by Teri Woods
“Want to play cards?” he asked after rubbing her feet.
“Again?”
“Yeah, come on.”
She had never played cards as much as she did since she met him. And the thing was it was bad enough that she didn’t want to play, but then he’d make her gamble and take her money if she lost.
“You know you giving that back, right?” asked Gena as she watched Jerrell throw the cards down and swipe away a hundred dollars off the table.
“Shit, my ass. You snooze you lose, babe.”
“Whatever, Jay, whatever,” she said, watching as he counted his winnings.
For the most part, it was a little vacation from the reality of Richard Allen, but Gena knew she would not stay long. No, after Jamal threw her out, then Viola threw her out, Gena had decided that shit wouldn’t be happening ever again. As comfortable as she was in Jay’s house, she knew she could not stay and didn’t want to wear out her welcome either. So, for the past couple of weeks, she had been apartment hunting and looking at several condos in the Old City section of Philadelphia near South Street.
Jerrell had gotten quite used to her womanly touch. Truthfully, while he didn’t want her there in the beginning, he now couldn’t imagine her not around. Plus, he liked being able to keep track of his newfound investment. He knew that in the end, putting his time in with her would be worth his while, he just didn’t know how worth his while she’d turn out to be.
Rasun woke up sweating in the darkness. He could feel it rising from his stomach to his throat. He swallowed hard to keep it down, but found that it did not work. And once again he found himself racing to the bathroom and kneeling in front of the toilet.
“Strap my chinstrap for me,” SWAT team leader Johnny Wang asked Detective Ellington.
Letoya Ellington shook her head. “Johnny, I’ll bet your mommy still dresses you in the morning, doesn’t she?”
“She wouldn’t have to if you would let me move in with your fine ass,” Lieutenant Wang said with a smile.
“Johnny, you couldn’t handle this pussy if I tied both hands behind my back,” Detective Ellington told him.
The SWAT team members gathered around them broke into laughter. Detective Ellington checked the magazine in her weapon, and then cocked it, chambering a round. She checked her black Kevlar vest, her tactical utility belt, and her communications radio. Like all of the other officers and agents participating in the predawn raids, she was dressed in all-black paramilitary gear, with a black mask over her face, black gloves on her hands, black knee and elbow pads, and a variety of other gear.
Detective Ellington lifted her black Kevlar helmet and strapped it onto her head. “Okay, listen up everyone, comm-link check! Team leader, check your communications. Remember, we are operating on secure link five!”
Detective Ellington lifted the microphone attached to the shoulder strap on her bulletproof vest. “Section leaders, this is Command One. Have your team leaders acknowledge.”
Letoya turned to Lieutenant Ratzinger. “Hey, Mark. When they report in, make sure that they all did their comm check. And synchronize on me. We are go in T minus four minutes.”
Detective Ratzinger nodded. “Roger that, sweet lady. You just make sure that you keep your head down in there. You let SWAT go in first.”
Detective Ellington caressed Mark’s cheek. “Aw, you worry about me too much, old man. I’ve done this too many times to play the hero.”
“My team’s all loaded up and ready to rock ’n’ roll,” Team Leader Wang told her.
Detective Ellington nodded. “Well, let’s load up and get rolling.”
Letoya Ellington adjusted her helmet and climbed into the back of the SWAT truck, just behind Lieutenant Wang. She checked her watch.
“Two minutes to showtime,” Johnny Wang told her.
Detective Ellington clicked the button on her walkie-talkie. “Section leaders, this is Command. We are two minutes to show time. All sections, we are a go. You have tactical command at this time. I repeat, all section leaders have tactical command at this time. You may begin operations at this time.”
Johnny Wang turned toward his driver. “Move out. Get us to the door, Bobby!”
The SWAT van pulled out of the parking lot and rounded the corner. It was 3:00 A.M., and the entire neighborhood seemed deserted. The target’s house was just down the street, and they would be there in less than twenty seconds.
“Target looks quiet, sir,” a voice declared over Lieutenant Wang’s communications link. “Looks like we have achieved tactical surprise,” he said, loving every minute of his job.
Lieutenant Wang nodded and keyed his walkie-talkie twice, acknowledging the last transmission. He rose from his seat and threw open the doors to the SWAT van. His men poured out of the van and raced to the front door. One of the team members raced to the left side of the house, while another raced to the right side. They wanted to make sure that no one escaped out of the sides of the house. Three of the team members raced to the backyard to secure the rear of the premises. The others gathered on the sides of the front door, while the team member holding the steel battering ram raced to the front door and smashed it open. SWAT team members poured into the house like ants.
Rik bolted from sleep when he heard the door being smashed open. He jumped out of bed just as the first SWAT team member was entering his bedroom. The masked, black-clad agent was standing behind a large black bulletproof shield that had SWAT painted on it in big white letters. Rik could see the officer’s black Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun sticking out of the gun slit in the center of the shield.
“Police department!” the officer shouted. “We have a search warrant! Get down on the floor now!”
Rik lifted his hands into the air.
“Get down on the floor now!” the officer shouted again.
Slowly, Rik dropped to his knees and lay facedown on the floor. He could feel himself being handcuffed.
Agent Ellington strolled into the room, just as two SWAT team members were lifting a handcuffed Rik off the floor.
“Good morning, Tyrik!” Detective Ellington said with a smile. “You look sleepy. Did we disturb you?”
Ms. Shoog was sound asleep when she heard the explosion and then smoke poured into her bedroom.
“What the fuck is going on?” Shoog shouted. She searched her nightstand for her glasses. Once she finally located them, put them on, and turned toward her bedroom door, she found that she was no longer alone. Her room was now filled with men wearing camouflage uniforms, all pointing M-16 rifles at her.
“I was gonna pay my taxes, I was just a little late with the money, that’s all,” Shoog told them.
Detective Dick Davis strolled into Shoog’s bedroom holding a pair of handcuffs up in the air. “This isn’t about your taxes, ma’am. This is about you being the Betty Crocker of the hood for all of the local dope dealers.”
“Oh, no, son, you got the wrong lady!” Shoog shook her head. “Mmm mmm, that ain’t me, no, sir.” And if you didn’t know better, you would have believed her.
“Are you kidding me? We know you’re the right person, Alvetta Clark. Now get her downstairs into the truck,” he said, motioning to another officer.
“All right now, if I got to be going somewhere, do you think I could get dressed? Come on, now, y’all step outta here and let an old woman get dressed,” she said, smiling and pretending, her usual.
Detective Davis smiled. “We figured you might say something like that, Ms. Clark or Ms. Shoog, whoever you are. I want you to meet my friend Irma. She’s from the Pennsylvania National Guard, and she’s going to do a body search for us.”
A massive, stocky, six-foot-two-inch woman wearing camouflage makeup on her face stomped through the crowd of soldiers and smiled at Shoog. Irma was missing two teeth in the front.
Ohmigod, look at this mountain bitch I got to deal with. Damn, damn, damn, Ms. Shoog thought, but she heard Michael Shawn as the mountain bitch frisked her ass, handcuffed he
r, and hauled her ass away into the back of a paddy wagon.
DO I DO
LeChevue was the place everybody seemed to pile into. Everybody knew everybody at LeChevue and the ballers’ wives would socialize and get their hair and nails done. It was the place where the wives and girlfriends of the NFL’s Eagles or NBA’s 76ers went to flaunt their hundred-thousand-dollar cars and multikarat rings. It was the shop of the young, black, and elite. It was where Gena had been going for years.
Gena and Markita, her old neighbor from Chancellor Street, walked into the shop, and to her surprise, she found many of her old friends inside. They immediately went into shouting, howling, and wailing mode.
“Gena!” Bridgette shouted. “Girrrrrl, where have you been?”
Gena raced to the seat where Pam was waiting, leaned forward, and hugged her.
“Girl, I can’t believe it!” Beverly wailed. “Ms. Gena is back in the house! Girl, what you been doing to your hair? Gena, you let somebody else do your hair or something ’cause this ain’t my work.”
“No, nut, I been doing it myself,” she said, hugging Beverly. “How’s you and Quinny Day?”
“Aw, we good, we good. What about you, though? Man, it’s been months. You just stopped coming around.”
“I know, I know, I needed some time, that’s all. I’m good though.”
“Well, your hair ain’t. You did this?”
Gena laughed and shook her head. “Girl, you know I don’t let nobody up in this mess but you. I’ve been trying to keep it up.”
Gena definitely wasn’t going to tell them that she had been trying to lie low for a while, once she found Qua’s money. These gossiping whores would have her business all over the East Coast.
“Hey, baby!” Veronica rose, waddled to where Gena was, and hugged her.
Gena placed her hand on Veronica’s stomach. “Girl, let me find out?”
“I know, that nigga Rik got me all fucked up, girl. I can’t wait till this baby pop out so I can get back to my life. Shit, I can’t go to no clubs like this.”
“Club? Honey, you don’t even look like you can make it out the front door and you worried about the club?” joked Gena.
The girls around the shop broke into laughter.
“Hey, y’all, this is my friend, Markita. She used to be my neighbor out west.” Gena introduced, while clasping Markita’s arm. “Kita, this is Veronica, and that’s Bridgette, and that’s Beverly, that’s big-head Val over there, and that’s Tracey.”
Markita waved at everyone and seated herself in the waiting area. Gena made her way around the shop exchanging hugs with everybody.
“Gena, what the hell is that you are driving?” Tracey asked, peering out of the shop’s glass front windows.
“Girl, that’s the Catch Me if You Can Porsche out there.” Gena smiled, patting her hair coquettishly.
“Uh-un, girl!” Beverly waited. “No you didn’t go and knock off one of them!”
“Girl, that car is too fly!” Veronica shouted as she and Tina high-fived one another.
“Girl, what’s his name?” Tina asked. “And does he have a brother?”
Gena threw her head back in laughter. “Girl, please!”
“What’s his name, Gena?” Beverly asked.
“What?” Gena smiled uncontrollably.
Beverly squinted at Gena for several moments. “Ummmmm-hmmm. Girl, I’ve known you for too long. What’s his name? All of a sudden you outside and you ballin’? Bitch, I know better. Either Quadir is back from the dead or you done stumbled upon a winning lottery ticket.”
Gena laughed and turned her palms up toward the ceiling. “What are you talking about?”
Tina rose and walked over to Gena and began to sniff her. “Uh-un, girl. I smell dick on you, too.”
Laughter shot around the beauty shop.
Gena shoved Tina away, “Bitch, get yo ass away from me.”
“What’s his name, Gena!” Pam shouted. “Don’t change the subject.”
“Girl, your face is clear, you can’t stop smiling, you got a new car, and you ain’t been coming around,” Val told her. “Girl, you getting some dick. And it must be some good dick!”
Again, the ladies around the beauty shop broke into laughter.
Gena nodded. “Okay, I see what this is. This is clown Gena day, huh?”
“All you have to do is tell us ’bout Mr. Put a Smile on Your Face,” Beverly told her.
Gena shook her head. “Jay. His name is Jay, okay?”
“Oooooh, Jay!” Tina said, pronouncing his name dramatically.
“Where’s this nigga from?” Beverly asked bluntly.
The ladies around the shop broke into laughter again.
“He’s from Philly,” Gena told them bashfully.
“Is he a baller?” Pam asked.
“Something like that,” Gena told them. “He don’t need no money, I can tell you that.”
“Well, all I want to know is he good in the bed?” Veronica asked. “Shoot, can the nigga fuck? ’Cause God knows they not worth nothing else.”
Gena turned toward Veronica. “Bitch, that’s why you like that now. Close ya legs, and stop thinking about dick.”
“What else is there to think about?” Veronica asked looking at her like she was crazy. She high-fived Tina. “Dick and money, money and dick. Those are the only things niggas are good for.”
Val called for Markita to sit at her station. It was her first time at the shop, so she didn’t have a regular beautician yet. Beverly waved for Gena to come over and sit down in her chair.
“So, what do you want to do to this stuff today?” Beverly asked.
“You see Angela Bassett’s hair in Waiting to Exhale?” Gena asked.
“Before or after she cut it off?” Beverly asked.
“After,” Gena told her.
“After?” Beverly asked. “Are you sure?”
Gena nodded. “Girl, take it all off. I need a new look.”
Beverly shrugged and grabbed her scissors.
“So, where’s the Mercedes at, Gena?” Pam asked. “Did you trade it in?”
“No, I still have it,” Gena told them.
“Ooooh, girl,” Tina wailed. “Mmm,” she hummed looking at the others in the room.
Gena smiled. It was none of their business who bought her car. And if she told them that she bought it herself, too many questions would arise. So, she let them believe what they wanted to believe and they wanted to believe that a nigga had bought the car, so let them.
“Girl, I’m so happy to see you doing good,” Tracey declared.
Gena exhaled. “Girl, I feel so happy. Jay is a good man.”
“You need to bring him to Chances so that we can meet him,” Pam told her.
“Girl, he won’t go to no club,” Gena told her.
“Why, he think he too good or something?” Beverly asked.
“No, he just don’t do clubs,” Gena told her. “Hell, I really don’t do them no more either.”
“Oh, you too good to fuck with ya girls now?” Tina asked with a smile.
“Girl, we know you from Richard Allen,” Veronica added. “Get your project chick ass out the house and come and kick it with ya girls!”
“You know that if Sahirah was here, she would have your ass out the house,” Beverly told her. “Girl, we miss her too. And we miss Qua and Black.”
“Yeah, I know, me too,” said Gena, thinking about how she and Sahirah used to be in every nightclub every other night of the week.
“Tell that Jay guy to take you to the club, girl,” Val told her.
“We’ll see,” Gena told them. “So is that why all of you ho’s is up in here today? Getting ready for the club?”
“Girl, please,” Veronica said, waving her off. “The bond hearing is tomorrow.”
Gena recoiled. “The bond hearing?”
“Yeah, Rik and everybody’s bond hearing is tomorrow,” Pam told her.
“Okay, I’m missing something,” Ge
na told them. “What the fuck are y’all talking bout?”
“Girl, Rik, Quinny, Reds, Rasun, Pookey, Amar, Winston, everybody, I mean everybody you can name that we know got busted yesterday,” Veronica explained.
“Got busted?” Gena leaned forward in her chair. She was in shock. “Where? How?”
“Girl, the Feds raided all of they asses at the same time, early in the morning the other day,” Beverly told her.
“Get the fuck outta here!” Gena shouted.
Veronica nodded sadly.
“What happened?” Gena asked.
“Girl, they got raided by the Feds,” Veronica explained. “They all had indictments. They didn’t find anything, but they said that they had been watching them for a while, and that they all had indictments.”
Gena shook her head. “Girl, I’m sorry. You should have called.”
“Gena, nobody has your number anymore,” Bridgette told her. “Girl, we knew that you was doing bad after Qua died, and that you needed some space.”
“I’m sorry, I still want to keep in touch though,” Gena told them. “I’ve just been trying to get myself back together. I’m going to give y’all my number before I leave. And, Veronica, I want you to give it to Rik and tell him to call me collect. When are you going to talk to him again?”
“Girl, he’s supposed to call me tonight,” Veronica told her.
“Give him my number and tell him to put me on his visitation list,” Gena told her. “I need to go see him.”
Veronica nodded. “I’ll tell him tonight.”
Gena leaned back in the chair and allowed Beverly to finish up her hair.
“Gena, if that man of yours is doing anything illegal, tell him to get out of the game right now,” Bridgette told her. “This shit is not worth it.”
Veronica shook her head and wiped the tears out of her eyes. “Yeah, this shit right here is crazy. Everybody’s locked up.”
Pam handed Veronica a tissue and added, “I just don’t understand how they locked up like forty or fifty niggas at one time. That shit is what’s crazy to me.”