The Syndicate (16 page)

My eyes followed as he pointed outside the car. Sprawled in lush grass lay the bodies of the kid I killed and the girl whose neck I snapped. They looked like rag dolls and I had no remorse. Shrugging, I dropped my foot on the gas then sped away.

“Shit happens,” was all I said as I went into my pocket, pulled out a blunt, lit it, and drove off with everyone in tow.

Yeah, my family was coming apart at the seams. I sat in Mama's house, staring at her portrait with my fingers over my mouth, my pointer and middle finger over my nose. I was in thought. Deep thoughts. Lucky was back in NYC. The Syndicate was quiet for now and the streets were abuzz about the death of two rich white kids in the same neighborhood as Jojo's school. When I received the word of that, I had been at home, enjoying breakfast with Shanelle. She had made me a big breakfast. Grits, scrambled eggs, toast with grape jelly, thick-cut bacon, sausage links, and sweet potato pancakes with maple pecan syrup.

She had gone all out and was flexing the fact that she had taken cooking classes just to get better at it for me. I was feeling some small type of normalcy because of it. After putting in an extension of my PTO at work, having the Forty Thieves beef up their security on us and sending word to the Syndicate that I was going to need some time to myself, I realized just how little time I had been spending with the fam. Coming into the fold had taken out a lot of my energy and it took Shanelle's loving to get me right on track.

As I sat eating, and feeding Shanelle as she sat on my lap in nothing but my open button-down shirt, the news drew our attention. After that, my cell went off with word from the Forty Thieves about the buzz the killings were causing. Now, I sat with Shanelle behind me staring at my mother in thought. The family needed to talk. I needed to know if Jojo had heard anything at his school about those killings. I needed to talk to Melissa to see what was good on her end with the club. Lamont and I needed to have a discussion about what Shanelle said to me about Inez. In the midst of all of this Uncle Snap, Cory, and I were currently gearing up to speak with Naveen and see where his head was at as well. We all were going through so damn much that it was important that we all checked in with each other; otherwise, the reality of everything could do more damage to us, and not good.

“Do you think we'll be okay, baby?” Shanelle whispered against my ear as she stood behind my chair with her arms around my neck.

“All I have is hope with that, baby. Mama's death and her plan have been opening a lot of wounds and weaknesses in us that I never noticed before,” I said while thinking. My fingers shifted into an L against the side of my face as I tapped my finger against my temple. “I'm not liking the feeling that I'm getting in my stomach about this.”

“I know,” Shanelle said moving so that I could stand. “Me too. I had a dream that Mama said that she wasn't sure if the people she told us to trust should be trusted after all. That she might have been wrong.”

“Damn. Really now.” I shifted in my chair to study Shanelle's beautiful face and I started thinking back to last night between us.

She was right in her actions of persuading me to slow down in my desires to make up for what we lost. This wasn't the time for her to carry my seed so that we could try to create life again. We had too much going on right now to even think about starting a family. I just hoped that my seed didn't take root during our shower session; otherwise, we'd have a lot of adjusting to deal with in the middle of a dangerous time for the family.

The sound of Shanelle's heels on the wooden floor let me know from the rhythm that she was pacing and now stood near the big bay window of the room. When I turned to look her way, I smiled. I was right in my assessment. While studying the tension in her back, her voice traveled to me in subtle sadness. “Yes, really. I'm worried for our family.”

If there were any way to take away her pain and worry I would. “I'm going to work this out, I promise, starting today.” Taking my time to stand up from my chair, I turned to look at Mama's picture again, and I whispered my promise. “I need you to do something though.”

“Anything,” I heard Shanelle say behind me.

“Hit up Uncle Snap.” I suggested. “Right now, I have him speaking to the streets to get some more intel. Just call him and tell him to come home so that you and he can make us some dinner.” Pulling her hand to me, I kissed her palm and continued, “That way, he can fill you in with what I've been doing as well. Think you can do that?”

“Yeah, I can. Sounds good to me,” she said with a soft smile on her face.

“With the Irish pissed, I need you up to date with everything. That was my fault for not having the time to give you the knowledge. I should have had you by my side anyway, but that's another thing for another time.” I watched Shanelle give me a cute smile and nod, as her way of saying, “No shit,” without actually saying it.

“Shut up, woman,” I teased with a lopsided grin as I touched the mantel of the fireplace and stepped down the stairway. “I'll be with Naveen.” Pausing, I looked toward her again, “And if Jojo shows up, send him down my way. Talk and take care of the family for me while I'm talking with Naveen.”

Cutely biting her lower lip, Shanelle understood what I was asking without me saying it. Basically, I needed her to be me while I tried to heal the family one by one.

“I will, Von,” she said tucking her hair behind her ear, showing the stitches, scratches, and bruises there.

“A'ight,” was all I said as I went below.

Finding Naveen was simple. He was in the craft shop he had moved down there, working in a zone. Quiet, I looked around noticing the huge monitor behind him. I saw Shanelle going through the house on her cell. I saw everything else on the monitors then I paused and quirked an eyebrow because there was a new section on the monitor: Jojo's room. What the hell was going on?

Walking in, I stared at the blueprints and various pictures of objects he had up. “What are you crafting now?”

I also saw a picture of his girlfriend and him directly in front of him. They were hugged up, in that typical IG pose: him kissing her forehead, as she held him and stood on the tip of her toes. Navy's girl was a pretty nutmeg brown East Indian girl who grew up with a hood mentality. That was the only way he'd date an Indian girl; otherwise, he stayed with black girls, I learned by watching him. Studying their picture, I realized, again, just how young he was and how much his life had been turned upside down. It hurt to see that his world now was focused on the next thing project he could build in tandem for the Syndicate and in maintaining Mama's properties.

Sparks lit up over whatever he was fiddling with, along with the smell of smoke. Bobbing to whatever music that he was listening to on his headphones that rested around his neck, I watched him reaching around his space for things. Young Naveen stood over his workbench doing his thing being a master of his world.

Like usual, his hair was knotted on top of his head. He wore a white wife beater with dark jeans and boots. The difference in me watching him now was that I noticed the Glock that he had against the small of his back and the one I knew he had strapped to his right ankle.

Damn, our family had changed. Shanelle had taken to teaching all of them how to shoot and it was showing.

“Soldering a new version of the Mist cigarettes and something else, I don't know what it'll be used for. Maybe for my car. Just getting out of my head,” he said as if it were an afterthought.

“Sounds good. So check it, me and you need to talk.” I walked up to him and leaned against his worktable crossing my arms over my chest.

Not looking my way, Navy continued his work. “About?”

“For one thing, why are you watching Jojo's room?” There was no point in bullshitting around.

“I don't trust him anymore is why. He killed Mama,” Navy said matter-of-factly.

Thumbing my nose, I felt a flicker of irritation. “So, there's nothing he can do to make you drop this huh? Jojo didn't pull that trigger.”

I knew when Navy began clanging objects around on his station that he was getting pissed off. “He might as well have. Shit, he did in my opinion. There's no excuse for him not getting her, and I'm not letting him off the hook for it either. I'm tired of everyone kissing his ass because he's the baby.” Navy stopped his clanging then looked my way, taking off his protective glasses. “There's only a year difference between us, and I got more maturity than him, and he's lying about where the fuck he's been? Naw, I'm not letting this go. That's why I'm watching him. He's sneaky.”

“What you doing isn't chill, little brother, and you know it. This isn't you. You and Jojo used to be tight, close at the hip, and now you're calling him sneaky. That shit isn't adding up. Something is going on with Jojo, we all see it. We need to see behind what we want and the blaming and go deep at this shit. Navy, you of all people should know that,” I tried to reason.

Pushing back from the table, Navy walked to where he kept his tools and pulled his gloves off. “Why? Because we went through the same shit? Because my birth father got a kick outta making me sit in the back of the kitchens of his restaurant to play with the rats and be eaten? Because my criminal-ass father would let my uncles fuck me? Because my aunts used to burn me with cigarettes calling me a demon and living shit. Because of all of that I should know when someone is hiding shit?”

“Navy, we all grew up in pain. I share that with you. We all had to do shit to survive. Step back from your anger and look at this from all sides is all I'm saying,” I explained.

There was boiling pain behind Navy's eyes. He loved Mama as much as us all if not more. I remembered when Navy came to us. Mama just showed up with him one day and made me promise to protect him at all costs. I never understood why. I just remembered that day, she had a wild look in her eyes and, I swore, speckles of red on her dress. Like I said, I never understood what it was back then, but being where I was now, I thought I was slowly coming to an awareness of just what Mama did to protect Naveen.

“I don't want to,” was all he said.

Stepping to him, I rested a hand on his shoulder and I squeezed. “You have to, for Mama. If you don't we'll continue to fall apart, Navy.”

“And if I do, I won't have Mama anymore. Jojo is doing something. I feel it and he's lying about where he was when Mama was killed. I won't let that go!” Tears rimmed Naveen's eyes.

I pulled him into an embrace understanding finally that this anger, this blaming Jojo for Mama's death, was the last thing he had that could keep the feeling of Mama alive for Navy. That understanding was deep to me. Fucked up, but deep and reasonable. Shit. My way to keep her alive was taking on the Syndicate and I knew that it was eating me alive. So, I got where Navy was coming from, which was why I held him as he cried.

“I understand,” I said low. “And I got you. I can't let this tear us apart, but I got you. I'll stand by you as best I can in this, baby brother, I mean that. We'll figure this out but you need to get that camera out of his room.”

Navy said nothing; he just stepped back and went back to fiddling with shit.

Something in me kept staring at the camera as my mind started clicking in thought. “I mean that shit, Navy. Do me that solid,” I urged then looked his way. “How long has that been up anyway?”

“For almost two weeks now,” he said with no emotion in his voice.

“And you've been going over the footage?” I asked curious.

“Nah, not really. Jojo hasn't really been doing anything for me to go over it. It's the same thing. Go in his room, sit on his bed, maybe work on some schoolwork, or bring up his chem kit and do some shit with that. Fuck with something under his bed. Scratch his nuts and do whatever. I ain't been watching him that hard,” Navy explained.

Stepping back from the monitor, I crossed my arms feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. “Put it on a couple of days ago. Last time I was here and you two blew up.”

Without a thought, Navy pulled up the last time we were here. “What are you thinking?” he asked eying me.

“Just watching,” I quietly said.

At first everything was like Navy said. A large chunk of it had Jojo's room empty until it came up with the fight. I watched him bang around his room in distress. He flipped things around until he grabbed a book bag. Digging in it, he seemed too satisfied with what he saw. That's when Cory busted in. I watched my brother go at it with Jojo. I surveyed him walking up on Jojo to intimidate him with his size, then take that backpack from him. Heated, constrained words were exchanged. My eyes narrowed while I carefully observed. I was so deep into it that I didn't realize that I was digging my fingers in my arms. Nor did I realize just how quiet Navy had gotten, too. We both stood there just watching in silence, mentally recording everything until Shanelle's voice on an intercom pulled us back to reality.

“There's been an accident with Jojo, Cory, and Inez,” she screamed on the intercom.

Glancing at Navy, I moved his way quickly. “Say nothing, and don't react. If there was a time when I needed you to be me, today is that. If you react in any fucking way, I'll harm you, get me?”

Surprise had Navy backing up. He gave me a slow nod and licked his lips. “I'll watch my temper and won't slip up.”

“Thank you, baby brother. Go ahead.” Sidestepping out of his way, I let Navy jet out.

When Navy was the first one out of the bunker, I knew that even though he was angry with Jojo, the video was fucking with him. As well as the idea of losing Jojo would be the straw that broke the camel's back in their relationship and I felt the same way too. But the three of them, hurt? In an accident? This was a pain deeper than losing one's mind. Besides, my mind was processing what I just saw. I wasn't 100 percent about some things there, but that quiet voice in my head knew I was reading the body language and lips right in that footage. Uploading the video to my cell, I glanced back at the monitor.