Anything for Profit 2: Nothing to Lose (20 page)

Gloria shook her head back and forth. “No, no, no, no, no…” she kept whispering to herself. Tears began to stream out the corners of her saddened eyes and down her brown cheeks. Meka pushed Ant back off of her and immediately pulled her dress down. Ant bent down and snatched his jeans up around his waist.

“Mama…” Meka was at a loss for words as she watched the tears silently stream down the face of the woman who had given her life. The more she looked at Gloria, the more she saw how much they resembled one another. What was she supposed to say to her mother who had just seen her getting fucked from behind by her own twin brother? “Mama…”

Glo turned and ran down the hallway back into the living room, sobbing. Meka ran behind her. Holding onto his baggy jeans, Ant followed them. “Mama… It’s not what it look like,” Meka finally managed to say.

Glo spun around on her heels and faced her daughter. “Not what it looks like!?” she exclaimed hysterically. “Are you tryna say that I didn’t just see you bent over like… like… like some little slut, getting
fucked
by your own brother? Huh!? Is that what you’re saying? ‘Cause I’m old but I’m damn sure not blind yet. And I ain’t stupid either. I know what I just saw Tameka,” Glo managed to get out in between sobs.

Despite the tears, Meka knew her mother had to be extremely heated for her to be cursing like that. And it was the only time she ever used their whole names. Meka searched for the right words and tried to explain. “I mean… it’s not what you thinkin’ mama. It’s more than just sex with me and Ant.”

“More than just sex? Tameka what the hell is you talkin’ about; that’s your brother! It’s not supposed to be no sex between you two,” Glo screamed into her daughter’s face.

“I know that mama, but…”

“But what Tameka? What?”

“We love each other mama! That’s what,” Meka said defensively. “It’s not just sex, we actually love each other,” she pleaded, hoping her mother would understand.

Glo wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at her daughter as if she was a complete stranger. She was silent for a moment. “So… How long have you two been sneaking around…
fucking
?” Gloria asked maliciously. “When did it start?” She looked back and forth from Ant to Meka, expectantly. Neither said anything. The only sound in the living room was the commercial playing on the T.V.

“You really wanna know when it started mama?” Meka asked quietly as she returned her mother’s stare. “It started the minute you gave us up to run the streets. It started the moment yo’ junky ass chose that fucking hard over your own goddamn kids. It started the same night you was out fucking and sucking on some nigga dick just to get yo’ ass another blast. That’s when it started mama… that’s when.”

Gloria chuckled sarcastically and shook her head. “How did I know you’d blame me? Well I’m sorry you turned out to be such a whore Tameka.”

“Well you know what they say: the apple don’t fall too far from the tree,” Meka retorted.

Without thinking, Glo reached back and smacked the shit out of her daughter. It was the first time she’d ever struck one of her children and she had tried to take her head off. Instinctively, Meka began swinging wildly on Gloria. Mother or not, she wasn’t letting anybody put their hands on her. “You fucking bitch!” Meka screamed as she continued swinging like a mad woman. Glo tried to fight back at first, but she was quickly overwhelmed and folded up on the floor.

Ant D finally stopped just standing there. He grabbed Meka from behind and wrapped her up in his arms so she couldn’t keep swinging. He lifted her off the ground and pulled her away from Gloria, kicking and screaming. “Chill out Meka, chill,” Ant yelled into his sister’s ear as she struggled wildly to break free. She was going crazy. It was all he could do to hold her back.

“Let me go Ant! Let… me… go,” Meka yelled, still struggling to get free.

“Naw Meka. Calm yo ass down,” he said, restraining her.

Once it finally sunk into her head that Ant wasn’t letting her go, Meka quit fighting. She went limp in her brother’s muscular arms and started crying. Her chest was heaving from the physical exertion. “You don’t know what it was like for us growing up. All the shit we had to go through. Always feeling like nobody loved us, like nobody wanted us,” she said to Gloria. “When we needed you the most, you wasn’t there. We was all we had,” Meka told her mother tearfully.

Gloria was on the floor in tears as well. “I’m sorry Meka. I’m so sorry baby. I wish I would’ve been there for y’all. If I could go back in time and do it all over again, I would. Lord knows I would. But I can’t, baby. I can’t,” she said sobbing into her hands.

CHAPTER 21

After
making a donation of $25,000 to Bob White’s re-election campaign, a group of Mexican small business owners asked for a personal meeting with the Mayor. It was still early in the year, but Mayor White saw this as a perfect opportunity to gain a few Latino votes for the upcoming election in November. He didn’t particularly care for spics any more than he did for niggers, but a vote was a vote. And with this gang war getting out of control, he needed to show that he was willing to listen to their concerns. Not that he intended to do anything about them.

The Mayor invited the men to his office along with all of the major local news channels. He had the check blown up like they did for lottery winners. Mayor White was extremely shrewd when it came to taking advantage of any positive press. He was totally at home in front of the cameras. As usual, he was his jovial and charming self. He came across as one of the ‘good ol’ boys’ while being attentive and responding sternly to serious questions when necessary. Like most good politicians, Bob White was a chameleon.

As the photo op was wrapping up, Mayor White smiled and vigorously shook the hands of each man as he thanked them for their generous contribution. Individual pictures were taken as well as a group photo with Mayor White in the center holding the mock check with a huge smile on his pale face. After the group photo was done and the cameras were off, The Mayor had the Mexican businessmen unceremoniously escorted out of his office by members of his staff. He spoke briefly with a few members of the media he knew personally. He joked and slapped a couple of them on the back heartily as they made their way out of his office as well.

Once the door to his office was closed, Bob White went and sat down heavily in the plush leather chair behind his large Mahogany desk. He sighed. Being a politician was hard work. All of that fake smiling and hand shaking. Speaking of the latter, he hurriedly grabbed the hand sanitizer out of his desk drawer. He applied a liberal amount to his hands as he thought about his flesh touching all of those taco eating spics. Who knew what type of germs they were carrying.

He was getting ready to pick up the phone and tell his secretary Sarah to order lunch, when he noticed the manila envelope on his desk. He picked it up and noticed that it was sealed and had his name on the front of it. Mayor White kept his desk immaculate, so he was positive it hadn’t been there earlier.
How the hell did this get here?
He wondered. Curious about its contents he opened it. He carefully removed the single disc from the envelope along with a piece of paper with a phone number on it. He stared at it.
What the hell is this?
Mayor White got up and walked over to the DVD player that was hooked up to the 42” flat screen television that hung from the wall. He grabbed the remote and pressed play.

The images that came across the screen made Bob White’s heart begin to pound. He staggered backwards and grabbed his chest in shock, thinking he was on the verge of a heart attack. He looked around guiltily as if someone else was in the room with him. Mayor Bob White was transfixed by the images of himself on the screen engaging in the most depraved sexual acts with a variety of adolescent Mexican girls.

Beads of nervous sweat began to drip down his forehead as he continued watching the screen. He couldn’t believe this shit. Somebody had been taping him! If this got out, not only would his political career be over, but so would his life. Somebody was trying to blackmail him? Nobody blackmailed Bob White and got away with it. His face turned crimson with anger as he ejected the disc. He walked over to his desk and punched a button. “Sarah, get Tom Fields in here… NOW!” he barked into the intercom.

Moments later Mayor White’s top aid Tom Fields was in his office. “Tom, we’ve got a problem…”

$$$

An hour later, in a busy eatery downtown, Tom Fields sat nervously at a table and waited. The instructions he’d been given over the phone had been to be at this place at this time. The waiters had been expecting him and had sat him at a table in the rear of the establishment. Tom had been given a menu, but his appetite was non-existent. He simply sipped on the glass of ice water and continued to wait.

Tom noticed a Mexican approaching his table. The man was dressed immaculately and carried himself with an air of quiet confidence. Dinero sat down across from Tom and smiled. “Hello Tom. Nice to meet you,” he said in his cool voice. There was a hint of an accent as he spoke.

“How do you know my name?” Tom inquired, fidgeting nervously with the utensils in front of him.

“Thomas Fields. 37 years old. You graduated from Clemson. Two sons, one daughter and a wife named Elizabeth.” The look of complete and utter shock on Tom’s face made Dinero smile. It quickly faded from his face as he got down to business. “Look. Let’s just say I do my research and leave it at that, alright? You’re here because the Mayor got a little package that I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want released to the public, right?”

“Right. But Who… who are you?”

“Who I am is not important. What I want is.” The waiter approached the table. Dinero dismissed him with a wave of a hand.

“Alright, what do you want?”

“What I want is very simple, Tom. Zulu.”

“Zu who?”

“Zulu. The leader of Money by Any Means, and also one of your boss’s biggest political contributors. Tell your boss I want him to set up a meeting with Zulu in a location of my choosing. Once Zulu is out of the picture, the violence will stop. The mayor will look like a hero and will also have gained a new friend. I will be more than willing to partner with your boss and help in any way I can… financially or otherwise.”

“You’re asking for the Mayor of Greenville to become an accessory to murder!” Tom said in a heated whisper.

“Listen. This is not up for discussion. I’m telling you that if your boss doesn’t comply with my request then the world will find out how much a 55 year old man likes to force his little pink dick down the throat of 13 year old little girls before cumming all over their faces.” Tom’s face turned beet red with embarrassment. He knew about his boss’s sexual appetite. After all, he was the one who set up these rendezvous. But hearing it spoken about in such vulgar terms almost turned his stomach.

“Copies of that disc he’s got will be distributed to every news station interested in a nice juicy story.” Dinero got up from the table and adjusted his tie. “Please relay my message. Tell the Mayor he has exactly one week from today to respond. You have the number.” Dinero turned to go.

“Wait. What assurances do we have that you won’t use that footage anyway?”

“Look, Tom. It’s very simple. I am a man of business. My business is to make money. I think it benefits all parties if your boss stays in office. But Zulu must go. I need my answer by next week,” Dinero said as he walked away from the table. Two more Mexican men fell in step beside him as he exited the restaurant. Tom Fields was left sitting at the table speechless. He
really
hated his job.

CHAPTER 22

Meka woke up lying in bed next to Ant who was still knocked out, snoring. It was so early in the morning that it was still dark outside the motel room they were staying in. Not long after New Years, Meka had finally been able to convince her brother that staying at their mother’s house while his face was being broadcast all over the news wasn’t just dangerous; it was plain stupid. She mentioned getting out of Greenville altogether, but Ant quickly dismissed the idea. Despite the fact that Glo wasn’t speaking to them, she was still their mother and he wasn’t leaving her alone.

Once the decision had finally been made to run, Meka had called up one of their uncles. She got him to drive Ant’s Corvette back to his house in Spartanburg while she followed in her pink Range. Once in the Burg, she left her Range at her uncle’s as well and rented a nondescript grey Toyota. Gloria was driving Meka’s Chrysler 300 and they needed a car to get around in that wouldn’t attract any attention. Once she got the car, Meka drove back to Greenville and got her brother. They had been on the run ever since.

Now, Meka was lying beside her brother in a cheap motel bed staring up at the ceiling. She had just awoken from another nightmare. As usual, it was impossible to go back to sleep. All she did was toss and turn until she finally sat up, frustrated. She grabbed the half a blunt that was in the ashtray beside her on the nightstand and lit it up. No better time than now to take her “medicine,” she thought, inhaling. As the exotic weed smoke began to take affect Meka couldn’t help but to think about her estranged mother. She hadn’t spoken to Gloria since she’d walked in on Ant banging her back out on New Year’s Day. That had been a little over a month ago.