The Desert Lion's True Colours (7 page)

Jay stopped Leon in is tracks by raising his hand. ‘Whoa! I’m sorry dawg,’ He said casually. ‘. . . I know that’s your father n’all, but what do you care? You know as well as I do your ole’ man was a cold hearted killer.’

Nathan felt a twinge of resentment towards Jay at hearing that. While Jay was right in what he said, Leon thought his friend would have had some sort of consideration. That was his father after all.

‘Dude, I know the day you got the required clearance; you read the files the Agency had on your father. Come on, you know about the Detroit massacre; all the families he killed from New York all the way down to Miami. No wonder your mother did what she did and went into hiding.’

‘Fuck You D!’ Leon retorted.

Friend or no friend,
-
that statement went a little too far.

‘Fuck Me… ?’ Jay said with a chuckle. ‘Dude I’m not sure what your problem is, but if you’re worried your something like him then don’t be, because you’re not. You spent the last twenty-seven years being the best person you could be. That’s the whole reason we got into this gig. So we could put killers and mother-fuckers like him and Black behind bars.’

Leon hands formed into fists on the table and his right leg started to bob up and down. Hearing Black’s name caused Leon’s blood to boil and there was no way of hiding it. Wanting to get to the bottom of what was really bothering his friend Jay asked ‘What else is going on Nate?’

Leon let out another deep sigh and then said, ‘Last night, when I was in Black’s office, I let things get the better of me…’

Jay’s eyes narrowed in anticipation of what Leon was about to say.

‘The long and short of it is
-
dude had me cold.’

‘What? Are you serious… ?’ Jay shouted

‘Yo, keep it down.’ Leon said quietly.

Jay’s immediate concern vanished and was now substituted with anger. Just like a mother who finally finds her child after a full 2 hour gut wrenching search in a shopping mall, only to turn around and beat the child for walking off in the first place.

‘See what I’m saying dawg…’ Jay exclaimed. ‘. . . Why didn’t you have me come with you?’

Leon did not answer as he knew the question was rhetorical. His friend was just trying to make a point.

Jay looked away from Leon and focused his gaze onto a painting on the opposite wall and as if talking to himself said, ‘So you’re telling me that right now you should be floating around somewhere in the Keys?’

Again, realising Jay was not actually asking him a question Leon just nodded his head slowly.

Turning his attention back to Leon Jay said ‘we’re gonna get him.’ in a reassuring tone.

Leon did not reply, just stared into blank space. Jay was not impressed at Leon’s unwillingness to at least try to talk about it and with that he threw up his hands in exasperation.

‘Aight man, I give up. You win,’ He said. ‘I’ve tried but I can see it doesn’t matter. So let’s just call this quits.’

Jay started to rise from his seat.

‘I’ll let
you
call the Chief to let him know you’re done ok.’

Leon finally caved in. ‘I Love her.’ He exclaimed.

Jay paused for a moment, looked at Leon to see if he was being serious then returned to his seated position.

‘Ok. And?’ he replied.

Leon started to shake his head.

‘Hold up, what?!’ Jay exclaimed. Realising he may have answered a little too quickly.

‘I love her Dean and all this secrecy is making me sick.’

Jay could see how serious this was to Leon but at the same time felt he would not be a true friend if he did not voice how he felt. So without hesitation he said ‘Are you kidding me? What you gonna tell her. “Oh Kerry, guess what. Remember three years ago when we first met? Well it was my boss who decided I get with you
-
because of who you’re related too and oh yeah, I’m an FBI agent working undercover…” Yeah right. Wake up nigger! Even if she believed you, do you really think she would stay with your ass
–
knowing your whole relationship was a lie? I know you care for her dawg…’

Leon started to frown.

‘. . . Ok, ok,
love
her. But are you ready to trade that in for your career? You forgot the years we spent up in Glenmuir, Quantico,
-
the missions? You forgot what we had to go through to get here? And now you’re saying you want to forget all that and give up everything for some chick?’

The two friends sat on either side of the table in a four person booth looking at each other in silence. Jay was hoping he touched a nerve because he knew Leon was good at his job,
-
probably the best undercover agent in the whole FBI. It took a lot for him to get where he was and Jay did not think his lifelong friend was willing to throw that all away.

‘In answer to your question, I don’t have to.’

Jay was unsure what his partner meant and was about to ask him to explain but before he could say anything Leon cut back in, ‘Yo, I’m hungry. This was supposed to be a lunch meeting right?’

Jay did not take kindly to Leon’s change of subject and more importantly felt there were way more pressing things to discuss other than food. However, seeing Leon’s smiling face, Jay gave way to Leon’s suggestion and called the waiter from behind his station next to the bar.

While they ate Leon gave Jay the uncut version of what went on the night before; this morning’s surprise visit from the Chief and the inner workings of a relationship that started out as a bull-shit facade but turned into a connection that surprisingly could be the best thing that ever happened to him. Jay in return told Leon what he had missed for the last two days, what he really felt about Kevin Carter O’Neal
–
the new guy on the team and the extra commotion caused within the office due to the upcoming arrival of some high ranking personnel.

Jay adjusted himself in the chair and started fixed his clothes so they looked more in place. Then wiped the corner of his mouth with the side of his hand and took the last swig of Red Stripe beer from the bottle in front of him.

‘Thanks for filling me in.’ He said after letting go of what he would call a gratuitous belch.

Leon knew he was not talking about the food and replied ‘Nahh, thank you for listening. I appreciate you being there for me man. You’re my brother.’

Jay was about to reply but was interrupted by Leon’s phone vibrating across the table. Leon waited for it to pulsate a few more times before taking a look at who was trying to contact him. With no real interest in actually answering the call Leon reluctantly picked it up
–
happily the same time the phone stopped its relentless vibrating. The phone’s LCD screen said ‘P’ and the line underneath said:
‘1
missed
call,
1
message’.

Leon smiled. ‘I think it’s that time.’ He said excitedly.

‘Aren’t you going to listen to the message?’ enquired Jay

Leon shook his head. ‘I know where to meet him. He had some lady call me this morning with the address.’

Jay sat up straight in his seat, pulled a very neat wad of money out of his pocket and peeled off $300 for the food, plus what it cost them for meeting at an informant’s restaurant at such short notice. Dean placed his PRADA sunglasses over his eyes, cleared his throat and said ‘Well let’s do this. I’m ready to go make that paper.’

Right away Leon realised his friend was now back in undercover mode. Dean had left the building and Jay had just punched back in and was now on the clock.

As they walked out the restaurant to their respective cars Leon paused, looked at his watch and smiled. ‘Yo before we head over to P’s, follow me to mine so we can pick up the money and you can park your ride.’

‘No worries.’ Jay replied.

The two friends got into their individual cars and Jay followed Leon back down the I75 towards the next step of their plan.

It was 4:05pm on an unusually humid Friday afternoon and the two made up gangster’s pulled up outside Leon’s house. Jay got out of his M6 and waited by his car for Leon to retrieve the Gucci sports bag full of money. After about five minutes Jay watched Leon exit the house and walk back down the drive. Jay noticed Leon looking back over his shoulder towards the upstairs window above the front door.

‘Yo, what’s the deal? Is everything cool?’ He asked.

‘Nothing man, absolutely nothing.’ Leon replied abruptly.

Jay could tell something was not right but he had a good idea it had something to do with Kerry. He noticed the curtain move in the upstairs window and could just about make out a woman’s silhouette.

Leon pressed a button on the key-fob he was holding which caused the doors of his car to unlock and the trunk to rise skyward. Jay said thank you and got into the passenger seat while Leon placed the bag into the trunk. When Leon finally got into the car he noticed Jay staring right at him.

‘What?’

Jay looked out through the windscreen and let out a sigh.

Leon repeated the question, ‘Yo, what is it?’

Jay made a show of swallowing and trying to grasp the right words to use.

‘Oh, come out and say it.’ Leon snapped.

With a nod, Jay said ‘Ok. I was just thinking. I heard everything you said earlier. But I got one more question to ask you.’

‘Word, what’s that?’ Leon enquired, eagerly waiting to hear what Jay had to say.

With sigh Jay looked at his friend straight on and said ‘Do you trust her?’

Leon didn’t reply right away. He put the car in reverse, backed out of the driveway fast enough to make the tires squeal and then said. ‘I love her!’

Jay made a sound that was part sarcastic chuckle, part sigh of exasperation.

‘Yeah, I got that much.’ He said. ‘But I didn’t ask you that. I asked you if you trust her.’

Leon remained silent. He put the car in drive, turned up the volume and started rapping to the words to a song by the underground rap group U.D.P:

‘I
leave
fools
in
body-bags/

Check
the
swag,
my
flow
has,

It
never
sag’s
like
implants/

Flows
laced
with
anthrax/

I
buss
mic’s
like
air
sacks,

Lyrical
tear-gas/
most
fights
end
fast
 . . .

Seeing Leon was fully into the song Jay figured he was not going to get a reply for now. So he graciously decided to let his question go unanswered. By the time Leon had got to the end of the road Jay was also bobbing his head to the music, reciting only the parts of the song he knew.

CHAPTER 5
 

W
ithin half an hour Leon’s Mercedes was exiting the I95 and heading towards Oval Town otherwise known as ‘O.T’,
-
one of the worst parts of Miami by far. Leon pulled up on the corner of NE 4
th
Street and 2
nd
Avenue and let Jay out. Without saying a word Jay crossed over to the other side of the road and watched Leon drive another full block and pull up in front of an old beat-up apartment building that was surrounded by a black fence with missing bars and a burnt-out 1976 Cadillac, parked in front on the faded grass. Leon searched his rear-view mirror for Jay and spotted him a block behind on the other side of the street by a pay-phone.

Seeing Jay was in place Leon got out of his car and started to walk across the grass with the burnt out caddy towards the old apartment building. As he approached he noticed a lady sitting in the doorway of one of the apartments on the ground floor. She was holding a baby which gave reason to why she looked so tired. However despite the bags under her eyes, Leon still thought she looked pretty. He watched her as she gently rocked the baby to sleep in one arm and with her free hand flick the ash off a “Black n’ Mild” cigar onto the step outside. In the same way Leon watched the young women on his approach to the building, she never took her eyes off of Leon. Her staring was obvious Leon decided to look away and focus on where he was going. He knew there was not a working elevator in the building so he walked round to the staircase on the side of the building.

Once Leon was out of sight, the young woman sitting in the doorway of apartment number 2 got up from her seat and knocked on the door to the left of hers. By this time Jay had walked the length of the block and was keeping a close eye on Leon as he ascended the staircase on the side of the building. He also saw a young woman with a baby knock on the apartment door next to hers and wait for a few seconds before a very tall, well-built guy opened the door and walked in the direction she pointed. By the time Jay reached Leon’s ride parked on the main road in front of the old building, Leon had already reached the third floor and was walking along the balcony with the sun pounding on the left side of his face. The first apartment he passed had plywood covering the door and windows. Even though the apartment seemed abandoned Leon could hear the sound of either an X-rated movie or someone having sex coming from inside. The second apartment’s front door was open and as Leon walked passed he saw an old man sitting in a brand-new black leather recliner, drinking a Heineken and watching Ricky Lake on a fifty inch T.V. The third apartment had glass in the windows and a proper door but was totally covered by a steel grill. Leon noticed not only did the front door have a grill but the door itself had four dead-bolts that all locked from the inside. Which meant that someone had to be in the house at all times in order to secure the spot. Leon knew this had to be the place and knocked on the grill with the metal Mercedes logo that was attached to his keys.