Games Women Play

by Zaire Crown

  The whole thing caught Face by surprise but he responded quickly. He started spraying the AK in their direction. Tuesday was able to scramble to her feet and dive behind an old Ford panel van.

  Before running for cover, Jaye tried to grab the AK dropped by the dying fiend. But Face wouldn’t allow her to reach it and the price of the effort was costly. As she turned for the van, she felt a bullet pierce her flesh. She stumbled forward with a scream and fell out of view just as another round went whizzing above her head.

  Tuesday peeked out from her hiding spot and saw that Jaye was only a few feet from her. She’d been shot, but luckily it was only in the hand. The wound was bleeding pretty bad, but it wouldn’t kill her.

  However, the next shot just might because Jaye was still lying out in the open. In order for Tuesday to get to her, she would have to put herself in the line of fire.

  Tuesday imagined that any man who sold guns for a living had to be pretty good with using them. She reached out for Jaye while trying not to expose too much of herself. Tuesday hooked her beneath the arms and dragged Jaye back behind the van. The rat-a-tat of Face’s machine gun was accompanied by the sound of metal striking metal. A window exploded right above Tuesday’s head raining glass down into her weave.

  Tuesday stuck her arm out from around the van, squeezing off a couple of shots from the Heckler. She was firing blindly, just hoping it would make Face think twice about rushing in.

  She looked over to Jaye. “Girl, you all right?”

  Jaye nodded, clutching her right hand. When she showed it to her, Tuesday saw that the middle finger was bent and only hanging on by the meat. Tuesday made a face to try to pretend that it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

  Jaye smiled through the pain. “That bitch shot my favorite finger. I use this one to play with my pussy!”

  Tuesday said, “Would’ve been nice if you could’ve got to that other AK.”

  Jaye looked at her. “Let me shoot you in the hand and see if it don’t make you think twice about playing hero.”

  All jokes aside, their situation was still pretty bad. Face still had the advantage of an extra guy and extra gun. By now the one on the crane had probably jumped down and grabbed the other rifle. Two men with machine guns would win against two women sharing a handgun any day. If they split up and came around either side of the van, there was no way she would be able to defend herself and Jaye against both of them. Even if she killed one, the other one would gun them down.

  Then the junkyard fell eerily silent; this made Tuesday nervous. Peppering the side of the van with bullets not only wasted his ammunition, but allowed her to keep tabs on him. Now Face was quiet and most likely thinking up a plan to sneak up on them.

  Tuesday then came up with her own plan. It was crazy and had a pretty good chance of getting them both killed.

  She looked at Jaye, who was still cradling her injured hand. “I know this might seem like a fucked-up time to ask, but when was the last time you had a pedicure?”

  Jaye looked at her like she’d lost her mind.

  It wasn’t long before Face came creeping around the van just like Tuesday figured he would. He was crouching low with his weapon raised like a soldier doing recon in enemy territory.

  He saw Jaye sitting there in the gravel, slumped against the rear wheel. Her hand with the broken finger was wrapped into her shirt to absorb the bleeding. Tuesday had lent Jaye her jacket to cover up with but was nowhere to be seen.

  “Can’t believe yo girl just busted up on you like that!” Face said, aiming the business end of the AK at her. “I learned that when shit get thick, people stay true to their nature.”

  Face looked down and noticed that Jaye had kicked off her shoes. She made a show of wiggling her painted toes.

  Face didn’t become mesmerized and start drooling. Her pretty brown feet only stole his attention for a second.

  But a second was all Tuesday needed. She’d been watching from her hiding place within the passenger compartment of the van. The moment Face averted his eyes, she thrust her gun hand out the window and brought the Heckler to his head.

  “You’re right!” she said, slowly inching out of the passenger door. “People do stay true to their nature. If a nigga got a crazy foot fetish, he’ll stop and check a bitch’s feet even at a time like this.”

  Face smiled. “This don’t change nothing.”

  “It change everything. Now drop that shit!”

  Face still had his rifle on Jaye. “Even if you shoot me, you can’t stop me from killing this bitch! Then my mans gone kill you.”

  “Yo mans might kill me, like you might kill her. But you the only muthafucka who gone die for sure.” Tuesday pressed the muzzle hard into his forehead. “Are you ready to die today?”

  Face hesitated a second longer, then decided not to call her bluff. He sat the AK where Jaye could grab hold of it with her good hand.

  When they ushered Face back into the open, Tuesday made him call out to the second fiend, ordering him to drop his gun. At his boss’s command he came out from his position behind the rusty Bonneville. He sat his weapon on the ground then kicked it away.

  Tuesday took the first AK from Jaye while she went to retrieve the other. Jaye winced as she walked over the stony ground in her bare feet.

  Disarmed and helpless, Face was now willing to bargain. “Look, Tuesday, you been in the game long enough to know this was just business. You got the car and the bag. Just take it and leave and let everythang be everythang.”

  Tuesday glanced at her watch to see that it was now ten minutes past eight. She had missed the exchange and for all she knew little Danielle was already dead.

  She glared at him with cold gray eyes. “Naw, nigga, it would’ve been just business at 7:59. Now it’s personal!”

  When Jaye popped the trunk on the Bonneville and ordered them inside, the fiend climbed in but Face tried to play hard. Tuesday took the Heckler and shot him in the ass. Whimpering and bleeding, he was more cooperative. Jaye slammed the lid closed as he tried to bribe Tuesday with cars, guns, and all kinds of money she doubted Face even had.

  Tuesday had never operated heavy machinery but knew she was smart enough to figure out the crane. It took a while, but with Jaye coaching from the ground, she was eventually able to hoist the big Bonneville and drop it into the car crusher.

  Jaye hit the start button as Tuesday climbed down from the crane. Over the sound of buckling metal, Face’s and the fiend’s desperate cries could be heard from inside the machine. Jaye stared at her and she stared off into space as Face went from begging Tuesday to begging God for help.

  She never heard the sound of their bones breaking but Tuesday wasn’t listening for it either. She and Jaye just waited for their screams to fall silent.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  The very first thing Tuesday did was try to call Brianna and Baby Doll. She was about twenty minutes late but hopeful they hadn’t done anything to Danielle as punishment. When she got no answer from either of them, she left desperate messages on their voice mail explaining that she had the money and would be delivering it soon.

  She also tried Marcus, thinking that they may have contacted him again about the ransom. She couldn’t reach him either. She left a long and apologetic message for him, promising revenge for Danielle if those bitches had hurt her.

  Next, Tuesday went back to Face’s office to get the black case. She also took back the two hundred fifty thousand she paid him from it to bring the total back to three million, plus the eighty-five racks they brought for the Audi. Tuesday gave Jaye back her sixty G’s.

  During their fake fight they had pretended to argue over their split of the money. Tuesday really did promise her an equal share this time, but once she finished her business with Brianna and Baby Doll.

  She raised the trapdoor in the floor to go downstairs to raid Face’s arsenal. Tuesday loaded her arms with all the guns and ammo she could carry and made three trips. There was no reason for thinking she wo
uld need so much heat against two people, but then Tuesday wasn’t thinking. She was preparing for a war. She even thought about grabbing some C-4 and grenades but Tuesday didn’t know shit about explosives.

  Jaye had never been in The Gun Store and when she saw all the merchandise, she wanted to come back with a U-Haul to clean him out. Tuesday explained that they didn’t have time for that and reminded Jaye that she was about to get a million and a half in cash already.

  Tuesday put the case back in the trunk of the Audi then began loading the guns onto the sedan’s backseat. Jaye stood next to her in the garage and watched as Tuesday loaded the car like a survivalist preparing for Doomsday.

  “Damn, Rambo! You got a plan or you just gone run up in there like SWAT?”

  Tuesday appreciated her attempt at humor but wasn’t really feeling it right then. Her mind was only on her mission.

  “No more plans!” she grumbled, throwing another M-16 and AR on the backseat. “I ain’t got it in me to mastermind some more long drawn-out Ocean’s Eleven–type shit. I’m just going to wherever these bitches at, killing them both, and getting the girl back. Flat out!”

  “But she might already—” Jaye didn’t finish the sentence and didn’t have to. Tuesday was haunted by the same fear each time she checked her watch.

  “I don’t care! Then it’ll feel just that much better when I pull the trigger.”

  “Don’t you see what I’m saying?” Jaye said, grabbing Tuesday with her good hand. “Fuck them bitches! You got the money, you got your way out now. It’s like Face said, you done already won!”

  Tuesday snatched away from her. “Fuck dat! This shit ain’t about winning and losing. If that was the case, I could’ve busted up soon as I got the money.

  “They set up Tushie. They sicced some nigga on her who played my girl and left her butt-ass naked with a bullet in her head. Tush wasn’t no saint, but she was a good-hearted bitch who deserved better than that and I ain’t letting the shit ride!” Tuesday hadn’t even realized that she had started to tear up until she felt one race down her cheek.

  Jaye nodded because she understood. Tuesday reminded her of O-Dogg in Menace II Society: not only had he uttered those same words when talking about the carjackers who killed Caine’s cousin Harold, but he had the very same look in his eye. Jaye was smart enough to know that sometimes when a person had an appetite for blood, the only thing you could do was stand back and let them eat.

  She said, “You know I’m down to roll with you.”

  Tuesday shook her head. “Yo hand all fucked up! Gone and get yo ass to the hospital before you lose that muthafucka.”

  “Shit, bitch, I’m even-handed. I can shoot lefty if I have to.”

  Tuesday didn’t pull into the lot of The Bounce for fear that Brianna and Baby Doll might have somebody playing lookout. They parked in an alley one block over from the strip mall and planned to go the rest of the way on foot.

  The girls weren’t answering her calls but Dresden’s trace had already confirmed they were still there. She wouldn’t know about Danielle until she got inside.

  Tuesday cut the ignition and turned to Jaye. “It’ll be easier if you took some shit you could handle with one hand.” Tuesday took the clip from her pocket, slid it into the Heckler, then passed it to Jaye. “I’m gone have this bitch right here,” Tuesday said, patting the street-sweeper that was lying across her lap. “Just make sure you stay behind me.”

  When they got out the car it was a quarter to nine; forty-five minutes late for the exchange. Tuesday didn’t know what it was but something in her heart said Danielle was still alive. She hoped it was more than just wishful thinking.

  Tuesday crept low down the dark alley carrying the rifle with Jaye a few feet behind her. Thinking back, it had been stupid to bring so many guns when there was no way she could use them all. Plus, Tuesday seriously doubted that she would be able to run back to the Audi and swap out in the middle of a shootout.

  From the alley behind the club, Tuesday peeked through the window that looked in on her office. She figured this would have to be the entry point. She wasn’t sure if the alarm on the fire door was still disconnected from when Face and DelRay moved Tank. They couldn’t maintain the element of surprise coming straight through the front door.

  Tuesday was relieved to see that no one was inside and the door was shut. She used the butt of the rifle to break the glass and cleared it out of the frame. She let Jaye climb through first then followed her in.

  It had only been about a day since she’d been in the club but the place already felt foreign to her. Maybe it was because so much had happened and she’d already checked out of there mentally and saw The Bounce as something from her past. Her office didn’t feel like hers anymore; she literally felt like an intruder breaking into a stranger’s place.

  Tuesday and Jaye waited for a moment with their weapons ready but when the sound of the breaking window didn’t bring anybody, they slipped out the door of her office as stealthily as ninjas.

  The house lights were off, leaving the club almost pitch-black and silent as a tomb. Shadows laid claim to everything, offering a million hiding places for someone with a gun.

  Tuesday and the street-sweeper had the lead. Jaye was so close behind that Tuesday could actually feel her breath on the back of her neck.

  In the hall that served Tuesday’s office, they searched both restrooms and found no one hiding in the stalls. There was also a small broom closet that hid nothing more sinister than a mop leaning against the wall, which at first glance looked like a skinny bitch with a bad weave. Tuesday caught herself before she opened up on it.

  It was a little easier to see at the front of the club due to the strings of LED lights that decorated the stage and bar; however, it was still pretty dark without the house lights. The tables and chairs that surrounded the stage were revealed as dark silhouettes. Nothing could be seen of the restaurant-style booths that lined the walls and Tuesday felt an eerie presence in that blackness.

  She held Jaye back while quickly scanning behind the bar for anyone who might be crouching there. A moment later she came back to report that area was all clear.

  Then the house and stage lights suddenly winked on, startling them both and shocking their dark-adapted eyes. When Tuesday got done blinking hers back into focus, she saw him standing by the wall next to the front entrance. The .40-caliber was raised and aimed right at her.

  Slim still had on the same black skullcap and leather jacket he wore from when he chased her through the Seymour. It looked like the same gun too.

  He said, “Bitch, drop that shit!”

  “Make me!” she spat back almost instantly. Tuesday wasn’t about to surrender a street-sweeper to a nigga holding a Glock 40. Slim had the drop but there was about ten feet between them. If he shot first and happened to miss, she was going to mow his ass down before he got off a second one.

  Slim said, “Drop it or the girl is dead!”

  “Naw, bitch, you dead!” Tuesday raised the rifle and was ready to shoot but, with the same speed he showed on the stairs, he snatched something from inside the deejay booth.

  It was little Danielle still in her Catholic school uniform and pigtails. A zip-tie bound her hands in the front and a swatch of gray duct tape covered her mouth. Physically she seemed unharmed, but she looked exhausted from the ordeal. Her eyes were puffy and red. Her face was streaked from the tears that had dried on her cheeks.

  Seeing Tuesday made Danielle’s eyes spring wide with some combination of excitement and fear. Even though the tape muffled her screams, Tuesday could make out the words: “Tabitha! Tabitha!”

  The sight of the girl also made emotions well up in Tuesday. So young, innocent, and in the middle of all this bullshit because of her. Danielle should have been at home right then in her pajamas watching Princess Jasmine and Aladdin fly around the world on a magic carpet, worried about nothing more than the imaginary monsters under her bed and tomorrow’s homework assignment. E
verything about her being in The Bounce was just wrong to Tuesday on so many levels, even without the kidnapping and guns. By comparison, her purity made the place seem that much more foul. Even though there wasn’t a dancer on stage clapping her ass for dollar bills, Tuesday hated Slim for exposing Danielle to this place. She also hated herself for owning it.

  “Baby, don’t worry. I’m here to take you home.” Tuesday kept her voice as cheerful as she could, as if the girl wouldn’t notice she was carrying a machine gun that was nearly the size of the five-year-old. “Everything’s gonna be okay!”

  Slim stole her attention back from Dani. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  Tuesday slowly inched toward him. “So where them two fake-ass bitches at who hired you? I already know they here.”

  “Hired me?” he said with a nasty grin. “Bitch, you ain’t got a clue to what’s happening here! But if you wanna know, yo homegirls right over there.”

  Tuesday really didn’t want to turn away from him so she searched the room using her peripheral vision until she spotted Brianna and Doll. They were both in the far corner booth slumped over like they were sleeping. The white Styrofoam containers revealed that their last meal had come from Bo’s BBQ, and Tuesday knew that the huge burgundy stain covering the table was not the old man’s delicious sauce.

  “That’s some fucked-up shit!” she said, hoping he hadn’t noticed she’d stepped about three feet closer to him. Slim was still using the girl as a human shield but Tuesday figured at or around five feet would be close enough for her to squeeze off a shot that would kill him without hitting Danielle. “What type of man could just kill women so easily and not feel shit?”

  “Aye, don’t look at me. I ain’t even put in that work, but it’s not like I wasn’t going to. It wasn’t like they had any of that money coming. Somebody just saved me the trouble. Shit, I thought it was you.”

  Tuesday stole another step closer to him. She wanted to keep Slim distracted by talking until she could get into range. “Bull-shit! But I couldn’t care less about them hoes anyway. I’m at that ass for what you did to my girl Tush.”