Carl Weber's Kingpins

by Treasure Hernandez

  “So what is it, then?” Kafisa was now giving him attitude. During her stay on campus she had had two different roommates. She was curious to know which one Jameel was referring to even before she knew why he had brought one of them up.

  “I’m talking about your girl Nu-Nu,” Jameel shot back. “And picture me fuckin’ with her.” He laughed, already knowing what Kafisa was thinking.

  Even Kafisa had to laugh at that. She knew Nu-Nu wasn’t Jameel’s type. “You’re right,” she admitted. “So, what about her?” She was anxious to know.

  “If you ran into her now, you wouldn’t be laughing,” Jameel answered with a straight face.

  Kafisa immediately became serious. “What’s up with her?”

  “What’s up with her is that she doin’ her numbers down there,” Jameel offered. “I remember she used to always say to me, ‘If you see Kafisa give her my number’ like New York that fuckin’ small.” Jameel couldn’t help but laugh about that. “But who knew?” he added, still laughing.

  “Wow!” Kafisa was shocked by the news Jameel had just dropped on her. Nu-Nu? Gettin’ money? It blew her mind. Never in a million years would she have thought Nu-Nu would be gettin’ paper like that. Kafisa found it hard to believe, but she knew anything was possible.

  “I know, right?” Jameel said. “I always be messin’ with her, tellin’ her how I remember she used to be a li’l scary-ass broad, sniffin’ up under yo’ ass all the time.”

  Kafisa rolled her eyes. You have no idea, she thought to herself. She wondered if Jameel knew just how real his recollection was.

  “You want her number?” Jameel asked.

  “For what?” Kafisa scowled.

  “Hey, where I come from, in this game you can never have too many contacts,” Jameel replied, knowing he was right.

  “Who says I’m in the game?” Kafisa shot back.

  Jameel chuckled. “You want the number or not?”

  “Nah. I’m good,” Kafisa said, refusing it nonchalantly.

  “Okay. Well, take care and be safe out here in the Big Apple.”

  Jameel had no way of knowing what his words had triggered inside Kafisa’s mind. Take care? Be safe out here in the Big Apple? Kafisa let Jameel’s words dance around in her head. I can’t do shit in the Big Apple. All I know is Brooklyn, and that shit has been shut down over some blabbermouth bitch. How can I take care? So many thoughts invaded Kafisa’s mind, but one particular thought that popped in her head abruptly just then ended the internal battle she was fighting.

  Jameel had just reached the counter and was about to pay the bill when she called out to him. “On second thought, yeah, let me get her number.”

  Jameel flashed half of a smile and asked the lady behind the counter for a pen. He had a funny feeling that he would be seeing Kafisa again, only this time it would be in the South, and sooner than he thought. It would be my pleasure to show her around, he thought.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Oh my God! Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Kafisa had to remove the phone from her ear because of Nu-Nu’s reaction to her screaming her name so loud.

  “This better not be no fuckin’ joke,” Nu-Nu continued.

  “You forgot what I sound like?” Kafisa asked. She lamented her choice of words. She was sure Nu-Nu would take them out of context.

  “How could I ever forget what you sound like?” Nu-Nu replied. She had calmed down. Nu-Nu had recognized Kafisa’s voice. Her reaction had been over the top simply because she was surprised to hear from her after all these years.

  “How you been?” Kafisa asked. She had thought long and hard before she picked up the phone and dialed Nu-Nu’s number. Now she was ready to cut to the chase.

  “A bitch livin’!” Nu-Nu yelled into the phone. “I ain’t the same shy girl you remember,” she added.

  “So I heard,” Kafisa responded.

  “So you heard?” Nu-Nu said. It hadn’t dawned on her to ask Kafisa how she had gotten her number. Her tone became serious. “From who?” Nu-Nu wanted to know.

  “From Meel.”

  “Ooh!” Nu-Nu chuckled. “You had me scared for a minute.”Kafisa ignored Nu-Nu’s statement. She knew what she was implying. Just like Nu-Nu wasn’t the same person Kafisa remembered, Kafisa wasn’t the same person anyone in her past remembered. Where Kafisa came from, if Nu-Nu was in her midst, she would’ve slapped the taste out of her mouth for even implying that Kafisa might be trying to set her up or might be a snitch. Kafisa was in a predicament due to the fact that somebody couldn’t keep her mouth shut, so she didn’t appreciate Nu-Nu’s remark. Although she knew Nu-Nu meant no harm, it was still disrespectful to a boss with her status.

  “I heard you’re doing real well for yourself,” Kafisa continued. “So am I.”

  “That’s wassup. I always knew you would,” Nu-Nu told her. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Nu-Nu had been in the game long enough to recognize street lingo when she heard it.

  “I was thinking about coming your way with my two homegirls to see what it looks like down there,” Kafisa announced.

  “I hear that,” Nu-Nu replied. “So, you need a place to crash or something?” Nu-Nu asked, knowing that wasn’t the case. She was testing Kafisa.

  Kafisa chuckled lightly. “Nah. I’m straight with all of that. I just need some of your time. To catch up on old times and find out what’s going on now.”

  “Absolutely. We can do that!”

  Kafisa could tell by the excitement in Nu-Nu’s tone that she had read more into her words than what they meant. She sidestepped this and stayed on topic. If anything needed addressing, Kafisa decided she would cross that bridge when she reached it, if and when she got down there.

  “Cool. There’s a few things I needed to handle up this way before I take my vacation, but I’m almost certain I’m gonna come down,” Kafisa told her.

  “Okay, just let me know, so I’ll be on point,” Nu-Nu replied. “It’s going to be really good to see you,” she added. Maybe we can get some time alone too, Nu-Nu thought.

  “Yeah, same here,” Kafisa shot back, but while she had said those words just to say them, Nu-Nu had meant every word she had said and more. “I’ll be in touch,” Kafisa said.

  “Okay. Until then.” Nu-Nu hung up the phone, a wide-eyed smile on her face.

  After the call ended, Kafisa had mixed feelings about the conversation she and Nu-Nu had just had, but one thing was for certain: judging by Nu-Nu’s reaction to hearing from her, Kafisa knew it wouldn’t be hard to find out what Nu-Nu was into. Just like she knew it wasn’t going to be hard to get Nu-Nu to follow her lead once she got down to Columbia, South Carolina.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Both Halimah and Laverne sat on the living-room sofa in Kafisa’s condo with their arms folded, knowing this conversation might lead to a dramatic change in their lives.

  “What the hell we know about the South?” Halimah was the first to say. “I’m Brooklyn till I die!” she added with a bit of arrogance. She had been sitting on Kafisa’s sofa with a disapproving look plastered on her face while Kafisa filled them in on her meeting with C-Dub and her conversations with Jameel and Nu-Nu.

  Laverne, who now had the same disapproving look on her face as Halimah, nodded her head in agreement.

  “I feel like fuckin’ gettin’ locked up just so I can kill that fuckin’ bitch Jazz,” Halimah spat. She abruptly hopped up off the sofa. “All the shit we busted our ass to establish. All the work you put in out here in these streets, to have it all taken away over some dumb snitch bitch,” she ranted as she paced back and forth.

  “For real,” Laverne muttered, backing her up. “Why the hell we gotta pay for that bitch’s disloyalty?”

  Kafisa just stood there. If the situation was anything other than what it was, she would’ve told Halimah to sit her ass back down and watch her tone as she expressed her displeasure. Instead, she let Halimah and Laverne get it all off their chest before she spoke again. She u
nderstood their frustration and anger. She felt the same way they did. She couldn’t believe the chain of events that had led to her and C-Dub’s meeting at Junior’s. She knew that Halimah and Laverne wouldn’t be feeling the decision C-Dub had handed down, a decision that she had had to accept. Just like she knew that they were not going to be feeling her idea to take their show on the road until things cooled down in Brooklyn. She was fully aware that outside of two of the five New York boroughs, not including BK, they had never been anywhere other than the Brooklyn area.

  Kafisa looked from Halimah to Laverne, then back to Halimah. “Limah, sit back down,” she said. Her tone was calm. The last thing she needed or wanted was to fall out with her right-hand chick, especially since Halimah would play an intricate part in what she had in mind. She knew that without Halimah and Laverne on board, she couldn’t move forward with her plans.

  Halimah rolled her eyes and let out a gust of hot air in frustration. “This shit ain’t right!” she cursed. She plopped back down on the sofa and folded her arms across her chest. She had the same look that many ten-year-olds did when they were having a tantrum.

  “I know,” Kafisa offered to ease their emotions. “But this is what it is. These are your options. . . .” She paused for a brief moment. “It’s either roll with me or stay in BK and starve, because there’s no way you’re going to be able to do anything out here without me.” Kafisa paused again. “And to respond to one of your issues, you don’t have to know anything about the South, because I do. I know the area just as well as I know BK. What I don’t know, we can find out together. Overall, we have an opportunity to start all over again, build our own empire, and . . .” Kafisa hesitated. She had thought long and hard before she reached the conclusion she was about to share with her girls. “We won’t have to answer or report to anybody other than each other.”

  Now that they were seeing the big picture, Halimah and Laverne listened attentively. Kafisa had their undivided attention. She was their boss, but she had to answer to someone herself, and that someone had cut off Halimah’s and Laverne’s life support. Kafisa knew what they were thinking.

  “Don’t worry about C-Dub,” she assured them. “He doesn’t have any say-so or anything to do with what we discussing.”

  “So, where the hell are we supposed to get product from?” Halimah asked dryly.

  Kafisa had expected to be asked that question, and she had an answer for it. “Let me worry about that,” she told Halimah. “All I need to know is if y’all with me or what? Because I can’t do it without you guys.”

  Halimah and Laverne looked at each other, then back at Kafisa. Halimah shook her head and rolled her eyes. Laverne waited for her to answer. Although they worked for Kafisa, she and Halimah had come up in the trenches together in the Albany Houses projects, and Laverne had had Halimah’s back ever since. So, she was down with whatever Halimah was feeling.

  Kafisa grimaced. Judging by the look on Halimah’s face, she was in for a disappointment. She knew that convincing them to relocate to South Carolina with her was a long shot. Without them, she knew it would be harder and slower to execute what she had in mind. I’ve tried, she thought to herself. Now I understand what my dad meant when he used to say, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Halimah’s voice. “Okay. I’m in,” Halimah declared, agreeing to roll with Kafisa.

  A huge smile appeared on Kafisa’s face. She was well aware that if Halimah was in, Laverne would be too.

  “There better be money down there,” Halimah added.

  Laverne nodded in agreement, sticking with her girl.

  “We’ll all see.” Kafisa gave pounds to each one of her homegirls. “I promise you, we gonna eat, by any means necessary,” she confirmed, as any boss would.

  Halimah was the first to speak. “I’m with you.” Halimah stood up and hugged Kafisa.

  “Ride till we die, right?” Laverne mused, breaking their hug.

  “No doubt!” Kafisa smiled.

  After exchanging hugs with Laverne, Kafisa walked them to the door.

  Before stepping out the door, Halimah turned and asked, “So, when you tryin’a bounce?”

  “Before the week is out,” Kafisa replied. “I just gotta iron out some more details, but y’all might as well start packing now, though.”

  Both Halimah and Laverne nodded.

  “I’ll let y’all know a day in advance,” Kafisa assured them.

  After the three women exchanged good-byes, Kafisa closed the door behind her two partners in crime. It was as though a heavy load had been lifted off her shoulders. She knew the conversation and the end result could have gone either way. She was glad it had gone the way she had envisioned. Kafisa had successfully accomplished the first step of her plan, and now it was time to tackle the next step. Now is a better time than any, she thought.

  She scurried to her bedroom and made her way to the place where she had put the missing piece of her puzzle. She stepped into her walk-in closet and retrieved a small metal box she kept up on a shelf in one of the corners. She turned the mini combination lock twice to the right, then once to the left. Once the box was unlocked, Kafisa opened it and then rummaged through the important papers inside it until she reached the bottom. Once she found what she was looking for, she closed the box and put it back in its place on the shelf. With the sought-after item, a business card, in hand, she walked over to her bed and sat down. Kafisa looked at the card. She took a deep breath. It’s now or never, she thought as she flipped over the card, which Francine Costillo had given her years ago, and then dialed the number on the back.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kafisa waited on pins and needles while C-Dub pondered her idea.

  C-Dub cleared his throat. “I think that’s a smart move,” was the response she received from him.

  Kafisa had just informed him of her sudden decision to go back down to South Carolina and to take Halimah and Laverne with her. She had thought C-Dub was actually going to ask her a barrage of questions, so she was surprised when he didn’t. She was glad too. She didn’t want to lie to him. She had deliberately left out what her intentions were once she arrived in South Carolina and how she planned to execute them. Kafisa had thought long and hard about everything before calling C-Dub. She had reflected on the chain of events that had led her to reach out to him in the first place.

  At the time, she had felt it was the only way she could gain access to Brooklyn and carry out her father’s wishes. C-Dub controlled nearly 95 percent of the drug flow in the BK borough, which meant he had a lot of say-so when it came to who did and didn’t eat in the city. She had been right. After she had proven herself, C-Dub had opened up any lane she wanted to travel in, but now things had changed.

  Although the blame for her misfortune fell on her, the fact still remained that C-Dub had temporarily shut down every lane she had had access to over the past two years, which was why Kafisa felt that the less C-Dub knew about her plan for the future, the better it was for everyone. The last thing she needed was him getting on her about not laying low. Besides that, even if she wanted to, she couldn’t tell him her plan. Secrecy was a part of her agreement with Francine. One of the unwritten rules that her father had adhered to—and that the people with whom he had done business still adhered to—was to never reveal your connect. With Francine on board, there was no reason why she had to tell C-Dub anything about her upcoming business affairs. Kafisa knew he’d want her to give up her connect. She had proven herself to those who really mattered to her and her future. Although she loved and respected C-Dub for the mentor he had been to her, Kafisa felt she didn’t owe him any information other than what she offered.

  “I’m going to miss BK.” Kafisa sighed.

  “Fee, always remember, Brooklyn ain’t just where we from. It’s who we are. You take BK with you wherever you go,” C-Dub said, dropping a heavy fact on her.

  “That’s some r
eal shit,” Kafisa admitted. “BK for life fo’ sure,” she declared, pledging her allegiance to her home borough.

  “BK for life,” C-Dub said, following up with the same. “And as far as the girl Jazz goes, I’ll keep you posted. I got somebody on it, so no worries about it.”

  “Thanks for always havin’ my back, Dub.”

  “Don’t mention it,” C-Dub replied.

  “Okay. Well, I gotta go, but I’ll be in touch.”

  “Y’all travel safe, and remember to stay low while you down there. Don’t draw any unnecessary attention to yourself. Enjoy all that hot weather until things cool off up here, you dig?”

  Kafisa heard him loud and clear. She grimaced because she knew that was not her intent at all. She was a Jackson, and Jacksons were hustlers to the core. That was what she was born and raised to be. It was her destiny. She saw it all now. She knew now would be the perfect time to let C-Dub in on her plans, but she still felt the same as she had before as far as disclosing any of her upcoming plans for the South was concerned—despite C-Dub’s mentoring of her in Brooklyn. One had nothing to do with the other, Kafisa believed. Something her father had said often played over and over in her mind. Always make sure you’re the smartest person in the room.

  “I will,” was all Kafisa said before ending the call.

  You take BK with you wherever you go, reverberated in her mind. Yeah, I’ma take BK to the South, Kafisa said to herself as she scrolled down to Halimah’s name in her phone. She hit the CALL button, and Halimah picked up on the third ring.

  “Yo, y’all be ready by five in the morning tomorrow. It’s time to make it happen.” Kafisa oozed excitement. It was as if she already knew what lay ahead.

  “Damn, chick. Why so early?” Halimah asked, not thinking of the obvious.

  “I know y’all don’t want to be in traffic all the way down there, do you?”

  “You right. See you tomorrow morning, bright and early, boss,” Halimah said, assuring Kafisa they would be ready.