The Face That Launched A Thousand Bullets (The Cartel Publications Presents) (28 page)

Nyzon Peate

Fort Washington, Maryland

Get Money, New Money

T
he weather was perfect for the cook-out. The sun was shining and a perfect breeze comforted the guests. There were so many people in the backyard that it was hard to move. Yet people were dancing to the music, and having a good time amongst family and friends. Jackie prepared hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, potato salad, and coleslaw. She was proud to introduce Nyzon to his family and he felt the same. The only thing that bothered him was the constant questions everyone had. They all wanted to know where he’d been and who he’d been with. But until he sorted things out, he wasn’t prepared to answer.

“Ask Cooks.” Lazarick said after listening to him going into business with Cray. “Cuz I wouldn’t fuck wit it.”

“Why you even bringin’ it up?” Royala questioned with her hat tilted to the side, face still pretty like a girl’s should be. “The man has made his decision.”

“Shut yo bitch ass up! Ask him Ny.”

“Nigga, fuck you!” She said throwing out a queen of hearts.

Telling his cousin about what he was about to be involved in was too much right now. He wanted to do it in a private setting.

“What’s up, youngin?” Cooks asked as he took a bite of the barbeque ribs on his plate, threw out a deuce of spades, and grabbed his book. His dreads pulled neatly away from his face.

“It’s like this…I might be doin’ biz wit somebody I don’t know that well. But for real, I’m runnin’ out of options.”

“Out of options huh?” Cooks asked looking into his eyes. “There’s always options.”

“I know. But I’m bout to put work in wit this dude from Bmore.” Nyzon sipped on his Sprite looking through his cards for the right choice.

“Is there anything about this Bmore nigga you trust?”

Nyzon laughed. He couldn’t say he trusted anything about Cray outside of his hustle spirit. And Nyzon was more interested in getting back at Melody than anything else. Even though he met Melody years ago through this girl that was originally from Baltimore, Melody never respected him. Back then Melody was looking for someone to transport his product from New York to D.C., and she recommended Nyzon cause he was eager to be put on, his record was clean and he’d been doing it ever since.

“No…but I can’t say I don’t trust him either.”

“I’m not gonna lie cuzo.” He said as he moved over on the picnic bench so that Simon could sit down. Simon’s stomach protruded a little, but to be a big dude, he stayed fresh. “Anything involvin’ money is gonna involve risks. That’s life.”

“Wouldn’t want to do it without you. That brings me to my next point, he told me to get my starting line up together and we’re askin’ everybody to put in on the initial package. He’s gettin’ his money together on his end and Simon already said he’d be down wit it yesterday. We need a half of mill and we almost got it. Just fifty grand short.”

Nyzon thought his comment was funny because nobody planned on asking him anyway. Everybody knew he loved his job at Verizon, the local telephone company. He was about to tell him just that until Monesha strutted to the table and everyone grew silent. It was obvious from the moment they found out they were family, and since they fucked, that they’d been avoiding each other.

Simon and Cooks remained silent. They knew that at one point they were together but what they didn’t know was how far they took it.

“Yeah…leave it alone!” Royala responded shaking her head at her brother.

The conversation quickly returned to money until Angel, his old babysitter strutted through the party. She was sexier than he remembered. Her natural coal black hair fell on her shoulders. And her fat titties and round hips filled out the white BeBe cotton dress she wore. She looked better than ever, and he hadn’t seen her since he was a kid.

Lazarick was laughing so hard he could barely sit in his seat. He was playing him in front of his family and Nyzon hated that shit.

“I don’t tell you everything nigga!” Nyzon advised squirming in his seat. “So you don’t know what I do wit my dick.”

“You ain’t got to tell me everything cause Angel only fucks wit ballas!” He continued egging him on. “So you might as well get her right out ya mind.”

“Nigga, shut the fuck up and throw out your card.” Royala said to her brother, getting the attention off of Nyzon and back on the Spades game. “And you bet not renege either. Don’t even think about askin’ what led.”

Nyzon tried to brush Lazarick’s comments off his shoulders, but he was still thinking about Angel. And although it was good seeing her again, he never got over how she played him. Suddenly he had an idea on how to pay her back and revenge never sounded so sweet.

Crayland Bailor

The Set-Up

C
ray sat in Blunt’s basement with Jason, Jinx, Blunt, and Blunt’s two cousins Tony and Larry. He was discussing the details of his new plans to take over Melody’s operation.

“Thanks for comin’, yo.” Cray started sipping his Corona after topping it off with Vodka. He had a black skull cap on his head. He was recruiting his starting line up.

“I called ya here on some serious bizness. There’s bout to be a shake up in Bmore unlike any ya’ll ever seen. Now I’ma be honest, a lot of niggas gonna buck cuz they not gonna be ready for change, but I venture to say many more will be down cause there’s a lot to cash to make out here and fuckin’ wit me, everybody gonna eat.” He continued turning around briefly to look at their faces. “Befo I began, any nigga who feels like they may not want to hear this shit, leave now or forever hold your piece.” He said referring to their weapons. “Cause if I discuss this shit in front of you, and you cross me, it’s ova.” He waited on their move.

“A’ight yo!” Tony said giving his cousin Jinx some dap. “I’ll get up with ya’ll lada.

“No love lost.” Cray said.

Larry left too.

Silence.

“Cool. It’s like this…the nigga Melody got West Bmore locked down, and most of East. But I got a plan, on makin’ this dude fall. And I already got wit my nigga from DC, so we gone eat regardless.”

“So we dealin’ wit DC niggas now?” Blunt asked.

“Yeah…cause the dude Ny got access to the connect, but I’ma always make sure my peoples eat first. I put that on everything.” Cray nodded.

“So what’s your plan? I mean, Melody got everybody on payroll.” Jason questioned looking at him sideways.

“We gonna try to bring most of his dudes on board because they got the distro, but if they buck, we comin’ out blazin.”

“But we don’t even know everybody he got on payroll.” Jason continued.

“I got that covered too. J-Swizz is his right hand man. He stay by his side but he’s weak. Niggas been talkin’ from miles around about their ship not bein’ tight. And if it wasn’t for a few cats on his squad, Melody wouldn’t even have an operation right now.” He continued sipping his beer.

“So what’s up, chief? How we gonna do this?” Jinx asked.

“I was gonna say the same thing.” Blunt said more than ready to get down with business.

“J-Swizz keeps this white broad close. I mean real close. This nigga Bloc said he saw him followin’ her ass one day afta she cut him off for messin’ wit Bloc’s sister. I think the girl answered the phone one day when the nigga was sleep and the white broad flipped. So now he wants to marry her.”

“That niggas a bum!” Jinx yelled. “

They all laughed.

“Exactly.” Cray responded. “I figure if she be wit him like they say she do, she’d have access to information the rest of our asses ain’t privy to. If nothing else, she’d be able to find out if put in the right position. Now what we got to do is put ourselves in this bitch’s way, you feel me?” he advised looking around for confirmation. “Once I have all the info I need, there won’t be any need for J-Swizz or Melody. You got me?”

“And if the block niggas on the payroll not down we’re knockin’ their blocks off too?” Jason said finally seeing the big picture. “Brilliant yo!”

“Right! And that’s where ya pretty ass come in at. Since she’s into niggas I figure it wouldn’t be hard for you to get at her. With a little persuasion she’ll be willin’ to tell you everything we need to know. Plus I hear she’s loose when she’s drinking. They say that thang been all over West Baltimore and half of the county.”

“Damn!” Blunt laughed.