Grand Opening

by Carl Weber

  “Yeah, and they were serious,” Big Shirley added, ignoring Donna. “You know they don’t have any regard for human life. It’s like they’re waiting to kill somebody just for the hell of it.”

  “What they want is for all the Duncan brothers to come in here, guns blazing, to try to rescue us, so that they can kill them. I swear, if one of ’em hurts Larry, I will kill them with my bare hands,” NeeNee promised, and I believed her.

  “They won’t get the chance,” I said, trying to restore her hope.

  “So, you seen him lately. Is he okay?” NeeNee said, sounding anxious and worried, which was the female equivalent to a man who was angry and homicidal.

  “He’s good,” I answered. “He’s worried about you and the baby.”

  “He said that?” She looked like she was about to cry.

  “Yeah, he did. He really loves you, NeeNee, but right now let’s concentrate on coming up with some kind of plan to get out of here.”

  “Yeah, before Sam runs out of patience.” Big Shirley shuddered.

  I had an idea. “What we need is a gun.”

  Donna sighed impatiently. “Where we gonna get a gun from, genius?”

  “That girl is stuck on stupid. Don’t mind her.” Big Shirley sneered at Donna and paid close attention, waiting to hear what I said next.

  I glanced around in the cellar, looking for things that we could use to help us get out of there. Unfortunately, all I saw were a couple of cots, chairs, a table, and a couple of lamps, which were our only source of light.

  I looked again, and suddenly a smile covered my face. “Ladies, I think I have a plan.”

  Big Shirley

  59

  We’d been sitting in the dark for at least two hours, maybe three, waiting for someone to come through the door.

  “This is taking too long,” Donna complained for the umpteenth time, even though she wasn’t the one holding her position in case someone showed up. No, the princess was resting comfortably on a cot pushed against the wall, while NeeNee, Chippy, and I did all the proverbial heavy lifting. That damn girl had been getting on everybody’s nerves, and I just hoped she shut up before one of us put a hurting on her.

  “Shhhh!” Chippy hissed as we finally heard the door unlocking.

  Then someone spoke. “Fucking light’s out!” a male voice grunted, obviously annoyed at the inconvenience. “Shit, are they gone?” he said to himself, or that’s what we were thinking as we waited to hear if someone was going to answer him. When there were no other voices, I felt the collective sigh of relief. For a second, I felt panicked, ’cause the plan Chippy had put in place could only work if there was one man, and Lord, if Big Sam was with him, it would definitely be the end of us.

  “Hey!” he hollered out down the stairs. “You bitches down there?”

  Just like we’d planned, Chippy answered. “Yeah, but NeeNee is hurt. She’s pregnant. We need you to come quick. It’s serious!”

  “Let me get a flashlight first,” he answered, saying the one thing that would torpedo our scheme.

  “Oooh! Help me. Please, help me,” NeeNee cried out dramatically, writhing like she was really hurting. That damn woman should’ve been an actress, because she had me about to help her, and I knew she was fine.

  “Dammit!” He complained. “You whores better not try no funny business.”

  “Who you calling a whore?” Donna snapped at him, forgetting that her dumb ass was supposed to stay quiet. That bitch was about to get us all killed.

  “Shut up!” I hissed at her, soft enough so that the guard couldn’t hear. What if her smart mouth made him change his mind and he ran to get a flashlight or get some backup?

  Luckily, NeeNee knew the score and cried out again, this time louder. “Help me! Please, help me!” I had to give her props. She sounded desperate.

  That’s when we heard him coming down the stairs, his heavy feet landing like bricks as he took each step. It gave us all the information we needed to put our plan into motion. Chippy and NeeNee were each standing on chairs on opposite sides of the stairway. Stretched across the stairs was the cord from the lamp, held taut in their hands. With every step, I could feel myself growing more terrified. In my head, I could hear Chippy’s voice egging him forward. Just as he took the next step, they tightened that cord. He tripped over it and went flying forward, until his ass hit the ground.

  “Let me get the light,” I said and raced over to turn on the one lamp we had left. It was one of those twins lying there. I swear, I hated them both for what they did to Levi and me. I picked up a two-by-four leaning against the wall and started whooping his ass the way he had done to my man.

  Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! I hit him as hard as I could, and I would have kept on doing it if it weren’t for Chippy.

  “Shirley!” Chippy whispered to me. “It’s all right. It’s all right.” She took the two-by-four out of my hand and dropped it to the floor. “I need to get his gun.” Then she reached down and removed the weapon from his hand.

  NeeNee came over and stood next to us, putting an arm around me to offer some comfort. “Okay, you got the gun. Now what we gonna do?”

  “You know there’s like twenty men up there with guns. Now they’re gonna kill us for what you just did.” Donna glared at Chippy accusingly.

  “Shut up, Donna!” I snapped. “I’m ’bout sick of you,” I told her and gave her a look that dared her to try me.

  NeeNee sneaked up the stairs and held the door open. Then Chippy and I followed along with Donna, who kept her distance.

  “Close the door!” Chippy whispered, because NeeNee had opened it wide enough for anybody walking past to spot us. NeeNee did as she was told, leaving it open just a tiny bit, so that no one would even know we were there.

  “I don’t see anything!” Donna whined.

  Chippy

  60

  When I first heard all the shooting and carrying on going down on the first level, I thought Sam’s security was shooting at us. After all, NeeNee had opened the damn door up wide enough for anyone to have spotted us. I was not sure I had told her to close it soon enough before we’d been spotted by someone. All I knew was that the sound of gunshots rang out and had our asses running back down those steps.

  “You hear that?” Big Shirley said. “Sounds like it’s more than just somebody being shot. Sounds like an all-out war.”

  I had mixed emotions. A part of me was excited. I knew my signal had worked and that LC and his brothers had come to our rescue—at least NeeNee’s and Big Shirley’s rescue. I’d already established that LC had no idea that Donna had gone missing, and how would he have had any idea that I’d been thrown in the dungeon with them?

  So, even though relief surged through my body, riding the waves of anticipation to get the hell out of this basement, I was afraid. Sam had a great deal of added security, men that the Duncans knew nothing about. I think this was that “element of surprise” shit Donna was tooting her horn about. The Duncans had a reputation as the baddest brothers in town, definitely not to be fucked with, but Sam had upped the ante with the men he had securing the place. Would the Duncans be prepared for this? If only I’d had a way of communicating with them. But it was too late for all that now. They would find out soon enough.

  “The hell with this,” NeeNee finally said. “I’m not about to sit down here and wait until the dust settles.” She headed for the steps. “My man is up there, and I’m going to see about him.”

  “But wait!” Big Shirley said, still trying to whisper. I guess she figured maybe if we stayed quiet, everybody upstairs would kill each other, and then the last man standing would go on about his business, leaving us alone. “How do you know Larry is up there? You know how many enemies Sam got? It could be anybody up there trying to take him out, and you think they gon’ give a shit about you? Hell, you just gon’ be another ho to them.”

  NeeNee turned around slowly, glaring at Big Shirley with the look of death. “I know my man, and my man ain’t g
on’ leave me here to die. He’d die first before he ever let that happen. I know my man,” she repeated, “and he’s come for me.” NeeNee paused, giving Big Shirley a chance to respond, although her eyes said that if she even though about it, the other side of her face would get fucked up, along with the side that was still healing.

  Big Shirley turned to look at me. She bucked her eyes and then nodded her head toward NeeNee as if I was supposed to say something to her. So, I did.

  “You are a woman who knows your man,” was all I could say.

  NeeNee half-smiled at me with her eyes before she turned to go up the steps.

  “So, you just gon’ let her jump in the line of fire for her man?” Big Shirley said to me.

  “You mean kind of like you did when they were beating Levi senseless.” I wasn’t usually an I-told-you-so kind of girl, but how quickly Big Shirley had forgotten about the time she risked her own life for the sake of the man she loved.

  The way her eyes mirrored the look NeeNee had just shot me before going up the steps let me know that she’d needed that reminder. She watched NeeNee climb the steps and then took off after her.

  “Where you going?” I asked Big Shirley.

  “With her. Where you think? If I’m getting taken out, it ain’t gon’ be down here in this shitty basement with you two.” She pointed to Donna. “Especially her. I’m with NeeNee. If I’m going down, I’m going down fighting.” Big Shirley turned around and resumed her climb.

  It was just Donna and me standing there. I knew that dog’s bark was way worse than her bite and that she wasn’t going anywhere, but before the thought even left my mind, she was heading for the steps too. “Now where you going?” I asked.

  She stopped and looked me up and down like I was a bag of trash. “With them. I sure as hell ain’t going to be caught dead with you. Hell, I don’t even want to be caught alive with you. I want to die with dignity, not with hoes.” She turned her stuck-up nose in the air and then marched up the steps, where NeeNee had once again cracked the door to get a feel for what was going on upstairs. Big Shirley was hovering over her, trying to get a peek.

  If it weren’t for the fact that I was busy worrying about whether I was going to get out of that place alive, I’d have snatched Donna’s ass up and mopped the floor with her. I’d been wanting to beat that highfalutin’ heifer’s tail, but on the off chance that we made it out of there, I didn’t want to get free only to be turned over to the authorities for killing her ass. I’d already gotten away with murder before, and lightning doesn’t strike twice. Who knows, though—if we did escape from this basement, I might consider myself lucky enough to tempt fate and commit another murder. Then I’d kill her dead and check it off my bucket list.

  “Bitch,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “I heard that,” she said, twitching her ass as she walked up the steps.

  “I meant for you to,” I lied. Well, I actually didn’t give a shit one way or the other.

  “This could be our last breathing moments, and you two wanna cat fight?” Big Shirley shot over her shoulder in a hard whisper. “Well, more power to you, but do you mind shutting the fuck up, at least until the two of us, who want our chance in hell of surviving, get out of here?”

  “Shhhh.” NeeNee turned to all of us with her index finger over her lips.

  All of a sudden, the rapid gunfire and thumping and bumping that had been taking place over our heads came to a halt. An eerie feeling rested in the air. No one spoke, but from the looks on our faces and the way our eyes darted back and forth, we were all thinking the same thing. If the Duncan boys had come for us, it didn’t sound as though all of them had survived.

  But just then, we heard a loud thump, and we all instinctively ducked. If I had to guess, it sounded like a body dropping to the ground and then the sound of doors being kicked in. There was more screaming that sounded like it was from both men and women.

  “I can’t take this anymore,” NeeNee said, placing her trembling hands on her temples. I imagined that not knowing whether Larry was a casualty of the violence we heard taking place above our heads had taken its toll on NeeNee. She grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open.

  I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen next. Big Shirley might have climbed those steps right behind NeeNee, but she didn’t go out that door right behind her. She had good sense. She was going to wait for NeeNee to get shot dead at best. She sure wasn’t going to run out there haphazardly amidst bullets with no names on them flying around.

  “What’s going on? What do you see?” I asked Big Shirley as I walked up a few steps.

  Donna’s scary ass had backpedaled a step or two. She almost backed right into me and knocked me down the steps. She didn’t say a word; just shifted her head from left to right as if she was trying to figure something out.

  “Well, blow me over, but I think . . .” Big Shirley peeked out a little further, and then her facial expression turned to excitement. “She was right. It’s Larry.” Big Shirley was next to dodge out the door.

  “Wait Bi—” I started, but her big tail had moved like a skinny chick. I was worried about her. Just because she saw Larry didn’t mean it was safe to go running. I could still hear lots of commotion, but that hadn’t stopped Big Shirley, as Donna and I stood there eating her dust.

  Next, Donna tiptoed to the top of the steps and decided to try her luck. She peeked and then ran out as well.

  And then there was one. What was I waiting on? What did I expect to happen next? Perhaps deep down inside I was expecting what NeeNee had expected, and apparently gotten, out of Larry. He had come for her. I wanted that same thing from LC.

  Even though LC had no idea that I was being held down in the basement with NeeNee and Big Shirley, I think a part of me had just wanted him to come for me period; come take me away from Sam, this house, this life. I shook my head, releasing the thoughts of the happy ending that belonged to someone else. That was not the story of my life. Things never ended up good for me.

  With that being said, what did I have to lose? The same way the other girls had gone up the steps and out the door to freedom, risking being hit by a bullet, I did the same. Without contemplating any further, I went up the steps and walked out the door.

  Around the room was mayhem, though. There was blood, and there were bodies, and there was still commotion going on overhead. I decided I needed to get while the getting was good. I took one step toward the door before I felt a strong hand grab my hair and pull me back. When I looked up, there was Sam’s angry face.

  “Where you think you going, bitch?”

  Larry

  61

  The van came to a screeching halt as we pulled up to Sam’s with one of my guys tied to the roof. His job was to take out anyone standing in front of the building before we even stepped out of the van. All I can say is that he was very good at his job.

  Even though LC had already told us it was there, it was a relief to see Chippy’s scarf tied to the window with my own eyes. Knowing that my baby was inside that place somewhere and I was there to rescue her had me riled up even more than I had been. Once I entered, I’d be able to kill two birds with one stone. I’d take care of Sam and rescue NeeNee all in one stop. I couldn’t wait to put a bullet in his head.

  “Let’s move,” I told the guys, who stepped out of the van just a half a second after I did. We were definitely in sync, just like back in ’Nam.

  We stormed the door, and our timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I almost felt sorry for the poor bastards Sam had hired, because for three army rangers, this was like shooting fish in a barrel. Of course, you know the first to go was one of the twins, running at us with guns in both hands like it was the wild, wild West. I took him out personally. Once the room was cleared, Lou and Juan came through the door, while my buddy on the van’s roof cut himself free to protect our rear at the door.

  “I’m going to find Sam,” Lou said as he and Juan headed to my right, toward Sam’s off
ice. I pointed to the staircase, and my two guys moved toward it as I headed for the back. I heard shots and women screaming upstairs, and I knew my guys had found someone armed to take out.

  It looked like Sam had tripled his protection team. I was a little bit overwhelmed at first by all these new cats coming out of the woodwork, but it shouldn’t have surprised me. The dude who ran all the pussy in town turned out to be the biggest pussy of them all.

  As I moved down a hallway, it was time to try door number one. I wasn’t sure if it was a closet or a basement, but it didn’t matter. I went to grab the doorknob, my gun raised, but just as I went to open it, it flung open and I cocked the gun, set on pulling the trigger next no matter who it was. If a ho and her john had been turning a trick, at least one of them might die happy.

  “Larry!” she screamed. “Don’t shoot, baby! It’s me.” I pulled back my gun instinctively, and NeeNee wrapped her arms around my neck, holding on so tight she nearly choked me. Her tears soaked my face. “Oh, baby, I knew you was coming for me.”

  Staring into NeeNee’s eyes, I could see that she had never doubted me. I wished I could have stood there and held her forever, but Sam was still in that house somewhere. The fellas were still handling some resistance throughout the house. I could hear the commotion of doors being kicked in, shots being fired, and terrified screams. But there was still some unfinished business I needed to tend to.

  Just then, I saw Shirley come out of the same place NeeNee had exited. “You get out of here,” I told NeeNee. Shirley was already headed for the door. “I’ll meet you back at the house.”

  “Fuck that!” NeeNee said, throwing her hands on her hips. “I ain’t leaving you in here. If you die, we die together, because I sure as hell can’t live without you.”

  She was safe and sound, and I needed her to get out of there so that we could keep it that way. “Look, Nee, I don’t have time to argue with you.”