The Syndicate

by Brick

  Something in my brother’s eyes softened to the man I knew him to be, but it quickly disappeared with his pride, flipping to anger. “Man, get off me with that bullshit. The Irish chased us down. I don’t know what you’re talking about with the rest of that shit, man.” Half of what he said was slurred and half was in Tagalog.

  “Boss, the Irish is a factual thing,” one of the Forty Thieves said speaking up. “We took them from the wreckage and took care of the wounds, then brought them here.”

  “Yet, this motherfucker is floating around, talking any kind of way to my fiancée and the rest of the family,” I said low turning my attention back on my brother. Taking a sniff, my lip curled in anger. “I smell liquor.”

  “I’m in pain, Von! Chill, get off me,” Cory said struggling.

  Checking him out, shit wasn’t adding up. I noticed marks on him that looked old, shit that wasn’t aligning with the wreck.

  “Von, get off of him please. Please, we were in a wreck,” Inez pleaded, pulling on my arm.

  It was then that Jojo stood up going off, “Why you always defending him? I’m tired of this bullshit, tell the truth . . .” he said then stopped, freezing his words.

  Jojo then spun around and took two stairs at a time disappearing.

  “Naveen,” was all I said for Navy to jet off and follow.

  Placing my attention back on my brother, I felt him laughing under me as he tapped my arm. In his struggling the nigga made a vital mistake. His movements caused a bag of something that looked like Skittles along with Mist tablets for the e-cigarette to fall from his pocket. Motherfucker was basing!

  I looked down at that shit then looked slowly back up at my brother, then back at the drugs. Back and forth I went until I felt my brother tense under me. This wasn’t my little brother. Flashes of us as kids played around in my mind. In it, as we grew, I saw the small things that I used to ignore, like the weed he’d steal from our mother’s boyfriends, or the little sips of beer or liquor missing from their cups while his breath smelled like a distillery.

  I also saw his anger at not being able to protect himself or me for that matter from the whippings our mother would give us or the ass kicking her boyfriends with put on us until we could find safety at his old-ass father’s home. Yeah, against the wall under my hold wasn’t my brother at all. Nope, this was shadow of his anger, alive and in full color. Mama’s death broke him.

  “Stop playing. We’re in some real shit with the Irish man. That . . . that’s not mine.” He lied to my face. “Look, had I not gotten that message from you about the Irish, I would have been fucked up. We all would have been, right, Inez?”

  “Y . . . yeah,” she said stumbling, looking down at her feet and not at me. “He found that with those kids.”

  Something was off with her and it wasn’t just the bruises that lined her pretty face. Keeping my hold on my brother, I used my free hand to gently grab Inez’s chin then raise her face up at me. I didn’t know why, but as soon as she started crying, I realized the truth of the matter, as the video replayed in my mind and pieces about my brother’s own temper aligned. I learned as a child through Mama the valor of a man isn’t always about his fist. Men who are uneducated, weak of mind, mentally incapable, or just plain dumb were the type of men who always resorted to using their fists instead of fighting with their mind. Since my brother, my goddamned blood, was on some dumb shit, I figured that I’d fall right in line with him. You know? To wake his stupid ass up since he wanted to act ’sleep.

  Everything happened in slow motion. Blood or not, that I was about to kill my brother ran in my mind as my fist connected with his jaw followed with my foot against his chest. Yeah, the Irish were out of control, and I had every plan to deal with them. But, for right now, I had a junkie problem that needed handling.

  Chapter 20

  Uncle Snap

  I didn’t know what to make of what I was looking at. I just didn’t. These weren’t the people Mama spoke so fondly of. These weren’t the children who had it all together. The children Mama had raised wouldn’t behave in such a manner. I didn’t want to accept that the shit had hit the hand we fanned with, but what was playing before me was the downfall of all Mama had spent years putting together.

  As soon as Javon dropped Cory, I knew for sure shit had changed. When Javon’s foot connected to Cory’s chest, I knew it was time to move in, but I didn’t. I watched as Javon and Cory fought like two niggas on the street. Cory was like the Incredible Hulk. Seemed like the nigga bulked in size each time he inhaled and exhaled. I guess whatever he was high on made him a super nigga or some shit.

  He threw a punch at Javon that made him stumble back, but he didn’t fall. Javon righted himself then threw a combo of punches that bloodied his brother. Cory may’ve had unnatural strength in the moment, but the devil in Javon was bigger than the one in Cory. Javon rushed Cory, scooped that nigga up, and then took him down. It was like watching the best of the best in the WWE or MMA.

  “Nigga, you must be out your mind to be putting your hands on her like you don’t know what it is to be a man,” Javon growled after he had put Cory in a chokehold. “So you a junkie now, nigga?” Javon asked as he yanked him off his back and pretty much kicked him across the room again.

  “Stop, Javon,” Inez screamed. “Leave him alone!”

  She made a move toward Javon, but Shanelle stepped in front of her. Her hands were already fisted and she had placed herself in a defensive fighter’s pose.

  “Don’t do it, Inez,” she warned her sister.

  Inez nibbled on her bottom lip and eyed Shanelle down. Her fists were already balled by her side too. Her eyes were dilated and she held a look that said she was on the edge and threatening to fall over. And I knew neither one of them was scared to get down. Lord knew I didn’t want to see those two go at it. Wasn’t no need. But Cory needed what Javon was dishing out to him. That li’l nigga needed some tough love, and if I were ten years younger I would have taken that stupid nigga to task myself.

  I watched Shanelle. She was watching Inez. She hadn’t said a word or made a move to break the brothers apart. The look on her face said she was waiting for Inez to make a move or the wrong move. I knew Shanelle would fight for Javon. Had no gotdamn idea Inez and Cory were even fucking. They had kept that shit under wraps.

  Dishes went crashing to the floor. Chairs fell over and Cory finally found his footing. The mask of anger and pain on Javon’s face showed him in father mode instead of being a brother. Blood poured from Cory’s nose as he snatched his shirt off and threw it. He was so damn high I didn’t think he realized just what was happening.

  “What the fuck you hit me for, Von?” he asked. “So you want to be that nigga now? Think since you running shit, think ’cause you’re a kingpin or some shit you got the right to put hands on me now?”

  “Shut the hell up, nigga. You out here being stupid so I’ma treat you like you stupid. You wanna be a junkie so I’ll treat you like one,” Javon told him. “Put your hands on her again and next time I’m chopping those motherfuckers off.”

  Cory’s face twisted as he slapped his chest. “You see this shit, huh? You see what the fuck she be doing to me? All these gotdamn marks on my chest and back from her ass cutting me, coming after me for stupid shit. Why ain’t nobody going after her? What? A nigga ain’t got a right to defend himself from a crazy bitch?”

  Just then Monty and Melissa walked in. “Holy shit.” Melissa gasped. “What the fuck is happening?”

  Monty ran a hand through his hair, but said nothing.

  “Do you hear yourself?” Javon asked Cory with a frown. “What the hell you and Inez got going on that you two trying to kill one another?”

  “Everybody can’t be perfect like you, nigga,” Cory shouted then threw his arms open wide. “I’m fucked up and I own it. It’s me,” he said while slapping his chest. “Live with it or get the fuck from around me and mine.”

  Javon’s head jerked and he snarled. Cory picked up
a glass and threw it at him. But Javon was quicker than he was. He closed in on Cory. Somebody had been washing dishes in the sink before all hell broke loose. The water was murky and I could still smell the faint hints of bleach in the air. Javon grabbed Cory by the back of his hair, spun him around, and then forced his face into the sink full of dishwater.

  Inez screamed and ran for Javon. Before she could swing at him, Shanelle had tripped her up. Inez did a tumble over her head. Once she realized what Shanelle had done, she jumped up and ran for her, but Monty stopped her midflight. He bear hugged her and kept her in place.

  “Ahhhhh, you stupid bitch. I’ma fuck you up,” she screamed at Shanelle, who only shook her head.

  “I’ll kill you, nigga,” Javon spat at Cory. “You understand me? Before I let you become this thing you’re trying to become, I’ll dead you myself,” he said then snatched Cory’s head up.

  Cory tried to catch his breath but, before he could, Javon shoved his head back into the water.

  “Think you want to die, li’l bro? You wanna go visit that cunt we called a mother? Say hello to her in hell when you get there. Tell her she ruined her sons so badly that one of them has decided to become an abusive junkie so the other one killed him.”

  I’d never seen that boy flip the way he was doing. I was half scared to touch him and too drunk to test my strength in the moment to pull him off Cory.

  Shanelle rushed over to Javon. “Baby, stop. You’re really going to kill him,” she said as Cory’s flailing arms started to go limp.

  Javon wasn’t himself.

  “Ay, nephew, you gotta pull back. Mama wouldn’t want this. She wouldn’t,” I told him.

  “Javon, please,” Shanelle pleaded while touching his arm.

  It was a gentle touch, one that seemed to quell the beast inside. I was sure that if I would have touched him, he probably would have swung on me. Javon snatched Cory’s head from the water then slung him backward on the floor. Cory coughed and spit up water. Inez started kicking in Monty’s arm. She twisted her body until she got one arm loose and swung on Monty. She hit the boy so hard he bristled but then caught himself. She rushed over to Cory, tripping over her own feet. Tears were in her eyes.

  The worst kind of love was a junkie kind of love. I knew from experience, not my own, that when two addicts fell in love they not only shared love for one another but also shared their love for drugs. They were enablers for one another. I shook my head, disappointed and sadder than a motherfucker at this point.

  “Why . . . why you do that, Javon?” she screamed as she cradled Cory’s head in her lap. “I hate you,” she yelled. “I hate all of you. Baby, you okay,” she whispered to Cory who had started shivering.

  He didn’t say a word, just stared at his brother with a hatred I couldn’t fathom.

  “Get out,” Javon said coldly. “Both of you, get the hell out of Mama’s house. You’re done. I don’t know either one of you. He’s not my brother and you’re not my sister. Get out.”

  Shanelle’s eyes widened. “Javon, baby—” she started but then stopped when he shot a look over at her.

  That look silenced every other brother and sister in the room, including Naveen and Jojo who were on the stairs looking on. I had to respect Javon for doing what he was. He needed to apply this kind of tough love. I’d seen Mama do the same to many a nigga who had gotten beside themselves.

  “Mama was out here every day putting her damn life on the line only for you two ignorant drug addicts to tarnish her damn legacy. Out here on drugs and selling that shit. I’m out here trying to keep all this mess together.”

  Inez was wailing at this point. “He needs help, Javon, please,” she begged.

  “I don’t give a fu . . . Get out,” Javon spat, this time deadlier than before. “Get out before I drag both of you motherfuckers out of here.”

  Inez gently laid Cory’s head on the floor then stood. She moved toward Javon and Shanelle stepped in front of him.

  “Stop, Inez, please. I don’t want to fight you, sis, but I will,” she said.

  “Fuck you,” Inez yelled at Shanelle then looked at Javon. “You so busy sniffing up that bitch’s ass you ain’t have time for him. When he was receiving awards and shit from school, you chose to go support Shanelle instead of him. Ain’t shit he ever did been good enough for you. And you,” she said to Shanelle, “you don’t care about nobody but him.” She pointed at Javon.

  “That’s not true and you know it,” Shanelle said.

  “Inez.” Cory mumbled it. “Fuck ’em,” he said running a hand across his nose. “Help me up and get me out of here, baby.”

  I felt like I was in a movie or some shit. Cory was Eddie Kang and Inez was crackhead Felicia. Shit woulda been funny except it wasn’t. Inez did exactly what Cory asked of her. She helped him up. He stumbled then looked at Javon.

  “You’re dead to me,” he told him.

  Javon’s upper lip twitched and in a matter of seconds it felt like all hell broke loose again. I watched as Javon moved Shanelle and rushed at his younger brother again. The back door to the kitchen was already open since Monty and Melissa came through the back. I didn’t know what to think when Javon tossed Cory outside and then shoved Inez out with him when she tried to swing at him. It was the most heartbreaking shit I’d ever seen.

  Chapter 21

  Shanelle

  Javon slammed the door then looked at all of us as Inez and Cory sped away in one of the Forty Thieves’ trucks.

  “I’m not playing with any of you. Go the route they took and you’re out of here,” he said with finality.

  Most people would have thought he was angry behind the snarl and furrowed eyebrows. I knew better. There was hurt and pain there. There was regret. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  “Jojo, you knew about this? You knew they were in this jacked-up junkie love relationship?” Javon asked our youngest brother.

  Jojo cast a glance down at his feet then back up at Javon. “I ain’t want to tell because I promised Inez I wouldn’t,” he said.

  “Let me tell me you something . . .” Javon started then stopped. “Did any of the rest of you know?”

  “I didn’t,” I offered up quickly.

  “Neither did I,” Uncle Snapped added.

  Monty shrugged. “I suspected they had some kind of thing going on but I didn’t know nothing ’bout no drugs, bro.”

  Melissa’s face was red. “We got high together a few times. But . . . but it was just weed. I swear,” she clarified when Javon tilted his head and stared pointedly at her.

  “I saw her hit him before, Von. She went crazy on him. Tried to stab him and he shoved her off him, but I never saw him hit her,” Naveen said. “She like was mad because some chick from work called his phone so she went off. I saw her fight him, but I never saw him hit her.”

  I shook my head. Obviously Cory and Inez were abusing one another and on drugs. They were able to hide that shit so well that neither Javon nor I knew and that bothered me. Javon had no words, which was obvious in the way he punched several holes in the wall then kicked over the small round dinette table Mama kept in the corner of the kitchen.

  Just as I was about to say something else, we heard a loud crash in the distance. Uncle Snap set the Mason jar down quickly and headed out the door. As soon as he did, we heard a few of the Thieves yelling for us to get down. Seconds later, bullets riddled the house. Pictures fell over, dishes rattled, flower vases screamed as they cracked open, cotton from the furniture flew through the air as Javon grabbed me and hit the floor. Uncle Snap fell back into the house.

  “Get down,” Javon screamed, eyes on Jojo and Naveen.

  It was too late for Naveen. Bullets knocked him backward and he went flying over the staircase.

  “Nooooooooooooo!” I screamed. “Ahhhhhh, Navy!”

  Jojo dived over the stairs and hit the floor while covering his brother. Monty had grabbed Melissa. They clumsily fell down the stairs in the basement behi
nd them. Uncle Snap had taken a bullet to the shoulder. Thieves had us surrounded as they returned gunfire.

  “Baby, let me go,” I whispered to Javon. My eyes were wide as I looked at him.

  He nodded, knowing what I needed to do and I army crawled to the sofa. Naveen had shown me what he was able to do the other day. I pushed a small brown button and watched the couch come undone and reveal a secret compartment.

  “Always cheat. Always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose,” Mama always told me when she was with me at the gun range.

  I pulled out a full-auto mini Uzi then tossed it to Javon. I grabbed the full-auto Uzi then rushed to the window facing the street but it was cattycorner so I had the protection of a brick wall and the three Thieves flanking me. I put it on semi versus auto so I could have more control of the gun. I put my right leg back, leaned on the seal, and put all my weight forward on my hip before unleashing a hail of bullets that sent the men on one motorcycle head first into a parked car. The sound of the gun rocked my eardrums and made bells ring. I leaned forward a bit more, and spotted another motorcycle with two riders coming up the rear. Before they realized what was coming, I released rounds that sent the bike skidding across the road. One of the gunmen got up to run and I let the rounds from the gun light into him. He did a “Thriller” kind of thing with his body as the bullets rocked his body then hit the ground.

  “Damn, shorty, handling a full auto like it’s lightweight,” one of the Thieves commented.

  I couldn’t be bothered by sexism at the moment. I glanced to my left and saw Javon had rushed through the back door around the side of the house.

  “Shit,” I said as I focused back on the Escalade that had turned around and come back down the street.

  I heard a fight going on in the backyard and knew Javon had spotted gunmen trying to sneak around the back. I heard the rat-a-tat-tat of the Uzi Javon had and felt my heart rate speed up. I unleashed a barrage of bullets on the Escalade and watched it crash into the old lady’s house across from ours. I heard Javon yell out. Tossing the Uzi, I grabbed a Glock .30 with a .45 caliber and rushed out back. Just as I did so, I saw Javon take down a masked man with a riddle of bullets to his chest.