24th and Dixie (4 page)

“Don’t move! All of you get over here now and keep your hands so we can see them,” Brad demanded. Finley drew his pistol and was pointing it at them. “Y’all ain’t gotta point ya gun at us, though,” Breze said.

“Shut up. Get your ass over here and don’t fuckin’ move. You move the wrong way, and it will be your last,” Brad said.

Breze and the guys gave Brad a look. It was dark on the street, and there was no one else out to witness anything. They were sure the cops would kill them within a split second and cover it up. They didn’t want to die this way, so they knew the best thing to do was to obey.

“What we do?” Phil asked as they held their hands up.

“It’s always ‘what we do’?” Brad repeated.

“What haven’t you guys done? All the bullshit that has taken place over here in the last few hours and I assume you guys are gonna swear you have nothing to do with it right?” Finlay said.

“Right,” Breze said.

Finlay and Brad literally shoved the guys to their car and began searching them thoroughly. They didn’t find anything on them but noticed how the Caprice had been riddled with bullets. They cuffed all the guys and told them to sit on the ground.

“Are we under arrest or what?” J-Smith asked.

“Y’all puttin’ us in handcuffs and stuff. What’s all this about?” Breze asked.

“Sit over there and keep quiet,” Finley ordered. He and Brad began searching the ground for evidence and discovered several different kinds of shell casing. Some were from tonight, and some were from days ago and some from weeks ago. The fellas just knew they were going to jail when the search was over.

Brad made his way to the Caprice and began searching it, and it wasn’t long before he found the assault rifle, two boxes of ammo and two loaded magazines. Finley looked over the hidden gun in the dumpster, but he was fortunate to find two bags of Lortab pills and a bag of crack rock.

“Fuck bruh,” Phil whispered.

“We going to jail,” J-Smith said.

“Ain’t tryin’ to go to jail,” Breze said.

“Looks like you boys were fully prepared for the storm,” Finley said.

“That shit ain’t ours,” Breze said.

“Really?” Finley said.

“Y’all didn’t get that off us! Y’all got that off the ground,” J-Smith said.

“Is that your story? Finley asked.

“It’s the truth,” J-Smith said.

“The truth is you guys are out here committing every crime under the sun. Do you have any fuckin’ idea what kind of time you guys are looking at? With this shit, you would never see daylight again. It’s all fun and games until you get caught. Then no one wants to claim the shit. I tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna give the three of you some time to think about it and decide who wants to take the rap for this. I could care less.

“It would certainly make me and my partner’s day to book all three of you bastards on every single charge and watch the judge sentence you to life!” Brad said. It was something about the way he said it that put fear in all three of the guys.

They knew Brad was serious as hell. J-Smith knew they stood a small chance in court considering none of the drugs and weapons were actually taken off of them. But the amount of time they were facing if found guilty made him curious about both Phil and Breze. He felt, at least, one of them would turn on him if not both. It was obviously what the cops were trying to do. “You got two minutes,” Brad told them, and he and Finley began boxing all of their hardcore evidence. “Fuck these crackers tryna say bruh?” Phil asked.

“Nigga, you know what these crackers doing? They playing mind games,” J-Smith said.

“They didn’t get none of that off us bruh,” Breze said.

“Don’t matter. It’s possible all of it will stick in court. Y’all know how they play,” J-Smith said.

“That’s bullshit,” Breze spat. As the guys were going back and forth trying to figure out a plan, C-Brook opened the front door to come out but quickly withdrew at the sight of the cops. “Oh, shit. What the fuck?” He said and closed the door back. He pulled the curtain and began looking from the living room. “Them boys ‘bout to go to jail,” he said. He could see the cops placing all of their evidence in a square box, but Brad was holding on to the Rifle. “Damn, what done happened?” He asked himself.

After a couple minutes, Brad and Finley began talking to the guys, and it looked as if they were debating about something. Brad was making all kinds of hand gestures as he spoke. J-Smith was the primary mouthpiece, and Phil and Breze looked to be agreeing with whatever he said.

While they were talking Dread rode through and was about to stop but punched the gas after seeing the cops. “Fuck the police my brether. Kill all cocka roackes. In Jesus name my brether!” He screamed.

“That nigga Dread crazy!” C-Brook said.

He turned his attention back to the scene in his front yard and seen Brad pulling the guys up off the ground. Finley uncuffed them and then the next thing that happened threw C-Brook for a loop. Each of the guys handed their ID card to Finley, and he looked over them before placing them in his pocket. “What the…I’m lost,” C-Brook said out loud.

“Are we clear on what we gotta do here?” Brad asked the guys.

“Yea. We clear,” J-Smith said. Phil and Breze nodded.

“You got exactly twenty-four hours. Don’t fuck with us!” Brad said with base in his voice. No one replied, and the cops returned to their car with all the evidence and drove off. C-Brook rushed outside once the pigs were gone. “Yo, what the fuck just happened?” He asked. Phil shook his head, and Breze threw up his hands and shrugged. “J-Smith, what’s up?” He asked.

“Crackers got a nigga in a bad situation,” he said.

“I could see that from the window,” C-Brook said.

“It ain’t bad as it seems,” J-Smith said.

“I be damn!” Phil said.

“What’s up?” C-Brook pressured. Before J-Smith could respond there was a car pulling up on the sidewalk. “There go the twins,” Breze said.

“Tell you about it later. But we need a plan…fast,” J-Smith told C-Brook.

C-Brook shook his head like yeah, a’ight.

“What up though?” Able said out of the window.

“How long are we gonna be over here?” Roslyn asked from the back seat.

She hated this side of town, and so did Quanita. “Right, because this is not a safe location to be hanging out,” Quanita added.

“Chill. We copping the weed and we out,” Kane said.

“Twins, what up? I was wondering where y’all lil ass was. Get out and fuck with me,” C-Brook said.

“I heard it’s been poppin’ over here on two fo’ like Vietnam,” Kane joked as he and Able was getting out.

“Hurry up,” Roslyn told them.

“You know how the Av. be. Death can be a walk outside,” C-Brook said and embraced the fellas with a handshake.

The twins embraced everyone as usual and began talking about a little of this and a little of that. It was clear the twins had heard about the drama on 24
th
and the guys on 24
th
had heard about the shooting on 27
th
.

“Shooting? What shooting?” Kane joked.

“I know nothing about it,” C-Brook said.

“Man, it’s getting late. I’m about to call it a night. I’ll catch up with y’all tomorrow,” Phil said. J-Smith gave him a look but didn’t say anything.

“A’ight,” C-Brook said.

“Twenty-four hours Phil,” Breze told him. Phil ignored him and left walking. Breze looked over at J-Smith, and they shared at look.

“Where the bud?” Able asked C-Brook.

“I’ll be right back homey,” C-Brook said and walked off to his apartment. Roslyn and Quanita sat in the car feeling uncomfortable. They looked around the ruthless looking neighborhood and wondered how some people would settle for so less. This was their first time ever actually stopping on this street. There were too many bad stories about all of Dixie Avenue, so they knew they had no reason to be caught on this side of town.

“There is no way in hell I could live over here. Girl, look at how dirty the yard is. That is crazy. People don’t even have the decency to pick up paper out of their yard,” Roslyn said

“I know right. You can smell weed from three blocks away,” Quanita said and laughed. As she looked around toward the guys it was like Breze was looking straight through the limo tints staring at here in the back seat. The thought of her being right made her shiver. “I wish they would hurry up,” she said referring to the wins.

“Y’all want a beer?” J-Smith asked.

“Nah, we good homey,” Able said.

“What y’all got planned for the rest of the night?” He asked.

“Pussy,” Able joked.

“Can’t be mad at that,” he said.

“Kane?” Roslyn called from the back seat.

“You in trouble nigga,” J-Smith joked.

“Got me fucked up,” Kane said. He walked over to the car to see what Roslyn wanted. “What’s up?” He had his head in the window.

“Can we go do what we had planned, please? I don’t like this area,” she said

“We,” Quanita corrected her.

“In a second. We waiting on C-Brook to come out and then we leaving,” he told them.

“I wish he would hurry up,” Roslyn said.

“Don’t panic baby girl. I got’cha,” he said and walked off.

“Phil gone, huh?” Breze said to J-Smith.

“You know what? Let me call that fool,” J-Smith said and walked off.

“Be right out twins,” C-Brook yelled from the front door. “Had to take a shit,” he said before closing the door back.

“Nigga, we didn’t need to know all that,” Able said.

“Funky booty ass nigga,” Kane said.

“We in this together so you need to come on back and let’s try to figure this hit out. how you just gon’ up and run off?” J-Smith said over the phone.

There was a loud tire burning sound down the street and the guys turned in the direction they heard the car.

“Dread silly ass,” Breze said.

The Chevelle was coming down the avenue wide open in a reckless way.

“Man, what that nigga on?” Kane asked.

As C-Brook was coming out of the door, Dread was approaching and slid to a wild stop.

“Got damn Dread done lost his mind,” C-Brook said. The door swung open, and a syringe fell out of Dread’s lap and hit the ground. The twins were the first to see the big chrome .357 revolver in Dread’s hand. 

“My brether, I was unsuccessful because it was not God’s will. Please, give me all you got,” he said and pointed the gun at C-Brook.

Everyone was shocked. C-Brook couldn’t believe it. This was the kind of nonsense Roslyn, and Quanita was afraid of being caught up in.
Oh my God,
Roslyn thought.

“Look,” she told Quanita.

“What this nigga doing?” Able said.

“My brether,” Dread said moving closer to C-Brook. “Give me all you got or I will open fire.”

“Dread, this shit not funny. What the hell you doing?” C-Brook screamed.

“I can assure you I am not laughing. Does it look like I am laughing? Your best option is to cooperate, or I will buss a cap in your ass in Jesus name,” he threatened.

It was clear that Dread had been on some heavy drugs. He was sweating, his face was jumping and twitching, and his eyes were bucked. C-Brook could see blood running from one of his veins in his left arm. “Give it to him C-Brook. Shit ain’t worth dying for homey. You can get it back,” Kane told him.

“Man, Dread on that bullshit. I ain’t got shit but a lil…” POW! That was as far as C-Brook got before Dread fired a shot and sent a bullet past his face. He panicked and hit the ground as he tossed the few bags of weed. “Take it you crazy ass nigga,” he screamed. Dread rushed to pick up the weed and stuffed it in his pocket. “Dread that’s fucked up! All this over a few sacks,” C-Brook screamed. “Feel blessed my brether. You could have been dead. Don’t worry, it was only God’s will,” he said and jumped in his car. He left sideways leaving skid marks. “Man, I cannot believe this shit!” C-Brook screamed mad.

“What he on?” Able asked.

“Everything! Can’t trust no fuckin’ body! Fuckin’ false ass religious, cult believing muthafuckin’. That nigga gone off that heroin,” C-Brook sounded assure.

“Kane and Able, it’s time to go!” Quanita said out of the window.

“Now!” Roslyn added.

“Yeah, we about to roll homey. It’s far too much poppin’ off over here on two fo,” Able said.

“But we still need to get some bud from you. You might need to smoke a fat one yourself after this shit,” Kane said. C-Brook shook his head as he tried to let what had just happened sink in.

“Damn, one more robbery a nigga won’t have a pot to piss in,” he said.

“We gon’ break bread with you homey. How much you got left? We’ll buy it all,” Kane said and pulled out a wad of cash.

“Bet that up ‘cause I damn sho need it,” he said.

“C-Brook let me hol’ at you real fast,” J-Smith said.

“Twins give me a second and I got ya,” C-Brook said, and he and J-Smith stepped off. Quanita stuck here head out of the window. “Kane and Able? We are ready to go. We not tryna get shot by no crazy Haitians high on crystal meth,” she said.

“Hurry up before we leave walking,” Roslyn added.

“Yeah right. Y’all ain’t about to walk down no damn 24
th
,” Kane said

“Scary ass,” Able joked.

“We’re not scary we just smart. Ain’t nobody tryna be hanging out in this crime drug infested jungle,” Roslyn said.

“Two minutes,” Able told them.

“Hurry y’all ass up,” Roslyn growled at them. Quantina pulled up and dropped CJ back off.

“You back pussy whipped nigga?” Breze joked.

“Fuck you. Twins what up?” CJ said and embraced them with a handshake.

“Same ‘ol thang different day,” Able said. Breze grabbed two beers and handed CJ one.

“Y’all good?” he asked the twins.

“Yeah, we good but give me two for Roslyn and Quanita, so they’ll shut the hell up,” Able said.

“Need something in they mouth, huh?” Breze joked. He handed Able two beers, and he took them to the car and handed them to the girls. “Two minutes are up,” Roslyn said.

“No it ain’t shut up,” he told her and walked off.

“Punk,” she told him    

“Tell this nigga to come on,” Able told Kane referring to C-Brook. They looked over cross the yard and saw C-Brook and J-Smith engaged in a conversation. J-Smith was making hand gestures as he spoke. “C-Brook, we ‘bout to ride homey,” Kane said.

“Here I come lil homey. My bad about that. I’ll be right out,” C-Brook said and ran off to his apartment. He was in and out in not time and handed Kane a pound of loud marijuana. “That’s all I got left,” he said. Able paid him, and Kane sat the marijuana in the car.

“Ready yet?” Roslyn joked.

“Yeah,” Kane said.

“I’m buzzin,” Quanita said

“Off that one beer? Damn. I’d hate to see you drank a six pack,” Kane said.

“We about to be out. Y’all fellas be easy,” Able said. J-Smith gave C-Brook a look and nodded.

“Hold on one second let me holla at y’all,” C-Brook said. He lit a Newport and handed J-Smith one. “The police came through this bitch today right,” he began. “Y’all know how them crooked ass cops is. Dirty as hell and always on some foul shit. Anyway, they rolled down on the homies Breze, Phil, and J-Smith. I’m talking about Brad and Finley by the way. Caught the homies slippin’ and found a lil shit. Guns, drugs, ammo you know. Even lucked up on a few spent shell cases. You know they was talkin’ shit. I mean, they cops right? They made a few threats and acted like they wanted to take the homies in. They hit ‘em with the technicality and blew things out of proportion and made it seem like a nigga was Bin Liden. Check this out. It’s a lot of shit that don’ went down tonight, and we all know. Some niggas got away some didn’t. Some nigga skating on thin ice you feel me?” At this point, the twins were wondering just what C-Brook was trying to get at. They could hear some shadiness in his voice. They looked at the other guys, and it appeared that CJ was the only one not hipped to what was going on.

“Bruh, what the fuck is you getting at?” Kane asked.

“The police looking for a lot of killers you feel me? One crime in particular. It’s fucked up out here in the streets my nigga and at the end of the day you have to choose,” C-Brook said.

“The fuck that mean, nigga?” Able spat.

“The way it looks it two for three. Y’all in exchange for my niggas. The cops looking for a black Rover that was involved in a murder tonight on the av. They don’t know who drive it, but they would like to know for a hundred thousand. That’s the reward,” C-Brook said.

It was now that the twins knew where C-Brook was going with this. They wished they had their guns on them, and they would have killed everybody standing out there. C-Brook was straight cut throat.

“What the fuck you saying, nigga?” Able spat.

“Sounds to us you a police ass nigga,” Kane spat.

“What’s going on?” CJ asked C-Brook.

“Chill out CJ,” J-Smith told him. CJ looked at the twins in disbelief, and it was clear he returned and got caught up in the midst of foul play. “Ain’t got shit to do with this,” he mumbled.

“Check this out,” C-Brook began talking to the twins. “True enough y’all my niggas and all but these niggas here on two fo’ are my righteous niggas. My home team. My 24
th
and Dixie niggas you understand? At the end of the day they come first and I’ma do what I gotta do to make sure they straight. I know you lil niggas got mad bread and a lot of respect in the streets but understand this. I could care less, and I’d gladly kill both you niggas and not give a fuck about you. I don’t care about the police either. They can get the same, but they rolled down on my niggas and caught ‘em slipping with a lot of shit. They gave my niggas 24 hours to dig they self out that hole. They made my niggas a proposal, and my niggas came to me. I think everybody out here an ex-felon but y’all. Shit, felony murder on a first-time offense is life of course. I ain’t tryna fuck you niggas but I will. My niggas come first! Somebody shot an old school cat tonight up on the corner and made a clean getaway. The cops are looking for a lead. It’s a hundred thousand dollars reward.” He handed the Newport to J-Smith who hadn’t taken his eyes off the twins since C-Brook started talking. “The cops told my niggas if they wanted to walk on all these charges they had twenty-four hours to bring ‘em some murder men,” he continued.