by Ca$H
Bones nodded and exited on the right.
Bayonna put her head back on the seat and took short breaths as she tried to convince her stomach that this was not the time to be sending her meal in reverse.
JuJu looked over at how uncomfortable she was and he too became uneasy. “Baby, you straight?” he asked as he pushed the rental down the highway.
“I'll be fine,” she stated dryly, rubbing his arm as she kept her gaze out the window.
JuJu didn't push the issue. He had been watching her for the last couple of days and her random headaches and the sudden change in her sleeping pattern had him worried. He had charged it to her mother's health issue and tucked it away but on the real he was worried about his baby girl.
As JuJu turned onto the exit he began to look for the Exxon gas station where they were making the exchange with Bones. He spotted it up on the right and headed toward it, anxious to make the transaction and get Bay back home. I'm making her go get a checkup as soon as we get back.
Bones was already parked and waiting in the U-haul truck.
“You ready, ma?” JuJu asked, pulling right in front of the store and deading the engine.
“Always.” Bayonna turned toward him and braved a smile.
“You know I love you, right?”
“Yes, and I love you more,” she replied.
“Let me taste those lips so I know it's real.” JuJu leaned over and she met him halfway.
After they shared a quick passionate kiss they climbed out of the car ready to take care of business. Bones and Dro hopped down from the truck.
Bayonna stood by JuJu's side as the men swapped instructions. Her forehead was wet with perspiration and she felt like she was about to pass out. She put her hand on JuJu's arm.
JuJu looked over at her and his face filled with concern.
“I'll be right back.” She put her hand on her stomach.
“You alright?”
“Yeah let me go get some ginger ale real quick.” She reached inside her jacket and passed him her banger then she hurried inside and went straight for the bathroom. As soon as she entered the stall she threw up all over the place. When she could finally stand she rinsed her face and put her head against the door and tried to regain her composure.
JuJu slid Bay's ratchet on his waistband next to his own. He and Bones exchanged keys then pulled the vehicles to the gas pump to prepare for the long rides back.
“Your girl look fucked up. You might want to check on her,” Bones said as he lifted the nozzle from the pump.
“Nah, she straight. You know Bay is a rider.” JuJu said as he began to pump gas into the U-haul.
“Look like all that late night loving might have caught up with her,” Bones stated with a chuckle. He had been down that road a few times and the signs were obvious to him.
JuJu didn't respond he didn't like Bones well enough to chum it up with that nigga and he didn't believe in fake kickin' it. But he damn sure ran all of Bay's symptoms back in his mind and wondered if there was any accuracy to the man's words.
JuJu looked up at the store and watched as she moved from the cooler to the counter carrying her array of snacks. He smiled as he replaced the nozzle to its resting place. His shorty might not have felt well but she was a trooper.
After both vehicles were gassed up Bones asked JuJu to pop the trunk and let him see the dough.
“Nigga, ain't nobody tryna be out here on Front Street. If you don't trust me you can give me my keys back and be out.”
Bones grilled him but had to let it ride because Riz trusted that those muthafucka's money would be right. “If it's a dollar short I'ma come looking for you personally,” he said.
“And if you're a half of gram short you ain't gon' have to look for me, I'ma kick in your door.”
Anticipating drama Dro put his hand in his jacket and moved in.
JuJu lifted the bottom of his shirt just a bit allowing him a peek at the butts of his fo-fo and the Glock .50. “What's up, Bleed, you wanna draw?”
“Don't be so quick to beef Junior. Life is short enough without rushing death.” Dro was about that life too.
A camper pulled in the gas station followed by a bread truck and a van. JuJu let his shirt fall and smiled at Bones and his boy. “Next time,” he promised.
As they turned to climb in their vehicles all hell broke loose. The back door of the bread truck flew open and DEA agents poured out barking commands, wielding guns and rifles that could penetrate steel.
“Police! Get on the ground!” they shouted.
Enforcements jumped out of the van and the camper.
From inside the store Bay looked out of the window and the gas station was flooded with cops.
Bones threw his hands above his head then went down to his knees in meek surrender. But JuJu and Dro's hearts didn't pump estrogen, they pumped an overload of testosterone and their balls hung to the ground.
JuJu whipped out both of his whistles and quickly ducked down behind the truck as the cops tried to take his head off. Dro dived inside the rental and threw the gear in drive but he had to remain low as bullets shattered glass and peppered the body of the car. As he tried to speed away, firing shots out of the window, a police cruiser came flying from across the street and slammed into the side of the rental. It spun around twice then flipped over on its side.
Dro crawled out of the shattered window letting his tool bark back at the cops, but he didn't get to fight back long. They chopped him down with more than forty shots.
Ten yards away JuJu was in a gun battle just as fierce. He already knew how it would end but he didn't give a fuck, he wasn't surrendering. He peeked around the fender and saw Bones punk ass scrambling out of harm's way. Nigga quick to kill another nigga but bitch up when those boys draw down on him!
He aimed one of his guns at Bones and knocked meat and skull out of that pussy muthafucka's head.
From his position JuJu could still see Bay in the store. She had a hand over her mouth looking out of the window in horror. There was no doubt in his mind that had she not left her banger with him, his girl would've ran out the door squeezing off every bullet in the clip at those bitch ass Jakes.
“I love you, shorty,” he mouthed, though he knew that she couldn't see it. Still it felt good to tell her goodbye.
Now he was ready to go where he had sent dozens of others. He rose to his feet with both guns blazing. “This what the fuck y'all want?” he yelled.
He saw a cop drop from a head shot and he smiled just before they blew his ass to smithereens.
Bayonna's knees buckled as she looked on in fear. Without hesitation she bolted for the doors but felt a pair of strong arms snatch her back. She spun and looked into the face of a middle-aged black man.
“No, don't go out there you might get shot,” said the stranger.
“Let me go!” She screamed and kicked but he wouldn't release her.
Bayonna wrestled in his arms as she screamed JuJu’s name repeatedly. The world was moving in slow motion as she looked out of the door at her boo's tattered body slumped over the hood of the U-haul truck.
“Noooooooo,” she cried as she slipped out of the man's arms and collapsed to the floor. “God why?” She let out a blood curdling scream and her body shook uncontrollably.
Tears ran from her eyes as she kept them on the movement outside. A half dozen police kept their guns trained on JuJu's body as they approached it with caution; like they were expecting him to rise up and start bustin' at them again. As they got closer JuJu's body slid down the hood of the truck. The policemen's guns cackled like a barrel of firecrackers.
“Nooooooo,” Bay cried out as she saw his head explode in a spray of red.
In the moments that followed there was mad confusion out in the lot. Bay stood up and stared out of the window as tears ran down her face in rivers. She wanted to run to where JuJu laid dead in a puddle of blood and hold him just one more time; kiss his lips just once more. Whisper I love you in his ear a
final time before they covered his body with a white sheet.
“I love you,” she mouthed.
The whir of a news station helicopter hovering over the gas station snapped Bayonna's mind back to survival mode. JuJu was dead and there was nothing she could do for him now. She had to move quickly in order to slip away while the pandemonium outside was still going on.
Bayonna tore her eyes off of JuJu's body and made her feet move although her heart remained right there were JuJu's blood covered the ground.
Hours later…
Bay sat on a Greyhound bus staring out of the window seeing nothing but a blur. Tears ran down her face and visions of JuJu's body stretched out on the pavement played in her mind non-stop.
A painful sob escaped her lips, breaking the silence on the bus. JuJu was gone. Living past this would be almost impossible. Bayonna closed her eyes and prayed for the hand of death to come for her too.
Chapter 35
The Hunt
Kiam knew that his dream was dead. There was no way to come out on top now. His best man was gone and he had closed down all of his drug spots. The only thing left to do now was to settle his debts then get ready to go out just like JuJu had.
Big Zo had been blowing up his phone but Kiam didn't have shit to say to that nigga. He looked around the hotel room at the remnants of his empire. Bayonna sat on the edge of a chair with both hands on her stomach rocking back and forth. Her eyes were vacant and she hadn't eaten in days. Listening to her cry herself to sleep night after night for the past week tore at all of their hearts. No matter what happened from here on, there was no doubt in any of their minds that she would never be whole again.
Treebie was posted up at the window with a choppa in her hand and her Kevlar vest on. She parted the curtains an inch or two and checked the parking lot. The devil was a lie if she didn't wet up the first thing that moved suspiciously.
Lissha sat on the bed next to Kiam with her head on his shoulder and her face wet with tears. Everything had come crashing down around them at once and she felt responsible. She closed her eyes and prayed to God that when she opened them it would all be a dream. The only thing she didn't want to wish away was her love for Kiam.
Lissha could feel the hotness of the blood surging through his veins on her skin. His face twitched with anger and his chest heaved in and out. She wanted to pull him away from the others and confess— anything to comfort his soul—but she was not that brave. And she still held out hope that somehow, some way they could walk away from this hand in hand.
All of a sudden Kiam stood up and began pacing the small room. His chest was bare and the waistband of his Polo boxers showed over the top of his jeans. A fo-fo was tucked on the right and a Nine on the left. He stopped in the middle of the floor and looked from one girl to the next, settling his lowered gaze directly on Lissha.
“There's a snake in my muthafuckin’ garden and it ain't Dirty,” Kiam spat.
Lissha almost peed on herself. Her heart started pounding and her mouth felt like cotton.
“Dirty wouldn't have known about the pickup. And he damn sure couldn't have told them where to find Riz,” Kiam said.
Bayonna nodded in agreement. Yesterday the feds had raided Riz's spot up in New York and arrested him and some others.
“One of Riz’s workers probably told that,” Treebie interjected without taking her eyes off of the lot below.
Kiam conceded the possibility, but that didn't explain why the feds seemed to be locked in on his every move. Before he closed down the rest of his traps they had hit one after the other and they were still snatching his people up. “Somebody is talking,” he spat, snatching the fo-fo off of his waist.
Lissha's eyes grew large with fear.
Kiam turned and walked to the window. “What's going on out there?” He peered over her shoulder.
“Everything is quiet but if anything moves slippery, I'm going to make sure that it never moves again,” reported Treebie.
Kiam put a hand on her shoulder, silently communicating to her his appreciation for her gangsta. Behind them Lissha was trembling. She stood up and went to the bathroom to compose herself.
Treebie said, “Kiam, don't you think it's strange that all of our people are getting snatched up and none of Wolfman's crew? And now that this shit is happening to us, all of a sudden he has resurfaced.”
The disdain she had for the man had her top lip curled.
“I want you to put a hundred stacks on that bitch ass nigga's head,” said Kiam.
“Nah, Boss, you don't have to do that. I'ma bring you his head.” Treebie walked away from the window and grabbed her jacket, a hoodie, and an extra clip.
Lissha came out of the bathroom. “Tree, where are you going?” she asked concerned.
Treebie looked her in the eye and replied. “I'm going to prove to the Big Bad Wolfman that he's more of a bitch than I am, and I got the pussy.”
Lissha grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair and her strap off of the dresser. She looked at Kiam. “Babe, can I go with her to watch her back?”
Kiam nodded.
Lissha stood on her tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you, Kiam. I honestly do,” she said, tearing up. “If we don't come back please remember that.”
Treebie walked over to Bayonna and gave her girl a hug. Lissha followed suit. “I love you,” she said.
Together she and Treebie hit the streets determined to return with Wolfman's head in a bag.
**********
When the crack of dawn came and Lissha and Treebie hadn't returned, and they weren't answering their cells, Kiam grabbed his bangers and went to look for them.
He rode through the hoods calling on favors from those that he had extended a helping hand to in the past. Niggas said that they hadn't seen Lissha or Treebie, and Kiam could see that they were uncomfortable talking to him too long. Everyone knew that the feds were after him and they weren't trying to end up included in the indictment.
One man whom Kiam had given his first brick said, “Bleed, you're on fire. I can't be seen talking to you.”
Kiam whipped out and hit him in the face with three shots. “Cool,” he gritted. “Now you have nothin’ to worry about cause you can't talk at all.”
The man's body slid down the side of Kiam's car. Kiam stepped over him and hopped behind the wheel. As he pulled off he drove the tires over the nigga's chest. “Ungrateful muthafucka,” he uttered.
The next two stops Kiam made netted him some valuable information but he still hadn't found Lissha and Treebie. Hours later he was still combing the streets when Lissha finally called. They hadn't found Wolfman but they were okay.
Kiam let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, I was worried,” he said. “I want y'all to switch motels. We can't stay at one place too long.”
“Can I get us a separate room?” asked Lissha. She had decided that she was going to tell him everything but she wanted them to be alone when she did.
“That's cool. Matter-of-fact, rent like six rooms. That way, if a muthafucka does find out where we're at they still won't know which room we're in. Get rooms on different sides of the building,” he directed.
“Alright, baby. What are you about to do?”
“What y'all weren't able to accomplish,” he said.
Without uttering another word Kiam ended the call and went to see if Wolfman was where he had been assured he would find him.
Chapter 36
Face To Face
The condos were in an affluent neighborhood so the grounds were quiet and few cars came in and out. Kiam had already spotted Wolfman's blue 2014 Bugatti. He had been told that Wolfman owned the entire complex but all he cared about was the one unit that muthafucka was in right now.
Sitting low behind the wheel, Kiam watched the door of unit 19A and patiently waited for Wolfman to come out. After hours of waiting Wolfman still had not appeared, but Kiam was not about to leave without that muthafucka's blood on his hands.
; The hours crept by at a snail's pace. Kiam ignored the cramping in his legs and the ache in his back; there was a fire in his chest that overpowered time and the pain in his limbs.
As the sun began to fade from the sky the door of 19A opened. Kiam scooted further down in his seat and peered over the steering wheel. A blond white woman exited the condo. Kiam saw a large man standing in the doorway watching her walk to her car but he couldn't make out the man's face.
“Don't forget my cigars,” the man called out to the woman.
Heat surged through Kiam's body. The voice was indeed Wolfman's and what he had just shouted had provided Kiam with his way inside.
Kiam grabbed a hunting knife out of a backpack on the back seat. He slid the sheathed blade down in his waistband between his two guns and got out of the truck. He looked around then casually strolled up the walk into the breezeway.
He stepped quietly pass Wolfman's door then reached up and unscrewed the light bulb in the hall. Dressed in all black, Kiam ducked around a corner, faded into the darkness, and waited like a trained assassin for the blond haired woman to return.
Twenty minutes later he heard heels clicking on the ground. He squinted his eyes and made out the woman returning with a single grocery bag in her arms. Kiam waited until she stuck the key in the lock and turned the knob then he pounced.
One hand covered her mouth while the other pressed a gun to the back of her head. “Be real quiet bitch or I'ma spray your last thought all over the door.”
He quietly forced her inside, scanning the layout with his eyes. Wolfman looked up from sofa to see Kiam holding his snow bunny at gunpoint but he did not panic.
“I figured we would come face to face again,” he said, exhibiting no fear.
“Yeah and in a minute you'll do your next figuring face up in a muthafuckin’ box.” Kiam shoved the bitch to the floor and aimed his gun at Wolfman.
Wolfman smiled. “If you kill me you'll never find out who betrayed you.”