by K'wan
“I was caught up,” Knowledge said, thinking about the dummy-mission Big Stone had him on earlier. “Anybody know who did it?”
“A lot of speculation, but nothing concrete yet. This whole thing has got Eddie’s stink all over it, if you ask me. Eddie and Pana been at it for years, so it was evitable one got the drop on the other. The only problem with that theory is that neither party involved would want any part of the consequences that would come from a move that serious. Eddie is Michael’s nephew, and Pana still has ties to some cartels south of the border. A war between the two would likely shut half the city down and fuck up everybody’s money. Pana might not care about the losses, but Eddie is far too greedy to risk a work stoppage.”
Knowledge processed the facts, and then an idea formed in his head. “Maybe Eddie was behind it, but used somebody else to do the deed. Eddie isn’t a man who discriminates when it comes to who he does business with, so long as it’s a guaranteed profit in it for him. I’m sure those loose circles he moves in have given him access to some good freelance killers.”
“That was my initial thought and the reason I jumped on the first thing smoking back to New York,” Big Stone admitted. “For nearly a decade the Mexican government couldn’t do shit with Pana Suarez, yet in under five minutes an unknown party was able to take him out and cripple his whole operation. I don’t have to tell you how tall of an order that is. The way I see it is, don’t much matter if it was Eddie behind this or someone else looking to make a statement. Anybody with access to killers of this caliber is cause for concern for anybody who doesn’t, including us.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The rest of the ride in Manhattan was spent in relative silence. Big Stone busied himself with his phone, likely trying to get a line on who backed the hit, while Knowledge focused on the road ahead. Every so often he’d look in the rearview mirror at Big Stone to gauge his mood. Big Stone was a man who didn’t rattle easily, but hearing about Pana getting killed clearly unnerved him. Knowledge couldn’t say that he blamed him. Pana was one of the biggest gangsters in the city, and he’d gotten rocked in his own hood. If it could happen to him, it could happen to any of them.
More troubling to Knowledge was that the assassination had gone down right under his nose and he’d missed it. It could’ve very well been Big Stone on the slab instead Pana, and the blood would’ve been on Knowledge’s hands … all because he’d slipped. It was a mistake he wouldn’t make again. As soon as he dropped Big Stone off at his house, he was getting in the streets to see what he could dig up about Pana’s killers.
They were stopped at a red light on 145th Street and Lenox when Knowledge noticed a large gathering in front of a bar he frequented from time to time. It was owned by an associate of Big Stone’s and usually catered to the local crowd, but there were a lot of unfamiliar faces out there. There was some kind of celebration taking place, and the timing and sudden presence of strangers felt suspect considering what had happened to Pana earlier and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it.
When the light turned green, he eased his foot off the brake and coasted slowly through the light, scanning the faces in front of the bar. He’d been so focused on the crowd that he nearly hit a girl who had just stepped out into the street. She was waving her hands, trying to get him to stop, likely mistaking him for a taxi, as most people did when they saw the Lincoln. She was a sexy, brown-skinned woman who was dressed like she was outside grabbing her wares. Knowledge was about to point the girl out to Big Stone and make a slick comment about the scantily clad girl, but when his eyes landed on her face, the words died in his throat.
* * *
For a long while all Pearl could do was stand there, stuck like a deer in headlights. If Knowledge was behind the wheel, she knew who was riding in the back. When Knowledge looked up and their eyes met, she knew there would be no way she could talk or lie herself out of it. She was stone-cold busted!
She waited for Knowledge to snitch and her father to jump out and drag her into the car, embarrassing her in front of anyone who was watching. Franz and everybody else who was standing outside. Her eyes pleaded with him not to do it, and for a second it looked like he was considering it, but then his eyes turned hard and a sinister smile spread across his face. Suddenly the engine gunned and the Lincoln shot passed her. She couldn’t believe it, but he was giving her a sporting chance to beat them back to the house!
* * *
“Boy, what the hell is wrong with you?” Big Stone barked, once he was able to compose himself. When the car had lurched, he had damn near crashed into the back door.
“Sorry, Stone. I’m just trying to get through some of this traffic. I know you’re anxious to get home,” Knowledge lied.
“Yeah, I wanna get home, but in one piece. Slow the hell down!”
Knowledge ignored him and kept pushing the Lincoln. He couldn’t believe the balls on that kid. Not only did she sneak out, but she was dressed like a streetwalker and hanging around a nest of vipers. He started to blow the whistle on her and tell Big Stone, but the man already had a lot on his mind and would likely break her neck if he caught her out dressed like that. He wasn’t going to rat on her, but he would make her earn the pass. If she couldn’t get home before Big Stone, then she was shit out of luck.
* * *
Pearl waited until she had made it around the corner, and out of sight of anyone who might recognize her, to go into full-panic mode. She knew she should’ve stayed in the house like she was supposed to, but she had let peer pressure get the best of her, and now she was about to pay the price for it.
She stumbled through the block, trying not to break her ankles in the heels. She would never beat the car on foot, especially in those boots. She leaned against a building and slipped out of them. She always called girls who walked around barefoot after the club tacky, but she didn’t have a choice. Pearl hiked up her skirt and took off into a dead run.
Having run track all through high school, she was no stranger to long-distance running, but after three or four blocks, all the alcohol and weed she’d consumed that night started catching up with her, and she found herself getting winded. At the rate she was going, nothing short of a miracle was going to enable her to beat her father home. God must’ve been listening, though, because he sent her just that: a miracle.
A Chinese delivery guy was dropping some food off at an apartment building, and he made the mistake of not chaining his bike up properly. Pearl waited until he disappeared inside before jumping on his bike and riding off. She could only imagine how she must’ve looked, barefoot, her skirt hiked up so high that her entire ass was exposed, riding the rickety bike, but she was more worried about her father skinning her alive than keeping up appearances.
She crossed over the blocks like she was being carried on the wind, pumping her legs faster and faster. Her heart thudded in her chest as if it would burst, but she dared not stop. In the distance she saw her block looming and became hopeful. Pearl hit the corner a little sharper than she expected and lost control of the bike, spilling over the handlebars and scraping her hands and knees on the concrete. Ignoring the pain, she picked herself up and limped the rest of the way to their brownstone. Her heart sank when she saw that the Lincoln was already there, idling at the curb.
Pearl watched from her hiding place, behind a parked truck across the street, as Knowledge got out of the car and went around to open the door for Big Stone. They exchanged a few words before Big Stone headed for the entrance while Knowledge retrieved her father’s luggage. Knowledge must’ve felt like he was being watched because he stopped and looked around. His eyes landed on the spot where Pearl was hiding, and a triumphant grin spread across his face. He thought he had her beaten, but little did he know Pearl had one last card to play.
* * *
Big Stone breathed a sigh of relief when he crossed his threshold. It was one of the few places he felt safe and the only place he could find any type of peace of mind. Things had already
been getting tense on the streets, and the murder of Pana Suarez guaranteed everything was about to come to a head. This is why, on his way home from the airport, he had hit up some of his associates and suggested a meeting of the minds. For as long as these rogue killers were on the loose, none of them would be truly safe.
After setting the bags down, Knowledge accompanied Big Stone as they made their customary rounds around the house to check in on the family. They found Sandra lying on the couch, knocked out, a half-empty cup of tea on the end table. On the television, the closing credits were rolling on The Ten Commandments. Big Stone didn’t want to disturb Sandra by waking her up, so he covered her with a blanket, and he and Knowledge made their way upstairs.
Stoney was fast sleep in his bed. Nestled deep under his New York Knicks comforter, he looked more like the innocent little boy who he was supposed to be, rather than the terror that he was. Big Stone leaned to kiss his son on the head and paused, sniffing the air. For a moment Knowledge thought he was going to comment on the lingering smell of weed smoke, but he didn’t.
They left Stoney’s room and headed down the hall to Pearl’s. Big Stone tapped softly on the door but got no answer. When his hand came to rest on the knob, Knowledge couldn’t repress the smile that had formed on his face, because he knew what they would find when they opened it. He wasn’t happy about the fact that Pearl was about to be in a world of trouble, but he wasn’t angry over it either. There was nothing that Knowledge or anyone else could tell Big Stone about his daughter. He placed her on a pedestal and in his eyes she could do no wrong, no matter how foul she moved. It was about time that the blinders were snatched off and he could see for himself that she was no angel.
Knowledge stood back, arms folded and smirking, while Big Stone pushed the door open. “What the fuck?” he heard Big Stone curse under his breath. Knowledge peered over his shoulder, expecting to see an empty bed, but instead they found Pearl fast sleep. It was impossible!
“I keep telling this girl about keeping her room clean.” Big Stone huffed, picking up a T-shirt and a discarded pair of socks from the floor and tossing them into Pearl’s hamper. “Let’s go downstairs. I need a drink,” he said, and left the room.
Knowledge lingered in the doorway for a while, his eyes wide with shock. Not ten minutes earlier he had spotted her outside cowering behind a car. There was no way she could’ve made it into the house and up to her room without them seeing her.
“You gonna keep standing there and gawking at my kid or join me?” Big Stone called from down the hall.
“Sorry, Stone. I’ll be right there,” Knowledge called back. He spared one last glance at Pearl before closing the door behind him. He wasn’t sure how Pearl had pulled off her little miracle, but in the morning he would have a chat with her about what an underage girl was doing in a bar full of gangsters.
* * *
Pearl waited until she heard her bedroom door click shut before popping her eyes open. She waited for a few more seconds until she was sure they were gone, and then she threw the blanket back and got out of bed. Through the grace of God, her ruse had worked.
She looked like a hot mess: scuffed, bleeding, and it was a wrap for her outfit. Pearl walked on tender feet over to the vanity and plopped down on the padded stool. She found leaves and pieces of twigs in her hair from the spill she’d taken when she’d climbed the fence to get into her backyard. When Knowledge had cut her off from the front door, she’d thrown a Hail Mary, better known as Nathaniel. Nathaniel was one of three college guys who lived in the brownstone on the next block over, directly behind Pearl’s. He and his roommates were pussy hounds, and pressed her and her friends every chance they got. Pearl had no interests in Nathaniel, but promised to go on a date with him if he let her climb his fence so she could get into her yard. He would’ve probably done it without her offering the date, just for the chance to look up her short skirt as she went over the fence.
While Stone was in the living room checking on Sandra, Pearl crept in through the back door and slipped up the kitchen stairs to her bedroom. She made it into bed and covered up a split second before her dad came into her room to check on her. It had been an extremely close call, so close that that was the last time Pearl planned to try sneaking out … at least until the next party.
Pearl pulled off her ruined club clothes and hid them in the back of her closet until she would have a chance to dispose of them properly the next day, and then she jumped into bed. She was a bit on the filthy side from her adventure, but she was too tired and too sore to do anything about it until morning. As she drifted off to sleep, the last thing she thought of was how she wished she could’ve seen the look on Knowledge’s face when he realized she had beat him at his own game.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
It was well past midnight when TJ finally showed up at the bar, and he didn’t look like he’d come to have a good time. He was dressed in black from head to toe, with the only splash of color being the canary-yellow diamond pendant hanging from his chain. Normally when he stepped out, he was dressed to the nines and wearing heavy jewelry, but this wasn’t a social call. The bar was the last place he wanted to be, but the call he’d gotten said it was a matter of life and death, which he was inclined to believe, considering who had called him. He had been getting a lot of late-night phone calls since his cousin Diamonds had blown into town, and he wasn’t yet sure how he felt about it.
All it took was one person to spot TJ, and it gave way to at least a half dozen hands within his first two minutes of being there. TJ was from the neighborhood, and everybody knew him as a cat who was about his money and they respected that. The fact that he was so well-known in the area made the game he was being roped into an extremely dangerous one. TJ didn’t have the luxury of being able to live like a nomad. His bread and butter was in Harlem.
When he’d shaken his last hand, he made a beeline to the end of the bar where Diamonds had told him he’d be waiting. He spotted him sitting on a stool in a dark corner, Vita perched on his lap. He whispered softly in her ear while running his finger along the nape of her neck. They had one of the strangest relationships TJ had ever seen, with neither claiming the other and both secretly throwing salt in each other’s chances to move on whenever opportunities arose. It was a toxic union at best, but TJ hadn’t broken bread with them to judge; he was in it for the potential to make some paper.
When he made to approach Diamonds, Buda’s lumbering form stepped into his path. His eyes were red and glassy, and he reeked of whatever he had been drinking. TJ could tell by his posture that liquor had him feeling aggressive, which seemed like a reoccurring theme with him whenever TJ was around. It was always a pissing contest between them over Diamonds’s favor.
“State your business, gangster,” Buda demanded in his deep, scratchy voice. He was acting like he didn’t know TJ or his connection to their crew.
TJ, who was a full head taller than Buda, looked down at him. “Man, why we always gotta play this game?” he asked in a tone that said he didn’t have time for the bullshit.
“We gonna play it until I’m sure of what you represent, outsider,” Buda replied. It was his favorite insult for TJ and a constant reminder that he hadn’t come up through the mud with the rest of them.
“Buda, sit your drunk ass down somewhere and get out of the man’s way. Ain’t nobody got time to be fooling with you,” Hank interjected. It was as if he could read Buda’s mind and was trying to prevent him from acting on what he was thinking.
Buda continued to eyeball TJ for a time longer before giving the man some space. “Hank, why you always gotta make a big deal out of shit? TJ know I’m just fucking with him. Ain’t that right, TJ?”
“Sometimes it don’t sound like you playing, Buda.” TJ brushed past him.
“Sensitive-ass nigga,” Buda mumbled before bellying back up to the bar.
“What’s good, cousins?” TJ nodded in greeting to Goldie and Diamonds.
“Considering I’ve
wasted half my night and a few dollars in this joint and ain’t made no progress, I’d say nothing is good,” Goldie grumbled. He had long ago run out of patience and wanted to either handle business or be free to get on with his night.
“Tone down, sourpuss. Ain’t like you’ve got nowhere better to be.” Diamonds eased Vita off his lap and stood. “Apologize for dragging you out of your warm bed and from up under that fine woman of yours on this late night. How is cousin Teisha, by the way?”
“Pissed the fuck off,” TJ told him. “Do you know what kind of hell a man has to go through when he leaves his pregnant fiancé in the middle of the night, talking about I gotta handle something of Diamonds’s?”
“Thankfully no.” Diamonds laughed. “Please extend my apologies to your lady, and my new little cousin growing in her stomach.”
“This might require a little more than one of your empty apologies. You better show up at the shower with a bomb-ass gift. Y’all still coming, right?”
“You know I wouldn’t miss it,” Diamonds lied. He’d had so much going on that he’d forgotten TJ had invited them to the baby shower. “I hope you don’t mind, but I think I’m gonna have Vita invite them two niggas from Newark who put in that little piece of work for us earlier. I hear they handled themselves like some real gangsters and held Vita down when shit got crazy. Still, I wanna feel them out for myself before I decide how close I wanna let them get.”
“I been knowing LA for a while. He’s kinda on the wild side, but he handles his business when it comes down to it. Domo is younger, so I don’t really know him like that, but I hear he’s solid.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“It’s cool by me so long as niggas don’t show up empty-handed. And if you’re going to bring the entire Get Along Gang, make sure you keep them dogs on a leash, especially Buda.” TJ cast a wicked glance in Buda’s direction and found him staring at him and Diamonds, likely trying to eavesdrop on what they were talking about.