The World in Reverse (10 page)

Nicola’s foot let up off the gas as he heard the words. “What did you just say?” he asked as a car blared its horn behind him. Incensed, he rolled the window down and waved the car past him as he turned on his blue siren quickly to let the woman know that she was two seconds from getting shot today.

As the car drove slowly by, Nicola pulled over to the side of Union in front of the Kroger’s grocery store and turned around in his seat. His eyes were clouded with death and destruction.

“Yeah, I bet I got your attention then,” the perp said with a clever grin. However, his nervousness w
as apparent. Still, he pushed Nicola further. “Not so bad now, are you?”

“Who are you working for?” Nicola growled.

“That’s the last of your worries,” the perp said, sucking his teeth. “Just tell me this, how did a greasy head pig like you end up with a black woman that fine? Man, I know you ain’t hitting it right. I don’t’ care what they say.”

“Who is
they
?” Before Nicola could ask the question, his hand was on the handle of the car door, opening it as he barreled out.

As if without thought at all in a mechanical motion, he snatched open the back door and pulled the perp out by his skinny, sweaty nec
k. Slamming him against the side of the truck, he pulled out his side arm and pointed it at him.

“What the
fuck
did you say about my wife and kids?” Nicola asked, pushing the gun into the perps right eye socket. “I’m waiting, bitch. You got something else smart to say or you wanna start talking?”

“You gone do me right here?” The perp smiled, toothy and cocky, feeling safe now that he was in full view of the public. “Fuck you, nigga. You ain’t gone do shit. You ain’t shit without that badge
, and you ain’t got do a motherfucking thing but lock me up, so fuck you.”

“Oh, I’m not going to do shit, huh,” Nicola asked, cocking his gun. Onlookers slowed down to watch as Nicola shoved the gun into the man’s mouth and broke out his two front teeth. “I will blow your fucking worthless ass head off right here. So help me God, I swear that if you don’t start talking, I’m going to lose my job right after you lose your life.” His hands were shaking with anger. “Now, I know that your stank, nasty, broke punk ass didn’t just find that information out. You’re worki
ng for someone. Who is it?” He pulled the gun out of his mouth, just long enough for him to answer.

The perp swallowed a gurgling breath and spit out thick blood and broken, jagged teeth. “It doesn’t really matter what you do to me. You should be worried about your kids. Trust that. They are going to end up in garbage cans too. You can add them to the Baby Boys Case list. Take the count from
4 to 8.” He laughed even in writhing, excruciating pain.

The pictures of the children that Nicola had pulled out of the darkest, dingiest places in Memphis flashed through Nicola’s head
, and before he knew it, he was beating the man with the butt of the gun.

“Who do you work for, huh?” Nicola screamed. He hit him again.
“Who the fuck do you work for?”

The perp fell hard after the heart stopping blows to his face and skull, but Nicola picked him back up and slammed his head against the side of the truck. Blood splattered as he
cracked the tinted window glass.

The fragile man buckled under the pressure of Nicola’s blows.

“Get your punk ass up!” Nicola screamed snatching and tearing his dirty t-shirt. “Get. The. Fuck. Up!!!” His voice echoed across the street as he pointed the gun at the man’s head.

The entire front grill of the
perp’s mouth was gone and thick red blood spewed out.

Nicola ignored the man’s state
.

“I’m going to ask you one more time
, and if I don’t get an answer out of you, I’m going to start breaking shit right here, right fucking now! Who are you working for, who sent you to me with this shit?”

Again, the man said nothing.

Nicola snatched him up again and hammered a quick, dead on punch to the gut that made the man double over again, this time out of breath and panting.

By now, Nicola was in a rabid trance. Pu
tting his wide forearm on the man’s throat and pushing into his Adam’s apple, he penned him against the truck.

“Talk,” Nicola growled.

Barely able to speak, the man held his secret. “I ain’t saying shit to you,” the man said with a crooked, pained grin. “You already did what I wanted.” He gave a blood, stomach-curdling smile. “You fucked up.”

Just as he said the words, two police cars pulled up beside Nicola’s truck and jumped out. “Put your hands up in the air!” all four police officers screamed.

“I’m a cop,” Nicola said, refusing to let the man go. With one hand pushing the perps neck into the broken glass, he used the other to lift his badge. “Step off. I am interrogating this prisoner.” He turned back to the perp. “Who sent you?” Nicola asked again, choking him out with the deadly grip he had on his neck. “Who sent you?!!”

“Help me!” the man screamed to the other police officers. “Please help me. This cop is crazy. He called me a nigga and beat the fuck out of me because I told him that I had
to piss, man. Help me!”

“Shut your lying ass mouth!” Nicola screamed. “Unless you’re going to tell me who sent you…”

“Sir, let go of the prisoner and put your hands in the air!” the white, female uniform cop screamed, weapon pointed. She stepped closer, both hands grasping the handle of her department issued Glock.

“He’s in my custody,” Nicola said, watching him start to black out.

“Not anymore, sir. Let him go now!” she ordered. “My lieutenant is on the way. You can square it with him when he arrives, but right now, I need you to step away from the prisoner.

“Or what?” Nicola seethed at the woman. “You are a fucking beat cop.”

The woman stepped closer. “And you’re being recorded, sir,” she said, moving her gaze across the street. “We’ve received several 911 calls. You have to release him to me.”

Nicola turned to look at the audience that he had acquired in the short time since he had pulled over. Onlookers stood on the sidewalk recording with their phones, others stood with their hands over their mouths as cars slowed to watch the spectacle. It was then that he realized that he had let his emotions get the best of him.

“We’re nowhere near done,” Nicola promised the man with a snarl. “If it’s the last thing you do, you’re going to answer me.”

R
eleasing the man from the chokehold, Nicola let the perp slide down the truck and hit the pavement, nearly unconscious and gasping for air. Immediately, the uniform officers rushed over to help.

“We need a bus!” the female officer screamed out as she bent down
and checked his pulse. “Hold on, sir. Help is coming.”

“Help?” Nicola asked appalled. “Fuck him. He just threatened my family.” He walked back to his door and flung it open.

“Sir, where are you going?” the female police officer asked Nicola.

“I’m going to check on my family,” Nicola said, getting inside of the truck. “I don’t need your fucking permission.”

“Sir, you cannot leave the scene,” the male officer said in his most authoritative tone.

“Is there a crime here?” Nicola asked,
hearing the perp convulsing on the ground.

The female cop was shocked that he even asked. “Sir…” she paused in disbelief at the scene. “Look at him.” Her brow furrowed.
Was he serious?

“Detective Agosto, you cannot leave,” the male officer said, turning around to see another unmarked squad car pull up.
“Step out of your vehicle.”

It was Detective Johnson.

Nicola stepped out slowly, fighting his urge to flee. 

Johnson
jumped out of the car and ran up. “What the fuck, Agosto?” he said, hand on his gun. He stopped and looked at the guy on the ground. “Shit, he needs a bus.”

“Already called one, sir,” the female officer answered.

“Can you handle this?” Nicola asked Johnson, grabbing his cell phone. He dialed Ivy.

“Where are you going?” Johnson asked Agosto. He grabbed Nicola’s phone
and hung it up. “No calls. Nothing. Nada, you hear me. Fuck, Agosto!”

Nicola wasn’t hearing Johnson. “I gotta get home. This guy just threatened my family, and he knows
very
personal shit about my wife and my kids. They aren’t safe.” Biting down on his lip, he kicked the tire of his truck and ran a frustrated hand through is hair.

Johnson gave in and passed him the phone. “You can’t fucking leave, Agosto.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said dialing Ivy. Her phone went straight to voicemail. His voice quivered in sheer worry. “Baby, it’s me. When you get this call me back. But look there has been an emergency. Go and get the kids and head to your parent’s house. Leave work. Trust me on this okay. Do what I ask and call me as soon as you get this message. Love you. Bye.” He hung up in a huff.

“Dude, you can’t go,” Johnson said sincer
ely. He put his hand on Nicola’s chest to stop him. Nicola quickly pushed his hand off his chest.

Trying to reason with Agosto, he stepped back with open hands, palms out. “Trust me. You don’t want to leave the scene of this shit.” He looked
over at the perp on the ground. “Is the bus on the way?” he asked the female cop tending to the guy.

“It should be pulling up,” she answered, checking the
perps pulse. “Stay with me, sir.”

Johnson sucked his teeth. Normally, he would have accused her of being overly dr
amatic, but this time, it was warranted.. He turned back to Nicola and shook his head. Lowering his voice, he pleaded, “Man, look you gotta come up with a story,” he whispered to Agosto, making sure no one heard him. His eyes were urgent, his voice tense with emotion. “You got a drop gun on you or something? I’ve got one in the car…”

“No,” Agosto growled. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” He shook his head emphatically.

There was a low chuckle of disbelief from Johnson, despite the brevity of the situation. “Agosto, you just fucked that dude up so bad until he needs a bus. There is going to be blow back from this from the heads…” Johnson sighed. “From everyone. Shit, you got people recording this on their phones across the street.”

They both looked across the main thoroug
hfare at the crowd, growing by the moment and screaming out for justice for the man who appeared to have been beaten by a cop for no apparent reason.

Nicola could feel his stomach turn. He was being set up, and he had actually fallen for it, taken the bait like an idiot. For that, he wanted to go over and finish the perp off.

“Nine times out of ten, someone over there in that lynch mob is going to have the ass beating you just gave this guy on YouTube before he even gets to the hospital. Then the calls from the NAACP are going to start.” Johnson tried not to panic. “This is bad. This is fucking disastrous.”

“How many times do I have to say it? The guy just threatened my family and you’re talkin’ to me about being sued? I could give a flying fuck about being
sued
right now. I want that bastard’s head on a silver platter!” Nicola’s voice rose.

Johnson looked Agosto in the eye without blinking. “No man, I’m not talking about you being sued. I am talking about jail time.”

The thought slightly snapped Agosto out of his rage. He looked back at the perp again. “If I am going to have to do jail time, then I should have killed his ass.”

“Think about what you’re saying,” Johnson whispered. He gripped Nicola’s shoulder. “If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your family. How are you going to keep them safe, if you’re locked up?”

Nicola began to think clearer. “It’s already done. It can’t be undone and…”

“Give me a minute,” Johnson said, walking over to the other side of Nicola’s SUV. He opened the back door and looked around. “Hey,” he screamed out to the male officer tending to the man. “We’ve got a weapon over here. Looks like a shank or some shit.”

Nicola turned around and walked closer, but Johnson threw up his hand. “Detective Agosto, I’m going to need you to stay on that side of the truck. This is evidence.”

The male officer walked over to the other side of the truck beside Johnson and looked into the truck where a handmade shank was thrown on the back seat. He looked over at Johnson and shook his head, understanding what Johnson meant.

“Yeah, sir. You need to stay over there,” he said, barely looking Agosto’s way.

“Looks like the detective was just protecting himself,” Johnson said with raised brows at the officer. “True, it may have gotten a little out of control, but there was obviously a concealed weapon on the guy. He probably tried to get loose, get to his shank, resisted arrest, blah, blah, blah,” Johnson said, rolling his eyes.

“Johnson that’s not what happened,” Agosto said, quickly denying the false story.

Johnson’s eyes grew larger as if to tell Ag
osto to
shut the hell up
. “Well, how did this shank get here? I didn’t put it there,” Johnson said, turning to the cop. “Did you?”