by Mikal Malone
“I understand. And if you need us to do anything, let me know.”
“And if I hear anything, I’m putting it to anybody who got anything to do with it!” Derrick said. “That’s my word.”
“Thanks, man. She’s pregnant with my kid!” he said forcing back tears.
Yvette and Mercedes liked Doctanian. He was a real man who was true to the game and didn’t deserve the hand he was being dealt. But at the same time they had a business to run. The question now was did they keep him on and jeopardize the organization or fire him, which would ultimately be a slap in the face.
“Take it easy, Doctanian. We’ll talk to you later,” Yvette said.
“Thanks.” He walked out the door.
As he walked out, the three of them were left alone.
“Derrick, keep an eye on him. I’m worried about him,” Yvette said.
“Done,” Derrick said.
Chapter 29
Something Ain’t Right
February, Monday, 7:10 p.m.
Thick
“I’m telling you them bitches are up to something! Why can’t we get through to nobody at EC?” Thick yelled as he drove to Emerald City.
“Calm down, man. Sometimes you blow shit outta proportion!” Cam wasn’t feeling how Thick was acting anymore. The truth was, after the stunt he pulled in the hotel with bringing them the girls, and then keeping them in his room the whole time pissed him off. It wasn’t because he liked them or anything, but it was the principle. He didn’t even ask Cam if he could slide off with the shorty who was supposed to be for him. That’s just the type of grimy ass nigga he had become.
“Yeah, man, you wildin’ out now. We on our way now. We’ll see what the deal is,” Lavelle added. “No need to get worked up yet.”
“I know one thing, if Yvette fucking with me, I’m putting my hands around her throat.”
While on the way to EC, Cam’s cell phone rang. He smiled when he saw it was Lil C’s cell phone. He hadn’t spoken to him since he returned from Vegas. He missed him and his mother but he couldn’t express how much he missed her. He had to keep it real with Lil C about his and Mercedes’ relationship, and right now they were over.
“Hey, man!” Cam yelled into the phone.
“Hey, dad.” Lil C wasn’t his usual upbeat self. “When I’m seeing you?”
“Damn, man,” Cam responded. “Everything aight? You sound a little out of it.”
“Not really.”
Thick started blasting the music in the truck. Cam was trying to talk to his son and Thick was acting stupid. Cam had to be careful in his approach. Number one, it was wrong to tell a man to adjust the volume in his own truck, and number two, Thick was a hot head. Saying the wrong thing could almost guarantee an argument. But he was going to turn the music down whether he wanted to or not.
“Hey, man…you mind turning that shit down?” Cam asked.
“Actually I do.”
Lavelle and Dyson were pissed about his response. Lil C was like their nephew and couldn’t believe how Thick was acting.
“Come on, man…turn that shit down so the man can talk to his son!” Lavelle yelled over the music.
Thick looked at Cameron through the mirror and Cam stared him dead in the eyes.
“Aw come on. Cam don’t know when a nigga playing with him?” he joked as he adjusted the volume. “Ya’ll niggas been blowing me all weekend acting all serious and shit. Tell Lil C I said what up.”
Cameron ignored him. He couldn’t believe how he’d been acting ever since Dex was killed. He couldn’t stand him and was starting to even hate him.
“Dad…is everything okay?” Lil C questioned.
For a second Cam was so caught up in his anger that he didn’t hear his son.
“Dad. You there?”
“Oh…Yeah. I didn’t hear you at first, lil man. But what’s going on with you?”
“They can’t find Jordan…and Doc don’t hang with me no more. It’s like he don’t even know me.”
Cam was listening to his son but also peeped how Thick kept eyeing him through the rearview mirror and wondered what was up with that.
“What you mean they can’t find Jordan?” Cam didn’t know a lot about her but he did know she was Doctanian’s girl.
“They don’t know where she at. Mamma says they been looking but I think somebody got her.”
“Don’t worry about stuff like that, Lil C. Leave the worrying to me.”
“Okay.”
“Where you at?” Cam asked, positive that more drama was going on in Emerald City than he thought.
“I’m at cousin Vickie’s in Virginia.”
“Cousin Vickie’s? Is Chante and the baby with you too?” Cam knew it was weird for them to be over there because Mercedes couldn’t stand Vickie. I mean, she knew she would do right by the kids, but as much as Mercedes hated her guts, he couldn’t help but wonder how she ended up smoothing things out enough to drop their children off.
“Yep. We all over here. She says we gonna be here till it all blows over.”
“Till what blows over?” Cam asked, wondering how much Lil C really knew.
“She calls it the ‘Showdown’.”
Cam was quiet. The Showdown? He thought. What in the fuck is this bitch up to?
“Listen, Lil C,” he said. “Doc will be okay. I’ll holla at him when I get back to EC.”
“For real? That’s what’s up!”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
“He said we were gonna start a music company together. He said if I stopped selling drugs, we’d be like Dame Dash and Jay Z!”
“WHAT!” Cam yelled, taking in what he just heard. He yelled so loud everybody turned around to ear hustle in on what he was saying to Lil C. “What you talking ‘bout, man? What do you mean he stopped you from selling drugs?”
“Yeah.” He hesitated. “It’s okay now. I’m not doing it anymore.”
Cam was listening but all he was thinking about was which one of them niggas put him on. I mean, he knew it was just a matter of time before Lil C got into the life but he imagined it would be when he was older. I’m gonna kill whoever the fuck disrespected me! That’s my word! He thought.
“You alright, man?” Thick asked.
“I’m good.”
“Lil C,” he said real low. “Who gave you weight to sell? And tell me the truth.”
Lil C paused. “Uncle Thick, dad.”
Chapter 30
Too Little Too Late
February, Monday, 9:30 p.m.
Doctanian
“Are you sure? Don’t play with me!” Doctanian told one of the heads.
“Yeah I’m sure. I saw him meet her ‘round back and then dump her body later,” he said, anticipating the reward Doctanian would give him for the news.
Doctanian’s body was shaking with anger. He couldn’t believe he’d lost the love of his life at the hands of his most trusted soldier.
“Doc! Look at your leg!”
When he looked down, he saw piss streaming down the jeans he’d worn for the past few days. Ever since he’d been trying to find Jordan, he’d been an emotional wreck. He didn’t take care of his body. He didn’t eat. And most of all, he didn’t care for anything or anybody.
Without saying a word, he walked off. He was too angry to be embarrassed or even cold that he was walking in his own piss. He hadn’t had an episode like that since he was a kid. When he was younger, whenever he was afraid or upset, he would piss in his bed. It went on for years because his father would beat his mother and he’d stay awake at night feeling defenseless and helpless. It didn’t stop until he and his mother moved to Emerald City together.
“Hey!” the dope fiend yelled. “What ‘bout my stuff?”
Doctanian turned around and the fiend rushed over to him. He handed him everything he had in his pockets. He was sure he’d spend all night getting high but he didn’t care.
Because in his mind, tonight would be his last night alive.
Chapter 31
Holla At You
February, Monday, 9:40 p.m.
Doctanian
“Let me holla at you for a second, man,” Doctanian said with a glazed look in his eye.
“Naw, Joe. I got somewhere to go right now,” Erick responded holding onto the weapon in his pocket.
He wasn’t a fool. He saw the crazed look in his eyes and he knew what the deal was. Doctanian had been walking around like a mummy ever since he dumped Jordan’s lifeless body into a dumpster.
“Why, man? Any other time you got conversation for me. Why not now?”
They were in the same alley where CJ and Charles were killed. Their bodies were pumping adrenaline as they realized somebody wouldn’t be leaving the alley alive.
“She was a whore! I had to do it,” Erick said, feeling there was no need in wasting time or lying. He decided to get the shit out in the open. “You gonna end what we got over a whore? Think about what we could have man. Let’s take down these bitches and make shit happen! I talked to Ed and Harold and they ready to take them bitches out tonight! What’s up? Let’s put this shit to the side, man!”
Tears rolled down his face as he focused on Erick. He knew he was only talking to throw him off. The moment he let his guard down, Erick’s gun would be in his back.
“Why you hurt Jordan? You knew she was all I had?” Doctanian asked, searching for answers that he knew Erick didn’t have.
“Are you serious?” Erick laughed taking his gun out of his pocket. “I’m telling you we got a chance at a dynasty and you worried about a bitch and a baby that probably wasn’t even yours?” He laughed. “Are you really that soft?”
His words stabbed him in the heart.
“Are you telling me you fucked my girl?” He took two steps toward him.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. And I fucked her well.”
With that, Doctanian took his gun out and without the slightest hesitation, pulled the trigger. But as if he was in a bad movie, nothing came out.
“Oh snap! This really is my lucky day!” Erick laughed, relieved he wasn’t shot. “But it ain’t yours,” he said.
Erick aimed his weapon but dropped to his knees before he could get a shot off. Doctanian watched in amazement as a round of bullets found a home inside his back. His knees hit the ground first as he looked at Doctanian, and then fell to the concrete face down, revealing who was behind him.
Derrick kept his promise to the girls and looked after Doctanian after all.
Instead of feeling relief, Doctanian ran to pick up Erick’s gun and placed it in his mouth. Derrick rushed him, taking it away.
“What in the fuck is wrong with you, man! Why you doing this?”
“‘Cause I don’t deserve to live,” he cried.
“Come on, man! He’s dead. We killed his ass for Jordan.”
“No…I don’t deserve to live because it was my fault Jordan was murdered.”
“Why you say that?” Derrick asked.
“Because he was punishing me for killing Stacia and Dex.”
Chapter 32
Get At Me
February, Monday, 10:15 p.m.
Thick
“Hey, man, open the gate! What the fuck you waiting on?” Thick yelled.
“I’m sorry, Thick. I have to phone Yvette first.”
“The fuck you mean you have to phone Yvette?”
Thick was growing irritated at the way the guard was treating him. In the past, the moment any of the guards saw his truck they’d fling open the gate to Emerald City. But here he was acting as if Thick was a customer and didn’t deserve the VIP treatment he was accustomed to.
“Ya’ll hear this shit, man?” he said as he looked back at Cameron and them. “Them bitches really asking for it! This is what the fuck I was talking about.”
“Well we’re here now,” Cameron responded still salty at what Lil C told him about Thick giving him dope to sell. “We’ll see what’s up.”
When the time was right, Cameron would step to Thick about the situation.
Lavelle and Dyson were quiet as they waited on the word from the guard. They were mentally preparing for what they would have to do, and what they knew Thick wanted to do. There wasn’t a doubt in any of their minds that tonight, somebody would die.
It was just a matter of who.
“Okay, sir,” the guard said. “You can go through now.” The gate rose.
“The next time you see me…you gonna wish you didn’t pull this shit,” Thick promised. “Don’t let them bitches fill your head. I run…I mean…we run shit in Emerald City,” he corrected himself, realizing his own selfish motives almost slipped out.
The guard didn’t say anything. He knew he had to stick to the orders Yvette and them gave him. They treated him better than Thick ever did.
Pulling up in front of Unit C, they noticed the women weren’t on post. Thick got cocky when he saw that. He immediately started thinking that they must’ve been frightened after the shit they pulled at the gate and were hiding out. But the others knew better. They realized something more was going on and everything was changing tonight.
“Derrick…get down here!” Thick yelled as they all jumped out of the truck.
Derrick moved slowly. He no longer showed urgency the way they were used to seeing. Thick, Cameron, Lavelle and Dyson noticed that their authority was diminished.
“Yeah…what you need?” Derrick asked nonchalantly.
“What I need? What I need? Who the fuck you talking to like that, nigga?!” Thick shot back as he walked up on Derrick. “You got a death wish, son?”
Derrick took two steps back, brushed off his coat and said, “Like I said…what you need?”
When Cameron saw Thick was getting ready to pull his gun out of his coat and kill Derrick, he stepped up to him. Five of Derrick’s soldiers hurried to Derrick’s side. When Lavelle and Dyson saw that, they all rushed to Thick’s side too. Right or wrong, they weren’t tolerating disrespect from somebody who was under them.
“I know you ain’t crazy, D!” Lavelle said. “So you better start telling us what the fuck is up.”
“I asked a question I still ain’t get an answer to. What do ya’ll need?” Derrick was unmoved by them. “Ya’ll here to cop some dope or what?” His soldiers were on point to blast the squad’s heads off and if they missed, they had ten other soldiers hidden from view with sniper weapons ready to snuff them out.
Thick was stuck motionless and speechless. In all his life, he always provoked fear but tonight was different.
“Where Yvette and them?” Dyson asked taking control of the situation.
“I’ll take ya’ll to ‘em.” Derrick said.
“Yeah…we need to find out what the fuck is going on ‘round here,” Cameron demanded.
While the others talked, Thick’s eyes stayed glued on Derrick. Any other day he would’ve killed him where he stood, but this time was different. He was walking into a situation blind and he wanted to be cool and get some answers first. But he also wanted Derrick to know that he wouldn’t forget his disrespect and would be handling him later.
Derrick, sensing the hate in his eyes, said, “I feel the same way, playa.”
Silence.
“Yo, Doc…come around and pick us up around front. We taking Thick and them to the girls,” Derrick spoke into his walkie-talkie.
“You got it, man.”
When Thick heard Doctanian’s voice he developed a plan.
Five minutes later Doctanian pulled up in a White Ford Excursion. Derrick jumped in the passenger seat and the other soldiers hoped in the back. Before they pulled off, Thick asked to speak to Doc in private.
“You want us to go with you?” Lavelle asked.
“Naw…go wait in the truck.”
Doc hopped out of the driver’s seat and they walked together. Thick was going to do his best to play on his emotions. But what Thick didn’t know was that Jordan was already dead and he didn’t have a
nything or anybody else to lose.
“Listen…I need you to do me a favor,” Thick said to Doctanian with his hand on his back. His mouth hidden from view so that no one could read his lips but Doc.
“And what’s that?”
“I need you to take out Derrick and possibly Yvette and them bitches.”
Doctanian turned to him and said, “Sorry, youngin’…I can’t do nothing for you.”
Thick couldn’t believe what was going on. He was the most ruthless out of the group and everyone was carrying the utmost fuck out of him tonight. What are these bitches doing? Fucking these dudes? He thought.
“Oh for real? I wonder if you would feel the same way if I paid a little visit to your girl,” he threatened.
Doctanian wasn’t moved. He had already lost Jordan and Yvette and the girls were the only family he had. It was through blackmailing that he was able to get him to kill Dex and Stacia. Thick told him he would gut his pregnant girlfriend and maybe even his mother. So with no more convincing needed, he did what he was told. The look in Dex and Stacia’s eyes still fucked with him till this day. Instead of being scared when he popped up out of nowhere requesting a ride to the ball, they smiled. Not knowing that he was there to kill them. But it was Thick who decided to slice their bodies, and Doctanian hated him for that. Almost as much as he hated not being man enough to stand up to Thick. But tonight, all that had changed.
Telling Derrick everything lifted a major weight off his shoulders. He didn’t even tell Jordan about his hand in Stacia and Dex’s murder because he didn’t want to get her involved.
“I don’t know what she’ll say, man…she’s dead,” he said as he walked back to the truck and jumped in, leaving Thick standing alone looking stupid.
“You coming or not?” Doctanian asked from the driver’s side of the truck.
Thick decided to bite his words but now he had added Doctanian to his list along with his mother. And since he liked Lil C so much, he was gonna take him out too.