Havoc and Mayhem
Page 42
“Now I see why your last name’s Ramses, you’re a real scumbag!” Havoc snapped.
“Sticks and stones my friend. Sticks and stones.” Corbin replied unscathed.
“Corbin do you honestly believe that doing this will get me to take you back?” Nicky asked.
“Take you back? Surely you jest! Every time I think about your vaudevillian performance pretending to care for me while secretly pining over him I become incensed all over again! No, my dear, I figure if I hand Ram-Bro here over to his nightmare nemesis and apologize for my malevolence, I can undo the mess I’ve created for myself and walk away from all of this and you for good.” Corbin said then faced Havoc.
“You honestly think by bringing me to them you’ll be spared? Think again. You betrayed them. Go back and you’re as good as dead. But you can still walk away from this if you let me go and-” Havoc reasoned.
“No deal! If trust is a two-way street right now you’re lying in a ditch at the side of the road! Now come along. We have a party to attend.”
“No!” Donnie said worriedly.
“It’ll be alright.” Havoc promised with a hopeful grin then dropped his smile when he turned to Corbin. “So, you ready to go?”
“I must say you’re taking this quite well. Perhaps if you behaved civilly like this when we first met then we wouldn’t be going through all of this right now.” Corbin said.
Havoc eyed his dog, communicating with her in secret sign language behind his back. Mayhem immediately calmed down and arched her back as Donnie looked at the dog and wondered just what in the hell was going on. “Perhaps-or perhaps not!” Havoc said with an arched eyebrow then turned to his dog and they locked eyes communicating on levels far more comprehensive and subtler than speech. “HAMMER TIME!” Mayhem let out a sharp knowing bark then just like they practiced so many times before, she twisted her head and grabbed the butt of the gun out of her harness and flung it at Havoc. In one perfectly choreographed slick move he snatched it out of the air spun around and shoved it in Corbin’s face. The two stood there pointing their weapons at each other in a Mexican standoff neither one showing any sign of backing down. “Drop the piece.” Havoc said, an old hand at poker-faced machismo. Corbin wildly shook his head no.
“Corbin, don’t be an idiot! Put your gun down!” Nicky shouted.
“Why should I drop mines? See Nicolette this is exactly the kind of disloyalty which has led us to the moment at hand.”
It was a tense moment by all in the room especially for Nicky who prayed it would not end with a dead body on her living room floor.
“I gotta be honest with you Cream corn, by sticking that Roscoe in my mug you’re only leaving me with two options, kill or be killed. And if I have to choose between you and me, guess who I’m betting on?” Havoc asked straight-up.
Corbin stared down the barrel of the high-powered pistol, wide-eyed and trembling with fear. What in the hell was he doing? He wasn’t built for this. He killed competition behind a desk not a gun. After giving it careful thought, he handed Havoc his peashooter.
“Good boy.” Havoc said accepting the gun. Then in a flash he dropped Corbin like a bottle of milk on the floor then stood over him defiantly. “You said you wanted to know the difference between a Trouble Consultant and a hit man? Well the fact you’re still breathing is your goddamn answer because a hit man would have smoked yo bitch ass!”
Chapter 32
“Go on, get out of my sight!” Havoc snarled at Corbin outside Nicky’s house as Donnie, Nicky, Mayhem and a clueless Tee-Tee looked on.
“Just like that, I’m free to go?” Corbin asked surprised.
“That’s what I said ain’t it?” Havoc said aggravated.
“Gosh!”
“That’s all you can say is gosh? And here I thought playing Scrabble expanded your vocabulary,”
Corbin shook his head perplexed. “Were the roles reversed I would not have reacted the same way.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Just when I think I have you figured out you go and do the opposite.”
“Well what can I say? I’m trying to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.” Havoc shrugged.
“Well whatever your reasons, I am embarrassingly grateful.”
Tee-Tee covered a yawn then tapped her brother on the shoulder. “I’m still sleepy. Can I go sit in your car?”
Havoc handed his keys to Donnie. “It’s right around the corner. I’ll be there in a sec.”
Corbin met Havoc’s exhausted stare and felt a sense of admiration for the man multi-tasking things that would have him in a fetal position. “You once said to me to be careful of the toes you step on today, because they might be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow,” he shook his head embarrassed with himself. “Fate, it would seem, is not without a sense of irony.”
Havoc rolled his eyes like, ‘Now I know this sorry ass bastard ain’t expecting sympathy from me.’ “Well as much as I’d like to stand here and kick it with you on some Kumbaya shit I have to be going.”
“Wait. There’s something you need to know. About the one you refer to as Doll face.” Corbin said.
Havoc’s face scrunched up into a ‘whateva’ look as the tinted window of a dark Camaro parked a few feet away slowly lowered.
“Now why in the hell should I believe anything you have to say?” The Trouble Consulted asked.
“Under the circumstances, you shouldn’t. But I feel I owe you the truth. He isn’t who you think he is.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Havoc asked.
Corbin nervously darted his vision around. “The reason Doll face hates you is because-”
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Bullets pumped into Corbin’s body zapping him like volts of lightning keeping him on his feet as he danced with soul for the first time in his life.
“Get down!” Havoc shouted tackling a screaming Corbin behind a parked car.
The car that the bullets came from sprang to life and wildly pulled out into the street. Havoc looked sympathetically down at Corbin’s lifeless body then scrambled to his feet. He had to get to the women but the car the shots came from sat there patiently waiting for him to step into the light.
Stealing a peek at the killer car Havoc armed his shotgun, pushed his ruby red shades back on the bridge of his nose then rose to his feet. It was on, like Donkey Kong!
“What’s up MOTHER FUCKER?!!” The Trouble Consultant shouted and began blasting at the car.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Lights of neighboring houses came on and curtains pulled back slightly. It sounded like World War III was going down in the middle of Canarsie as Havoc’s weapon ripped gaping holes in the car’s exterior. Arms holding guns reached out the car and returned fire but couldn’t get a decent bead on the man in red ducking behind cars. Havoc’s heart pounded like waves against the seashore as he ducked behind a mailbox. He counted to three jumped up and flattened the front tire then boldly ran out into the street and fired another blast into the on-coming car’s hood. Sparks and smoke erupted out of the engine as the driver lost control and swerved past him plowing into a parked car. Instantly flames engulfed the car then in a flash it exploded.
After the worst was over Havoc walked up to the flaming wreck cautiously. He looked inside grimacingly at the grotesquely twisted charred shapes trying to figure out who they were. Then it hit him as his eyes widened. He darted around the corner and spotted Corbin’s wrecked loaner up the block then snatched open his car door and was met with screams from Nicky and Donnie. He looked in the backseat relieved to find his sister fast asleep and Mayhem protectively on guard. He hopped behind the wheel.
“Time to go!” Havoc announced.
“Are you ok? We heard gunfire” Donnie asked frantically.
“Yeah I’m fine but…” He looked sadly at Nicky and she instantly knew.
“Take me to
him.” Nicky insisted. Havoc sighed and nodded.