DEADLY DECISIONS III: The End (20 page)

Tre tried to convince Carter that everything was going to work out and be alright, but Carter wasn’t hearing it.

“Get off your ass and get out there with your team, Tre. And don’t come back until you have Saige and my dear old auntie,” Carter ordered. “I don’t know why you’ve been sticking to me like flies on shit in the first place.” Carter added as an afterthought. “Only one of us needs to be sitting back calling shots, and that’s me. I don’t need any company.” Carter dismissed Tre and then started back up the stairs. He needed to get Keisha’s people back on the phone to start negotiating.

Tre stood at the bottom of the stairs, boiling over in anger that Carter had addressed him like he was merely one of his low-ranking workers.
Fuck that! I gotta get that bitch Keisha before she starts talking. Carter soft on that hood-ass bitch, and before long, he gon’ start putting two and two together and I can’t let that happen.
Tre paced the floor, thinking. He had to figure something out, and quick. He knew it would only be trouble for him if Carter and Keisha spent too much more time alone.
I’ma sedate her ass!
Tre smiled, having come up with an easy solution. Now he just had to figure out a good excuse to administer it to her without making Carter suspect anything.

After making a few phone calls, Tre rerouted his hit team back into the mountains. The team had been combing the area to locate Saige with no success. They tried to track her from her phone but were unable to get a trace. Tre went up to discuss his plan with Carter with a syringe full of morphine to put Keisha out until he returned. But to his surprise, Carter was on a call in a separate room and Keisha was sleeping. Tre approached Keisha like prey, thumbing the syringe the closer he got to her, and then he swiftly injected her in the vein in her arm.

“What the fuck you put in me, blood?” Keisha had awakened from sleep and had to fight hard to keep her eyes open.

Tre thumped Keisha on the forehead and told her to shut up. He didn’t want her setting Carter off. “I’m giving you some death, bitch.
You won’t be in here telling Carter shit about the phone call and text message you made to give him his money…’cause bitch, I told you I was gon’ kill yo’ ass.”

Keisha’s eyes widened
. This dirty-ass nigga! Tre set me up!
But the words wouldn’t make it out of her mouth. She was instantly relaxed.

“Yeah, bitch, I deleted that shit!” Tre smiled, enjoying pure satisfaction as he watched horror and desperation overtake Keisha’s face.
When her eyes began to flutter, he stuffed the syringe in his pocket, climbed off the bed, and then crept back out of the room.

Only Tre didn’t go unnoticed. As Carter was ending his call, he watched Tre tiptoe out of the room through the crack of the door.
What is he up to?
Carter wondered, standing in the doorway. He had a feeling that something wasn’t right and that Tre was hiding something from him. Curious, Carter
started to the bedroom that Keisha was occupying.

Inside the bedroom, Keisha had fallen victim to the drug, dozing off into a sudden sleep, wondering if she’d ever wake up again. “I’m so sorry, Li’l Boo. I’m sorry, Kessia and Cameron Jr., Mama lived a dope girl life.” Keisha’s eyes shifted to Carter standing in the door watching her. “Tell my G-Ma to give my kids the majority of my money and for her to split the rest among the rest of my loved ones, Carter. Can you do that for me?” Keisha smiled peacefully, allowing her eyes to close. She was numb. She didn’t feel anything, an
d best of all, no more pa
in.

It was a breezy, yet sunny spring morning in Los Angeles. The Hyatt suite overlooked the beautiful view and helped Li’l Boo clear his mind. He looked at his Breitling wristwatch, wondering what was taking his attorney so damn long to get there. He was over forty-five minutes behind the scheduled time, and Li’l Boo was ready to clear his name and get back to his life. It was only under his attorney’s counsel that Li’l Boo had been confined to his hotel room for days awaiting him to get back in the country to represent him. All the money, guns, and dead bodies found at his home had the media painting him out to be an organized crime leader, running a Piru crime ring out of Compton. Charges of murder, money laundering, and arms trafficking were among his list of charges.

Li’l Boo didn’t have his phone, so he had not been in contact
with any of his loved ones since the shoot-out. Unfortunately, he didn’t memorize any of the numbers in his contact list, including his very own mother or his restaurant number. Li’l Boo had to call information for his restaurant number, and even after getting the number, all of his calls had gone unanswered. He was sure his family had closed the restaurant due to the tragedy and that they thought he was dead. The only number Li’l Boo did memorize was Keisha’s because he was instructed not to store it as a safety precaution, but just like with the restaurant, his calls went unanswered… and he was worried sick about Keisha. The news suggested they were both dead, but without a body, Li’l Boo assumed that Keisha’s security had gotten her to safety just as he had. However, he just couldn’t help but worry about her.

When Li’l Boo received a knock on the door, he sighed a breath of relief. He used his cane to walk to the door and then opened it. Soon after, his veteran criminal
defense attorney Simon Moore
entered the suite. The two began to discuss the charges that would be brought against him and then his attorney asked questions for clarity that would help get Li’l Boo out of them. Li’l Boo explained his case thoroughly. He had legitimate reasons for the guns and large sums of money found in his home. But the body count and unlicensed armed security surrounding his house were beginning to be the biggest threat to Li’l Boo’s freedom.

Sitting at the table, his attorney loosened his tie. He then pulled out a manila file and gave Li’l Boo his full attention. “Now, Kevin, I really, really need you to convince me that you’re not some organized Piru crime leader and that the friends that aided you just so happened to be over there visiting you when this shoot-out occurred.” He paused. “I also need a good solid reason for all the surveillance in your home too. It’s not illegal, but in a court of law, this will be used as supporting evidence to draw you out to be some
new era
crime leader,” he explained.

With the help of his attorney, Li’l Boo came up with a story that would sway any juror that he was merely a law-abiding citizen, a businessman and pillar of his community that became a victim of a violent crime. After going over his story a few times, his lawyer asked him how he managed to get away unharmed.

Li’l Boo simply replied, “No one knows my home better than I do.” He didn’t want to disclose the fact that he had a secret
panic room
in his home with emergency, food, water, cash, clothes, guns, and several throwaway phones to prepare him for mishaps. It was where Li’l Boo had hidden as he neared another close encounter with death. He hid inside until the scene died down, and then he threw on a disguise, left out the back door, and called for a cab a half a block
away from his home. Li’l Boo remembered how scarcely populated the
neighborhood was that night. There wasn’t a soul out.

His lawyer nodded. “So what you’re telling me is that you hid in your home?”

Li’l Boo shook his head no. “No, I’m not telling you that at all. I made it out the back door, hid in the bushes, and when I heard the police, I took off and caught a cab here.”

“You would have gone to the police, but at that time, you were in fear for your life, right?” His crooked defense attorney pretty much told him what to say to prevent him from incriminating himself.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Li’l Boo agreed.

“Good.” His lawyer concluded the conversation and then called for his driver to meet them in the front of the hotel. They were ready to go down to the sheriff’s station for questioning.

Once at the station, the media was swarming all over the place. Li’l Boo’s attorney warned him that they would do that after he called the investigating detective to let her know that they’d be coming in for questioning. A
fter hours of interrogatio
n, de
tectives were forced to let Li’l Boo go, but they told him not to leave town. Once he got outside, reporters
badgered
Li’l Boo for a statement.

“Who tried to kill you, and do you know if Keisha Cones is dead or alive?” one reporter asked.

“Are you an organized crime leader?” another quickly squeezed in between the crowd of reporters and asked.

“I don’t know who tried to kill me,” Li’l Boo answered. “It all came as a surprise to me as well and unfortunately, I have yet to hear from my heart, Keisha Cones, and I’m worried sick about her. But I have hope that she’s alive and well and is just somewhere hiding in fear for her life.” Li’l Boo looked directly into the camera to send Keisha a personal message. “Wherever you are, Li’l Mama, get in contact with me. We have a wedding to plan.” He smiled, getting choked up in emotion. “I love and miss you very much, baby, and so does our daughter. We need you.” Those
were Li’l Boo’s final words before his attorney escorted him through the crowd to his private car.

In the car, Li’l Boo called his mother on his Smartphone. It had been released to him at the police station. When his mother answered, she cried. She was happy that he was all right, but she was upset after hearing on the news that he was still pursuing Keisha.

“Everyone is saying that girl is dead, but if you keep pursuing her, I’ma end up visiting you at a gravesite, Kevin. Let her go; it’s for your own safety.”

Li’l Boo cut his mother off by telling her that he loved her and then he told her to meet him at his shooting range. His home was off limits due to an ongoing investigation that was being conducted and he wanted to get the keys to one of his mother’s vacant properties for a few days.

Once at his shooting range, Li’l Boo’s attorney advised him not to discuss the case with anyone without him present. “That means your family and friends too. I’m going to get you out of this,” he assured Li’l Boo before his driver drove him off.

As Li’l Boo let himself inside his shooting range, he called his right-hand man CK and told him to meet him there. Happy to hear from Li’l Boo, CK told him that he’d be there in ten minutes. Li’l Boo locked back up and then gathered some guns and ammunition. He believed in staying ready.
Them niggas come for me today, I got some bigger shit fo’ they asses!
Moments later his phone went off, displaying an unavailable caller. Li’l Boo quickly answered, hoping that it was Keisha calling him.

“West,” Li’l Boo answered.

“About damn time! Li’l Boo is alive and well,” Big Pope Dog said happily through the phone. “Just seen you on breaking news. You international, dawg,” he teased.

“Yeah, yeah, where’s Kesh? She good? Put her on the phone,” Li’l Boo asked
anxiously.

“She’s not with me now, but she will be now that she knows you’re alive -”

Li’l Boo interrupted Big Pope Dog. He didn’t understand. “What you mean she’s not with you now? Where is she?” He began to fret, but was so relieved that she was alive. “Is she good?”

“I can’t do too much talking right now, but I’ll call you once she’s with me. Stay close to your phone.” Big Pope Dog disconnected the call.

What he mean now that she knows I’m alive?
Li’l Boo pondered.

His mother peeked through the door, grabbing his attention, tapping on the glass. Seeing her face made him smile. He let her in and then the two shared a tight hug. Sheila immediately began to try to change her son’s feelings about Keisha. She reminded him how he had nearly lost his life twice pursuing her. Li’l Boo wasn’t hearing it. He told his mother that his mind was made up.

“We riding ‘til the wheels fall off.” He dismissed the conversation and then asked his mother if he could lay low at one of her vacancies. They were all furnished, so he would be straight. She told him yes, but she also told him that if Keisha resurfaced that she wasn’t welcome to stay.

“You may not mind, but I don’t want to put my tenants’ lives in danger.” She passed Li’l Boo a set of keys to one of her vacant townhouses and then prepared to leave. On her way out, she told him that his grandmother was setting up and preparing a dinner for him at her house and that she needed to get back to help her cook.

Li’l Boo smiled, thinking about his sweet grandmother whom he called
“old girl”, an
d then he told his mother that he’d be there.

When his partner CK got there, the two shot a few rounds while CK caught Li’l Boo up on the streets.

“A few of the homies didn’t have life insurance and their families ain’t coughing up shit. They screaming where they homies at now.” CK looked at Li’l Boo seriously.

Li’l Boo felt a significant amount of responsibility and guilt for his homeboys’ losses, but it was what they signed up for. “The G-homie right here, and I’ma see to it that all my niggas go out proper, Piru,” he fumed revengefully.

Later, CK drove Li’l Boo to purchase some necessities for his stay at the townhouse, and then he dropped him off. Inside, Li’l Boo waited impatiently for a return call from Big Pope Dog. But what Li’l Boo didn’t know was that he was being watched by the man that hated his life the most.

Carter called the search off and instructed Tre and his team to return back to the cabin. Having lost hope in Tre’s ability to locate and bring his daughter and aunt back safely, Carter reached out to his secondary source, who proved to be completely capable of getting the job done. In the past, Tre had proven to be one of the best in his profession, but it was obvious that he had completely underestimated the reach and pull of Keisha’s team. It was totally unacceptable in Carter’s world.

When Tre and his team piled through the cabin door, Carter was babysitting a glass of scotch. He was enlightened by the news that Keisha’s people had been cornered and that his daughter and aunt were safe. However, Carter was violently disappointed in the failure of Tre’s team, and somebody was going to have to pay for it.