by Foye, K'wan
“Look,” the young Italian man began, “this is Shai’s card game, but he ain’t here.”
“Well, then, who the fuck is running this circus?” Animal asked.
Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from the bathroom. Without having to be told, Alonzo darted to the back to investigate. He returned a few seconds later with a worried expression on his face. “Somebody bolted out the bathroom window. I’m gonna dip outside and see if I can catch whoever it was.”
“Don’t bother.” Ashanti walked into the room with the Mac11 jammed into the back of the man who tried to escape. “Look who I caught trying to make a break for it.”
Animal smiled from ear to ear behind his bandana at the sight of who Ashanti had captured. “Nice of you to join us, Swann.”
Tionna was just coming back from the vending machines with an arm full of snacks for Gucci and her. She was glad to see her friend getting her appetite back because it meant that she was one step closer to getting back to where she needed to be. What Gucci had gone through would’ve broken most people, but the fact that she was pulling through it was a testament to her strength. The physical wounds would take a while to heal, and the mental ones even longer, but no matter how long it took, Tionna would be by her side.
She and Gucci had been crime partners since grade school, always having each other’s backs against any and all odds. When they got older, their problems got bigger, but that only made their bond stronger. When Tionna was assed out with nothing but the clothes on her back, Gucci and her mom had been right there for her, even going as far as letting Tionna and her two sons move in with Ms. Ronnie when Don B. had her apartment burned down. Tionna and Gucci were more than friends; they were sisters.
Tionna entered Gucci’s hospital room, smiling from ear to ear because the vending machine had her favorite toasted almond ice cream snacks, but the smile faded when she saw two men standing over Gucci’s bed. At first she thought that they were the detectives that had come back to ask more questions about the shooting, but that thought faded when she saw one of them injecting something into Gucci’s IV.
“What are y’all doing? You’re not supposed to be here!” Tionna yelled, trying to draw the attention of the hospital staff.
“Grab that bitch!” one of the men ordered.
Tionna turned and tried to run but was grabbed roughly by her hair and dragged into the room. The man tried to close the door, but Tionna stuck her foot in the doorjamb to stop him. He slammed the door repeatedly on Tionna’s foot to try to get her to remove it, but she wouldn’t. She knew if that door closed they were finished, so he was going to have to break her foot to get her to move it. But instead of bothering to break her foot, he slugged her in the gut and knocked the wind out of her. Then he dragged her across the room and tossed her at the feet of the guy Tionna had seen injecting the foreign substance into Gucci’s IV. He was a slightly older, brown-skinned man wearing a gray suit and black tie with a white shirt.
“Now, why do you wanna go and stir up trouble unnecessarily?” Angelo asked with a shake of his head.
“What are you doing to her?” Gucci mumbled groggily from her bed. Whatever Angelo had put in the IV was starting to kick in, but she wasn’t too far gone yet to know that something wasn’t right.
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it, doll. Once that cocktail kicks in, this will be the least of your concerns.” Angelo patted Gucci’s leg.
“Whatever you’re thinking about doing to her, you better un-think it or else,” Tionna threatened.
“Or else what? Big bad Animal gonna come for me?” Angelo asked. “I sure hope so, because if he don’t, that means I wasted a trip, and you bitches are dead.”
“What do you want?” Gucci asked. She was starting to see double.
“We want your boyfriend, and you’re gonna give him to us.” Angelo handed Gucci a cell phone.
Gucci laughed weakly. “Fuck you.”
Angelo grabbed her by the neck and shook her. “Bitch, I ain’t playing games with you. Now either you get on the phone and call that nigga, or I’m gonna put a crease in your brain.” He placed his gun to the top of her head.
Gucci was frightened, but she wouldn’t give the men the satisfaction of showing it. If they’d come for Animal, then nine times out of ten she and Tionna would be killed anyway. The two things she regretted most was that she was going to lose Animal again and the fact that her love had condemned her best friend to death with her.
Gucci pursed her dry lips together like she was trying to say something, and when Angelo leaned in to hear what it was, she spat in his face. “When you kill me, it’s gonna start the shot-clock on the rest of your worthless-ass life because Animal is gonna kill you!”
Angelo wiped the saliva from the side of his face with Gucci’s bedsheet. “If you like it, I love it.” He cocked the hammer back on the gun.
“Wait!” Tionna cried out. “She can’t bring you Animal, but I can.”
“You?” Angelo asked curiously.
“Tionna, don’t,” Gucci pleaded with tears in her eyes.
“Gucci, they’re gonna kill us if we don’t,” Tionna said, her eyes also filled with tears. “He gave me a number to reach him at, but he’ll only pick up if I call from this phone.” She handed Angelo the phone.
“How could you?” Gucci cried, looking at Tionna in disbelief.
“I’m sorry, Gucci, but I’m doing this for us. I don’t wanna die,” Tionna tried to explain. She looked at her pleading friend, and her heart broke. Gucci may have seen what she was doing as betrayal, but Tionna saw it as their best chance at survival.
“Then let’s get Mr. Lover Man on the line.” Angelo hit send on the phone.
Animal eyeballed Swann like he was a Porterhouse steak that had just been set before a starving man. The beef between Swann and Animal went back even further and deeper than the one between him and Shai. At one time, Swann had been a comrade in arms and, to an extent, even considered a brother, but somewhere along the path, he had lost his way. When he murdered Tech on the word of an outsider, Shai Clark, it put him out of favor, but most were hesitant to touch him because of his affiliation with the Clarks. Animal had no such reservations. He had come for Shai Clark, but Swann was a welcomed consolation prize.
With his eyes still locked on Swann, Animal spoke to the room. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you have no affiliation with the Clark family and don’t wish to die, please take this time to leave with my sincere apologies. But if you’re loyal to these traitorous rats and have a problem with what I’m about to do to ol’ Swann, then feel free to stick around and we can settle up.”
“Yes, indeed,” Alonzo cosigned, holding his two revolvers.
All at once, men and women spilled out of the motel room in a near stampede. Alonzo watched Frankie and a dark-skinned dude exchange heated words in the corner. It looked like she was trying to urge him to leave, and he wanted to stay. Alonzo gave Frankie a get-the-fuck-out-of-here look, hoping that she could convince her friend to do the same. There was no doubt in his mind that Animal meant to kill anyone who remained, and he didn’t want Frankie to be among that number. Finally, she got her two male guests to move for the exit. On the way out, the one who had been holding the bag looked over at Alonzo and smirked. Alonzo didn’t think that Frankie would be foolish enough to let her friend in on their secret, but he planned to look into it later and deal with all parties accordingly.
Slowly, Animal walked over to Swann, pulling his bandana from his face so Swann could see just who he was up against. “Long time no see, Blood,” Animal said the last word as if it left a foul taste in his mouth.
“Not long enough, if you ask me,” Swann retorted. The deck was stacked against him, but regardless, he was a gangsta and wouldn’t fold. “I hear you’ve been busy.”
“If you call pushing your pussy-ass team off the earth busy, then I guess so,” Animal replied. “Blood, do you know how long I’ve dreamt of this moment?”
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“Not hardly as long as I have. You know, when Shai had me put Tech in his place, I told him that we needed to whack you out too, but he didn’t listen.”
“He should’ve,” Animal told him. “You know, for years I’ve looked at the li’l rift in our family from every angle, and I still haven’t been able to figure out what made you betray your homies.”
Swann shook his head. “All these years, and you still don’t get it, which is why you niggaz will always be the low men on the totem pole. Me killing Tech wasn’t about betrayal; it was about maintaining order. No matter how many times y’all were warned, you continued to run around like rabid dogs, killing and taking what you wanted, and that wasn’t good for business.”
“So, you call killing a nigga a business decision?” Animal scowled.
“No, I call it a tender mercy. Better I killed him clean than Shai sending somebody to make a mess outta him like he’s gonna do with you. You should’ve stayed in hiding, Animal.”
“Ironically, I probably would’ve, but you crossed the line when yo’ people let Gucci fall under his bullet,” Animal told him.
Swann laughed. “I’d heard this was all over a bitch, but I gave you more credit than that, Animal. I could’ve respected you if you’d come back to avenge your homie, but you’re throwing your life away over a bitch! And you wonder why you’ll always be looked at as a li’l nigga.”
Animal punched Swann in the face, sending him crashing into the card table. “This li’l nigga hits hard, don’t he?” He yanked Swann to his feet. Animal fired another fist into Swann’s face, bloodying his nose. “Who do you think you’re talking to?” Animal slapped Swann viciously across the face with one of his guns. “You got Shai thinking you’re the supreme street general, but that’s because he don’t know you as good as he thinks he does.” Animal slapped him with the gun again. He pressed Swann against the wall and crammed his Glock into his mouth. “Beneath that gangsta persona, I know your true face, and so did Tech, which is why you were so willing when the order came down to kill him. You went through a lot to protect your secret, but maybe I’ll tell it after I body you.” The feeling of his cell phone vibrating in his pocket gave Animal pause.
Swann’s eyes went from Animal’s face to his vibrating pocket and back again. “If I were you, I’d answer that,” he mumbled around the Glock that was shoved firmly in his mouth.
Animal was going to ignore the call, but it could’ve only been one person, and if she was calling, then something might’ve been wrong. Keeping his gun in Swann’s mouth, he slipped his phone from his pocket and placed it to his ear. “What you need, T? I kinda got my hands full right now.”
“I got my hands full too. Wanna guess what I’m holding?” a masculine voice said on the other end of the line.
“Who the fuck is this, and where’s my girl?” Animal roared into Angelo’s ear.
“Tsk, tsk! Such language,” Angelo taunted him. “Your shorty is good . . . for now. How long she stays that way is on you, li’l homie.”
“On everything I love, if you touch her I’m gonna hunt you down and make you wish your mama had swallowed you,” Animal promised.
“I don’t doubt that you’d give it the old college try, but for as long as I got your bitch, you ain’t gonna do shit but shut your fucking mouth and listen,” Angelo barked. “You thought that shit you were doing running around town was real cute, didn’t you? Instead of keeping your head in the sand like a good little ostrich, you’re strutting around Harlem like a peacock. You wanted our attention; well, li’l nigga, you got it. Our friend wants to have a chat with you.”
“That bitch ass-nigga Shai ain’t no friend of mine, and the only thing we got to say to each other will be said over gun smoke,” Animal capped. “You got something of mine, and I got something of yours. You touch one hair on Gucci’s head, and I’m gonna blow Swann’s muthafucking brains out, ya dig?”
Angelo sighed. “You still think you’re calling the shots, huh?” Angelo put the phone on speaker. “You listening, li’l fella?”
“What’re you playing at?” Animal asked nervously.
“I ain’t playing at shit. I’m actually quite serious, and I’m about to show you how serious I am. Ayo,” Angelo called to his henchman, “since these bitches think they’re so fly, let’s see if they got wings.”
The henchman smiled and dragged Tionna to her feet. She tried to put all of her weight down so he couldn’t move her, but she was too light in the ass. He dragged her like a rag doll over to the hospital window and held her in front of it so she could see the street far below.
“Please don’t!” Gucci called out frantically.
Hearing her voice made Animal panic. “Don’t you do it!” Animal said in an almost pleading tone.
“You wanna roll with the big dogs, then you need to know how it feels to get bit,” Angelo spat venomously at the phone. “Do that bitch!” he ordered his henchman.
“You ain’t gotta do this!” Tionna clung to the henchman for dear life.
“Sorry, shorty. I got my orders.” He took a step back and kicked Tionna as hard as he could, sending her through the window like a battering ram and into the cool night air.
“Gucci!” Animal howled when he heard the scream through the phone. It was a sound so eerie that it would stick with him for the rest of his days. He stood there with the phone glued to his ear in shock. He was so numb that he couldn’t do much other than stand there. Animal turned his tear-filled eyes to Swann, and Swann knew that it was over for him. “Your boy just forfeited your life, homie.”
“Animal . . .” He heard Gucci’s voice coming through the phone softly.
Animal’s face lit up. “Gucci?” he pressed the phone harder to his ear so he could hear her. “Baby, I thought . . . are you okay?”
“Animal, I don’t know what’s going on . . . these guys . . . Tionna is dead,” Gucci mumbled, the cocktail Angelo had given her was kicking in and she could barely stay awake. “Help me, baby.”
“Gucci, I’m coming for you!” Animal declared.
“Ain’t that sweet?” Angelo was back on the phone. “You can rush on out here to the hospital, but we’ll probably be gone by then. It’s like I told you. My peoples wants to have a conversation with you, and this sweet little piece of candy will make sure you play nice when you show up.”
They had Animal by the balls. He knew that whatever scenario laid out for him was a death trap, but what choice did he have? If he had to give his life for Gucci’s, he’d do it readily. “Name your terms.”
“I’m gonna holla at you later on with an address. You show up—alone—and your bitch walks. You play games, and I’m gonna clap her pretty ass. Sound fair to you?” Angelo asked.
“A’ight,” Animal reluctantly agreed. “I’ll be waiting for your call. But, my nigga, you better turn her over the same way you found her or I’m gonna make you wear that.”
“Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna let my niggaz deflower this whore. You do your part, and we’ll do ours,” Angelo assured him. “Oh, and before I forget, cut my partner loose. If Swann doesn’t call me in three minutes to let me know he’s good, all bets are off. Not only am I gonna kill this bitch, but I’m gonna make sure I fuck her until she bleeds on my dick first. The pussy gotta be the bomb if your dumb ass was willing to commit suicide over it.” Angelo laughed and ended the call.
Animal looked at the silent phone as if it was the most vile thing he had ever seen. He had so many emotions running ramped inside him that his chest swelled to the point where he felt like it would pop. Alonzo and Ashanti were looking at him waiting for word of what the next move was, but he couldn’t even form his lips to tell them what he’d just learned. He happened to look up and catch Swann giving him a smug look.
“Fuck you smirking at?” Animal snarled.
Swann held his hands up. “Don’t pay me no mind, Blood. As a matter of fact, it’s about time I take my leave of you, ain’t it? You know, my nigga, Angelo is a sti
ckler for time,” he chuckled.
Animal felt his body begin to tremble from the mounting rage. The more he stared at the half smirk on Swann’s face, the angrier he got. “You got that, Swann,” Animal placed his guns on the table, “but before you dip, let me give you something to look forward to for the next time we meet.” Instantly, Animal hit Swann flush in the mouth. Swann tried to throw his hands up to defend himself, but Animal was relentless in his onslaught of punches. Swann was so disoriented that he tripped over his own feet and fell into the waiting arms of Alonzo and Ashanti.
“What’s hood, big homie? You ready to earth this nigga?” Ashanti asked, jamming the Mac11 into Swann’s ribs. He was so thirsty to murk him that a trail of slobber escaped over his bottom lip.
“No, let him go,” Animal said, not believing his own words.
Ashanti looked at him as if he had lost it. “You can’t be fucking serious! Swann is the root of Shai’s power in the streets. We kill this nigga, and we cripple the Clarks!”
“They got Gucci, homie,” Animal confessed. “Let him go.”
Hurt crossed Ashanti’s face. “That’s how y’all playing?” Ashanti looked at Swann in disgust.
Swann was leaning against the wall, wiping the blood from his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. “Time is ticking, fellas,” he snickered.
“I’m gonna see you again, Blood,” Animal told Swann.
“Not if I see you first,” Swann said before slipping from the motel room.
“Why do I feel like a rape victim right now?” Alonzo spoke up. He knew what was at stake, and he knew what it meant to let Swann walk. If he wasn’t before, he was definitely a marked man now.
“You ain’t the only one feeling in a way about this, Zo. They already killed Tionna and got Gucci hostage,” Animal filled them in.