Corrupt City

by Tra Verdejo

  “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Don’t hit or shoot me.”

  “I won’t if you tell me what I want to know.”

  “I came out here with Loose Cannon.”

  “Loose Cannon? Where is he at?” Lucky’s heart started pounding again when he heard that name. His aggression level went sky-high.

  He grabbed John by his collar and raised his gun to strike him again, but John started talking.

  “He’s inside the post office, watching the boxes. We know about your P.O. box.”

  “Put the car in drive and go around the back of this diner,” Lucky ordered.

  As soon as they pulled around and parked, Lucky began pistol-whipping him until he was unconscious. Blood was pouring out of his skull like a faucet. Lucky left him alive, but with a chance of bleeding to death if help didn’t find him quickly. He didn’t care if he was a federal agent. Dirty is dirty. He cleaned the blood off his gun, put it back on his hip, and fixed himself up. He looked around the parking lot to make sure no one was watching before exiting the car.

  Lucky wasn’t going to waste time and wait for Loose Cannon to come out the post office. He was going inside to kill him. He started walking toward the front door, his mind already set on shooting on sight and disappearing.

  As Lucky was walking up the steps of the post office, out came Loose Cannon. This was the one confrontation where you couldn’t pick a winner, because neither was afraid to die. They both hated each other’s guts, so killing the other was not going to be a problem. It was like one of those old cowboy movies. Whoever drew first and shot would survive another day.

  As both men approached each other, Loose saw right through the fake disguise and knew it was Lucky.

  Lucky saw he was mad, drew his weapon, and pointed at Loose Cannon, who also had his weapon drawn, but was pointing at the head of a hostage.

  Downtown Cape Cod went hysterical once someone yelled, “Gun!”

  People were running and screaming all over the place.

  Lucky thought Loose made a dumb move by grabbing a hostage. “What the fuck are you doing? I don’t care about any goddamn hostage.”

  “Well, you dumb son of a nigger! Take a closer look at who I’m holding!”

  Lucky, for a quick second, took his eyes off him and looked at the hostage. It was Tasha. He couldn’t believe it at first, until he heard her voice.

  “Donald, I’m sorry, baby.”

  Lucky quickly refocused his attention back on Loose Cannon and tightened his grip on the gun.

  As Loose was walking forward, Lucky was backing down the steps, not losing his focus or aim. Loose started to yell different shit at him about dropping his gun, but Lucky couldn’t hear him. He was spaced out, thinking about his days at the academy, where he won all those awards for his precise shooting.

  He aimed, saw an opening, and fired one shot. As the bullet left the barrel, Lucky heard both of them scream before the bullet knocked them to the ground. He ran toward them, hoping he hit the right target.

  Tasha was lying stiff on the ground, and Loose was still moving. Lucky thought the worst, that maybe he shot his baby girl. He walked up to Loose Cannon and shot him twice in the head before even checking to see if Tasha was all right.

  He then dropped to his knees and flipped Tasha over. She was bleeding from her head. There was blood everywhere. Lucky was in tears, and he could hear the sirens coming. He sat there rocking Tasha back and forth. He didn’t care about the sirens.

  “Baby, are you going to rock me to death or help me get up?” Tasha said as she gained consciousness.

  “Baby, you’re okay. I thought I lost you for a second.” He looked down at Tasha, and she looked right back at him.

  When he’d first shot Loose Cannon, the impact of the shot slammed both bodies hard to the concrete. Tasha landed headfirst, explaining the blood.

  Lucky jumped to his feet and quickly attended to her. “Wow! Baby, you bumped your head pretty hard.”

  “Yes, I’m still a little dizzy, but I could manage. We need to hurry up and get out of here.”

  “I’m parked over there,” Lucky said, pointing up the streets to his van.

  “Let’s take my car, Donald. Plus, I know the way around here.”

  Within thirty seconds, they were in the car and speeding through some back roads.

  As Tasha was driving, Lucky was thinking about the shot he just took. He kept visualizing Loose Cannon lying there with his head split.

  They finally pulled up to Tasha’s house, and he snapped out of his daze.

  “Where is Tamika? Is she inside?”

  “No, she’s at Mom’s house.”

  “Mom’s house? Your mother lives out here too? I thought you guys didn’t have a good relationship.”

  “Why you think I begged you to buy a summer house in Cape Cod? Both my parents were living out here. After my father died, our relationship grew to the next level.

  “Wait a minute. Mrs. Rosie, that’s really your mother, right?”

  “Yes, that’s her. How you knew?”

  Lucky started laughing out loud.

  “That’s a good one. Wow! Good cover-up. I thought it was kind of funny because I saw a few pictures around the house. But when Mrs. Rosie mentioned she was babysitting, I just thought this lonely old lady treated my daughter as one of hers. It never hit me that that was actually her grandmother. I can’t believe I couldn’t see right through it.”

  While they made their way inside the house, Tasha said, “Donald, we need to talk. I know we don’t have time, but baby, I need you to sit down and listen.”

  “Oh-oh.”

  “Don’t be silly,” she said, laughing.

  “Okay, I know you’re trying to be serious, so let me sit down. But if you are about to tell me about other men, please save it. I’m not tripping.”

  “Boyyee, sit down! I don’t want to talk about other men. I want to speak to you about you. Right now, I have to make a decision to hit the road with you and relocate, or tell you, ‘Fuck you! Keep it going.’”

  “Wow! It’s like that?”

  “Yes, it’s like that. You haven’t been around for a long time. For years, I had to lie to our daughter defending you. That way she didn’t grow up hating you. I held all that anger and pain inside, and I raised us a great little girl. I figure, why ruin her happiness just because I’m not happy?”

  “Baby, I never wanted to hurt you.”

  “But you did, Donald, you did. Let me finish, please. Just listen. I want you to understand that a lot of things I did for you were because I loved you, not because I wanted to do them. I hope you understand the difference.”

  “Tasha, listen, I’m willing to do anything to have my girls back in my life, especially Tamika. I just have to take care of some things first before I could give you my full commitment. I’m a new man, but I just have to clean up a little more laundry.”

  “Are you referring to all the stuff I been reading about you and your former partners on the Internet? I’m assuming the guy you killed today was one of them.”

  “So you know?”

  “Of course, I knew. That’s why I went by my mother’s house and fixed your room up, I knew you were coming. You took so long, I thought maybe, they…”

  “What? That they killed me?”

  “Something like that. It got to the point I was checking the Internet every day to see what else you did. That way, I knew you were alive. What took you so long to come? And who’s this female partner the media keeps saying you have working with you?”

  “You can’t trust the media. I don’t have any partners. I can’t trust anyone anymore. I shook the city up, huh?”

  “You sure did, but now what?”

  “I don’t know, but please let’s grab what you need. I want to see my daughter. It’s been almost seven years now.”

  “Baby, please don’t waste my time. These past seven years were tough, but they were quiet. Do you promise not to fuck that up? Do you swear on your mo
ther’s grave you are giving up your old ways for good?”

  “I swear on my mother’s grave, baby. I’m sorry. I was the one who made the wrong choice. I will work hard to gain the trust and respect back. I haven’t used drugs in almost two years, since the night Perry Coleman was killed. I’m focused. I have found peace in my life. I just have to close a few more chapters before I close this old book of mine.”

  As they were packing, Lucky was smiling because he was able to dodge the bullet about Diamond.

  Within twenty minutes, Tasha had all the belongings she needed, and they hit the road. She parked her truck in the garage and drove her ’02 Chevy Impala.

  Lucky was impressed with the way she carried herself, always keeping a backup plan. He remembered why he fell in love with her.

  As they got closer to her mother’s house, he began to get nervous. He didn’t know how Tamika would react to seeing her father for the first time in seven years.

  “Tasha, how you think she will react once she sees me?”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that. I made sure she always respected you. You will actually make her day with your presence. She is always asking about you.”

  When they pulled up to Mrs. Rosie’s house, Lucky almost caught a nervous breakdown. He knew Tasha just said everything was going to be all right, but he still was a little leery.

  As soon as Lucky walked in, Tamika ran toward him. “Daddy, Daddy, you’re finally home. I missed you so much, Daddy.”

  “Hey, baby. I missed you so much. Look at you. You have grown so much.”

  “Are you here to stay?”

  “Yes, baby. Daddy will be around a lot more.”

  They spent about twenty minutes hugging and talking to each other. Even Tasha and Mrs. Rosie teared up watching them bond.

  Tamika went back to the kitchen to finish helping her grandmother fix dinner.

  Lucky walked over as well. “Mrs. Rosie?”

  “My real name is Angela. You can call me Angie or Angela. Please, no Mrs. in front of it.”

  “Angela, again thank you. I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”

  “That’s okay. My daughter explained everything years ago. I understand. She said one day you will be back, and here you are. But I see you have some drama to take care of.”

  Before Lucky could answer, Tasha ran back in the kitchen and asked Lucky to come and watch the news.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Headline: “Two NY Cops Found Dead in Cape Cod”

  “Good evening. My name is Robert McClouss, for BETV Channel 20 News. We are live in downtown Cape Cod in front of the United States Post Office. Today, we are here to report that two New York police officers, one of them a federal agent, were found dead. According to reports, one of the officers is named Steve Stanley, currently on trial for shooting an unarmed African-American in New York City. The other officer’s name, at this moment, is still not available, but our sources are confirming he was a federal employee.

  “According to witness statements, Officer Steve grabbed an unidentified woman by her arm and forced her outside. The lady kept screaming for him to let her go. When Officer Steve made it outside, he was confronted by another unidentified African-American male. The African American male and the officer both were pointing their guns at each other. We have another witness’ statement that alleged she saw the officer point the gun to the woman’s head, and that’s when the African-American male shot him and got away with the unidentified female.

  “The other officer was found dead in a black Caprice across the street in the parking lot behind Joe’s Diner. There are still a lot of questions to be answered here. We are still waiting for an official statement from the police department. This is Robert McClouss, for BETV Channel 20 News, reporting live from downtown Cape Cod.”

  “Lucky, I thought you said you didn’t kill the federal agent?” Tasha asked.

  “I thought he was still alive. I guess he didn’t make it. I only pistol-whipped him a few times. But fuck him, anyway. They were up here to try to kill or kidnap Tamika. Let’s not forget that.”

  “But wouldn’t you get in more trouble if a federal agent pops up dead?”

  “Yes, I would, but by the same token, this is a dirty federal agent, and the government doesn’t protect or support dirty agents. They will realize he was corrupt because he had no business out here in the first place.”

  Back in New York, Captain Tuna was going ballistic over the death of one of his best friends. Speedy and Agent Kuntz tried numerous times to calm him down, but they couldn’t. Tuna was tearing up everything in sight. He even took a few swings at both of them.

  “Get the fuck off me! Don’t you two realize what just happened here? Two of our brothers were just murdered. We are in deep shit, and we still don’t have a clue where Lucky is located. I’m sure he will disappear along with his whole family.”

  “Tuna, one of my agents was killed too. I’m going to be in deeper shit myself, but we need to stick together and figure a way out of this mess.”

  “You know what, Agent Kuntz? Go fuck yourself! And get the hell out of my apartment! This all happened because of you. You were the one who made us aware of the whereabouts of Lucky’s daughter. This is why I don’t like working with the feds. Our business is over. You go deal with your superiors, and I will handle mine.”

  “C’mon, Tuna, we need to stick together.”

  “Work together how? You see how they released Loose Cannon’s name in the media, but not your boy John. They startin’ to protect him already. My guess is the feds will come up with a story about how John’s murder wasn’t related to the shooting between Loose and Lucky. Please, get the hell out of here now. I have to call the commissioner.”

  William Kuntz tried to plead his case, but he realized Tuna was under too much stress, so he left the apartment.

  Speedy and Tuna were clueless on their next move. Lucky did enough damage to ruin not only their lives, but also the commissioner and a few high-ranking officials. Tuna kept delaying his call to the commissioner. He needed a break and was praying for a miracle.

  Speedy, on the other hand, knew they were doomed. There was no coming back from this mess. And with Loose out of the picture, Tuna would most likely fold under pressure and maybe start cooperating to save his butt. Speedy already knew the commissioner wasn’t going down on his own, but with so much evidence out in the public about all the dirt they each did, cooperation wouldn’t help too much. Their key to freedom was capturing Lucky, and at this point, that was like hitting the lotto. They had their opportunity in Cape Cod, but once again, Lucky outsmarted them.

  Tuna sat back on the couch and broke down in tears. He couldn’t hold it back anymore. His best friend was just murdered, and his boss had been exposed because of him. Tuna knew he would end up in jail, or maybe even dead. That was enough to break down any man.

  Speedy didn’t have time to sit back and mourn. “Captain, do you think the commissioner will turn his back on us to save his ass?”

  “Yes, I do. He already told me he will flip the script on me and my crew.”

  “Captain, I will be back later.”

  “For a second, I was about to call you a coward for trying to leave, but I’m about to go home myself. First, I have to call Loose’s wife and go over funeral arrangements. Damn! I can’t fuckin’ believe he caught Loose Cannon off guard like that,” a tearing Tuna said.

  Speedy and Tuna embraced like it was the last time they were going to see each other as free men.

  After Speedy left, Tuna started to empty the money out of his stash house. There was a little over two hundred thousand dollars in cash, and about another fifty thousand in drugs in the safe room.

  While he was packing up his money and destroying the drugs, his cell phone started ringing. He didn’t want to answer the call and hear the commissioner run his mouth about how he fucked up, but the phone continued ringing. He looked at the caller ID, and saw it was a restricted call. He finally answered. />
  “Hello, this is Tuna. Who is this?”

  “I’m sorry about your loss.”

  “Who in the fuck is this? Is that you, you piece of shit?”

  “I’m coming for you next. I know where you’re staying. If you a man, you would wait for me. If you a coward, then I guess I will catch you another time.”

  Tuna didn’t know if he was bluffing or not. He knew Loose would never talk, but he wasn’t sure about John. “Whatever. You don’t know where I am.”

  “I know you in Spanish Harlem. Let me guess—You’re at your old-ass uncle’s building. You’re forgetting I know everything about you. Once that stupid agent said somewhere on Lexington Avenue in Spanish Harlem, I figured out the rest.”

  “You want me to wait for you? C’mon, you cock-sucker! I’m tired of chasing you.”

  “I will be there in twenty minutes, bitch.” Lucky hung up the phone laughing. He was still at Angela’s house in Cape Cod and just wanted to let Tuna know he knew where he was at.

  On the other hand, Tuna took the threat seriously. He called Speedy’s cell phone, but it went straight to voice mail. He had no choice but to call the commissioner.

  “About time you fuckin’ call me. What the fuck happened out there?”

  “I don’t really know. I sent Loose with one of the agents, and somehow Lucky outsmarted them and got to them first.”

  “Damn, Tuna! Who are we really dealing with here? He’s like a RoboCop or something. Why didn’t we make him the golden boy of our team?”

  “Remember, sir, he’s Black.”

  “I know, but damn, I didn’t know he was this good. We should have promoted or killed him back when we first saw his potential. Now look at how he’s destroying us one by one. We will never find him.”

  “He just called right before I called you. He said he knows I’m on 102nd Street and Lexington Avenue, and that he would be here in twenty minutes. I need some help. I’m here by myself. Speedy left and went home.”

  “I will have people over there in ten to fifteen minutes. You just hold on tight. Do you have weapons there?”

  “Yes, I’m well armed. Hurry up and get me out of here.”