The Desert Lion's True Colours (28 page)

‘No. It’s me. Le… I mean Nathan.’

‘Nathan! Jesus Christ, how are you son?

‘Alive.’

Leon’s father chuckled at his son’s reply and said ‘You should be more than a live Nate. You should be living.’

‘Really… ?’ Leon responded. ‘Is that what you’re doing? Living?’

His father did not reply to that. Instead he asked ‘What is your location son?’

Removing the phone from his ear, Leon looked down at it annoyed.

‘What is it?’ Na’talia asked.

Turning towards her Leon said ‘Nothing, nothing’s wrong. He just wants to know our exact location.’

Na’talia took the phone out of Leon’s hand, changed its settings to speaker phone and said ‘Aaron, where on Central Park West and West 63
rd
Street, facing north…’

‘And the bags?’

‘. . . Well, the ones holding the money are in transit. However the two with our packages are directly in front of us.’

Leon’s father was silent.

‘Aaron, did you hear me? I said the money is on the move.’

Leon was about to say something but was interrupted by the ringing of one of the cell phones Jay had taken from the dead guys in the hotel.

Aaron’s voice came through the speakers, ‘Whose phone is that?’

Holding the ringing phone in his hand Jay said, ‘I think its Jafar’s phone. They’re probably calling him to find out what’s going on with us.’

The pitch and speed of the phones ring tone got higher and faster. Unsure of if they should answer the phone or not, Na’talia asked ‘What should we do Aaron?’

He immediately replied ‘Forget the phone. Get back on the monies tale and find out where they set up shop. Once you know their location, contact me and I’ll meet you there.’

The phone stopped ringing for only a few seconds before it started up again.

‘Are you sure we shouldn’t answer?’ Jay asked.

‘I’m sure…’ Aaron replied. ‘. . . Just don’t lose sight of that money.’

Before Jay could reply Aaron said, ‘I need to go.’

The call ended and Jay kissed his teeth and tapped the ignore button on the ringing phone in his hand. He then looked over at Leon and said ‘No offence dawg. But what’s up with your pops man?’

Leon knew exactly what Jay was talking about and to be honest it made him feel uneasy, sick even. After several years of having no contact and believing his father was dead, he was hoping their first conversation would have had a lot more meaning. However his thoughts quickly shifted as he watched Na’talia place her phone back on the hands-free console, tap the screen once to bring up the map and then indicate left to re-enter the traffic.

‘Whoa. What you doing?’ Leon said.

‘What you mean, what am I doing? I’m following orders.’

‘Which is what?’ Leon replied.

Keeping close to the money, that’s what.’

Before Leon could respond to that the phone in Jay’s hand started to ring again. Wanting to know what the next action was going to be Jay turned to Leon and said ‘What you thinking dawg?’

‘I’m not,’ Leon replied. Pointing to the White Range Rover up ahead he said ‘I’m watching.’

Confused, Na’talia replied ‘What does that mean?’

‘Wait. You’ll see.’

The phone in Jay’s hand stopped ringing; however its melody was immediately replaced by the high pitch chirping of one of the other mobiles he had taken. Recognising the ringtone he said ‘this one belongs to the guy Na’talia popped in the Penthouse suite.’

No sooner was that said Leon pointed up the road and said ‘And that’s whose calling.’

All three of them looked up through the windshield and saw two men jogging down the road towards the Range Rover. They were dressed very similar to the brothers who had taken Leon and Jay earlier however these two were much bigger and one of them was holding a mobile phone to his ear.

‘None of this matters,’ Na’talia said out loud. ‘You heard what your father said. We need to get on the money.’

‘We will. But not after Jay and I deal with a little business.’

Before Na’talia could reply, Leon had already indicated to Jay to exit the vehicle and within seconds they were both outside making their way across the street through the traffic.

By the time they had got to the other side of the road, the two guys they had seen were already inside the Range Rover. The two friends quick footed it up the side walk and approached the white SUV from the rear. Leon could hear the Range Rovers engine had already come to life and was inching forward, momentarily waiting for a break in the flow of traffic. They were only a few steps away when the phone in Jay’s hand started to ring again.

‘Answer it.’ Leon said.

Jay paused next to the front passenger door of the car parked directly behind the Range Rover, hit the green call button on the phone and said ‘What’s poppin dawg?’

The brake lights of the Range Rover illuminated immediately. Knowing the drivers attention was diverted, Leon quickly walked up to the left rear door of the Range Rover and yanked it open. Before the driver or his partner realised what was happening Leon had entered the vehicle, closed the door behind him and had his gun pressed into the back of the drivers head through the space in the head rest. Leon was in his element, his movements were quick and decisive. The whole process took less than five seconds. By the time the guy in the passenger seat realised he and his partner were about to be car jacked, eight seconds had already passed, leaving Leon a full 3 seconds to spot the 9 millimetre Berretta stashed down the side of the passenger seat and crush any hopes of the guy trying to play hero.

‘Hold it!’ Leon shouted. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I was you.’ Making a show of it, Leon pulled the trigger of his gun back and firmly tapped the back of the drivers head with its metal muzzle. ‘. . . You move again and your friend here is dead.’ The coldness in Leon’s voice caused the man in the passenger seat to freeze.

‘Show me your hands!’ Leon commanded.

They both did as they were told. Leon switched the gun he was holding into his left and with his right hand reached down for the Berretta in the space between the passenger seat and the centre console. Once he had both guns comfortably aimed at the two men in the front, Leon turned to the guy sitting in the passenger seat and said ‘Do you remember me?’

The guy nodded.

‘Good. That means you know you have something of mine. I want it back.’

Both of them kept silent.

‘I see.’ Leon said. ‘Well, have it your way.’

Still looking at the guy in the passenger seat Leon said ‘Get in the back.’

Before the guy could respond his door swung open revealing Jay standing a few inches away, with a smile on his face and the phone to his ear. ‘Hey. Remember me?’ He said with a chuckle.

His voice sounded amplified and in surround sound as his voice travelled from his lips and through the speakers of the phone still in the driver’s hand. Displaying the gun in his waist, Jay said ‘Yo, you heard the man. Get your ass in the back.’

Seeing no other option the guy slowly stepped down from his seated position and into the street, then after a discreet search from Jay, entered into the rear of the SUV. Acting like he was the guy’s bodyguard or Chauffeur, Jay waited for the guy to be seated before closing the door behind him.

‘Keep your hands where I can see them.’ Leon said.

The guy looked over at Leon who was holding a black glock-19 in his right and the silver and black Berretta in his left and immediately raised his hands. Thinking he had a chance to escape the driver went to open his door but Jay quickly jumped into the vacant passenger seat, closed the door behind him and with his gun pointed at the driver head, said ‘You open that door and its GOOD BYE for you.’

For a split second the thought of turning around and grabbing Jay’s gun crossed the drivers mind, but as quickly as it came it vanished and the guy returned to his proper seated position. A moment of silence before Leon said ‘Jay, can we have some music please.’

Smiling Jay replied, ‘Sure, no problem.’

Jay pressed one of the knobs located on the middle console and the radio came to life. Jay immediately turned up the volume and proceeded to find a station to his liking. He ended up on New-York’s HOT 97 and the familiar voice of K. Foxx sounded clear and crisp through the Range Rover’s speakers. She said it was 11:45am on a Saturday morning and the world famous Cypher sounds was about to begin.

‘Now that’s what I’m talking about.’ Jay said smiling.

He turned the volume up some more and the base line of Lil Wayne’s ‘
We
smoke
that
Kush
’ vibrated the inside of the car. Jay’s head was bouncing to the music however his aim on the driver head was dead straight. Directing his question to Leon Jay asked ‘Is that loud enough?’

‘Perfect.’ Leon replied.

Looking back over the rear seat Leon saw the two sports bags that belonged to him and his partner. Directed to the guy sitting next to him Leon said ‘Did you guys take anything out of the bags?’

The guy replied by shaking his head.

Leon asked ‘Did you look inside them?’

The guy nodded first then said ‘The boss only wanted the bags with the papers.’

‘Papers, what papers? You mean money?’ replied Leon.

Not wanting to give anything else away the guy shook his head and kept silent.

Leon took a deep breath, placed the Glock in his lap and with his free hand calmly reached over and removed the sunglasses away from the guys face. Looking into his eyes Leon said,

‘Are you really not going to tell me what I need to know?’

With his sunglasses gone, it was no longer possible for the guy to hide his thoughts. By the movement of his eyes Leon could tell he was going over the whole situation in his mind. Leon figured if it was him he would probably be doing the same thing, so he decided to give the guy time to weigh up the pros and the cons. Several seconds passed and Leon realigned his aim on the guy’s upper-body and said ‘Well? What’s it gonna be? You gonna tell me what we need to know?’

The guy lowered his hands and immediately Leon knew the guy had made the wrong decision. Sitting up straight, with his chest out and chin up the guy defiantly said ‘I’m not telling you anything.’

Leon shook his head in disappointment. ‘Well, that is unfortunate.’ he said. ‘See, the truth is I don’t wanna kill you. The fact is me and your boss might have the same enemies. But if you don’t tell me what I want to know, then I will be forced to…’

Before Leon could finish his sentence the guy shouted ‘May the Red Death be upon you!’ and lunged across the seat towards him.

Leon allowed the guy to grab hold of his shoulder and arm and pin him down into the corner where the seat meets the door. Leon fought back but just enough to allow himself room to point, aim and shoot. The guys heavy body, clothes and jacket did exactly what Leon had hoped and insulated the sound of the gun shot. Any sound that did escape was then mixed and distorted by the loud music playing through the speakers. If the few people walking passed them outside heard anything they did not show it and must have put it down to the Hip-Hop music that was playing.

Leon got out from underneath the guy and rested his body in a seated position. Leon looked at the guy’s lifeless body for a moment. The single bullet entered the left side of the guy’s chest but never exited. Leon figured it went through his rib cage, made mincemeat of his Lungs and heart and then lodged itself in an internal organ or bone. Leon had seen the same thing before, a common result when hit by a hollow point. Its’ very design is to enter the body and cause maximum damage without exiting.

At his partners request Jay turned the music down as Leon edged forward so his head was positioned between the two front head-rests. Knowing time was against them Leon said, ‘Now listen to me. If you don’t want to end up like your man back here you better tell me what I want to know.’

Before Leon could utter another word the driver replied, ‘Your bags are in the back. We were told not to take anything from them. Please
-
I don’t know anything!’

The driver thought he saw movement at the corner of his eye but by the time his brain could process what it was Jay’s arm had moved forward and up towards his face.

Crack!

The butt of Jay’s gun found the top side of the drivers head, causing him to let out a sound that was a cross between a yell and a cough and immediately his hands went to where the pain was coming from. He pulled his hands away and could see blood on his fingertips.

‘Listen to the question before you answer.’ Jay said sternly.

Wincing the guy nodded.

‘Good…’ Leon replied. ‘. . . Now, what did your man mean when he said papers? Did he mean money paper? Or something else?’

The guy started to shake.

‘Hey!’ Jay shouted. ‘Stop your crying and answer the question.’

The guy stopped shaking but stayed silent.

Something caught Leon’s attention and he looked up to see a woman walking her dog on the sidewalk. She had one of those retractable leashes and her dog was quite obviously walking her instead of her walking the dog. She was short, white and her grey hair was the same colour of the small dog she was trying to lead. However, instead of minding her own business and passing the Range Rover like everybody else, she slowed down and started to stare up directly through the windshield at its occupants. Jay, Leon and the driver looked back at her with blank faces. Leon motioned to Jay to turn the radio down even further and then sat back in his seat. Tapping the back of the driver’s chair Leon said ‘Sit back and act cool.’

The guy noticed the lady had actually slowed down to a stop and started to stand on her tip toes and peer up and over through the windshield. He thought about getting her attention and making a run for it but Jay was way ahead of him. With the tip of his gun discreetly pocked into the guy’s side, he said ‘Don’t think I won’t do it. I’ll pop you, the old lady and her dawg.’

The guy wiped the blood trail from the side of his face and sat back in his chair. Leon hit the button to make his window go down just enough for his head to fit through but still high enough for the woman to have to look up at him and said ‘Can I help you?’