Entangled (25 page)

When they left Minnie’s house, Jamal ordered Dream to drive to a Bojangles restaurant on the west side of town. They were in the parking lot only five minutes when the white Infiniti Q-45 drove up. Dream recognized the man immediately. He was the same guy who had fired at her and Charlie Irving. Rico was his name.

Rico jumped out of his car and got in the backseat of the Camry. “What’s up, Jamal?”
“Rico, this is my girlfriend, Dream.”
Rico smiled without saying a word.
Dream glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. She knew he hadn’t recognized her. All this time Jamal had been supplying Rico, who was supplying Jessica’s mother, who was busy stealing her husband’s car and not attending to her child’s well-being. She began to understand how the product trickled down into the community. She suddenly realized that she may have even brought some of the drugs to Jessica’s mother, indirectly.
“I need your help on some things,” Jamal said.
“Whatever, man, I’m with you.”
“I need you to help me move some product, man. The Feds are looking for me and you are about the only one I can trust. So I need you to move as much as you can, as quickly as you can.”
“Bring it on,” Rico said.
“Do you have any money?”
“I didn’t bring any.”
Jamal handed Rico a small paper bag. “Here’s two kilos. Call me when you’re done.”
Jamal and Rico slapped hands before Rico got out of the car.
Keisha was both surprised and happy to see Dream when she walked into her office. “Girl, I’m glad to see your crazy ass,” Keisha said as they hugged.
“I’m glad to be back,” Dream said, smiling.
Keisha’s eyes grew serious. “Tell me what’s going on now.”
Dream turned from her friend’s gaze before speaking. She didn’t want to hide anything from Keisha. She was glad she had come to see Keisha because so much had happened. She needed someone to talk to, and Keisha would be much easier to talk to than her parents. “Jamal has just been indicted by the Feds.”
Keisha raised her eyebrows. “Well, I hope you’ll stay away from his ass.”
“He pretty much knows we don’t have a future together. I just want to be around him until he goes away.”
“Goes away? What do you mean,
goes away?
Where is he going?” Keisha asked.
“I think he’s going to leave the country?”
“Where is he going to go?”
“Honestly, I really don’t know.”
“You’re not going to go with him, are you?” Keisha asked.
Dream looked at Keisha oddly. She realized that Keisha no longer had faith in her judgment. “Hell no, I ain’t going with him. Do you think I’m crazy or something?”
“I was just asking. You did go clean across the country with that crazy-ass nigga, getting your parents all hysterical.”
“You know what? I can handle my parents. Don’t you worry about my parents.”
“Call them to let them know that you’re okay.”
“I’ll go see them.” Dream replied.
“When?”
“Whenever I feel like it.”
Keisha placed her hands on her hips and sighed without responding.
At 8:00 A.M. Mark and DEA agent Ken Clarkson knocked on Dream Nelson’s door. Ken was a tall, blond man with a square jaw. He had been with the agency for six years. He was replacing Jeremiah while the agency investigated Jeremiah’s possible misconduct.
Dream opened the door wearing a white robe. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. My name is Agent Mark Pratt, and this is my partner, Ken Clarkson. May we come in?”
Dream stepped away from the door. “Come on in.”
Both of the agents stood in living room, while Dream sat on the sofa with her arms folded.
“What can I do for you?”
“Ms. Nelson, I’m not gonna take up much of your time. My sources have told me that you are involved with a guy named Jamal Stewart. Have you seen him lately?” Mark asked.
Dream frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Ms. Nelson, as of now Jamal is wanted and we are trying to locate him,” Ken said.
“I haven’t seen him,” Dream said.
“Are you sure?” Mark asked.
“What reason would I have to lie?”
“I have documented information that you took a plane out to San Diego this weekend, and I also know that you have traveled with Jamal a couple of times to California.”
Dream hesitated before speaking. “So are you calling me a liar?”
The two men stood. “We’re not saying you’re lying. In fact we don’t know whether you are lying or not. All we know is that if you are withholding information, you will be charged. And if we get this guy without your help, he may decide to give us information on you and whatever your involvement may have been. You may very well find yourself on the inside looking out. Have you ever been incarcerated, Ms. Nelson?” Mark asked.
Dream frowned. “Hell no, and I ain’t gonna be either,” she said candidly.
“Let’s hope not,” Mark said. He opened the door and they left.

Angelo yelled.
“I ain’t paying you shit. I already told you this,” Jamal said as he
rose from his hotel bed.
“What made you flip on me, man? I loved you like a son.”
Angelo said.
“You are the cause of all this shit. Your man turned out to be a
fuckin’ informant, and that bitch, Jennifer, told on my man. Now,
all I know is that my best friend is facing twenty-five minimum
and you think shit is supposed to be all love. It ain’t happening.” “I’m sorry, man. I ain’t know Ruff was going to go out like that.
I really didn’t. As far as that bitch . . . you know a bitch will be a
bitch. That ain’t no reason for you to pull the shit you did.” “I went to prison without mentioning you the first time. You
said it yourself you owe me.” Jamal said.
“If you go to prison, consider yourself lucky, because I plan on
sending you to hell, mister. You just fucked me out of close to
$115,000,” Angelo said before hanging up.
Jamal hated his relationship with Angelo had to end. He was a
man Jamal once loved like a father. He thought they would be
friends forever. Angelo was a guy that Jamal trusted, and he would
bet his last dollar that he wouldn’t cooperate with the police. Jamal
didn’t feel good about double-crossing him, but he knew his
troubles were Angelo’s fault. Besides, Angelo had plenty of money;
Jamal did not. He had to do what it took to get the funds he
needed to run from the Feds.
It’s all Ruff’s fault,
Jamal thought. If only he had let somebody
know that he had been busted, they could have gotten him a highpowered attorney. Ruff might have done three or four years, and
they could have made money forever.
Jamal remembered the old men in prison with the canes. Some
were sick and in wheelchairs. Others had emphysema, cancer, and
other chronic illnesses. Some had been locked up for forty years.
The world had moved on without them. Some had children they
hadn’t seen in twenty years or more. Some had grandchildren they
had never seen and would never see. A life sentence in federal
prison meant being carried out in a pine box. Only then, if you
still had family, would they be able to get your body. It was all Ruff’s fault. He would have to pay.

A
ROUND
12:30 P.M., Jamal heard a knock on his room door, and he quickly ran to it and looked through the peephole. It was Dream carrying a McDonald’s bag. He was pleasantly surprised. “Baby, “I’m glad to see you.” He kissed her forehead.

She smiled. “Yeah, I figured you might be hungry, so I brought you some food.” She placed the bag on the small round table next to his bed.

“Yeah, I am. I was just about to go out and get me something.” She handed him a Quarter Pounder with cheese some fries, and a medium Coke. “I hope you like what I got you. I didn’t know what else to bring.”

He put some ketchup on his fries and chomped away. “Right now, I’m hungry. I’ll eat just about anything.”
She sat across from him. “Jamal, do you think anybody knows you’re here?”
He looked at her suspiciously. “Not unless you told them. What made you ask me something like that?”
She looked at the ceiling before answering. “I had a visit this morning from the DEA.”
He placed his burger on the table. “The DEA?”
Their eyes met. “Yeah, they wanted to know if I had been in contact with you.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Jamal, baby, I didn’t let them know anything, but they knew I had been to California.” Her eyes were sincere and he believed her.
“Yeah, they probably checked the flight records.”
“That’s what I thought,” she replied.
“I’ve got to get the hell out of here in a hurry.”
“Have you decided where you’re going?”
“Yeah, I’ll probably end up somewhere like Toronto or Jamaica for the time being, I think I should be able to go there with my fake birth certificate and ID.”
Dream looked sad. Reality had begun to settle in on her. Jamal was serious about leaving and there was nothing she could do to help him. She would probably never see him again. “Give me a kiss, baby.”
Jamal stood, walked over, and leaned toward her. He wrapped his arms around her and they kissed. “I got to handle some business,” he said as he pulled away from her.
She looked into his eyes. His face was intense and she had never seen him look that way before. “What are you about to do, honey?”
“I’ve got to get rid of some more of this stuff, and I have to make sure I take care of the mu’fucka who is responsible for putting me in this predicament.”
Dream rose from her seat and walked toward him. “Baby, don’t get yourself in more trouble.”
“It’s too late for that, it’s all or nothing,” he said, avoiding her eyes.
Jamal pulled the mattress back on the bed and pulled out a chrome handgun.
Dream took a step back when she saw the gun. “What in the hell are you doing? Put that thing away.” she ordered.
He put the gun in his waistband. “There is something I’ve got to handle. This mu’fucka has made my life miserable, and I intend to do the same for him,” Jamal said before storming out of the room.

It was nine o’clock and Jamal had sold more of his product, though he still had a lot left. Things weren’t moving as fast as he would have liked. He had to be extra cautious now. Since he had been charged. He didn’t know who knew he was on the run, so he had to take things slowly, even if it meant having his product longer than he had anticipated.

He wheeled the Toyota Camry to the west side of town. He pulled into an Exxon gas station, filled the tank, and bought a pack of cigars. When he got back in the car, he lit a cigar and began to plot his mission.

He slid the Tupac
Me Against the World
CD in the player and selected “If I Die Tonight.”
Ruff would pay for what he had done,
Jamal thought. He had never killed before, and he never thought of himself as a killer. However, he knew that the only way he would be able to live with the fact that his best friend was in jail was to take Ruff out. He thought about the concept of death and God. He felt he was too young to die. He didn’t know if there was a hereafter, but if there was, it had to be better than life in this world. As far as he was concerned, he was already in hell.

He pulled to the end of Ruff’s street, put his cigar out, and turned off his headlights. He didn’t care about covering his tracks. He was wanted already. He stepped out and jogged up to Ruff’s doorstep.

Ruff came to the door wearing a pair of blue Old Navy boxer shorts with no shirt. He was startled when he opened the door. “Jamal, what are you doing here?” He took a step back inside the house and attempted to shut the door.

Jamal stuck his foot in the doorway and grabbed Ruff underneath the chin. He pushed Ruff backward and closed the door.

Jamal grabbed Ruff’s puny neck and applied pressure. “Now, I know you didn’t think you wouldn’t see me again, did you?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” Jamal said.
“I ain’t have nuthin’ to do with Dawg getting locked up,” Ruff said desperately.
“I think I’ve heard enough from you, Ruff, and I know the cops have heard enough from you,” Jamal said. He threw Ruff on the floor. He pulled the gun from his waist and quickly pumped three bullets into Ruff’s temple.

Jamal Stewart was still at large, and one of the would-be witnesses against him had been mysteriously murdered. Mark sat at his desk frustrated. He knew Jamal had something to do with Theodore Ruffin’s death, though the Charlotte homicide detectives said they didn’t have enough evidence to pin the murder on Jamal yet. Mark had worked on this case long and hard, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until he got some kind of closure.

Mark had begun to become disheartened until he received a call from his old friend, Don Gonzales, of the San Diego DEA, informing him that Angelo Morgan was headed to Charlotte. Angelo had not been charged with anything. Mark hoped Angelo would lead him to Jamal.

Mark had only seen Angelo’s mug shot, which had been taken in the early eighties while Angelo was in federal prison. Though the picture was old, Mark had no problem spotting Angelo when he got off the plane. He looked the same as he did in the picture, only his hair was gray. Mark and Ken followed Angelo to a downtown hotel where they observed him meeting with two other black guys at the front desk.

Angelo checked in and took two pieces of luggage to his room. Mark and Ken waited out in the parking lot, hoping Angelo would come down and lead them to Jamal. Angelo never left the hotel that night.

Mark and Ken finally got tired of waiting. They left. ***

It was 2:00 P.M. when Keisha arrived at Dream’s apartment. She had left work early because she was still worried about her friend. They made margaritas while Dream told Keisha about the visit from the DEA. She mentioned Jamal’s vow to get even with the person responsible for putting him in the predicament. “He showed me a gun, and I think he may have killed this man. He was definitely mad enough to kill the last time I saw him.”

“He should be leaving any day now. It won’t be a matter of me staying away from him. He is gonna be leaving me.”
“Have you seen your parents yet?” Keisha asked.
Dream ran her finger around the margarita glass and licked the salt while avoiding her friend’s eyes. “I haven’t gotten a chance to see them yet.”
“I’m going to tell your mom what’s going on if you don’t get your ass over there and see them.”
“I’m gonna go see them today. There’s no need for you to go and make matters worse.”
Keisha took a quick drink from her margarita before speaking. “I’m just worried about you, that’s all. This Jamal nigga is a serious motherfucker.”
Dream looked at Keisha briefly before turning away. “I know. I don’t know why I didn’t see it coming.”
“I tell you what, these brothers out here got some serious issues. It’s just hard to tell what kind of things they’re into . . . I mean, I met this guy downtown the other day, Rashad. The nigga is fine as hell. Chocolate complexioned, nice hair, nice teeth, and a body to die for. But he is one of the biggest liars I have ever met in my life.”
“What did he do?” Dream asked curiously.
“Well, for one thing, he is unemployed, but he told me he worked for American Express as a financial analyst. Lie number two: he said he didn’t have any children. He has three babies’ mamas and also got some fucked-up credit; just filed bankruptcy two months ago.”
Dream burst out laughing. She could always count on Keisha to cheer her up. “Girl, you are too much. How did you find all this out?”
“My private investigator. I have to check all these niggas out now. I have to be careful that I don’t get involved with no madman.”
Dream became sad. She began to think about her past with men. Somehow she could never pick a decent man. When she was younger, it was fun hanging out with petty criminals and thugs, but now she was in the midst of a serious conspiracy. She believed it would be better if Jamal left the country, since the Feds had knowledge of them being a couple. If Jamal went away, she could go on with her life—a simple life as a middle school history teacher.
She wondered what had happened as she looked at Keisha. Why had she fallen in love with such no-good men? She had even neglected her parents lately. She had not seen her mom and dad for weeks. She decided it was time she paid them a visit. “Keisha, will you go with me to see my mom and dad.”
Keisha reached over and placed her hand over Dream’s. “Whatever you need me to do, I’m with you. Stop looking so sad. It’s gonna be alright. Have faith.”