Knee Deep in the Game

by Boston George

  “So what do I have to do?” Pop asked.

  “This cocksucker Tito has got to go, and I know how much you hate him so I thought you might want this job, I saved it just for you,” Fresh said nonchalantly.

  “Yeah, I’ll take care of it,” Pop answered flatly. Pop didn’t really want to hurt people any more. The reason he started hurting people in the first place was so he could get paid. Now that he was paid he didn’t have the hunger inside of him to really hurt people any more, but he took the job ’cause he needed the extra money, and he couldn’t stand Tito. After what Pop did to Amanda he no longer had that fire inside of him, like back when he was broke and hungry. Now that he had money the more he hurt people the less it made sense.

  “It’s about fuckin’ time you let me get at this clown,” he said, feeling a little saucy already. Pop didn’t like doing jobs anymore, but since Tito was the victim, he didn’t have a problem with this one.

  Tito sat in the passenger seat of the Honda staring out the window, patiently waiting to see the person he was looking for. In the driver’s seat sat one of his flunkies.

  “Yo, you sure this nigga gonna show up?” the flunky asked, looking over at Tito.

  “Yeah, this where he always be at,” Tito replied as he took a long drag from his piff. He was waiting for a local hustler who went by the name Trees. About a week before Tito approached Trees with his proposition and he turned it down, so now he had to pay.

  Trees stepped out of his building with a frown on his face. He had just got finished beating up his baby mother ’cause he was looking through her phone and found a few male numbers in there.

  “Bitches get on my last nerve,” Trees mumbled as he looked down at his cell phone.

  “Yo, there go your boy right there,” the flunky, said pointing.

  “Pull up on that nigga slow,” Tito said, cocking back his P89 and sitting it on his lap.

  Trees sat with his phone in his hand texting. He never noticed the Honda rolling up on him.

  The flunky pulled the Honda up directly in front of the victim.

  “A yo, my man,” Tito called out. His arm hung out the window, revealing the P89.

  When Trees saw Tito he almost shitted on himself. “Yo, yo chill,” he pleaded as he began to backpedal.

  Tito quickly raised his arm and let off five shots. Each shot found a home somewhere in Tree’s body.

  Once Tito stuck his arm back inside the window, his flunky gunned the engine, fleeing the crime scene.

  Jason stood on the block, watching the fiends come and go. “That’s right get that money,” Jason said to himself as he watched his workers trade the fiends crack for money.

  “There go my nigga right there,” Jason mumbled when he saw the Benz pull up to the curb.

  “How it’s looking out here, B?” Pop asked as he stepped out of his Benz and gave Jason a pound.

  “Yo, the block jumping like the playoffs right now,” Jason boasted.

  “That’s what I like to hear, B,” Pop said as he stepped in the bodega to grab him something to drink. “Yo, J., come take a ride with me real quick,” Pop said, reappearing out of the store.

  “What’s on ya mind, Pop?”

  “Nothing I just want to let you know that you been doing a real good job out here on these streets,” Pop said, pulling out into traffic.

  “Come on, Pop, you know I’m going to do what I have to do to get this paper by any means necessary, baby,” Jason boasted proudly.

  “Yeah, I know, that’s what I need to talk to you about, B,” Pop said with one hand on the steering wheel, “I might be leaving soon.”

  “Where you going?” Jason asked, turning his neck so fast he saw Pop flinch.

  “I don’t know, I might be leaving town for a while real soon,” Pop revealed.

  “You don’t even have to tell me, I know you going to have to shut the block down, right?” Jason asked.

  “Nah, actually I was going to pass the shit over to you,” he said as he watched a Kool-Aid smile appear on Jason’s face.

  “Get the fuck out of here, you serious?” Jason asked in disbelief.

  “Yeah, you been doing such a good job I decided to keep the money in the family,” Pop told him.

  “That’s what’s up, so when you plan on leaving?”

  “Probably at the end of the month, but the only thing is for this last month I’m not going to be able to pay you ’cause I need this money to move, but once I’m gone you going to be getting all the money, you dig?” Pop stated.

  “Yeah, I’m with that, whatever I can do to help I’m going to do it,” Jason said seriously.

  “Yeah, baby, four more weeks, and I’m out of here,” Pop said out loud as he and Jason cruised around Harlem.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Week One

  The day seemed to drag along as Pop sat in a black Honda one block away from where Tito stood with a few of his soldiers. Pop was trying to see if Tito had a regular routine so it would be easier to erase the man, instead of getting into a reckless shoot-out with Tito in the middle of the street.

  “Yo, I’m going to get up with y’all fools later,” Tito said as he hopped in his Porsche and pulled out into traffic. For the whole ride he noticed the Honda tailing him. Pop made sure he stayed at least three cars behind the Porsche, so Tito wouldn’t spot him.

  “This mu’fucka must think I’m stupid,” Tito said, looking through his rearview mirror at the black Honda. “This what the fuck I’m talking about, let’s get it poppin’,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road as he cocked back his P89 and placed it on his lap. Pop stopped two blocks away as he saw the Porsche stop in front of an apartment building. Seconds later Pop noticed a nice-looking woman come strolling out of the building. He watched as she slid in the passenger seat of the Porsche.

  “Hey, baby,” Nice Titties said as she kissed Tito on the cheek.

  “What’s good? I see you looking sexy as usual,” Tito said, taking a second to look at the woman’s body before he continued. “What’s good, you want to go grab something to eat?”

  “Sure, why not?” Nice Titties answered shrugging her shoulders. She didn’t care what they did. She was just happy to be around the up-and-coming street hustler. As soon as Tito pulled off, Nice Titties’ head quickly disappeared down into Tito’s lap.

  Tito almost lost control of the vehicle when he felt the young lady’s lips wrapped around his love stick. He watched her head bob up and down in a slow but steady pace. Twenty minutes later Tito parallel-parked across the street from a fancy restaurant. Before he stepped out the Porsche he made sure he placed his P89 in his waistband so he could reach it quicker when necessary. When Pop saw Tito and his lady friend step out of the vehicle, he made his move. He quickly threw on his hockey mask followed by his hoodie as he cocked back his .45 and hopped out the Honda. He walked softly but at a fast pace, trying not to be detected.

  “You know you my favorite girl, right?” Tito lied, putting his arm around Nice Titties.

  As Tito continued lying to his female friend, he slowly slid his P89 from his waistband and clutched it tight in his hand. When Pop got close enough to his target his heart began to pound in anticipation of what was about to pop off. He quickly aimed his .45 at Tito’s back and pulled the trigger.

  As Tito walked something told him to turn around now. When Tito turned around he saw a man in a hockey mask holding a gun. Instantly, his survival skills kicked in full-blast. Tito quickly pulled Nice Titties in front of him. Her body jerked back from the impact of the multiple shots that exploded in her chest.

  Tito tried to continue to use Nice Titties’ body as a human shield but her lifeless body was too heavy for him to continue to hold up. Without thinking twice he quickly tossed the woman’s lifeless body to the ground like a rag doll as he dashed into the restaurant, throwing three reckless shots over his shoulder in the process.

  Pop dodged the three shots as he followed his target inside the restaurant. When all th
e rich white people saw the Dominican man run in the restaurant with a gun in his hand, they immediately started to panic.

  “Oh my God, he’s got a gun!” a white woman screamed out, immediately causing a mini-stampede to form.

  When Pop entered the restaurant, he saw Tito trying to blend in with the white crowd. Without hesitation Pop aimed his .45 at the crowd, sending three shots in their direction.

  As Tito tried to find a way out of the restaurant, he noticed a white woman next to him drop to the floor from a bullet from the gunman.

  Tito found himself running into a dead end. He quickly turned toward the window and sent two shots from his Ruger into the thick glass. The two bullets went straight through the glass causing it to shatter but not break. When Tito saw the gunman getting closer, he ran full speed toward the window. Once close enough, he jumped through the shattered glass, landing onto the street.

  “Fuck!” Pop yelled, knowing he couldn’t continue the chase because the police would be there in no time.

  When Pop made it outside he quickly ran around the corner and removed his hockey mask and hoodie as he ran to the next avenue to catch a cab. As Pop sat in the cab he saw several police cars storming past him, headed in the opposite direction. “That was a close one,” he said to himself as he closed his eyes for the rest of the ride. All he could think about was how close he had come blowing it all by getting locked up.

  Seven hours later, Tito showed back up to the crime scene. “It’s on and poppin’ now,” he said to himself as he hopped back in his Porsche and peeled off.

  Tito didn’t know who had tried to kill him but he knew Fresh had something to do with it. He drove down the street like a madman who just lost his best friend; the only thing on his mind was getting even with Fresh. Tito had a street reputation to uphold, and he planned on doing his best to do that.

  “These mu’fucka must be crazy,” Tito laughed loudly before he continued. “Sending a fuckin’ rookie to try to smoke me, it probably was that young street punk Pop,” he said out loud, replaying the scene over again in his head as he pulled up in front of his house. No matter what Tito did he just couldn’t stop thinking about the situation. “Fuck that,” he said as he walked to his closet and pulled out a black hoodie. “These fools done fucked with the wrong one,” he growled as he reloaded his P89 and headed right back out the door. Instead of hopping in his Porsche, this time Tito hopped in his all-black Acura.

  He took seven minutes to roll up a blunt before he finally pulled out of his driveway. When Tito finally made it to his destination, he slowly rolled down his window and grabbed his P89.

  “Now mu’fucka wanna be hiding and shit,” Tito said out loud as he noticed all the lights in Fresh’s warehouse were off.

  Once Tito was directly in front of the warehouse, he stuck his arm out the window and let a whole clip full of fireballs spit from his cannon. The bullets shattered every window in the warehouse, and left big dents in the places that couldn’t be shattered.

  “Fuck boys,” Tito snarled as he left the smell of burned rubber in the air. He knew that there was nobody in the warehouse, but his plan was to send a message, and that message was, let the war begin!

  Chapter Eighteen

  Week Two

  As Pop stepped out his Benz he immediately didn’t like the looks of the dark streets. “Yo, hurry up,” Pop told Nika as he checked the pistol in his waist, making sure the gun didn’t protrude.

  Ever since the hit on Tito hadn’t gone through as planned, Pop had been very paranoid, especially when he was with Nika, because he knew if anything happened to her because of him, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

  “Is everything all right, baby?” Nika asked, noticing that the look on Pop’s face was a look of worry.

  “Yeah, everything is cool,” Pop answered quickly, looking in the opposite direction. Nika knew something was wrong, but she left the issue alone because she knew Pop had a lot on his mind, and the last thing she wanted was Pop to not have a clear mind, so close to them leaving the city that never sleeps.

  “Yo, let me get a table for two,” Pop said as the nice waitress escorted him and Nika to their table.

  “Here you go,” the waitress said, handing the couple two menus as they took their seats.

  “I’ll be back to take your order in a second,” the waitress said, giving Pop a sexy look before she disappeared in the kitchen.

  “You know that bitch or something?” Nika asked snaking her neck.

  “Come on, don’t start that bullshit tonight, we came to have a good time, so let’s just enjoy ourselves,” Pop said, not wanting Nika to mess up the night.

  “Well that bitch better act like she got some mu’fuckin’ sense when she come back this way,” Nika said, sucking her teeth.

  “Calm down, baby, let’s just talk about what we going to do for these kids, and have a good time,” Pop said, trying to change the subject. “I was thinking about opening up an after-school center or something like that. What you think about that, baby?”

  “That sounds cool but if you do that then you probably going to have to do that in Miami instead of New York,” Nika suggested.

  “Yeah, you right,” he agreed.

  “Baby, your idea sounds great,” Nika said, placing her hand on top of Pop’s hand. Before she could say another word the waitress reappeared at the table.

  “Y’all ready to order yet? she huffed.

  “Yeah, let me get a steak, some French fries, and a bottle of champagne,” Pop said, handing the waitress back the menu.

  “And will you be having anything?” the waitress asked, rolling her eyes at Nika.

  “Yeah, I’ll have a chicken breast, some yellow rice, and a salad, thank you,” Nika said, looking the waitress up and down as she handed her back the menu. The waitress gave Nika one last dirty look before she disappeared back into the kitchen. “If this bitch looks at you like that one more time I’m going to slap the shit out of her,” Nika said sharply.

  “Now you bugging, just chill the fuck out, it’s not even that serious,” Pop said, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.

  “It is that serious, because if it was reversed you would be acting a damn fool and you know it,” Nika said cutting her eyes at him.

  “Not true at all,” he countered smoothly.

  “I glad you think everything is so funny,” Nika said, nodding her head.

  “Babes, I’m not even laughing,” he pleaded.

  “Okay, y’all enjoy the meal and if there’s anything I can get for you just holla, and I do mean anything!” the waitress said, making sure she dragged out the word.

  “Get the fuck up out of here!” Nika said as she tossed her drink in the waitress’s face.

  “Bitch, you must be crazy,” the waitress barked as she began to take off her earrings. Before the waitress could retaliate another male waiter had come and grabbed her.

  “Bitch, you lucky he’s holding me back,” the waitress said, desperately try to get loose.

  “You better hold that bitch back if you care about her,” Nika said, removing a small razor blade from her purse.

  “Come on, come on, it’s time to go ’cause you don’t know how to act,” Pop said escorting his woman out of the restaurant. “Baby, you overreacted back there, that lady was just doing her job.”

  “Yeah, and I was just doing my job, too,” Nika shot back, giving Pop a look that could kill.

  Instead of engaging in an argument, Pop just remained silent ‘cause he knew if the tables had been turned he would have reacted the same way. For the whole walk to the car Pop was quiet as a mouse—the only thing on his mind was how good the makeup sex was going to be.

  “Damn, baby, how long you going to be mad for?” Pop asked with a smirk on his face.

  “I’m glad you think everything is so funny,” Nika said as her and Pop continued to walk to the car.

  “Baby, I’m sorry,” he said as he hugged her in the middle of th
e street.

  Meanwhile, across the street, Tito sat in the passenger seat of the stolen Acura while his main flunky sat in the driver’s seat.

  “You sure this the restaurant they in?” Tito asked, running out of patience.

  “Yeah, my man just called me and said he saw Pop go up in there with some chick,” the Mack answered.

  “How reliable is your source?” Tito asked, getting frustrated.

  “There that nigga go, right there,” the Mack said, pointing at Pop and Nika exiting the restaurant. Once Tito spotted Pop his eyes quickly got as big as peppermint balls. He swiftly pulled his P89 from his waistband and cocked it back.

  “You want me to pull up or you wanna take him on foot?” the Mack asked with his .45 sitting on his lap.

  “Nah, I’m taking this one on foot. I need him to see my face, Tito said as he slowly slid out of the passenger seat of the Acura. “I want you to pull up down the block and walk down just in case that bitch-ass nigga try to run,” Tito ordered as he pulled the strings down on his hoodie while he proceeded to cross the street.

  “I’ma make it up to you when we get home,” Pop said as he draped his arm around Nika’s neck. “Plus you know I only got eyes for you,” he told her.

  “I bet you tell all the ladies that,” Nika said as she spun around so she could come out of Pop’s arms. When she spun around she saw a hooded man carrying something shiny in his hand.

  “Baby, watch out!” Nika screamed as she tried to pull Pop into the street and out of the gunman’s line of fire.

  “Fuck you doing?” Pop said, confused. By the time he realized what was going on he felt something hot and powerful pierce through his shoulder. The impact from the bullet caused Pop to spin around and fall on top of the hood of a parked car. Nika quickly dragged him off the hood of the car onto the concrete as the next two bullets left big dents on the hood of the car and sent other car alarms off.