by S. L. Walker
“I didn’t know you were expecting company,” the same sassy black woman Raven saw before was standing behind Treach. Her designer perfume marinated the doorway. She was in an all-black pantsuit and red blazer, coordinating with her black red bottom high heels. She smirked at Raven. “And isn’t she cute. So what’s your name?” She asked Raven.
“This is Raven, she does drops for me,” Treach answered for her.
“And them?” Her eyes pointed at the girls who were all hyped up and breathing heavy at this point.
“I don’t know, who are your little friends, Raven?” Treach asked.
“My girls. Angel, Eva, and this is Tori,” Raven introduced them once again, emphasizing on Victoria who had caused the commotion.
“Tori. So, you’re the geekin’ one out the group huh? And here I thought Raven was the hitta,” Treach laughed; none of the girls did.
“Well, I’m Lila. Maybe we will be doing business soon,” she said to the girls slyly. “Go ahead and handle your business Treach, we will discuss these matters later,” she turned to Treach, motioning for her two male goons, who were standing behind her, to follow.
“Naw, it’s cool, they can wait,” Treach told her, eye balling Raven.
“Nonsense, seems like they are eager to see you,” she smiled at him.
“I know you got my brother here somewhere,” Raven was tired of bullshitting. Lila laughed, looked at Treach and then walked away, leaving the scent of her perfume. Treach’s jaws clenched.
“Come in,” he motioned for them to come in and slammed the door behind him. Treach watched the girls file in line as they stood before him. “So, how do you know this?” He asked her.
“Don’t bullshit me, Treach. Where is Deon?” Raven was losing patience. She really wanted to let loose on him and everyone in the warehouse. No-one would miss them.
“Are you threatening me little girl?” Treach stood up and put his hands on his desk, daring Raven to do something. Raven was smarter than that, she needed her brother alive.
“I know he is here. I need my brother, now,” Raven warned one last time. She wanted Treach to work with her but was prepared if he didn’t.
“Come with me,” he told her. “Just you. Your little gang can stay here,” he pointed his fingers at the girls. Raven nodded to them that it was okay and followed Treach out of the room. DJ watched as Raven and Treach walked down a long hallway and got on a warehouse elevator. The elevator was old and metal. Treach pressed the half ripped off button to the third floor. It made a click sound startling Raven before it guided them down. They said nothing, only the sound of the screeching elevator. When the elevator finally stopped, it opened to another guard with an automatic Rifle in his hand. Raven could easily tell it was a Marlin Model 795; her dad had owned one before he upgraded to the Marlin 60, which was popular for it’s bad ass durability and 100% proof of never jamming.
The guard moved out of their way as they entered the brightly lit room. It was nippy as she stepped into the hallway. She followed Treach down the hallway with rooms that looked like abandoned offices with cracked windows and mountains of dust. She even thought she saw a rat run by. She grew even angrier that her brother might be down here in this filthy condition. Then her mind began to wonder.
Was Treach setting her up, too?
She slowly put her hand on her gun that rested between her belt and her hip waiting for Treach to try anything. They turned another corner to another young hefty guard standing next to an old grey door. He had no gun in his hand but she could see the 9mms on each waste. He opened the door for Treach revealing an empty, dimly lit room where Deon was tied to a chair fully alert. Raven and Deon’s eyes both locked, hers in fear and shock and his in pain. His left eye was badly swollen and his lips were cut up. He had dried blood that had been creeping from his head. The same clothes she seen him leave in were dirty and torn and he was missing a shoe revealing one dirty white sock.
“Deon!” She ran over to him hugging him. He winced in pain.
“Vee, what are you doing here?” He asked softly. His words were muffled and strained. She let him go.
“What are YOU doing here? What happened?” Raven asked him lightly touching his bruised head and lips. Treach watched from the doorway. Deon looked up at Treach with revenge.
“I was set up. Don’t tell dad,” he muffled again.
“Dad is worried sick about you. He called the cops,” Raven whispered.
“What?” He asked, shaking his head still in pain.
“I didn’t tell him anything,” Raven reassured him.
“How did you know I was here?” Deon strained to ask again, still looking at Treach who was watching them like a sick movie.
“I just guessed,” Raven lied, looking back at Treach.
“Alright, that’s enough chit chat. You’ve seen him, now let’s go,” Treach told Raven.
“Wait, no, why? Treach, you have to let him go,” Raven stood up.
“Raven, please,” Deon pleaded to her.
“I’ll do whatever it is you need me to do. My girls are even here to help. Only if you let him go,” Raven continued. Treach smiled.
“Let’s talk,” he motioned for her to leave the room. Raven turned back at her brother.
“I love you, okay. I’m going to get you out of this. Trust me,” she whispered to Deon, kissing him on the forehead.
“No, Raven. No. No, no, no,” Deon pleaded as she followed Treach out. “Nooooooooooooooo!!!” She could hear him yelling as they walked away together.
CHAPTER 16
The girls were impatiently waiting when they finally saw Raven and Treach walk back to the office. Eva could see that Raven was angry by the way her lips pinched together and her light brown eyes would turn into a cold black. The girls all looked at Raven for answers as her and Treach silently entered the office. Treach motioned for DJ to come in the room who was also staring at them two walking back.
“I need you to go get the brown bag from locker 30 and bring it to me,” Treach told DJ as soon as he entered the room, handing him a lock key. DJ gave Treach an are you sure look, but never questioned him. The girls didn’t say a word, either. Raven sat down in the office chair in front of the desk giving them an I’m okay look. DJ quickly went to fetch the bag, shutting the door behind him. Treach sat down in his chair and turned to the girls.
“Raven has volunteered your services to me,” he grabbed hold of a large clear decanter full of brown liquor. He poured himself a shot into a clear glass that had a brown stain at the bottom of the glass from previous liquor. “In return for her brother. Is this true?” He asked them, taking the shot. The girls all looked at Raven and answered yes at the same time. Raven looked at them with thankful eyes.
“Okay then,” he said abruptly standing up. DJ walked in with a brown backpack and sat it on the desk in between Raven and Treach. Treach opened the bag and revealed several bags of cocaine.
The girls eyes widened. Angel damn near threw up in her mouth.
“I’ve been dipping a little in a different franchise lately and I’d like your undivided help,” he grinned.
Treach knew he was risking a lot by letting the girls even know he was selling cocaine. But, he also knew that Raven was desperate for her brother and he needed the aid. He didn’t trust a lot of the men with this, only his closest men. The girls would make deliveries a breeze. No one would suspect they were working for him, let alone carrying dope back and forth. Treach pulled out one of the thick rectangular bricks.
“You, green eyes, let me see your backpack,” he pointed to Angel who hadn’t realized she even brought her backpack with her.
“Me?” She asked.
“Yeah, you,” he told her. She took off her backpack and handed it to him. Treach opened her backpack and noticed the Glock she had sitting right in his face. “Ooooooweeeee! Y’all don’t play!” He laughed, picking up the gun and holding it in the air. “Here y’all are lookin’ real innocent and y’all got HEAT in He
llo Kitty backpacks!” He laughed harder, showing DJ, who hesitated to laugh. “I love it! This is why I need y'all on my team! I would've never guessed,” Treach said, putting the gun back in with the brick of cocaine. He zipped the backpack up and handed it back to Angel. “You definitely should be the keeper,” Treach told her.
“Keeper?” Angel asked, confused.
He then clears his throat, “A keeper, ladies, is the person who looks the less suspect. Who doesn’t look like they have anything to do with the product but has it. Plus, I like her face,” he said smiling at Angel. Angel gave a nervous smile back.
He then turned to Raven, “You remember Lo? Your first drop?”
“Yeah, I remember him,” she responded.
“You’ll take that to him first thing tomorrow. You and miss Angel,” he glanced over at Angel. Victoria and Eva looked at each other.
“I have school tomorrow,” Raven told him.
“And? You want your brother back, I need this done first,” Treach said with brunt in his voice.
“Fine,” Raven agreed standing up.
“That brick is about $20,000 worth. So that’s what you will be expecting,” Treach told her. Raven nodded her head and headed for the door.
“Wait, wait, wait now,” Treach stopped her from walking out. “I never let new team members out without a proper good luck toast,” he motioned to DJ who opened a file cabinet grabbing clear plastic cups and handing them to the girls. Treach poured each girl as well as him and DJ a shot out of the same clear decanter he used. “Here’s to the future of new business, new clients, and a new team,” he toasted and drank up. The girls all drank up as well, throwing the shots back like pro drinkers.
“Don’t disappoint me,” he glared at Raven who didn’t hesitate to glare back.
Before the girls knew it, they were back to their bikes.
“What the fuck happened back there?!” Eva yelled at Raven.
“Where’s Deon?!” Victoria asked.
“I can’t sell crack! I can’t do this!” Angel started to cry.
“Will y’all shut up!” Raven yelled at them, quieting all of them; even Angel’s sniffles. “This is what it is! Our services for my brother who’s back there bloodied and bruised because of me! Now if you don’t want to do this, tell me now!” Raven shouted daring the girls to back out now.
“You know we got your back, Vee,” Victoria assured her.
“Angel?” Raven looked at Angel who was trying to control her panicking. “Can you do this tomorrow?”
Angel shook her head in agreement.
“Here,” Raven held her hand out. “Give me the brick.” Angel reached into her backpack and handed Raven the brick that Treach stuffed in her bag. Raven didn’t want Angel having to bare that in her backpack. She was even more pissed that Treach even gave it to her and knows he did it on purpose.
“If your parents ask, just tell them you were out looking for Deon with me,” she told all of them, hopping on her bike. The girls all hopped on their bikes in silence to head home with an explanation that they were sure their parents wouldn’t believe.
ANGEL
I woke up to Raven’s page at 6:30am. I clicked off my pager and turned back around in bed. Raven’s page reminded me that yesterday wasn’t just a dream. I forced myself out of bed, slipping into my old pink slippers. I slowly opened my bedroom and peeked out to see if my mom had been up yet. My dad still had never made it home, and she was pretty clear to me last night when I got home that I was on punishment. I used the excuse Raven gave me, but she was so furious, she grounded me for a month. I was pretty sure it had more to do with my dad and that she’d eventually get over it. I was so drained last night, I just said okay, went to my room and passed out; it made her even more mad.
I crept past her closed door and went for the house phone. Raven picked up.
“What’s up?” I whispered, in my morning voice.
“I figure if we go early, we can get to school in time,” Raven was also whispering.
“Now?” I asked her, looking behind me.
“Yeah. My dad just left to go to the police station,” she told me.
“What did you tell him?” I whispered again, still checking for my mom. This was about the time she would start shuffling around in her room.
“That I was looking for Deon. Just come over. Bring your gun, too,” she said and hung up. I cringed at that 9mm sitting in my backpack. I shuffled back past my mom’s door and went into the bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth and face and washed the important parts. I French braided my curly mess of hair down and threw on some grey sweat pants, the hoodie Zara gave me yesterday, and my black and white Adidas. I paused in mid tying of my shoe when I heard my mom’s door open. I held my breath as if she could hear me breathing. It was too early for me to be leaving for school, so I knew she would be questioning me. I checked my pink clock on my desk and it had just hit 7:00am. I put my ear up to the door to see if I could hear where she was. It sounded like she was making coffee. I checked my backpack and the gun was still where I had left it. I grabbed it and slowly opened my door, peeking out. Her door was closed, again, and I could smell the sweet smell of the coffee brewing in the kitchen. I half ran and skipped right outside of the front door, closing it gently so she wouldn’t hear me, and headed to Ravens’.
Raven was dressed and waiting for me. She opened the door wearing a red varsity sweater, black sweatpants and black air force ones. She had her backpack hanging from her left shoulder and braids tied in a messy bun.
“Good you’re here,” she said, locking the front door from the inside and closing it. “The sooner we do this shit, the better,” she said. I knew I looked nervous. I wanted to get it over with, too.
“Is this Lo guy cool?” I asked her hopping on my bike.
“Yeah, so far,” she told me. “Here,” she opened her backpack and grabbed the brick she took from me last night and opened my bag and put it in there. “If anything goes wrong, you run as fast as you can. Don’t try to fight them or anything. I can handle myself. We will be in more trouble if this is lost,” Raven told me, zipping my bag up.
“What do you mean?” I asked her, now my heart was racing. She ignored me as she hopped on her bike and peddled off. I took that as a sign and followed behind her.
It took us almost twenty minutes to get to Los’. I was extremely exhausted and cold when we pulled up to a very different warehouse off in the cuts. Raven screeched to a stop and looked up at the abandoned restaurant.
“Come on,” Raven said, hopping off her bike and pushing it behind two large green dumpsters.
“This is it?” I asked her.
“It’s in the back,” she said, just like I figured. Raven stopped and checked her pager. “Tori’s paging me,” she turned to me. She then took the gun Zara gave her from her backpack and switched the safety off and put it in the back of her sweat pants. She pulled out another unfamiliar gun and did the same thing. Then she handed me a taser. “You know how to use these?”
“Yeah,” I asked, shocked. “Where did you get that other gun? Is that Deon’s?” I questioned her.
“Let’s get this over with,” she ignored me and headed to the side of the restaurant. I was beginning to think my questions made her nervous, so again, I followed behind her. There weren’t many guards around. No guarded dogs or loud men smoking and playing card games like Treachs’. I could see Raven anxiously look around. I noticed a small house and a man was bundled up in a coat and hoodie, sitting in a folding chair in front of the door. He stood up when he saw me and Raven. Raven walked up to him with confidence.
“Is Lo here?” She asked him. He was scruffy, needed to shave and looked like his breath stank. He was a dark chocolate brother with all gold teeth and looked annoyed.
“And you are?” He asked her.
“Raven. And this is Angel,” she grabbed a hold of my arm.
“What’s two pretty things like you doing here?” He sounded unconvinced that we cou
ld be here for Lo.
“We are here to do a drop. Is Lo here or not? Time is money,” Raven told him. I looked at Raven in amazement. She was getting really bold with these guys, but it worked. He opened the door and pointed to a bedroom straight ahead. Raven walked past him still ahold of my arm. I was impressed. Now I was understanding that they only understood one thing: Fearlessness.
The door to the bedroom was wide open and we walked in to a heavyset Puerto Rican man on the phone. He looked up at us, spoke something in Spanish and hung up the phone.
“Little Raven,” he said with an accent and smiled from ear to ear, revealing his gold teeth. I looked around at his room and wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t half as luxurious as Treach’s office. His chairs were old and his desk looked as if he had bought it straight from the Goodwill. He did dress well, though, had on a nice black button up shirt and black tie with a silver chain. “Buenos Dias!” He said, standing up and holding out his hand. A few men walked past the room.
“Good Morning,” Raven said to him, releasing my arm and sitting in the cold metal folding chair. I did the same to the chair next to her.
“And who is this beautiful thing?” He asked, referring to me. I blushed out of habit.
“This is Angel. She works with Treach, too,” Raven told him.
“What kind of establishment is Treach running over there? I’m a little jealous,” he laughed. He glanced up at his matching raggedy clock on the wall. “And you’re early. Getting the job done!” He applauded.
“We have school, so,” Raven told him.
“Of course, of course. So what did you bring me?” He got straight to it. Raven nodded to me to go ahead and give him the brick out of my bag. I took the brick out and slowly sat it on his desk.
“Whoooohoooooo!” He clapped his hands together, startling Raven and I. I grabbed onto my taser without him noticing. I could see Raven out the side of my eye was also prepared for things to go south. Out of nowhere, two tall light skinned men came into the office and stood next to the door like statues. Lo took out a small utility knife from the desk drawer and poked a big enough hole in the clear wrapping to get a taste. He wiggled and closed his eyes as his pinky touched the white powder and slid across the tip of his tongue. “Mmmmm,” he moaned and came back down to reality. “Dis is what I’m talkin’ about,” he motioned for one of the men to grab the brick with the knife still in his hand. “You can tell Treach, this will work.”