Tears of a Hustler 2 (15 page)

“Damn that’s the fifth time the D’s (detectives) done circled this bitch,” Knowledge said out loud as he and his crew stood 20 deep in the lobby.

“Yeah that’s because Shorty shot some kid from around here the other day,” one of the youngins informed him.
“Speaking of the devil,” Knowledge said as he saw Shorty on the other side of the door, waiting for somebody to buzz him in.
“Yo it’s crazy out there B,” Shorty said as he handed a box of dutches to a nobody who just wanted to be down. “Yo roll up,” he said as he turned to face Knowledge. “I just saw the D’s go in the next building. So more than likely, they going up on the roof so they can take some pictures of us.”
“Yeah them muthafuckas been on they job lately,” Knowledge hissed. “I had to lose a tail they had onme earlier.”
“We just gotta stay on point,” Shorty said as he pulled his 9mm from his waistband and handed it to one of the shooters who stood close by.
“Let me get your ratchet too,” the shooter said,looking at Knowledge with his hand out.
“Oh shit. Here this nigga come,” Knowledge huffed as he smoothly passed off the ratchet.
“Hey Knowledge can I have a quick word with you?” Carl asked innocently.
Carl was a big time drug dealer back in the eighties. After giving the system 15 years of his life, he wisely changed his life for the better and left the game alone.
“What’s good my nigga?” Knowledge said as he gave Carl a pound.
“I just need a minute of your time.”
Knowledge sucked his teeth. “Come on B. I don’twanna hear all that preaching shit right now. I’m about to make moves.”
“This shit is only going to take a second,” Carl insisted.
“Okay, okay what do you want to talk about?” Knowledge asked in an uninterested tone.
“Why is there 25 brothers standing in my lobby?”
“It’s raining outside and we just chilling. What the fuck is the problem?”
“Just chilling right?” Carl said with a raised brow as he saw one of Knowledge’s workers serve a fiend right in front of the elevator.
“Why you acting like Mr.Goody Goody?” Knowledge hissed. “When I was a little kid, it was you I wanted to be like. I saw all the fine women, the jewelry, cars. And mostimportantly what I admired the most, was how people respected you,” he reminded Carl.
“But look at me now,” Carl said sternly. “It took me 15 years behind bars to realize none of that shit matters when you sitting in a cell. I lost all my money, all my hoes, and most importantly, my family. The people I thought had myback really didn’t, you dig? I’m just trying to keep you from learning the hard way like I did.”
“Listen Carl, no disrespect, but you lived yourlife. Now I’m just tryna live mine,” Knowledge said as he took a long drag from his blunt.
“A’ight I’m done preaching to you,” Carl said irritated. “I’m just gonna leave you with something to think about,” Carl leaned closer to Knowledge’s ear. “When you dancing with devil, you better pray you don’t have two left feet.”
“I don’t dance; I just two step,” Knowledge shotback as he and his crew busted out laughing.
“I hear you brother,” Carl yelled over his shoulder as he headed across the street to get him a pack of cigarettes.
“That nigga always trying to kick some knowledge,” Shorty said in between puffs.
“Carl is a good dude,” Knowledge said as he letCarl’s words sink in.
“Oh shit 5-0!!” A look out yelled.
“Yo ya’ll niggaz put that shit out,” Knowledge ordered as he saw Detective Nelson heading towards the building with two plain clothed cops behind him.
“My man Knowledge,” Detective Nelson hummed. “Long time no see. I know you haven’t forgot the procedures that quick,” he said as he roughly threw Knowledge against the wall.
“What the fuck is this about?” Knowledge questioned as he felt the Detective forcefully spread his legs apart.
“You telling me you forgot about the murder, you just committed the other day?” Detective Nelson said, fishing for information.
“Murder?” Knowledge echoed with his face crumbled up. “You mistaking me for somebody else.”
“I don’t think so,” Detective Nelson said as he threw the cuffs on Knowledge’s wrist as tight as possible.
“This some bullshit,” Shorty said as him and the rest of the entourage looked the plain clothed cops up and down.
“You feeling froggy boy!?” Detective Bradley growled as he placed his hand on the Beretta that rested in his holster.
“What the fuck you gon do with that?” Shorty asked with a smirk on his face.
“I wish that white boy would!” A soldier yelledout from the background.
“Come on lets go. We’ll be back for the rest of these mooks later,” Detective Nelson said as him and Detective Bradley escorted Knowledge out of the building.
“Who the fuck you calling a mook, you dirty ass white boy?” Shorty shot back as he and the rest of the crew followed the plain clothed cops to their unmarked vehicles.
As Detective Nelson escorted Knowledge to his vehicle, Knowledge saw Carl on his way back to the building with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Carl didn’t speak. Instead, he just shook his head as he walked past the young soldier.

G-money slid out the passenger side of the Yukon and saw Shorty and a few other soldiers standing in front of the building they usually hung out at. “Yo keep this muthafucka running,” he told his driver as he and two of his shooters headed towards the front of the building where Shorty stood. “Shorty what’s good? Where the fuck that nigga Knowledge at?” Gmoney asked as he gave the young man a pound.

“The D’s just picked him up like an hour ago.” “Say word?”
“Word…that same cop that was on ya ass,” Shortysaid

“You know that’s how they do,” G-money said in a calm tone as he noticed a blue van parked across the street. “Mufuckas is watching us right now,” he said, nodding towards the blue van.

“Damn I didn’t even notice that van,” Shorty admitted. “It’s all good. Just stay on point,” G-money said as he covered his mouth with his hand as he continued to speak. “You know them white niggaz be reading lips and shit. But I’mgoing to swing back around here in a couple of days. I want you to run shit until Knowledge is released. Think you can handle that?”

“I won’t let you down,” Shorty replied with his hand covering his mouth.
“A’ight I’m out. Try to stay out of sight untilsome of this heat dies down,” G-money said as he turned and headed back towards the Yukon.
“Take me to Mr. Goldberg’s office,” G-money ordered as he leaned his seat back and turned the volume back up, as his driver headed to the next destination.

“So what do you have to tell me?” Detective Nelson asked as he sat across the table from Knowledge.
“The same thing I always tell you,” Knowledge saidwith a smile. “Go fuck yourself.”

“Wow that was funny. You should be a comedian,” Detective Nelson said as he placed a tape recorder on the table. “Do you know a man named Suge?”

“You sure about that?” Detective Nelson asked with a smirk on his face.
“Yup.”
“So who is this standing next to Suge in this picture?” Detective Nelson asked as he slid Knowledge a picture of him and Suge together.
“I’ve never seen either one of these men before in my life,” Knowledge replied with a straight face.
“So you’re telling me that’s not you in that picture, standing next to your friend Suge?”
“I told you already I don’t know no Suge! And I’ve never seen either one of those men in the picture you just showed me.”
“Oh really?” Detective Nelson began. “So I guessthis isn’t you either, huh?” he said as he pressed play on the tape recorder.
“Yoooo where the fuck you been? I been trying to call you all night. Some fuck boy niggaz rolled up and dumped on us, mufuckas took Suge out.”
“Fuck! A’ight I don’t wanna talk about this over the phone. I’mma get up with you later on tonight.”
Detective Nelson stopped the tape with a smile on his face. “That’s you and that scum bag G-money. Now stop fucking around and tell me what the fuck happened to Suge,” Detective Nelson growled, getting all up in Knowledge’s face.
“Where’s my lawyer?” Knowledge said in a bored tone. Seconds later, a fist smashed into his face like ablunt object, causing Knowledge to fall out of his chair.
Out of reflex, Knowledge quickly shot back to his feet and caught Detective Nelson with a series of combinations to the head, sending him crashing back into the wall. Knowledge was getting ready to go in for the kill, until Detective Bradley and two uniform officers stormed in the room; turning it into a four on one. They beat Knowledge until he passed out from the pain.
“You don’t look so tough now,” Detective Bradley fumed as he felt a puffy bruise forming under his eye.

Nancy walked through the double doors of the visiting room in a good mood. It had been a whole week and she couldn’t wait to see her man. Before Ali entered the visiting room, Nancy went over to the vending machine and got Ali some microwavable hot wings, some snacks, and a blue Gatorade. Seconds later, Ali came bopping through the visiting room door with a warm smile on his face.

“Hey daddy,” Nancy said like a little schoolgirl as she jumped up in his arms.
“Hey baby I missed you,” Ali whispered as he hugged his wife tight, as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Damn this week felt like a month,” Nancy whined like a baby.
“I know,” Ali replied. “But we gon be a’ight.”
“So how you been?”
“I can’t complain, but I did make some connections up in here.”
“Baby I know you not up in here doing what I think you doing,” Nancy said, snaking her neck.
“Nah, just listen before you start tripping,” Ali said as he looked over both shoulders. “Now listen, I got thisC.O. that’s going to let me get a cell phone up in here.”
“Who is she?” Nancy asked with fire in her eyes.
“Why do you automatically assume it’s a lady C.O.?”
“Because I know you Ali.”
“What is that suppose to mean?”
“That means a girl is gonna be a girl no matter where she’s at. You should know that by now.”
“Shut your mouth for a second and just think. Wouldn’t you like to talk to me like at around two a.m.?”
“Yeah…”
“Yeah so stop acting like that then. You know these crackers shut down the phone at 11:00,” he reminded her.
“I know daddy. Sorry for acting like that. It’s just that you be in here all day with that bitch, and I onlyget to see you once a week,” she said, pouting like a baby.
“You talking like the bitch be in my cell with me all day,” Ali said, giving her a strange look. “She’s just a C.O. that works here, who tryna look out for a brother.”
“I understand babe.”
“A’ight, so when you come up here next week, bring me one of those pre-paid Boost Mobile joints,” Ali instructed, as one of the C.O.’s signaled that his visit was over.
“You know I got you daddy,” Nancy said as she hugged Ali tight as she threw her tongue in his mouth.
“I’mma call you later on tonight,” Ali said as he slapped Nancy ass as he watched her make her exit.
When Ali made it back to his unit, he saw Skip and Loco standing in front of his cell chopping it up.
“My niggaz, what’s good?” Ali said, giving bothmen a pound.
“Just chilling, how was the visit?” Loco asked.
“It was cool. The cell phone is on its way,” Ali replied nonchalantly.
“How do you do it?” Loco asked, shaking his head.
“Do what?” Ali asked.
“Still be cool knowing you never gonna get out this bitch alive.”
“It’s all apart of the game,” Ali said. “I knewthe rules before I started playing. Plus, they can’t break me cause they ain’t make me.”
“Yo let’s hit up the yard real quick,” Skip quickly changed the subject.
“Why, what’s up? You need to see somebody?” Loco asked.
“Yeah that big six, six nigga said he needed to holla at Ali about something.”
“What big six, six nigga?” Ali asked.
“You know that big quiet nigga that always be working out all the time,” Skip said, trying to refresh Ali and Loco’s memory.
“Oh a’ight, I know who you talking about now,” Ali said as the trio headed down to the yard.
“Why the fuck are the cops fucking with me and my crew so hard?” G-money huffed as he and Mr. Goldberg satparked in G-money’s new Lexus coupe.
“Because they want to see you fall,” Mr. Goldberg replied quickly. “What you forgot about all the cases you and your crew beat?”
“Damn them crackers don’t forget shit, huh?”
“Not a thing,” Mr. Goldberg replied quickly.
“What’s up with Knowledge?”
“Oh they don’t have nothing on him. He’ll be out before the night is out,” Mr. Goldberg said, leaning backin his seat. “But you and your crew going to have to leave themcell phones alone. If you need to talk to some one, have a face to face meeting cause the F.E.D.S are on ya’ll hard!”
“A’ight, I got you. When you go to the courthouse to get Knowledge out, you tell him to come straight to my office ASA fucking P,” G-money ordered as he tossed his cell phone out the window.
For the entire ride home, Nancy sang alongwith her new Mary J. Blige CD. No matter how far away Ali was, every time Nancy went up to the prison, something about seeingher man made her feel good. Before heading home, Nancy made a quick stop at the Chinese restaurant to pick up some food for her and Christie. She had been gone for almost the whole day and she damn sure didn’t feel like cooking shit, so Chinese it was.
Nancy pulled up in her driveway and smiled. “Damn it feels good to be home,” she said out loud as she glanced at her watch. “Let me hurry the fuck up,” she told herself, knowing that Ali would be calling the house in 30 minutes. She quickly stuck her key in the lock and entered her crib. “I got us some Chinese food. You better come get it while it’s….” her words got caught in her throat when she saw that her living room wascompletely naked. “I know this bitch didn’t,” Nancy growled as she searched the entire house looking for Christie. “Fuck!” Nancy cursed loudly. “This bitch even took the phone out of the wall,” she said out loud, shaking her head. Not only did Christie clean out her crib, but now she couldn’t even talk to Ali becausethe house phone cord was snatched out of the wall. She quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. On the fourth ring Coco picked up her in a friendly mood.
“Good evening, Coco speaking,” she sang.
“Bitch, I just got robbed!”
“Robbed?” Coco echoed, sitting up in her bed. “Get the fuck outta here.”
“I’m dead ass, I just got back from seeing my boo. And when I got home, my whole place was cleaned out.” “So you don’t know who did the shit?”
“Nah, but I know when I catch Christie, I’m going to whip her ass,” Nancy said with venom dripping from her tone. “I let this bitch in my crib and this what she turn around and do to me? Nah fuck that! Crackhead or no crackhead, she getting her ass whipped.”
“You know what you need?” Coco said, not waiting for Nancy to reply. “You need to go out and clear yourmind. Swing through so we can talk about it, then later we cango out and have a few drinks.”
“I’m coming over, but I don’t know about the drinking part,” Nancy told her best friend as she ended the conversation.