__________
Jonathan pulled up and parked two blocks away from Betty Ford Road. He went right to work, doing his homework on his next lick. Tagging along in the passenger side was A.J.
“Check dis shit out,” Jonathan said, reaching into the backseat to grab his set of binoculars and pointing with his finger in the direction that he wanted him to look.
A.J. looked through the binoculars and saw nothing but zombies walking up and down Betty Ford Road. It looked like something out of a movie, the way dope fiends flocked to the block in packs. Looking further, A.J. could see a female standing on a porch in the middle of the block overseeing several other females standing off to the side serving the fiends their product.
“Damn, it’s crack heads everywhere,” A.J. said, as he continued to look through the binoculars.
“They’re not crack heads. They’re dope fiends, a whole ‘nother ballpark.” Jonathan responded.
Jonathan didn’t know that much about the drug game, but his knowledge did extend to the fact of knowing that dope money was better than cocaine money. He learned that bit of information from his newfound love, Gator.
“Oh, look, look, look,” Jonathan said, seeing the all-white Aston Martin Vanquish pull up to the block.
A few seconds went by before a female jumped out of the car, rocking a mini skirt, some heels, and a half cut t-shirt that showed off her stomach. The binoculars were doing their job, because A.J. could see everything down to her cute face.
“I think this bitch run dis strip. Rumor has it that the chick that owns this block, rebuilt it from the ground up after the whole block went up in flames.” Jonathan schooled.
“Damn, I think I remember seeing that shit on the news a while back. A couple of people died in the fire or something like that.” A.J. shot back.
“Yeah, the bitch replaced every house that burned down and then opened shop back up. I’m not sure, but I think that’s her,” Jonathan assumed, nodding at the female who had just got out of the Aston Martin.
“Who do hell do these bitches think they are?”
“I don’t know who dese hoes think they are, but they about to find out this is a man’s world.” Jonathan answered, grabbing the binoculars from A.J.
“So, how you wanna do it?” A.J. asked, looking over at his partner in crime.
“We sit and wait, brah. I say a couple more days of homework should set us straight. Right now, shorty that just hopped out of the Aston Martin is the target. If she is who I think she is, trust me, she is the only one we need.” Jonathan answered, looking off down the street.
The men looked at each other and then simultaneously reclined their seats as far back as they could go. This had turned into a full-fledged stake out almost instantly. In a short period of time, Jonathan had exceled with this money taking thing. Sometimes he would lay and wait for somebody for days in order to get his man. That’s one of the things that made him so dangerous. He had patience, and patience was a very important key to his success.
__________
“Herman! Herman, come on, your breakfast is ready!” Lorraine yelled as she placed the scrambled eggs on the plate. Even though she and her husband had not been seeing eye to eye, Lorraine still felt that it was her wifely duties to make sure he was fed.
Herman stumbled down the stairs. It was only 9am and he was already drunk. As he staggered to the table, she looked at him with disgust.
“Herman, really. This early? What is wrong with you?” Lorraine said as she poured a glass of orange juice.
“Shut ya fuckin mouth, woman!” he shouted as his blurred vision adjusted on her. “Now put my God damn food on the table … right now.” He burped and hiccupped.
Lorraine shook her head, walked over to the stove, and grabbed his plate. She really didn’t feel like arguing with him, and she knew that’s exactly what was going to happen if she said anything else about his intoxication.
“I have to go back downtown today to the social security office. I will be back in a few hours. Do you need anything?” Lorraine asked as she was putting the dishes in the sink.
When she turned around to grab some more dishes off the table, the last thing that she saw was the gold wedding band on Herman’s finger.
He smacked Lorraine so hard, he knocked the spit out of her mouth and blinded her temporarily. She held onto the sink trying to get her vision back, but when she did, Herman swung at her again, this time with a closed fist. He punched Lorraine smack in her mouth. This time, knocking her to the ground and filling her mouth with blood.
“You going to see your little boyfriend?” Herman taunted with his slurred speech.
Lorraine was still on the ground letting the blood drip out of her mouth onto the floor. She could barely feel her face. It was numb all over.
“You running around, going back and forth down to that courthouse to see that muthafucka. You must have lost ya damn mind,” he said, grabbing a fist full of her hair and pulling her to her feet.
“Herman… Herman…please,” Lorraine uttered as he dragged her to the other room.
Lorraine was out of it. She did not have any strength at all to fight Herman back. He knocked that out of her with the closed fist punch.
“You my old lady!” he yelled, throwing her onto the couch.
He began pulling Lorraine’s clothes off, starting with her pants and then her shirt. He didn’t even take the time to pull off her panties. Instead, he just ripped them off from the waist.
“Herman, what… are you doin’?” Lorraine cried out, swallowing the blood that leaked into her mouth from the cut on her upper lip.
He stood over top of her and unbuckled his belt, letting his pants drop to his ankles. Lorraine looked at him in disbelief as he climbed on top of her. She could feel him rubbing his limp dick up and down her vagina, trying to get himself hard. But Herman was so drunk, he couldn’t get his soldier to stand at attention for nothing. He was so frustrated about it that he cocked back and smacked Lorraine again.
“You crazy bitch. Carry yo ass up those steps!” Herman demanded, getting up from the couch.
He stumbled backwards as he tried to pull his pants back up, damn near falling into the floor model TV in the middle of the living room.
Lorraine, who was just about naked, eased up slowly from the couch, holding her face. She did what she was told and walked up the stairs and then disappeared into their bedroom, leaving Herman to storm out of the house in a rage.
__________
Jonathan cocked a bullet into the chamber of the AR-15, placed it on the table, and then picked up the 10mm and stuffed it with bullets. Kevin and A.J. stood around the table doing the same thing, loading and wiping down the guns they were about to use. Weed smoke clouded the dining room and the silence around the table indicated that all three men were focused on the task at hand.
A knock at the door took all three men out of their zone. Jonathan knew that it couldn’t be Gator, she had just left thirty minutes ago to get her hair and nails done. He quickly slid the clip into the 10mm. He proceeded to open the door with the gun in his hand. When he looked out of the small window next to the entrance, Kasy was standing there looking back at him.
“Damn, my nigga, I didn’t think that you was coming,” Jonathan said when he opened the door.
Kasy had been falling back over the past few months, keeping his hands in the drug game to a minimum until he got through the couple of drug cases he had caught during the spring. When Jonathan told him he needed him to help out with a situation, and that a nice piece of money was involved, naturally, he jumped at the opportunity. Mainly because he was Brianna’s little brother, and more than likely it wasn’t anything serious.
When Kasy walked into the dining room and saw all of the guns out on the table, he glanced over at Jonathan with a surprised look on his face. It kind of caught him off guard to see Jonathan with all that heavy artillery.
“What the Fuck is
y’all lil niggas about to do?” Kasy asked, looking around the room at A.J. and Kevin who were locked in and loading their weapons.
“We about to take something down, old head. I got a nice lick lined up right now,” Jonathan told Kasy. “I could use an extra man on this one. That’s why I called you.”
Kasy stood there, shocked to hear this coming from Jonathan. It wasn’t all that long ago that Jonathan graduated from high school and was supposed to be a college boy. This was a major step up in the street life for him, but from the looks of things, it seemed that he was all in. One thing Kasy hardly ever turned down was the chance to make some quick money, so it didn’t take much convincing from Jonathan to get Kasy on board.
“Y’all lil niggas is crazy,” Kasy said, picking up the blunt out of the ashtray. “Tell me what da lick read,” he said, taking a pull of the weed.
Jonathan broke it down in the lowest degree on what was about to transpire. The homework that he did on this take down was perfected to the tee. He had precise timing and accurate locations of where he wanted to strike. Anyone who got in the way of what he was trying to accomplish during the lick were subject to be shot. This was the kind of work that was right up Kasy’s alley. Jonathan even reminded Kasy of himself when he used to take down money getting niggas back in the day.
“Look, lil nigga. Ima ride wit you on dis one, but you better not say a word about this to ya sista,” Kasy smiled, throwing a playful jab at Jonathan.
They all busted out laughing at the joke, but Kasy was the first one to stop laughing. “Nah lil nigga, I am serious about ya sister,” Kasy said, looking around the room to make sure he had everyone’s understanding on what he had just said.
“Yeah, I got you,” Jonathan responded, nodding his head in agreement. “Now, let’s get dis money, my nigga,” he said, grabbing the Backwood from Kasy and taking a pull.
__________
Lorraine stood in the bathroom mirror looking at the bruises on her face. The cut on her top lip looked like it needed stitches, but Lorraine wasn’t about to be sitting up in the hospital looking stupid. Southern women were tough as nails, and most of the time, domestic disputes were handled in house. If a man put his hand on a woman from the south, he sure as hell better sleep with one eye open for a while. Lorraine didn’t show it much, but Herman knew that she was a little crazy. That’s why he hadn’t been back in the house since he left a couple of hours ago.
“Who in the hell is that?” Lorraine mumbled, hearing the house phone ring.
She walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom and grabbed the phone off her nightstand. “Hello!” she answered, looking out her bedroom window for any signs of Herman.
“Hey Mom,” Brianna responded. “Is everything ok? You sound tense… I was just calling to see if you was coming today?”
“Coming where, baby?” Lorraine asked, patting the cut on her lip with a warm washrag.
“To court, you know the D.A. is going to cross examine Charrise today!”
Lorraine was silent. She had forgotten about the trial after the drama with Herman.
“Mom! Are you still there?” Brianna asked, noticing the dead silence.
“Yes, I am still here, baby. I don’t think I am gonna make it today. I want to, but Herman was supposed to be taking me somewhere in a bit,” Lorraine lied. “Just call and let me know how it goes.” she suggested, looking into the mirror mounted on her dresser.
There was no way in hell Lorraine was going to let Brianna or any of her kids for that matter, see her face bruised the way it was. She knew that Herman would be as good as dead if they found out that he put his hands on their mother. Lorraine wasn’t justifying Herman’s attack, but she had to admit to herself that she was out of pocket for going to Cowboy’s trial. At the end of the day, she was still married to Herman, and her loyalty was supposed to be with him.
“Alright then, Mom. I’ll call you later when I get some time,” Brianna said, before hanging up the phone.
Lorraine hung up the phone and then sat on the bed, trying to figure out how she was going to deal with Herman when he walked back through that door. She was still debating on whether or not to bust him upside his head with something for putting his hands on her the way he did, or just leave it alone and give him a pass on account that she was part of the problem that got it to that point. Whatever was going to happen would totally be up to Herman’s actions when he came back home. If he walked through the door still on his bullshit, Lorraine was going to make sure her face wouldn’t be the only face that was bruised up. But if he came in humble, sober, and apologetic, it was a good chance Lorraine was going to try to work things out. The choice was his, and if he knew what was best for him, he had better choose the latter instead of coming back home drunk.
__________
Brianna, Charrise, Selena and Chatima all rushed into the courtroom just in time to hear the clerk yell, “All rise!” as the judge entered the courtroom.
Cowboy turned and looked back at them and then over at Casteno, who looked back with concern on his face. Today, Charrise was supposed to get back on the stand so that the D.A. could cross examine her about her testimony.
“Is the state ready to proceed?” the judge asked, lowering his glasses to the edge of his nose.
“Yes, Your Honor,” the D.A. answered and then looked over at Cowboy’s table. “Are we good?” he leaned over and asked Casteno.
Before he got a chance to answer, Charrise put her bag down on the bench right behind the defense table and walked up to the stand. She was sworn in by the clerk and then the D.A. went right at her like a lion on a zebra in the Sahara. He questioned her truthfulness about the whole kidnapping and whether or not she was really pregnant. He tried everything, hoping to get her to contradict herself or flat out lie.
Charrise did not bend or fold to the D.A.’s tactics. The hardest thing about trying to get somebody to lie, is trying to get somebody to lie when they’re actually telling the truth. It was easy for Charrise to do her thing and to crush any doubts about whether or not she was pregnant. She brought the abortion receipt to prove it. That really crushed the D.A., so much so that he became frustrated and decided to end the cross examination early before it got any worse.
“We’ll have a short recess and then we can have the closing arguments from each side,” the judge said before getting up and heading back to his chambers.
Casteno requested that Cowboy remain in the courtroom during the break, which was granted by one of the Sheriffs that he knew.
“Thanks Charrise, for everything,” Cowboy began. “You really took a chance by taking the stand for me, and I want you to know that I am grateful for that, no matter what happens.” Cowboy told Charrise with the most sincere look in his eyes.
“I guess that makes us even. You saved my life, and now hopefully, I saved yours,” Charrise responded with a smile.
Once the recess was over, closing arguments lasted a little more than an hour. The D.A. tried to tell the jury not to believe Charrise’s because it didn’t make sense. He then went on about the evidence that was found at the scene of the crime, and how evidence proved that Cowboy had killed at least two of the three men in the house. At some point during the closing arguments, the jury looked like they had been persuaded by the D.A. and what he had presented, but then Casteno took the floor.
Casteno went off. He presented nothing but the facts that were established during the trial. One being the fact that Cowboy did kill two of the three men in the house, but the reason why he did it was in self-defense. Casteno used the testimony of Charrise who said that Cowboy found her from the address that the kidnappers gave him. He told the jury that once Cowboy got to the location where Charrise was at, he was fired upon first. He said that Cowboy returned fire only in self-defense. Casteno not only made it look like self-defense, but he also made Cowboy looked like a scared father trying to save his daughter.
By the end of the day, Cowboy l
ooked like a hero instead of a murderer. It was getting late in the day, so the judge gave the jury the rest of the day off and postponed deliberations until Monday. That was crazy because everyone in the courtroom was hoping to get a quick verdict. Now, they would have to wait until after the weekend.
__________
Jonathan and A.J. sat in the black Chevy Caprice with tinted windows waiting on the white Aston Martin to pull out of the Arlington Condominiums parking lot. Kevin was in a stolen burgundy Plymouth, already waiting inside the same parking lot, while Kasy had taken over the tollbooth at the entrance/exit point. Everyone was in position, locked, loaded, and ready to go.
“Look alive, y’all.” Jonathan spoke through the walkie-talkie. “She should be coming out any second,” he said, looking down at his watch.
Like clockwork, three black females got off the elevator and walked out onto the second level. Kevin could see that at least one of the women was armed as she rested her hand on the butt of her gun while looking around the badly lit parking lot. The other two women stood by the elevator door, while the one female scoured the parking lot for any danger.
Kevin sank as low as he possibly could in the driver seat, damn near to the point where he was on the floor. The armed female walked right past the car and didn’t notice Kevin inside. Moments later, the same women walked back over to the elevator where she had a brief conversation with the other two females. For a minute, Kevin thought that he had been spotted. He sat back up in his seat and took the safety off both of his handguns.
“Alright girl, I will see you in a few hours,” the main female said as she walked over to the Aston Martin.
One of the other females got into the car while the armed female stood and waited for the elevator. As the Aston Martin pulled out of its spot, Kevin started the engine to his car and then crept out of the parking space. He followed behind the car at an unnoticeable speed, watching as she pulled up to the tollbooth.
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