Spot Rushers

by Brandon McCalla

  “How’s Gladys?” The dyke asked her cousin.

  Oh that’s her name. Rayne thought.

  “She’s fine.” Angel answered.

  Bernadette knew Angel was never a man who was short for words. She looked over at Rayne and saw that twinkle in her eyes. Bernadette laughed out loud.

  “Let me find out that you two are fucking each other.”

  “Not yet,” Rayne said with a sinister grin.

  “No, I got Gladys remember,” Angel said to his cousin.

  He seemed uncomfortable. Angel grabbed his coat from the booth. Rayne figured it was her cue. She tossed on her coat. It was November. There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground. From the window, Rayne saw that it was softly sprinkling white outside.

  “Bernadette, I wanna go see Sabrina,” she said again.

  “Tonight…?” Bernadette asked as if it was the worst idea.

  Rayne figured now was a better time than any. She looked at Angel. She wasn’t sure if he would drive them. Angel was easily swayed. He was way too nice. He called his woman up and told her that he was with his cousin Bernie. That seemed enough for the woman on the other side of the cell phone.

  “Okay,” he told Rayne and his cousin. “I’ll drive you two to wherever but I ain’t gonna stay for any length of time.”

  “That’s cool,” Rayne said with excitement. “I just wanna see my girl. I ain’t seen her in a long time. I don’t wanna be around where she’s at for long. I don’t wanna be like I was before, so I better not be around where I was.”

  It made sense. Bernadette gave Rayne a queer look. Some things haven’t changed. She wanted to ask her if she was still taking her medication. She didn’t dare ask that question in front of Angel.

  At around ten that night, they left the sports bar hopped inside the BMW and drove out to Brooklyn. They were headed to the place where the Fatal Four was spawned. Rayne began reminiscing on Dora Dean.

  fourteen

  In the beginning it was Sabrina and Rayne. Trevor was pimping women and had some dope, crack and weed on the streets. He was a very successful drug dealer initially. Trevor was getting more money from prostitution than crack and dope combined. Soon the money started slowing down and wasn’t enough for Sabrina, Rayne and Trevor to live off.

  Trevor had a hot car, a great drug connect and two women who shared him and were willing to die for him. Rayne was always out in the hood with him helping him with his drug situation. Sabrina didn’t care about that sort of thing. She was concerned about Trevor’s affairs with the women he pimped. The unwritten rule was that Trevor, Sabrina and Rayne were together.

  When Dora came to Trevor she didn’t have anything. Her boyfriend had recently gotten killed. Dora’s man had inadvertently gotten her involved in a caper that resulted in her getting kidnapped, beaten and repeatedly raped.

  As soon as Rayne and Sabrina met Dora Dean and Bernadette they allowed them to make a square of their triangle.

  Bernadette lived a block from where Trevor plied his trade. She was a dyke with a heavy reputation. She was selling drugs for Dora’s man before he was murdered. When he died she linked up with Trevor. The Fatal Four was born.

  Sabrina, Rayne, Bernadette and Dora Dean were the tightest unit. Trevor was the general behind this gangstress army. Every time Trevor had a problem with a local drug dealer or some pimp trying to muscle in on of his ho’s, the girls were there to hold him down.

  Bernadette was big and strong enough to fight a man one on one. Sabrina was always walking around with one of Trevor’s guns. She was trigger happy. Rayne was the worst of them. Once Rayne got started it was hard to stop her. Rayne was always making things bloody. Dora rarely engaged in the physical stuff. Dora’s job was to make sure Rayne didn’t start spitting razors.

  Between 1992 and 94, things were booming for Trevor. Then his drug campaign went completely downhill. He’d never been arrested. Trevor was too slick for the cops and detectives who were always roaming. However, he couldn’t outsmart the FBI.

  Bernadette, Sabrina and Rayne were always getting arrested. Soon Trevor had no choice but to think about doing something else. Federal agents moved in on his prostitution strip and shut it down. Even with his army of hardboiled bitches, Trevor wasn’t able to compete with a lot of other drug dealers in the area.

  Sabrina and Bernadette initiated the idea to rush a rival dealer’s spot. Trevor was against the plan because the dealer was connected. Trevor was running out of money, he had no bitches on the stroll and his drug connect abandoned him. Robbing drug dealers didn’t seem like a bad prospect anymore. He had nothing but his girls who stood by him.

  Dora volunteered her body. She let their first victim fuck her in order to gain his trust. Soon Dora was whipping the dealer’s chromed-out Navigator.

  Dora was irresistible. She was the reason Trevor had gotten a hole in his head. After falling for her seductiveness, Trevor wanted her sexually even as she tried to push him away. He treated the Fatal Four as if they were his property. That was a deadly mistake. He should have just left things like they were. Rayne’s mind grappled with how it all went down. One thing was for sure, Sabrina and Rayne shared something that went beyond even Trevor. Sabrina unexpectedly put a bullet in Trevor’s head.

  Old memories flickered inside Rayne’s brain like reels of old short films. The past made her nervous. She looked outside and realized that Angel had stopped where they used to hustle. Immediately she spotted Sabrina. It was snowing and frigid outside. The cold was not a hindrance to people hustling out on the block.

  The hookers’ strip was two blocks away. Sabrina obviously was on her grind. Rayne saw what could only be crack heads doing a hand to hand exchange with a young chick. When the crack heads walked off she walked to where Sabrina stood like an Amazon in the hood.

  A lot of people were crowded around her outside a twenty-four hour deli. Clearly she was the shot caller. Adorned in an expensive looking leather jacket laced with fur, Sabrina attempted to hide her face behind sun glasses and a hoodie.

  “Wait in the car,” both Rayne and Bernadette said simultaneously to Angel.

  They both looked at each other keenly knowing the area wasn’t a place for Angel.

  “Let’s see if Sabrina wants to go some place less grimy,” Bernadette said as they hopped out the car.

  “Grimy…? This your old hood.” Rayne laughed.

  “The key word is old Rayne; I ain’t into this street shit anymore.”

  There was no need for Rayne to say anything additional. Bernadette was right, she figured. Rayne wasn’t quite sure about the sort of shit she was still into.

  fifteen

  She eyed them keenly as they walked across the street towards her. Sabrina was very street wise and cautious. She was surprised to see Bernadette in the neighborhood, especially at this time. Sabrina hadn’t seen much of Bernadette once they were released from prison. They had suffered serious injuries. Sabrina had lived with her mother just long enough to recover. She had nothing else to do but go back to the streets. Another hustler was posted up at the corner Trevor and the girls used to own. He was a small drug dealing hoodlum who had come up while they were serving time.

  Sabrina quickly got involved with him and slowly housed the streets right from under his nose. Sabrina was gangstress extraordinaire and still riding with the rep Trevor and her had made back in 1994. They were officially disbanded and out of commission but no one had forgotten the Fatal Four. Everyone heard about what went down in Philly. No one was sure what really happened. Most assumed Sabrina played a major role.

  She lowered the hood on her jacket and got a better look at her girls. Sabrina smiled. Rayne was wearing a nice leather coat and her boots looked spanking new.

  Despite the clothes, Sabrina could easily see that Rayne had gained weight. She knew Rayne inside and out. Rayne was the closest thing she’d ever had to a sister. Rayne also had given her the reason to be angry at the whole damn world and made her ugly.

&
nbsp; Sabrina subconsciously reached, touched the scar on her face. Her fingers traced the long scar and stopped. She silently chastised herself for doing that. Rayne wore the biggest smile. Sabrina frowned and hastily walked over to Rayne and Bernadette.

  “When did they let you out of the funny farm?” She asked still frowning. “The people in the nut house must be crazy if they let your crazy ass out.”

  Sabrina was the only one who could call Rayne out her name without being knifed. Rayne laughed a bit then gave Sabrina a frown of her own before speaking.

  “You were a silly ass bitch for taking the rap. They had no case.”

  “Hold up bitch. You weren’t supposed to be in the crazy house for as long as you was. I heard that you beat a bitch half to death and was fighting faculty. I didn’t take the rap so you could just wind up serving a year anyway.” Sabrina laughed when she saw the change on Rayne’s face. “That’s right I’ve been keeping track of you. I knew they were letting you out this week. I was wondering when you was gonna come back to the hood.”

  “You should have paid me a visit or written,” Rayne said.

  “Nah, you know the rules and besides I think the feds were keeping an eye on us.” Sabrina hugged both Rayne and Bernadette. They huddled like they used to, except Dora Dean wasn’t there. Now it was a triangle. Sabrina whispered, “They found Trevor’s body.”

  Rayne was shocked. They had found Trevor’s remains after all these years. Sabrina moved away from them when she saw one of her drug dealing associates walking over. She met the girl halfway and spoke to her. The girl walked off taking half the people standing on the corner with her.

  “We gotta go somewhere and talk,” Sabrina suggested.

  “Good, let’s go somewhere far from here,” Bernadette added.

  “Who is that in the BMW?” Sabrina asked sounding suspicious.

  “My cousin Angel,” Bernadette answered. “He’s cool.”

  “Think he’ll drive us to my place?” Sabrina asked.

  Sabrina called a shabby house in Brownsville her home. She shared the place with a rapper with demo tapes and a dream. He worked but wasn’t bringing in the type of money Sabrina did. They pulled up to the house and Rayne told them that she would meet them inside. She sat without saying anything for a long time. Angel was staring anxiously at her. She coolly examined him. Finally, Angel broke the silence.

  “You’re connected with your friends again,” he said.

  “Yeah, it feels good being with them. We are so different now. I don’t know what the future holds for us.”

  Angel laughed. “Well, you should think about your life and future first.”

  Rayne looked deep into his soft brown eyes. She knew he wasn’t lying.

  “Kiss me Angel,” she whispered hoarsely.

  Angel seemed shocked. He took the longest time to respond.

  “Listen Rayne,” he began.

  Angel reached for the hand closest to him. Rayne guided his hand to her face and rubbed it on her cheek. Rayne moved in. Angel met her halfway. He froze and Rayne kissed him lightly on his lips.

  “I got Gladys. I love her Rayne. It was nice seeing you,” he said.

  “It was nice seeing you too Angel. I want more from you,” Rayne said and attempted to kiss Angel again. This time he kissed her back. “I wanna see you tomorrow night. I’m gonna get a hotel and stay there until I’m out of money.”

  Rayne knew her sister was leaving the following night. She didn’t want to live with Riley and her husband in Florida. She had her girls. She knew Sabrina and Bernadette would take care of her and help her get her life in order. She just didn’t know which way her life was going.

  “If you call me tomorrow, I’ll know you wanna be with me, and you’ll come over. We’ll have a good time and that will be that. I can make you feel real good.”

  “I bet you can,” Angel smiled.

  Rayne hopped out the BMW and shut the door. It was still snowing. Sabrina had left the door unlocked. She walked inside thinking about whether Angel would call her and wondering if she was doing the right thing. Angel had a woman and was fixing to get married. Tomorrow she’d find out if he wanted some of her or not.

  sixteen

  The Fatal Four loved catching their victims off guard. The second spot rush they did, the mark was a Harlem big timer. Rayne was stripping at the time. She gave a lap dance to a man with so much gold, platinum and diamonds, Rayne just knew they had to get him.

  This was a spur of the moment job that didn’t involved Trevor. A week later, Dora Dean accompanied Rayne to the strip club. Money Making Earl always came to the club on Fridays. Dora went to the strip club and sat at the bar. Rayne description of the unsuspecting mark was on the money.

  Dora pretended to be a stripper just finished with her set. She told Earl everything he wanted to hear and she asked the right questions. By the time his hand was in her panties, he had told her all she needed to know. He bragged about what he had, displaying a fat knot of dough. Dora worked the seduction for his knot. Luring him with the name of a fake escort service, she promised to make him feel real good for three hundred dollars. He took her home. On the way she reeled him in with a sob story about being homeless. Money Making Earl was hooked thinking Dora was the victim. It was the other way around.

  He drove a Lexus coupe. They knew the type of car he drove and where he lived. Sabrina tailed him home in Trevor’s car a few days before. When he took Dora to his place, they didn’t even have to follow him. Sabrina, Bernadette and Rayne were already parked across the street from his apartment building.

  Rayne told Dora to make sure he had plenty to drink while he was at the club and not let him take a piss. Money Making Earl ran to the bathroom as soon as he entered his apartment.

  “Come out and show me what you got, baby,” she said and then placed a call to her girls.

  She confirmed that he lived alone in whisper and unlocked the door. Sabrina and Bernadette were able to enter with no problems. He returned with his pants down and dick out, just what Dora wanted. He was expecting to find her butt naked on his bed but found two people at the bathroom door greeting him with guns and masks.

  Dora shrieked and ran out the door. She joined Rayne who was downstairs waiting in the car. Sabrina and Bernadette forced Earl to give them everything that was worth something. The items included jewelry, cash, a laptop computer and a bottle of expensive champagne they found in the refrigerator. Then they tied him up to a chair, pistol-whipped him senseless and scrambled downstairs to the car and drove off.

  “Oh yes!” Rayne shouted when she saw Sabrina rolling up. It was one of two things she craved at the moment. She sat next to Bernadette on a sofa in the living room. Sabrina sparked the blunt and took some pulls before passing it to Bernadette. Just smelling the weed made Rayne moist and horny.

  “What were you saying about Trevor?” Bernadette asked after passing the blunt to Rayne.

  “They found his body in that garbage dump we buried him in.” Sabrina began. “I guess they are doing an investigation. They came up on the Ave and started asking questions. People must’ve snitched that we was always seen with him because when the agents asked me questions they mentioned you, Dora and Rayne.”

  “Agents…?” Rayne asked before passing the blunt to Sabrina. “As in FBI agents…?”

  “Yeah bitch. The heat is on. We did our thing real smooth. They ain’t come back again but you never know.”

  “Damn!” Bernadette said.

  “What now, girls…? Are we together again or what?” Sabrina asked.

  Bernadette immediately shook her head. Rayne shrugged her shoulders.

  “I don’t know where I am right now. All I know is that I don’t wanna go to jail and I need to start thinking about my future. I gotta get a job or something.” Rayne said.

  “You ain’t gotta get a job, bitch. I got you. I got the hood locked down. Come work with me and we can get back to doing what we do best.” Sabrina was looking at Rayne but
then leered at Bernadette. “You acting like you finished with us.”

  “I’m not finished with y’all. You’re my girls for life. I’m just through with all the street shit. I’m done Sabrina. I just wanna move on.” Bernadette was wearing the most serious look she could muster.

  “We got unfinished business to take care of,” Sabrina said looking at Rayne. “We gotta get at Steve Stunner.”

  Bernadette laughed in Sabrina’s face. Rayne was hogging the weed. She eventually passed the blunt to Sabrina. Rayne’s head was spinning with delight. She was high and loving the feel. She watched Bernadette and Sabrina’s silent standoff.

  “We don’t gotta get at nobody. What we gotta do is move on,” Bernadette worded.

  “Nah bitch,” Sabrina snapped before inhaling the blunt. She exhaled and then rose from her perch on the loveseat. “I ain’t gonna let him get away with what he did to our girl and neither are you. It’s us and we gonna go back to Philly, find that nigga and smoke his ass. Pure and simple,” Sabrina smiled, assuming things were finalized.

  Bernadette got up off the couch and stood face to face with Sabrina.

  “You and Rayne can do what y’all want but I’m finished,” Bernadette said reaching for her coat. “I’m leaving.”

  “Nah bitch,” Sabrina barked, grabbing her arm before Bernadette could take the first step. “You ain’t finished. Once you’re in, only death can take you out.”

  Bernadette shook off Sabrina. “Listen to yourself. Grow up Sabrina. The Fatal Four is dead…died right along with Dora Dean, died when you shot Trevor in the head.”

  Bernadette had her fists balled up. Sabrina seemed ready to throw a punch at any moment.

  “Everyone needs to just relax,” Rayne said to both of them. She got up off the couch and got between the two of them. “I wanna get at Steve Stunner. I wanna kill him for what he did to Dora. I ain’t sure if I wanna live the life I was living before though.” Rayne focused on Sabrina. “We can’t spend the rest of our lives robbing drug dealers and shit. I wanna get more out of life. I don’t know what I wanna do but I know I don’t wanna wind up back in jail. And I don’t wanna get shot at.”