by Niecy P
. “Now, if what Madison said was true, we put Chris on that station. He had been telling me that everything has been good. Who had been reporting the shipment short?” I asked.
“Tavis. He called and told me that our payment has been short. But, when I counted everything up, it seems as if the payment matched the shipment. Tavis sent over his paperwork, and it had more items in each shipment, and Chris was the one signing the shit off.” JoJo said. I was instantly pissed. I hated when muthafuckers stole from us. We already had them on the payroll, took a chance with them, but then they get greedy and fucked things up for the rest of the crew. It was nothing like cleaning house. You had to get rid of him and the muthafuckers he put on. Even if they became loyal to us, they just couldn’t be trusted.
“I will take care of it,” I said and stood up. I was ready for action more than anything. That was what I wanted to do. Enforce some shit. All JoJo had to do is tell me who to kill and when. That was how my father used to operate. But Uncle Jo fucked him over. I didn’t understand how Uncle Jo was still alive after they told me how ruthless my father was.
“That you will do. And don’t be late about it.” Pops told me. Papa looked over at me and shook his head, letting me know that he didn’t tell my dad about my trip to Brazil. I nodded my head and walked out the door with my other half behind me.
“You really need to get your shit together. You can’t be doing this shit and not telling me about it early on. I could’ve come up with something more believable than that story I told them.” Madison said behind me.
“I’m sorry Maddie. I forgot about the fucking meeting.” I told her. Juice passed me my helmet, and I motioned for him to follow me. “You know that you don’t have to go with me right.”
“Boy please,” she answered and jumped in her Beamer. I looked at the end of the parking lot and saw Tick and Cruz in a black Expedition. I placed my helmet on my head and drove off behind my sister, knowing that my back-up was right behind me. I didn’t need them there. I had all that I needed in front of me. They were just there for the ride and the show. And, it was a show that they were about to get. It wasn’t going to be a show from the Madison and Mason that left the meeting. It was going to be the assassins they knew as Smoke and Ghost. We were the new assassins to fear and the ones that no one wanted to cross.
Two
Madison
I knew Mason forgot about the meeting. He always did when he got in his element. Killing people was something that we both mastered. The shit became simple enough to do it in our sleep. I wasn’t like Mason though. He was on some savage type of shit. He followed Dad and his brothers’ old ways when it came to handling business. If one person in the family fucked up, the whole family had to die. It was to keep the rest of their bloodline from doing the same shit. I understood it, but I didn’t regulate it as I should have. If I saw that the person was savable, I would reach out and help them. Don’t get me wrong, killing people was my life as well. I just didn’t do that innocent shit. That didn’t make me feel good inside. It had me questioning my humanity.
Even though sometimes I felt like I was adopted at time, no one understood why I operated the way I did. Daddy told me that I was going to get myself in trouble and someone was going to make him come out of retirement. Mason was always in my ear about not being the assassin that my parents and family raised me to be. But it didn’t matter what they thought. I was the one that had to live with the shit that I had done. I had to look myself in the mirror and see someone that had a heart.
That was why Papa called me for kills that were necessary. He would show me evidence like pictures of the victims or other shit that would have me seeing black. I would go on that mission, leaving my heart behind on the plane. No one wanted to see that other side of me. Papa told me that I was more vicious than my mother. He never thought that it was possible. Neither did I. My mother scared the shit out of me, in any state I was in. She taught me everything that I knew but kept some secrets to herself. Joel was the coldest, and I was happy not to be an enemy of hers.
I pulled up to the Eastbound building and cut my engine off. I heard Mason’s motorcycle behind me with two other vehicles. I knew that it was Tick, Cruz, and Juice crazy ass. They followed my brother around like he was some type of cult leader. They worshipped the ground this fool walked on. I understood that Juice felt like he owed my brother his life, but shit, nigga. Can my brother get room to breathe? I heard the tap on my window and got out of my car. I had on an all-black catsuit with some black boots. My hair was always wild. I liked it when people saw the changes in my eyes. I took my headband and pushed my hair all the way back.
Before Mason walked in, Daddy told JoJo and me not to make eye contact with him. He wanted to address Mason his self. I wasn’t going to sit and let my brother sink. If I was able, I was going to help him out no matter what. That was what we were raised to do.
I walked up behind Mason and saw that he was already in kill mode. The nigga dreads were pulled from his face, and he had his knives strapped up in his holster. I wasn’t planning on getting dirty that day, so I had my Glock out.
Ghost looked back at my choice of weapon and shook his head. “Mi nuh playing wid yuh todeh. Mi nuh need yuh Sista Mary Clarence ass up inna trying to save souls and shit. Wi up inna here to duh one ting an one ting ongle. An dat ato kill dem muthafuckas without asking questions.” He told me.
“Alright, mi hear yuh,” I answered and popped my trunk to my car. I went into my work bag and pulled my blades.
“Yuh sey yuh hear me but nuh duh nuhting different. Dem yah muthafuckas stole from mi tree times. Tree. Dat a disrespectful,” he said and walked towards the front door of the building. He was pissed, and I didn’t blame him. I wasn’t planning on talking about shit anyway. If we would have caught them when they did it the first time, then yeah. I would have spoken to them and tried to figure out the why. The second time I would have hurt them a little bit before talking to them. But three. Nah. Chris had reached his limit. He deserved whatever he was about to get from the deadliest twins alive. I closed my eyes and went into my dark place. It was a place where no one existed but me and my targets. I walked behind my brother ready for brain matter and blood to decorate the walls of this building.
I walked in with Juice, Tick, and Cruz following behind me. I looked back at them, and they were smiling. “Get di fuck from behind mi bowy. Yuh kno betta.” I told them. Tick and Cruz ran in front of me and went into the building. When I was in this state, I was extremely cautious. I could see everything behind and both sides of me, without looking in that direction. I was one of a kind.
When I entered the building, Ghost was standing in front of Chris and the crew. Chris was laying out the shipment details and what they received. I knew Ghost didn’t ask him a question. He was staring at Chris with his head tilted and wondering why they made niggas like that. All weak and shit. I knew because I thought the same thing when I was on my way to killing assholes that I felt was a waste of air. Once Chris was finished, Ghost looked at me over his shoulder and motioned towards Chris.
“Yuh si dis shit sista?” he asked me. I nodded my head and pulled out a small blade.
“Mi si bredda,” I said and began to flip the blade in my hand. Ghost faced them again and smirked at them.
“Yuh mout moving lil nigga but nuttin coming out,” he told Chris, who noticed that his boss wasn’t present.
“Go,” Chris yelled out to his boys. They raised their guns to my brother and paid for it dearly. Before they were able to pull the trigger, my blades pierced their throats, causing them to fall to the ground, clutching their necks. Ghost walked up to a shivering Chris. He looked to his left and right, measuring the distance to the exit. Tick and Cruz already blocked them, but he wasn’t going to make it anyway. It was just wishful thinking on his part.
Ghost walked around him and shook his head. “Yaah wah weak ass nigga wid no spine,” he told Chris with disgust in his voice.
“
Him ave spine Bredda.” I had to disagree.
“Does him yea,” he asked me.
“Him wouldn’t be standing eff him neva.” I leaned against the wall for the feeling that was about to hit my soul. With a sinister smile that would have given the strongest of men nightmares, Ghost stopped pacing and stood on the left side of Chris.
“Well, mi cya fix dat,” Ghost said and hit Chris in his chest. The blow caused him to bend over, which put him in the position that Ghost wanted him in. He pulled out his sharp knife, grabbed Chris by the back of his neck, and slammed the knife in his back.
“Ahhhh,” Chris yelled out. Ghost dragged the knife down his back, next to his spine. When he was satisfied with the incision, he reached his hand inside and grabbed Chris’s spine and pulled that bitch out of his back. Chris fell to the ground screaming in pain. Ghost wasn’t done though. He raised his size thirteen steel-toe boot and stumped Chris’s head into the concrete. I dropped my head back and felt that shit in my toes. I closed my eyes and moaned, catching the eyes of Tick and Cruz. Those niggas were staring at me like they were watching porn. Shit, that was what killing felt like. It was an orgasm that never stopped. The shit went on and on. I opened my eyes and Ghost was still feeling his kill.
“Get di cleanup crew here an tell Monsta to meet mi by mi parents inna twenty,” he said to them with his eyes closed.
Cruz nodded his head and began to walk out the front door with Tick. Juice didn’t move. He was staring at me. Juice asked me out many times. I told his ass no because there was something about him that I didn’t trust. I told Ghost about it, and he told me that he was going to take care of it. That was another reason why Juice didn’t move up in ranks.
Ghost pulled out his gun and shot it, missing Juice purposely. “Neva,” he growled.
Juice eyes went to Ghost and nodded. With one last look at me, he turned and walked out the door. Ghost placed his gun back in his holster and threw the spine over his shoulder. He pulled out his phone and texted Dad that everything was done and that he was on his way. We walked out the building and into the cold night air.
“You gotta check him with that shit, Mace,” I said to my brother that return back to his human state.
“What you expect a nigga to do Madison? You dress like Catwoman, moaning, and shit. You know that he is feeling you like that. So, know that you are going to get a reaction out of him every time,” he responded.
“I am not playing with him, Mason. If he does it again, I will shoot out his knees. No bullshit.” I said and threw the rest of my blades in the back of my truck. When the clean-up crew did their job, they knew to pull each of my knives from them niggas’ throats and return them to me.
“Aye, hold this down for me,” Mason said while trying to hand me Chris’s spine. I closed my trunk up and looked at that fool sideways.
“Excuse me,” I asked.
“Bring this to the crib for me,” he asked again.
“Boy, you must be outside your damn mind if you think I’m putting that in my trunk. You better wrap that shit up and call an Uber to deliver that shit to your house. You got me fucked up.” I said and walked to my driver side. He ran up behind me and tried to grab my door handle. I batted his hand down, and he looked at me crazy.
“What the hell?” he asked.
“You full of that play too much right now. Look at your hands, Mason.”
He looked down and saw the blood that he didn’t bother washing off his hands. “My bad. Hold up,” he said and ran back into the building. I wasn’t that spoiled to where I couldn’t open the door for myself. But I knew if I did, Mason was going to pitch a bitch fit. It happened to us when we were at Sunday dinner at my parents. I had to leave earlier because Papa had a job for me. I got to my car and opened the door. I didn’t know if I imagined things, but I could have sworn that Mason did a fly kick to my car door and placed a big dent in my shit. My jaw dropped at the fact that he came from out of nowhere with it. Marley ass was dying laughing on the sidewalk. I looked at Mason, and he was staring at me as I punched him in his face.
“I got that,” he told me and had to strong arm my door to get it to open. “I’ll have that fixed for you in the morning.” I was too shocked to react. I got in the car and drove off. When I got back from my mission, I had a brand-new door, beautiful and polished. They took that gentlemen shit to a whole new level.
Mason ran out of the building with clean hands and a clean spine. “Can I put it in there now?” He asked me.
“You need to switch your name from Ghost to the Predator,” I told him and popped my trunk. He placed it in my trunk and walked over to open my door.
“Nah, I’m good. Ghost fit me, you know,” he said. I got in my car while he closed it shut. I rolled down my window and passed him his favorite Jolly Rancher candy.
“You are going to the house,” I asked him.
“Yeah,” he opened the candy and placed it in his mouth. “I gotta talk to Pops, man.” He sounded stressed out about this whole Stand and Elites situation.
“Aight, I will meet you there,” I told him.
“That’s cool and all, but don’t say nothing Madison. I will take care of it myself.” He warned me. Mason leaned in and kissed me on my forehead. “Love you.” He said and walked to his bike. I pulled out and drove to my parents’ home.
Dad had built us our little town in Philly. Nanna and Aunt Glen were in Jamaica living their best lives. They figured that their grandchildren were old enough to go and see them. I stayed in the apartment building with Mason. Aunt Tyja and Uncle JJ moved out and got a house built in our suburbs. They had a daughter name Tylee, who was our tech guide with DJ. DJ was Dexter’s, son. Tank and Alisha moved in with T Glen when she didn’t want them to leave her house after Cristian was born. Tristan and his new wife Hazel was pregnant with their first child. They were in Jamaica with T Glen. She told him that she was there for Cristian and she was going to be there for his.
I pulled up to the security gate, and it opened up automatically for my car. Tylee placed a device on our cars that would trigger the gate to open for us without a code. I drove all the way to the back, where my parents lived. It was a beautiful two-story home that was built with the idea of my mother having more than three kids. After Marley, Mom told Dad that he was going to carry the rest because her pregnancy with Marley gave her pure hell. Mom was on bed rest for six months and couldn’t do anything. She was miserable. Dad did all he could to make her comfortable. When she had to get in the bed, he made sure that she wasn’t alone. He would crawl in bed with her and watch movies, eat, play cards, anything that got her mind off the pregnancy.
Mason and I slept with her the days that Dad had to go away. When Marley was born, my mother told her doctor to cut her tubes out and donate that shit. The doctor didn’t do it. He placed Mom on some heavy birth control, though. Dad was mad at first, but he understood how Mom felt. He never wanted to see her go through that much pain again. I knew my mother got pregnant again for Dad. He wasn’t there when my mother was pregnant for us, and she wanted to give him that.
I would never forget the time she told him that she was pregnant. We were sitting at the dinner table talking about our day. Mom winked her eye at me to start the conversation off.
“I like Milian if it’s a girl. That is a pretty name. What do you think Daddy?” I asked him. His fork stopped in midair. He was confused at what I was talking about.
“Uhhm…I guess that is pretty, Angel,” he said and continued eating.
“I like Marley for a boy. I mean Marley can be for a girl or a boy. Right, Dad?” Mason asked that time. Dad was chewing his food and staring at him.
“Yeah, son. Marley would be a nice name,” he said, wondering why we were talking about baby names.
“Come on Dad. We need a name before the baby gets here. Will it be Milian for the girl and Marley for the boy?” I asked him. His eyes switched from Mason’s and mine. He looked up at my mother who was eating her food. Dad dropped
his fork and sat back in his seat.
“Joel,” he called my mother’s name out in a whisper. It was like he spoke his last breath. My mother’s eyes rose to his. She batted her thick eyelashes at him with a small smile.
“Hmm,” she answered. They stared at each other and had a conversation without talking to each other. Dad scooted back in his seat and beckoned my mother to come to him with his finger. Mason got up and pulled Mom’s chair back. She kissed him on his forehead and walked over to my father. He leaned forward and raised her shirt up, to expose her stomach. He planted tender kisses all over her belly. Mom stroked the back of Dad’s head and pulled him closer to her. “Marley,” he whispered the name that he was going to give his second son.
The sound of Mason’s motorcycle pulled me out my thoughts. I jumped out of the car, and we saw another vehicle that we didn’t recognize was in front of the house. “Who car is that?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know, but whoever it is, Dad knows them enough to have them in the house at this hour,” I said and walked in our childhood home. It smelled like freshly baked bread in the entryway. They didn’t eat the bread all the times. Mom baked it for the scent that it gave around the house. Marley asked her why she didn’t buy a candle and almost got his ass whipped. Mason and I walked towards the voices in the kitchen.
“Damn, Joel. I see why this fool is gaining weight. You are going to have to roll me out to my car after this.” Sincere joked but was serious.
“No matter how much I gain, I will always be faster than you nigga,” Dad said to his old Navy Seal buddy.
“That’s old people talk right there,” Mason said while walking in the room.
“Old,” Dad and Sin said together. Mason and I laughed at them with Mom smiling at the kitchen island.