Animal (41 page)

“What’s hood, big homie? You ready to earth this nigga?” Ashanti asked, jamming the Mac11 into Swann’s ribs. He was so thirsty to murk him that a trail of slobber escaped over his bottom lip.

“No, let him go,” Animal said, not believing his own words.

Ashanti looked at him as if he had lost it. “You can’t be fucking serious! Swann is the root of Shai’s power in the streets. We kill this nigga, and we cripple the Clarks!”

“They got Gucci, homie,” Animal confessed. “Let him go.”

Hurt crossed Ashanti’s face. “That’s how y’all playing?” Ashanti looked at Swann in disgust.

Swann was leaning against the wall, wiping the blood from his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. “Time is ticking, fellas,” he snickered.

“I’m gonna see you again,
Blood,
” Animal told Swann.

“Not if I see you first,” Swann said before slipping from the motel room.

“Why do I feel like a rape victim right now?” Alonzo spoke up. He knew what was at stake, and he knew what it meant to let Swann walk. If he wasn’t before, he was definitely a marked man now.

“You ain’t the only one feeling in a way about this, Zo. They already killed Tionna and got Gucci hostage,” Animal filled them in.

“Damn, these niggaz playing dirty,” Ashanti said sadly.

“Shai wants me to meet with him; in exchange, they’ll let Gucci go.”

“You know it’s a setup, don’t you?” Alonzo asked.

“Yeah, but I ain’t got a whole lot of choices right now. I left Gucci hanging once, and I can’t do it again. For right now, the ball is in Shai’s court,” Animal told him.

“Fam, I can’t sit by and watch you throw yourself to the dogs like that,” Ashanti said emotionally. He couldn’t lose his big brother again so soon.

Animal smirked. “Baby boy, you should know me better than that. Me and Shai gonna have our meeting, but I plan on walking outta that muthfucka with my lady and on my own two legs.”

“Well, if you got a plan, I’m listening,” Alonzo told him.

Animal nodded. “I got a plan, but I doubt if y’all like it.”

FORTY-TWO

F
RANKIE WAS QUIET FOR THE WHOLE RIDE
back to New York. Cutty was going on and on about the masked bandits beating them to the lick and what he was gonna do to Davis if he didn’t find a way to get him the money he owed. Frankie was only half-listening. She was too busy thinking about how close they’d come to dying.

Frankie had seen people killed before; she had even taken a life to protect her own, but the motel slayings were different. The lead bandit was ruthless and killed without conscience. There was no doubt in her mind that he had been belched out from the very pits of hell to do the devil’s work, which raised a nagging question in the back of her mind; what was Alonzo doing with him? Had it not been for his choice in weapons Frankie probably would’ve never suspected it was him, but there were very few people who handled the duel cannons so well. They had always been Alonzo’s calling card. She knew Alonzo was dabbling in the streets, but if he was robbing Shai Clark and murdering recklessly then he had slipped further back into his
old ways than anyone thought. She wondered if she should tell Porsha or just mind her own business. Either way, she planned to confront Alonzo about it. The last thing she wanted was her friend getting caught in the middle of some shit that Alonzo had stirred up.

“Frankie, do you hear me?” Cutty drew her out of her thoughts.

“What?” Frankie asked with an attitude.

“We’re here.” He nodded to her building, which they had just pulled up in front of. “What the hell is your problem? You’ve been in a pissy mood the whole ride back.”

“Let’s see.” Frankie tapped her chin. “You say we’re going to pull an easy caper, but you walk me into a room full of killers that would’ve probably murdered us if we’d gone through with it. Then to top it off, you neglect to mention that somebody else was planning to rob the joint too. So what the fuck do you think my problem is, Cutty? Jesus, we almost tried to rob Shai Clark. Do you know what he would’ve done to us if we had?” Frankie lowered her head in her hands.

“You act like this is my fault. I didn’t know whose party it was,” he told her.

“Did you bother to check? Of course, you didn’t because you were too worried about getting paid. I told you this felt wrong from the beginning, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“Hold on now. Don’t try to act like I put a gun to your head and made you run up in there with me. All I did was present the opportunity. You’re right, Frankie, I should’ve done more research instead of going off on Davis’s word, but even if I had found out it was Shai’s party, that don’t mean I wouldn’t have tried to rip it off anyway.”

“Then you’re a damn fool. Fucking with people like Shai is suicide,” she said.

“Try telling that to them three niggaz who right now are sitting somewhere, very much alive, counting
our
paper. I gotta admit those was some cold young niggaz. You see the way the leader blew ol’ boy’s head off? Reminds me of myself when I was in my twenties,” Cutty said proudly.

“I can’t believe you’re idolizing them for almost killing us!” Frankie said in disbelief.

“They wasn’t gonna kill us. You heard what he said. They were there looking for Shai. Besides, I have a feeling regardless of what might of happened, we were gonna walk out of there untouched, at least you would’ve,” he told her.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Cutty turned to her. “I saw something pass between you and the cat holding the revolvers. I’m not sure what it was, but I know there was something.”

“Cutty, you’re bugging,” Frankie lied. She didn’t think anyone saw, but apparently Cutty did.

“We really gonna play this game?” Cutty eased his gun onto his lap. He didn’t point it at Frankie, but he made sure she saw it. “Most people would’ve chalked somebody robbing our robbery was a coincidence, but I don’t believe in those. Then when I saw the funny business between you two, a thought entered my head. Maybe they showed up to rob that card game because somebody tipped them off.”

“What are you trying to say to me, Cutty?” Frankie asked defensively.

“I’m not trying to say anything to you, Frankie. I’m asking you a question. Did you tip them boys off about the card game?”

Hurt flashed across Frankie’s face. “I can’t believe you just asked me that.” Granted, she was lying about knowing one of the robbers, but she would never betray Cutty.

“Better I come out and ask you than the alternative, right?” He glanced down at the gun on his lap.

“Are you threatening me?” Frankie looked from the gun to Cutty.

“No, I’m waiting for you to answer my question.”

“You know what? I don’t need this shit. Go fuck yourself, Cutty,” Frankie spat.

She opened the door to get out of the truck, but Cutty grabbed her arm roughly and snatched her back inside. He yanked Frankie’s head back, pinning her to the seat, and pressed his gun under her chin. With a fist full of Frankie’s hair he snarled in her face. “Look here, li’l girl, don’t think because I got love for you that I won’t paint the inside of this whip with your brains if you’re trying to put shit on me. Now, I’m gonna ask you one more time; did you cross me for them niggaz?”

“Cutty, we’re partners! I would never cross you,” she pleaded.

“I’ve seen brother turn against brother in the name of a dollar, so I don’t put nothing past nobody. Did you tip them niggaz?” he repeated.

Frankie was frantic. She tried to think of something . . . anything that would guarantee she didn’t meet her end in that truck. “How could I tip them off if I didn’t know where the game was until we got there, remember?”

Cutty studied her face for a few minutes more before releasing her. “Okay.”

Frankie wiped the tears from her eyes with her hands. “You accuse me of betraying you and shoving a gun to my throat and all you’ve got to say is
okay
?”

“Look, I’m sorry, Frankie. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I had to make sure you were on the up and up. You can’t take chances with anyone, even the ones you love. This is a cold game we’re playing, baby girl.”

“Too cold for me.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Cutty asked.

“I’m out,” Frankie told him.

“Frankie, I think you’re overreacting.”

“No, overreacting would be me waiting to catch you slipping and killing you for what you did. This is just me knowing when to throw in the towel.” Frankie got out of the truck.

“Wait a second, we had an arrangement,” Cutty reminded her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get the rest of your money,” she assured him.

“I don’t know how. You jump ship on me and ain’t no other crew in the city gonna work with you,” Cutty threatened.

“Then I’ll get a job. I’ll get
two
jobs if I have to. I just want you out of my hair and my life.” She slammed his door.

“You can’t just walk away, Frankie!” Cutty called out the window.

“Watch me.” She turned and sashayed toward her building.

Dena had been dozing off when she heard Frankie’s raised voice out her window. She had been waiting for her all night to tell her what she had heard through the grapevine. She looked
outside and saw Cutty’s truck idling at the curb. She couldn’t see very well through the heavily tinted windows, but from the way the truck was rocking they were either fighting or fucking, and neither sat well with Dena. Jumping into her sweatpants, she grabbed her trusty baseball bat by the door and headed downstairs.

She was just coming out of the building when Frankie was getting out of the truck. She was surprised by the vulgar outfit Frankie was wearing, but more surprised to see Frankie crying. In all the time she had known her, she couldn’t ever remember seeing Frankie cry. “You okay?” Dena asked, meeting Frankie halfway.

“I’m good.” Frankie brushed past her.

“Frankie, I need to talk to you,” Dena told her.

“Not now.” Frankie never broke her stride.

“But it’s important,” Dena grabbed her by the arm.

Frankie spun and in a fit of anger and hurt, took out her frustrations toward Cutty on Dena. “What the fuck is your problem? I said not now, so why don’t you just let it go and leave me the fuck alone!” She snatched away from Dena and continued into the building. She hadn’t meant to be so sharp with Dena, but she was going through a lot and wasn’t thinking straight at the moment.

Dena stood there, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. Frankie speaking to her like that hurt worse than when she had found out Lazy was cheating on her back in the days. She really liked Lazy, but she was in love with Frankie. Dena looked up and saw Cutty eyeing her like she was a piece of meat. His gaze made her feel dirty.

“Why you looking at me like that? You wanna get in and
maybe hang out for a while?” Cutty asked her as if he hadn’t just threatened to kill her lover less than five minutes prior.

“Not if my ass was on fire and you had the last extinguisher on earth.” She stuck her middle finger up at Cutty and walked into the building.

Cutty shook his head. “All these bitches are crazy,” he mumbled and pulled off.

FORTY-THREE

B
Y THE NEXT DAY, NEWS OF THE
Shai’s card game getting robbed was all over the streets. Everybody was whispering about the masked bandits who had the audacity to stick the boss of bosses and the handsome bounty placed on their heads. Shai had offered fifty thousand dollars a piece for the bandits and one hundred thousand for the man who had led them. It was safe to say that Alonzo had finally made it to the big times, but how long he lived to celebrate his newfound notoriety remained the question.

Animal had assured them that Shai would be so focused on him that Alonzo and Ashanti were safe, but it didn’t make Alonzo sleep any easier. It was as if at every turn he expected one of Shai’s soldiers to jump out and try to finish him, but as of yet, it hadn’t happened. For the moment they were safe, but deep down, each of them knew it was only a matter of time for the other shoe to drop. It was too late to worry about it at that point, however; all he could do was wait and see how it would play out.

A knock on his front door brought Alonzo to his feet. He pulled on a tank top and grabbed his .357 from the table and tiptoed to the door. With his gun at the ready he peered through the peephole to see who it was. When he saw the smiling face on the other side, he hid the gun on the bookshelf and opened the door.

Porsha stepped into his apartment looking good enough to eat. She was wearing a green tennis skirt with a white Polo shirt and some white and green Stan Smiths. “Think it took you long enough to answer the door? I was starting to think you might’ve been in here with another chick,” Porsha said playfully and invited herself in.

“Knock it off.” Alonzo shoved her in the back playfully. “And you got a lot of nerve complaining about how long it took me to open the door, when I called you to come over almost two hours ago. What took
you
so long?”

“I had to stop off and get pretty for you.” She held up her freshly manicured nails that were painted green and white to match her outfit. “Besides, I had to get the latest gossip from those nosey heifers.”