Animal (31 page)

Ashanti watched the goons that had come in with Holiday leave the spot, but there were no signs of the birthday boy. A few minutes later, he spotted Holiday coming from the bathroom area. He was making hurried steps like he had the devil on his heels. He expected Holiday to exit through the front with the rest, but he made for a door in the back of the club. Ashanti knew the door led to a deserted block in back of the club, which was perfect. He made a mad dash for the front door. If he hurried, he could be there to greet Holiday when he came out.

Less than a minute after Ashanti had left to cut Holiday off, Animal came out of the bathroom holding a smoking gun and a bloodied hatchet.

Animal wanted to, he knew that he should have, but he couldn’t bring himself to kill the little boy. Contrary to what people thought of him, he was a killer, but he was no monster. He had spared the boy’s life, but Holiday would get no such mercy.

He stepped out of the bathroom into pure pandemonium. A wave of panicked drunks and half-naked women rushed the front door trying to make a speedy exit. Animal scanned the faces and noticed Holiday wasn’t among them. He had almost thought that he lost him until he noticed a trail of blood on the ground, leading in the other direction. He looked up just in time to see Holiday escaping through one of the doors in the back.

“You won’t escape me that easily,” Animal said and headed after him.

Holiday came crashing through the back door so quickly that he lost his balance and fell, skinning his hands and knees on the cold concrete. Ignoring the pain in his back, he got to his feet and kept moving. He had been having some rotten luck lately, but managing to run afoul of someone as notorious as Animal topped everything else. Animal was dead, at least that’s what the streets said, but the wound across Holiday’s back said different. He needed to get word of Animal’s resurrection to Shai ASAP. Holiday felt like shit for leaving Baby Doc back there, but he reasoned that Animal had come for him specifically, so he wouldn’t kill Baby Doc . . . or so he hoped. Holiday needed
to get back around to the front of the club and alert his team of the danger. Once they had regrouped, they could roll in force to take on Animal.

Behind him, Holiday heard the door he’d just come through swing open again. He knew that he shouldn’t have, but he glanced over his shoulder, afraid of what he might see. Sure enough, Animal was on his tail. Thankfully, the back street was dark, so Animal didn’t see him right away, but that all changed when Holiday kicked over a bottle and drew Animal right to him. He had Animal by at least a block so there might’ve still been hope for him. All he had to do was make it around the corner to where there were people. Animal wouldn’t dare kill him in front of witnesses. Holiday almost made it to the corner when his luck went from bad to worse.

“What up, Blood?” Ashanti stepped out of the darkness and opened fire.

Animal burst from the emergency exit with the scent of blood in his nose and murder in his heart. He looked up and down the dark block but didn’t see Holiday. He thought he had lost Holiday somewhere in the corridor leading to the fire exit and was about to double back when he heard glass breaking. He looked toward the end of the block and saw Holiday trying to escape.

“Don’t rush off just yet; we were just getting to know each other.” Animal jogged after him. He had almost closed the distance when he saw someone step out from the shadows. It was too dark for him to see who it was, but he could make out the shape of a gun in his hand. He saw the man say something to Holiday before letting off a shot in Animal’s direction. That
answered the question as to which side he was on. Drawing his two Pretty Bitches, Animal brought the thunder.

Ashanti cursed as Holiday went down, not because of his bullet but because of the trash he had slipped on that helped him to avoid it. He was about to try for another shot when a bullet ricocheted off the fence a few inches from his face. Ashanti peered down the block and saw a man rushing toward him, blazing two guns.

Ashanti dove out of the way and landed on the ground behind a car and a few inches away from where Holiday lay. “I see you brought some friends to the party,” he said to Holiday. “Don’t matter, though. After I take care of captain save-a-ho, I’m gonna smoke your ass.” He shot Holiday in his good leg. “Try not to rush off while I’m taking care of this.” Ashanti disappeared around the other side of the car.

Staying as low as he could, he crept alongside of the car trying to get the drop on his opponent. He peered through the window of the car he was hiding beside and didn’t see anything, but he knew the man was out there; he could feel him stalking him. Ashanti heard a crunch of gravel, which gave him an idea where the man was so he popped up and fired at the sound. Six cars down a windshield shattered and drove the man from his hiding place. Ashanti tried to gun the man down while he was exposed, but just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared. He was fast, almost too fast. Ashanti moved to get into better position and immediately found himself dodging bullets. He scurried under a car on the opposite side of the street and came up blasting from the other side of it.

They went on like this for almost five minutes, exchanging
fire but neither man hitting his target. Ashanti was getting low on bullets and frustrated. He knew if he kept it up at that rate he’d be in jail when the police finally showed up—if he didn’t get blasted first. He needed to end it now and get ghost. The man on the other side of the street must’ve been thinking the same thing because they both popped out of their hiding places at the same time, guns drawn. There was a tense silence as the two killers sized each other up from opposite sides of the street. They gave each other a respectful nod before the shooting started again.

Ashanti and the man leapfrogged between cars, exchanging fire and closing the distance until a single car was the only thing that separated them. Ashanti sat with his back against the car and his gun clutched to his chest. On the other side of the car he could hear the man’s labored breathing. He had to respect the man’s skill because most wouldn’t have lasted that long against him, but respect aside, they both knew that there was only one way to end this. They came up at the same time, aimed, and pulled the trigger—but all three guns clicked empty.

Before Ashanti could figure out his next move, the man leaped over the car and was on him. He and Ashanti both went spilling to the ground in a mess of flailing fists and feet. Ashanti was a good brawler, but the man was heavier than he and had him at a disadvantage. He wrestled Ashanti to the ground and climbed on top of him, pinning his arms at his side with his knees. Ashanti saw the man produce a hatchet from somewhere and raise it to finish him off. He thought of all the things that he had done and all the things he would never do. He thought of Fatima and how she would take him dying on her before they really got a chance to know each other.

The cleaver made a whistling sound as it cut through the air en route to Ashanti’s neck. Rays from the lone streetlight on the block kissed off the blade and for the first time Ashanti saw the face of his attacker. “Animal?” he blurted out in shock, just before the cleaver made contact.

Animal knelt on the cold ground, resting on his knuckles and breathing like he had just run a marathon. His adrenaline had him so pumped that his head hurt and felt like he would pass out if he tried to stand up too quickly. Next to him on the ground was the bent hatchet. At the last minute, he had been able to redirect his strike and hit the ground instead of the soft flesh of Ashanti’s neck. Even now, Ashanti sat against a car a few feet away from Animal with the look of a terrified child on his face. He knew better than anyone how close he had come to meeting his Maker.

“You could’ve killed me,” Ashanti said, breaking the silence.

“I was trying to.” Animal stood up. He walked over and extended his hand to Ashanti to help him up. Ashanti was hesitant at first, but he allowed Animal to lift him. The two just stood there for what felt like a lifetime, staring and trying to figure out what to say.

Without warning, Ashanti hugged Animal. “Tell me it’s really you. Tell me this ain’t some fucked-up dream and that my best friend is really alive and standing here with me,” he rambled.

“Yeah, little one. It’s really me.” Animal returned Ashanti’s hug.

Suddenly, Ashanti pushed Animal away and took a defensive boxing stance. “Good, because I owe you an ass whipping.
How the fuck could you just disappear like that and let everybody write you off for dead?”

“It’s a long story, Ashanti, one that we ain’t got time to go over right now. Police will be here any minute, and I got some unfinished business to wrap up. Where’s Holiday?”

“Probably still lying on the sidewalk bleeding where I left him.” He pointed to the spot where Holiday had been, and the only thing left was a bloody smear leading around the corner. “Where the fuck did he go?”

“Escaped . . . again,” Animal said in a defeated tone.

“With one bum leg and the other one shot to hell, I doubt he got very far. If we hurry we can catch him.” Ashanti started for the corner. He had made it a few feet before he realized that Animal wasn’t following him. “C’mon, my nigga. Let’s go finish this fag.”