The Desert Lion's True Colours

by Ikechi Hayden

  Leon took in what Carter said and smiled to himself. However he kept his facial expression neutral.

  ‘Aight man, since you’re the Big Cheese why don’t you tell me how you think we should play it?’

  Smiling, Carter replied ‘Well, if you’re asking… I read in your file that Black believes you and Jay met in the Pen 5 years ago. Well, why can’t I be one of your boys from the joint?’

  ‘Nope, sorry.’ Leon said shaking his head. ‘They’re too many issues with that scenario, but I’ll just give you the first two. One, Jay and I have never spoken about you. Ever! So Black isn’t going to buy that. And two: You couldn’t pull off being a ‘Pen’ Nigger. Sorry, you just don’t have what it takes. This isn’t an STO (Standard Training Operation) this is straight made for T.V shit. When you’re out there you have to walk like them, talk like them, breeeaath like them!’

  Leon stopped talking and watched Carters reaction change to what he just said. However Leon stopped him before he could reply, so that he could retrieve his phone that had started to vibrate in his pocket.

  ‘One second.’ Leon said, looking at the screen of his phone.

  He did not recognise the number but decided it would be best to answer it anyway.

  ‘Articulate!’ He said.

  The voice on the other end of the phone belonged to Perry – raspy and impatient as always.

  ‘Yo, meet me at TooTsies.’ He said.

  Covering the receiver with his palm Leon advised Carter who was on the phone then after placing it back to his ear said ‘Why can’t you just give me the address over the phone? It’s a clear line.’

  ‘Yo, I don’t have time for your bull-shit…’ Perry shouted. ‘Just meet me in two hours or I’ll just tell uncle you have more important things to do.’

  Remembering what Black had said in his office the night before, Leon knew exactly what Perry was getting at, so he decided it would be best he was the one to back down and simply replied ‘Aight man. We’ll be there.’

  Perry hung up without saying another word.

  ‘Well, I guess you’re going to be.’

  Leon’s words were interrupted again by the vibration of his phone. He looked down at the screen and it read ‘JAY’, so once again Leon raised the phone to his ear and said ‘Yo what’s good dawg? You calmed down now?’

  Jay did not reply to the question asked. He just said ‘WE NEED TO TALK. NOW!’

  Despite Jay’s urgent words Leon calmly replied, ‘Aight man, no worries. Just meet me at mine in twenty. Oh, and roll heavy aight.’

  Jay knew what that meant and ended the call with a simple ‘aight man. See yah in twenty.’

  Leon placed the phone in his pocket and turned his attention back to Carter.

  ‘Aight man, here’s the deal.’ Leon said finally. ‘We have to meet Perry at TooTsies in a couple hours to get the details of the drop…’ Leon paused, flashed a smile and said ‘Well I guess you better go get yourself ready and head to the club. Let’s see if you can redeem yourself from last night’s horrible attempt of blending in.’

  ‘And what should I do when I get there?’ Carter interrupted.

  ‘Nothing…’ Leon said, still smiling. ‘Just keep a low profile and watch our backs.’

  Carter sat forward in his seat again. ‘Wait… ! What about… ?’

  Leon stopped him short.

  ‘Look man, I get it. You think you’re going to be our saviour. Ok, cool. But the truth of the matter is Perry is already a paranoid fuck. If we meet him now with some new guy tagging along, he’s gonna think something is up and possibly kill the deal. A risk we can’t afford to make. Not now.’

  Carter did not reply but nodded his head in agreement instead. With time ticking away Leon decided it was his moment to leave. So he got up, walked back into the house and through dining room back to the foyer. By the time he got to the front door Carter was right behind him, so he stood to the side for his host to open the door.

  ‘Thank you…’ Leon said over graciously.

  ‘You’re welcome.’ Carter replied with an eyebrow raised.

  ‘I do have one more question to ask.’

  ‘If you must?’ replied Carter.

  ‘Who’s the chick in the whip?’

  Carter smiled. ‘Sorry, that’s need to know information.’ He said.

  As soon as the words were said Carter started to motion Leon out the door.

  Leon was not going to make a big deal about it. He had a feeling he would find out who the woman was soon enough.

  Carter stood in the doorway and watched Leon get into his Mercedes, manoeuvre around his BMW and drive through the exit gate that was still left open by the Audi. Thankfully ‘Knox Landing’ was not too far from where Leon lived and within 20 minutes he was home.

  CHAPTER 8

  It was 9:45pm by the time Leon got back to his house. Jay was already there. His car was in the same spot from earlier however as Leon pulled up he could see Jay leaning up against his Metallic black and gold motorbike – the new Concept ‘MV Agusta F1’. The bike was barely road legal however Jay still had a 3-stage NOS system added. Not many people could ride a bike with so much power but Jay was fearless.

  As Leon opened his car door Jay walked over to him waiving some papers in his hand.

  ‘Yo, we got ISSUES BRO!’

  Jay’s tone was urgent however Leon calmly replied ‘Issues… ? What issues?’

  Jay was a little taken aback by Leon’s - I don’t care attitude - but he waived it off and said ‘Yes nigger… We got issues! Someone is trying to mess with us and it’s not anyone in the streets.’

  Smiling Leon said ‘Is that it?’

  ‘Wah da fuck! Did you not just hear what I said? I SAID…

  ‘Yes, I heard!’ Leon interrupted. ‘And I know.’

  Confused Jay asked ‘What you mean you know? What do you know?’

  ‘Not out here.’ Leon said looking over his shoulders.

  Passing Jay on the way to the front door Leon noticed the upstairs curtain above the front door move. ‘Kerry’s home’ He thought

  Jay closed the door that was left open by Leon and walked towards the kitchen. Looking at Leon opening the refrigerator Jay said ‘So what do you mean you know? You don’t even know what I have to say yet.’

  ‘Aight, that’s true.’ Leon paused and looked over Jay’s shoulder towards the hallway as if he was waiting for someone to come down the stairs.

  ‘What… What is it?’ asked Jay, ‘. . . Kerry’s home?’

  Leon nodded his head to which Jay raised his eyebrows, indicating he understood the situation and then in a far quieter tone said ‘Yo, get this. When I left you with that idiot Carter, I went over to see one of my girls in Operations…’

  ‘Which one, Sabrina or Lauren?’ asked Leon curiously.

  ‘Lauren…’ Jay said with a smile. ‘. . . The Chief told her any information that came into the office from New-York should be copied and passed over to him directly.’

  ‘Go on.’ Leon goaded.

  ‘Well, after the Superior arrived today she received three sets of papers from New-York, which needed to be filed away as Classified, Section-8 (above top secret). The only reason she paid more than the usual attention was because YOUR name was on the heading of one of the papers.’

  Leon was a little surprised by what Jay had said but not much. Going by the Superiors speech earlier that day and learning of his father’s involvement with the FBI meant his name being attached to some classified file was not that farfetched. Stopping Jay in the middle of his sentence, he handed Jay one of the beers he had taken from the refrigerator and said ‘Yo, hold on a minute.’

  Wanting to avoid a re-enactment of what happened earlier that morning - with Kerry turning up in the middle of his conversation,
Leon motioned to Jay to follow him to the other side of the kitchen and through an open doorway that lead into the living room. Leon took residence on the three seat sofa on the left of the room opposite to the 60 inch 3D T.V that hung on the adjacent wall. After Leon turned the T.V onto ESPN, Jay joined him on the sofa. Finally opening his bottle of beer Leon said ‘Go on dawg, she won’t be able to hear us now.’

  Jay was about to suggest that they leave the house and go somewhere else but he thought if Leon was cool, then he was ok with it too. Pointing to the papers in his hand Jay said ‘I’m guessing we were only shown part of the information in the Chiefs office today because we were not shown this.’

  After waiving the papers in his hand Jay threw them onto his friends Lap. Leon was not sure what he was about to read however he had a good idea it was going to prove his hypothesis even further. The first page held one photograph of his father sitting in what looked like a cafe. He was holding a cell phone to his ear however Leon could see his father’s attention was clearly focused on the women sitting to the opposite right of him. Her face was slightly turned to the left so he could she had a light complexion but due to her back facing the camera it was not possible to make out her face. Just long curly black hair. With no magnifying glass, Leon raised the paper closer to his face to get a better look but nothing stood out. Putting the picture to one side, Leon turned the page and came across another photograph. This time the picture was taken while his father was exiting the cafe’. This picture was much better. Leon could see his father’s face clearly. While Leon was what some would call the tall, dark type. Kilo Brown was a short man, - 5'9 at best – with a reddish, light brown skin tone and freckles that faintly ran across his nose and cheeks. They did not look like each other in the slightest however Leon thought his father looked fairly good for his age. Despite the slight patch of grey hair, the frown lines and a few wrinkles around his eyes, Mr Brown Senior did not look bad at all. He was sporting a gold-tee and a low neatly trimmed haircut. He was wearing a long black coat, black gloves and a grey scarf.

  “Wherever the picture was taken, it was cold” Leon thought.

  Jay, got up off the couch and watched the different questions, and emotions register on his friends face.

  ‘You ok?’ He asked.

  Leon did not answer; he just kept on reading in silence. Leon turned one more page and halfway down he looked up at Jay with his eyes wide open.

  ‘He’s alive.’ He gasped.

  Jay lowered his eyes and nodded.

  ‘It gets even crazier. You better keep reading.’

  Leon took a deep breath and returned to the paragraph he was on.

  It read:

  Subject – ‘Special Agent Daniels A. Aaron’ – aka Leon ‘Kilo’ Brown Sr.

  Last known location – February 14th / New-York, New-York:-

  Subject visually verified at 06:35am. Seen at ‘Nero Cafe’ 343 E. 10th Street, on February 14th. Per informant Intel, - (the name was blanked out) - Subject believed to have been at the above location to make a money exchange with Arif Karim.

  - STILL NOT CONFIRMED - Due to ‘Special Agent Aaron Daniels leaving same location after 8 min without speaking to anyone in person. Subject spoke on his phone the whole time. Subject managed to shake surveillance in the crowd.

  Leon stopped reading and just stared into blank space.

  ‘You gonna be ok?’ Jay asked again.

  ‘I… I think so.’ Leon replied still in shock.

  His head was in grid lock. Not only was his father alive but he grew up not even knowing his father’s real name. A mixture of emotions riffled through his body, one of them being his feeling quite stupid for changing his name from Leon Brown to Nathan Ferron when the Surname, - Brown, was never his to begin with.

  Looking back down at the papers in his hand Leon read out loud ‘February 14th.’

  Jay interrupted, ‘Exactly! That was only 3 months ago.’

  Leon forced a smile however Jay could tell the news about Leon’s father was not as great as he initially thought.

  ‘Well say something then.’ Jay insisted.

  Looking up at his friend Leon said ‘I think I know what’s going on but if we don’t act quickly he won’t be alive for long.’

  ‘What? I’m not following you dude. What you saying?’ replied Jay, slightly confused.

  Leon cleared his throat and broke down the whole situation as he saw it. His father did work for the Marine Corps Secret Black-Ops Unit, - which they both new were known for undertaking covert operations.

  Leon got up and went back into the kitchen to get the other folder he was given earlier. When he came back he had the relevant page open and handed it to Jay.

  ‘Several years before I was born my father was assigned a mission in Belize. Some parts have been blacked out so I can’t say for sure but for some reason he refused to comply and rejected the mission. He was then given dishonourable discharge and thrown into prison for dissention. We both know that doesn’t make any sense. I mean come on, dissention?’

  ‘So what you thinking?’ Jay asked curiously.

  ‘I’m thinking the old man came across something that was above his pay grade and when he tried to do something about it they through him into prison, only to have the FBI release him in order to work for them. A simple trade really. He gets let out of prison in exchange for the continuous supply of information. Jay was listening closely but all he could come up with was ‘Damn!’

  ‘That leads me to Black.’ Leon said nodding his head in agreement to Jay’s exclamation. ‘. . . I have a gut feeling Black always knew my father was undercover. The other night he said, “Things would be real different if my ole’ man wasn’t around”. It didn’t mean much at the time but if Black and my father were really up and coming drug dealers - He had to have known where my father was getting his money, especially if he had just come out of prison.’

  Surprised Jay cut in. ‘Whoa! So you’re saying not only was your ole’ man being funded by the FBI but Black was a part of the Feds too?’

  ‘Well I wouldn’t go that far…’ Leon replied, ‘. . . but my gut is saying the story the Superior tried to feed us today was a load of shit. My father was never an informant. Sure, he was working for the FBI but as a straight up Agent, - like us. What my father didn’t know was that they were also dealing with Black on the side. I’m guessing, just like before my father found out what they were doing and wanted out. Only this time he threatened to talk. The Agency got scared and instead of throwing him back into prison they told Black to handle it…’

  ‘Only for the old man to escape.’ Jay interjected.

  ‘Exactly’ Replied Leon.

  Jay went over his friends explanation in his head for a while, then said, ‘and you’re thinking they’ve been looking for him ever since?’

  ‘Yup… !’ Leon replied. ‘. . . only for the old man to turn up in broad motherfucking day light three years later. The old man disappeared and we were brought in knowing I would want to get some answers and hopefully find him for them. The problem is, he has now turned up so the initial reason for our call up has been fulfilled.’

  ‘Ok. So what happens to us now? Jay asked hesitantly.

  Leon shook his head. ‘I’m not sure…’ He said, ‘. . . The other night Black kept on asking me about my piece.’

  ‘What… ? Your weapon… ? Why?’

  ‘Well, the funny thing is, when we were put on this case I was given the same pistol as you. A standard 9-millimetre Berretta but the day before I attended the funeral the Chief gave me this one. Said it was the same kind my father carried.’ Leon paused while he removed the P-266 from his waist, then said ‘Black asked me how I got my FATHERS piece. I didn’t answer him, but the truth is if he really thought it was the old mans, I’m sure he would have put two in my head right there and then.
Because that would mean I was in contact with my father.’

  Jay stared at Leon with a confused look on his face. Seeing he would have to explain his findings another way Leon said ‘Think about it. I haven’t seen Black OR my father since I was nine. So realistically how would I have gotten my father’s gun?’

  ‘So what you saying?’ Jay asked.

  ‘I’m saying, with me turning up with a gun that looks exactly like the one my father carried was a test.’

  ‘A test’ Jay repeated.

  ‘Yeah, on one hand if Black saw the piece and freaked out, the Agency would have known he was in on my fathers’ disappearance and they would have moved in on him quick.’

  ‘But Black didn’t freak out.’ Jay exclaimed.

  ‘Exactly! He kept us around. For three years!’

  ‘Hold Up! Are you trying to tell me, Black knows who we are? I mean, really knows who we are?’

  ‘Yes.’ Leon replied bluntly. ‘He’s known all along. We’ve been used from the very beginning. All the Intel we were giving over to the Agency was stuff Black wanted us to hand over. We were put in undercover, to keep an eye on Black in hopes he would lead us to my ole’ man. I’m guessing Black knew that from the outset. I would bet my life that everything we learned about Black was stuff the Agency probably already knew. All we are are hired guns. Commissioned by the government and sold to the highest bidder, - who in this case turns out to be Black. Only now, ole’ pops appearance threatens to break up the whole deal. Neither one of them can afford to have him walking free around the streets of New-York.

  Jay just stood there, giving himself time to take in all the information. It all seemed to make sense but he could not help but feel as if they were missing something big. After a deep breath Jay let out a sigh and said, ‘That is a lot to take in. And it does make sense. But what makes you so sure?’

  Leon looked at his partner and said. ‘The day we made that drop to Pyro, the only people who knew about that were you, me and the Chief and guess what. Perry was out of town that week. There is no way he peeped us like Black said he did and I doubt very much any of his roadies saw us.’