“Stay put, nigga. I’m warning you.” Day positioned himself between Derek and the door. Derek hesitated for a second then resumed his march.
“Stop, mu’fucka.”
Derek didn’t listen. He felt his only shot was to call Day’s bluff and fight his way through the door. Derek took two more steps, and Day reached in his waistband for his gun. Derek saw this movement and did the same. Shots came firing out of both guns as each man attempted to dodge the flying bullets.
It was seconds of chaos, then complete silence. Both men lay still on the grass; each had been hit. Derek felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. He reached over with his left hand and winced in pain as he touched the hole where the bullet had pierced him.
With a bullet lodged in his shoulder, picking himself up off the grass was difficult. He had minimal use of his right arm. Keeping an eye on Day the entire time, he got up and cautiously walked over to check on Day, who hadn’t moved yet.
Blood had saturated Day’s shirt. His mouth hung open, with a small bloodstream trickling out of it and down his cheek. It appeared to Derek that he had hit Day in the abdomen and chest.
Derek shook his head. He hadn’t wanted it to end like this. He just wanted peace. He didn’t want to kill anyone. Derek regretted lying to Day. He regretted getting caught up in his brother’s crimes. If he had told the truth to Day, maybe this wouldn’t have turned out like this.
As he was bending down to pick up Day’s gun and check his pulse, a car came speeding down the street. Derek swiveled around and pointed both guns at the oncoming car. The car screeched to a halt in front of the house and the passenger’s side door flung open. Derek kept his guns aimed, his right shoulder burning in pain.
Halleigh jumped out and ran to Derek. As she got closer, she realized that Day was on the ground, covered in blood.
Seeing Derek with a gun, the guy driving the car sped off before Halleigh had barely exited the car. He didn’t even wait for her to close the door. He just reached over while he sped off and closed it himself. He had some warrants out and wasn’t about to get caught up in whatever bullshit was happening. He had just picked Halleigh up while she was hitchhiking, hoping that for his good deed she would let him get a little piece.
“What did you do?” she screamed.
Derek lowered his gun. “It’s not what you think.”
Halleigh dropped to her knees beside Day. She grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him. “Wake up! Dayvid! Wake up! It’s me! It’s Halleigh!” Tears were streaming down her face. This was not the reunion she had been envisioning. She was supposed to come and surprise Day then profess her love for him. They were supposed to make passionate love, get married, and live happily ever after.
She cradled his face in both hands, and through her sobs she spoke to him. “I love you. You can’t leave me. Do not leave me. You hear?”
Day’s body was limp. He wasn’t responding to Halleigh’s pleas. Derek stood there not knowing what to do. He wanted to help Halleigh and ease her pain, but he was the one responsible for her pain. He felt ashamed and useless.
With her hands covered in blood, Halleigh jumped up and started hitting Derek in the chest as hard as she could. She was a wild beast attacking her prey.
“What have you done? What have you done?” she screamed over and over as she continued to pound on Derek’s chest. He feebly tried to protect himself from her blows, but felt that he deserved the punishment he was getting.
She continued throwing punches until she had spent all of her energy and could barely lift her arms. Her arms hurt from punching, her head hurt from crying, and her heart hurt from all the pain she had gone through in her life. She wanted to end it all right there. She had lost all hope. She saw no reason to keep on living. Life was too hard and only filled with disappointment.
“I can’t do this anymore,” she sobbed. “It’s too much. It’s too hard.” She reached for Derek’s gun.
“Whoa.” He pulled the gun away. “What are you talking about? What about your son? You need to stay strong for him.”
“Why?” Halleigh asked. “It’s no use. He’s just going to learn that life is one big ‘fuck you’ then you die.”
“Don’t say that. You’re a fighter. When I kidnapped you, did you give up? No. Why? Because you were fighting for your son so you could be there for him and give him the stable and safe life you never had.”
Halleigh wiped tears from her face. Derek’s words had broken through to her, but she still wasn’t convinced that she shouldn’t just end it all.
“I don’t even know where Malek is. I give up.” Her body was tired and weak. She stared at her feet as her head hung down.
“He’s in the house. He needs you.”
Halleigh looked up. Hearing that Malek was so close gave her a sudden burst of energy and excitement. “He is?” Her hopelessness instantly turned to hope. Without thinking, she ran to the house. She took the stairs two at a time. She couldn’t get to her son fast enough. She burst through the door and saw Malek and two other children huddled in the corner.
“Mama!” Malek jumped up and ran to her. Halleigh scooped him up in her arms and squeezed her little boy as tightly as she could. She planted kisses all over his face and head.
“Daddy!” D.J. and Talisa yelled in unison. Derek had come running up behind Halleigh. He dropped to his knees when he saw his children, and they came crashing into him. It was the family reunion Derek had been dreaming about. He started crying the second he saw his two beautiful children.
“Mama. Why are you bleeding?”
In her haste, Halleigh had forgotten that her hands were covered in blood.
“You too, Daddy.” Talisa pointed at her father’s chest.
“Ah, we were trying to help a man that was hurt. We’re all right. We’ll get cleaned up later.” Derek deflected the question. “Halleigh, can I speak to you?”
She didn’t want to let go of Malek, but she relented and met Derek in the hallway just outside of Malek’s room.
“I’m getting far away from Baltimore. I suggest you do the same.”
“Where am I supposed to go? I can’t go back to Flint.” Halleigh had left the memories and hardship of Flint behind and had nothing to go back to. She figured it would be a dead end going back to the city where all of her heartbreak had started. She wanted a new life, and going back to Flint would be a step in the wrong direction.
“Do you have any family anywhere? Out west? Down south?”
“I think I have a cousin in Little Rock.”
“Then go there.”
Halleigh thought about it for a minute. “Okay. I’ll pack up and head out tomorrow.”
“No. You have to get out of here now. It’s too dangerous for you in Baltimore. The police will be here asking questions. You have to go right now. No time to waste.”
It took no time for Halleigh to realize that Derek was right. She needed to get as far away from Baltimore as she could.
“Malek, come here, baby.” He came running. “Tell your friends good-bye. We’re going to visit cousins in Little Rock.”
Usually Malek would put up a fight before leaving his friends, but since he hadn’t seen his mama in so long, he was eager to spend time with her. He clung to his mother’s leg and said his good-byes.
“Take him through the garage. He doesn’t need to see out front,” Derek whispered to Halleigh.
Halleigh picked up Malek and ran down the stairs into the garage. A few seconds later she came rushing back into the house.
“I need the keys to the truck.”
They quickly searched the house and couldn’t find them.
“They must be on Day. I’ll get them. You wait in the truck,” Derek said.
Outside, Derek knelt down and went to reach in Day’s pocket. As he put his hand inside the front pocket, Day grabbed Derek’s ankle. Derek jumped back and fell onto his ass. “What the ... ?”
“Shoot me,” Day said barely above a whisper.
“Shoot me.” Day barely had enough strength to turn his head to face Derek.
Derek ignored him and went back to rummaging through his pockets. He found the keys and ran back into the house.
“Here. Now, go. Don’t look at the front yard when you back up. Just go. You don’t need to see that again.”
Halleigh took the keys. She started the truck and backed out of the garage. Even though she desperately wanted to look one last time, she followed Derek’s directions and averted her eyes from the body lying on the lawn.
Day heard the garage door open and struggled to move enough to see his truck backing out. As the truck reversed out of the driveway, he could see Halleigh through the windshield.
“Halleigh,” he called out breathlessly. She wasn’t going to hear his whisper.
He tried again to summon the breath to make his voice loud enough for her to hear. The bullet had punctured his lung, making it too difficult for him to gain any force behind his words. “Halleigh. Wait,” he whispered as his head fell back and he stared up into the sky.
Derek waited until Halleigh was out of sight then went back out to Day. Day was lying there with his eyes closed. When he sensed someone standing over him, he slowly opened them.
“Kill me,” he whispered when he saw Derek. He was in excruciating pain and was barely able to breathe. “Please.”
“I’m not killing anyone. There has been enough murder already.”
Day struggled to get his words out. “Please. Put me out of my misery. I have nothing left.”
“I won’t shoot you. No doubt the police are on their way. You can decide your fate before they get here.”
“I’m begging.”
Derek walked away, but stopped after a few steps. “I won’t kill you, but you can decide what to do before anyone gets here.” Derek dropped one of the guns on the ground and proceeded back into the house.
He gathered his children and ushered them out the back door, through the woods, and to his car. He buckled them in and drove away from the curb, happy to have his children back where they belonged.
“Who likes the beach?”
“Me!” Both children raised their hands.
“Who wants to live on the beach?”
“Me!” They raised their hands again and waved them wildly.
“Good, because we’re moving to California.”
Day stared at the gun a few feet from him. He summoned up the strength to roll over onto his stomach. After taking a few seconds to recover from the exertion and the pain, he began crawling on his stomach toward the gun. It was taking every ounce of strength and will for him to crawl. With every inch he moved, he was leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Unable to crawl any farther, he collapsed. He stretched out his arm to the gun. His fingertips were millimeters from touching it. With one last burst of energy, he lunged and grabbed the gun. In agonizing pain, he rolled over onto his back. He took the gun in both hands and placed the barrel in his mouth.
Day heard sirens in the distance. He closed his eyes and said a prayer. He thought about Halleigh and M.J. one last time. The sirens were getting closer. Day finished his prayer, thought to himself, I love you, Halleigh, and pulled the trigger. The gun dropped onto his chest. Day was gone.
The EMT didn’t even bother trying to resuscitate him. With his face blown off, it was obvious to them that Day was dead. They loaded him into the back of the ambulance and quietly pulled away from the house as detectives began knocking on doors to question neighbors about what they’d seen.
Chapter 16
Sneak Attack
The sun still hadn’t risen in the east as Flex patted the dirt with the back of the shovel to flatten it out. It was the final patch of dirt to be smoothed over the makeshift grave they had dug. He and Scar had been in the woods all night, burying Arnold.
Even though both men were out there, Flex had done most of the work. Needless to say, this did not sit well with Flex, but he kept his mouth shut and just kept digging. He had a good mind to whack the shit out of Scar with his shovel every time Scar would take a break and make Flex keep on digging.
“That should do it,” Flex said.
“You stupid? Cover that shit with leaves ’n sticks ’n shit,” Scar said in a condescending tone.
“We in the middle of nowhere. No one’s gonna see this.” Flex gave Scar a dose of his own attitude.
“You a dumb mu’fucka, you know that? That snoopy-ass wife come out here and see fresh dug earth, you don’t think she gonna start digging?”
“I shoulda had her ass out here digging tonight. Woulda had this shit done a lot sooner. Sure she woulda helped more than your ass did.”
“What the fuck you just say?” Scar made a move toward Flex. He stepped on the grave, and his foot sank into the dirt up to his ankle. “Fuck. Now I got dirt all in my shoe.” He stopped his attack as he got distracted and pulled his foot free.
Flex started laughing when Scar pulled his dirt-covered foot from the ground. “Oh shit. That’s funny.” He pointed.
“Mu’fucka, you best watch what you say,” Scar warned as he took off his boot and shook out the dirt.
“You right. I’m tired. It’s been a long night. That shit was wrong.” Flex’s words said he apologized, but inside he was still telling Scar to fuck off.
“Damn right it was wrong. You eat because of me. I’ll take that away just as easy as I gave it to you. I maybe layin’ my head in the country, but I still run B-More,” Scar said.
Flex paused for a second, stared at Scar, then said, “You right.” Flex started spreading leaves over the grave. As he did this, he thought, You may run B-More now, but your time is coming to an end. It’s time for a new regime, a new king.
The two men walked back to the house in silence. Each man had a feeling that something was not right. The stress of their situation was tearing them apart. There was a power struggle beginning, and neither one was going to give in. Scar wasn’t going to let some young upstart try to muscle his way into his seat, and Flex wasn’t going to allow an old has-been to continue to keep him down.
They walked side by side so they could keep an eye on each other. Each man thought that if the other got behind him, it would surely mean a shovel to the back of the head.
“Leave the shovel outside,” Scar instructed as they reached the house.
“A’ight. We still gotta clean up the basement.”
“Nah. You take Charisma home and get some rest. I’ll take care of the blood downstairs.”
“You sure?” Flex was confused. He thought for sure that Scar would make him go directly down to the basement and clean up Arnold’s blood.
“I’m sure. I’ll take care of it. You did good work tonight. Get some rest and we can start fresh tomorrow.” Scar just wanted Flex out of his sight for a while. He thought that maybe the fact that they had been up for so long was the reason they were getting on each other’s nerves.
“A’ight,” Flex answered. “Yo, Charisma. Get yo’ ass up. We leavin’,” he yelled up the stairs. After waiting a few seconds and not hearing anything moving upstairs, he ascended the steps.
Charisma was still asleep when Flex entered the room. He shook her to wake her from her slumber. “Let’s go.”
She rubbed her eyes and stretched her body to work out the kinks. “What you want?”
“It’s time to leave.”
“Good. I’m g’tting bored out here.”
Flex and Charisma walked downstairs together. They were both in a hurry to get back to the city. Charisma wanted to get back to hang with her girls, and Flex needed to start lining up soldiers.
“Yo, we out.” Flex walked past Scar without even stopping.
Scar said nothing in return. He stayed silent as he sat at the kitchen table with the pile of money in front of him.
Flex pulled out of the driveway as fast as he could. He needed to get back to his crib, lay his
head, and get some shut-eye. The sun was just peeking over the horizon as he and Charisma drove the winding country roads.
Not even a mile from Scar’s house, as Flex steered the car around a long, lazy curve, flashing blue and red lights came from the opposite direction. The police caravan came speeding around the corner. There was every variety of cop car Flex could imagine: vans, SUVs, cruisers, unmarked cars. Flex was certain that it wasn’t just local cops, either. The unmarked cars looked too new and nice to be some small-town cop cars. Those were federal cars, most likely DEA, FBI, or both. Flex had a good idea where they were heading.
After the cars were around the corner, Flex took out his cell phone. Just as he was about to push the button to call Scar and warn him, he had a change of heart. He stopped himself from making the call and put the phone back in his pocket.
Fuck him. Nigga can fend for his self.
“What was that?” Charisma asked.
“Mind yo’ business.”
They drove the rest of the way to Baltimore in silence.
Scar was still sitting at the kitchen table when he heard a car come speeding up his driveway.
What this dumb mu’fucka forget now? He trippin’ if he think I’m givin’ him any more cash.
He looked over to the window next to the front door and saw the flashing lights shining through. “Fuck!” He jumped up and ran up to his bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time. He dove under his bed and grabbed his AK-47, then went to his closet and pulled out the fake wall in the back. Behind the wall was an armory of weapons: shotguns, Uzis, handguns, and enough bullets for a war. He armed himself with every weapon he could handle.
Running to the second floor window that overlooked the front door, Scar began loading his weapons. When he looked out the window, he saw dozens of officers exiting their cars and fanning out on his property.
Four officers crouching down with their guns drawn started toward the front door. Before they had a chance to get there, Scar let his AK sing. The window shattered as the bullets pierced the glass and made their way directly to the four officers. Scar easily took the men out. They were down before they knew what was going on.
Baltimore Chronicles Page 12