TYCE 5 (6 page)

“
Who’s baby is it?” Ranae touched her oversized silver earrings.

“Thad’s.” I said quietly.

Even saying it a loud sounded all wrong.

“I thought you were on birth control after you had Khari.”

“I was, but honestly I have been so high these past few months that I probably missed a pill or two. What am I gonna do?” I nibbled on my finger nail.

Ranae
closed her eyes. “I don’t know, but I’ll help you figure it out.”

I looked at her seriously. “You
gotta promise not to tell Sway. I mean it, because if you tell him then he’ll tell Tyce and I don’t want that shit to happen.”

“I promise.”
Ranae walked over and hugged me.

Normally after a person survives a near death experience they get all religious and shit. Or they start to reflect on their life and do things differently than they did before. I didn’t have time for any of that shit. So what I got shot. It happens. It would be hard for me to count how many niggas I’ve shot. What I look like getting all soft and sanctified when karma pays me a little visit?

I didn’t have any delusions about my chosen profession
, or my life. I wouldn’t call myself a hustler. I didn’t consider myself a gangster, or a so-called boss. I was just me…Tyce Adkins. I did what I had to do so I could do the things that I wanted to do. I had to run away from that boys home when I was 15 so I could be free. I had to start slanging shoes from the mall so I could feed myself. And now, I had to murder Roman so I could sleep at night. That was my life. I took care of my business for a living and business was booming these days. Of course the holice came in my hospital room to ask me a few questions, but I preferred to handle my own investigation, so I didn’t tell them shit.

I did have one thing that bothered me. One thing that stained my heart. In rare moments of solitude, I found myself mad at the fact that my daughter would grow up without her mother and father in the same house. I knew I didn’t have to be with Angelique to be a father to Khari but shit, that’s the way it was supposed to be. Angelique and I had beef between us that could never be forgotten. How the hell could I wife a woman up who cheated on me with a fucking Ne
-Yo looking ass nigga?

I needed a woman to keep me sane and grounded. I wanted a partner in life
who accepted me for the man I was with no strings attached. I didn’t need a perfect woman, but I did need a woman who was perfect for me. As I laid on my stomach in my king size bed with Dallas sleeping naked next to me, I smiled to myself. I was happy on the inside despite my aching back because I finally found someone who accented me. She may have had some flaws and acted immaturely at times, but the one thing I could say about the woman snoring softly beside me was that she was definitely about Tyce Adkins.

             
I was about to go to the kitchen and fix me a grilled cheese sandwich to shush my growling stomach when my phone lit up on my night stand. Dallas was in a deep sleep, so she didn’t hear it vibrating against the wood. I quickly answered it when I saw who it was.

“
Wasup Tony?” I looked out of my window at the night sky.

Tony was Lil Flash’s home boy. I liked him because he was smart and honest. He also knew everything that went on in the hood. Shit, he was the one who told
Lil Flash that Biz had a hit out on me two years ago.

“
Ain’t shit up with me, but the nigga you lookin’ for jus’ went inside Khalil’s crib.” Tony informed me in a deep casual tone.

“How long has he been there?” I sat up in the bed.

“About five minutes.”

“I’m on my way.” I hung up the phone.

I immediately pushed Dallas’s firm ass to snag her away from whatever dream she was having. She stopped snoring and looked at me with sleepy eyes.

“Wake up baby. We
gotta go kill a nigga. Get dressed.” I grinned at her in the darkness.

Dallas instantly shook the sleep from her brain and turned over excitedly. She swung her petite shapely legs over the side of the bed and hopped up.

“I was jus’ dreaming about that shit! Let’s ride!”

Forty-one minutes later,
Dallas and I met Peck and Sway about a block away from Khalil’s house. The two of them were parked in Sway’s Denali in a dimly lit spot. They jumped in my Range to join us as soon as we pulled up on the side of them.

“Hey fellas.” Dallas looked over her shoulder at the back seat.

“Wasup lil’ mama?” Sway cocked his tool. “That nigga still there?”

“We
jus’ got here a few minutes ago.” Peck pulled his customary hat down low over his blue eyes.”

I pulled off smoothly down the street and turned onto the dark block where the house was located.

“Yeah, Tony told me Roman is still in there. He lives right across the street.”

I killed the head lights on my truck and parked quietly next to the curb. I made sure
that I stayed several houses away from the spot so we wouldn’t be seen.

“That’s the house right there.” Dallas pointed
her finger from the passenger seat.

“Who’s that?” Peck tapped my shoulder.

“That’s Tony.”

My secret agent came walking from in between two houses and posted by Dallas’s door. He had to bend down a little because he was so tall. He wore a black wave cap and sported a freshly edged goatee. Dallas lowered the
tinted window in front of his face.

“Damn,
yall niggas move fast as fuck!” He looked in the dim cabin at all the serious faces.

“Yeah, slow niggas
come in last. Here you go.” I reached across Dallas’s lap and handed him a thousand dollars in cash. “Thanks for lookin’ out my nigga.”

Tony took the money and stuffed it in the front pocket of his blue hoodie.

“Shit, no problem. It was my pleasure. I never liked his ass anyway. That nigga still owe me twenty dollars from the Laker’s game. I’m glad he ‘bout to get fucked up. Do ya thing.”

He tapped the side of
the car before he trotted off into the shadows back in the direction he came.

I rolled the win
dow back up and got my black and chrome Berreta from the center console.

“Alright, Peck, I need you to get behind the wheel of Sway’s truck and post up in the alley.
Me and Sway will take the house. I’ll come in the front the same time you come in the back Sway. If you have to shoot this nigga try not to kill him. I got somethin’ special planned for his ass.” I adjusted the thick bullet proof vest underneath my sweatshirt.

I made sure Peck and Sway had vests too. The only one who didn’t was the female in the group.

“What do you want me to do?” Dallas nudged my shoulder.

“I want you to drive my truck and follow us to the junkyard.”

Dallas frowned up. “That’s all?! That nigga nutted on me! I wanna go in there and fuck him up too!”

I lowered my gaze and smiled. I loved how amped she was to get it in.

“Remember our lil’ conversation about you letting me handle shit and you listening?”

She poked her full lips out. “Yes.”

“Good, right now I need you to watch the front, and when you see Sway’s truck roll pass you, I want you to follow right behind us. Ok?”

“Ok. I got it.” Dallas winked at me in t
he dark. “Oh, if you see my gun get it ‘cuz the muthafucka never gave it back.” She rolled her neck like only a black woman could.

“I’ll look out for it. See you in a sec.”

All three men got out of the vehicle. Peck trotted off in the opposite direction as Sway and I approached the house. We moved silently along the wide sidewalk passing one skinny palm tree after another until we came up on the modest looking home. Sway crept like a ninja down the narrow passage way between the side of the house and the chain linked fence. I made my way to the front door and shrunk to the size of a midget to hide my six foot frame from sight. Before Sway left, we started counting to 100 in unison. Once the count was over, both the front and back door would be kicked in at approximately the same time.

I felt immense pain in my back from stooping so low
, but I tried to ignore it and let the adrenalin pumping through my veins act as a pain killer. I just hoped I could kick the door in with one thrust. My legs were still weak at times, but I was almost positive that I could get the job done. All I had to do was remember what Roman did to me and Dallas and my rage would take care of the rest.

I finally reached 100.
I took a deep breath, stood up and kicked the door right next to the gold handle with all my strength. I heard a loud crack and the thick door flew open just enough for me to slide through. I heard a similar sounding crack come from the rear of the small house and then I saw Roman poke his head out from the rear hallway bathroom like a black ass gopher. I took long swift steps toward his position with my gun leading the way.

“Did I catch you at a bad time nigga?!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! I let off three rounds into the wood frame of the bathroom door, but I kept walking down the hall. Boom! Boom! Boom! Three more shots tagged the door. Before I could investigate the bathroom, I heard glass shattering.

“He’s out the window!” I shouted to Sway.

I heard Sway’s heavy boots rumble through the kitchen.

“Shit! I’m on it!” Sway flew through the back door with me two seconds behind him.

We saw Roman sprint across the grass and duck under a clothesline before he started to climb the nine foot chain link security fence. Sway fired a bullet at Roman’s leg that barely missed his swinging calf. It was hard to see because it was night, but I fired a shot anyway as Roman swung his leg over the fence and landed in the alley. As soon as his running shoes hit the asphalt, a wide bumper crashed into his hip. The force from the heavy vehicle sent him flying ten feet into the air and knocked his tumbling body into some trashcans. Sway and I jumped the fence and ran over to Roman before he could scramble away again. We pointed our guns at his sweaty face.

“You
jus’ got hit by a fuckin’ truck.” I leaned in toward him. “I bet you didn’t see that shit comin’.” I pointed my gun at his head and laughed.

Sway jerked him up by his neck. “Get the fuck up nigga!”

I escorted our dazed prisoner to the back of Sway’s Denali at gun point. He could barely walk straight. I think his ankle might have been broke. Sway pulled the lift gate open.

“Get in!” I accented my request by hitting him with the gun in the back of his huge head.

“Fuck that shit! Jus’ kill me now nigga! If you got heart jus’ kill me now nigga!” Roman held the back of his head.

“Nigga
, you don’t pick when you die muthafucka! Now get yo big ass in the fuckin’ cage before I shoot you in the kneecaps!”

After Sway pu
t his gun to our prisoners head and I put the hot barrel on the bare flesh of his knee just under his dingy white basketball shorts, Roman complied and climbed into the extra-large kennel like the dog he was.

“Good boy.” I pull
ed a pad lock from my front pocket and locked his ass in.

Sway slammed the
lift gate shut securing Roman inside. Within seconds we were driving down the alley. Peck made two quick right turns and the massive truck slid by Dallas who was waiting nervously in my Range. The moment we drove passed her she put the SUV in gear and fell in line. I was so proud of her and her new listening skills.

“You see that shit?! I put the bumper on his ass! That fool hopped the f
ence like he was running from the holice or somethin’!” Peck smacked the steering wheel with excitement. “That big ass muthafucka knocked over them trash cans like a bowling ball!”

Peck continued to exploit Roman’s action packed capture on our way to the junk yard. Surprisingly, our prisoner stayed relatively quiet the whole way there. He only called me a pretty ass nigga twice and bragged about shooting me in the back
several times. I just smiled to myself as I imagined what I was going to do to him. He knew his clock was punched, so there was no use trying to change my mind. Roman was going to die tonight.

About 3
0 minutes later my small caravan snaked its way through the abandoned cars and came to a halt in a remote corner of the expansive yard. The location was a perfect place for a homicide. No people, no holice, no lights and no one to hear him scream. The four of us hopped out the trucks and ordered Roman to lie on the ground after we unlocked his cage. He started to resist, but Sway socked him in his round belly with a thunderous right hook which forced him to his knees. After that, I simply kicked him in his ugly face and presto, he was lying on his back looking up at the pretty stars in the night sky while his head spun.

“Look
atcha now nigga! Who’s on the ground now?! Huh?” Dallas taunted him as she stood next to me. “I told you you can’t fuck with my nigga!” She kicked the sandy dirt in his greasy face.