The Mark

by Kiki Swinson

  I hesitated for a moment before I opened my mouth and gave these guys a rebuttal. I had to weigh the pros and cons of Trevor’s plan. I figured the likelihood that the guys wouldn’t suspect anything unusual if Trevor knocked on their door and asked for someone who didn’t live there was slim to none. Guys who sold drugs out of trap houses are always suspicious. So this time wouldn’t be any different. “Trevor, I don’t think you should do it,” I warned him.

  “Why not?” he asked me.

  “Because I just don’t.”

  “You gotta give me a better reason than that.” Trevor wouldn’t let up.

  “Because it may not work,” I told him.

  “Well, we’ll just see about that,” Trevor said, and then he abruptly got out of the front seat of his Jeep.

  “Wait, where are you going?” I yelled, but it was too late. Trevor had already closed the car door.

  “Let him go, Chantel. If one of those niggas swing on him and whip his ass, just remember that he brought this on himself,” Quincy spoke up.

  I moved to the middle of the backseat and watched Trevor through the front windshield as he approached the duplex. No one was standing outside so I held my breath as he walked up toward the front door. Seconds later, Trevor knocked on the door. He looked back at Quincy and me while he waited for someone to answer. A few moments later, the front door of the duplex opened. One of Kanan’s workers stood in the doorway and looked at Trevor from head to toe. Trevor’s mouth started moving, so I assumed that he said hello, and gave the spiel he’d run by Quincy and me. Immediately after his mouth stopped moving, the guy standing in the doorway said something to Trevor. For the next five to ten seconds, words transpired between the two of them. I even saw the guy at the door crack a smile. I swear, I couldn’t believe what was going on. “I guess his plan is working out after all,” Quincy stated.

  “It sure looks that way, huh?” I agreed.

  Three seconds later, the guy turned around to close the door. Trevor turned around too like he was getting ready to leave but he doubled back and looked over his shoulder before the guy could close the front door. The guy saw what Trevor did, and instead of closing the door he opened it wider and motioned for Trevor to come to him. Trevor turned back around, walked up to the entryway, and without warning, the guy looked to his left and then to the right, and then he grabbed Trevor by the collar of his shirt and yanked his entire body into the house. The front door slammed shut. I gasped. “Fuck! Did you see that?” Quincy gasped. He almost seemed spooked.

  “Yes, I saw,” I said, panicking. My first reaction was to jump behind the driver’s seat of the Jeep and pull off. But I knew it wouldn’t be right to do that so I took a deep breath and exhaled.

  “What are we going to do?” Quincy wanted to know.

  “I don’t know,” I replied, because in reality I didn’t know. Okay, I was strapped with my gun. But that was only one gun compared the countless ones those niggas may have had in the house. So how was I gonna go to war with them? Those guys outnumbered Quincy and me. We were no match for them.

  “Why do you think he snatched him in the house like that?” Quincy’s questions continued.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’m calling the police,” Quincy said as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

  “No, we can’t do that. Not right now.” I knew that if he called the cops, shit was going to get worse before it got better.

  “Well, we can’t just leave him in there,” Quincy pointed out.

  “I know we can’t,” I said as my heart began to race at a rapid speed. My mind was scrambling to come up with a logical enough plan for getting Trevor out of the situation he had just put himself in.

  “We need to figure something out now,” Quincy said.

  “I know, I know. That’s what I am trying to do.”

  “This can’t be happening right now,” Quincy mumbled. “What if they hurt him? Or worse, what if they kill him?”

  “Quincy, please stop talking. I can’t hear myself think.”

  “Look, somebody is looking out the window,” Quincy yelled as he pointed toward the house.

  I looked up at the first-floor window on the side of the house and realized that he was being paranoid. “Quincy, I’m going to need you to calm down because no one is looking out the window,” I told him calmly.

  “But there is. You don’t see that black curtain moving?”

  “Okay, listen, you acting crazy like this isn’t going to help the situation. We’ve got to remain calm. We won’t be able to help him if we’re carrying on like this, Quincy.”

  “How do you want me to act? My roommate is in that fucking house with those drug dealers. They could be hurting him right now and you want me to be calm!” he spat.

  “Look, I’m gonna handle this,” I said, trying to calm him down. But it didn’t work. Quincy wasn’t trying to hear anything I had to say. He was dead-set on getting Trevor out of the house right then. And I understood him completely but we weren’t dealing with your average guys. We were dealing with street cats who would kill you if you looked at them wrong. Those guys played no games, especially when it came to their territory and their money.

  “If you don’t figure out a way to get my friend out of that house right now, then I have no other choice but to call the cops,” he replied.

  I sat there in silence for a moment trying to figure out the best way to handle this without any one of us getting hurt. Once again, I began to weigh the pros and the cons of me bringing out my gun, knowing I was going to be outnumbered. This shit wasn’t going to work at all. It wouldn’t be a fair fight at all. And as much as I wanted Quincy to know that I would fight for him, he also needed to know that it had to be on my terms.

  I was wanted by the cops for questioning in New York, and here in Virginia, so seeing them right now wouldn’t be a good time. I had to get my baby back first. Everything else was secondary and Quincy needed to know this.

  “Hey Quincy, listen, I’m gonna go around the back of the house and see if I can see or hear anything. Because if I can, then I’ll be able to figure out a way to get Trevor out of there without him getting hurt. All right?” I asked. I needed him to assure me that he wouldn’t do anything stupid while I was trying to check things out.

  He hesitated for a moment, and then he said, “Yeah, I’ll wait for you to check the house out. But if you come back and tell me that they’re beating my friend up, then I ain’t gonna have no choice but to call the cops.”

  “All right, that’s fair,” I said, knowing I didn’t agree with anything he’d just said. Did he really think that I was going to come back and tell him that Trevor was getting beat up, even if I saw it firsthand? No. That wasn’t going to happen. I warned Trevor not to go up to that house. But he wouldn’t listen, so now I had to take matters into my own hands.

  “Stay right here, and I will be right back,” I told him.

  “Okay. But you better hurry.”

  “I will. So don’t call the cops,” I instructed him as I slid out the backseat of the Jeep. Before Quincy could utter another word, I held my purse close to me with my gun inside and shut the door.

  I was on pins and needles, dreading that I had to face this unnecessary bullshit Trevor threw at me. All he had to do was shut the fuck up and stay his ass in the car. But no, he had to get his dumb ass out of the car and walk up to these niggas’ trap house like he was a fucking insurance man or something. Now he was probably tied up, getting the shit beat out of him. I swore if I came out of this thing unscathed, I was gonna beat Trevor’s ass myself.

  14

  THE WRONG MOVE

  Instead of walking up the sidewalk toward the duplex, I cut between the two houses where the Jeep was parked and circled around to a dark path that led to the back of the duplex. I climbed over the fence and crept up to the rear of the house. Lights were on everywhere. I approached the back door as I walked up the steps quietly. I knew I had to be extra careful not to
be heard. I stuck my hand inside my purse and grabbed ahold of my gun just in case I had to pull it out in a hurry. But before I could get close enough to the window located in the kitchen, a hand grabbed my shirt. I screamed, “Ahh!” and spun around in a flash.

  “Shh, it’s me, Quincy,” Quincy whispered.

  “What are you doing here? You scared the shit out of me!”

  “I came to see if you needed any help,” he continued to whisper.

  With my back turned toward the window and the kitchen door, the lights went out and the door swung open. Two guns were pointed directly at Quincy’s head and mine. “Get’cha motherfucking asses in here,” a masculine voice boomed.

  “Please don’t shoot!” I begged as I began to turn my body around.

  “Nah, don’t turn around. Back your ass up and walk backward,” the guy instructed as he grabbed ahold of the back of my shirt.

  I took one step backward and then I took another one while I was still holding on to my gun. I couldn’t see anything but the silhouette of Quincy’s body. I couldn’t see his face because the lights in the house had been turned off. But I could see Quincy’s body shivering with each step he took along with me. I tried to get his attention so I could hand him my gun but he wouldn’t look at me. His eyes were fixed on the two guys pointing their guns at us. I knew I couldn’t make any sudden moves because I’d risk getting shot in my back. And I didn’t want that. I wanted to live. I had my baby to think about.

  By the time I had stepped into the house one of the guys had pushed me off to the side and I stumbled and fell to the floor. In an attempt to break my fall, I pulled my hand out of my purse without letting the gun go, and it slid out of my hand onto the floor. It made a loud THUMP the same time I hit the floor. I heard it slide a few feet away from me. But it was dark, so I couldn’t see it. Simultaneously, both of the guys took their attention off Quincy for a mere second to see where I had fallen since it was dark, and Quincy bolted off the back porch and away from them like a flash of lightning.

  “He’s getting away!” one of the guys yelled.

  “Juice, get ’em!” another male’s voice boomed. I knew that voice instantly. It was coming from Kanan. Just like that, the other guy holding his gun bolted out the back door behind Quincy. I heard one gunshot and then I heard another one. By the time I heard the fourth gunshot, Kanan had me at gunpoint in the kitchen and slammed the back door shut. I lay on the floor in the fetal position. I swear I couldn’t take another man’s blood on my hands right now. I was still reeling from Derek’s death.

  Without warning, Kanan flipped on the light switch. It blinded me for a few seconds, so I covered my face with my arm.

  “Get the fuck up!” he roared as he stood over me.

  I removed my arms from my face slowly because I knew that at any moment he was going to know who I was, and my plans to get my baby would go out the window if Matt instructed him to get rid of me. Lord, please let Quincy get away alive, I prayed in my mind.

  “Get up, I said!” Kanan’s voice boomed even louder. I turned around on the floor and used both of my hands to push myself up. While I was doing so, I noticed my gun had slid underneath the kitchen table. I wished like hell that I could get it. I just hoped no one else would see it.

  “Who is it?” another voice spoke. It was coming from behind me. When I stood up completely on my feet, I turned around and faced Kanan and the other guy head-on. Kanan’s eyes grew twice the normal size. Shocked, Kanan kept his gun pointed at me but looked at the other guy and said, “Yo, Preech, that nigga in there wasn’t lying. This is the bitch with the baby. She was the one I took the dough from while I was in New York with Matt.”

  “That’s Matt’s ex-girl?” Preech asked as if he wanted clarification. He seemed more shocked than Kanan.

  “Yeah, and I can’t wait to tell Matt this shit,” he continued as he pulled his cell phone from his front pants pocket with his free hand.

  I stood there while Kanan dialed Matt’s number. Meanwhile, the other guy, Juice, tapped on the back door a couple times and then announced himself. “Yo, it’s me coming in,” he said, and then he opened the back door.

  One part of me wanted to run, but the other part of me knew that I probably wouldn’t get out the back door. So I decided against it.

  “Did you get ’em?” Kanan asked Juice.

  “Nah . . . that . . . nigga got away. He was . . . fast as shit!” the Juice guy replied, panting between each word.

  “Well, did you pop ’em?” Kanan wanted to know.

  “Yeah, I think I popped him twice before he hopped the fence but as soon as he got on the path and turned the corner of the first house, he sprinted off like a fucking horse. That nigga gotta be running track or something. But who the fuck is this?” Juice continued.

  “This is Matt’s ex-bitch!” Preech spoke up.

  “You bullshitting!” Juice commented, and then he looked at Kanan. “This is Matt’s ex-bitch, for real?” he asked him.

  “Yep.”

  “I’m not a fucking bitch!” I hissed. I gritted on all three of these niggas, thinking to myself about the fact that every last one of them had something to do with the kidnapping of my family. And now I was standing in front of them with so much hatred built up inside of me. If I hadn’t dropped my gun on the floor when I fell, I would’ve put a bullet in each one of their fucking heads like they did my husband. The sight of them repulsed me. Damn, I wished the shoe was on the other foot. I wanted to do these bastards in right then.

  “A yo, Matt, you ain’t gon’ believe this but I got’cha bitch standing in front of me right now,” Kanan announced into the phone.

  “Ask him where the fuck is my son?!” I spat as loud as I could. I wanted Matt to hear my voice. I wasn’t there for an introduction to a family reunion. I was there to get my son back.

  “Shut the fuck up before I smack your ass!” Kanan threatened me as he lunged at me. But I wasn’t afraid because I knew Matt wouldn’t let Kanan touch me. If anything would be done to me, it would be by Matt’s hands only. So I sucked my teeth and gave him a look that said I dare you.

  I couldn’t hear what Matt was saying, so I tried to read Kanan’s facial expression but he didn’t give me anything to work with. “We caught her snooping around the spot on A Avenue. She came with two other niggas. We got one of them in the other room but the other one got away,” Kanan explained to Matt, then fell silent again.

  Seconds later he continued, “A’ight. We gon’ pack up and get out of here now. But whatcha want me to do with that other nigga, ’cause we beat him up pretty bad.”

  Hearing bits and pieces of Kanan’s conversation about Trevor immediately got me sick to my stomach. I could only imagine how he looked, especially after hearing that he’d been beaten up. I stood there horrified, listening to Kanan give Matt details. “The nigga tried to act like he knocked on the wrong door, but when we caught him trying to peep in the crib Preech snatched that nigga inside the house. As soon as we got ’em in here, he started crying like a little bitch, talking about he with this girl that his roommate met on the bus coming back from New York who said her ex-boyfriend took her baby and that she was looking for him to get her baby back,” Kanan explained, and then he fell silent.

  “The other nigga they was wit’ got away,” Kanan spoke again, and then he fell silent once more. Kanan said a few more things to Matt and then he ended the call. He summoned Preech to go and get Trevor. “Hurry up because we gotta get out of here before the other guy bring the cops back here,” Kanan said.

  “What we gon’ do?” Juice wanted to know.

  “Matt want us to clean the crib and bring her to him.”

  “What we gon’ do with homeboy in the other room?” Juice continued.

  “We gon’ get rid of him on the way to the other spot. So go upstairs and get all our shit and meet me in the car in two minutes,” Kanan explained, and when Juice walked out of the kitchen, he turned his attention toward me. “You just wouldn�
��t leave well enough alone. All you had to do was get lost and move on with your life. Start a new fucking family or something. But nah, you had to come back to VA looking for trouble.”

  “Nigga, fuck you! I came to VA to find my fucking son! I gave y’all all the money I had to get my family back but y’all took it and didn’t give me shit. You took my fucking husband away from me and now I can’t find my baby. So tell me, where is he? Tell me where Matt has my son!” I roared. I wasn’t backing down. I came here to get my baby. Point blank.

  “Bitch, don’t be talking to me like I owe you something. If you would’ve gave Matt all his fucking money back your husband would be alive right now, you dumb-ass ho!”

  “Fuck you! You piece of shit! You think you’re doing something big because you work for Matt? Let me tell you something about your boss,” I said, and then I paused before continuing. “As soon as that nigga works the dog piss out of you and uses you up until he can’t use you no more, you’re gonna be history. Don’t fuck around and get locked up selling his dope because you’re gonna be done. He’s gonna turn his back on you and the rest of these damn idiots quicker than you can blink your eyes. He’s out for himself. He doesn’t give a fuck about me or you, Mr. Big Shot!” I continued. I was in rare form. At this point, I figured I had nothing else to lose. I waited for Kanan to curse me out, but instead, he burst into laughter. “Yo, you’re funny as shit! You gotta big fucking mouth too. I see why Matt wants me to handle you himself. But I’ll tell you what, if you talk to me like that again, I’m gonna make you wish you’d never met me,” he said in a menacing tone.

  Before I could give that nigga a rebuttal, my attention was directed to Preech as he walked into the kitchen with Trevor on his arm. I blinked a few times to be certain that my eyes were not deceiving me while Trevor was being dragged before me with his wrists tied behind him in zip ties. I felt like my entire world had crashed in on me. This can’t be! No! No! My mind raced at the speed of light. This person didn’t look like Trevor at all. His mouth was bound and gagged. His entire face had been beaten. Blood poured from the wounds around his eyes and nose. “What the fuck have they done to you?” I said, my voice cracking. I tried to force back the tears but it didn’t happen. I took a step toward Trevor but Kanan and Preech blocked me. Kanan pushed me backward. I stumbled a bit.