by K'wan
“How bad are you hit?” Tut knelt beside Omega and checked his wounds. They looked bad.
“I need to get to the hospital,” Omega told him fighting to catch his breath.
“Yeah, you probably should. If you don’t get those wounds tended to you’re probably gonna die.” Tut stood up and wiped his hands on his pants.
“You gotta help me. I need a doctor.” Omega extended his hand, but Tut just stood there.
“Sorry, O, but there’s only room enough for one lion in the jungle.” Tut turned to walk away, but stopped short. He knelt next to Omega and whispered to him, “Before you kick the bucket the least I can do is give you a little bit of closure on a couple of things. Li’l Monk isn’t missing, he’s dead. The punch line to that joke is that it was Ramses who ordered the hit. I’m just sad that it wasn’t me who got to air-hole that ugly muthafucka.” He laughed. King Tut dug in Omega’s pocket and took his car key. “You don’t mind, do you?” he asked sarcastically. “Of course you don’t. It’s not like you’ll be needing a car where you’re headed. See you in the afterlife, my friend.” He patted Omega on the cheek and left him to die.
Omega’s last thoughts were that Li’l Monk had warned him about King Tut and he didn’t listen.
Felix and his men were waiting near the front door when King Tut came back downstairs. He expected Omega to follow, but there was no sign of him. “Where’s your boy?”
“Bitch got the drop on him,” King Tut said faking sadness.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Felix said sincerely.
King Tut shrugged. “It’s all a part of the game, man. Let’s get outta here before we all end up in prison.” He walked past Felix headed back to where Omega had left the car.
Felix stood there for a few moments longer, watching King Tut stroll off as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He spared a glance back at the stairs, contemplating if he should take a look to verify Tut’s story, but decided against it. Whatever really happened between Tut and Omega wasn’t his business. He had accomplished what Poppito had ordered him to do, which was avenge Petey’s death, so his work was done.
As Felix and company were pulling away from the block, the pizza delivery guy was turning into the driveway of George’s house. He was late because he had stopped to get some weed along the way then got held up in traffic. He made hurried steps to the front door, hoping the woman who placed the order hadn’t called back because he would surely get fired and he needed his job.
He raised his hand to knock on the door and noticed that it was open. “Pizza delivery,” he announced himself and stepped in the house. When he crossed the foyer and entered the living room he dropped his pizza boxes. The house looked like a scene out of a horror movie. He was about to run out and call the police when he heard what sounded like a child crying somewhere upstairs. Against his better judgment he went to investigate.
When the pizza delivery guy made it to the bedroom at the end of the hall he saw something that he would never forget. There were two corpses in the bedroom, a woman and a man. Both of them had been shot. Near the woman, tugging at her arm and trying to wake her up, was a small child. He was crying uncontrollably and sitting in a pool of his mother’s blood.
Careful not to step in any of the blood the pizza delivery guy crossed the room and went to attend to the child. The child clung to his mother for dear life as the delivery guy scooped him in his arms. “Easy, little man. Everything is going to be okay,” he tried to calm the child as he carried him back across the room. A house full of corpses was no place for a child. As the pizza delivery guy was leaving, something grabbed his leg, startling him. Apparently, not everyone in the house was dead.
“Help,” Omega gasped weakly.
PART V
WRATH
CHAPTER 31
Ramses sat on a bench in Central Park, puffing on a big cigar and lost in his own thoughts. Huck was at his normal position, at Ramses’s side, holding him down. With them were also three hired guns. Ramses hated traveling in such large entourages but in light of all the dead bodies dropping around him he wasn’t taking any chances. His well-laid plans were slowly going to shit and there was no shortage of people to point the finger at, including Pharaoh.
He had discovered that Pharaoh had taken it upon himself to give the Italians his blessings to murder his former protégé Li’l Monk. Ramses didn’t like it, but he knew it would eventually have to be done. The problem was the Italians had botched the job and woke a sleeping dog. The Italians’ mistake had been approaching Li’l Monk as if he was just some common street thug. If Ramses had been consulted he could’ve warned them to be prepared to deal with a monster. Not only did Li’l Monk dispatch several Parizzi soldiers, but he had spit in the face of Frankie the Fish by dismembering them. That bit of information surprised Ramses. He knew Li’l Monk was lethal with a gun, but had never known him to handle blades. The idea that Li’l Monk might’ve had help had crossed Ramses’s mind, but it was highly unlikely. Li’l Monk had no one else to turn to, Ramses had seen to that when he made him an outcast.
The problem Ramses now faced was that Li’l Monk was still alive, and probably none too happy about finding out he’d been crossed. It was like kicking a rabid dog and then not being fast enough to run away. Pharaoh had dispatched some of their new recruits to claim Li’l Monk’s head, but Ramses had little faith in them being successful. If he had been a betting man he’d have laid everything he had on Li’l Monk chewing those young boys up and spitting them back out. When he was done feeding on the appetizer, he would come for the main course and Ramses planned to be ready.
Just then the person he had been waiting for came strolling down the path as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The shooters who were with Ramses surged forward forming a wall between King Tut and Ramses.
King Tut looked the shooters up and down before turning to Ramses. “Is this how you treat all your soldiers when they march home in victory?”
Ramses nodded at his shooters and they moved to the side to let King Tut pass.
“That’s more like it.” King Tut brushed past the shooters to Ramses.
“I hear the chickens have been cooked.” Ramses ignored his comment and cut straight to the chase.
“Yeah, man, deep fried, fricasseed, baked and barbecued; that nigga is a meal,” Tut said proudly. “Poppito has his nephew’s murderer, your relationship with the Puerto Ricans has been salvaged, and Petey’s turf is free to come under new management. Everybody is happy.”
“Except Omega,” Ramses pointed out. “What the fuck happened out there?”
Tut frowned. “O got caught slipping. He was trying to save this broad and her kid and the bitch ended up smoking him,” he said. Sometimes the best lies were hidden in the truth. “After she dropped Omega, I dropped her and got out of there.”
“You sure that’s how it happened?” Ramses asked suspiciously.
“Ramses, I seen it with my own eyes. Why you acting like my word ain’t no good?” Tut asked.
“Because if Omega is dead I’d sure like to know who that is they pulled them bullets out of up there in Westchester,” Ramses said.
“Omega lived?” King Tut gasped, not able to hide his shock.
“I don’t know if you’d call the condition he’s in living, but he ain’t dead,” Ramses informed him.
“What’d he say?” Tut asked nervously.
“Nothing, yet. Last I heard he was just out of surgery. It’s touch and go right now and nobody can say for sure if he’ll make it.”
“Damn, can we see him?” Tut asked, faking concern.
“Not unless you’re a lawyer. Omega is now the prime suspect in a multiple homicide. Even if he survives his injuries, he’s probably gonna have to do some time. Our ranks are getting real thin out here real fast. Omega was a good soldier and losing him is gonna hurt.”
“With all due respect, Ramses, Omega ain’t the only good solider you got riding for you,” King Tut told him.
Ramses regarded him. “So what you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m ready to step up,” Tut said confidently. “With Omega getting taken off the streets like that, these young boys need a leader now more than ever. You don’t get somebody out there to call the shots and the streets are gonna be thrown into chaos. You don’t wanna sit on this too long, Ramses. Moves have to be made.”
Ramses knew King Tut was trying to leverage him, but he also knew that he was right. Li’l Monk and Omega were the glue that held the team together and with them gone the soldiers would start tearing each other apart for corners and leave the entire organization in disarray. It would make them ripe for the plucking for their enemies. “Even if I were to give you the nod, what makes you think those loyal to Li’l Monk and Omega will follow you?”
Tut rubbed his hands together greedily. “I’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse: get with the program or get missing.”
Ramses’s talk with King Tut left him with some unanswered questions and a bit of a dilemma. When he’d first brought King Tut into the fold he sought to remake him in his image, but it would seem that Tut was turning out to be another failed experiment. He was the most unlike the others Ramses had tried to school. Benny had been weak-minded, and Chucky greedy, but King Tut was ambitious . . . too ambitious for Ramses’s tastes. He was a man who didn’t mind stepping on toes to get what he wanted, and Ramses wasn’t sure how well that sat with him.
Omega getting shot and Tut managing to escape was too convenient for Ramses’s tastes. There had to be more to it, but Ramses wouldn’t be able to find out until he had a chance to hear Omega’s side of the story. There was no way he would attempt to visit him with all the police around and his connection to the crime, but Ramses had already assigned a lawyer to the task. Once he heard back to see if the stories matched up he’d know better how to proceed, but in the meantime he needed to hook up with Pharaoh to figure out what they were going to do about Li’l Monk. He was a problem they were going to have to deal with sooner rather than later.
Ramses whipped his cell from his pocket and dialed Pharaoh’s number. “It’s me; we need to talk.” He listened for a few seconds. “Yeah, I know the place. I’ll meet you there at ten.”
“How do you think Pharaoh is going to take the news about Omega?” Huck asked once Ramses had hung up with Pharaoh.
Ramses shrugged. “Probably won’t make him much of a difference, so long as we find someone to replace him before it starts affecting our profits.”
“Ain’t we gonna at least see what the charges against Omega are looking like before we name a successor?” Huck questioned.
“No need. He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Even if they don’t hit him for the murders, he’s still looking at time. The only question now is how much. Tut should be capable of holding it down, at least temporarily.”
Huck frowned. “Before you handed the keys to Omega and Li’l Monk they were vetted over time. They proved themselves to be solid young dudes, and loyal.”
“Except Li’l Monk,” Ramses reminded him. “I would’ve given him the world, but it wasn’t enough.”
Huck gave Ramses a funny look. “You trying to convince me or yourself? C’mon, man, we been in the street long enough to know a real nigga from a creep. Li’l Monk might’ve been a lot of things, but disloyal wasn’t one of them. How many times has he handled business without question or taken one for the team? A man can’t fake those kinds of characteristics.”
“You think sitting by and watching this has been easy for me?” Ramses snapped at his friend. “I don’t like it any more than you do, Huck, but it’s what has to be done to keep the peace. You and I know how much losing Li’l Monk is going to hurt us, but Pharaoh doesn’t give a shit. To him, everybody is replaceable.”
“Even us?” Huck shot back.
Before Ramses could answer the question, a man in a hooded jogging suit appeared on the path in front of them. He accidentally bumped into Ramses as he was passing, which got him snatched up by Ramses’s shooter. They slapped the man across his face and tossed him to the ground before drawing their guns on him.
“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Ramses snapped.
The man raised his hands in surrender, showing the tattoos on the backs of them. “My apologies, boss. I don’t want any trouble,” he said in a thick accent. He sounded as if he was of African descent.
“You want me to teach this nigga some manners?” one of the shooters asked, hoping Ramses gave him the okay to pop off.
Ramses thought about it for a minute. “Nah, let this immigrant muthafucka go on his way.”
“Thank you, boss man, thank you.” The jogger scrambled away, thankful for his life. The jogger waited until he was a safe distance away before stopping. He spared a glance over his shoulder to make sure the men weren’t pursuing him. From his pocket he fished out the wallet he’d lifted when he collided with Ramses, and smiled triumphantly.
CHAPTER 32
Droopy had been having an eerie feeling in his gut all day. It started out that morning when he popped into the local bodega to grab the newspaper. Droopy liked to read the sports section. As he was thumbing through it he came upon an article about a shootout on the east side the night before that had resulted in a car crash. He skipped the details and continued to the scores from the previous night’s basketball game.
He shoved the paper into his back pocket and made his way to the block to report for his shift. Normally he would check in with Li’l Monk to receive his package, but he wasn’t around so he had to get his package from whoever was running the strip that day, which happened to be Dre. Droopy sat on the stoop while he waited for the runner Dre had sent to get his package. While he was out there he overheard Dre having a conversation with someone on the phone. He wasn’t sure what it was about, but Dre seemed to be elated by whatever news he had just received. During the conversation Droopy heard him say something about “wetbacks” but didn’t pay it any mind. After receiving his package, Droopy went about the business of selling drugs.
It had been hours since Droopy had started his shift and there was still no sign of Li’l Monk. His big homie had been on his mind heavily since he’d last seen him the night before. He had been pissed that Li’l Monk had made him shut it down early, but he understood he was just trying to look out for Droopy. Droopy had never had anyone be kind to him, which was why he was always trying so hard to impress Li’l Monk. Droopy suffered from a Napoleon complex. He had always been the runt of the litter and constantly felt the need to prove himself. To gain respect in the streets you had to be willing to go further than anyone else.
Once Droopy had finished running through the package he had, he went back to the building to get another one. Dre was still out there, but now he had his boys Blue and Paulie with him. Dre was cool by himself, but tended to turn into an asshole when his boys came around. Droopy never cared for them, especially Blue, because he was always fucking with him.
“I need another package,” Droopy told Dre.
“Bet.” Dre nodded and sent a fiend off to get him another one.
“Omega ain’t around yet?” Droopy asked.
“Why you keep asking about Omega? We handing out the packages,” Blue told him in a nasty tone.
“Yo, I’m getting a little tired of you thinking you can talk to people any kind of way, my nigga. This is Omega and Li’l Monk’s strip and I only take orders from them!”
“Ain’t nobody seen Li’l Monk in days and it’ll be kinda hard for Omega to give any orders from ICU,” Paulie said with a smirk.
Droopy was stunned. “What?”
Dre gave Paulie a dirty look for his harsh delivery. “Omega got shot last night,” he told Droopy in a softer tone.
“What happened? Is he okay? What hospital is he in?” Droopy fired off questions.
“Easy, shorty. He ain’t dead, but he’s in bad shape and they don’t know if he’s gonna make it. Other tha
n that we really don’t know what happened,” Dre lied. He really knew the whole story and then some, but there was no sense in tipping Droopy off until he was sure whose side he was on.
“Damn, this is fucked up,” Droopy said sadly. Hearing Omega got shot only made him more frightened about Li’l Monk’s disappearance. For all he knew he could be somewhere dead. “That’s my word, if I find out who laid hands on my people I’m gonna murder them,” he said emotionally.
“I feel you shorty and I’m with you.” Dre draped his arm around Droopy. “Right now we just gotta hold our heads until we know what’s what. When it’s time for the bodies to start dropping, you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime, those of us who are left gotta stick together. We gotta hold it down for Omega and Li’l Monk.”
“I need to take a walk to clear my head. If y’all find out anything, let me know,” Droopy said.
“You got it,” Dre promised. Dre stood there, watching Droopy walk off with his head hung low and his emotions on his sleeve. A sly smirk appeared on his face.
“You think that li’l dude is gonna be a problem?” Blue asked.
“Nah, I doubt it,” Dre said. “He’s in his feelings right now, but once we knock Li’l Monk out the box and we’re out here running shit with King Tut he’ll either get over it, or join his partner in the dirt.”
“Straight like that,” Paulie chimed in.
“Let’s take this walk to the store for some cigars. I’m trying to smoke before we bag up the rest of this work,” Dre said, before leading the way to the corner store.
A few seconds after Dre and his boys had gone, Neighborhood appeared in the doorway of the building. He looked in the direction Dre and the others had gone in and shook his head sadly. Something wicked was coming.
Droopy made hurried steps up the block with his brain racing. If Dre thought the story he fed him would be enough to satisfy his curiosity he had another think coming. Droopy was young, but he was no fool and an excellent judge of character. Li’l Monk and Omega conveniently coming up missing around the same time was no coincidence. They knew something that they weren’t telling and Droopy intended to find out what. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but what he did know was that if they had anything to do with it, he was gonna body them.