Entangled (23 page)

Jamal and Dream were on the way to his apartment when he had received a call on his cell phone from Thomas Henry. He listened in silence as Dream drove. A huge frown suddenly covered Jamal’s face as he absorbed the bad news.

“What’s wrong?” Dream asked.
“My lawyer just received information that Dawg was found guilty and that the grand jury is scheduled to meet in a couple of weeks. My phone records and my credit report have been subpoenaed. He said it was quite likely that Angelo and I will be indicted soon.”
“What does that mean for us?” Dream asked.
“It means the marriage is off. I’ve got other things to worry about—like, my ass,” Jamal said, without looking at her.
“Is your attorney sure that the grand jury is going to try to indict you?” Dream had already assumed that she and Jamal would never get married. Her plan of an extravagant, beautiful church wedding was simply a dream.
“He’s never lied before,” Jamal replied. His attorney had worked with a lot people in the prosecutor’s office. Thomas was connected, and he could find out about any ongoing investigation.
“So what are you gonna do?”
“I need to get some of my things out of the apartment. I can’t stay there anymore.”
When they arrived at his condo, Jamal quickly gathered some clothes and personal belongings.
“So where are you going tonight?”
“I don’t know,” he said, glancing at her briefly before shoving some of his belongings into several laundry bags.
“Do you think it’s necessary to leave tonight?”
“Yeah. The last time they got my ass, it was about four in the morning. The Feds are some sneaky mu’fuckas,” he said.
Twenty-five minutes later they rode without saying a word to each other. The CD player was barely audible. Dream didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do. She had never experienced anything quite like this before. She didn’t want Jamal to go to prison, but she had made up her mind that she was not going with him. She felt she had already been involved with his criminal activities a little too much. She had dealt with criminals before, but only petty ones. Jamal was in a class by himself, and she loved him.
“So you really don’t know where you are going, huh?”
Jamal adjusted his seat and leaned back. “Not right now. But I know I will probably end up on one of the Caribbean Islands.”
“You’re just gonna live the rest of your life running? How long do you think you can do that?”
“ I have a phony birth certificate and Social Security number. After I get a new passport I think I’ll be set,” he replied. He felt comfortable telling Dream his plans. He didn’t feel she would ever tell anyone.
They pulled into a CVS drugstore. Jamal needed razors to shave his head. Andre Von would be a bald guy with a clean-shaven face.
After exiting the store, Jamal heard someone call out his name. He turned and met Patricia Davis, Dawg’s mother. He had only seen her twice since he had gotten out of prison. “Hey, Ma,” Jamal said as he hugged his friend’s mother. Her eyes were red and puffy.
“I guess you heard about Steven, huh?” she said softly.
Jamal felt remorseful about his friend being locked up, even though he knew Dawg’s mother wasn’t accusing him of having anything to do with it. It didn’t feel right to him that he was free and Dawg was locked up. “Yeah, I heard about him,” Jamal said, before dropping his head.
“We just gotta keep the faith. It’s cloudy right now with my son locked up like an animal, but I know the Lord is gonna bring us some sunshine. Just like after your mama got killed. It was cloudy for a while. We didn’t think we were going to make it, but we did.”
Jamal raised his head. “What did you just say?” His voice was thick with emotion.
“I said right after your mama was killed, we didn’t think we were going to make it but we did.”
“My mama was killed?” Jamal asked, looking her directly in her eyes.
“Oh, my God,” Mrs. Davis said, covering her mouth. “You didn’t know that your mama had been killed, did you, baby?”
Jamal’s mouth flew open. His lips went dry, and his eyes became misty. “How was my mama killed?”
“I’m sorry, Jamal. I’m really sorry, baby.” She grabbed him around his shoulders.
“How was she killed?” Jamal demanded as he stepped away from her grip.
“Your mama was killed in a fire. She burned up in an abandoned house trying to keep warm. I’m sorry, baby, I really am. I told Steven to tell you. I guess he didn’t know what or how to say it.” Her voice was sincere.
Jamal dropped his shopping bag and stared at the ground. His only flesh and blood was gone and he had lost his best friend to the judicial system. He had met the love of his life and now he had to leave her. The possibility of being HIV positive haunted him. For the first time he didn’t have any direction. Patricia grabbed his hand and took him in her arms again. “It’s gonna be okay, baby. The Lord is on our side.” She patted him on the back lightly.
Jamal lowered his head before kissing her on the cheek. He pulled ten-1-hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and gave them to her. “Make sure Dawg has money while he’s downtown in the jail.” They hugged. He gathered his shopping bag and walked slowly to his Mercedes. The night air chapped his already dry lips, and the dashing sounds of the traffic in front of the store grew louder. Car brakes screeched and sirens from far away rang out. The world and the people in it were busy. In no way slowing down, the world had moved on, without Mary Stewart. Sixteen steps seemed like a ten-minute walk, but he finally arrived at his car.
“I saw you with that lady. What was that all about?” Dream said.
Tears rolled down Jamal’s face. “That was Dawg’s mother. She just told me my mother was killed in a fire.”
Dream turned from his gaze without responding.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, I heard,” she said in a barely audible voice.
Jamal reclined his seat and covered his face with his hand. “I guess you just don’t give a flying fuck, huh?”
Dream leaned into him, putting her head on his midsection. “Baby, you know that’s not true. It’s just . . . ”
He sat up and they made eye contact. “What were you about to say?”
She turned away and noticed Dawg’s mother pulling out of the parking lot in a silver Pontiac. “I already knew your mother had been killed. The private eye that Keisha knows found out.”
“Why in the hell didn’t you say something to me?” he yelled.
She didn’t know what to say. She felt horrible for hiding the truth; she simply had not known how to tell him. “So much was going on with Dawg’s trial and everything. I didn’t think you needed something else to worry about.”
He grabbed her arm and made her face him. “You didn’t want to worry me? We are talking about my mother here. This ain’t something that could have waited. Didn’t you think I should know?”
“Baby, I’m sorry. I should have told you. But put yourself in my position and tell me what you would have done. Your boy, Dawg, must have known for years, and he didn’t tell you. So I’m not the only one who couldn’t find the words.”
Jamal placed his head on the steering wheel and sobbed. “I ain’t got nobody now. Dawg is going to prison for probably the rest of his life, and my mother is gone. To make matters worse, the Feds are trying to send me to prison, too.”
Dream patted his back while he sobbed. Finally when she saw that he wasn’t able to drive, she took the wheel, and Jamal sat on the passenger side. He reclined with his arm across his face. His crying was unbearable. Dream had never seen a grown man cry like Jamal, but she had not lost one of her parents either.

W
HEN
D
REAM PULLED UP
in front of her apartment building it was only 8:00 P.M. She glanced over to see if Jamal was okay. He was silent.
“Jamal, are you gonna be alright?”
He sat up and lit a cigar. “I’m okay. I just had to get myself together.”
“So I guess you’re getting out of town tonight, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah, can’t stick around here,” he said as he rolled the window down and blew out his cigar smoke.
She felt awkward talking to him. She didn’t want him to leave, but given the circumstances, she knew he had to. “I guess you’ll call me when you get where you’re going, huh?”
He nodded and leaned into her, giving her a peck on her jaw.
“Give me a real kiss,” she demanded.
He leaned into her; their parted lips met, and they kissed passionately for about three minutes. His lips were wet and succulent, and Dream’s whole body was shivering when she finally pulled away.
“Please stay the night with me,” she pleaded.
He grabbed her hand and stroked it gently. “I want to, believe me, but I gotta go, baby. I can’t rot in nobody’s jail.”
She hesitated. “Well, I’m coming with you.”
He looked at her strangely. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but then again, she had surprised him before when she offered to bring product back on the plane. He really didn’t want to put her life in jeopardy, but he didn’t have anyone else he could count on. He really did need her.
“I love you, Jamal, and I want to be there for you.”
He leaned closer and hugged her. “I’m going to need to get you a fake ID if you’re going to go with me. Is that okay with you?” “Whatever you want me to do, I’m with you. I love you.”
Jamal pulled his cell phone from his pocket and called Cedric. “Hey, man, I need an ID today for my girl.”
“I can get you one, but it’s going to take a couple of days. I’m in Vegas right now.”
“I can’t wait. Do you have anybody who can get me one? I got a thousand dollars. I need one today.”
“Jamal, I want to help you, man, honestly, I do. But that’s going to be impossible because I’m out of town.”
“When you get back in town, do you think you can make a couple of passports? I got somebody else working on it, but I trust you a little bit more.”
“Jamal that 9/11 shit has made it damn near impossible to make a passport you could safely get by with,” Cedric said.
“Motherfuck!” Jamal yelled into the phone before ending the call.
“What’s wrong?” Dream asked.
“I can’t get you an ID. You’re going to have to use your own name for a few days.”
They quickly went inside her apartment and gathered a few of her belongings.
A few hours later, they pulled into a Super 8 motel in Greensboro and checked in under her name.
As soon as they were settled, Jamal called Angelo and told him about the outcome of the trial. He told him what his attorney had said about the Feds seeking indictments on the both of them as well.
“So how much time is Dawg looking at?” Angelo asked.
“At least twenty-five years, but that’s not what I called to talk about. I need to see you for business.”
“Come on out tomorrow and I’ll fix you up real nice.”

The next day Jamal shaved his head bald. He went to the Department of Motor Vehicles with the documentation he’d received from Cedric. When he came out, he was officially Andre Von, and that was the name he used to check into the airport.

It was six o’clock when Jamal and Dream got off the plane in California. She rented a car, and they stopped at a mall where Jamal purchased two Samsonite briefcases. They checked into a hotel suite near Mission Beach. Jamal told Dream not to unpack. They would be going to Los Angeles later that night. She didn’t ask why.

At 7:45 P.M., Angelo arrived at their hotel room. They hugged as they greeted. “We’re still standing,” Jamal said.
“I know that’s right,” Angelo said chuckling. “I want to keep standing.”
“Getting down to business. I need about ten kilos.”
Angelo looked at Jamal suspiciously. “You’re going for the gusto, ain’t you? That’s a long way from your usual.”
“I’ve gotta get paid. The stakes are high, man. I don’t know if I told you, but I’m trying to get the fuck out of the country.”
Angelo walked toward the door. “Give me about four hours, and I’ll be back with what you need.”
When Angelo left, Jamal asked Dream to help him fill both of the briefcases with newspaper. She became suspicious. In the past he had put his
money
in the briefcases. “Why are you putting newspaper in there?” she asked.
“I ain’t got a whole lot of money, and I need to get my hands on some fast,” he said, looking away from her.
“I thought Angelo was your friend,” she said, trying to make eye contact with him.
He turned and faced her. “See, in this game, you don’t have any friends. Dawg was the only real friend I ever had. Now that I’ve lost him and my mother, anything goes.”
“So you don’t think Angelo is gonna open the briefcases and see the newspaper?”
“No, because each will be covered with $25,000. That’s fifty grand.”
She looked confused. “Why are you doing this? I don’t understand.”
“Honestly, I don’t want to do this. But at this point, with everything going on, I don’t give a damn about Angelo. I got to make sure we’re okay.”
She dropped her head, not knowing what to make of Jamal’s disloyalty.

Less than five hours later, Angelo arrived with a huge green duffle bag. He and Jamal went to the kitchen, and Angelo opened the bag and dumped the product on the table. Jamal took a huge knife from the drawer, cut the wrapping off one of the kilos and used his finger to scoop a little bit of the coke from the wrapping and tasted it.

“That’s the best in Mexico,” Angelo said.
“Yeah, it tastes good and my tongue is numb as hell.” “Where’s the money?”
Jamal went to the den and came back with the two briefcases in

Angelo cracked each briefcase open, saw the money, and closed them. “Well, I guess this concludes our business. Make sure you stay in touch with me and let me know what you’re gonna do. If you decide you need something else, call me.”

As soon as Angelo left, Jamal and Dream got in the rental car and drove to Los Angeles. An hour later Angelo called, but Jamal didn’t answer his cell phone. He just sent the call to voice mail and laughed. “What a sucker.”

Angelo called ten times before they reached Los Angeles. They checked in the Doubletree Hotel, under the alias Andre Von.
They slept until noon the next day. The temperature was in the mid-eighties, and the sky was fairly clear. Dream wanted to sit out by the pool and take in the sunshine, so they sat at a table next to the pool, shaded by an umbrella. Dream looked troubled and Jamal wondered why. “Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing. I was just wondering where do we go from here,” she said.
“Right now, I don’t wanna think about that. I just want to enjoy the west coast,” he said, sipping pineapple juice.
“I really don’t want to think about it either, but my parents are probably worried.”
“Relax, baby. Let’s just enjoy L.A. Let’s do a tour, maybe check out some of these movie stars’ homes or catch a Lakers game.”
She smiled. “I would like that very much. I love Kobe Bryant.”
They traded in their rental car for a convertible Jaguar. Dream loved the Los Angeles scenery with the beaches, palm trees, and mountains. In Hollywood they dined at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. Jamal ordered smothered fried chicken, livers, and giblets. Dream ordered a chicken breast with waffles. They both ordered orange juice. Shortly after the food arrived, R & B singer Brandy sat at a table adjacent to theirs. When Dream caught Jamal staring, she slapped him playfully. “Okay, Jamal, you can stop gawking.”
“Ain’t nobody gawking. Now you know if Wesley Snipes or Taye Diggs, was in here you would be all in their mouth,” he replied.
“Damn right. I ain’t gonna lie I would. But they’re not here, so it ain’t fair for you to be looking at that heifer.”
“You’re a hater.”
“I’ll be that.”