by Ca$H
“You do that,” Dontae said as he turned into the lot and parked behind the restaurant. He passed the keys to Foxy and stepped out of the truck, feeling naked without his heat on his waist.
**********
Dontae ordered himself something to eat and settled in his seat waiting for Kiam to show up. As his meal arrived so had his enemies. Kiam and JuJu jumped out with caution and approached the double glass doors.
Dirty sat behind the wheel with a firm eye on every move, ready to jump out and light up the night.
Dontae looked on as Kiam and JuJu were patted down by Lug and given the okay to enter the restaurant.
Kiam stepped hard as he moved to Donte's table. JuJu moved just as rigid as he eyed the room, looking at everything he could quickly turn into a weapon.
Dontae and his two bodyguards stood up to greet them. Dontae extended his hand out to Kiam. “My nigga,” he greeted him warmly.
Kiam looked down at Dontae's hand like that shit was a serpent. “JuJu, pat them niggas down,” he said.
JuJu checked them for weapons but they were clean. He ran his hand under the edges of the table and the back of the chairs, finding nothing. “They're good, Boss,” he announced.
Only then did Kiam shake Dontae's hand.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. Please have a seat.” Dontae offered as he sat back down and brought the tender well done meat to his mouth.
After everyone was seated around the table, Kiam looked across at Dontae. “It never cost a nigga to listen, it's when he doesn't that causes his demise,” he said.
Dontae nodded and continued to stuff his mouth. He swallowed hard then put his shit on the table. “Bruh, I heard about what happened to your girl and you have my condolences. But Wolfman swore to me that he had nothin' to do with her murder.”
“So you’re holding counsel with Wolfman these days, huh? Nigga, pick a side and stay your ass put,” Kiam purposely disrespected.
Dontae's mans started moving around in their seats.
JuJu started whistling I'm Going Home to Jesus.
“Everybody just calm down and let me and this man talk,” said Dontae. His people settled down but their eyes were locked on Kiam and JuJu. Dontae continued, “Kiam, I know that you lost somebody that can't be replaced but Wolfman has too; he lost two sons. And he still maintains that he had nothing to do with your girl's death.”
Kiam scoffed.
“Whether he did or not,” Dontae went on, “the lives that were lost will never be paid for no matter how much blood y'all shed.” He paused and brought his drink to his lips.
Kiam was ready to leave.
Dontae sat the drink back on the table and went on. “Bleed, y'all gotta get past this shit so we can all eat again. I know you ain't trying to die in the street and neither is Wolfman.”
Kiam couldn't stomach listening to another word of that fuck shit Dontae was saying. “Unlike you. I live and die for mine,” he snarled. "I don't give a fuck about money when my family has been touched.” Kiam sat forward. “I came here tonight to look in the eyes of the man that can give his word then turn into a bitch.”
“You got the wrong nigga. I have been on the up with you from day one. This shit you got going with Wolfman is between you and him. I called you here to try to mediate this shit,” Dontae said, cutting into his meat looking down as if Kiam was the new kid on the block.
Kiam looked around the small restaurant at the few tables. There was one with a young couple giggling and enjoying the moment. Two old ladies sat sharing a dessert at a second table, and next to them a chick with a long blond wig had her face glued to a book. Near the back was a middle aged couple who appeared to be in a slight disagreement.
Kiam tried to assess which of the patrons would show up in court to testify against him if he snapped Dontae's bitch ass neck.
When Kiam's eyes settled back on Dontae, the nigga was still talking.
“The way I feel about this shit y'all muthafuckaz need to let it go,” Dontae concluded and continued to eat and suck his teeth.
Kiam had to chuckle, this muthafucka was entertaining if nothing else. “Nigga, you don't know shit about me. The only reason you're still alive is because I haven't finished justifying why I should kill you.” Kiam rose to his feet.
Dontae's bodyguards rose up too. They tensed up for a confrontation.
"Relax, we'll meet again," warned JuJu.
Kiam glared down at Dontae and spat, “I came here because I wanted to see if you was a real nigga but I see you're a bitch. So meeting adjourned.”
Dontae laughed but it didn't hide his nervousness. Kiam put fear in him even though he was talking like his balls hung down to the floor. “Just as I thought. Pride is going to be your downfall,” he predicted in a low voice.
The air around the table was thick with murderous breaths, but no one was strapped. Dontae looked up at his goons and said, “Hawk and Doral, y'all have a seat and finish your meals. I'ma let this arrogant nigga bury himself.”
Hawk? Doral?
Kiam's brow damn near folded in half. Those were the names that Sonny had given him. “What the fuck did this nigga just say?” he asked JuJu.
JuJu nodded his head, he had caught it too.
Dontae thought Kiam was referring to his comment that he would end up burying himself. He said, “You heard me, nigga. I don't repeat myself.” He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.
Kiam tilted his head to the side, rotated his eyes around the restaurant then looked at JuJu. When he looked back at Dontae's smug grin he grabbed the steak knife off the table and lunged forward, stabbing him repeatedly in the throat.
Dontae grabbed at Kiam's hands as life began fleeting his body.
“What the fuck?” Hawk came running at Kiam and jumped on his back.
JuJu sprang into action throwing blows and connecting with every swing. Doral rushed Kiam and ran into a two piece that rocked him back on his heels. They started hooking like Tyson and Holyfield back in the day.
All of a sudden a voice belted, “Pussy muthafuckaz,” and a big bald headed nigga jumped over the counter and ran towards them with a banger in his hand, firing off shots.
JuJu dove one way and Kiam dove the other taking cover under a nearby table.
“Get them niggas,” Lug yelled out as he reached under the counter and grabbed a pump.
The two old ladies seated at the far table popped up with youth in their bounce and bangers in their hands. “Y'all niggas don't want nothing,” Lissha yelled, losing her gray wig as she ran around the table letting loose. Boc! Boc! Boc! Boc! Boc!
Next to her Treebie was making her shotgun show the fuck out. Kaboom! Kaboom! Hawk caught a blast in the chest that flipped him over a table backwards.
“Bitch muthafucka!” Treebie yelled.
Bayonna had pulled her face out of the book and her ratchet out of her bag. She dropped down to one knee and lit Lug's ass up like a Christmas tree.
Doral tried to run for the door but Lissha wasn't having that. She trained her gun on him and sent ass and glass flying everywhere.
The innocent diners were screaming and scrambling for cover. Kiam squinted his eyes and realized that the grandmas were Treebie and Lissha.
Two other men came out of the back of the restaurant sending heat Lissha and them way, but they got chopped down by more experienced gunners.
To Kiam's left, bald head was injured but not dead. He tried to crawl to the gun that he had lost when Lissha put some of that hot shit in his life. She looked at Kiam and slid him her ratchet.
Kiam quickly hopped to his feet and ran over to the man just as he reached the gun. He kicked it out of the man's reach and stood on his hand.
“I give nigga.” Baldhead surrendered.
Kiam chuckled. He put the gun to the man's dome and painted the wall with it.
Lissha walked up to him. “What about the witnesses?" she asked.
Kiam didn’t even have to think about it. “We're not
leaving any.”
One by one everything breathing, besides their own, was executed. JuJu looked around at all the slumped bodies and was satisfied. Kiam gave him the nod and they moved swiftly to the door.
Lissha and Treebie moved fast in their gray haired wigs and knitted sweaters. And Bayonna trotted beside them in her plaid wool skirt and blonde wig. JuJu moved to the car opening the door for Kiam.
Kiam turned to look in the direction of a brown skin woman approaching him and his gun instantly came up. Then, for a reason only he understood he allowed his arm to fall to his side.
As Kiam turned his stare away from her, the smile quickly dropped from Foxy's face and something long and silver came up with her hand.
Boc!
The gunshot echoed loudly in the still of the night. A spray of brains and blood splattered against the car and the body smacked the ground.
Dirty stood over Foxy and hit her with two more shots. “Boss, you good?” he asked.
Kiam nodded and they jumped in the car and pulled out.
Chapter 21
The Shit Flows Downhill
“That's it!” Mayor Thaddeus Brown's fist came slamming down on the desk sending papers flying all over the floor. “I have had enough! Do you hear me Simon? Enough!” He stood up with his palms flat down on the desk and scowled down at his Chief of Police.
The mayor was so livid his whole face shook even though his head was still. He was fed up with the recent outbreak of violence in his city and he blamed the man who sat before him for not being able to stop it.
“Sir, my men and I are doing everything that we can to solve the rash of murders that have occurred recently, and I'm very confident that we will do so,” said Chief Simon Hubbard.
“Listen.” the Mayor wagged a finger at him. "Don't you come in my office giving me that bullshit press release response or I'll toss your black ass out of here on your goddamn head.”
“Sir—”
“Fuck that shit!” Mayor Brown cut him off. “Don't get my dick hard if you're not going to put out. I want concrete fuckin' answers. Like these young folks say—real spit!”
The Chief had to suppress a laugh. He and the mayor went all the way back to grade school at Wade Park. They had both worked their way up from the hood to become men of prominence in the city. In front of the public and amongst constituents the mayor was as proper as an English teacher but behind closed doors Thaddeus Brown could go hood on a muthafucka real quick.
“Do you find something funny, Simon?” The mayor's light brown face was red.
“No, sir.”
“Because I'm not playing with your ass. I'll have you back on foot patrol helping little old ladies across the street.”
“Yes, sir.” Simon replied, keeping a straight face.
The mayor tossed a copy of the morning edition of The Plain Dealer onto his lap and sat back down. “The governor is all up my ass about this and do you know what happens when shit rolls downhill?” he asked.
“I do, sir.”
The paper was already folded back to the article on last night's mass murder at the restaurant. The Chief had been to the crime scene already but he pretended to be reading the article to appease the mayor. After an appropriate amount of time had passed he looked up.
“Have we made any arrests?” Mayor Brown fired.
“Sir, several motorist saw a group of people hurrying out of the restaurant to their cars. We have strong reason to suspect that these individuals perpetrated the crime but we're still trying to identify them.”
The mayor exploded up out of his chair and pointed his finger at the door. “Get the fuck out of my office! Didn't I tell you I wanted straight yes or no answers?”
Simon rose to his feet with his braided service hat in his hand. “I'm sorry, sir. If I—”
“Get to steppin'!” Mayor Brown shut him down. “You're incompetent. I'm calling in those federal boys.” He reached for the phone as his Chief of Police left out of his office with his head down.
**********
Wolfman didn't have to read about the murders in the newspaper because the ghetto grapevine was buzzing with wild reports. Rumors had last night's death toll at fifty, although the small restaurant's seating capacity was no more than thirty-five.
The one thing that wasn't inaccurate was the fact that a lot of muthafuckaz were dead, including Dontae, but Kiam wasn't one of them. Wolfman tossed back a shot of Hennessey and shook his head in disbelief. He sat the glass down on his desk and looked at Xyna and Chino who were both sitting across from him in the office of his club. “I never would've thought that Dontae was such a fool. I tried to tell him that there's no compromising with a man like Kiam. He wants to rule but he doesn't know how,” remarked Wolfman.
Chino nodded in agreement and poured Wolfman a refill. Wolfman lifted his glass to his mouth but left it suspended in air. He appeared to be contemplating his next words. When he spoke it was with the wisdom of having seen many come and go.
“Chino, I want you to promise me one thing,” he said, speaking low but firm.
“Anything,” Chino agreed without question.
Wolfman sat the glass down on the table. With both hands wrapped around it he held his lieutenant's stare. “If I shall somehow succumb to this reckless muthafucka that calls himself a boss, I want you to promise me that in my place you will not move foolishly like Kiam does.”
“Never,” Chino spat on the floor.
“No man is an island all to himself,” Wolfman continued. "In this dog eat dog game that we're a part of everybody needs friends. Some of my friends are my worst enemies. I assure their loyalty by the fact that they need me. But this Kiam nigga thinks he can stand alone, and in trying to do so he's a threat to everyone else. Do you understand what I'm saying?”
Before Chino could reply, Wolfman's private line rang. Xyna picked up the phone and handed it to him.
“Hello?” he answered.
“The mayor has called in the feds. With all of this killing going on I will no longer be able to provide you with any assistance. It's about to get hot in the city if you know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“I know you've heard about the restaurant murders last night.”
“I have,” Wolfman admitted.
“If you can tell me who was involved I may be able to keep the heat down some.”
Wolfman didn't even have to think about that. He was many things, most of them bad, but the one thing he wasn't was a stinking ass snitch. “I have no idea who's responsible for that. And if you ever again ask me something like that, I'm going to cut your tongue off and shove it up your tight ass,” he threatened.
“I'm sorry. No disrespect intended. I'm just trying to keep some heat off your ass.”
Wolfman ignored the apology. “Thanks for the information,” he said. He disconnected the call and sat the phone back down on the table. Then he tossed back his drink and held counsel within his own mind.
Chino and Xyna sat quietly.
After a brief silence, Wolfman said. “We're closing down all of our spots. I don't want any more retaliation against Kiam's people. It's time that we move with a single purpose. Let's cut off the head and the body will die.”
Chino stood up. He was itching to get after Kiam's ass. Fuck waiting for that nigga to find him.
Wolfman put his hand up and Chino sat back down. “I just thought of something,” said Wolfman, stroking his beard. “Find out where Faydrah's mother lives. Sooner or later Kiam is bound to visit her.”
He leaned back in his chair with a wicked smile across his face. Kiam is about to find out why I am who the fuck I am in this game.
Chapter 22
Just Chill
JuJu had taken his fifteenth trip to the window and was on his way back to the couch when Bayonna yelled out. “Baby, you gonna wear a hole in the carpet.” She frowned at his paranoia as she dusted the wooden shelf with the pictures on it.
“You know I have to be on my t
oes. That fuck shit them niggas pulled at the restaurant got me ready to turn this whole fucking city red.” JuJu said, plopping down on the sofa.
Per Kiam's orders he had been in the house for a full week and it was driving him crazy.
“I gotta get the fuck outta this house,” he said, running his hand down his face.
“Baby, it's too much heat and with the descriptions they gave on the news you need to just relax and let shit play out,” Bayonna stated as she sprayed Windex on her paper towel and prepared to clean the glass frames.
JuJu didn’t respond he was used to being in the streets and sitting in the house hiding was not how he rocked.
Bayonna shook her head as she ran the towel over a picture of her and the girls. Fond memories took over her mood as she reminisced about the night they had at the club. Donella’s laughter rung in her head causing her chest to hurt.
So much has been going on lately, sis, but I have not forgotten you. Bayonna brought the photo to her lips and planted a single kiss on Donella’s face.
JuJu looked over at her and saw the sadness that washed over her face. He got up and walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said, holding her tightly.
“I miss her,” she confessed as water pushed itself out of her eyes and down her cheeks. “And I'll never believe that she was in violation. That bitch Daphne lied on her.”
“But why would she do that?”
“I can't answer that yet, but I'll never stop searching for that answer.” Bayonna sniffled.
“I feel you, baby. We took some big ass hits this year and the souljahs keep falling.” He kissed her on the neck then nuzzled his nose behind her ear.
“I don’t want to die, JuJu,” she said as she brought her hand to her eye to catch the tears.
“Don’t none of us want to die, Bay. But the reality is that we signed up for death the day we took our first breath. We're all gonna go. Our demise will be much sooner though. We guaranteed that on the day we took our first life.”
As the words left JuJu’s lips Bayonna tried to recall her first victim but she had stolen so many souls they now ran together in a jumbled collage of horror.
