The Syndicate

by Brick

  She was right in her actions of persuading me to slow down in my desires to make up for what we lost. This wasn’t the time for her to carry my seed so that we could try to create life again. We had too much going on right now to even think about starting a family. I just hoped that my seed didn’t take root during our shower session; otherwise, we’d have a lot of adjusting to deal with in the middle of a dangerous time for the family.

  The sound of Shanelle’s heels on the wooden floor let me know from the rhythm that she was pacing and now stood near the big bay window of the room. When I turned to look her way, I smiled. I was right in my assessment. While studying the tension in her back, her voice traveled to me in subtle sadness. “Yes, really. I’m worried for our family.”

  If there were any way to take away her pain and worry I would. “I’m going to work this out, I promise, starting today.” Taking my time to stand up from my chair, I turned to look at Mama’s picture again, and I whispered my promise. “I need you to do something though.”

  “Anything,” I heard Shanelle say behind me.

  “Hit up Uncle Snap.” I suggested. “Right now, I have him speaking to the streets to get some more intel. Just call him and tell him to come home so that you and he can make us some dinner.” Pulling her hand to me, I kissed her palm and continued, “That way, he can fill you in with what I’ve been doing as well. Think you can do that?”

  “Yeah, I can. Sounds good to me,” she said with a soft smile on her face.

  “With the Irish pissed, I need you up to date with everything. That was my fault for not having the time to give you the knowledge. I should have had you by my side anyway, but that’s another thing for another time.” I watched Shanelle give me a cute smile and nod, as her way of saying, “No shit,” without actually saying it.

  “Shut up, woman,” I teased with a lopsided grin as I touched the mantel of the fireplace and stepped down the stairway. “I’ll be with Naveen.” Pausing, I looked toward her again, “And if Jojo shows up, send him down my way. Talk and take care of the family for me while I’m talking with Naveen.”

  Cutely biting her lower lip, Shanelle understood what I was asking without me saying it. Basically, I needed her to be me while I tried to heal the family one by one.

  “I will, Von,” she said tucking her hair behind her ear, showing the stitches, scratches, and bruises there.

  “A’ight,” was all I said as I went below.

  Finding Naveen was simple. He was in the craft shop he had moved down there, working in a zone. Quiet, I looked around noticing the huge monitor behind him. I saw Shanelle going through the house on her cell. I saw everything else on the monitors then I paused and quirked an eyebrow because there was a new section on the monitor: Jojo’s room. What the hell was going on?

  Walking in, I stared at the blueprints and various pictures of objects he had up. “What are you crafting now?”

  I also saw a picture of his girlfriend and him directly in front of him. They were hugged up, in that typical IG pose: him kissing her forehead, as she held him and stood on the tip of her toes. Navy’s girl was a pretty nutmeg brown East Indian girl who grew up with a hood mentality. That was the only way he’d date an Indian girl; otherwise, he stayed with black girls, I learned by watching him. Studying their picture, I realized, again, just how young he was and how much his life had been turned upside down. It hurt to see that his world now was focused on the next thing project he could build in tandem for the Syndicate and in maintaining Mama’s properties.

  Sparks lit up over whatever he was fiddling with, along with the smell of smoke. Bobbing to whatever music that he was listening to on his headphones that rested around his neck, I watched him reaching around his space for things. Young Naveen stood over his workbench doing his thing being a master of his world.

  Like usual, his hair was knotted on top of his head. He wore a white wife beater with dark jeans and boots. The difference in me watching him now was that I noticed the Glock that he had against the small of his back and the one I knew he had strapped to his right ankle.

  Damn, our family had changed. Shanelle had taken to teaching all of them how to shoot and it was showing.

  “Soldering a new version of the Mist cigarettes and something else, I don’t know what it’ll be used for. Maybe for my car. Just getting out of my head,” he said as if it were an afterthought.

  “Sounds good. So check it, me and you need to talk.” I walked up to him and leaned against his worktable crossing my arms over my chest.

  Not looking my way, Navy continued his work. “About?”

  “For one thing, why are you watching Jojo’s room?” There was no point in bullshitting around.

  “I don’t trust him anymore is why. He killed Mama,” Navy said matter-of-factly.

  Thumbing my nose, I felt a flicker of irritation. “So, there’s nothing he can do to make you drop this huh? Jojo didn’t pull that trigger.”

  I knew when Navy began clanging objects around on his station that he was getting pissed off. “He might as well have. Shit, he did in my opinion. There’s no excuse for him not getting her, and I’m not letting him off the hook for it either. I’m tired of everyone kissing his ass because he’s the baby.” Navy stopped his clanging then looked my way, taking off his protective glasses. “There’s only a year difference between us, and I got more maturity than him, and he’s lying about where the fuck he’s been? Naw, I’m not letting this go. That’s why I’m watching him. He’s sneaky.”

  “What you doing isn’t chill, little brother, and you know it. This isn’t you. You and Jojo used to be tight, close at the hip, and now you’re calling him sneaky. That shit isn’t adding up. Something is going on with Jojo, we all see it. We need to see behind what we want and the blaming and go deep at this shit. Navy, you of all people should know that,” I tried to reason.

  Pushing back from the table, Navy walked to where he kept his tools and pulled his gloves off. “Why? Because we went through the same shit? Because my birth father got a kick outta making me sit in the back of the kitchens of his restaurant to play with the rats and be eaten? Because my criminal-ass father would let my uncles fuck me? Because my aunts used to burn me with cigarettes calling me a demon and living shit. Because of all of that I should know when someone is hiding shit?”

  “Navy, we all grew up in pain. I share that with you. We all had to do shit to survive. Step back from your anger and look at this from all sides is all I’m saying,” I explained.

  There was boiling pain behind Navy’s eyes. He loved Mama as much as us all if not more. I remembered when Navy came to us. Mama just showed up with him one day and made me promise to protect him at all costs. I never understood why. I just remembered that day, she had a wild look in her eyes and, I swore, speckles of red on her dress. Like I said, I never understood what it was back then, but being where I was now, I thought I was slowly coming to an awareness of just what Mama did to protect Naveen.

  “I don’t want to,” was all he said.

  Stepping to him, I rested a hand on his shoulder and I squeezed. “You have to, for Mama. If you don’t we’ll continue to fall apart, Navy.”

  “And if I do, I won’t have Mama anymore. Jojo is doing something. I feel it and he’s lying about where he was when Mama was killed. I won’t let that go!” Tears rimmed Naveen’s eyes.

  I pulled him into an embrace understanding finally that this anger, this blaming Jojo for Mama’s death, was the last thing he had that could keep the feeling of Mama alive for Navy. That understanding was deep to me. Fucked up, but deep and reasonable. Shit. My way to keep her alive was taking on the Syndicate and I knew that it was eating me alive. So, I got where Navy was coming from, which was why I held him as he cried.

  “I understand,” I said low. “And I got you. I can’t let this tear us apart, but I got you. I’ll stand by you as best I can in this, baby brother, I mean that. We’ll figure this out but you need to get that camera out of his room.”
<
br />   Navy said nothing; he just stepped back and went back to fiddling with shit.

  Something in me kept staring at the camera as my mind started clicking in thought. “I mean that shit, Navy. Do me that solid,” I urged then looked his way. “How long has that been up anyway?”

  “For almost two weeks now,” he said with no emotion in his voice.

  “And you’ve been going over the footage?” I asked curious.

  “Nah, not really. Jojo hasn’t really been doing anything for me to go over it. It’s the same thing. Go in his room, sit on his bed, maybe work on some schoolwork, or bring up his chem kit and do some shit with that. Fuck with something under his bed. Scratch his nuts and do whatever. I ain’t been watching him that hard,” Navy explained.

  Stepping back from the monitor, I crossed my arms feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. “Put it on a couple of days ago. Last time I was here and you two blew up.”

  Without a thought, Navy pulled up the last time we were here. “What are you thinking?” he asked eying me.

  “Just watching,” I quietly said.

  At first everything was like Navy said. A large chunk of it had Jojo’s room empty until it came up with the fight. I watched him bang around his room in distress. He flipped things around until he grabbed a book bag. Digging in it, he seemed too satisfied with what he saw. That’s when Cory busted in. I watched my brother go at it with Jojo. I surveyed him walking up on Jojo to intimidate him with his size, then take that backpack from him. Heated, constrained words were exchanged. My eyes narrowed while I carefully observed. I was so deep into it that I didn’t realize that I was digging my fingers in my arms. Nor did I realize just how quiet Navy had gotten, too. We both stood there just watching in silence, mentally recording everything until Shanelle’s voice on an intercom pulled us back to reality.

  “There’s been an accident with Jojo, Cory, and Inez,” she screamed on the intercom.

  Glancing at Navy, I moved his way quickly. “Say nothing, and don’t react. If there was a time when I needed you to be me, today is that. If you react in any fucking way, I’ll harm you, get me?”

  Surprise had Navy backing up. He gave me a slow nod and licked his lips. “I’ll watch my temper and won’t slip up.”

  “Thank you, baby brother. Go ahead.” Sidestepping out of his way, I let Navy jet out.

  When Navy was the first one out of the bunker, I knew that even though he was angry with Jojo, the video was fucking with him. As well as the idea of losing Jojo would be the straw that broke the camel’s back in their relationship and I felt the same way too. But the three of them, hurt? In an accident? This was a pain deeper than losing one’s mind. Besides, my mind was processing what I just saw. I wasn’t 100 percent about some things there, but that quiet voice in my head knew I was reading the body language and lips right in that footage. Uploading the video to my cell, I glanced back at the monitor.

  “We’re on our way up,” I said shutting the bunker down.

  As soon as I made it up top in the house, all I heard was yelling.

  “What the hell do you mean it was nothing?” I heard Shanelle shout. “He was shot at! You almost wrecked the car and you look high, Cory.”

  “Look, get out my face, Shanelle. You’re not listening to me. We also got into a wreck because some Irish motherfuckers started chasing us outta nowhere.” Cory started to explain.

  While I walked into the main living room, I glanced around to see two of the Forty Thieves standing by the front door. In front of them, I saw Jojo sitting on the steps with a bandage on his arm. His glasses were cracked and he appeared to have been in a fight. Naveen was at his side with a scowl on his face trying to help Jojo and Inez. My little sister looked to have been in battle herself. She too had some bandages on her, on her neck, wrists, and arms, as she stood in the middle against the stairwell trying to disappear, it seemed to me. Then, taking a look at my brother, I noticed that he also had some scratches on him though he looked better than Jojo and Inez combined.

  I felt my jaw twitching in response to the madness.

  “If the Thieves didn’t call me, you wasn’t going to say shit, nigga! What the hell is wrong with you, Cory?” Shanelle shouted pointing with her fingers.

  Everything felt surreal.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder that made me feel the presence of Mama in the room. I waited for her to say something, but realized that it was all falling to me. Turning, I stared in the face of my uncle as he pulled me back.

  “Tell me what happened clearly,” I asked of him, keeping my temper at bay.

  My uncle also seemed weary. He ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, then looked my way. “First, some Thieves are bringing Melissa around the back with Lamont, so there’s no issue there.”

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I kept finding myself watching my brother’s erratic movements while he and Shanelle argued. “Good, that’s a blessing, Unc. So what went down exactly, I ask again?”

  “Damn, I’m too old for this.” Taking a seat, Uncle Snap grabbed his clear Mason glass again and looked up at me. “You know why I hold on to this piece of shit glass huh?”

  Shaking my head no, I moved closer to him listening.

  “It’s the last thing your mama ever touched to her lips. Back in the day as she aged and couldn’t fight niggas as easily as she could in her youth, she’d mix a type of acid in different-colored Mason jars and pack ’em in her purse. She used to throw that shit on anyone who got in her way. The unused ones she’d give to me with my favorite lickah or moonshine.” Uncle Snap gave a sullen laugh before glancing up at me. “Anyway, nephew. The Thieves reported yesterday in their watching of the family that Cory left some apartment complex in midtown with Inez.”

  Quirking an eyebrow, I frowned. “What complex? He doesn’t have a spot down there and neither does Inez. Why was she with him?”

  “Hold up off that just now and listen, nephew, because we need this handled now and quickly,” my uncle said taking a deep drink of some amber liquid from the glass. It was probably sweet tea and Crown Royal.

  “I told you to beef up the security, forgetting we all still had at least a few of them watching us. But anyway, watching Cory, they followed up to Jojo’s school,” he explained as a feeling in the pit of my stomach became heavy.

  “They watched as Cory whipped through and ended up picking up Jojo who was being chased.”

  “By who?” I quickly interrupted.

  “From their intel, some preppy-ass kids,” he explained.

  “Do they know why? Did they question them?”

  Uncle said, while shaking his head with a deflated look on his face, “No. By the time they caught up with Cory, the kids had bolted off.”

  I dropped down in a seat next to Uncle with a heavy heart. All this time, Mama had been sending Jojo to that prep school to give him a better chance at life. From what Uncle was saying, it didn’t mean shit if Jojo was being attacked and harassed at the school. Everything that was going on wasn’t making any damn sense for me. None. There was a thread that was off, a couple of them, and it was bothering me to my soul.

  Disappointed at myself, I shook my head. “So, then what?”

  “From how it sounds, Cory picked up Jojo and left two bodies behind him,” he explained swinging his glass around. “Inez patched Jojo up and they all stayed the night at that apartment in midtown. Then, today, on their way to the house, they were sideswiped by the Irish.”

  “Back up though.” Scratching my head, I leaned forward with a tilt of my head and with an eyebrow rising in agitation. “Why the fuck was Inez there and why the hell were two bodies dropped?”

  Raising his shoulders Uncle Snap dropped his hand splashing his drink with it. “Shanelle’s been trying to figure that out. All Jojo will say is that he was being chased because they were pissed at him about some school shit. Won’t say what. I gathered he’s being bullied. Then, all Cory will say is he found them trying to kill Jojo and he
handled it.”

  “Wait, you don’t kill people who are bullying. What the fuck shit is this?” I stood up, but Uncle grabbed my arm.

  Stepping up to me, we stood face to face. Almost brow to brow. We hadn’t had a moment like this in years, since I was a kid acting up. It’s what had me dropping my resolve out of respect. That old man gave me a look of concern that put me in my place and had me shutting up to listen. “You’re not hearing me. They were shooting at him, nephew. Since that’s the case, he handled it. Must have gotten in a scuffle with them. Besides, he’s not himself right now.”

  “This shit is insane. Are you hearing yourself, Unc? Everyone is lying, then the Irish pop up and attack? I’m not chill with that,” I said pissed all the way off.

  “I know, but one thing at time. We need to handle Cory,” Uncle Snap said.

  “Why?” I snapped at him.

  “You don’t see it do you? The nigga is high,” my uncle said letting me go.

  Turning, I watched my brother use the back of his hand to rub at his nose. He then flashed a curious grin, flipped Shanelle off, then stumbled back. Shanelle followed right after him, not giving a damn about his rude actions. Her pretty face was contorted in rage and she blasted out something he didn’t like. I observed Cory’s face flip into a mask I was very familiar with as kids. It was the same one he wore when he had to cope with attacking one of Toya’s boyfriends. It was a look that, if I hadn’t been watching everyone so closely, I would have missed. Especially when Inez became tense, tucking her body in as if someone was about to hit her and something akin to paralyzing trauma flashed across her face when my brother flipped his switch. Thinking back to the video. I recalled seeing Jojo mouth her name in anger.

  As my mind worked its thing, my feet followed. Two strides forward, and I found myself snatching Cory up, and slamming him backward over a table. I followed with my forearm to his throat as I slung his heavy body up against a wall.

  “The Irish really attack you, or you caused the car to flip because you were high?” I said in Tagalog so that only he and I could hear it.