“And what about you and Jackson?” Vivica asked. “You two are wanted armed robbers in Chicago. And,” she paused, “one of you is wanted for murdering a security guard.”
“I don’t know,” Tramar said, trying to be brave about the situation. “I don’t know what we gon’ do yet. Maybe lay low for a while, see what happens. I know some Nigerians I might be able to get with to get some fake IDs and stuff.”
“Son, you’re gonna get caught eventually,” Frank said. “This isn’t the movies. This is real life. Nigga, they will catch your black ass eventually.”
“I know they will,” Tramar said, looking into the backseat. “I know they will.” His lips were curled sharply. “But that don’t mean that I can’t do whatever I gotta do to hold that off, Daddy. I gotta do it. I’mma at least make sure that you all are taken care of and stuff and that y’all ain’t gotta worry about this crazy ass nigga coming after y’all anymore.”
“Why is he after you two in the first place, Tramar?” Frank asked. “What in the hell did you do to make this man this damn mad to where he’d go doing some crazy shit like this?”
Jackson tapped Tramar on the knee where Frank and Vivica couldn’t see from the backseat. “We’ll explain the full story later,” Tramar promised. “We gotta get to the house as quick as possible in case that Byron nigga know anything. We gotta hurry up and get out of sight.”
Jackson drove the car to Frank and Vivica’s middle-class neighborhood. The street seemed so much darker tonight than it would normally. The wind was somewhat strong, rustling the leaves on the trees. When Jackson pulled into a space in front of the house, Tramar looked back at his family. “Like I said, y’all rush in there and pack enough clothes for a few days. Let’s make this as quick as possible.”
“We don’t have our keys,” Frank said. “He rushed in on us that morning and took us hostage.”
Tramar pulled his keys out and tossed them to his father. “Use mine,” he said, looking up and down the street. “Let’s just make this quick.”
Frank and Vivica climbed out of the backseat. Tramar watched as they made their way up to the house and let themselves inside. Lights popped on around the house, in different rooms as the older couple rushed around. Jackson and Tramar sat out on the street, quietly.
“This shit is real as fuck,” Jackson said.
“Yeah,” Tramar said. “See my Daddy’s face, though. I’mma fuck that nigga Byron up as soon as we find his ass. I don’t give a fuck. I’mma kill him. That’s the only way.”
“Yeah,” Jackson said. “That is the only way. Byron not gon’ stop. You know once he find his boys tomorrow tied up like that, he gon’ fuckin’ flip and really get into action.”
Tramar shrugged. “That’s okay with me,” he said, nonchalantly. “When the nigga do start to make some moves, we gon’ catch up with his ass and stop his movin’. That gon’ be the last thing I do before I leave Chicago.” He looked up at the house. “Come on Daddy and Vivica. Hurry up so we can get the fuck outta here.”
Jackson and Tramar talked for a couple of minutes about the motel options. Tramar agreed that he didn’t want anything that was too fancy. While Chicago was a big and busy city, Tramar wanted something that would be a little off the radar. They thought about driving up into Wisconsin and getting them a room there. With all of the small, woodsy towns in Wisconsin, it would be the perfect place for his father and stepmother to stay low until everything smoothed over with Byron.
Jackson pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Oh shit, nigga,” he said out loud. “I got like a gang of text messages and missed calls from Ayana.”
Tramar immediately leaned over and looked into Jackson’s phone. “What they say? What’s wrong?” he asked.
Jackson read various text messages to Tramar from Ayana about what was going on at the hotel. When Tramar had heard enough, he snatched Jackson’s phone out of his hands and called Ayana. She answered on the first ring, fear underlying her voice. “Hello?” she said. “Tramar? Tramar? Jackson, let me talk to Tramar?”
“Baby, this is Tramar,” Tramar said. “What the fuck happened? What you mean you got up and had to leave the hotel? Where the hell did you go? What happened?”
“Tramar,” Ayana said. “I just got a bad feeling and I had to get up out of there. Something was just telling me that something was about to go down, and if it wasn’t, I still needed to get out of the room. Well, I’m glad I got Quan up and left when I did. We sittin’ inside of that McDonald’s down the road. When we went downstairs, that’s when they was comin’ in the hotel lobby.”
“They who?” Tramar asked, getting alarmed. The thought had crossed his mind that maybe Byron had more goons out in the streets and these guys had somehow tracked Ayana down. There was no doubt in Tramar’s mind that Byron would do some sneaky stuff like that.
“The police, Tramar,” Ayana. “And some other people dressed in suits. I got that feelin’ after I got off the phone with my mama. She called and said that Chicago detectives had come to her door lookin’ for me. Shit, I’m so scared. Every time a car rides by the restaurant, I think the driver is lookin’ at me or something. How do they even know who I am? Tramar, what the fuck is goin’ on? Where are you?”
“We just got my daddy and Vivica back from Byron’s grandmother house,” Tramar said. His mind was being pulled in so many directions. He wished that he could be in two places at once – with his father and stepmother and with his girlfriend and son. “What about Quan? How is he doin’? What did you tell him?”
“I stepped into the bathroom when you called, Tramar,” Ayana said. “I mean, he’s okay. I hated to wake him up like that, but I ain’t want him to have to go with the police and stuff. He’s confused and he keep askin’ me what’s goin’ on, and I just don’t know what to tell him. Plus, he was askin’ about you and shit, Tramar. What do you want us to do? You want us to just sit here all night?”
Tramar shook his head, rubbing his forehead with his hand. “I’mma be right there, okay,” he said. “I promise. I’mma be right there. We at my daddy house. We lettin’ him and Vivica pack they shit up real quick so we can go put them in some hotel. Then, we’ll come and get you. Once we do, we gon’ go get this Byron nigga. We saw his ass was prolly at home earlier. I’mma kill this nigga for puttin’ us through all this shit. I swear to God I’mma kill that nigga.”
Tramar finished talking to Ayana then saw that his father and stepmother were headed back to the car. Once they climbed in the backseat, he told her that he’d call her when he was on his way. Just as he was hanging up, he heard her interject that she only had an eight percent charge left on her battery. Tramar, fearing the worst, promised that he’d be there as quickly as possible.
Tramar updated everyone in the car, explaining to his family that he was taking them to a low-key motel. “I know it may not be the kinda place you’d normally stay, but it will definitely be off the grid, and they’ll take cash and fake information,” he said. “So, please, just bear with it.”
“Son, we have money and stuff, you know,” Frank said. “We can get a hotel of our own.”
“Daddy, I’m a wanted man,” he said. “If they stoppin’ by Ayana’s mama’s apartment and tracking Ayana down to what hotel she’s staying at, then I’m sure that they got a watch on your account and stuff and will be looking at what hotels you check into. I wouldn’t doubt that they been by the house when you was bein’ kept in that place.” Tramar looked back at his father as Jackson drove the car further toward the Chicago outskirts. “Daddy, what did that man do to your face like that? I swear to God, I’mma take care of him so y’all won’t have to worry about him no more.”
Frank looked into Vivica’s eyes, the both of them knowing that he’d told a lie back at that house. Frank shook his head. “Son, are you sure about this?” he asked.
“Yeah, Daddy,” Tramar said. “Ain’t got no other choice.”
“Now, tell me why y’all owe this nigga anything to begin with,�
�� Frank insisted. “I wanna know.”
Jackson and Tramar both guided Frank through the entire story. At many points in the story, Frank could do nothing but shake his head. At this point, however, there was definitely no going back. He had to accept it for what it was. Rather, he looked out the window at the malls and shopping centers they passed. The entire world seemed like a different place as he and his wife rolled around in the back seat of a car with wanted bank robbers.
Jackson pulled into a motel parking lot on a road that had been under construction for a while. “Here?” Vivica asked, looking out the window. She’d grown up poor, but hadn’t stayed in any place this low since she was a young, struggling college student.
“I know, Vivica,” Tramar said, wishing that his family would have never gotten involved. “But look, there’s a lot of construction going on in the area and the roads are kinda empty at night. Plus, this ain’t exactly the kind of place you’d be going if you wasn’t really coming up here on purpose. Like I said, they’ll take cash and faulty information. You just gotta lay low up here for a couple of days or so. We will bring food back to you and stuff.”
Vivica pushed her way out of the car, taking money from Tramar. “Just go up there,” Tramar said, “and use your feminine charm to get a room. And please, make it quick so we can hurry up and get to Ayana and Quan. I told you about what they down there goin’ through.”
Frank watched as Vivica walked up to the motel office. “Son,” he said, leaning into the front seat. “What are you going to do with that boy? With Quan? You can’t have him out in the streets with you while you’re doing all this dirt.”
“I know, Daddy,” Tramar said. “I know. That’s why I was gon’ ask if I could shield him from all this by bringing him to Granddaddy and Miss Vivica until it’s time to take him back to his mama’s house.”
Frank groaned lightly. He knew there was nothing he could say other than yes. He knew also that the alternative could possibly be his grandson winding up in the system until his mother found out what had happened. Frank then thought about Quan’s mother and was happy to take care of the boy. Even he felt he could do a better job with that boy than Precious.
“All right, son,” Frank said. “All right. You and Jackson go and bring that boy here. No matter what you do, make sure that you keep him safe. You don’t wanna have to live the rest of your life with that on your mind, trust me. You really don’t. Just make sure nothing happens with him. And Ayana? What are you going to do about her?”
“The detectives are on to her now,” Tramar said, shaking his head in disgust. “Apparently, based on what she said, the detectives had said to her mama they think that she may have been the getaway driver for the robberies.”
Frank paused for a moment then asked, “Well, was she?”
Tramar looked back into his father’s eyes. Without speaking, he nodded his head. Frank leaned back, rubbing his chin as he watched Vivica prance back down to the car. Once she got inside, she held up a room key and told them that it was around back on the other end of the motel.
“Even better,” Tramar said.
Jackson pulled off and around to the other side of the motel. Once they entered the room, Vivica took a few moments to adjust to such a cheap place. She did like that it was out of sight, and the room being on the back of the building was even better.
As Tramar carried the bags in for his father, he got a better look at him in the light of the motel room. “Damn, Daddy,” he said. “You sure you don’t wanna go to the hospital or something to at least have your face looked at, man?”
Frank shook his head. “Not at this point,” he answered. “It’s looking better than it did yesterday, and it doesn’t hurt as much. You just worry about you and getting your son back over here as quick as you can so he doesn’t get caught up in any of this shit.”
Tramar could hear the anguish in his father’s voice. All he wanted to do was apologize to his father for all of this, but it was too late. He turned around and hurried back to the car where Jackson was waiting behind the wheel. Once inside, Jackson pulled off.
“You sure they gon’ be okay out here?” Jackson asked. “I mean, I don’t really know nothin’ about bein’ out here, so I was kinda wonderin’ if you did or somethin’ and why you even suggested this.”
“Cause,” Tramar said. “I don’t know shit about it either. I figured if none of us knew nothin’ about this area, then what are the chances of Byron and his niggas knowin’ about it.”
“Wait a minute,” Jackson said, “then how did you hear about it in the first place?”
“Saw the shit on the news with some big car crash that blocked the road up for miles or some shit that the news was sayin’,” Tramar explained. “I remembered them sayin’ the highway exit and I had driven past that. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I just thought about it and thought we could put them out here. Nigga, we gotta hurry up and get back down to the airport. Ayana is waitin’ in that McDonald’s down the road from the hotel and shit, and she say the place is swarmin’ with cops and shit.”
“So, what?” Jackson asked. “You want us to just pull up in the McDonald’s parking lot and shit and think that them people over at the hotel ain’t gon’ see us or somethin’. Look how late it is. Ain’t like it’s gon be a lot of people out over there and sittin’ in restaurants at that. That alone is gon’ make us stick out more.”
“I know, I know,” Tramar said. “I was thinkin’ that same shit too. But, at the same time, I don’t want Ayana to have to leave the restaurant with Quan. I figured if she did some shit like that, they might be able to look over and across them parkin’ lots and see that a girl and a kid are crossin’ the lot and road and shit. I don’t know if they know that she with my son or not. I don’t know what these people know. Man, sometimes it would be good to have a nigga who work in the police department that we could call and get answers from and shit.”
Jackson laughed out loud. “Nigga, you need to stay off them damn movies,” he said. “We just a couple niggas in Chicago. This ain’t like it’s the mafia shit or nothin’. So, what you try’na do when we get down to the airport and shit?”
Tramar looked out at the sides of the road as the car headed back toward the city. He nodded. “I got an idea that I think would work.”
***
When Ayana walked out of the McDonald’s bathroom, the dining area seemed twice as large. She was in total-anxiety mode, not knowing where her life would go from minute to minute. When she walked past the wall that divided the counter area from another area of the dining room, she could look across and out at the parking lot. There were still cars piled up at the entrance of the hotel. It did, however, look as if some of the cars had left. Ayana wouldn’t dare stand in the window long enough to actually count.
As she made her way across the dining room, she noticed that Quan was getting his phone out. She quickly rushed over to the table, slid in the booth, and placed her hand over Quan’s screen. “No, no,” she said, softly. “What are you doing? Who are you calling this late on a Saturday night, Quan?”
“My mama,” he answered. “Where is my daddy? Why can’t we go back to the hotel room, Ayana? I was callin’ my mama.”
“No,” Ayana said, yanking the phone out of Quan’s grip. “You can’t call your mama. She told us that no matter what happened, you can’t call her because she’s out with friends and stuff right now. She gon’ be out all night, and she not gon’ be able to answer her phone.”
“But you told me that my daddy had to go somewhere and that we had to leave the room because there may be a gas leak in the building,” Quan said. “How long do we have to wait?”
“I don’t know,” Ayana said. “But I just got off the phone with Daddy. He called while I was in the bathroom and I talked to him.” She casually slid his phone to her side of the table and down into her lap. “He said that he’s on his way and that we gon’ go stay at a different hotel. And that you might get a surprise.”
“You’ll see,” Ayana said. “Just don’t tell your daddy that I told you okay, but you might be seeing somebody really special tonight, okay?”
“Okay,” Quan said. “I can’t wait to see who it is.”
Ayana leaned back for a moment and looked out at the road. For the next several minutes, she watched as police cars rolled down the road. She couldn’t help but wonder how they could possibly get out of that McDonald’s. Sure, she believed that Tramar was on his way to get them, but she thought she might have a stroke from all of the stress of being out on that road when so many police cars were in the area. Ayana shook her head, thinking, They gon’ see a car full of niggas and that’d be enough for them to pull us over.
Ayana felt her cell phone vibrating in her pocket. Quickly, she yanked it out and saw that it was Jackson’s number. “Hello?” she answered. “Tramar?”
“Yeah, baby,” Tramar said. “It’s me. Where you at? You still sittin’ up in the lobby at McDonald’s with Quan or what?”
“Yeah, we still here,” Ayana said. “I mean, where else we gon’ go? Ain’t like we got a car or nothin’ to actually get somewhere. Ain’t no cabs out here either.” Ayana then realized how she must’ve sounded. “My bad,” she said. “I’m just real worried right now.”
“Yeah, I know,” Tramar said. “Just calm down. We ‘bout to get off the highway by the airport and come swoop you up.”
“But, Tramar,” Ayana said, looking back at the hotel parking lot. “There are a lot of police cars swarming around the hotel and shit. With how it’s looking, they might bring the news crew out or somethin’.”
“The news crew!” Quan said. “I wanna be on the news.”
Ayana smiled before continuing on with the conversation. “I don’t know if you should come here. I mean, there are a lot of police cars around and stuff.”
“Fuck,” Tramar said. “That’s what I figured. Look, here’s what we gon’ do. We just gon’ do it real smooth. We gon’ get off at the closest exit and come straight there. When you see Jackson’s car pull into the lot, we gon’ slow down at the side door in the drive thru lane. I want you and Quan to rush out and hop into the backseat. Be in your seatbelts by the time we get around and place an order and so on, looking like we just pulled into McDonald’s to get something to eat.”
When It All Falls Down 3 - Somebody is Gonna Die: A Chicago Hood Drama (A Hustler's Lady) Page 10
