by Dahlia Rose
“I’d never put her through that, but I was hoping to shock her into talking with me instead of hiding away. She sends Adira as her buffer and never faces me.” Remy downed his drink and reveled in the pain of the burn as it trailed its way down his throat. “Jesus, Favian, what am I going to do?”
“We’re going to take this in steps.” Favian poured them both another drink. “First, we’re going to take care of the problem at hand. Lola is the main issue and constant threat, and, if we are honest with ourselves, we have far more resources than the police. We’re going to get her caught and arrested for attempted murder. With that done, then we find Lynette and you crawl over broken glass if you have to to get her back. You always talked about a family being your dream. Then you fight for it, hard. Don’t give up.”
“Adira was clear as hell. She won’t tell us where Lynette is,” Remy said.
Favian grinned. “You’re telling me, the MIT grad, who creates games and software for fun, I can’t find one person?”
“Did you forget that Lynette is way better than you or I am when it comes to that kind of stuff?” Remy asked.
Favian laughed. “Then think of it as a game of hide and seek, just these are higher stakes, Remy, so you’d better play to win.”
Determination and renewed hope filled him. He never gave up, even when things looked bleak in his youth, so why should he start now? Lynette had his heart, she had his soul and she had his child. There was too much to be lost to give up now. Oh, he’d fight, and he’d win. Lola wasn’t going to cause the destruction of his dream, not now, not ever.
“Thanks, mi hermano, it’s time to go to war,” Remy said.
“I’ve got your back,” Favian answered.
“You always have,” Remy replied and they shook hands.
It was like they again fused the bond that got them through the best and worst of times in their lives. They were on a mission together and, by God, Lola better be scared shitless because they were coming for her.
* * * *
One month later, Remy walked into the mouth of the lion. He was in seven-one-eight territory carrying a briefcase full of money, and he was alone. Or so he wanted them to think. Three weeks of careful planning, convincing the police to follow the plan they had constructed and finding Lola led to this moment.
The old neighborhood hadn’t changed. The dumpsters next to the projects overflowed with garbage. The superintendents of each building only seemed to call for removal when the stench got bad enough, but sometimes even then they let it go. From his assessment, it probably had a few more weeks to go. Parents watched children in the hardtop playground. Those who dared give their kids time to play kept one eye on the kids and the other scanned the area for trouble. And if trouble was brewing, it was like they could sense it, and like a mother hen would usher their children to safety as fast as they could.
Girls walked by in crop tops and skin tight jeans, big hoop earrings and full makeup bought from the corner bodega. He knew most everything that the bodega had to offer and the purchases one could make on a food stamp card, which didn’t amount to much when you’re hungry, living on your own, and trying to make every crumb last. A beef patty with cheese, a bagel or cocoa bread with butter or cream cheese, a hero with turkey, lettuce, tomato, cheese, oil and vinegar, and never forget the fifty cent peach soda.
He’d lived that life for so long he could repeat the small menu from every bodega for blocks in either direction. He could still recall the number for the Chinese food place that would let you buy beef broccoli and white rice with food stamps, or who you could actually sell your food stamps card to for hard cash.
The memories made him feel as if he was a kid again, trying to survive. He wanted to turn and walk away as fast as he could from it all but there was a bigger mission at hand. He knew how the gangs worked and knew he’d be frisked for a wire or weapons and carried none on his person. But the heavy gold chain he wore around his neck had a built-in micro audio system that could not be detected by looking at it. Favian and the authorities were within running distance if things went bad.
As he walked, he noticed a group of men and women hanging out at the playground. A group of adults hanging out at a playground after sunset was suspicious and he knew this was where he needed to be. Remy crossed the street and they all looked at him warily as he approached. Alex came out of the midst of bodies grinning like a loon and wiping his nose. Typical sign he’d been snorting something, and the glaze in his eyes confirmed it.
“Mi hermano, are you slumming in the old neighborhood, looking for a piece of ass since your high-class bitch left you?” Alex said loudly and the others laughed.
So you know she left, fucker. Remy kept a cap on the anger that raced through him. He knew how to pay the game well. If he didn’t, he’d have been dead years ago. He waited until Alex was directly in front of him and his free hand snaked out and clenched around Alex’s neck. Remy had to admit he felt a sense of satisfaction watching his eyes bulge and hearing him gurgle as he squeezed. The rest of the gang stood and pulled out an assortment of weapons. Remy glanced at them with contempt. The weapons didn’t scare him, and he certainly wasn’t letting go of Alex’s neck.
“I’d suggest you put those away unless you want me to snap his neck like a chicken’s,” Remy said coldly. “I’ve got a case full of cash. You are going to take me to Lola, right, Alex?”
“We could just shoot you and take the cash,” Alex croaked. “Ease up, man, I can hardly breathe.”
Remy looked at him with no sympathy. “No, and in response to your statement, yes, you could shoot me, but you’d never get the money. I’m the only one that can open this briefcase. The code changes hourly and I’m the only one who knows the master code. You try to break into it, there are little mechanisms built into it that will burn each bill to nothing.” He gave Alex a little shake. “This is what a college degree can do for a boy from the Bronx.”
No one made a sound, their weapons still in their hands.
“Tell your friends to holster the pea shooters. I’ve got no time to train the new interns.” Remy’s voice was deadly. “Maybe you should remind them how serious I can be when pushed.”
“He’s cool. Put that shit away.” Alex tried to sound stern even though his neck was in the vise of Remy’s fingers. “I can’t take you to Lola, man. She’s in hiding since that thing. You know they can put her away for a good twenty for the gun alone. It’s a third strike for her.”
Remy snorted. “I don’t care if she goes to prison, but what I have in this case would make it possible for her to hide for the rest of her life. I need to know that we can come to a truce.”
“How much is in there anyway?” Alex licked his lips as if he could taste the sweet life so close to his grasp.
Yeah, take the bait, punk, Remy thought and then spoke. “One million two hundred thousand. Think about how far that can go in Costa Rica and you would never have to come back here.” Remy let go of his neck and gave him a small shove away. “I’m not here to fight. If I was, I’d fucking win and you know it. You, me and Lola, we’re too old for this shit. Let the young bucks take over and go live on a beach somewhere.”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Lemme make a call.”
He stepped away and Remy felt the eyes of the younger gang members on him. One stepped up, a kid no more than sixteen. His pants sagged and his shirt was too big. The sneakers he wore had to have cost him a cool grand and Remy knew that drugs probably helped give him the money for the purchase.
“You got over a mil in there?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Remy said.
“How you make all that paper?” the boy asked.
Remy gave him a cool stare. “I left the gang and went to school.”
The kid laughed. “I can sell to my regulars and make money for what I need.”
“Sure, until you’re on the wrong end of a gun or a criminal charge. Take my word for it, get out and get an education,” Remy said
.
Alex came back over and was smiling like a cat who caught the canary. “Lola said to bring you back, but to check for weapons and all that shit.”
Remy held up his hands. “Do it.”
After the quick pat down, Alex waved him over with a hand and they walked up the concrete pavement past a project building. Remy kept a look out for anyone trying to jump him. Who knows who Alex really called. He knew you could never trust those in a gang, even while you ran with them. He understood now why the police couldn’t find Lola. She was apartment jumping. She had a network of apartments that she was going through, never staying at one place for too long.
The residents didn’t have much say in the three twenty-five story tall buildings that made up Bryer Place Apartments. Lola ran the seven-one-eights. If she said she was staying and you refused, your life would be made very miserable. There was nothing worse than the feeling of helplessness when the gang controlled your life, where you lived and how you lived. Remy didn’t have to guess how the residents felt.
Lola was on the fifteenth floor of building number three. Remy could only hope that he was still transmitting to Favian and the police. The buildings could be bomb shelters for the way they were built, strong enough to withstand anything, and known for causing you to lose your cell signal inside. Alex knocked on the door and murmured something in Spanish and an older woman opened the door and warily let them inside. Remy recognized her as Lola’s grandmother, a person he thought long dead.
“Let them in, Abuela,” Lola snapped. It made him grit his teeth. He always hated how she treated her family. “You’ve come to grovel? I love a good grovel.”
“If you know me, you know I don’t bend or scrape for anyone,” Remy said and sat down without waiting for an invitation.
“I always liked that about you. You’d have been my man if you hadn’t left the gang and got my brother killed.” Lola smiled almost whimsically. “Don’t you miss the bad ol’ days?”
“What the fuck, Lola?” Alex said angrily. “I’m right here.”
Lola rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Alex, you don’t own one fuck about me or on me.”
“No, I don’t miss the past, and, trust me, we’d have never gotten together,” Remy stated matter-of-factly. “I’ve got more respect for my cock than that.”
Anger flashed in her eyes. “You were always fucking crazy. You sit here talking to me like that, knowing full well I could snap my fingers and have your throat slit.”
“You could but then all this pretty money would go poof,” Remy pointed out. “One point two million for you to get out of town and out of my life.”
“I could say no,” Lola said.
“Yes, but Alex mentioned you’re on third strike.” Remy gave her a cold smile. “Life in jail, sweetheart, how much fun would that be?”
“Alex opens his fucking mouth too much,” Lola snapped.
“Take the money, baby. Costa Rica would be fucking awesome,” Alex almost whined.
Remy inwardly shook his head. Little did Alex know that if given the chance, Lola would drop him like a hot stone and hit the beaches alone looking for another fuck buddy.
The woman was as cold as ice, had been that way since childhood. Little did they know he had no intention of giving them the money, let alone letting her walk free for all the shit she’d done. Lola wasn’t stupid. If she thought she could fleece him out of cash, she would try again and again. The only way to neutralize her was to put her behind bars or kill her. Since he couldn’t do the latter, no matter how much he wanted to, the best thing was to get her ass thrown into jail. He couldn’t use a code word to notify the police because Lola would know instantly. So Remy sat back and tapped the large cross pendant. It would make tapping sounds on the speaker like when you checked a microphone to see if it was working and that’s all that was needed. The cavalry would be on its way.
“I need your assurance that you will be done and finished with this crap about Jose,” Remy said. “You know full well that Jose is that last thing you’ve been thinking about the last few years. You use that as a crutch and a control for your gang, let’s be honest here.”
She waved her hand airily. “Yeah, whatever, Jose meant nothing to me. We didn’t even share a father. Now give me the cash and you have my word, you and your precious woman will not be in my line of fire. Oh, wait, she left, right? Poor Remy, are you back to being alone, catching the crumbs and scraps from Favian’s overflowing table?”
“Sorry, Lola, I make my own way,” Remy said casually. “I leave that to Alex and you. Look how he’s practically drooling for the crumbs I’m about to spread. I wonder how much he can put up his nose?”
Alex made a sound and stood to come after Remy. Remy stopped him in his tracks with a death stare. “Boy, don’t even try it or I will break you down in this apartment. I actually like abuela. Her demon seed of a granddaughter isn’t her fault. I don’t want to disrespect her house.”
Lola laughed. “I fucking love how you talk to me. No one had balls like you and no one since. What do I care? I have over a million dollars now. Hand it over and go your way, Remy.”
“Here’s the thing,” Remy said and tapped the case. “How do I know you won’t come back for more?”
Lola leveled her evil stare at him. “You don’t, but you’ll have to trust me.”
Remy made a sound of disbelief and shook his head. “Yeah, like I trust sticking my hand in a pit of vipers. You see, I was never one to trust you, even as kids. I think I’ll have to pass and let the cops take your ass in.”
He made a move to leave and Alex barred his way. Remy couldn’t believe the ignorant fool thought he could stop him from leaving.
Lola stood with her hands clenched, anger in every word. “That’s my money, so pass it over and you won’t get hurt.”
With a quick move, Remy had Alex down with a swipe of the case to his head.
“How about I say no and you pretend I was a little scared?” Remy said and took a step towards her. Lola had the common sense to step back and actually look afraid. “You really think I was going to show up here like some whimpering dog with my tail between my legs? Puta. Remember whispering that in the phone over and over, terrorizing Lynette? Remember shooting her and threatening my child? You fucking know me well enough to know I was not going to take that lying down.” Remy gave her a cold grin as he towered over her. “I could kill you before they get here. You know, make it simple for them so they won’t have to spend the time or waste the money to give you a trial. But that was the old me, the bastard who loved to use his fists that still sits under the surface when me or mine are threatened.”
There was a commotion at the door and then it was kicked open and the police rushed inside with force. You’d have thought they were after one of the top ten most wanted. There were at least ten policemen in full gear in the cramped apartment and they descended on Lola and Alex. Amidst her cursing and her vows of revenge, Remy knew it was over. In jail she’d just be another face in the crowd, trying to keep her head above water. He saw the realization of this in her eyes and knew that she saw her reign of terror had ended. The fear was hers this time, and he gleaned some satisfaction from the fact. He walked behind the police as they led Lola and Alex away.
Her abuela grabbed his arm as he was leaving. “Gracias, Señor Sanchez, gracias.”
That stunned him, that even her own grandmother felt a sense of relief at her arrest. The place was deserted when he had gone in but as they left the building it seemed like everyone was outside watching the bane of their existence being led away.
He had another surprise when the same boy who thought he could spend his life living off drug money came up to him. This time, his hands in his pockets and his swagger gone, he shuffled his feet as he came up to Remy.
“So about this college thing, can it work with a GED?” he asked.
Remy gave him a glance. “Yeah, kid, it can. How did you do on the test?”
“Perfect score,” th
e boy answered.
That impressed Remy. “Yeah, me too.” He handed the boy a card. “Get through college, and if you need any help give me a call.”
The kid took the card and shoved it in his pocket as he walked away. Favian came up next to him and looked curiously at the boy.
“Something wrong there?” Favian asked.
“Nope, but I do think I might have started a trend for education over prison.” Remy grinned. “We should start a community center and scholarship fund in this area. There are a bunch of kids who need a way out and aren’t as lucky as we are.”
Favian nodded. “Sounds like a plan. You head it up.”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“What’s next?” Favian prodded.
“Well, I put my condo up for sale and buy a house in Connecticut with a big backyard and a white picket fence,” Remy replied. “I’m hoping for a yellow house, but, hey, we can repaint. You still know how to swing a paint brush, right?”
“Never could forget,” Favian answered as they turned a corner. “Is it me or did Lola become uglier? Though I guess she was never that pretty to begin with.”
“Oh, she did. That kind of wicked always shows on the face eventually,” Remy agreed.
They shared a laugh as they walked to Favian’s SUV.
“After that I’m going to find my woman and my baby.” Remy opened the passenger side door to the SUV. “I’m going to find my happiness and hold on to it with both hands this time, maybe use handcuffs even.”
Favian got in beside him and patted him on the shoulder. “Good for you, mi hermano. I hope you enjoy a water birth.”
Remy blanched. “W-what?”
Favian’s laugh was the only answer he got as they drove away.
Chapter Eight
Seven months along and summer had turned into fall with winter nipping at its heels. Lynette hummed as she chopped carrots for the beef stew she was making. In the last few months with many failed attempts and panicked phone calls to Adira, she’d become quite good in the kitchen. Aside from the stew she was making, freshly made snickerdoodles were in the oven, making the kitchen smell inviting and the baby in her tummy kicked with anticipation. At twenty-five weeks, she’d found out the baby was a girl and her due date was close to Mateo’s if he hadn’t been born premature.