by Shan
My ambitions as a hustla, I won't deny it I'm a straight hustla. I won't deny it.
I reached for the knob on the stereo turning it down a few notches, "Say B, you ever thought we would make it this far?" I asked.
"Shittttt, I knew you and Key would make it. Ya'll was always determined to see a mil no matter how you got it." Brandon said.
"I was determined to make sure we all saw a mil, never thought dope would be my forte though. What about you Ron, you ever thought we would be sitting on racks on racks on racks?" I laughed.
"I didn't think so when I started my bid, but after a few years and hearing your name ring bells all thru that muthafucka’ I knew then that you had enough heart for us all. Made me even happier I was doing that bid...."
"I could've done my own fuckin’ bid," I said getting angry at the revelation that my older brother took the blame for some shit I did back in the day.
"I know you could've but imagine if you would have, wouldn't be building a drug empire now would you?"
I turned the music back up no longer wanted to take a trip backwards. I hated when everybody felt like they had to do shit for me like I couldn't take care of myself. Always made decisions for me without even asking how I felt about it.
"You wasn't nothing but 15 years old Tae,” Taron yelled trying to be heard over the music.
I reached and cut the music back down, "Yo, Key ain't tell y'all what we was coming over here for?"
"He said something about talking to Roz's...."
EEEERRRRRRRRRCCCHHHHH! BAAAAAAMMMMMMBBBBB!!!
Out of nowhere we were side swiped by a white Ford Excursion that sent us skidding over the curb, crashing into a light pole. I excelled forward hitting my face on the steering wheel causing a couple of my bones to shatter.
POW!POW!POW!
"Shit!" Taron yelled. "I can't reach my piece! Tae, hand me your shit!"
"I can't move my fuckin’ arm, my shit is stuck and the other one broke! Reach under my seat!"
"My leg is stuck....oh shit!" Taron yelled as three guys stepped out in front of our vehicle and aimed AR15 directly at us.
POW! POW! POW!
TAT-TA-TAT-TA-TAT-TAT!!
"Ron just chill....it's bullet proof! Yo, B! B!"
Taron and I looked over our shoulder at the same time to see Brandon sprawled out over the backseat either dead or unconscious. I tried to pull my left arm that was crushed between the door and the seat so that I can reach under the seat and grab my AK; there was another pistol within arm’s reach behind the passenger seat but my right arm was broke and I couldn't move it. Right now we all seemed to be in a fucked up position. The body and the windows of my car was bullet proof so wasn't no bullets getting through here no matter how many times they shot. I've been shot and shot at enough to know you could never have too much protection.
POW! POW! POW!
TAT-TA-TAT-TA-TAT-TAT!
Bullets was still being fired all around us; I struggled to get my arm out of the tight space it was in so that I could go for my shit and pop back at whomever these niggas was.
“Shittttt!” Taron yelled as he tried to pull his leg from the crushed space it was in.
“Aaarghhh!” I yelled finally able to pull my arm loose, tearing my clothes and skin. Blood ran down the sides of my arm but at least I was able to reach under my seat and grab the AK. I pulled the AK from underneath, and was about to raise my window down to start shooting but the sounds of sirens nearing the scene startled the shooters and sent them running to their car.
“Fuck that; they ain’t about to get away!” I yelled.
“Nah, leave it alone. Leave it alone!”
I ignored Taron, hit button to let the window down but the muthafucka’ wouldn't budge. I was determined to get one of those fuckas; I needed to know who the fuck came after us. If I could get an identity on at least one of them then I could pinpoint their affiliation. I hit the button on the sun roof opening it up and poking half my body through the top catching the last dude that ran to the backseat of the excursion.
TAT-TA-TAT-TA-TAT-TAT!
The tires on the Excursion screeched leaving smoke and black tire marks as they peeled from the scene leaving their partner behind kissing the pavement. I needed to get back there to B; I climbed through the sun roof and leaped to the ground. Before checking on Brandon I ran down the block a ways where a sewage drain was and tossed the AK down there being I ain’t have no registration on that muthafucka’.
Just as I ran back to the Navi I could hear the sirens turning down the street. I popped Brandon's door open and pulled him with the arm that wasn't broken. Laying him on the grass I could hear light wheezing coming from him so I knew that he wasn't dead. After pulling Brandon from the car; I walked over to the passenger side door to try and help Taron even though he was stuck between the light pole.
“Freeze mother fucker! Put your hands up!” I glanced over my shoulder to see a whole army of police officers with their guns pointed at me. Damn, these muthafuckas supposed to be here to help. I thought.
“Hey, my homey needs help! I need somebody to get my brother out the car!” I tried to reach towards the door to open it when one of them muthafuckas shot me.
POW!
The force from the bullet crashing into my shoulder sent me flying to the ground. I was then surrounded by at least four officers not having any mercy on me, not caring that Brandon was lying unconscious on the ground or that my brother was lodged in the fuckin’ car. All these racist pigs saw was that I was black, rich, and just got off for fuckin’ murder. Just wait, they mad now but I got something for they ass that's gonna piss them off even further.
“Fuck! My shit already broke!” I screamed as the assholes took the arm that was broken and twisted it even further. Then took the arm with the bullet wound and twisted it forcefully placing me into handcuffs. “What the hell am I being arrested for? Somebody crashed into me and shot my shit up!”
“Be the fuck quiet!” one of the officers yelled.
“Nah, bitch get these cuffs off of me! Get me my fuckin’ lawyer out here!”
“Place this monkey in the back,” The officer jerked my arms as if he was trying his hardest to cost me damage.
“Monkey? You redneck muthafucka’, take these muthafuckin’ cuffs off and then call me a monkey! I bet I beat your ass with two fucked arms you fuckin’ homo-pig!”
The racist cop slammed me into the hood of his car, kicked my legs apart, and began to search me. Finally the fire truck and ambulance showed up at the scene but it still didn't keep them from treating us like we were the criminals. I was thrown in the back of the car, not able to receive any medical treatment for my wounds; in fact I don't even think anybody was told I was hurt.
After about twenty minutes the whole damn neighborhood was on the street along with reporters from different news stations.
“This is fucked up,” I said to myself still wondering what the hell Keylan had to tell me about Rozalyn.
“Step out of the vehicle please Mr. Andrews,” the same racist pig that called me a monkey said.
I brought my feet around, stepped out of the car stumbling to the ground; the cop picked me up then un-cuffed me, “Oh I thought my name was Monkey now you wanna be all formal and shit and call me Mr. Andrews. Fuck out my way Andy!” I said reading his name badge, that racist muthafucka’ was good as dead just off the fact that he thought he had power behind that badge.
“You cuffed him! Please tell me you did not cuff him!” I looked up and saw a black lieutenant marching my way; he was wearing a white shirt with all kinds of accolades, a pair of black pants, and shiny black boots.
“They shot me too! I can't wait to get the bullet up out my arm so you can see it belonged to one of they racist asses.”
“Shot you! Who the hell fired their weapon and who the hell gave you permission to do so?” he asked.
No one said anything, all the officers continued handling the scene acting as if they didn't know what wa
s going on.
“Mr. Andrews, please accept my apologies. My officers apparently did not realize that you were the victim….”
“Fuck your apology man, I'm about to sue the hell out ya'll asses. My fuckin’ arm broke, my damn nose, and jaw feels fucked up, your officers shoot me after I asked for help, then they cuff me, throw me in the backseat of the car, and don't even ask me if I need any medical attention,” I laughed. “I'm about to go and give these reporters the attention they love.”
See now I was about to lose that DEA van that was parked in front of my house, anytime a fuckin’ officer saw me coming down the street they was gonna hit the corner quickly instead of it being the other way around. Yea I'm a make sure I had my lawyer have a suit pending on their ass first thing tomorrow morning. They've been all up in my shit for over a year now; they just don't know how bad they have fucked up and made it a little easier for me get my money. I walked over to Kari's fine ass acting like I was about to pass out and die at any moment.
Damn Kari was looking good; I may have to give her an exclusive interview.
***
Finally after all of us were transported to the hospital; I was the only that was released due to Taron's leg being severely broken he would have to stay overnight and with Brandon they were concerned about him hitting his head against the window and would be observing him for the next 48 hours. Myself, I refused to stay up in that muthafucka’ even with me unable to use either of my arms, a broken nose, and a fractured jaw bone. I was trying to figure out what the hell Keylan wanted to talk to me about. Anything concerning Rozalyn was important to me and I wanted to know.
Once I made it out of the hospital, I sat down on a bench, tried my best to use my two disabled arms the best I could to call Dmitri after seeing he called me multiple times, “Yo, what up?”
“I just saw the news, what the hell happened?” Dmitri asked upon answering the phone.
“A big ass law suit, but uh, where is Key? He over there yet? I tried calling his phone…”
“That's what I've been calling you about…do you have me on speaker?” Dmitri paused.
“Yea, ain't nobody around. Both arms are messed up; I'm useless right now but what about Key,” I said.
“He was gunned down on his way from the airport and was transported to Jackson Memorial hospital. Last I checked his condition was critical,” Dmitri informed me.
“What the hell is going on? Say send somebody to come and get me I'm at University; I gotta get up there.”
“There is nothing you can do for him now. I need you to get over here. I was given the letter and I know what he wanted to meet with you guys about. I need to talk to you right away; I'm sending someone over now.”
“Bet,” I hung up the phone using my chin and sat back on the bench feeling like a sitting duck. Due to the little antics the police pulled earlier I wasn’t able to get an identity on the fool I bodied and the police have yet to release his name. Something real fishy was going on; whoever sent them dudes after us had to have sent somebody after Keylan too. Whatever information he had was worth killing us to keep us from getting it and him giving it to us. I just wonder what the hell it is.
Six weeks of both my arms being casted, oh hell nah. Them fools were bound to come back and what the hell am I gonna do?
13 TAMAR
A Long Way From Home
“What's the business? Hit me with it, I've been waiting all day to hear this shit,” I said to Dmitri the moment I stepped into his multi-million dollar mansion.
“Nice to see you too, glad you okay,” Dmitri turned and walked away to the bar area. He poured himself a drink, sniffed the aroma of it then tossed it down the back of his throat.
“Sorry man, I just heard it had something to do with Rozalyn and I'm anxious to know what's going on.”
“Yes, it has something to do with Rozalyn but I don't want you to go getting your hopes up.”
“Hopes up about what?” I was confused and wish he would just tell me already what was going on.
Dmitri grabbed a piece of paper off the bar, walked towards me then sat the paper down in front of me. He then went and poured himself another drink.
I read the letter in its entirety, then started at the beginning and read it again specifically the part that said: She went on to tell me how she didn't give a flying fuck about Rozalyn and that she wished Rozalyn was really dead and that if she could get her hands on Rozalyn she would kill her herself.
“Do you believe this?” I asked. “Do you think she's telling the truth?”
“I don't know; apparently Keylan got this letter the day before yesterday and went to New York to check it out. Before they took him to surgery all he said was that he wanted us to check Beijing.”
“Beijing?”
“Same thing I said so I had my guys do a little investigation and they found out that P.J. whose real name is P.J. Liu, has been living in the U.S. since he was seventeen years old and changed his name to P.J. Davis. Of course you know all about his father Jason Liu; we know about the work that he’s done and still does in New York but what we didn’t know is that he was a legend in Beijing. He ran a drug and prostitution ring until the Chinese Government forced him out of there. That’s when he came to the states. Apparently he still has connections and family; so I’m quite sure they are hiding P.J. in Beijing. And if this letter is true; he could possibly have Rozalyn.”
“This some bullshit, please don't tell me she's been alive this whole time and I ain’t done shit to help her. Fuck!”
“We don't know that yet Tamar. I've already sent my guys over there to see what they can find out. They will let us know if they find him or even if they find her.”
I slouched down in my chair not knowing what to think. This gut feeling in the bottom of stomach told me that things wasn't right; it's the same feeling I had when they told me she was dead and the same feeling when I buried Rozalyn. It was part of the reason why I couldn't let go, why I couldn't sleep peacefully at night. Just something was telling me that the person we buried was not the person I fell in love with not long ago.
“What about the coroner digging the body up? You think they can do it before Friday?” I asked hoping that we can get a real confirmation on the body that was buried beneath a tombstone with Rozalyn's name on it.
“Nope, as a matter of fact ’cause of what happened today they claim that it could take up to two weeks before they get to it.”
“Bullshit, they're doing that shit on purpose. I need them to get out there now! I got a feeling that she…oh shit. That muthafuckin’ call I got right after I got out of court! Yo, I talked to her and she said she was in Beijing! I thought I was trippin’….”
“What the hell do you mean you talked to her?” Dmitri poured a drink and sat it in front of me with a straw in it so that I can sip out of it.
“The day of the trial when they caught me on camera saying I was gonna murk somebody. It was her Dmitri; Rozalyn. She said for me to come and get them out of Beijing and I hung up on her thinking it was a fuckin’ joke. Shit! I gotta get out there!” I jumped up.
“And do what? Look at you; you got two fucked up arms! Let me take care of this!”
“I need to go out there and see for myself. Shit man…what if somebody else gets there and brings her home? How is that gonna make me look?”
“Tamar we don't even know for sure! Calm down and let me handle this!”
DING DONG! DING DONG! DING DONG!
Dmitri asked his maid Sophia to get the door; I sipped on the crown royal that sat before me wishing I could snatch these casts off of both of my arms and run to Beijing but I knew it wouldn't do me any good. I felt so damn helpless; if I would've put more pressure on the MPD with doing a DNA or dental comparison on the body they found she could’ve been found months ago. They act like they were just happy to have an open and shut case that they didn't even care one way or the other.
“Hey, what's up?” Taron said coming into the room o
n a set of crutches.
“Damn, looks like you ain't gonna be able to do shit either,” I said. “I thought they wasn’t releasing you until tomorrow.”
“They was, I told you not to leave me ’cause I was leaving soon as they casted me up to. Anyway do what? What you need me to do?” Taron plopped down on the couch.
“We think we may have a lead on P.J...…and it is possible that he has Rozalyn with him,” Dmitri said handing Taron a drink.
“What? What the fuck ya'll over here talking about?” Taron laughed.
“This is serious Ron, ain’t no fuckin’ joke,” I sipped on my drink and looked Taron in his eyes.
“Ya'll serious? Where you getting this information from?”
“That's what Keylan wanted to talk to us about; somebody tried to stop him from giving us the info he had and somebody tried to stop us from getting it,” I responded.
“You think that this little incident here had something to do with the info Keylan had.”
“Seems a little too coincidental to me,” I thought aloud.
“Who knew that you guys were coming over here besides the four of us?” Dmitri asked.
“I ain’t tell nobody, Tae caught me the minute I got in the drive way and told me we was coming this way,” Taron said.
“I told Diamond that I was coming over here,” I said wondering if Diamond could have something to do with all of this.
“How well do you know her? This Diamond?” Dmitri questioned.
“Nah, she didn't have anything to do with this. It could've been Tonio’s boys or shit who knows? Diamond didn't have anything to do with this,” I said more trying to convince myself more than anybody else. “I do need to get the info on the dude I dropped the minute it's released. Find out who he's affiliated with.”
“I'll make some calls but I won't be giving you any info, it's time you let the people we pay to handle shit like this. What do you have Money and Key for if you're not going to use them?”