by Brick
“So, they hid money, eh?” he asked me, trying to hide the fact that he was excited.
I kept my head low so the fitted cap I wore could keep my eyes covered. Had on my baggy jeans and Timbs so niggas would keep thinking I was a little boy. My braids were hid under the cap.
“Yeah, I saw ’em do it. Where you get’cho new Jays from, Dill? Them shits is boss.”
He grinned. “Did some runnings for e8 boys. They paid with the kicks, yeah?”
“Oh yeah. How I get down with them niggas? Trigga don’t be really giving me no money.”
“Oi, it’s easy, yeah. Just show them that you can move wif’out being seen by the coppers and ya sweet in there like nothing. Been doing it for a while, yeah,” he boasted.
“Really?”
“Yeah. So what were you guys talking about when they pulled me in? Are those your parents? Anika and Phenom? Is that lot your family?”
“Why you asking all them questions for, Dill?”
He laughed low and shrugged. “No reason, just never seen them around you before.”
I knew he was lying. I’d seen him with dudes from Dante’s crew a lot. Had seen the li’l nigga even get out of Dante’s car before. I remembered that shit as soon as Phenom took Diamond outside and Dante was standing there. That was why I ain’t been talking to him like I used to, not since I knew that niggas was out to kill my family. If I ain’t know nothing else, I knew I wasn’t gone go back to living like I did with Dame. And that Dante nigga looked just like Dame. They was brothers, twins. I wasn’t going back to living in no walls and sneaking around. I was never gon’ let my family be snitched on so they could get killed. Never.
That was why while Dillenger was busy digging with his hands where he thought money was gon’ be, I pulled out a small iron bat that I had been wrapping with barbwire and hit that li’l nigga right in the back of his skull. He had been spying on us for somebody because he kept asking me too many questions. All in my room, he kept asking me questions. There was one thing that Trigga had taught me and he ain’t even know it. Dead niggas told no tales.
Dillenger cried out after that first hit. His voice was shrill as he fell face first, rolled over, and then kicked my legs from under me. I hit the ground with a loud grunt.
“You bitch. I’m going to tell my dad all the shit I heard them saying and then I’ma ask him to buy you for me,” he snarled as he jumped up and tried to grab my hair.
Blood was soaking the back of his shirt. I ain’t know what that nigga was talking about having his daddy buy me, but I knew he was stronger than I thought. The bat had fallen from my hand. He jumped on top of me, grabbed both sides of my face, and then slammed my head into the ground. I was dizzy but could make out as he reached into his back pocket. He was going for his shank. I knew he carried one just like most of all the misfits around the way did, even those our age. I wasn’t stupid though. The man I called my daddy, Trigga, was a killer and he always told me to have more than one weapon. He had to teach me that shit ’cause he knew what kind of world we was living in. That was why I could get to my shank first. I stuck my hand in my front hoodie pockets and janked Dillenger in his side.
He fell back crying like a bitch. He was rolling from side to side holding where I had stuck. I stood and rushed for my bat. I had to catch my breath as I walked back over to him. My head hurt from where he had slammed it.
“Who the bitch now, li’l nigga?” I asked as I raised the bat then brought it back down over and over again against his body and face.
The blood didn’t scare me. Nothing scared me more than my family being killed and me being without Trigga. He was the only daddy I knew. The only person who loved me. Him and Diamond and Gina and Big Jake was all I had and nobody was gonna take them from me. Dame had taken my mama before she even had me and he ain’t never let her love me openly like she should have. Nobody was taking my family no more. Yeah, I was crying, but I ain’t stop swinging my bat until Dillenger’s face was unrecognizable. It would take a minute for the cops to identify him.
“Hey, what in bloody hell is going on over there?” I heard someone asked.
I grabbed my backpack and my cap and took off running. I never looked back. I didn’t stop running until I made it to the other end of the river. I needed to get rid of my bloody clothes. So I made sure nobody was around before I started pulling them off. I wiped the blood off my face as best as I could and quickly changed into clean clothes. Out of all the things Trigga had taught me, paying attention to my surroundings was the most important. I was so amped and in a hurry to get back home that I didn’t see the detective in the plain clothes watching me as I killed Dill. I didn’t even hear as he followed me. Once I had pulled on my clean clothes and shoes, I was headed back to the flat. I knew Trigga was gon’ be mad at me but I had to do this so Dill wouldn’t go snitching.
Dead niggas told no tales.
Just as I was about to hop back over the gate, a pair of hands snatched me. It was a grown man, I knew that. The fear I ain’t feel while offing Dill was real now. A hand came over my mouth.
“Shhhh. There, there, you little killer. You’re going to go for a pretty penny,” he taunted me.
I tried to scream and kick but it did no good. He was too strong. I could hear his shoes clack and scrape against the street as we headed to his car. The trunk was already open and he tossed me in like trash. I tried to jump back out but he punched me in my stomach; at the same time he snatched my backpack off. I fell back into the trunk of the car as he put his phone to his ear.
There was a wicked smile on his face. “Oi, do I have a prize for you,” was all he said as he slammed the trunk with me in it.
Chapter 7
Trigga
Talk about some liability shit. The moment Diamond hit me with the knowledge that Ghost was gone, a nigga was already out the door strapped up and moving down the streets. It wasn’t nothing for me to realize that little nigga had something to do with all of this. Like Ray-Ray had said, that little nigga shouldn’t have been left out of our sight. Second, I shoulda put a bullet in the middle of his skull, fuck not killing kids. Kids who carried the same eyes as a nigga I done seen twice, one dead and the other alive, a little nigga who had the same type of characteristics needed to be gunned the fuck down. Only because of how he played himself. He wanted to be caught and being caught was making a coded statement. Little dude was part of the streets through and through and I knew that game because I came from the game. I was just smarter.
The distant low shouts of my fam behind me didn’t stop me as I passed through the tower blocks, or what we call in the hood the projects, something like how Cabrini Green’s towers used to be. Ghost was trained by me, so I knew wherever the fuck she would go, it would be somewhere she could hide. It would be somewhere she could maintain her surroundings, so I knew she wouldn’t walk through the projects but around it. But, even that still kept me on point in tracking her.
“Trig, man, slow the fuck down. Where are you going? Do you even know?” Big Jake’s voice sounded behind me.
I stood counting the balconies before I turned around, “Tracking my girl. Hey, Speedy, this shit is our endz right?”
Speedy jogged up to me and nodded; concern had his brown eyes darkening as he pulled out a cell while watching me. “Swear down, wut ya need blood, I got you. Phenom and Anika are on di other side of the ‘set’ lookin’ for her and Gina packing up da flat. No one is trustin’ that young-un bruv, so we got you. Whut you need?”
“I need eyes. Hit me up a spot on the high rise. I need to see from the skies,” I calmly commanded. If Ghost was still walking around, best bet to see her was by balcony view from the towers.
“Give me some addys so I can hit up some people and talk to them about seeing her,” Jake also relayed.
Speedy was on it. He spit out flat numbers for Jake to hit up then had me follow him inside of the towers.
“I’m gud wit’ a bossy gyal at the top. She hold mi nigga’s stas
h sometimes. A propa chick, she’ll hold us down blood,” Speedy explained while we took an elevator that felt like a cage to the top of the towers: floor nineteen.
Time was all I was thinking about, so the faster we could move, the faster we could make sure Ghost was good. I had hit up her cell, but there was no answer and she knew how I was about that shit. No text meant she wasn’t near her shit and that was a problem. Pushing open the gates of the elevator, we strolled down the tower hallways. Everything was washed in a dingy green shade of paint. Scribbles of gang signs sporting both Phenom’s and Anika’s cliques let me know that this level of the towers were theirs. Here in London, though I called this shit projects, it really was a mixture. You could get all levels of people living in this shit, from low to middle class. It was crazy.
Hustling down the hall, we stopped at 19LH. Speedy shifted on his feet and rapped his knuckles against the steel door. Music could be heard bumping, with the scent of cooking food. We waited, and got nothing. Frustration had me tilting my head at my cousin before he put his blue and black Js against the door kicking it then banging on the door again.
“Ei, open this door, gyal. Dun be playing no shit come on,” Speedy yelled. He glanced at me with light humor in his eyes then whispered, “Sometimes a nigga gotta act nutters with these gyal’s ey?”
Jokes stayed coming out of his mouth and it had me shaking my head. The angry clack and grunt of the steel door in front of us drew my attention as it snapped open with an annoyed bang.
“What! Don’t be pissin’ me off with all that banging and shit on my door areshole!”
A tall, brown-haired chick stood in front of us with a scowl on her face. Upset, she pushed strains of her silky hair behind her ears and her face was flushed bright red reflecting her irritation. Recognition hit her features as a light smile spread wide the moment her fist suddenly connected with Speedy’s shoulder.
“Heeeey, Speedy, come in, my bad. Thought some twat had a problem or that it was Tunez,” she said moving to the side.
From what Speedy had explained on up, Tunez was his boy from the block who was a local DJ with him and was this chick’s nigga. Personally, I really didn’t care but I listened anyway just in case it was some info in the mix that I needed. Stepping into her flat, I watched her check me out while I checked her out and I almost found myself inwardly laughing. She sported a simple jersey and jeans with white kicks. Her hair was pulled back into a pony and the sound of a kid in the far back of the room let me know why she also was standing in a protective stance.
Glancing around the medium-sized flat, which held toy cars in one area of the room and a table full of plates with a waiting dinner on it, I saw the balcony and glanced at Speedy.
“Ei, chill wit that, L. Look my bruv here needs your deck, you down?” Speedy explained keeping everything simple. He had already told me her name was Laura on the way up. I guessed L was her nickname.
“There it is; go use it. Just was getting my son in. The endz is on some piss today. Bloke’s acting all loony and shit.” L motioned while she locked the door.
Heading to the balcony, I slid the doors open while Speedy and L spoke. They both clowned around talking about everything and nothing as I took in the whole block. I saw the marshes and wondered if she’d go there since it was that close. My eyes trailed from the flat we were sharing with Diamond and I tried to see if any suspicious rides were speeding out of the endz.
“Oh shit, Speedy, for real? Sometimes the snakes in the grass are closer than you expect. I don’t play wit’ kids, so yeah, I think I saw her on the other side of the towers with some other kid,” I heard L say.
The concern in her voice had me turning around and coming back into her living room, “She always has her pink and purple backpack; did you see that, ma?”
L’s gray eyes glanced up thinking. As she turned to get a bottle of Coca-Cola she spoke to us in thought. “Oh yeah. I’ve see her ’round ’ere going to primary. Yeah, saw Dante’s kid wit’ her. Thought that was suspect since he only comes to the endz to snitch to that bitch Dante, but yeah, saw her and she was wit’ him again. Didn’t know she was yours.”
Speedy spit out exactly was a nigga was thinking: “Dante’s kid? When dat ’appen, yo?”
“You stay gone, Speedy, workin’ the endz and whatever the boss got you doing, bruv. We keep the word for when you all need it, cha?” L raised both eyes brows in the air, as if saying “duh” and walked in the kitchen.
“People been missing, mainly kids and us young-uns. Misfits, bruv. Wondered when attention was gonna start getting paid,” she went on.
I listened, and I thought, damn. All this shit was deep but at the same time, Dante’s kid? The fuck was this and why did everyone know this shit but Phenom and Anika? Had to be because they had been gone for so long, only thing I could think of. But, the fact that little nigga had been around my baby girl had me pissed all the way off. My family was becoming liabilities. This was fucked up.
My hands slid in my pockets and I urgently moved to the door, “Hey yo, L, baby, thank you for hitting us with that knowledge. A lot of shit was going on but we got you, mama.”
“So you’re one of the Yanks who moved in huh? You got us? Make sure you do ’cause Dante is nutters. I got a kid and I ain’t got time for all of that other stuff, so protect us now, too. Phenom and the African queen have been good to us, so don’t muff up the system.”
I chuckled at her brass balls. I could jig on this chick. I gave her a curt nod and rolled out as Speedy passed her some dough then followed me. We made it out of the towers just as Jake was hitting my cell with numbers. In code, it meant that people saw her near the marshes like I thought. So, Speedy and I headed that way. My mind was a mosh pit. Like, for real a nigga hadn’t been that bent out of shape since finding out Dame had murked my mom and pops. But I couldn’t let that shit deter me. I kept my eyes open then stopped dead in my tracks. Footprints let me know she had been here. I followed each one until I got to the marsh’s edge. Turning, I saw another set of footprints. Looked like a struggle.
As I followed, my cell vibrated and I picked it up since it wasn’t a text. “Yeah.”
“Found a body. That kid Dillenger. Close to where you are. I see you, brah. Just walk backward and go left close to the bank,” Jake explained.
Though it was dark, Jake’s huge, muscled frame could be spotted surrounded by a bunch of trees. She had picked a good spot. Because she was so little, it was perfect to do some dirt but also still see her surroundings, which had me wondering what the fuck was really going on.
Dillenger lay in front of my Timbs mucked the fuck up. Blood was everywhere, with pieces of his skull and brain matter. I knew the cops were going to have a good day with this shit. Damn, baby girl, what was going on? I wanted to act confused with the whole scenario but after hearing what L had told us back in the towers, I could only guess that she figured out some shit with this little nigga and took him out. No doubt, I was proud of her, but where the fuck was she?
“I hit up Gina, but she said Ghost ain’t come back. Ray-Ray is buggin’ out,” Jake explained as if reading my thoughts.
I turned around backing away to go back to where I came from as Speedy and Jake followed. From where we were, even if you were at the towers, you couldn’t really see due to the angle they were at. So it was no point in asking if anyone saw shit, unless it was people who were walking by at that same moment, so I keep it moving. Her feet tracks left out of the marshes and back on the block toward a gate next to an alley. My eyes kept scanning until it stopped on a side alley where Phenom and Anika stood.
Something wasn’t right with how they were looking and it had my temples suddenly pounding and my pulse pumping. Everything around me suddenly got hot. I kept walking until I was right upon them.
“Nephew, I’m sorry,” was all Phenom said.
I wasn’t sure what the fuck he was sorry for until I saw Anika with Ghost’s book bag and her broken jeweled cell phone. I had
got her that, when we got here. It was her favorite colors, pink and purple. Now that shit was broken and I knew my face was frozen in a blank mask as my mind processed.
“What was seen?” gruffly came from me as the sound of the city ebbed behind me.
All I heard was the thumping of my heart with the sensation of heat rising in anger.
“Some of our eyes said they spotted a white car pulling up out of here, hon. When we got here, this was on the ground, next to a kiddy bat. I figured it was hers,” Anika softly explained.
Lights from the intersection and houses behind her cast an eerie glow, one that had my stomach clenching in the seriousness of the situation. I began nodding my head thinking, then thumbing my nose as I contemptuously spoke, “So you saying, what huh? She was snatched up? That little nigga led her out here to get got?”
The sound of a pair of familiar all-white wing-tipped oxford shoes came close with that of the grip of a strong hand on my shoulder. Anger had me seeing red and I brushed the hand off.
“Fuck this London bullshit. Never should have brought any of them here, man, fuck this. I know who did this shit and I’m about to handle it right now; clearly they don’t know who the fuck I am,” I spit out.
“Kwame, step out of that and think—” Phenom offered in comfort but I wasn’t hearing it in that moment.
“Fuck that. They put me in chaos and best believe I’m about to bring ’em just that, fuck the other shit,” I heatedly cut in.
I heard the sound of a Glock and intuitively knew that was Jake backing me up. A cold sneer slowly spread across my face in knowing that. My locs spilled haphazardly over my face and I stared deep into my uncle’s eyes speaking to him without saying shit. He knew I wasn’t on some delusional “get myself killed” stupid shit. Naw, anger always kept me levelheaded and clear of mind and right now, I was into a plan.
