Gangsta

by Foye, K'wan

  "St. Louis Alexander," she said in a stern voice, "I know you ain't gonna do that girl like that? I know she a bitch, but she got little ones. Don't do it for her, do it for her kids. They're innocent in all this. Don't stoop to her level."

  "But Satin," he said, "we still gotta go see your aunt, right?"

  "We can do that after you sign the lease. It shouldn't take you but a few minutes. We can go to the airport from the hospital."

  "Okay, Satin. You lucky I love you." he said playfully. Lou-loc composed himself and put the phone back to his ear. "Okay, Martina. I'll be there in about a half hour. Have the paperwork ready. I'm signing the lease, then I'm gone."

  "Thanks, Lou-loc. I..." For the second time that morning, Martina had been hung up on. It was okay though. Mister O.G.

  Lou-loc was about to learn two things. New York bitches are grimy, and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

  ***

  Lou-loc dialed Snake Eyes' cell but didn't get any answer. He left a message on his answering machine, informing his friend on where he was going. He had intended on having Snake Eyes meet him there, but he'd just have to try him again later. After Lou-loc put the last of Satin's bags in the car, they hopped on the highway and headed uptown. He felt uneasy about dipping through the hood without any type of firearm, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He would be in and out, so he didn't really think anything could go wrong. Besides, that was his hood. Niggaz knew better than to fuck with him.

  ***

  Cisco hung up his phone, and a wide grin formed on his face.

  Things were going well. Now it was time for him to set phase two of his plan in motion. First he called his hired help and gave them their instructions. The next call he made was to El Diablo's cell phone.

  "Diablo," he said in a frantic voice, "I hate to bother you, but we've got a problem I thought you should know about."

  "What's wrong?" El Diablo asked concerned.

  "It's your sister, Michael."

  "Satin, what about her?"

  "One of my ladies just called me. She said that fucking ape, Lou-loc, is uptown kicking your sister's ass in the street like some whore."

  "That motherfucker." El Diablo snarled. "I'll kill that nigger bastard. Where is he, Cisco?"

  "It's going on right uptown in front of his old building. It was Martina who called and told me. She said that Satin found out they were still seeing each other, and wasn't happy about it." Cisco giggled to himself as he heard Diablo relaying the info to Tito.

  "I'm on my way." El Diablo said out of breath.

  "I'll meet you there," Cisco lied, "we'll stomp this ape together." El Diablo hung up without answering.

  Cisco sat back in his recliner and turned on the twenty-four hour news channel. It wouldn't be long now; all he had to do was wait.

  ***

  Lou-loc pulled up in front his old building and got out. As soon as he stepped onto the pavement, a cold chill ran down his spine. He shrugged it off as the jitters, and continued to stare at the building. This was going to be his last time seeing this building or Martina's funky ass. Good riddance to them both.

  "You okay, boo?" Satin asked from the passenger side window.

  "I'm cool." he assured her. He didn't want to spook Satin, but something didn't feel right. He saw Martina looking down at him from the window, but she wasn't coming down. And what the fuck was she grinning at?

  ***

  Martina watched Lou-loc get out of the car and stoop down to talk to Satin.

  "So, that's his new bitch, huh?" she said to herself.

  As Martina looked at the features of the small woman in the car, she had to admit, the girl was pretty. As Lou-loc strolled towards the building she put on her brightest smile. Mister lover, lover was about to get his.

  Martina saw El Diablo's red hog bend the corner, and suddenly felt as if something was very wrong. Cisco never said anything about El Diablo being involved. When she saw the gang lord hop from his car and rush at Lou-loc, she became sure of what she had suspected. Something was very wrong.

  ***

  "You fucking tar baby " El Diablo shouted. "Where the fuck is my sister?"

  "Huh?" Lou-loc asked dumbfounded by the man in the suit running towards him. "What the hell you talking about?" El Diablo swung a wild punch at Lou-loc that he easily side-stepped. Without trying to gain his balance, he swung another blow. This time Lou-loc grabbed his arm and rabbit punched him in the stomach, folding him. El Diablo had quite a rep with a blade or a gun, but he wasn't a very good fighter.

  "Y.. you, bastard," El Diablo said wheezing. "You hit my sister. I'll... I'll kill you."

  "Man, what the hell are you talking about?" Lou-loc asked confused. "Who the hell is your sister?"

  "Michael!" Satin yelled getting out of the car.

  "Wait a second," Lou-loc said holding his hands up turning to speak to Satin. "This is your brother? This is the notorious El Diablo? You can't be serious?" El Diablo sat on the floor looking from Lou-loc to Satin in a state of confusion. His sister didn't have a mark on her. Her hair wasn't even out of place. Somebody had looped him and he knew just who it was. El Diablo was about to get up and explain himself when he noticed two young boys running up behind Lou-loc. Everything that happened next seemed to go in slow motion.

  "Hey, crab mother fucker!" the first boy shouted. Lou-loc turned around just in time to see the first boy raising a sawed off shotgun, and aim it right where he and Satin were standing.

  Instinctively, Lou-loc reached under his shirt where his gun would normally be, only to find himself clutching air.

  The first boy cut loose with the shotgun, tearing off most Lou-loc's right shoulder. The second boy ran up beside his part-

  ner bringing his 'Street Sweeper' into play. Lou-loc only had a fraction of a second to make his next move. He could've tried to run or dodge the shot, but he wasn't concerned with himself.

  With his good arm, he knocked Satin to the ground and rushed the boys.

  The street sweeper rattled to life, and the second boy lit Lou-loc up like the fourth of July. Lou-loc, on his hands and knees, still tried to crawl to the boys. The first boy kicked Lou-loc in the face, flipping him over on his back. Blood spewed from Lou-loc's mouth and nose. He was trying to say something, but at first it was just gibberish. If you listened real close, you could hear him mutter "Satin," over and over.

  "This is what you get for fucking wit Diablo, bitch!" he shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. The first boy aimed the barrel of the shotgun at Lou-loc's face and pulled the trigger.

  Blood and bits off skull splattered all over the pavement and the front of the building. The second boy threw up his set and screamed, "LC Blood for life, long live El Diablo!" with that, the gunmen ran off.

  "Lou-loc." Satin whispered as she watched her man's life blood run into the gutter. El Diablo tried to hold her back, but she broke loose and rushed to her man's side. What was left of Lou-loc was enough to make a grown man vomit, but not Satin.

  She held it down as she kneeled next to her man. His body was a bloody mess, and his grill was even worse. Half of his once handsome face was torn to sheds.

  "Oh, baby," Satin sobbed. "Why they do this to you, baby?

  We were suppose to go to Miami. What happened? Look, they messed up your braids," she said stroking his bloody skull, "it's okay, I'll just do them over when you wake up. Oh, Lou-loc, why you leave me, poppy? You said we were getting married, what happened? You said you always kept your promises." Snake Eyes pulled up just in time to see his friend stretched out on the ground. When he got Lou-loc's message about going to Martina's, he knew something was fishy. He had just recently signed the lease. They had at least six more months before the lease was up. Tears welled up in Snake Eyes' eyes as he watched Satin kneel over Lou-loc with a vacant look in her eyes. Of all the times he had pulled Lou-loc's ass out of the fire, this was one time he couldn't.

  El Diablo walked up timidly and reached out to his si
ster.

  "Satin... I, uh..."

  Satin looked at El Diablo's hand like it was a rattlesnake. As she looked up at her brother's sorrow filled face, words rang out in her head: "I'll kill you."

  "This is what you get for fucking wit El Diablo...LC Blood," Diablo yelled.

  Suddenly all of Satin's sadness was gone. All of the hurt she had felt evaporated, and was replaced by anger.

  "You," she whispered, "you did this to him. You and your fucking gang war. Why couldn't you just leave him alone? He was out, he wanted no parts of your feud, but you couldn't let him leave, could you?"

  "Satin, I didn't..." he started, but she cut him off.

  "We were going to get married on the beach, did you know that?" she asked holding up her now bloody ring. "We were to be married in Miami, Michael. We were going to buy a house and fly aunt Selina down to take care of her, did you know that?

  You took him from me, you Bastard!" El Diablo started backing up because he saw madness in his sister's eyes. This was not the little girl he knew, this was somebody totally different. This was a woman who had just lost a lover. He looked to the car to motion for Tito, but he was long gone. It was just brother and sister.

  From the car, Snake Eyes watched the whole thing unfolding.

  When he realized what was about to happen, he moved to stop it, but with his bum leg, he was too slow. Satin's hand dipped

  into her purse, and she came out with her pistol. Without so much as blinking, she squeezed the trigger. She was so distraught that she didn't release the trigger until the clip was empty.

  Snake Eyes made his way to Satin and took the gun from her, but it was too late for El Diablo as he lay on the ground with six holes in his $3,000 suit. His little sister, whom he had raised and nurtured as a child, had sent him home. For him, the game was over.

  The police arrived on the scene too little too late as usual.

  Snake Eyes wasn't there from the beginning, so he couldn't really say what happened, but you know how people in the hood are. They love an opportunity to get a story ass backwards on the news. Snake Eyes was so distraught by the loss of his friend, he didn't much care what they said. He had one brother in a coma, and one in heaven. He had seen it so many times that he was numb to it.

  Another young brother claimed by the streets.

  Snake Eyes walked over and looked down at his mutilated friend. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, and he didn't care who saw. "You're free now," he whispered, "go on home, cuz.

  The pain is gone and you're free. I love you, my nigga, and I'm glad you ain't gotta suffer no more. Go on and rest." Satin walked in a daze as two female officers escorted her to a blue and white. Snake Eyes knew even before the trial that she wasn't going to jail. Her lover was gone, and he took her heart and sanity with him. Satin would spend the rest of her life in a mental institution.

  CHAPTER 23

  The whole hood turned out for Lou-loc's funeral. Ballers from every coast came to pay their respects to one of God's most thorough soldiers. They laid Lou-loc out in a solid gold casket, with a six pointed star carved into it. Because of what happened, they had to make it a closed casket funeral, but there were pictures of him all over. Snake Eyes took the picture of Lou-loc and Satin at Six Flags, and put it in the casket. He would've wanted her close to him.

  Martina, of course, showed her ass at the funeral. She was crying and falling out in the lap of any nigga that was willing to keep her ass from hitting the floor. On two separate occasions, Snake Eyes and Pop Top had to keep Sharell from swinging on her.

  Snake Eyes and Pam took Lou-loc's money and did the right thing with it. With part of the money, they started 'The St. Louis Alexander' scholarship fund for underprivileged children who couldn't afford to go to college. With the rest of the money, they set up a trust fund for Malika, so she would have all the advantages life had to offer.

  Snake Eyes' last order of business was Lou-loc's work. All his thoughts, memoirs and everything he had put to paper. Snake Eyes made sure it was all published. With the royalty checks, he made sure neither Satin nor her aunt needed for anything. Even though they never asked for the money, Snake Eyes knew. That's exactly how Lou-loc would've wanted it done. Even though they never made it to the altar, Satin was his wife.

  ***

  The seasons changed and made way for the summer; it was back to business as usual. Cisco was especially feeling himself. After the death of El Diablo, he took over as leader of LC Blood. He kind of felt cheated by the way things went. On the day of El Diablo's death, Cisco had Tito place two guns under the seats of El Diablo's ride. Both of the guns had been used in murders. It was his intention for the police to find the guns, but things had worked out better than he had expected. Satin had whacked the old bastard.

  With Lou-loc dead, and Gutter being a vegetable, Harlem wasn't holding sway like it was. Pop Top had made a mess of what Lou-loc and Gutter had built. It was chaos uptown. Cisco loved it.

  He figured even if Gutter were to snap out of it, he'd more than likely be a crippled retard and posed no threat. The money was coming in and life was good. LC was back on top.

  Cisco stood on the sidelines of the west 4th basketball court sipping his bottle of water. He liked to come down to west 4th to watch the different kinds of people come and go. At this particular moment, he had an eye on this fine little black nurse, pushing a man in a wheelchair. The man seemed to be in a nod, with his bathrobe and dark sunglasses. He wore a large brimmed hat to shade him from the sun. The nurse was a nice little cinna-mon thing with an ass that just called his name.

  "Hey, mami." he said trying to sound cool.

  "Hey yourself." she responded.

  "What's up wit you, ma? A nice day like this and you gotta be stuck pushing a wheelchair?"

  "Yea, it's a drag, but I gotta pay my bills."

  "Ma, I could pay your bills plus give you multiple orgasms.

  You ain't know? I'm Cisco, LC Blood supreme general."

  "Oh, I've heard of you," she said excitedly, "I hear you that nigga?"

  "Nah, I'm that spic, but what's the difference?"

  "Oh, you all that?"

  "And then some. Why don't you ditch the cripple, and come back to my spot?"

  "Sure, I'm wit it." said the man in the wheelchair, catching Cisco off guard. Before Cisco could respond, the man pulled an eleven-inch hunting knife from under his robe and plunged into Cisco's gut. He stabbed him over and over as tears ran from under his sunglasses.

  "You killed my brother, mafucka!" Gutter snarled. "Die, mafucka! Die!" Gutter poked Cisco about thirteen or fourteen times. The funny thing is, that everyone was so wrapped up in the basketball game, no one even noticed Cisco fall to the ground.

  "All scores is settled nigga, and that's on Harlem." Gutter spit on Cisco's lifeless body as Sharell rolled him away.

  "Its over now, baby."

  "I know, ma." he said wiping tears from his eyes. "My folk can rest now. You hear me, Lou?" he asked looking to the sky.

  "You can rest now. All debts paid in full." Gutter stood up from the bogus wheelchair and took off his bloody bathrobe. He smoothed out his Blue Armani suit, and tossed the robe into a dumpster. He and Sharell walked up West 4th into the afternoon sun.

  ***

  It was 9pm when Martina walked in with her new born. The sun had set giving way to the darkness. The kids were with her sister, so it was just her and the baby. She put the baby in the basinet,

  and stripped down to her panties and bra. It had been a few months since Lou-loc was murdered, but she still thought of him. If only she hadn't called him that day, he might still be alive. Alive and with that bitch. Oh well, neither one of them had him now. But at least she was $10,000 richer for it.

  The baby was asleep, so she decided to take a quick shower. She cracked the window to let in the evening breeze. No sooner than she turned her back, the window came crashing in.

  Before she could react, a vice like grip had her by the neck. She
kicked and scratched, but the grip was too strong. Finally, she tried to scream, but the feeling of her jugular being torn open killed all sound.

  The intruder laughed mockingly, as Martina's blood sprayed freely from her neck. She felt her strength fading and wondered which fucked up deed she had done that finally caught up with her. She heard the baby crying in the background, but could do nothing to help him. Soon the struggle was done and Martina lay lifeless on the floor.

  It was a good three days before Martina's sister found her corpse in the bedroom. The stench of the rotting form was so putrid, that the first officer on the scene lost his lunch. The only clues to what had taken place were a bloody cross-smeared on the wall and an empty basinet.

  I guess all debts are truly settled.

  THE END.