by W. S. Greer
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open, revealing the same hallway I’d grown accustomed to seeing over the past couple of weeks. It seemed like we were walking much faster than usual. The adrenaline was still pumping, and we all were hoping that Senior could provide us with some closure on this whole thing.
When we pushed the doors open, all of us were surprised to see that every member of The Family was already sitting at the conference table. Senior was standing at the far end, and he extended his arms in welcome as we entered the room.
“Well, look who’s here. I was wondering if you were gonna show up tonight,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Come on in and have a seat. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”
There were two empty chairs at the end of the table nearest to us, and Kelvin and I walked over and sat down, while Mikey took his place in the vacant seat next to Senior. We were all still just as confused as ever.
“Alright, now that we’ve got everybody here, how about we get down to business,” Senior began. “As you all know, I’ve been working on something on the down low for a little while now. I’ve been on my grind trying to make sure that certain things fall into place, knowing all along that if they did fall into place the way I envisioned them, everything would change for us. The only problem was, of course, the other family.”
Suddenly, Mikey raised his hand like one of my students, and then stood up. “Wait. Before you go any further, Senior, I think there’s something you should know. It’s something that’s really important, and I think it’ll have an impact on everything you’re about to say.”
Senior looked up at his brother, and then nodded for him to continue.
“Something big happened at the Alinea restaurant tonight. Ivan Baskov and his wife were both shot to death. Ivan’s dead.”
Everyone in the room started to look around at each other, and their eyes all seemed to bulge at the same time.
“What?” Ant said, staring at his big brother. “Shot to death? What the hell? Who the hell?”
“It happened outside the restaurant while the two of them were getting ready to leave. As they were waiting for the valet to bring them their car, I saw another car come driving up the road like they were outside staking the place out and waiting for them to leave. Then, I saw two guns come out the front and back passenger windows, and they just started shooting. They emptied both clips on them. They had no intention of giving them even the slightest chance of survival.”
“That’s fucking unbelievable!” Ant bellowed. “And you just happened to be at the same restaurant as Ivan Baskov?”
“Well,” Kelvin interjected. “A lot has happened that you all don’t know about. The truth is that the three of us were there to kill Ivan ourselves.”
“What the fuck? You were gonna try to kill Ivan? And you didn’t tell us? What the hell is the matter with you? Why would you think you could do that without us?” Ant yelled as he stood up.
“Because they tried to kill me!” Kelvin snapped in response. “Just a few days ago, the Russians put out a hit on me, and they tried to carry it out twice! The first time it was just one guy. The second and most recent time, they pulled up next to us while we were at a stoplight, and they shot up my fucking car. I got hit three times in my left arm, and almost bled out. So, yeah, I took matters into my own hands and I went to handle the shit myself.”
“Junior, why the fuck didn’t you call any of us? We had no idea about this,” Ant continued.
“I know. I only called Uncle Mikey. He took me to his house and helped to get me back on my feet. It was there that we decided that we had to get rid of Ivan if Lilliana and me were ever gonna be safe.”
I glanced over at Senior and gasped at how he was staring at Mikey. He had envy written all over his face, and I knew that things were about to get a lot worse before they got better. Even with Ivan out of the picture, the Carters were still the Carters.
“We got a tip that Ivan would be at Alinea tonight, so we planned on killing him as he left the restaurant, but they got to him first.”
“Fuck, Junior,” Ant exclaimed. “This is crazy. This is a lot of information to take in. But, if you guys didn’t kill Ivan, then who did?”
Kelvin took a breath and opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by the sound of Senior’s voice.
“His brother, Ilia, did it,” he said.
Everyone in the room stopped in their tracks and turned to face Senior.
“How the hell did you know that?” Kelvin said with a look of bewilderment spread across his face.
“I know he did it, because he told me he was going to.”
My eyes bulged in my head and my mouth felt like it dropped all the way to the floor.
“What?” I uttered. “He told you? You talk to him?”
“I need you all to listen to me very closely,” Senior said, ignoring my question. “Like I was trying to say earlier, I’ve been working on something on the low for a while. I’m sure you remember, Junior, when I told you I was working on something big. I told you not to worry about anything, and to just let me handle it. Well, this is the big thing I was working on.” Senior walked over to the red couch and unzipped a black duffel bag that was sitting on it. We all watched him pull out a thick plastic bag with a yellowish substance in the shape of a brick, then he turned around and threw the brick on the table and it landed with a heavy thud.
“What the fuck is that?” Mikey said aggressively.
Senior looked up at Mikey, and then seemed to make eye contact with every person in the room.
“It’s a kilo of heroin,” he said. I could’ve sworn I heard everyone in the room gasp collectively.
More than anyone else, Mikey looked the most pissed off. “What the fuck are you doing with a kilo of heroin, Senior?”
“I’d like to introduce you all to our new business venture,” Senior answered. “As of today, the Carters are officially in the heroin business… and Ilia Baskov is our partner and supplier.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Senior?”
“What do you mean? I’m talking about exactly what I just said,” Senior replied aggressively. “I’ve had some behind the scenes work going on with Ilia Baskov, and we decided that it was smarter for us to become partners, rather than be at each other’s throats all the time.”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Mikey snapped. “Ilia Baskov? The same Ilia Baskov who had a hand in your son’s death? Or, have you fucking forgotten that?” Mikey glared at Senior like he was ready to punch him in the face. Everyone else’s face was stuck in a look of shock and confusion.
“This may come as a surprise to most of you, but I happen to know that Ilia Baskov didn’t have anything to do with Fab’s death,” Senior said as he sat back down at the head of the table. “I also know for a fact that Ilia didn’t have anything to do with the car bomb a couple of weeks ago either.”
“Really?” Mikey snipped. “I’m guessing he was the one who told you that, and you just decided it was okay to believe him? Do you realize who the fuck you’re talking about? It’s Ilia Baskov! It’s them—the other family! It’s the Russians! This is insane, Senior.”
“I don’t want to hear shit about what’s insane. I told you all that I had this shit under control, and that I’d take care of it. You were just too stupid and impatient to fall back and let me handle it.” Senior glared at Mikey before turning his attention to Kelvin. “I knew they weren’t gonna kill you.”
“What?” Kelvin replied, stunned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Maybe I should rephrase that. I knew that Ilia was doing everything he could to keep Ivan from killing you. So, I knew about the little drive-by before it happened. I didn’t know when it was gonna happen, but I knew that it would, and I knew that you’d live through it.”
It didn’t take me as long as I thought it would, but I’d already reached my boiling point and was tired of holding my tongue.
“You knew the Russians were g
oing to do a drive-by on your son, and you didn’t say anything?” I said angrily. “We both could’ve been killed!”
“I’m not sure why you continue think that I have to answer to you, or why you think you have a say about absolutely anything at this table, but yes, I knew. Ilia told me that he needed to do it to keep Ivan thinking that they were trying to get Junior, and he told me that they wouldn’t actually kill either of you, because I told him our deal was off if Junior died. I’m the reason you haven’t been killed yet. You think they couldn’t have fucking shot you both while you were stopped at that stoplight? They were less than five feet away from you. Nobody’s that bad of a shot. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was Viktor.”
“Who’s Viktor?” Kelvin asked.
“Viktor Gavlik is Ivan’s hit man,” Senior replied. “He’s also probably the most loyal member of their family when it comes to Ivan. I imagine he’s gonna be a problem now that Ilia has killed Ivan, but I guess it’s gonna be a while, since you shot him in both of his knees, Junior.”
Everyone at the table turned around and looked at Kelvin like they couldn’t believe.
“You shot somebody in the knees?” Ant asked, his eyes bulging in surprise.
“Yeah. So what? He was trying to kill us,” Kelvin answered nonchalantly.
“Damn. Stepping your game up, Junior. I like it,” Ant replied with a proud smile.
“Viktor was the only thing that Ilia didn’t have control over. So, the car bomb was put in play by Ivan, and carried out by Viktor. But, once you took Viktor out of the equation, we knew it’d be smooth sailing until Ilia was able to get rid of Ivan.”
“Fuck this!” Mikey snapped, slamming his fist down on the table and startling everybody. “I don’t give a fuck about any of this goddamn bullshit. I want to know how much your little friend knew about Deshaun!”
Suddenly, the room was dead silent as the tension was quadrupled by the mention of Deshaun’s name.
“That wasn’t his call,” Senior said, looking down at the table.
“I don’t give a fuck whose call it was. Did he do it?”
“No! But he was there when it happened.”
The murmurs in the room started to grow louder, and I could tell everyone was starting to become more and more pissed off with every word Senior spoke.
“He was there—he watched our brother die, and you’re giving him a pass on that so you can sell heroin? What the fuck is the matter with you? I don’t even know who the fuck you are anymore,” Mikey barked.
“I did what I had to do!” Senior said. “This move was about business and power, and I wasn’t gonna let my personal feelings get in the way of that.”
“They killed your brother and your son!” Mikey screamed.
My heart was pounding in my chest as Mikey and Senior both stood up. It was easy to see where this was going. Senior had crossed a line, and there was no going back now.
“No, Ivan did,” Senior replied, trying to defend himself.
“They worked for Ivan, they deserve the same fate as Ivan.”
“And where would that get us, Mikey? Nowhere! Ivan’s dead, and now we have a partner in the game, and because of this partner, we have more connections now than we ever would’ve had. Ever! So, I thought long term, and this was the best move for us in the long term.”
“How the fuck can you even look at yourself in the mirror? You just sold out your whole family for a little money and power.”
“A little money and power? You have no fucking idea how much money and power I just gave us!” Senior bellowed. “As a show of trust, Ilia let me be there when the latest shipment of dope came in a few days ago. They brought in a thousand keys. Do you know how much that is? It’s just about twenty-two hundred pounds of heroin. And, do you know how much we’ll make off that? No less than three-hundred-thousand dollars per key. You do the math, Mikey. We could own everything.”
I looked around the room and took notice of everyone’s faces. Ant and Mikey were both royally pissed off, while Clarence and Tommy just looked saddened and disappointed by their brother’s actions. Then, I looked over at Kelvin and he seemed to be walking the line between rage and confusion. All this information that was coming out just seemed like it was too much for one evening. Then, I remembered the conversation we had with Lula Carter about how manipulative Senior was, and how she said that nothing was ever as it seemed with him. As it turned out, she was absolutely right. How could anyone have ever guessed that Senior would know so much about everything that had been happening since the car bomb at Red Lobster? No wonder he wasn’t interested in killing Ivan. He knew all along that Ilia was planning on doing it so that they could becoming business partners. Nothing is as it seems.
“You’re out of your fucking mind,” Ant chimed in. “We don’t do this, Senior. The Carters don’t sell drugs. We never have.”
“And now it’s time for a change,” Senior snapped. “We’re evolving. Does everybody understand that? We’re doing this, and that’s all there is to it. So, get over your goddamn feelings.”
“Nah, fuck that! I’m not down for this shit,” Mikey said. “I’m not about to shit on my brother like this. You want to disrespect Deshaun’s memory with this bullshit partnership, you’re on your own.”
“That’s right,” Ant said. “I’m not fucking with this either.”
Suddenly, Senior turned around and grabbed the chair that was behind him. He picked it up and spun around in a circle, and then threw the chair out the large window, sending glass shards everywhere and scaring the shit out of everybody in the room. All I could think about was how that chair had just fallen, like, thirty floors down to the street below.
“You bunch of stupid motherfuckers!” he yelled. “I’m so sick of your goddamn niceness! This is not a fucking democracy. Those days are over. I don’t need your fucking approval. We’re doing this whether you like it or not. This is a fucking dictatorship, and I’m the one who’s running shit. I’m the boss of this family, and I say we’re doing it. The money we make, and the extra dope we haven’t sold yet will be stashed at our respective businesses, including the Red Chip. So, get ready to start recruiting, because we’re gonna need hustlers out there selling on the street.”
“What the fuck?” Kelvin snapped. “I’m not keeping heroin at the Red Chip. I fucking live there. No way!”
“Sit the fuck down and shut up, Junior! You’re gonna do it!” Senior screamed.
“Fuck you! I’m not doing this shit for you. You want to sell drugs with the Russians, you do it yourself,” Kelvin replied.
“Damn right. You’re on your own,” Mikey said as he started to walk towards the door. Before he could even take two steps, Senior grabbed him by the shoulder, turned him around, and punched him the face.
Mikey stumbled backwards, but was able to keep his footing. Then, Senior ran at Mikey full speed and tried to tackle him, but Mikey’s three-hundred pounds were too much for him. Mikey lifted Senior up by his shirt, and returned the favor, punching Senior square in the chin, sending him flying backwards onto the conference table. The blood from his mouth splattered all the way across the table and landed on our end.
As Senior went to lift himself up, Mikey just stood there, staring at him, daring him to keep trying to fight him, but it was obvious Senior knew better.
“If this is how you want to run The Family, you’re gonna do it without me,” Mikey said. “I won’t be a part of this anymore. I’m done.” Mikey turned around and started heading towards the exit. When he got there, he opened the door and held it there as he looked back at Kelvin and me. “You’ve been looking for an opportunity to get away from all this shit, Junior. This is it.”
I looked over at Kelvin as he stared at his father, shaking his head.
“I’m ashamed that you’re my dad,” he said, just as a small tear rolled down his face. Then, he grabbed me by the hand, and we started walking for the exit.
Just before we left the room, I turned around
and glanced at Senior, who was still holding his jaw. We only made eye contact for a second, but in that second I knew that it was far from over. He glared at us until the door was completely closed, and I knew that the only thing we’d succeeded at doing, was getting on his bad side. And, that scared me more than anything.
“I don’t understand this shit! Has he lost his fucking mind?”
“Can you believe he knew about all of this? I just can’t believe it,” I said from the back seat of the Jaguar. “I’m not even sure what to think right now.”
Mikey, Kelvin and I had just left the junk yard after dropping off what was supposed to be Mikey’s getaway car, but ended up only casually driving away after Ivan was murdered by his own family members. I looked up at Kelvin who was sitting silently next to his uncle in the passenger seat, staring out the window. The look on his face was one that could only be described as being fed up and exasperated. His brow was furrowed and I could see the tension in his jaw as we drove.
“Kelvin,” I said, trying to grab his attention. “Are you okay?”
It took him a second to answer me, but then he finally took a deep breath and turned around to look at me, and I could see the anger in his eyes.
“I’m fine, Babe,” he replied with an obviously forced smile. “It’s just a lot to take in.”
“You goddamn right it is!” Mikey snapped. “It’s bullshit. I always knew that your father was little off his rocker. I always knew that he cared more about himself than he did the rest of us, but this is just on a whole different level. I mean, how could he do this? How could just completely disrespect Deshaun’s memory like this? Did he forget everything that we’ve been through? I mean… what the fuck?”
“It doesn’t make any sense. I never thought he’d take it this far,” Kelvin said quietly. “I always knew my dad was an asshole, too, but it just seems like something has clicked in his head, and he’s not thinking about The Family anymore. It’s all about him. He’s forgotten all about us.”