by Carl Weber
“If I had told you that you might have to fuck me to get the job done, would you have done it?”
He hesitated, giving me his answer without saying a word.
“Exactly my point. This job is about the job, and that’s all.”
“Not if it affects my life. I’m planning on marrying that girl someday.”
A twinge of jealousy swept through me, taking me by surprise. He had been with Keisha over seven months now, and life was good—except when he had to go out and kill someone for his new job, or now, fuck someone he worked with. He really didn’t want to mess up a good thing, which was amazing. It was rare to find a man who even recognized when he had a good thing. That Keisha was a lucky woman. I wondered if she knew it.
“I can’t just go around fucking people,” he continued, unable to let it go.
I scrunched up my face dramatically. “Boo fucking hoo. If your girl has a problem with you doing what your job requires, then you’re just gonna need to learn how to keep a secret. Besides, be honest. You liked it, didn’t you?
I teased. “You like the way I fuck, don’t you? I’m super tight and really wet.” In fact, I was getting wet now, just having flashbacks to our encounter in the club.
He looked flustered. I wondered if he was also having flashbacks. “That’s not the point,” he finally mumbled. “And this is not your life. It’s mine.”
“Niles, I know you love this job. How can you not? And eventually, you’re going to realize that this job is your life. Until then, you need to grow the fuck up,” I said, deciding that this discussion should be over. “Now, I’m hungry and I need a cigarette, because I like to have a nice smoke after I get fucked real good.”
“So that’s it?” he huffed.
“What do you want me to say? This is work, and work comes first. Now, you understand the job. Do you want to continue to complain about it? Because I can find someone else to do the job, but just know that we don’t pay unemployment, and even if we did, it sure as hell wouldn’t be enough to support your mama the way you want.” I pulled out an e-cigarette, desperately taking a blissful toke.
“From now on, I’m told the total mission from the start, or else I walk,” he said, as if he was actually contemplating quitting. I knew that would never happen, but I let him believe I was concerned he might quit.
I nodded to let him know I was giving in to his demands, allowing him to maintain the delusion that he had any true control over his situation now that he was employed by Dynamic Defense. Looking satisfied that I’d given in, Niles took the cigarette out of my hand and took a drag.
“So she doesn’t mind you smoking?” I joked.
He threw his head back and exhaled, announcing with plenty of confidence, “When it comes to this job, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
I suppressed a sigh of relief. For a minute, I had thought that I was going to lose him over this assignment. Now I was growing more certain that Niles was truly cut out for this job and me.
Keisha
44
I held onto a pillow, fighting back tears as Majestic stood on the floor by the edge of the bed, pounding me from behind like some deranged animal. His sweat was flying all over the place, and each drop that landed on me made my stomach turn. I was so disgusted by him. All I wanted him to do was finish so I could run to the pharmacy and get one of those morning after pills to prevent a pregnancy. I had hoped that giving him head that afternoon would keep him away for a while so I could figure things out with Niles, but he was back later on that night without Bruce and carrying an overnight bag. He’d been on me ever since.
In less than a day, the wonderful life I’d been living, where I was a single parent with a loving man in my life, had disappeared. Now it felt as if I were the one in a prison, except it didn’t have the bars. Make no mistake about it: Majestic was my jailer, and that was the way he liked it.
He finally stiffened up and let out a few grunts before collapsing on the bed next to me. “Now that was some good shit. What you got to eat?”
“I don’t know. What you want?” I said. The last thing I wanted to do was get up and feed him, but I also didn’t want to set off his temper.
“I ain’t had one of your cheese steaks in a minute. You got any Steak-umms?”
“Yeah.” I pushed myself up from the bed, put on my robe, and headed down the hall to the kitchen, thankful that he didn’t get up and follow me. If only I could have taken a shower to wash off all traces of his body on mine.
I had just broken out the Steak-umms and a frying pan when my mother came in the back door.
She looked over at what I was doing and broke into a huge grin. “Mm-hmm, thank God things are finally starting to get back to normal around here. I saw Majestic’s car parked out front. While you’re at it, can you make me one too?” she asked on her way into the bathroom.
The headlights of a car shone through the window as someone pulled into the driveway and parked behind my car. As he shut off the engine and the car’s interior lights came on, I could see that it was Niles. I rushed to the front door like my life depended on it—which, in reality, it probably did.
“Niles.” I opened the door and stepped onto the porch just as he was about to knock
“Damn, baby, you all ready for me?” Niles stood there in an expensive navy suit looking like something out of a dream, but I knew for me, the dream had turned into a nightmare. Before I could stop him, he reached out and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me close so that he could kiss me. I hadn’t even taken a shower yet, so if I lingered in his arms long enough, he would have smelled Majestic’s sweat on me.
“Stop,” I snapped as I pulled away. “I need to take a shower.”
His face broke into a devilish grin. “Why don’t we take one together?” Niles said in that deep, sexy voice. He took a step toward the door, but I didn’t move. Normally I’d be stripping off my clothes and racing him to the shower, but right now I was feeling sick, knowing that I had to get him out of there before Majestic came looking for me.
“I’m not feeling so good right now,” I said, only half lying. “Can I call you later?” I needed him to leave, but he knew me too well, and he was having none of it.
“What’s going on, Keisha? Talk to me.”
“Nothing. I just need some time to myself. I’m not feeling so great. I think my period’s about to start. I’m gonna go lay down and take some Motrin.” I knew my lies sounded hollow, but all I could think of was how bad it would be if Majestic came out of my room and there was a confrontation. “I’ll call you later and we’ll talk, okay? I promise.”
“Come on, Keisha. Don’t lie to me. We both know you had your period last week.” He shook his head, looking disgusted; but what else did I expect? I was so ashamed I couldn’t even look at him. I sure as hell couldn’t tell him the truth—that I was once again the property of my baby daddy, and if he wanted to live, he should stay as far away from me as possible.
“Niles, I can’t right now,” I told him curtly, hoping it would work and he’d finally leave. It felt like a clock was ticking down the seconds until Majestic showed up, and I couldn’t risk it, especially with me standing here butt naked under my robe. “Niles, you’re not getting it. You need to leave.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Keisha, stop playing with me. This ain’t funny.”
“And I ain’t laughing. I can’t see you anymore. It’s over,” I announced, steeling myself for his response.
“What I do?” He started breathing rapidly and the muscles in his face tensed up. Clearly, he was pissed. I had no choice but to rip off the Band-Aid.
“Niles, take the fucking hint, a’ight? It’s over!” I said angrily, my fear driving me.
Just then, the door opened up, and my heart was in my mouth. I was so damn scared.
“Keisha.” My mother stepped out and pulled the door closed behind her. She smirked at Niles as she continued. “Majestic wants to know what the hell you doin�
�� and where are his cheesesteaks. I suggest you bring your ass inside and take care of your man.”
“Majestic?” Niles repeated, staring directly at me. “Isn’t that your ex?”
“Apparently he ain’t the one who’s an ex,” my mother snapped. “Now come on in here, girl, before that man comes out here and you have more trouble on your hands than you already have.”
“Niles, I’m sorry, but I have to go,” I said, holding back tears.
I stepped inside, and my mother followed, slamming the door shut in Niles’s face. I felt like I wanted to die, but I refused to let Niles get caught up in the crossfire of my sick relationship with Majestic. I had to protect him, even if he didn’t understand, and I knew I couldn’t tell him the full truth, because he was macho enough to want to fight Majestic. That kind of mistake would be his death sentence, and even if I couldn’t be with Niles, I couldn’t bear to see him hurt either.
Bruce
45
“Where the fuck is this guy?” I thought out loud to myself. I was sitting on some random street in Queens Village, across from a junior high school, with my car idling like some pedophile. Unless I was getting some ass, I never liked leaving the confines of Suffolk County. With everything Majestic and I had going on, I just felt safer there. I was a true creature of habit. Still, this was where he told me to meet him, so there I was.
I lifted my iPhone and dialed Majestic’s number. “Yo, where you at?” I asked.
“On my way to my mother’s to drop off my little man. Where you?”
“I’m still out here waiting on your friend,” I said. Majestic had sent me out to gather some information about Rodney’s death. “I’ma swing by and get you as soon as I hear what this dude’s got to say.”
I had learned real early in my business that most people come with a sticker price, and this dirty cop was no different. I just hoped he came through with the information we needed. I was getting sick of reaching dead ends.
“Yo, don’t let him leave nothing out,” Majestic warned.
“Don’t worry; I got this.” In my rearview mirror I clocked a Toyota truck parking behind me. Pete, the cop on our payroll, opened the door to my ride and got in.
“Sorry about that. I had to make sure I wasn’t being followed,” he said dramatically, like his ass had been watching way too many reruns of Law and Order.
“So what’s up? What you got?”
“I got some really interesting shit, that’s what I got.” Dude was grinning like he’d brought me a prize.
“Uh-huh, and? Spit it out already. This ain’t no fucking date.” I raised my voice at him, growing restless. We were paying this guy too much money to be playing games.
“You were right. There was definitely some type of cover-up pertaining to Rodney’s murder.”
I nodded my head slowly. “Okay, okay, so you got the file or what?” I just wanted to read the shit and find out who we needed to exterminate, like, yesterday.
He shook his head. “That’s just it. There was no file.” He dropped the information in my lap like he was saying something, but I was hot, ’cause I wasn’t hearing shit that was useful to me.
“What the fuck you mean there’s no file? I thought you were in charge of the records room,” I snapped at him. “That’s what you said, right? ‘I’m your guy. I can get my hands on anything.’ If you think you gettin’ paid for this bullshit waste of my time .. .” I fumed. This was not the outcome I wanted to bring back to Majestic. This sellout fuck-up was making it impossible for me to do my job.
“Look, Bruce, what I’m telling you is more valuable than a file.”
“You expect me to buy this bullshit? Look, man, just because you a cop don’t mean I won’t smoke your ass for trying to take advantage.”
“No, you don’t understand. Shit gets lost all the time. Cops are notoriously lazy about filing stuff, but there’s always some type of record: a notebook, a log book, or fingerprints. Something. Except in this case, there is no record. There’s not even a fucking 911 tape. It’s like it didn’t even happen, which is crazy,” he explained, getting all worked up. “First time I ever seen anything like this.”
I glared at him, ready to toss him out of my car head first. “So you got nothing? Pete, I’m not the kind of guy interested in having a meeting that shoulda been a goddamn text message.”
“No. That’s not what I’m saying at all,” he answered cryptically.
Man, I was getting ready to choke this mofo if he didn’t stop dragging this out. Maybe he was trying to make sure I knew he earned his money, but he was moving closer to earning a beat down than getting his hands on the cash in my pocket.
“Well, fuck, spit it out!” I finally snapped at his ass.
His eyes widened in fear, but it was enough to loosen his tongue. “There was a lead detective assigned to the case by the name of Fuller. He interviewed whatever suspect or suspects he found. But check this out: there was no evidence of anything, not a single case. And this guy is known for being thorough.”
“Uh-huh?” I said, now following this trail.
“So, I did my due diligence and went to one of the other detectives, who straight up told me, ‘Pete, this is not your problem.’ So now I’m really getting suspicious, because I ask about cases all the time. First time I get that for a response.”
“Uh-huh?” Shit was starting to look like a cover-up to me.
“So I nosed around some more, and I found out that this shit was quiet on a really high level. I mean, it went up the food chain and then suddenly just dropped off. Silent.”
“Okay, before you go all James fucking Bond on me, how do you know there was anything? What if this guy just didn’t find any witnesses?”
“That’s the thing. There would still be paperwork. This buddy of mine happened to be working that night and told me that initially they did pop someone for it, but again, when I went to do the research, no records. Nothing.”
“And this Fuller? Where is he?”
“Gone. Retired not too long after the case.” He finished his report with a goofy look on his face, like he was proud of the useless shit he’d just fed me.
“So tell me more about Fuller,” I pressed.
He looked slightly guilty as he continued. “He was a really good cop.”
I chuckled, letting him know I didn’t believe there was such a thing. He didn’t seem to care what I thought.
“Fuller was like one of my mentors,” he continued. “A nice guy.”
“Uh-huh. And how do I find this ‘nice guy’?”
He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “That’s his information—address, everything.”
Five minutes later and five thousand dollars lighter, I was on my way to sit down with Majestic.
Niles
46
“You okay, boss? I know you back there thinking about Keisha.”
Willie wheeled the BMW into the E-ZPass lane of the Midtown Tunnel, headed into the city. He’d been singing old school songs that were playing on the radio most of the ride, while I was doing what Willie said: thinking about Keisha and the fact that she so easily dumped me for her ex-boyfriend.
“I’m fine. And stop calling me boss,” I snapped at him for no real reason at all.
“Look, man, I like Keisha, but you gonna have to let that broad go. You can’t be pining over no woman while you’re working on a mission,” he advised me.
“I just don’t understand what went wrong, Unc. I thought we were falling in love with each other. At least I know I was.”
I could see him shaking his head up front. “You know how these women are about their baby daddies. There’s something about popping out a puppy for a brother that gives them undying loyalty. She done made her decision. You need to leave that shit alone.”
“You’re right, but I just can’t believe I was so wrong about her.”
“Damon Dash said the same thing about Jay-Z, and look where that got his ass.”
&n
bsp; He laughed, but I didn’t.
I needed to do something to put a smile on my face, so I checked my account online to see if my latest payment had been deposited. I definitely smiled when I saw I had over a quarter of a million dollars in my account in less than three months. Even better, Bridget had said that she was finally going to let me plan and do most of my contracts without her standing over my shoulder. She was still my handler and we were going to be partners on larger jobs, but for the most part, I was finally on my own.
Once through the tunnel, Willie drove four blocks into a nearly deserted parking garage and parked next to a plain white van. We’d already checked to make sure the cell phone reception was good two days earlier, when we dropped off the van.
Willie got out and opened the door to the van, pulling out the magnetic signs that he slapped onto the side of the van. I popped the trunk of the BMW and removed a bag containing work coveralls with a patch bearing the name of the same dry cleaning service that was on the magnetic signs. I put on the uniform, and I was ready to roll.
“Need anything else, boss?” Willie handed me some clothing on wire hangers covered by a black garment bag—my props to make it look like I was delivering dry cleaning. He also gave me an all-plastic, silenced gun in three parts, which I strategically placed in compartments in the garment bag before I got into the van.
“Happy hunting,” Willie said as he climbed back into the BMW to wait.
“Yeah, this shouldn’t take long,” I told him. I was prepared for this. Uncle Sam had trained me well for this new life, and so did Bridget.
I drove the van a few blocks, parked in front of an expensive high rise on Park Avenue, and grabbed the fresh dry cleaning from the back. I put on a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses to conceal my face before heading into the building. This wasn’t your normal office building. It had crazy cameras, uniformed security, a metal detector, and armed guards who were supposed to look inconspicuous in their plain clothes.