It's Like Candy (39 page)

Eric and River made it out the back but were cut short by Yung Slim pointing a .45 at them.

“You set me up and bring DEA down on me, cousin! You supposed to be family?! You bitch-ass niggah,” Yung Slim protested. He was bleeding from his shoulder and was furious.

“I have no more family—at least not wit' you, anyway,” Eric countered, staring hostilely at his cousin. “All you do is bring destruction and death to everything around you. I got everything on tape, Russell, even Critter's murder.”

“Fuck you, bitch!” Yung Slim shrieked and aimed his gat at Eric, but River ran in front of him and got hit first as a quick round penetrated her. She landed at Eric's feet. Eric promptly returned fire and shot his cousin in the head, dropping him to the ground dead.

“River, get up . . . please, you can't die on me now . . . please, please,” Eric cried out, clutching River in his arms. “Why you do that for? Huh? It wasn't supposed to be like this. I found your sister, Starr. She's with the agents now. I found her for you. We still gotta make things right.”

River stared up at Eric, bleeding and weak. She owed Eric every-thing, and she felt it was only right to take a bullet for him.

Quickly agents came into view and saw Eric gripping his woman in his arms and holding her tight. They immediately called for an emergency van. Her pulse was weak and her breathing shallow, but she was still alive.

The situation inside was finally under control, with agents taking everyone into custody. Three thugs lay dead in the gunfight, and two agents were seriously injured.

As they laid River on a gurney and were about ready to put her in the ambulance, Starr came running over.

“Is that my sister? River! River!” she screamed. “No! What happened? Eric, what happened to her?! River, it's me, Starr.”

Eric gripped Starr in his arms, trying to calm her down.

“No! No! No!” Starr cried out, watching the medics work on her sister and load her into the ambulance. “I'm goin' wit' her!”

It was only right for Starr to be with her sister at such a critical moment. She finally got to hold River's hand as the ambulance rushed them away to Jamaica Hospital.

Eric stayed behind in tears, covered in blood. He stared at his dead cousin sprawled out on the ground and had no regrets for his actions. Agents Morris and Merchant walked over to him and wanted a full deposition from him about the night's action. Yung Slim was dead.

As Eric walked away with the agents he noticed Big Red in hand-cuffs and a small smile spread across Eric's face. Both men made quick eye contact. Red cursed Eric under his breath and was led away by two agents gripping both arms.

But it wasn't over for Eric.

Two black suvs were parked near the warehouse
and the faces on the men inside were not too pleasing. Rome and Reality stared at dozens of DEA agents surrounding the warehouse and knew it was too late for their revenge.

“This muthafucka!” Rome cursed, gripping a micro Uzi semiautomatic pistol. “What you think, Reality?”

“It was a setup,” Reality replied, also gripping an Uzi. “DEA got to him first.”

“Fuck it, we out,” Rome said, instructing his driver to make a U-turn and head home. Yung Slim's reign was finally over. They watched the coroner load two body bags into the van.

Rome was upset that he hadn't pulled the trigger himself, but felt relieved that it was finally over between him and Yung Slim. The next day for him would be business as usual.

River was rushed into surgery
in the emergency room at Jamaica Hospital; she had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. Starr wasn't too far behind her, crying hysterically and cursing out every nurse or doctor who tried to pull her away from her sister as they rolled her down the corridor.

“Get the fuck off me! That's my sister! She needs me—that's my sister—get off me!” Starr shrieked, fighting off two nurses.

“Ma'am, please, you have to let the doctors work here, they're trying to help,” one nurse said, trying to calm her down.

“No, she can't die! I haven't seen her in years. She can't die!” Starr cried out. “Get off me and help her! Fuckin' help her!! Help her!!”

Security quickly got involved and joined in with the nurses trying to contain and calm Starr down. She was little, but strong and feisty.

“Young lady, we're going to have to escort you outside if you don't calm down now!” one security guard said.

“Fuck you! Fuck you!” Starr screamed, trying to take a swing at the guard.

They quickly grabbed her, subduing her arms and legs, and were about to escort her outside.

Ms. Henderson was finishing up her tour when she heard all the commotion from down the hall. She heard a young lady screaming, cursing, and carrying on, and curiosity got the best of her. She started to walk toward the racket and was surprised to see Starr in the middle of it all.

It had been weeks since Starr ran away from the social workers who tried to take her away, and every day Starr had been on Ms. Henderson's mind. She was excited, but at the same time upset to see Starr acting in such an uncivilized way.

Ms. Henderson walked up to the scene, and called out, “Starr, what is going on with you?”

“Ms. Henderson, please help me! They shot my sister! They shot River,” Starr cried out.

“Good God,” Ms. Henderson uttered.

“Ms. Henderson, do you know this woman?” a guard asked. “Yes, she's family,” Ms. Henderson replied. “I'll take care of her.” Hearing that, the guards let go of Starr, and Starr immediately collapsed into Ms. Henderson's arms crying uncontrollably. “Please don't let her die on me, Ms. Henderson. Please don't.”

“I'm here, chile . . . I'm here,” Ms. Henderson consoled her.

A few hours later, the doctor came out looking exhausted. He re-moved his surgical mask as he approached Starr and Ms. Henderson sitting in the waiting area. His facial expression looked unemotional; both ladies didn't know if he was coming with good news or bad news.

Starr instantly stood up and gazed at the doctor in his wrinkled gown. The doctor let out a sigh, and then said, “She's alive.”

Starr let out a quick cheer as she hugged Ms. Henderson. But Dr. Fermat wasn't finished.

“We were able to stop the bleeding, but she lost a tremendous amount of blood. Her heart rate was fading fast, and I thought we were about to lose her at one point. I had to authorize an emergency transfusion to get her heart rate moving again at a steady pace. She
also has a ruptured lung, though I was able to save it. But she's in a coma, and I can't tell how long she'll be under. And if she does come through, she might have some brain damage, and may need months of physical therapy,” he proclaimed.

Starr was teary-eyed but hugged Ms. Henderson. “She'll get better, right?”

“It's too soon to say. We're monitoring her vital signs closely. At this point, it takes patience and prayer,” the doctor said.

“Thank you, Dr. Fermat,” Ms. Henderson said.

He walked off, leaving the two alone.

“Oh, God . . . please help her . . . please let her come through this okay. Oh, God, I'm sorry . . . I won't be bad ever again if He brings my sister through this. I miss her so much,” Starr prayed.

“Starr, everything now is in His hands. He'll get you through this,” Ms. Henderson stated.

Starr felt so guilty. It had been years since she'd seen River, and unfortunately, they had to reunite now in a hospital where River was in a coma. She felt she had the worst luck in the world.

“Starr, have a seat. There's something I need to explain to you,” Ms. Henderson gently stated.

Starr took a seat next to Ms. Henderson and clutched her warm hand. Ms. Henderson held Starr's pained gaze, staring into her teary eyes, and said, “Your father, Henry . . . well, he's my younger brother. You're my niece.”

Starr was shocked. “What?”

“It's been so long since I've seen you and River, and that night they brought you into this hospital, I felt some kind of connection to you. But I wasn't sure until we started talking, and you said your name to me, and then you mentioned that you had an older sister named River. I was sure you were Henry's daughter. I haven't seen you since you were three.”

“You know where my father is?”

“He's in North Carolina. He's been living there for over ten
years,” Ms. Henderson informed her. “After he left you and your mother he came to me crying one night, and explained everything that happened with him and his wife. I begged him to go back and get his children, but he was just too ashamed. Then one day he told me he was going to move back South, and he did, and never came back to New York.”

Starr felt abandoned. She could never understand how her father could just leave and never come back for her and River. But she blamed her mother for everything.

“I went looking for you and River, but your mother Sheryl had moved y'all away from us. I knew what kind of woman she was, but when you explained to me the horror you and your sister endured, I felt so guilty. I felt that our family abandoned y'all. But the good Lord brought you back to me, yes, He did. It may have taken a few years, but He always delivers. And I wanted to adopt you, but you ran away from the social workers, and I felt so devastated, because I knew I should have told you about me sooner.”

Starr was still teary-eyed as she continued to listen to Ms. Henderson. She wanted the pain to go away. She wanted to escape to a better place, of peace for the family.

“Ms. Henderson—” Starr began.

But Ms. Henderson interrupted her by saying, “Please, Starr .  . . call me Aunt Diana. You're my family, and I promise you, I'll take care of you and your sister. Our family has been through so much, but as of tonight, no more.” Ms. Henderson clutched Starr's hands tighter, closed her eyes, and began to pray. She got down on her knees, and began with, “O Lord, I come to You . . . we come to You for help. I pray for River, I pray for Starr . . . Please guide these young ladies, O Lord. I know You will bring us through hard times. . . . O Lord, we may fall, but with Your guidance I know we will get back up and rise again. . . . Lord, I pray for our family, I pray for River. I pray for Starr, and I pray for their mother, Sheryl. . . . I pray for her ways, her mistakes. O Lord, have the Spirit guide us,
protect us, and direct us. O Lord, You're a merciful God, as I know my nieces will get through this. I'm here, Lord. You brought them to me, and I promise I'll always be there for them. . . . I promise You, Lord, I promise. . . .” she chanted, squeezing Starr's hand tighter and tighter.

Eric hugged River tightly,
as they left the courthouse on Queens Boulevard on a breezy November afternoon six months later. They had both just finished testifying in court against Officer Gibson, a.k.a. Big Red. River and Eric held nothing back on the stand as the cop was indicted on numerous charges, from murder to drugs, extortion, and even conspiracy charges. Red was looking at twenty-five years to life.

Barnes and Bishop were on trial too, facing life in prison for numerous murders and other allegations against them. Eric became a witness for the DA and sang like a canary on the stand. He no longer cared about his or his family's reputation, or being labeled as a snitch since almost everyone close to him was dead. Eric even got bold enough to snitch to the feds about the Snowman, and with his cooperation, among other snitches and evidence, the Snowman was sitting in Riker's Island without bail, awaiting his trial date. And for his cooperation, Eric got full amnesty.

The media ate it up, and the trials of such notorious kingpins made headlines all over. Yung Slim's death even made front-page news. The press had a field day with the story for days when they found out it was a cousin who murdered Yung Slim.

The only men who seemed unaffected throughout the ordeal and the constant media coverage were Rome and Reality. For them, business continued as usual. They had over a dozen girls working the tracks night after night bringing in thousands and thousands of dollars a night. But unfortunately for Dynasty, she was murdered during the summer when an angry trick shot three rounds into her head, killing her instantly.

And Karen was gunned down by Reality as she sat parked in her brand-new BMW a few blocks from her office. Reality took pleasure in killing the crooked P O himself. It was payback for his son's mother and the others that she helped set up for Yung Slim. She was hit all over fifteen times, even in the face, necessitating a closed-casket funeral.

River was improving steadily
over the months, but still needed a cane to move around, and still underwent physical therapy every week. But with Eric by her side, and Starr and Ms. Henderson back in her life, she was determined to get better and spend some quality time with her newfound family. They were by River's side constantly, and after the trial, they were planning to move down to North Carolina to become closer with their father. Eric was going too. He wanted to leave New York, especially Jamaica. He wanted his former home and neighborhood to be nothing but old memories. Some were good, but the majority were tragic and painful.

For Eric, being with River and her family was a new start for him. And he was willing to leave everything behind—the money, the game—and get an honest job in the South and start a regular family of his own.

it was late evening
a few weeks before Christmas, and River, Starr, and Ms. Henderson walked into the North Hampton State Hospital in Upstate N.Y. Starr was very reluctant, but River was curious and just wanted answers, if she could get any.

A nurse guided Ms. Henderson through the corridors, with both girls following close behind. They had an hour's visit. They approached a room with a steel door, and the nurse pulled out her keys and slowly unlocked it.