Status Quo_The Last Ones Standing

by Monique Chanae

  “Aghhhh!”

  “I’m really not in the mood to hear you speak, Carter. This whole letting you talk thing, this was Tari’s shit. I’d much rather put a bullet in your head and keep it moving. I’ve got a wife to get home to you know.”

  “You son of a bitch! Right about now, Chase’s body is probably being riddled with bullets.” His comment alone sent Jason into a blind fury as he let off another shot in Carter’s direction, this time his bullet shattered his kneecap and dropped him where he stood.

  “You know what your problem is, Carter? You’re a fucking slacker!” Jason knelt down and hit Carter over the face with the butt of his pistol. “You expect shit to fall into your lap without having to work for it and when it doesn’t your easy fix is to just dead the problem. I’ve seen you do it more than enough times and to be frank, I’m sick of the shit.” Jason bashed him over the face again with the butt of the gun. Nefertari stood back and watched Jason as he worked Carter over in the worst. This was nothing short of what he deserved. After tussling and beating him for a few moments, Jason stood to his feet covered in Carter’s blood.

  “Is that all you got, Hennessey?” Carter forced out after spitting out a glob of blood, saliva and teeth.

  “Yeah, that’s all I got.” Jason replied wiping the sweat buildup from his furrowed brow. Nefertari aimed her gun directly at Carter’s heart and squeezed the trigger three times to ensure Carter Ziegler would be no more.

  “Now that’s all I’ve got. Let’s go, bro.” Before the two could turn on their heels good, Carter’s cell phone rang in his jacket pocket and Jason bent down to retrieve it. The screen flashed a photo of Ashley and he knew then that she was still waiting for his go ahead.

  “Let’s go, T. Time to finish this shit once and for all.” And with that the two exited the building and headed en route to the Cary location.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “What’s your plan now, Ashley? Your henchmen are all dead and it’s only a matter of time before you join them.” Chase asked as the cold barrel of the gun graced the small of her back.

  “You talk too much, shut up!” she whispered in a huff as she shoved Chase into a darkened room and eased the door back closed. Flicking the faint overhead light on, Chase finally got a chance to see her surroundings. The room was cold, drafty and concrete. Large pieces of drop cloth and thick plastic covered a portion of the floor and on top of that laid a large hefty bag that was bound tightly.

  “Ashley, what’s in that bag?” Ashley ignored her and searched the room for any other weapons. For the first time since entering the room, Chase felt the wetness that began to saturate her pants and she questioned Ashley about what the suspicious substance was.

  “I know this is not what I think it is.”

  “Keep talking and it could be your blood.” Ashley rebutted. She was starting to panic, Carter should’ve been here by now and the fact that he hadn’t had her a bit worried but she refused to let Chase know that. Digging deep into her pocket, she dialed Carter’s number for what seemed like the millionth time to no avail. The footsteps of Sven Power’s gunners got closer and closer to the room and with each approaching step, Ashley’s panic grew. The minute a hand graced the knob, Ashley sought refuge once again behind Chase as she held the gun in the small of her back. Everyone’s heart beat quickened as they knew not what waited on the other side of the door. Within seconds, the door opened and Chase saw herself staring down the barrel of a gun.

  “Is this Hennessey’s wife?” Ken asked sauntering into the room with a facial expression that was unreadable. Ashley shook her head yes and let out a sigh of relief, glad that she was facing her father and not someone from the Sven Power camp.

  “Drag her out of here. It’s obvious, Carter’s a no show and she’s our ticket out.”

  “What about the other girl?” Ashley asked oblivious to what had happened without her consent.

  “She became a problem.” Her father informed her in a tone she knew better than to question. Following her father’s instructions, Ashley guided Chase out of the room sandwiched between the two.

  “Rell, watch your back. You got three figures coming straight at you. Find something to duck behind until you can make them out.”

  “We’re not supposed to leave here until Carter gives the okay.” Ashley reminded her father and the elder Francis stopped in midstride and then turned to face her.

  “Ashley, listen and listen good. That Husband you married is NOT God and because of him we have lost time, money and some damn good men. I was a fool for letting you and your heart guide my business endeavors but now we play by my rules and I say this shit is over!” Grabbing Chase by her hair, Ken began dragging her down the hall as she kicked and screamed. Rell and his men waited until all three figures walked past them as they hid in a corner before reaching out and grabbing Ashley. Her shriek startled her father and as soon as he turned around there were two guns pointed in his face.

  “You must be some of Sven Power’s hired help.” Ken scoffed looking Rell over as if he was a mere peasant.

  “Let her go or Princess Di meets God tonight.” Rell declared with malice in his voice.

  “You might want to rethink that youngsta. Jarell, is it? Yeah I read your rapsheet. I can make you a very wealthy man if you join my team. I respect the way you move actually. Real trill cat. Down for your people. Loyalty is always a must.”

  “You don’t know shit about me.” Rell shot back in anger and frustration.

  “Yeah I do. I know you better than you think. The only way you got help from Hennessey is because we got his girl.”

  “No you used my girl and my baby as bargaining chips and that’s not how we operate over at Sven.”

  “You keep going on and on pledging your allegiance to this organization and what have they really done for you as of lately?”

  “Enough of the chit chat, where is my wife!” Rell asked shoving the gun further into Ashley’s neck.

  “She’s resting.” Ken replied casually.

  “Rell, he’s lying. I heard her ask about another girl and he said she became a problem.” Ken cocked his fist back and punched Chase in the mouth.

  “What do you say, youngsta? You want to be down with the winning team? I promise you we don’t take L’s over this way.” Chase looked up at Rell with pleading eyes. She could tell his heart and mind were fighting a battle amongst each other.

  “Rell, you’re family, part of our family. You know that.” Chase cried one final time. Rell’s eyes darted between Ken and Chase both of whom were waiting on him to make a move and without blinking Rell sent a shot that crashed through Ken Francis’ skull. His singular shot was followed up by a red light that beamed the skylight and landed directly on Ashley’s chest killing her on impact.

  “I would never turn my back on my family.” Rell said as he held out his hand and helped Chase off the ground.

  “Hey Boss.” One of the henchman called out to him from the opposite end of the hall.

  “Yeah?” Rell replied as he and Chase began walking towards him.

  “We found Serena…”

  “And?”

  “She didn’t make it. She looks like she went out fighting though.”

  “Take me to her.” Without any further words being exchanged, the henchman led Rell back to the room where Chase was moments prior. From where they stood you could see Serena’s body hanging halfway out of the bag they had torn open. Rell walked over to her cold body and kissed her forehead.

  “I’m so sorry, babe. I promise Heaven will never forget you and neither will I.” Taking the bandana out of his back pocket, Rell placed it over her face and exited the facility. This had been an incredibly long night.

  Chapter 29

  Nearly two weeks had flown by after all the chaos caused by Carter and his wife had subsided. Everyone was finally reunited with their loved ones and Nefertari spared no expense when it came to Serena’s funeral and burial. She had even sent Rell and his d
aughter on a month-long getaway to the place of their choosing and Rell chose to take his babygirl to Disney World. He needed a break from the violent and frenzied life he typically led and the getaway was just what the doctor ordered. After making sure her team was squared away, Nefertari took some time out to spend with her own child. She needed to show Kiyan that no matter how busy or complicated life may get, she would always make time for him.

  They had visited Trent's gravesite again, but this time seemed different than the last. Now that his killer was no longer with the living, Nefertari felt that his soul was finally at peace. Kiyan had recently expressed to her how much he still missed his father and Tari could relate because she missed Trent as well. She never imagined living a life without her soulmate and while they say time heals all wounds, hers still felt fresh with each passing day. After Kiyan told her how he felt, she had Kumar hook him up. Kumar was able to pull Trent’s voice from a home video taken on Kiyan’s last birthday and place it inside of a teddy bear dressed in a suit, that way every time Kiyan pressed down on the bear he heard Trent’s voice. The smile on her son's face when he heard his father's voice almost brought tears to Tari’s eyes, but she knew she had to stay strong for him.

  "Mom, I had so much fun at the arcade today." Kiyan said from the backseat of the car.

  "I had fun watching you cheat on some of those games." She replied. Kiyan have his mother a smirk.

  "Mom, I didn't cheat. I just know how to finesse the games. I could teach you next time if you want." Tari chuckled and shook her head.

  "What do you know about finessing something?" She asked as she looked at him through the mirror.

  "My grandpa Nick taught me. I'm surprised he didn't teach you how. I bet Uncle Will knows how. Maybe it's a guy thing." He replied. She rolled her eyes and let out another chuckle.

  “Y'all men are not going to worry me."

  “Don’t say I didn’t offer next time.” Kiyan giggled and in that moment, Nefertari knew it was moments like this that she would always cherish with her child. As she pulled into her driveway and put the car in park, her cell phone rang in her purse. After fishing for it for a few she finally put hands on it and answered after checking out the Caller ID.

  “What’s up big head girl?” the caller on the other end asked casually.

  “Nothing much apple seed brain. What are you up to?” Nefertari smiled hearing her brother’s voice on the other end of the phone.

  “Right now I’m just leaving a meeting but you and Kiy were on my mind.”

  “Aww, isn’t that sweet of you.” Nefertari nestled the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she grabbed her bags and Kiyan and got out of the car.

  “Yeah yeah, what are you guys doing later on tonight?” Will asked driving through the city streets of Illinois.

  “Nothing really. I haven’t even thought about dinner yet. We’ve been out all day, I may just order a pizza from Gino’s and call it a night.” Nefertari shrugged.

  “Forget Gino’s. Dinner tonight at Mom and Pops, seven o’clock.”

  “Are you asking me or telling me, William?”

  “Telling. I’ll see you later, sis. Love you.” And before Nefertari could respond, he hung up in her face.

  “Mommy, was that Uncle Will?” Kiyan asked walking into the living room where his mother had taken a seat.

  “Yes it was. In a little bit you’re going to wash up and get dressed for dinner. We’re going to your grandparents’ house.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Nefertari pulled up to her parents’ house a little before seven o’clock and to her surprise, Will was standing out on the front porch with his cell phone to his ear. When he spotted Nefertari and Kiyan stepping out of the car he swiftly finished his call and put the phone into his pocket.

  “Kiy!” he greeted his nephew as he ran and jumped into his arms.

  “Uncle Will, Mommy took me to the arcade today and I was beating her on all the games?”

  “Oh yeah? That doesn’t surprise me. I used to beat your Mommy all the time when we were kids.”

  “Will, don’t lie to my baby like that you know I had mad skills back in the day.” Nefertari smiled as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.

  “Skills? What skills? I always got a higher score than you playing skee-ball and whack a mole and don’t even get me started shooting hoops. I used to dust you, T.” Will chuckled.

  “Yeah whatever, I don’t recall any of that sir.”

  “Uncle Will, maybe we should show mommy how to finesse the games one day.”

  “You know what, I don’t have to take this mess from you two.” Nefertari laughed as she breezed past the two of them and walked into the house.

  It had been a while since the Parker family all came together for dinner. Adele was so happy that both her children were home that she pulled out all the stops and made all their favorites. Smothered pork chops, brown rice with homemade gravy, corn on the cob and buttermilk biscuits.

  “Ma, you outdid yourself tonight.” Will complimented her as he popped another forkful of food into his mouth.

  “Well son, all last week I’ve been thinking about you two. I am just so happy and proud of the adults you’ve all become – both of my babies are successful and coming from where we’re from, not everybody is lucky enough to say that.”

  “Oh mommy.” Tari blushed and her mother continued.

  “I never want you two to become so wrapped up in the world of success that you forget one another or this family. I know you two lead two different lives but you’re bound by something much stronger than notoriety or money; you are bound by love.”

  “Mom, no matter where life takes us we’ll never forget.” Tari let her know and Will cosigned her sentiments. After dinner, Kiyan went into the living room with his Grandfather to play checkers will Tari sent her mother upstairs to get some rest. She offered to clean up the kitchen for her and surprisingly Will rolled up his sleeves and offered to help too.

  “I never thought I’d see the day you’d help load a dishwasher.” Tari cracked on him.

  “Keep it up, woman and you’ll be down here by yourself.” Will chuckled placing another glass in the washer.

  “So are you ever going to tell me why you insisted on us having dinner over here tonight?”

  “A little later on I will… Did you hear all of that stuff that Mom was saying about us never forgetting the family?”

  “Yeah I did.”

  “Remember that move I told you I was getting ready to make back home?”

  “Yes, what about it?”

  “It’s about to be official.” Nefertari stopped rinsing off the dinner dishes and looked over at Will. “What, Tari? Why you looking at me like that?”

  “I’m just really happy. I want you to get to a point in your life where you don’t have to travel from this place to the next, you can just settle down and relax. Get to enjoy life a little. Hell, maybe even find you a special somebody – someone who gets the Tari Seal of Approval first of course.” She joked. Will smirked and got silent for a moment. Nefertari noticed his smirk and made a mental note of it.

  “That sure sounds good sis but maybe that settling down stuff isn’t really for me. And I don’t mind the traveling part either. I kind of enjoy being able to get up and get away when needed.”

  “If you keep up with that attitude, you’re going to be old, gray and living on my couch and we can’t have that, sir.”

  “I’m a grown man, Tari, I can take care of myself.”

  “Yeah yeah, you say that mess now.” Nefertari and Will continued cleaning up the kitchen and chatting away about their lives and by the time they had finished, they were the only ones still awake in the house.

  “How long are you going to be in town for this go ‘round?” They both sat out on the front porch with a drink in their hands taking in the crisp night breeze.

  “For a minute… I kind of need to clear my head. Get away from work and some other things.”
r />   “You want to talk about it?”

  “Nah, I’m straight. I’ll be good. But enough about me, what about you? I talked to Jason a couple days ago.”

  “This whole ordeal with Carter took me by surprise. I honestly thought he had come back to mend fences but come to find out he was only here to wreak havoc.”

  “Carter was never 100%, you know that T.” Will took another swig of his corona and watched her reaction.

  “Yeah I do but Trent always gave him the benefit of the doubt.”

  “You have to study people now, Tari. The people in your circle especially. Those will be the ones to cross you first.”

  “You’re surely right about that… Will, thank you.”

  “For what?” Will looked up from his bottle of beer and raised an eyebrow in question.

  “For always being there for me, no matter what. You always got my back and I appreciate it.”

  “That’s what family is for, T. I ain’t going nowhere and you know I’m only one phone call away.” Will leaned over and kiss Nefertari’s cheek and she returned his gesture with a hug. Their bond was one that some siblings only dreamed of and they both knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing in this world or the next could tear them apart.

  Chapter 30

  “I was starting to think you forgot about me.” Terrence chuckled as he approached the table and took a seat across from Nefertari in the visiting room.

  “I could never forget about you.” Nefertari smiled.

  “So how are you, Tari?”

  “I’m good. Taking everything one step at a time.” Nefertari replied nonchalantly. Terrence looked over at Nefertari and silently clasped his fingers together in front of him on the table.