New York's Finest (3 page)

“
I’m ready as ever.”

“
Well, let’s do it then,” Lucky smiled as he walked alongside of me towards the elevator. Walt held both doors of the elevator open until Lucky and I were safely inside. Once inside, Lucky assured him that he’d be right back as the doors closed.

Lucky pressed the button for the first floor and I actually admired the seriousness in his face. He took his job to heart. I was his mission for now and I felt safe in the elevator with Lucky.

When the top door of the elevator was snatched open and two masked men jump down inside of the elevator, one after the other, tumbling down on top of Lucky, I damn near pissed myself. We were both caught off guard. I screamed as loud as I could and got hit in the mouth with the butt of one of the guy’s pistols. I fell hard against the elevator wall.

“
Stop the elevator,” one guy instructed the other, as he took Lucky’s Glock from him. I looked down at poor Lucky. He was knocked the fuck out. I was all alone in this fucking elevator with these two motherfuckers and had no idea what was about to happen next.

They managed to stop the elevator on the third floor. And before I could blink an eye, the guy who snatched Lucky’s gun from him, pointed the exact same gun in my face and demanded that I give him the money I had just picked up from Candie’s crib. So without hesitation I handed him the manila envelope and begged him to let me live.

“
Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m gonna let you live this time. But the next time you might not be so lucky,” he said. Then he did the unbelievable, he aimed Lucky’s gun at him and shot him directly in his face. His entire head blew up like a fucking melon. Blood splattered all over me and the walls of the elevator. And as I began to scream once again, that’s when both men fled off the elevator.

I swear, I had never been that afraid in my life. Fear had gripped my whole body. I was afraid to move one inch. I wanted to get up and press the button to close the elevator door but my entire body was paralyzed. And all I could do was cry as I watched Lucky’s head ooze blood onto the floor around him. I couldn’t believe I had just witnessed Lucky get killed just like that. He and I were just talking a few minutes before all this shit went down and now he’s dead.

Oh my God! What am I going to tell Reggie? And the police for that matter. I knew they’re going to question me like I was an accomplice. I just hoped that whatever they decided to do, they didn’t put my name in the fucking local new papers or mention it to the media that I was in the center of this murder investigation. This wouldn’t look good for my employers at the airline. They wouldn’t understand why I was out here at the Polo Grounds. Everyone in the state of New York knew the reputation of the Polo Grounds.

That thought, thinking about the airline and my possible firing and overall humiliation brought me back to life. The best way for me to avoid all of the unnecessary drama and publicity was to get a grip and woman up. I wiped my fucking tears, and got the hell off the floor. My mind was on cops and homicide detectives arriving before I could get the fuck out of there. I tried my best not to touch anything. I literally lifted myself from the floor without using my hands and then I used my elbow to press the first floor button.

Then came the waiting—I swear it felt as if the elevator was taking forever to get to the first floor. When it finally stopped and the doors opened, I burst out of the elevator like I was in serious need of some oxygen. Both Ben and Dre rushed towards me.

“
What the fuck happened? You been shot?” Dre wondered aloud.

I tried to hold back my tears but the flood gates to my ducts burst out. “No, I didn’t get shot. This is Lucky’s blood. He was shot in the head by two guys with masks,” I sobbed.

Ben rushed over to look inside the elevator. “Oh shit! She ain’t lying. That nigga Lucky’s brains is hanging out of his fucking head!” Ben replied, hysterically.

Dre left my side and rushed to the elevator to see Lucky’s dead body for himself.

I stood there helplessly. I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. All I wanted to do was get out of there.

“
Who did this shit to him?” Dre rushed back and asked me. I could tell that he was ready to make the guy who did this pay.

“
I don’t know. They both wore black ski masks,” I continued to sob.

“
Where did they come from?” Ben wanted to know.

“
They were on the roof of the elevator. And as soon as we got on the fifth floor, they busted from the door, robbed me for the money I got from Candie, killed Lucky and then they stopped the elevator on the third floor and ran off,” I explained.

“
Where is Walt?” Ben asked.

“
He’s still on the sixth floor, I think.”

Ben looked at Dre. “Cover her up and take her to her truck and then call Reggie, while I run upstairs to the sixth floor to see where that nigga Walt, is,” he instructed Dre.

“
A’ight,” Dre said as he moved towards my truck.

New York’s Finest Kiki Swinson

On our way to my truck, Dre got Reggie on the phone so I could talk to him. I briefly explained what happened without saying a whole lot over the phone. And then I told him I couldn’t go home the way I was, so he instructed me to meet him at our secret spot on the other side of the Hudson River.

When it was time for me to get into my truck, I hesitated to get inside with my now bloody clothes on. I couldn’t afford to get any of Lucky’s blood inside of my truck so it could come back and bite my ass later. What the cops could get from DNA was amazing today. But then I figured how would homicide detectives know I was here and to check my truck for traces of his blood if they didn’t know I was even here in the first place. So I took a chance and got into my ride and got the hell out of there.

I drove in silence, even turning the radio off, until I got to the destination where Reggie told me to meet him. My nerves were all over the fucking place. I couldn’t believe I had just witnessed Lucky get his head blown off. After all this time he’d work for Reggie, he always was able to walk away from death. But today, God had other plans for him. Damn! I wished I had not been there to witness his death, because he was like a little brother to Reggie and I. And even though he hadn’t been working for us that long, we had that brotherly thing going on. He was the type of cat that would literally give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was definitely a ride or die type of nigga. And as I thought about how this would affect his loved ones, my nerves became more frayed. I was one thought away from becoming an emotional wreck. And the only thing that would calm me down was my brother. So I pressed down on the accelerator and maneuvered through all the busy traffic in Harlem to get to him.

When I pulled up to Reggie’s hideaway spot across town, he and Damian were outside waiting for me. I exhaled when I saw their faces. I don’t remember putting my truck in park, but I do remember how it felt to be in my brother’s arms. He was like my savior and with him I knew he’d protect me from this point on.

As tears started falling again, I became choked up. In a matter of thirty seconds, I had his shirt soaked and wet. I couldn’t talk to save my life. And when he realized I needed to calm down, he instructed Damian to help him take me inside. Inside of Reggie’s home away from home, which was the place he came when Vanessa got on his fucking nerves, he led me towards the bathroom.

“
We need to get you out of these clothes,” Reggie told me.

I nodded my head and allowed him to escort me down the hallway. As he led the way, I realized I was going to be okay. I was in his safe house. This apartment was like his sanctuary. No one knew about it but the three of us. And anytime he’d tell Vanessa he was out of town, nine times out of ten he’d come here for a little R and R. You would think that since his own wife didn’t know about this spot, he’d bring his mistresses or side chicks here. But no way, he didn’t play that. He kept most of his money stashed away in this apartment, so he wouldn’t play himself. If he wanted some new pussy, he would take one of those hoes to the nearest hotel. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

After Reggie left the bathroom, I closed the door behind him, got undressed and jumped into the shower. It didn’t take me long at all to get all of Lucky’s blood off of me. When I jumped out of the shower, I wrapped myself inside one of the big oversized towels hanging up and exited the bathroom.

“
Your things are in the other bedroom,” Reggie yelled from the living room. I knew what he was talking about. About a year ago, Reggie and I thought it would be necessary for us to have an emergency bag filled with a couple pairs of changing clothes, travel credentials such as a fake identification card, passport and as much cash as we could take. I went into the bedroom to retrieve the carry-on bag from the floor of the walk-in closet.

After I slipped on one of the outfits I had tucked away in my emergency travel bag, I joined Reggie and his right hand man, Damian, in the living room. Reggie was on the phone when I walked in, so I took a seat on the sofa next to Damian. He looked at me from head to toe. Then he placed his left arm around my shoulder.

“
Are you feeling a little better?” he asked.

“
I’m still a little bit shaken up but I’ll be alright,” I assured him.

“
A’ight, well hurry up and see what you can find out,” I heard Reggie bark on the phone. “I want to know who the triggerman was and the nigga who was with him. Oh yeah, don’t let that nigga, Walt, go nowhere until I get there. As a matter of fact, take him to Monty’s girl’s crib and keep an eye out on him, because this shit needs to be handled before the sun comes up tomorrow.”

I knew Reggie was beyond furious about this whole thing. Not only had I witnessed one of his soldiers getting murdered, I was caught up in the middle of the crossfire and I was robbed in the process. So I knew that whoever was responsible was going to die a very slow death when it was all said and done.

As soon as he ended his call, Reggie took a seat in the chair directly across from me and leaned in towards me. “How you feeling?” he didn’t hesitate to ask.

I let out a long sigh. “I’m better than I was an hour ago,” I told him.

“
Do you feel like talking about what happened?”

As bad as I wanted to tell him no and I preferred to forget about what happened, I knew that he wouldn’t be too happy. At the end of the day, all he wanted was to get to the bottom of the murder and robbery, and find who had the audacity to put me in harm’s way. And if I could give him any information that would help him find the fucking culprits, then he’d be the happiest man on earth.

“
Look, if you don’t want to tell the whole story, just tell me what happened right after you left Candie’s apartment,” Reggie said.

I took a deep breath and then I exhaled, while both Reggie and Damian gave me their undivided attention. “Right after I stuck the money Candie gave me in my handbag, I left the apartment and met Lucky by the elevator. Everything was cool. Nothing seemed strange or out of the ordinary, so when he and I got onto the elevator we went with the flow of things. And when the two guys jumped down into the elevator while we were passing the fifth and fourth floors, we were caught off guard. It was like, Lucky didn’t have no time at all to shoot or stop them from coming down on us. I mean, they knocked him completely out within a few seconds.”

“
So they hit Lucky before he could react and I see they hit you too,” Reggie noticed as he zoomed in on my face.

Unconsciously, I massaged the area of my face where I was hit while Reggie stared at it. “It hurt like hell after the guy hit me, but it’s not that bad now,” I told him.

“
Dre told me dude said something to you before he shot Lucky,” Reggie probed for more information.

“
Yeah, after the guy took the money from me, I begged him not to kill me. So after he told me he wasn’t going to do it this time, he looked back over at Lucky and killed him instead, while the other guy played look out.”

“
What did they do after that?”

“
They ran out of the elevator.”

“
Did you see which way they ran?” Reggie continued his questions.

The questions upset me. Did he really think I would go behind two killers to figure out which way they ran? I mean, I was damn near traumatized by the fact I had just saw a man get his fucking head blown off and that I could’ve very well had gotten my head blown off too. “Hell no! After they ran out of the elevator, I got up just enough nerves to close the elevator door and pressed the first floor button so I could get out of there!” I snapped.

“
Calm down Naomi,” Damian said in a soothing voice. “He just wanted to know if there was a chance that you saw something other than what you mentioned to Dre.”

I looked back at Damian. “Trust me, if I saw where they went, that would’ve been the first thing I told Dre when I saw him.”

Damian massaged my back in a circular motion. “It’s gonna be alright. We gon’ take care of those niggas who did this shit to you and Lucky.”

“
You damn right! Those niggas are going to pay dearly!” Reggie blurted out. “And as soon as I find out who they are and where their families live, I’m going to kill everybody in the fucking crib! No one will leave out of there alive. And that’s my motherfucking word. Nobody puts their hands on my fucking sister, kill one of my soldiers and take my motherfucking dough and is able to walk around to talk about it. Fuck nah! That’s just not going to happen to me.”