Pawns & Kings

by D D Bridges

  “Because, you don’t just stumble upon these games unless you’re connected in some way,” he said and I saw the black guy nodding his head out of my peripheral. “So since you weren’t invited, that means that someone must have tipped you off.”

  I didn’t understand why he was grilling me, especially since I was pretty sure that D.J. hadn’t been invited either.

  “All I know is that the word on the street was that I could come here and make some money if I play my cards right,” I said. “So maybe your game isn’t as much of a secret as you think.”

  Everyone had stopped playing their cards and were now watching and listening to Conrad and I as if we were a movie or something.

  “So you’re saying that you don’t know my uncle?” he said still staring at me.

  I shook my head slowly and said, “Never heard of him.” I took a drag from the cigar and then put it in the ashtray that was nearby. If this conversation kept going downhill then I knew that I would have to leave soon anyway.

  “You know, that’s funny,” Conrad said. “Because a few weeks ago my cousin, Mathieu, was killed in Atlanta. He was shot in cold blood. And my uncle came back to the states because he is determined to find his killer. And I have every intention in doing whatever it takes to help my uncle bring that person to justice... Street justice, that is.”

  He was looking at me with a cold expression but I didn’t let that shake me. It was surprising to find out that Conrad was Francisco’s nephew, but if he already knew who I was then I was pretty sure that he would have killed me by now.

  “I’m sorry about your cousin,” I said, still showing no emotion. “But that’s just the world that we live in. People get murdered and their killers get away.” I briefly cut my eyes at D.J. who was sitting there looking like he was about to crumble under the pressure. He seemed to be fidgeting slightly, but if he knew what was good for him then he’d pull it together before the heat was turned on him.

  “Yeah well, not this time,” Conrad said. “Trust and believe that his killer will be found and executed.”

  It was time for me to get out of there but I had to wait for Janelle to text me. I subtly glanced at my watch and it was five minutes until midnight. I didn’t know if I had five minutes to wait. If I didn’t make a move soon, then it may end up being too late.

  Suddenly, the door where Francisco’s two men were standing guard flew open and another one of his men came rushing in. Conrad abruptly stood and then had a hushed conversation with him. I took that moment to look boldly at D.J. He looked at me and mouthed, Get out now. The problem was that I couldn’t do that. I was on a mission and I couldn’t leave until I got what I had come for.

  Conrad looked at me and then at D.J. before resuming his conversation for a few more seconds. I knew what that meant. I slid my hand onto my gun in the front waist of my pants so that I would be ready.

  The guy that was talking to Conrad turned around and rushed out of the room the same way that he had come in. Conrad turned back to the table with a pissed-off look on his face.

  “You two,” he said pointing at D.J. and I. “Get the fuck out of here right now.”

  D.J. and I were both speechless as we glanced at one another. I hesitated because this was not how this shit was supposed to go down. When we didn’t move, Conrad snapped his finger at the two men by the door. They both began to come toward us. They practically snatched us up out of our chairs and we both cussed them out for being so damn rough. My guy grabbed my arm but I snatched it away.

  “Hold up, damn!” I spat. “Let me get my dough.” I began to put the money that I had on the table back in the duffle. D.J. pulled his duffle from under the table and began to do the same. Once we were packed they began pushing us toward the door.

  They continued to push us down the hallway and then shoved us out of the metal door that Tone was holding open. Before we could even say anything, the door slammed and locked behind us.

  “Damn it!” D.J. shouted as he dropped his duffle and then kicked the bottom of the door. He got in my face and said, “See what the fuck you did!”

  I dropped my duffle, pushed him and said, “What was your punk ass doing in there anyway. Are you crazy? You trying to get yourself killed?”

  “Everything was going fine until you showed up,” he told me. “Leave it up to you to mess everything up. You done fucked up the whole plan and I should smoke yo’ ass right now.” He snatched out his gun and cocked it as if he was really about to do something with it. To his surprise, I got right up in his face.

  “Do it,” I said but he didn’t respond. I jacked him up by his shirt and slammed him up against the wall, causing him to drop his gun. Then I kicked the gun away from us so that he couldn’t get it. He struggled against my grip and even took a few swings at me, but I held firm.

  “Man, let me go!” he said, his voice cracking like a little bitch.

  “What the fuck is yo’ problem man!” I shouted in his face. “You gon’ team up with Allen and try to kill me? Your own brother?”

  “Fuck you and fuck that nigga too. I’m doing this for me,” he said. His eyes drifted down to my chest while I still had him hemmed up. I glanced down at the dog tag and chain since I knew that was what he was staring at.

  “Where’d you get it from?” he asked as I released him and took a step back.

  “I got it from your momma,” I said and saw the fire that passed in his eyes. Hoping to push him over the edge I smirked and suggestively said, “And that ain’t all she gave me.”

  “You motherfucker!” Moving faster than a cheetah, he bear-hugged me around my waist and pushed me until my back slammed against the wooden fence. He punched me just below my ribs, knocking the air out of me and causing me to keel over in pain. I was shocked when he stepped away from me and actually allowed me a chance to regain my composure. He was stupid for doing that.

  I stood up straight and clocked him dead in his mouth. He groaned in pain while holding his mouth as he staggered backwards.

  “This shit is far from over,” I told him.

  “You got that right,” he said as he picked his gun up off of the ground and tucked it away at his waist. “My mom made me promise that I wouldn’t do shit to you while we’re in Miami.”

  “That’s funny because she made me promise the same thing,” I said. “But I think I’m having second thoughts.” I pushed D.J. against the wall again, pulled my gun out, and shoved it into his throat under his chin.

  “I was good to you, nigga,” I reminded him. “I made you one of the boys and everything. And you repay me by setting me up?” I scoffed as I shook my head at him. “If you don’t remember anything else, remember this: if you’re gonna dig one grave, then you better dig two.”

  My words did nothing to dissipate the animosity that was brewing in D.J.’s eyes. He didn’t seem to care that one day he would have to deal with the consequences of his actions. His only concern was doing all that he could to get me out of the picture so that he could get what his spoiled ass wanted. But D.J. was damaged. I could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t the same obnoxious brat that walked into my office making demands and giving ultimatums. He had changed and it wasn’t for the better.

  We both knew that there was no time for us to hash things out. For all we knew Francisco was going to be hot on both of our trails in a matter of seconds. I had to get out of there and figure out what my next move was going to be. Fooling with D.J. right then was only going to make things more complicated.

  “When I get back to Atlanta, if I see you anywhere, then I will make sure that my face is the last face that you ever see,” I warned. “Stay the hell away from me and my people, a’ight?”

  I gave him one last push before releasing him. I turned around, picked up my duffle bag and began walking down the alley toward the street. I knew that I was going in the opposite direction of where I parked my car, but I didn’t want to run the risk of being followed. I figured that I needed to lay low in a bar or something
for a couple of hours and then go back to the hotel so that I could prepare to leave in the morning.

  As I made the long tread down the alley, I couldn’t help but resent the fact that I had gotten that close to Francisco only to have the plan fall through. I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket and saw that it was 12:05 and there was no text of any kind from Janelle. I knew that couldn’t be good. And after the way things had gone down in the card game I was beginning to feel like somebody else must have had another plan that I hadn’t been aware of.

  I was still baffled about how they were able to figure out that me and D.J. were connected to one another. Not only that, but it was clear that Conrad had some inkling of who I was and the role that I played in this whole thing. But the problem was that he thought I was the one that killed Mathieu and that wasn’t the case. He obviously didn’t have any idea who D.J. was until Francisco’s guy came in and tipped him off. The only explanation that I could come up with for how they had found us out was that they must have had hidden cameras in the card game. Either that or Janelle was the one who tipped them off. Maybe I was just being naïve but I doubted that she would do that. She knew that I was the only one who could help her get away from Francisco, so why would she jeopardize that? No matter how he had done it, somehow Francisco had blew up my plan before I could get to him, and now I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

  “Please, no,” I heard a familiar female voice say just as I neared the end of the alley where the street was. “I promise that I didn’t know that they would be there.” I recognized the voice as Janelle’s and it sounded like she was in a struggle of some kind.

  I quietly peeked around the corner so that I could see what was going on. There was a black SUV parked at the curb with the doors open. I looked further and saw that three of Francisco’s men had Janelle pinned against the light post that was right on the edge of the curb. Two of them were holding her by the arms while the third guy stood there holding a pistol. Janelle was struggling as much as she could to get free and she looked like she had already put up a pretty good fight. Her burnt-orange sundress was wrinkled and had a small tear near the bottom, her hair was in slight disarray, and she appeared to have a bruise on her cheek.

  “Let’s rape this bitch and then kill her,” one of the men who was holding her said, and I could see the fear in Janelle’s eyes.

  “No, there’s no time,” the man with the gun said. “Francisco wants this to be done quickly and quietly so that we can hurry up and get back.” I realized then that this was the first time that I had ever heard any of Francisco’s men speak English.

  “So what’s the plan?” one of the other men asked.

  “Kill her, take her to the dock, and put her body in the ocean. By the time she washes up on shore, we’ll all be long gone.”

  “Look, please, I’ll do whatever you want,” Janelle pleaded. “Just please don’t kill me.”

  I was still watching what was going on, but in the meantime I had taken out my silencer and attached it to my pistol. Looks like it was going to get used after all.

  Janelle continued to argue back and forth with the men in hopes that they would let her go, but it was to no avail. Obviously tired of hearing her voice, the ring-leader knocked her out with the butt of his gun. Once she was out cold, the two men who were holding her carried her over to the back seat and put her inside while the guy with the gun went to the driver’s side of the SUV. None of them heard me creeping up on them.

  “Damn,” one of the guys said while running his hands up Janelle’s thighs which were partially hanging out of the SUV. “I still want to fuck this bitch. All I need is two minutes.”

  “Look man, do what you got to do,” the ring-leader said obviously frustrated. “But hurry up because we gotta go.”

  The third guy was about to move around his perverted friend so that he could get in the passenger seat. As soon as he turned around and made eye contact with me, I put a bullet in his head. The rapist still had his back to me and didn’t even realize what happened until his friend’s body fell beside him.

  “What the…” He turned around and saw me. “Oh shit!” I shot him in his dick first just to teach him a lesson for being a damn creep. He yelped in pain and fell to his knees as blood began to soak his pants.

  By this time I had gotten the attention of the ring leader who was already sitting in the driver’s seat. He tried to get out of the SUV but I shot him in the back and in the back of the head before he could. The guy who I had just castrated was looking up at me and crying like a baby. He was about to plead for his life, but I shot him in his head before he could even get the words out.

  Ironically, there were a few thugs on the other side of the street who witnessed the whole thing. They looked at me and then walked away, trying to get as far away from the scene as they could.

  I tucked my gun at my waist and then stood on the two dead bodies so that I could get to Janelle. I pulled her by the legs until her limp body fell out of the SUV and into my arms. I cradled her in my arms and tried not to trip over the bodies on the ground as I began to make my way up the sidewalk.

  “What the hell am I doing?” I asked myself as I began to plan the quickest path back to my car.

  Chapter XXIII- D.J.

  I watched as Darius walked away from me down the dark alley. Since his back was to me I knew that was my one chance to finally kill him, but I didn’t. Leaving him dead in that alley wasn’t going to do anything but give me one more problem that I didn’t need. Besides, I had to find Armando and quick. At any moment he and his crew were going to bust up in that card game ready to execute our plan. The problem was that I wasn’t in place, thanks to Darius. And if I wasn’t in place when Armando kicked that door open then it was not going to be good for either one of us.

  I took out my phone and started walking in the opposite direction as Darius. I tried calling Armando but his line went straight to his voicemail which told me that he had turned his phone off.

  “Damn it!” I mumbled under my breath as I began to jog down the alley. My jog eventually turned into a sprint since I knew that I was racing against time. I ran to the front of the building and didn’t stop until I was standing in front of unit number 28. I lifted the metal door which rolled back like a garage door, and went inside. There was a door at the back of the unit that had been left cracked open. This was the door that Armando and his crew were using to sneak into the game. How they even knew that the door existed was beyond me.

  I went through the door and found myself in a narrow, dimly lit hallway much like the one on the other side of the building. The halls were like a maze and I used my instincts in order to know which way I should go. After turning many corners I finally walked right into Armando and his crew. He had about five guys with him and they were all carrying two guns a piece.

  “Let’s go get this money,” Armando told them after peaking around the corner into the hallway that I assumed led to the back door of the card game.

  “Hold up man, you can’t go in,” I said, speaking in a hushed tone as I approached him.

  “D.J., what the hell you doin’ out here? You’re supposed to be in the game,” Armando said, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

  “Look, some bull shit went down in there, a’ight,” I said. “I don’t have time to explain right now, but the bottom line is that we can’t roll up in there like this. The plan will never work now.”

  “What?” he said, and I could tell that he was upset. “Listen, I didn’t come all this way for nothing. I came to get paid and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” He was holding a semi-automatic rifle in one hand and a berretta in the other. “Let me know now if you bailing out on us.”

  Clearly, Armando was letting his greed cloud his better judgment. If we went through with this there was a ninety-nine percent chance that we wouldn’t make it out alive. As bad as I wanted to get Francisco, I knew that I couldn’t do it this way.

  I was just about to tell Armando
that I was bailing on the plan, but then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I did a double take as I looked in the corner of the ceiling at the far end of the hallway that we were in. I looked at the corner at the end of the adjacent hall then I turned around and gazed at the other end of the hall. Without a doubt there were surveillance cameras on us from every direction. I shook my head in disbelief. Everything that happened up until that point was beginning to make sense.

  “Oh shit!” I said pulling my gun out. “They’ve been watching us the whole time.”

  Armando’s eyes shot up to the corners of the ceilings and his boys started to look around as well.

  “Fuck that,” Armando said. “Let’s do this.”

  Just as they were about to turn and head toward the card game, we all heard a loud sound behind us. We turned and saw three men coming out of a room and running toward us. One of them raised his gun and pointed it at us. Before he could let off a round, one of Armando’s boys shot him in the chest twice. As soon as he fell dead to the floor though, the other two guys started shooting at us.

  I dove for cover, hiding behind the wall on one side of the hallway while Armando and his boys took cover on the other side. I was frantically trying to plan an escape route, but there were so many different halls and passage ways that it seemed impossible to know which way to go. The only way that I knew was the way that I came in, but that was the same direction that Francisco’s men were coming from. Time was ticking and I had to think of something quick.

  Just then, more of Francisco’s men came into the hallway where I was. I immediately leapt to my feet and ran in the other direction past Armando and his boys. They all hopped up so that they could follow me. Behind me I heard a flurry of gun-shots and then someone howling in pain. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that one of Francisco’s men had just killed one of Armando’s boys.

  “Go!” Armando said as he shoved me so that I would run faster. When we turned a corner, two of Armando’s boys stood in the passage way behind us and fired off a barrage of shots to slow down Francisco’s men and to hopefully take some of them out.