Status Quo_The Last Ones Standing

by Monique Chanae

  "So, what does this mean for you now? You mentioned that you took over his estate. Did you come back to Illinois for family or for your newfound 'business'?"

  "The truth is I came back for both family and business. I needed to be closer to my family, but at the same time I still have a business that I need to run. A few of them as a matter of fact." He sighed before continuing. "Look Tari, I didn't choose this life. I just did what I felt I had to do."

  "As much as I want to yell and scream at you, I understand. Trent said the same thing to Terrence all those years ago, so I get it. You had to do what was best for you... Hell, I guess at this point I should be asking for your help or at the very least, your advice."

  Will leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "Talk to me sis, what do you need advice on?"

  "Becoming the head of Sven Power. The person who did this to Trent wasn't random, they knew him personally. And because of that I want to weed them out myself. Will you help me?" Nefertari looked up Will with eyes full of determination.

  "Tari, growing up what did I always tell you when you felt like your back was up against the wall?" He asked in a serious tone.

  "Never hesitate to come to you. I remember." Without any further words, Nefertari got up and hugged her brother. For the next few hours Nefertari and Will sat holed up in his suite eating and going over plans for her to take the head chair of Sven Power.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  While Nefertari and Will sat and talked about her plans to reinvent Sven, Trent’s killer had set up a meeting of his own.

  “I’ve got Sven Power right where I want them; unstable and falling. With Trent out of the picture their entire operation could be mine in a matter of weeks.” His business associate stroked his chin and let out a slight chuckle that seemed to ruffle the killer’s feathers.

  “What? What’s so comical?”

  “The streets of the Chi speak very highly of you, kid. I understand you hit a rough patch but come on now, every boss has a plan b or at least another scheme up his sleeve to catapult him back on top. And Sven Power is yours? Why?”

  “It’s simple. Trent Stevens is out of the way. They don’t have a leader. They need me right now.”

  “Trent had a right-hand man. I’m sure he’ll be taking the reins on this from now on.”

  “Jason Hennessey ain’t shit to worry about. He’s a bitch to say the least. He no longer has Trent to save his ass so he too is assed out. Trust me, I got this.”

  “You better hope so because if I get shitted on on this deal, your life is going to be coming to a real short close. You owe me, nigga and no nigga who has ever not paid his debt lived to tell about it. Believe that.” The associate patted Trent’s murderer on the shoulder twice before exiting the room and having his henchmen follow closely behind. The killer watched as the door closed behind him and immediately began talking to himself.

  “The night I killed Trent I made sure nothing would ever get traced back to me. Now it’s time for the next step in operation take down Sven.”

  Chapter 8

  On her first day back at the office, Nefertari was swamped. She had clients she had set up with other advisors while she was out on bereavement, but she came back and realized nobody could do her job quite as good as she. After calling back each client and scheduling them for meetings later on in the week, Nefertari began to pull up bank information for each of Sven Power’s top business associates. Sven had a total of ten head honchos and each man’s banking information came solely through Nefertari whether they knew it or not. All laundered funds would have to go through one of Nefertari’s branches and from there she would legitimize funds and create businesses for them in Illinois that way if they were ever asked about their frequent trips to The Prairie State, they could always say business and Sven Power could never be implicated.

  A few hours went by as Nefertari sat and checked the accounts and the buzzing of her phone inside her purse pulled her from her research. When as he saw that it was Skip calling she answered it immediately.

  "Hello."

  "Hey Tari, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Skip said from the other end.

  "No, you're fine. What can I help you with?"

  "Remember I told you that I was going to call you sometime this week to go over a few things. Are you clear to talk on this phone or should we meet up in person?" He asked.

  "Let's meet up in person somewhere. I'm about to leave work in a few minutes anyway."

  "Okay cool. You name the place and I'll be there."

  “How about the Tavern over there on Rush?”

  “You got it.” Skip replied and the two disconnected their call. After wrapping up her work for the day, Nefertari gathered her things and briefly spoke with a few of her coworkers on her way out the door. Checking the time on her wrist watch, Nefertari noticed she had ample time to meet with Skip before picking up Kiyan from his aftercare program.

  Skip arrived almost at the same time as Nefertari. Walking over to her driver’s side door, he opened it for her and held out his hand to help her out the car.

  “Skip, you are too much.” She giggled.

  “Nah baby girl, this is the kind of treatment a woman of your new caliber gets. Don’t look at me as an old timer, I’ve been in the game a long time and this is one reign I want to last forever. And I’m not saying that because you’re family, it’s because you’re a business woman first, underground ruler second.” Skip Townsend was a living legend and Nefertari was honored to not only be in his presence but to have him on her team. Nefertari remembered Trent’s stories of him and how he would not hesitate to put a hollow-tip bullet through the skull of anyone who threatened his family. A former war veteran, Skip specialized in weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, special ops – all giving him the advantage to become a force to be reckoned with on the streets of Illinois. Skip stood at six feet, three inches tall with broad shoulders and a fit physique. Even as he was reaching his seventies, Skip could rumble with the best of them which is why Terrence knew he had to enlist Skip to help his daughter-in-law. Nefertari led the way inside the tavern and they found a booth in the corner of the bar to sit and talk. Ordering light beverages, Skip began the much-awaited conversation.

  “What do you know so far?” he asked her.

  “None of the high-ranking guys on Trent’s team had flights in or out of Illinois around his time of death so that’s good and all their men and known associates are accounted for.”

  “So far this isn’t sounding like an inside job, Tari.”

  “But it has to be. If you can get into my home, Trent all but trusted you with his life and whoever did it knows that. I may be looking at this all wrong but I’m starting to think I should stop trying to think like Trent and I should start thinking like an outsider.”

  “Elaborate for me, please.” Skip urged as he took a gulp of his beer and sat attentively.

  “Trent ran one of the most respected and sought-after weapons conglomerates in the Midwest. He is one of the few who has clientele on both coasts and that alone puts a target on his back. I think we need to start looking at anybody who’s on the come up who may have asked to fill a seat at the table and got rejected.”

  “You got a list of names?”

  “Not yet but I plan on getting with Jason to get some more info.” Skip sat back in his seat and smiled at Nefertari who scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

  “What?”

  “You’re starting to think like a leader, Tari. I like that. And I like your theory. If you and Jason can get me a list of names or known contacts I can start making family trips myself, if you know what I mean.” Nefertari nodded her head knowingly and for the duration of their mini-meeting, Nefertari and Skip made small talk and reminisced about the old days.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Jason sat behind Trent’s desk in his office and let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Shit wasn’t supposed to go down for us like this, Trent. We were supposed to go
out side by side with guns blazing off, on some real Mafioso type shit… Damn, man. I’m trying to wrap my head around this but something don’t add up, my dude. But I tell you what, as long as I got breath in my body and strength in my trigger finger Nefertari and Kiyan will forever be good and the niggas responsible for taking you away from us are going to burn in Hell.” Jason spoke to his friend as if he were standing right next to him and it took everything in him not to cry out of anger. Instead, he picked a stapler up off the desk and launched it clear across the room. Moments later, there was a knock on the office door which brought Jason’s anger down a bit as he turned and told whoever was on the other side to enter.

  “Mr. Hennessey, there’s a gentleman here to see you.” The receptionist Nancy said as she stepped into the office.

  “Who is it?” Jason asked her.

  “His last name is Zeeger, Ziegler, Zeize or something like that I might be mispronouncing it.” Knowing she was trying her hardest to pronounce Carter’s last name he softened up a bit by smiling and telling her to show him the office. Moments later, Carter came in sporting black denim jeans and a black V-neck shirt.

  “So y’all fools actually did it huh, Jay?” he said standing in the center of the office and looking around at the expensive furnishings.

  “Yeah, that crazy idea you thought would never work actually panned out for us.” Jason said matter-of-factly.

  “I’m proud of y’all. Forreal. I’ll admit I wasn’t down for the whole trucking thing, but it looks like you guys did your thing.”

  “Something like that, what about you Carter?” Jason asked taking a seat on the edge of Trent’s desk and motioning for Carter to take a seat in one of the chairs that faced it.

  “I’ve been blessed to say the least man. Around the time you and Trent were plotting to start this transportation company I was heading to Vegas to set up shop and man, that shit was a goldmine. If I wasn’t winning big in the casinos, I was moving product by the damn caseload it felt like. Vegas is an oversaturated market but, as long as you know you’ve got A1 product and a keen business sense, you can definitely dominate it. I know I did. I even met my wife Ashley out there, man.”

  “Your wife? Carter Ziegler is married? The same Carter Ziegler who smashed the whole cheerleading squad sophomore year of high school done settled down and got married? I never thought I’d see the day.” Jason teased and both men laughed thinking about Carter’s player days.

  “And believe it or not, she bagged me. Had my ass open for real. You’ve got to meet her. She’s a nurse.”

  “And she’s a smart chick too? What the hell does she want with you?” Jason continued to tease.

  “I know you wasn’t crazy enough to let Chase slip away so how’s about the four of us have dinner tonight. Zieglers treat.”

  “I’m down.” Jason said never one to turn down a good meal. The men continued to talk inside the office, but everything was brought to a halt when Jason’s cell phone rang.

  “What?! Which one? Well where the hell were you?! Sit tight, man I’m on my way!” Jason hurriedly disconnected the phone call and grabbed his keys out of the desk drawer.

  “Jason, man what’s up?” Carter asked jumping out of his seat in concern.

  “Some fools just ransacked one of our spots. Look man, I got to go, you can see yourself out." Jason got prepared to leave, but Carter's words stopped him in his tracks.

  "You need any help, Jay? You know I'm always down to ride for my boys." Carter said lifting his shirt up and showing him the gun he had tucked on his waist. Jason thought about it for a second then nodded.

  "Let's roll." And just like that the two men quickly exited the building en route to the spot.

  Chapter 9

  When Jason pulled up on the scene, the three workers in charge of the loading dock were sitting on the outside steps scared shitless. The one who had made the phone call immediately rose to his feet and tried to straighten up his demeanor to show no fear. The other two were visibly bruised up but their injuries were none of Jason’s concerns right now, he had left one of them in charge and that’s the one whom he wanted to deal with.

  “Yo, Rell, what the fuck happened man?” Jason asked as he walked up to the men. Carter was right on his heels just waiting for something to pop off.

  “Jay, I know this shit sound shaky man but at least hear me out.” Jason snatched the young man up by his collar and all but drug him inside the warehouse where they walked to the center of what was supposed to be a fully stocked weapons warehouse but instead they found empty pallets.

  “Jay, who the fuck are these dumb niggas y’all got who can’t keep they shit intact?” Carter asked sizing the young bulls up.

  “Ay fam, you don’t know me and my potnas like that!” one of the guys said walking up to Carter and before he could take another step Carter had his pistol resting on the young man’s neck.

  “Say what, little nigga?” Carter spoke through clenched teeth and Jason knew in this moment he had to regain control.

  “Yo, Mont watch your fucking mouth. You’re not in a position to be playing tough with anybody right now and Zieg, put your shit away, man. Not yet.” Turning his attention back to the young man named Rell, Jason looked him dead in the eyes. “Walk me through what happened.”

  “I was in the warehouse trying to get everything situated. You know with the renovations we just recently did, a lot of the brackets had to be rearranged so that they could hold more. I sent Mont and Jarred to receive the truck when it came in. This isn’t their first job so I figured they’d be straight. Mont said no sooner than the truck pulled up four niggas in masks pulled up in a van, hopped out and started pistol whipping ‘em. I heard some shit going down outside so I ran out to help and they pulled a rifle out on me. When one of em hopped in the front seat of the delivery truck he said “this is the start of a new era bitches! Tell your Boss the game is about to change.”

  “Y’all ever seen these fools before?” Jason asked.

  “I told you, Jay they was masked up.” Jason walked a few feet away from the men for a moment to collect his thoughts. Once he had gathered them a brief time later he walked back over to the group and stood directly in front of Jarred who had remained tightlipped the entire time.

  “You got something you want to say to me?” Jason asked calmly.

  “Nah, Jay I don’t know shit.” He replied nonchalantly. With a subtle raised brow, Jason looked in Carter’s direction and Carter sent a single bullet crashing into the young man’s cranium.

  “Fuck! Jay, man that was my cousin fam!” Mont yelled out in anger growing a look in his eyes that was filled with rage. In one swift motion Jason pulled a Desert Eagle from his pants and shot at point blank range.

  “How’s that for handling family ties?” He said sarcastically lowering the smoking gun. Jason glanced at Carter for a moment before turning his attention back to Rell who remained stone faced but Jason could tell by the way his body tensed up that he was shook.

  “Now Rell, I put you in charge because I’ve seen the work you put in on the streets. Your shit is usually A1, my dude, but this shit today can’t be going down on your watch. Now you see that trigger-happy fool over there?” Jason pointed at Carter and then back to him. “That’s my ace in the hole. You got twenty-four hours to find out where my shipment went or you’ll be with your boys saying what’s up to the man upstairs.” Jason released his grip on the young man’s collar but Rell was frozen with fear. Carter let off a single shot to the ceiling and yelled, “Move nigga!” and like magic, Rell snapped from his trance and hauled ass onto the streets of Chicago.

  “Do you really trust that he’ll find your shit?” Carter asked.

  “I’ve already got some fools over there at his girlfriend’s house. Trust me, he’s going to find my shit.” Jason said matter-of-factly. Excusing his self from Carter, he put in a call to the clean-up crew and shot a quick text message to Nefertari.

  “Hey, man, my crew is about to come
and take out the trash. I’m going to need a raincheck on that dinner with you and the wife, that’s cool?” Jason asked as the two men began to walk back over to his vehicle.

  “Yeah man I understand. Hey, handle your handle. If you need me, holler at me.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Jason replied as they both climbed back into the car and drove off of the scene. Jason was going to drop Carter back off to his car and then he was going to meet up with Nefertari downtown.

  Chapter 10

  “How big was the truck supposed to be?” Nefertari asked as she, Jason and Skip all sat in the back booth of discussing the events of what happened earlier that day.

  “1500 pieces. I told Trent we needed to switch up our delivery schedule.” Jason seethed.

  “I agree.”

  “Do you buy the young kid’s story of how it all went down?” Skip raised his eyebrow as he asked and then looked towards Jason for a reaction.

  “Yeah I do Skip. Rell ain’t just some dude from the middle of nowhere. Me and Trent groomed him ourselves. The kid’s loyal.” While Jason and Skip conversed, Nefertari was buried into her Smartphone.

  “I’m just saying the whole story sounds a little fishy, like whoever did it had an inside man… Tari, what do you think?” Skip asked after noticing she hadn’t given any input thus far. Nefertari tossed one finger up in the air signaling for the men to give her a moment before she locked in whatever it was she was doing on her phone and then sat it back on the table.

  “I’m not going to lie, Jay but it does sound sketch. But I know Rell and he’d never trade on Sven like that. Skip, do you remember Tremaine Waters, folks used to call him Slim back in the day?”

  “Yeah he was one of our top cats, fell off the face of the Earth when he got locked up though.”

  “He died in a prison fight back in 2010.” Nefertari added.

  “Jarell, or Rell as we all call him is his youngest son. He’s family.” Jason added. Before anybody could say anything, Nefertari’s phone pinged and she hurriedly picked it up, glanced at the screen and made her announcement.