by W. S. Greer
I force my eyes all the way open and use my hands to push my body upright. I sit up and try to make out what’s going on around me. When everything clears up, the first thing I see is Kelvin, sitting in a chair directly in front of me. He has blood on his mouth and on his forehead, and his eye looks a little swollen. Standing next to him, is Senior, still holding his gun, which has blood smeared across its chrome barrel. Clarence is now sitting at the table, staring off into the distance like he doesn’t want to see anything that’s happening.
“Welcome back,” I hear Senior say. He crouches down in front of me and rubs my head with his free hand. “Whoo. You’ve got a nice little fat lip on you now. Damn. I’m sure that hurt. You alright?”
My face hurts so much that I’m not sure if I’m scowling or not, but I know that I’m trying to. As he sits there in front me, he has a little smirk on his face that fills me with a hatred that I’ve never felt before. I’ve never wished anything bad on anyone, but this man deserves nothing more than a painful death. I hate him with everything that makes me human.
“Fuck you,” I manage to say, although the words tumble out of my mouth sloppily due to my fat lip.
Senior smiles a full smile at me, showcasing his white teeth.
“Still got that fire. That’s good. It just makes me want to snuff it out even more. It just makes this that much sweeter,” he says as he stands back up. “Alright, now that we have our little princess back, I don’t feel the need to drag this out any longer. I’ve been wanting to do this since you first brought little Miss Dramatic into our lives, Junior. I’m sure it sucks to hear me say that, but who gives a fuck. It’s true. I’ve always hated your little queen. She’s always gotten on my nerves, even when I was trying to be nice to the two of you. So, I’m honestly really happy to do this after all this time. I feel like I’ve earned the right to do it just by putting up with you two. So, we’re gonna go ahead and end this. I’ve gotten everything that I could get out of it, and now it’s time to move on. So, shall we?”
Senior chambers a round, and then points the gun down at me. Surprisingly, I don’t feel scared. My heart doesn’t jump into overdrive, and there are no butterflies in my stomach. There’s nothing but calm now. I feel at peace, and even a sense of relief. My life doesn’t flash before my eyes, and I don’t feel like screaming or begging for my life. This is something that I expected, I guess, so I close my eyes and wait for everything to go blank.
“Make sure you watch this, Junior,” I hear Senior snip. “Say goodbye to your bitch.”
“I love you, Lilliana,” I hear Kelvin say, his voice weak and ragged.
I don’t open my eyes. I know it’ll make it harder for him. So, I smile, because I know he’s looking at me, and I reply “I love you, Kelvin.”
“Good. At least you can take that to your grave,” Senior says sharply. “Bye Lily. I won’t miss… What the fuck was that?”
The sound of the gunshot never comes. Instead, everything is interrupted by what sounded like a car door being closed outside. I open my eyes to see Clarence jump up out of his seat, and Senior aims his gun at the entrance to the office, even though nobody is standing there, yet. Then, I hear footsteps coming through the warehouse maze. However, it’s not just one person. No, I’m sure that I hear two sets of feet trampling through the warehouse. Everyone in the room is filled with confusion.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Senior responds. I look over at the doorway and I’m shocked to see Ilia standing there. There’s another man standing behind him, and I’m pretty certain that it’s his brother, Yosef. The looks on their faces match the looks on our faces. They’re wondering what the hell is going on.
“What are we doing here? What are you doing here?” Ilia snaps, instantly suspicious as he looks down at me and then over to Kelvin. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing? Isn’t that your son?”
Senior looks back at Kelvin and then back at Ilia. “This doesn’t concern you, Ilia. This is a Carter family issue, and we’ll handle it. Just turn around and leave.”
“No, no, you don’t command me, Senior. I’m not a member of your family,” Ilia snips, waving his finger from side to side. “And from the looks of it, I don’t ever want to be. I have a much more important question, though. Why are you here with the dope without me, Senior? This was not part of our agreement.”
Senior looks back at the gambling chip cases spread out on the table, and then exhales loudly. “Look, this has nothing to do with the dope. That’s not what I’m here for.” He almost sounds scared, but he’s trying to mask it with his anger.
“How do I know that?” Ilia replies. I look over at Yosef and see him slowly moving his hand up to his waistband. Now, I feel my heart beginning to race.
“You know because I’m telling you,” Senior tries to make himself sound confident, but even I can see right through his visage. “I don’t know why you’re questioning me anyway. Why the fuck are you two here?”
Suddenly, everyone jumps at the sound of two more car doors being closed.
“What the fuck? Who the hell is that now?” Senior snaps again.
After a minute of listening to the footsteps make their way to the back, Anthony Carter and James come striding up behind the Baskovs.
“Umm, what the fuck is everybody doing here?” Ant asks as he surveys the room. When he sees Kelvin in the chair, he rushes in. “What the fuck? Junior, are you okay? What’s going on?”
I’m not sure if I feel relieved, or even more terrified by all of them being here. I have no clue what’s going or why everyone would be here at the same time, but I still feel uneasy. Even as Ant approaches Kelvin with a sympathetic look on his face, my heart is pounding. There’s too much confusion in this room for this to be a good thing.
When Ant reaches Kelvin, he looks down at me. He does a double take when he sees me, but when he notices that I’m bleeding from my head and face, he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out his gun, aiming it at Ilia and Yosef.
“You motherfuckers! What did you do to them?” he snaps. The second they see he has his gun out, both of the Baskovs pull out weapons of their own, and James follows suit.
Now, everyone in the room except for me and Kelvin is holding a weapon and aiming it at someone else. My nerves are on high alert as I watch this insane situation unfold in front of me. I don’t even know what to think. Should I move? Should I crawl over to where Kelvin is sitting and try to pull us both to safety? What if moving gets me shot? I already know that if one of those guns goes off, all of them are going to go off. So, I decide to wait it out.
“You are all liars,” Ilia snaps, his accent made even thicker by his anger. “This had nothing to do with us, Anthony. This is your brother’s doing. Senior and Clarence were here before us.”
Ant looks over at Clarence and points his gun at him. “What the fuck is he talking about, Clarence? Why the fuck are all of these people here? You told me it would just be us.”
“What?” Senior interrupts. “He told you what?”
“Clarence told me it was just going to be us. Nobody else was supposed to be here,” Ant exclaims.
I’ve never seen more bewilderment in my life. Everybody in the room is looking around at each other, trying to figure out just what the fuck is going on, including Kelvin and I.
“Wait a minute,” Ilia chimes in. “Clarence, you said you would meet us here alone, too. Why would you tell Anthony the same thing you told us? Why would you do this?” Suddenly, everyone in the room is looking at Clarence.
“You played me,” Ant says with a snarl. “You set this whole thing up, didn’t you? You were never gonna give me the extra dope, were you?”
“What?” Ilia snaps loudly. “You were going to give them extra dope? You were supposed to give us extra dope to sell.”
“What the fuck? Is that why all of you are here? You’re trying to get extra drugs and money behind my back? Trying to in
crease your profits under the table? Clarence, you set this shit up? You double-crossed me?”
He stands there for a while, aiming his gun at Ilia, but his finger isn’t on the trigger. The look on Clarence’s face has changed once again, back to the sad, unconfident image that I saw when we pulled up earlier tonight. He has tiny tears in his eyes, and suddenly his hand begins to shake as he starts to cry. I can hardly believe it. Clarence is crying real tears.
“What the fuck is going on, Clarence?” Senior asks. “Clarence, you better tell me what the fuck is going on, right now!” Senior suddenly turns his gun on Clarence, just as Clarence lowers his own weapon and drops it on the table in front of him.
Clarence puts his head down, and exhales loudly. “I’m sorry, Senior,” he whispers under his breath.
“What? What did you just say?” Senior barks.
Clarence raises his head and takes another big breath. His large chest moves up and down as he lets out the air like it’s his last chance to do it. When he speaks again, he doesn’t look at anyone in particular. “I’m sorry, Senior,” he says again, then he sits down in the dusty chair that’s in front of him.
“Sorry for what?” Senior asks, thrusting his gun towards Clarence. “I said, sorry for what!”
Suddenly, there’s a loud explosion and a bright white light blinds my eyes. The room fills with smoke instantly and I have to cover my mouth with my shirt just to be able to breathe. Then, I hear voices, but it can’t be what I think it is. There’s just no way. It’s not possible.
“Get down on the ground right now! Drop your weapons!”
“Chicago PD! Drop your weapons. Drop it or I’ll drop you!”
“Put your fucking weapons down! Drop it, and get down on the ground!”
It’s the cops. The cops are here? I hear them yelling for everyone to put their guns down, but I can’t believe it’s actually real.
It feels like a dream, but that dream suddenly turns into a nightmare when I see the silhouette of a man raising his gun at the police.
“Fuck you, fucking cops!” Ilia screams as he raises his hand. Yosef follows his brother’s lead and they both begin shooting at the cops. The second their guns go off, all I hear is a deafening barrage of gunfire. I drop down to the floor and cover my ears with my hands, waiting for it to finally stop. It feels like it lasts forever, but eventually, the shooting ceases.
The room is still filled with smoke, and I can now smell the gunpowder from all of the weapons being fired at once. I try to look to see exactly what happened, but I can’t focus in on anything. All I know is that Ilia and Yosef were standing in the doorway a second ago, but they’re not there now.
“Put the gun down, Senior, and get down on the floor. It’s all over, man!” I hear a voice say. “Don’t make me kill you!”
As the smoke finally begins to fade away, I see Senior still standing up, still holding his gun at his side. He’s the only one who hasn’t gotten down on the floor. Kelvin, Ant, James, and Clarence are all on the floor next to me, but Senior is still standing there, and he’s staring at the officer in front of him like he’s really debating aiming that gun at him. I know that if he does it, they’ll shoot him before he even gets off one round. Sadly, I have to admit that I hope that he tries it and dies right here, right now.
“Put it down, Senior!” the officer snaps.
“You… You fucking piece of shit,” Senior snarls. “You’re a fucking cop?”
“Put the fucking gun down, or I’m gonna shoot you, Senior. Please don’t make me do it.”
I look up at the cop that Senior is talking to and see that he’s holding a very large shotgun, and aiming it at Senior’s chest. When Senior doesn’t comply with his instructions, the officer cocks the shotgun and aims it at his chest.
“Last chance, Senior,” the officer says.
Finally, Senior drops the gun. I hear it fall down on the floor, and not a second later, the room is filled with cops wearing bullet proof vests with SWAT written across the back. They file into the room with their weapons drawn, and proceed to slap handcuffs on everyone around me, including Kelvin. They pull each of the Carters off the floor and begin hauling them outside, one by one.
“Are you alright, miss?” one officer says to me as he pulls me to my feet. I’m so shocked by what just happened that I can barely respond. The officer looks at the blood coming from my face and calls for a medic to check me out.
Just as the medic arrives and tries to take me outside, I hear the cop with the shotgun speak again.
“Hey, not him. This one’s free to go,” he says sharply.
I look back in the room just in time to see one of the cops removing Kelvin’s handcuffs.
“Make sure he sees a medic, okay?” the officer says.
Once he’s free, Kelvin doesn’t come catch up to me. He just stands there, staring at the cop who ordered him to be released. They hold eye contact for a moment, and my heart speeds up again. I have no idea what’s about to happen or who this person is that Kelvin, and obviously Senior, seem to know so well.
“I had no idea,” Kelvin says quietly.
“That’s the point,” the officer replies with a sly grin. “Don’t worry, we’ll talk about it soon. We have lots to discuss. I’ll be in touch.”
Kelvin finally leaves the room and walks towards me. When he reaches me, he gives me a hug and gently kisses me on the lips. It feels so good to have his skin on mine again. For a moment, I thought I’d never feel it again. I thought that the last time we kissed, would end up being the last time we kissed. There’s nothing like believing that you’re going to die, and then not dying. I cherish my life in ways that I never thought were even possible now. And even more so, I cherish Kelvin more.
“Are you okay?” Kelvin asks me.
I reach up and wipe away a streak of blood rolling down the side of his cheek. “I’m fine. I’m just glad that it’s over. It’s finally over.”
“It’s over for good this time. They found the suitcases full of heroin in there. They’re fucked now.”
“I can’t believe it,” I reply, looking back at the warehouse. “How long do you think the cops had been watching?”
“Who knows,” Kelvin says with a smile. “I don’t care. I’m just glad they were watching.”
Kelvin puts his arm around my shoulder and begins to lead me to the loading dock in the back of the warehouses, where four ambulances are waiting. Kelvin and I walk over to the back of one ambulance where we’re greeted by a young, blonde paramedic. We turn around and sit on the edge of the entrance to the ambulance, and just as we sit, we see the bodies of Ilia and Yosef Baskov being loaded up in the back of the ambulance next to us. Only their heads are visible, but if the bloody sheets covering their bodies is any indication, they both were shot multiple times, and stood no chance of surviving.
“Whoa,” Kelvin says when he sees them. “That shit is crazy.”
“I know. I just can’t believe all of this. I can’t believe that it all ended this way.”
“I know. But, it’s all good, baby. No matter what else happens, we know that we’re safe now.”
Just as the words come out of Kelvin’s mouth, the lead officer with the shotgun comes out of the building. For some reason, I still feel my heart become weak with fear as I watch the officer escort Senior to the back of a police cruiser, handcuffed. Senior looks at me for second, then he looks over at Kelvin, who defiantly glares back at him. They hold eye contact all the way up until the moment Senior’s head is pushed down, and he’s forced into the car. Once the door is closed, Kelvin turns his attention to me, and to my surprise, he’s smiling. It’s that beautiful smile that melts my fear into a tiny puddle around my feet.
“I think we’re done here, baby,” he says with a grin, and for the first time in a long time, I can see genuine happiness in his eyes. “Let’s get out of here. Let’s go home.”
“Good morning, Kelvin. Thanks for coming in. How have things been these past few days
?”
“It’s no problem. Things have been really good, actually. Quiet, which is rare for us.”
“I bet it is. Glad to hear that everything is going well for you. How’s your girlfriend?”
“She’s great. It’s been a big relief for her. Everything that was happening there towards the end was really hard on her. It was hard for both of us, but she really had it hard. It’s good to see her smiling again.”
“Great. Great. That’s really good. I’m glad things are starting to come together for you. There’s nothing more important than happiness. So, I’m glad you’re happy. I think the two of you have earned it.”
“I definitely agree.”
“Okay, so I’ll make this as short and sweet as I can, so that you can get back to your life. Alright, so I’m sure you’re wondering how all of this even came to be. Things ended at the airstrip a little more abruptly than I would’ve liked, but nonetheless, we got the job done, and that’s a big thanks to your uncle, Clarence. Regardless of what your father or any remaining members of the Baskov family may believe, your uncle wasn’t a snitch. He wasn’t working with us this entire time. In all honesty, things really just started taking shape about a week ago when we found your uncle’s fingerprints on the body of Derrick Malone. Once we had those prints and were able to match the bullets from the victim to those in your uncle’s gun, we were able to bring him in and use him to help us bring all of this to a close.”
“I see. How long were you undercover?”
“For a while. I drove for your uncle for over six months.”
“Wow. I can’t believe that. The whole time, they thought they were in the clear with everything because they had guys in Chicago PD in their back pockets. It’s crazy that you were able to infiltrate The Family. Especially under Uncle Clarence’s nose.”
“Yeah, I was shocked when he hired me, too. However, up until the Malone murder, I didn’t have anything on him. I mean, nothing. He’s a slick character, but it’s hard to cover up a murder, especially when you leave the body on the kitchen floor and the mother finds it.”
