Charm City Part 1 (Welcome to Bodymore Murdaland)

by S. L. Walker

  “Thank you ladies,” she told them as they exited. Nine walked away as he dialed, but then came right back.

  “He said in the morning. He is busy now,” Nine told him. Treach grunted in irritation.

  “This muthafucka…” Treach tried to calm down. “Lila, can they stay here with you? I will leave Nine and West to watch them. Don’t take off any makeup or anything. Matter of fact, you bitches sleep on your backs! First thing in the morning y'all out my fucking face!” Treach’s voice shook in anger.

  “Sure. I need my payment now, though,” Lila smirked. She looked at Raven and they both were thinking the same thing.

  Weak.

  “West, pay her, I’m to the car,” he took a rolled up blunt in his ear out and sparked it as he passed by the girls to go outside. “Y’all gonna be the death of my ass,” he mumbled.

  Raven liked the sound of that. West pulled out a small paper bag from his backpack he carried with him and counted out $5000 stacks for Lila. She opened her purple bag and he dumped it in there for her.

  “Y’all can sleep here, I will have the girls bring you blankets while I go get these girls situated,” she told them.

  “Naw, they sleep here, too,” West told her, not letting nobody out of his site.

  “Fine, I’ll send my girls in,” she said, letting the girls walk in the room as she exited and closed the door. Nine handcuffed the girls back and sat them down on the floor.

  Raven’s mind raced. She looked over at Angel, Eva and Victoria, their minds also racing. She hoped they weren't giving up on her and that they would somehow get out of this. West scowled at them as if he hated them while Nine helped himself to more alcohol.

  “You know your brother is only alive because he’s collateral. Once you're gone tomorrow he’s no more. And we out this bitch,” West fucked with Raven. Raven was beyond tired of West. She knew it was all a front to cover up his fear of her. Deon dying and her being shipped off to some perverted men meant he didn’t have to look over his shoulder anymore. But to Raven, this shit wasn’t over and her brother wasn’t going anywhere. She thought about DJ and how sincere he was taking care of Deon. She knew he was doing it for her, not Treach. She silently prayed, that if he really cared about her, he wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

  “Fools talk,” Raven said under her breath.

  “What was that?” West scowled.

  “I said fools talk. Cowards hide behind silence. I’ve seen more spine, courage, and brains in a jellyfish, you bitch,” Raven growled. Her eyes tired, but venomous. The girls all watched to see what West was going to do.

  “Bitch, Ima love killing your brother!” West barged towards her.

  “Man sit the fuck down and shut up!” Nine stood up, blocking West from getting to Raven. He was sick of Wests’ bullying. He was sick of the situation. None of them had to deal with this before, not even Treach. As if saving the day, the same girls walked in with food, drinks, and blankets. They handed each of them blankets and pillows and paper plates. They laid out fruit, chips, cheese and crackers, waters and juices.

  “Lila said to pick up the phone over there if you need anything,” a pleasant, skinny, caramel complexion girl said softly, pointing to a white cordless phone on the wall. “It automatically dials directly to her room.”

  The girls scrambled to get food as if they hadn’t eaten in days. Nine wasn’t hungry, he just wanted to drink and sleep.

  “Thanks baby doll,” he told the girl and they exited just as quickly as they came.

  Raven watched her girls eat in silence like a lioness over her cubs and she glared at West as if he was the Hyena. She did’t know how she was going to do it, but every bone in her body told her this would not be their end.

  CHAPTER 38

  Nine had kept watch to the later part of the night and watched the sunrise between Lila’s long red drapes. West was snoring on the couch with his gun dangling in his hand and the girls were all sound asleep, uncomfortably on the floor. Nine got up and paced the floor, pouring him a shot of whisky for breakfast. He noticed a small TV on a stand and searched for the remote, turning the TV on. He surfed through channels with the volume semi low, revealing old talk shows, paid programming and finally stopped on the news. He turned it up a bit to hear what was going on. The news lady was just wrapping up a story about a huge car accident, blocking lanes already that morning.

  Breaking News. A young mother was beaten yesterday by a latino man. The man was about 6’1, mid 40’s, dark mustache and bald. Police release the sketch of this man. She says her daughter was taken and is in fear of her life. She also thinks her daughters friends were also taken. If you have any word or seen these girls or this man, please contact authorities.

  Nine stood at the edge of the couch when the pictures of Eva, Victoria and Angel flashed across the screen as well as a light drawn description of the puerto rican man that had taken Eva.

  “Fuck me!” Nine said out loud, stirring West and the girls on the floor. “Get the fuck up nigga!” He yelled at West, throwing the remote at him, hitting him in the chest.

  “What nigga?” West woke frustrated. Nine hurried up and dialed Treach on his cell phone.

  “Speak,” Treach sounded asleep.

  “Turn on the news,” Nine told him, changing the channel to see if it was on another news station. Wests’ mouth dropped when Nine stopped at another channel with the girls pictures blasted. Raven was slightly waking to the noise. Angel nudged her, still laying down, pretending as if she was still sleep.

  “We are on the news,” she whispered to Raven. Nine and West were so caught up in the TV and talking to Treach, they thought the girls were still sleep. Raven lifted her head slightly to see Eva’s picture and a picture of her mom’s face badly bruised. Raven nudged Eva to wake up who was knocked out across the floor on her stomach.

  “Mmmmmmm,” Eva opened her eyes. She had forgotten where she was until she moved her hands and realized she was in cuffs. She immediately felt sick to her stomach.

  “We are on the news,” Raven scooted over to her and whispered. Eva tried to see the TV but was blocked by the couch.

  “What do you want to do? We need to get rid of them now. It’s hot,” Nine told Treach. Cash was calling Treach’s phone on the other end. He figured he had saw the same thing. Treach dreaded this moment. Cash could easily back out now.

  “This him, hol up,” Treach clicked over to answer Cash.

  “Aye! Y’all! Get up!” Nine stood up to wake the girls. All of them, but Victoria acted as if they had just now opened their eyes. Victoria squinted and looked at her cuffed hands as if she had also just remembered where she was. Nine walked over and helped the girls to their feet.

  West picked up Lila’s phone. She had just awakened and started her morning routine, brushing her teeth, washing her face, oiling her scalp and spraying her long braids with sheen.

  “Yes?” She picked up her ruby red cordless phone.

  “We bout ta bounce,” West told her.

  “I’ll be right down,” she told him and hung up. She looked at herself in her large vintage mirror and admired her own breast and hips, covered with her white tank top and silk panties. She grabbed her silver silk robe and slipped into her pink and white Versace slippers. She wanted nothing more to do with helping them and was glad they would be out of her house.

  She finally joined them in the room where the girls were putting back on their shoes, slowly. She made eye contact with Raven who’s face looked tired and heavy.

  “Hey, we got a problem,” Nine pulled her to the side to where the girls wouldn’t hear him. “The shit is on the news.”

  “What shit?” Lila’s face frowned.

  “This. The kidnapping of the girls. Luckily Cash is willing to still take them as long as they leave now. He’s on his way now,” Nine said in as low of a voice as he could.

  “What?!” Lila’s tone changed. It was one thing for them to be doing this but another for the cops to be involved this
fast and these girls are literally handcuffed in her house. She was easily an accessory already. “Y’all got to go, now!” She shook her head.

  “He’s on his way,” Nine reassured her. “We not leaving till he gets here.”

  “I can’t believe this shit. Talk about sloppy!” She fussed, running her hands through her braids.

  Raven had caught Victoria up on game and they were all a little relieved. At least they knew people were looking for them right now. Victoria had a feeling her mom would be worried and blowing her pager up anyway. Angel felt the same way.

  “Maybe they all got together when they couldn’t find us,” Angel whispered.

  “Yeah, but why wasn’t my picture up there?” Raven whispered back. She watched West join Nine and Lila to calm Lila down. Raven figured her dad either didn’t know yet about it or was too afraid to put her and Deon’s life in danger like that. Her dad knew all too well about the streets and wouldn’t make it worse if they were kidnapped. She mid-panicked when she thought of the state that Deon was in right now. She looked around for a door to run out of, a weapon left around but nothing. Lila’s room had one door in and out and the closest thing she had to any weapon was magazines spread out over a coffee table. She needed a plan.

  Lila’s doorbell rang. All three of them stopped talking and the girls heart all stopped at once.

  “Get them up,” Nine told West, taking out his gun. West doing the same.

  “Lila, Treach is here,” one of her girls walked in bringing in Treach, Cash, and a couple of his goons behind her. She was cute and short. Had big poofy hair and a blue silk robe on. You could tell she was young by the small tone in her voice. Treach had even looked her up and down when she left them with Lila.

  “Thanks, Tommy,” she dismissed her girl and mugged Treach for looking at her girl like a piece of meat.

  “This is Cash. Cash this is the lovely Lila,” Treach introduced.

  “Lovely indeed,” Cash took Lila’s hand and kissed it. “Buenos Dias mi amor.”

  “Buenos Dias,” Lila smiled. Cash had swag. He wore a black silk long sleeve shirt with black slacks and black dress shoes. She could tell Cash was not from here and compared to Treach’s plain black hoodie and jeans, Treach looked like a regular street dude. She almost didn’t feel bad for the girls if they were going to be in his hands, but then she realized that he was only a middle man himself.

  “This way,” she escorted them into the room where the girls waited. Cashes eyes lit up in infatuation as he noticed the huge change in the girls.

  “Bonita,” he smiled as he walked by the girls taking in their transformation. Even Raven looked different with her red lipstick and black eyeliner. “Tu clean up nice,” he told her. Raven didn’t smile. In fact, she really wanted to spit in his face. She turned to Treach as if Cash didn’t exist.

  “Where is my brother?” She asked him sternly.

  Treach laughed, “Really? We still doin’ this? DJ got him. Don’t worry anymore about him. He’s long gone to you now,” he glided over to her and looked her up and down.

  Suddenly, Eva threw up.

  “Agggh!” Treach turned his face and so did Cash. Old fruit and crackers trickled down her lips and onto the ground.

  “Oh no!” Lila frowned at the stain about to create on Eva’s dress. She grabbed a towel from her bar and walked over to dab it. Eva couldn’t take the stress anymore. She wanted to go home. This seemed like all a bad dream to her and she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t understand how Raven and the other girls were so calm. Her head hurt and the heels they put on her feet were too small.

  “I can’t do this,” she began to cry as Lila wiped up the mess on her face and top.

  “Shhhhhh,” Lila told her. Angel grabbed Eva’s arm to console her.

  “It’s okay, it’s natural,” Cash brushed it off. “Give them the money,” Cash motioned for one of his men to hand the bag of money to Treach for the girls.

  “Weren’t there three of y’all” Treach noticed as he took his money from Cash’s goon.

  “Si. I had to make an executive decision for gettin’ made on TV like that,” Cash confessed. They all realized the man on the news was the man that was missing. The same man that had beat Eva’s mom and left her to tell the tale. Treach nodded understandingly.

  “Vamonos,” Cash told his men to grab the girls. “Pleasure doin’ business with you, but we have a jet to catch.”

  Lila finished wiping the floor and watched as the men held their guns on the girls, walking them out single file style. Lila prayed that the girls would find a way out of it, but as of now, she was no longer involved. Raven locked eyes with her, remembering what Lila had said.

  “Wait,” Treach said, grabbing on to Angel. She halfway pulled away. “Green Eyes. I hope you know this isn’t personal. You was always my favorite. I wish this could have went another way,” he caressed her soft cheek and gazed into those eyes he’d never see again. He kissed her on the cheeks and then on her rosy pink lips. Angel wanted to gag. He then backed up and let them take her away. Nine, West, Treach and Lila watched the girls pile in both of Cash’s black rental Hummers.

  “What are we gonna do?” Angel whispered, putting her head on Eva’s shoulder. Eva still had the stench of throw up in her clothes. Victoria and Raven held hands through their cuffs.

  “Sit back and relax,” Cash spoke out to them from the front seat.

  Treach watched as they took off and dialed DJ.

  “Do it,” Treach ordered for DJ to handle Deon.

  $$$$

  DJ, back at the warehouse, hung up and looked at Deon. He had been doing a bit better, but definitely needed a doctor. Treach hadn't even came to check on Deon so he didn’t even know that Deon’s eyes were subsiding and he could see, that he had more strength than he did earlier. DJ had given him some sweat pants and a wife beater to clothe him. That DJ had sat and talked about everything to Deon. He had even given him water and a bag of chips he had stashed there, just to give him some kind of energy. DJ was compromised, he could’t kill Deon.

  CHAPTER 39

  “How are you doing?” Victoria’s mom, Patty, brought Eva’s mom, Tammy some water. They were still in the hospital babysitting Tammy’s wounds.

  “Better,” she took the cup of water and took a sip.

  “I can’t believe this is happening. It’s Christmas,” Tori’s mom tried to hold it together. Raven’s dad, Deon Sr, walked in with some breakfast. He had freaked out as soon as Raven went missing as well. He had popped up at Victoria’s house in the nick of time. She had just caught word of what had happened and was also looking for Victoria. Raven’s dad knew this was the work of whoever had beat Deon up the first time, so his first instinct was not to get the news involved but Tammy had already went out her way and called the police as soon as she could. He had his own guns and his own people in the streets looking for his kids.

  “I brought some breakfast sandwiches,” he leaned on the room counter. “The news is still outside wanting to ask questions,” he looked out of the room window at the news van parked in front.

  “Ugh, I can’t possibly eat right now,” Patty crossed her shaking legs and bit her nails.

  Angel’s mom, Lisa, had went to go meet Angel’s dad, Michael, in the parking lot. She had been so hysterical that she didn’t even care about their differences right now. As soon as she saw him get out of his car, she ran as fast as she could into his arms and cried.

  “Our baby! Our baby!” She whaled, her tears forming puddles all over his work suit. He had let out his own tears, holding her hard and trying not to blame himself.

  “We will get her back. They couldn’t have gone far,” he comforted her walking with her back into the hospital.

  $$$$

  Sam had been paging Angel all night and morning. This wasn’t like her. He had even called her house phone, but no one was picking up. He thought maybe she had left out of town with her family and didn’t tell him, but even that wasn’t l
ike Angel. He knew she adored him too much. She was happy with him. Wasn’t she?

  Wassup Angel? He grew worried.

  Their Christmas party was in a few hours and she had promised she’d be there. Instead of waiting around any longer, he threw on some sweatpants and a hoodie and rode his bike over to her house. As soon as he turned the corner, there were a couple of police cars in front. One officer was walking out of the house. Sam’s heart pounded. He didn’t even park his bike all the way before he hopped off in desperation to find out what happened. His worse fear was that something had happened to her and her mom.

  “Officer! Officer! What happened?!” Sam yelled running up to the cop. A female officer walked out behind him.

  “Whoa whoa! Calm down,” he held out his hand for Sam to calm down and relax.

  “Where’s Angel?! What happened?!” Sam wanted answers now.

  “Who are you?” The first officer asked.

  “I’m Sam Watkins. I’m Angel’s boyfriend. Where is she?! Is she okay?!” He was terrified. He wanted to run past them, thinking that their bodies were in the house. Both cops looked at each other before the second one spoke.

  “We believe Angel was kidnapped. A man broke in and beat up her mom a bit and took her daughter,” he told her. Sam lost it.

  “What?! Who?! Why!” He held back his tears. His mind fluttered and he felt as if he was going to faint. A man? Was it her father?

  “We are doing everything we can to find her,” the second officer said. “Here is the address to the hospital her mom is at if you want to go be with them,” she wrote on a piece of paper the hospital’s address.

  “Them?” Sam asked.

  “Or we can take you there. We have to go finish asking some questions anyway,” the first officer told him realizing that Sam was having a hard time taking it all in. Sam shook his head in agreement.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he agreed to go with them.