Back in the Hood

by Treasure Hernandez

  “Mama,” Malek said as he drove, “I know you’d be proud of me too.” He smiled as his GPS system guided him directly to his destination.

  Malek pulled into the parking lot of the accountant’s building. It was a glass office building that sat in the middle of downtown. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Gary’s number, wanting to make sure everything was still all good.

  “Malek, how’s it going?” Gary answered. “I’m glad to see you made it home safely.”

  “Yeah, thanks. I just wanted to let you know that I’m about to meet with your girl Ashley now. I’m outside of her office. Is everything still good?”

  “It’s all good, my friend. And so is Ashley. She’s the best in the business. She’ll take care of you. I’ve already faxed her all of the documents,” Gary said. “She has everything she needs.” Gary cleared his throat. “That is, with one exception, of course.”

  “Not to worry.” Malek looked at the briefcases that rested on the passenger’s seat. “I got it all here with me.”

  “Good.”

  “So, let me head on in here, and I’ll talk to you later, fam. I don’t want to be late,” Malek stated, knowing that tardiness in the professional sector was frowned upon. Hell, even in the streets when a nigga was supposed to meet up with him at a certain time and didn’t come through it was frowned upon. Malek just figured, when it came to money, shit always needed to be on time.

  Malek closed his cell phone and proceeded into the building. When he found her office, he entered. The receptionist wasn’t at her desk, so he stood and waited nervously. He didn’t know why his nerves were getting the better of him. Perhaps he just felt that it was all too good to be true.

  He didn’t have to wait too long before an older white woman appeared from the closed door behind the desk.

  “I’m sorry to have you waiting. My receptionist is at lunch. You must be Malek,” she greeted with an extended hand. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

  “Actually, I just got here,” Malek told her, shaking her hand. “I’m Malek, and it’s nice to meet you, Ms. Wagner.” He held up the two briefcases. “I have the money to deposit into my account.”

  “Right this way,” she said as she led Malek to her office, back through the doorway she’d just come through.

  The white walls and floor-to-ceiling windows gave the room a bright look. Malek sat in the chair across from her glass desk, on which a laptop sat, and she took her place behind it.

  “How much did you want to deposit?” she asked.

  “It’s a million and some change,” he answered. He opened each briefcase and revealed the money to her.

  She closed the briefcases without even counting the money and put them underneath her desk.

  “Now, if you need to access these accounts or need assistance adding up interest or dividends, just call me. You have my card. We can meet once a month to make sure everything is going smoothly, if that works for you.”

  “That’s fine,” he answered.

  She removed some papers from her desk and handed them to Malek. “On the last page, please fill in the amount of money you are depositing, and then sign by the X.”

  Malek quickly filled in the information and put his signature on the paper. He was too busy thinking about how rich we was going to be to even read all the fine print on the page. He handed them back to Ms. Wagner.

  “Thank you.” She smiled. “Now, what day works best for you next month, so we can meet to talk about how much your investment has earned?”

  “The first is good,” he responded. “Pretty easy to remember.”

  “The first it is then, Mr. Johnson.” She scribbled on her calendar. “How about one o’clock?”

  “One o’clock is good.”

  Ms. Wagner stood, signaling that their meeting was over.

  “Is that it?” Malek asked.

  “That’s it,” she replied. “For now anyway.”

  The transaction was easier than Malek thought it would be. He was sure there’d be more paperwork for him to sign, but obviously Gary had taken care of absolutely everything. This made Malek feel even more confident about his partnership with Gary, a man, like himself, who handled his business.

  Malek shook her hand once more and left the office feeling like a new man. He was now a businessman and was stepping into the majors.

  Chapter Eleven

  Malek drove down I-75 on his way to his appointment with Ms. Wagner. It had been a month since he had turned over his money to the accountant to get cleaned. It was now the first of the month, which meant it was time to go check up on his investments. He was excited to see what dividends he’d made on his money. It had only been a short time, but he had learned that in the world of high finance, so much could transpire in a month. During one of his and Gary’s discussion back at the island, Gary had hit him up on a time when he tripled his money in only one week. Malek would be more than satisfied to simply double his money.

  Malek and Gary had been touching base on the telephone all month. They had arranged to meet up in Miami on the upcoming weekend to talk face to face. Hopefully, after his visit with Ms. Wagner, they’d be celebrating as well.

  Malek finally reached his destination. He pulled into the parking lot and stepped out of the car feeling like a million bucks. Over the past month, just the mere thought of going legit had him feeling ahead of the game and prepared for the future. He’d managed to stay free and clear from the game, with the exception of the couple of times Mitch had hit him up with a few questions regarding contacts and whatnot.

  As he walked up to the office, he noticed something strange. It looked like there was no light shining through the vertical blinds covering the office window. From a distance, the place looked closed.

  The closer Malek got, the quicker he picked up his pace, with a sick feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Upon arriving at the double doors to Ms. Wagner’s office, his concern grew worse. He turned the knob and pulled on the door. It didn’t budge. It was locked.

  Malek nervously looked down at his watch. “One o’clock,” he said out loud. He was exactly on time. He tried the door again, hoping that maybe it had just gotten jammed or something and would open this time. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

  Looking down at his watch yet again, Malek tried to ignore his nerves, telling himself that perhaps Ms. Wagner had just gone to lunch or something and hadn’t made it back. As his blood pressure rose, so did his suspicions. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was starting to understand the real deal.

  Hesitantly, he exited the building and walked over to the window. He pressed his hands to block off the sun’s glare, and stared into the room where he and Ms. Wagner had done business—the room where he had handed over pretty much every dime he had.

  With a clear view of the office, he quickly discovered that what just one month ago had looked like a well put-together accounting office was now a vacant suite. “No fucking way!” He went back inside the building and tried the office door again. “Fuck!” Malek spat as the thoughts he’d tried to suppress began to rise.

  Malek’s heart dropped when he looked down and saw a shiny piece of paper with a piece of tape on it. He picked it up and turned it over, only to discover that it was a sign that read: OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE FOR RENT. It must have fallen off the door.

  “Son of a bitch!” Malek yelled as he stormed away from the building.

  As he made his way back to the car, he called the number he’d reached Ms. Wagner on before. He heard a recorded voice saying that the number was disconnected.

  Malek began to panic. He looked down at the phone to make sure he had dialed the correct number. Although it appeared he had, he still punched in the numbers again. He got the same response from the automated operator.

  “Fuck!” Malek yelled as he gripped the phone tightly and pushed the end button. It took everything he had not to throw the phone across the parking lot and through the vacant office window.
Instead, he surfed through his phonebook contacts and retrieved Gary’s number. Malek couldn’t wait to tell Gary about the sheisty accountant. He knew Gary would be just as pissed. After all, he had deposited more than a million dollars with her as well.

  As Malek waited for the call to go through, he tried to convince himself that everything was just a misunderstanding. “That bitch better had moved her office or something,” he said to himself as he waited for Gary to pick up the ringing phone. But after a few seconds, an operator’s voice notified Malek that Gary’s number was no longer in service.

  This couldn’t be right. Malek had just spoken with Gary less than five minutes ago.

  This time, Malek pulled up his calling log on his cell phone. Gary was the last person he’d called, so he simply redialed the number he’d just spoken to him on. When he heard the operator repeat her same spiel, the phone almost slipped from his hand.

  “I promise to God, Ashton Kutcher’s ass better pop out from somewhere and tell me I’m being punked or else—” Malek gritted his teeth.

  Malek’s hands began to sweat, and his heart was beating a thousand times per minute. He couldn’t believe he had been swindled. This can’t be happening. He scrolled through his phone and found Gary’s office number. When he got the same recorded response, he knew for sure he’d been set up.

  Malek jumped into his car, and out of frustration, pulled out his gun. He then got back out of the car, walked back toward the office, and emptied his entire clip through the office window. He stormed back to his car determined to be on the first thing smoking back to the island. He was about to go straight to Gary and see what was going on.

  Malek was racking his brain on the whole plane ride back to the islands. He didn’t want to worry Halleigh, so he didn’t tell her about the mishap. He’d simply told her that he needed to meet with Gary face to face to handle some business. He didn’t want to stress her out until he found out for sure what was going on. It was probably nothing but a misunderstanding—at least, that’s what he kept trying to tell himself. But it had been two days since he’d tried to contact both the accountant and Gary, and he hadn’t heard from either one of them. Up until that point, he and Gary had pretty much talked on a regular basis.

  Even if it turned out that Gary was on the up-and-up and had nothing to do with the accountant going MIA, Malek planned on holding him accountable, since Gary had hooked the whole thing up. He was going to get his money back, one way or the other. And if Gary was behind this whole scam from the beginning, Malek had made up his mind that Gary would have to pay him back or else pay with his life.

  His intentions were to pay Gary a surprise visit. He knew Gary would never expect him to pop up on him so quick, but he was about to bring the heat right to his front door.

  Just hours later, Malek was at Gary’s house. He banged on the front door after ringing the doorbell repeatedly and getting no answer. After a while, someone finally unlocked the door. Malek breathed a sigh of relief, but was somewhat puzzled by the person who stood on the other side of the door.

  “Hello, sir. Are you my one o’clock appointment?” the professionally dressed woman with clipboard in hand asked as she extended her hand for a shake.

  “I’m looking for Gary Williams,” he said as he frowned in confusion.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Gary Williams only rented this villa out for the month. This is the property of Prestige Rentals, sir,” she said confidently.

  Malek wasn’t trying to hear anything she had to say. For all he knew, she was just someone Gary told to get rid of him while he relaxed in another room.

  Before the woman could say another word, Malek brushed past her and entered the house. “Gary! Gary!” He stormed around the house furiously. “Where the fuck are you?” he yelled as he searched the placed. He noticed that the few pictures of Gary and Marie that he’d seen around the house before were now gone. That’s when he finally admitted to himself that his suspicions were true—He had been got.

  “Sir! Sir, excuse me,” the woman said as she struggled to keep up with Malek’s pace. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but like I said, Mr. Williams is not here. This is not his residence. Never was. It’s a timeshare rental. Now, if you’re interested in renting this property, then by all means we can talk business, but if you are here for any other reason, then I’m going to have to ask you to excuse yourself.”

  Malek just stood there breathing hard, casting an evil glare on the woman. He hadn’t meant to be intimidating to her, but he couldn’t help himself. This wasn’t like one of his contacts shorting him on some dope, or one of his corner boys shorting him on some change. This was more than a million dollars at stake. This was his life. This was his future. Not just his future, but the future of Halleigh and his unborn child.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” the woman said, trying her best not to show any fear, although her trembling hands were a dead giveaway. “You have to leave, or I am going to be forced to call the cops,” the real estate agent said.

  “Fuck the cops!” Malek yelled just before he stormed out the door. With no other leads on how to contact Gary, Malek decided all he could do was go home. But then he remembered the office Gary had given him a tour of. Only thing was, he couldn’t remember the name of the facility, nor where it was located. He didn’t know what to do next, but he knew he couldn’t give up, not just yet.

  Malek sat on the plane on his way home, still trying to understand the fact that he had just lost everything he’d worked for. He’d hired a driver to escort him around, looking for the facility which Gary claimed housed his company. He was sure that they had covered every inch of the island, but it was to no avail. Malek was, once again, disappointed by his lack of results. At this point, though, he knew that even if he had found the building, it would most likely be vacated, just like the bogus accountant’s office.

  Malek felt like he’d lost his mind, like Michael Douglas in the movie The Game. He kept replaying the scenes in his head, starting from the moment Gary showed up to save the day at the pier. He wondered how he missed seeing the snake in the grass. While he was worrying about why Gary would trust him enough to go into business with him, he should have been asking himself why he should trust that fool. How could he have been so stupid to get caught up in the entire fantasy of the good life?

  Everything had seemed so real, like destiny was unfolding and Gary was a part of it. In those few days Malek spent with the millionaire, he hadn’t detected anything shady. Nor did he sense anything strange during any of their phone conversations. Unfortunately, Malek had to blame his lack of experience in the “real world.” Now he was paying for it.

  Had it just been his future at stake, Malek would have simply chalked it up as a loss and kept moving, but that wasn’t the case. He buried his face in his hands as he wondered how he would explain to Halleigh that he had been swindled, and that they now only had $10,000 to their names. He was grateful that he had kept even that little somethin’-somethin’ to tide them over until his money made a profit. He had been tempted to put all of it in the hands of that accountant, and then he and Halleigh would have been penniless now.

  How could I not see this shit? Malek threw his head back against the coach seat. Just a month ago he’d been enjoying the good life of first class; now he was back in coach. And just when he thought there was no place left to go but up, everything was going right back down. In the past, he had always managed to come out on top no matter what. Now, he just couldn’t imagine how he’d be able to pull that off one more time.

  Chapter Twelve

  As the moonlight shone into the room, Malek stood near the window and stared at Halleigh, who slept peacefully in their bed. He couldn’t manage to get any sleep, knowing he had no money to take care of her and their unborn seed. It had been a couple of days since he returned from the islands, and every time he thought about telling Halleigh that he was swindled out of their life savings, he couldn’t go through with it.

  A part of him w
anted to take the ten grand he had left and go flip it on the streets to avoid ever having to tell her. The last thing he wanted to witness was the look of disappointment on her face when she found out they were broke. He knew without a doubt he could once again reach millionaire status by getting back in the game. Although he had already vowed to leave the streets of Flint alone, things had changed. That promise was made before he found himself back at square one.

  He slowly paced the room, trying to think of a way to make things right, but all of his ideas led back to the hustling. He didn’t want to break his promise to Halleigh, but his back was up against the wall. His options were slim to none.

  He clenched his jaws as he walked over to the night-stand and picked up his phone. He didn’t want to do what he was about to do, but the way he saw it, he was between a rock and a hard place. Either way it went, he’d be letting Halleigh down. If there was a slim chance that he could grind without Halleigh ever finding out, he was more than willing to take that chance.

  Slipping out of the bedroom with phone in hand, Malek scrolled through the contacts and dialed a number he never thought in a million years he’d be dialing. “Just a couple of flips and I’m out,” he whispered to himself as he walked into the living room so his conversation wouldn’t wake Halleigh.

  Malek stood in front of the window as he listened to the ringing on the other end. Like Jay-Z, it was time for him to make one more brief appearance in the game. Yeah, he was about to dive back into the game, but with a purpose this time.

  Mitch drove down I-75 on his way back from meeting Fredro, his coke connect. It was nearly two in the morning, and the highway was clear and calm, just the way he liked it. He was able to cruise free and clear while listening to his stereo pump out his famous tunes. This always made him feel as though he was on top of the world—as did the fact that he had just negotiated a deal to bring a hundred kilos of coke back to Flint. It was the biggest order Fredro had filled since he had been supplying the city of Flint. Mitch couldn’t believe how major he had become, and how quickly.