Once they’d gotten to room 903 and Ayana had let Tramar and Quan into the room with her, Tramar stepped out into the hallway. He called his boy Jackson to not only see where he was but to also let him know that he, Ayana, and his son had gotten a room at the Holiday Inn up by O’Hare. Jackson began to fill Tramar in with other details he’d seen at the motel, but decided that he’d just ride up to the hotel and see him face to face. Those kinds of details were too much to talk about over the phone.
When Tramar got off of the phone, he walked back into the room. Quan had already begun to flip through channels, stopping at some cartoons. Tramar walked up to Ayana and spoke softly when he said, “You think we can take him swimming down in the pool for a while? Jackson is on his way up here, and I wanna talk to him without Quan being all up in the mix.”
“Yeah,” Ayana responded. “When I walked by the pool, I saw a shallow end to it, I think. What happened? I wanna know… What happened?”
Tramar lightly kissed Ayana to try to help her calm down. “I’ll explain once Quan is in the water, okay? I’ll explain.”
“Is it that bad?” Ayana asked. She already knew the answer, but some sort of answer would at least affirm her fears.
Tramar looked into her eyes and did not say a word. He then looked to his son. “Quan,” he said, tapping on the bed, “You wanna go swimming, buddy? Did you pack your swimming trunks?”
“You know I do, Daddy,” Quan answered. “And yeah, I did.”
“Okay,” Tramar said, trying to keep his voice as positive as possible. “Go ahead and slide into them, and we can go downstairs and go swimming in the swimming pool, okay?”
Not having to be told twice, Quan jumped up and dug into his book bag for his swimming trunks. Once he’d found them, he rushed into the bathroom and put them on. For the few silent moments they had with one another, Tramar pulled Ayana closer to him. “I’m so sorry that you had to be pulled into this, baby,” he said, quietly. “I really am so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Ayana said, feeling brave. “You didn’t pull me into this, I was already in this.”
“At least they still don’t know that you involved and shit, so you should be good,” Tramar said. “No matter what we wind up doing, I wanna make sure that your name stays out of it, okay? We gon’ make sure of that. Jackson is on his way and while Quan is playing in the pool, I’mma fill you in, okay?”
Ayana forced a smile, realizing that she needed to be strong at a time like this. “Okay,” she responded.
A few minutes later, the three of them were heading down on the elevator. It was a quiet ride, with only Quan talking about how he was going to do this and that in the water. Like any child, he wanted his daddy to watch him so that he could see some of the things he’d learned with his uncle about swimming.
Once they got to the pool, Tramar and Ayana sat on the side while Quan played in the shallow end. They warned him to be careful and not to go too far over to the other side of the pool, where it was much deeper. Twenty minutes later, Tramar’s phone was ringing. He answered, telling Jackson to come to the back door of the hotel and that Ayana would let him in.
When Ayana came back to the swimming pool with Jackson following not too far behind, she could feel the tension. It was thick, and in such a way that made it obvious to her that they both were concerned for their lives. She noticed the way they continued glancing out of the window and at the parking lot. It was as if they were waiting on someone to pull up into the hotel parking lot at any minute.
Jackson approached his boy Tramar. The two shook hands and hugged. After Tramar checked on Quan, telling him to stay in the shallow end of the pool, he, Jackson and Ayana huddled by a chair and talked.
“Nigga, we gotta do something,” Jackson said. “My black ass barely got out of there my damn self. Man, if I had been probably a few minutes earlier, I woulda been in that motel room, probably gettin’ shot and shit.”
Jackson quickly went over what he’d seen at the motel, not only for Tramar but also for Ayana. Once he’d finished, Ayana couldn’t help but put her hand over her head. It was just too much to believe that the police, and possibly federal agents, had really done something like that. She then thought of herself, and how she would have been in that motel room, alone, if Tramar had not decided to swing by and pick her up on his way to pick up Quan from Precious.
“Man, I know, I know,” Tramar said, trying to think.
Jackson looked over at the pool. “There ain’t nowhere that you can put him?” he asked, looking at Quan. “I mean, you ain’t got no aunties or nothin’ that will watch his ass until we get done with this shit or what?”
Tramar shook his head, looking through his phone. “Not that I can think of,” he responded. “I mean, I got some aunties, but he don’t really know them all that well for me to be asking about doing something like that.”
“Well, nigga, we gon’ have to go to plan B and get the fuck outta Chicago as soon as fuckin’ possible,” Jackson said. “If they got the feds busting in our motel room doors like that, then there is no doubt that they gon’ have our black asses on the news by tonight and probably for the next few days or some shit. I mean, nigga, it was that many police cars.”
“Man, we gotta find this Byron nigga,” Tramar said. “We ain’t got no choice now. We gotta find this nigga and kill his ass to get my family back. I ain’t robbin’ no more banks. I can’t believe the shit that happened today at that fuckin’ small town bank.”
“You think you really killed the dude?” Jackson asked, not realizing what he was saying.
Tramar shrugged. “Fuck if I know,” he said. “I mean, I shot the dude in the chest, so there is a pretty good chance that I killed him and shit, but I really don’t know. Fuck, fuck, fuck. And how we gon’ find this Byron nigga if we don’t even know where the fuck he is?”
Jackson remained silent because he did not have an answer to the question. “Man, you know what we gotta do,” he said. “We gon’ have to set his ass up.”
“Set him up like tell him we got the money then rush his ass with bullets?” Tramar asked, trying to be very clear about what he was hearing. “Nigga, you know that nigga is smarter than that. He gon’ already be prepared for that shit. You really think he gon’ have us meet him at the very same place he keepin’ my daddy and my stepmama? Nigga, is you stupid? He prolly gon’ have us meet him somewhere and go from there. And if we ain’t got the money…”
“He ain’t gon’ say where they are,” Ayana interjected.
“Exactly,” Tramar said. “Naw, nigga. We gon’ have to figure out where the fuck he is, for real, though. And we gon’ have to figure out fast ‘cause you know the fuckin’ police is gon’ be swarming this city once they figure out that the same two niggas who robbed the bank downtown are the two niggas who robbed the banks in some small town in Indiana. Shit, we are probably even more wanted now than we was when we robbed the bank downtown. You know how them white people out in Indiana are. They gon’ make sure they get the niggas who came into their sweet little town and robbed a bank.”
“Yeah, you right about that,” Jackson said, shaking his head. “Man, I don’t know what we gon’ do. I mean, I think we need to just tell him that we got the money and shit and see what he say. If he say he wanna meet somewhere, then at least we know what the deal is. I think we outta just tell him and see what he say, so at least we know.”
“I agree with that, Tramar,” Ayana said. “Tell him we got the money and see what he say about it. What other option we got right now, baby? Y’all just said y’all don’t know where to find him or nothin’, right?”
“Right,” Tramar said, nodding his head.
“Well, at least if you do that, you will know something,” Ayana said. She then turned to Jackson. “Call that Byron dude and see what he say.”
Jackson pulled his phone out of his pocket as the three of them stepped further away from the swimming pool. After Tramar checked on Quan, he was all ears as the phone ran
g, and they waited on Byron to answer.
“Hello,” Byron answered.
“Yeah, nigga, you know who it is,” Jackson said. “We got your money.”
“Damn,” Byron said. “That was quick. Maybe y’all niggas should start a bank or some shit.” He laughed at the irony of such a statement. “Y’all got all one million or what? Cause I want my fuckin’ money.”
“Nigga, I said we got your money,” Jackson snapped back.
“Nigga, what the fuck you did with my family?” Tramar asked. “Where did you put them? Where they at?”
“Niggas, I’m the one callin’ the shots here,” Byron said. “And don’t worry about your family, nigga.” He snickered. “They in good hands. The better question is where are y’all niggas? You know that the fuckin’ feds are prolly lookin’ for y’all asses, right? Y’all the hottest niggas in Chiraq right now after that show you put on downtown yesterday. The news was playin’ that shit over and over again last night. They even was playin’ that shit when I got up this morning and shit. It was crazy, but I definitely see you two in the photos. Nice suits, though, niggas. Did you pawn them to get some money too?”
“Nigga, we ain’t call you to do all this chit chatting and shit,” Tramar snapped. “I’m tired of your fuckin’ games, nigga. Where the fuck can we come to you to give you this money? Where you at with my daddy and stepmama? I’m not handing you shit unless I see them first.”
Byron laughed out loud. “Nigga, I would kill these two niggas right now if I fuckin’ felt like it,” he said. “You know, I thought about going out to the gun range and practicing a little bit. Then, I thought that if maybe y’all niggas didn’t come up with my money, I could take my company out to this field I know in the country and have a little target practice with them running around and me shooting at them.”
“Nigga, let’s cut all the games out,” Jackson said. “We got your money, and we ready to come meet you and shit.”
“Okay,” Byron said. “I’m ready to deal if you two are.” He paused in thought. “Let’s do this. I’m kinda busy today, so today won’t work for me.” He chuckled. “But I can meet up with y’all niggas tomorrow. I will call you tomorrow, and we can go from there and shit. Y’all betta have my money, or y’all gon’ be a couple of sorry ass niggas.”
As the conversation with Byron came to an end, Ayana felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. At first, she was going to ignore it, but any information right now was better than nothing. When she pulled her phone out of her pocket, she saw that she’d gotten a text message from her cousin Sharli. It read: Girl, what is goin’ on with you? I just saw Tramar and Jackson on the news.
Without thinking, Ayana stepped away from Tramar and Jackson. The two men had noticed the way her face changed upon looking at her phone’s screen. Ayana walked about ten feet away and called Sharli.
“Girl, what are you talkin’ about you just saw Tramar and Jackson on the news?” Ayana asked when Sharli answered the phone.
“Girl, you ain’t know about this shit?” Sharli asked, sounding as if she were talking quietly up in her bedroom. “I just saw them on the news. They wanted for robbing banks…and Tramar is wanted for murdering one of the bank’s security guards.”
Ayana’s heart sank as she looked back over at Tramar and Jackson. The two men needed to ask no questions. The look on Ayana’s face said it all.
SNEAK PEEK: Somebody is Gonna Die
A Hustler’s Lady Book 3
Chapter 1
With the sound of Quan splashing in the hotel swimming pool fading in the background, all that Ayana could hear was her heart thumping. She now, officially, knew that she was in far deeper than she’d ever dreamt. As she was on the phone with Sharli, who had called to say she saw Tramar and Jackson on the news for robbing banks, every doorway into or out of the swimming pool facility became marked in her mind as a risk. At any moment, some boys in uniforms and suits could come bursting through them with guns drawn and ready to kill somebody.
Ayana’s words fumbled as Jackson and Tramar realized why the look on her face was so grave. They’d lost their focus when it came to talking to Byron, or rather to listening to him talk at them. The look on Ayana’s face told them that not only were they now in trouble with Byron, but they were also in trouble with something far more powerful: the law.
With Sharli on the other end waiting in suspense, Ayana pressed the phone against her chest. She began to nod her head. “It’s my cousin Sharli,” she announced quietly, her eyes looking around the room. She then began to shake her head. “And it’s not good,” she added.
Tramar and Jackson, almost at a loss for words, looked back to the phone with Byron talking through the speaker. “All right, nigga,” Tramar said. “We almost ready. We’ll hit you up when we ready to bring you your shit. We almost got you, nigga. Chill out.”
Byron snickered as Tramar grabbed the phone out of Knight’s hands and ended the call. Ayana walked over to the two of them and looked into their eyes. “What y’all want me to say to her?” she asked. “I mean, she said she seen it on the news and stuff, and plus, she was the one to find out through Facebook that the nigga Byron was posting them photos of your step mama. I don’t know what to say.” Ayana’s nerves had her to the point where she almost needed to hop up and down. “Shit, shit, shit, y’all,” she said. “The whole damn city of Chicago is gonna know this shit. Fuck, fuck.”
Quickly, as Tramar could see that his woman was nearly having a nervous breakdown, he snatched the phone out of her hand. He ended the call with Sharli then set the phone down on the table next to them. He grabbed a hold of Ayana and pulled her closer to him, kissed her forehead, and said, “Everything is gonna be okay, Ayana. Everything is gonna be okay. We gon’ get this nigga and get outta here and shit to where can’t nobody find us. Ain’t shit for us here in Chicago, no way. Ain’t shit here.”
“How?” Ayana asked, her voice full of distress. “How we gonna find this nigga?”
Tramar, still holding Ayana close to him, looked over at Jackson. He wasn’t quite sure why he was looking at his best friend. Perhaps, he wanted an answer out of him since he was technically the reason that any of them were involved in this situation. Tramar tried not to think about that, but there were moments that it was all he could think about. Turning his head away and toward the pool, Tramar’s heart skipped a beat upon noticing Quan was not frolicking around in the shallow end anymore. Out of reflex and parental instincts, Tramar gently pushed Ayana to the side as his head scanned to the left, toward the deeper end of the pool. He saw that Quan was not in the deep end. He turned to his right and to his relief found Quan walking toward them.
“Wassup little dude?” Tramar asked.
Quan walked up looking concerned. His eyes were glued to Ayana. “Daddy,” Quan said, “what’s going on with Ayana? Why does she look upset and stuff?”
Ayana quickly sucked it up and realized that it’d probably be better for her to not only be strong for herself but also for Tramar’s little boy. She took a deep breath and turned to Quan. Before Tramar could open his mouth to say anything, she’d cut him off with, “Oh, it’s nothing that serious. I just got a call from a friend, and she’s going through something kinda hard right now, Quan. That’s all.”
“Yeah, Quan,” Tramar said. “Ain’t nothin’ that serious that you need to be worrying about over here. Just go on back over to the shallow end of the pool while we keep talking.”
Tramar could tell that Quan wasn’t really buying what he was saying. However, since it was all he had to give, he would just have to work with it. Tramar watched as the little boy went back over to the other end of the pool. He then turned to Jackson, who was clearly ready to speak.
“Look, Ayana,” Jackson said. “What exactly did your cousin say? I mean, you ain’t told us what she saw on the news.”
Realizing that Tramar had grabbed the phone and ended the phone call, Ayana focused more on the conversation at hand. “Well,” she began, �
��she said that she was watching the news and that they got y’all two on there, the suspects for the bank robberies in Chicago and Indiana. Oh my God, the world knows. Oh my God.”
“Just calm down,” Tramar said, rubbing Ayana’s shoulder. “Just calm down, baby. You don’t know what the world knows.”
“Well, if my cousin knows,” Ayana said, matter-of-factly, “then the world isn’t too far from knowing. My cousin knows everybody in her neighborhood and their first and second cousins. All she do is talk and shit.”
“But is she the type to talk out in the streets too much about her family?” Tramar asked. “I mean, you know I done met the chick and stuff, and we used to know each other back when we went to the same school and shit, but I don’t know her like that to be guessin’ if she real or not or what.”
Ayana nodded her head as she shrugged her shoulders. “I mean,” she said, hesitantly. “She seems like, based on what I’ve seen, the type to talk about everybody else’s stuff and leave her own shit out of it. But, I mean, we like best friends, really. I feel like if she was gon’ talk shit about me, she wouldn’t have called me just after the evening news done went off. But that ain’t all, though.”
Tramar and Jackson glanced at one another then to Ayana before encouraging her to continue.
“She said that the security guard is dead,” Ayana said. “She said the news said that the security guard you shot over in Indiana died, Tramar.”
Tramar balled his fists together and drove one into the side of his legs. He turned away, grinding his teeth together from the frustration. He’d done some pretty horrible things in his life. However, he wanted to be the one guy on the streets of Chicago who did not have to grow old and have somebody’s death on his hands. That was something he simply didn’t want on his conscience as an old man. He had too much of a heart and had watched too many relatives on both sides of his family die, that being the cause of such a thing, had always turned him off completely.
When It All Falls Down 2 - Strapped Up: A Chicago Hood Drama (A Hustler's Lady) Page 14