Cartier Cartel, Part 3

by Nisa Santiago

  Li’l Mama sucked her teeth.

  “What the fuck you suckin’ your teeth for, Li’l Mama?” Cartier shouted. “This is my daughter they fuckin’ have, not yours!”

  “I know that.”

  “You don’t know shit, bitch! You actin’ scared all of a sudden. You wanna back out now and fuck me over, then fuckin’ say so.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Then what you saying?”

  “There’s gotta be another plan to this shit, Cartier. We doin’ what we can, busting our ass.”

  “And? What? You wanna involve the police or somethin’?”

  Li’l Mama stood quiet, but her look told it all.

  Cartier right away read what she was thinking. “Bitch, you out ya gotdamn mind?”

  “I didn’t say all that.”

  “Then what the fuck are you saying?”

  “Look, they playin’ fuckin’ games wit’ you, Cartier. Wit’ us. Can’t you see it? This is bigger than us now.”

  Cartier glared at her friend and screamed, “No feds, no fuckin’ police. Fuck them! I’ma get Christian back, with or without you.”

  Li’l Mama sighed. She had vowed to help at any cost, but Cartier was thinking unreasonably. A half a million dollars was gone, and now they wanted another million from her. Li’l Mama knew there was something wrong with the entire picture.

  “You need to get yourself together and fuckin’ think, Cartier,” Li’l Mama exclaimed. “They’re fuckin’ playin’ us. We don’t have this under control. We out there slaughtering niggas just to come up wit’ this fuckin’ ransom. How long you think it’s gonna last until we get bodied out there ourselves?”

  Cartier shouted, “If you wanna be a scared fuckin’ bitch all of a sudden, then that’s you! But I’ma come up wit’ the money!”

  Li’l Mama shook her head. It was like trying to bring down a cement wall with only her fists. Cartier was just too headstrong.

  “You either gonna stay wit’ me or not. But I’ma get her back, and they gonna fuckin’ pay for what they did to us.”

  “And who’s they? We don’t even have a fuckin’ name, Cartier. Not even a fuckin’ face to put to the muthafucka calling. Who the fuck we fighting? They smart enough to keep themselves invisible, but they steady watchin’ us, right? We need fuckin’ help.”

  Cartier felt that involving any type of law enforcement would certainly get Christian killed. She felt it was easier to come up with the million than involve the feds. It was against the code in her world to include cops, especially the feds. Is Li’l Mama crazy? And the feds would surely fuck things up and start to investigate her, Li’l Mama, Janet, and everyone else in their circle.

  “I got help, bitch! You and Quinn. What the fuck you think you good for?”

  “Cartier, I’m not gonna keep being disrespected after everything I’ve done for you. So since you got shit on lock, I will gracefully bow out of this one. You and Quinn can go with guns blazin’ for all I care.”

  This wasn’t what Cartier wanted to hear. She took the base out of her voice. “What does that mean?”

  “It means, I ain’t down wit’ the next robbery.”

  Cartier felt like she’d been punched in her gut. Li’l Mama had temporarily snatched her breath. If Cartier lived a hundred years she felt she could never come to terms with Li’l Mama kicking her when she was down. Cartier felt betrayed and enraged beyond measure. She wanted to tear her into tiny little pieces and feed her to wild animals. In a low, ominous tone, she stated, “If you want out, then you’re out.”

  “Y’all two bitches need to fuckin’ chill,” Janet chimed. “Look at y’all. We family, and y’all ready to tear into each other like strangers. Y’all go back since how long? Huh?”

  Cartier and Li’l Mama glared at each other.

  Janet added. “Look, we either work together on this, or we don’t. And if we don’t, then that little girl is as good as dead. And we’re not involving the feds or anybody, Li’l Mama. You know better than that. We don’t bring outsiders to solve our fuckin’ problems.”

  “What’s the plan then?” Li’l Mama asked.

  Cartier was looking forward to Janet’s wisdom. She was street, all day, every day.

  “Me and your mother, Cartier, back in the days, we had heart. And I’m not sayin’ you don’t have heart; you do. I watched you grow up and used to change your damn diapers, so I know what kind of blood runs through you. You from the Stuy, you and Li’l Mama, and it’s always Bed-Stuy, do or die, all day, every day. You hear me? You do what you gotta do in this game, but don’t fight your own peoples.”

  Cartier nodded. “So what now?” she asked.

  “Y’all pick and choose who to go after,” Janet said, “but it’s gotta be big and worth the risk. Attaining a million in one week is nothin’ to sneeze at.”

  “It ain’t gon’ be easy at this moment,” Quinn said. “After our last two hits, wit’ the bodies we dropped, these drug crews out there are becoming wiser an’ muscling up double time at their stash houses. They don’t trust anyone. We done started some shit. It’s war out there.”

  It was the one thing Li’l Mama and Quinn agreed on.

  Janet asked them, “So, who’s out there right now sittin’ on a mountain of cash?”

  The room was quiet for a moment. The girls were thinking.

  Cartier then stared at Quinn. “Hector.”

  “Are you crazy?” Quinn yelled.

  “Yes, I am. I don’t give a fuck!”

  “That’s suicide, Cartier,” Li’l Mama said. “A death check waiting to be cashed in.”

  “He’s the only one we know fo’ sure that has money like that. And he needs to be got.”

  “Hector will kill us all,” Quinn said.

  “And my daughter is as good as dead if I don’t pull this off.”

  Quinn huffed.

  Janet said, “Like I told y’all bitches . . . y’all do what ya gotta do, but get that li’l girl back.”

  “Why not just ask him for the money?” Li’l Mama reasoned. “He’s Quinn’s brother, is checking for Cartier, and also said he would help out.”

  Quinn laughed hysterically. “He might be kinda sweet over Cartier but he ain’t never tasted her pussy. And although he’s my brother, I can barely get a dollar out of him. You see, that’s why I gotta take mines. When my brother said he would help out, he meant do the most easiest thing that comes natural to him. Kill people.”

  Cartier walked closer to Quinn, exasperated. The desperation showing in her eyes said she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Quinn, I need to do this. And I know he’s your brother, but wit’ your blessing or not, it’s goin’ down.”

  They locked eyes, each one trying to read the other’s expression.

  Quinn was drowning in her guilt. The blood on her hands was thick. A war between two gangs was raging out of control; so far almost a dozen Ghost Ridas were murdered. And now this, it was suicide for sure.

  Cartier knew she was asking a lot from her friend.

  Finally, Quinn gave in. She said to Cartier, “I’ll help strategize everything, but I’m out on this one. I can’t go against blood like that.”

  “Whatever.”

  Li’l Mama snorted. How easy it was for Quinn to be out of this robbery, and Cartier didn’t dare have any objections. Li’l Mama was salty at how much Cartier was showing allegiance to this new chick. She wanted to yell so many things, mainly about how she didn’t trust Quinn, but she didn’t. She finally remained mute. There wasn’t anything to say that she hadn’t said.

  “The best I can do for you is to make sure he isn’t around when it happens. I don’t want him hurt at all. And the place you thinkin’ ’bout robbin’, Cartier, I warn you now, Hector got it locked down tighter than Fort Knox.”

  The fire in Cartier’s eyes showed her mind was cemented. “I’ll go through hell for my daughter.”

  “I know you will.”

  Cartier turned to Li’l Mama, w
ho was quiet, looking reluctant. “You down wit’ me, Li’l Mama?”

  “This is suicide, Cartier — you know it, and Quinn definitely knows it. What good are you gonna be to ya daughter if we die doin’ this?”

  “You backin’ out on me, bitch?”

  “First off, I ain’t no fuckin’ bitch; my blood runs cold like yours. I just want you to think for once, have common sense in ya head. We got away twice. We pushin’ it. I have a bad feeling ’bout this.”

  Cartier looked at Li’l Mama and had serious doubt. Once again, suspicion of Li’l Mama started to swell inside of her. Why was she continually fighting her, tooth and nail, on everything since she stepped foot into Miami?

  “It’s either yes or no.”

  “I’ll do it.” Li’l Mama felt like she didn’t have a choice. “Quinn is out, so who’s gonna be the third person?”

  “I have someone.”

  “Really? Who?”

  “Don’t worry about him,” Cartier spat.

  Hearing him had everyone speculating.

  Li’l Mama asked, “Him? Him, who the fuck is him?”

  Unbeknownst to Li’l Mama and everyone else in the room, Apple had come through on her word and sent a soldier down for muscle, along with fifty thousand dollars, and he was staying in a hotel not too far from them.

  “Don’t worry about it. I always got a few tricks up my sleeve,” Cartier gloated.

  “I see that.”

  “You know what, Li’l Mama? You actin’ fuckin’ suspect right now.”

  “You the one actin’ fuckin’ crazy. I got ya back and always had ya back for a long time, Cartier. You know this.”

  “I don’t know shit anymore. Anybody could be lying to me at this moment.”

  “Fuck you! I’m goin’ all out fo’ you down here in Miami, bodying’ muthafuckas fo’ you, and you step to me like I’m a lying bitch or hidin’ somethin’ from you. Shit, we goin’ through all this, and Christian might be already dead!”

  “What did you just say?” Cartier went berserk. She lunged for Li’l Mama and started to strike her repeatedly.

  Li’l Mama was hit so hard with a right to her face and stumbled backwards, becoming a little bit disoriented, and then was slammed into the wall, and the girls tussled.

  Cartier was incredibly strong and showered her with a few vicious blows. “You bitch!” she screamed.

  “Get the fuck off me! Get off me!” Li’l Mama screamed.

  Janet and Quinn rushed over.

  Janet grabbed Cartier and pulled her off Li’l Mama. “What the fuck is y’all problem?” Janet was screaming too. “What I just say to y’all?”

  “Fuck her, Janet!”

  “Bitch, how fuckin’ dare you put ya fuckin’ hands on me, Cartier!” Li’l Mama shouted. “I’ve been there for you from day one, and you fuckin’ do me like this?”

  Quinn and Janet stood between them as they scowled at each other. Li’l Mama had a bloody lip.

  Janet told them, “This bickering between y’all two is not helping us or Christian at all.”

  “I’ll be in the fuckin’ lobby, alone,” Cartier said to everyone. She snatched up her things and made a quick exit from the room.

  As Cartier marched down the hallway, it suddenly dawned on her. The soldier that Apple had sent down made it into Miami in one piece — money and all, but Scat didn’t. Li’l Mama knew about Scat, but she didn’t know about Mills. Cartier didn’t tell a soul that she’d contacted Apple.

  Cartier knew she’d pinpointed the betrayal. It had to be Li’l Mama, whose sudden resistance was clear as day. Li’l Mama had to be in on everything.

  Chapter 17

  Despite everything going on, Cartier had to bury her family. And there was no way she was going to bury her mother and sisters in Miami. She had made arrangements to fly the bodies back to New York, and have them shipped to a funeral home in Brooklyn, where they would be readied for burial. She wanted to leave the city, but she wasn’t going anywhere until she had Christian with her.

  Janet agreed to fly back with the bodies. Cartier trusted her to handle everything up north. Cartier stood teary-eyed with Li’l Mama and Quinn above the cargo area to watch the caskets loaded into the plane from the tarmac. The ground crew loaded her mother’s casket first, which, like her sisters’ caskets, was concealed in a long wooden crate for shipment. Cartier had taken care of the costly shipping fees, taking the money out of the ransom. She and Janet had to deal with the removal of the deceased, embalming, filing of documents, and a combination shipping unit and delivery to the departure airport. And she had the services of a funeral home at the destination airport to handle the collection of the deceased. It was tedious business, but for her family’s final moment, it had to be done.

  Li’l Mama stood close to her friend, with whom she had reconciled somewhat. Li’l Mama shed her own tears as she watched the bodies being loaded onto an American Airlines flight. The women’s hearts were heavy with grief, each one silent. They’d lost a lot, and it was a scary time for everyone.

  Cartier watched Janet board the plane behind a line of other passengers. There were no smiles, no goodbyes, or waves. Cartier’s heart had become stone. Her mind was set on one thing only, and nothing was going to deter her.

  Janet disappeared into the plane, and that was it. She was on her way back to New York, while Cartier was left to get the job done.

  “Where to now?” Li’l Mama asked.

  Cartier remained silent, her attention fixed on the plane down below. She wasn’t going anywhere until it took off. She watched the plane push out slowly and taxi its way onto the runaway. And then a few minutes later, it took off into the air back to New York.

  Cartier let loose a deep sigh. Now she could leave. She made her way toward the exit and back to the parking garage with Quinn and Li’l Mama right behind her. She hadn’t heard from the kidnappers in twenty-four hours. During the last call she’d received from them, she’d been given a chilling reminder: “You have six days, or else I will gut this little brat like a fish.”

  “Let’s get somethin’ to eat,” Li’l Mama said. “I’m hungry.”

  Cartier cut her eyes at her. “You can eat at a time like this?”

  “What we suppose to do? Just starve ourselves?”

  Cartier had heard enough. If Li’l Mama was hungry then — fuck it! — they would go eat and devise this plan to get this money and bring Christian home. Cartier drove out of the parking garage and headed to an airport diner off NW 36th Street.

  The girls walked into the quaint establishment with good food and reasonable prices. The girls took a seat at an isolated booth near the windows. There were a handful of diners inside, two couples and several individuals having their meals and reading the daily paper.

  Once the girls were seated, one of the waitresses came over with a smile and a hello and placed three menus on the table. “How are y’all ladies doing this afternoon?”

  “We fine,” Li’l Mama said.

  “Welcome to Airport Diner. Would y’all like some coffee or water?” the waitress asked with her catchy smile.

  “Coffee for me,” Li’l Mama said.

  “Same . . . coffee,” Quinn said.

  Cartier didn’t say anything.

  The waitress looked at her and asked, “And you, ma’am?”

  “Nothin’ for me.”

  The waitress nodded and walked away.

  Cartier wanted to distance herself for a moment. She had so many things on her mind, so many hard decisions to make.

  The waitress came back with the girls’ coffee and asked if they were ready to order.

  “Give us a minute,” Li’l Mama told her.

  “Not a problem.”

  “Dumb bitch!” Cartier was in such a foul mood, everyone and everything was irritating her. Even the kindness of the waitress. They had their lives, their family, but hers was ripped apart. She didn’t care for food, drinks, or cheesy smiles coming from the waitress. She only wanted to g
o over the plan.

  ***

  Hector had a home in Palmetto Bay, and from Quinn’s mouth, it was a cash and drug haven. At any given time, maybe millions were stashed there, not to mention ki’s of cocaine, meth, and ecstasy. Only a select few knew about the home. It was one of two Ghost Ridas’ main stash houses in Florida for the drug shipments that came via truck directly off the boat. It was well guarded with high-end security and attack dogs, and on a regular, no less than six men were inside the place handling business and conducting orders. And these men were trained killers, some ex-Marine gangbangers who had returned home from a second or third tour in Iraq and were truly loyal to their clique. And these men didn’t play games.

  Quinn knew the layout and the extreme risk. The one problem they had was getting within a few feet of the place without raising any suspicion or setting off motion lights and sensors. If you didn’t have a reason to be there, then that almost instantly brought death.

  Quinn and Li’l Mama dined on roast pork, Greek salad with grilled chicken, and biscuits.

  “I don’t see any flaws,” Li’l Mama said. “We go in, and we ain’t comin’ back out alive.”

  Cartier became frustrated. No matter how many ways they looked at it, there just wasn’t a way to penetrate that location without any loss of life or creating unwanted attention. Quinn was right when she’d said it was like Fort Knox, but Cartier wasn’t going to give up. She had six days to come up with a plan.

  Li’l Mama took a bite from her plate and then asked Cartier, “Yo, who’s this soldier you got on reserve down here? Where he come from?”

  “Don’t worry about him. When it happens, I’ll make the call.”

  “It’s your call,” Li’l Mama replied dryly.

  Even though they were cool for the moment, Cartier still had an increasing mistrust for Li’l Mama.

  ***

  The sun had set, and night swept through the city. Cartier decided to drive down to Palmetto Bay and do her own surveillance of the house and area. She drove, Li’l Mama rode shotgun, and Quinn sat chilling in the backseat. Cartier steered the Avenger through the affluent community slowly, turning onto 156th Street and creeping down the narrow road that snaked through the quiet community of half-a-million-dollar homes with manicured lawns and towering palm trees.