by Mikal Malone
“How ‘bout I just shut you up permanently,” the child says standing up, his arms behind his back.
“Lil’ nigga you trippin’…” Wallace’s statement was cut short by a bullet entering his body.
The sound of the gun firing was quieted by a silencer. But Wallace was hit in the shoulder and had he not moved a little when he saw the gun, it would’ve entered his heart instead. His body fell against the bronze mailboxes as he slid to the floor.
“What the fuck,” he says touching the wound, his fingers were wet with his own blood.
He needed access to his weapon in his coat but knew if he moved, the kid would fire again.
“I see you ain’t sayin’ shit now,” the kid smiles walking up to him. “You should learn not to talk so much cause you never know who you talkin’ to.”
The boy was preparing to shoot again when Chris opens the building door, knocking the little boy to the floor with a blow to his face.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?” she says rubbing her knuckles staring down at the child. “Kids killin’ niggas and shit!”
“I don’t know who you are,” Wallace says to her. “But I’m sure glad you came through when you did. That lil’ mothafucka was about to smoke my ass and shit.”
“It looks like he already did.”
Chris was only there because she was looking for Yvette and heard she was in Unit B. When she saw the little boy holding a gun and approaching Wallace, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. But the closer she got to them the surer she became. A child was definitely about the kill a man.
“I sure hope you on the right side of this shit ‘round here,” she says stooping down to look at his bullet wound. “Cause I might have to finish you off myself.”
“I should be askin’ you the same thing,” he responds trying to avoid showing his pain.
“Is there somebody I can call for you? You losin’ a lot of blood.”
“Yeah…my phone in my pocket. Just redial the last number.”
Chris grabs his phone and makes the call, both of them keep their eyes on the unconscious boy.
“What’s up Wallace? Everything cool?” a female asks.
“This ain’t Wallace,” she says standing up. “This Chris, he been shot.”
“Who the fuck are you and what you talkin’ ‘bout?”
“Your man is lying on the floor and he losin’ a lot of blood. He needs help.”
Mercedes got silent for a minute before saying, “How do I know this ain’t a set up?”
“Hold on,” she stoops back down and places the phone to Wallace’s ear. “She wanna talk to you.”
“Mercedes, I don’t know who this is but she just saved my life,” he says as the phone rests on his shoulder. “But I’m real fucked up right now. I need some help.”
“Aight, I’ll be down in a moment. Just hold tight.”
It took Mercedes two minutes to get downstairs and she brought her soldiers Lando and Neo with her.
“What happened?” she asks Wallace as the men help him up.
“I don’t know. I was about to check the lil’ nigga for his attitude and the next thing I know he starts shootin and shit’. I think it had somethin’ to do wit’ Kenyetta smokin’ his peoples.”
“Damn,” Mercedes says briefly assessing the situation. “Keith said lettin’ them fuckin’ kids in without checkin’ they bags was a mistake,” she pauses and grabs her phone. Calling Keri, who she believe was involved, she’s disgusted when she doesn’t answer. “Look, Neo, take my man to Old Lady Faye’s to get him fixed up and then find out where them kids in Unit C at. I think somethin’s up.” Neo helps Wallace up.
“What about the kid?” Lando asks.
“Take him to the community center after yall drop Wallace off and don’t let this lil nigga out of your sight. Guard him wit your life.”
“Got it boss!” they say as Neo lifts the child from the floor.
“Now what the fuck are you doing here? And how did you get past my men?”
“I was here before everything went down. I been stayin’ at my friend Davida’s and her man’s crib in Unit A.”
“So how you find us?”
“Somebody told me she saw her outside a little while ago. Look…I ain’t tryin’ to start no shit cause I can see a lot goin’ on around here right now, but if my girl’s involved I am too,” Chris taps the budge in her jacket which conceals her weapon.
Mercedes rolls her eyes. “We don’t need your help dyke! It’s gonna take more than lickin’ pussy to get us out of this shit.”
Chris takes two steps to her and says, “You know they say women who are afraid of other women’s sexuality, have secret tendencies. So what’s up, you want me to hit that shit?”
Mercedes walks up to her and steals her in the face. “Bitch you got me fucked up! I’m STRICTLY DICKLY!”
Chris rubs the side of her cheek and says, “You got that but I promise…you WON’T get another one. Now I felt exactly like you did when you called me a dyke. Don’t disrespect me and I won’t disrespect you. I love Yvette, and if you can’t see it, that’s your fuckin’ problem but I’m not leavin’ here wit’ out her!”
Mercedes grabs the child’s gun off the ground and puts it in the back of her jeans. Then she says, “You know what, it don’t even matter to me.” She walks away from her and toward the hallway steps. “Cause once Yvette finds out you here, she goin’ off anyway. I just hope you ready for it.”
“I guess I’ma have to take my chances.”
Emerald City Soldier
“We’ll try, but we can’t make no promises.”
“I think they in one of the last eight apartments on the eastside of the hall,” Yvette whispers. “Nassir just texted me and told me he inside one of the apartments wit’ one of Black’s niggas and he saw the rest going in apartments down there too. Nassir got an orange Northface jacket on so don’t hurt him if you see him.”
“We got it,” somebody says. “We won’t hit Nas.”
“Cool. Nassir said they know we comin’ but they don’t know when,” Yvette continues to whisper as every one huddles at the west side of the hall. “We goin’ in two’s and kickin’ doors down. If you can help it, try not to hit up no kids.”
“We’ll try, but we can’t make no promises,” another soldier says.
“How we splittin’ up?” Doctanian asks.
“Everybody grab a man,” she says watching them pick partners.
When Kenyetta notices Derrick and Doctanian chose each other she says, “I want you guys to pick somebody else. The plan will work better if we have you two paired up wit’ one of the newer soldiers.”
“She right,” Yvette responds. “So Doc, you take Adriel and Derrick you go wit’ Paul. Everybody else can stay where they at.”
As they are preparing to move toward the end of the hall, Mercedes and Chris walk up the stairs behind them and into the hallway. Everyone turns around and aims in their direction until they see whom it is.
“Damn, Mercedes! We almost blazed you,” Kenyetta says. “What’s Chris doin’ here?”
“Ya’ll go ‘head,” Yvette responds to everyone to keep her privacy. Everyone walks away except Mercedes and Chris. And her knees grow weak the moment she sees Chris’s face.
“What…what you doin’ here?” Yvette asks looking at her and Mercedes.
“I told her not to come, Vette, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“If you here,” Chris points at Yvette, “Then so am I. And it don’t look like you gotta lotta time to make a decision so we betta move,” Chris takes out her glock and cocks it back making sure it was ready to fire.
Chris was right. There was no time to dispute because her men were already on their way to deal with the violators and she needed to be with them too.
“If this is what you want,” Yvette says pulling out her weapon. “Then let’s hit it.” She walks toward her men. “Everybody, move slowly and quietly,” she whispers. “Shoot to kill
.”
As Derrick walks with Paul, Doc notices how Paul looks at Derrick. It’s as if he has ill will in his heart towards him.
“You aight, man?” Doctanian asks Paul.
“Wh…why you say that?” he stutters.
“Just checkin’,” he responds sizing him up.
“Aight…on two we knockin, down doors,” Yvette directs as they all take their positions in front of an apartment.
With her hand in the air, she counts down with her fingers….one…two and on three they kick the doors in.
“Don’t move or I’ma shoot!” one soldier yells.
“If a nigga so much as wink I’m burnin’ this bitch down!” someone else screams after kicking in a door.
Some men came up empty handed while others locate their marks and fire. Tenants who were uninvolved were running everywhere for cover. They poured out of the doors like water.
“Go to the community center, you’ll be safe there!” Yvette tells the people after seeing them run for safety. Chris remains by her side watching her every move to ensure her safety. She wasn’t use to seeing Yvette in boss action but could tell she was in her element.
When Yvette and Chris kick in another door, they see a lady sitting on the couch with two men on each side of her. All three of them had their eyes glued to the TV and the men’s arms were resting on the couch behind her.
“What’s goin’ on here?” she asks.
“Nothin’,” the woman nervously says shaking her head. Her eyes don’t leave the television. “Just watching TV with my boyfriend.”
“Oh really? Which one?”
A tear streams down the woman’s face alerting Yvette instantly. Before she answers, one of them reaches on the side of the couch and fires in their direction. Yvette ducks the bullet that misses her head by inches. Chris drops to the floor and shoots the dude who fired in the kneecap. The other man grabs the lady’s head and holds a gun to her temple.
“I’ma shoot this bitch!” he promises standing up with her. “Now I’m gettin’ the fuck outta here and ain’t shit you goin’ do ‘bout it.”
“We can’t let you do that,” Yvette tells him. “So you betta let her go.”
“Don’t fuck wit’ me, Yvette! I’ll shoot her!”
“I’m sorry,” Yvette tells the lady who is shaking nervously, pleading for her life. “But we can’t let him leave.”
“P…please, Yvette. I…I want to live. Please don’t let him kill me.”
“If you let us leave I promise I won’t kill her. I don’t want nothin’ to do wit’ this no more,” he continues with the gun shaking inside his hand. If he shook any harder he’d fire by mistake anyway. “I just wanna go home.”
“It’s too late for that nigga,” Chris says from the floor hitting him in the middle of the head. His body drops and his weight pulls the woman down with him.
Yvette’s finger was on the trigger preparing to shoot him herself but Chris beat her to the punch. The woman get’s up, looks down at her assailant, and runs screaming out the door.
“Damn,” Yvette says looking at the body and then Chris. “You ain’t no joke.”
“You fuckin’ wit’ a heavyweight,” she winks. “Now let’s finish what we started.
They enter the hallway to continue on their mission to kill anyone who didn’t belong. They had already lost three men in the war but the violators had lost many more.
When Derrick was about to kick the last door in, Doctanian grows increasingly uneasy with the way Paul is acting. He doesn’t trust him and decides to go with his instinct. So the moment Derrick kicks the door in, and Doc sees Paul point the gun to the back of Derrick’s head preparing to squeeze the trigger, he walks up behind him and blows his brains out.
“What the fuck,” Derrick says moving out the way.
“That nigga was ‘bout to kill you, man,” Doc says looking down at the lifeless body before him. He smiles and says, “You lucky I’m…,” Before he finishes his sentence, he was hit twice in the back by someone behind him.
He was so concerned with Derrick, that he didn’t assess his surroundings. Derrick fires multiple times into the man’s chest that shot Doc. It wasn’t until he hit the floor that he recognizes the man as one of his own. He actually answered to him in Emerald. All this time, the man had larceny in his heart and Derrick never knew. After Derrick makes sure his own life isn’t in danger, he bends down and lifts Doc’s head.
“Damn, Doc. Why you let ‘em catch you, huh?” Derrick continues trying to hold back his tears. Blood oozes out of Doc’s body.
Although Doctanian left Emerald city, the two were very close and it hurt him to see him like that. They held secrets about one another no one else knew but them. It was Derrick who Doctanian first chose to tell he killed Dex and Stacey, because Thick blackmailed him. And it was Derrick who prevented Doc from taking his own life. Now Doctanian had repaid him with his life.
“I…I…,” Doc’s words are gargled by the blood escaping his nose and mouth.
As the other Emerald City soldiers claim victory, they grow silent when they look for Derrick. When they spot him in the doorway holding Doc, Kenyetta, Mercedes, Yvette and Chris walk toward them.
“Fuck!” Yvette yells punching at the wall seeing Doc’s body.
Chris grips her and holds her tight as she cries on her shoulder.
“Who got him?” Mercedes asks holding back her tears.
“The nigga lying at your feet,” Derrick responds. They look at him.
“Coney? Damn!” Mercedes says.
“Damn, Doc,” Kenyetta adds looking at his face. He looks terrified. “I’m sorry we let you come back, man. We shoulda told you to stay away from Emerald. You did good to get away. Fuck!”
Yvette pushes away from Chris and says, “They gonna pay for this shit, Doc. On my life niggas is gonna pay for this shit!” She was taking it the hardest because she was the one who called him.
“We got all of them niggas,” Nassir says walking up to Yvette. “Everybody that was wit’ Black gone,” he glances down and sees Doc. “They hit Doc?” Nobody responds to the obvious.
Doc opens his mouth and grips Derrick’s shirt, “I…I…d…de,” his words don’t exit.
“Don’t talk, man.”
Doc grips him again and says, “I…deserve…this for k…killin…d…D...Dex and…Stacey. I…I’m…sorry.”
“What did he say,” Mercedes asks.
Doc takes his last breath and closes his eyes.
“Nothin…,” Derrick lies deciding to take his secret to his grave. “It was between us.”
The air is immediately filled with remorse and fear that Doc’s been murdered. Quiet chatter fills the hallway but Yvette remains silent and walks away from the crowd. She has a moment of clarity and suddenly things being to make sense.
“They were pawns,” she says to herself. “They were fuckin’ pawns. They were never ‘sposed to make it outta here alive.”
She knew then that Black sacrificed his own men for the bigger picture. He wanted Emerald to be preoccupied with the men in Unit B, so that they’d overlook what was really happening…a takeover. But the moment the thought enters her mind, Black’s real warriors come through their gate, armed and ready for war.
Black Water
Operation Takeover
Black Water sits in his Rolls Royce a few blocks down from Emerald. He was speaking to his men on the phone before they rush the gate.
“Aight, this it! Ya’ll better go in there and wrap that shit up in an hour, it’s 12 now and that’s more than enough time. We got the best weapons in DC so your jobs should be easy. If you feel like shit is too rough, remember bitches run this city and then imagine what I’ll do to you if shit don’t go my way. Make it happen.”
Six vans filled to capacity with his crewmembers roll past him. He smiles and says to his driver, “Take me to that strip club off of New York Avenue in D.C.”
“The Rouge?” The driver asks in his deep heavy voic
e.
“Yeah. I wanna see some pussy before I turn into the richest man in the city.”
“You got it, boss.”
As his driver pulls off, the first van enters Emerald and parks in a location were it could avoid bullets. They were given the layout by their inside man, who are now dead within the walls.
The moment the van parks, the Emerald City members assigned to guard the yard fire at the van with all they have from the windows and the rooftops. The bullets bounce off of the bullet proof vehicle with ease. Covered in bulletproof vests, the men swing the door open and run out. The sixth man remains inside along with the driver. His duty would come later.
Once outside of the van, the men holding M240 machine guns lay into the buildings with extreme firepower. Pieces of bricks from the units fall off the building like clay. Windows shatter and many of the Emerald City men who are on the front side of the building are instantly killed. The bottom line was this…their weapons couldn’t be fucked with.
Not expecting to face this type of artillery, most of the Emerald City men banish their post and run for cover, away from the front of the building. When enough damage is done, the sixth man exits the vehicle carrying a bullhorn. Before saying anything, he brushes his suit off with his hand.
“By now you know we not fuckin’ around,” a tall light skin man says. He looks more like a lawyer than a killer. “The next move is up to you.”
Each of Black’s men remain in front of the units waiting to fire again if need be. They survey the grounds looking for anything or anyone out of place.
“Black Water is fair…So this is what we gonna do. We gonna give anybody who wants to live a chance to leave,” the loudness of the bullhorn echoes throughout Emerald. “I’m gonna count to five, and if you walk out before I count down, we’ll let you past without fail. But if you don’t leave OUR city, you gonna die. The choice is yours and it will only be given only once. 1...2…3.”
When he says three the next five vans enter Emerald City and park in front of each of the units in Emerald. The men already outside holding their machine weapons keep their aim in case someone fires. Once each van parks, the eight men inside each of vans gets out and stand on the steps of each unit.