If you are reading this letter, you successfully completed the second phase on your way to freedom. The man you're looking at name is Carlos Sosa. He is one of the biggest drug distributors in New York City. He is the mastermind from Columbia that introduced the first wave of cocoa leaf paste, a highly addictive form of cocaine which would become known as crack to the ghettos of New York City and Los Angeles.
Your mission is very simple: kill him and anyone else associated with him and shut down his headquarters.
The building is a one-stop drug haven that produces and manufactures all the drugs in-house, and the tenants in the building are virtual hostages. It is infamously known within the neighborhood as The Castle of Greyskull and is located on 129th Street between Lenox and 5th Avenue.
Just like in the television show Mission Impossible, if you decide to take the job, you will be rewarded handsomely upwards of a half million dollars from the cash that Mr. Sosa keeps in the building on any given Sunday that is to be picked up on Monday.
If you do this, all records and evidence will be destroyed and you will live your life and spend the money as you see fit. Inside is a schematic of the entire building down to the smallest detail. The number of armed lookouts, the location of staircases and exits, and the best time to enter and exit.
You have 72 hours to come up with a plan before Monday and make a collective decision to complete your mission. I will monitor your every move, and if one of the rules is deviated from, all of you will spend a lifetime regretting it. This will be your last contact.
P.S. Get the job done by any means necessary. You can also recruit outside help, such as your Vietnam buddies. Ha, ha. Yes, I know about them also.
None of the girls could conjure any words to say at that moment. The only sound that could be heard was Tiny’s dry and rough cough. Jessica felt dizzy as she tossed the letter on the bed and put her head to her knees and began crying as she thought about her unborn baby. Lynn followed suit and began to cry also. All Vonda could do was watch them all in silence, knowing there was nothing she could say to make them feel better.
“Something about this shit ain’t right. It ain’t right,” Tiny said. “If you ask me, it sounds like somebody we know is setting us up for a fall.”
“What are you saying, Tiny?” snapped Lynn
“I’m saying that it’s got to be somebody that knows a lot about us. It could even be one of us for that matter.”
Vonda frowned. “How the fuck could it be one of us, Tiny, and all our lives are at stake?”
“Well, how the fuck would somebody know about Dear Mama and Precious then?” Tiny posed a good question. “Unless one of y’all told somebody?” Tiny coughed and looked from face to face suspiciously.
“I probably told a couple of my brothers in passing conversation, but I never explained no specifics,” Vonda admitted.
Lynn raised her head and admitted also, “I probably told one or two of my girlfriends in prison about it, but, hell, who in there didn’t know we offed them bitches?”
“She got a point, because everybody knew about it and they could have easily seen me on the news or in the paper and put two and two together,” explained Jessica.
“That’s bullshit!” snapped Tiny, “I’m not buying that shit because they know too much.”
“She’s right,” said Vonda. “It could be anybody, so all we can do is concentrate on what we going to do about this shit or we all going to be locked back up.” Vonda shook her head and continued. “Like Lynn said, I ain’t going back to jail.”
Tiny smirked and shook her head sadly. “Either y’all in denial or this shit got you all stuck on stupid!”
The girls tossed Tiny a venomous gaze. “Who but us would know about Mama, Precious, Cookie, Bosco, and all those Vietnam motherfuckers? What’s the chance an outsider would know all that?”
The girls simply put their heads down because they knew she was right. For the first time, distrust came across each girl’s mind as they looked at each other warily.
Jessica finally raised her head. “So what are we going to do?”
Nobody said a word until Tiny coughed harshly and said, “Yo, read that part about the money again.”
Jessica picked up the letter and cleared her eyes and reread it.
“If you decide to take the job, you will be rewarded handsomely upwards of a half million dollars from the cash that Mr. Sosa keeps in the building on any given Sunday right before it is to be picked up on Monday.”
Tiny nodded and said, “Now, that’s what’s up. I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on that type of loot even if one of y’all is using me.”
“Fuck that shit, Tiny. We talking about our lives here,” cried Lynn. “And stop saying it’s one of us, because no one here would do that shit to each other.”
“Yeah, whatever Lynn,” Tiny said vaguely. “If we got a way to get that type of money, why not?”
Jessica looked at Tiny as if she were insane and screamed, “Tiny, we can get ourselves killed!”
Tiny stood up quickly and yelled, “What the fuck you think we were doing when we got in the mix for you with Bosco, Jessica?” Tiny challenged. “It was ok for us to put our life on the line for you, right?”
Jessica knew Tiny was blinded by greed, but knew she had a point.
Vonda added, “But, this is different, Tiny. Bosco was unorganized, he was—”
Enraged, Tiny cut Vonda off before she could finish. “Bosco was what, Vonda? Unorganized? He was so unorganized the he was about to cut your fucking head off if I wasn’t there to pop his ass and save your life! Remember?”
Vonda didn’t have a response.
“If somebody telling us where the money is, why don’t we take it? Shit, I say they doing us a favor.”
Vonda, Jessica and Lynn only stared at Tiny, realizing she was too far gone to reason with her.
Tiny felt the heat from their stares and asked them all, “What, y’all looking at me like I’m crazy, like I don’t know what y’all thinking about me. ‘Oh, Tiny got the virus and she don’t care because she going to die anyway.’ Well, guess what? You damn skippy, I don’t give a fuck no more. If I’m gonna die I might as well try to get all the shit I can before I do. Doctors told me that I can die from this shit in ten days or ten years. Do any of y’all know how it feels to know you can die at any moment and it’s nothing nobody can do about it?” Tiny stared at them as she awaited and answer, but she received none. “So either I’m gonna get rich or I’m gonna die trying and live every day as if it was my last. So you better find a reason to want to survive, because I did already.”
The girls understood her pain and just sat around the room in silence until Jessica offered, “What we got to do is vote on it like we always did.”
Vonda shrugged her shoulders and agreed with Jessica.
“Don’t you think we should think things over first?” Lynn asked nervously. “Shouldn’t we wait to see what happens first?”
Tiny was at wit’s end. “Lynn, did you not hear what the fucking letter said? He or she or whoever it is got us over a barrel. We fucked either way. Either we are going to get this money and have a little chance, or we can go back to jail and have no chance at all.”
At that moment all the girls knew they had little choice.
A full five minutes passed without a word being said when Vonda said, “So, whoever in it to do the damn thing, raise your hand.”
Tiny was the first to raise her hand. “Fuck that shit, yo. I don’t give a fuck. I’m in.”
Vonda was next and raised her hand.
Lynn looked around and knew she didn’t have a choice and raised her hand also.
All eyes shifted toward Jessica.
“So what’s up, Jesse? It’s either all of us or none of us, remember?”
Jessica did remember the pact, but all she could think of was her unborn child inside of her. But before she knew it she had her hand raised also. Tiny coughed harshly then stuck out her fist and smil
ed. “Get ’Em girls?”
One by one, they touched fists and repeated in unison, “Get ’Em girls.”
**********
Jessica’s whole body was numb as she walked around Harlem for hours thinking about the challenges ahead of her. She knew that she couldn’t go to Kenny for support and tell him about her dangerous predicament because he would not allow anything to happen to her nor his unborn child inside of her. She needed to talk to someone or she would go crazy, so she went to the only person she knew who would be able to help her—Cleveland.
When she got to Cleveland’s apartment, she knocked on the door but no one answered. She waited around for another hour, but he still hadn’t shown up so she headed home. Just as she arrived home and was about to stick the key in door, the door opened and she stood face to face with her mother and Cleveland. Her mother had on her house gown and blushed when she saw her daughter stare at them knowingly.
Her mother stammered, “Oh, Jessica, you’re home. Cleveland had just stopped by to move around some furniture that I needed to be moved, and he was just leaving.”
Jessica looked at Cleveland, who was avoiding eye contact with her. Jessica decided not to embarrass them more than they already were and played it down and said, “Thank you, Cleveland for helping my mother out. We need a man like you around more often because this place isn’t easy to maintain.”
Cleveland and her mother smiled widely, appreciating that they were given an out. Cleveland tipped his hat to them and bade them both a good night.
Just as he was proceeding down stairs, Jessica said, “Oh, Cleveland, I came from your apartment just now to ask you is it possible you can stop by tomorrow. I need you to help me take my air-conditioner out my room window. It’s too heavy for me to lift by myself. I asked Bosco to do it, but he was too busy.”
Cleveland knew immediately she had a problem when she mentioned Bosco’s name, but he kept his smile. “Sure, Jessica. I’ll be over by ten. Don’t you worry about a thing, because I hear you loud and clear.” Cleveland knew to come after nine in the morning to ensure that Ms. Jones would already be at work.
They nodded and Cleveland walked off down the block.
As mother and daughter closed the door behind them and headed upstairs, Ms. Jones inquired, “Who is Bosco?”
The strain of it all kept Jessica awake the entire night. Jessica eagerly awaited his arrival, and when he finally arrived and rang the doorbell, she immediately threw her arms around him and began to cry. Cleveland was perplexed, and his suspicion that something was terribly wrong was confirmed.
They sat in the dining room, and Jessica explained to Cleveland everything that had transpired over the last twenty-four hours. Cleveland listened intently and didn’t say a word until Jessica finally finished and admitted that she was also pregnant.
Cleveland removed his hat and began scratching his head before he looked into her eyes. “This just doesn’t sound right, Jessica. It sounds to me like one of those girls is running a number on you, because it’s nobody else that would know all that information.”
Jessica thought long and hard about his words and dismissed it. “No, Cleveland, I don’t think so. I think I would know if one of them did.”
Still not convinced Cleveland gave her a knowing look and asked, “Well, how else would someone know that much information about you all if it wasn’t someone who was present with you for the past seven years?”
Jessica didn’t have an answer that would make any sense. So, she just told her how she felt. “I see your, point Cleveland, and it don’t make any sense to me either, but I been around these girls for over eleven years, over six of which we were around each other every day. We knew more about each other than anybody on the planet. I would know if one of them was gaming me, but that’s not the case here. I looked in every one of their eyes when this happened and I saw the same thing—fear.”
Cleveland looked into her eyes, and that’s was exactly what Jessica still had in hers. He scratched his head once again and asked to see the letters again. He removed his glasses from his shirt pocket and placed them on his face and began reading each of them slowly. When he finally finished reading them he still wasn’t fully convinced.
“Jessica, this sounds like a set up, plain and simple, but I see how you don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Either you do it and risk your life in the process, or you dismiss the letters and risk going back to jail.”
They both sat in place for a long time without a word being said until Cleveland folded his burly arms and exhaled deeply and said, “Well, like I said, ‘if you in this thing for a penny, you got to be in for a pound.’” He smiled at Jessica and she suddenly began to smile again.
She stood up and hugged him again. As she pulled away from him, he observed her closely.
“Jessica, I know you have been noticing me and your mother have be getting very friendly lately, and if I know one thing about you, I know that you are smart enough to see what’s going on.”
Jessica only smiled and let him continue.
“Well, I respect you enough to tell you that I have strong feelings for your mother, I always have, but she ain’t never showed me no interest until recently. She always seemed so sad and unhappy before you came home, and I’ve noticed a change in her. It’s like she’s finally allowing sunshine back in her life.” He put his head down for a moment as he searched for the right words to say to her. “The reason I’m telling you all this is because she told me she is going to be a grandmother already.” Cleveland finally lifted his head to face her. “Jessica, when she told me that, I swear that was the happiest that I’ve ever seen her in the four years I’ve known her, and it was then I realized that you and your baby have given her back her life.”
He paused for a moment. “I’m ready to do what I have to do to take care of your problem, but I can’t allow you to risk getting hurt in the process for the sake of your mother.”
Jessica was floored that a man outside her father could be concerned about her mother so deeply that he would risk his life just so she wouldn’t experience another day of unhappiness.
Jessica took Cleveland’s hand into hers and said to him softly, “I couldn’t imagine a better person to be with my mother than you, Cleveland. You been with me through thick and thin and risked your own life when you didn’t have to, but you did. But, I have to be part of this because me and the other girls made our own pact years ago that no matter what the situation was, we would have each other’s back even if it meant dying together. I know what we are up against isn’t going to be easy. In fact, it’s a chance somebody might die, but I’m willing to take that chance because I have no other options.”
Jessica rubbed her growing stomach. “Just like you said, ‘if you in for a penny, you in for a pound.’”
At that moment, he knew she was a warrior and could never change her mind. He acknowledged her by shaking his head.
“Let me get a look at those layouts of the building they sent you.”
Chapter 23
They had only three days to devise a plan to overtake the building and come out of it with the least amount of casualties possible. Jessica and Cleveland called an emergency meeting to have everybody show up that that night at his apartment. By eight o’clock that evening everyone had arrived except Lynn and Tiny. Vonda explained to Jessica that she hadn’t heard from Lynn since they’d had their first meeting.
Tiny finally arrived moments later and looked worse than they had ever seen her. She limped in and immediately sought refuge in an unoccupied chair and sat down. Breathing heavily, she looked as though she had just run a marathon—trying to catch a breath. It was obvious to all present, that small, frail girl was dying a slow death, and nobody dared to question her either out of pity or shame. By nine o’clock they decided to start the meeting despite Lynn not being there.
Cleveland took the lead since he had called the meeting and formally introduced everyone to each other again; Cleveland thanked ev
eryone for showing up on such short notice and briefly explained to them why they were there. After he explained the short version to his men, he asked Jessica to stand up and explain to them the rest.
Jessica was nervous, but she had no choice but to tell them the complete account of everything that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. When she finished, all the men were poker faced and silent. Seeing the men’s skepticism, Cleveland joined in and tried to make light of the bad situation.
“The good part about this is that we can shut down the biggest drug house in Harlem and get paid a lot of money to do the job.”
The men seemed to not be buying into it.
Johnson spoke up for the first time. “First of all, this ain’t no drug house, Cleveland. It’s an entire building. Secondly, this whole shit stinks. It doesn’t sound right.”
Shooter agreed. “Johnson is right. This shit sounds like something out of a movie. Plus, in order for someone to have that much information about you it got to be somebody you all know.”
Johnson then added, “It can be one of you, for that matter.”
Cleveland felt their tension and opposition and decided to interject reason. “Look, bottom line is that we all can go down on this because we already got our hands dirty. This person knows about the job we did on 116th Street, so we got just as much to lose as them.”
Nobody said a word about that, so Cleveland continued. “All we got to do is figure out a plan to shut down that building permanently and we are home free. It’s probably a bunch of untrained junkies that are guarding a post or two and we can overtake the whole building just like that.”
Shooter still wasn’t buying into it and played the devil’s advocate. “We can’t afford to assume anything, Cleveland. You most of all should know that. We need positive I.D. on the locations, how many people we are dealing with, and most importantly, the kind of weapons they’ll be holding.”
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