Blood Ties

by Shaun Sinclair

  Before Justus left the hospital, he conferred with Saigon once more, coming up with nothing more than empty leads. It wasn’t until he spoke with Pug’s soldiers that he discovered who was behind the hit.

  As it turned out, word on the street was that Jock found out who attacked him, and was talking big-shit about what he was going to do to Pug when he saw him. Unfortunately, Pug’s crew had just found out earlier that day, and wasn’t able to warn him in time. Now Pug had paid the ultimate price: his life.

  Justus was so vexed he thought about doing something to Pug’s crew for being so reckless and irresponsible. He decided against it, but he did decide he had had enough of Jock. He had spared Jock’s life on account of Diamond. Now, there would be no more pardons. Jock wanted a war? He now had one.

  * * *

  Leader had intended to meet with Justus the following morning to possibly thwart any plans of get-back. However, he awoke to problems of his own.

  “Hello?” Leader repeated through the phone receiver. It was a little after 6 a.m., and he was still befuddled so he wasn’t sure the voice was who it sounded like it was. “Carmen?”

  “That’s right, John. It’s me. How are you?” Carmen said, happily.

  Leader looked at the phone. “What are you doing calling my home?”

  “Don’t act so surprised,” Carmen retorted. “After what we’ve shared, it’s not like we’re exactly strangers.”

  “No, we’re not,” Leader admitted, then added. “We at least know each other well enough to know that this shouldn’t be happening.”

  “What is ‘this’?” Carmen challenged.

  “This!” Leader spat through clenched teeth. Beside him, Glenda stirred. If not for the sleeping pills she had taken, she surely would have been up. “You calling my home,” he clarified, lowering his voice a bit. “We’re supposed to respect boundaries remember?”

  “You got nerve talking about respect. After you just fucked me and left me like that!” Carmen was screaming so hard, Leader had to cover the earpiece. “What about ‘I need to see you.’ Can you respect that, John, huh?”

  Leader rolled from bed, went into the guest bedroom before continuing. “First of all, you seduced me! You knew I was married. Now accept the consequences of your lust. Be a woman!”

  “Be a woman? Be a woman? Oh, I will. In fact, I’m exercising my womanly rights right now!”

  “Oh yeah?!” Leader taunted. “I can tell.”

  “Well, tell this: I’m pregnant with your child.”

  Leader laughed. “That’s a good one. Old but good.”

  “Are you mocking me?” Carmen asked indignantly. “You think it’s a game?”

  “Look, it doesn’t matter. I’m married.” Leader was trying the smug approach.

  “You’re kidding me, right? John, you do NOT want to play games with me. I will ruin you!” Carmen ranted for the better part of five minutes before Leader silenced her.

  “Like I said, what we had . . . we had. I’d appreciate it if you would leave me and my family alone.”

  “You have not seen me get started. I will crush you. I will bring you to your knees! I will—”

  Leader disconnected the call. Too much drama. Too early in the morning. He had more problems, namely preventing his son from going renegade. He didn’t teach him the things he did for him to squander it away on personal vendettas. Jobs were about money. Period.

  * * *

  While Leader pondered his issues, Justus was making plans of his own inside his basement armory. He had been holed up there since returning from the hospital. Thus far, he and Nikki had not spoken a word to each other, although she had been checking up on him through the night. Most of the time she found him doing the same thing, either crouched over his vast arsenal of weaponry, or talking animatedly into his cellphone while pacing a hole in the floor. The last time she checked on him, he sat on the floor, Indian-style, with his back to the door. His back shook violently as quiet sniffles escaped his body.

  Justus couldn’t recall the last time he had actually cried, but in the wee hours of that morning, he could no longer contain himself. His comrade, his ace, his brother, was gone.

  After the rain came the planning. Justus had been calling in Pug’s old favors all night long. By the time the sun appeared, not only did he have Jock’s whereabouts, he also knew where his mother lived, his crew’s hangouts (and their mothers’ addresses too). Justus even had the location to Jock’s new girl’s house. He had every intention of getting the suckas back before Pug’s body even grazed the earth.

  Justus heard movement on the steps and turned to find Diamond.

  “My mama said come eat,” Diamond relayed sweetly. Looking at the precious child, Justus felt a little guilty about the murder plot concocted for her father. Yet, it was what it was. Dude had to go. Justus didn’t make the rules. He just had to abide by them.

  Justus followed Diamond up the stairs where he was ambushed by his twins, Power and Supreme. He scooped them into his arms and sat at the table to eat. During the meal, Nikki walked in and out of the dining room, refilling glasses, and bringing more food, but she never uttered a word to him.

  Just as Justus finished his meal, Leader walked into the dining room, with Jackie closely behind him. Jackie was staying with Justus and Nikki until she recovered from Pug’s death.

  Leader took a seat across from Justus and stared at him until Jackie left them alone. Justus knew what this was. Leader was reading him.

  “Are you sure this is what you want?” Leader asked, already knowing Justus’s plans without having to ask.

  Justus nodded.

  “So you’re willing to risk everything for a personal vendetta?”

  “Yeah. After all, wasn’t it a personal vendetta that got me started anyway.” Justus shot Leader a snide look to accompany the comment.

  “This is true.” Leader admitted.

  “Well . . .” Justus shrugged his shoulders. “This should fit in the same box.”

  Nikki walked into the room to refill their glasses and offered Leader a bite to eat. He declined, and Nikki left, but not before rolling her eyes at Justus.

  “No.” Leader answered without a second thought. “Personally, I’m against it, but it’s your decision.”

  “I helped you when yours was personal,” Justus hurled.

  Leader was taken aback by Justus’s forthrightness, but the irony of the situation was not lost on him. It allowed him to teach Justus another lesson.

  “Listen and listen good: If you are not willing to die—or kill—for what’s yours, what you love, then you’re not deserving of it. What we did was for your mother, so it was just as much your beef as it was mine, maybe more so,” Leader schooled.

  “Well, Pug was my big brother. I loved him. Is that not worth your revenge?” the student reasoned.

  For an answer, Leader suggested, “Let me tell you a story.”

  He proceeded to tell Justus the story of his great-grandfather, John Mo. Leader left nothing out, including the part about his father murdering his mother. When he was done, a single tear gathered in the corner of Justus’s eye, but he refused to let it fall.

  “So you see, this life chose me,” Leader explained. For the first time, it seemed he was having second thoughts about the decision to teach his son.

  “I guess it’s like you told me a long time ago,” Justus said, wiping his eye, “Leave the past in the past. I am what I am. It has to be done. This has to be done. No love lost for not helping, but this is going down.”

  Leader nodded his head. He grew to respect Justus that night. Justus was proving again and again that he had no qualms about putting in work. If anything, Leader was concerned with Justus’s eagerness to do so, especially behind his emotions. Leader had warned his son about wearing his heart on his sleeve. He told him women dealt in emotions, men mastered theirs. He figured it would be one of those things he would have to learn on his own.

  With Justus’s decision final, Leader
stood to leave. At the front door, he stopped to give his son a hug. “Be careful, my son. Don’t forget we gotta be in Brazil two days after the funeral.”

  Before Leader left, he sized Justus up for a long time. Justus definitely wasn’t the same person. The only question was, was he better or worse?

  Chapter 25

  It was a cool Carolina night. Justus hugged a tree inside a thicket just behind a house. He wore all black, including the mask that covered his face and was armed to the hilt. In his arm he carried an M-4 assault rifle, which was a civilian mode M-16 with a shortened stock and barrel. Strapped to his back was a riot-pump shotgun. Under his arms on each side were two .44 revolvers made of platinum with pearl handles. These two firearms were his pride and joy. He’d had them specially made. He knew they were ostentatious, but it didn’t matter. No one who saw them ever lived to tell. He didn’t plan on this being any different.

  Justus eased his way to the back of the house, plastering himself to the rear wall, where he listened to ascertain how many people occupied the house. Apparently, a card game was going on, evidenced by the yelling of bets over the loud music. Justus could hear them clearly.

  “Nigga, you ain’t got no bread! I’ll buy the pot every time,” someone was saying.

  “Ah, fuck you and that bitch you fucking wit!” someone else said.

  “Leave her out of this, yo.” The other voice warned.

  “I’m just saying, dawg, the bitch been fucking since I was little. Hell, if the hoe had all that dick sticking out of her that been stuck in her, she’d look like a porcupine, nigga!”

  The joke emitted a roomful of laughter before someone else said, “Play cards, damn!”

  Justus figured at least five people were playing cards. He didn’t know how many others, so he snuck around to peer through a window. He couldn’t see anything more from there either. He figured he could cap all five with no problem, but if someone was in the back he would be wide open. Justus knew from his intel the house belonged to a crackhead. The fiend would rent his house out for the d-boys to sell, trick, or do anything else d-boys do. Justus knew Jock wasn’t inside. Justus didn’t intend for him to be there. He wanted to send him a message up close and personal.

  Tired of waiting and guessing, Justus went to the power box and snipped the line. Momentary confusion claimed the house until the emergency lights popped on. Justus used those few seconds to make his move.

  Justus shot the knob with the silenced M-4, then kicked it open with a three-round burst from the assault weapon. Panic ensued, as expected. Dudes fell face down to the floor like they were being raided. This made Justus laugh inwardly since he almost assumed the role of S.W.A.T. for this mission. Oh, how easy it would’ve been!

  The unfortunate few who dropped to the floor scrambled to get back up when they saw Justus plucking their partners off one by one. Everywhere the red dot touched, a path of lightning followed behind it.

  Justus was enjoying every minute of his reign of terror. The weapon jerking each time he pulled the trigger combined with the fresh smell of gunpowder was intoxicating. The screams coming from his victims made his dick hard.

  Justus was in a zone until he felt a thud hit him in the back of his vest. He turned to retaliate but his weapon was shot from his hand, where it draped from its string under his left arm. The guy tried to squeeze off another round but his gun jammed. That’s when Justus drew both .44’s from his shoulder holster and pumped three holes the size of golf balls in the middle of his chest.

  Justus complimented himself for using a revolver. No shells being spewed. Definitely no jamming.

  Ensuring the rest of the house was clear, Justus slid through each room with both hammers drawn, looking for any sign of life. When he was certain the house was clear, Justus returned to each of his six victims and placed a single shot to the backs of their heads. When he was done, he extracted a bag of powder from his pocket, sprinkled it over his final victim then left the same way he came, disappearing into the night.

  * * *

  Jock was leaving his girl’s house en route to his crack spot. Something was wrong. He had been paging and calling Winky all day to no avail. Same thing with Lex. They were supposed to re-up two hours ago. Last he heard from them they were going to “the spot” to play poker until they were ready to holla at their connect. Jock told them he was going to get his dick wet for a few hours. Told them to call when they were ready. Jock ended up falling asleep inside Jamika. When he woke up, it was ten after two.

  His phone had not rung once. This was not right. Winky did not play when it came to money. So it was that Jock found himself speeding down Raeford Road at three in the morning. He was still drowsy and a little high from the blunt he had smoked earlier.

  Jock turned the volume up on his system, letting the T.I. album quake throughout the Denali to wake him up. He dialed Winky’s cell over and over the entire trip over. Still no answer. Jock leaned back, and let the music take him away.

  In the back of the truck, Justus lay coiled into a ball. He was shed of his earlier armory but still wore his .44’s over his bulletproof vest. He waited patiently for his time to act. In his hand, he held the instrument he planned on using to end Jock’s existence.

  Jock pulled onto the street his crack house was located on and turned down the music. Pulling up to the house, he immediately noticed all the lights were on full-blast. Jock thought this was odd, since the whole purpose of a crack house was to be discreet. He lit a blunt, contemplating his next move.

  In the back of the truck, Justus slid directly behind the driver’s seat and paused a second to inhale the euphoria of death. In a flash, he simultaneously lifted Jock’s head with his right hand, while slicing his throat with the blade in his left hand. It happened so fast, Jock didn’t have time to act. By the time he felt a hand on his forehead, he felt something sharp piercing his neck. He attempted to move but the powerful hands of his assailant kept his head riveted. Jock looked into his rearview mirror right into the eyes of Justus. Jock would remember those eyes anywhere!

  Justus bore his eyes into Jock through the mirror as Jock’s life left his body. He could feel Jock’s warm blood ooze onto his arm, giving him an instant hard-on. Justus couldn’t believe the power that coursed through his body. At this point, Justus felt omnipotent. Jock’s gurgling, gaggling, and protests only heightened the feeling. Justus couldn’t prevent deterring his tenants.

  “Yeah nigga,” Justus whispered in Jock’s ear. “That’s yo ass muthafucka! Look at me! I did this to you! I did it! ME!!”

  Jock wheezed and wheezed, until his soul left his body quietly.

  Satisfied that he was dead, but not satisfied with the results, Justus climbed into the front seat of the S.U.V. and unbuckled Jock’s jeans. Pulling his pants down Justus placed his blade at Jock’s penis and cut it clean off. Then he stuffed it in Jock’s mouth.

  “This will never get you in trouble again.”

  * * *

  Nikki was up late watching television when she heard the buzzer sound. Seconds later, in walked Justus still wearing his black, blending in with the shadows of the corridor. Nikki could feel his eyes boring into her from behind. Then she heard him leave, only to return minutes later, standing in the same spot. Nikki could sense the tension in Justus’s aura. Frankly, it frightened her. She knew what Justus was capable of when pushed. She also knew he was scheduled to leave after Pug’s funeral, regardless of what or how she felt. Business was first. Always.

  Nikki went to meet Justus in the hallway. She noticed he was holding Power and Supreme in each arm. The closer she got to him, the more she smelled a foul odor like burnt copper. Nikki stopped short of the corridor, beckoning for Justus to meet her embrace, but he never moved.

  Nikki finally grew tired and turned on the light in the corridor.

  “Oh my god!” Nikki gasped. Justus’s entire shirt was coated in dried blood. “Are you okay?!” Nikki snatched Power from Justus and began examining Justus more clos
ely. “Justus talk to me! Are you okay? What happened?”

  Nikki asked question after question while looking him over, but Justus remained silent. He was in shock. Although he was a professional killer, this murder disturbed him because it was personal—something he should have never done. No longer intoxicated from the thrill of the kill, the reality of his actions settled in. Diamond would now grow up without her father because of him. He had altered her reality forever in just one night, all because of jealousy. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be an assassin after all. He had broken a cardinal rule, he had used his tools of the trade for personal use, and now it was fucking with him.

  When Nikki looked at his face again, a single tear ran down his cheek. “Oh my god, Daddy. What’s wrong? Please say something,” Nikki hugged Justus tightly, placing her head to his chest crying.

  Nikki pulled Justus into their bedroom and ran bathwater while putting the boys to sleep in their cribs. When she was done, she stripped Justus naked and joined him in the tub.

  Justus was in a trance, so Nikki washed him while he lay back in her arms. After a moment passed he began to talk.

  “Please don’t hate me. I did what I did because I love you. I love you more than anything. I know I fucked up but that’s done. You are mine for life now. If a man isn’t willing to protect what he loves, then he doesn’t deserve what he loves,” Justus reasoned, using his father’s words. He turned to look Nikki right in the eye. “You belong to me and only me. A’ight?”

  Nikki nodded.

  “Do you love me more than anything?”

  Again, Nikki nodded.

  “Is it just us against the world? Are we family? Is this family the most important thing to you?”