by K'wan
“You ain’t going nowhere on a busted wheel, Bo,” Sandra pushed him back down, “and anybody poke their head out there is gonna get it blown off. Ain’t nothing we can do for them at this point.”
Pearl sat with her palms pressed over her ears, trying to drown out the sounds of the gunfire and screaming. She felt helpless, which had been the story of her life lately. Sheila’s death, Devonte almost abducting her, and finally Diamonds abandoning her. All these things came at her in waves, and in each situation, there had been nothing she could do to stop them. She’d had enough of feeling like she was at the mercy of whatever fate life would dictate for her and it was time to take control. She pushed Marissa off her, and kneed the guy who had been holding her in the nuts, freeing her from his grip.
“Pearl, what the hell are you doing?” Bo called out, watching his granddaughter scramble on hands and knees over broken glass and bodies towards the door.
“For once in my life taking control of the situation,” Pearl told him as she searched the bodies of the fallen security staff until she found what she was looking for; his weapon. Pearl pried the Glock .40 from his dead hand.
“Pearl, you’re gonna get yourself killed!” Sandra yelled after her.
“Maybe,” Pearl checked the clip, and slapped it back in just as her father had taught her, “but I won’t be going alone,” she stepped through what was left of the entrance.
Pearl didn’t know what she had planned when she picked up that gun. Nor was she sure what she would do when she stepped out into something that was way out of her league, but the situation unfolding in front of her wouldn’t allow time to sort either decision out. She arrived in time to see Knowledge narrowly escape a barrage of bullets that knocked smoked out of the hood of a parked car. The shooter was a tall man wearing a mask, inching towards Knowledge. Something about the set of his posture rang familiar to Pearl, but the sight of him raising the gun to finish Knowledge shifted her focus. Steadying her hands as best she could, she opened fire.
* * *
Knowledge watched in shock as the machine gunner’s shoulder exploded in a spray of crimson. The gun discharged planting a trial of holes in the concrete that stopped just short of Knowledge’s feet. Another shot followed, and another after that sending the machine gunner back peddling and tumbling onto his side in the street. He struggled to his feet, fumbling with the machine gun to let off another burst, but a car screeched to a halt and cut off his line of fire. Reluctantly, the machine gunner allowed himself to be pulled into the car. Two more shots rang out, busting the back window before the car peeled off into the night.
Knowledge was a man who believed more in science than he did faith, but there was no denying that it was a miracle that had saved him from a nasty death. He looked over his shoulder, expecting to see one of Big Stone’s soldiers, or Rain’s security team, but instead found Pearl. She was standing on the sidewalk, holding smoking pistol still aimed in the direction the car had fled in. There was a hard look in her eyes that Knowledge had never seen before and it made him uneasy.
“Pearl?” Knowledge called out to her softly. She turned to him and for a minute he thought she was going to start shooting again. “It’s okay,” he approached her cautiously. “I got you,” he plucked the gun from her hand. “Are you okay?”
“No,” Pearl’s eyes went to her trembling hands. They were smeared in blood and dirt from when she’d pried the gun loose from the dead soldier. “My father?” she asked, realizing she didn’t see him anywhere.
“I got Big Stone. You just get back inside incase they double back,” he told her.
“No, these are our people,” her eyes roamed over the corpses. “I need to do something.”
“These muthafuckas are gone,” Knowledge motioned toward the bodies. “If you wanna help, there’s a lot of hurt folks inside that need tending to. Now go on,” he nudged Pearl toward the door. Reluctantly, Pearl went back inside to help attend the injured. He waited until she was out of harm’s way before going in search of Big Stone.
He cautiously approached the mouth of the alley, at the ready in case of any surprises. All seemed quiet as he ventured deeper. Knowledge had hoped Big Stone had made it to freedom at the other end, but that hope was dashed when he saw a pair of legs sticking out from behind a Dumpster. “No,” Knowledge dropped to his knees over the bullet riddled body. The man who had been his father and mentor was now gone, leaving a void in his heart that could never be filled. At least Big Stone had taken one of his killers with him, Knowledge thought as he remembered seeing two people go in the alley after Big Stone and only one come out. His eyes swept the alley for a dead body, but all he found was a trail of blood leading to the other Dumpster, which was blocking the alley.
“Don’t you fucking move!” a rough voice called from behind Knowledge. He cast a glance over his shoulder and saw several uniformed officers making their way down the alley. For an instant, he’d thought about holding court in the streets, but decided against it. In death, he could serve no purpose, and he still had unfinished business to deal with in life.
* * *
As the police lead Knowledge from the alley in cuffs, he took stock of the bodies spread out along the sidewalk. Nearly all of the remaining bosses of the city were gone, including his mentor. The irony was that they had been taken out by the very men they had been about to rally against. Most would’ve considered it dumb luck that their enemies had been able to catch them all slipping in once place at one time, but Knowledge knew better. The fact that nearly all their lieutenants had conveniently missed the meeting stank of an inside job. It had been a set up from the beginning and he cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. His eyes were open now and all he could see was red, and come morning so would the streets. It was open season on their enemies, starting with the traitor Born. Knowledge would kill him the ugliest.
The front of Rain was teaming with police and emergency vehicles. Spectators were lined up behind the yellow tape, likely curious to find out who or what had turned their neighborhood into a war zone. Photographers snapped pictures of Knowledge in chains and he already knew how it would play out in the morning paper. The man who had spent his life staying low key was about to be thrust into the spotlight.
While he was being shoved into the back of a patrol car, he caught a glimpse Pearl. She in front of the club being questioned by police, while Asia and Sandra stood watch. A sliver of a smile crossed his face, as he knew the police were wasting their time trying to pump Pearl for information. She knew better than to utter a word until she had a lawyer present, as Big Stone had trained her. What worried him was what would happen next. Pearl was a civilian, but she was still a Stone and now had to carry the burden of the name. So long as an heir to what Big Stone had built remained alive, they represented a threat which meant life was about to change for Pearl and Stoney. He only prayed they would be ready for what was to come.
As police car holding Knowledge was pulling away from the curb, he made brief eye contact with Asia. Her face was solid, and defiant, but Knowledge knew that inside she was going to pieces and just trying to put up a good front for Sandra and Pearl. They had always discussed the possibility of him one day getting busted for how he lived, and the measures she needed to take in the event of an arrest, but the conversations had always been hypothetical. Seeing him in cuffs made it real. Before she faded from view, Asia gave her man a curt nod letting him know that she would do what needed to be done. Practice was over, and it was game time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
It had been a long night for the women of the Stone household. After being asked what felt like a million questions by the police, they were taken to the precinct to be asked a million more. For everything the police asked her, Pearl’s answer remained the same: “I was inside when the shooting started and didn’t see anything.” In truth, she couldn’t get the picture of the massacre out of her mind. The family lawyer, Abe Kauffman, finally showed up to the precinct at about 5 A.M.
which put an end to the inquisition. After promising to return the following day for another round of questioning the ladies were allowed to leave with Kauffman.
Kauffman dropped Pearl, Sandra, and Asia at the brownstone in Harlem. Asia had wanted to go back to her apartment but Sandra convinced her to stay with them for the night. She was trying to hide it, but she was in bad shape after what had happened with Knowledge. They had been informed by Kauffman that they were trying to charge him with murder being that they had found him in the center of the crime scene still holding a smoking gun … the gun Pearl had fired. She wasn’t sure if she had hit anyone or not, but now that Knowledge’s fate hung in the balance she hoped that she hadn’t. Still, even if they couldn’t hang any of the bodies on Knowledge, the weapon’s possession charge was enough to take him out of the picture until further notice. Every man any of them cared about had been taken away that night and all the women had left was each other.
Stoney was still asleep when they arrived at the brownstone. Pearl wanted to wake him up and break the news to her little brother that they were now officially orphans, but Sandra advised against it. She figured it would be best to put it off until the morning and Pearl reluctantly agreed. Sandra offered to be the one to break the news to him when he woke up, but Pearl said she’d do it. Sandra had been through enough so it was accepted the responsibility. She only hoped she had the strength to do it. For a time, Pearl just stood in his doorway watching her little brother sleep. He seemed so peaceful, likely dreaming about girls and video games. Little did he know that his whole world had just been destroyed.
On weary legs, she staggered to her bedroom. She was still covered in dirt and blood, but didn’t have it in her to shower that night so she peeled off her ruined party dress and climbed into bed. Sleep didn’t come easy to her. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the image of her father’s corpse being wheeled out of the alley. She loved that man more than anything and he had been taken from her for reasons that she was still clueless to, but before it was said and done she would get to the bottom of it and deal with everything and everybody accordingly.
It felt like Pearl had just drifted to sleep when she was awakened by the sound of the doorbell. Head still in a fog, she started making her way to the stairs. In the hallway she was met by Stoney, who had also been awakened by the bell.
“Pearl, what’s going on and why is there blood on your dress?” Stoney asked sleepily.
“Nothing, just go back to bed,” Pearl told him before descending the stairs.
Sandra was standing in the doorway talking to someone. Asia hung back in the foyer, with her arms folded and a disgusted look on her face. Pearl peered over Sandra’s shoulder to see who she was talking to. There were two uniformed officers and a woman dressed in a business suit. At first Pearl thought they had come to deliver more news about her father’s murder until she heard Sandra yelling.
“What kind of bullshit is this?” Sandra snapped.
“Ma’am, would you please calm down,” the woman in the suit urged her.
“Calm down, my ass! This family has suffered a terrible tragedy and y’all won’t even allow us a moment to grieve before you come through here with this bullshit?”
“Mrs. Stone,” the woman mistook Sandra for Big Stone’s wife, “I’m sorry for your loss, and I assure you I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here. I’m just doing my job.”
“What’s going on?” Pearl asked.
“They come for Stoney,” Sandra said fighting back the tears.
“What?” Pearl asked in shock. She was wide awake now. “What the hell do you want with my little brother?”
“Listen, I’ll tell you like I told you mom, we had a report that a minor named Lenox Stone Jr. was residing at a residence deemed unsafe and we’ve come to remove him until we can investigate further. And from the looks of things I’d say those accusations weren’t unwarranted,” the woman looked at Pearl’s bloody dress.
“Miss, this is all one big misunderstanding.” Pearl tried to assure her.
“Misunderstanding my ass,” a voice they were all too familiar with called from outside. Zonnie marched into view, dressed in a tight-fitting dress and heels that had no place on a woman’s feet at that hour of the morning. “Y’all got my boy living in harm’s way and I aim to do something about it!” she declared.
“Bitch, you can’t be serious?” Sandra looked her up and down. “I been taking care of Stoney since he was a baby and now you wanna come back now that he’s almost grown and play the concerned mother?”
“Wait, so you’re Lenox Stone Jr.’s legal guardian? Meaning you can prove it?” the woman in the suit asked hopefully. She didn’t care for the hood rat Zonnie and didn’t want to remove the boy unless she absolutely had to.
“Well, yes I’m his guardian but not legally,” Sandra told her. “I been taking care of these kids since they were small though. We were supposed to make it official on Monday, but—”
“But nothing,” Zonnie cut her off. “You just said it yourself that you ain’t got shit on paper. I’m Stoney’s only surviving parent so my word chumps that of the family maid. Now y’all go in there and get my son!”
“Wait, how did you know that my father was dead?” Pearl asked suspiciously. It had only happened a few hours prior and Pearl was sure it hadn’t made the news yet. The guilty expression on Zonnie’s face told the tale. She had been in on it. “You stinking bitch!” She lunged at Zonnie, but the officers restrained her. “As God as my witness you I’ll kill you if I find out you had a hand in what happened to my father!”
“See, you heard her threaten to kill me with your own ears. I told you these people were unstable.” Zonnie taunted.
“Zonnie, I know me and you ain’t never seen eye to eye on much, but don’t do this … at least not now,” Sandra pleaded with tears in her eyes.
“Fuck you and your crocodile tears.” Zonnie chuckled. “I’m taking my son out of this den of sin and come Monday you can expect to hear from my lawyers about what’s owed to my son from his father’s estate. I know that muthafucka kept a will or something.”
Sandra’s lip trembled with rage. For a second Pearl expected her to make one last attempt to plead with Zonnie, but when next she opened her mouth the only thing that came out of it was a glob of spit, which landed right on Zonnie’s face. “You gonna rot for this, whore!”
“You saw that, she just assaulted me. I want her locked up,” Zonnie said dramatically, while wiping away the spit.
“Ma’am, do we really need to make this situation worse?” the woman in the suit tried to plead with her.
“You can either arrest this bitch or I’ll go to your supervisor and explain how you failed to do your job,” Zonnie insisted.
With little other choice the woman in the suit gave the officers the nod to put Sandra in cuffs. When the other officer tried to come into the house to retrieve Stoney, Pearl stood to block his path, while Asia eased up behind him. The looks on both ladies’ faces said that they were ready to take it wherever the officer wanted.
“Pearl,” Sandra called to her. “It’s okay. They’ve got a job to do and going about it like this ain’t gonna help. We’ll do it the right way.”
Pearl didn’t want to, but she reluctantly let the officer pass. The whole time he was searching the house for Stoney, she continued to glare and Zonnie. Zonnie was trying to look tough because the police were there, but when Pearl caught her in the streets she was going to jump in her ass. After about ten minutes of searching the officer came back empty handed, much to everyone’s surprise.
“There’s no one else here,” the officer told them.
“Where are y’all hiding my son?” Zonnie demanded to know. No one spoke.
“Well, we can’t remove a child if there isn’t one on the premises. We’ll try back another time.” The woman in the suit gave Pearl a knowing glance. “And you can take those cuffs off Mrs. Stone.”
“No the fuck you w
on’t,” Zonnie interjected. “I told you I want this old bitch locked up and I’m going all the way with it. She’s going to jail.”
“Gladly,” Sandra said. “I’ll only be in there for a few hours, but you’ll be a bitter bitch for the rest of your days.” She laughed and started marching towards the waiting police car.
“I’ll get Kauffman back on the line and have you out right away, Sandra,” Pearl called after her. “Is there anything else you need me to do?”
Sandra stopped short. “As a matter of fact, yes. Prepare yourself accordingly, princess. These muthafuckas done declared war, and we’re going to give them one!”
EPILOGUE
Domo breathed a sigh of relief with he finally made it back to Newark. He never in his life thought he’d be so happy to see The Bricks. It had been a long night and he longed for the comforts of familiar surroundings. His mother had been blowing up his phone since she discovered that he was missing from his bedroom. She was probably worried and pissed off. Domo shot her a text to let her know that he was okay, but he wasn’t quite ready to talk yet. Even when he wouldn’t find the words easily to articulate what he was going through. His mom was his best friend and one of the strongest people he knew, but how could a woman possibly understand what it was like to be a young man?
He passed through his neighborhood to grab some weed from one of the little dudes on the block. While he was out there he spotted Raheem and L.A. in the courtyard. A friendly face and a kid ear was just what he needed at the moment. He was about to cross the street and join them, but hesitated when he saw that there was a third member of their group. He was a tall man with a squared chin and white hair that was shaved down into a buzz cut. Domo remembered seeing the albino once before when he’d been uptown with Buda, but didn’t know his name and never bothered to ask. At first he thought the white haired man might’ve been there to deliver the cocaine Buda had promised, but from the way L.A. and Raheem seemed to be hanging on his every word said he was no simple courier. Domo’s friends were so engrossed in what he was saying that they never even noticed him slip back into his car and pull off.
