Crooked G's (25 page)

“I'm not going.”

“What did you say?” Shakita asked, wondering if she'd heard her correctly.

“I said I'm not going.”

“You're fucking with me, right?” Latrice remained silent. “Tell me you're just fucking with me, Latrice!”

“No, Kita. I'm not. I can't do this anymore.”

Shakita couldn't believe what she was hearing and started to lose her mind. “We're minutes away from hitting this fucking van and you're backing out on me! You can't do this shit to me! You promised me you would do it!” Shakita yelled.

“Well, I changed my mind. I got dreams, Kita. Big dreams and I can't fuck up what I got going on to follow your ass on some fucking wild-ass robbery shit. You can gamble with your life, but I'm not gambling with mine no more. You're going to have to do
this on your own. I'm out.” She pulled her gun out of her waistband and tried to hand it over to Shakita. Shakita looked at the gun and then coldly back up at Latrice.

“Remember when you said that if I ask you to do anything else after this, that we wouldn't be friends anymore?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“So I'm giving you the same option. If I take that gun from you and we don't do this job, then that's going to be it for us.” Shakita stared at Latrice, meaning every word.

Shakita was ready to give up twelve years of friendship since Latrice didn't want to commit a crime with her. Latrice felt that if Shakita couldn't see that what she was asking of her was wrong, then Shakita's friendship wasn't worth having anyway. Latrice wished she would have found out that they weren't meant to be friends a long time ago. That would have made their departure from each other a lot easier to deal with.

Latrice extended her arm out even more, trying to hand Shakita the gun, further letting her know that she was ready to disband their relationship.

“I guess I'll see you around,” Shakita said as she took the gun out of Latrice's hand.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Latrice said seriously with a strained look in her eyes. Without any signal, they both embraced each other and started to shed tears, as the thought of them not being friends began to set in.

“I love you, girl,” Shakita said as she started to sniffle and tears dripped down her chin.

“I love you too,” a watery-eyed Latrice wept.

Neither one of them could handle the emotional moment well. Everything they shared would be forever lost. Their alliance had
finally taken its course and it was time for them to go their separate ways. “I got to get going,” Shakita said as she broke their embrace and wiped the tears off her face. She then backed away from her slowly. They shared a stare for a moment, then Shakita turned away. Latrice didn't make any attempt to stop her from leaving, nor did she try to do anything to get her to stay. Shakita got in her car and looked at her ex-best friend for what could possibly be the last time, then sped off.

Latrice got back behind the wheel and began to sob heavily, reflecting how the whole incident would affect the rest of her life. As much as Latrice wanted to get back on the walkie-talkie and let Shakita know that she was down with her until the end, she couldn't. Being there for Shakita wasn't what she wanted in her life anymore. Latrice was becoming a different type of woman and had to relieve herself of any unwanted baggage in order to be successful in her next venture. She was convinced that Shakita wouldn't be a good fit in her new life. Where Latrice planned on going in the music industry, it wasn't good business to have problematic friends around that were always trying to bring you down. She had been certain Shakita would never leave the scandalous world she lived in, and that's why they could not remain friends.

Shakita held her head down in agony. She was frustrated that Latrice had left her high and dry right before they were about to make the hit. Her stress level started to rise as she rushed to think of another plan of attack. She was all alone and couldn't figure out how she was going to rob the van, force the driver off the main road, then unload the money without being seen. Shakita was about to give up and find someone she could trust to help her at another time. Suddenly, she thought of a plan that could possibly work. It had to be done carefully. She started to believe that she didn't
need anybody but her damn self and was ready to handle her business. The van would be on its way soon, so she had to get herself at the right location before she missed her opportunity.

The driver finished up his route and was rushing to get back to the depot station, so he could drop his load and get on the Beltway before traffic got too heavy. He hated sitting in gridlock traffic for at least two hours trying to get back to his home. The driver was flying down the street and noticed that the car in front of him slammed on its brakes unexpectedly. Without enough time to react, he smashed right into the back of the old Buick sedan. The crash was so severe that it left both vehicles disabled. The driver wasn't hurt much, but he wanted to see how badly the person in the other car was injured.

When the driver of the van approached the car, he noticed that the driver of the Buick was not moving and appeared to be a young male. He opened the door to see if the driver was still breathing, and that's when he felt a clank on his wrist. Before he knew it, he found himself handcuffed to the steering wheel with a gun pointed to his head. He was scared as hell.

“If you don't do anything stupid, I won't kill your ass. You understand?” Shakita said calmly.

The driver nodded his head in fear, willing to do whatever he was told to prevent from getting shot. “Now I want you to slowly put your other hand on the top of the car and wait for further instruction. You got that?”

The man slowly lifted his hand from his side and placed it on the roof of the car as he was instructed. “Now I want you to turn your body all the way to your left and keep it that way until I tell you otherwise.” The man had to think for a second which side was his left so he didn't make a mistake. When the man's right hip was
facing her, Shakita removed his gun off his waist and then tossed it on the backseat.

“Now slowly bring your hand back in the car and place it on the steering wheel.” The man did what he was told and then felt the cold steel cuff that was already attached to the wheel being slapped on his other wrist.

Shakita then climbed out of the car from the passenger side and headed for the van with her gun tucked in her waist. She ran to the back of the van and was ready to get the money out. She had to move fast in case someone called the police. Shakita swung the heavy doors open, so she could climb in and pull the canisters out.

Boom!!!

The shotgun blast threw Shakita's body to the ground as the officer in the back of the van emerged with a smoking barrel.

Shakita's legs twitched as she gasped for air. The massive hole in her chest was making it hard for her to breathe, as thick blood spewed from her mouth. Shakita's heart had already stopped beating before she realized what had happened to her. The armed officer jumped out of the van and stood over her dead body. He saw that the man's mustache was hanging off his face, so he assumed it was a fake, and when he looked at the man even harder, he realized something else about him when he pulled the mustache all the way off.

“You're just a young girl,” the officer said under his breath.

The officer started to put the pieces together, and figured out that she was probably the same woman that robbed the very same van a week before. He had hoped she wouldn't try it again, wanting to avoid the tragic event that had currently taken place. If Shakita would have been watching the news lately, she would have known that the BERK van robbery set off a security breach that couldn't
be allowed to happen again. Each van that was transporting money had to have a backup officer on board to add an extra layer of defense. Shakita's addiction to gambling resulted in more than her simply losing endless amounts of money and her best friend in the world. She lost her life and it was too late to ask her was everything she'd ever done worth it. The officer walked over to the smashed-up Buick to see if his fellow officer was all right as squad cars rushed to the scene.

•  •  •

Latrice sat on her couch and tuned into the five o'clock news wanting to see if there was anything about another BERK van robbery. Latrice didn't think Shakita would have the heart to do it by herself, and even if she did attempt it, she would be caught and thrown in jail. She thought that if Shakita had a change of heart and decided not to go through with it, then they could possibly be friends again. Deep down inside, she really couldn't see not being friends with Shakita again and truly hoped she'd made the right choice. But when Latrice heard the special news report with Shakita's face posted on the screen, she suddenly broke down crying and screamed from the top of her lungs.

“You're so stupid! Oh, you're so fucking stupid, why! Why, Shakita! Why! Why! Why!” she yelled as she hit the floor and cried while banging her fists against the couch. Latrice was so hurt that Shakita had gotten killed and part of her wanted to blame herself. Latrice felt like if she would've tried to stop her, she would've still been living. She realized if they would have stayed together, both of them would have been dead. Latrice couldn't help but to cry out in devastation over her fallen sister. It was almost hard to believe that her best friend was gone and never
coming back. Ironically, Shakita Marshall was dead at the age of “21.” She always believed it was her luckiest number.

Eric had called Latrice as soon as he heard the news about Shakita. He wondered if she knew what really happened. Eric found out where she lived and rushed over to her apartment. He really wanted to be there in her critical time of need. Shakita was a big part of his life and he, too, would need to be comforted. When Latrice opened the door for Eric, she fell into his arms and sobbed heavily. He tried to get her to calm down, but nothing he did or said worked. Tears started to flow down his face. Being around an emotional Latrice was becoming harder and harder for him to bear. All he could hear was her crying in his ear as he held her up to keep her from falling. Eric realized that Latrice was too traumatized and didn't expect to get much out of her in the delusional state of mind she was in. All he could do right now was hold her, support her, and prayed that they would both be able to get through this tempestuous time—together.

E
veryone had gathered for Shakita's funeral. Eric paid for all the arrangements so that Shakita would have a proper burial. The viewing of the body and the actual service were done all in the same day, since Shakita didn't have much family or friends that could attend her untimely death. Shakita's mother was a homeless drug addict and her father was a man she wouldn't have known, even if he had been an old customer of hers. Shakita had very few relatives and the ones she did have, Latrice was unable to contact them. Even with the national broadcast of Shakita's killing, that still didn't bring out the support of her estranged family members.

The only other attendees at Shakita's passing besides Latrice and Eric were a few employees from the spa, a couple guys she used to date, and Cotton. Cotton was informed by Eric about Shakita's entire situation after she had been killed. She felt somewhat responsible for driving Shakita to the point where she had to commit armed robbery. She thought that if it wasn't for her, Shakita never would have gone to jail and lost her job at the spa. It was too late for Cotton to say sorry to her, so the least she could do was pay her respects.

During the beginning of the service, two unknown men came in to pay their respects as well. Latrice thought that the two men
looked doubtful and presumed they were feds. She thought that they might attend hoping to find the other girl associated with the first van robbery, so she made certain that Eric didn't put her name anywhere on the obituary. She didn't want any additional reasons to get questioned about the robbery. Latrice made sure not to give them too much eye contact either, not wanting to draw attention to herself. With Bay coming home in two days, she couldn't afford to go to jail, especially not now.

Latrice stood over Shakita's casket at the Oak Hill Cemetery and spent precious time with her before she was lowered into the ground. Latrice's face quivered as she cried, staring at the metal casket that held her best friend, still not wanting to believe she was gone. The only time Latrice had dealt with a loss of this magnitude was when her mother died when she was only fourteen. Even then she was too young to truly understand death. All she really understood was that she would never see her mother again. She was older now and with Shakita absent from her life, she had only one person to worry about. A life without Shakita would be such a bore and she wasn't looking forward to it. Eric was saying goodbye to Cotton, when he noticed that Latrice was the last one left at the gravesite and decided to see if she were all right.

“Are you going to be ready to go soon?” Eric asked as he stood behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.

“Yes, in a minute. I still can't believe she's gone, Eric,” Latrice said, wiping her tears away.

“Me either. I wasn't expecting this at all,” Eric said as he tried to hold back tears.

“It feels like this whole thing ain't real. I'm waiting for her to jump out the casket, and be like
I got y'all bitches.
I would be mad as shit at her for scaring us like that, but I would be so glad that
she was here. I know it's not a joke though…I felt her arm at the viewing…and it was hard as a tree branch…There's no way she's coming back from that. I miss her so muchhhh.” She burst out in tears as her body shook against Eric's strong chest.