by T. Styles
Spacey nodded and did as he was told. Within seconds, he squinted. “Dad, I think I see something.” He pointed at the computer.
Banks looked at one of the camera angles in the hallway leading to the basement and saw a familiar face. “Is that Garret?” He said to himself.
“I think that’s the one who grabbed her outside,” Spacey said.
“I know, but I didn’t see his face at first.” Banks tapped his shoulder. “Move over.”
Banks knew him well. Garret used to cop coke from Mason, but when he killed one of Garret’s men, he went over Mason’s head to go directly to Banks. So He didn’t understand how they reconnected because Banks, hating disloyalty, let Mason know.
Spacey rolled the chair out the way so that Banks could put his in front of the screen. “Wow,” Banks shook his head and glared. “This nigga stabs him in the back and they—”
“There Minnie go right there!” Spacey yelled pointing at the computer.
Banks smiled and removed his gold composition book. Next he toggled to another screen on his computer. Entering a few keys, he sat back and waited as a timer moved backwards from 120.
Spacey tried to understand what was happening but was confused. “Dad, what’s that?”
Banks grabbed his cell phone and made a call. “Meet me in the foyer.”
When the call was over Banks continued to focus on the screen. “Be ready, Minnie.” He said to himself. “Be ready.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
TWO MINUTES EARLIER
Garret walked toward the basement door using his phone for light and tried to turn the knob to enter. But the heavy steel frame would not provide him entry. So he knocked once.
“Stay armed,” he told one of his men who followed. “I don’t know who in there.” He looked at Minnie Wales and wondered if she had made a move and killed everyone inside.
“Whoever you are, if you don’t get the fuck from in front the door I’ma blast a hole in you!” Mason yelled.
“It’s me,” Garret yelled, placing Minnie in front of him as a buffer, just in case. “Open the door, man!” He looked back at his soldier. “It’s cool. You can put it down now.” The man complied and Garret focused back on the door.
“Garret?” Mason said from the other side. “What you doing here?”
“I was coming to tell you what happened with Vanguard.”
“Why you in them vans?”
“Because we needed unmarked cars and came straight over here from Vanguard’s block!” Garret continued. “Now open the door so I can talk to you.” He squeezed Minnie’s arm and she screamed. “Plus I got the girl.”
A few seconds later, Mason opened the door but twelve barrels were aimed at Garret from inside. Nobody fully trusted him.
“Aye, what ya’ll doing,” Garret said raising his hands in the air. “We come in peace!” He cut the light off his phone and tucked it in his pocket.
Slowly Mason lowered his gun and yanked Minnie inside, while his sons kept their weapons trained on Garret.
Arlyndo rushed up to Minnie and pulled her into his arms. But she wasn’t feeling him and instead wiggled away and sat on the sofa next to Jersey.
Garret walked inside the basement and instructed his man to remain outside.
“What’s going on?” Garret asked. “And why the power out?”
“We thought it was an ambush,” Mason said.
“Well how you know it ain’t?” Garret said playfully.
Mason frowned. It was a bad joke. “Why you here? We already know Tops ain’t hit, Vanguard.” He paused. “So what you want?”
BOOM!
Suddenly one of the arcade systems exploded followed by another one inside the basement. It was a light bomb but did some damage as small shards of shrapnel flew everywhere. “RUN!” Mason yelled as everyone hit it for the stairs leading out the basement. “WE UNDER ATTACK!”
“YA’LL CAN GET IN MY VANS!” Garret instructed.
Everyone charged up the dark stairs and toward the foyer.
Once outside, they could hear explosion after explosion as they loaded into the rides.
“What’s happening?” Jersey screamed. “I don’t understand!”
“Ma, come with me,” Howard said placing her in one of the three vans in the driveway where he, Jersey and Patterson piled inside.
Linden, Tops and Arlyndo were easing into another vehicle when suddenly Arlyndo looked around. “Where is Minnie?”
Mason’s eyes widened as he looked around. Once again she had gotten away. “Tops, you go after her!”
“I’m on it!” He ran off toward the woods surrounding the property.
BOOM!”
Another explosion let off in the house. “Get in the van, Arlyndo!” Mason yelled shoving him inside. “Now, before the entire house blows.”
“What about Minnie?” He continued to scream.
They were the only two standing in the driveway as the remaining vans took off.
Arlyndo’s heart was beating as he tried desperately from where he was standing to spot his girl and Tops.
“I need my—”
Mason shoved Arlyndo inside by the back of his head for his own safety.
Once Mason and Arlyndo were inside, the driver took off right before another explosion took out all of the windows. As the vehicles rushed from the property, Mason could think of only one person responsible and he felt stupid for giving him access to his home.
It was too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
10:03 PM
After setting off the bombs on Mason’s estate, destroying his entire home, Banks ran toward the front door with Stretch at his side. He had to hit the road. Normally Rev would be driving but he felt only he could get to Mason’s house quickly enough to find Minnie.
Time was of the essence.
The fucked up part was that during all of the excitement, with both men trying to locate Minnie while she was on foot, Ericka had slid in the backseat of the truck.
Banks would’ve shoved her out himself, but by the time he noticed her he was halfway down the road. There was no time. Instead he sped down the street headed toward Mason’s house on a mission.
Stretch kept time with his wife by crawling in the backseat when they spotted her.
After detonating the bombs, so that Minnie could escape, he needed to pick her up.
“I want to ask you both something,” Ericka said huffing and puffing from the backseat. She had been waiting for them to say something, even if it was why she was there.
But they maintained their silence so she broke first.
Banks glared at her from the rearview mirror.
“Not now, Ericka,” Stretch said, keeping his eyes peeled out for Minnie. “You shouldn’t even be here.”
“Well I have something I want to talk to you both about,” she continued.
Banks looked at her periodically from the rearview, but his focus was clear, to find his daughter.
“What is it?” Stretch asked.
“Did you fuck Bet?”
Banks shook his head.
He knew it would eventually come out and he even told Stretch to bring Ericka on board about their agreement. But Stretch feared she would never sign off on him fathering Banks’ children, and he really wanted to do the favor for the boss.
Yes he fucked Bet. But Banks was there each time, kissing her lips. For some reason seeing Bet get banged out was easy for Banks. But he knew it would’ve never gone down with Nikki.
His heart could not take it.
Stretch ran his hand down his face as his chest pounded. “What…what are…you talking about now?” He stuttered.
“You did didn’t you?” She asked glaring at him.
Stretch looked out the window. “I can’t believe you doing this. When you know what we going through right now. When you know what’s at stake.”
“Banks, did you know about this?” Ericka continued. “Did you know your wife fucking my husband?”
Silence.
She had her answer.
“You did didn’t you?” She felt like the breath had been knocked from her body. Everybody was in on the joke but her. “What’s wrong with your dick that you can’t get your own wife pregnant?”
Silence.
“I can’t believe this,” She looked down and cried softly. “I wanted more kids and you gave the Wales many!”
The thing was neither Stretch nor Banks had time for her tears.
“Ericka, I’m warning you,” Stretch said.
His temples throbbed just thinking about how this would fuck up things for him and Banks’ already torn relationship. He had worked so hard to seal his position and now all he did was cause Banks grief.
“You warning me and so what?” She yelled like a maniac. Her eyes were red and tears streamed down her face, leaving tracks in her makeup. “Fuck you think you gonna do to me?”
Banks considered pulling over and yanking her out, but again she wasn’t priority. But Stretch had better do something soon, or he would.
“Ericka, please, don’t make me hurt you,” Stretch said. “Please.”
Ericka laughed harder, her voice sounded like a thousand nails running down a chalkboard. “You don’t have the fucking balls to do anything to me. You about a stupid ass—”
Suddenly Stretch wrapped his hands around her neck, crawled on top of her and squeezed.
“Fuck is you doing?” Banks yelled, for the first time breaking his silence.
But this time Stretch wasn’t answering the boss.
He snapped.
And there was no turning back as he unleashed everything he felt that moment. Disappointment in himself for betraying Banks, an extreme irritation with his wife and the pressure of failure.
“Fuck…you,” Stretch continued as he squeezed harder. “Fuck you!”
Although Banks was annoyed, for some reason her silent death put him at ease. He needed peace and received it with each squeeze. And as a result he was able to make it to the perimeter of Mason’s house, without further interruption.
When he was as close as he could be to the Lou’s demolished property without detection, he parked on the side of a dark road and turned out the lights.
For a moment he and Stretch stared at one another.
“She’s dead,” Stretch said, as sweat rolled down his forehead. That was evident. “I killed her. I fucking killed her.”
“We’ll dump her later.” Banks said. “For now let’s go find my kid.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Deep in the woods, Tops could see his prey.
He had been tailing her from afar all night.
Her presence would’ve gone unnoticed to a less keen eye. Mainly because she crept. Still, her heavy breathing, laced with knowing that death was imminent, stuck out like blood in white snow.
But something else was happening.
As he watched her move frantically, through the rough thickets, he grew aroused. Some would say if the past dictated the future, his actions weren’t his fault. Besides, he became a mad man at the age of twelve, when he saw his grandmother strangle his mother, her daughter, with bare hands. Just to gain access to a monthly welfare check. Instead of being horrified, he relished in seeing his mother take her last breath and longed for that sensation ever since.
It wasn’t like she was the best person in the world to begin with.
Tops’ mother, a Jewish woman with thick blonde hair, had given her soul to crack cocaine, forsaking all others. Because of the lack of parenting skills, he had been passed around to women looking to get sexual gratification from a boy child.
But seeing his mother’s murder vindicated his dark soul.
As he watched Minnie try to escape with her life, he dipped into his pants and past his bushy hair. When he found what he was looking for, he grabbed his sweaty damp penis, and nudged it as a woman would her alcoholic husband who was late for work.
Within seconds he was aroused as he watched a frightened Wales from afar.
****
Within the woods, Minnie had gone as far as she could.
Sweat poured down her face, blurring her view as she focused on the steep hill that would consume her if she fell into it. She was about to go back where she came, toward Mason’s mansion, figuring they were gone. But when she saw Tops jerking off behind her, fear struck her to the core.
Afraid for more than just her life, in one horrifying moment she understood everything her father tried to shield her from. From showing her how to fight, to warning her to be careful who she gave her heart to…Banks made sure she was prepared for this moment. And now she regretted the day she ever separated from those who loved her.
If she were to survive, she swore she would rise and be a queen whether in coke or any other venture she tackled in life.
Just to make Banks proud.
And if she ever saw him again, she would wrap her arms around him and tell him she was sorry.
“Who are you?” She screamed at Tops. “What are you doing?”
An owl hooted.
He remained silent, as he jerked his long hairy penis.
“What you want from me?” She yelled louder.
“A taste.” Tops said in a voice so deep, it rocked the sleeping fowl above in the trees.
With eyes planted on him as he inched closer, branches crackling under his feet, she backed up without considering what she knew. That behind her was a steep black hole that was waiting to devour her.
And still, struck with fear, she moved her left foot rearward and plunged into the darkness.
Screaming all the way.
****
Banks crept through the brush on the outskirts of Mason’s property. Knowing full well that if Mason or one of his goons spotted him it would be the equivalent of being the sole winner in a billion dollar lottery.
They wanted him that badly.
But what could he do?
At the end of the day he would put his life on the line to find his daughter and that’s exactly what he was doing.
“You sure she out here?” Stretch whispered, walking behind Banks a little too closely. “Because, because, it looks like she wouldn’t be here, man. I think we should go back.”
Silence.
“Because it’s mostly, mostly dark out…out now,” Stretch stuttered. “Don’t seem smart for her to be out alone. Yeah, I think we should definitely leave and come back when it’s light out.”
Banks continued to push through the dark woods surrounding the Lou’s property. Of course he heard Stretch, but he was done with him a long time ago. From the moment he let loose that his kids were born from his sperm, he secretly started hating him. Not because he was jealous. Banks was far from envious.
He despised Stretch because he had handled his secret recklessly, and that brought his family undue stress.
“What’s that over there?” Stretch asked, eyes wide with fright. “I think I saw something moving, man. You don’t think its Mason and them do you?” Although he was talking non-stop, what he was really trying to do was keep his mind off the fact that he murdered his wife.
And what was he going to tell his daughter?
Shay already showed characteristics of being a troublemaker in the making. Without her mother, what would become of her now? He couldn’t be the father she needed while also worrying about falling out of Banks’ good graces.
“I think we should go back, Banks. You know I always tell you the truth. I think we should—”
“Shhh!” Banks yelled, throwing a palm in his face when he heard a noise.
Stretch’s eyes widened more as he tried to see through the trees and darkness. “What is it?” He whispered. “What you hear? You think you see, Minnie?”
Banks glared at him. The constant chattering was more than annoying. It was crippling.
“Sorry, man,” Stretch continued. “I’m just worried that’s all.”
Banks moved further into the woods, toward
the sound. He could hear branches breaking and wondered if his daughter was near. When the sound grew louder, he moved quicker but halted when he saw a family of deer nearby.
Seeing Banks and Stretch, they hopped away.
“Fuck,” Banks said under his breath. All hope was gone.
“What you wanna do now?” Stretch asked, wishing he would say go home.
“Let’s go back,” Banks said.
Relieved, Stretch smiled and turned around. But the moment his back was turned, Banks reached into his waist and removed a .45 handgun. Pointing it at Stretch’s head, he pulled the trigger.
Without hesitation.
Annihilating the birth father of his children.
Blood splattered against his face, similar to when Dennis killed Arlyn. Much was evident in that moment. In a twist, Banks was becoming his father. The man he had grown to hate.
Now…
Where was Minnie?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Mason paced the floor of one of his many decrepit houses in Baltimore city. Inside the room was Garret and Linden who were waiting on news from Tops.
Did he find Minnie or not?
When Tops finally pulled up, everyone focused on the door as he walked inside. His body was so large his head brushed against the crest of the doorway. And the pressures of his steps were so heavy they made indentions in the floor as he moved.
Standing before them he took a deep breath. “It’s done.”
Mason frowned. “What you mean it’s done?”
“What you asked me to do.” Tops said. “I’m telling you I took care of her.”
Mason wiped his hand down his face. Was he hearing him correctly? “Hold up, you telling me you killed…that you killed Minnie?”
Silence.
“Say something, man.” Linden said. “Ain’t nobody paying you to stand there and look—”
“Yeah!” Tops nodded. “I killed her okay.”
Everyone wiped hands down their faces.
“I told you to bring her to me!” Mason roared. “Why would you kill the one person we could use as collateral? And so soon? Don’t you realize that nigga got my son?”