Payback Ain't Enough (23 page)

“Okay.” I was shocked. This ho was actually being nice to me. “Thank you, Mia.” I meant that.

She hung up.

Damn!
That bitch must have bumped her head. Either that or Briggen’s dick done fucked it up. He can do that. But right now, it didn’t even matter. I did as she asked me, slid the envelope with the stacks under the door. I couldn’t wait to get home, take a nice hot bath, hop in my bed and crawl under the covers. I didn’t miss Briggen, but I missed my baby. I would get him as soon as I had two more events.

My body was dog tired, and it ached. My stomach was beginning to tighten up again. I was praying that it wasn’t contractions. I was going on six months. It was way too soon for that.

Murder, murder and more murder was all I was hearing about and now thinking about as I sat in my usual spot on the couch talking to uncle Boomer.

“Why don’t we just take Nick out? And then we can deal with the connect?”

“If it was that simple, it would be done like that all of the time. Only a fool gives up their connect. Remember how you used to like that movie
Blow
? Once he gave up his connect, his ‘partner’ had no more use for ’em. So you gotta have a well thought out plan,” my uncle reminded me.

“But we all know about Mr. G,” I reasoned.

“Yeah, so now you’re saying you want to go back to paying G’s high prices? You gotta think these things through. If you take him out without getting a commitment from his connect first, then that defeats the purpose. Think about it. I mean Mr. G may not even want to fuck with us like that anymore. So then what?”

“Oh, he would. Money talks Boomer.” This nigga Nick was getting under my skin. He seemed to be making moves while I was remaining still, and I didn’t like that.

“I tell you what, Unc, let me set up a meeting with Mr. G.”

“How do you plan on doing that and on what grounds?”

“The grounds of getting rid of Nick. I have a plan. I’ma put somebody on Nick.” I wasn’t giving up that easy. How the hell did my daddy want me to take over without making any power moves? Right now it seemed that I was just his daughter keeping his seat warm. I went over to my uncle Boomer, kissed him on the cheek, and I left. I was on a mission. I was going to visit Tiny.

Dark was sitting in my living room listening to me plead my case to hold up with taking Shan out. I had something to show that bitch.

“What aren’t you telling me, Sharia? I ain’t stupid. You was just hell-bent on gettin’ her popped; now you want us to spare her? I don’t think so.”

“Dark, trust me on this. Just wait for me to give the go-ahead.”

“Wait for you to say go-ahead? Who the fuck are you?”

“Dark, remember we in this shit together. It’s because of me that you are where you are.”

“Bullshit. It’s because of how I get down that I am where I am.”

“You know what? I’ll talk to Cisco myself. I’ll tell him to hold up.”

“Well, you are going to have to send that nigga a postcard ’cause Cisco is on vacation, and while he’s gone, I’m in charge. And when I’m ready to move on this bitch, I will. Case closed.”

“He’s on vacation?” I had to think about what Dark was telling me. And then it hit me. “Dark, don’t tell me you did him. So soon? That wasn’t the plan.” I lowered my voice.

“I said he’s on vacation. He’ll be back.”

My crazy cousin assured me, he’d be back, but the look on his face said the total opposite.

My next move was me calling a meeting with all of Cisco’s crew. I told them that it was mandatory, and whoever didn’t show was out. The meeting took place in a hall at a secluded location. I stood at the head of the table dressed in all-black, feeling like Nino Brown in
New Jack City.
I could see the skepticism on everybody’s faces when I showed up alone.

Before I could say a word, loudmouth Dread, who I met that day in the shop, yelled out, “Where’s Cisco? How we gonna start this meeting without the boss?”

I glared at this muthafucka, and the room was silent. “Did I ask you to speak, nigga? If you shut the fuck up, I will tell your loud ass why y’all are here.” I had beef with him since that day he told me to eat the floor.

Dread snarled and gritted his teeth as I continued to speak. “Listen up, ’cause I’m only gonna say this once. Cisco is out of state on business. He found a new connect in NY, and if things go as planned, we all will be making nearly double over
what we’ve been making. He’ll be back as soon as the deal is done, but until he returns, I am in charge.

“Everyone is to report to me about everything. If you’re on the block and you gotta take a piss, you call me first. Anybody that needs to talk to Cisco has to come through me. Give me the message and I’ll give it to him. He don’t want y’all niggas calling him every time a feen comes up short. The man is out on business and is only accepting calls from me until he gets back. If any muthafucka in here don’t like what I just said, there is a fresh body bag with your name on it. Any mutherfuckin’ questions?”

The room was silent as each of these niggas processed what I had just told them. Of course Dread had to open his big mouth. He felt he was the closest to Cisco, not me. “Get the fuck outta here with that bullshit, man! I know Cisco longer than you, and that Hollywood shit you talking ain’t making no kinda sense. Put the nigga on the phone, if he’s only answering your calls! Call him and let him say this shit himself!”

I gave Dread a stone-faced stare. He obviously had some pretty big balls to challenge me in front of everyone the way he was. Especially since I knew he understood what kind of work I put in.

I walked down to the end of the table to where he was. “Look, y’all, I’m in charge, and whoever has a problem with that can take it up with Cisco when he gets back. But in the meantime, it’s my way, the highway or the dead way.” And to make my point I swiftly grabbed this Dread’s head, pulled it back and sliced his throat… right there in front of everybody.

“Oh shit!” Reggie, who was sitting on Dread’s right yelled out as he jumped up, knocking his chair backwards.

Tank, who was on his left yelled out, “Yo, you got blood on my tee!” He jumped up as well.

I heard a couple of nigga’s mumble, “Crazy muthafucka.” But I didn’t care. I stood there behind Dread and asked, “Anybody else got something to say?”

NOW, SHARIA? SHE WAS UP
to something with this Shan chick. I just couldn’t figure out what. In the meantime I had all my shit lining up just right. The only thing I messed up with was the police protection. The Po-Po who Cisco was in good with didn’t make himself known to me, and Cisco was careful to keep that piece of the puzzle under wraps. Now I had to go and ask The Consortium for help. I didn’t want to do that this soon because I wanted to set a few more things up first. I was caught between a rock and a hard place.

I left Tiny feeling better about this Nick situation. She understood that I needed to move fast, and she was up for the task. She needed to turn this muthafucka out.

As I was driving, I noticed a black Escalade about two cars back. It was making every turn that I was making. I cursed myself for not knowing when it picked me up.

I dialed Boomer as I stayed on the highway. “Unc,” I said when he picked up, “I’m being followed.”

“Damn it, Nay, I told you to have Eddie go with you.”

I didn’t say anything in my defense because I knew I was dead wrong but I liked traveling alone.

“Where are you?” he asked me. His voice was calm. I’m sure he was hoping to keep me calm.

“On 96th.”

“Let me get Eddie on the other line. Don’t hang up.”

“Unc, whoever it is, is trying to pull up beside me.”

“Don’t let that happen. Because if you do, they damn sure are going to shoot you.”

“Shit, Unc! I think they are trying to run me off the road!” I gripped the steering wheel tighter as I sped up and changed lanes again. Everything I did, the Escalade did.

“Eddie said to try and bring them to that warehouse on Piedmont,” Boom instructed me.

“I’ll do my best,” I told him as I tried not to panic.

“That’s your only option unless you can lose ’em or pull over when you see a state trooper.”

“Fuck! It don’t look like I can lose him. Ow!” I screamed out. “They rear-ended me!” My heart was now racing. I had never been in a car chase before.

“Are you okay, Nay?”

“Oow! They hit me again, Boomer. I gotta get away from them! These niggas are trying to run me off the road! Damn it, and they doing this shit in broad daylight!” They hit me again, and I jerked forward skidding against the divider, and just like that, the Escalade sped up and disappeared. But my heart rate did not slow down.

“Nay, what’s happening?” I heard Boomer yell.

“They’re gone, Boomer.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “I guess they wanted to scare me or send me a warning. It was most
likely Melky’s people. My car is fucked up. But I’m alright, just a little shaken.”

“Take your ass straight to Eddie’s. Do it now, Nay,” Boomer ordered, not giving me a choice in the matter.

“I am.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I sat on my prison bunk mad as hell. I had tried calling this nigga like forty times and got no answer. Even his bitch was ducking my calls. I knew I should have never trusted this nigga. Here it was I who saved this nigga from an ass rape by them Aryan muthafuckas, and he crosses me. I sat contemplating how I should handle this shit, making sure I was legit in my gripe. Then the thought came to call this nigga one more time. I pulled my burner from the stash and hit speed dial. After the fourth ring, this nigga finally decides to pick up.

“Speak,” I hear this nigga say into the phone like I’m his bitch.

“Speak? Nigga, where’s my get-right?” I was speaking of the $100,000 this nigga owed me for all the support we were giving him, plus protection. Shit, when I ate he ate, when I smoked he smoked, and I put my reputation on the line to keep this nigga safe for two years.

“Nigga, I don’t owe you shit.”

“Fuck you mean you don’t owe me shit?”

“Like I said, you put your shit out there; now it’s on you. When I left the jail I left all that shit in there, including you. Don’t call my fucking phone no more.”
Click.

“Did this muthafucka hang up on me?” I said out loud. This nigga think I’m pussy. I know the fact that I got a life bid makes this nigga think he can talk to me sideways. I sat for a minute in hope of calming down but no such luck. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I knew there was only one person I could depend on to handle this shit in a way that would give me some peace.

I was driving along bumpin’
Watch the Throne
and smoking a blunt, contemplating how I was going to handle all the obstacles that was before me, not to mention my money was getting funny, since I was stashing every dime to re-up and re-up big. I needed to hurry up and come up on one of these niggas. My cell went off. I looked and saw an out of the area on the caller ID. I started not to answer it but went ahead.

“Hello.”

“What’s up, patna?”

“Oh shit. A voice for sore ears. What it do, nigga?” I yelled in the phone, happy to hear the voice on the other end.

“Nigga, I can’t call it. How’s the outside treating you?” Shokkah asked and laughed his sinister laugh that I would share with him when we sat up smoking that sour in our cell at night.

“Maaan… Some days are a blast, others are a fucking hassle.” I told him the truth.

“I hear that. But it beats the hell outta being in this muthafucka,” he reminded me. “But listen up. You know I don’t bullshit around so let me be straight. I need some chicken fried, and I need it greasy. You can take it over to my wife’s house because I know my son will enjoy it.” I heard him loud and clear. This conversation was all code to kill a nigga with severe prejudice and wifey would tell me who.

“I got you. I’ll get it to her tomorrow. What time is best?”

“Eight o’clock is good for her.”

“Aiight.”

“My son been saving his allowance. It might be hard to get it from him, but I’m sure once you start tickling him he’ll give it up.” Then he started laughing again. I said to myself so this muthafucka owe him money and I need to put the screws to his ass and collect. I was down like a muthafucka.

“I got you.”

“All a man got is his word,” my man Shokkah got real serious.

“You sacrificed one of your men for me, and I owe you my life. When I say I got you, I got you.” And that was my word.

He wasn’t going to have to worry about me. Killing was my favorite pastime and there was money involved. Just the diversion I needed.

I was sitting in the back of Mo’s Bar when I looked up from my Corona as this sexy pair of legs passed my table.
“Damn”
was all I could say to myself as I watched that ass swish in
her short skirt as she headed to the counter to conduct her business. I watched her command the room as she wheeled and dealed. After I sat watching for a few minutes, I made my move. Shit, I might as well. Because the one woman I want is married with children.