The Lipstick Clique

by David Weaver

  She tried to speak, but choked on a tear. After the first tear clogged up her voice, the floodgates opened. She was trying to speak, but was only able to mumble incoherently. She wiped her tear, but as soon as her hand left her face, there was another tear in its place. She was on the verge of a mental breakdown and didn’t want to show her emotions to the thirsty federal agent and the sheisty prosecutor.

  She turned away from them and covered her face with her hands. She was crying so hard that the tears were rolling through her hands and down her arm. Her sorrow dripped to the ground off of her elbows. Her sister was her everything, her world. She knew that on any given day, her sister would ride with her until the wheels fell off. Her and her sister had come into the world together, and had always joked with each other that one day they would die together.

  Milan had been trying to correct her negative thoughts and energies since coming to prison. Since she was living in a sober world, she had begun to see things a little differently. But as soon as the federal agent dropped the bombshell that her sister had been murdered by Treasure, it felt like she was back on cocaine and PCP. She felt as though she was back in the midst of a 24 hour binge. She was back in the driver’s seat and cruising down Destruction Boulevard. She was angry beyond comprehension.

  The agent came over and placed his hand on Milan’s shoulder. “We’re offering you 25 years if you will help us get Treasure Brown. 20 years if you help us also get The Lipstick Clique; 15 years if you add on the Dirt Mob, and your freedom if you also help us get the Bankroll Squad.”

  Milan’s breathing was staggered. She knew that there was no way possible for her to bust all of those people and continue to live. Hell, she doubted that she would be able to bust any of them. It just didn’t make reasonable sense to her. They just wanted someone desperate enough to just do any-damn-thing. She wiped those tears and shook her head frantically.

  “Hell fuck no! How the hell can I –. Man… you got me fucked up real bad! You know I can’t bust all those got damn folks. You trying to get me murdered after the first set-up!”

  The prosecutor smirked at the agent because she knew then that they had her on their rope. The fact that she had mentioned that she couldn’t do it, to them, only meant that she was thinking about it. And as long as the seed of deception had been planted; the tree of deceit would always grow. They had actually anticipated and predicted this exact exchange of conversation. This was her cue to come in and soothe things so that they would seem manageable to the potential snitch.

  “Milan, I think we both have different expectations of what we need and are asking from you. You think we’re asking you to set everyone up; while it sounds like our dream come true, we are aware that this is not a realistic expectation. What we are asking you to do is to put everyone in a certain position where we can come in and follow through with the eventual arrests. One of the biggest hurdles is just locating these elusive criminals. I’m aware that you are quite as elusive yourself, which is why we came to you. You are keen, and are able to put yourself in their mindsets, if not above them all.”

  Milan sat there contemplating the offer that she knew she would have no choice but to accept. Life had dealt its cards and left her with a hand that she wished she didn’t have to play. She really wanted to slam her fist on the table and ask for a re-deal, but she knew that a re-deal in life would mean death. She thought about it briefly, but knew that it was not an option. The only reason it was not an option was because she still had a little girl out there who thought of her as “mommy.”

  That little girl was out there walking around aimlessly and without anyone to care for her. She thought about the strong influence that she had on her when she was in her presence. Knowing how easy it was to mold her, she was frightened that the wrong person would teach her the wrong things. She knew that she should have done a better job herself, and that was one of the only things that she regretted about their time together.

  Milan knew that she had been under the influence of various drugs and hadn’t been thinking clearly enough to be a positive role model. If she had been thinking clearly, she’d have taken the young girl to a group home and just been her best friend. There was no need to pretend that she was the little girl’s “mommy” when she was not. She hated that, but what was done was done. The only thing that she could do now is attempt to make everything right.

  She knew that if she was to be on the government’s side, then she would have to do so out of selflessness instead of selfishness. She would have to do it so that she could help keep a young black girl from ending up on the same path that she was on. She would have to do it to avenge her sister’s death instead of advancing her own life. She would have no other option. Do the rest of her time in a federal prison, or do what she had to do in order to do what she wanted to do. The choice was simple; the questions were few.

  “Uhm… how will I be able to help you get these people in the desired situations if I’m sitting in a cell playing with myself?” Milan asked with a serious look on her face.

  The agent looked at the prosecutor for approval. In order for her to be allowed out of prison to work for the FBI, the prosecutor needed to be down with the situation in order to make the process go smoother. But the agent had the prosecutor in his pocket. She smiled at him and nodded her head.

  “We’ll let you out. You’ll be on a monitor that you will not be able to remove. And we will be on your ass around the damn clock. Your every movement will be tracked. We won’t hassle you, but we expect results! Get yourself back into the street mode over the next few days; we won’t bother you for a week at least.”

  Milan started getting excited at the thought of being allowed back on the streets. As far as she was concerned, the streets were hers and hers only. If she felt like she wanted to snitch, then that’s just what she would do! Her arrogance rushed back into her soul like a levee had broken. Her taste for PCP was on the tip of her tongue, her hunger for cocaine seemed to be lining her every inhalation.

  “What do I do for money?” She asked them carefully.

  The agent and the prosecutor stood up and slid their chairs back under the table. The prosecutor walked over to the corner of the room and made a phone call to her boss. Her boss would see to it that she went from that room, to the holding cell, and back to the streets in less than 12 hours. The agent was silent and didn’t respond to Milan’s question at first, but she demanded an answer.

  “I said… what the hell am I going to do for money?”

  “I got nothing to do with what you do for money! You’ve been figuring it out!” The agent spat. He winked at her and turned his back.

  Damn. She thought as she caught the meaning of his words. They really did want her to get back out there in the mix all the way. She looked away and smirked because she knew that was what she wanted to do anyways.

  Treasure

  When Treasure woke up, she was in bed with a cool towel wrapped around both wrists. There was a cool towel folded neatly and laying across her forehead as well. She reached up and removed the towel from her forehead and wiped the saliva off the side of her lips. She looked over at the clock on the nightstand, and immediately sat up in the bed. If it was indeed 3 o’clock in the morning… that would mean that she had been sleep for almost 12 hours.

  She swung one leg over the edge of the bed so that she could call 5 and see where he was. But by the time her other foot had hit the floor, 5 walked in with a plate and a cold glass of water.

  “Well hello sleeping beauty!” He said as he walked into the room. “You passed out earlier, and I was thinking about taking you to the hospital a couple of hours ago, but since I could tell that you were sleeping, I just allowed you to sleep.”

  The hospital!? Treasure thought, panicking. She knew that she was probably number one on the list of the most wanted criminals in the United States. If she went to the hospital, it would be the absolute end of her. She needed to let him know about her, for her safety and his as well. Bu
t when she thought about how Benji had tricked and betrayed her, and how Bubbles had done the same thing, she knew that this was a secret that she might need to hold onto just a little longer.

  “I hate hospitals, 5. I’m glad you didn’t take me.”

  5 smiled as he sat the plate down. He’d cooked grilled steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli. There were two slices of toasted garlic bread on the plate as well. He placed the water beside the plate and sat down next to Treasure. He took his shoes off, fluffed her pillows up at an angle and lay back against them. Gently, he pulled Treasure back so that her back was lying against his chest.

  He removed the pistol from his waist and set it on the table beside the plate. The steak was already cut up into bite sized pieces, and the broccoli and cheese was a beautiful work of art. 5 took the fork and slid it into the juicy texture of a piece of steak. Slowly, he took the fork and put the food into Treasure’s mouth.

  She bit it, but spit it out when she remembered why she had passed out to begin with.

  “What the fuck Treasure!? I’m tryna be romantic in this bitch!”

  Treasure shook her head. “Man fuck that! Did you say your last name was Powers?”

  5 frowned at her in confusion. “Powers? Hell naw, I said my last name was Powells. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Immediately, Treasure burst out laughing. For a minute there she thought that she was going to get exposed sooner than she was ready. That was her number one concern at the time; her man not knowing all the details of her criminal career. She was certain that if he knew, he would have no choice but to treat her differently. He would probably start treating her like a homeboy instead of his woman, and she didn’t want anything to change.

  “I love you Treasure.” 5 whispered as he wrapped his masculine arms around her. He kissed her on the back of her ear and licked from her left earlobe to the softness of her neck. Then he trailed his tongue from her neck to her other ear.

  “I love you too 5.” And as she said those words, she absolutely knew it to be nothing but the truth.

  __________

  Meatloaf and Grimmer were in a sports bar having dinner while watching the Miami Heat beat up on the L.A. Lakers. Meatloaf had been forced to pay for the dinner because he’d lost a bet that 5 and Treasure weren’t going to make it past 6 months. He had just known that it wasn’t going to work, but they surprised the hell out of him.

  Grimmer bit into his tender slab of ribs and shook his head. “Uhmp, uhmp uhmppp! Boy I tell you! It ain’t nothing like free food! Oh boy!”

  Meatloaf exhaled as he bit into his double cheeseburger with bacon. His mother had given him the name “meatloaf” as a toddler because every time she said the word “meatloaf” to his father, the young toddler would burst out laughing uncontrollably. It eventually got to the point where he would sit in his parents’ lap and clap his hands together while singing “Meatloaf. Meatloaf. Meatloaf.”

  “Well, you won that one fair and square Grimmer. But I tell you boy… something ain’t right about that bitch. Something just isn’t right. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I know it’s something. When I find out what it is, 5 can send that bitch to the same place she sent her homegirl!”

  Grimmer licked the bar-be-que sauce off of his fingers and sat back for a second. He grinned at Meatloaf and shook his head knowingly. “Man, you just mad because 5 ain’t been spending no time with us. You can’t be like that my brother. That man needs a woman, and he has him one. Fuck the small details. You feel me?”

  Meatloaf was really angry that Grimmer didn’t believe him, but there was nothing he could do about it with no proof. Grimmer knocked on the table one time with his knuckle. “Hey… I’m about to shoot to the bathroom real quick. I’ll be right back. Don’t try no funny shit with my free ass food nigga! Hahaha.”

  Meatloaf rolled his eyes and shook his head at Grimmer as he watched him get up and go to the bathroom. He was pissed because he knew that he picked up on some deceptiveness whenever he was around Treasure. Something was just a little off, but he just couldn’t prove it. He picked up his Heineken and took a gulp so that he could wash down the thick hamburger meat. The game that they had been watching was on halftime, so he turned away from that television and started scanning the other ones.

  There were quite a few games running on several screens that night, but none of them caught his attention like the one in the front of the room. Right there on the screen, there was a huge picture of Treasure on the Channel 9 news. At first he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, but he was sure of that picture. There was no sound coming from the TV, so he jumped up immediately. He was staring at the screen while looking for the manager. He went to the cash register and pointed. “Turn that up now!!”

  The manager smiled at him. “O.K. no problem sir. Now where’s my remote…”

  Meatloaf looked back and forth from the television to the bathroom. He just had to let Grimmer see this shit! He had to let 5 know about his girl! But what was there to tell?

  “Get the damn remote man! What the fuck! Turn the TV up!!!” Meatloaf screamed as he sat there impatiently.

  But by the time the manager pulled the remote control from the drawer, the news segment was over.

  Meatloaf placed both hands on the back of his head as he closed his eyes out of anger. He really needed to have all of his information in order before he brought it up to 5. He didn’t want to speak on what he didn’t know about. Him, Grimmer, and 5 had been doing hits for many years. They remained best friends after work was over, because they always remained respectful and out of each other’s personal lives.

  Normally, no one would have any opinion on anything the other person is doing unless it was requested, or unless it could be potentially harmful. Meatloaf knew that this information would indeed be harmful. It could be hazardous to 5’s well-being and the welfare of the Dirt Mob. He wasn’t going to go out like that. No sirrr.

  Grimmer tapped him on the back as he stood there staring straight ahead at the television.

  “Damn boy… you just left my food on the table huh? I guess –”

  Meatloaf interrupted him. “Man fuck that! Yooo… that bitch was on the news man! That Treasure bitch. The girl who 5 calls himself dating! I told you something wasn’t right about that bitch! I told you. I told –”

  Grimmer twisted his lips up as though he didn’t believe a word that Meatloaf was saying. “What was she on television for, Meatloaf?”

  Meatloaf stared at him without answering. He watched as the manager placed the remote back under the counter. How could he say that he didn’t hear it when the manager had that particular television louder than any other monitor? Would Grimmer believe him if he told him? He stood there thinking about all of the possible scenarios to the situation at hand, and knew that he only had two options remaining.

  He would have to contact 5 directly and convince him. If that didn’t work, he would have to just figure out a way to prove that the bitch was up to no good.

  “Meatloaf?” Grimmer was still standing there waiting on him to respond. “I asked you what Treasure was on television for?”

  Meatloaf exhaled and shook his head. “I’ll stop tripping Grimmer, I don’t even know if that was the same person or not. My fault…”

  Grimmer took a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and slammed it on the counter. “My man, if you haven’t been doing right with your money, don’t trip brother. I’ll pay for the meals. But one thing’s for certain though, do not lie to me just to save your own ass! Please do not do that again. Lies and jealousy do not match your outfit very well.”

  With that, Grimmer walked away and left him inside the bar.

  __________

  Treasure had been watching the news at the same time that Meatloaf was watching it. She was back to her nightly news segments, except now, she just watched it on the Android phone that 5 had purchased for her. That phone had become a lifesaver for her. She was able to search for private inform
ation without her past being exposed. She had the headphones gently tucked into her ear as she listened to the anchorwoman speak.

  “The so called gang known as The Lipstick Clique has been terrorizing Columbus, GA. The FBI says that this convicted prison escapee that you see on your screen, Treasure Brown, has been leading a female gang who has been on a deadly murder and robbery spree. According to the FBI, the gang originated in Houston Texas and was started by this woman, Treasure Brown.

  They say that she has killed one of the original members of the gang, and has since kidnapped this 14 year old girl and her 18 year old friend, and is forcing them to do the dirty work. She has had them on a killing spree that has gone on for far too long. I too, am deeply outraged by the activities of this prison escapee. If you see any of these girls, or this woman especially; please do not approach them, as they are armed and dangerous.

  Simply call 1-800-CrimeStoppers immediately. There is a one million dollar reward for information leading up to the arrest of Treasure Brown.”