by De'Kari
**** N. D. ****
It only took him thirty seconds to pick both locks and have the door open. Tut stood up off his knees and put his lock picking kit back into its case as Clark and Man Man stepped past him with guns in hand. Once his lock kit was back in his pocket, Tut pulled out his Desert Eagle and followed them into the house, quietly closing the door behind them.
The house was dark and as quiet as a cemetery. Suddenly, the faint sound of a cell phone ringing could be heard coming from somewhere in the back of the house. Clark looked to Man Man and nodded his head in the direction of the noise, but there was no need to because Man Man was already heading that direction.
Tut followed Man Man down the hall while Clark walked in the other direction checking out the kitchen, the second living room and the guest room. All the rooms were empty, but Clark couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. He stood still and tried to hone into his senses, but nothing happened. He gripped the handle of his P89 tighter and retraced his steps.
By the time he made it back to the living room, Man Man was pushing a fine ass Mulato broad into the living room. The silk nightgown that she was wearing hugged her body like a midnight lover would. Her body wasn’t as thick as Spirituals but to Clark she was by far one of the top five most beautiful women he had ever seen. Watching the tears disrespect such a beautiful face as they escaped her eyes, he briefly became angered that he was the cause of the fluid ruining such a gorgeous face.
Fuck feelings! This was war, and in war you had casualties. All military strategist knew that! He couldn’t be soft, not at a time like this.
“Always expect the unexpected.” Clark said to himself looking at the beautiful sacrifice.
“Who are you?” He asked her.
She was too afraid to answer. Although she wanted to, her fear would not allow her vocal cords to work. Her chest felt like a bowling ball was attempting to rise out of it.
When Clark looked at Man Man he raised his hand all the way back to backhand her in the mouth, but he was too slow. Before anyone knew what happened, her head violently snapped back from the force of Tut punching her dead in the mouth. The punch knocked her backwards sending her crashing to the floor. The speed of the punch was so fast that it wasn’t until she was already crashing onto the ground that she realized she had been struck. Man Man just stared at Tut like he was stupid. He was mad that Tut had robbed him of the moment of violence. Clark took two steps, stopping once he was standing over her. Blood was pouring onto the floor from her broken nose and busted lips. Nastasia lay on the ground in a fetal position sobbing violently.
Clark leaned down like a loving, concerned friend and gently asked “Are you okay?”
A whimper escaping her mouth was the best she could do to answer him.
“Come on sweetheart don’t cry. Come here. Let me help you.”
Fear of being struck again overpowered her previous paralysis. Shaking and feeling helpless, she slowly extended her hand to him.
Nastasia didn’t know who these men were or what they wanted. She had been awakened by her phone with Gunz hysterically telling her to get up and run to their safety room. The panic in his voice caused her to immediately respond without question. In her haste to get out of the bed she dropped her phone. Yet she was still too late.
Man Man came thru the bedroom door just as she was crossing the threshold of the walk-in closet. As she was punching in the 6-digit code to open the safety room, he snatched her by her long hair and violently threw her to the floor. After kicking her a couple of times, he forced her to get up and walk to the living room.
“Lord God, please help me! Don’t forsake me heavenly Father! Oh Baby, where are you? Who are these men?”
Nastasia asked Gunz in her mind.
Clark helped her stand to her feet then said in a caring voice, “I’m sorry about that. Are you okay, sweetheart?” She was still shaking and whimpering as tears flowed down her face. She couldn’t speak so Nastasia just nodded her head up and down eagerly.
“Okay, Okay, you don’t want him to do it again do you?” Clark asked her as he pointed at Tut.
Vigorously, she shook her head no! When he’d punched her, it hurt like no pain she had ever felt before. The tears just continued to spill over her eyelids and down her face.
“Then answer the mothafuck’n questions then, nigga!” When he yelled she jumped backwards, he was so close to her face that his words vibrated off of her face.
“If I ask you a mothafuck’n question you fuckin answer me! You understand.” He grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her as he shouted for emphasis.
She once again nodded her head vigorously while bringing her two hands to her mouth. Nastasia looked like a child holding the bed sheets to their mouth while waiting for the boogey man to jump out of the closet.
“I can’t hear you.” He tapped his earlobe.
“Y-yes, I u-understand.” She managed.
“Good. Now I asked you, who are you?” His tone was back to being calm and mellow.
“M-My… My name is Nastasia.” It was barely above a whisper her voice was so soft.
“Okay Nastasia… tell me… who you are?” Clark sounded like he was talking to a grammar school child.
Man Man was standing there watching, smiling with a satanic look on his face. Seeing the woman quiver in fear was turning him on. Tut on the other hand, wasn’t receiving any pleasure from the situation. When he’d punched her in the face, he only did so because it had to be done. As a rule, he hated harming women and children.
“I-I’m Leonard’s fiancé.” Even thru the fear Clark could see the pride in her eyes as she’d spoken her title.
All the men looked at each other, shocked by her revolution.
“And where is Mr. Leonard at this time of morning?” Clark asked with a warm smile on his face.
“He’s at the office.” She weighed her options in her head wondering if it would be to her advantage to tell them about the security monitors.” He knows you’re here so I’m sure he is on his way by now.”
“And how would he know that we are here?” Clark figured she was lying, trying to work an angle.
“There are security monitors all over the property.” Nastasia saw that the information made them feel some kind of way, so she spilled all the information, thinking it would help. “The camera from the doorbell ringing alerted him of you approaching the porch.”
Clark had heard of the app from his nephew, D.J. who was a computer engineer, thought that was some futuristic computer geek crap. Now he realized apparently not. Clark was wondering if Gunz had called the cops.
“We gotta get outta here, dad. Them people might be on the way.” Tut gave voice to his thoughts while drawing his Desert Eagle.
**** N. D. ****
He couldn’t press his foot down any harder on the pedal if he wanted to. The Aston Martin fish tailed as he took the Fallon Road exit because of how fast he was going. It’s a good thing the light had been green because he would’ve blown right thru it had it been red, with no regard to his own safety.
The moment he saw Clark and Tut walking up to his house he’d rushed to his car while calling Nastasia. He couldn’t imagine the fear he felt if he were to lose her from his life. While the phone rang he said a prayer to God, hoping she would make it to the safety room before they got to her. She responded to him with actions instead of words after hearing the warning. He was thankful and thought that God just might do him that favor.
When he realized she’d dropped the phone he brought up the video monitoring app. A smile crossed his face when he saw her race into the closet. Only to have his heart drop at the sight of some yellow nigga speeding into the room behind her. He’d almost crashed into a Dodge Durango as he ran the red light by the plaza.
When Tut punched his baby in the face, Gunz exploded! His Mack-II was sitting on his lap and he was ready to get off on some Denzel Washington shit, fuck Man On Fire, Gunz was the Equalizer.
“Come on God Dammit!”
He shouted in frustration. The fact that he’d gotten from Oakland to San Ramon which was about fifty miles in less than twenty minutes was a miracle in itself. His heart was telling him that he wasn’t moving fast enough! He was just a few miles away. The road was relatively empty, he might just make it.
“No! No! No! No! No!” Gunz yelled as he pounded his fist against the steering wheel.
The cause of this reaction was Tut pulling out the two-foot long Desert Eagle.
“Come on Baby! Keep’m talking, Mama, I’m almost there.” Tears began rolling down Gunz face. Although his mind had him wishful thinking his heart told him what was coming.
He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t. Wanted the sports car to go faster but it wouldn’t! Why didn’t he buy the Lotus like he originally planned? The Lotus was a faster car! He cursed himself!
“Fuck you! Fuck you! You bitch ass niggaz! I’ma fucking kill you! I’ma kill you all you niggaz!” Now, only a mile and a half away, Gunz was watching as Tut raised the Desert Eagle and pointed at Nastasia’s chest while Clark turned to walk away.
“Please God, Please Father, I’m so sorry for all my sins, please don’t let this……Nooooooo!” The loud roar of pain erupted through the quiet night.
The force of the bullets slamming into her chest knocked her three feet backwards. Her body was sent airborne, then came crashing down on top of the coffee table, ending it toppling over and landing on top of her as she hit the ground.
With his vision blurred by tears, Gunz helplessly watched as Tut walked up to the love of his life who laid defenselessly bleeding on the floor of their living room. He pointed the canon down at her bleeding body and shot her four more times.
Gunz felt like his entire soul was ripped out of his chest. It was as if his life line was cut off from his body. He took the corner of Pine Tree Ave. doing sixty-eight miles per hour. The back tires of the Aston Martin skidded against the pavement as they fought to gain traction.
Nastasia was his breath of fresh air, his oxygen. She’d made it possible for him to breathe again. It was supposed to be a surprise, so she didn’t know that he had sped their wedding date up by three months. He was going to trick her by saying that they were going on a yacht cruise. The yacht would pull up to Monterey Beach where their friends and family would be waiting to surprise her with the marriage ceremony at sunset. Afterwards everybody would board the 250 ft. yacht where they would party the remainder of the night for the reception.
The tears flowed freely. The back left tires smacked against the cement of the center island. The Aston Martin threatened to lose control but Gunz wouldn’t let it. He knew that praying to a white Jesus wouldn’t help. What kind of God would allow a man to witness the spark of his life being snubbed out? Gunz thought to himself “fuck all that God shit! God didn’t care about niggaz in the hood!”
When Gunz turned onto his street he could see headlights approaching him. It looked to be an SUV. Instincts told Gunz that the headlights were them niggaz. He grabbed the handle of the Mack-II sitting on his lap. He wanted to cut them off and rain bullets down on the bitch-ass niggaz. What kind of pussy-ass, hoe-ass nigga would shoot an unarmed, helpless woman? The mere thought of it shot fire thought the veins in his body.
He needed to get to his baby though. She needed him. Something in his heart told him that even though he’d watched her get shot seven times, she was still alive. As the Black SUV approached he could make out Tut in the passenger seat with the nigga that chased her into his room driving. Which only meant that Clark was in the backseat.
Death was Gunz comforter. Blood for blood was his only option. He was getting ready to yank the steering wheel and ram into the SUV. He would follow up by jumping out of the Aston Martin with the Mack-II-barrel singing. He could hear Nastasia’s voice in his heart! She wasn’t dead, and she needed him!
At the last possible fraction of a second, he changed his mind about ramming the truck. However, he did raise the Mack-II, with one hand and squeezed the trigger. The night sky lit up with fire and sound as the bullets left an eerie streak through the air, as they flew from the barrel looking like a trail of fire flies in the night, shattering glass and piercing metal.
The action caught Man Man off guard. The hot piercing sensation that he felt in his left shoulder caused him to swerve the Tahoe a little. Clark tried to return the fire, but it was futile, Gunz had already driven by. Besides sirens could be heard in the distance as police and emergency medical crews responded to the reports of gun shots and a woman screaming.
As the Aston Martin came skidding almost to a complete stop, Gunz jumped out. The sound of the Aston Martin crashing into the tree in his front yard didn’t faze him at all. He raced into the house and damn near collapsed as he saw his world laying on the floor helplessly with the coffee table laying on top of her. Gunz was so enraged he snatched the table off her with one hand and sent it soaring across the living room. He dropped to his knees and gently lifted Nastasia’s onto his lap
“No, No, No! Baby, I’m so sorry! Please Stasia, Baby don’t leave me.” The tears flowed like an open faucet. Foamy blood ran out of her mouth and down her cheek. Though barely, Nastasia was still alive. She was holding on.
Their love was so pure that even in her weakened state she could sense Leonard’s presence. She knew that she was in the arms of the love of her life. Gunz pulled his phone out and called the police hoping that they made it in time. He was told by the dispatcher that help was already on the way and should arrive shortly. The woman tried to keep Gunz on the phone while she continued to talk to him, but that shit was dead.
Moments later the police and paramedics arrived. It took some work, but they were able to get Gunz to let them tend to Nastasia. Gunz didn’t know why but at some point, he thought that maybe White Jesus might look out for one ghetto nigga. It seemed that Gunz patience would continue to be tested that early morning as some white boy cop continued to try to question him. At one point he asked Gunz if he knew who was responsible for the attack. When Gunz looked at the cop and responded, “Dead Men!” The look on his face told the cop to leave him the fuck alone, unless he wanted to be one of those dead men.
It’s a good thing that the Aston Martin crashing into the tree caused the Mack-II to fall out of the passenger seat and slide under the dashboard. Had they found the Mack-II there surely would’ve been hell to pay.
Newark, California
5:00am
Batman was sitting in the recliner in his living room on Magnolia Way in Newark, California eating a bowl of chitlins and drinking a nice cold Samuel Adams. The 85inch Samsung T.V. was on but he wasn’t paying attention to the television. His attention was focused on the coffee table in front of him that was covered with folders and newspaper clippings. He had notes and internet printouts spread all over the living room of the town house. This is where Batman’s attention was. He was going over the paperwork to plan his next strike.
Batman was felling real good about himself. For far too long, blacks had been abused and victimized without anyone lending a hand or giving a fuck. He used to cringe in anger every time he heard a report about some white dude killing one of his people in cold blooded murder and getting away with it. He was tired of the punk ass police slaughtering his people and getting away Scott-free. Not no more, though! Now he was watching reports of cops being killed by him and he was getting away with it Scott-free.
A beeping sound in his earpiece alerted him one second before the 85” screen blinked off of the news station and was re-placed with a split screen of four multiple monitors. The cameras showed the front of the complex, the back of the garages which was behind the main building, the front view from his porch and his get-a-way route. Every monitor except his get-a-way route was swarming with S.W.A.T., S.C.U. and F.B.I.
Batman was neva one to give up. One of the things he’d learned from Voorheeze was safety and security. One of the most important rules to Safety and Security was keeping your composure. If you wer
e level-headed and composed, there was always a way out of any circumstance. Looking at the monitors again, Batman smiled. He just had to stay calm and wait patiently until it presented itself.
Although he didn’t expect them, at his front door Batman was prepared for them. There wasn’t time to grab all of his material, so, he swiftly just snatched up everything for his next strike. He didn’t want them to figure out his next move before it was time.
Next, he snatched up the keys to the truck and headed for the back-sliding glass door. Already pre-packed and waiting for him were two Army Surplus duffel bags loaded with stuff, a backpack and an M-16. As he threw all the gear over his shoulders, Batman was thankful for the many hours he and Voorheeze spent inside of 24-hour Fitness.
Just as the S.W.A.T. team had the battering ram in position to knock down the front door, Batman was walking through the back, sliding glass door. On his way out, he flipped the switch on the wall by the door. Instantly, a sulfuric nitrate fuse ignited. The fuse burned in two separate directions running the entire length of forty-eight hundred square feet of the town house. Within seconds the entire place erupted in flames.
**** N. D. ***
Chapter XV
Newark
4:33am
Hedgecock was checking his weapon for the third time already. While the rest of the teams around him focused diligently on their safety gear, he only gave a fuck about his weapon. To him, safety gear was for those on the defensive. This was an offensive play through and through.
The hottest ticket in town for law enforcement was the joint agency raid on the suspected location of the notorious cop killer everybody and everyone wanted in on this one. Only the best were selected Hedgecock told himself, as he stared down the sights of the M-16. Since he was part of the team, rubbing elbows with the big dogs, he had brought out the big toys.
Hedgecock was eager to show these government boys just who he was. The cool, brisk air almost guaranteed he was fully awake and alert as they had met up around the corner from the targeted location thirty minutes ago to have a last-minute meeting with everyone. Then they broke into their perspective infiltration teams, where each team leader held a second meeting.