by L. Brown
“We gotta tell Reef and Schemes,” Reem said. “We’re going to get her back,” he added, patting Ghost’s shoulder.
“After that, you know what we gotta do.”
Ghost nodded. What was understood didn’t need to be said.
Kia was knocked out cold for hours. She wasn’t sure how long she was asleep because the basement she was in was nearly pitch black. The windows were sealed and covered, blocking the sunlight out. Besides, she had a blindfold covering her eyes, and her mouth was gagged. Her legs were numb from being in the same position all night. Both her arms and legs were tied to the arms and legs of a chair. It took her forever to get to sleep, and she was surprised she did. The basement was dank, giving the air a moist feeling. The sound of water dripping every few seconds eased her to sleep.
Finally, she was awaken by the sound of a creaking door. Footsteps followed, and, by the sound, she could tell it was more than one person.
“Well, good morning, pretty lady,” one of the men said.
Kia was frightened by their presence. She was shaking compulsively and couldn’t bring it to a stop if she wanted to. She nearly jumped out her skin when one of them touched her. Toughen up, bitch. Kevin is going to get you outta this, she told herself.
“Relax, I’m just taking off your gag,” one of them told her. She tried to remain calm, but she couldn’t stop shaking. She felt nauseous and started sweating profusely.
“Please, just let me go,” she cried once the gag was removed. “In due time, pretty lady,” one of them said. She couldn’t see them because she had the blindfold on, but she could tell only one of them was talking. It sounded like the guy was disguising his voice. It sounded as if the kidnapper had a mouthful of tissue or something to change his voice.
“Here. Chew on this,” the kidnapper said, putting a granola bar in her mouth.
Kia was reluctant to eat whatever it was she was being given because she couldn’t see it and didn’t know what it was she was being fed. However, the sound of the wrapper crumbling let her know it was food, and the sweet taste on her tongue once he shoved it in her mouth was undeniable. She gobbled the whole bar down as he fed it to her. Then, he gave her some water. He couldn’t lift the bottle to her mouth as fast as she was guzzling the water. Her mouth was dry, and her lips were chapped from going hours with nothing to drink, so the water was a blessing.
“Damn, girl,” he joked. “All right. Put her gag back on,” he said to his accomplice.
Before he could get the towel tied back around her mouth, she started vomiting all over herself. She gagged like her entire insides were being thrown up. Instantly, she felt better, like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders.
“What the fuck! Are you all right?”
Kia shook her head before pleading with the men holding her captive.
“Please, let me go,” she cried in a whisper.
“Sorry, this isn’t about you. It’s about the money and that no-good nigga of yours. This will be over today, depending on how your man plays.”
Kia snapped, yelling, “Motherfucker, Ghost is going to kill you! I swear on everything I love—you’re going to rot in hell!”
That earned her a smack across the face, leaving blood in her mouth. She spat it on him, which gained her a closed fist the second time.
“Put the gag back on this bitch!” The other man did as he was told.
“Let’s go make the call before I kill this bitch!”
The two men left the basement and almost instantly Kia started crying. She began feeling nauseous again and started perspiring.
What the hell is wrong with me? she wondered.
Not only was she being held captive, but little Ghost growing inside her was, too.
Special Agent Vito Boselli was sitting at his desk going through a file about a series of robberies committed in the Philadelphia area. He was the best at what he did, and he was determined to solve the string of robberies.
“Vito, we got those records back from the phone company for that phone we recovered at the Beneficial Bank job,” Special Agent John Graham said, entering Vito’s office.
“What about the DNA and hair samples?” Vito asked without raising his head from the file.
“Nothing.” John hated to tell him.
“Do we have a profile put together on this Hawkins guy?” Vito finally looked up, showing some interest.
“Yeah. He lives in the Northwest Division, or, at least, that’s the address we have listed for him.”
“Looks like we have to pay someone a visit,” Vito declared, getting up and snatching his suit jacket from the back of the chair.
“Do you wanna put together a task force?”
“Naw, not yet. We’ll pay this guy a visit, ask him a few questions, and obtain a DNA warrant to see if we can come up with a match,” Vito said.
“Yeah, let’s go. We got our man now,” John said before they left the office to find Schemes.
Bird was watching Khashan once again. However, he’d left him with his mother, Khashan’s grandmother, for the time being. Right now, he was with Ghost and Reem back at Ghost’s place.
Ghost, Reem, and Bird practically sat in silence while awaiting the phone call from Kia’s abductors. They already had the money for the ransom counted and in a duffle bag.
“Have you heard back from Frog or Schemes yet?” Reem asked, breaking the silence.
“Naw, not yet. They wanted to come as soon as I told them, but they’re hot, so I told them to lay low. They’re going to fuck around and get us all jammed up. We don’t need that kind of heat right now,” Ghost answered.
“What about Shareef?”
“He’s supposed to be flying in today. He offered to pay the ransom himself, but I couldn’t let him do that. I told him we had it covered.”
Ghost’s cell phone started ringing. The three of them looked at each other, and then the phone. Bird nodded at Ghost to get it. Bird was just as anxious to get his sister back and retaliate against the men responsible for her disappearance.
Ghost looked at the phone’s screen.
“It’s not them; it’s Schemes,” he said, disappointed.
“Yo!” he answered.
“What’s going on? Is everything all right? I mean have you heard anything from Reese and them yet?” Schemes asked, concerned.
“Naw, they haven’t called yet. This shit is driving me crazy, man.”
“Listen, Ghost. I know I fucked up big time. I was on some nut shit, but, if you need me, I’m here, man. Them niggas gotta pay, dawg,” Schemes said sincerely.
“I know, I know. Don’t worry about that now. Where are you? As a matter of fact, don’t even tell me. Just lay low, man. This shit will blow over. How’s your money looking?”
Ghost had nothing but loyalty to his team. He knew Schemes and Frog were laying low and couldn’t do much. Because of that, he knew they couldn’t move how they wanted to in order to make ends meet, so he was willing to make sure they were good. Schemes told him that he was still good financially.
“What about Frog?” he asked.
“He’s good. I got him,” Schemes replied. “Hold on. He wants to speak to you.”
“What’s up, big homie?” Frog greeted Ghost.
“Man, this is driving me crazy,” Ghost responded.
Ghost was a living example that money didn’t bring happiness. Here he was a millionaire, but it seemed like, just as he reached new heights, his world had come crashing down. Money didn’t mean anything without Kia.
“I feel you, man.” Frog sympathized with him. “I know what you’re going through. We will make them niggas pay for this, man,” he added.“Listen, I got some paper for you, Frog,” Ghost told him. “I know things are tight for you, and I don’t want you to do anything else crazy, so I’m going to give you something to hold you down.”
Frog didn’t reply right away, so Ghost asked him if he’d heard him. “Yeah, I heard you, man. It’s just...it’s just here
you are going through a crisis, and you’re still tryna make sure I’m good,” Frog said.
As they were talking, the other line beeped on Ghost’s phone. He read the screen and saw a blocked number.
“This may be them. I have to take this call.” Ghost clicked over before Frog could even respond.
“Yes,” he answered.
“All right. Listen closely,” Reese said. “Do you have the money?”
“Yeah.”
“Of course, you do,” he said, snickering.
“I wanna speak to my wife,” Ghost informed him.
“Shut up, nigga! I’m running the show. You’ll talk to this nasty bitch when I say so, pussy,” he retorted with a lot of animosity.
Ghost bit his tongue. He wanted to flip out on him, but, because he was in no position to do so, he played along.
“Okay, I got your money, man. Please let’s just get this over with,” he pleaded. “And don’t hurt her, man.”
“Stop bitching, nigga.” Reese seemed to be taunting him rather than trying to get the exchange over with.
Sensing Ghost’s impatience, Reese said, “All right. Here’s the deal. You and only you, take the money to the abandoned Taskykake Factory down on Hunting Park. I know you’re not dumb enough to call the cops, but leave those trigger-happy boys of yours at home.”
“All right. I’ll be alone, but I want to speak to her.”
“What did I tell you?” Reese snapped, sounding like he had a mouthful of food. “I’ll let you talk to her when I’m ready. Now, no guns, no company, and no cops! Eight o’clock. Tastykake Factory. Alone!”
Then, the line went dead. Again.
CHAPTER 27
THE SUN WAS JUST PAST setting. Ghost had a plethora of emotions going on inside him. He was nervous, angry, and frustrated. The emotions were written all over him. He felt guilty for getting Kia involved in this. He had to get her back.
He looked at the clock on the radio, which read 7:53. He’d shown up early to the abandoned warehouse. Anxiously awaiting the phone call, Ghost constantly kept looking down at his phone. The ten minutes he had been waiting seemed like forever.
Finally, the phone rang, and he nearly jumped out of his own skin from the sound of its ringer. It was dark. He was strapless, alone, and worried half to death about his fiancée’s safety. Relax. He took a deep breath.
“Yeah,” he answered calmly.
“Are you in place?”
“Come on, man. What do you think? Let’s get this over with.” Ghost was tired of the games and small talk. “I got your money. Now, let me speak to my wife to make sure she’s okay.”
Ghost could hear the phone being fumbled with before Kia’s voice came into the receiver. “Kevin, please get me outta this,” she begged. She sounded weak and tired.
Ghost’s eyes flooded with tears, but he stayed strong. “I will, baby. I promise. This is almost over. Stay strong,” he told his fiancée. The phone was snatched away from her before she could respond.
“All right. Listen. Drive to the back of the warehouse. There, you will see a dumpster. I want you to put the bag of money in it and leave. Don’t come back. If you do, she’s dead,” he instructed.
“Hold up! Where is she? Let’s do the exchange at the same time. How do I know you won’t kill her once I pay you?” Ghost asked.
“You don’t,” he answered sharply. “Relax. If I wanted to hurt this bitch, she’d be dead. This has nothing to do with her. This is between you and me. Now, do as I said. Put the money in the dumpster. As long as the money is right, we’re good. The next call will be from your bitch.”
“But—”
Ghost banged on the steering wheel in frustration when Reese hung up on him once again. He let out a sigh before grabbing the bag of money and getting out the car.
Special Agents Boselli and Graham had had no luck finding Schemes for questioning. They checked the address on record for him, but came up short. However, they were able to speak to his grandmother, who told them that Schemes hadn’t resided at the address for several years now. Besides that, she refused to answer any further questions and claimed that she had no clue about the whereabouts of her grandson. She insisted her baby wasn’t into any criminal activity whatsoever, but the agents didn’t believe that for one second.
Surprisingly, though, the agents received a call from an attorney asking questions and informing the agents he was representing Donald Hawkins, the man they were looking for. Apparently, the card they’d left the suspect’s grandmother with their contact information on it had made its way into the hands of an attorney. That definitely confirmed their man-of-interest’s involvement.
“Let’s cross reference this guy’s call data and investigate some of these guys who are in the address book,” Vito told his partner John.
John nodded and got right at it. Schemes had left a trail big enough for a truck to drive through. The phone not only had his entire team’s phone numbers stored in it, but there were hundreds of pictures in the phone of women and, even worse, all of his friends. The feds knew chances were that there were pictures and phone numbers of the others responsible for the Beneficial Bank job and possibly other robberies. A lot of phone numbers stored in the phone even had the pictures attached to them, making it easier for the feds to identify the owners of the numbers. It was only a matter of time before they narrowed it down.
At a little after ten o’clock, Ghost finally received the call he was waiting for. Hearing Kia’s voice untied the knots in his stomach. Kia was let go by the abductors after they made sure the money was all there. Ghost picked her up from where they had let her go. She was given two quarters and told to call Ghost from a pay phone.
Guilt was eating Ghost up inside. Kia was distraught and had been quiet since she was back home. All she could think about was Khashan’s dad and what he’d gone through when he was kidnapped. He was not as fortunate to be let loose.
They decided to let Kha stay with his uncle Bird. They didn’t let him know what was going on. Ghost and Kia both weren’t in any shape to take care of him now.
When Ghost picked Kia up, she was covered in what looked like dried-up vomit. Her hair was all over the place, and she smelled like she hadn’t showered in days. She was only gone a little over twenty-four hours, but it looked and seemed like it had been much longer.
Though Kia was acting distant, she did allow Ghost to bathe her, and now the two of them were lying in the bed as one. Ghost cupped her in his arms and held her like he never wanted to lose her again. He was convinced, now more than ever, that he needed to leave the streets alone. But first he had to find and kill Reese.
“I love you, baby,” he whispered in her ear.
Kia just nodded. Ghost started to tell her how he was going to kill the men responsible for her abduction, but he knew she wanted to forget about what had taken place, so he silently promised himself instead. He could only imagine what she was going through.
CHAPTER 28
AFTER SHAREEF ARRIVED in the city, the entire crew rounded up at a spot he owned. Over objections, Frog and Schemes met with the team to discuss getting at Reese and Mar. The two of them were like a toothache that kept coming back, and they wanted to get rid of them once and for all. Reese and Mar were almost impossible to find, so they needed to figure out a way to bring them out of their shell.
“Ghost, I know this may not be the best time, but I spoke with one of my investors, and he is looking into buying into some of the franchises we talked about,” Shareef informed him.
Ghost just shook his head, but his silence indicated that now wasn’t the time or place to discuss financial matters. There was still a bit of tension in the air about Schemes being left out on the truck job. Everyone felt the vibe, but no one wanted to speak on it. They needed to stay focused on the task at hand before Reese struck again.
“So, where are we gonna start looking to find these guys?” Schemes asked.
“Man, we’ve been tryna find them for mont
hs,” Reem said. “It’s no telling where they’re at.”
Ghost held his hand up to his chin while contemplating his next move. “Kia said she has no idea where she was at while they had her,” Ghost said. “She said one of them did all the talking, but he was disguising his voice. But she said she’s pretty sure it was Reese. But I spoke to him. It was him for sure.”
“Well, we know who it was. The question is where we find him,” Schemes said.
Silence pervaded the room. Finally, Shareef broke it by saying, “I have an idea.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Shareef was the mastermind. He told them his plan while they all listened intently. Everyone had the why-didn’t-I-think-of-that look on their faces once he shared what he was thinking.
The chase was about to end. The plan was sure to bring Reese to them.
Reese and Mar were riding down Broad Street together. They had just come from hitting it off with two women they met recently. Though they were at the chicks’ house on the other side of town, they still were playing North Philly a lot. They had word of the money on their head, but that didn’t stop them from getting some pussy.
They’d finally found a new hustle, and it was generating a nice piece of cash. Reese’s mom, Lindell, sold everything from pills to liquor out of her house, so they supplied her with a large amount of pills, and she moved them like clockwork. Every few days or so, they would stop by the house to collect the money and give her more pills to sell. They were getting the prescription pills for dirt cheap, so they weren’t too worried about Lindell messing up a little bit of the money, which she was good for.
