay. “Thank you, mon.” He and Kay stood up and Kay handed him his car keys.

“Let mi get some money out mi safe, bredren?”

“What the fuck did I just say? Leave right now, nigga. Sandra will bring you everything you need,” Kay told Gee. Gee understood. They all walked out the house. Gee got in his car and drove toward I-95.