Blood Ties

by Shaun Sinclair

  “I haven’t seen you in a while. I presume that’s because you haven’t been in the area lately on business?” Carmen’s voice was articulate. Raspy. Sexy. It was as if she blew her words through the receiver.

  Leader sighed. “I presume you’re right.”

  “I understand that, but I thought we were friends. You could have at least kept in touch,” Carmen cooed.

  Leader closed his eyes and recalled how beautiful Carmen looked the last time he saw her. He could’ve sworn her scent was wafting through the receiver. He struggled to push back the feeling gripping his loins. “We are friends, Carmen,” Leader replied.

  “Friends keep in touch!” Carmen snapped.

  “Whoa, whoa, check yourself,” he advised Carmen.

  “You’re right. I apologize,” Carmen conceded. “But listen, if I didn’t need to speak with you about something important, I would have never encroached on your personal space. You understand that, don’t you?”

  “Ok. I’m listening.”

  Carmen paused. “I hear you’re having problems at work.”

  Pause.

  “What. Are. You. Talking. About.”

  “I hear you are having some problems at work,” Carmen repeated.

  “Carmen, if you know something I don’t, you need to spit it out. I don’t have much time to play games.”

  “How valuable is what I know?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Very.”

  “Look, cut the shit Carmen.”

  “Oh, that’s not very friendly. I thought we were friends.”

  “I’m about to hang up. Thanks for checking on me, friend.”

  “Washington D.C.”

  “Excuse me?” Leader froze. “What. Did. You. Say.”

  “I said, Washington D.C.,” Carmen repeated. “You had a problem in Washington D.C.”

  Leader spoke in measured tones. “What do you know about D.C.?”

  “It doesn’t matter how I know. Just know that I may be able to help you solve your dilemma.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Meet me?”

  “Where? When?”

  “Can you meet me in Mexico during Spring Break?”

  Leader was wary but he really didn’t have a choice. Carmen knew something about D.C. The only way to determine how much was to meet her.

  “I’ll be there,” Leader promised. Oh, he would meet her alright, and if she knew too much, only one of them would be coming back from Mexico.

  Leader ended the call. He walked out of his office into the kitchen and found Justus standing at the counter drinking a tall glass of milk.

  “Dad, I need to holla at you about something,” Justus said.

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?” Leader took a seat at the table.

  “Something we never discussed in training.”

  Leader surfed the web on his phone. “Shoot.”

  “How do you feel about trust?” Justus laid the last word out like a foul odor.

  “Hmm . . . trust huh? Where is this coming from?”

  “Just been thinking lately.”

  “That’s some pretty deep thinking.”

  “Let me ask you something? What would you do if you found out Mom was creeping on you?”

  The question took Leader aback. How long had Justus been inside? Had he heard the conversation with Carmen? “Whoa . . . Uhhh, that’s a hard one. I wouldn’t even want to think about that one. Why? Is everything okay with you and Nikki?”

  Justus hesitated. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I mean, I think we’re happy. I try my best to do right by her. You know? But with a woman you just never know.”

  Leader placed his hand under his chin and cradled his elbow in his palm. After some contemplation, he gave it to his son raw and uncut. “Let me tell you something son, never put all your trust in anyone, especially your woman. When it comes to women, where trust goes, betrayal soon follows. If you’re not doing the betrayal, then you are probably the one being betrayed.”

  Justus mulled the jewel over. “But does it have to be this way though?”

  “Nah, it doesn’t have to be, but it is. It’s the way of the world.”

  “Ok. So what if you found out you were betrayed? What would you do?”

  Leader answered the question in his cryptic manner by posing a question of his own. “Would you rather be feared or respected?”

  “Respected.” Justus answered almost immediately.

  Leader smirked. “See, now you’re showing your youth.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, as to that question, it depends on who you’re dealing with. See, some people only respect fear. You understand?”

  “I’m not sure I do, Dad.”

  “Ok, let me break it down.” Leader placed his phone on the table and stood to act out his point. “You could have a dude who is the coolest cat. You know, speaking to everyone, easygoing fella. Take care of his business and keep it moving. The young wolves see him, take his kindness for weakness, and make a move on him. Why? Lack of respect. Got it?”

  Justus nodded.

  “Now you could have that same guy. Every time somebody speaks, he gritting on ’em. Every time he step out the car, he flashing the heat. He still dress fly, still drive the same car. Only this time, he letting everybody who see him know he with the shits. They wouldn’t dare make a move on him because they know he a wolf too. They would fear him. Understand?”

  “I think so.”

  Leader held up his palm. “Always remember this, where fear goes, respect will follow.”

  Justus definitely understood that. He nodded his head vigorously. “Word.”

  Leader chuckled. “That’s it?”

  Justus stood and pushed his chair in to the table. “Yeah Dad, thanks.”

  “No problem, son.” As Leader walked Justus out, he reminded him they had training later that week.

  Outside, Justus sat in his Hellcat Challenger and weighed his father’s words carefully. Based on what Leader said, there was only one way to handle Nikki’s transgressions. He unlocked his phone and dialed Pug.

  “Yoooo, what’s good cousin?” Pug greeted.

  “About that thing you told me about? Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” Justus bargained.

  “Done.”

  Chapter 19

  It didn’t take Justus long to track down the guys who had ran up in Pug’s home. True to form, they were out scouting their next victim.

  Justus spotted the two jack-boys in their neighborhood, Savoy Heights, a neighborhood at the bottom of Haymount Hill. He observed them from where he sat slumped inside of his bucket while they sat puffing weed. Justus waited until just the right time then he exited his vehicle. He stumbled toward their truck like a drunken man, bumbling around the parking lot of the rec center aimlessly, until one of the guys emerged from their truck and approached him.

  “Yo, what up, dawg? You lost or something?” he asked Justus. His partner emerged from the truck and backed him up.

  “Yeah, nigga. You lost?”

  The park was dark and deserted this time of night. The men were only able to make out Justus’s silhouette.

  “You can’t hear motherfucker?” The man tapped Justus on his shoulder.

  Justus spun in one smooth motion. Like a cobra, his hand lashed out and struck. The man stumbled back clutching his throat. Blood spurted between his fingers from the gaping wound in his neck. His comrade saw the move and decided he didn’t want any of that smoke. He stumbled backwards in a panic and bolted towards the edge of the parking lot. Justus let him gain a little distance then capped him in the leg with his silenced pistol.

  Justus calmly walked over to the first man and put him out of his misery with one shot to the dome. Next, he walked over to the second victim who was desperately trying to crawl away to safety with his good leg.

  “H-hey brother, let’s talk about this. I don’t even know that nigga, maaan!” he pleaded.

  Justus re
trieved his tranquilizer gun and shot a dart into his neck. While waiting on the dart to take effect, he dragged the first victim to their truck and sat him in upright in the driver’s seat. Then he returned to the second victim and tossed him in the trunk of his bucket.

  Before he left the scene, he made sure to leave his mark. Using the victim’s blood he scrawled a message on the windshield of the truck: ROBBERY IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.

  * * *

  While Justus was busy dispatching Pug’s transgressors, Nikki was holed up in Jock’s Dodge Charger inhaling secondhand marijuana smoke as he poured his heart out for the second time in as many months. They were parked on the side of a gas station on Cumberland Road. It was well past eleven o’clock so the gas station was closed.

  “For real, Nikki baby, leave that li’l nigga alone and it’s going to be us again. Only better this time. When I was locked up I got some counseling for my anger issues, and I’m going to give the game up after I make this one last move,” Jock promised. He was laying it on thick. He had bought Nikki fresh roses and everything. “Oh yeah, I got something for you too.” Jock reached over in the glove box and produced a long thin box. He placed the box on Nikki’s lap. “Open it.”

  “Jock.”

  “Come on Nik, open it.”

  With a heavy sigh, Nikki opened the box. A beautiful three-carat tennis bracelet lay in the box. “Jock, I can’t take this.”

  “Baby it’s yours! I can’t take it back,” Jock insisted.

  Nikki fingered the bracelet. “Jock it really is nice, but I can’t take this home. How can I explain this?”

  Jock twisted his mouth in disgust. “Damn, that li’l nigga got you shook like that?”

  Nikki placed the bracelet in Jock’s lap. “It’s about respect, Jock. How would you feel if I was your woman and I came in the house with jewelry from another man?”

  Jock nodded his head vigorously. “See, that’s what I’m talking about! You loyal.” He shook his head. “I know I fucked up Nik, but you got to give me another chance. You got to!”

  A roller crept by the gas station and shined his light into the Charger.

  “Shit! Police,” Jock mumbled. He put the blunt out and began spraying Smoke Out.

  Nikki craned her neck to look at the police. “Damn Jock, we got to go. That’s just what I need, to get arrested in a car with you.”

  “Nah chill, we good. They kept going.”

  Nikki watched the cruiser pass them by and drive out of sight. Still, she felt uneasy. “Ok, but can you take me back to my car? Something just don’t feel right.”

  “Nonsense. You forgot who I am?” Jock beat his chest. “You good! Trust me.”

  Nikki relaxed a bit and gave Jock another round. He lit his blunt and rolled the window down to let the smoke out.

  Suddenly, bright lights beamed inside the Charger from a black truck on Nikki’s side of the car.

  “Damn, Jock, they came back,” Nikki hissed. “I told you!” Jock stuck his arm out the window to drop the blunt on the pavement. Someone grabbed his arm and snatched him clean through the open window. Jock’s scrawny body went flailing through the air and slammed into the pavement mercilessly. A masked man racked a round into a pump shotgun and jammed the barrel into Jock’s mouth.

  “Jock!” Nikki screamed so loud her lungs hurt.

  The passenger door opened and another masked man snatched Nikki from the vehicle and hemmed her up in a yolk from behind. He dragged her around to the other side of the Charger and gave her a front row seat as his comrades pummeled Jock with lead pipes and baseball bats. They raised their weapons high into the air and brought them crashing down on Jock from all angles. Jock managed to tuck himself into a fetal position to protect his head but everything that was exposed was abused. One man slipped through Jock’s defenses with his pipe and landed a good one right on the top of his head. Blood leapt into the air about a foot high from the lick.

  “Ohmigod!” Nikki cried. She attempted to turn away but the masked man wrenched her head back to face the gruesome beating. She had never been so scared in her life! This was exactly why she didn’t want to deal with him and his street shit any more. Jock was a cutthroat hustler, so he had enemies far and wide. Just her luck that they would track him down while she was with him. Nikki openly wept as she thought about her family. Diamond. Power. Supreme. Justus. What would happen to them if she never made it home? What if these men didn’t allow her to leave.

  She began to panic. “Please don’t kill me,” she pleaded. Her captor placed a gloved hand over her mouth to silence her pleas.

  Inside the truck, Pug watched the beating with a satisfied smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. He felt no remorse for Jock. Nada. He should have known better than playing in another man’s yard. Nikki belonged to Justus now, and Jock had to respect that or learn the hard way. Besides, Pug had caught wind of Jock’s big-shit talking around town, saying what he was going to do to Pug when he saw him. Well, Pug was seeing him first.

  If it wasn’t for Justus, Pug would’ve let his comrades finish Jock off right there while Nikki watched, but he had given his word that he would let him live on the strength of Diamond.

  Pug flashed the lights and his goons stopped the beating and released Nikki. They rolled Jock’s unconscious body over on his back and piled back into the truck. One man—the man that was holding Nikki captive—remained behind. He stood over Jock, whipped his dick out, and pissed all in his face while Nikki watched on in horror. Jock sputtered to consciousness, groaning and moaning. He clutched his side and the man punted his head like he was trying out for the Panthers.

  Nikki screamed. “That’s enough. You gonna kill him!”

  The man chuckled through his mask. “You did this.”

  As the man climbed into the truck, Pug took the scene all in. He decided he couldn’t stand the sight of his cousin’s wifey shedding tears over the next man. He borrowed the shotgun from his comrade and fired a shot into the air through the moonroof. As expected, Nikki bolted into the night, leaving Jock to wallow in his own misery.

  * * *

  The following morning, Nikki hobbled downstairs on swollen ankles. She found Justus cooking breakfast in a wife-beater and sweats. Power and Supreme were in their car seats on the dining table. Between scrambling eggs and frying sausages, Justus sang to his sons. Diamond sat at the head of the table doing math problems.

  “Morning babe!” Justus practically yelled. “How you feeling this morning?”

  “Tired,” Nikki grumbled. She plopped down at the table and placed her face inside her palms.

  “Yeah, you should be. You got in kinda late last night,” Justus remarked as he sat a plate of grits in front of her. “How was the concert?”

  “Huh?” Nikki had lied and told Justus she was going to a concert with Jackie. “Oh . . . uhm . . . it was okay. A little overrated.”

  “Is that why Jackie left early?” Justus probed.

  “Umm, I guess so.”

  Justus placed eggs on Nikki’s plate. “SOOO, if Jackie left early, how did you get home?”

  What was it with the questions? Did he know something? “Why? Is something wrong? Justus, I took an Uber, okay?” That wasn’t exactly a lie. She did call an Uber—after she walked a few miles from Cumberland Road up to Hope Mills Road in heels.

  “Nothing wrong, Babygirl. I was just asking,” Justus replied casually. He turned around and finished tending to breakfast.

  “You’re in a mighty good mood this morning,” Nikki said. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “Oh nothing. Just happy to be with my family on this glorious day.”

  “Right,” Nikki quipped.

  “It was something I had to tell, you but it slipped my mind,” Justus claimed.

  Supreme threw up. Without missing a beat, Justus scooped Supreme up and cleaned him off with a paper towel while Nikki ate her breakfast. Between bites Nikki stole glances at Justus. He was acting very weird this morning.

&
nbsp; Suddenly, Justus snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, I know what I meant to tell you!” He bent over and whispered in her ear. “Somebody told me your boy Jock in the hospital.”

  Justus dropped the bomb then walked away into the den. Nikki followed him, just as he expected. “They said somebody took a pipe to him pretty bad,” Justus continued, looking out the window into the woods. “Something about him creeping with somebody’s girl. I don’t know.” Justus shrugged his shoulders. “You heard anything about that?”

  Nikki was speechless. Jock’s attack had just happened a few hours ago. There was no way the word was in the streets already. The only way Justus could have known is if he was in on it.

  “Anyway, being that he’s Diamond’s father, I think we should go pay him a visit and wish him well. Maybe take him some flowers.”

  “Justus, my baby is not going to see her daddy all bandaged and crippled like an invalid!” Nikki spat, her emotions a wreck.

  “Well, he should’ve thought about that before he decided to play in another man’s garden.”

  “You are crazy,” Nikki whispered as the picture became clear.

  Justus chuckled. “Nah, I ain’t crazy about nothing but you and my family. I just hope that’s clear now—to everyone.” Justus slowly turned around and fixed Nikki with a psychotic stare. “We clear?”

  Nikki gulped down a mouthful of fear. “Crystal.”

  * * *

  Later that night, Justus did pay Jock a visit in his hospital room. When he walked into Jock’s room he could see Jock’s leg suspended in the air, encased in a cast. As he stepped closer to the bed, he saw that Jock’s entire body was heavily bandaged. An IV was crammed in his arm, and his head was wrapped in bloody gauze.

  Justus smiled at the handiwork. He tilted his fedora up in the front, adjusted his black leather sheath, then sat in the chair beside the bed.

  Justus tapped Jock on the arm. “Yo, you up?”

  Jock slowly tilted his head to the side. “What you want?” Jock wheezed.

  Justus casually took a banana from Jock’s dinner tray and peeled it meticulously. “Damn cuz, look like you pissed somebody off,” he mocked.