The War Report

by King Benjamin

  “Okay, well yeah, how soon can you get here?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Mack and Moross, near the hospital.”

  “Right, okay. Give me thirty or forty minutes.”

  “Okay.”

  __________

  Michelle arrived at the gas station at the same time as the tow truck. The rain was still coming down, and Jay was glad he had taken her up on her offer. They sat in her truck while the rental car was being hooked to the back of the tow truck, still flirting and enjoying each other, although it had been a crazy day for Jay. The tow truck driver jotted down all of Jay’s insurance information and told him he was good to go.

  “Don’t be trying to come to my rescue, it’s supposed to be the other way around.” Jay said.

  “I don’t play that gender roles crap, I’m a superwoman,” she shot back.

  Jay laughed at her, but he was feeling her confidence. “What now?” Michelle asked, pulling out of the gas station into traffic with an unknown destination.

  “I would say let’s finish our date, but it’s coming down too bad out here.”

  “Yeah, and I don’t wanna keep driving around out here in this mess, you dig?” she teased.

  “Aye, you can’t be using my shit all willy nilly, like that.”

  Michelle burst into laughter as Jay sat with a straight face, as if he meant every word. She was glad to be in his presence again, and the night was still young.

  “I won’t use it again. I promise. Your lingo is not quite my style.”

  “Okay, we’ll see. Anyway, I got an idea,” Jay offered.

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Either my place or yours,” he chanced. But keep in mind, my house is in St. Clair Shores.”

  Michelle knew in the pouring rain it would take way too long to get to his house. Plus, the drive home would be even more draining. She thought it over as she cruised in the middle lane.

  “Hmmm,” she released. Jay sat in silence waiting on a response. “You know what? Fuck it,” she heard herself say as she put on her blinker and veered in the turning lane headed back to her loft downtown.

  Chapter 14

  A huge sense of accomplishment came over Jay as soon as he crossed the threshold of the front door. He had played all his cards just right, and he’d be damned if it didn’t land him right where he wanted to be. He took in the crème and white theme of the front room. The crème colored sofa with the lambskin throw complimented the white Persian rug under the glass-encased coffee table. There was a wine cabinet in the dining room filled with red wine. Jay strolled over to the wine cabinet as Michelle set down her clutch and keys then started to remove her heels.

  “Now why do you have all this wine if you don’t even drink?” he asked.

  “It’s called decor. Besides, I didn’t say never ever.”

  Jay grabbed a bottle of Sutter Home sweet red wine.

  “Well good. Let’s make tonight a special occasion.”

  “What’s the occasion?” she asked with a grin.

  “The occasion is I made it inside your crib.”

  “Ha! You know what, you’re right. That definitely is a special occasion. But come back over this way, because this front room is far as you’re going to go,” she assured.

  While she went to the kitchen and grabbed some wine glasses and a corkscrew, Jay slid his pistol under the couch on the floor, just before Michelle came back to the spacious front room. She set the corkscrew down then gave Jay the glasses and turned on the flat screen.

  __________

  Lines tried to go to sleep, but he was too riled up from all the coke he had done earlier that day. When Jay hit him with five bricks on consignment, Lines went straight Scarface with the package. He was done getting high for the night, but he found himself back in his truck on the way to the club for a couple of drinks. He knew he should probably call Ray Ray and the goons to roll out with him, but he ignored his gut instinct because he just didn’t give a fuck about anything at the moment. The coke had him feeling invincible, and he thought if he could go have a couple drinks and maybe get some head, some pussy, or both, he could finally pass out and get some sleep. He ended up back at his same spot in the hood called Radoe’s where the girls were always loose and ready.

  “Bartender. Don Julio!” Lines shouted over the music with one finger raised in the air.

  A pretty young thing slid beside him, almost invading his personal space while looking for the bartender. They locked eyes.

  “Hello,” the pretty lady spoke.

  “Hey sexy, what you drinking?” Lines flirted.

  __________

  Jay and Michelle settled on The Original Kings of Comedy as their movie pick for the night. They shared some gut busting laughs while sipping wine and enjoying each other’s company. Jay sang along with Steve Harvey as he belted out old school songs Jay remembered hearing as a child in his household. He was being silly, but Michelle quickly realized he didn’t sound half bad.

  “Don’t spill that wine on my sofa, R Kelly,” she teased as he cupped the glass still singing.

  As the night went on, Michelle was comfortable enough to have a second glass of wine, knowing full well she’d be tipsy afterwards. She had decided to not overthink the night and just let it flow.

  Jay, on the other hand, had been staring down her blouse all night and was feeling frisky inside as he poured the last of the wine in his glass. He was physically and mentally attracted to Michelle, which was something he hadn’t felt in years. He believed she felt the same way, but wasn’t one hundred percent certain, so he asked.

  “Be honest with me. Do you think we could have something real?”

  She took a sip of wine and set the glass down, letting the question steep in her thoughts for a moment.

  “I think if we are real with one another, we have no choice but to establish something real,” she replied.

  “I agree.”

  “It’s been a long time since a man has been inside my home, so the fact that you made it here says a lot.”

  Jay paused for a moment, reading between the lines.

  “I’m not perfect,” he said, looking into her eyes.

  “No one is asking you to be.”

  Jay thought if he let the moment pass, he may never get a better opportunity than the one he had in front of him. He could no longer contain his yearning desire, so he leaned in and kissed her soft lips. They met him with inviting pleasure. Their first kiss was wildly magical, and it continued until Michelle realized he still had the cup in his hand perched right over her Persian rug.

  “Time out,” she said, using a real referee signal with her hands. “Because if you spill that wine, we are gonna fight.”

  “Ha. We don’t want that. Definitely can’t have that,” he replied setting the glass down slowly and moving in for another kiss.

  Jay could tell the wine had taken its desired effect on Michelle. It went straight to her hormones and she was kissing him with so much passion, he reached in and pulled her closer. His lips and hands began to venture all over the places he had been dying to touch since their first date. He nibbled at the top of her breast while his hand slid down and cupped her Jell-O soft ass. As he continued to explore her amazing body, Jay developed a hard on that couldn’t wait to breathe. Michelle’s hands rubbed up and down his slender, but rock solid physique as the twinkle between her thighs began to ignite with every touch. The way he roamed her body felt like he was born to do it; like it was his purpose in life.

  Before she knew it, her blouse was completely open and he had managed to get her nipples out of her bra and into his mouth. She leaned back into the arm of the couch, massaging his head with one hand as she rubbed his rock hard erection with the other. At that moment, she knew this thing was going all the way, and she wanted it. She wanted it bad.

  When they finally unlocked, Michelle stood up and removed her blouse while Jay pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor. Michelle stood
there with the most beautiful set of C cups he’d ever laid eyes on.

  “Come on,” she beckoned toward the bedroom. “You got a condom, right?”

  “Hell yeah,” Jay said excitedly.

  “Okay, come on,” she said and crooked her finger again.

  Jay quick-stepped, watching her ass make Jell-O like motions as he moved in the direction of the bedroom. He caught up to her, grabbing her by the waist in the hallway, and slid his tongue down her throat. She kissed him back long and hard, while Jay slid his hand up her dress and pulled her panties down. He palmed her ass cheeks as she released his belt buckle and undid his jeans. Realizing they may or may not make it to the bedroom, Jay grabbed the condom and quickly placed it on. He lifted her leg as she held onto his shoulders and the wall for balance, and he slowly eased inside her.

  He kissed her collarbone while she moaned in pleasure. The hypnotic rhythm of their bodies collided with pure ecstasy. He went deeper inside of her goodness with every stroke. She could feel her G spot being tampered with and she gripped him tighter. Her fingernails dug into his back, and she screamed obscenities as her body began to stiffen, sending them both into orgasmic convulsions. It was good to the very last drop. When it was over, the two stood panting heavily in the hallway with Jay still holding her left leg in the air.

  “See,” Michelle said out of breath. “I told you, you wouldn’t make it past the front room.”

  __________

  An hour after he left the club, Lines had the pretty young thing he’d met earlier face down and ass up, giving her back shots at a rinky dink hotel on the east side. She screamed rehearsed dirty talk like a professional porn queen, giving Lines all the motivation he needed to pound her out until he climaxed with a body-quivering nut. As soon as he busted off, Lines pulled the condom off and went to the bathroom to pee. When he turned his back, Oshiwa looked at the time on the hotel clock. It was 1:59am, and she should have been dressed and ready by now.

  “Fuck!” she fumed, rolling out of the bed completely naked. She ran to the door and quickly unlocked it.

  Lines heard the deadbolts unlocking, and he immediately knew he had finally fucked up one too many times making bad decisions. When he stepped into the hallway to see what the girl was doing, Los was already inside with his gun out. Still completely naked, Lines tried to break for the gun under his pillow, but Los had the drop. There was nothing he could do but brace for the impact as the bullets from the 40-caliber pistol ripped through his flesh and spun him around before he fell to his knees and the bed broke his fall. His torso stretched out across the bed as he laid face down.

  Los put another hot one in the back of his head. He tossed the bag of bones, and turned to look at Oshiwa, who was scurrying to find her clothes.

  “Why the fuck you ain’t dressed?” he yelled.

  “Cause the nigga was taking forever to buss a nut, shit!” she shouted back. “Hold on.”

  Oshiwa wiggled into her pants as quickly as possible, afraid of being caught at the scene of a homicide.

  “Hold on my ass, I’m outta here,” Los said walking out of the front door.

  He didn’t make it five steps before he found himself at gunpoint, staring at killers with no mercy. Gunner and Ray Ray squeezed off round after round, sending Carlos crashing into and over the third story guardrail. The sound of his bones cracking and his body banging against the pavement was enough to make Gunner cringe a little inside. He peeked over the rail to view the body then he and Ray Ray went inside the room to search for the girl, but all they found was Lines’ dead body bleeding all over the mattress.

  Ray Ray stormed in the bathroom and found the window open that led to a balcony on the other side. He rushed back out of the bathroom.

  “Come on, that bitch climbed out the window.”

  They ran out the room and to the car as fast as possible, bailing out of the parking lot at top speed. Gunner was behind the wheel, and he flew up and down the nearby blocks trying to catch up with the conniving bitch that had just got Lines killed. They didn’t even know what she looked like, but they knew she’d be running scared and probably drawing a lot of attention to herself.

  “Bitch!” Gunner banged on the steering wheel as he drove frantically up and down the blocks. “Why the fuck didn’t I follow my first mind?”

  Gunner had talked to Lines right before he left the club, and he knew exactly where he was headed. Since he couldn’t stop Lines from doing what he wanted to do, he wanted to check on him after hearing about him spazzing out at Niecey Girl’s house. Since he and Ray Ray were already together at a dice game, they decided to check on Lines. But deep down inside, Gunner felt that if he would have left the dice game when his intuition told him to, Lines would still be alive.

  __________

  Bones got the call around 2:20am that Oshiwa was hiding in some bushes about ten blocks away from the hotel. All she had was her jeans and her cell phone. When the shooting started right outside the door, she was forced to flee the scene, leaving everything including the rest of her clothes. She called Bones again about ten minutes later, after finding out the name of the street she was on. When Bones was finally riding up the block, he called her and she quickly answered.

  “I’m coming up the block now,” Bones said.

  “Where? I don’t see you,” she said squinting as she looked up the block.

  “You see me now? Flicking the light?”

  “Okay, yeah I see you. Come down to the middle of the next block.”

  Oshiwa had been laid out behind the front bushes of a stranger’s yard for almost an hour, being drenched with rain and bitten by mosquitos. She ran to the car as fast as she could, holding her bare breasts in her forearms. As soon as she was in the car, Bones sped off. He knew if Los was already dead, somebody was probably looking for her. Bones looked at Oshiwa and could tell she was more shaken up by the experience than even she had expected.

  “You aiight?” he asked.

  “Hell no, I ain’t aiight! That shit wasn’t supposed to go like that. I almost died!”

  “How the fuck they knew y’all was there?”

  “I don’t fucking know. All I know is soon as Carlos went outside the door, some niggas was waiting and they shot his ass.”

  Bones hated to lose a shooter like Carlos, but truthfully, he was expendable. Sometimes it’s a life for a life in the game of war.

  Chapter 15

  Michelle was called in earlier than expected the next morning. She dropped Jay off at the rental car company just as the doors opened for business. It was amazing having a man in her bed with his arms wrapping her up all night long. The only bad thing was Jay seemed a little detached on the ride over. They shared a small kiss and he got out without even a goodbye. What she didn’t know was that Jay had ten missed calls on his phone, and he knew something was seriously wrong. He also knew it was something he couldn’t discuss in front of her, so he was waiting until she was gone to return the calls. He called Gunner back while still standing on the outside of the building.

  Gunner picked up fast. “Dog!”

  “What up?” Jay said, bracing himself. The tone of Gunner’s voice said it all before he even spoke another word.

  “They got Lines, man!”

  “Got Lines? Lines went home last night.”

  “Naw man, somebody hit ’em.”

  “Lines dead?” he asked for confirmation as the tension quickly started to build inside of him.

  “Yeah Jay… he dead.”

  “Fuck!” He shouted, hanging up the phone. He walked through the parking lot squeezing the phone in his hand so hard his palm turned blood red.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

  He continued to wander around the parking lot confused until he realized he didn’t have a car to get in and pull off. He turned around and headed back toward the building. He looked dangerous to the other customers walking by as his mind was being mauled by fast and individual images of what could have happened to Lines. He start
ed to call Gunner back but stopped himself. He had to gain some kind of composure. He had to go inside and get the rental car first, and then he could go straight to Gunner and talk to him face to face. He inhaled deeply, wiping his hands over his face. He gathered himself the best he could and headed inside to speak with a service rep.

  ________

  Michelle had two hours to prepare for a news story about a double homicide that took place at a hotel on the eastside the night before. When she was done with that, she had to immediately begin working on another story that had to been completed before the four o’clock news. It was a hectic life sometimes being a reporter, but she was always up for the challenge.

  Her crew arrived at the scene of the crime just an hour before they were supposed to go live. That didn’t give her much time to do her pre-interviews, but she did the best she could. She talked to the hotel manager who was working at the time of the incident, as well as the homicide detective working the case. After a few more phone calls, she felt she had a strong grasp of what had happened and what she was allowed to report and what to leave out.

  After some last minute hair and make-up touch ups inside the news van, she moved briskly to her shooting area, knowing she was only moments away from going live. Once in position, she had about a minute and half of down time. She hated the down time when she just had to stand there waiting to go live.

  “This is Michelle Mitchell, reporting live from the scene of a grizzly double homicide at the Bridgemount Hotel right on east Jefferson. Right now, police say the details are sketchy, but it appears that the shooting might have been a planned ambush. Witnesses say they heard a series of shots fired from inside the hotel room, and then another barrage of bullets outside the hotel seconds later. When it was all over, one man was found dead in his hotel room and another man, who police believe fell from the third floor was found dead on the first floor.”

  __________