Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 (More Money More Problems)

by Unique, Kiki Swinson presents

  I kept my eyes glued to the TV. I felt like if I had looked at Bishop long enough he’d know something wasn’t quite right. And every so often, my mind would take me back to the fact that Agent Sean was hiding in my bedroom closet. I asked God a couple of times while Bishop paced the floor back and forth, to make sure he remained still inside of the closet because the devil would surely come out if Bishop had his way.

  Finally a commercial aired on TV and by this time Bishop had taken a seat on the other sofa. He looked down at his wristwatch once again and said, “I can’t believe this nigga hasn’t gotten here yet. He knew we had something to do.”

  “Who’s supposed to drive?” I asked.

  “He is.”

  “Well, maybe he stopped to get some gas.” I commented. I was trying to stay neutral in this whole thing. The worst thing I could’ve done to myself was act all paranoid. Bishop would’ve saw through it the minute he sat down on the other sofa.

  Bishop looked at his Blackberry once again. “Why the fuck he ain’t answering his phone? He knew what we had to do.”

  “What is his phone doing after you call it?” I wondered aloud. I knew when Bishop called it, it went straight to voicemail because I was the one who powered it off, but I had to play the role.

  Frustrated, Bishop said, “That shit keeps going straight to voicemail.”

  “Maybe his phone went dead.” I offered to say. But my insides were boiling over. I just wanted Bishop to come to the conclusion out that Torch wasn’t coming so he’d get up and leave. I was sweating bullets underneath my armpits. I felt that if Bishop hadn’t hurried up and left the apartment, something else would go wrong.

  Bishop sighed. “Yeah, you might be right. But then again, I know how that nigga is, and if I tell him to meet me, he’s going to be there. So, my gut is telling me something ain’t right.”

  “Stop overreacting. I told you that he’s probably just getting some gas. So, I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

  “I understand all of that. But, I gotta be somewhere at a certain time and if he doesn’t hurry up, I’m gonna have to hit the road alone.” Bishop told me.

  Thankfully the movie I was watching came back on. And when I turned my focus back on it, Bishop got the hint and went back outside. And as soon as he closed the door behind himself, I let out a sigh of relief. Sorry to say, my exhale moment was short lived because in a matter of fifteen seconds, Bishop was right back in the apartment with me.

  “I can’t wait for this nigga another minute. But if he comes here after I’m gone, tell ‘em I got the stuff and to meet me at the spot across town.”

  “Is that all you want me to tell him?”

  “Yeah, ‘cause after you say that, he’ll know what you’re talking about. Oh and by the way, I got my number changed.”

  “When did you do that?”

  Bishop stood at the front door. “I got it changed a couple hours ago. So, get your phone and lock me in when you see a 973-555-1212 number.”

  I reached for my phone. “When are you going to call me?”

  “I’m gonna do it now while I’m walking back to the car.” he replied.

  “Okidoki.” I said and then I turned my attention once again towards the TV. I had to pretend that my focus was on the TV so he’d leave as quickly as possible. And guess what? It worked. After Bishop closed the front door, my phone rung and his new cell phone number appeared. I keyed in his name next to it and then I saved it. Immediately after that, stood to my feet and exhaled. There was nothing like having all of that pressure released from my entire body. I swear, if Bishop would’ve stuck around for at least another thirty minutes, there was a huge chance that I could’ve had a heart attack. I knew too much about everything involving Bria’s disappearance, Manuel’s run in with the raid on his spot, Torch being arrested and the indictment that would soon be served on Bishop and the rest of the group, so my cup was full. I’m surprised that I hadn’t had a fucking nervous breakdown. There’s no way a person could know all of what I knew and still have a sane mind. I knew one thing, if I didn’t hurry up and get out of this environment, I may end up creating my own demise.

  Constantly looking over my shoulders!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

  The Clock is Ticking – Chapter Sixteen

  When I felt like Bishop had gone out of the neighborhood, I raced back to my bedroom and flung the closet door open. Agent Sean was standing to his feet when I laid eyes on him. Sweat was popping around the temple area of his head. And he looked kind of flustered so I stepped aside, giving him enough room to exit the closet. “Is he gone?” he immediately asked.

  I exhaled. “Oh my God! Yes, he’s gone. But it feels like I’m about to have a fucking panic attack.”

  Sean grabbed me by the hand and led me to my bed. “Take a seat. And breathe in and out a few times and you’ll be alright.” he instructed me.

  I took a seat and did the breathing exercises for a minute or so and realized that I had felt just a little bit better. And while I continued his method to calm myself down, he pulled out his cell phone and made a call. “Hey Amy is he gone?”

  “Yes, we’re following him now. And we can tell that he’s definitely in a hurry.” I heard the female caller. The volume on Sean’s Blackberry was up very high.

  “Well, if he gets way ahead of you, just fall back. Remember we can’t afford to bring any attention to ourselves. He’s already expressed that he believes that we’re on to him, so again just be careful. And if there’s a chance that you lose him, then it’s fine. Just come back to the apartment building and get back to your post.”

  “Okay. Got it.” I heard her say and they ended their call.

  “I just got word that Bishop is long gone. So, let’s get back on track before he decides that he wants to come back.” Sean insisted.

  He stood over me while I sat on the edge of my bed in deep thought. I was still trying to calm down my nerves. My mental state was in disarray. But that didn’t’ matter to Sean.

  “Come one Lynise, the clock is ticking.” he uttered from his lips, giving me a look of frustration.

  The pressure was coming down upon me once again. But I stood my ground. “Sean I told you I wasn't putting that wire back on me. Now if you want to arrest me and get me for obstructing justice, then do it, because right now I don't know if I'm coming or going.”

  Sean stood there for a moment. I could tell he was feeling irritated, but at this point I could care less. There was nothing he could do to me that hadn't already been done. Having lived in Virginia all my damn life, I’d been introduced to everything underneath the sun from getting my ass whipped by disrespectful ass niggas to doing time in jail behind some shit that had nothing to do with me. So nothing and I mean nothing Agent Sean does to me is going to penetrate this hard skin I have.

  “I'll be right back.” he said and then he left the room.

  I had no idea what he was about to do so I waited for him to come back into my room after he'd concocted another one of his dumb ass plans. “Hey Amy,” I heard him say, and that's when I figured out he had gotten the female agent back on the phone. I could tell he had gone into the bathroom, because I would hear the acoustics echoing after every word he uttered, “do you think we can get a couple of the techs to come out to this apartment and set up a couple wiretaps?”

  I couldn't hear Amy's response this time so I waited for Sean to give me the verdict. “Okay. Well call the office and put in a work order. We need this thing done like yesterday.” Sean expressed.

  Once again the load was lifted from my shoulders. But there's no telling how long that feeling would last. It seemed like every other minute Sean had some bullshit story up his sleeve.

  After Sean made his phone call he came back in the room and gave me some bogus spiel. I listened to him harp on the fact that he was doing me a favor by putting wiretaps in the apartment. He could have talked to me until he was blue in the face, but I would've continued to stand my ground a
bout not wearing that stupid wire.

  In the end I got what I wanted and he got what he wanted, so it was a win-win for the both of us. And the only person, who lost out, was Torch. I knew by now he was spitting fire while he was stuck in that one-man cell. And to know that it was all because of me, I knew he'd give every penny he had in his stash to get his hands on me. I never wanted to imagine what they would do to me if they knew I was no longer on their side. It's a scary thought when you're in a dark place and there's no one around to help you. So to stay alive, I now realized that I needed to stay one step ahead of the FEDS and one step ahead of Bishop because the clock was ticking.

  While Agent Sean was on his way out of the apartment, he stopped in the middle of the living room floor and then he turned back around to face my bedroom. I was still sitting on the edge of my bed. But I could see him from where I was. And when he began to head back down the hallway towards me, I tried to build up a mental wall, because I had a huge feeling that he was about to come out of his mouth sideways. I took a deep breath and braced for whatever he threw at me.

  “Before I forget, tell me what was inside of that electrical taped package Bishop took from underneath your bottom drawer?”

  I knew Sean was going to come out of left field when he opened his mouth. I also knew that he would question me about what Bishop was doing when he came into the bedroom and closed the door. I actually thought he was going to ask me this shit sooner than he did.

  “How did it look?” I asked, trying to play naïve.

  “It was a square shaped package, about ten inches long and about four inches wide. And it was wrapped up in multiple layers of grey electrical tape.”

  “I can’t tell you anything about that. Are you sure you saw him take something from underneath my drawer?”

  “Yes. While I was hiding inside your closet I was able to see him through the slanted wooden plates on your door. So when he came into the bedroom I got a clear view of him removing the last drawer from the dresser and after he got it completely out, he turned the drawer upside down, took the package that was taped to the bottom of it and then he shoved the drawer back in it’s place.”

  Wow you sure saw a lot. I commented.

  Yeah I did. And what really peaked my interest was the fact that immediately after he got the package in his hands, he shoved it down into in jeans. And then he tried to cover it up with his t-shirt.

  “Well, if you know all of this then why are you asking me questions? I mean, it seems like you already have all the answers.”

  “You're absolutely right. But I need you to confirm what I just witnessed. So, you're saying you have no knowledge of what could've been inside of that package?”

  “Yeah, that's exactly what I am saying. Bishop doesn't tell me anything.”

  “He didn’t tell you about that drop you made to Manuel’s house, but as it turned out, you were trafficking drugs.” he replied sarcastically.

  “Okay. So, you got a point. But again, he doesn’t tell me anything. I know you heard him when he told me to tell Torch to meet him at the spot. He didn’t give me any more information than that. Oh but he did give me his new cell phone number.”

  “Where is it? Give it to me.” he demanded.

  “It’s 973-555-1212.”

  “Hold, up! You’re saying it too fast. Say it again, but this time say it slow.” he instructed me after he pulled an ink pen and a business card from the inside of his jacket pocket.

  I recited Bishop’s new cell phone number to Sean. And when he was done writing it down, he stuck both the pen and the business card back into his jacket pocket. “Do you know how many guns he has?” Sean wanted to know.

  “Of course not. Since I’ve been in his company I’ve only seen him with one gun.”

  “What kind was it?”

  “I don’t know.” I lied. I couldn’t let him know that I knew anything about guns. I wanted to play the naïve role as much as possible. It was bad enough that he knew about my dilemma back in Virginia. So, to add more fuel to the fire would take my criminal resume to higher height and that wasn’t cool.

  Sean gave me an expression like he knew I was lying to him. And quiet as kept, I was. But that was a lie, among others, that I intended to take to my grave. Agent Sean had already had me under lock and key with this investigation so this was some information I had to keep close to my heart. Yes, I knew Bishop stashed his dope in my bedroom but I refused to tell Sean about it. After Sean served the indictments on Bishop and his crew, I planned to rob Bishop for everything I could get my hands on, and that included his the dope packages he stashed in the apartment. I vowed to take back everything I lost in all the relationships I had in the past. I was going to make Bishop pay for all the niggas who dogged me out. Now I knew that my actions weren’t fair, but guess what? Life wasn’t fair either.

  Agent Sean wasn’t too please with the answers I had given him. But it didn’t matter to me. I knew how to play his dumb ass to the left when I needed to. He wasn’t all that hard like he portrayed to be. So, that’s exactly what I did. But before he left the apartment, he instructed me to be out of the house by ten o’clock in the morning because his team would be by to install the wiretaps. “Stay gone for at least two hours. And make sure Bishop is with you. We can’t have another episode like we did earlier.” he said.

  I thought I needed to get some rest after Agent Sean and Bishop left the apartment but I was wrong. I don't know if it was my conscience for my intuition telling me that I needed to keep one eye open and the other eye closed.

  When I looked at the alarm clock I noticed that it was a little after 3 AM. Bishop never came back to the apartment, but he called and asked me if Torch ever stopped by. So of course I lied and told him he never showed up. The news definitely hit him like a ton of bricks and caused him to become more aggravated. I could also sense that he was worried too. But what was I supposed to say? That he came by earlier and that he snuck up behind me while I was having a conversation with Agent Sean. And that he heard us talking about me wearing a fucking wire so I could set them up? Yeah, that would be the day I lost all consciousness. And before I knew it, my body would be cut up into tiny little pieces and thrown into an old dumpster. And the crazy part about it was that no one would ever look for me or put out a missing person’s report. My own family wouldn’t even come looking for me. Since I was a child, my relationship with them was screwed up. It seemed like everyone including mom, my dad and even my ex-best friend Diamond had it out for me. And the cats I had in my life weren’t all that good to me either. If they weren’t cheating on me, they were beating my ass. But then, Bishop popped up in my life and acted like he was the best thing since sliced bread. And it turned out that he was a fraud just like everyone else. Who knew that he and I would get together and I would follow him all the way up north to start a new life, only to find out that he was being investigated by the FEDS and that he was about to go to jail for a very long time. So, in the end it didn’t matter that he was an asshole like everyone around me, because he wouldn’t have been any good to me behind bars. I never did the prison visits or the pen pal thing. So, I guessed my life would be just like it always had, Fucked Up As Usual!

  I need an exhale moment!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

  Taking What’s Mine – Chapter Seventeen

  The very next day was the day Agent Sean and his team decided to plant the wiretap inside of the apartment. They left it totally up to me to keep Bishop busy for the next couple of hours. Sean instructed me to leave the apartment around 10 AM, so I called Bishop around eight-thirty and complained to him about a stomach virus I must’ve gotten over night. My plan was to get him to think that I was so sick that I needed him to take me to one of the non-emergency medical centers in the area so I could get treated. When he answered his phone, it sounded like he had just wakened up. “Hello,” he said.

  “Are you just now waking up?” I asked.

  He yawned through the phone
. “Yeah, you know I was up all night trying to handle my business and get in touch with Torch at the same time.”

  “What time did you finally get in bed?

  “I got in the house a little after 4 AM but I didn't fall asleep until around five.”

  “Well what time are you planning to come out the house today?”

  “I don't know. Why? What's up?”

  “I'm not feeling too good. I feel so nauseous when I stand up for a long time. And when I tried to put something on my stomach it came right back up. I think I need to go to one of these non-emergency medical facilities so they can check me out.”

  “Well there's one not too far from where you are. So why don't you get dressed and go.”

  “I called you because I was hoping you would take me.”

  “Lynise, I am too tired to go anywhere right now. I've only had a couple hours of sleep. So there's no way I'll be able to crawl out of this bed. My body won't let me.”

  I sighed heavily. “So you're going back to bed after you hang up with me?”

  “That's the plan.”

  “Well, I'm too weak to drive myself anywhere. So, I guess I'll wait for you.”

  Bishop remained silent for about twenty seconds and then he said, “Get ready. I'll be over there in an hour.”

  And before I could acknowledge that I would do as I was instructed, Bishop disconnected our call. I started to take offense to it, but since I knew how tired he was, I left well enough alone.

  Before I got dressed I called Sean and informed Sean that the plan to keep Bishop away from the apartment was still a go, but we would be leaving 30 minutes. earlier than the appointed time. “That’s fine,” he said, “just make sure you stay on schedule. We got a lot riding on this wiretap.”

  “I know. Don’t worry! I’ll take care of my end.” I assured him.

  “Oh did I tell you we confiscated one hundred thousand dollars from Torch’s car?” Agent Sean asked.