Crooked G's (20 page)

“I'm nervous as shit. I can't stop shaking,” Latrice informed her as she sat in a car.

“Me too, but we got to do this. It's now or never and I can't wait for never. You can do this. I trust you.” Shakita lifted up the hood of the car to make it look like she was having car trouble when the van passed by.

“Whatever happens, Kita. I want you to know that you're my best friend and I love you.”

“I love you too. I know what you're thinking about and don't
worry. Everything will be fine. We're both going to be laughing about this shit when it's all over.”

Latrice wasn't too sure about that, but she still put her faith in Shakita that she knew what she was talking about. “I hear you, girl,” Latrice said as she fixed one side of her long blonde wig in the overhead mirror. Latrice was wearing the exact same disguise as Shakita, except that she had on a longer orange dress, and had been sitting in back of an industrial building waiting for the mission to begin.

“Here it comes, girl,” Shakita said, breathing heavy with her eyes wide, informing Latrice that the van was now turning onto the street. “I'll see you in a minute.”

“Okay. I'll be here.”

Shakita threw her walkie-talkie under the front seat and started to flag down the van to get it to stop. The driver noticed the damsel in distress and thought she could use some help, but he didn't know whether it should be him to help her, since he was so close to the depot station. He thought about his sister and would want someone to help her if she were having car trouble. The Good Samaritan in him decided to pull over and help the poor girl out.

Shakita continued to wave her arms around until the van pulled up in front of her. She took a deep breath and was ready to become an actress.

“Thank you, mister, for stopping! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Shakita said, running up to the driver's side of the van.

“No problem. It looks like you're having some car trouble?”

“Yes I am. My engine won't start and I have to get to the hospital,” Shakita said frantically. “My sister is having a baby and her no-good-ass boyfriend won't be there 'cause he left her for another woman, and I have to be there for her! I just have to!”

“Okay. Calm down. I'll help you the best way I can.”

“Thank you so much, mister. Can I please use your cell phone to call for a ride? I really need to get there.”

“What hospital is your sister at?”

“She's at Southern.”

“Here, hop in. I'll take you. I got to stop at the station first to drop my van off. The station's right down the street here. I'll be in and out. Put your hazard lights on and we'll come back to it later.”

“Thank you so much, mister. Hold on one second.” Shakita ran to the car and turned on her hazards.
This shit was easier than I thought,
she said to herself as she ran back to the van and got in on the passenger side.

The van started to move and Shakita had to continue to put her plan into action. The driver glanced over at Shakita a couple of times and thought she was a pretty girl and would be even prettier without her glasses on. He was going to ask her out to dinner as soon as her situation was resolved.

“Thank you once again, mister. You're such a nice man. I wish more men could be like you.”

The driver smiled. “It's the least I could do for such a pretty girl.”

Shakita smiled back. “I have to give you something for helping me out,” Shakita said as she bent down so she could get to her boot.

“No, that's all right. I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart,” the driver said, trying to stop her from giving him an incentive. He wanted his reward to come later in the form of a date.

“No, please. I insist,” Shakita said as she pulled out her baby nine-millimeter with the silencer already attached, released the safety and pointed it at the driver. He was so scared he almost shit on himself when he saw the gun aimed at his chest.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“What the fuck do it look like? I'm robbing this mothafucka! Now drive!”

“Look. You don't want to do this. It will never work.”

“It'll work as long as ya ass stay cool. Now turn left.”

The driver did what she said, but tried to press the panic button on his dashboard, so he could have a response team track where he was going. Shakita noticed his movement and responded to his foolish move.

Shakita aimed the gun at his head. “Get both of your fucking hands on the steering wheel now! This is not your fucking money so don't die for it!” The driver put both of his hands on the wheel and continued to drive. “Keep those hands on that wheel and you'll be able to live another day.”

The driver didn't speak another word, not wanting to increase his chances at getting shot. He had a young boy at home to look after and didn't want the mother of his child to have full custody of him. He decided not to give Shakita any problems so she would let him live. It wasn't his money to die over.

Latrice looked in the rearview mirror and saw the white van approaching. She wanted to wait to get out of the car until she made sure that Shakita had everything under control. She watched the van pull up beside her and waited for Shakita's command. Shakita gave Latrice the signal to come over to the van so she could help her secure the driver. Latrice quickly ran over to the driver's side door and opened it.

“Give her your hands,” Shakita commanded.

The driver did what he was told and Latrice handcuffed his hands to the driver-side armrest. Latrice turned the van off and took the keys out of the ignition. Shakita ran to unlock the back door of the van while Latrice held the driver at gunpoint.

Shakita opened the doors and saw that there were only fourteen canisters on the floor. She expected there to be over twenty of them. “He must not have done a full route,” she whispered. She had no time to think about it too hard and wanted to concentrate on the money. She started loading all the heavy canisters in the back of the truck that Latrice was driving, and really had to move quickly to make sure they didn't get caught.

“All right! Let's go!” Shakita yelled.

“Later, baby,” Latrice said, winking at the driver and then ran to the Expedition. She hopped in the driver side and floored the gas, taking off as fast as she could down the street. The driver waited a few minutes to make sure the girls were out of sight before he used his face to press up against the panic button. He was relieved after he pressed the button knowing someone would be there for him soon. He was so happy that he was not harmed and all he could think about was getting to see his son again.
Damn, those young bitches were crazy,
he thought.

Shakita slammed the hood down on the car she was originally driving, and followed Latrice to a motel to count up all the money. Before they counted, they had to ditch both vehicles and their disguises and transfer the canisters to Shakita's truck. They didn't want the police looking for two blonde-haired girls with glasses in a car that was used in a robbery, so they had to move as fast as possible without looking suspicious.

“I counted forty thousand dollars already, and I'm only done with the first canister!” Latrice shouted overjoyed as she sat on the floor and marveled about their big come up.

“There should be a hundred thousand in them as heavy as these bitches were,” Shakita said, rubbing her shoulder. “The ones with the coins in them were even heavier.”

“I wish you could've seen the way you was carrying these big-ass things from the van, girl. You were walking like a damn midget with no neck trying to carry them things,” Latrice said, unable to control her laughter.

“Them mothafuckas was heavy as shit, yo. I was about to leave them damn things there and only take the light ones. But then I said fuck that. I'm getting all this money. I was pressed as shit, wasn't I?”

Latrice was laughing so damn hard that she wasn't even able to respond. Shakita and Latrice continued to laugh and talk about their unbelievable experience as they counted the money.

It was 10 p.m. and they were still at the motel counting the money. They had counted over two hundred thousand dollars so far and still had three more canisters with bills left in them to go. They were concentrating on their count when the news came on. They had been waiting to see if they had made the nightly news and now they were all ears as the Afro American female newscaster began to speak.

“Good evening. This is Amanda Coster with Fox 5 News. The top story tonight is the armed robbery of a BERK metro van. Two women, both believed to be Afro American, ambushed the driver of the van, where he was later handcuffed. The women stole fourteen metal canisters which may have held up to five hundred thousand dollars in them altogether.”

“Damn! We some rich bitches,” Shakita said when she heard how much money they could have, as the news lady continued.

“This is what the driver of the van had to say,”
the news lady said, before the driver they robbed appeared on the screen.

“The one girl was acting like she was having car trouble, so I stopped to help her, thinking that she really needed some help,”
the driver said emotionally as he continued.
“She gets in the van and before I know it, she pulls out a gun and has me drive to where another girl was waiting for her. That's where I was then handcuffed to the armrest and held at gunpoint until they took all the money. Thank God that I'm still alive. I have a son that needs me.”

“He's such a bitch. The nigga's about to cry and shit,” Shakita remarked.

The screen then switched back to the anchorwoman.

“The two women are both said to be about five feet six in height, between the ages of twenty to twenty-four, and both women had blonde hair and glasses and were wearing orange dresses, which authorities allege were all part of their disguises. These women are said to be armed and dangerous. There will be up to a twenty-five thousand-dollar reward to anyone who has any information that can be provided for their capture. Please call 1-888-CRMSTOP if you have anything you want to offer the authorities about these two women. Right now there are no further leads. Now in other news…”

“Bitch, we done made the mothafucking news,” Shakita said happily after she turned off the television.

“What the fuck are you so happy for? Mothafuckas are looking for us.”

“No they're not. They're looking for two nerdy-looking bitches with blonde wigs and some ugly-ass orange dresses. They don't know shit about what we really look like. You heard what they said, right?” Shakita stood up and then continued. “They ain't got no further leads. They don't know shit, girl. We done got away with like a half a million dollars.”

Latrice didn't look enthused about what Shakita was saying and gave her a troubled look. “Ya ass could at least smile,” Shakita said, putting her hand on her hip. “We did get Bay's money back. I thought you would be happy, shit. I know I am. I thought I was gonna get killed over that shit.”

“But what if the driver sees us again and recognizes us?”

“That driver doesn't know what the hell we really look like. We could bump into his ass tomorrow and he wouldn't know who the hell we were. I'm telling you, girl. You need to cool ya heels and enjoy some of this money like me. I make it rain. Watch me make it rain with it,” Shakita sang as she picked up a pile of uncounted bills, and started to flick them into the air with her hand as she moved her hips.

Latrice started to laugh at Shakita acting silly as some of the bills landed on her lap and on top of her head.

“Get up here, girl, and make it rain with me. Come on up here; you know you want to,” Shakita said, trying to get Latrice to have some fun with her as she danced on the bed. Latrice couldn't resist the temptation. She grabbed a hand full of bills and started dancing with Shakita, as they both brushed money off their hands into the air. They laughed together so hard, remembering what it felt like to be happy around each other again.

“H
ello, Shakita. How have you been? Haven't seen you here in a while,” Monique said as Shakita walked into The Black Emporium.

Shakita smiled. “Hey, Mo. How are you?”

“I'm fine. Carrying out the daily usual. Are you coming back to work today?”

“No, unfortunately. I just came here to talk to Eric. Is he here?”

“Yep. Let me give him a buzz for you,” Monique said as she dialed up

Eric's extension. “Hello, Eric. Shakita is here to see you. Okay.” Monique hung up the phone and handed Shakita a silver card.

“Thanks, girl. See you when I come back.” Shakita walked to the elevator.

Shakita checked the time on her cell phone and saw that it was almost noon. She didn't have to be at work until 1:30, and seriously needed to talk to Eric about some business real quick. She stepped off the elevator and saw Eric instantly. He looked so damn fine to her in his JoS. A. Bank black dress shirt and colorful silk tie as he paced around the room.

I did not come here to fuck him, but damn, this man look good! Just stick to the business, bitch, and you'll still have your panties on when you leave here,
she said to herself, getting bothered by his sexy appearance. Shakita walked over to him and tried to get all her dirty
little thoughts out of her mind before she spoke. “Hey, Eric. How are you?” she said hesitantly.

Eric stopped pacing and gave her his full attention. “Hello, Shakita. It's nice to see you again. It's been awhile.”

“It has. I've been going through a lot lately, which is why I haven't been to work.”

Eric stared into her troubled eyes trying to see if he could figure out what she'd been up to.

“Only a man could keep you away from making the money you said you needed,” Eric inquired with a hint of jealousy.