by Keisha Ervin
Autumn waited for Treach to finish his call, then she slowly rose up from behind him like she was his worst nightmare. Treach caught a quick glimpse of her in his rearview mirror and he almost jumped out of his skin.
“Oh shit! Girl you scared…” Treach started when he noticed Autumn behind but his words were cut short.
“Shut the fuck up you fuck nigga,” Autumn grabbed him as she used her forearm and locked it around his neck from the back. She grabbed Treach in a tight choke hold from behind and placed her gun to his temple.
“And I thought you was a cool dude,” Autumn gritted, squeezing as hard as she could. “If you even try to go for your gun you lose your head within seconds,” she hissed in his ear.
“Wha…what…whatchu doin’?” Treach gurgled as Autumn used all of the limited strength she had left in her body to choke off his air supply.
“Why the fuck is Loe after me? What is he offering you to bring me to him?” Autumn hissed in Treach’s ear, jamming her gun so hard into his temple a pain shot through his head. Treach gurgled and spit trying to get air. He couldn’t believe Autumn was that strong being that she was so small in stature.
“I asked you a fucking question!” Autumn growled, raising her gun and bringing it down on the side of his head.
“Aggh!” Treach cried out as blood leaked from his head.
“You…you…stabbed his s…sister, kill…killed his cousin…and killed his worker Jim…Jimmie,” Treach jumbled out after Autumn loosened her grip a little bit to let him answer her questions. Autumn hit him again just because she couldn’t believe what he was saying. Treach’s words seemed to sink deep into her head and all of the murders she’d committed finally came crashing down on her conscience.
“How much was he going to pay you, you bitch ass nigga?” Autumn snarled through her teeth. Treach was shaking as he watched Autumn slide her finger through the trigger guard on her gun.
“After you killed Jimmie, one of Loe’s biggest earners, Loe upped the price on your head from a hundred fifty stacks to three hundred stacks. It’s so many niggas looking for you…you like a walking lottery ticket,” Treach managed to tell her.
“Three hundred thousand dollars for me and none of ya’ll simple ass niggas still can’t get it right. Ya’ll let a bitch bring down an entire fucking operation? Well too fucking bad. Fuck you and fuck Loe,” Autumn hissed with finality, tightening her grip on Treach’s neck once more.
“Mmmm,” Treach moaned. There was no mercy for him in her eyes. Autumn moved her trigger finger with the precision of a marksman. BOOM! One shot to the temple slumped Treach in the seat. The power of the shot blew Autumn backwards into the back seat and Treach’s blood spurted on her face. Autumn heard a scream outside of the car as two ladies walked out of their car just in time to see her shoot Treach. Autumn got her bearings and scrambled for the door. She wasn’t even spooked anymore. It was all or nothing at this point. Autumn squinted her eyes into evil dashes and pointed her gun at the ladies menacingly. They turned on their heels and began running towards the restrooms for cover. Autumn had so much blood on her hands at that point she was starting to enjoy the rush of adrenaline she got afterwards.
Autumn rushed around the outside of the vehicle, mustered up enough strength and pulled Treach’s body out of the driver’s seat and let him fall on the ground. “Fucking pussy boy,” she grumbled and kicked his slumped body.
More screams erupted as people started to notice the blood and what was going on. Autumn didn’t care who saw her at that point, she was too close to just lay down now. She jumped into Treach’s driver’s seat, reversed out of the rest area like a madwoman and with screeching tires she peeled onto the highway towards the border. Autumn knew it would only be a matter of minutes before the rest area will be swarming with police and crime scene vehicles. She just hoped she could make it far enough away that she could ditch the vehicle, car jack another one and get to the border alive.
Loe and his henchmen arrived at the rest stop about twenty-five minutes after Autumn had killed Treach and peeled out. There were so many red, blue, and white lights flashing when they pulled up, that Loe knew right away something bad had gone down.
“What the fuck? Looks like a scene from a hood block out here right now,” one of Loe’s henchmen said as they all looked out of the windows in wonderment. The police waved Loe’s SUV away from the scene.
“No stopping. The next rest stop is a couple miles down,” the officer said, waving them away. As Loe’s driver moved the SUV slowly past the scene, they could see Treach’s feet sticking out from under a white crime scene sheet. The yellow crime scene tape also let Loe know that it was a murder scene.
“This bitch got Treach too!” Loe screamed, banging his fists on the dashboard so hard his knuckles busted and started bleeding. “I can’t fucking wait to get my hands on her!!” Loe screamed, his insides erupting like hot lava from a volcano. “I have to have this bitch in my fucking hands! I am going to take her fucking teeth out of her head one by one while I fuck her with a burning hot crow bar! I can’t believe this little bitch is doing this to me!! To me!!” Loe boomed. Not only had Autumn violated his family and his workers, but she had now violated Loe’s pride.
***
Quinton watched as Loe and his goons pulled out of the rest area. He followed them with the hopes that they would lead him to Autumn before it was too late. He had already heard about the additional murders Autumn had committed. If he didn’t love her so much, he would’ve completely given up on her, but his love for her wouldn’t let him turn back knowing that Autumn was in grave danger. Quinton just didn’t realize how much danger he was in himself.
Chapter 9 So Close, Yet So Far Away
Autumn pulled Treach’s Infiniti truck into the car deck at the Santa Fe Bridge in El Paso, Texas. The radio was buzzing with reports of the police activity. They were shutting down highways all over Texas looking for her after Treach’s murder. Autumn’s time was definitely running out. She grabbed up her fake ID and her money, which was all she had left in the world. Autumn left her bag behind and anything else that she couldn’t stuff on her body with the logic that the less she had the less searching there would be at the border and the faster she would make it across. Autumn could actually see the border ahead of her as she walked forward. Her body was tingling all over and her insides felt like they were jumping around.
She walked a few more miles and noticed a large party of people with adults, teenagers, and little kids, who all appeared to be together getting ready to cross the border into Mexico. “Perfect,” Autumn mumbled, she would just tack onto their group and pray that with all of them being together the border patrol guards would be too overwhelmed to thoroughly check everyone.
Autumn joined the back of the group and blended in with them. They were all speaking in Spanish so she couldn’t understand them; however she kept on smiling and nodding as if she was with them. Autumn kept her head down as the Mexican officers and the American Border Patrol officers finally got to her and scanned over her identification.
“Go.” Autumn heard the word and her heart almost exploded out of her chest. Yes! Yes! Oh my God! I made it! She screamed inside of her head. Autumn took twenty steps and she crossed over the border into Juarez, Mexico. Autumn wanted so badly to fall down to her knees and kiss the red, dusty dirt, but she thought it would bring too much attention to her.
Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall as she ambled forward on weak, wobbly legs. The air in Mexico even felt and smelled like victory to her. Autumn swiped at the tears on her face and told herself she had to pull it together. Her journey wasn’t one hundred percent complete just yet. She had finally made it across, but now she had to still find her sisters and brother. Autumn didn’t even know if any of her siblings were still alive, whether they’d made it across or if she had killed all of the those people and done all of what she did to get there all for nothing.
Regardless, she had made it without getting
caught. For the first time since this entire ordeal began, Autumn was able to let out a deep sigh of relief. Her feelings of relief were short-lived when gunfire erupted to her left. What the fuck? Autumn ducked behind a building and watched as what seemed like fifty men stormed a small ramshackle house. More gunfire erupted and then shrill screams followed. Damn I need to get away from here. Autumn had heard about how deadly Juarez was with all of the Mexican cartels battling one another and battling the crooked police force as well. Autumn had to watch her back and get to some place safe because all she had was a knife that she had hiding in her pants while she crossed the border. She’d had to ditch her guns when she ditched Treach’s truck.
Autumn hailed a Mexican cab and had the driver take her to the city’s best hotel. It was a cute little hacienda style hotel called Ibis. Autumn was so exhausted that she could literally taste sleep as she waited to get checked into the hotel. Her stomach was also growling, but she felt too tired to even eat. Once Autumn was in her room, she stripped out of her dirty, clothes and rushed for the shower.
“Oh my God! This water feels so good,” she whispered as she whirled around under the hot stream of water. She stayed in the shower for nearly an hour just relishing in the simplicity of even having water on her skin. Autumn told herself she’d never take things for granted in life again. She realized how living off of stolen money and living the high life had prevented her from appreciating the little things in life and appreciating life in general. She had plans to tell her brother and sisters the same thing…they all needed to start appreciating the little things in life and stop taking it for granted that they could continue to live like they did before.
After her shower, Autumn jumped straight into the bed. “This bed feels like heaven,” Autumn said to herself as she rolled from left to right on the soft mattress. She wanted to get some rest before she started her journey to find Dayvid’s friend that was supposed to house her and her siblings until they could get their own mansion. Before she knew it, a deep sleep overcame her and so did dreams of her siblings.
“A toast to the good life,” Dayvid said as he raised his glass while sitting at the head of the long oak table, accompanied by Rain, Fallon, and Autumn. They were in their new safe house on the outskirts of Baltimore. Fallon and Autumn were smiling from ear to ear, but Rain wore her usual serious snarl on her face. She was like their Nanny, she never got overly excited about anything until it was all said and done.
The Porter siblings had just accomplished what so many before them had failed to do. They were about to retire at the top of the game as career criminals. The diamonds from their last heist were scattered over the table and over three million dollars sat in the corner of the room in six leather duffle bags. Everyone raised their glasses to join in the toast that Dayvid had proposed. As Dayvid looked around the table, he smiled. He, along with his three sisters, were about to leave the country as winners. Meeting up at the Mexican border was their plan, but they all were going to go alone. It was just better that way he had told them.
As they drank champagne and celebrated their last night in B’more, the Porter siblings laughed and had a good time. It was a long time coming, and they finally were about to relocate and start a new crime-free life in Mexico. They all had their passports and fake IDs ready to go and by the same time the next day, they will be in paradise living the high life with the proceeds from all of their hard work over the years. Nothing had ever been given to the Porters for free and they had learned early that their survival depended on how good they were at taking what they wanted rather than waiting for somebody to give them a handout.
Rain downed the last of her drink and got up as everyone sat around the table talking shit about how they were about to ball out on the Mexican beaches.
“Ya’ll already know a bitch like me will have six sexy Mexican m’fuckas butt ass naked waiting on me hand and foot,” Fallon announced with a laugh. Autumn died laughing at her sister’s joke. “I’m dead ass. I don’t want no females around me…all Mexican slangers,” Fallon continued.
“I ain’t coming to your part of the mansion to see them little tiny chorizo dicks flapping in the wind. Yuck, the thought of a bean burrito dick got me gagging already,” Autumn quipped, followed by more laughter from her and Fallon. Dayvid was just shaking his head at his sisters and their crazy talk. He loved them and their crazy asses more than they could ever know.
“I don’t care what niggas ya’ll have as long as ya’ll are careful. This is that retirement life, but we ain’t stupid either. Just like we was getting niggas for their paper, niggas…even Mexicans…will be watching us too. You know how we do so keep those eyes and brains on point all the time,” Dayvid warned. Rain shook her head in agreement.
“Yo, I got to go and hit Smitty off before we leave,” Rain said as she picked her gun up off the table and put it in her waist. None of the Porters disagreed. They owed everything they knew to Smitty. He had put them up on all the capers and bank/diamond heists. He also acted as there consultant and advisor, being that he was an ex- criminal who was known for being one of the best bank robbers Maryland had ever seen during the 80’s.
“Damn, you didn’t handle that earlier?” Dayvid asked just before he took another gulp of the expensive drink.
“No, I got too busy. I was trying to get things squared away with the safe house and I forgot to stop by his place.” Rain walked over to the smallest bag that contained close to one hundred thousand dollars in it and threw it over her shoulders.
“Yo, you want me to roll with you?” Dayvid asked, but Rain rejected.
“Nah, I’m good. Y’all do y’all thing and I will be back later. Save me some of that champagne too nigga,” Rain said as she headed out the back door.
“See you in a few big sis,” Autumn called out to her sister.
Not even twenty minutes later…
BANG! The door came crashing in! POLICE! BANG!
“MMMM!” Autumn was jerked out of her dream, which ended with what was more like a nightmare. “MMMM!” She tried to scream but a leather glove covered hand clamped down forcefully over her nose and mouth. She couldn’t breathe and her eyes were stretched so wide they hurt at the edges. Autumn kicked her legs and tried to flail her arms, but she was not a match for the six men that had their hands all over her. Her heart threatened to burst from her chest and urine escaped her bladder.
“I must admit…you were good up until now. A very important person is dying to meet you…or more like you’re going to die when you meet him,” a man with a thick Mexican accent hissed as his helpers bounded and gagged Autumn. “Everything you’ve done has come back to haunt you. You can’t get away with murder…it always catches up to you,” the man chastised in an eerie, scary movie voice.
“Tie her up!” he commanded unleashing his goons on her like wild dogs on a piece of meat. They began raining punches and slaps down all over her body at will. The pain that engulfed her entire body was like nothing she’d ever felt before. How did they find me? Why? She was screaming in her head. She opened her mouth to scream, but a gag was immediately stuffed in it so her efforts were for nothing. They taunted her as they beat her. They were hitting her like she was a man. A punch to her left temple sent little squirms of light flitting through her eyes and threatened to make her black out. Pain was clouding her mind as someone dragged her onto the floor. Her back and tailbone crashed against the floor sending a shockwave of point straight up her spine. Suddenly her legs went completely numb. Before they placed the ropes around her feet one of the men let out a loud, maniacal cackle and then kicked her in the stomach. She felt a hot liquid leak from her pussy after the kick and instinctively she knew it was blood. Autumn was forced over onto her stomach and her arms were wrenched behind her back until her shoulders locked. Next, one of the men stomped on her back and she felt something inside crack and pop. They hogtied her hands so tight around her wrist that her fingers went completely numb. She was hoisted up and hit at least a h
undred more times before they finally decided it was time to move her. A black bag was placed over her head as they dragged her from her hotel room. Autumn could feel dirt and gravel from the ground embedding itself in her delicate skin. If this beating was anything like the death they were going to subject her to, she wished for it to happen immediately. She thought about how her brother and sisters would react when they found out about how she died and it made her sick. An eruption of vomit spewed up from her stomach and threatened to choke her to death. Tears streamed down her face in buckets. She had made it to Mexico and was so close to reuniting with her siblings, but now she was probably going to die at the hands of these strangers and never see Rain, Dayvid, or Fallon again.
Chapter 10 The End of the Line
Bound, gagged, brutally beaten and barely clinging to consciousness, Autumn was finally thrown into the back of a van. She was a mess of blood, vomit, and urine. She knew she was dying because she had heard older people always say when you die all of your bodily fluids release right before. Autumn had blacked out and came back into consciousness a few times since the beating had started. Her body involuntarily curled in on itself until she laid in a tight fetal position. It was the body’s natural defense from the type of abuse she was being subjected to. Her face was a bloodied mess and throbbing from the beating she took while trying to fight off her kidnappers. Autumn knew that her nose, cheeks, and probably both eye sockets were broken. The pain shooting through the base of her skull was probably a signal of a fractured skull as well. Autumn felt like every single one of her ribs were broken and she found it hard to take even a small breath without a ball of pain exploding through her torso. Her lungs were probably punctured by one or more of the broken ribs because she swore she would suffocate to death. She couldn’t get her lungs to fill with air for nothing. When she would come back into consciousness, she could smell the strong scent of a musty body odor, stale cigar smoke, and gunpowder all around her. She could also faintly hear the men who’d beaten her talking in Spanish. After a while it seemed to her like the movement of the van had gotten slower. Although her eyes were covered, she could sense the presence of a lot of people in the van with her, maybe more than just the ones that had snatched her from the hotel. Not a good sign for her fate. Autumn had no fight left in her. She had finally been defeated by her journey to reunite with her siblings.