Hernandez was boiling with rage. He wanted to punch the daylights out of Peterson. Instead, he stormed out. Peterson couldn’t help himself.
“Was it something I said?”
The whole room erupted in laughter.
***
Luther refused to get out of town as planned. He felt he needed to stick around for a few weeks just to make sure his daughter was cleared.
“You don’t have to stay, Luther. You can leave now and start your life over.”
“I know what I can do, and I also know what I will do.” He’d made his decision, and it was final. He followed Honey to the Extra Space Storage unit where they’d stored the used vehicle with all their cash in the trunk. That unit held close to fourteen million dollars, and the only thing that kept it secure was a six-dollar lock.
Honey drove the car into the unit, locked it, and didn’t look back. It was nearly five in the evening when her and Luther arrived home. Immediately they clicked on the news.
“Police say that they are baffled by two early-morning heists that left seven dead and nineteen injured. I’m standing at the back entrance of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, where three armored car guards were executed as they dropped off millions of dollars of unmarked cash. Police say a band of thieves descended onto the property and didn’t intend on leaving any witnesses. The gang apparently used high-end motorcycles as their getaway, but police aren’t saying what form of transportation was used to carry away the money stolen from the heist.
“Later tonight someone from the FBI will be making a statement, but right now they’ve released this police sketch of one of the ringleaders based on the description given to them by an unnamed witness. The gang is thought to be white male or Hispanic, possibly a Mexican gang. If anyone has any leads, we encourage you to contact the tip hotline. You can remain anonymous. Cathy, now to you over at Harrah’s.”
Honey looked at Luther.
“This is even better than I’d planned. We’re Mexican gang members. Really?”
“Don’t get too happy, Honey. They could be blowing smoke up our asses.”
Honey shook her head emphatically.“The Bureau withholds evidence. They don’t manufacture it to this degree. Notice they never mentioned how much money was stolen. That’s done purposely. If they said Mexican gang members, then for some reason that’s the intel they’ve received. I know how these guys work. I was once on the inside, remember? This heist was brazen, and they’re going to get a lot of pressure to solve it. Right now their best bet is to get as much information out to the public in order to get any possible leads.”
Luther hoped that his daughter was correct. He needed to believe they were in the clear, but his gut kept telling him that it was too easy. And when things were too calm, a storm was always lurking around the corner.
They continued to watch.
“I’m Cathy Hawn over at the gruesome scene this morning when two armed gunmen walked into Harrah’s Hotel and Casino brandishing automatic weapons. The head of security, Javier Martinez, was shot and killed on the scene, and several of his men were wounded. The gunmen then took four hostages, the Jolie family, who we’re told were here on vacation. The father was brutally shot and tossed out the car on Interstate 15. Right now we have live footage of the two assailants, who are surrounded by Las Vegas police, SWAT, and the FBI. We’re told that the assailants are refusing to speak with the hostage negotiator.”
Honey and Luther watched as they replayed and earlier footage from the helicopter. It showed a wide shot of the used car dealership and you saw the full magnitude of how the place was heavily littered with law enforcement. Next, it jumped to ground footage in real time and the area had been cordoned off from local pedestrians.
“You had all this planned, didn’t you?” Luther asked. “I should have known when you told me that you didn’t want me to be a distraction for Chief that it wasn’t because you were protecting me. You had other plans, didn’t you?”
“Somebody had to take the rap.” Honey kicked off her heels.
“And you couldn’t think of anyone else to take the fall?”
Honey shook her head. “Sometimes, for the greater good, you gotta do foul things when you’re the boss of your crew. Chief wasn’t shit, and he never was gonna be shit. He would have blown all that money in days and, in the process, got us all hot. He was in Vegas for less than a month and jeopardized our operation how many times? The prostitute. Big Meech? He was a time bomb just waiting to explode. I just made it so that he would explode in Harrah’s Casino.”
“And what about the girls? What if they fuck up and get us hot?”
“The women I chose are thoroughbreds and trustworthy.”
“Right now they are. You know yourself that the feds won’t stop until they nail someone for the Bellagio job.”
Honey fixed herself a drink and didn’t fix one for Luther. He didn’t care. For once in his life he didn’t have the urge.
“And they will nail someone for the Bellagio. I’ve made sure of that.”
“Chief. You decided to make Chief the patsy.”
Honey took a large gulp of the champagne. “Chief was the decoy—”
“The decoy?”
“Yes, the decoy. He played his part well.” Honey took another gulp. She needed to take the edge off her nerves. “There are four parts to a heist.”
“Four parts?” Luther repeated. “Since when? All you’ve run around here preaching is there are three parts to a heist.”
“You know I used to think I got my brains from you.” Honey laughed playfully. “I guess I gotta officially give Mommy all the credit. As I just said, there are four parts to a heist—the mastermind, the crime, the decoy, and the patsy.”
Luther drank in his daughter’s words, “And this patsy, you’ve already chosen him?”
“Them. I’ve already chosen them.”
Luther was relieved that he wasn’t the chosen one. He also didn’t have any idea who the ‘them’ were and he realized he didn’t care. “Fuck ’em,” he replied dryly, and they continued to look on.
***
Somehow Honey had convinced herself that Chief was getting everything he deserved. From being the one to introduce her husband to Olivia and knowing all along that he was fucking her in Honey’s house to never crying two tears in a bucket when their mother committed suicide. In her mind, it was all Chief’s fault. His constant bungling of his crimes kept their mother’s nerves frayed. She’d never forget when she lost her job she went to her brother to help her pay for their mother’s therapy because she’d given all her money to the lawyer to defend her against the attempted murder accusation.
“I said I ain’t got no paper to waste on this bullshit,” he complained. “Mommy need to go ahead and put herself outta her misery. I’m tired of all this soap opera Hollywood drama with her. What black woman you know needs therapy? We were dragged over here on slave ships and now look at us. We eatin’ good and drinkin’ good,” he preached. “Why is everything with her doomsday?! Each day I gotta look at her face all long and twisted up. If she don’t like it here she should check the fuck out.”
The very next day their mother committed suicide. She had heard what Chief said and felt that they’d all be better off with her dead. Her mother’s death had festered in Honey’s heart to the point that when she began strategizing the heist, she didn’t lose any sleep on her plans for her brother’s demise. As much soap opera drama he’d put the family through, he had the nerve to pass judgment.
***
Chief pulled out his spliff that he thought he’d smoke earlier today in celebration. How quickly those tables had turned. The weed, dipped in embalming fluid, and bought from a guy who worked in his father’s funeral home, was just what he needed. The putrid smell almost choked his hostages to death. They all began coughing violently
but knew better than to object.
As Chief and Delano kept their pistols locked on the hostages, the mother kept her eyes locked on Chief. She wanted to rip him to shreds with her bare hands for the way he was treating them and especially how he brutally murdered her husband.
Chief inhaled the smoke into his lungs and then slowly released. “You got big eyes. A bitch could get killed for eyes like yours.”
Instantly, the mother lowered her glare.
Chief passed the spliff to Delano, who inhaled heartily. He hated to think about the inevitable, so instead he focused on how they’d gotten there.
“I’m tellin’ you, son, they set us up.”
Chief was in a zone. “True. True.” He nodded his head, but he was only half-listening. He wondered, if he made the two girls strip, could he get it up? Would the white teenagers have some good pussy or at least know how to suck dick?
“I knew when I walked outside that it was a setup!” Delano began pacing up and down the small office. “I shoulda taken my narrow ass back up North. Now look at my dumb ass.”
That snapped Chief out of his zone. “Yo, what the fuck you sayin’? You shoulda left me with my dick in my hands to do this bid by myself?”
Delano put more bass in his voice. “I’m saying that we got set the fuck up!”
Chief shrugged. “Don’t make sense.”
“What?” Delano screamed, spit flying out of his mouth. “What part of the plan is this? Huh? Because in all the times we went over the plan, I don’t remember the part about our getaway vehicle not being outside. And Luther? He wasn’t fuckin’ there either! That was part of the plan, muthafucka?”
“Calm down, a’ight. A nigga feelin’ nice. I need to digest this information and see how the fuck we gonna get up outta here. In fact, order room service. A nigga got the munchies.”
Delano wanted to knock Chief’s block off for being so cavalier about their situation but he was hungry too. “Yo, these hostages and us captors are hungry up in here!” Delano screamed out the window. “We want a couple pizza pies, some sodas—”
“Make sure you get some Twinkies and salt and vinegar potato chips,” Chief told him.
“And we want some Twinkies and potato chips!” Delano shouted.
“Salt and vinegar, D. Damn, this shit is free. Make sure they get it right. This could be our last meal,” Chief said in a joke, but no one found it funny.
Delano thought for a moment. “Salt and vinegar chips and Doritos. Y’all got that?”
Agent Scully answered, “Yes, we’ll get on this right away, but we’ll need something from you. You know how this works—we give you something, you give us something. We want one of the hostages. Send out one of the girls.”
Delano didn’t even have to think. “Over some potato chips? Get the fuck outta here! Man, suck my dick! These bitches in here hungry! Either send them some food, or one of them will eat a bullet! You got one hour!”
Chief was respecting Delano’s gangsta.
Agent Scully had tried. He placed the food order just as it was told as SWAT prepared to position themselves to take out the two young punks.
***
“Yo, I see this nigga dressed in black sneaking around out there, Chief. I’m telling you that’s SWAT. Those muthafuckas preparing to take us out.”
“They ain’t gonna do no shit like that. They can’t start blazing with hostages. That’s against the law.”
“Which law is that? Why don’t you recite the CPLR you learned in law school? Please enlighten us, because any second they’re about to put our fuckin’ lights out!”
Delano began walking toward the window. “Whoever is in charge, I want y’all to send in a telephone like you suggested. I got some shit I wanna say!”
“Delano, man, whatchu doing?” Chief asked.
“I ain’t going out without taking that bitch down with us. I don’t know why, but she set us up. They need to know she was the mastermind behind all this shit here. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t even be in Vegas.”
“You don’t know that for sure, Delano. You just amped right now. Why don’t you sit your jumpy ass down.”
“Damn right, I’m amped! Our fuckin’ heads are on the chopping block.”
Chief could see Agent Scully walking toward them with a cell phone in his hand, his arms stretched high in the air in surrender.
“Delano, I ain’t no snitch. That shit ain’t ever acceptable, no matter what.”
“Don’t talk to me about what’s acceptable. You just killed your man! This is partly your fault. In fact, it’s all your fault. If it wasn’t for you, me and Big Meech would still be in Harlem huggin’ the block. If I go down, so does she.”
Chief couldn’t explain why snitching on Honey didn’t sit too well with him. What if she was innocent? What if something happened, and she was kidnapped, shot, or murdered? What if Javier’s goons found her and snatched up Cinnamon and Luther? What if the whole crew was dead? All that could be possible, so to Chief, what Delano was planning on doing was foul. And for what? Chief knew they weren’t walking out of there alive, unless they wanted to spend the rest of their lives in a 6 x 6 jail cell.
Chief casually walked up and put one bullet in the back of Delano’s head. Before his body could hit the ground, a second bullet followed. Only, that bullet entered the back of Chief’s head.
***
“We’ve got breaking news from the scene of a hostage standoff. Both suspects were taken down. We don’t have all the details yet, but we’re reporting that both suspects were put down. They’re dead. We’re told the hostages are all OK. Mother and her two daughters are OK! You can see them in the distance being loaded into the waiting ambulance. We’ll continue to update you as more information comes in.”
It was only eleven p.m., but Luther had dozed off on the sofa. It was a long, stressful day. Honey wished she could have been asleep as well. She’d partly wished that Chief would have given himself up, but she knew there wasn’t any way he would have willingly done any jail time. He’d always said he wasn’t built for that lifestyle.
So far, everything was going according to plan—except her heart. She didn’t anticipate feeling remorseful about her brother’s murder. Was Luther correct? She could have found a different decoy. While planning the heist she thought it was a necessity to kill a few birds with one stone.
As she wrestled with guilt, she drifted off into a violent sleep, only to be awaken hours later drenched in sweat.
It was seven a.m. She called her boss as everyone was told to do.“Hi, this is Honey.”
“Honey, the casino is still closed, so no work today. The feds said that we should all be back to work in two or three days.”
“That’s good. I look forward to a full paycheck, and now I’ll have to cut back this month.”
“Don’t you have any sick or vacation time?”
“Yeah. I could use that?”
“I don’t see why not. Especially under these circumstances. I’m contacting the union this morning, but I’m almost certain everyone will get compensated.” He coughed violently. “Excuse me. Anyway, I got an e-mail yesterday, and you’re on the list to go into the precinct tomorrow to tell what you saw.”
“What I saw?” Honey tried to sound disinterested. “I didn’t see anything.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s mandatory. They’ve compiled the list alphabetically, so you’re in the first batch. Is there a problem?”
“Not at all. But would I rather be at a salt-water pool drinking a cocktail on my day off? Most certainly.”
He laughed. “I hear ya, doll. And I’d love to see you in that bikini.”
“Don’t say it!” Honey joked. “Don’t do it.”
He chuckled. “OK, Honey. I’ll see you in a couple days. Don’t get too comfo
rtable with your time off.”
“I promise I will. Bye.”
“Bye, doll.”
Honey made herself a cup of coffee and began to mentally prepare for tomorrow’s interrogation.
When her father woke up, she told him about Chief, and he just nodded.
“You’ll need to contact Aunt Bunny and tell her what happened to Chief. Have her make arrangements to get his body sent back to East Harlem.”
“You sure that when the police start digging for relatives that your name won’t come up?”
“I’m positive. Honey Atkinson will come up. Chief always listed me under his father’s last name since Mommy remarried. Only, I never used it. All my paperwork says either Brown or Robertson, my married name.”
“Good. I’ll see that they send for his body and that he has a proper funeral. He at least deserves that.” Luther poured himself a cup of coffee and then added, “He was a good kid.”
Honey didn’t like that last quip. When was Chief ever a good kid? He was a raving lunatic who wreaked havoc on all those who loved him. Honey shrugged it off. Aren’t people supposed to speak fondly of the dead? She deduced that Luther was just playing a role.
Chapter 14
Honey pulled up to the Las Vegas Police Department headquarters at her scheduled time of noon. She walked to the front desk.“Hi, my name is Honey Brown. I have a noon appointment with Detective Hernandez.”
“Have a seat. He’ll be with you shortly,” the female officer said, barely glancing up.
Honey thought that was rude. Immediately, she fell into a sour mood. As she looked around, everything now annoyed her—the loud noises, the law enforcement lingo, the perps being brought in for processing.
Finally, Detective Hernandez appeared. “Ms. Brown?”
“Yes?”
A broad smile and then, “I’m Detective Hernandez.”
Honey extended her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. Could you follow me.”
Honey was led down a long corridor, where she passed blown-up pictures of both crime scenes, and mug shots of Chief, AKA Corey Atkinson, and Delano Jackson taped to the chalkboard. When she saw a picture of the burnt Super 8 Motel, she wondered did they make a connection. Honey was led into a small interrogation room, which Detective Hernandez said was a conference room.
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