by Dutch
“Boy, I know you heard me fu—”
That’s all Brah got out, because Ty shoved Hardy through the door and into Brah. The woman screamed on the bed.
“Nigguh, get down!” Ty barked, but the trailer was dark, so Ty’s eyes had to adjust.
Brah was already adjusted. He had done twenty years sleeping with one eye open, so although the attack was sudden, Brah reacted on instinct. He shoved Taveres to the side and at the same time launched an overhand right square into Ty’s nose.
Ty grunted and staggered; firing a shot wildly. As his arms flailed, he grabbed Brah’s arm just as another punishing blow struck his temple. He raised the gun and fired.
Boom!
He felt Brah’s body jerk out of his grip so he fired again.
Boom!
Ty heard a body slump to the floor. He felt along the wall until he felt the light switch and turned on the light. Young Hardy was gone! But that thought took a backseat to what he saw on the bed. His mother was sitting up on the bed, butt naked, with a gun pointed directly at him!
Chapter 13
Kev sat a block down from Hardy’s house waiting for the twins. His phone rang. He looked at the number and smiled. It was Banks.
“Yo,” Kev spoke into the phone.
“The nigguh had a change of heart, dawg. I think the nigguh feelin’ like he over his head. He ain’t tryin’ to war wit’ y’all nigguhs,” Banks explained.
Kev smirked and nodded. He knew the young crew wasn’t ready to war with the Simmons.
“But, yo,” Banks continued, just like Vee had instructed him, “this shit done went too far. The nigguh know you ain’t tryin’ to talk after he tried to hit yo’ pops.”
Kev sat straight up in his seat.
“He what?! Muhfucka, why you ain’t tell me that before??” Kev barked. He had known all along it was Vee and now he had his confirmation. All doubt was gone and now he tasted blood.
“I ain’t know, Kev, I swear. The nigguh knew we wasn’t wit’ that shit. Now Mike and Rome, yo… they feelin’ like Vee the cause of all this drama!”
“And?” Kev gritted.
“And… word, dawg, I’ll get at the nigguh myself. Motherfuckin’ Mike and Rome wit’ me, but they want a spot too when it’s all done.”
Kev nodded. “No doubt, no doubt. They ride wit’ you then they ride with you,” Kev said, thinking, a ride in a hearse!
“Aw-iight cool. Gimme fifty stacks and the nigguh good as dead,” Banks lied convincingly.
“Fifty?! That ain’t shit, yo! You about to see millions,” Kev gassed him up, “What the fuck is fifty cent?”
“I feel you my nigguh… but, yo, that’s my price. I need fifty grand to make this move and you wanna get at Vee. Fair exchange ain’t no robbery,” Banks concluded.
Kev thought about it. He had to have Vee. A plan came to his mind that made him smile. “Okay, Banks, I’m cool wit’ that.”
“When can you get that?”
“Get it, nigguh, I got it!” Kev boasted. “Nigguh, that’s wifey money.” He laughed.
“Then it’s whenever,” Banks assured him.
“The sooner the better.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Kev looked at his watch. “Gimme an hour and I’m a hit you back.”
“One.”
Click.
Kev gripped the phone tightly. He was gonna get Vee one way or another.
“Tyquan?!” Debra gasped, dropping the gun and grabbing the sheet to cover her naked body.
Ty felt sick but his mind said find Hardy. While he and Brah were tussling, Hardy had crawled away. Ty took off through the trailer to find the back door wide open. He checked the back bedroom and bathroom to make sure the nigguh wasn’t hiding. He went back to the back door and looked out into the pitch black woods.
“Fuck!” he yelled then went back up front. His mother had the sheet wrapped around her, kneeling over Brah. She looked up at Ty.
“He’s dead.”
“Ma, you fuckin’ this nigguh?! What the fuck is goin’ on???!” Ty barked, not believing what he was seeing.
“Tyquan, who was that that came in with you? Was it Kevin?” Debra asked nervously, jumping up and looking for her clothes.
Ty grabbed her arm and made her turn to him. “Ma, how you fuckin’ this nigguh?! What the fuck is goin’ on?!” Ty repeated exasperatedly.
“You-you wouldn’t understand.”
“Make me!” he demanded. His phone ran but he ignored it.
Debra slipped into her skirt, still wearing the sheet draped around her. “Ty, I’ll explain later. But we have to get out of here, okay? We have to go!” she urged him.
“Ma, we ain’t goin’ nowhere until you tell me what you doin’ in bed with the motherfucka that shot my father!” Ty barked. His phone rang again, this time he answered it. “Yeah.”
“We good, Cuzzo?” Brooklyn asked.
“Yeah.”
Click.
Debra got fully dressed then stepped into her shoes.
Ty stepped closer to her and hissed, “You gonna explain what you doin’ here wit’ this nigguh, or is it just once a ho always a ho?”
Debra’s eyes were ablaze as she hauled off and slapped the shit outta Ty. “Nigguh, whatever I do, you gonna respect me! Do you hear me?!” Debra stated firmly.
Ty felt bad about calling his mother a ho, but he couldn’t understand what she could possibly be doing there.
“You want to know what’s going on?! Do you?! You think you ready to know about this family for real?!” Debra probed, looking her son in the eyes. “Yes, it was Brah who shot Guy… because I set it up.”
“You what?!” Ty exclaimed. The words hit him like a sledgehammer and sat him down on the fold-out bed his mother had just got caught fucking on.
Debra kneeled in front of her son and caressed his face. “Baby, you don’t understand what’s goin’ on. I-I did it for us, for you! It was the only way.”
Ty snatched away and stood up. “How the fuck you sound, you did it for me?? You did it for him!!” Ty accused, pointing his finger at Brah. “You let that nigguh get in your head and mind-fuck you, just like he did when you was his—” Ty stopped talking and turned away. Debra stood up.
“Go ‘head and say it. Say it, Tyquan. When I was his whore. Isn’t that what you were going to say? No, baby, you definitely got it wrong.”
“Then tell me why, Ma?? Fuck all this you did it for me! Tell me why?!” Ty wanted to know.
“Guy… Guy was talkin’ about retirin’… about fallin’ back. He said he was tired of the game and he was plannin’ on turnin’ everything over to Kevin,” Debra explained.
Ty listened as she continued.
“You and I both know if that happened, Kev would push you back, push you out. Make you a peon in this family because Kevin is jealous of you. He’s always been jealous, just like Gloria is of me,” Debra told him taking a deep breath. “But with Guy gone, with everything up in the air then Kevin couldn’t push you out, because they all know who should be the head of the family! You!”
“But, Ma, you ain’t have to kill Pop. Why couldn’t I just talk to him? He know what’s goin’ on between me and Kev,” Ty offered.
Debra’s eyes welled up and she dropped her head. “Guy… Guy would never choose you over Kevin.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Debra looked at her son with a tear streaked face. “Because Guy isn’t your father… Brah was.”
Vee, Mike G, Rome and Banks rode to Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. The sounds of Tupac’s “Hail Mary” blared through the speakers of the late model Lincoln Mike G was driving. Rome was in the passenger seat while Vee and Banks were in the backseat.
Vee eyed Banks with the .40 caliber in his lap. His finger itched to pull the trigger on Banks’ rat ass. To Vee, the worst thing in the game was a rat ass nigguh, and what made it worse is that Vee had embraced the nigguh for so many years.
“Yo, Vee, p
lease, man. We ain’t gotta do it like this,” Banks pleaded. “I-I know I fucked up but this me, dawg, Banks. I been there for you, dawg! When nigguhs tried to kill you in Charlotte, I laid ‘em down! That gotta count for something’!”
Vee nodded. “You right, B. It do… I tell you what… bring Rico and Pappy back. If you can do that then I’ll call it even,” Vee said in deadpan tone.
“Man, you did it too,” Banks mumbled.
“What you say?”
“I said you did it too, man!” Banks repeated firmly. He felt like he had nothing to lose, so he wanted to get off his chest what had been there for so long. “Yeah, Kev promised to put me on if I turned against you, but you did the same thing to Ty! Remember? He put you on and what did you do? You cut his throat and turned on him!”
Vee couldn’t deny the truthfulness of Banks’ words, but he wasn’t hearing it. “Motherfucka, what I did was for my people, for us! What you did was turn on us for a motherfucka that don’t even give a fuck about you. Ain’t no comparin’ the two!” Vee huffed.
“Wasn’t Ty yo’ peoples then, too?”
Vee smiled. “It took you to be dyin’ like a lil’ bitch to talk like a man, huh? I’m glad to see you got some heart left. Save it for Kev when you walk up and blow his brains out… then your own, next.”
Ty almost felt breathless. Like his whole world was turning upside down and topsy-turvy. “You lyin’!” he blurted. “You lyin’!”
“No, Ty, I’m not,” Debra replied softly as she came over to Ty. “Brah Hardy was your father. Guy… Guy knew it because I was a few weeks pregnant when I finally left Brah. I can’t lie; I respect Guy for taking you in and treatin’ you like his own. He never denied you, but that was the only thing he would never give you… the right to run the family.”
Ty couldn’t believe all that he was hearing. Until Hawk Bill had mentioned it, he had never even heard the name Brah Hardy. His mother had never even hinted that Guy wasn’t his father. Ty decided right then it didn’t matter. Guy would always be his daddy even if he wasn’t his seed. It renewed his respect for Guy, knowing he raised another man’s child and the fact the other man was his enemy.
“What you saw… tonight… was just a part of the game, Ty. My game. I used Brah to kill your father. I had been writing him the last year, getting in his head. I told him about you, told him if Guy was gone, then his son would be head of the family! Brah couldn’t resist having a Hardy run the Simmons organization and he went for it. Once Guy was dead, I intended on telling Kev who killed Guy, knowing he’d handle it and eliminate any connection to me,” Debra explained meticulously.
Ty shook his head at how scandalous his mother was. “You’ll use anybody… including your own son.”
“We’ve all been used in this world, Tyquan. But a woman’ll do what she has to in order to protect her own. Guy was going to rely on Kev’s sense of family to keep you in the mix, but once Guy’s back was turned… we’d be out in the cold… you know that,” Debra replied.
“You got it all figured out, huh?” Ty said. “But what happens if Pop don’t die?”
Debra had thought of that scenario before, and the consequences chilled her to the bone.
Kev and Asia drove toward the meeting place in silence. They were heading to Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. Behind them was Brooklyn and Kev’s lieutenant, Dino. He had tried to call Ty several times but it went straight to voice mail. So he headed for the usual meeting place. Banks always chose well populated places to talk. Kev waited patiently, but inside, his inner beast was rattling the cage, roaring to be released.
Banks walked through the parking lot feeling Vee’s eyes on him the whole way. He hated the look Vee got in his eyes when he was mad, because they resembled a cobra’s before it struck—hooded and slit tight. He also knew Vee fucked with roots, so he always felt leery of crossing him. But the deal Kev had thrown at him was too good to turn down. Finally, he’d be the man!
Yeah, he felt a way about crossing his childhood friends, but at the end of the day, what they ate didn’t make him shit… literally. He wanted a bigger piece of the pie, fuck that, he wanted his own pie so he could devour it unsliced. Just like any other man wants, except few are willing to do what it takes to get it. But Banks was, even if it was paid for in blood. Now the deal was in ruins and the ultimate price was his blood.
Vee had told Banks his mission. “Kill Kev then kill yourself.” If he didn’t, his mother, father, grandmother and little sister would be murdered. The Wolf Pack’s shooters were at the house as he walked. He had heard them pleading on the phone so he knew it wasn’t a game.
But Banks had other plans. There was no way he was going to pull the trigger on Kev, let alone himself. Kev was his lifeline to a jump-off somewhere else. Maybe he’d go to Milwaukee or Minnesota. Somewhere he could put his game down, but far enough from the Wolf Park. He’d take the fifty grand Kev had for him and bounce. He had two hundred grand at the crib but he knew he couldn’t go get it. He was out with just the clothes on his back. As for his family, that was in God’s hands, he thought, but deep down inside he thought better them than me.
Banks sighed, ready to get the shit over with.
Debra’s car was in the back of the trailer, which is why Ty didn’t see it. He walked her to it then went back inside and torched the place. His eyes scanned the woods hoping to see a sign of young Hardy. He knew the young boy would be a problem, one they’d have to make a priority of handling. The little nigguh was a soldier and they had murdered his family. He wouldn’t just go away.
At the same time, he thought about all his mother had said. He now knew who had shot his father, but instead of laying them to rest, he switched all the way around to protecting them. No matter how scandalous Debra was, she was his mother. He couldn’t let anyone know the truth.
“What about the girl that was with Pops?” Ty had asked.
Debra sucked her teeth. “The bitch nutted up once Brah laid down the bodyguards, she was supposed to shoot Guy in the head. Dumb bitch dropped the gun.”
“Who was she?”
Debra took a deep breath. “Some young bitch Brah recruited.
“And now Brah’s dead,” Ty reminded her.
“I didn’t plan on you happenin’, Ty,” Debra replied sourly.
Ty had to find that chick. He felt like he was now his mother’s accomplice, but if anyone found the girl then his mother would be exposed. As he drove, he turned his phone back on and called Kev.
“Kev.”
“What up, lil’ brah?” Kev asked, not knowing the new meaning the words “lil’ brah” now held for Ty. “Dig, Banks spilled the beans! I told you it was fuckin’ Vee!” he announced..
“Word?” Ty replied. He now knew the truth, but there was no way he’d tell Kev.
“We movin’ on the nigguh now.”
“Where?”
“Crabtree upper parking lot.”
“I’m there,” Ty assured him.
He knew Vee didn’t do it, but shit had gone too far. Besides, the Wolf Pack would make the perfect scapegoat. Ty pressed the gas and headed to the mall.
Chapter 14
A light drizzle had begun to fall on Banks as he walked. He could see Kev leaning against a car three rows ahead. Banks gripped the pistol tight as he neared Kev.
Kev saw Banks as well. “Here he come,” he spoke into his Bluetooth.
Vee, Rome and Mike G were a few rows back from Banks and several cars apart, ready to blaze. They squat-walked from car to car, peeping up every few seconds.
Banks came up on Kev, looked around and whispered, “Vee came to kill you! I couldn’t turn you, but you gotta hold me down!”
Kev handed him car keys. “See that blue Camry behind me?”
Banks nodded.
“The fifty is in the trunk. If Vee gets away, you handle your B.I., aw-iight?” Kev instructed him. He had anticipated Vee’s presence, so he had a plan a, b and c.
“I got you, Kev,” Banks assured
him.
“This bitch-ass nigguh don’t even care about his own grandma,” Vee mumbled to himself, seeing Banks jog away from Kev. Banks knew his family was at stake, yet he chose to save his own ass.
Vee rose up and fired at Kev, barely missing him and shattering the back window of the car he was leaning on. From there, bullets rained. Shoppers caught in the midst screamed and scurried for cover. Asia and Dino came out of their hiding spots at the same time Mike G and Rome stood up to hold Vee down.
Kev was in a zone. All he tasted was revenge. With every shot he tried to get closer to Vee, while Vee honed in on him as well.
Dino was the first to fall, because he misjudged Rome’s position. Rome was in the cut when Dino tried to cross the no man’s land from one row to another. Rome aimed and caught Dino in the back of the knee, dropping him, then ran up putting three in his dome. By the time Kev squeezed off two in Rome’s direction, he had dashed to safety.
“Don’t shoot, please!” one of the women screamed, huddled by the dumpster. She was an elderly white woman.
Mike G had caught movement out of the corner of his eye and had swung his hammer in that direction. Seeing it was two women, he sucked his teeth like, “then stay the fuck outta my way.” He turned to walk away, when he heard, “Psst!” He turned around to find the second woman huddled up was a young, black girl… with a gun.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Asia’s .45 lifted Mike G off his feet and he was dead before he hit the ground. Asia got up and ran off, leaving the old woman trembling in shock.
Ty pulled into the area just as Asia passed by the hood of his car. The sound of gunfire filled the air, and he wasted no time getting in the mix.
Banks wanted only one thing—to get away. He stayed low, moving when he could, trying to get to the blue Camry. He finally reached it and sighed with relief when he slid inside and started it up.
“Thought you got away??” was all he heard.
