by K'wan
“You think you know me, don’t you?” Sonja asked in an amused tone.
“Better than you think.”
Sonja tapped her manicured fingernails on the table. Animal was staring down at her triumphantly. She hated the fact that she was so transparent when it came to him. His eyes seemed to be able to look directly into her soul. “You’re right, there is another reason why I’ve come,” she admitted. Animal opened his mouth to say something, but she silenced him with a raised finger. “Before you say something that might want to make me disrespect your home, hear me out. I know you think that I came here just to be a bitch and complicate our life, but I haven’t. When you left me to come back to Gucci, I respected your decision, and I still do. Had it been up to me, you’d have probably never known about Celeste, and I’ve have continued raising her on my own. Contrary to what you or your bitc . . . lady think, I have no designs on you.”
“Then why have you come?” Animal asked.
“To call in a marker,” Sonja said. “A life for a life. I gave you your life back when I helped you escape Puerto Rico, and in return I want you to take a life for me.”
Animal looked at Sonja as if she had taken leave of her senses. “You must be crazy. You think you can just march in here and send me out to kill like some trained dog? That isn’t my life anymore.”
Sonja looked down at the blood on his boots. “Isn’t it? Animal you can try to convince Gucci and everyone else that you’re happy living a square’s life, changing diapers and having Saturday afternoon barbecues, but I know your heart. The smell of blood makes your dick harder than I ever could. Admit it, you miss the life.”
Animal was too cool to show it, but Sonja had struck a nerve. For a long time he had been trying to convince himself that he could be content, living quietly with his wife and son, but there was always a part of him that missed the smell of gun smoke and mayhem. It wasn’t until he had gone on the mission with Kahllah and Ashanti that he realized how much he missed it. “Sonja, even if there was any validity in what you were saying, what makes you think I would kill for you?”
“Oh, I hold no illusions about what you would or wouldn’t do for me. The fact that I laid the world at your feet and you still left made that clear. No, you wouldn’t kill for me, but you would kill to protect your daughter, which is what has brought me to your doorstep.”
Now she had Animal’s attention. “Celeste is just a kid, why would someone be looking to harm her?”
“The man who I have come to ask you to murder, Poppito Suarez . . . my father.”
SEVEN
FOR THE SECOND TIME THAT night, Red Sonja had managed to shock Animal. Of all the names he expected her to pull out of a hat, Poppito wasn’t one of them. Poppito Suarez was not only Sonja’s father; he was also the leader of a powerful drug cartel based in Old San Juan Puerto Rico. During Animal’s time with the mercenary group, Los Negro Muertes, it had been Poppito who employed them. He’d hired K-Dawg and his men to eliminate one of his rivals, a dirty police captain named Herman Cruz, who stood in Poppito’s way of being the undisputed ruler of the island and the drug trade. It was Animal who had dealt Cruz the death blow that secured Poppito’s position. Poppito wanted to keep Animal on as a general in his new army, and Sonja’s future husband, but Animal’s heart wasn’t with Sonja in Puerto Rico, it was with Gucci in New York. Poppito wasn’t a man who took rejection well, so with the help of Red Sonja he fled the island and put that part of his life behind him, or so he’d thought.
“I don’t buy it,” Animal told her. “Poppito is a cruel bastard, but he worships the ground you walk on, so I can only imagine how he felt about his first granddaughter. What would make a man who places such high value on family turn on you?”
“The same thing that makes most men act out of character, a woman,” Sonja said. “Quite a bit has changed since you left, Animal, including my relationship with my father. When Poppito took over it was supposed to usher in a new age for our people, but all we ended up doing was trading one devil for another. Things were good at first, but it all went sour when my father started seeing that bruja, Lilith,” she spat.
Animal’s Spanish was rusty, but he knew that bruja meant witch.
“He and Lilith met at a big party he threw for some of our cartel affiliates from Cuba,” Sonja continued. “She was the special advisor to their leader, which is a nice way of saying whore. From the moment I laid eyes on her and her children, two sons and an adopted daughter, I knew they would be trouble. My father, however, fell head over heels for Lilith. Not since my mother have I ever seen him look at another woman the way he looked at Lilith. I’ll spare you the details, but the short version of the story is, when the Cubans left, Lilith stayed behind with us. It didn’t take long at all before that viper started whispering in my father’s ear and things began to change. Not long after Lilith and her sons came to stay with us at the compound, my father took ill. Granted, he was getting on in years, but he had always been pretty fit for a man his age. As his health began to fail, he became more and more dependent on Lilith. Lilith became his voice, and even gave her sons positions in the cartel. At Lilith’s suggestion, my father made her eldest son, Peter, commander of his personal security team, which didn’t sit well with my brother Chris. Chris had always been the captain of my father’s personal guard, and to be replaced that way hurt him. My father told him that by having Peter command his guard it would free Chris up to start learning the legal side of the business so that he could one day take over on that end. We all thought it was bullshit, but it was father’s will. The longer Lilith stayed on the more influence she held over my father. It got to a point where it seemed as if he could no longer make decisions without first consulting her. Some whispered that she had cast a spell on him. At first I laughed it off, but looking back at how thing played out, there may have been some truth to it, if you believe in that sort of thing.”
“So how did your father’s relationship with this Lilith person lead to Celeste being in harm’s way?” Animal asked.
“I’ll get to that. When my father announced his plans to marry Lilith, we were all against it. Even his closest advisors advised him against it, but my father could not be swayed. Even as his concubine, Lilith had too much power over my father’s affairs and as his wife her power would be solidified. The only thing we had working in our favor was a provision in my father’s will that stated upon his death, his power and all his holdings would shift to my brother Chris and me, since my mother was dead.”
“But if Lilith became his wife, she would be able to challenge your claim,” Animal began piecing things together.
“Precisely,” Sonja nodded. “Lilith had already begun planting seeds of distrust in his mind, causing him to remove men who had served him faithfully for years and replace them with soldiers of her choosing. If daddy died after he married Lilith there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the days of Poppito’s old regime would be numbered. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when my brother Chris was killed.”
This shocked and hurt Animal. He and Chris had been friends during his days running with Los Negro Muertes. He was a young and very likeable dude who Animal had taken under his wing. “I’m sorry. How did it happen?”
“They said he was attacked by enemies of my father and murdered at the harbor in Old San Juan, but that’s bullshit. Our family has controlled that harbor for many years. It was the heart of our empire and no one would have dared attack Chris there. The people loved him in Old San Juan. I suspect Lilith had my brother murdered.”
To Animal the theory made sense if everything Sonja was saying was on the level. For as long as he’d known her, Red Sonja had been a lot of things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. “Did you tell your father this?”
“Of course I did, but I may as well have been preaching to the choir. My father had his head so far up Lilith’s ass that she was quickly able to punch holes in my accusation and spin him in another direction. She had convinced hi
m that it was the work of his enemies and that they were on the cusp of another war for control of Old San Juan. She convinced my father to unite with her associates from Cuba to strengthen his empire and crush their opposition. To solidify the union, when Celeste became of age, she was to marry the young son of one of Lilith’s associates. Needless to say, I told that bitch where she could stick her arranged marriage, which pissed her off. She accused me of being disloyal to my father’s cause,” Sonja laughed. “I gave up my nursing career and put medical school on hold to work for my father and my loyalty was being questioned.”
“And what did your father say about all this?” Animal asked.
“Absolutely nothing,” the pain in Sonja’s voice was clear. “When my father tried to let his fiancé try to sell my child . . . his granddaughter, to strangers in the name of power, I knew he was lost to me. I could’ve stayed and challenged Lilith outright, but I knew if I did there was a good chance I’d have end up dead, like my brother, and there would be no one to stop Lilith from doing whatever she wanted with Celeste. So we ran, and Lilith’s people have been hunting us like dogs ever since.”
Animal weighed her story. Poppito was a man who wielded an immense amount of power, and if Lilith was now the puppeteer and he the puppet, Sonja and Celeste truly were in grave danger. For as airtight as her story was, there was still something about it that sounded off. “Okay, I can understand why you ran, but how does me killing your father help Celeste? You already said that his wife is controlling things now.”
Sonja smiled. “Now here comes the good part. He and Lilith aren’t married yet. With the death of Chris and me running off, they had to postpone the wedding. Lilith’s power doesn’t become absolute until my father says I do, and if he was to meet his end before it becomes official—”
“—by default everything goes to you as his last living heir,” Animal finished her sentence for her. Now everything made sense.
Sonja clapped her hands slowly. “Give this man a cookie. Animal, for as much as I love my father, I love our daughter more. I’ve made my peace with the fact that my father is lost to me, I can live with that. What I can’t live with is having Celeste raised like I was, in someone else’s image. I won’t subject her to that.”
“Sonja from the bottom of my heart, I’m so sorry that this is happening to you and your daughter,” Gucci said, her voice sincere. “Speaking from experience, I know what it’s like to be hunted, but I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to live that way with a child involved. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
Sonja nodded. “Thank you.”
“That being said, you can’t ask this of Animal,” Gucci continued. “My heart goes out to you and your baby, but what about my baby? If these people are as dangerous as you say then T.J. is going to lose his father.”
“If he doesn’t help, Celeste loses both her parents because I’m as good as dead and Celeste will be somewhere in Cuba.” Sonja shot back. “Gucci, it’s like I said, if I didn’t have to come here, I wouldn’t have.”
“I assume your proposition comes with a plan?” Animal asked, to Gucci’s surprise.
“You’re not seriously considering this?” Gucci asked in disbelief. The look on his face said that he indeed planned on going through with it. She didn’t know whether to scream, cry or hit Sonja over the head with a chair. Gucci tried to hold back the tears, but they fell anyway . . . one by one, tracing thin lines down her face.
Animal reached for Gucci, but she pulled away. He backed her into a corner and wrapped his arms around him. She struggled, but he wouldn’t let her go. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”
“You said you were done with this,” Gucci sobbed into his chest.
“I am, ma, but I have to help her,” Animal said.
“You don’t owe her anything, Animal.”
“You’re right, I don’t, but I owe it to Celeste. Gucci, you know me and my heart. If my daughter is in danger, I can’t just sit by and do nothing. I won’t leave her to the dogs like my parents did me. She’s my blood.”
Gucci wanted to argue the point. She wanted to point out the obvious, that he had a wife and son who loved and depended on him, but knowing Animal, he had already weighed it before making his decision. His nature wouldn’t let him turn his former lover or their love child away, and that’s what hurt Gucci the most. Someone else was intruding on what was supposed to be sacred to only her, his heart. Not able to bare it anymore, Gucci pushed away and walked out onto the beach. Animal wanted to follow, but it wouldn’t help. He would allow her space.
Animal turned to Sonja. All the love and affection that had been in his eyes only a few seconds prior had bled away, leaving behind the inky coldness of a killer. “I’ll do this, and after that I don’t want to see or hear from you. I’ll provide you with money for Celeste and arrange visitation, but other than that I don’t want to hear from you, ever again.”
“Fair enough,” Sonja agreed.
“Now, where do we start?”
Sonja smiled. “I couldn’t wait for you to ask. New York City.”
This surprised Animal. “Why there? I thought you said your problem is in Old San Juan?”
“It is, but we can’t just roll in there and blast my old man. Security is tighter than the president’s. We’re going to need some invitations, and New York is where we can pick them up.”
Going back to New York was an unexpected twist and Animal wasn’t sure how he felt about it. New York was a city where he had left a bunch of unfinished business, and dead bodies. They hadn’t even left yet and he already regretted agreeing to aid Sonja in her fool’s mission. “This isn’t going to be easy, and our chances look even slimmer with it being just the two of us. We’re going to more hitters.”
“I got a few solid dudes I can call,” Ashanti said, from the entrance to the house. He’d been so quiet that none of them had noticed him.
“How long have you been standing there?” Animal asked.
“Long enough to know that my friend needs me,” Ashanti told him.
“I can’t ask you to die for me, Ashanti,” Animal said.
“You don’t have to, big homie. I’d give my life for you because I know you’d give yours for me. I’m all in,” Ashanti declared. His face was hard and war ready.
Animal nodded. “Then so be it. Now, what about these shooters you’re talking about? We’re about to sit at the big boy table, and I need to know that everybody rocking with us is game tested. There’ll be no room for error.”
“Don’t even trip off it, Animal,” Ashanti pulled out his phone. “I got just the right cats in mind for this.”
EIGHT
NORMALLY, HECTOR HATED WORKING IN his father’s deli because things dragged and he hated talking to some of the people that came in and out of it. They were mostly older Hispanics, and other neighborhood transients who only shopped there when the nicer bodega across the street was closed. The same didn’t apply on Saturday’s. The owners of the store across the street were Jewish and didn’t open on that day because of religious beliefs. On Saturday’s everybody came into Hector’s father’s store, especially the young hood rats. Hector would trade them cigarettes or groceries for sexual favors.
That Saturday night was especially busy. A few of the neighborhood dudes and some girls were in the store stocking up on beer and other goods for the barbecue they were having in the projects across the street. Hector was in the middle of talking to a big booty black chick, negotiating a blow-job for a few pounds of cold cuts, when trouble walked in.
There were two of them; one a good-looking Black guy who wore his hair in neat cornrows to the back. He immediately drew the attention of several females who were loitering near the door. He gave them a wink before going into the beer aisle. His partner lingered near the front, looking over the assortment of candies along a rack. Long braids spilled from the folds of the dark hoodie he kept pulled tightly over his head. It shadowed most of his face, but if you
looked closely you could see the ugly burn scars on the side of his face.
The men who had just come into the store gave Hector the creeps, especially the one with the scar. They hadn’t done anything, but there was something about the energy they carried with them that made him uneasy. He wasn’t sure what it was about the man in the hood that made him afraid, but he was about to find out.
One of the young dude’s loitering in the store hovered behind the man, snickering at a joke only he knew the punch line to. The plastic cup in his hand reeked of hard alcohol.
The man in the hoodie ignored him, and continued looking over the snacks. He grabbed a Snickers bar and two packs of sunflower seeds and walked to the counter.
“Oh, you gonna act like you don’t hear me, huh?” the young man followed him. “I’m talking to you, sun. Maybe if you take that hood off, you’d be able to hear me,” he reached for the man’s hood.
The hooded man spun, with cat-like reflexes he caught the young man’s hand in mid-air. He cocked his head slightly, letting the light catch the web of scar tissue that went from his milky white eye to his jaw. It looked like someone had thrown acid on that side of his face. “Don’t put your hands on me,” he said in a low growl.
“Damn, what the fuck happened to you?” the young man with the cup recoiled. Just then the handsome one came from the beer aisle. He was holding two beers, and smiling. The smile faded from his lips when he saw his brother facing off with the young man. From the calm of his face, he knew his brother wasn’t there yet, but he was on the brink. “Everything okay over here?” he asked in a calm tone.
The hooded man looked from the drunk young man to his brother, whose eyes were pleading for him to calm down. “Yeah,” he released the young man. “Everything is cool.”