by S. L. Walker
“Don’t stop we gotta lose him!” Nine ordered. DJ kept shooting unsuccessfully.
“Fuck this,” Raven took a deep breath, stuck her head out the window and aimed as good as she could at the tires. On her third shot she was able to blow one out sending Nick hurling to the side of the road into a ditch, tipping his car over on the side.
“Hell yeah!” DJ yelled, turned on by Raven’s cunningness.
“Good shit!” Nine checked his mirror and put his foot even more on the gas out of there.
Raven breathed hard, closing her eyes saying a silent prayer that she didn’t just kill a cop. Eva held her hand sensing the fear in Raven’s body language. Angel stayed sobbing as Victoria held her.
“I got to let you guys out somewhere, so I can dump this truck,” Nine told them, making every turn he could. He pulled into the back of a shopping center where they took shipment.
“Get out now. Take the money. DJ, you make sure they get back to Treach,” he rushed them out the car. They all scurried out, nervous and shaking. Even Raven’s mind was all over the place. They weren’t even able to close the door all the way before Nine took off back down the road.
“Dump your jackets, do something with your hair, take your beanies off,” he ordered the girls to change their appearance as much as they could. He didn’t know what this cop saw nor did he know what he had told back up.
“It’s fucking 40 degrees out here!” Eva complained.
“This is a $100 coat,” Victoria frowned.
“Take it off!” He shouted, taking off his own hoodie and beanie, shaking his head at the immaturity. They all changed up what they could, taking their hair down or putting it up, removing their jackets and sweaters and throwing it in the dumpster.
“Come on,” he pointed towards the local super center and they went in. “Grab something else to wear and hurry,” he told them. Each of them grabbed cheap hoodies and hats to wear. DJ paid for them and they followed him to the nearest bus stop.
When they all got on the bus and sat down, it felt like they were finally free.
“I want each of you to go home. Lay low, keep your eyes on the news. I’ll take this back to T,” he said as quiet as he could so ears wouldn’t be in their business. He looked at Angel who’s baby face was red and eyes were puffy from crying. “Angel, it’ll be okay. I promise,” he knew he shouldn’t have reassured her that, but the hopeless look on her face needed some kind of reassurance. He caught Raven giving him an eye. She wandered why he would say that as well. She rolled her eyes and gazed out the window. This was not supposed to happen.
CHAPTER 32
“Can you hear me?! Can you hear me?!” Nick could hear someone yelling at him, but it sounded like they were drowning in water. His ears ringed and his head pounded. He could feel someone or something tug at him and he finally was able to hear a little better. “Nick! It’s me, David! Can you hear me?! We gotcha buddy!” The same voice, now clear as day helped Nick to open his eyes. He was upside down in the driver seat of his car. He finally realized what had happened and frantically struggled to get out of the seat, looking for the seatbelt.
“I got you, I got you. Hold on,” David said calmly, unhooking the seatbelt while propping Nick up by the chest so he wouldn’t fall face forward.
“What happened? Did you get em?” Nick asked, confused. David slowly dragged Nick out of the seat onto the cold grass leaning his back against the mangled car.
“Shhh, shh, don’t worry about that right now,” David frowned, looking over Nick’s bloody lip and forehead. “Can we get a medic!” He shouted over towards the ambulance. There were several police cars surrounding the area and taped off, causing a small traffic scene and onlookers. A news camera stood in the distance, waiting to get more information on this flipped undercover car and County Sheriff. A female paramedic rushed over with a medical kit and put a warm blanket around him.
“Agh!” Nick cried out as she touched his bruised face.
“You may have a small concussion,” she told him.
“We arrested Jack and some of his little friends. They had a ton of coke on em, Nick,” David smiled, leaning down face to face with Nick. “You did good, man.”
“There was this white SUV I was chasing-” Nick started to say as the female paramedic wrapped his head and got him ready to go in the ambulance.
“Yeah, we couldn’t find them. But we have an APV out on it,” David told him. The paramedic helped Nick up and walked him slowly over to the ambulance and sat him on the stretcher.
“They are long gone by now,” Nick said, disappointed, trying hard to hold back the pain that radiated through his body.
“You’re lucky they didn’t kill you. I saw all the bullet holes. We will get those assholes,” David shuttered as he looked at all the bullet holes that graced the car. He could only imagine what his long life partner had gone through doing a car chase alone.
“You want me to come with?” David asked as they prepared to shut the ambulance door and take him to the hospital.
“No. Get my camera out of the car and see what you can see. Hopefully it’s not damaged,” Nick winced again at the pain.
“You got it,” David gave him a nod and walked back over to the car. He dug until he found a perfectly good camera laying on what was now the bottom of the car. He dusted it off and smiled curiously, knowing that they would catch whoever was behind this.
$$$$
“Get them bitches here right now!” Treach yelled at DJ back at the warehouse. They were all huddled in Treach’s unfinished office. He paced back and forth, taking random puffs of his blunt. West slouched in one of the black plush leather chairs while DJ nervously leaned on the corner of the couch, praying that Treach would calm down. Nine was still out dumping the truck and he would be back shortly. DJ explained as best he could what had happened.
“You shoulda held your fucking pee!” Treach stopped and pointed the blunt at DJ now, blaming him.
“Come on, T. How was I supposed to know. Angel, out of all the girls?” DJ put out his hands in innocence. Treach clinched his jaws. If it was any one of the other girls he would have the shit beat out of them for fucking up his connect. A very good connect.
“Did he touch her?” Treach stopped and leaned on his small office desk, taking a puff of his blunt before putting it out.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think he just called her a bitch and she snapped,” DJ told him.
“Women,” West snickered. Treach cut his eyes at him.
“What we need to be worried about is the cops. They was watchin’ Jack! Soon as we pulled off they was on us!” DJ deferred the argument back to the next real issue. Why was a cop there that fast?
“No doubt,” Treach agreed. “That hot ass mothafucka! Coulda been setting me up!” Treach’s face grew red. This was not the kind of heat he needed. He had been able to avoid the cops for the last three years he had been in the business. He made sure he was smart about every move he made. Not only did Jack have a copy of his supply, now there was a dead body, and a police chase all done by his people.
By the girls.
“I knew I shouldn’t have fucked with that white boy!” Treach argued with himself, thinking hard on how he was going to get out of this situation. “I need them girls here. All of them,” Treach demanded. “They need a lesson taught.”
West snickered again.
“Man, like brother like sister. I told you not to fuck wit them lil’ ass girls,” West finally joined in. He was sick of hearing Treach whine about something he warned him about in the first place. As soon as Treach agreed to use Raven, he relayed in secret that it was a bad idea.
“And your opinion means what to me, nigga?” Treach argued, feeling a bit disrespected.
“All I’m saying is, maybe you need ta watch them,” West stood up straight in his chair showing his seriousness to Treach. “Before they fuck up what you built.”
DJ didn’t like what West was implying. He knew W
est secretly didn’t care for Raven because of his betrayal to Deon and he may have had every right to be. DJ knew that if it was him in Raven’s shoes he would have offed West behind everybody back.
“It’s about to get handled,” Treach looked at West, his eyes telling him to fall back in his place and let him be the boss. He then looked at DJ and then his watch. “Page them and round them up. If they can’t get back here today, you make sure they get back here tomorrow,” Treach ordered and went back to his desk opening it and pulling out a small silver tray of blow. DJ looked at him in surprise.
Since when did Treach start dabbing? He could tell Treach’s nerves were beyond gone.
“What you waiting fo nigga?!” Treach caught DJ looking at him.
“Bet,” DJ nodded and left the room.
“He’s getting soft for them little bitches,” West added again. Treach bit his lip and snorted one line.
“I know.”
VICTORIA
After we all walked Angel home and made sure she was mentally okay, we agreed to go home and clear our heads. We knew Treach would be paging us at any moment and we all feared what would go down next.
“That motherfucker better not try us,” Raven pounded her fist as we waited next to the nearest bus stop.
“We may have to move sooner than we’d like, Vee,” I warned her.
“I know,” Raven leaned on the bus stop pole.
“I can’t believe Angel killed someone,” Eva said in a daze. Raven’s pager buzzed and as if we talked him up, it was Treach. She took out her burner phone he gave to her and she called back, putting him on speaker phone.
“It’s DJ. Treach wants y’all back, now. Can you get here?” DJ said on the other end.
Raven sighed with irritation, “You just told us to lay low, no. Angel’s a mess. Tell Treach I’ll come alone if he needs a punching bag.”
Eva and I looked at Raven as if she was committing suicide.
“Nah, he wants to see her specifically. Look, just come tomorrow after school,” DJ told her calmly.
“Fine,” she answered.
“Aye, it’ll be aight, okay?” DJ told her. Eva and I once again looked at Raven, curiously. DJ was never this chill with us or at least not in front of us. We had our unspoken questions about the two of them being nicer to each other than normal, but we never spoke on it. We usually just brushed it off to Raven getting shit done by any means necessary. Even if it meant seducing Treach’s right hand man. To me, her getting close with DJ might be a good thing in this situation.
“Yeah,” she answered and hung up. The bus rolled up and we hopped on.
I was the last to get off, taking an extra bus route to Lance’s side of town. I prayed he was home since I hadn’t got a chance to page him. I needed to get my mind off of everything that went down. Angel pulling the trigger replayed over and over again in my head. That white boy’s look of surprise on his face as he hit the floor.
Lance’s doorbell was cold as I rang it a couple times. I blew into my hands, trying to keep warm. The bus ride and walk had me freezing.
When he answered the door, I felt a warmth of relief as he half smiled and asked me what I was doing there.
“Hey, babe, just wanted to come see you,” I smiled. He looked me up and down and I immediately remembered the Walmart clothes I had on. I had replaced my Burberry coat with an old faded puff coat jacket and beanie. He didn’t look so happy to see me, either. A part of me hoped it wasn’t because of what I was wearing.
“Something happened with my dad, we were just about to leave to go see him,” he opened the door and invited me in.
“What? Oh my God, is he okay,” I touched his face and he hugged me. He closed the door and guided me to the living room, where his mother and brother were gathering their jackets.
“Oh, hey Victoria, nice to see you, sweety,” his mom, April, had walked up to me and gave me a side kiss as she grabbed her coat. “Are you coming with us?” She asked. I looked at Lance.
What was going on?
“She doesn’t know,” he said, also grabbing his black peacoat.
“Dad got in a sick ass car chase with some criminals. But, he got in a bad accident. The doctors said he has a small concussion,” Brandon told me. As if someone single handedly flipped my world upside down, I suddenly felt faint and dizzy. I couldn’t speak and the words they were saying were foggy.
“You okay, Tori?” Lance looked at me, worried. I looked in his eyes and then blacked out.
It seemed as if I was sleep for hours, but I had only fainted for a few seconds. I woke up in Lance’s arms, fanning me, slapping my face, and calling my name.
“Dude, you okay?” Lance asked me as my eyes fully adjusted to him.
“Yeah…I didn’t really eat today,” I lied. My mind raced over him telling me about his dad. Nick was the cop that was chasing us. We were the reason he was in the hospital. If he ever finds out it was us in the car. I wanted to faint again. Did his dad see me? Did he know it was us?
“Here, let me help you,” Lance held onto my hand and lifted me up slowly to my feet.
“You had us worried, honey,” April and Brandon were staring with worried faces. “Did you ride your bike here?” She asked me, grabbing her car keys.
“No, I took the bus,” I told her.
“Well, we can drop you off at home if you’d like,” she offered.
A part of me wanted to go to the hospital to see his dad. What did he know? Did he know it was me? Why was he at Jacks’? Was he following Nine or Jack? Where was he hiding?
A part of me wanted her to take me straight home, but I couldn’t have them know where I lived. Not yet. Especially not now.
I gave myself a headache. Nick had his eyes on the situation. I decided to bail.
“Actually, I’ll just take the bus back. I really hope your dad makes out okay,” I turned to Lance, feeling guilty.
“No, Tori, it’s coo, let’s go,” he put his arm around me and we walked out towards his mom’s Black Navigator.
Why is this happening to me?
I couldn’t help but think all of this was a sign to stop what we were doing and stop it now. But I had made a promise to Raven and I couldn’t just bail. I also couldn’t tell her that Lance was the son of the Sheriff who just car chased us down a whole freeway. Not telling Raven could also open up a whole can of whoop ass. I was so caught in my thoughts, I didn’t even hear Lance telling me to get in the car while he opened the door for me. I shook off my thoughts. I needed to clear my head.
“Um, I’m just gonna go. Let me know how your dad is doing,” I quickly told him. I gave him a small kiss and walked away, before he could stop me.
“Tori!” He called after me from the car. I looked back and waved as I trotted off back to the nearest bus stop. Lance was my only stress reliever and now being with him would drive me crazy. The only thing that would satisfy my stress right now was shopping.
RAVEN
I accidentally bit my lip in nervousness as I chewed on it waiting for DJ to open the door to the warehouse the next day. All of the girls were steadily waiting quietly with me. I looked at Angel who was bundled in her pink hoody and beanie covering her straitened hair. Victoria leaned on the warehouse drawer also bundled in her new Burberry coat that I was pretty sure she just bought to replace the one she had to throw away. And Eva paced back and forth in her black leather jacket and black hoodie making nervous eye contact with me.
Finally, the warehouse door slid open and it was DJ.
“Sup. Come on, he’s waiting,” he opened the door enough for us to come through and checked the surroundings behind us.
We had all been waiting for this time all day at school, not sure what Treach had in store for us, but we all had our guns and we all agreed if it came down to it, he had to go today.
DJ followed behind us as I led to Treach’s office.
“Naw that way,” DJ pointed towards a back area. I gave him a confused look, but headed towards an o
ld blue painted door. I opened it, revealing a large room that was also under construction. There was a small white love seat and four brown metal chairs. Treach was leaning on the wall on the phone and motioned for us to sit down.
It was cold and there was nothing else in the room to give it any warmth or depth. I wondered why we were meeting in this room that looked like it was set up for a scolding.
“Aight bet,” Treach said, hanging up his call.
“Ladies,” he said to us, taking a deep sigh. West walked in and joined DJ next to Treach. “Check them for their guns, please,” Treach told West.
“Wait, why?” I said what all the girls were thinking. Treach had never checked for our guns before. So checking for it meant he didn’t trust us at this moment. DJ and West walked up to each of us, DJ walking up to me with his hand out. I backed up and then looked at the other girls who were all handing their guns over to West.
“No, I think I’ll keep mine,” I dared DJ to take it.
“Raven,” DJ pleaded with his eyes.
“Do we got a problem?” Treach walked towards me. My eyes dared him too.
“What’s the problem, Treach?” I asked. I then looked at the girls, pissed they gave up their guns.
“Hey, I’m just making sure I’m safe,” Treach smirked. “Give DJ your gun,” he ordered me.
“You don’t trust us now?” I cocked my head to the side. The look in Treach’s eyes grew impatient and the more I refused to give him my gun, the more he was losing trust in me.
“Come on, Vee, just give em your gun,” Angel said softly.
“Vee,” DJ stepped in front of me and held his hand out again. I looked at Treach, daring him to do anything funny after I hand over my gun, and I dug into my back pants and handed it to DJ. “The other one,” DJ said knowingly. I smirked and took my other nine out of my boots and handed it to DJ.
