“718,” she mumbled to herself, stopping in front of halfway open door.
She looked up and down the hallway. It was quiet, as it should have been at 2am. She walked into the room to see Rell watching TV, and one of his boys sound asleep in the vacant bed beside Rell’s.
“Damn shawty, visiting hours are over,” he said as she entered the room
“But boo, it’s your bitch. Ain’t that what you told me?” Kea said as she took off the hoodie and raised the automatic weapon towards him.
She replayed the vicious beating Rell gave her when he saw her MHB tattoo, and fired. Two shoots whistled silently to his chest for the slaps, one in the temple for the black eye, and one in the center of the forehead for being a dick.
The silencer had muffled the shots. His boy was still snoring in the bed next to him. She placed the gun in Rell’s lap, and disappeared out of the room.
__________
Niya pulled out her cell phone from her back pocket.
Diamond and Tiffany walked over to the window and stood next to her. Gwen, Rose, and Alexus followed. Niya looked to her left to see Diamond and then to her right to see Gwen. She smiled, looked down, and pushed the call button.
“It’s a go,” Niya said into the phone and then hung up.
“What’s goin on?” Tiffany asked, not sure what to make out of what she just did.
Niya didn’t respond. She just looked out of the window and nodded her head. Everybody looked to see what she was looking at. At first, it was nothing there, but then, after about thirty seconds, a single cop-car shot up Main Street with its lights flashing. Soon after, another one did the same thing. Then another one and another until center city was full of cop cars, and flashing red and blue lights, all which were heading towards the hood.
__________
“Search warrant!” the U.S. Marshals yelled, knocking the hinges off the door of the dope house on Ronheart Street. The tactical team raided the house, locking up each and every person that was in the house. All kinds of evidence was discovered, pertaining to the drug enterprise Rell was running. Everything from heroin to guns was recovered. Ronheart Street wasn’t the only street that was getting hit tonight. FBI, ATF, DEA, and local police took part in the largest round up in the history of Charlotte. Almost every drug house, drug corner, and known drug dealer was being searched and shut down. Everybody that was in the drug game was being shut down, the only ones not going down tonight were those who had MHB ink on them
__________
“After tomorrow, the city of Charlotte will belong to you. You won’t have to worry about looking over ya shoulders, nor will you have to worry about going to prison,” Niya said as she continued to look out of the window at all the flashing lights going towards the hood.
“Niya, you talking like you not gonna be here with us,” Gwen said. “What did you do Niya?” Gwen asked, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face her.
A hard knock at the door grabbed everyone’s attention. Gwen looked at the door, then back at Niya, who now had tears in her eyes.
“I did what I had to do,” Niya said, walking away to answer the door.
Everyone was silent as they watched Niya walk to the door. She hadn’t provided details as to what her deal was with them.
When Niya opened the door, Agent Atkins and another agent entered the penthouse. Atkins looked around the room and then pulled out one set of handcuffs. Rose saw the handcuffs, pulled her hood up and looked out the window.
Niya could see Diamond and Gwen’s hands reach for their guns. She shook her head as the cuffs clicked.
“Niya?” Alexus yelled.
Nobody in the room knew why she was goin to jail. They were blind to the fact that Niya had sacrificed her honor, her morals, her dignity, and just about everything that she stood for, for the sake of her team. Originally, the feds just wanted Niya to give up everybody in MHB, including her drug connect. With that information alone, she would be able to walk free. They threw everything at her, even a life sentence, but she didn’t budge. She couldn’t betray her family. In fact, she did the very opposite when she decided to save them from having to go to war and from having to go to prison.
In return for the immunity of everybody in MHB, Niya made a deal with the feds to help them bring down four major drug dealers in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem. She knew pretty much everything about their drug operations and how much money they were getting. That was because she was their supplier. She had no loyalty to them; they were just customers, not family.
The major drug dealer she gave up in Charlotte was Rell, so everybody else that he rallied up to go to war with MHB was a part of his organization, or at least that’s what Niya made it look like to the feds. It was like killing two birds with one stone. She stopped the war and saved MHB from being indicted. Some might call her a snitch or a rat for what she did, but in her eyes, she was acting as a chief, saving her village from being destroyed, even if that meant sacrificing herself in the process.
Before Agent Atkins escorted her out of the condo, Niya looked around at the faces of the women in the world that meant the most to her. She realized that what she did was worth it.
“I’ll see ya’ll in a couple of years,” Niya smiled, and the agents escorted her out the door.
Final Chapter
** 6 months later**
“All rise,” the bailiff announced when the Honorable Judge Linda Walsh entered the courtroom.
MHB filled the courtroom. Judge Walsh could not remember ever having her courtroom filled to capacity.
“Are all of these people here for the defendant?” the judge asked, looking over the top of her glasses.
“Well yes, your Honor,” Niya’s lawyer answered. “These are her friends and family.”
The judge took one look around and continued with the proceedings. Niya’s lawyer had managed to get her a “conditional plea” of five years, so that’s exactly what the judge had to sentence her to. The government, along with her lawyer also asked that Niya undergo the drug program while she was in in prison. If completed successfully, her sentence would be reduced to four years.
“Do you have anything to say before I sentence you today, Ms. Walker?” the judge asked.
Niya looked at the judge and then turned to look at her family sitting in the back of the courtroom. There was nothing Niya could think about that she wanted to tell the judge. She hoped that the judge didn’t want her to apologize for her actions and conduct in society, because that wasn’t going to happen. There were a few things that Niya was sorry for in her lifetime, but this wasn’t one of them.
“No… no Your Honor,” Niya said without an ounce of regret in her eyes.
__________
After Niya’s sentencing, Gwen made her way quickly out of the courtroom. Mayo’s murder trial had been going on for the past two weeks and Gwen didn’t miss a day of it. Yesterday, the state had rested their case so the jury was in deliberations. Gwen was torn, she wanted him to be found guilty and live the rest of his days in a cage, but she also wanted to make him stop breathing, herself.
When Gwen finally made it to the courtroom, she knew that she had missed the verdict. She walked in just in time to see the bailiff escorting Mayo out of the courtroom. He looked over and smiled at Gwen before they took him through the door. She felt a chill go down her spine.
“What happened?” Gwen asked, grabbing the arm of one of the people exiting the courtroom.
“Hung jury,” the man informed Gwen before leaving.
Gwen knew what a hung jury was, but she didn’t know what was going to happen now. She played it cool, walking up to Mayo’s lawyer as he was packing his things into his briefcase.
“Excuse me. My name is Michelle Harper. Mayo is my cousin and I just got here,” Gwen said as innocently as she could.
“Well, your cousin got a hung jury. All the jurors didn’t believe the witness, I guess.�
�� Mayo’s lawyer said.
“So what happens now?” Gwen asked.
“Now… well now, more than likely he is going to go back to trial. In the meantime, I am gonna get him a bail hearing to see if he could be put on house arrest until the trial,” his lawyer said before grabbing his briefcase and walking off.
Gwen’s mind processed what the lawyer said. Killing him wasn’t going to be hard once he got out. She knew it wouldn’t take long for him to come pay Gwen a visit, once his foot hit the pavement.
__________
“One last question, Detective. Did you or did you not know that the federal government picked up the MHB case,” the Internal Affairs agent asked.
All morning, Detective Rose had been grilled about her involvement with MHB and the death of Butler. They were trying their best to link her to crimes she committed with MHB after she was taken off the case. Their only problem was trying to figure out when she was made aware that she was officially off the case. Without Butler, they had nothing else to rely on except Rose’s word.
“Like I said before, the day before my partner was murdered, is when he told me that the federal government took over the case. I was reassigned to another case, and that’s when my involvement with the group “MHB” stopped. I cooperated with the feds to the best of my ability in this matter and I have no further information to provide at this time,” Rose responded.
The board really didn’t have anything else to do but reinstate her back to field duties, even though they didn’t want to. One thing was for sure, and that was a guaranteed fact that the investigation was far from over. Internal Affairs was only going to give Rose enough rope to hang herself, and the F.B.I. was at the head of the whole operation. They knew that Rose would do exactly what they wanted her to do, and that was to dig a hole and bury herself. If given a second opportunity, the feds were going to bring down the rest of MHB. This time, there wasn’t anything anyone could use to bargain for their freedom. That was a onetime deal for Niya, they had no more cards left to play. MHB had a target over those letters, and the feds were aiming for them.
__________
Niya took a deep breath as the corrections officer secured the cuffs around her ankle and wrists. After checking each inmate, the petite full figured guard yelled at them to move. Niya shuffled along with the other women towards the bus.
“Take a seat in the first empty seat you come to,” the bus driver instructed as the females were herded in like livestock.
Niya did as told, and took a seat at the front of the bus. She looked around at the other women. She knew that most of them were probably on that damn bus due to some stupid decision they made involving some fucking dude. Not me, she thought to herself. MHB was her family and her legacy. She took an oath to do whatever it took to protect her sisters from any and everything, and that’s just what she had done.
The bus began to pull out of the parking lot of the jail, and within what seemed like a matter of seconds, it was on the interstate heading north. She looked out the window at the Charlotte skyline until it disappeared from her view. Niya thought about the years she had ahead of her. If the feds thought that by locking her up, she was going to become reformed, that was the biggest mistake they could make. Actually, they were putting her in a place with a bunch of other females. Shit, she already had some of the baddest bitches in Charlotte, and surrounding areas riding with her. What the fuck did they think was going to happen in a place that had young hungry females just waiting to be led by someone like herself? Not to mention, all the other female bosses who would be around to school her.
She relaxed in the hard cushioned seat and dropped her head back. A big smile came on her face at the idea that she would be assigned a number by the penal system, but in her heart, she knew she would only be loyal to three letters. MHB.
Country Girls Trilogy (Parts 1-2-3 Boxed Set): MHB Love Page 30