Guilty Gucci

by Ashley Antoinette

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Gucci pulled up to her mother’s adult care home and got out cautiously. She knew that once she hit the highway and headed south that she wouldn’t be coming back. After what they had done too much was at stake to ever step foot in D.C. again. She knew that her girls were already safely on their way, but she couldn’t just dip on her mother without saying good-bye. She had to see her face and talk to her. Gucci wanted to say “I love you” before she left for good. It was risky, but it was something that had to be done. She would never forgive herself if just left her mother there without checking in on her first. Gucci parked in front of the building, nervously looking at her surroundings before she got out of the car. She popped the trunk and placed her duffel bag full of money inside. She unzipped it and took out a large stack, placing it into her purse before she headed inside. She bypassed the front desk and went straight to her mother’s room.

  “Hi, Mama,” she said as she stepped inside and saw her mother sitting up in her bed playing with a deck of cards. She wasn’t playing anything in particular; she liked the colors that made up the kings and queens. They made her smile.

  “Gucci!” she shouted as her entire face lit up as she recognized her daughter. Gucci hadn’t visited often. Running the streets with her girls had taken up too much of her time. Gucci had taken care of her mother all of her life, so when she met a group of friends who she actually connected with she just wanted to live. Gucci had been given the burden of responsibility at an early age, so being irresponsible and reckless felt good to her. But now looking at her mother’s face she could tell that she had missed her. In a lot of ways Gucci had been the parent and it felt like she had abandoned her child. “I missed my Gucci!”

  “I missed you too, Ma,” Gucci whispered as she sat in the bed. She removed her shoes and put her feet up as she sat back against the headboard. “Do you like it here?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” her mother replied in a childlike voice.

  “Are they nice to you?” Gucci asked gently as she grabbed her mother’s hairbrush and began to brush her hair.

  “Yeah, they are nice here, Gucci. I like it here,” she responded.

  Gucci sighed in relief. She was glad that her mother was being treated well. There was no doubt in her mind that her mother would tell her if something was wrong. Gucci had taught her a long time ago to always speak up if someone was hurting her.

  “I have to go away for a little while, Mama,” Gucci said, getting choked up. “I got into a little bit of trouble so I have to leave. You won’t see me for a while.”

  “Can I come too?” her mother asked.

  “No, Mommy, you have to stay here,” Gucci explained calmly. “I just wanted to say that I love you. I wanted to see you before I left. Gucci loves Mama. Can you say it with me?” she asked.

  “Gucci love Mama and Mama loves her Gucci!”

  Gucci laughed as she wiped away the stray tears that fell from her eyes. “That’s right ... my girl,” she said. She finished the braid that she had started and then put the brush back on the nightstand. “They are going to take really good care of you here, Mama. It will feel like a long time before you see me again, but just remember that Gucci loves you okay?”

  Gucci’s mother nodded her head and Gucci stood up to leave. Everything in her wanted to pack her mother up and take her along, but Gucci didn’t know what the future held. She had to go alone. Taking her mother would be too risky for the both of them. Gucci paid up her mother’s bills for an entire year before she left and cried her eyes out until she reached the car.

  Her leg shook the entire time she drove, only stopping for gas as she headed south. She wished she could have just ridden with one of her girls, but it was best if they stayed separated until they were in another state. The farther she got away from D.C. the heavier her chest became. After what she had done she would never feel safe going back. There would be a target on her back until she was caught and stepping foot inside D.C.’s limits would be like committing suicide. She finally made it to Norfolk, Virginia and pulled up to the motel that she had agreed to meet her friends in. She didn’t know if they were there yet. Neither Chanel nor Raegan had called her and as she waited inside of her room, curtains drawn, and gun fully loaded on the bed beside her, she prayed that everything was okay. Before her mind had the chance to run rampant she heard the knocking at her door that announced her friends’ arrival.

  Gucci ran to the door and snatched it open eagerly.

  “What took you so long?” she asked, staring at Raegan.

  “Traffic,” Raegan said with a shrug as she hugged Gucci’s neck and entered the room. “Chanel isn’t here yet?” she asked, voice full of concern.

  “I’m right here, bitches, and I’ve never been so happy to be in a crummy motel in my life,” she laughed as she threw the bag of money at Raegan and stepped inside. “Let’s count this shit up!”

  Raegan, Gucci, and Chanel stayed up ’til 3:00 A.M. counting and recounting the money, their hands enjoying the feel of so many dead presidents passing through them. They laid the bills out in $5,000 stacks until they came to the final tally.

  “That’s what two million dollars look like,” Gucci stated in awe when they were finally done.

  “That’s a lot of money. Even when we split it, it’s still a lot of money,” Chanel whispered. The girls couldn’t fathom the fact that they had gotten away with so much cold, hard cash and they sat in a circle staring at the money ... afraid that if they went to sleep, somehow when they awoke the money would be gone.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” Gucci said soothingly. “We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow. We need to be well rested if we’re going to make it to Florida.”

  “Does your friend know that we’re coming?” Raegan asked, turning to Chanel.

  “No, but he won’t turn us away. He owes me,” Chanel confirmed. “All we have to do is get there.”

  Gucci smiled as the ocean came into view as she drove closer and closer toward it. “We made it,” she whispered it disbelief as a huge weight lifted from her burdened chest. The drive to Florida had been a long one. Careful to steer clear of law enforcement the girls followed each other all the way down, leaving a few car lengths between them just to be safe. They didn’t stop, not even to use the restroom out of fear of being caught. Although their faces weren’t quite clear in the video being played on a loop on national news stations, they still wanted to move accordingly. They had to be smart because the tiniest slip-up would land them behind steel and bars. Gucci laughed out loud, releasing some of the built-up tension she felt as she banged her hand against the steering wheel in sheer happiness. “Thank you, God!” she exhaled. The odds had definitely been against them, but they all had made it through with enough money to last them a long time. The girls were about to hop on a boat to paradise and start an entirely new life. Not many people were rewarded with the chance to start over and Gucci was grateful. She was using the money that lay neatly stacked in the duffel bag beside her to purchase a new beginning. She trailed Raegan and Chanel as they drove closer and closer to the marina where Chanel’s boat connection was waiting for them. They were so close ... so close to freedom, but when she saw Chanel’s car fishtail out of control her smile instantly faded. Red taillights from the car filled her vision and she slammed her brakes to avoid hitting the back of Raegan’s car. They both came to an abrupt stop and Gucci hopped out of her car.

  “What happened?” she yelled as she slammed her door and ran toward Raegan.

  “I don’t know!” Raegan replied frantically. Both girls rushed to Chanel’s car and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw her leaning over the steering wheel with a dark crimson hole pierced her temple.

  “Oh God!” Gucci yelled as she backpedaled away from the gruesome scene. It was then that the police made their presence known. They seemed to pop out of nowhere. They came from everywhere. Out of storefronts, on top of roofs, out of police cars. The strong gusts of w
ind blew their hair wildly in their faces as Gucci and Raegan looked at one another for answers.

  “What do we do?” Gucci asked.

  “I don’t know!”Raegan replied with tear-filled eyes.

  “Put your hands up!” The words cut through the air as the lead detective warned them through his bullhorn.

  Gucci and Raegan stood on the defensive, afraid to move, but more afraid to stand still and be caught.

  “Fuck this!”Raegan whispered as she pulled out her gun and began firing, aiming at anyone in a black-and-white FBI jacket.

  “Raegan, don’t!” Gucci yelled, but she was drowned out by the street serenade of gunfire as she watched her friend be gunned down. Raegan didn’t even get to empty her clip before she hit the pavement. Blood spewed out of her as bullets ripped her apart. The gunfire stopped and a silence that only death could feel filled the city block.

  “No!” Gucci screamed as she ran to Raegan’s side. She grieved over her bloody body, taking her into her arms while whispering, “This is so fucked up. Everything is all fucked up.”

  She never even felt the federal agents grab her up and put the handcuffs on her. All she saw was the news camera in her face as she heard a reporter ask, “Was it worth it?”

  Gucci jumped out of her sleep in a cold sweat, the hairs on the back of her neck standing straight up as an eerie feeling came over her. Quickly reaching for the lamp she turned it on in a panic as her neck swiveled around the room. Her heart raced frantically as she breathed rapidly, feeling as though she was still in the realm of her nightmare. “It was just a bad dream,” she whispered. She looked over at her girls and saw that they were still sleeping, but rest was elusive for her. Gucci kept imagining the different ways that this thing could play out and none of the endings she conjured up in her head were positive.

  The room was quiet, almost too quiet as if everything had been put on a standstill. She got out of the bed and walked over to the hotel window and what she saw made her legs give out. Gucci grabbed the windowsill to stop herself from falling as her eyes bugged in horror. Red, white, and blue police lights flashed silently as she watched the police accumulate outside in the dark.

  “Get up, get up, get up!” she whispered as she rushed over to Chanel and Raegan, shaking them out of their sleep. “The police are outside!”

  “What?” Raegan asked as she threw the covers off. “How did they know we were here?”

  “The money! The money was marked! It had to be! Gucci, you paid for the room with the money from the bank?” Chanel asked frantically.

  “Yeah, it was all I had,” Gucci admitted.

  Chanel brushed past her and peeked out of the window. “We’re fucked,” she said in a low tone of despair, knowing that they had gotten themselves caught up. It wouldn’t have mattered where they went; as long as they were spending marked money, they would always be at a disadvantage.

  “I’m sorry ... I didn’t know!” Gucci defended.

  “None of us knew, Guch ... it’s okay. Any of us could have made the same mistake,” Raegan snapped. “I have to think. How are we going to get out of this?” she asked.

  Chanel went to the duffel bag that she had carried and opened the zipper, revealing the weapons she had inside.

  “I put them in here just in case. I figured if we ever needed them, they wouldn’t do us any good inside of that trunk,” she said. She began pulling them out and laid them across the bed.

  “What are you doing? We just supposed to go all out? Against the police?” Raegan asked.

  Gucci shook her head wishing that she were still dreaming. This wasn’t supposed to happen. How could I have been so stupid? she thought, knowing that whatever happened from this point on her life would never be the same.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Chanel said. “Look around you. We have three bags full of bank money in here and a bed full of illegal firearms. They’ll toss football numbers at us for this. I’m not going to jail. I’ll hold court right outside in that parking lot before they take me to jail.”

  Chanel held out a pistol for Gucci and if she had any other choice she would have never have taken it, but this was the only way out. It was do or die. As she grabbed the gun out of Chanel’s hand, Raegan grabbed one from the pile and made sure that it was loaded.

  “There’s FBI out there. No matter where we go they are going to find us,” Gucci said frantically.

  “Listen ... My friend, he has a house in the British Virgin Islands. If we make it to Florida he can get us over there. The Feds can’t touch us once we’re out of the country. Once we go out that door we make our way to our own cars. If you make it out of the crossfire you meet me in Fort Lauderdale at the port day after tomorrow,” Chanel said, explaining thoroughly so that everyone had clear instructions.

  “I love you bitches. Y’all are my family and I love you,” Gucci said as if they were her final words. “If I don’t make it out of this just look after my mom. Please just do me that favor.”

  Raegan shook her head and said, “We all are going to make it out.” The three friends hugged each other, overwhelmed by emotion as Raegan began to pray.

  “God, please see us through this ... please.” The quivering plea that Raegan sent up to her Maker was one of desperation. She was about to go up against the impossible and the lonely prayer was all she had left in her bag of tricks. Her voice broke from anxiety as she continued. “Watch over us and let us meet back up one day. Keep my friends safe and help us make it through this. We are all we got,” Raegan said as she stood with her head pressed against the foreheads of her best friends Chanel and Gucci. The three girls stood in a circle, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders, heads bowed. It was now or never ... all or nothing. Their freedom depended on this one moment. They had done a lot of dirt together and now it seemed as though karma had come full circle. Now they stood grasping one another, hearts racing, tears falling down their tired eyes as they thought about what they were about to do. The odds were stacked against them, but they had no choice but to fight despite how dismal the outcome appeared to be.

  “If we don’t make it out of this ... forgive us, Father, for we have sinned ... in your name we pray, amen,” Raegan finished. A hard lump filled her throat as she walked over to the living room blinds and pulled them down discreetly. Red, white, and blue lights lit up the night sky as the police barricaded the city block in an attempt to thwart their escape route. Raegan could hear the pounding inside of her head as the rhythm of her racing heart blocked out all other sound. In all her years on this earth she had never been afraid of anything, but secretly she feared the altercation to come. She didn’t want to step one foot outside of the motel room, but she knew that she and her girls had no choice. If they didn’t come out eventually the police would come in and she would rather go out under her own terms. She was going to determine how this thing played out and she knew as long as they made the first move they would have the advantage.

  “We’re like sitting ducks in this bitch,” Chanel whispered anxiously as she came up over Raegan’s shoulder and peeked at the scene outside.

  “Then let’s stop sitting,” Raegan said in a low, determined tone. She cocked the pump of the sawed-off double-barrel shotgun she carried with one hand and said, “Fuck it, I’ll see you bitches in the Islands.”

  Chanel racked the automatic AK she carried as Gucci chambered the first round in her semi-automatic 9 mm as they burst out of the front door. The three of them rushed out onto the lawn, adrenaline pumping, fear pulsing through their bodies as they shot it out with the entire police department. Desperation caused them to fire their weapons endlessly and their marksman aim was enough to give the officers outside the shootout of the century.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Raegan was so swift with the shotgun that you would have never thought she had to reload her weapon. There was nothing hesitant about her trigger finger. As she came out blazing, bullets flew past her head as she inched as quickly as possible to
her car.

  The melody of the police sirens harmonized with the gunshots as the girls popped off, serenading the streets.

  The three girls exchanged fire with the entire police force and held their own as they each tried to escape to their prospective cars. It was time to fly solo. Although their chances of escape were slim to none they knew that by splitting up they increased their chances of eluding capture and avoiding the sticky situation. The cops couldn’t focus on all three of them at once, so they each took their own risk as they cleared a path for themselves, popping off recklessly. They were too hot and they needed to split up before making their way to the British Virgin Islands.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Aghh,” Raegan shouted mercilessly as she fired over and over again. Hitting an officer was not her objective ... she only meant to incite fear. She was skilled enough with her aim to come dangerously close to homicide without actually committing it. Killing a cop was the last thing she needed to add to her hood resume so she was cognizant of exactly where her bullets struck. Her hair whipped wildly around her face as she turned quickly to check on the status of her girls. Her mouth fell open in horror as she noticed an officer sneaking up behind Gucci. It was as if the entire scene were playing out in slow motion before her.

  “Nooo! Guch!” she shouted. Gucci turned her head toward Raegan’s voice and her eyes opened in horror when she saw Raegan pull a handgun from her back waistline. With precision Raegan let off a shot that laid the officer out, dropping him where he stood before he could ever pull his trigger. In the blink of an eye things had gone from bad to worse. As a matter of fact things were already at worse ... now they were just out of fucking control. The consequences of her actions were now irreparable and tears of regret immediately surfaced in her horrified eyes.