Truths Revealed

by Meesha

  Fats pulled the truck along the side walk and we jumped out and made our way down the street. The warehouse was in my line of vision and there was nobody out front. That meant whoever was there was in the back.

  “Psycho, AK, Fats, and Sosa, y’all go around on the left. Me, Max, Face, Butta, and Felon will go to the right.” I whispered as I gave orders. “Get y’all tools ready and have them locked and loaded. We are not here to take our time, but we will make sure nothing is moving before we leave. They wanted a nigga to die, that’s what we will give them for the second time today. Make it quick and simple, don’t think, just shoot. I’m gon’ step out first, when I shout ‘Renegade, nigga’ that’s the cue to start letting loose.”

  Once everybody acknowledged the command, I pointed Sosa and his team to the left, and I led my team to the right. Creeping along the wall of the warehouse, the voices of the stupid niggas could be heard. Weed smoke could be seen and the aroma was strong. Knowing they were back there getting lit was a good sign because their reactions were going to be slow as hell. Looking behind me, I checked to see where Max was. I motioned for him to come up to where I was standing.

  “Stay as close to me as possible, I don’t know who is here,” I whispered to him as I gripped my bitches in my hands.

  Taking a deep breath, I rounded the corner with my guns drawn. As I thought, all of them hoe niggas was in a circle, not paying attention. Easy targets. “Renegade niggas!” I shouted as I let my bitches sing them a lullaby.

  They never had a chance because every Renegade got a shot in. Riddling they ass with bullets felt so muthafuckin’ good but I was pissed because the shit was too easy. Bodies dropped quick and fast. But there was one that ducked his way across the open space trying to get away. Noticing him running, I let off a shot that hit him in his lower leg. He collapsed on the ground and started to crawl away slowly. I took my time walking toward him. When I got closer, he turned over pleading.

  “Oh shit! Please, Ricio, don’t kill me man. I didn’t have nothing to do with none of that shit! You know I fucks with you the long way, fam. That was Floyd and Shake! They sent Rell to get at you.”

  I looked down in John John’s face with no remorse. If the shit he said was true, he wouldn’t be at the warehouse. His ass would’ve left their crew when the shit went down but he didn’t. His ass had to go with the rest of them.

  Before I could raise my arm to pop his ass, he fired a shot into my chest. I stumbled because the pain I was feeling was intense. Looking to my right I saw John John squeezing the trigger but nothing happened. His gun jammed. I raised up squeezing the trigger shooting him in the face until he was unrecognizable.

  Max ran over to where I was with his gun drawn. I was running my hand over the spot where the bullet hit. It was a good thing I had on my vest, but my chest was killing me. “Ricio, he shot you?” Max asked with wide eyes.

  “Yeah, but I have on my vest. He won’t be able to shoot nobody else though. I said looking down at the mess I created. Leaving his ass laying there in brain matter and blood, I walked away to make sure everybody else was good. The door to the warehouse was opened. Psycho, and Face was standing guard outside when me and Max walked up. I heard a car coming down the street and I popped a new clip into one of my pistols and aimed. Butta was pulling his truck up to the back of the warehouse and Felon was driving the Navigator.

  Relaxing, I turned my head looking into the door of the warehouse and I saw Sosa coming out with three duffle bags. I told his ass I didn’t want none of the weak ass drugs that was in there, his ass was hardheaded.

  “I thought I told you we didn’t want that shit, brah.”

  “Oh, this belongs to Reese. There’s a shit load of product in there but these niggas about to load that up for themselves. These—" he said patting one of the bags, “are coming with us. Y’all niggas hurry up because the shipment should be here any minute. We gotta get outta here.” Sosa said to Butta.

  It took them ten minutes to gather enough bricks for them to make a killing and be straight for a long while. Piling back into the trucks, I glanced at the bodies that were scattered around and smiled. This was just the beginning. There would be more bloodshed in the near future.

  ***

  Sosa, Max, and myself headed back to the suburbs while the rest of the team went to the west side. Max was sitting quietly in the back as I drove and Sosa sat chilled in the passenger seat. My mind was on what we had done and I couldn’t describe the way I was feeling about it. Thinking back to the Impala the shots came out of earlier, a vision flashed in my mind. It was the same car that sped off the night my father was killed.

  I’d seen that car plenty times over the years and never put two and two together until now. Briefly closing my eyes, I tried to get the vision to reappear but it didn’t come back. My head starting hurting because I needed that night to come back so I could see the scene. The only thing I remembered was holding my father in my arms. Anything before that, was a blur to me.

  I pulled into Sosa’s driveway and before the car came to a full stop, Max bolted out. Both me and Sosa looked at him through the front window. I wanted to know badly what was on my little brother’s mind, other than me almost getting shot. Watching him go inside, we sat in the car staring at the front of the house.

  “We have to keep an eye on him Ricio. He’s acting as if he’s waiting for something to happen to him. Earlier this week he was a tough muthafucka, now he’s acting all paranoid and it was before we went to get at Floyd’s boys. I’ll try to get him to tell me what’s going on.” he said glancing at me.

  “I’m done trying to figure it out, brah. He’s not talking but if you can get him to open up, that would be a good thing. I didn’t tell you back at the warehouse, but John John got a shot off hitting me in the chest. Don’t panic because it didn’t get past the vest I’m wearing.” I said showing him. “But on some real shit, what the fuck is in those bags?”

  “Don’t worry about that right now brah. Are you sure you’re okay?” I shook my head yeah. “If you say so, I hope you don’t complain about it later. Anyway, them stupid muthafuckas had the money for the shipment out in the open. I scooped that shit up and brought it out with me. I don’t know how much is there, but I’ll leave it up to you to count and divide it three ways. Floyd is really gon’ be pissed that his boys got robbed and killed. His first thought is gon’ be us, for sure.”

  The words weren’t out of Sosa’s mouth good before my phone chimed with a text. I quickly took it off my hip thinking it was Nija. I opened it and all I could do was chuckle. Floyd’s bitch ass was texting me with his idle threats like it meant something to me.

  “Check this shit out, brah. I guess his connect found the mess we left. He said we’re dead.” I said laughing loudly.

  “Let me see.” Sosa said holding his hand out for my phone. He read the text out loud, “Bitch ass niggas! This how y’all want to play? Y’all killed my fuckin’ nephew! Watch yo’ muthafuckin’ back, Ricio. You dead, bitch!”

  “Don’t respond to that nigga, let him think he knows what he is talking about. I think we all need to lay low for a day. I will talk to Max and see if he wants to roll to the club with us on Friday. Go home and get some sleep and call me if you need to.”

  “Aight, be easy, brah. I’ll call to let you know how much we banked tonight.” I said dapping him up as he exited the truck.

  I waited until he was in the house before I backed out of the driveway. I couldn’t wait to get home. It didn’t take long for me to get there because traffic was nonexistent. Pushing the button to the garage door, I pulled the truck into my secondary spot and got out. I walked to the elevator and remembered the bags that were in the backseat. Going back to the passenger side I opened the door and grabbed all three straps and slung them over my shoulder.

  When I entered the condo, it was so quiet I could hear the clock ticking on the wall in the dining room. I went straight to the guest room and placed the bags in the closet. The sho
wer was calling my name and that’s where I headed. My bedroom door was open and Nija’s silhouette was illuminated by the tv. Proceeding to the bed, I moved the cover from her face. She had her hand tucked under her chin with my chain clutched in it.

  I bent down and kissed her softly on her forehead then went to take a shower. The hot water rained over my head and relaxed every aspect of my body. I was tired but my mind was on overload. This had been one stressful week for all of us and it would only get worse. Floyd was pissed and retaliation was on the top of his list. I knew he had already called Big Jim whining about John John, oh well. They took two from me, and I was taking as many of them muthafuckas that I could at once.

  As I reached over my head grabbing the wash cloth and body wash, another vision came to my mind. I stopped suddenly to see if it would come through without the blur and it vanished. Frustration kicked in instantly because something was being revealed to me but I couldn’t grasp it. Hurrying to wash myself, I rinsed and stepped out of the shower. I snatched a bath towel from the rack and wrapped it around my waist and walked out of the bathroom.

  Nija was still sleeping soundly and I didn’t want to wake her. Tiptoeing to the dresser, I removed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and dressed quickly. Pulling a pair of socks onto my feet, I grabbed my phone and made my way to the guest room to count the money Sosa swiped from the warehouse. Hitting the power button on my ihome speaker, I connected my phone to the Bluetooth and went straight to Pandora.

  Mc Eiht’s “Straight up Menace” came through the speakers and I placed my phone on the bar and went to the closet. Removing the money counter from the shelf, I placed it on the table and went back for the bags. When I opened the first bag, there were bundles of bills that were bound together by rubber bands. As I placed the bundles on the table, I thought the bag was never going to empty.

  Feeding the bills through the counter one stack at a time, it took about twenty minutes to get the sum of the money in the first bag. The total came out to two hundred thousand. When I finish counting the other two bags there was a total of seven hundred thousand dollars stacked on the table. I went back to the closet and pushed the wall to reveal the hidden safe that sat behind it. Keying in the combination, I pulled it open. Before this lick, I probably only had seventy-five thousand dollars in the safe. Now I would be sitting on a couple hundred thousand.

  I locked the safe up, replaced the wall, and sat at my desk. With my fingers intertwined under my chin, I looked to my left and saw the disc with my name on it. I hadn’t listened to it when Beast gave it to me but I thought that moment would be the perfect time to do so. Since visiting the cemetery, my dad had been on my mind heavily. Taking the disc out of the case, I inserted it into my laptop after powering it on. I grabbed my earphones and placed them on my ears and waited.

  “Mauricio, I know it’s surprising to hear my voice right now. By this time, you are a grown ass man. Happy birthday, nigga! Congratulations on your completion of college, I have faith that you did that. I want you to be me when it comes to your brothers, beat their ass if they ain’t doing right. I give you my permission. I know Sosa can handle himself, it’s Max I need you to keep an eye on.

  I know Beast let you hear the disc as I revealed everything I had set up for you and your brothers. I told you about the storage locker, let me tell you about the deposit box. There is an envelope with account numbers in it for you and Sosa. Max has one too but he is not to get his until he turns twenty-one. Outside of the drugs that I have stashed for y’all, there is a lot of money that you now have. You are an instant millionaire and you didn’t have to do shit for it. I want you to be smart son, don’t be in the streets flossin’, throwing money around, and acting untouchable. There are a lot of envious niggas and bitches in this world waiting to catch you slipping because they want what you have. Take my situation into consideration. The niggas that got me, were so called friends, be careful.

  Speaking of friends. I don’t know if you and Sosa still hang around Fred—"

  I frowned when he mentioned Psycho’s government name and paused the disc. At that moment I prayed he wasn’t going to say Psycho was a snake because that meant I would have to kill my best friend. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves before I jumped to any conclusions, I pressed the play button and sat back in the chair. My dad’s voice boomed out once again after I backed the recording up a little bit.

  “I don’t know if you and Sosa still hang around Fred, but what I’m about to say may mess up y’all friendship. Rodney was in on the shit with Big Red and Floyd. The reason I didn’t disclose that information on the other recording is because I want you to see what your friend knows. I want you to test his loyalty to you and have him confront his bitch ass father about the situation. That will let you know where you stand with him.

  Also, there’s Slim. Slim was my nigga and he knows more about Big Jim and Floyd’s plans. He was one of my loyal customers that was always hanging around listening as well as smoking that shit. All you have to do is give him a pack and he will sing like a bird. I don’t want you to do that though, son. I want you to help him by getting him into rehab. Slim deserves a second chance at life. Clean him up, he is your trump card.

  You are a replica of me and I knew once you heard what went down, you would be out for blood. I hope you understand that once you attacked, you’ve started a war. I’m not worried about you not being able to protect yourself, that’s automatic with your bloodline. But I have to say this again, watch out for the snakes. You would never know who it is if you don’t pay close attention. Remember, snakes shed their skin on the regular, they can put on many faces.

  Last but not least, I want you to know that I’m watching every move you make. I love you Ricio and don’t you ever forget that. I didn’t choose the way my life ended, it was forced upon me. If it was my choice to live forever, I’d still be there. But I’m living through you now, and you have me as your greatest leader. Don’t try so hard to see the things in your mind, relax and things will be revealed when the time is right. I love you son, I’m out.”

  I turned the laptop off and set the earphones on top of it. Making a mental note to holla at Psycho and Slim, I turned off the light and closed the door. I entered my bedroom and crawled in the bed behind Nija and fell asleep.

  Rest was what I needed because I was sleep before my head hit the pillow. I felt Nija snuggling closer to me with her ass against my joint. I was too tired to even attempt to slip into her honey pot. The darkness behind my lids was peaceful and relaxing. My mind had slowed down tremendously and I was finally allowing my body to rest. I don’t know how long it lasted but the vision of me and my dad came into view vividly.

  My dad was revealing the midnight black BMW that he had bought for me as a graduation gift. I was walking around whistling and rubbing my hands together as I inspected my new ride.

  “Thanks, Papí. I can get all the ladies in this whip.” I said laughing.

  “You can do what ya like, but you better strap the fuck up.” he shot back looking down at his phone and the smile fell from his lips. “Aye, tell ya mama I’ll be back. I have some business I need to take care of.”

  “Can I roll with you? I’m not ready to go in the house and all the graduation parties aren’t until tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, come on.”

  We jumped in his Navigator and backed out of the driveway. He hit the expressway and we were heading to the city. His phone kept going off but he didn’t answer it. I kept looking down at it because he had thrown it in the cup holder facing me when he got in the truck. Big Jim’s name kept popping up on the screen, but I didn’t tell my dad who it was.

  We were on a street called Washtenaw and he was cruising along. I had never been on this side of the city before so I had no clue where we were. There were niggas standing on almost every corner trying to see who was in the truck. As we stopped at a stop sign, a woman with a skirt riding up her ass stepped up to the truck and tapped on the window. My daddy igno
red her and pulled off.

  He drove a couple blocks and parked by a building that looked abandoned. “I want you to stay in the truck and don’t get out no matter what happens, okay?”

  I shook my head yeah and he opened the door and got out. As I watched him walk up to someone that was leaning against the wall, I saw my dad pointing his finger in the guy’s face. it was dark as hell on that end of the street so all I could see was the guy’s body build. He pushed my dad making him stumble back a little bit. My dad pulled what I noticed was a gun from his waistband and shoved the guy back against the wall.

  Leaning forward so I could see what was going on, another person crept behind my dad and pointed something to his head. All I saw was a flash along with a loud boom. My dad fell to the ground and I fumbled with the door for a few seconds before I was able to open it. Both of the guys ran off as his body hit the pavement. I ran as fast as I could to my dad’s side, he had a pool of blood seeping under his head.

  I fell to my knees and cradled his head with my hand. The hole that I felt was the size of a golf ball and it felt like wet noodles in my palm. Blood was oozing out of his mouth and his chest was moving up and down very fast. With every second that passed, his chest started rising slower. I knew he was about to die so I started talking to him.

  “Papí, you gotta fight! Don’t leave me, please!” his eyes started closing and I shook his head back and forth. “No, don’t close your eyes!” I yelled in his face.

  I glanced around to see if there was anyone that could help me. My eyes landed on a black Impala that sat in the middle of the street. The person in the driver’s seat just sat there watching. It was Rodney. He drove away from the scene fast, leaving me on the dark street by myself with my dad lying dead in my arms.