by A'zayler
“Kara, come on down here, sweetheart. Have a seat.” Francisco beckoned her.
It took her a minute to move and when she finally did, she was moving a lot slower than she had been a few moments ago. Jamar could see the panic on her face as she sat next to his father, twiddling with her thumbs. She looked everywhere but at him. Not even the word uncomfortable was good enough to describe the look on her face. His father looked from one of them to the other a few times before speaking.
“I take it, you two know each other?”
Kara nodded while Jamar shook his head. Just because he’d met her a few times in one day didn’t mean they knew each other.
“I met him while I was with Phoenix yesterday.” Kara’s voice was low.
“I knew it wouldn’t be long before you two ran into each other.”
Jamar looked at his father. “How do you know her?”
Francisco looked at Kara and ran his hand up and down her arm.
“Kara was brought onto my team under some pretty unfortunate circumstances. She’s working toward the same thing as we are, so I figured we might as well work together.”
“Hold on, what?” Jamar didn’t understand.
“The Zoo Crew. She wants them dead.”
Jamar’s eyes were wide when he looked back at her. She stared at him with an unwavering gaze, looking as if she was daring him to object to her part in this.
“But aren’t you with one of them?”
Kara nodded her head. “It’s all a part of my plan.”
“Why?” Jamar needed to know.
“I’d rather not talk about it.” She looked at Francisco and kissed his cheek before standing back up. She grabbed her bags and headed for the door. “I’ll see you soon,” she said as she trotted back down the stairs toward the exit.
Jamar wanted to ask his father what this was all about, but he was positive that he wasn’t going to tell. That’s just how he was. No matter who you were, you only found out things on a need to know basis. Meaning, if he’d called him and Kara here at the same time today, there was a reason for it.
“Both of you seem to be slacking. I don’t know what that shit is all about, but it stops today. Get in, handle business, and get out. Simple. You two have too many feelings involved. I advise you to wrap that shit up, and do it now.”
Francisco stood from the sofa and walked into the kitchen. When he returned he was nursing a cup of a dark liquid Jamar knew to be Brandy. That was his drink of choice.
“I’ll catch you later.” Jamar passed him and took the stairs.
Once he was back outside and in his car, he sped away. He needed to get his thoughts together. Phoenix was on his mind, but revenge needed to outweigh that. He had a job to do and he planned to do it.
*****
Phoenix needed to get out of the house so she got dressed and went to the mall. She had been tearing the stores down trying to ease the hurt in her heart. Surprisingly, it was working. Ollie hadn’t crossed her mind once since she’d been there. There was at least one bag from every store she’d been in, and they were starting to get heavy.
Looking down at all of the bags brought her back to reality. There should have been a man, other than Tone and Zino, funding this trip. She was pretty enough to have a boyfriend following her around the mall holding her things. This made her think of Jamar. If she couldn’t have Ollie, she might as well focus on giving him a serious chance. He was nice and they had fun together. The only thing that wasn’t sitting well with her was the fact she didn’t really know much about him. He’d told her a few things, but nothing serious. She had almost gotten mad with him, until she realized he knew nothing about her either. It was time for a date. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed his number.
“Feeling better pretty lady?”
“Yes, sorry about that. What you up to?”
“At the crib ’bout to take a nap. What’s up?”
“I wanted to see you.”
“Cool. I’ll meet you somewhere once I wake up.”
Phoenix wanted to object, but she didn’t. She could use the extra time to drop her things off at home and change before meeting him. She agreed and ended their call. Phoenix caught the elevator down to the first floor. She was walking to her car, and who did she see? Jamar’s ass. She had to do a double take to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.
“See, this nigga said he was at home. Niggas. I swear, all they do is lie,” Phoenix said to herself.
As bad as she wanted to run over and confront him, she walked to her car instead. She needed to see why he felt the need to lie so unnecessarily. After throwing all of her things in Zino’s trunk, she hopped in. It was a good thing he’d asked to borrow her truck earlier and she was forced to drive his car to the mall. She hadn’t wanted to at first, but now she was glad she had. She pulled out of the parking lot and drove around in circles until Jamar got into his car and pulled out. She was right behind him.
Phoenix stayed a two car distance behind him as he drove down the crowded expressway. When he got off on the exit opposite of his house, she really got suspicious. She knew she shouldn’t have been following him being that they weren’t really together, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he might be hiding something. If he wasn’t, then why did he lie about taking a nap?
Jamar’s car turned down a long dirt road. There were two other cars in front of her, so she was clear of his attention for now. Jamar drove down the same road for a few more miles before stopping at a rundown apartment complex. The small brick building looked terrible. Whoever owned this property needed to be beat for the way it looked. There was trash everywhere and the doors to each apartment looked on the verge of falling off.
Her eyes followed Jamar to the last door on the end. He didn’t even knock before entering. Squinting, she stared at the door, waiting for Jamar or whoever he was there to see to come out. She waited for almost thirty minutes before Jamar emerged with another man. Her eyes bucked for a second as she realized where she knew the man from.
She shook her head, not wanting to believe that Jamar was her enemy. The man that he was talking and laughing with was Rocko. The same nigga she had pulled her gun on in the park that day before Tone killed his friend. But why was Jamar with him? Was he plotting on her? Oh my God, was he setting her up? Phoenix watched wide eyed as the two men talked a little more before going to the trunk of Jamar’s car and removing two large bags and helping each other carry them inside.
Phoenix wrote down the name of the street she was on, along with the apartment number before pulling out. She wanted to be gone before they came back out of the house. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what she’d just seen. Had she been sleeping with the enemy all this time? Her stomach hurt just thinking about it. The feeling she had in the pit of her stomach let her know that this was only going to get worse before it got better. Whatever this was going on, was about to get bad.
*****
Tone looked around the living room at Ollie, Bear, Zino, and Phoenix. He’d called them all into the living room to have a family meeting. They sat quietly waiting, for Tek to come, but it had been twenty minutes and he still hadn’t gotten there. They’d been calling him all day, but his phone was going straight to voicemail. Tone was starting to get pissed because knowing Tek, he was somewhere laid up with one of his many hoes. It wasn’t unusual for him not to answer his phone. Tone looked at his watch once more and let out a frustrated breath.
“It don’t look like that nigga is coming, so I’ll get started.” Tone looked around the room at each of them. “There’s some funny shit going on. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ve been feeling a little off lately.”
The room was quiet. Everyone waiting for him to finish.
“We’ve been chilling pretty hard lately, but I think it’s time to step our game up. I don’t want any of us to get caught slipping… understand?”
They all gave a simple head nod, everybody except Phoenix.
Tone could see it all over her face that there was something on her mind. Not the one to let anything go unaddressed, Tone asked her what was wrong. She looked like she was pondering whether to tell or not, but she decided to.
“There’s this guy I’ve been kicking it with lately.” She paused for a minute, thinking of what to say next. “I followed him from the mall today to some raggedy apartments. He was there with those niggas you don’t like, Tone. The ones from the park.”
“What was you doing following the nigga? He didn’t know you were behind him?” Bear asked
“No, he didn’t. I was in Zino’s car, so he didn’t know. I only followed him because we had just talked and he lied about being at home, so I wanted to see where he was going for real.”
“That was dumb as hell to follow that nigga. He could have set your ass up.” Ollie’s voice was filled with anger. Clearly he was more pissed about her and another nigga than her actually following the dude.
“I know that now, but I wasn’t thinking about that then.”
“People die for not thinking,”
“Fuck you, Oliver!” Phoenix yelled.
“Can y’all kill that shit for a minute? What were they doing at the apartment, lil sis?” Tone asked, interrupting their little lovers quarrel.
“Nothing, really. They were talking, and before I pulled away I saw them carrying two big bags into the house.”
“You didn’t see what was in the bags?”
Phoenix shook her head no. The room fell quiet as they all got lost in their own thoughts. Nobody said anything. Instead, they exchanged glances every now and then.
“Aye, y’all strap up. We about to go to this house,” Tone said.
Phoenix frowned, but only for a second. She didn’t need them thinking she wasn’t ready. The room was quiet as everybody waited for definite instructions. Tone had given an order, but hadn’t said anything else.
“I think we need to pull up on these niggas when they don’t see it coming. They’re gunning for us just as hard as we are them, I don’t want to get caught slipping.” Tone looked at everyone, waiting for their thoughts.
“I’m with it,” Ollie said
“I’m down,” Zino followed.
“You already know where I’m at.” Bear shrugged and sat back against the chair.
“Good. Let’s get it done.”
Tone walked away and the rest followed. It was time for another blood fest and he was going to make sure his team came out on top. He rummaged through his closet, making sure he had all the guns he would need. While he locked and loaded his, Bear was across the room doing the same thing. It took the crew a little over ten minutes to get completely ready before they were all back in the living room ready to go. As always, they piled into Tone’s truck and headed out.
The truck was quiet except for the music that was playing in the background. Phoenix sat between Zino and Bear on the backseat with all kinds of thoughts running through her mind. She leaned over and lay her head against Bear’s shoulder. She was a little nervous about what was to come, but this was nothing new. She knew her brothers were some of the best to do it, but they weren’t invincible.
As they neared the spot she’d been at earlier, she closed her eyes and tried to mentally prepare herself for what was about to happen. What if Jamar was still there and she had to kill him? She didn’t want to do that, but there would be no stopping it once her brothers went in. Hell, he was probably plotting to kill her anyway, being that he was hanging with the enemy.
“This the spot right here, Fe?” Tone looked over his shoulder at her.
Phoenix leaned forward so she could see and nodded her head. “Yeah, they were at the apartment on the end.”
Tone nodded and pulled the truck to a stop on the corner across the street from the apartments. The sound of guns being loaded filled the truck. Once the noise ceased, Tone asked if everybody was ready. After they all spoke, letting him know they were, they filed out of the truck and shuffled across the street as discreetly as they could. It was dark and they were all in dark clothing, so it worked in their favor.
Tone made Phoenix wait on the side of the building with Bear as he, Zino, and Ollie rushed the front door. He instructed her to come in with Bear once they’d kicked the front door down. He didn’t want her taking any bullets, just in case they’d been spotted. She loved her big brother for looking out for her, but she wanted to get in on the action. She didn’t want him, Ollie, or Zino killing everybody before she got a chance to get in.
Although she didn’t like his decision, she did as she was told. She kneeled next to Bear as she watched Tone kick the front door of the apartment. The moment the door broke down, guns were blazing. The noise from Tone and Ollie’s guns was so loud. Whoever was in their line of fire had to have been dead. Once Zino finally made his way in, Bear and Phoenix ran up the sidewalk and into the house as well. Three men were dead on the floor and two in the kitchen. Phoenix and Bear walked backward, spinning in slow circles, making sure no one ran up on them from behind, while Zino pulled open the doors to the closets and cabinets, making sure no one was hiding.
“Aye, let’s grab those two bags right there.” Bear pointed at the two big black bags Phoenix had seen Jamar and Rocko getting out of Jamar’s trunk earlier. He and Zino each grabbed the heavy bags and threw them over their shoulders.
When Tone came hopping down the stairs with Ollie in tow, Phoenix knew it was over. Tone nodded and they all left out the same way they’d entered. No words were spoken until they were back in the truck and on the interstate to the house. They’d thrown the two bags in the back of the truck and peeled off.
“Did you get everybody?” Phoenix asked Tone.
“Yeah. That was their whole click. I caught Rocko’s bitch ass in the room trying to jump out the window. Those niggas never saw it coming. That’s how I like to handle shit.” Tone switched lanes. “Good looking out, sis.”
Ollie scooted down in his seat. “Feels good to have that issue dead.”
“Hell yeah,” Bear said.
The rest of the ride home was quiet until Kara called screaming and crying about something. Everybody wanted to go home, but Tone had turned the truck around and was headed back to her house. Phoenix was sure that everybody wanted to object, but knew better than to go against Tone. Especially now. Kara’s cries had him looking evil as hell. His bright skin was red with fury as he drove.
“I think we should have gone home first,” Phoenix whispered to Zino.
“Me too,” he mouthed.
Phoenix looked at Tone and thought once again how much Kara was changing him. Before meeting her, never in a million years would he have detoured after putting in work. They always went home, changed, and discarded anything that had to do with the murders, but not this time. Phoenix sat back in her seat but sat right back up.
“Tone, you don’t think we should go home and change first?”
He shook his head. “Those niggas we just laid down might have somebody on her.”
Phoenix refused to let up. “Is that what she said?”
“No, Phoenix, damn! I couldn’t understand her. We’ll be straight, just chill.”
Phoenix sat back against the seat. “Say no more.”
Tone released a sigh. “I’m sorry, baby sis, I didn’t mean to yell. I just want to check on her real quick, then we’ll split. I promise.”
“It’s cool.”
“You still love me?” Tone looked at her in the rearview mirror.
“Of course. Just hurry up with your sap ass. You getting soft on me.”
Tone laughed, and so did everybody else in the truck.
Chapter 14
When Tone pulled the truck to a stop in front of Kara’s house, she was sitting on the porch rocking back and forth. Her face was tear stricken and she looked zoned out. When she saw the truck she ran her hands through her hair, but didn’t move. She just cried even harder. Being that Tone was covered in blood, he didn’t really want to get
out, so he waved her over. Kara stood from the chair she was sitting in and held up her finger, motioning for them to give her a minute and went into her house.
When she came out, she walked slowly to the truck and Tone got out. He met her halfway so that they were standing in the middle of the sidewalk leading to her front door. He rubbed his hand along the side of her face. Even though they were a little ways away, they were still in close enough range for everybody in the truck to hear what they were saying. No words had been spoken yet. Phoenix watched Tone wipe away Kara’s tears as she looked into his face.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
She sniffed and shook her head. “You hurt me, Tone. You hurt me real bad.” She grabbed the front of his shirt. “I love you, I do, but I can’t do this anymore. It’s too hard. You’re making it hard for me.”
“Kara, what are you talking about? What’s hard? When did I hurt you? Tell me what you’re saying.”
Everybody in the truck watched, anticipating her next words. Especially Phoenix. She couldn’t think of one thing that Tone had done to her. He had actually shown a totally different side of himself since he’d been dating her. Phoenix wondered what in the hell this girl could be talking about.
“You killed him. He was all I had and you killed him.” She began crying harder.
Tone’s face displayed confusion and a hint of anger. He looked back at the truck before taking a few steps back. “Yo, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I’m out.”
Tone turned and headed back to the truck but paused. They all did. Phoenix’s heart thumped rapidly in her chest as she strained to calm her breathing. Her eyes locked with her brother’s as his head dropped. She saw the disappointment on his face. She felt it in her chest. He had let them all down.
Phoenix crawled as fast as she could over Zino and out the window of the truck. Tone must have had the same thoughts as she did because he was at the window helping her out. He grabbed her in a tight hug as the sound of sirens surrounded them. It sounded like an army of police sirens as she squeezed Tone’s neck tightly. Everything was so loud, she could barely think.