by Leo Sullivan
“Chill nigga!” Buff muttered.
“What you mean what happened?” Money squirmed in his seat uncomfortably. His eyes were wide as he glanced over at the undercover cop at the bar.
“Us…making money. We need to get back together, get this cheddar, stack some chips, and get this shit crackin’ again!” Zeus was faking enthusiasm and using Money’s greed to lure him to his death.
“Right…right that’s what we need to do, start over,” Money said as he began to rock back and forth in his chair. Buff and Money began to chat as Desi stared off into the distance like she’d rather be someplace else. Zeus looked up and summoned the waitress with a gesture of his hand. Tiffany had always had a secret crush on him. She made sure that she strutted with enough oomph in her stride to get his attention when she made it to their table that time.
“Can I help you?” She asked chewing on a wad of blue bubble gum as she stood with her hand on her wide hip.”
“Give us a couple bottles of Goose and Moet,” Zeus ordered.
“Would you like anything else?” She moved closer to him and batted her pretty eyes with the fake lashes.
“Nawl.”
Again, she left disappointed.
Money was sure to lean forward trying to make sure that he got the conversation on audio just as the fine ass white cop Linda had instructed him.
“I want to get a couple of them bricks later on this week. Ya’ll goin’ fuck wit’ me?” Money asked talking loudly for the benefit of the wire that he had strapped to his body. Initially the plan was just to rob those niggas, but when he got caught with the work he’d gotten off them before Zeus got shot, he had no choice. He was officially a snitch, but he felt safer with the thought of Zeus and Buff in prison.
“Yes, we goin’ fuck wit you my nigga. In fact I got something for you and your brothers now. Where they at?” Zeus asked as he looked around.
“They upstairs in the VIP gettin’ they smoke on.” Money’s faced brightened and he anxiously rubbed his hands together taking the bait just like they knew he would. What they didn’t know was that he was planning to steal one of the bricks of cocaine and act like his brothers only gave him one. Plus the cops weren’t going to charge him with the kilo they’d found on him when the brothers were officially charged. With them off the streets his life wouldn’t be in danger and he could finally take over the game instead of being in their shadows.
“There they go right there baby,” Desi said pointing. Standing in the front of the club, right next to the Pac-Man machine, was Money’s three brothers; Travis, King and Stone. The club lights flashed on them in a red and orange hue that seemed to enhance the eerie gloom of the moment at hand. Money’s brothers had no idea that Money was a rat working for the police. Money stood and waved them over. As he did, everything started to make sense in his mind. The brothers had always been “Jack Men” who pulled off minor capers on small time dope dealers to support their cocaine habits.
As they mobbed over Money cocked his head to the side and creased his brow as he asked, “Why you need my brothers too? You can just give me they shit and let them bounce.”
“I got something for all of you. Nigga, I’m ‘bout to break bread… we fam, right?” Zeus asked with a smile. The entire time his heart was pounding in his chest. He wanted to make sure that all five of them went for a ride in a hearse.
The brothers made it to the table and all exchanged friendly pounds.
“What da business is?” Travis, the middle brother asked
“Shit, we just tryin’ to crank this bitch back up. I got some work for y’all niggas. Y’all down?” Buff tossed them the bone to see if they would bite like the hungry hounds they were.
They did.
“Hell, yea, we down!” Stone said excitedly.
“What about me?” Desi interjected like she was just playing.
Money cut his eyes at her angrily and then said “Let’s get this business out the way. He pushed the McDonald’s bag forward.
“Good, let’s go out back,” Zeus said standing. Buff followed his lead and stood too. He had a McDonald’s bag in hand as well. They were to make the switch and count up the money as usual. The brothers and Desi shifted their feet making a path to follow the brothers. Money halted their moment.
“Nawl, hell nawl, y’all stay here. I’ll handle thangs.” His brothers and Desi were causing a major problem. He just needed Buff and Zeus to come out back. That way it wouldn’t jeopardize him setting them up for the bust. Not just that, but he needed to stash one of the bricks of cocaine in his boxer briefs without being seen. He never wore tight underwear, but it was necessary for the mission at hand.
“Man, I got something for all of you. Either all or none,” Zeus said with a generous smile. Money’s brothers started grumbling like Money was trying to beat them for their share of the product.
“Nigga what kind of time you on?” King, the younger brother snorted furiously with a screw face. He knew his older brother all too well. Money was up to something.
“Yea, nigga we all on the same team, so we split the work up together,” Stone said. He was the oldest and in his late twenties was already losing his hair. He wore a tight fade, although his hair had already receded to the middle of his shiny dome. He resembled the rapper DMX.
Greedy motherfuckers. Money thought to himself as the realization set in. It was all or nothing. For a brick of cocaine he would do just about anything; including walk his brothers and his girl into a conspiracy that they didn’t know a thing about.
“Fuck it. Let’s go. We goin’ out back to make the deal.” Money hoped that he said it loud enough for the wire strapped to his body to pick it up. He got up and led his brothers and his girl out the door like sheep to a slaughter.
The undercover cop at the bar started talking into his ear piece as the entourage headed for the door.
* * *
The temperature had dropped considerably since undercover cops Linda Evans and her partner Larry Cole had arrived to set up the surveillance that morning in the van.
“Shit, it’s getting chilly,” Linda complained as she stared out the one way glass window with a powerful infrared night scope.
“Keep your eyes on them. I think they’re headed out of the club. Our guy just mentioned something about them making the deal,” Larry Cole said with his brow furrowed. He had on his headphones as he adjusted the many tiny gadgets that glowed like fire flies in the darkened van.
“Show time people. Our guy just walked out and it looks like he has company. They’re seven deep.”
“Are you sure it’s him Linda?” Greyson’s radio crackled.
“Damn right it’s them. With this scope I can count the hair on a gnat’s ass. There is a chick with them and three more men. I can even see the white McDonald’s bags that two of them are carrying.”
“Okay, hang tight,” Greyson said. “All units, the suspects are entering the back parking lot. There are an additional five more added for whatever reason. If the informant is bringing them they must be part of the indictment, so take them down too. Wait until we get the word from Linda,”
“Ten four,” came a static filled response.
Greyson nor his team had seen the hit squad when they left the brother’s estate. They never knew the black SUV parked down the street was full of assassins about to mount a brave attack. The cops, nor Money was prepared for what was about to do down.
Then, suddenly it happed! The crackling of the police radio erupted.
“They just made the exchange. Let’s move!” Linda yelled over the radio and at the same time reached for her .9 mm as she swung the van door open.
All hell broke loose!
At the exact moment Mike D nudged Jerry who had his face pressed against the rear passenger window staring at something on that van that fascinated him.
“There they go!! It’s on!” Mike D had an AR-15 already loaded and four loaded magazines. He jammed the extra mags in his pocket and jacked a
shell into the chamber. A.J. grabbed the sawed off shotgun. Tony had already had the AK-47 ready when they all stormed out of the passenger side of the SUV. Everybody except Jerry exited the vehicle on the opposite side of the van. For some reason he was tip toeing when he got out. A piece of glass crunched under his foot and the soles of his old Nike’s were paper thin. Just as he looked down, the van door swung opened and a beautiful white woman appeared with long blonde hair flowing like one of the women he used to see when he’d watch Charlie’s Angels with his grandma. She frowned when she saw him like she’d bit into a sour lemon.
“Freeze scumbag! POLICE!” She screamed.
“Po..Po..Po…Police?”
BOOM!
The shot gun blast hit her in the face and almost decapitated her. She dropped instantly like a sack of potatoes and her gun slid across the concrete. Then a chubby white man stuck his head out of the van. He had a gun in his hand as he looked down at his partner. Just as he was about to shoot Jerry there was a loud BOOM!
The top of the cop’s head was blown clean off with his hair as he sunk to his knees and then keeled over onto his back. At the exact same moment Mike D and A.J. opened fire. Buff and Zeus ducked out of the way barely escaping injury as a series of shots thundered. The muzzle flashed like lightening from the high powered weapons that lit up the night.
Trapped in the ambush, Money’s three brothers never saw it coming as they were gunned down. Miraculously Money had dived to the ground taking Desi down with him. They slithered under a car and made their way across the street in a low crawl. Something had gone terribly wrong in the pitch black darkness as a heavy beat floated from inside the club. The hit squad rushed up on the dying brothers and fired into their already bullet riddled bodies, making sure that they were dead.
“Where is Money at!?” Mike D yelled looking around in all of the confusion, wondering where the other shots came from in the street. As they ran back to the SUV they passed Zeus and Buff to make their getaway. Just then a police cruiser raced up and screeched to a halt. A.J. turned and fired on it with the crew. The cruiser’s windshield exploded from the gunshot, instantly wounding one of the officers. The other cop stepped out and fired his 9 mm, instantly hitting A.J. in the chest as he got in the SUV, knocking him backwards into Tony. Mike D began to fire the AR-15 with superior accuracy, causing glass and metal to shatter. The assault rifle wreaked havoc and demolished the cruiser like a sardine can. Suddenly the night was alive with random gun fire flashes.
Y’all take the truck and bounce,” Mike D said and hopped back out of the vehicle. Just as the approaching squad cars came closer. he fired a long, burst of thirty rounds.
Officer Greyson and his partner Stephens were in the one of the cars.
“Holy shit!!” Greyson yelled out. He ducked down in the nick of time just as the windshield exploded. More police cars arrived and in the cover of the darkness, cops were firing at each other trying to shoot Mike D.
The SUV pulled off with Tony driving and A.J. on the floor gasping for air. The SUV sideswiped a parked car as Mike D held the police at bay firing shots. The police returned fire as Mike D continued to move, dodging bullets that whistled pass his head. He punched out the magazine and slammed in another one as the SUV sped by him with Tony and A.J.
The entire time Zeus and Buff were huddled behind a dying elm tree, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on as bullets burst out all around them.
Jerry took off hobbling down the street as the gun battle erupted. That was when he realized that there was a piece of glass in his shoe right next to his big toe. He climbed a fence and fell over it as he ran through a yard. That was when he detected movement to his right. Sprinting with him was a huge pit-bull that growled beside him about to attract.
“N… n…n…nice doggy,” he said as the pit leaped for his throat.
Jerry took off running to the side of the house. Just as he was about to cross the street a stream of police cars passed. He saw a house with the lights on and made his way to the front porch. He knocked and waited. A woman’s voice came from the other side of the door.
“Who is it?”
Jerry hesitated because he didn’t know that to say. He suddenly heard the sound of a helicopter’s propeller blades swiping low overhead. It was circling and bathing the night in a bright, white glow.
“Who is it?” The woman asked again. Suddenly Jerry had a bright idea. He leaned forward and tried to disguise his voice.
“M…m…mail man ma’am.”
“Ain’t no damn mail man out this time of night,” the woman said opening the door. Her eyebrows rose in fear. She had some type of head wrap that looked like a trash bag and her face was smeared with white skin cream. She was a big woman, over two hundred pounds at six feet. She wore a threadbare housecoat. Jerry shoved the Mossberg in her face, pushed her inside the house and closed the door.
* * *
I stood outside mad as hell when the K9 Unit pulled up. I still had the blunt in my hand hoping that the cop would take his eyes off me, so I could toss that bitch on the side of the road, eat it or something. The cop’s walkie talkie radio erupted.
“All Units! All Units! Officers down! Officers down! 187, 127 and 245 on 55th and Hope Street in the back of Club Trois,” the dispatcher said over the radio.
The cop frowned as he repeated each code as if talking to himself, “Murder, assault with intent to murder, assault with a deadly weapon.” The other cop was listening to his radio too when they both exchanged stares. My heart slammed against my ribs so fast I struggled to breathe. Had Zeus and Buff been in a gun battle with the police?
“I’m goin’ let you get away this time, but if I see you again.” The cop said before he took off running to his squad car and drove off with the K-9 unit behind him. A ferocious German shepherd barked at me through the window of the K-9 car as it sped out.
When I got in the car my hands were shaking so badly that I could hardly turn the ignition.
By the time I got to the club it looked like a war zone. I had never seen so many police, ambulances, paramedics and fire trucks. To my horror I saw medics rush by with a cop on a stretcher and there was blood coming out of his nose and ears. I looked a few squad cars next to me and saw Officer Greyson’s partner Stephens standing on the side of the road vomiting.
Thirty cop cars systematically blocked off the neighborhood searching for the other cop killers. Two blocks away Mike D had carjacked a woman for her Honda Accord and drove all the way to Atlanta. A week later authorities found the car with no evidence of the driver. That same night the white SUV was discovered in South Carolina burned to a crisp. A few miles away A.J.’s body was discovered in a hotel room along with bottles of Alize and weed. He had bled to death. He’d died with ten thousand dollars in his pocket and a letter to his mom telling her how much he loved her.
A.J and I were in the same class in the sixth grade. He had a crush on me back then. That same night after crazy ass Jerry ran up in some chick’s house, tied her up, robbed her and managed to evade cops who were searching for him, he was able to make it out of town on a Greyhound Bus. I guess Jerry wasn’t as crazy as we thought he was.
The only suspects the police had were Buff and Zeus. At first Greyson thought he had caught them red handed with the McDonald’s bag that the informant Money had told them would contain two kilos of cocaine. When Greyson tore open the bag all it contained was a hamburger and fries. With no evidence and no eyewitnesses he had no case. Their key witness was Money and he was long gone after witnessing the execution of his brothers first hand. He’d skipped town with the $44,000 in bait money in one of the biggest gangland slayings in the history of North Carolina. The chaotic night left three dead cops and four dead civilians in its wake.
Chapter 5
Two weeks later
Zeus woke me up early as hell talking about we were going to the dealership to get my bike, since bike week was only two weeks away. I knew that it was his little attempt to
make up for the shoot-out gone wrong and what I’d endured on my way to warn them. He and Buff weren’t too worried about the cops. They didn’t have shit on them and were more worried about finding Money. Zeus had other plans for Money’s sneaky rat ass.
My baby Tupac’s “Me and My Girlfriend” blared from the speakers. The bass vibrated through my back and caused my body to react naturally. That was my shit!!
“What! I'm bustin’ on you punk ass niggas! Run nigga run! I'm on yo' ass nigga! Run nigga, duck and hide! Nigga, I'm bustin’ all you bitches! Run nigga, yeah! Westside! Uh uh uh! Die nigga die!” I yelled along with Lady of Rage as I shot my imaginary assault rifle out of the window.
Zeus simply smiled at me. “Look at my gangstress!”
“You know me baby. All you need in this life of sin is me!”
We both bobbed our heads to our theme song and then he went in on his favorite part. “Look for me! Lost in the whirlwind ninety six Bonnie and Clyde. Me and my girlfriend do one eighty five when we ride! Trapped in this world of sin, born as a ghetto child! Raised in this whirlwind! Look for me! Lost in this whirlwind ninety six Bonnie and Clyde! Me and my girlfriend! Me and my girlfriend!”
After the song went off he turned the volume down and made a call on his cell. After a brief conversation he looked at me. “I gotta stop at The Terrace real quick first. Is that a’ight wit’ you ma?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “You know The Terrace is home to me nigga, don’t trip.” I smiled at the thought of visiting my old hood. The PJs were like my sanctuary and I felt like I was in my element when I went back there.
* * *
Tut was one of Zeus and Buff’s henchmen. He was always ready and willing to do what he had to do to prove his loyalty to them. Tut was a light skinned Rick Ross look alike, but that nigga could dress his ass off and he had paper. No matter how much money he made, he refused to leave the projects. His girlfriend Lola had smooth, skin that was the color of sweet, brown sugar, big pretty, copper colored eyes, nice lips and a huge ass with thick, thunder thighs. Tut stayed fighting some nigga over her ass. Hands down, Lola was an opportunist, but the bitch was cool. She wasn’t physically attracted to Tut, but he was generous with his money. In Lola’s eyes she was too fly for him, but his pockets were fatter than his stomach, so she stuck around.
