The Union II

by Tremayne Johnson

  Leo tensed up. “I ain’t lyin’ Rell, not my mother’s mom, my father’s mother, she lives in North Carolina.”

  “I don’t believe you, Leo.” Tyrell stood up. “I hope you ain’t go out like a sucka.”

  “Huh? Man, Tyrell, I ain’t got no reason to lie to you.” Leo felt the tension.

  Six butted in. “Everybody else doin’ it.”

  “I ain’t everybody else,” he responded. “Look Tyrell, we been friends since kindergarten. I know you don’t think I told on you?”

  “Did you?”

  “Hell no!” Leo started breathing harder. “I would never do no shit like that.”

  Tyrell smirked. “Come take a ride wit’ me Leo.”

  “C’mon, Rell, It ain’t even gotta be like this.” Leo knew what ‘Take a ride’ meant.

  “Leo,” Tyrell shook his head. “Either you come willingly or by force, it don’t matter to me.”

  Leo’s expression was cheerless, he sensed the danger lurking. “Where we goin?’”

  “Don’t worry about it. I wanna show you somethin’.” The three men walked out to the car. “Get in the front, Leo.” Six jumped in the backseat, Tyrell hit play on the radio and 2Pac’s Last Muthafucka Breathin came through the speakers.

  They rode on the highway for twenty minutes until Tyrell got off the exit and pulled over at an abandoned building on East 147th street in the Bronx.

  Leo swallowed the lump in his throat and surveyed the area as they pulled into a vacant lot that housed a ramshackle building.

  The volume on the radio went low and the only thing you could hear is the sound of the gravel under the slow rolling tires.

  Tyrell came to a complete stop and looked over at Leo, he was scared to death sitting in the passenger seat. “Get out.”

  Leo took a deep breath and his right hand started twitching. “C’mon, Tyrell, please man.”

  Six slapped him on the back of his head. “Shut yo’ punk ass up and get the fuck out the car.”

  The three of them walked one hundred yards to the entrance of the abandoned building. It was torn down, ragged, and in need of some serious renovations.

  “This shit crazy, right?” Tyrell tapped Leo’s arm. “C’mon, let’s go inside.”

  The inside of the building was worse off than the outside. Cracked and shattered walls, a battered staircase, and a stench that could make your stomach turn and your eyes water.

  Tyrell fished a rolled blunt from his pocket and put fire to it. “Member when we was kids, Leo, and you use to be rappin’ all the time n’ shit?” He blew smoke into the air. “You still be rappin’?”

  “Yeah.” he answered.

  “That’s good. Check this out. In a few months, I’ma be investin’ some money into this place. I’m thinkin’ ‘bout buildin’ a studio and startin’ a label.”

  Leo smiled. “For real?”

  “Word, and I want you to be my first artist.”

  “Whew,” Leo sighed and looked up to God to thank him. “I thought you was bringin’ me out here for somethin’ else.”

  “Somethin’ else?” Tyrell chuckled. “This nigga’s buggin’ Six. What, you thought I was bringin’ you down here to kill or something nigga’?

  Leo tried to laugh it off, but his heart was beating so fast he was about to have an attack and kill his self.

  “Nah,” he lied. “I’m jus’ sayin’, we all the way down here. I didn’t know what the fuck was goin’ on.” He laughed, but when he realized he was the only one, he stopped.

  Tyrell shook his head. “You a scary ass nigga, Leo. Man, I would never do no shit like that to you, here.” he passed him the blunt. “You my nigga right?”

  Leo nodded his head up and down as he inhaled the potent weed smoke.

  “Cool. Yo,” Tyrell started tapping his foot. “I gotta take a piss, I’ll be right back.” He trotted over to a dark corner.

  “You rap too?”

  Leo turned around and the barrel of a gun was pointed at his head.

  Tyrell yelled from a distance. “Six hurry up!”

  Leo was frozen stiff, his eyes halfway out the sockets. “Please don—”

  The blast blew a piece of Leo’s face off and he fell to the gravel.

  Tyrell jogged back over. “Fuck is you waitin’ for, shoot that nigga again.”

  Six complied.

  “Took you long enough, nigga.” Tyrell grabbed the gun from Six. “Gimmie my shit.

  They got back into the car and drove away.

  __________

  “Look,” Jennifer pointed to a white and grey house at the corner of Cliff Avenue and 2nd Street. That’s the house right there.” she said, as they cruised by.

  “Go around again. I didn’t see it.” Priscilla lied.

  “Girl, we can’t be ridin’ around in Pelham like this. These cops don’t play.”

  “Alright, jus’ one more time, please.”

  Jennifer circled the block a second time and Priscilla couldn’t believe her eyes.

  The front door of the house came open and Brandi stepped out, followed by a middle aged white woman. “Button your jacket Brandi, it’s cold out.”

  Priscilla heard the woman’s voice and stared at Brandi’s angelic face.

  Jennifer was going 18 miles per hour, but it seemed like she was doing 5.

  Priscilla wanted so bad to jump out of the car and wrap her precious child in her arms, but she couldn’t, because she would delete any chances she had of getting her back.

  “Look at my baby,” is all she could say as they floated by. She sniffled and did her best to hold herself from crying. “We gotta do something Jennifer. I can’t go another day without my baby.”

  “What are we gonna do? It’s too cold for them to be in the park.” Jennifer replied.

  Priscilla’s mind was working in overdrive. “I got a plan,” she said. “I’m gonna get my baby back, whether they like it or not, she’s mine.”

  2HOURS LATER

  “Where the hell you get these from?” Jennifer questioned, looking at herself in the mirror.

  Priscilla was standing right next to her. “A friend lemme borrow them, crazy right?”

  “Crazy ain’t the word. These look jus’ like UPS uniforms.”

  When Priscilla realized snatching Brandi from a public park would be too risky, she thought about the day Juan Carlos sent her the package and the disguise one of his men used. Once she got in contact with him, he wasted no time sending over two uniforms and a decoy truck to set the plan in motion.

  “Hol’ up, lemme practice.” She pretended to knock on a door. “Knock! Knock! That’s me knocking on the door right? Okay, so when they answer, I’ma be like, how you doin’ m’am. I have a delivery for you today.” Jennifer broke down laughing at herself.

  “Wait. Wait,” Priscilla was laughing along with her. “If you do that, we definitely goin’ to jail. But for real, c’mon let’s get this over with because I been separated from my baby for too long.”

  Jennifer slowed up and pulled the big brown truck to the curb at 207 Cliff Avenue. “You sure this gon’ work?” the nervousness was settling in.

  “Jus’ do exactly what I told you and everything is gonna be fine.”

  The two women exited the car and Jennifer went to the front door as planned, while Priscilla tip toed around to the back of the house undetected.

  After three knocks, she could hear someone coming to answer the door. “Who is it?” the woman asked.

  “Umm… Umm… Delivery m’am! UPS!” she shouted.

  The door started to open.

  Priscilla pulled a lock-pick out of her pocket, slid it into the key hole, and jiggled it until the door popped open.

  She moved cautiously through the dark kitchen, past the dining room, and into the living quarters, very careful of knocking something over. The television was on, but nobody was downstairs to watch it. Priscilla heard Jennifer holding a conversation with the middle aged white woman.

  “So, you sure
you didn’t order this, because this is your address right?” Jennifer backed up and glimpsed at the number on the front of the house. “Yup, 207.”

  The woman said, “Yes, that’s my address, but I didn’t order that.”

  Jennifer was stalling the best she could, wishing Priscilla would hurry up. “Well, m’am, I don’t know what to tell ya’. If I was you, I would jus’ take it. Hey, they’re the ones who sent it to the wrong address.”

  Priscilla eased up the staircase and went to check the first room to the right of her. She gently turned the knob and pushed the door open just enough to see if anyone was in it. When she saw it was empty, she moved to the next few rooms that were about ten feet down the hallway.

  The next two produced nothing, but it looked like somebody was in the bed of the fourth room, so Priscilla sneakily entered.

  She tugged on the cover and the occupant of the bed rolled over.

  It was Brandi.

  Priscilla snatched the cover off when she saw it was her, and tapped her leg. “Brandi… Brandi, wake up, it’s Mommy.”

  Brandi adjusted her eyes to the faint light, looked into her mother eyes and smiled. “Mommy, I miss you.”

  Priscilla picked her up from the bed and gave her the warmest, fondest hug she could give. She breathed deep and thanked God for putting her child back into her arms.

  “Mommy missed you too, baby,” Her tears fell like drops of rain in a severe thunderstorm.

  Brandi’s excitement suddenly turned to a look of fear. “I don’t like it here, Mommy.”

  “Okay baby, mommy’s takin’ you home.”

  Holding Brandi in her clutches as if her life depended on it, Priscilla quietly dipped back through the hallway and headed for the stairs.

  A toilet flushed and the creaking of a door opening caused Priscilla to stop in her tracks.

  “Rose, is that you!?” A male voice shouted.

  Priscilla heard footsteps and took off down the staircase, darted through the living room and escaped out the back door.

  Jennifer kept peeking past the woman’s shoulder trying to see if everything was alright. She caught a glimpse of Priscilla rushing through the back of the house. She wrapped her conversation up instantly. “Well, if you don’t want it, fuck it, I’ll take it. Have a great night. Bye!”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Christmas of 2011 came quicker than a virgin in his first piece of pussy. It was the same day, one year ago that Mox was reunited with Priscilla and discovered he had a daughter named Brandi, only to have Priscilla disappear like a crack head in debt to a dope boy.

  Since then, everything had taken a turn for the worse, and Mox was on the bad end of a long stick. But the complications he endured within the last 365 days had brought him to where he was today; still breathing, a man with dignity, morals and a heart of stone. Determined, dedicated and disciplined, Mox was again ready to take to the streets, only this time, he didn’t plan on losing.

  Once Priscilla rescued him from the rehab center, Mox’s recovery became much smoother. Of course, there were times when he really wanted to quit, but then that sweet, heavenly smile that Brandi wore pushed all thoughts of giving up out the window.

  Reconditioning himself was far from an easy task, and without the help of Priscilla and Jennifer, Mox may not have made it.

  The days when his body completely shut down and he couldn’t move, Priscilla was there; bathing him, feeding him and making sure he took his prescribed medicines.

  At times, it got so bad that Mox would unconsciously go to the bathroom on himself and Priscilla wouldn’t question cleaning him up. She was there step for step with him while he strengthened his body and began to walk and exercise. She read books to him every night; books like The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of War, The Prince and many more. Not only did she assist in his physical reconstruction, but also his mental reformation.

  She was building Mox up; building him up to be the man that God had destined him to be; a leader; a doer and not just another nigga with power. A wise man, a strong man; a family man.

  With the return of Brandi, Mox and Priscilla’s bond grew daily because they were able to interact with each other frequently. It was the first time in Brandi’s life that both her mother and father were in the same household and it was beginning to feel like a real family.

  Mox turned the water off and stepped out the shower. He eyed himself in the foggy mirror and smiled. His weight was up and his daily workouts were showing major results.

  He snatched a towel off the rack, wrapped it around his lower body and went to leave out the bathroom when a knock on the door startled him, and then it opened.

  “Oh shoot! Excuse me.” Jennifer burst in the door. Her eyes were stuck on Mox’s glistening chiseled pecks. “Umm, nice chest.” She grinned and slammed the door shut.

  Even though Jennifer was kind enough to let the trio crash at her house, Mox wasn’t too keen on making a new friend in her. It was something about Jennifer that he just couldn’t put his finger on, but in due time, he would find out.

  Mox walked out the bathroom and into the room that he and Priscilla were occupying.

  “I don’t like your friend Jennifer.” he said.

  Priscilla got up from the bed and put her arms around his neck. “Mox, you don’t like anybody. She kissed him on his cheek. “How could you not like her, she’s helped us out so much.”

  “At what cost, Priscilla?”

  “Mox don’t be like that. Brandi enjoys her company.”

  “Keep that bitch away from my daughter. You hear me?” When she didn’t respond, he said it louder. “You hear me!?”

  “Yes, Mox. Damn, bite my head off.”

  “I’m not playin’ Priscilla. I don’t want her around my daughter.”

  “That’s gonna be kinda hard being that we’re stayin’ in her house, Mox.”

  A bang at the door startled them, and Jennifer walked in the room like she had seen a ghost. “Oh my fuckin’ God! Look at this shit.” she picked the remote up, hit power and turned to the local news.

  They almost missed it.

  Once again, Priscilla Davis is wanted for questioning regarding the kidnapping of her six year old daughter, Brandi Davis, who was in the custody of her foster parents at the time of the abduction. Any information or tips on the whereabouts of Ms. Davis, please call 555-CRIME-STOPPERS.

  Mox just shook his head. “Kidnapping? We gotta get outta here.”

  “Where are we gonna go, Mox?” Priscilla was still in awe of seeing her mug shot plastered on the television screen.

  “I don’t know, but we gotta make a move. Where’s Brandi?”

  Jennifer replied. “She’s downstairs. Hey guys, my friend has this place upstate. It’s vacant, it’s paid for and there ain’t no neighbors in sight for two miles. Y’all can crash there if you want to.”

  Priscilla looked at Mox. “What you think?”

  He side eyed her.

  “Where is it Jennifer?”

  “About three hours north, in the Catskills.”

  Mox turned his lip up. “In the mountains? Oh hell no. I aint goin’ back up in them mountains. You must be crazy.”

  “Mox,” Priscilla tried to convince him. “We don’t have many options.”

  “There’s always another option.” He said. “I want y’all to stay in the house. I gotta go see somebody. Priscilla, let me get your keys.”

  “Mox, you shouldn’t be drivin’.”

  “I’m fine, trust me.”

  She tossed her car keys to him and he walked out the door.

  For the first time in four and a half months, Mox was about to step foot onto the same streets that almost ended his life. The same streets that he showed so much love to, but in the end, there was never any reciprocation. The same streets that claimed the lives of his most cherished loved ones, leaving him to feel vanquished and uncertain of his own future. These same streets he called home, that he’d been absent from for days on end, but now, he was
ready. He was prepared, willing, determined, and overly eager to make his reappearance a grandiose one, and that’s exactly what he was going to do.

  Priscilla didn’t want him to go, but she knew he wouldn’t listen. “Be careful, Mox.” was all she could tell him.

  Mox got behind the wheel of Priscilla’s 2011, black Audi A8 and adjusted his seating. It felt like forever since he had driven a car, but as soon as he hit the ignition, it was like he hadn’t lost a day.