by Qiana London
Melanie brought up the surveillance footage of Fatima’s office building and saw that there were a few people in the building working. She spoke aloud to herself as she typed on her computer.
“We’ll need to get your coworkers out of there so we can get into the building and get set up.I’m going to call in a favor from a couple of folks I know on the force.”
She picked up the phone shortly thereafter and began dialing. Melanie spoke quickly into the phone and provided the addressto Fatima’s office building along with her request.“Tell them that you received a bomb threat. Make sure that they understand that the bomb squad is on their way and thatthey can’t come back into the building today,” she explained.
She waited for the person on the other end to confirm everything that she’d said before she hung up the phone. Melanie watched the surveillance closely, and I did too. Within minutes, we saw officers enter the building and escort everyone out.
“Now that that’s done, we need to get to work.”
I nodded in agreement and then turned my attention to Dezzy. She caught my drift immediately and stood up from the barstool.
“Indya, that’s our cue. How about we go to the courtyard for a little bit. I’ll try my best to answer some of the manyquestions that must be running through your head right now.”
Indya hesitated at first, but then she stood up from the couch. “I’m sure I don’t have much of a choice,” she replied.“Besides, you’re probably the only one who’swilling to share any information with me right about now.”
“Be easy, Dezzy,” I cautioned.
“I know, KJ.I’ve got you. We’ll be back in a little whileso you can do what you need to do.”
We all watched as the two women walked out of the door. I took a seat in the living room. Melanie stood up from the computer and joined us.
“Okay, Fatima,” she started.“I need you to call your brotherand tell him that you have some time sensitive documents that you need to go over with him tonight. Let him know that you’re working late and he can meet you at your office.”
Fatima held her breath as she pulled out her cell phone. She was about to place the call when I interrupted her.
“I’m sure this is hard for you, but remember why you’re doing it.”
She set the phone down in her lap. “You guys are going to protect me, right? I mean, doing this is going to change everything. I have a lot to lose.”
“Don’t worry, Fatima. We’ve gotyou,” I reassured.
She looked at me and turned her attention to Snow, who gave her a nod. She took a deep breath, glanced at the index card with talking points that Melanie had prepared for her, and placed the call.
*****
Fatima was in place in her office. She finally had a handle on her nerves and was working as though today were any other day. Melanie was in the office across the hall, posing as one of her colleagues.She had placed bugs around Fatima’s office beforehand and installed several hidden cameras in her work space as well and throughout the building. I could see and hear everything from the Tahoe I sat in, which was parked in the lot behind the building. Fatima’s Infiniti and the BMW that Melanie was driving were parked in the back too along with a few other vehicles. Therefore, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. I was facing the wall, and the windows of the truck were tinted so that no one could tell that there was someone inside. I would remain in the vehicle until it was time for Snow to bring Diandre out of the back door. Diandre knew what I looked like and if he saw me, he would know that something was up.
I watched multiple screens on my laptop and communicated with Melanie and Snow using an invisible earpiece. Fatima had asked Diandre to meet her at five o’clock and it was already a quarter after.
“Nothing yet,but a black Mercedes has circled the block three times.” Snow announced.
He was posing as a janitor working the front of the building, cleaning the entry doors. He was purposely working at a slow pace in order to keep an eye on the front.
“Heads up,” Melanie said.“We’ve got a vehicleturning into the lot.”
“He can’t get in through the back.I locked the door,” Snow added.“He’ll have to come around to the front.”
“Copy that,” she responded.
I saw the car enter the lot seconds later and park next to Fatima’s car. I watched the door open through the rearview mirror. A woman hopped out seconds later and walked away from the building toward the plaza next door.
“False alarm,” I said and returned my attention to the laptop.
“It’s gotime,” Snow said.
A black Mercedes pulled up right in front of the building and Diandre hopped outof the passenger’s side.
“Wait here until I give you the green light,” he said to the driver before he closed the door.
Diandre headed toward the door and Snow pushed it open for him. He walked into the building without any thanks and headed down the hallway. Snow pushed his janitor’s cart inside and entered too, locking the door behind him. Diandre stopped walking and turned around to face Snow.
“Aye, do you know where I can find Fatima Towers?”
“Second to the last door on the left,” Snow replied. Diandre turned back around and continued walking down the hall.
“Fucking prick,” Snow said under his breath.
I chuckled at his response. Diandre made it easy to dislike him, and Snow could be very unforgiving. Melanie walked out of the office where she’d been and walked across the hall to Fatima’s office, carrying a file. She was in the office when Diandre walked inside.
“Maybe I need to come and pay my big sister a visit at work more often,” he said, looking Melanie up and down.
Melanie smiled at him and turned her attention to Fatima. “Take a look at this when you get a chance. If everything looks good to you,I’ll schedule a meeting for next week,” she lied.
“Okay. Thanks. I’ll review the paperworkand get back to you,” Fatima responded.
Melanie put an extra twist in her hips as she strutted out of the office and back across the hall.
“Can I be at that meeting too?” Diandre asked jokingly.
“If you want the headache that comes along with it, then sure. Be my guest,” Fatima replied and smiled. She was doing a great job so far. She pointed to the seat across from her desk.“Take a seat, Ant.”
He looked around her office as he slowly walked over to the chair and sat down. He leaned back in his seat and rested his arms on the armrests. He watched as Fatima signed a few documents before giving him her undivided attention.
“It’s been a long time. How are you?”
“I’m as well as can be expected. I’ve had a lot of shit going on.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I still can’t believe Mama is gone.”
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and looked toward the door before returning his attention to her. “We all gotta go at some time or another,” he replied nonchalantly.
Fatima looked at him long and hard before responding. “I see that you still haven’t let go of that grudge.”
“We both know thatshe wasn’t my favorite person. I ain’t about to start acting like shit has changed just because she’s dead.”
“Wow,” she said and cleared her throat.
“So what’s good? You said there’s some inheritance paperwork that you need me to sign.”
“Right. I need you to sign off on some documents so that we can close the estate.”
“It’s toclose the estate, huh?” he asked suspiciously.“Are you surethat you didn’t lure me here for the U.S. Marshals?”
“Of course not. I’m trying to make sure that I handle Mama’s affairs the way she wanted. We all have to sign it. I’m going to send the paperwork to Indya for her signature too so that we can get this all taken care of sooner rather than later.”
"You must really think I'm stupid. What probate judge do you know that's going to let a fugitive collect an inheritance? If I sign the
papers I'm going to incriminate myself and you too."
"Look, I'm just trying to do what Mama asked me to do. You can either choose to sign it or not. I really don't care at this point."
Diandre studied Fatima’s face as if he were trying to catch her in a lie, and then he checked his watch. Snow entered the office, picked up her trash can, and carried it with him into the hallway where he emptied it into a larger garbage can.
“Alright, let me see these papers that you need me to sign?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure if you’d come,so I left them in my safe deposit box, but my bank is just around the corner.”
Snow came back into the office with the trash can in one hand, and pusheda vacuum cleaner with the other. He put the trash can back on the floor next to Fatima’s desk, plugged in the vacuum cleaner, and turned the power on.
“My dude, can’t you see that we’re trying to have a conversation?!” Diandre yelled over the noise.
“I’ll just be a second, this won’t take long at all,” Snow replied gruffly.
“Aye, man, I’m trying to talk to my sis—”
“Anthony, it’s really not a problem.We’re all trying to get out of here, and he won’t be long. He does this all the time.”
Diandre was annoyed as he turned his attention back to Fatima.“That shit’s rude as fuck!” he added loudly, making sure that he was heard.
Snow continued to vacuum and gradually made his way closer toward him. Diandre looked at his watch again and tried his best to ignore Snow.
“It’s really not that serious,” she replied.“Do you want to take my car or yours?”
“I’m parked right out front. We can go in my car, and I’ll bring you—”
Before Diandre could finish his sentence, Snow approached him from behind and wrapped the cord of the vacuum cleaner around his neck several times. Fatima screamed, and Melanie rushed into the office.She grabbed Fatima’s purse from the table behind her desk and handed it to her.
“Go out the back door and get into your car. Go straight to the hotel. Don’t stop until you get there and don’t open the door for anyone, okay?”
Fatima was in a trance as she watched her brother and Snow tussle. Snow was getting the best of Diandre. He was using all of his strength to tighten the cord around his neck, and Diandre’s eyes were beginning to roll to the back of his head.
“Fatima,do you understand?” Melanie spoke more firmly.
She nodded repeatedly as she stood up from the chair. She continued to watch her brother as she backed up toward the door and into the hallway. Fatima ran to the exit at the back of the building and rushed through the door. She stopped briefly to catch her breath before heading toward her car. Once she started walking again, the back door to the car that had pulled into the stall next to hers opened. Wayne stepped out, and she stopped dead in her tracks.
I grabbed my piece, slowly opened my door, and slipped out. Fatima remained frozen as I carefully worked my way through the parked cars toward Wayne. He stood still and kept his attention on her. Before I reached him, a green, hardtop Chevrolet Caprice Coupe sped into the lot and stopped abruptly in front of Fatima.I raised my gun as the passenger’s door opened.
To my surprise, Craig hopped out and aimed an AK-47 rifle at Wayne. “It looks like I just fucked your day allthe way up, huh?” he said nonchalantly.“Go ahead, sweetheart. He ain’t going to do anything to you.” Craig spoke to Fatima even though his back was to her.
She was hesitant and looked at me for direction.
“He’s good, Fatima,” I replied loudly.
I was standing directly behind Wayne now, and he put both hands in the air once he realized he was surrounded. Fatima ran quickly to her car and fumbled with her purse to grab her keys. She got the door open and climbed in just as the back door of the building flew open. Melanie held the door as Snow dragged Diandre outside. His wrists and ankles were tied.
“What the fuck?” Wayne asked to no one in particular.
“He better not bedead!” I called out to Snow.
“He’s still got a pulse, but I was tempted!”
Melanie pushed the door closed, headed over to the BMW, and signaled Fatima to get going.
“Now, bring the truck around so we can get out of here,” Snow ordered.
“Go ahead,” Craig said.“I’ll take care of his bitch assand get up with you later.”
“Bet.”
I hurried back to the truck and hopped in. I drove over to Snow where he was still holding an unconscious Diandre by his underarms. I climbed out of the truck and walked around to open the back door for Snow. We put Diandre into the back of the truck, and then Snow climbed inside behind himwhile I headed back to the driver’s seat. I put the truck in drive and drove out of the parking lot carefully so that I wouldn't draw any unwanted attention to our exit. As I passed the black Mercedes that was still parked out front, several gunshots from the AK-47 echoed in the air. Wayne had finally gotten what he deserved.
Chapter Ten
It was dim and cool inside of the abandoned warehouse. The sun was beginning to set, so only small slivers of light seeped through the broken glass of a few random windows. Diandre was still unconscious. Snow had given him a tranquilizer injection on the drive over to keep him knocked out until we reached our destination. He sat slumped over in a wooden chair that we’d tied him to while the two of us stood across the room talking until the others arrived.
“It’s only a matter of time before his people come looking for him.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s what we want. But by the time theyput everything together, we’ll be doneand it will be too late,” I said. I walked over to a nearby table and turned on the campinglantern that I’d placed there when we came in along with a zipped duffle bag. I opened the bag and pulled out a few tools along with a signal jammer. “It’s been on the entire time. I’ll switch it off when we get ready to head out.”
I laid the items out on the table, and Snow nodded his head. The warehouse door rolled open, and Melanie walked in followed by Donte. Behind them both was a longtime, trusted friend and arms maker, Shelton. He was skilled at building bombs. He had come along to make sure that no ends would be left untied. He sauntered in casually and gently sat a duffle bag of his own down on top of a wooden barrel and placed a silver briefcase next to it on the floor. He gave me and Snow a head nod before he made his way back toward the warehouse door to shut and lock it.
“Don’t let me distract you. I’m just getting things in order,” he called out to us.
Melanie walked over to the table and glanced at the items we’d brought. There was a pistol, cordless drill, pincers, different size scalpels, a sharp wooden stake, and a syringe of cyanide. She shook her head as she walked over to a nearby barrel and sat down.
"It definitely sucks to be him right now," she said.
Donte was about to head over to Diandre, but I stepped in front of him and prevented him from walking any further.
"Not yet, Tay. Everything on time and in order. I'm a man of my word. I will make sure that you get your chance to fuck him up."
Donte was breathing fast. I could see that he was fired up and ready to lay hands on Diandre. He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. He nodded his agreement and stepped to the side.
Snow pulled his cap off of his head and placed it on the table. He laced his fingers in front of him and pushed his hands away from his body, cracking his knuckles. He jogged slightly in place and moved his arms back and forth. "Are you ready to get this show on the road?" he asked.
"I've been ready," I replied.
I pulled off my hoodie and put it on the table. Then I reached into my pocket and pulled out a pack of smelling salts. I walked over to Diandre and stopped directly in front of him. I cracked the pack, shook it up, and then waved it underneath his nostrils. He cringed as he took a breath and opened his eyes. He was disoriented at first as he tried to focus on my face.
"Déjà vu, motherfucker," I said v
enomously. "Remember me?"
Diandre's eyes grew largeand he tried to break free from the chair, but it was pointless. He was tightly confined, and the ties we’d used weren't going to loosen up.
He calmed down and then his face hardened. "Untie me, bitch and level the playing field!" he barked.
I chuckled and turned around to look at Snow. "Do you hear this shit, Snow?" I asked rhetorically. "He thinks I'm playing with his punk ass."
Snow chuckled too and shook his head. I continued to look at Snow as I lifted my right hand, pulled my arm back, and swung my hand around, slapping Diandre's face. He appeared completely shocked as the sound echoed throughout the warehouse, which is exactly what I wanted.
"Damn, that shit sounded like it hurt!" Snow mocked and laughed.
"That's all you got?" Diandre asked, attempting to save face.
"Of course not," I replied calmly and balled up my fist.
I punched him just below the ear and heard his jaw crack. I brought my hand close to my face and examined it as I opened and closed my fist. My hand immediately began to swell, but I didn't feel the pain. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I turned my attention back to Diandre,whose mouth hung open with blood running from the corner. He had difficulty speaking, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
“Do you know who you’re fucking with?” he mumbled.
“I know more about you than you know.”
“Then you know that you’re a dead man.”
“That’s highly unlikely.”
“Why the fuck do you even care? I ain’t even with that bitch anymore.”
Before I could open my mouth to respond, Donte screamed,“Who the fuckyou callin’ a bitch, bitch?”
Diandre made a failed attempt at a smile and laughed. “I see you’re still trying to fight your sister’s battles for her.”
“What, nigga?” Donte asked and started walking toward him.
Snow pulled him back.
“That’s what he’s supposed to do,” I added.“Especially when sorry-ass dudeslike you try to prey on her. But like I told you before, you finally fucked with the wrong one.”