TYCE

by Shareef Jaudon

  “ON THE FLOOR NOW!! GET THE FUCK DOWN!!” Tyce shouted.

  The bank only had about six people inside the lobby and five tellers; the manager was stationed at a desk off to the side around a waiting area.

  Omar instructed the short Asian man to go to the soft vault room in the corner of the bank. The man hesitated at first, until Omar pistol whipped him a few times. After that brief beating, the man scurried over toward a door that looked like a wall. He put a funny looking key in the hidden lock and opened the camouflaged door. Omar pushed the man inside and made him fill his bag up with stacks and stacks of hundred dollar bills.

  “Keep that pace up Mr. Lee….move that money nigga!” He commanded. It took the manager about three minutes to empty the soft count room.

  Outside Tyce jumped over the counter, “Back away from the counter people.” Tyce was keeping them away from any silent alarm buttons that were hidden in the desk. “Give me the keys to the bottom drawers now!”

  The tellers obeyed and removed a key ring bracelet from around their wrist.

  “Open the drawers and toss out the fake bank money. Don’t try anything stupid people, I know you keep a fake bundle of tens and twenties in the bottom of your drawers…so don’t act like you don’t speak any english.”

  The frightened tellers all nodded rapidly but didn’t speak a word. They each went to their personal

  drawers and removed the stacks of money being careful not to include any bait money. Tyce threw a bag on the counter,

  “Fill it up and pass it along, don’t forget that bottom drawer either!”

  Tyce did his research when it came to this bank; he knew the real money was in the second drawer under the top one that the customers see. He put the gun to the back of each tellers head as they filled the bag up with money and passed it down the teller line. After that, they all laid down on the floor like it was naptime. Tyce, Sway, and Omar had the bank on lock down and got the money in less than three minutes.

  “Let’s go…let’s go!!” Tyce said hopping back over the counter with the heavy bag in hand. Tyce threw the bag to Sway and ran over to the soft vault,

  “Yo toss me the bag O!”

  Omar turned around and tossed the bag to Tyce, then swung around putting his gun to the little man’s head and made him get on the ground; he walked backwards towards the exit keeping an eye on the man. When he reached the door way he turned around and was unexpectedly staring down the barrel of Tyce’s chrome 9mm. Omar froze in his tracks and just stood very still, his gun was at his side but he knew he couldn’t move fast enough to shoot Tyce.

  “What, you thought I didn’t know about you? Don’t look so surprised O…I’m not a dumb ass nigga.” Tyce said staring at his so-called best friend.

  “Yo Tyce, what the fuck you doin’ man I I I…why you trippin’ all…”

  “Shut the fuck up nigga, what the fuck you tryna to cop pleas now for huh? I fuckin’ fed yo ass for year’s nigga! What I got you got,

  and now you plannin’ my death! Fuck you!”

  Omar snarled at Tyce, “Naw nigga fuck you, you think you king shit around here! You aint got the heart to shoot me nigga…you a soft ass no money getting ass nigga! I’m tired of being yo sidekick! You kept me from gettin’ paid all these years, I COULDA’ BEEN RICH NIGGA A LONG TIME AGO!”

  “I’ll be sure to send your mom some flowers.” Tyce told him as he fired a bullet into the middle of Omar’s forehead.

  His body dropped to the floor and blood began to puddle from the back of his head. The manager was speechless and was staring at Tyce like he’d seen a ghost. Tyce put a finger to his lips in a hush motion and just closed the door, locking him inside with Omar’s body.

  Sway understood and knew why Tyce had killed Omar. Tyce told Sway about his plans earlier that morning, so Sway knew this was Omar’s last day on this earth and he backed Tyce up all the way. No one else knew about the execution; Tyce trusted Sway to get the security camera tapes from the bank and destroy the footage. Sway got those important tapes while Tyce was busy with Omar. Without those tapes, there was no evidence of the robbery or the murder. Tyce and Sway grabbed the bags of money and ran towards the back exit. All the employees in the bank were on the ground crying and screaming at them in Chinese. The two men ignored the foreign pleas, hit the door, and ran across the alley to the van. Tyce snatched the door open and stopped…

  “Where the fuck is Angelique and Dallas!” He turned to Sway with a horrible look on his face.

  They both looked around the alley but they didn’t see them anywhere…they were gone.

  “What the fuck…fuck fuck fuck!!” Tyce punched the top of the roof.

  “We gotta go Tyce…we gotta go!” Sway grabbed his shoulder and pushed him in the back of the van. He got behind the wheel and

  mashed his foot on the gas pedal speeding away from the bank. Tyce jumped in the front passenger seat and shook his head in disbelief,

  “Were they here when you went in?” He asked frantically.

  “Yeah…they both were here…Angelique was in the van and Dallas was by the door!” Sway shouted as he drove.

  Tyce looked around the van; searching for any signs of anything…he noticed a wig lying on the floor in the back, it was the wig Angelique was wearing.

  “Somebody got em man!” Tyce said holding

  the wig. “Fuck!”

  “Let’s jus’ dump the van and get to the warehouse, we’ll figure it out from there.” Sway tried to calm Tyce down.

  They pulled up to an abandoned lot ten agonizing minutes later and torched the van; Tyce’s jeep was parked there already so they hopped in and headed to the warehouse. Tyce’s mind was going a mile a minute. He hated to think that Biz had the girls but that was probably true…damn he hated to think about that, 20 minutes later, they were in the warehouse putting the bags of money in Tyce’s vault. Tyce didn’t even mind that Sway was seeing where he hid his money…shit he was to worried about Angelique and Dallas to care.

  “What you want me to do with these?” Sway held up the security camera tapes.

  “Damn the tapes, one of those cameras covered the alley.” Tyce remembered.

  They looked at the labels on the tapes and finally came across a tape that had the initials, B. A. E. They assumed that stood for back alley entrance. Tyce put the tape in the old VCR and TV set he had from years before. Since they stopped the tapes after the robbery, they just had to rewind the video a little to see what happened. Tyce and Sway watched closely; they saw Dallas standing by the back door, they couldn’t see the van because the camera didn’t pan that far. Everything looked normal until Dallas turned around and ran toward the van pointing her gun. She never came back into the view of the camera and it cut off shortly after that.

  “What the fuck was that?” Tyce said out loud.

  The two men looked at each other blankly. Just then, Tyce’s phone vibrated on the table across the room. He raced over to it and picked it up; he looked at the screen…

  “Wasup?” He asked agitated.

  “Tyce, Angelique and another girl are here, their locked up in a room in the back of the

  house!”

  “Are they ok?” Tyce asked pacing the floor.

  “Yeah, their alive...but you better hurry up and get over here! I gotta go…you jus’ need to hurry up!”

  Tyce put the phone in his pocket and walked quickly toward his vault. He went inside the room and opened the closet that contained his guns. Curiosity got the best of Sway, so he went into the room,

  “Who was that?” He asked.

  Tyce didn’t turn around to answer, “Biz has the girls.”

  “Damn.” Sway balled his fist up, “What you

  wanna do?”

  Tyce turned around this time, “I’m goin’ over there to kill that nigga and pick them up.”

  “I’ma go with you.”

  “Naw man…I gotta do this shit alone…this is personal.”

  “What the fuck you wan
t me to do…jus’ sit here, man I aint with that.” Sway protested.

  “I can handle this shit Sway…jus’ take your money and go home to your wife and kids…if I need you I’ll call you.”

  Sway reluctantly agreed with the solo plan,

  “I don’t like it Tyce but I’ma let you go

  alone; but if you need me I’ll be in the area.”

  Sway was also wondering how Tyce found out Biz had the girls so fast; and who was that on the phone?

  Sleeping Beauties

  It was dark in the room. Angelique was lying on the floor unconscious; blood was dripping slowly from a gash on her cheekbone. Dallas was slowly coming out of her slumber and her head was pounding with pain. She slowly raised her head and stared into the darkness. Her eyes adjusted to the blackness of the room and she saw Angelique stretched out next to her.

  “Angelique, Angelique, baby wake up!” Dallas whispered loudly shaking her friend lightly.

  Angelique didn’t move right away; so Dallas shook her harder this time. Angelique slowly rolled her head to the side and opened her eyes.

  “I thought you were dead girl!”

  Dallas stood up and helped her friend get to her

  feet. They had been locked in a room with no windows but they knew how they got there. Angelique adjusted her clothes and wiped her bloody cheek with the back of her hand. Dallas went over to the door and tried the doorknob; she jerked on the handle but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Who the fuck were those niggas?” Dallas

  turned around, “I was watching the bank door,

  and all of a sudden I heard you screaming.”

  “I don’t know what happened…I was looking at you and then the passenger door opened, the next thing I knew Bruce was jamming a gun in my face. I didn’t have time to react so I jus’ screamed to draw some attention.” Angelique explained.

  “Who the fuck is Bruce?” Dallas asked confused.

  “Bruce works for Biz.” Angelique said spitting out blood from her mouth.

  Now Dallas understood…Bruce and some thugs grabbed Angelique for Biz. She’d gotten in the way when she tried to help and they snatched her up too. That was the same Biz that Simone was dating and the same Biz that was plotting to murder Tyce. Dallas was starting to realize the deep shit they were in, she remembered running toward the van when she heard Angelique scream; Dallas didn’t get to far because she got hit by a car and was slammed into the back of the van. Luckily, the car wasn’t going that fast but the blow was enough to knock her out.

  “We gotta get outta here.” Angelique announced.

  “You damn right.” Dallas said looking at her sincerely.

  Dallas paced the room trying to figure a way out.

  She quickly realized that there was no use trying to look because that door was the only way in and it was secured by three dead bolt locks. Angelique didn’t bother to look…she’d seen this room before; it was the room Biz used as a storage area. She knew there was no way out. Dallas sat on the floor in the middle of the room and just stared at the concrete floor. Her head was in her hands when she spoke,

  “Angelique…I have somethin’ to tell you.” She said quietly.

  “What is it?” Angelique walked over to her and sat down, “Girl we gon be alright; don’t worry, you know Tyce and Sway aint gonna leave us here.” She reassured her friend.

  “I know I know…but…it’s not that…I” Dallas paused.

  “You’re scaring me girl…what is it?” Angelique reached for Dallas’s hand and held it.

  Dallas tried to make eye contact with Angelique in the dark room; she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I’m in love with Tyce.”

  The room was silent. Neither woman spoke for what seemed like ages. Dallas was waiting for Angelique to let go of her hand and slap the shit out of her or something; but Angelique was still

  holding on to it.

  Breaking the silence Dallas spoke, “I…I don’t know what happened…I jus’ allowed myself to fall for him…I mean at first we were jus’ business partners you know…and then I jus’…jus’ started to care about him more than I should.”

  “I know you love him Dallas.” Angelique stared at her with watery eyes, “I’ve known for a while.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I can tell the way you look at him.”

  It seemed easier to talk about this in the dark for Dallas; she felt guilty for loving Tyce, she felt guilty for fucking Tyce, but she couldn’t hide her feelings anymore, the least she could do was be honest with her friend.

  Angelique sighed, “Tyce isn’t my man

  technically…we never…I mean he never really asked me to be his woman or anything…he jus’ treated me well and cared for me, he was there for me when I needed him. Because of that, I allowed myself to fall into the routine of being his woman…it felt good to be cared about. I’m in love with him too and I’m not gonna let him go.”

  Dallas licked her dry lips, “I can’t jus walk away and ignore my feelings either.”

  “Did you fuck him?” Angelique asked bluntly.

  “Yes, but we haven’t been fuckin’ the whole time tho…it only happened once.” Dallas said clearly.

  “Dallas you’re my friend, I’m not gonna hate you for having good taste and wanting to be loved…shit I wanna be loved too. I respect the fact that you told me face to face. You risked your life today to try and save my black ass; and right now, we’re in this fake ass cell together. You’re my friend girl…and I love you.” A tear rolled down Angelique’s cheek. “It’s hard to be salty with someone who jus’ risked their life for you.”

  “I love you too Angelique, I jus’ wanted to tell you in case we never make it out of here. I was gonna tell you after the bank job, I didn’t want nothin’ to mess that up.” Dallas said emotionally. “And now we might end up dead.”

  “We’re in a fucked up situation…but we’re not fucked.” Angelique said standing up, “We gonna be alright.”

  Long Time Comin’

  I parked my jeep about a block away from Biz’s house. I got out and popped my trunk; I grabbed two 45-caliber glocks and a high powered shotgun. I put my new bulletproof vest on and jogged the distance to the mansion where my women were being held captive. The sun was high in the sky, it was broad daylight but Biz’s house was secluded, the nearest neighbor was miles away. That was good for me ‘cuz some serious shit was about to go down. I laid down in the manicured grass outside the tall black iron gate, I was hyped; my heart was beating in my chest like a bass drum. I wasn’t nervous, I was furious. I had to check my emotions like luggage at the airport ‘cuz emotions could get you killed in a situation like this. Biz had an electric gate around his entire property that could only be turned off if you drove in or out, so I couldn’t jump it.

  I took out my phone and dialed, it only rang once when she picked up,

  “I’m outside the gate.”

  “Ok…jus’ hold up a sec, I’ll be right there,” She whispered.

  About five minutes later, a black “Lexus ES 300” slowly approached the gate; it opened up slowly and the car slid through, stopping right in front of me. The windows were tinted so I couldn’t see who was inside; just in case it wasn’t who I thought, I aimed the shot gun at the front windshield.

  The window rolled down, “It’s me Tyce.”

  Bree was sitting in the driver’s seat alone so I lowered my gun, “You alright Bree?” I asked walking toward the car.

  “Yeah I’m fine, listen; the girls are in the storage room, it’s around the back of the house down the stairs. He aint been down there yet but I heard him talkin’ to Bruce and he’s about to go down there with him.” Bree said almost losing her breath.

  “Calm down…take a breath…everything’s gonna be alright, I’ma get them out. Is there anybody else in there?”

  “No nobody.” She shook her head side to side.

  “Thank you for your help Bree.” I touched her shoulder gently.<
br />
  “No Tyce thank you. I was happy to help you get that motherfucker! He was the reason Flash was killed…I’ll never forget that shit…and now he’s gonna get his!” Bree began to cry, “It was hell being with him. I had to hide my sadness and pain for Flash and play the girlfriend role. I hate his ass Tyce; please kill that motherfucker…do it for Flash...do it for me.”