by Jacob Spears
“It’s okay, Meka. I can understand what you’re going through. It’s good to see you too, beautiful,” Smooth said, licking his lips like Meka loved to see him do.
He took notice of how gorgeous she looked. She was definitely fly. Her hair was done in finger waves, her nails were freshly painted, and she had on a V-shaped blouse revealing the fact that she was not wearing a bra. Smooth could see her erect nipples protruding through.
“I miss you, Smooth. How the fuck did this happen? I’ve been trying to figure this shit out forever. They need to let you go like Ham. Shit! He’s free now!”
“Say what?” Smooth exclaimed, giving Meka a sharp stare.
“Yeah, boo. Ham is home. They dropped all his charges two weeks ago,” Meka informed him.
For two months, Smooth had been trying to see where he had gone wrong. For a fact, he knew that someone had ratted him out, and it was someone who knew that he would be meeting with Banga to do the drop at Rimes Food Market. The only ones close enough were Amanda and Ham.
Oh shit! Ham! It gotta be him. Who the fuck posts a million-dollar bond without help? Smooth thought.
“Meka! Ham’s bond was a million dollars. You mean to tell me that all his charges got dropped?”
“Yes, boo. He came home two weeks ago. I thought he was looking at bricks, baby,” Meka said, reckoning the same prospect Smooth was now thinking, from the hint in her voice.
“Meka, has Ham been on the block?”
“I don’t know, Smooth.”
“You know someone set me up, and I only fucked with you three when I was down here. Banga was already dead on Sunday when I talked to Ham, and he was asking for help to post a million-dollar bond. When did you learn of Banga’s death?” Smooth asked.
“Just like everyone else around here, I learned of it the same night he was killed. You had to be asleep not to know that he was killed,” she informed Smooth.
“Damn it, Meka! I was good to yo’ cousin! Ham set me up, Meka!” Smooth said, frustrated.
“Don’t worry, baby! Cousin or not, snitching is against all rules and codes. I won’t let him sink you,” she promised.
Smooth looked at her with a new respect, and smiled. “I know you won’t, boo!” Smooth said.
3
SMOOTH COULDN’T BELIEVE it took him two months just to sniff out the rat. Ham was so close to him that to consider either him or Meka as the rat would be an insult. But now he saw it clearly. After seeing Meka, Smooth returned to the dorm where other federal inmates were housed pending their trials. Smooth’s cellmate was a Jamaican man in his forties named Rosco, who was indicted for tax fraud. He was the only person Smooth associated with and allowed in his cell other than Rosco’s cousin, who everyone called Baby Dread, who was the same age as Smooth. Baby Dread was deaf and also facing tax fraud charges. Smooth lay on his top bunk, still not believing Ham’s betrayal.
Shit! He was ready to betray his own cousin! Smooth thought.
Rosco and Baby Dread were on the bottom bunk playing repetitive rounds of chess.
“Checkmate!” Rosco said while signing to Baby Dread.
“Damn it!” Baby Dread cursed, failing to defeat Rosco again.
“Smooth, you sure you don’t want none of this, mon?”
“Nah, I’m straight. I’m really not feeling it today.”
“I can tell. Whatever it is, it got you bed sick since you came back from visitation,” Rosco acknowledged.
“The wrong bitch done come up here, and China won’t be able to see me. So, what do I tell her when she comes and can’t see her baby daddy? But, too, I found out who the rat is, so the visit was worth it.”
“Well, son. That’s exactly what you tell China. I’m sure she’ll understand you, man,” Rosco suggested.
“Being real is better than being sorry later, mon!”
“True! True!” Smooth agreed.
“Now, I’ma ask you this again. I’m tired of beating up on my little cousin, mon!” Rosco said.
“Okay, one game,” Smooth obliged as he jumped from the top bunk and sat down in Baby Dread’s spot.
Smooth set up the black chess pieces while Rosco set up his. When Rosco was done, Smooth waited patiently while Rosco contemplated his first move. Rosco pushed his pawn in front of his queen two squares up.
Smooth did the same move and locked up their first pawns.
“Smooth, son, you listen to me carefully. No one knows you, mon, like you know your army. This rat must go ’fore you can defeat these federal armies,” Rosco said as he pushed his second pawn two squares up next to his locked pawn.
Without time to reflect, Smooth followed suit and locked pawns again. Rosco’s next move came fast and bold when he pulled out his queen in front of his pawn lined up with Smooth’s king.
“I know. I’ve been thinking all day how the fuck I can checkmate this nigga without giving my next move away,” Smooth spoke in code of killing Ham before he made the next bold move of standing off his queen with Rosco’s queen.
“Mmmm! You’re a bold lion, huh?” Rosco said.
“I’ve been losing and watching too long not to be bold,” Smooth admitted.
“It’s time for you to take chances with the army you’ve built, Smooth. Your team must come together to set you free,” Rosco informed.
“These wires are too risky, old man.”
“Yeah, but there’s risk in every step you take, mon. It’s ’bout being careful, young’un!” Rosco said as he sacrificed his queen by eating Smooth’s queen. “Now we have ourselves a game where a pawn becomes the significant piece—just like your still loyal men out there,” he continued.
Sue Rabbit, Guru, Spencer, and China, Smooth thought.
Three moves later, Rosco checkmated Smooth with his bishops, making it impossible for Smooth to move out of check.
“Damn it! How the fuck you always winning?”
“Because, mon. I got tired of losing,” Rosco stated as he gestured for Baby Dread to sit back down.
“I’ma go jump on the jack,” Smooth said.
“Be careful, mon. They’re always listening,” Rosco warned.
“I will. Thanks,” Smooth replied as he strutted out to the phone to call China.
China picked up the phone and then quickly accessed the prompts.
“Hey, baby. You must be wondering where I’m at.” China’s voice clearly spilled through the line.
“Nah, baby. I was just calling to tell you to go ahead and see Jenny.”
“What the hell you talking about? I’m in Martin County now. It’s only 2:00 p.m.,” China said, turning down the volume to Rihanna’s “You Needed Me.”
Here it goes! Smooth thought.
“Listen, baby. Some shit came up. I’d rather we discuss it when you come back.”
“Are you okay, Smooth? Did you get into a fight?” China
asked with concern.
“Nah, baby. It’s nothing like that. I’m okay.”
“Nigga, you done dropped the soap, and somebody done tore you a new asshole, huh?” China joked.
“Watch yo’ mouth, China. I’ll die before I let a nigga try me in this shit!” Smooth defended himself, despite knowing that she was only kidding around.
“Well, I’m at the Hess gas station down the street. I guess I’ll get back on I-95 and continue north.”
“Tell—”
“You have sixty seconds left,” the automated voice said.
“Tell Jenny I said hello, and you drive safe, okay! I love you, China.”
“I love you too, Daddy.”
“Thank you for using GTL,” the automated voice said before disconnecting the call.
Now I gotta tell Amanda not to show up here this week, because China’s coming, Smooth thought as he dialed her number and got a persistent ring and then voice mail.
Damn! Where the hell is she? he thought as he dialed her number again, only to get the same results.
“I’ll call her after lockdown is over,” Smoot
h said out loud as he walked back to his cell to prepare for his rematch with Rosco.
He had only beaten Rosco in chess twice before, and he believed deep down that Rosco let him win those two games.
The man is a beast in this shit. The right man to have on my team too, Smooth thought as he watched Baby Dread get checked and then checkmated in the next two moves.
Damn! Smooth thought.
* * *
Ham was alone at home while Tina was at her doctor’s appointment. Since being released, he had smoked all of his stash and was now fiending for some more crack to put into his lungs. He was paranoid to go out into the world, because he was ashamed of himself for turning state against Smooth.
With only $30,000 put up to supply his habit, Ham had no one to go to who would give him the crack he needed. Smooth was in jail, Banga was dead, and he was afraid to ask the niggas suspected of Banga’s death. He was too paranoid to approach anyone.
They’ll kill me like they killed Banga! Ham thought as he banged his crack pipe on the table to loosen the residue.
He gathered the residue, put flame to it, and then deeply inhaled.
“Yesss!” Ham exhaled, letting the crack smoke crawl from his mouth and nostrils. “The last of a dime breed,” Ham stated, speaking of the last form of crack he had just smoked.
* * *
“Come on, Stone. You’re really gonna sit here and play this thuggish game with me? All your fucking workers are giving you up, including the man you’re trying to protect,” DEA agent Jones said to Stone, who was sitting at the interrogation table for the sixth time in two months.
He was being held in the federal unit without bail until he gave up the man everyone had been calling Smooth. More than 35 percent of Smooth’s operation had given the DEA his street name. No one knew his government name, and the DEA and FBI were scratching their heads trying to pull him up in their data files, but to no avail.
“Mon, you continue to ask me ’bout a mon me never heard of,” Stone said.
“Bullshit! Even your men tell us he’s your fucking connect!” Jones exploded, slamming her fist down on the metal table.
Behind a mirror-tinted glass, her boss and partner were watching closely. They knew she was a pit bull in a skirt and would soon have Stone Bolt singing like Usher, the more she pulled him from the cell and brought him over for questioning.
“Look! You could make this shit light on yourself, Stone,” Jones suggested, standing up and gathering the photos she had of the man everyone called Smooth, “or you could take the long bus to a federal joint for a long-ass time. I hate putting my own people away for their ignorance.”
“Bullshit, mon! You do it with fucking honor, bitch!” Stone screamed.
Agent Jones was tired of the name-calling every time she interviewed Stone. He made it his business to call her out on her name as a woman.
Agent Jones removed her can of pepper spray from her waist, shook it twice, and sprayed the entire can in his face.
“Ahhh! Shit, bitch!” Stone cried out, unable to defend himself since he was handcuffed to the table.
“Now I got your bitch!” Jones said before departing from the room with a shrilling Stone left behind.
When she entered the booth where her boss and partner were waiting for her, they were both laughing and enjoying the entertainment.
“I knew it was coming. The pit bull in a skirt finally got tired of the name-calling,” Jones’s boss laughed.
“I bet he’ll be calling the devil a bitch in the next hour!” Agent Jones stated as she sat down and took a sip from her mug of cold coffee.
4
AMANDA WAS ON her sofa regretting missing Smooth’s calls. She was in a deep sleep and had her iPhone on the charger on silent, so she never heard the calls. She was watching Steve Harvey on television while thinking of Smooth.
I can’t wait until this shit is over with, she thought, when she heard knocks rapping on her door. Who the hell is that? she wanted to know, since she was not expecting any visitors.
She got up from the sofa and went to answer the door. When she looked through the peephole, she saw that it was Smooth’s homeboy, who Smooth had brought over once before. Amanda sucked her teeth, unlocked the door, and then opened it up.
“May I help you?” Amanda spoke with an attitude.
“Hey, Amanda, do you remember me?” Sue Rabbit asked.
“Yes, I remember you. Now what is it that you want?”
Damn! This bitch already trippin’! he thought.
“Listen, can I step inside to discuss something private with you?” Sue Rabbit suggested.
Amanda didn’t trust anyone, but being that Smooth introduced them, she gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Smooth wouldn’t bring anyone to my place who wasn’t trustworthy, Amanda thought.
“Come in,” Amanda said as she stepped aside to allow Sue to enter.
When Sue Rabbit entered, Amanda walked to the living room and turned off the television. The apartment was dead silent.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Amanda, can I take a seat?”
“Sure, but let’s not get too comfortable,” Amanda permitted.
Sue Rabbit sat down on the sofa, released a sigh, and then spoke. “Listen, Amanda, we’re all uptight about Smooth being in jail, and we can’t bond him out. If he had a bond, he would be home, and that’s no question,” Sue Rabbit explained to Amanda, who stood up and crossed her arms as she listened. “Smooth left a team out here, and as a team, we gotta hold him down.”
“Smooth is straight,” Amanda said.
“We know he’s straight, Amanda. And while he’s gone, I want to do what I got to do to make sure he is straight.”
“And how will you do that?” she asked.
“By making sure his turf is protected, Amanda.”
“Oh my gosh! Is you people crazy? The DEA just did a big sweep, and you guys still want to play with them?” Amanda asked.
“Amanda, we don’t see the DEA, and the DEA don’t see us. We were never targets, Amanda.”
Sue Rabbit stopped short when Amanda’s phone chimed in blasting Rihanna’s ringtone. When she saw that it was Smooth calling, she held up her index finger directing Sue to hold on momentarily.
After getting by all the automated prompts, the call connected.
“Hey, baby. Sorry I missed your call.”
“It’s okay. How are you?” Smooth asked.
“I’m okay. I’m having a chat with one of your boys who just stopped by.”
“Who is that?” Smooth asked curiously.
“The only one you brought over,” Amanda replied, looking over at Sue Rabbit.
Smooth knew that she was talking about his second-in-command. And he knew the only reason Sue Rabbit would be at Amanda’s was to cook up some product.
“Is he on business?” Smooth asked.
“I’m suspecting. We haven’t got that far,” Amanda began.
“Listen, that’s my boy, baby. Whatever he needs, handle it for him, okay?”
“Yes, daddy,” Amanda said without protest.
“Let me holla at him,” Smooth ordered.
Amanda looked at Sue Rabbit, who was all ears, and handed him her iPhone. “He wants to speak with you.”
Sue Rabbit grabbed the phone and spoke. “What’s good, homie?”
“Shit! You tell me, bro?” Smooth shot back.
“I just thought that it was time for me and Guru to shake the dust from our shoes and get shit back popping. We out here to hold you down, bro,” Sue Rabbit informed him.
“I appreciate everything y’all two doing, man. I know that the other part of the equation is going to be hard to solve without China. So give me time to see what I can do for the team,” Smooth told him in code language, indicating hooking up Sue Rabbit with his connect.
“That’ll be nice, soldier. Real nice,” Sue Rabbit said.
“You boys have to be careful, like really careful. We’re a
ll walking on eggshells. When China gets back, I need you to meet with her and get all the information she’ll have for you.”
“You have sixty seconds left,” the automated voice said.
“Okay, bro. I’ll do that. Here’s Amanda before the phone hangs up,” Sue said as he hurriedly handed the phone back over to her.
“Hello.”
“I love you, baby. Make sure he gets taken care of.”
“Okay. I love you too.”
“Thank you for using GTL,” the voice said as the call was disconnected.
When Smooth was gone, Amanda looked at Sue Rabbit.
“How much is it you need cooked up?”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Sue was exhilarated.
“Boy, all that’s not even called for! Now how many we need to cook up? And know that it’s $1,000 for every five,” Amanda informed him.
“I need fifty of them done tonight,” Sue said.
“Well bring them over to the other apartment. The same rules apply. No more cooking at my spot,” Amanda said.
“I got you. Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me. Thank Smooth. Because without his word, I wouldn’t be doing shit!” Amanda told Sue Rabbit.
“I respect that, Amanda.”
* * *
China lay in her bed at the hotel and thought about what Smooth had to tell her. She would only be able to see Jenny for one day, and she was resting until it was time to drive over to the prison. Then she would be back on the road traveling south to go visit Smooth. Like with all of her visits with him, she was eager to see him.
She rubbed her stomach after eating a pint of butter pecan ice cream and a handful of chocolate cookies. The baby kept her munching, and it seemed that she gained weight every day.
I can’t believe I’m about to be a mommy, she thought while looking at the small knot in her stomach.
She was almost three months pregnant, but she could still hide her pregnancy if she wanted. But she was too excited to hide her gift from anyone. China recalled when she had first learned of her baby. The Arab doctor had emphasized the positive in the most beautiful way China could ever imagine. After her morning sickness and the incapability of keeping down her food, Roxy and GaGa advised her to take a pregnancy test. She wasn’t fond of Walmart’s quick tests, so she went to visit the doctor for possible STDs. Instead, her results came back that she was pregnant.
