by A'zayler
“I’m sorry, sis. I should have listened to you. I’m so sorry. I love you... don’t say nothing. I got this. Don’t you admit to anything. Nothing. You hear me?” Tone said in her ear as they embraced.
“I got this, Tone. We’re in this together.”
He pulled away from her and looked into her face. “No. Do not admit to shit. I got this. Don’t fight me on this, Fe.”
His eyes told her he was serious, so to give him a peace of mind, she nodded. Although she had no plans of doing that. If her brothers were going down, so was she.
Tone hugged her again as he turned around toward Kara.
By now, police cars had surrounded the yard. With water in her eyes, Phoenix looked in the car at her family. They all looked defeated. It was the end of the road. She had to admit it though, her boys were some true soldiers. They didn’t even try to run. They stayed and waited for the inevitable. Ollie looked calm as always, Bear was chilling, but she saw the pain in his eyes. Zino’s eyes mirrored hers. He was scared just like she was.
Their lives were over. The Zoo Crew was the most sought after, and there was no point in even running. That bitch, Kara, had set them up. Even with the cops Tone had on his payroll, they were sure to go down. The moment shit got hot, they were going to leave him hanging.
“I’m sorry, Tone. I didn’t plan for it to turn out this way.” Kara was still crying with her traitor ass.
Tone and Phoenix both looked at her in disgust. Neither of them said anything. Instead, they stood in the yard facing the crowd of police cars. There were blue lights everywhere. The big black truck that read S.W.A.T blocked the driveway off as the helicopter hovered above them. Guns from every direction were trained on them.
“Put your hands in the air and lie on the ground,” a voice came over the bullhorn.
Phoenix looked from the truck to Tone. He gave her a look that she knew all too well. He wasn’t going down without a fight, and neither was she. She was riding with her brother until the end. They continued standing there looking at each other.
“Lay down, lil sis. Don’t resist.”
“Hell no. I’m with you until the day we die.”
Tone smirked. “What if that’s today?”
Phoenix grabbed his hand. “Then so be it.”
Tone nodded and returned his attention back to the people in front of them waiting to take their freedom away. He stared at them for a minute before turning back to Phoenix. He was about to say something until the bullhorn sounded again.
“Exit the truck with your hands up, slowly, and lie face down on the ground. This can be as simple as you all make it.”
Tone and Phoenix both looked over at the truck. Tone nodded and they all began to file out. Phoenix’s eyes began to water as she watched her world crumble. She peered around Tone and wanted to kill Kara. She was standing closer to her porch again, clutching her shirt in her hands. Stupid bitch. Phoenix turned back around to see Tone’s arms raised in surrender.
“What are you doing?” Phoenix asked.
“I’m not about to let them shoot you down in the street like an animal. If we fight, that’s what’s gon’ happen.”
“I don’t care. We’re all together. We started together, let’s end together.”
Tone shook his head. “I can’t watch that happen to you, Fe.”
The tears in Phoenix’s eyes fell down her cheeks as she too raised her hands in surrender. Like a domino effect, the rest of her crew raised their arms too. So this was it. The end of Zoo Crew. Phoenix began to feel overwhelmed as she thought about never seeing her brothers again. Ollie kneeled first and lay down, followed by Zino, then Bear. She looked at Tone once more and watched as his body lowered. She followed suit and lay on the ground next to him. The footsteps of the officers coming up the sidewalk sounded like a stampede.
One by one, they were cuffed with their hands behind their backs, all except her. She was pulled over to the side by some white cop and cuffed with her hands in front of her. She didn’t like the special treatment. It was clear by the delicate way they were handling her that it was because she was a girl, and a small one at that. Her brothers were being tossed and slammed left and right. She watched as they were each loaded into a different car. Tone was the last one to be loaded, and had somebody told her what was about to happen next, she would have closed her eyes.
Tone was staring at her and had just mouthed the words I love you when the side of his handsome face was blown across the roof of the patrol car he was standing next to.
The gut wrenching scream that Phoenix let out was sure to have been heard across the world. There was rapid movement in the background, but all she could focus on was getting to Tone. She was screaming so loud, she completely drowned out the muffled screams of her boys as they fought to get out of the squad cars.
Phoenix took off in a full speed run toward Tone’s now lifeless body. She fell to her knees, pulling on his clothes. All she could do was scream. Her heart was dead. All the life had just been taken from her body. She cradled what was left of Tone’s head the best she could, due to the fact her hands were still cuffed.
“TONNNNNNNEEEEE NOOOOOOOOO! GET UP TONE! GET UP, PLEASE! I CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU! PLEASE JUST GET UP! PLEASE TONE, DON’T LEAVE ME!”
When she got no response she released his head and laid his body down on the ground. In the distance she could hear Bear, Ollie, and Zino saying stuff as they were forced to watch this from the backseat of squad cars. Phoenix lay her head against his chest and cried. She didn’t know how long she had been laying there, but however long it was, it wasn’t long enough. When she was pulled to her feet by the officer, she turned toward Kara. They had her in cuffs and she was staring at Tone’s body. When she looked up at Phoenix, she smiled.
“Now you know how I feel. He killed my little brother at that fucking park that day. My brother didn’t have shit to do with Rocko’s beef, but he lost his life, so I avenged it. Hope all of y’all rot in hell with his grimy ass.”
The police snatched her up. “That’s enough.”
Clearly, he felt bad for Phoenix. Obviously they all did since nobody was doing shit but standing around watching everything unfold. They should have intervened by now, but they hadn’t. This whole scene was surreal.
Phoenix stood there looking around, unable to believe what she was hearing. Her eyes surveyed the cops standing around fully shielded in protective gear. She looked at the ones standing near her and how they were all watching her. She tried her best to process this. Her heart was clouded with rage and pain. All that time Kara had been around; she’d been plotting on them. She knew it was something about that hoe. With her brother lying at her feet bleeding, and this bitch smirking in her face, Phoenix lost all rational thinking. In a swift move she turned and grabbed the gun from the officer’s holster and aimed it at Kara. She pulled the trigger just as she was tackled. She was slammed onto the ground roughly, hitting her head in the process. She was held down by one officer while another cuffed her hands to her waist.
When they stood her up, she looked in Kara’s direction. Her body was sprawled across the trunk of the police car with blood leaking from it. Phoenix nodded her head and looked to the sky as she was carried to a different car. She had avenged her brother’s death as well.
*****
The orange jumpsuit she had on was too big, the room was cold, her wrists were hurting from the cuffs, and she still hadn’t woken up from this horrendously awful nightmare. She wanted to die. Phoenix sat at the table in the interrogation room at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center waiting for the detectives to come in. This had been an ongoing thing for the past week.
Every day since she’d been there, she’d been interrogated about the things the Zoo Crew were involved in. Every day she told them the same thing. Nothing. They insisted on trying to break it out of her, but it wasn’t working. Today would be no different. She wasn’t eating, she barely drank anything, and she wasn’t talking. No one bothered
her because she stayed to herself.
She hadn’t uttered a word since being brought to jail. There was no reason to. She had nothing else to say. The day her brother died, and the rest of her brothers and the love of her life had been taken away from her, she shut down. She no longer wanted to live. She was just ready for it all to be over with.
After they were arrested and their things were searched, the police found Tek’s body cut into pieces in the two black bags. That almost killed her. They had grabbed his body from that house and hadn’t even known it. They all assumed it had been money or drugs until they were told otherwise. The detectives actually looked like they enjoyed delivering the news.
After that, she’d contemplated taking her own life, but changed her mind. Tone always said that only cowards killed themselves. Real soldiers ride out their problems until death, so that’s what she would do. She thought about him all day every day. The only comfort she found in his death was that she’d killed his murderer.
“Good evening, Phoenix,” the detective said, interrupting her thoughts. He took a seat across from her and laid down his folder and coffee.
Phoenix looked at him and waited for his attempt to make her talk.
“Since you refuse to talk, I’ve come up with something I’m sure will open up that pretty little mouth of yours.”
Phoenix’ face remained stoic as she stared at him. There was nothing in this world that would make her talk. She didn’t care what it was. The officer looked at her for a moment before nodding his head at the glass mirror along the wall where she was sure more cops were waiting. Phoenix sighed and maintained eye contact with him. When the door opened she tore her eyes away from him for a second and had to do a double take. Aaliyah?
“Phoenix, this is agent Austin. I’m sure you know her.”
Phoenix looked her up and down with a snarl on her face. She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. This wasn’t even surprising. Aaliyah looked just like a police ass hoe. Phoenix shook her head and looked back at the detective. He hadn’t done shit bringing her in. Fuck her. Their life hadn’t started getting rocky until they let outsiders in their circle. Kara, and her. Everything was good until they came along.
“We already know everything you and your little crew was involved in. So I’m giving you the opportunity to tell us what we need to know. We’re willing to give you a plea deal if you testify against the other members of this crew.” The detective took a sip from his coffee as he looked over at Aaliyah. She was standing against the wall watching Phoenix.
“I told your ass not to fuck with me.” She smiled tauntingly.
Phoenix looked at her and turned back toward the cop. She wasn’t worried about her. She nor Aaliyah had Ollie now, so what was the point in letting her get a rise out of her? Phoenix’ demeanor remained calm as she waited for the detective to keep talking. When he noticed he still wasn’t getting anything out of her, he looked at Aaliyah.
“Get agent Wilcox to take her out of here. She wants to dig her own grave, then let her.” The attitude in his voice was evident.
These people clearly didn’t know who she was. She wouldn’t break for anybody. The only people to ever see her soft side was her family, and she was never going to see any of the again after they all went to trial, so she no longer cared about life. Fuck everybody. They could do what they wanted to her, it didn’t matter. She’d already lost everything. Phoenix looked over at Aaliyah as she exited the room. She was gone for a few minutes before returning.
Phoenix looked at her and scoffed before looking down at the floor. Her and the other detective’s presence in the room was disgusting to Phoenix. She couldn’t stand the sight of Aaliyah, and she was just plain old tired of the detective. Whoever was about to take her back to her cell needed to hurry their ass up. She was ready to go. She was relieved when she heard the door open, but that was very short lived.
“Phoenix.”
Wait, it couldn’t be. Another fucking outsider. Phoenix looked from his loafers, to his dress pants and shirt, on up to the badge hanging from his neck, and for the first time since that day, she spoke.
“…Ollie?”
Betrayal is the only truth that sticks
-Arthur Miller
Chapter 15
Lying back on the flat bed with her hands resting behind her head, Phoenix almost let her mind get the best of her. She had been replaying the occurrences of the last week over and over in her head. This couldn’t be life. She had to be living a dream. There was no way in real life that the man she was in love with, and had been living with for the past few months was a Federal Agent. No way in the world. That was just too surreal. Her heart rate sped up all over again as she thought about the moment he walked into the interrogation room.
“…Ollie?”
“Phoenix, please just tell them what they need to know.” Ollie walked closer so that he was standing next to the table that she was cuffed to.
Phoenix sat as still as a statue. She was sweating profusely and her head was spinning. At the rate her heart was beating, she was sure she was a few seconds from a heart attack. The amount of pain and shock radiating through her body made her feel sick to her stomach. She had to swallow over and over to minimize the amount of saliva that was building up in her mouth. She swallowed as hard as she could to keep from throwing up all over the table before looking up at the cop sitting across from her.
His face held a smug smile. He was enjoying their little show. He knew Ollie would fuck her up. Nothing else had worked. Not even finding out that Ollie’s little girlfriend Aaliyah was a police too. Phoenix did everything she could mentally, to gather herself. She’d watched her brother get the side of his head blown off and she’d made it, surely she could get through this interview. Ollie was snake, simple as that. Too bad getting past that wasn’t as simple. He’d been there with her on this journey. Putting in work right alongside her, and now this?
“Still nothing to say Miss Gram?” the white officer asked her. His hands were crossed across the table and he was staring at her.
Phoenix looked from him to Aaliyah, then over Ollie’s head, then down in her lap. She couldn’t look at Ollie. No, scratch that, she wouldn’t look at him. His bitch ass didn’t deserve it. That nigga had been eating with her and her family for damn near a year, and it was all fake. She could feel the water in her eyes, but she refused to let the tears fall. She was tougher than that. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing they’d nearly broken her with that stunt. Taking a deep breath and grinding her teeth together, Phoenix looked up at the cop.
“I don’t have anything to say.” Her voice sounded a little raspier due to not talking in a while.
“I see you want to play hardball. We know every fucking thing you and that group of animals you call family have done.” He paused when Phoenix shifted in her seat. She didn’t appreciate him talking about her brothers. “We are going to bury your ass whether you tell us anything or not. It would just be easier if you chose to cooperate.”
“I said, I don’t have anything to say. Now can I please go back to my dorm?”
“You’re not doing a gotdamn thing until I say so.” He slammed his hand on the table.
Phoenix raised her eyebrow and looked back down in her lap. She swallowed again before looking back at him. That time, she maintained eye contact. That greasy hair having bastard didn’t scare her. There was nothing intimidating about the short blonde shag haircut, untailored suit, dirty ass nails, and smelly coffee breath he obtained. Phoenix had made men with twice the power he had cry and beg for their lives. She would gladly do the same thing to him if given the opportunity. Honestly, she’d off his ass without all the begging. After the things he’d just said about her family, he wouldn’t have a chance.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. All of that was bullshit. She didn’t need that. Fuck begging to go back to her cell, fuck talking to the police, she wasn’t doing another thing. She wouldn’t open her mouth
to another cop. She was sure they had enough evidence to convict her and the rest of the Zoo Crew no matter what she said or didn’t say, so she was done.
Phoenix crossed her fingers together and sat up straighter in the chair with her head held high. If Tone could see her now, he would be so proud. She was holding everything down like the soldier he’d groomed her to be.
“Agent Wilcox, we’ll leave you alone with her for a few minutes, maybe you can break her idiotic ass. I mean after all she’s been your little bed warmer for almost a year now.” He laughed goofily as he exited the room with Aaliyah in tow.
Phoenix took a deep breath and looked around the room while Ollie made himself comfortable at the table. When he was finally seated and settled in his chair, she looked straight ahead. Not making eye contact, looking past him instead. She stared at the cinderblock wall to avoid taking in the deceit of the snake slithering in front of her. The room was silent and Phoenix had no plans of changing that.
“Phoenix, I know how this must feel and I’m sorry. It was all a part of the job. None of this is personal. When I first started with the Zoo Crew I figured it would be easy. I never knew I would get attached to y’all in that manner. On some days it was almost impossible to do my job because of this.” He paused and looked over her face.
She was void of any emotion. Her eyes were cast straight ahead and her mouth was balled into a scowl. Her hair was braided down into two French braids and her skin was smooth. The jumpsuit she had on was clearly made for someone twice her size. Her eyes were dark and her face looked a tad bit sunken in. Her cheeks drooped and her eyes were sad.
“I’m sure there’s nothing I can say to fix this, so I won’t try but I would like to apologize. I’m sorry about all of this. I’m sorry you lost your brother and Tek. I know how close y’all were.”