The Corner III (No Way Out) (37 page)

Leonard was shitty seeing as how he and NuNu had a pact that they wouldn’t tell anyone about the bank heist. The less who knew, the less chance that it would be that they’d get caught, was their motto. But who was he to trip? He hadn’t let NuNu know that he was taking part of his share of the money to get a couple of kilos from Tone. It wasn’t a smart move, but Leonard wanted the fame and respect that came with being a baller. He wasn’t satisfied with just having money and being financially set. He wanted to live the glamorous life—the life of a hustler. But only certain people were cut out for that, and Tone knew this and that’s why he wanted to talk to Leonard first. He put the Acura in gear and put the tinted windows up. Before he drove off he asked, “Your loot hid, nigga?”

Leonard brow furrowed. “Yeah, it’s cool.”

Tone drove off.

Leonard asked, “What’s up, dawg? I mean I trust you and all, but where the fuck we going?”

Tone didn’t even look at Leonard. He reached into his console and took out a grape Cigarillo that was filled with a small amount of weed. He lit and inhaled some smoke, then blew it out his nose. “I need to holla at you. You know, let you know the consequences of this shit here. The game ain’t no joke, and I don’t want to see you get fucked off. You feel me?”  He slid in an old Nas CD then let his moon roof back.

“Whatever, dawg. You that nigga. I’m just trying to be down.”

They passed the Tahoe that was occupied by the two undercover cops who were ducked down. Once the Acura passed, the two narcs raised. Detective Hall put his hand on the gear shift then asked his partner, “You want me to follow?”

Sims watched the Acura’s taillights fade into the night as he put a cigarette in his mouth. He lit it. He blew smoke up and out of the moon roof. His cancer stick dangled between his lips as he spoke. “Nah, they’ll be back. Big Frank’s bitch said that the homeboy in the Cutlass was bringing the loot so we gonna stay with the money. Just keep your eyes peeled for them niggas returning.”

Tone looked at Leonard’s gear. He smiled at the well-dressed brotha. “You going out or something, nigga? All dressed to impress and shit.”

Leonard smiled. “Shit, gonna hit this spot downtown. Now that I got money I’m trying to hang with a more upscale crowd.”

Tone took a drag. His brow furrowed when he asked, “What nigga, you ain’t trying to get all uppity and shit?”

He shook his head replying, “Nah, dawg. I’m just trying to rub elbows. I’m going to invest my money. You know real estate and other shit. We in a recession and this is a buyer’s market. I’m going to put my loot into some shit. So you know I gotta hang around people with money. People who are making legal moves.”

“So why get two kilos? Why get in the game? This shit’s grimy, fo’ real! I mean, you got paper. You and that nigga NuNu been hitting licks.”  He laughed an admiring laugh. “I mean y’all like some cowboys and shit. Riding off in the sunset wit’ the bags of money.”

“We’re doing alright.”

“Yeah, whatever. I call what y’all pullin’ more than
alright
. But on the real though, that bank shit don’t last. That’s one thing about the robbery and stick up game. It doesn’t last. There’s always a day when your time will be coming. In that game there are too many variables.”

Tone took another hard drag, lowered his window then threw the Cigarillo out.

They drove through the southeast side neighborhoods and all the hustlers were out on Michigan between 105
^th
and 115
^th
. They even passed by a group of young men beating the shit out of a fiend that had tried to run off with some crack without paying. Leonard was unfazed, but the sight of a pregnant teenager going into a dope house made him shake his head. Tone noticed the look on his face. Knew that the young man riding beside him had a heart.

“You rob banks, my nigga. Like I said this shit out here is grimy as fuck. I saw the look on your face when you saw that young pregnant sista go up in that spot.”  They came to a stop at a red light on 111
^th
. Tone looked over at the college educated young man who was sitting in his passenger’s seat. “You know she’s pregnant and about to let a couple of nigga run up in her, and she gonna suck them off also.”

Leonard glanced at Tone then back out the windshield. “Light’s green,” was all he said.

Tone gave the car some gas, and they were back on their way. He said, “That ain’t shit. What about the nigga that fucks you on some loot? You gots to be ready to bust that nigga’s head or have some soldier ready to do it. If not, you ain’t shit in the game and you might as well give your product away. You feel what I’m sayin’?”

“So are you saying you don’t want to fuck with me or what?” Leonard questioned with a bit of an attitude. He had brought forty grand for Tone and had it in his car that was parked. He felt if Tone didn’t want to deal with him he should have told him that before agreeing to meet.

Tone caught the attitude, but it didn’t bother him. He would have felt the same way, but he had made his mind up an hour ago not to serve Leonard. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust him. It was that he knew Leonard wasn’t cut out for the game, and he didn’t want to see him get caught up.

After riding for a moment, Tone glanced at Leonard as they approached the Walgreen’s. He saw the shitty look. “I ain’t saying that. But you been puttin’ down good licks and got loot already.”  He put the car in park next to the Cutlass, grabbed a cigarette and lit up. He took a quick drag then blew. “You serious than a motherfucker ain’t you?”

Leonard looked at Tone sternly saying, “That’s right, I’m serious than a motherfucker. I’m trying to get mine. No disrespect, but if you don’t serve me then I’ll just have to cop somewhere else, fam. I mean, I respect you to the fullest and trust the shit out of you, but if I gotta take a chance I’ll have to holla at that nigga, Frank.”

Tone rubbed his goatee as he smiled, coolly saying, “Fuck his fat ass.”  He knew Frank was his main competition and he didn’t want him to get not one red cent. He nodded as he thought. “So you wanna do this? Bet nigga. But remember, to G or not to G is the question. When you cop thangs from me remember one thing.”

With a change in his attitude knowing that he was about to get what he came for Leonard asked, “What’s that, dawg?”

“You speak to no one on where you coppin’ from. If I hear my name ringin’ wit’ yours in the streets, I cut you off. If a nigga ask, it ain’t none of his business. Tell ’em you coppin’ from them Mexicans off 106
^th
like most people who first get put on. Them fools will serve anybody.”

“Whatever you say, dawg.”

“Also, if you ever get locked up. Even if it’s only for a parking violation. You cut off until I’m ready to start back serving you. Don’t even call me. Gotta protect myself, feel me?”

“That’s what’s up. So you want me to get the loot?”

“Nah. I wasn’t going to serve you but now that I done talked to you and seen where your head at. You on, nigga. So what I’m gonna do is have you follow me to one of my spots, and I got you, fam.”

The two detectives in the Tahoe were getting impatient. They didn’t know what had transpired while Tone and Leonard were gone. They couldn’t put a tail on the Acura because they were doing dirt for Big Frank so this was the play they had to make.

Detective Hall asked his senior partner, “So what you think?”

“I think we ought to holla at them fools right now,” Sims replied as he checked his 9mm ensuring that there was a round in the chamber.

“What if they ain’t made a move?”

“Big Frank’s bitch said that the one fancy dressed nigga got the loot on him. If that other nigga don’t have the dope on him,” Sims reached in his pocket and took out a baggie with and three ounces of crack in it. “Then I’ll just have to find this in the back seat.”

Leonard went to the trunk to retrieve the bag of money from the false compartment. Tone shook his head thinking that Leonard was brand new to the game. He should have waited until they got to the spot for him to give him the money.
Never show or give the money until you’ve seen the product.
That was rule number one.

Tone closed his eyes, muttering, “This fool ain’t gonna make it. I hope I ain’t making a mistake.”

Hall, the slimmer and faster detective was up on Leonard as he pulled the bag from the trunk. Sims had his nine pointed at Tone.

Sims barked, “Get your fucking hands up! Lemme see ’em now!”

Tone did what the plainclothes narc told him. For a split second he thought that he was being jacked since the men were dressed in faddish jean outfits, but the words and the tone that was used were those of the police.

Leonard, who had been bending over inside the trunk when the detectives quickly eased up on them, was shocked to a frozen state when Hall put the muzzle of his automatic at the base of his skull when he rose with the bag of money in hand.

Just in time, the squad they’d called before they stepped out of their Tahoe pulled up with lights flashing and no siren blaring. The patrolman quickly jumped of out the squad and assisted Hall who was already cuffing Leonard who hadn’t put up a fight. Seeing that Hall didn’t need any help, the patrolman hurried to the driver’s side of the Acura to assist Sims. Once they had Tone cuffed, the patrolman searched him as Sims leaned into the car to begin his search of the vehicle.

Tone smugly said, “I ain’t got shit, Mr. Poh-lice. Not today, dawg.”

From inside the car Sims said, “Your boy was pulling a sack of cash out of his trunk and it wasn’t to take your ass inside Walgreen’s to do some shopping…
dawg
.”

Tone glared at Leonard who was in a state of shock. He pondered the thought that maybe he’d set him up. He watched as Hall opened the bag and took out a handful of the cash. The detective smiled then stuffed the cash back in the canvas gym bag.

“All good,” Hall said to Sims letting him know that there was cash in the bag. Another squad pulled up and then another. The two uniforms, an older white man and a thirty something sista got in the mix by doing a little crowd control. The patrons at the Walgreen’s and some pedestrians were eyeing the show. Some even shouted vulgarities at the cops. Sims couldn’t find anything on the inside of Tone’s vehicle. He grabbed the keys out of the ignition, pressed the button on the keypad and the trunk popped open. To the detective’s surprise a full search of the trunk produced no drugs. That is until Sims raised a baggie full of crack in the air.

Tone shook his head and knew that it was some shit in the game. Any other dealer would have suspected that Leonard had set them up but Tone knew better. It was the cops dope that he held in his hand for all to see and Tone just had to figure out what the hell was going on and where the set up came from. All of this thinking would be done from the 2700 block of California Street—in the notorious Cook County jail.

Preview of Lies, Lust, Consequences

TANISHA

I was sitting on my couch reading an erotic novel trying to pass the time. I was thinking about Danny and the pain his slut ass wife was causing him. I have always had a thing for him. I can remember the first time I laid eyes on him when we were in the academy together back in ’98. I thought he was so smooth and good-looking. Has always had women gravitating toward him. The mix of his dad’s African American heritage and his mother’s Puerto Rican’s made for a good combination. He’s strong and well-built like his father and inherited wavy jet-black hair from his mother. Hair he kept faded closely on the sides. His dark yet shinny goatee was always perfectly trimmed and contrasted well on his peanut butter colored skin. I wanted his six-foot Adonis ass the moment I’d laid eyes on him.

Danny was also so helpful to me. Willing to study with me for every test while we were in the academy. He also pushed me to get better physically, and it helped me when it came to the physical training test. Something I had lacked at the time, but now I stay in top shape only getting a little out of shape when I was pregnant with my son five years ago. Damn, how could his wife cheat on such a caring and honest individual? He works with kids. Is honest on the job. Not on the take like some of the other detectives we work with. I’m guilty of keeping a little money I found abandoned by fleeing drug dealers. I’ve even known his fine ass to turn down some of the finest ass in Chicago. He is faithful to a cheating ass wife. I can’t stand that bitch and the funny thing about it, it’s because I want her man. Want him as my husband. Want him as the father to my son. Want him because of the good man that he is. Want him because she doesn’t deserve him.

I decided to open back up my novel by Zane. I sipped on my Amaretto sour trying to get a buzz, but there was no effect of the get loose juice yet, so I poured a little more alcohol to the mix. I read on and was starting to get turned on by one of the many sex scenes. I was interrupted by a knock on my door just as my hand had started to creep its way to that place so I could please myself.