Q had got his partner, Cable Guy, to bring his crew up there for the meet with Scar. All it had cost him was the willingness to bring Skull Jr. out of retirement. Cable guy had a top notch dog, but Skull was a legend and the only way Cable was going to be able to put his Jack Dempsey pedigree on the map was by defeating Skull’s son.
The plan was to have Cable and his boys be the bait to bring Scar and his dudes out. Q and the crew knew that Scar had something up his sleeve, because he had come so far down on the price of each kilo, without any fight. When Dame heard this, he let Q know that meant he was going to rob them or sell them some bullshit.
“I know that nigga and he ain’t taking shorts for no one!” Dame advised.
Q didn't care what he had planned; he was just looking forward to looking this nigga in the eyes and then taking the life out of those same eyes. Q and June had prowled the area, picking up and removing anything that they thought could be used as a weapon. Q walked the empty basement a dozen times looking for holes in the floor that might trip a man. He memorized the natural arena. Then after they were sure they had done everything humanly possible, they walked across the street to the building they were now in. After eating, everyone stretched out. Q laid on a blanket just beneath the window and went to sleep with a smile on his lips.
He knew what he was doing was foolish. It was man pride at its worst. But when two bulls are grazing the same pasture, one is going to be dominant over the other; it was just nature’s way. And Q had been raised too deep in the country to attempt to alter nature’s way.
He knew that what he ought to do was kill Scar as soon as his feet left the last step, before reaching the basement’s floor. But this is the way he decided and it was no turning back.
__________
At 8:00am, Cable Guy and his crew sat in the farthest corner of the basement next to the only window. He stood up and looked out onto the ground of street, which was deserted except for one lone figure approaching. From the size of its shadow outline, he knew it had to be Scar. Cable then moved closer to the window, looking in both directions. He saw no signs of anyone else. Scar was coming, and coming alone.
Moments later, the door to the basement opened and Scar stepped inside.
“Well, I see you nigga's made it here ok. Let me first say that I'm hoping this will be the start of a great friendship and more importantly, a great business relationship. Speaking of business, how about showing a nigga the bread? As you can see, I have the product.” Scar whipped the large duffle bag off his shoulder and tossed it in the direction of the men.
“Now your turn,” Scar signaled to Cable Guy.
“Indeed it is,” Cable Guy tossed a bag filled with cash at Scar’s feet.
Just as Scar was about to lean down and pick up the bag, the basement door burst open. Scar acted like he was shaken by the sound and began to fumble like he was trying to reach for his pistols. Cable guy and his crew were also stumbling around, unsure of what was happening, but they were able to count three masked gunmen coming at them.
“You niggas know what it is, put them hands where I can see them!” Albino Mike yelled.
“And you get your ass over there with the rest of these niggas,” one of the other gunmen directed Scar.
Scar was following directions like a 5 year old preschooler. He was truly getting his acting on.
“Ok, ok... take whatever, but just don't hurt nobody. This shit not worth dying over.”
Q and the crew had heard enough of the bad acting and decided to crash the party. They had all been watching from an upstairs room. They came in behind Albino Mike and his gang. Scar saw them first.
“OOOOO shit,” was all he could muster when he saw Q’s face.
By the time Albino Mike and his boys turned around, all they could hear was the setting of bullets into the guns’ chambers.
“Now you niggas really know what it is, you’ve been caught with your draws down, so put them pistols down!” June instructed.
The men did as told, Q thanked Cable Guy and his boys and even offered them the cash, but they all refused.
“The fight is what we agreed upon, and that’s what we want.” Cable told Q.
After they left, Q turned around and focused his attention back on Scar. He raised the two pistols he held in each hand and placed the infrared dots on Scar’s forehead.
“I should kill you now nigga, but a quick killing would be too good for your sorry ass. Instead, I think I'm going to whoop your ass first, then kill you.”
“Yeah, that's easy to say when you got them pistols in your hand,” Scar replied.
“Nigga, I ain’t no bitch like you,” Q handed his guns to Baby Rasta.
“This shit between me and you nigga, whoever is left standing, lives.” Q told everyone to leave.
June was hesitant, but he knew Q. Once he had made up his mind, it would be no turning back.
“A’ight my nigga, I will see you on the other side of that basement door. Don't make us wait too long.”
“I won't, you just make sure my baby is waiting on me also.”
Dame was the last one out, and Q heard him shut the door tightly.
With a scream of rage and pain, Scar flung out his hand and caught Q’s pants leg, tumbling him to the floor. Q rolled and came instantly to his boots before Scar could get to his feet and apply his boots to him. For a full three to four minutes, the two warriors stood toe to toe and traded punches and blows that would have killed the average man. Each of them gave and received about the same amount of damage.
Q could tell that Scar was beginning to lose some of his power. Scar was fighting with his mouth open now, sucking in air in great gasping gulps. Q had earned every bit of his endurance from the mud, swamps and woods of the dirty south. Scar had spent the last ten to fifteen years bullying lesser foes.
Q sent a crashing right through Scar’s feeble guard and knocked him to the hard floor once again. Then he stepped in and Scar knew he was whipped; a beaten man. This nigga was going to stomp him.
“I’ve had enough,” Scar said, blood dripping from his mouth.
“I imagine my wife felt the same way, nigga. You killed my dog, and he was family too muthafucka.”
“That bitch shot my man, niggga, and it was just a fuckin’ dog, son. A fuckin dog,” he stressed.
Q kicked him in the gut with all the power he could get behind his boot. Scar’s body arched upward off the floor and he screamed in pain.
“Screaming won’t do you any good, nigga.”
Q backed away and let him struggle to his feet. Scar stood before him, swaying slightly.
“Fight, you sorry bastard.” Q told him.
Scar stumbled forward and walked into a straight right that he felt all the way down to his toenails.
Q followed that with a barrage of hammer like blows. This time he didn’t let up. He began to work on Scar’s belly. Scar backed up, unable to throw a punch that would stop or slow Q down.
Q shifted his area of punishment. He began working on Scar’s face, which already resembled a raw side of beef. His nose was completely flattened, and his mouth a ruined mess. Both eyes were closing fast. Still, Q continued to punish the man.
Scar searched frantically around the basement for a weapon. A chair, a stool, anything! He found nothing. Q had carefully cleared the area. He tried to run for the stairs leading out of the basement and Q pursued him, leaping onto his back and riding him back to the floor. It was the most humiliating thing that Scar had ever been forced to endure.
He finally collapsed to the ground. All his strength was gone. Q stood over him. He had taken his share of punishment. One eye was almost closed, and blood was leaking from his nose and mouth. But he was still standing and ready to fight.
“You got a choice nigga,” Q told him. “You either get up and fight, or as God is my witness, I'll kick you to death”
Scar struggled to his feet, just as the door to the basement opened, causing more light to illuminate the grues
ome scene.
Thank God, Scar thought someone was there to save him.
He turned, and with one last ditch effort, forced his body to move towards the door. Q didn't follow, instead he waited. His wait wasn’t long.
Scar was now back pedaling in his direction.
“No...no...no! It can’t be, it can’t be possible, I killed you. I killed both of you.”
He fell to the floor at Q’s feet. He had been moved to a sea of solid hurt. His shirt had been torn from him sometime during the battle, and his upper torso was bruised and bloody.
Scar looked up through eyes that were now nothing more than swollen slits. Scar could see Q smiling at him, but he was not alone. The woman that he’d killed, the woman that was supposed to be rotting in a grave, was also smiling. Scar had never seen such a savage look on a woman. Hell, even the dog that stood beside her seemed to be smiling. Scar was beginning to think that he’d already graced the fiery rivers of hell.
But no…it hurt too badly.
“Do you have anything to say before I finish this?” Q asked him.
“Le..let me live…you win,” Scar mumbled.
“Why should I let you live, nigga?”
“It... it wasn’t my fault. Officer…Officer Stokely wants you dead. He...he wants your whole family dead!”
“Who did you say?” Q asked him.
“I said Officer Stokely, he has some black bitch working undercover.”
“That's who put you up to this shit?”
“Yes…yes I swear...it’s the truth. He claims that you’re responsible for the murder of some dude named Jacobs.”
“Damn,” Q mumbled and looked over at Van.
She gave him a concerned look.
“What else you got to say muthafucka?”
“I...I have a son, a newborn son, B. I swear, this is it for me.”
“You damn right it is,” Q’s eyes were cold; killing cold.
Scar watched as Q measured him. He had a soaring feeling of relief that the fight was soon to be over.
Q started the punch somewhere down around his knees and when the gloved fist exploded against his head, Scar’s world turned black.
The most feared man in all of Soundview laid stretched out on the floor, unconscious. Van grabbed Q around his waist and helped him up the steps. When they got outside, all the crew was smiling, knowing that their boy had come out on top.
Van whispered in Q's ear, “Thank you for honoring my wish, by not killing Scar.”
Van had begged Q to get revenge, but not take Scar's life since God had spared hers. She had made Q promise and he had to uphold it, he had given her his word.
“You know your wish is my command, Shawty,” Q whispered back to her.
He then grabbed June around the neck and spoke softly into his ear.
“Go sing that nigga a final lullaby.”
“Happily,” June responded.
Q had kept his word, he never said anything about what June would do. Dame stopped Q on his way out the door and asked him what he wanted to do with Albino Mike and the rest of his crew. Q instructed Dame that he would leave the decision up to him and his OG Bumpy. He already knew what June would decide, so he told him not to ask him.
After hearing the pleas of Bumpy, Dame agreed that they had done nothing worth dying for, except choose the wrong friendship. They decided to let them go, the statement had been made and these niggas would be a fool to bite the hand that had fed them extra life.
Chapter Twenty
“The Price of Redemption”
It was mid-day when Asia finally found the place she was looking for.
Inside Honey’s, Tee was sitting at the front desk looking over some paper work. She was still upset, her mind returning constantly to the latest incident with her and Q. Then she thought of Jamal and her words to him afterward. Things had gotten out of hand and she wasn't sure how to repair it.
While running the conversation back through her mind, a strange woman entered the salon.
“Can I help you?” Tee said to the woman.
“Well I... I’m not sure. I’m looking for someone.”
“Who are you looking for?” Tee asked noticing how nervous the woman was.
“Have we met before?” Tee asked. For some reason now, this woman didn’t seem so strange to her.
“No, no I don’t think so. I’m from …”
Suddenly the woman stopped as recollection of who Tee was came to her.
“You…you were pregnant the last time I saw you. At least I think you’re the one.”
“That’s was a long time ago,” Tee said her voice going ice cold. “What are you doing showing up here at my place of business like this? Is there something I can help you with?”
“I need to speak with you.”
Tee looked closer; she was now positive who Aisa was.
“Lady, you have got to be out of your damn mind, coming here like this. Do you know what will happen to you if one of them were to walk in here right now?” Tee said referring to any of the crew members.
“I know...I know… I know, but please listen to me. I have to see Quentel. I—”
“Are you not hearing me bitch?” Tee screamed. “What do you have, a death wish or something?”
“I don't care about that right now. I have to speak with him.” Tee looked at Aisa, she could tell that something was really eating at her.
Tee spoke “Now look lady, before I call Quentel, you need to explain to me what the hell is going on.”
Asia was left with no choice and there was no turning back now. She looked at Tee who stared back at her with unblinking eyes.
“Well...I’m waiting,” she said
Asia nodded her head, then began telling Tee everything she knew about the woman out to get Q.
After she finished, Tee immediately grabbed her phone and called Q, using their secret code.
Over an hour later, she still hadn’t heard anything from him.
Worried now, she was left with no choice, but to call his phone directly.
__________
Q grimaced as he tried to change positions in the back seat of Baby Rasta’s RV.
“Maybe you should lie down,” he heard Van say.
“No, I can’t, ma. I have to stay here with him,” Q said referring to Skull Jr. who, for the very first time, was close to experiencing the one thing he loved to dish out…death!
Less than twenty-four hours after his battle with Scar, Q had stepped over into deaths arena once again. This time his training partner was Skull Jr. His opponent was Cable Guy and his world renowned dog Jack Dempsey, who had the look of a muscular thorough bred race horse. As soon as his eyes locked on Skull Jr., he began to scream in anticipation of his release.
Meanwhile on the other side, Skull Jr. remained quiet as he always did before a confrontation. He just stood there…poised, ready, and confident. Q was the same, for he knew Skull Jr. had it all….The sleek build, the stamina of a greyhound, and the mouth of an alligator.
“Release!” he heard the ref say, and just like that, the two champions collided in the center like two Mack trucks. Four hours and thirty minutes later, found both warriors still on their feet. Everyone watching stood shocked, still in disbelief. All except the two men standing inside the arena with their dogs. Each man knew the two warriors would battle until one or both dropped dead. Knowing this, the two men did the most sensible thing. They shook hands, declaring the match officially a draw. After separating the two dogs, the real test would begin. Trying to save them after their brutal battle. Quentel worked frantically, and with the help of Van, he was able to get Skull Jr. stabilized enough to travel. Still, uncertainty loomed over whether he would live long enough to make it home.
“You are so stubborn, Quentel Jackson,” Van said.
Q smiled at her through swollen lips.
Just as Van was about to continue, her phone began vibrating. Q instantly checked his again because Tee had already texted him seven times
, and he wasn’t in the mood to look at her right now…or talk!!!
“Yes,” Van answered.
“Van, this is Otis.”
“Oh hi Dr. Conway, hold on one second.” Van said, quickly standing to her feet.
She looked back at Q who had an ugly scowl on his face. Van frowned back at him and walked to one of the other rooms of the spacious RV/House on wheels.
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