by Kiki Swinson
“All right,” she said, and then she proceeded to access the Internet on her cell phone. I watched her while she sifted through one of the news station’s websites. “I don’t see anything on here,” she said.
“Which station was that?” I asked her.
She hesitated like she didn’t want to open her mouth. But after a few seconds passed, she said. “It was WAVY TV ten.”
“I know you’re mad with me, but know that I’m only doing it because I love you and don’t want you to get hurt,” I expressed.
She let out a long sigh and said, “I don’t wanna continue to talk about that.”
“All right, I’m good with that,” I assured her. “Are you on the other news station’s site?” I changed the subject.
“Yeah.”
“Which one?”
“Thirteen News Now.”
“Do you see anything up there?” I asked her.
“Wait, I’m trying to see now,” she answered, and then she fell silent. So I sat there and waited patiently for her to give me an answer. After three minutes had passed, I asked her the same question again. “Do you see anything yet?”
“Can you wait a minute? I’m pulling down all of the website’s menu bars to see if they’d have it listed underneath there. But so far I don’t see anything,” she finally responded.
“Well, go to WTKR three.”
“I’m already on it,” she replied, swiping her phone’s screen.
Once again, I had to wait for her to give me the news about whether or not the murders had been reported by this station. And after waiting for a few minutes, she finally said no.
“No,” I repeated.
“Yeah, no. I don’t see shit up here about Nu-Nu’s brother Trey or Al,” she assured me.
“What’s really going on?”
“That’s a good question.”
“What if they’re not dead? What if some other niggas came right after we left and took them to a hospital?” I asked Ava. I needed some fucking answers, and right now I was not getting them.
“Calm down, Aiden, they were dead when we left them lying on the ground. Now I can’t tell you why they are not in the fucking news, but I am certain that they aren’t alive.”
“So where the fuck are their bodies at?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, before we make our moves on anybody else, we gotta find out where those niggas are. All right?”
“Yeah, all right.”
CHAPTER 18
SURVEILLANCE TIME
My brother was acting like a fucking weirdo! He had literally become this delusional guy from outer space. He either had mental issues or was just plain ol’ fucking weird to think that I won’t be with another man. The way this thing was going, I might have to get missing in action with this guy. I’m talking about taking half of the money he’d already given me and leaving this fucking town for good. I couldn’t see any other way to do it because he’d made it perfectly clear that I would never have a life with a man while he was around. Ugh! He was so freaking nerve-wracking. I knew he meant well, but needed to take his paranoia elsewhere, because I refused to be torn between two men. I wouldn’t ever tell him not to be with a chick. I would welcome it with open arms, especially if she wasn’t a ho. So I figured he should do the same thing for me.
Immediately after I couldn’t find anything on the Internet related to Trey and Al’s murders, I suggested we take a ride back to Ocean View and roll by the stash house to see if any activity had happened since we left last night. Aiden stressed that we bring Trey’s cell phone with us, but leave it turned off until we needed to track the other niggas down.
As Aiden stepped to the front door, I said, “Here, take these bullets,” and handed him a box of bullets I had gotten from Nashad’s stash.
Aiden stuffed the ammo down into his pants pocket and headed out the front door. I followed him.
After we got into the truck, I felt an uneasy chill come upon me. It felt like someone was watching me. When I looked around my immediate area, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, and that bothered me because I’m pretty good when it comes to spotting stuff out of place. But instead of wracking my brain, I started up the truck and headed back into the streets.
“When we get close to Ocean View, I’m gonna power on Trey’s phone to see if we can find out where the rest of the crew is,” I mentioned.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” he replied.
“Are you nervous because the news media isn’t broadcasting the murders?”
“My main focus is you. Before I shot those niggas, they saw you. They were in your face. And then you stole their phone. So you know I’ve gotta feel some type of way because I don’t want them niggas walking around saying that you set them up. Other than that, I don’t give a fuck what happened to them,” Aiden explained. And I had to agree that he was right. I would be dog shit if those niggas didn’t die and were able to tell Nu-Nu that I set them up. Knowing how vengeful Nu-Nu was, he’d hunt me down until he found me. But of course I wouldn’t be fazed by him, because Aiden was a psycho-ass nigga. And Aiden wasn’t about to ever let a nigga like Nu-Nu get that close to me. No way! It wouldn’t happen.
The moment I entered the Ocean View neighborhood, I felt another chill run down my spine. The hairs on my arms even stood up. Aiden noticed it. “You a’ight?” he asked me.
“I got a little nervous all of a sudden,” I told him.
“Well, calm your ass down. You know I ain’t gonna let nothing happen to you.”
“I know that. It’s just that I don’t like surprises. And I feel like as soon as we ride by the stash house, there’s going to be a surprise waiting for us.”
“Well, if you feel like that, then don’t do it. Just pull the truck over on the side of the road when you come within a half of mile to the spot, and I’ll walk the rest.”
“No, you don’t have to do that. I’m gonna take you all the way.”
“Are you sure, Ava? Because walking to the spot don’t mean shit to me.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll take you,” I insisted and continued to drive in the direction of the stash house. I sat up in the truck and I looked straight ahead mulling over in my mind how I was going to act the second I rode by the stash house. Then I thought about what if I rode by the house and saw the cops out there? Or what if I rode by it and Nu-Nu or some of the other guys were there? How would I react then? I knew I couldn’t do the same shit I did last night, because if that happened, I might not get the same result as last time. Long story short, I needed to be on my toes.
As I approached Pretty Lake Avenue, my heart started beating erratically. The palms of my hands started sweating profusely, even though it was sixty-five degrees outside. How could this be? My mind was telling me I could handle this mission, while my heart sung a different tune. To be perfectly honest, I just wanted all of this bullshit to be over. I wished I could snap my fingers and everyone else in the crew would be dead and Aiden and I could collect the rest of the money. He’d take his part. I’d take my part, and everything would be done.
“I don’t see any cop cars,” I mentioned as I cruised toward the stash house. Aiden leaned forward in the passenger seat so he could get a better look. We couldn’t see the stash house yet because the house next to it blocked it, but we could see part of the driveway. But as we drove closer, the front of the stash house became more visible.
Aiden and I locked eyes on the front porch and noticed that the front door was closed. “Somebody has been there,” I uttered. And then Aiden and I looked down at the ground around the front of the house. We scanned that immediate area with our eyes while I cruised by the house. “Do you see anything?” I asked Aiden.
“Nope. I don’t see shit!” he replied.
“What the fuck is going on? Where are those niggas bodies?” I huffed. And as bad as I wanted to stop the truck, I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to do that. I’ve had myself enough of run-ins with the cops to kn
ow that there was a huge possibility that they could be staked out in this area watching this stash house and all the movement around it. Cops think they are slick as hell, but I’ve always found myself a couple of steps ahead of them at all times.
“I don’t know. So let’s get out of here before somebody sees us,” Aiden said.
I followed his instructions and cruised back out of the neighborhood. “Where do you think we should go now?” I wanted to know. I needed some directions because I had started having mixed feelings about everything that was going on.
“Let’s ride by the girlfriend’s house in Oak Mount North,” he replied. “No, better yet, turn on the cell phone so we can track and see where the rest of the niggas are,” Aiden continued.
About two miles out of the Ocean View area, I pulled the truck to the side of the road and powered on Trey’s cell phone. After the phone powered up and I saw that it didn’t have a security lock, I went into the settings and clicked on the tracking app.
“How long is that going to take?” Aiden wanted to know.
“Not long.
“I met this white girl in the lobby of the parole office who told me about all the fraud shit she used to do, and hacking cell phones was one of them. She told me that you could do all sorts of things with people’s phones. But the one thing that stuck out with me was when she told me how to use someone’s phone to track another one. Using the cell phone numbers from Trey’s call log, we can find his crew on a GPS map,” I explained as I showed Aiden the phone. I watched as his eyes lit up.
“Yo, Ava, you fucking did it!” He got excited. “But whose phone is that?” he asked, pointing at the image on the screen.
I smiled and turned the phone back toward me. “I’m not sure, but I think it’s Nu-Nu’s. Wait, let me check,” I told him and then I closed the window of the GPS and opened up the text window to see if I could find correspondence from the number I assumed to be Nu-Nu’s new cell phone number. After sifting through the text messages, I finally found the number that matched with the number on the call log. I read the first message: “Bae where r u? I been calling u all nite. Hit me back.” The second message read, “Trey u coming by my crib 2nite?” And the third message read, “Will u call me back please. U bet not be wit a bitch!” After I read the last message, it was very clear that this cell phone number belonged to a woman. Aiden knew it too.
“Sounds like she wanted to get fucked last night!” Aiden chuckled.
“You got that too, huh?” I agreed, and then I scrolled down to another cell phone number in the text message section. “Hey, wait, I found something,” I told Aiden. I showed him the text while I read it out loud. “Yo lil bruh, wen u done holla at me. Dis time we got a missile.” Immediately after I read the text I looked at Aiden. “That’s Nu-Nu,” he said and smiled.
I smiled back. “Yep, it sure is,” I said, and then I programmed Nu-Nu’s cell phone number to my memory. After I came out of the text message screen I pulled the GPS tracker up and typed in Nu-Nu’s cell phone. And just like that, I got a hit. The red dot started illuminating that instant. I zoomed in on the location of the map. “He’s not in Oak Mount North at Tiffany’s house. He’s in Norview, at the trap house,” I told Aiden.
Right when Aiden was about to speak, Trey’s cell phone started ringing. It scared the shit out of me. I looked at Aiden, and he looked back at me. “Is it Nu-Nu?” Aiden asked me.
“No. It’s coming from another number. Should I answer it?”
“Fuck, no!” Aiden said and snatched the cell phone from my hand. “I’m turning this shit off!”
I sat there motionless. I didn’t know what to say or do at this point after Aiden snatched Trey’s cell phone from my hands.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said, and then he threw the cell phone into the glove compartment.
“Where are we going?” I asked him.
“To the trap house,” he replied.
Without saying another word, I put the gear in drive and sped off in the direction of Norview.
CHAPTER 19
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
The whole time Ava was driving I was trying to figure out how I was going to bust all these caps in those niggas’ asses. I wanted to plan something out, but that shit didn’t work out the last time. I refused to allow her or myself to slip up this time around.
While I was thinking about the options I had, I couldn’t get my mind off the fact that none of the news stations in this area had reported the murders. That just seemed so odd to me. Not only that, the front door of the stash house was closed and none of the bodies were still lying on the ground. What happened there? Where were the bodies?
“We’re about two blocks away from Alexander Street,” Ava announced. She looked nervous as hell.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“I will be when all of this is over,” she replied.
“Don’t worry, it’s gonna be over very soon. And then we can collect the rest of the money and leave this shit-hole town,” I told her.
“Have you figured out what you’re gonna do? I mean, am I just supposed to ride by there or what?”
“I’ll let you know as soon as I see what’s going on outside the spot.”
Ava let out a long sigh. “Okay,” she said.
Ava finally made the turn onto Alexander Street. From the beginning of the block I noticed that the front of the duplex was empty this time. No one was standing outside like they were last night. There was only one vehicle parked along the side of the street. It was an old model, white four-door Acura. The back of it was facing us. “That’s Monty’s car right there,” Ava blurted out as she pointed to the vehicle.
“Are you sure?” I asked her.
“Oh, shit! It’s moving. What should I do?”
“Follow ’em,” I instructed her, and then I pulled the pistol with the silencer from the inside of my jacket and placed it on my lap.
“Follow them and what?”
“Just follow the car until I say otherwise,” I told her while I watched the car and everything around it. “I don’t want the driver to know we’re following him so don’t follow them too close.”
She sucked her teeth. “I’m not.”
“Can you see how many niggas in there?” I asked her.
“It looked like it’s four of them.”
“A’ight,” I said and studied the positions that everyone was sitting in.
“We’re coming up to a light, and it looks like Monty is going to drive right through it,” Ava warned me.
“Well, drive a little bit faster, but do it so they won’t notice,” I advised her. I really needed to get her to drive at the precise speed so we didn’t blow our cover. I knew we had the GPS tracker for these niggas, but finding out firsthand where these niggas hung out at was crucial.
Just like Ava had mentioned, that nigga Monty did run the light, and thankfully Ava was on their asses. But what made it better on our part was that two cars on the left side of us ran the light as well. That shit couldn’t have happened at a better time.
“They look like they’re going into this Church’s Chicken parking lot,” Ava said as we both watched the white car slow down with the right turn light flickering on and off. “See, I told you,” she continued as the car turned in the parking lot.
“Think they’re gonna go inside or what?” I wanted to know.
“No, they’re going in the drive thru,” Ava said.
“Follow them.”
“And do what?”
“Just pull the truck up behind them like we’re gonna order some chicken too,” I instructed her.
Ava gave me a puzzled expression like she didn’t understand what I had just told her to do. “What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“I’m just trying to figure out what you’re about to do,” she said to me.
“Keep driving until you get directly behind them,” I replied while I screwed the silencer into the barrel of the gun.
“You’re g
onna shoot them in broad daylight?” she asked me, her voice sounding weary.
“After I get out of the truck I want you to back this motherfucker up, turn it around and drive away.”
“Where do you want me to drive to?”
“Drive it to the neighborhood across the street from Feather and Fin, and I’ll meet you there.”
“That’s far. How are you going to get there?”
“Don’t worry about me. Just do like the fuck I said!” I told her, and then I hopped out of the truck.
Immediately after I slammed the door shut, Ava put the truck in reverse and turned it around. Without stepping on the brakes completely, she sped off. The niggas that were in the white Acura didn’t see me coming because they were too preoccupied by the way Ava drove out of the parking lot. So by the time I walked up on them they weren’t ready. I opened fire on the driver first so he wouldn’t be able to drive off. I shot him in the chest and face. After the niggas realized that I had shot the driver up they scrambled to pull out their guns.
“Oh, shit!” I heard one guy yell.
The other ones yelled, “He just killed Monty!”
Another one said, “Get that nigga!”
But it was too late; while they were looking for their pistols I was filling their asses up with metal. I shot the guy in the front seat in the chest, and he died instantly. The two in the back got it the worst. I offloaded three bullets each into their faces. They wouldn’t be able to have an open-casket funeral. After I emptied my clip off on these niggas, I sprinted across the Church’s Chicken parking lot and ended up crossing the parking lot of McDonald’s too. I heard screaming in the distance but I didn’t let that concern me. I had to get out of there before the cops came or someone was able to get a positive ID on me.
CHAPTER 20
DEAD MAN WALKING
I can’t believe how fast my heart was beating. At one point I thought that my heart was going to burst through my ribs. Aiden hadn’t told me exactly where to fucking go so I parked the truck on the side street where the nightclub Casablanca used to be. This street also was directly across from the Feather & Fin fast food spot too. There was some heavy traffic there so I knew that I wouldn’t stick out.
