by Brick
“What’s going on?” I heard Kenya ask by my side.
Fuego’s appearance meant that he had escorted someone here. That someone casually walked through the door with a large plastic case. Running my eyes over the newcomer, my jaw clenched. I had seen her briefly at the family safe house, standing off at a distance by my father’s request. She had dark hair with strawberry blond highlights and blunt bangs across her forehead. Her hair was pulled back in a knot at her nape. Sharp kohl-lined dead eyes stared at me. By how she carried herself, with power in her midnight blue suit and heeled boots that carried her with a lethal purpose, I knew that I was staring at my father’s favorite: Lilith.
Walking toward my father, behind her, were two of Dame’s watchers, some fools I heard him call Pookie and Slammer. They rolled two tires toward us. There were no rims, just the outer rubber rings. My lips curled upward at the corners. I then turned toward my father. When he gave me a nod of approval, I mentally readied myself for what I had to do.
“Tone? Did you hear me? What’s going on?”
A wonderful warmth spread in my stomach. It had my abs constricting and my spine becoming straighter. I glanced down at Kenya and I softly said, “My turn to get some answers.”
Lilith pointed toward Pookie and Slammer to put the tires near Dame. She then ordered them to exit, which they slowly did. Both fools casually looked around. They slid their hands in their pockets as if they had no cares then glanced at the other three members of their crew. An odd exchange occurred between them but it was quickly squashed. Whatever that was about, I didn’t care. When Pookie and Slammer made their exit past Fuego, he ordered them to go back to their posts.
At that moment, my gaze went to Fuego. He gave another salute then closed the door from outside.
“I have what you asked for,” Lilith stated while presenting the big black case. Her black leather gloves opened the case and she held it out for all to see. “Our people also inspected their homes and the location where these two met our enemy. It panned out as they said. We might have to lie over near Augusta.”
“More networks?”
“Sí. We believe he has a few more, but barely.”
“Hmm.” My father rubbed his chin in thought.
Something seemed to spark in his eyes then he turned my way. “Son, is this what you need?” Caltrone asked.
I felt Lilith’s eyes on me. Her gaze was harsh as if she were absorbing every bit of me to her memory when I walked up on them. A huge part of me didn’t like that; however, I was used to it. It was how my father trained his women. She was, in her own way, challenging me and when my gaze locked squarely on her she backed down as my jaw clenched. I knew that what she saw in me was my father’s ghost. I wasn’t okay with that, but if I had to play the game and show that I was his, then I’d do that.
Once that was handled, I gave a curt nod then held my hands out for the case. “Yes, this will do.”
“Good. Now end this. We don’t have the luxury of time on our side. His trail will get muddled again if we dally any longer; and I received word that we have a Knight sighting in ATL. No bigwigs, but the fact that they sent in foot soldiers, pawns so to speak, tells me something is afoot.”
Shit, flashed in my mind. But, I nodded in agreement. I walked away as he spoke to Dame.
“Grandson, press home with your games and let him spill his innards. But, before that, turn him so that he can watch his friend.”
Dame turned in his chair, pulled on the guy’s chains, and positioned him so that they both could watch him. Tapping the hippie’s face, he smirked, “Now watch. I heard my uncle is crazy when pushed but this is a treat to watch him work. Haven’t seen this ever.”
“No,” the hippie moaned, barely alive anymore. Sadly, it fell on deaf ears.
Taking my seat, I stared up at the geeky one. The brother was so bludgeoned that his dark flesh was blue against his black skin. Setting my items out, I rolled my shoulders, then added on an extra set of black latex gloves. A cart was brought to me by Lilith. On it was a charged car battery. In the black case was a set of jumper cables. When I reached down, my fingers took hold of two copper wires. I straightened then looked up. “What’s your name, kid?”
Mr. Nerd ignored me. I knew by his breathing that he hadn’t passed out.
“Please, don’t have me repeat myself.”
When his eyes rolled under his heavy lids, I knew that he was mentally battling with his own will to stay alive and trying to stay coherent. “No One,” was all he said.
I chuckled low. I accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to say a damn thing, so I reached for a plastic bottle, squeezed it, and smelled the sharp scent of lighter fluid as it saturated him. When No One hissed, I stood and walked up on him. “I’m a doctor. I’m just trying to help you.”
We all knew that I wasn’t there to help, but I said it just to add to the mind games. No one believed the latter part. So, when No One spit on me, I sent my fist into his gaunt rib cage.
“Fuck you,” I said manically. My pearly whites flashed in glee. I stared into his face. “Remember this face even in your death, motherfucker. Yeah, we all say that, but it never happens, right?” I taunted then pressed my hands together in prayer, giving a Hail Mary.
When I dropped my head to look at him, my dark eyes bore into him. I snatched hard at his belt buckle, rattling his jeans. The moment I did that, the kid started hollering.
“Wait, wait. No, please,” he stammered.
How cute. Now he was scared after the medieval shit we had done to him. Really? I chuckled then dropped my hand only to snatch his hand. I was falling into darkness and there was no turning back. With an unnerving swiftness, I pushed the copper barb under the bed of his fingernail. The more this went on, the easier I dropped into my zone.
Damn, don’t let me get in my zone.
“All you have to do is talk,” I cajoled.
“But we said that we don—”
Another copper barb. His screaming became my melody. We continued the back-and-forth until I had wires sticking out from all his fingernails. I thought about his feet, and decided to go there as well. Once done, nigga was Edward Scissorhands.
Turning, I sighed. It was time to kick things up a notch. I picked up the cables. “I just want my daughter back.” With a clink, I let this fool see that they were charged. “I just want to put Keith’s skin on a mantle. So, what am I going to do about that?”
Mr. Nerd’s body began to quiver. He shook his head. I looked behind me toward Robin Thicke then smiled.
The hippie let out a shout that would break the average man’s soul. But for me, Dame, and probably Father, all it did was make our dicks hard.
“Dennis. No.”
Pop, sizzle, snapppppp. The sound of Mr. Nerd turning into an electric fence was all I was greeted with. Oh, yeah, and the fun seizing of his body. Lilith stood by the battery cart with a menacing grin.
“Brotha got the moves, huh?” My attention had returned to Mr. Hippie. When I strolled toward him he jerked and tried to get at me, I guessed. Stupid move. Because all it did was pull at his flesh more.
“One more hit,” I said to Lilith and she obliged.
Pop, pop, snap, pop, sizzle.
Spit foamed at Mr. Nerd’s mouth. The thick substance drifted down the corner of his mouth and fell to the dirt. Bloodshot eyes rolled so deep in his skull that I thought the pupils might be lost. I waited for his body to stop its rock-steady seize. My fingers snapped with a frown.
“Dennis, wake up. Your boy wants you to suffer more.”
Mr. Hippie’s wails started again. It had me motioning to Dame’s goons. I knew if I hit Dennis again, he’d die on the spot, and I needed him a little more lucid. So, I slowed my roll a pace.
Dame’s henchmen came my way with the tires. When I locked eyes on the one with locs, I could see how he studied my battery and the method I used to electrocute Mr. Nerd. I smirked and walked over to the tires. Resting a hand against them I sighed
.
“Look, that was a low charge. Something just to let your boy—Dennis, is it?—know that I’m tired. Are you tired?”
Mr. Hippie gave a nod.
“I mean, then what are you going to do about that? I have an idea, but you can stop me, if only you talk.” Mr. Nerd’s coughs sounded. I looked his way. “Yeah? What do you have to say, Dennis?”
“He drove off in a Chevy. License plate . . .”
I glanced to where my pops nodded, letting me know that he had the information.
“He has a house . . .”
“Yeah. Yeah, used to brag about it to us.” Mr. Hippie added. “Was his grandparents’, I think?”
Rubbing my jaw, I shook my head in fake disbelief. “Well, shit. You two knew him deeper than I thought, huh?”
When both fellas became quiet, realizing that they just erred by getting too talkative, I chuckled then ran my gloved hands over my face. “Shit, I’m just so tired.”
“I can give you his number,” Dennis pleaded.
As I walked to him, he didn’t see when I motioned behind me. The big one came to my side holding the tire. “Collar him,” was all I said.
The boy shook and screamed, not sure what was going on.
“Him too.” I pointed to the hippie. “See, we already have his number and since you two clowns dragged this shit out, and wasted our time, shit’s gonna happen.”
“Probably on his orders,” Dame interrupted. “I know it’s some shit I’d have my goons do.”
He was right. “Exactly. So, because of that, we have all we needed. Pack up, family.”
Staying where I was, I waited until everything was cleared up. Eventually, while they did so, I reached in the black case. I pulled out a tub which had a clear gel-like substance in it. Walking up to each nigga, I slathered the gel that was in the tub on the inside of the tires.
“Oh shit, are you anointing them, Uncle? What are you about to do?” Dame asked in glee.
There was nothing for me to acknowledge by what he said. I walked slowly by and splashed each one with more liquid. The weight of the tires on their shoulders was enough to make them slump pulling at the hooks in their flesh. Their pain was palpable. The fear was intense and through it all I lost my humanity to where I didn’t give a damn.
It didn’t take long at all for our presence to be cleared up. In the end, my family stood behind me once I was done. As I stared at the two who had helped in keeping me from my daughter I reached in the case pulling out two long matches.
Lighting them, I gave a nod. “We bid you adieu and thank you for the informative information.”
Urgent pleas sounded. When I tossed the matches at both men, their screams became a song again as flames burst around their heads. Rings of fires made their heads look like lamps as their faces melted away from the intense heat. Eventually, the fire would ignite the rest of their bodies, then the can that was nestled in the black case. That can contained a flammable liquid that made fire burn so intensely that it’d leave no trace of DNA, bones, or anything else in its wake.
A solemn sigh came from me. I looked to my father then Kenya. “We have his phone. We have his car. We know that he has property. Let’s go.”
Kenya tugged at my arm. “Where did you learn that?”
I gave a shrug. “Overseas.”
With the screams fading to nothing behind us and Augusta on our mind, we walked out leaving nothing behind but our vengeance.
Chapter 19
Father Rueben
I walked through the halls of the church, knowing that I had only one shot at getting the Knights off Carlos’s scent. It was as if they had a built-in radar where he was concerned. Carlos had pissed off a lot of people on his rise to the top. There was once a time when the beast in my little brother rested peacefully. Carlos had been content being the “good” guy, but then life happened. That was the lie I liked to tell myself, knowing full well that the beast that lived inside every Orlando male was hard to put to rest.
Emmanuel Knight stood in the same aisle Carlos had just hours before. He was flanked by his two sons. They all stood well over six feet and were built as if they were once Mandingo Warriors. Dressed in tailored black suits and dress shoes with wing tips, his sons looked every bit like him, even down to the different colors of their eyes. One brown eye and one blue eye would always be how people knew Emmanuel Knight. His brown locs were pulled back and he stood regally, as if he ruled the world and all its inhabitants. There was a black cape around his shoulders that resembled a king’s robe. His hands formed an upside-down pyramid in front of him. He, too, was dressed in all black. The Knight family emblem—a king chess piece for Emmanuel and two knight chess pieces for his sons—was etched on each of their lapels.
Emmanuel and I regarded one another with caution. Priest or not, I was still an Orlando and he was still a Knight. There was equal respect, but there was also equal distrust. From the east and west of the church, more priests filled in behind me. They flanked me as his sons did him. They stopped walking once I made it a certain distance from Emmanuel just as his sons took steps backward, out of respect, so we could speak frankly.
“Emmanuel, to what do I owe the honor?” I asked, speaking his name with the diction and enunciation he was known to do when people pronounced his name incorrectly.
“Father Rueben, how are you?” he asked, eyeing me.
“I am well, and you?”
“I’d like us not to beat around the bush.”
“I’d like the same. This is a place of worship and I’m sure you’re not here to do such. So again, I ask, how are you?”
“A bit disturbed.”
I gave a wry smile. “And how does this involve me?”
“Caltrone was on my turf without the proper etiquette.”
“I am unaware of what etiquette you speak, Emmanuel.”
“Set rules dictate that he should make his presence known, as I do when I come to Cuba, sí?”
“If we were in Venezuela, your homeland, I’d understand your concern.”
“Let us not play semantics, Father Rueben. This is my territory. When I go into Atlanta, I make my presence known. When we go into Miami, or anywhere else he has laid claim as ruler, we do the same. He sets foot in California and not a word? Am I to assume he is up to no good?”
“You can assume what you will, but I would suggest you not make an ass of yourself in the process. How would you know if Caltrone was here?”
“Word around is that his people snatched up a young lady around the area. I find it too coincidental that now one of my nieces can’t be located,” he said, eyes darkening as he said that last part.
“Your niece goes missing and it is my brother who is at fault? My brother, who isn’t in California at the moment?”
“At the moment?” he questioned. “So he was here before?”
“Those words never left my mouth, Emmanuel.”
As alpha males, leaders of our own factions, we both recognized that there was a battle of wits going down. He gazed at me, and I at him. Our eyes never left the other’s. I kept my hands underneath my robe for a reason. Same as he kept his hands a certain way for a reason. Just as I knew his sons were armed, he knew my priests had more than the word of the Heavenly Father to fend them off.
“Have you taken your place in this rift, Father Rueben? I’ve always thought you to be the sensible one,” he said.
Just as those words left his mouth, Savoy pushed open the doors of the church. Behind him stood several men and women from his biker gang. Savoy, the baby of us brothers, smiled his most wicked smile. He was always ready for a fight, ready to kill at a moment’s notice. Their boots sounded like they were marching as they walked into the church. They all moved to the outside aisles, closing Emmanuel and his sons inside the circle of us. Savoy took his place just behind me, but a bit to the left. Emmanuel kept his eyes on me. He was unmoved. Same as I or Carlos would have been if the shoes had been on the other feet.
�
�Again, I do not know this rift you speak of. I have no knowledge of your missing niece. Neither can I speak on whether my brother was here. However, I can assure you, Caltrone has done nothing to your niece.”
That was the truth. Carlos hadn’t killed his niece. Antonio did. The tension in the church was thick, so much so that Emmanuel rolled his shoulders and cut his eyes around the room. He said nothing for a while, just stared me down. I returned the favor. He turned and headed toward the exit. Just before he walked out, he turned around and looked back at me.
With a sinister smile on his face, he said, “Tell me, Father, how is the beautiful Carmen Ortiz doing?” He showed all thirty-two of his perfectly white teeth. His natural canines were a bit longer than the average human’s, making him appear to be a bit supernatural, if you will. “I hear Miami is quite beautiful this time of year.”
He said that, then chuckled as he exited the building. I growled low in my throat, but kept my composure. It was an intimidation tactic on his part. He wanted me to know that he knew my secrets. That he knew where the one person I loved the most was.
I gave no response. Never allow the opposition to know your hand.
Chapter 20
Kenya
Augusta. Our next stop was Augusta. I felt something akin to elation wash over me. We were so close to Jewel. So damn close. I’d lost track of how many days or weeks it had been. It didn’t really matter. Jewel was close. So close. All I knew was that we left home in July and it was a few days before August.
I found it odd as hell that when Tone told Dame that those two men in the barn had sexually assaulted our child, Dame seemed to flip his wig. That was odd because it was well-known that he did the same thing to other girls and women. I guessed turnabout was not fair play when it came to the Orlandos.
I half listened as Caltrone spoke to Dame and Tone outside the truck. I didn’t care what they were saying. I just wanted them to hurry so we could move on to the next plan of action.
Once they were done talking, Tone climbed in the truck with me while Caltrone got back into the other truck with Dame.