by Mikal Malone
District Of Columbia Police Department
“You better be careful about the shit you say around here. You just might come up missin’.”
“What you want to eat, Jones?” Officer Tath says standing over his desk with a pen and a pad. “We’re about to put our orders in now.
“I’m not hungry,” he responds never looking away from his computer screen.
“We ordering from V-Burgers,” Tath persists, hoping he’d change his mind to get the discount on the delivery charges.
“I said I’m not hungry. I didn’t come here to eat no expensive ass burgers from V’s. I came here to uphold the law but that’s now what ya’ll wanna do around here.” This time he looks at everyone in the station, including Tath.
“What do you mean?” Officer Kerry asks sitting in the desk next to him.
“Stop acting like you don’t know what I mean…we’ve received ten calls in the last hour from people in Emerald city but we do nothing about it! Why?”
“It’s just the way it is,” Tath responds, walking away. “They got their laws and we got ours.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Jones asks.
“No do you hear yourself? You’re worryin’ about a couple of drug dealing niggers when you should be worryin’ about yourself.”
Jones was heated because although he was far from a nigger, he was still African American.
“Niggers are people too,” Jones replies.
“No…,” he chuckles. “They’re just Nigger people.”
“I bet you won’t be laughing if I call the mayor’s office,” he threatens.
The smile is wiped clean off his face.
“You better be careful about the shit you say around here. You just might come up missin’,” Kerry advises.
Jones turns around, looks at him and says, “We’ll see about that.”
Lone Soldier
“He failed to create a back up plan.”
Black’s men grew lax as they enter each unit because the search and destroy mission had dwindled to finding Yvette and the other women. But just when they thought victory was completely won, an army more dangerous than theirs entered from the back of the city.
One of Black’s soldiers arrives to the apartment Yvette was in, his weapon aimed and ready, when the sound of weapons firing outside frightens him. This was odd because he was given word not too long ago that they won Emerald.
“What the fuck?” he says to himself as he walks away from the apartment, and down the hallway toward the staircase door.
The moment he opens it, he’s rushed by two men who unload multiple bullets into his body. He drops to the floor, and his body prevents the door from closing. Once he’s murdered, the men push open the door and step over him. The sounds of gun fire rises again. A war ensues, between Black Water’s men and another crew. But because their guards were down, Black’s men drop one by one. Black made a dangerous mistake. He failed to create a back up plan, and that major error, was going to cause him the war.
Black Water
A Few Hours Earlier
“Many bitches would die to be in your shoes right now.”
Although she wasn’t a dancer, Black Water was turned on to her apparent attraction to other women. She threw dollar after dollar on the stage as the dancers fought for her attention.
“Excuse me, my boss wants to meet you,” Black’s driver says interrupting her.
She takes one look at the driver and than at Black and says, “What are we in middle school?” she laughs and continues, “If he wants to meet me tell him to meet me himself.”
With that she tossed her long black hair and turned her focus back on the women. Five minutes later, Black walks up to her.
“You gonna hang out wit’ me at my table?” he asks.
“Who’s asking?”
“Me. And I’m only asking once.”
The woman looks him up and down and accepts.
“So what’s up,” she said sitting next to him.
“You.”
“Me?” she points at herself. “How am I up when you just met me?”
“Cause I know what I like.”
“And what’s that?”
“For one I fucks wit’ chicks wit’ that long black hair and shit. You my type…trust me.”
She waves him off as if she’s uninterested.
“No joke. I found the finest thing in here and she’s not on stage.”
“Is that right?” she smiles. He doesn’t respond.
“You funny.” She continues.
“And you bad as shit! So what’s your name?”
“Candy.” She confesses
“Candy, huh? I like that. You gonna be mine before the night is out.”
They kept each other’s company for the rest of the evening. And when the club closed, he invited her to breakfast. After enjoying a small meal together, Black instructed his driver to take them to a nearby hotel. He continued to drink excessively believing there was much to celebrate later. After all, in hours, Emerald City would be his.
Once in the hotel room he asks, “So…w…what were you…you doin’ in a strip club?” he plops down on the end of the bed and removes his shoes.
“I guess research, since I’m opening my own spot in Virginia in a few months.”
“So you stealin’ dancers?” he asks stretching out on the end of the bed.
“Naw…just checking out my competition,” she tells him laying in the bed next to him.
“Do you know who I am?”
“No…who are you?”
“I’m probably the richest nigga you’ll ever meet in your life,” with that he unbuttons his pants, pulls out his dick and strokes it to a complete thickness.
“Is that right?” she smiles looking at it and then at him. “And how do you know you’re the richest man I’ve met in my life? I been around money longer than I can remember.”
“Cause I run DC. And everybody in it,” he says as he words began to drag.
“Well I don’t live in DC,” she says moving closer to him. “But say you are…what does that have to do with me?”
“It means for now I want you to get on your knees, and suck my dick ‘cause many bitches would die to be in your shoes right now.” There was a brief moment of silence. “Fuck you waitin’ on?” he asks with a scowl.
“You use to getting what you want?” Candy says as she stands, walks toward the table and pours two more cups of liquor. “I can respect that.” She hands him the plastic cup filled with Remy and sips on the other. “But what you gonna do for me?”
“It depends how good you are,” he says downing what was left in the cup before throwing it to the floor. “Now get over here.”
“I got you,” she responds seductively taking her clothes off. “But let’s do it the right way.
The next morning Black awakes to a throbbing headache. Candy is next to him naked, with an empty bottle of liquor between them.
“Get up,” he says groggily. ”We gotta go.”
“Already?” she moans. “I was hoping you’d be up for round two.”
“Look…get the fuck up or I’m leavin’ you here.”
“Alright…alright…I’m movin,” she says moving around a little before finally getting up.
When they are dressed, they walk toward the limo, Black stumbling the entire way. Candy opens the door and Black slides in, with her right behind him.
“Take me to get some coffee from McDonald’s,” he tells his driver. “Then take me to Emerald.”
When the car doesn’t move he asks, “Did you hear me?”
“Yeah…I heard you.” Black recognizes the voice despite it not belonging to his driver.
Black sits up straight and leans into the privacy window separating them. His thick index finger rolls the control window down and the man is revealed.
His own urine escapes his body and he stutters, “Wha…what the fuck is goin’ on? W…where’s my driver?”
“He gone. But d
on’t worry, I’ma take you where you need to go.”
With those words the woman he knew as Candy plunges a knife deeply into his stomach. When his flesh covers the entire blade, she pushes again before twisting it once. Black’s mouth opens and he succumbs to the pain.
The driver who is actually Dreyfus, looks at him until his eyes are closed and says, “I told you not to fuck wit’, my money. But I ain’t gonna have to tell you no more.”
Emerald City Squad
“Looks like you all fucked up the city pretty good.”
The sounds of weapons firing ceased completely in Emerald City. And the smell of gunpowder seeped beneath the apartment doors. There was a gloomy presence throughout the city. Death, destruction and fear were all realities.
“I’m goin’ out,” Yvette says. “I can’t stay in here without knowing something.”
“You sure we should?” Kenyetta asks. “It’s too quiet. That usually means something’s up.”
“We can’t stay in here forever,” Yvette warns. “We hid long enough.”
“I think she right,” Derrick says rising up. The men stood up next to him. “Ya’ll follow closely behind me.”
The men move the china cabinet and they all walk carefully into the hallway. Pieces of the buildings structure are scattered everywhere. Emerald city is partially destroyed. When they all reach the stairwell, they see a body stuck in the doorway.
“Hold up,” Derrick says approaching him cautiously. “Let me check him out.” He approaches the body with his 9 drawn. When he reaches it, he bends down and looks at him. His eyes are wide open so he knows he’s dead. “He gone. Let’s move.”
Everyone enters the stairwell and runs down the steps to the bottom floor. Pushing the door open and walking outside, their heart’s drop at the death and destruction around them. Even the brightness of the sun couldn’t soften the despair.
“Damn, boss,” one of the men says. “You think they got scared and left?”
“Naw…somethin’ else went down,” Yvette responds looking around. “I don’t know what.”
Just when she says that, Black’s Rolls Royce enters the gate. Everyone heads back toward the building and remains inside. If he exits the car, they would use every bullet they had to kill him.
“Back up,” Yvette says looking through the shattered door. “Cause if that nigga get’s out that car, I’m blazin’ his ass.”
“I’m gettin’ in on that too,” Kenyetta adds.
When the car drives into the middle of the yard and parks, they remain quiet. And all of a sudden, a woman with silky long hair gets out on the passenger side. Once outside of the car, she removes a long wig and looks up at the units.
“Is that, Carissa?” Yvette asks staring closely through the stained glass door.
“It damn sure look like her,” Mercedes adds. “But what is she doin’ here?”
Yvette pushes open the building door and everyone follows her. Now they clearly see that it is her.
“Carissa!” Mercedes yells from the top of Unit B.
They run down the stairs and up to her in the middle of the yard. She smiles when she sees their faces and they all embrace without saying a word.
“Oh my God! When I came in and saw the city like this,” Carissa says looking around. “I was so worried that something happened to you all. I’m so sorry for abandoning you! Trust me when I say that will never happen again.”
“We know…,” Kenyetta responds. “And I’m sorry for how I treated you when you wanted to leave. I really am.”
“Shut up, bitch! We together now,” she says hugging her again.
“But what are you doin’ here?” Yvette asks. “And what are you doin’ in Black’s car?”
Derrick and the soldiers allow the women to have their moment as they keep watch of the city.
“It’s a long story so let me make it short. I found out from Lavelle that Black was moving on the city, so I knew we needed help if we wanted to keep what was ours. So I got it.”
“Who you get?” Yvette questions.
She walks to the driver side of the car and opens the car. Everyone waits patiently until Dreyfus, who is on the phone, comes into view.
“I’ll see you later,” he tells the caller. Focusing his attention to the women he says, “Looks like you all fucked up the city pretty good.” he looks around.
“You don’t know the half,” Yvette responds.
“Well look, you got your city back. I’ma get outta here. I gotta flight in six hours to Cancun and I ain’t missin’ it for anything in the world.”
“Thanks, Dreyfus,” Yvette smiles. “We’ll find some way to repay you.”
“Don’t worry about it now, you owe me. Just make sure you pick things up around here and get back to business. And next time, call me sooner.”
“Got it,” Yvette tells him.
When he drives away Yvette says, “Say what you want, that nigga always comes through when we need him.”
“I feel you, but I wonder what he’ll want for repayment?” Kenyetta whispers as they look at the car go out of sight.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Yvette responds.
“So what happened to Black?” Yvette remembers.
“He dead and Dreyfus sending another message that anybody affiliated with Black’s business betta get outta Tyland. He’s taken it back and he wants us to run it.”
“Run Tyland and Emerald?” Kenyetta questions.
“Yeah…think we can do it?” she asks Yvette.
“I’m not sure. To be honest, I’ll have to think about it. Somethin’ tells me we should focus on home and leave the rest alone.”
“I feel you,” Carissa responds. “Well…he says if we want it we can have it. And if not, he’ll get someone else. They over there right now cleanin’ house.”
“Hey…what happened to Lavelle?” Mercedes asks.
“Oh…hold on,” she smiles. “I have to make another phone call.”
Lavelle
“So it’s just like that, huh?”
Lavelle sits in a chair next to his bed watching a Katt Williams comedy special on HBO with the two guards. They laugh constantly at his uncensored humor. The more time goes by, the more confident Lavelle grows that he’ll make it out of the situation alive. After all, if she’d wanted him dead, he’d be gone already.
When the phone rings, one of the men say, “Lavelle…can you pause that right quick?”
“No problem,” he says pausing the show. He knew it was Carissa and he wasn’t worried.
“Hey, boss. What’s up?”
There’s silence as Lavelle sips his Sprite and places it back on the nightstand. As he holds the can, he glances out the window trying to remember all he has to do today. Life seems to move by him and the frustration is quickly becoming irritating. In his heart of hearts all he wants is for Carissa and him to move on with their lives. While looking outside, he smiles at his neighbor who’s taking her trash out wearing tight jeans, a white shirt with no bra. But just as quickly as he smiles it’s removed from his face when he sees the raggedy black van drive up and park in his driveway. “The Vanishers.” He says out loud. He looks at the soldiers who stand up after ending the call with Carissa.
“So it’s just like that, huh?” he asks.
“Looks that way, man,” one of them says aiming his gun.
“She didn’t even wanna speak to me?”
“Naw.”
There’s a brief knock at the door and one of them leaves the room to open the door. Lee returns with another man that Lavelle recognizes.
“Damn…I can’t believe it,” Lavelle says. “I can’t believe I’m dying like this.”
“Why? Didn’t you say you taught her all she knew?” one of the soldiers asks. Lavelle doesn’t respond. “Well…it looks like you did a good job.”
A single shot to the head kills him instantly.
Cameron
“I love you and everything I did was so I could be with you.”
Cameron wakes up with an extreme headache. He rubs his head constantly trying to rid himself of the pain. Moving around a little, he looks around and notices his surroundings. He’s in the passenger seat of Toi’s 2010 Yukon Denali.
“You aight,” she asks him softly. “You don’t look too good.”
“I…I guess I am. What happened?”
“You got fucked up,” she tells him.
“Well you look okay,” he says observing her. “Wasn’t you drinking too?”
“Not like you.”
When she says that, Cameron feels a pair of hands on his shoulders. He turns around to see who was behind him and cringes at Mercedes’ battered face. He reaches for his gun.
“It’s not there,” Toi says calmly.
“Fuck is going on?” he asks.
“What you think’s goin’ on?” Yvette responds from the back seat behind Toi.
“Yeah…what you think is up, Cameron?” Kenyetta questions from the third row seat.
“I think he knows what time it is,” Carissa adds, she’s seated next to Kenyetta.
Cameron swallows hard and looks back at Toi. “Why you do this?”
“Cause I can’t stand bitch ass niggas. You shoulda left well enough alone, Cameron. After Mercedes told me the story about Emerald city, I figured if you’d do your children’s mother wrong, you’d do worse to me.”
“So you would help them kill me?”
“Naw...you did that to yourself.”
Cameron laughs a little, and pulls the visor down to look in the mirror at Mercedes.
“Since we bein’ real so am I. I don’t care about this bitch, Mercedes. I never have. I love you and everything I did was so I could be with you. So tell me…are you really gonna do this to me, baby?”
“What do you think, Cameron? You okay’d some niggas to rape me!”
“I told you I didn’t know shit about that! That nigga lied!”