Invincible: A Novel (10 page)

Murphy thought about the past two weeks; the times when it felt like someone was following him, but he dismissed it as paranoia. “I’m that motherfucker that does whatever the fuck he wants to do,” Phat Murphy boasted. “And you’s a bitch-ass nigga. That’s what this whole shit is about. You ain’t just happen to stop by to check these people out. You did a good job with casing me and now you here to finish the job. You nothing but a small-time wanna be … a wanna be me. You figure you can stroll in here, kill me, and then take over my spots, but it won’t work. You won’t make it two weeks before you get gunned downed like you did my peeps.”

Jake laughed in his face. “Why the fuck would I want to be
like your coward ass and go around raping people? Your whole style is chump. You got power because it was handed down to you. Nobody fears you; they fear the people you’re connected to. You’re a piece of shit that deserves to die. I actually wish I could kill you more than once.” Then Jake aimed the gun at Phat’s knee and pulled the trigger.

Jake pulled his knife from his back pocket and walked over to Phil, cut the wire he was bound by, and handed him his clothes. Phil was pretty shook up, but he was also filled with rage. In a chilling voice Phil said to Jake: “Let me borrow the gun.” Then: “Where is Legs?” referring to Mary-beth.

“She’s downstairs. I got here just in the nick of time; nothing happened to her. She is untouched if that’s what you’re worried about. His soldiers are instructed not to touch anyone until this sleazeball get his first—at least that’s the word on the streets.”

Phil aimed the gun at Murphy’s nuts and squeezed off two shots. One bullet hit the target; the other shot went into the front of Murphy’s thigh and came out the back. Phil set the gun down, walked into the hallway, and returned with a golf club. Phil swung the club so hard into Murphy’s face that it make Jake grimace.

It looked like two gallons of blood flew out of Murphy’s face, then Phil hit him about five to seven more times. The blows weren’t fast or reckless, but slow and precise. Jake had no doubt in his mind that Murphy was dead.
Good for his ass
, Jake thought, then, “The tape has to be destroyed,” he told Phil.

“Hell yeah it does,” Phil agreed.

“You gonna have to move fast,” Jake said. “One of your neighbors probably heard the shots and called the cops.”

“No one heard anything. This whole place is soundproof. Once the door closes you can’t hear shit outside. I had a mini gun range installed and I didn’t want any complaints so I spent a pretty penny making sure no one could hear anything. So where do we go from here?” Phil asked.

“We destroy that video equipment first and foremost,” Jake said. “Then we dispose of these five bodies and we forget this whole thing ever happened. You’re a lawyer; you can figure out how much trouble we’re in if we get caught.”

“You’re right, but I have one other request for you.”

“What is it, Phil?”

“I don’t want you to tell Legs what you saw up here. Tell the story like you got up here in time to spare me the embarrassment. I don’t want anyone knowing what happened to me.” Jake gave his word as a man that what he saw would never cross his lips and Phil promised to never say a word to anyone about the five murders. They shook on it.

“Now let’s figure out how to get rid of these bodies without anyone peeping us,” Jake said.

“I have an idea,” Phil said. “I need a pickup truck and some of those long hockey bags that have wheels on them.”

HELP ON THE WAY

Jake wasn’t sure if he was thinking straight after the latest attempt on his life. He had to find his uncle Mitch. He needed someone who could protect him and get him to a safe place. But most of all he needed to find out who wanted him dead or he wouldn’t be around for long. It occurred to him that whoever it was must have had someone in the hospital watching him or there was someone watching Kim. That’s when a wave of paranoia crawled up his spine. Why would Kim be riding around with that much money on her so nonchalant like she was used to having that much cash on her? She had no idea Jake was going to call. Was she is in trouble, talking all that “let’s get up out of here and start over” shit?
Something isn’t right
, he told himself,
I shouldn’t trust her
. She did mention that they weren’t
on good terms. Maybe it was her who tried to get him killed in the first place.

Kim said, “We should be good here, baby.” Jake acted as if her voice startled him. He was pretending to be asleep while he was contemplating whether Kim was trustworthy or not.

In a feigned groggy voice Jake asked her, “Where we at?”

“This is a Marriott hotel; it’s about two hours away from where we started. I’ve been looking in the rearview mirror for the past hour; no one has been behind us for any length of time. And the police escorted us to the city line so I’m pretty sure we’re safe here, for a few hours at least. We’ll get moving again when it gets dark,” she told him. Then, as if she had been reading his thoughts, she said, “You can trust me. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you—I love you! As soon as we settle in I’m going to call my cousin Tanya. She be in Mitch’s gambling spot. She said she fuck around with his main man, Monster, but if I know that ho—and I do know that ho—she probably fucking your uncle Mitch and every other nigga in there with stacks.” She said it like she didn’t approve of her cousin’s sluttish ways at all, but blood was blood. “She’ll get your uncle on the phone for you, trust me, she has her ways.” As she watched Jake she noticed that he didn’t look too well. “You know you’re going to have to see a doctor,” she said. “You’re not in a good condition; you could get very sick out here like this. We don’t have to go to the hospital, but we at least have to see a doctor.”

Jake looked Kim straight in her eyes so there was no misunderstanding. “No doctors … No hospitals … If I die, then it will be on my terms.” This wasn’t the time to trust anyone. “As a matter of fact, fuck this hotel—keep driving—we got too much money on us and I don’t know who’s who. Whoever is trying to
kill me don’t mind shooting at cops so I don’t think two hours is quite far enough away. We better keep it moving,” he said, and that’s exactly what Kim did.

———

Meanwhile, back inside the jail, word was quickly spreading about Jake.

Everybody was talking; they knew he had awoken from the coma, escaped from the hospital, and came out on the better end of a shootout. Some of the guys started calling him Mr. Invincible. But the word wasn’t isolated to just jail; it was on the streets, too, and there was no one more pleased than Mitch. His nephew was back and Mitch couldn’t wait to see him. Where was Jake? He couldn’t get that thought out of his head. Wherever he was, Mitch knew he needed help, so he decided to make a phone call from the hidden line he had in the Caddy. “Monster, hold the spot down until I get back. I have to make a trip to the other side of town. I won’t be long.”

Monster said that was cool and asked Mitch if he could pick up a bite to eat on his way back.

“Sure,” Mitch said.

When Mitch got in his Caddy he made a phone call to the one person who might know what was going on: Mary-beth. He dialed her number and it rang twice before she picked up.

She greeted Mitch with a, “Heeeeyyyy, stranger, long time no hear.”

“Yeah, I know,” Mitch said, “I don’t mean to bother you, Legs, but I gotta get straight to the point. I’m hearing a lot of things on the streets and I would like to know if you heard or know what’s going on with my nephew?”

“What do you mean, Mitch? I haven’t spoken to your nephew for a couple of years; not since he was in jail. From what I heard he got out and moved away. I moved about two years ago myself—after I got pregnant—I had no real reason to stay around. To tell the truth this phone number is only the same because I was hoping your nephew would call it one day and I could give him the news about his child.”

“Oh shit, Legs, the baby belongs to J.B.!”

“Yes, the baby belongs to J.B., and he never even called me. I thought after he got out of jail he would have at least said what’s up, or goodbye forever or something you know. I know he had Kim and he knew that Phil and I had some shit going. I could never explain the relationship we had due to certain circumstances, but I only loved Jake. He is the only man I ever loved.”

Mitch almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He said to her, “You mean to tell me you don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“J.B. was just released from the hospital after being in a coma for two years. Some gang motherfuckas stabbed and beat him into a coma while he was on the inside. From what I heard, he just got up and bounced. Kim scooped him from the hospital, but somebody else tried to kill him since then. The shooters were caught by the police and Jake and Kim drove off. I figured if he called anyone it would be you.”

“I’m not into the life anymore. I gave up providing, um, ‘helpful services.’” She chuckled lightly. “After I found out I was pregnant, I lost most of my connections … that life is over for me. I have a little one now.” There was a pause, then, “But I’ll help J.B. if he needs me. Will you do me a favor and let him
know these things if you speak to him first?” The entire time she was talking it sounded like she was about to start bawling, and when she had nothing left to say, that’s exactly what she did.

Mary-beth hung up the phone. She couldn’t believe that Phil had lied to her about Jake being freed from jail. Two years in a coma. At that moment she knew in her heart that Phil was somehow responsible, and she swore she would make him pay for this bullshit, even if she had to get back into the life.

———

After five hours on the road, Jake told Kim to pull over at the next hotel. She pulled into the parking lot of a Super 8. “I’ll wait in the car while you check us in,” he said. “After we get settled, you can give your cousin a call to see if she can go to the spot and find Mitch.” It was time to put a plan together. He knew there was no way he could keep running in this condition. He needed rest and he needed to recuperate—and he didn’t really trust Kim one hundred percent. Something kept telling him that there was something she was hiding, but for now all he could do was pray that God stayed on his side and kept him alive.

When they finally got into the hotel room Jake hit the bed like a rock. He prayed for guidance and protection and hoped Kim didn’t try to kill him in his sleep. He thought about smoking a blunt, then he was out cold.

———

“Damn that boy snore loud,” the voice said. “Lucky you drove this far away. If y’all didn’t they would’ve tracked y’all down
from the snores.” Jake was hearing his uncle’s voice in his dream.

Then Jake heard Kim ask, “You sure you ain’t hungry, Mitch?”

“Nah, lost my appetite thinking about all the killings and unnecessary shit we gotta do to survive in this world. Breaks my heart to have to see my nephew under these conditions. I’m glad he is still alive though, and I’m gonna make sure I keep it that way!”

“Music to my ears,” Jake blurted out in his low, groggy Godfather voice.

“Hey, baby, we didn’t mean to wake you,” Kim said.

Mitch chimed in right behind her. “Sleeping beauty has finally awakened.”

Jake asked Kim, “How long I been sleep?” Then he looked to Mitch. “How long you been here?”

“You’ve been sleep for about fifteen hours,” Kim said.

“And I’ve been here about four or five.”

“Damn,” Jake said. “How the fuck could I sleep so long after being out for two years?” This sleeping shit was starting to bother him. “Kim, why you didn’t tell me you spoke to Mitch and he was on his way?”

“When I finally got him on the phone I couldn’t wake you up. I did what I felt was the smartest thing and that was get Mitch to where you was.”

“Oh man, it’s good to see you, J.B.,” Mitch said looking his nephew over. “Damn you skinny as hell though, and your head is bigger than the rest of your body. But don’t worry we gonna fix you up nice—better than ever before—and after that we gonna get to the bottom of this.”

MARY-BETH’S BACK

“The only hustlers in this world that live like they should are the ones fortunate enough to be around good businessmen like myself,” Phil said over the phone. “So don’t go jumping out the window like you’re fucking crazy.” He slammed the phone down before Mary-beth could get another word in.