Hustle Hard

by Martin Blaine

  “What the hell, Dana! This just could be J’s doing. I just told him the other day that Devlin was on some jealous shit with him.”

  “I don’t know J that well but from what I do know, he wouldn’t get in a shootout over some dumb shit like that. Would he?”

  “Maybe there’s more to it. I’m gonna call him and ask him later.”

  “There’s gotta be more to it than that.”

  “Maybe it was on some drug-related shit.”

  Bria immediately hopped on the defensive and turned to Dana wearing a nasty grimace. “You need to get one thing clear. Jaden would never, ever sell drugs. I know that for a fact, Dana.”

  Dana sucked her teeth. “Calm your ass down, Bria. Look, I wasn’t even talking about Jaden. Everybody knows Devlin pushes drugs all day every day.” Dana was surprised when Bria started crying heavily out of nowhere.

  Dana rubbed Bria’s shoulders and asked, “Is there something wrong, other than the shit with your man?”

  I called my uncle and ran the whole situation down to him in a few breathless minutes as Nick swerved dangerously through traffic. When Uncle Paul met us out in front the dealership, he circled the van and couldn’t believe we were still alive. I was stealing glances at sexy Cindy. Nick stared at her without shame. Cindy smiled back before they exchanged a handshake.

  “I’m Nick. Wanna show me around the lot?”

  She eyed him from head to toe before saying, “Right this way, Nick.”

  He had us pull the bullet-ridden van into a covered garage. “Ah shit! You’ve got this Econovan leaking all over the place.” He squatted and felt around a bullet hole. “So you’re in deep with Devlin, huh?”

  “Maybe, maybe not, we might have left him dead over there right off of Riverside. Their SUV flipped over.”

  “How much coke you got?” Uncle Paul asked.

  When I popped the trunk and showed him the goods, he got so happy, his eyes turned glossy like a supermodel dropped her panties for him. He laughed and said, “Do you know what this means, Jaden?”

  He dug a Swiss Army knife out of his pocket and quickly sampled the good.

  “You can really stabilize yourself and your people if you put this out there. Have fiends doing the moonwalk after they hit this right here.”

  I was hesitant about whole thing. Nick nudged me to roll with it but I wasn’t so easily swayed. Nick walked closer with Cindy by his side.

  “Come on, J. That’s tons of money right there. Think of your mother’s operation. Think of tuition for your sis when she graduates. We can’t just dump it.”

  I didn’t like the idea of pushing drugs but Mom had health troubles. Will and Cuban Rico were gonna hit back hard whenever they felt revenge was due. An idea hit me.

  “We need to keep our movements low under the radar. How about we get a little trial run in first?”

  Both of them looked confused.

  “This is the deal. You could buy what you want now while we push the rest of this white. We can put Eric on the grind for a while. Break it down slow so there’s not too much risk. We can put a few dudes on lookout. If we do well, we sell the rest. If not, it all goes to you. How’s that sound?”

  Nick nodded in agreement and hit up Eric on his phone to let him know the deal.

  Nick gestured, “I’m a call you,” when Paul had his back turned. We exchanged pounds and left the lot with four packs. We headed back to the neighborhood in another ride and had the cabin smoky with piff as soon as we on the highway.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  YOUNG GUNNERS

  Sitting before most of his crew, Will sucked his teeth and fixed his tie. He and his right-hand man Zeke were the only ones dressed for a board meeting. Will wore a double-breasted navy blue number with a black Chinese collar shirt underneath, blue diamond cuff links and matching blue crocs. Zeke wore a black three-piece suit with snakeskin shoes. Everyone else was dressed like a rapper. Will gave Zeke a look and Zeke handed him a heavy-link chain.

  “This nigga, Jaden, thinks I’m playing. To think this nigga took my girl and stole my car. He fucked up! I’m a kill the nigga! And y’all let him embarrass you…?”

  Will wanted everyone to think that he had them meet at a shipping dock to discuss plans and to share updates. He picked that location so no one would hear the screams of soldiers who had failed him.

  “Marlon, get your fat ass up here now. You know the penalty for failing, muthafucka?”

  Will had him sit in a metal chair in front of forty soldiers. The wounds on his face from slashes J left him were still pretty fresh. A few spots were infected. Will’s torture would be messy.

  “It-it wasn’t my fault, Will! We weren’t prepared for two other dudes to pop out of nowhere.”

  “Failure is unacceptable, Marlon!”

  He slung the chain back and clanked it across the fat man’s cheek bones. He growled from the pain. Will looked at the chain, disgusted; trickles of pus and blood dripped down his tool of torment. Marlon held his face and stared at his own blood on his chubby, shaky hands.

  “Y’all get the point now, right? Just because he failed the first time, he’s getting fucked up twice. First, by that young, wet-behind-the-ears nigga and now by me... Yo Zeke, hold this nigga up in the chair.”

  Zeke yanked Marlon’s arms behind the chair. He grunted, bucked but couldn’t break free. Everyone winced as Will slapped the chain against the fat man’s ribs. It took four strikes for him to beg him to stop.

  “Please stop Will!”

  “Shut da fuck up, fat nigga! I’m gonna beat the fat off your ass!”

  Will wrapped a fat link around his fist and popped him in the face to shut him up. Then he wrapped his other fist on the last link and gave Marlon shot after shot to his ribs. He squatted in front of him and pounded his round belly until he spat blood. One final swing to his cheek made him crumble to the floor.

  “That’s what failure gets you, fellas! Punishment! They should call me Will the Punisher from now on, right Zeke?”

  “Yeah boss. Will the Punisher. That’s got a nice ring to it.”

  Will squatted in front of Marlon and kicked him twice in the ribs.

  “Shut the fuck up, before I really give you something to cry about!” He turned to the others. “You know why Zeke stays fitted in the best suits and his bank account is fatter than this fat bleeding nigga? Cuz he never failed me. That’s why! He bled for me on the battlefield! Did a little bid just to get the job done! But I looked out for him. Hooked him up with a lawyer and he was good after doing his sentence. Had a ride, a bitch and a fat wad of cash waiting for him the day he got out. Show me some loyalty, get the job done and you’ll be taken care of. Class dismissed.”

  Two 19-year-olds in the back took Will’s words to heart. They even took notes the whole time. Chris and Mookie were hungrier than most, because even though they had long rap sheets, they had the shortest tenure with Will. Consequently, they yearned for a bigger piece of the pie.

  “Wait your turn,” Will would tell them. “Nothing happens before it’s time,” but they didn’t get it. Chris had a gambling habit that constantly put his limbs and family at risk. He’d lose a grand then take a hit on his wallet to get it back.

  “Let’s prove to Will that we the most thorough in this whole place, Chris.”

  “It’ll be just like high school, Mookie. Sticking up private school kids and shit, only we got real guns now. I wouldn’t even waste a bullet on none of them punks on the street. Word is bond, they ain’t worth the slugs.”

  Mookie and Chris were grimy and bound for jail from birth. They wore the scars to prove it, too. Mookie caught a deep slash from a box cutter across his forearm that anyone could see several feet away. The skin around the wound swelled and stayed that way as if he’d been branded at a fraternity. Chris got his cheek crushed in with a baseball bat in one drunken bar brawl, it was the only fight he ever regretted. His head seem to be slightly off-balance when he looked straight-on. A deep cut on
his forearm topped off his thuggish appearance.

  They were classmates since second grade and had a knack for bullying kids for lunch money. They maimed bigger kids with pencils and rulers, stabbed them with pens. They were searching for street cred.

  “Bet, let’s bust heads, my dude.”

  Twenty minutes later, they were at their stomping grounds on 145th and Edgecombe contemplating a way to start a beef.

  “Let’s hurry up and get to 143rd,” Mookie said screwing his red Angels baseball fitted cap down on his head. “I got a plan that’ll show Will that we’re the best out here. J clowned Will, so let’s go by his crib and shake him up a bit.”

  “I like your criminal mind, nigga. There’s always a bad idea floating around in there.”

  “Shit, you went out and set up some fresh beef, didn’t you?” Chris replied.

  “Of course I did. You ain’t built for it or sump’n, Chris?”

  He proudly lifted his shirt and tapped the handle of his Rueger.

  “Built for it? Nigga I was born for beef. I just had to double-check to make sure you weren’t gassing me up. First nigga to think about Will strange, is gonna take a few home with ’em. I put that on my mother.”

  They hit the street and hopped in a gray 2000 white Acura Integra. Mookie started the engine. He bought it for next to nothing.

  Chris rubbed the primer and asked, “You need to paint this car. Don’t no girls wanna ride around in a car without paint, nigga.”

  “I thought it through, nigga. We fuck around and bring heat on us, you know hurt somebody real bad or kill a nigga…”

  “Yeah, yeah. Go on, Mook.”

  “We can paint the car any color we want. Ain’t no guarantee we gonna get away with shit, but at least it’s betta than nuthin’, you know?”

  “Not a bad idea. Except you forgot one thing. You paying to paint that shit your fucking self, nigga.”

  He revved it up, hit the clutch, hit the gear and smashed the gas. The car zipped out of the parking space like they just pulled a robbery. Chris shoved him in the shoulder and voiced his concerns.

  “Calm your ass down nigga! You done made me burn a whole in my shirt with this blunt! I should whip your ass!”

  “Nigga you wish you could beat me.”

  “You trying to get us locked up? Crazy ass nigga.”

  In seconds, Mookie was already in third gear, sliding through lanes toward Jaden’s stomping grounds. 143rd and Amsterdam was bubbling with action. They circled the block and parked half a block away from my rest, scanning the scene.

  Young heads drank and smoked on steps in front of buildings. A few of them leaned and dented in hoods of parked cars while blabbing away. Bria, Veronica, Nick and I were doing the same thing. We were in the lobby of my building. A homeless couple got physical with each other and drew a small crowd.

  “Oh shit, don’t look. It’s them. He’s sitting there with his girl, too. Two birds with one stone, my nigga.”

  There were two sets of doors before gaining access to the apartment. Bria was close to me. Nick and his Puerto Rican Flavor of the Month were sitting on the steps, sipping a brew. I saw the two pull their hoodies over their heads. I felt something funny gong on.

  “You know those dudes that just passed, Nick?” Veronica asked.

  “Nah, he looked like he had a problem with you, though. Want me to straighten him out?”

  “Don’t be crazy, Nick. You know these young boys are packing nowadays and they certainly do not value life at all. Remember when that kid in grade school murdered the other one over some sneakers? That’s proof right there. These young kids nowadays don’t give a shit.”

  “Okay, act like you ain’t a teenager like the rest of us, Jaden.” Bria chimed in.

  Gripping her slim waist from behind, I whispered, “Yeah, but I don’t lay the pipe like a young’n do I?”

  She laughed when I gripped her and kissed her on the cheek, pressing all up on her sexy ass. I looked up and froze. They came up on the other side of the street. Something had to be up. I saw chrome flash and reacted. When my eyes met the driver’s, I knew it was a hit.

  “Run!” I yelled and yanked Bria toward me slamming my shoulder into the second door of the lobby.

  Nick pushed Veronica in front of him. It was officially on. He waited till they were at the elevator then pulled his piece and squeezed off three shots through the door to slow them down. Glass shattered and rained down on one of their heads before he made it to the second door.

  That slowed them down a bit. They were trapped between two sets of doors, with glass pouring on their heads. The shorter dude helped the other to his feet and kicked glass out of their way. One fell face first to the step and accidentally pulled the trigger, sending a stray bouncing off the tile floor through a lobby window. We all had to duck. We heard a scream but ignored it and dashed up the stairs with guns drawn behind us.

  When we reached the elevator we jumped aboard and pulled the door shut between us.

  Bria hugged my arm mad tight, shivering. We were all panting like dogs.

  “We’re going have to face them straight up. There’s nowhere to go but down once we reach the rooftop. Load up, Nick.”

  Heading upstairs, Veronica shook her leg and tapped her fingers on the wall. She was nervous. She lost it and lit a cigarette right there in the elevator. Bria kept it together but looked like she would burst into tears.

  “And don’t nobody tell me about smoking in the elevator! We getting shot at, y’all muthfuckas pulling out guns and shit! Papi why you get me into this? I’m only seventeen, I wanna live!”

  “Control your girl, Nick. She’s making me nervous.”

  “Vee, just stay cool, ain’t none of us gonna die, feel me? Ain’t nothin’ gonna happen to you, all right? Just trust me, babe.” His heavy breathing and the way he rubbed his brow with the nozzle didn’t help her at all.

  She threw her arms around his shoulders and asked, “You promise?”

  “I promise,” Nick said. He followed it up with a hug and a kiss.

  I didn’t see her face but could tell she was sobbing. We checked our safeties and clips and nodded at each other when we reached the 14th floor.

  “Girls, kneel and hug the walls. They might be waiting for us.”

  The girls did what was asked. I nodded at Nick and he nodded back. Two deep breaths later, I kicked the elevator door open and took aim at the first thing I saw moving.

  “Oh my dear God!”

  An old lady dropped her bags staring down the barrel of my Bersa Thunder and broke two dozen eggs on the floor. I apologized and checked the stairs. A second after I looked down the tight staircase a shot ran out inches from my head. I slipped on them same slimy eggs flat on my ass and nearly dropped my piece. Nick helped me up and screamed,

  “What the fuck! They fittin’ to kill us and you fallin’ and shit! Bust at these niggas, J!”

  He held his gun sideways and let off three shots down the stairs without looking. I lead the girls through the door to the rooftop and squeezed off two rounds. Once they made it through, I dragged Nick up there with me.

  Breathing hard as hell, Nick and I had the chicks hide behind a smokestack, about fifty feet away from the door, out of sight. Nick and I waited for the door to open. A fire engine was making all sorts of racket on the street level and covered up the noise when I told Nick not to fire until they were close enough. We planned on disarming them and if they didn’t drop ’em, they’d be dead where they stood. I didn’t like the sound of that plan at all.

  “Nigga have you fucking lost it? They nearly killed us back there!”

  “You’re right but there’s no going back when you catch a body, Nick. Let’s at least think about it before we have to do twenty-five in the pen, huh?”

  He agreed, then we both slid back into position. I got comfy on one knee and cocked my shit when I heard them stomping up the stairs. Nick took a few exaggerated breaths and ground his teeth and gently cocked his ha
mmer back. Them two homicidal youngsters kicked the door open wearing ice-cold grills on and started screaming at us to come out.

  “Y’all ain’t even got the nuts to pop shots at us straight-up. You might as well give it up and come out. We ain’t gonna hurt you or them girls you with. We swear!”

  He was in my line of sight. Nick gave me a face. He wanted to light up homeboy like the Fourth of July. The two young bandits paced around the rooftop pointing their guns at everything. When one of them dudes tripped on a wire, he looked back and spotted Veronica. I didn’t hear her whimpering until then. He yanked her to her feet by her pony tail and tugged it sideways, making her squeal in agony.

  “I got one of your bitches, homies! Now you gotta come out.” He gave them a few seconds before adding, “Oh? You don’t give a shit about her, huh? She just a slut! I guess you wouldn’t mind if I take a piss on her then, would you?”

  Veronica started bawling. Dude was undoing his belt. He was really gonna piss on her. His partner shook his head and laughed, saying, “You’s a crazy boy.” When he happened to shake his gun in my direction, I leaned back and tightened the grip on my piece. Nick walked out toward them with his gun cocked and aimed for dude’s head.

  “All right, you win, chief. She doesn’t have anything to do with this. Just let her go. Matter of fact, I know what’s going through your mind as we speak. You’re thinking you might as well do her, since the boys in blue are on their way. But think about it. Why risk life in the bin over some shit you didn’t have to do?”