The Syndicate (4 page)

As the eldest, it was my responsibility to keep us all in line. Uncle Snap was a part I'd have to work on after this. Back inside, Cory went to bring back Naveen and Jojo. As he handled that, I saw that Shanelle was still cleaning while Inez and Melissa watched her in concern. She mindlessly searched around for more broken glass, kneeling in the process. There was nothing there. I knew it was her working through her emotions.

Taking several strides her way, I kneeled down by her side. “Baby, I think you cleaned up very well. Thank you for that,” I gently said staring into her eyes.

It was that fight and softness in her amber eyes that first drew me to her as kids. At first, it was nothing but a friendship thing. Eventually, we fell into the sloppiness that was adolescent teen lust and experiencing love, the type of thing that carried on into our young adulthood. Through it all looking out for Shanelle was my priority. A lot of us kids in Mama Claudette's home related and linked together like family because we came from abusive situations. I think that Shanelle and I connected in an intimate way because of that too.

Because of how I felt about how Toya raised me and Cory as children, I was always angry about that. Angry about scrapping in the streets. Angry about all the fights I had to endure to protect myself and my brother. Angry that he had to do the same in order to protect me. Angry about the many nights we went hungry and couldn't get new clothes because Toya only used money on herself. I grew up suppressing and managing my anger in a quiet, white hot way. Shanelle understood it in some crazy way and I always respected that in her.

Helping Shanelle stand, I used the pad of my thumb to wipe her tears away.

“I hate that we're fighting like this,” she whispered where only I could hear her. “But . . . but, Navy is right.”

My inner thoughts agreed, but the way my stomach clenched, I knew that I had to be the bigger man and not allow the family to dump on Jojo.

Stepping back, I guided Shanelle's hand to put the broken tumbler in the trash. “I know, baby, but we're wrong too. Thank you for fixing Mama's picture, too.”

“I had to, but you're welcome,” she said with a sullen tone. “It's still a little crooked.”

Our eyes locked on one another as we spoke with no words at that point. She softly exhaled and she moved behind me as Naveen and Jojo walked in with Cory.

Neither would look at the other.

Jojo kept his gaze on his feet and Naveen looked everywhere but at my face. It was wild but it was like seeing myself and Cory when we were their age. In my mind, I could hear Mama Claudette whispering that, though she was gone, everything still was the same and we had to protect each other at all cost.

We were family. I had to do this. So, I swallowed my own disappointment and need to blame Jojo for her death; then I addressed the family. “We all are going through it. We all feel some type of anger, disappointment, and remorse through our shared pain. Yeah, we know Jojo didn't step up to his responsibilities; but, if he had, we don't know what could have happened, family. Think on it.

“They still could have gotten hit in passing. We just don't know. That type of street life we can't control, so we can't dump our angst on Jojo like this. He needs us. We all need each other,” I said spreading my hands out as I spoke. “Mama wouldn't want us to be this way, and we all know it. Am I wrong?”

Lamont, who came from the kitchen with Uncle Snap, dropped to take a seat in an old wooden chair, his long legs stretching out as he stared up at the picture of our mother. Melissa, who could sometimes be like a little mother bear, next to Shanelle, stepped up to Jojo and wrapped her arms around him sniffling as she hugged him.

“No,” Inez said walking up to Lamont and holding his hand.

I watched Cory throw his arm around Naveen and we all stood glancing at each other, with Shanelle sliding next to me to hold my hand.

“We're all we got. So if we break up, then we really lose,” I said staring at every one of my family.

“I . . . I didn't mean to leave her like that. It wasn't on purpose,” Jojo said finally speaking up. He stepped forward, then tripped on the corner of a side table where he stood. As he did so, Shanelle rushed forward.

The picture of Mama Claudette shifted again then fell forward causing me to turn and catch it. As I did so, my hand flew to the mantel of the fireplace it hung over it. A sound like a latch clicking drew our attention. Behind Lamont, an old bookshelf that held all our childhood accomplishments/awards, books, and other trinkets pushed open.

Every one of us stood confused and baffled looking sidelong at the bookshelf. Because a good portion of us grew up black, and in the black culture, no one made a move forward at first. We all just stood, looking like a congregation who just witnessed the pastor being caught with his hand in a cookie jar; then we glanced at each other. I mean, our mouths were agape, and our eyes wide in shock about the
Tomb Raider
–like secret lever or whatever it was that just opened up before us.

Shanelle helped Jojo up, who wiped at his glasses and wet eyes. I put the picture back in place, then Cory with Lamont walked toward the bookshelf.

“What is that?” I asked at the same time as Inez.

It wasn't a literal question that I was asking everyone, because I knew that none of us knew what it was; however, anxiousness hit me at what could be in front of us.

“Go look, Jojo. You did it,” Inez said backing up.

One of us laughed and my brother Lamont gave a shrug then pushed at the bookshelf. He was always the type to explore dumb crap for fun. It was in his nature not to be afraid of the small stuff. From our view, it slid out and to the side. There was nothing there but a wall, or so we thought. When Cory knocked on it, nothing out of the ordinary happened.

“It's just a wall,” he said looking back our way.

But it was Naveen's sharp eyes and mind for mechanics that sorted it out. “That's a trick. The door is right here,” he said pointing to where Jojo had fallen.

In front of the fireplace, a panel of wood sank into the floor. Inspecting it, Naveen pushed at it and watched it slide to reveal spiral wooden stairs as if a wine cellar could be below. Whatever was there, Naveen's also fearless personality took the lead before I could.

“If something comes out of that place and tries to kills us. I'm beating everyone here asses for being stupid right now,” Shanelle said behind us, yet she was inching closer in curiosity.

Shaking my head, I quickly followed Naveen. I glanced at Cory in a way only he and I got as brothers, and he moved to close off the room by pulling out the pocket doors, and locking them just in case. Once Cory headed down, Melissa followed. Inez ended up being the last to go with her scary ass, so that she could close the door that led to the kitchen in order to give Uncle Snap privacy and keep what we were doing on the low.

One by one, we made our way below. At first, everything did appear to be an old wine cellar with various books and things as if Mama Claudette had just finished Bible Study or tutoring classes. But, as I glanced around the dark place, finding a light switch, I saw that Naveen was gone. Panicked, I moved around until I found a hallway. To the right was a fancy shower and, as I kept going, another wall popped up with a bookshelf that was slid to the left.

Following it, I heard the others behind me.

“What the hell is this,” I heard Melissa say. “Is this some type of maze?”

“Feels like it,” I heard Shanelle say. “At least it's clean. It seems as if this has been used regularly. What was Mama doing?”

“Thank God Mama was a clean freak. If one spider or mouse jumped out, every last one of y'all would be kissing my ass, because I'm out!
Dios!
”

Shanelle's solemn chuckle filled the tunnel as she sharply whispered, “Shut up, Inez.”

Ignoring them, I cupped my hand to my mouth and shouted, “Naveen! Where the hell are you, man?”

Moving quickly the deeper we went, I stopped when I saw light. Making a quick left, I was surprised yet again when I stumbled into a massive chamber. The place was so big that it looked like a condo apartment. I mean it had everything. A modern chef's kitchen, fancy furniture, a sky light, expensive art, and in the middle Naveen stood with wide eyes. Turning to where he looked, I saw on a wall a glass marker board with pictures, red Xs, addresses, money amounts, and next to it, on a pop-out wall, guns, stacks of cash, and bags of various types of drugs.

“Fuck out of here,” I muttered, walking into the place. “Why the hell would Mama have this place . . . and this shit?”

I stood next to a large flat-screen television that turned on showing us the inside of Mama Claudette's house, outside of her house, the neighborhood, several other areas where we lived, and areas I couldn't place.

“Because, Claudette was murdered. She was one of the biggest queen pins in Atlanta, and all of you she chose to groom to take over her empire; and one of you to take her place in the Syndicate.”

Shanelle and Inez's, “Oh, hell no!” basically summed up everything we all were thinking.

Looking around as one, we saw Uncle Snap standing in the tunnel entryway where we all had come from. Straight up, I was tripping on how casually he moved around the place as if this was nothing brand new to him. In his hands were his bottle of Henny, and that Mason glass. The old man took slovenly sips, then moved to a pillar in the room. With a deep grunt, he slapped this palm against the pillar, revealing a side panel that brought the rest of the chamber alive all around us. All the sadness in his eyes seemed to partially melt away as a stern seriousness replaced it.

The old man moved away from the pillar, walked in front of a large black reclining chair then dropped down in it. Taking a seat in front of us as if he were a king, our uncle stretched his legs out, took another deep swig from his jar then watched us as if waiting for us to respond.

Honestly, from that moment on, I had nothing to say because a brotha's mind was on lockdown. I stood with my siblings staring in utter disbelief. What the hell was this?

“Wait, wait, wait,” I yelled. “Slow down. Say that again,” I said to Uncle Snap.

“I guess you all know her secret now,” he replied while looking at all of us. “Your mother was many things. She was a chameleon. She could blend in wherever she went, which made her the best at what she did.” Uncle Snap stood, never letting that Mason jar leave his hand.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Javon asked, the frown on his face matching mine.

“Look at this,” Naveen said. In his hands was a gray and black lockbox.

Javon took the lockbox and flipped it from side to side. “Something's in here but there is no key to open it,” he said.

“Sure there is,” Uncle Snap chimed. He pointed to the necklace I had on, then to Inez and Melissa. “All three of you have one of the keys that will open that there box. One can't open it without the other two.”

Inez's hand slapped against her chest. “She said she gave this to me because I'd always have one of the keys to her heart,” she said.

“She told me mine was because I would always have the key connected to her mind,” Melissa said quietly as she fingered her key like seeing it for the first time.

I placed a hand on my key, and glanced down at it then back at my sisters. “Mama said this key was mine because I opened her heart, her mind, and her soul. I was her first daughter.”

“Heart, mind, and soul,” Cory said aloud. I looked over at him. “That's what's written on the bottom of this lockbox,” he said.

Uncle Snap nodded. “Open it,” he said.

Inez and Melissa looked at me as if they were waiting to see what I would do. While I had a thousand and one questions, I knew the key to some of those answers would be in that box. I asked both of them for their keys, took the box from Naveen's hand, and studied the keyhole. One hole was in the middle with two smaller holes outside of it. I placed the keys in each one and watched in awe as the locks clicked, clacked, and turned on their own. The lid popped open.

We all crowded around. Inside were more keys and tiny notebooks. Being the leader he was, Javon picked up the keys and small tablets.

“What's in it?” Jojo asked. Melissa had bandaged the cut on his head. It wasn't serious enough for worry.

There was a serious scowl on Javon's face. It was the look he got when he was working and something was perplexing his mind. “Some kind of codes and monetary figures,” he answered absentmindedly. “Melissa, take a look at this,” he said, passing her one of the tablets that had money marked in it.

The girl's eyes roamed like marbles back and forth across the pads. “Holy shit, this page alone has at least half a mil on it. Seems as if Fridays and Sundays are the days most money rolls in from whatever it was she was doing,” she said while flipping through the pages. “Holy shit,” she said looking at Uncle Snap. “Is this all Mama's money?”

“All her money and all her drugs, too. Mama ran the Syndicate,” he answered.

“The what?” we all asked collectively.

“The Syndicate. It's a criminal enterprise that traffics in millions of dollars of drugs throughout the United States yearly. From the Port of Miami to the border of Canada, the Syndicate is a force to be reckoned with. Your mother, Claudette, ran all of that. She's been in charge for years. The only woman with enough balls and heart to do so.”

“So, wait, let me get this straight,” Javon cut in. “Mama was a drug dealer?”

Uncle Snap tilted his head from side to side. “Among other things. All this money you see, all these drugs, it belongs to y'all now. One of you gotta step up and take this thing over or all she built will be pillaged and stolen in the blink of an eye.”

“So this whole gotdamned time Mama has been preaching to us about staying out the streets, she was running the motherfucking streets?” Cory snapped.

“She owns these motherfucking streets and managed to take care of all you.”

“She was a hypocrite,” Javon added.

Uncle Snap snapped his attention over to Javon. His brows furrowed and the veins in his neck popped out. “You better watch your damn mouth,” he warned.

Javon squared his shoulders, not out of defiance, but because it was just who he was. He was never one to back down from anybody, unless it was Mama. “Or what, Uncle Snap? Huh? You gone lay hands on me because I'm speaking the truth?”

“Yo, li'l nigga, how the hell you think your mama managed to keep y'all in this uppity-ass neighborhood? How you think she was able to take care of y'all so damn well? Send y'all to that fancy-ass private school? You think them damn food stamps she was getting was cutting it? That damn sorry-ass piece of welfare check? You really think kissing those white folks' asses was getting her by? No, nigga! She was out here, hustling, putting niggas in the ground who dared disrespect her. Claudette was out here in the streets while you li'l motherfuckers lay comfortably every night!” Uncle Snap roared.

Javon fired back, “Look at this shit! Look at all this shit! The money, the drugs. We're standing in an underground bunker! For years we've thought Mama to be like Mother Teresa or somebody only to find out she is the thing that goes bump in the motherfucking night?” he spat. “And we're supposed to be okay with this shit?”

“Javon, calm down,” I said.

“Calm down? Calm down?” he repeated while glaring at me. “Am I the only one feeling like I didn't know the woman I thought I knew?”

“I'm not saying that, baby. I'm saying, can we try to go through all of this, whatever this is, before we pass judgment on Mama? For all we know, she did all of this to protect us.”

“Protect us from what exactly? The people she did business with? Her?”

“Baby, Javon, please. I'm not saying whatever this is she had going on was, is, right. I'm saying, let Uncle Snap tell us what she had going on in detail before we condemn her.”

“I'm not condemning her. I'm questioning who the fuck she was. Was she sweet little old Mama Claudette or was she something more sinister? Did you not hear Uncle Snap say she was murdered? Someone killed her because of all this shit, Nelle. And I'm just supposed to calm down?”

Javon's legs were planted wide. He kept moving his hands in repetitive sharp gestures. He glanced around the room at all of us. I guess he was looking for one of us to do more than just stare at him. I knew he was hurting. Finding out Mama was a queen pin put the nails in our proverbial coffins. It was soul crushing to find out the woman who had nurtured us and taken all of us in off the street turned out to be the very thing she preached to us about staying away from.

When he didn't get the response he wanted from the rest of us, he laughed with a hard edge, crossed his arms over his chest, and took the seat that Uncle Snap had vacated. He shrugged. “A'ight,” he said deploying sarcasm. “Fuck it. I'll be quiet since I'm clearly the odd man out.”

“Javon—” I called out, but he cut me off.

“Nah. I'm cool.
Y'all
seem happy and content with it. I'll shut the fuck up.” His body was so tense, he looked like a damn stone gargoyle.

Uncle Snap moved around the room. He grabbed a DVD case and shook it at us. “Y'all need to see this,” he said. “Javon, I know you're mad and you got a right to be, but at least look at this video first.”

Javon didn't move. He didn't nod or acknowledge that he had even heard Uncle Snap. Once Snap had put the DVD into the player, we all stood around anxiously, eager to see what was on it. After a few seconds of a blue screen, Mama's smiling face popped up.

Inez gasped and threw a hand over her mouth like seeing Mama alive again was too much for her.

“Hello, my beautiful children,” Mama's motherly voice said. “If you're watching this video then, unfortunately, I'm dead. And that also means my death was brought on by the hands of my enemies. By now I know Raphael, which is your Uncle Snap's real name, has told y'all who I was underneath this façade of Mama Claudette. Don't get me wrong, I'm still your Mama Claudette, but I'm so much more than that. I was about thirty or so when this life was passed down to me when my husband died. I took the hand life dealt me and I made it work. I had already been pushing dope since the age of fourteen. I could flip a brick in a matter of hours. My daddy taught me all there was to know. I won't give you a history lesson right now though. Just know that I love you all and Uncle Snap is the only person you can trust right now,” she explained.

Mama stopped talking for a few minutes. She looked away from the camera and when she looked back, she was crying.

“I never thought I'd see the day someone would take me away from my babies. The eight of you changed my life in ways you'll never know. Because I love you so, I zoned in on each of your better skills and I nurtured them because I knew this day would come. I run a whole empire, babies. As the young folk say, my name rings bells around every state in the U.S. and even internationally. I put in work and it all came back to me tenfold. We're not poor. We never have been, but I needed to teach you all how to remain humble. So I made sure we lived levels and levels below our means. Is all the money legal? Hell no, but for the most part, I made sure all the legal businesses could never be touched or connected to the Syndicate. That brings me to my next subject.”

I listened, slack jawed, as Mama told us about the gas stations, clothing stores, houses and property, and car dealerships we now owned in the wake of her death. Some of the keys we had found were to safe deposit boxes in banks around the state, out of state, and even internationally.

Mama cleared her throat then stood. “Javon, I know you,” she said. “You're probably standing around with your chest puffed out, pissed off that Mama has lied to you.”

She was right about everything but the standing part.

“You're pissed because everything you thought you once knew has come undone.” She chuckled. “That's because you're a natural-born leader who, much like me, hates to be sideswiped by anything or anyone no matter who they are. You hate to be caught off guard, which is why you're so good at always being in control. That's all well and good because it's you who I choose to take my place. I knew you were a leader from the moment I found out you had safely brought your little brother across state lines to the one place you knew you both would be safe.”

We all looked at Javon whose eyes were dead and flat as he looked at the screen. He shook his head and muttered something unintelligible. He uncrossed his arms and rolled his shoulders as if his shirt was creating discomfort.

“No one can run the Syndicate but you, Javon. You have to take up this mantel. At this point it should be four days after my death. That means you only have six more to decide what to do. I'm assuming that my death has only been mentioned maybe once or twice on the news. I had it set it up that way as I have friends in high and low places. In the case of my untimely death, I didn't want too much media attention to come my way. I know you're probably wondering why. Well, son, if the people in the Syndicate found out I was dead with no heir to take the throne, they'd run over metro Atlanta and we can't have that. But, most importantly, they'll come after my kids to make sure none of you got the idea to try to come for them. I'm already gone. I don't want to lose Snap or any of you. Look in the lockbox, learn the numbers system I have going on. Look at the money I have coming in. Call a meeting of the Syndicate and let them know with my fall comes your rise to the head of the table. And these are some very powerful people, baby. As you rise, take your brothers and sisters with you. Make the Syndicate respect your conglomerate.”

She stopped again as if trying to get her words together before continuing.

“I've been training all of you for this. Javon, you have the business mind. Shanelle, you were obviously born with business savvy. You have the gift of the gab and your gun skills can't be matched. You're Javon's backbone and you have been since you walked into this house. No matter what you two have been through, you both are the definition of ride or die. He's going to need that more so than ever now.

“Cory, you're the lawyer. You're street smart with the book-learnt sense to match. You can do what nobody else can and that's legally defend your brothers and sisters. Melissa is the accountant and not to mention she can use her talent to get what she needs as well. She knows what I'm talking about, too. Inez, you're important. As the doctor and surgeon, if something ever happens to one of them they can come to you without having to need a hospital. Shit like that is very important. Trust me. As a doctor you can provide much needed medical attention if needed. Naveen, you're a mastermind when it comes to engineering. The safe houses you can build can save your lives. Lamont, you are the muscle. Nobody packs a punch like you. I've seen what you can do and I know you'll put any man on his ass quick. And, Jojo . . .” Mama stopped. Her eyes twinkled when she mentioned his name.

“Jojo, you're my baby. And I really didn't want to involve you in this. It's Javon's call whether he will let you at the table. But you're a chemist at heart. You have the power to create product that can go unmatched. Your talent can and will, one day if Javon decides, take us to the next level in the drug game. Javon, you have the whole team you need, people you trust. You run the Syndicate with an iron fist with your conglomerate right behind you. I have to go now, but take heed to all I've said. Listen to your uncle. He won't steer you wrong. I love all of you; and note that nothing and nobody in this world has ever meant more to me than the eight of you.”