Ring. Ring. Ring. Bless’ phone rang and he picked it up, “Yo, who’s this?”
“It’s me, Boss. Everything is in place. I have the soldiers ready at the spot,” Damou said.
“When I give you the signal, you know what to do,” and with that Bless hung up. He looked over at Tess to see her on the phone and then she hung up. “Who was that?” Bless asked.
“It was Layla. She has her Bushwick shooter’s ready and waiting.”
“That’s good,” Bless replied. “It’s still early and everything is ready.”
Tess’ cell phone rang she picked it up on the first ring, “Who is this?”
“It’s Lee,” the voice responded. Tess stopped to think. Lee was Young’s cousin and was an FBI agent and also part of the Asian Mafia and she only met him twice out of all of the years she knew Young and if he was calling it couldn’t be good. “Tess listen I can’t talk on this phone, but I have to meet you and Bless.”
Tess’ instincts jumped. What does Lee want to meet with her for? If they had business, it was always handled through Young. “Why can’t Young meet me,” Tess replied.
“Tess, Young is dead.”
“What! How?” she yelled.
“I don’t have much time before the FED tap into my phone. I block them out for only a few seconds. Meet me at Eastern Parkway by the Popeye’s restaurant in ten minutes.”
“Do you think it’s a set up?” Bless responded.
“Not really because Lee loved Young and that motherfucker is dirtier than us, but I can’t believe Young is dead. We just saw him today.”
“We’ll go meet him,” Bless replied.
Bless and Tess hopped out of the black Chevy Impala they got from Young just a few days before. Tess thought it was best for them to keep driving it since their car was too flashy. Bless made sure to park the car a block away from where they were meeting Lee just in case they needed to get away fast. No one would have seen what car they got in. They walked down the block and saw a short Chinese man.
Bless and Tess made their way through the crowd. Even at 12:30am at night Eastern Parkway was still crowded with people coming home from work, to people going to buy food at the 24-hour restaurant, and the thugs on the corner selling their drugs.
“Hi Lee,” Tess said while hugging him. Then Lee put out his hand to shake Bless’ hand.
“It’s good to see you two. I just wish it was on a better situation, but it’s not.”
“Should we be here talking in the open like this,” Bless replied.
“It’s okay here we’re mixed in with the crowd and plus I ordered some Popeye’s chicken that I have to pick up when we’re done.”
Tess and Bless looked at each other thinking Lee was out of his mind, but shit they planned to do the same. “Young was killed today in Kings Plaza Mall,” Lee stated.
“How he was with us,” Tess said.
“I know! How come we just now finding out,” Bless responded.
“Because whoever killed him put his body back in his car making time before someone noticed it.” Lee answered. “Shit, they didn’t find the body until after the mall closed and they noticed the car shouldn’t be there.”
“Whoever killed Young knew what they were doing. Who’d be crazy enough to kill him knowing he’s part of the Asian Mafia,” Tess said.
“I don’t know. I think Young was getting to close to the answers. That is why he was killed. The FEDs have been watching Ricardo and Jose and they tapped their phones and I gave Young a tape with a voice on it blackmailing Jose. I was hoping he could tell me who the voice belonged to. I think he did. I think Young’s killer was…” A shot rang out opening a wound in Lee’s head and then his chest. Lee hit the ground bleeding. Bless got on his knees to help him, “Who…whose Young’s killer?” Bless asked, but it was no use Lee was dead from the first shot.
The whole time Tess was scanning for where the shots came from. Boom! A shot exploded hitting Bless in the chest. He fell back on the ground. People in the crowded street were screaming and running everywhere.
The shooter was holding his 30-30 sniper rifle looking through the scope and had his aim locked on Bless’ head. Just then Tess pinpointed where the shots had come from. Three years of being a contract killer had taught her angles of how to shoot a person and she knew the only way that the shot was possible was from the building on the left on the roof.
She raised her twin 40 Cali handguns and squeezed the trigger. Bursts of gunfire were let off by the 40 Cali bullets ripped through the brick walls on top of the roof. The sniper yelled in pain as one of the 40 Cali bullets grazed his arm. The shooter pulled back and started running, dropping the sniper rifle while he jumped roof to roof making his getaway.
Tess started heading for the building, but knew she would never make it in time to get the shooter. She stopped and looked back at Bless who was now getting up. The crowd of people were ducking, screaming, and running all around. Bless grabbed Tess’ hand and pulled her down the block. They made it to their car and jumped in and pulled off.
“This shit can’t be good. Now we have a dead FBI agent and another Asian Mafia. Shit,” Bless said while he was driving. Tess looked at the hole in his shirt. The hole was right where his heart was. She put her finger through the hole and felt the metal vest. “Yeah, the bullet didn’t go through, but the shit hurt like hell. I’m glad Young was right when he said these new bulletproof vests will stop almost any bullet,” Bless stated.
“Shit baby, who you think tried to kill us just now?” Tess asked.
“I don’t know, but the son of a bitch can shoot. He hit Lee dead center of his head and I’m sure the next shot he had on me would have made its way to my head if you didn’t start shooting and catch him off guard.
All or Nothing
Chapter 33
Ricardo sat in his red Lincoln Navigator in front of the warehouse. Ten of his men were already inside mixed in with twenty of Jose and Carlos’s men. Ricardo rubbed his arm from the pain he felt and thought to himself all this will be over in a few hours. Tess, Iris, Bless, his brother Jose and cousin Carlos will all be dead. Ricardo turned his neck and looked at Tito in the passenger seat next to him, “Are you ready for this?” Ricardo asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready and I’m down for it,” Tito responded.
It was easy to get Tito to cross Carlos because Carlos had pistol whipped him for raping that girl. ‘I have to kill him when this is all said and done. If Tito will cross Carlos, the hand that fed him, so easily he’ll damn sure cross me,’ Ricardo thought to himself. Tito got out of the truck and went inside the warehouse to get ready for Ricardo’s plan.
Four o’clock am, on the dot, Jose picked up the phone and dialed Tess’ number, “Como esta bitch,” Jose said into the phone.
“Enough with the name calling you fat pig. Where you want us to meet you at?” Tess responded.
“The lower eastside there’s a warehouse with the number 257 on it. You can’t miss it. It’s right by the Hudson River. You have ten minutes to get here on time or your little friend here will die a painful death. Ten minutes or else,” he yelled into the phone and hung up.
Little did he know Tess, Iris and Bless were sitting in the black Chevy Impala a block away from the warehouse with their soldiers all in place waiting for the signal to rush the building. Layla sat on a roof with a 50 caliber sniper rifle. When Tess gave her the signal, she would start shooting and the soldiers would move in.
Bless pulled the car up in front of the warehouse and got out of the car followed by Tess and Iris. All three of them were wearing long Gucci coats hiding their AR15’s and the guns they had in their holster. As the three of them walk to the building door, one of Jose’s men tried to pat Bless down. “Get you’re fucking hands off of me fool,” Bless yelled.
The gunman looked Bless in the eyes wanting to kill him right then and there, but he had orders to let them pass. The gunman thought, ‘So, what if they have guns on them? They’re outnumbere
d and still going to die,’ with the thought of that he smiled at Bless and let him pass.
Once inside the big warehouse, Tess, Bless and Iris took in everything; where everybody was standing and exits. “Welcome, welcome,” Jose said from the middle of the room. Carlos and Ricardo were standing right by him and there were gunmen all around the place on the upper level. They were leaning over the rail with M16 rifle’s aimed at Bless, Tess, and Iris.
“Where is she?” Tess yelled.
Jose smiled and moved his fat body to the side to reveal Vanessa tied to a chair all weak and beaten up. Vanessa lifted her head, “I told you not to come!”
“I’ll never leave anyone on my team, Vanessa. You know that,” Tess replied.
“How touching,” Jose said, “Before I kill you, tell me why you killed my brother.”
Tess began to open her mouth to speak when Ricardo raised his Beretta 9mm. Jose grabbed Ricardo’s arm, “What are you doing? We’ll get to do that in due time.”
In those few seconds that Jose turned his head to talk to Ricardo, no one noticed Bless, Tess and Iris let flash grenades fall from their coats and roll over to Jose and his men. All of Jose’s men were too busy looking at Jose yell at Ricardo. Bless, Tess and Iris had shut their eyes tight. Carlos looked over at them and then Jose and Ricardo did the same.
“It’s too late to pray,” Jose said.
“Who said anything about praying,” Tess replied.
Carlos looked down and saw the black object on the floor by his feet, but it was too late. Boom! A loud explosion went off and bright light, as bright as the sun, filled the room blinding everyone in the warehouse, but Tess, Bless and Iris. And in one quick move their coats fell to the ground. Tess and Bless pulled out their AR15 and started spraying black Talon’s bullets into everything moving. Shots fired sent bodies twisting and jerking in place. Jose dove to the ground.
Damou and Tyler were outside making their way in with their soldiers. Damou let off shots from the Mac10 hitting the gunman at the front door. Damou made his way inside followed by the soldiers. Layla was giving cover with the sniper rifle blowing holes into Jose’s gunmen’s heads. It was an all out war.
Tess made her way to Vanessa who was on the floor. Tess untied her from the chair and passed her one of the 40 Cali handguns from her holster. Just then all hell broke loose FBI agents came out of nowhere rushing the warehouse, “Freeze, FBI put your hands up!”
Jose’s gunmen began shooting at the FEDs. FBI agents were everywhere shooting and killing whoever and whatever. Vanessa was moving cautiously keeping her eyes on Tito.
Jose was hiding behind Carlos, “Shit, we have to get out of here now,” Jose screamed.
Carlos looked and saw one of Tess’ soldiers aiming at him. Carlos ducked and the shot missed. Carlos squeezed the trigger of his 9mm. The bullet hit Tess’ soldier in the head. Carlos started heading to the side door of the warehouse with Jose following behind him. Tito took aim and let off three quick shots all hitting Jose in the back. Jose fell to the floor. Tito walked over to Jose’s body and aimed the nozzle of his gun at Jose’s head.
“I told you motherfucker. I’ll get you,” Tito heard the voice say in his ear as he felt the barrel of a gun on his head. Tito knew the voice belonged to Vanessa and knew he was dead. Vanessa squeezed the trigger of the gun and the hollow point bullet shredded his skull and sent his brain matter spraying everywhere.
Ricardo saw Tito’s head explode. Ricardo aimed and shot Vanessa in the back. Vanessa fell to the floor in pain. She was too weak to get up. Ricardo walked over to his brother’s body making sure he stayed low from all of the bullets that were flying everywhere. Ricardo looked down in surprise to see Jose was still alive.
“Help me, Ricardo, help me.” Ricardo looked down at his brother and raised his 45 revolver to his head. Jose’s eyes grew wide. “What are you doing,” Jose said.
“Taking over bro,” Boom! The shot tore a hole through Jose’s head. Carlos stopped shooting for a minute and looked back to find Jose. He looked around at all the exchanging gunfire, but he couldn’t believe his eyes. He had just seen Ricardo kill Jose. Carlos made his way to the hiding escape path behind the wall and ran for his life.
Damou knew he was outnumbered because of the FEDs. So, he pulled back and made a run for the projects with Tyler behind him. Most of their soldiers were dead or dying. “Freeze FBI,” an FBI agent was right in front of Damou and Tyler blocking their path to the projects. Damou pulled the trigger to his Mac11 rapid fire ripped through the agent’s face and body. Damou started to run to the lower eastside projects.
An FBI agent saw one of his partners go down by Damou’s gun. The agent aimed his Mp5 sub-machine gun and the bullets tore through Tyler’s back. Damou looked back and saw Tyler hit the ground. He knew he had to keep moving and ran even faster.
A burst of automatic fire was let off from Bless’ gun ripping through FBI agents and Jose’s men. He was clearing the way to the back door for him, Tess, and Iris to get away. Bless made it outside through the back door. He chased a gunman next to the rail of the Hudson River. His AR15 was out of ammo. He dropped the gun and pulled out his twin 45 desert eagle handguns from his holster and pulled the triggers. Bullets tore through the gunman’s face and body. Bless turned around to see Iris was behind him, “Where’s Tess?” Bless yelled.
“She’s coming. She went back to grab Vanessa,” Iris stated. “Why couldn’t you love me more than her?”
“What,” Bless replied.
Iris raised her Heckler 9mm and aimed it at his head. Bless was shocked and surprised at once, “What are you doing, Iris? We don’t have the time for this shit now.”
“Why the fuck you couldn’t love me? Was it because my father raped me and I was dirty in your eyes?” Iris yelled.
Bless now knew Iris was serious or went crazy. “Iris, what are you doing,” Bless said never taking his eyes off of the gun pointed at him.
Iris started to cry. “It was me who put the bomb in your car. It was me who killed Young because he was coming to close to the truth with the tape.”
“The truth?” Bless asked.
“The truth that I told Jose that it was Tess who killed Hector,” she replied.
“What?” Bless asked.
“Because I was hoping one of you would get killed and I could be with the other. Everything was all good when you were in jail. Tess loved me and then you came home. She wants to leave the game and me,” Iris yelled.
“Iris, Tess never loved you like that.” Bless stated.
“Yes, she did,” Iris yelled.
“So, you kill Young and try to blow me up for what?” Bless asked.
“For love,” Iris replied. “I want all of the love for myself and not have to share and if I can’t have you. I’ll have Tess.”
“Iris, you sound fucking crazy.” Bless said.
“You want to know how fucking crazy I am. I was the one who set Vanessa up and put the money in her house with the tracing device in it. I was the one who killed Lee last night and then shot you. I don’t know how you lived and I would have shot you in the head if Tess didn’t start shooting at me all crazy and shit, but I won’t make the same mistake twice.” Iris said.
Just then Bless raised his gun and let off four shots. Iris squeezed the trigger of her gun. The first bullet hit Bless in the head, the next in his neck, and two shots went to his chest making him fall back over the rail and he fell into the Hudson River. Iris looked at her body and was surprised none of Bless’s bullets hit her. She knew Bless’ aim was always on point. Shit, he taught her how to shoot. Iris looked behind to see one of Jose’s gun men on the ground moaning in pain. ‘Oh shit, he wasn’t even aiming at me. He just saved me but why?’ she thought.
Tess was holding Vanessa up and pulling her out of the back door. Tess saw Bless go over the rail, “Noooo,” she screamed.
Iris looked up and saw Tess and Vanessa at the back door of the warehouse and then she looked at the gunman on
the ground and thought quickly. She fired two shots into the gunman’s head.
Tess and Vanessa made their way over to Iris. Iris prayed they didn’t see everything. “What happened?” Tess yelled with tears in her eyes.
“One of Jose’s men killed Bless.” Iris replied.
“Nooo!” Tess started to cry hysterically.
“Listen, we have to go. The FEDs are all over the place,” Iris said while grabbing Tess and Vanessa and leading them to a manhole. They climbed into the tunnel and walked for eleven blocks and climbed back out. Outside on the street a white Cadillac Escalade was waiting for the three women to hop in.
“Pull off, Layla,” Tess said.
“Where’s Bless?” Layla asked but could tell by the tears in her mentor’s eyes what had happened.
“Just pull off,” Tess replied.
Layla did as she was told. In the truck all three women changed clothes. “Yo, the FEDs blocked the streets off for ten blocks just like you said,” Layla said. “Shit, is crazy on the lower eastside.” Layla pulled the truck over at 42nd street and all four women hopped out and headed for Penn Station. “What about the truck?” Layla asked.
“Someone will come and pick it up tonight. It’s all been planned out,” Tess said with tears in her eyes.
All four women got on a train heading to Atlanta, Georgia. Tess cried the whole ride there. Vanessa and Layla were sleeping after Tess stopped the bleeding and stitched up Vanessa’s bullet wound. The bullet only went through her shoulder from her back. Iris and Tess were still up for the train ride. “Iris, I never told him,” Tess said.
“You never told him what,” Iris replied.
The Pleasure of Pain Page 12
