Mayo wasn’t tryin to go to jail, but if he didn’t do something now, he wasn’t going to have much of a choice. His chances of getting away were getting slimmer by the second. They grew even slimmer when two police officers got out of the car. Everything was happening so fast. It would be suicide if he got out of the car and started shooting now, and he knew it. He waited for the officers to get as close as his back doors, then threw the car in drive and stepped on the gas. The officers got back in their cars and began the pursuit. Mayo punched it, but his efforts were put to a halt when a car shot out of the mall’s parking lot, Mayo slammed on the brakes but it was too late.
He crashed into the back end of the car and spun out of control. His car hit the pavement and turned over. His body was slung around like a ragdoll. The only thing he could hear before he passed out was the sound of the two cops yelling, “Do not move!”
__________
Det. Butler got the call that Marquis Harper was in custody and had been taken to nearby hospital after the car crash. Butler and Rose were at the hospital within minutes of the call. They had expected for his apprehension to be a little different than this, which would have included multiple shots being fired, and somebody, if not him, being killed.
“How long has he been out?” Det. Butler asked the officer outside of his door when he walked up.
“Ever since the accident. The doctor said that he should be fine, though.” the officer answered.
Butler relieved the officer, grabbed a chair, and sat it right next to Mayo’s bed. He was going to make sure that vhe was the first person Mayo saw when he woke up, and it would be then that the real party would start.
Chapter 5
Niya didn’t know the first thing about heroin, or where to begin, for that matter. The heroin game was a whole lot different from the cocaine game. There were a lot of problems that came along with it, mainly the amount of time one could get for selling it. The risk was greater, but the money was crazy. A key of heroin cost about 80k, while a brick of cocaine went for 20k.
“So you sure you know what your doin?” Niya asked Mandy, watching her crack open one of the keys of heroin. Mandy was an old friend from back in the day when Niya used to live in the projects. Mandy had moved to Betty Ford Rd. after high school, and had been there ever since. She knew so much about heroin because that’s all her neighborhood was known for. Betty Ford Rd. was the most violent street in Charlotte, because of the heroin trade. Heroin junkies were worse than crackheads. A crackhead could go cold turkey and quit, but A Heroin addict would need years of treatment and methadone shots to kick the habit.
“Look, I’ma put you on to my cousin. He got this neighborhood on lock down,” Mandy spoke through the mask as she blended in the cut to the heroin. “If you sell it right, you can come up around here girl,” she joked.
“Who’s ya cousin?” Niya asked, not really up for dealing with people she didn’t know.
“His name is Master. He just got out of the hospital. I’ma walk you over there when I get done.”
It had taken her a while, but Mandy had cut up a whole key of heroin for Niya. She even broke it down into ounces so that it would be easier for Niya to manage if she chose to just sell weight. The prices were the only thing left to discuss, which again, Niya had no knowledge of. However, with her messing around with Mandy, she was definitely about to get a crash course on the dope game.
__________
Gwen checked to make sure she had a bullet in the chamber before getting out of the car. Master must’ve been crazy to think that the beef was over between him and her. She had made her mind up a long time ago, that Master had to go for pulling that stunt. Gwen just wouldn’t be able to sleep right, knowing that he was out there healing from his wounds, and would be up and rolling again in a short time. Her phone started ringing the moment she got out of the car, and her first thought was not to answer it, but then she remembered that she was waiting on a specific call.
“Yeah,” Gwen answered, tucking the .45 into her back pocket.
It was exactly who she thought it might have been. She quickly accepted the call from the county jail, knowing that it could only be one person.
“Yo shawty, what’s good wit you?” Mayo said.
“Nothin’ much. I’m just about to go and take care of something,” Gwen said, looking down the street.
“Well look, I’m not gonna do too much talkin’ over the phone. My visiting day is on Saturday from 11-1pm—”
“Say no more. I’ll be up there,” she said, cutting him off. “Other than that, are you good in there?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I’ll see what they’re talking about when I go to court next week. But look, I was just checkin’ up on you. We’ll talk when I see you,” Mayo said before hanging up the phone.
Gwen hung up the phone too, but this time, decided to leave the phone in the car as opposed to keeping it on her. She proceeded to Betty Ford Rd. with one thing on her mind. She didn’t know what house Master lived in or even if he stayed on that street, but Gwen remembered that every time JR would bring him stuff, he’d be sitting on one of the porches. That’s all Gwen was banking on.
__________
“What up, cuz?” Mandy said, walking up to him with Niya in tow. “Yo, dis my girl, Niya,” she introduced.
“What up, shawty?” he said, looking up at Niya.
Niya looked down at the short, dark muscular man. He had a baldhead and sweat ran down it, even though is wasn’t that hot outside.
Master’s words were limited, because he was still in pain. The weed smoke helped somewhat, but it was still hard for him to do things such as talk, walk, laugh, or sleep comfortably.
“Yo Cuz, my girl got some work she’s tryin’ to get rid of, and I told her that you could help her out.
“Oh yeah? What kind of work?” Master asked with a curious look on his face.
Niya stepped in and passed him one of the ounces she had brought outside with her. He looked at the plastic bag, then put it to his nose. The smell was so strong he caught a little contact. He didn’t have to ask what it was. He knew that it was heroin.
“Where you get dis from, shawty?” Master asked, looking at Niya.
“Does it matter? I got it for sale,” Niya snapped back. “Do you wanna buy it or what?”
Master looked at the bag, and then at Mandy. He never pegged Mandy to be a set-up artist, but Master was still cautious because he knew the police had been lurking in the hood lately. Betty Ford Rd. was always a target for the local vice cops. Master waved for one of his dope fiends to come over so that he could taste the product for him. Niya approved it, wanting to know herself, exactly what she was working with. The fiend took one sniff of it, then wiped some around his gums. After a few seconds, he was bent over with his head between his legs. His mouth was drooling with spit, and he didn’t respond to none of the times Mandy smacked him on the back of his head.
“How much you want for it?” Master asked in a hurry. He knew that this kind of dope was hard to come by now a days.
“How much is it worth to you?” Niya said, looking to get some understanding as to what the prices were.
Master could tell from that simple question that Niya didn’t know what she had, and how much to sell it for. He figured that she just stole it from her boyfriend, and was tryin got make a few dollars. Either way, he was goin to play the game with her.
“I’m sayin. Somethin’ like this go for about fifteen hundred,” Master lied.
The average ounce of heroin would run anywhere from two thousand, to twenty-three hundred an ounce. Master knew that, but Niya didn’t. She thought fifteen hundred was more than enough per ounce, especially since Mandy just cut it up and brought back fifty ounces off the key. She did the math within seconds, and saw that she could make seventy-five grand off a brick if she sold it that way.
“You got a deal. Give Mandy that fifteen hundred, take my cell number and call me when you
need some more,” Niya said, flipping out her cell.
“How much of dis shit you got, shawty?” Master asked with his mind already on the angles.
“Enough, just hit me up when you’re ready,” she replied, then walked back to Mandy’s house.
__________
Gwen looked up and down the street a few times before she came from out of the cut. Seeing Niya talking to Master only made Gwen furious. She came from the corner pulling the .45 out of her back pocket. The gun was almost as big as her, but she was well aware of how to work it. Master was looking down at the dope when he saw a pair of AirMax coming up the steps. By the time he looked up, he was staring down the barrel of a gun, and on the other end of it was a woman he prayed that he would never run into again.
“Hey Master,” Gwen said with a devilish smile on her face.
“Come on shawty, it wasn’t like dat,” Master pleaded. “You don’t gotta do dis—”
“O yeah, I got to. You think I’m going to let a nigga who tried to kill me, live, to get a second chance at it?”
Gwen looked into his eyes before she squeezed the trigger. Boom! Boom! Gwen let the .45 cannon blow. All three shots pierced his forehead, knocking him backwards in his wheelchair. She then turned the gun on the dope fiend, and was about to pull the trigger when she saw that he was already dead off the dope. She turned around, tucked the gun into her pocket and walked off as if nothing happened.
“Oh shit girl, get down,” Mandy shouted, grabbing Niya’s arm and pulling her to the ground away from the window.
It was typical for shootings to occur around Betty Ford Rd, but this one shocked Mandy because they had just left from outside. Not hearing any follow up shots, Mandy deemed it safe to go outside and see what happened. Niya wasn’t too crazy about the idea, but pulled the 9mm from her waist and followed Mandy out the door. Other residents were coming out as well, to see what was going on. Mandy took a couple more steps up the street and could see that a crowd was gathering around Master’s trap spot.
“Master!” she screamed, running onto the porch.
Niya followed closely behind her. When they arrived at the spot they were just standing at less than thirty minutes before, both ladies looked up to see half of Master’s head peeled back. Damn, Niya thought to herself, I’m back at square one.
Chapter 6
Diamond and Tiffany weren’t taking any prisoners. In a matter of days, they already had a trap house set up over on Milton Road, and were pushing up on a few corners that weren’t really established. Diamond took the lead role in moving the cocaine. She got with one of her old boyfriends, a young nigga name Dollaz, to help her cook up. In return, she gave him coke for cheap. There was a method to her madness. Her eyes were set on Washington Street, because she knew the potential it had after seeing the old crews make millions out there when she was young.
“How do you know so much about cocaine?” Tiffany asked Diamond, who was sitting at the table watching a couple of crackheads bag up the product.
“My Dad used to sell this shit, my Mom used to smoke it, and my uncles used to cook it in front of me when I was yea high,” she motioned with her hand.
“Damn bitch, you were made for dis shit,” Tiffany joked.
A loud bang at the door grabbed everyone’s attention. All activities ceased, and the first person to get up to go check the door was Tiffany. Although Tiffany was cute, petite and reminded everyone of Rihanna, she had an instinct to kill without remorse. She was the quiet type that nobody would expect to do anything. Tiffany pulled the blinds back on the window slightly. It was a young cat, with Chief Keef braids. He was by himself, but she could tell he carried an attitude with him, by the way he was standing.
Tiffany walked back to the table and grabbed the 10mm, then proceeded to the door. Diamond motioned for the workers to finish doing what they were doing, knowing that whoever was at the door, Tiffany was going to take care of it. Tiffany took the several locks off the door and removed the large 2x4 from in front of it.
Ignorant to what was on the other side of the door, the guy pushed his way in. Tiffany just backed up and pointed the gun at his face.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Diamond yelled, getting up from the table.
The guy didn’t even have a gun in his hand, and if it wasn’t for Diamond, he would have been dead. He took a good look around the house at all the people who were there. He was acting as if he didn’t care that Tiffany had him at gunpoint.
“Who ya’ll bitches?” he asked with a confused look on his face. “Ya’ll bitches trappin’ in here?” he said jealously.
“Us bitches? Who da fuck is you?” Tiffany shot back, not liking his tone of voice.
GoGo was a local hustler who had just come home from jail and opened up shop in the same house a few weeks before. He had only a little bit of work that was given to him by one of his connects, who felt like it was only right to bless him with the drugs since GoGo hadn’t snitched on him. GoGo had considered this spot to be his trap house, even though he hadn’t been around for the last two weeks. He had been out trying to come up on a new connect since he had spent the money from the dope his connect gave him. While on the streets, he heard through the grapevine that it was some action goin on in the house. He came to find that it wasn’t just action, Diamond had picked up the pace dramatically. Dealers in the surrounding trap houses were starting to feel the effect.
“GoGo, you don’t run my house. I can have whoever I want in here,” Ms. Daisy said from the table.
Diamond walked over and lowered Tiffany’s arm that had the gun still pointed at GoGo. Diamond had known Go since he was a little boy, and she knew that he really wasn’t a threat. She also knew that he was broke and trying to come up. But most importantly, Diamond knew that he was still young, and easily capable of being manipulated by the right person and with the right things.
Diamond walked all the way up to him, looked Go in his eyes with the most innocent face she could put on, and asked, “GoGo, you wanna make some real money or what?”
__________
The visiting room was packed, and it took Mayo 45 minutes to get downstairs to the visiting area. The process irritated Gwen, but she knew that this visit had to take place to insure a better future for herself. Today’s objective was to get his drug connect’s information, so that she could start making her own moves. Since Mayo was booked for murder, Gwen wasn’t even sure if he was going to do what he said he was going to do. But she felt like she had to take the chance. Besides, Mayo had to know that he was looking at a long stretch of time, and would surely need someone on the outside looking out for him. If he hadn’t thought about it, Gwen was thinking she would definitely bring it to his attention.
“What up, shawty?” Mayo said, walking up and standing there like he was expecting a hug.
She really didn’t want to, but she did it anyway. Mayo wasn’t her man, nor did she care anything about him. For all she knew, Mayo was the one who was responsible fo JR’s death. If it was up to her, his ass could rot in jail forever, but right now, she kind of needed him. It was hard as hell trying to find a supplier that did business straight up in Charlotte. Local drug dealers always wanted to boost the prices up for drugs they had stepped on a few times.
“I’m sorry, I can’t stay that long. I got to pick my son up,” Gwen said as her excuse not to have to sit there too long.
“Naw, that’s cool, because I need you to get right on top of this anyway,” he said.
Mayo broke down the whole situation as far as with his case, and what evidence the DA had against him. He expressed his concern about getting a paid lawyer, because all he had now was a public defender. Gwen sat there and listened to him, but really did not pay attention to what he was saying about his case. She didn’t care. It wasn’t until he started talking about his connect, that Gwen started to focus on what he was saying. She had to remember the name and phone number he had given her.
“Now look, I
know that there is nothing I can do to bring my boy, JR, back, and I hope that you don’t think that I don’t hurt over his death, because I do. Me and that nigga grew up together, got money together, and did time together. On the real, that was my right hand man, and for that, I’ma make sure you and ya son is straight. I’m giving you my house, so that you don’t have to worry about having a place to stay.”
“Mayo, you don’t have to do that…” Gwen responded with a surprised look on her face.
“I know, but I want to. You can do whatever you want with it, just to make sure I get a lawyer at the end of the day,” Mayo said with sincerity and sorrow in his eyes.
Gwen wasn’t prepared for this other side Mayo was displaying. For a moment, she could actually see the hurt in his eyes when he talked about JR. That’s when Gwen knew that it was time to end the visit. She didn’t want to generate any type of feelings for Mayo, not even on the strength of JR.
__________
Before the end of that day, Diamond had GoGo in the trap house moving work. He was soft for a cute face. That, and the fact that he was about to be making good money was enough to get him on the team. This was all part of Diamond’s takeover plan. She knew that no one could beat them on price, considering their dope had come free to them. Well not free, since it had cost Prada her life, and nearly Niya’s too. But they didn’t have money tied up in the drugs, so they were able to sell it at a cheaper price than everyone else, and able to pay a higher commissions to the workers. MHB was on the move, and Diamond was the main face on the streets.
Country Girls Trilogy (Parts 1-2-3 Boxed Set): MHB Love Page 9