by Teri Woods
“Yeah, I just don’t want you to go. I’m going to miss you,” said Angel, not wanting to say the L word, as it was something that hadn’t been said in their relationship over the past two years and a half.
“No, I’m going to freak out without you. I don’t know if I can get through the day without being near you and touching you and making love to you, really. You’re everything to me. You’re all I got in this whole entire world. I don’t want you to even look at another woman, you hear me?”
“Bitch, please, is you fucking crazy?” asked Angel, as if that would never happen.
“I think I’m going to cut my dreads now and just go with a short cut until my hair grows back,” said Kimberly. “What do you think?”
“You could be bald. I don’t care, I’ll just call you Goldi,” said Angel sounding depressed.
“See, that’s why I can’t live without you,” said Kimberly, thinking of Terrence and how opposite he was to Angel. I wonder if he’ll be happy to see me. There was only one way to find out, and she was on her way there.
Angel nodded as Kimberly walked by her cell carrying her box, being escorted by two COs down the row. She promised she’d write, she promised she’d catch each and every single one of Angel’s calls every day, and she promised she’d take care of Angel’s books until she got home. Whatever Angel wanted or needed, Kimberly would make sure she got it.
Kimberly thought of not waking up tomorrow behind bars. It had been a long two and a half years in prison. But she had done what she came to do: She had gotten in with Angel Alvarez, a top lieutenant in Dutch’s criminal organization. The Bureau was absolutely positive that she would lead them to him, eventually. It might take them some time, but time was on the side of the government. As long as Agent Reese stayed in with Angel, there was no doubt that she would lead them right to Dutch. It was just a matter of time.
HOME SWEET HOME, PART ONE
Kimberly found Terrence exactly where he said he would be, but he hadn’t kept his part of the deal like he promised. She got to their house, pulled up in the driveway, and began unloading luggage, piece by piece, and taking it up to the porch.
“What the fuck is you doing here?” asked Terrence, in his boxers, dick rock hard. All Kimberly could think about was how he would pull her, grab her neck, and tell her to bend over.
“How you gonna ask me that? I live here, remember,” she said as she grabbed a piece of her luggage and walked past him. “Aren’t you glad to see me?” she asked as they hugged each other.
“It’s been two years,” he stated, looking at her blankly.
“Well, look at it like I’m your army wife and I’ve been gone on my tour of duty. Now I’m home,” she said, smiling, hoping he was still there for her, still wanted her, was still in love with her.
“I’m glad you’re home. I missed you,” he said hugging her again. “Too long. Don’t do it again, ya heard?” he asked her, meaning what he said.
“Wow, somebody really did miss me,” she said, smiling.
“Shit, I ain’t no goddamn windup toy.” He was a man and he would do what he wanted. He kept his word, he was still there, she still had him, she still had her home.
But, no more—he had made up his mind. If she wanted to play cops and robbers that was fine by him, go on. But he wouldn’t be sitting around making no more promises to a ghost. He understood it was her job, and that’s why she needed to get a new one as far as he was concerned. If she left again, he’d tell her she had six months to get back home.
“I missed you. I really missed you,” Kimberly said as she rubbed the side of his face.
“Stop playing. You know what you got to do coming through the door,” he commanded, bending her over from behind. No kissing, no hugging, no foreplay, as usual—just straight Terrence, raw. She loved it.
The next day it was back to work. She had a meeting with the director and rushed to make it on time.
“Sorry, sir,” she said as she walked through the door, after hearing him tell her to come in.
“Agent Reese. Good morning.”
“Good morning, sir,” she said as she sat down in front of his desk.
Director Burns praised Kimberly for a job well done. Her ability to gain access was remarkable, to say the least. He was more than pleased with the progress she had made. His plan now was to have both Roc and Angel released from prison before anything changed.
“So, how long before you’ll have Angel released?” asked Kimberly.
“At least two months, maybe four tops, and she’ll be out. Someone’s hired very fancy lawyers and they’ve filed appeals. We’re working on getting the appeals processed and granted. Once that’s done, she’ll be as free as a bird.”
Kimberly sat thinking of what Terrence would say when she told him she’d be going undercover again. She knew he wouldn’t be happy about it.
“Does Angel know?”
“Of course not. She won’t find out until her appeal is decided on; that’s what I’m working on now. In the meantime, you just do what you have been doing, ’cause it’s really working,” he said, convinced of her ability to penetrate the target. “I have a bank account for you, so if you need money, you have access to it, and lots of it. Write her letters, go visit her, put money on her books, stay connected—that’s vital—and let the Bureau take care of the rest. You’ve been gone from home for two and a half years and you’ll be leaving soon again once Angel is released.”
“Don’t you think I need to have a place to take her once she comes home?”
“Bingo. You need to be living somewhere, right, and a car?” he noted, approving a living expense budget for her. Director Burns left no stone unturned. “Okay, I think that’s it. You’ll hear from me once the judge is about to rule on the appeal. That way you’ll have a little more notice. And Reese, excellent work out there,” said the director, shaking her hand.
When Kimberly got the call from the Bureau that Angel was being released and it was time to start the operation, she had no idea how she would tell Terrence. Kimberly knew he was going to go ballistic. And he did.
“Again? You just came back! How long you gonna be gone this time?” he huffed at her, not wanting to hear it.
“I don’t know, I can’t make any promises. I honestly don’t know,” she said, hoping that he would understand.
“Well, I can’t make any promises either,” he spat back, pissed that he had spent the last two and half years alone, and she had finally come back merely to turn around three months later and say that she was leaving him again.
“Are you fucking serious, after eight years?” she said pushing him.
“You damn right. I’m tired of this undercover shit. If you cared about me, you wouldn’t even ask me to go through that again. You been gone and now you’re leaving again. Come on, shit ain’t right. Fuck that, it’s either me or that bullshit-ass job of yours.”
“How can you even ask me to choose?”
“How can you even ask me to keep sitting around this motherfucker waiting for you to show up?”
“You know what, I can’t stand here and argue with you. I have to go,” she said, gathering her bags and carrying them out to her car. She went back inside, hoping that his demeanor had changed.
“I love you and expect you to be here when I get back,” she said, embracing him and staring into his eyes.
“Come on, man. I expect you to be here tomorrow and tonight, like a woman is supposed to be there for her man. Oh… you don’t know anything about that, I guess.”
She wasn’t going to argue with him, she wasn’t going to challenge him, she wasn’t even going to respond.
“I have to go,” she simply said, letting her embrace go as she closed the door behind her, leaving Terrence alone once again.
HOME SWEET HOME, PART TWO
Kimberly jumped out of the car and ran over to the gate as the security guards were letting Angel go. Angel had waived her right to a bus ride because she knew Goldilocks was
coming for her.
��You cut your locks,” smiled Angel, happy to see her lover and her friend waiting for her. “Damn, I missed you.” She embraced Kimberly, squeezing her body tightly.
“Girl, I missed you, too. That was the longest three months of my life. I swear I thought I was going to go crazy. I’m so happy you’re here,” she said, hugging Angel once more.
The two left the prison as Angel looked back. I understand why Dutch said he’d never return. Neither will I. Neither will I.
“Baby, I got to get to California,” said Angel, her wheels already spinning.
“California, why? What’s there?” asked Kimberly, trying to figure out what Angel was up to.
“An old friend. You think we could drive out there?” asked Angel.
“We can do whatever you want,” answered Kimberly, down for whatever.
“Can we do whatever I want right now?” asked Angel as she took her hand and slid it between Kimberly’s thighs while she was driving.
“Can we?” asked Kimberly as Angel kissed her neck, fondling her behind the wheel. The two couldn’t keep their hands off each other. It was actually the best sex Kimberly had ever had in her life.
Once they got to Kimberly’s apartment, the two girls wasted no time. Kimberly stepped out of her sweatpants, revealing her firm, juicy ass to Angel’s lustful eyes. She began to do a striptease for Angel, removing her shirt and bra slowly. Angel had enough of watching her and took her clothes off as Kimberly lay butt-ass naked on the bed. Angel took Kimberly’s legs and placed them over her shoulders and went down on her as the two made love to each other as if back on A block. Lying next to each other, sweaty and wet, Kimberly stroked the side of Angel’s face, looking into her eyes. “I love you,” she whispered.
Angel rolled on top of Kimberly, pinning her down. In Angel’s mind, if she said she loved her, then that meant Angel had her body and her mind.
“Would you kill for me?” Angel asked Kimberly, wanting to hear her answer to that.
“I’ll do anything for you, Angel,” she responded as Angel stuck her middle finger between her legs. The two began kissing and making love to each other all over again.
After two weeks of hearing nothing except, “I got to get to California,” Kimberly and Angel sat in the BMW outside the First Street Baptist Church.
“This is it—a church?” asked Kimberly. “You made us come all the way to California for a church?”
Angel began changing her clothes and started revealing exactly what they were there for.
“I won’t rest until I know this motherfucker is dealt with. I just want you to blow the horn three times if you see someone coming or if I need to get out of there. Okay?” Angel asked, slipping on a blond wig over her head.
Kimberly watched as Angel walked up the street to the church in a tight silk dress and stiletto heels. She went around to the back, instead of up the steps. A few minutes later, Kimberly ran across the street, around the side of the church building to the back door. She peeked through a window. The curtain opened perfectly as she saw Angel mount the preacher and begin to fuck him. Kimberly watched as Angel took a blade and sliced the preacher’s throat, blood splattering all over anything within its reach, including Angel.
Kimberly quickly ran back across the street, leaning back in the driver’s seat as if she had been sitting there the entire time.
Angel slid her dress back down, walked out of the church office, and crossed the street to where Goldilocks was waiting for her.
As she got in the passenger side, she removed the blond wig, unpinned her hair, and shook it out to its full length. Goldilocks studied her. She had never seen this side of Angel before, but it was definitely the side she wanted to see. Goldilocks wiped the small spots of blood from Angel’s face with a napkin.
I got you now, you crazy bitch, Goldilocks thought to herself with a devilish grin.
Angel knew after Qwan that Goldilocks was ready to ride or die for her no matter what. That made her smile. They pulled off and drove down the street, girlish giggles floating in the air in their wake.
Rahman lay on his back and looked at the bottom of the bunk over him. All he could think about was the Don Diva article and Angel. She said she had won her appeal. He knew she was probably out by now and he was certain he would go home soon, too. He had the perfect plan, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he was ready for the streets again.
It was easy for him to be righteous in prison. But once freed, it was another story. He believed he had conquered his addiction. However, when faced again with the powerful calling of the streets, Rahman was weak to his obsession. He had made up his mind. He knew exactly what he was going to do when he was released, and no one would stand in his way, not even Angel.
TIME OUT
Rahman was escorted by two officers into the federal courthouse in downtown Newark. He was there for his new appeal hearing and he couldn’t have been more nervous. He looked behind him at his family. His wife, Ayesha, and their oldest two children were present. Rahman was advised to approach the judge so he could stand before him. He stepped forward. The judge never took his eyes off him. He just knew the judge was going to have it out for him. Rahman already considered his appeal denied.
“Mr. Rahman Muhammad. I see that you have filed another appeal in my court,” the judge stated matter-of-factly.
“That is correct, Your Honor,” Rahman calmly responded.
The judge opened the file that had been passed to him early on. It included a confidential FBI stamp and a note reading: Request appeal to be granted for Rahman Muhammad. Part of ongoing federal undercover investigation. Will be under heavy surveillance. Association: Bernard James, Jr.—Essex Courthouse massacre and Month of Murder.
The judge had already spoken to the FBI director over the phone and made the deal to allow Rahman to be released. If it was up to him, he’d let Rahman rot in prison forever. The judge considered Rahman the luckiest man to walk in his courtroom in quite a long time. He closed the file and looked up at Rahman. Rahman swallowed hard as he awaited his fate.
“Mr. Rahman Muhammad, the court is granting your appeal and you are free to go,” the judge stated.
Rahman couldn’t believe it. Night after night he had dreamed of hearing those very words. Yet to hear the judge actually speak them brought tears to his eyes.
Rahman was now a free man, just like that. Ayesha grabbed him, hugging and kissing him, never wanting to let him go again. For close to three years he had been told when to eat, sleep, get up, wash his ass, and move. To have his freedom and basic human rights restored was truly a blessing. He vowed never to forget his ordeal and all he had endured. He vowed to never return to prison.
Rahman smothered his girls with tears and kisses, overjoyed to finally be reunited. But his wife, Ayesha, was who he had missed the most. She was his peace. Rahman promised Ayesha he would never leave them again. He had no idea that he was making a promise he wouldn’t keep.
Rahman stayed true to his word about changing the streets of Newark for the better, while Angel was trying to get the streets the way they were before she had gone to prison. By the time he got out of prison and caught up with her, she was rockin’ with Roll, a former rapper, now full-time hustler, who knocked Young World. Young World was Dutch’s chosen heir to the throne. It was Dutch who had given Young World the dragon chain, passing down the reign.
Rahman knew Angel wasn’t changing like he wanted her to, and when they finally ran into each other in the streets, he saw firsthand that they were on two different planes, heading in opposite directions.
“You can’t win, Roc. You… can’t win,” Angel emphasized.
Rahman could win and he would win. It wasn’t about drugs; it was about how the drugs were being sold, and how prevalent the drugs were in the community. That structure had to be changed. He wanted to change it, and so did his man Salahudeen, until Roll killed him. That was when Rahman knew he had to kill Angel. He tried, too, at the
Newport Center Mall. Rahman shot at Angel, his bullet grazing her upper arm. She only made it out of the mall alive because Goldilocks came to her rescue.
“You missed me, Roc! But, I’m not gonna miss you!” were her last words as she made her escape
And of course she meant every word she spoke. Not long after Rahman attempted to gun her down, she rang his phone and let him know that she had taken a classroom full of first graders hostage at the Sister Clare Muhammad School and was going to kill them if he didn’t turn himself in to her so that she could kill him. He knew his fate; still he chose to surrender himself. His wife, Ayesha, didn’t want to hear it. She could care less how many children Angel held hostage, that had nothing to do with her and her family. Despite her pleas, Rahman had made his decision.
“No! No, Rahman! Wherever it is, whatever it is, no! You can’t go!” she said, trembling, fearing the worst.
Ayesha was hysterical. Her instincts told her that something terrible was threatening to rip their lives apart. She didn’t understand his choices, especially the choices he was making about his family.
“How could you do this to me, Rahman? How?” she whispered, looking at her children, who no longer had a father.
Nina looked in the mirror at the reflection of Dwight lying in bed under the covers, making slight breathing noises as he slept. He was a good man, a hard worker, loved the outdoors, played all sports, and had a real good job with an excellent benefits package. She looked down at the half-carat emerald-cut diamond he had proposed to her with. She had said yes at the time, but never should have. She wasn’t in love.
I can’t keep lying to him. I have to tell him the truth. The truth was she was still in love with Dutch.
She remembered like yesterday the day of Dutch’s sentencing. She had avoided the trial, knowing she should have been there for him. And just when she thought he would be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life, she drove down to the courthouse only to find mayhem and mass confusion. The courthouse was on fire and the news reports came in that Bernard James was dead. She never got her chance to say good-bye. She wanted him to know she loved him, she’d be there, even if it meant waiting for him for the rest of his life.
