Dark Town Redemption

by Gary Hardwick

  Robert got some of the garbage cans and blocked the view from the street while he waited. He crouched there listening to the couple moan and curse. He tried not to think about Linda but it was all he could think of.

  He entertained more fantasies of having sex with the young girl. He saw her taking him to bed, lying down and that wonderful moment when a woman first surrenders her precious gift to your power.

  The couple’s moans reached a crescendo and soon they were done. Robert moved back to the window and peeked inside. He saw the covers fall away revealing a naked Vince. Next to him, was a White woman.

  She was about thirty or so and had dark hair. Something flashed in the dull light and Robert saw that she wore a huge wedding ring.

  Robert remembered what Yusef had told him about compromising White women. Now Vince’s actions made sense. Unless that woman was with the FBI, Vince was just covering up the affair.

  Robert waited a while longer and saw the woman give Vince some money. When they started to make love again, he moved off, taking the garbage cans away so as not to make Vince suspicious when he came out.

  Robert went back to his car, careful not to attract too much attention in the White neighborhood. He thought about Marcus and how darkness had caught him on his way home.

  Suddenly, he hated White people and all of their shit. The simple act of walking from one place to another was a life-threatening action because of them. They truly were the devils the Black Muslims said they were.

  When Robert got to the safehouse, he found Yusef gone. Robert asked where he was and was told Yusef was at a local park. He found Yusef there watching a kids’ game of baseball.

  Robert got his attention and then he and Yusef moved off by themselves. Robert told Yusef about Vince and Yusef just laughed.

  “Was she a good looking White bitch?” asked Yusef.

  “I didn’t get that good a look,” said Robert. “I saw she had on a wedding ring, though.”

  Yusef laughed again showing his perfect teeth. “Man I love it. Some White oppressor is going to bed with that bitch every night not knowing that he’s following a Black dick.”

  “Thing is,” said Robert, “I didn’t find nothing suspicious on that other thing.”

  “Yeah,” said Yusef, “so now I really don’t know what the fuck is going on. If it ain’t Vince, then who?”

  “What about Bohan?” asked Robert. “He’s all militant and shit but there’s something about him I don’t trust, almost like he’s working too hard, you know.”

  Yusef’s face darkened. “Look man,” said Yusef. “I’m gonna tell you something because I trust you but I don’t want you to judge, okay?”

  “Judge Bohan or you?” asked Robert

  “Either one of us,” said Yusef.

  “Okay,” said Robert. “You got my word.”

  “Bohan’s a punk,” said Yusef. “That’s what you sense from him, why he tries too hard. He’s a faggot.”

  Robert didn’t know what to think about this. He didn’t see any signs that Bohan was a sissy but he had to take the information on its face.

  “How do you know?” asked Robert.

  “I busted him,” said Yusef. “I got suspicious of him when I did a check. My friends in Chi Town told me he was suspect, so I confronted him and he copped to it.”

  “What did he say?” asked Robert.

  “He denied it at first and then he just said that he struggled with his sexuality sometimes,” said Yusef. “I had a decision to make. The brothers ain’t too keen on that shit, you know. They feel like any man who gets down like that is weak and can be turned. So, I let him stay but I told him that if he was found out, that I’d have to let him go. He’s a good brother and a strong leader. I don’t really care where a man puts his dick as long as he’s loyal.”

  “If you cool with him, then I am too,” said Robert. “I just never thought he was like that.”

  “You can’t tell these days,” said Yusef. “Faggots are some of the most manly muthafuckas I ever met, especially the Black ones.

  Yusef thought for a second, then “The sooner I find this rat, the sooner I can tell everybody about my plan to put us on the map.”

  “What you gonna do if you find the mole?” asked Robert.

  “Kill him,” said Yusef. “Same as the White man does for treason.”

  Robert left Yusef and went to visit Denise but called first so that Abraham would be warned. He made the trek across town and found both his mother and father gone. He wondered for a moment if Theresa was avoiding him as well.

  He and Denise had pleasant conversation over some cold chicken and then the talk got serious as it usually did.

  “I’m not coming to live with you, Bobby,” said Denise. “Stop asking.”

  “If I stopped, you’d think I didn’t love you anymore,” said Robert.

  Denise didn’t respond she just tore into a chicken thigh and washed it down with a Faygo pop.

  “I know you think I’m doing what I’m doing for myself,” said Robert but I’m not. I mean I am messed up about my part in Marcus’ death but there’s more to it. I don’t want my son growing up and getting lynched because he looked at a White woman or was in the wrong part of town. I don’t want my daughter raped just because some White man got a notion. I’m making this world better for our baby, can’t you see that?”

  “No,” said Denise quickly. “I don’t see it. All I see is a man obsessed with a ghost and regrets he can’t do anything about. The world ain’t yours to save, Robert Jackson. Come back home, get a job and raise your baby; that will make the future much better than anything you can do out there in the street.”

  Robert just shook his head. She didn’t get it. Denise was like most women, only concerned about their own safety, their own little piece of the world through a man’s effort.

  “This revolution is bigger than you know, Denise. This whole country is going to fall. White folks are tearing themselves apart and when it all comes down, you gonna see I was right and I had to do what I’m doing.”

  Denise fell silent and continued to eat her chicken. Robert got up and kissed her on the forehead and rubbed her belly. He pronounced his love for her again.

  “I’ll be around,” he said. And then he told her where he was living and not to tell anyone.

  Robert left his former home and had a sense of sadness as he always did. The little apartment where he lived now was a house but certainly no home. But he didn’t head there. He had one piece of unfinished business today.

  He headed downtown and went to Cadillac Square. There, he waited until a plump Black woman of about forty or so walked up and sat next to him.

  “You late,” said Robert.

  “I got a job,” said the woman. “Anyway, it takes time to do what you wanted. I had to get by a lot of people. These things is secret, you know.”

  She just looked at Robert and then he remembered. “Oh,” he said, “here.” He handed her some money.

  The woman counted it and then she reached in her purse and handed Robert a manila envelope.

  “How’s the fight going?” asked the woman.

  “Good,” said Robert. “I appreciate this.”

  “Don’t know why you care so much about this one,” said the woman. “He’s pathetic if you ask me.”

  “I got my reasons.”

  “Okay,” said the woman. “It’s been a pleasure.” She got up and turned and walked off.

  “Thanks,” Robert called behind her.

  After the woman was gone Robert opened the envelope and lifted the first document, the draft records of Thomas Riley.

  23

  GRAND BOULEVARD

  “I wanted you to know that I’m not coming back,” said Sarah, as they walked along. “I know you’ve been hoping I would, but I’m just not sure about it.”

  The flat, almost business-like quality of her tone hit Thomas hard. Sarah had agreed to meet him in the shopping district on Grand Boulevard. It was overcast
out and the sidewalks teemed with people. They walked near the intersection of Woodward Avenue, the literal heart of the city.

  “You seeing somebody else?” asked Thomas with a tinge of anger.

  “No,” said Sarah. “But I don’t want you waiting for me.”

  Thomas felt light-headed. What should he do? Ask more questions; try to engage her in conversation in hopes of getting her to open up? Or should he yell his frustration and preserve his male dignity? In the end, he settled for silence.

  “Okay,” he said dejectedly. “Okay.”

  “I know this is hard,” said Sarah. “I’ve been turning it over in my head for a long time but after what happened at your place—”

  “I said I was sorry about that,” he said and it didn’t sound pleasant. He immediately regretted the tone and quickly apologized for it. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Seems like everything is so hard right now,” she said. “They killed Dr. King and you and I fight over nothing. I feel silly, you know, like it shouldn’t matter but it does. In a way, our problem is the same one the country has.”

  Thomas didn’t know what that meant but he didn’t want to say it. He just nodded a little and tried not to look angry.

  “My partner is dead,” he said. “And he knew there was a pathetic plea behind it. “It’s like losing a brother all over again.”

  “Thomas, don’t....” Sarah’s voice cracked a little.

  “I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you,” he said . “I feel like no matter what I say right now, that it’s gonna be wrong, like I can’t ever please you.”

  Sarah moved closer to him and for a moment he thought she would kiss him. “Maybe you shouldn’t think about me so much,” she said. “I’m moving in with Liz so you know where to reach me. I gotta go, really.”

  She walked off. He watched her move off and waited for her to turn around and look back at him, an act that might have given him hope. But Sarah walked on and out of his life like there was a great power pushing her away.

  He saw the world swirling, spinning in the fetid water of his life, headed into rank inevitability.

  Just then, he caught the scent of alcohol. But there was none around. It was in his head, he reasoned. The drink had taken charge of his brain and could call him anytime it wanted. He desperately wanted a drink. No, he reasoned, this time he needed one.

  Thomas got to his apartment just after dark. The low-rise building looked ominous as a streetlamp flickered on. The shadows around the place were growing long as he approached.

  Sarah’s statement encouraging him to date was her way of trying to get out of their relationship, he thought. If he dated someone, then she could date without guilt and then once they were both on the market, it was over.

  Maybe she had lied, Thomas thought as he climbed the stairs to the second floor. Maybe she was seeing a man and didn’t want him to know. His first thought was to follow her and find out, but if she discovered him, then it really would be over.

  Thomas couldn’t stop the images of Sarah having sex with a stranger from entering his mind. He saw her naked, being kissed and stroked by the man, touching those places that were meant only for him. Maybe this new man was even licking her between the legs, which was something Thomas hadn’t done with her yet. It was a taboo and he was still getting used to the idea of oral sex.

  And then he had a worse thought. What if the man was Black? Sarah had always said that the races needed to mix. What if she was screwing some big Negro with a big Negro penis? His head ached at the thought.

  The horrible thoughts were quickly replaced with the urge for a drink. He opened the door to his place with the intention of turning right around and going to the bar.

  The first thing Thomas noticed was that the lights were all on. He had left them off but someone had been inside. He was reaching for his gun when his eyes registered the wreckage in the room. Someone had turned his place upside down.

  His little TV was busted. The sofa had been slashed and everything in the little kitchenette was broken.

  Thomas quickly went from room to room, his gun out in front and surveyed the damage. All of his clothes had been ripped to shreds and they had even unspooled the toilet paper in the bathroom.

  He cursed under his breath. Was it Brady and Reid or that Negro? The cops that were sent to his home had not found him or scared him away from his harassment. He would have to take more drastic action.

  And then he saw it. On the wall near the bathroom door, there was a message. He guessed it had always been there but he was too shocked, too mad to have seen it. He forgot about Robert Jackson. The enemy was closer. The message read simply:

  protect and serve

  He checked the door and saw that the lock had been jimmied. He cursed and kicked things that were already kicked over. He’d find no prints or any other evidence. Cops knew about such things. Thomas sighed and sat in the middle of his living room floor, defeated.

  His father had told him this would happen. Frank tried to warn him about not picking the right side in the force. The investigation was coming and he’d have to make a choice then. But this, what they had done tonight, was clearly a declaration of war.

  Thomas buried his face in his hands. He found the phone, which was one of the few things that hadn’t been broken and called Sarah. The line was busy. After trying to reach her a few more times, he got up and left the ruins of his life and went to McGinty’s.

  **********

  At the same time, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was headed to the Ambassador Hotel in California, where an assassin would end his life.

  24

  VISITOR

  Robert watched the funeral services for Robert Kennedy at Vanguard headquarters with mixed emotions. He was pleased that the power structure was crumbling but he did not like its choice of victims.

  Malcolm, Dr. King and now both Kennedys were gone. Great men were rising up for change and the powers that be were killing them as fast as they could. America was going to be dragged into the new age kicking and screaming, or it would not make it at all.

  Yusef had been excited about the assassination. He saw the death of Robert Kennedy as a last gasp for America. The racists were trying to hold on to power by murdering off their own leaders while Lyndon Johnson, the southern bigot was in the White House and Nixon; the compliant weasel was planning to run in the next election. In his mind, it would not be long now.

  Yusef had come to Robert after Kennedy was shot and informed him that they had to step up their agenda.

  Robert saw Linda walk out of the main room. She was a fan of the Kennedys, often wearing t-shirts with their faces on it. The death had hit her as hard as Dr. King’s.

  He followed her out and found her in a back room near tears. Robert went to her and they embraced.

  “I know this is supposed to be good for us,” she said but I don’t see how. He was a good White man, a good one.”

  I don’t know where this country is going,” said Robert but I just know it’s gonna be a better place when all this is done. I gotta believe that.”

  “I don’t know,” said Linda.

  “I can’t argue with you,” said Robert. “But there seems to be a big price for the kind of freedom we want. I guess we all gotta pay it.”

  And then he knew it. Knew what had been in the back of his mind since Marcus died and he saw Thomas Riley at the graveyard.

  All of his detective work, the harassment, the digging was all preparing him for the inevitable moment when he knew what he had to do. Whether The Vanguard had drove Marcus into the night or not, he had to take revenge because that was what America was about. Power taken by force.

  Robert became aware of the woman in his arms again. The smell of her, her tiny heart beating against his chest.

  They just stood there a moment, holding each other and Robert could feel the heat rising between them. He wanted to let her go but he couldn’t. His arms were locked tight.

  “You ever re
gret killing them Viet Cong in the war?” she asked him.

  “Sometimes,” said Robert. He didn’t know where the question had come from but he wanted to console the girl. “ I try not to think about it.”

  “It’s bad, ain’t it?” she was talking near his ear and her breath was warm on his skin.

  “Yes,” said Robert. “Once it’s done, it changes you and you can’t take it back.”

  “I got a feeling that more people are gonna die because of what we do here,” said Linda. “I don’t know if I can live with it.”

  “Then don’t. Stay away from that part of what’s coming.”

  “Don’t know if I can,” said Linda. “If I do it, do you think you can forgive me?”

  “Of course I can,” said Robert.

  She pulled her head back and kissed him hard on the mouth. All of the thoughts telling Robert to stop were burned away by the fire under his skin. Linda licked and bit at him, pulling at his clothes and he was doing the same to her.

  She opened her top and pulled her bra down and pulled his head to her breast. He bit her dark nipple and she moaned loudly. He grabbed at her ass and squeezed it hard. He would have her now at last, he thought.

  Robert rose up and looked at Linda’s face and was about to kiss her again but the face in his hands was not Linda’s. It was Denise’s. He was holding his pregnant wife’s full cheeks and looking into her brown eyes.

  Robert pushed himself away from the heat of the young girl. He was breathing hard and he could feel his heart pounding the walls of his chest. He shook his head slowly and pulled his arms to his side.

  “She’s pregnant. Denise. We’re having a baby,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to....” He stopped talking because he was about to tell a lie. He had meant to do everything he’d just done. “I do this and I don’t know who I am.”