24th and Dixie (2 page)

“Bitch ass nigga, huh? Why I gotta be all that?” He asked and smoothly pulled a box-shaped looking pistol from his waistband and let it hang down by his leg. It was a .40 Caliber. J-Smith tapped C-Brook on the leg for him to look.

“Now if I make you niggas eat ‘dem words then what that make y’all? Yeah, I got three felonies but how ‘bout I make it five ‘cause if I buss you niggas you know I’ma run for it” Wild-Man said and pointed the gun right at them.

“Damn, Wild-Man chill out homey. Why the gun play?” C-Brook said.

“Tell him to put the gun up,” Fam said.

“Wait, hold up nigga!” Wild-Man began talking to Fam. “Who is C-Brook to tell me what to do? I’m not no lil yes man like you ho niggas! I don’t even fuckin’ obey God so why ‘da fuck would I listen to man? Let’s get it understood I don’t like none of you niggas anyway! Matter of fact, all you nigga catch the ground, now!” POW! POW! Wild-Man fired two bullets between J-Smith and C-Brook and instilled enough fear to make everybody hit the ground. “Don’t none of you niggas move! I know y’all got ‘dem pistols on ya, but you’ll never get ‘em out to use ‘em. The first one of you niggas try some slick shit I’ma light this bitch up like it’s Christmas!” Wild-Man kept his pistol at a perfect aim as he demanded everyone to empty their pockets clean. “And move ‘dem pistols slow, or it’s gon’ be a fuckin’ murda on 24
th
,” he spat. Most of the guys knew robbery was Wild-Man’s M.O., but they never thought he would be silly enough to rob them when he lived just a street over on 23
rd
. Another thing they knew was that he could be dangerous with a pistol, so they had to take him seriously, even Ron and CJ. The tough-talking was ceased.

“You know this a foul play right, Wild-Man?” C-Brook said as he lay on his stomach.

“Nigga don’t talk to me! Finish dumping ya pockets and keep ‘dem pistols so I can see ‘em and slide ‘dem cell phones over here too. You niggas have been currently disconnected.” Wild-Man proceeded to move quickly picking up all he could. He grabbed all the cash first then a few pistols. He didn’t bother to take the cell phones. As he was picking up the gun beside J-Smith, he noticed a box of condoms in the pile. “Fuck you doing with condoms? You know you out here raw dogging these mut ass hos, nigga. I should shoot yo ass for impersonating.” He stuffed all he could the best he could and then turned the gun on C-Brook’s white Chevy Caprice parked on the curve and let the .40 spit. He riddled the driver’s side with seventeen holes before he took off running and disappeared into the dark night.

The guys got up off the ground pissed but blessed to be alive. This kind of thing happened on the avenue all the time whether it was 24
th
or a street or two over. The good side of a robbery was coming out alive. “He better respect the game when it come back to him,” C-Brook said. He instructed the guys to pick up all the shells just in case the police showed up. You could never tell if a nosey bastard called the cops to report gun shots or not until the pigs actually arrived asking twenty-one questions. “Its gon’ be a long ass night. Breze, you and Fam go to the store and grab the blunts I’ll give you the bread. I don’t know what happened to the twins” C-Brook said.

“Might as well grab sumthin’ to drank too,” J-Smith said.

“I’m finna grab some cash, hold up,” C-Brook said and walked into an apartment. Ron and CJ were picking up the shells, and the other guys were looking around and listening for the cops. J-Smith walked over to the shot up Chevy and shook his head. “Wild-Man wanna play and shit. I’ll kill a wild man,” he said and popped the trunk on the car. He reached deep off inside and pulled out an M-16 rifle loaded with a 30 round magazine. “Fuck around and hunt me a wild man down. Shred his entire ma’fuckin’ body,” he said.

Fam recognized the cop car clearly as it turned on the street and proceeded their direction. “Yo, 5.0 comin’ y’all. 5.0! J-Smith put that up homey!” He warned.

J-Smith tossed rifle back in the trunk and slammed it shut, and Ron and CJ kicked the remaining shells far as they could out of the street. “Y’all just chill and act normal. Somebody probably called and reported shots fired,” J-Smith said. They watched as the cop car slow up as it wanted to stop down the street where the other crowd of people was standing, but it continued on down.

“Damn,” Fam said patting his pockets out of nervousness.

“Stop panicking Fam, damn,” J-Smith said.

As the cops got closer, it was obvious they were going to stop by the way the driver pushed on the brakes. Once he did, the guys realized it was two cops they all knew too well. They were two white cops named Brad and Finley, and they were known to harass the guys on 24
th
. They were middle aged guys with about twelve years of cop experience. Brad was the driver. As he made a complete stop in the street, he held up a bright flashlight and shone it on the guys. “What are you guys doing?” he asked. J-Smith shrugged his shoulders and hissed. “Just standing around enjoying the pretty night officer,” he said.

“Is that a crime?” CJ asked.

“Depends on what you’re doing in the process of enjoying the pretty night,” Finley said from the passenger’s seat. CJ looked over and mugged Finley and got mugged back in return.

“You guys know anything about a shooting that happened a little while ago on the corner?” Brad asked referring to the shooting on 27
th
.

“Sorry officer but that’s a negative,” J-Smith said.

“We don’t know nuthin’ about it,” CJ said

“But I take it you do know about the one that took place a moment ago right?” Brad said.

“Right here around this area, possibly on this very street,” Finley said and leaned down to look at the fellas for their response. He was watching to grade their facial expression.

“On this street? Right here?” J-Smith asked and looked at CJ shockingly.

“Here? Right here? Nah, couldn’t have been. I don’t think it was here on two fo’ officers,” CJ added to the lie. They knew the guys were full of shit, but it never hurt to try and apply a little

Pressure. You never know. One day someone just might break. “There was a murder on the corner tonight. You guys know anyone who drives a black Range Rover?” Brad asked.

“Not personally, but I know of some people that drive ‘em,” J-Smith said.

“Give me some names,” Brad said. Finley rushed and pulled out his pen and pad ready to write the names down. “Shit…P Diddy, Jay-Z, TI and I think that boy Young Jezzy got one,” J-Smith said.

The guys laughed, and even Brad smiled.

“That boy Trick got one too ‘cause he was just here last month doing a show,” CJ added.

“You guys are real funny you know that?” Brad said.

“We try,” CJ said.

“Fuckin’ idiots,” Finley mumbled.

The cop car was the first thing C-Brook noticed as he came out of the front door.
Damn. Da’ hell these crackers want?
He thought. His first thought was to turn around and go back inside of his apartment, but he was sure that would have made him look suspicious.

“Calvin?” Brad called out his real name.

“C’mon, man. What I tell y’all ‘bout callin’ out my real name,” he said.

“We’re the law. We can do whatever we want,” Brad said.

“Well it ain’t much going on 24
th
and Dixie I can assure y’all that. We just got off work, and we tired. We good citizens, and we pay our taxes,” he said.
Lying son of a bitch! You never had a job in your fuckin’ life
Finley said to himself.

“Good citizens, huh?” Brad repeated with a smile.

“Yes sir,” C-Brook confirmed. Brad clicked off his flashlight and sucked his teeth looking C-Brook dead in the eye. The stare he gave sent a bad vibe that all the guys felt. “You boys enjoy the rest of your night,” he said in a tone that the guys understood well.

“First we were guys and now we boys, huh?” J-Smith said. He gave Brad a cold look of his own that indicated maybe he needed to hurry up and get the hell off of 24
th
. “Like I said…you boys enjoy the rest of your night,” he repeated and drove off giving the guys a hateful look.

“Crooked as crackers,” C-Brook said. As soon as the cop car was out of sight there were about twelve shots up the street that came in a continuous rhythm. The fellas looked up the street and could see people running and screaming in all directions. This was a normal thing to them, so they acted as usual. “Just another muthafuckin’ night on two fo,” C-Brook said. They sat out chairs by the road and prepared for the rest of the night.

$$$$

Kane and Able got rid of the Range Rover and jumped into their black Mercedes E-550. They took it to a late night scrap yard and had it crushed just because. This wasn’t the first luxury vehicle they crushed, and the scrap yard owner knew them as regulars. He never questioned why they crushed such good vehicle, but he knew of them, so that was enough. Besides, before they got them to the scrap yard they had already packed the gas tank with sugar. This was a way to keep anyone from trying to buy them or keep them for themselves. Able adjusted his rearview mirror, and they prepared to head back in town. They weren’t fearful of anyone snitchin’ on them but if anything they were sure the cops had gotten a statement from at least one witness that provided them with the type of vehicle the shooter was driving.

A lot of the people in the hood liked the twins and showed them love. Everyone knew they had plenty money, and they would spend lots of it to maintain their freedom.

So if anyone did snitch on them, they would probably be dead before the trial date came around. Before the twins’ father was killed by a well-known drug dealer ten years ago, he became very ambitious and went on a state to state robbery spree and robbed twenty-seven different banks in nine different states. He got away with more than fifty million dollars combined according to bank tellers and police. One month before he was killed by a drug dealer, whom he’d robbed more than three times, he gave his son’s an early birthday present and their mother a special anniversary gift. The twins opened a safe and counted out six million dollars’ cash and had to help their mother count another nine million that was in a safe of her own. That was the three of them little secret, and they all vowed not to flaunt and spend money on crazy things that attracted lots of attention. Janet, the twin’s mother, owned two bowling alleys and had been holding them down for twelve years strong, so it was no secret they were wealthy. They kept all of the money from the robberies concealed in a second home out on Siesta Key by the beach. They would have been fools to put it in the bank. Although their bowling alleys did well, they didn’t gross near 6 million or nine million a year.

“I called C-Brook and that nigga J-Smith and neither answered,” Kane said.

“What you wanna do?” Able asked.

“Shit, I don’t know,” Kane said.

“You wanna just hit the Av and see if they out there? I’m sure they out there. You know how them niggas are,” Able said. Kane was hesitant and shook his head.

“Let’s just go pick up Quanita and Roslyn first and then we’ll go over there and get the weed,” Kane said.

“Bet,” Able agreed.

“Remember…if we get questioned by the cops’ bruh we were at home the time of the shooting. We don’t know shit,” Kane said.

“Bruh, you act like I’m new to this shit. C’mon man. You know I know better. That nigga on the Av. ain’t the first ma’fucka we don’ smoked,” Able said.

“I’m just sayin’. Long as our stories match, they got nothing, regardless of what a witness say. They gotta prove it,” Kane said.

“True,” Able agreed.

“And to be honest with you I don’t trust them niggas on the corner no more than I trust C-Brook and the rest of them niggas on 24
th
,” Kane said.

Able looked over and gave his brother a look. “You don’t trust C-Brook?” He asked.

“I’m just sayin’ I get a bad vibe with all of them niggas for real. It’s just a feeling bruh. Nothing to trip about. They been loyal from day one right?” Kane said.

“Well you already know Quanita, and Roslyn don’t like going on that side of town anyway so we’ll make it quick. Get in and out and just be sure to tell them to keep their eyes open in case niggas be on something foul. They got Phantom’s number, so they know what to do,” Able said.

“Right. That’s call thinking ahead” Kane said.

“The best thinker win bro,” Able said.

“Exactly…exactly,” he said.

Able lit a Newport and took the stereo off pause. “Right,” he said. They cruised down 301 blasting the Webbie Album ‘Savage Life’.

$$$$

Back on 24
th
Breze and Fam had returned with the beer, blunts, and a few other products. C-Brook was talking to Dread, who was parked on the sidewalk in his orange 71 Chevy Chevelle.     

Dread was dark skinned with long thick dreadlocks. He was a marijuana addict and would try just about any drug he was offered. He was known for spazzing out and doing abnormal things.

He once flagged down a policeman and claimed he was robbed by Barney and Bugs Bunny. When the officer asked if he were on any kind of drugs he replied, “Almighty God is against drugs of any kind. Jesus is the way”.

Upon investigation, it was clear that Dread had been snorting bad heroine. The fellas kept a close eye on him when he came through 24
th
because he was subject to change in a split second.

“If you see that nigga Wild-Man tell him I got some hot shit for him,” C -Brook said.

“Wild-Man is a bitch. He’s not bout any drama my brether. I almost blew his fuckin’ testicles off a while back. And that was before CJ stopped me from beatin’ ’dat ass,” Dread said.

“Any nigga got balls with a gun, though,” C-Brook said.

“Yea but not all will shoot my brether,” Dread said. He lit a fat blunt and pulled on the drug deeply. As it took effect, he sat back and closed his eyes as if he was relaxed. He let all the smoke slowly blow from his nose. “Yes. God is good my brether,” he said.

Silly muthafucka,
C-Brook thought. “He good but I don’t think he gon’ approve of you smoking dope Dread,” he said. “Let’s not get religious, my brether,” he said and passed the blunt.

“This that Haiti green?” C-Brook asked as he was hitting it.

“If that was Haiti green you would already be at the moon, afraid to come down,” he joked.

“I heard that,” C-Brook said. Dread held up a chrome .357 magnum and check the cartridge. “What you got going on Dread?” C-Brook asked while keeping his eyes on the fool.

“Midnight is approaching my brether. Almost time for my first victim,” he said. C-Brook handed him the blunt and was done hitting it. He was ready for the fool to get off of 24
th
. “What that mean?” He asked.

“I must find sum’body to rob. You brethers take it easy,” he said and bumped fist with C-Brook. “You too. Don’t end up as the victim,” he said. Dread let out a silly laugh and replied, “My brether, only if it’s God’s will. I am always successful,” he turned up his Bob Marley music and punched the gas spinning off. “Jesus is the way,” he yelled out the window.

“Silly ass dude,” C-Brook said.

“C-Brook, that nigga Dread crazy as hell,” J-Smith said.

“Ignorant,” C-Brook said.

The guys had chairs sat out by the road with the beer cooler out. CJ and Ron were rolling blunts, and J-Smith was making sure they had weapons concealed in stash spots just in case. It was always something surprising going down on 24
th
so they had to be sure they were able to get to a firearm quick. He concealed one pistol in his waistband. A guy from 23
rd
named Phil came through and told the guys that the twins name had come up in a homicide early on the corner.