The Desert Lion's True Colours (8 page)

A few moments passed before the sound of a woman’s voice came from inside.

‘Who dat is?’ The voice enquired.

‘It’s Leon; I’m here to speak to Pyro.’

Leon could hear talking from inside but could not make out what was being said. Music started playing and then after a few seconds had passed Leon could hear the doors dead-bolts being unlocked. The door cracked open slightly at first then swung wide open to reveal what had to be one of the prettiest women Leon had ever seen in his life. She looked like she had stepped clean out of the ‘Dime’ magazine; five-ten and thick like Serena Williams or Lisa Ray. She was wearing nothing but lime green lingerie and a thin white shoulder gun strap with bright green ‘Luis Vuitton’ logos on it. It was holding two chrome Desert Eagles,
-
on either side of her frame, with modified infra-red scopes attached to the top of the barrels. Her hair was shoulder length with a slanting fringe covering her right eye. She flashed a smile which,
-
according to Leon, made her look even prettier.

‘Hey, how you doing? I’m here to speak to Pyro. He should be expecting me.’ Leon said calmly.

The scantily dressed lady acknowledged Leon’s statement by opening the door she was standing in front of even wider before using a single key to unlock the steel gate that served as the final barrier between inside and outside. After unlocking the gate she paused and waited for Leon to realise he would have to move to his right to allow the grill to open out however Leon just stood there admiring her curves. He could tell she was the kind of women who knew she looked good and that his somewhat boyish reaction to her physicality was something she had seen many men do before.

‘He’s been waiting.’ She said unimpressed. ‘You should have been here an hour ago. Didn’t you get my message?’

‘Yeah, my bad. I had to make a quick stop. So where’s he at?’

Without a verbal reply the woman stepped aside and waived Leon into the apartment. Once inside she brushed passed him making sure her firm breasts rubbed up against his chest. Leon’s mind flashed up a picture of Kerry which instantly made him uncomfortable with how close this half naked woman was to him. As she pulled in the grill she looked to her left and saw a tall, well-built guy in a tank-top, blue jeans and Timberlands. She smiled at him and the gentleman acknowledged her with the universal head-nod. The one where your head seems to go up but never comes down. Smiling the woman closed the grill and the door and locked them both. She then slowly turned around, seductively placed the keys into her cleavage and looked at Leon long and hard.

‘Before you get to speak to Pyro.’ she said, ‘I’ve been told to ask you a few questions.’

‘Cool.’ He replied. ‘You can ask me anything you like Ma.’

Even though Leon was smiling and in full Mac mode, he kept a steady eye on the distance between the women’s soft manicured hands and the handles of the two Desert Eagles resting on either side of her ample breasts.

She motioned to the inner area of the apartments white walls, which housed a single white leather couch and a glass coffee table that had a silver bowl filled with ready-rolled spliffs. Leon took three seconds to take in the size of the room, the lock at the top of the sliding glass door that led to the back balcony and the small white coloured CCTV in the top right-hand side corner. Right then Leon heard another voice he was quite sure was a woman’s.

‘Chocolate!’ the voice called.

‘Coming.’ The woman in the lime green lingerie replied.

Before leaving the room she gave Leon another smile and said, ‘I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere. Ok.’

Leon looked at the key sticking out the top of her cleavage. The lady followed his gaze and saw the key three inches away her chin. She gave Leon a look of slight embarrassment, as if to say
‘I’m
Sorry.
I
completely
forgot
they
were
there’
and then turned to her left and walked out of site down a corridor Leon figured lead to the bedrooms. Leon gave the room another quick scan with his eyes and then walked over to the side of the room the camera was on and stood directly underneath it. Five seconds later he heard the second woman’s voice call out from another room ‘Why don’t you sit down?’

Leon smiled because he now knew that without the camera they were blind to what went on in that room.

‘Nahh, I’m cool,’ Leon called back. ‘I’d rather stand. So is Pyro here or not? I got a message saying he wanted to meet up.’

The same voice as before replied ‘Yes. He was here but you should know he’s not the kind of man to wait around.’

Leon knew he was expected to respond but he thought it was time he stopped shouting between rooms and got things moving. He jumped up and grabbed onto the back of the CCTV camera and with the use of gravity snapped the bracket off the wall. Leon heard a voice shout out, ‘What the hell just happened?’ Leon prepared himself for what might be coming back round the corner but as he reached for his gun the same lady in green lingerie came back into the room brandishing her own Desert Eagles,
-
one in each hand. Before Leon had time to react, another lady walked into the room brandishing her own set of Desert Eagles with the same infra-red scopes as the first woman.

‘Oh, my days, twins! Now that is some sexy shit!’ Leon said with a broad smile across his face.

The second woman was the spitting image of her sister. The only difference Leon could readily make out was that one of the sister’s lingerie was green while the new addition to the room was wearing bright yellow and her gun strap had yellow Louis Vuitton logos. The both of them stood there with their guns cocked, locked and aimed at Leon’s chest.

‘Whoa ladies,’ He said looking confused. ‘Am I missing something here?’

‘You’re gonna be missing something else if you don’t answer our questions truthfully.’ The sister in green ordered.

Leon started to talk. ‘Ladies…’

‘Shut up!’ The same sister interjected.

In unison they both lowered their right hands so their aim was directed on Leon’s pelvic area. He looked down and saw two red dots twitching over the zipper area of his jeans. Leon thought about his current situation and finally raised his hands above his head.

‘Ladies
-
why all the hostility? I came here to talk business with Pyro,’ Leon replied earnestly. ‘. . . If dude ain’t here and he doesn’t wanna do business, then I suggest ya’ll give me back the gift I so generously handed to him two weeks ago.’

The sister in the green
-
who Leon now decided looked prettier than the sister in yellow,
-
moved in closer.

‘Hmm, yes. Pyro did appreciate the donation. However he wants to know why you would want to do business with him, when you’ve already set up home with Black.’

Not that surprised by the question Leon said ‘Oh, I get it. Dude doesn’t trust a nigger. Yo, does Pyro know who I am? I might be in Black’s camp but that boy Leon works for himself.’

‘Oh really?’ The sister in yellow retorted.

‘Yes really!’ Leon replied loudly.
-
Mac mode now being a distant memory.

With his hands still above his head the sister in the green, who Leon now took to be the one in charge
-
got up in Leon’s personal space so that her body was only centimetres from his and reached around his waist until she found his weapon tucked away behind his back. Once she had his gun she put the safety on, ejected the bullet in the chamber and then placed the gun in the same place Leon carried it when it was in his possession. She then placed the nozzle of one Desert Eagle under his chin. Blew him a kiss and said ‘Really? Well, that’s not what we hear. See, a little dickey-bird told us you’re not to be trusted.’

‘What? You crazy… ! Leon argued. ‘Err; let’s not forget I
gave
Pyro five million dollars. Why would I do that if I did not want to go into business with him? Who told y’all that? So I can deal with them.’

The sister in green kept her eyes on his and blew a steady stream of air onto his lips. He could smell weed and something sweet. ‘
Strawberries!
’ He thought. His mind flashed back to Kerry. However as fast as that thought came, Leon got rid of it and in the firmest voice he could muster said ‘Well?’

‘Well what?’ The sister in green replied.

‘Well who the hell is talking shit?’

When Leon spoke he made up his face as if he had just smelled something foul. The sister in green saw his unhidden expression and backed away in embarrassment however to Leon’s disappointment she replaced the area she had just stood with her two Desert Eagles. Both of them held straight and aimed steadily at his face. The sister in Yellow came up right beside her twin and assumed the identical position. After a short pause the sister in yellow said, ‘Say goodbye to your friend Perry?’

Leon’s mouth immediately fell open. “
That
bastard
” He thought.

Regaining his composure Leon let out a stifled laugh.

‘Yo, you need to tell Pyro he can’t believe anything that fool says. He’s a crack head.’

The twin’s initial intention of killing Leon started to wane. Not because they necessarily believed what he was saying but because he seemed so nonchalant about the whole thing. Giving them another smile he said ‘Black only keeps him around because he’s family. I bet you he just wants you to cut me out of the deal so he can make the same deal behind his uncles’ back,’ Leon paused for a moment then quickly continued ‘But does Pyro really want to make a deal with Perry and run the risk of Black finding out?

‘What does that have to do with us?’ asked the sister in yellow.

‘What you mean?’ Leon replied faking utter disbelief ‘If Black finds out Pyro made a deal with not only someone within the Syndicate but his own Nephew…’ Leon started to laugh. ‘. . . Well let’s just say I know the fat fuck and I can tell you he’s gonna take it as a personal disrespect to him from Pyro.’

Leon could tell what he had just said caused the two sisters to pause and rethink their next action, so he took the chance to lower his hands. Still smiling he said ‘Foreal sexy, I can tell you right now Perry is a twisted cat. Pyro would do better to leave that dude alone. He’s bad for business. Let me talk to Pyro myself so I can tell him what’s up.’

The sister in yellow looked at her twin if she was asking her what her feelings were on the matter. Leon was hoping it was something along the lines of letting him go and starting on a fresh slate however what he heard was ‘Sorry dark and handsome. It’s too late for all that boo. The truth is… Papi liked you. He told us he liked your style.’ She paused for a moment and started to look him up and down smiling.

‘He thought you had potential,’ She continued, ‘but your right. He would rather not get involved in any family issues. Pyro doesn’t want it known he’s your new connect. Not now. Not ever. It’s bad for business and since you can’t give that guarantee,’ she paused again to shrug her shoulders. ‘So on that note, he would like to thank you for the gift but no thanks on the deal.’

Leon could see the index finger of the sister in green start to tighten around the trigger. He balanced himself on the balls of his feet and prepared himself to move at any given moment. Her finger was about to apply the full amount of pressure needed to release the hammer, when her twin let out a sigh that caused her to pause.

‘What?’ She grunted, looking at her twin.

Her sister did not reply but just stood there shaking her head.

‘What is it Cinni’ Say what you have to say.’

Before her sister in yellow could reply someone unexpectedly knocked on the metal grill outside. The sister in the yellow,
-
who Leon was now hundred per cent sure was called Cinnamon, walked over to the window nearest the door and peered out through the blinds.

‘It’s Coli.’ she said.

‘Aight, let him in.’ Replied her sister without hesitation.

The sister in green who Leon now understood to be Chocolate took the keys from out of her cleavage and tossed them to her sister. Once Cinnamon had the keys she opened the main door and looked at Coli through the grill. He however was looking straight passed her and at Chocolate who was pointing two large guns at Leon’s head. Looking back at Cinnamon he said ‘You two got everything under control?’

‘Yeah, we gonna get rid of this fool and go meet up with Papi.’ replied Cinnamon.

‘Cool,’ Coli replied. ‘. . . Well, let me in then.’

No sooner did Cinnamon unlatch the grill she heard a sound that literally came out of nowhere, just a few inches away from where she stood. It sounded like a very large book hitting the floor after falling from a high shelf. She was not scared but the sound caused her to blink and shrink back however when her eyes opened, fear engulfed her whole body as she saw the right side of Coli’s head explode. Blood and pieces of brain matter flew onto her face, breasts and arms. Cinnamon was shaking she wanted to scream but the ability to make any noise was being killed by the sight of Jay by-passing Coli’s falling body and pointing his own 9millimetre Berretta with silencer, at her head. Jay’s movements were so fast Cinnamon had no choice but to drop her weapons to the floor. Chocolate knew the sounds she heard were not good, but she was trained well. She wasn’t about to turn her back on Leon but she had to make sure her sister and fellow killing partner was ok.

‘Buns, you ok?’ She called over her shoulder.

‘No.’ Came the reply.

The way her sister sounded caused Chocolate to think this might just be the last stand-off. Turning her body so that she was standing sideways on from Leon, she quickly swivelled her head to take a look at her sister but in the split second it took for her to register Jay in the doorway of the apartment with a gun pressed up against her sisters skull, Leon had lunged forward, knocking the gun out of her right hand and expertly twisted the Desert Eagle out of her left.

Cinnamon screamed out, ‘No! Please don’t shoot her.’