New York's Finest (1st of the Trilogy) Page 10

  When we reached the tenth floor, the elevator stopped and we all got off. Ben told Walt to man the elevator, and we proceeded to Ben and Dre’s place. Ben knocked on the door two times, hesitated several seconds, and then rapped the door three more times. At that point, Dre opened the door and we all walked inside.

  I couldn’t believe my fucking eyes when I walked deep inside the apartment. In the kitchen was a young brother, maybe in his late teens or early twenties, tightly tied to a kitchen chair with duct tape. He also had duct tape over his mouth. His face was puffy and bloody from the beating he had endured from probably both Ben and Dre. To make matters worse, there was plastic underneath the chair and spread out over the floor. All of that signified one thing—his death was numbered in minutes, not days, or hours.

  “I’ll be damn, say it isn’t so,” Damian stated.

  “What?” I said out of curiosity.

  “You don’t recognize the kid?” Damian asked.

  I looked at the young blood again and couldn’t make out the face. His face was too fucked up for me to make a proper identification.

  “It’s Lil Man,” Damian volunteered. “We’ve known this nigga since he was about thirteen. We took his ass underneath our wing and taught him how to fight and take care of himself.”

  I did remember the kid Damian was talking about. I was surprised at how he had grown. He was still short, maybe standing about five six, but his body had filled out.

  Dre took the stage and told us what had happened. In three minutes or less, he had told us that Candie had missed one of her check in times, which was something Reggie had required everyone to do after what had happened with Lucky and I. Candie had no problems with the new rule. In fact, we never had a problem with her sticking to the rules. She was supposed to check in every hour on the hour. Up until now she had done just that, so everyone who held down this particular tower became suspicious. Ben and Dre immediately went to her place and saw the door kicked in. And that’s when the shooting began. Come to find out, Lil Man’s accomplice almost escaped but he had been shot at least six times. He ran down the staircase and died in front of the tower. Lil Man wasn’t shot, but when he ran out of bullets, Ben and Dre beat the shit out of him, and brought him to their apartment. If anyone saw them dragging him from one building to the next, they knew not to say anything. That was the power of being in power.

  Unfortunately, Lil Man and his accomplice had beat Candie half too death. I had mad respect for the woman because she refused to give them motherfuckers the money she had made.

  Damian had me dial Reggie’s number and Reggie told us he would call us right back on my phone. His theory was if the cops were bugging anyone’s phone, they wouldn’t bug my phone. I was an innocent . . . or so they thought. When the phone rang right back, I didn’t know the number but I answered anyway. It was Reggie using one of the nurse’s phones. Why wasn’t I surprised?

  My phone was on speaker. Damian explained quickly what was going down and it didn’t take Reggie any time getting in the mix. “Damn, Lil Man, we treated your ass righteous. Made sure no one fucked with you, and even gave you money to help out your family. We made sure your ass stayed out of trouble and this is how you pay us back.”

  I could actually hear the disappointment in Reggie’s voice. I didn’t have a good feeling about this. We had passed crazy as hell a long time ago. This was some surreal shit and I couldn’t believe I was here in the middle of it. Usually, I just heard about all of the real crazy shit that happened in our business. Now I was a witness.

  “So tell me, Lil Man, who are you working for?” Reggie asked.

  Dre pulled the duct tape from Lil Man’s mouth. He let out a yelp and it took him several seconds to get himself together. Then he surprised the shit out of us when he said, “Com’ on, Reg, you know who put me up to this. Who else do you think I would do some crazy shit like this for? It was your homeboy, Damian! That’s who!”

  I damned near jumped out of my skin when Lil Man made that announcement. That was the last thing I expected him to say. Damian was shocked by his answer to. He acted like he was two seconds from whipping his ass like Ben and Dre had just done. But I was glad Reggie didn’t buy what he was selling.

  “Help me out, Lil Man . . . what am I gonna do with you?” Reggie said jokingly. I noticed I was the only one shocked or took what Lil Man said seriously. “This is what we are gonna do. Dre, get the kit out.” Dre went into the bathroom, while Reggie kept talking. “Last time, Lil Man. You know I don’t like asking the same question twice, but since we have history, I will be nice and nicely ask you again, who are you working for?”

  I noticed the sweat that had formed on Lil Man’s face. I saw a slight glimmer of confidence in his eyes. He actually thought he was onto something.

  “I told you, Reg, and I wouldn’t lie to you, you know that man. It was your fucking homeboy who is trying to play it cool right now. Your right hand man, Damian.”

  I noticed Damian didn’t open his mouth. But he looked like he wanted to hurt Lil Man really bad. If it was me and I was innocent, I would be screaming at the top of my lungs that this motherfucker was lying. But Damian just stood there and looked at Lil Man. They were having an old-fashioned stare down, and I wondered who would blink first.

  When Dre came back, Reggie said, “Damian, you know what to do. It’s your show, my brotha.”

  “I got it, Reggie,” Damian said without hesitation. He was calm, cool and collected. With each minute that passed, my respect and admiration grew for Damian. And I still didn’t know what that was about.

  “Last chance, dumbass, who paid you?” Damian asked.

  Lil Man smiled and told Damian to go fuck himself.

  “Say no more nigga!” he replied sarcastically and then he turned his attention to Dre and instructed him to pull out the hedge clippers and cut off the trigger finger on both hands.

  Lil Man’s eyes got big and he was about to scream, but Ben beat him to it. Ben hit him hard across his lip, possibly hitting his teeth because his gums started bleeding and then re-taped his mouth. Then I stood there and watched as Ben held his hands still, while Dre cut off Lil Man’s fingers. First, the right hand, then the left. Then Dre pulled out salt from the makeshift first aid kit that they aptly named the kit. This was so far from a first aid kit. After pouring the salt on his wounds, Damian then pulled out the rubbing alcohol and poured half the bottle over the two cut fingers.

  If Lil Man hadn’t almost killed Candie, then maybe I would have had some sympathy for him. But I didn’t. For all I knew, he was probably the one who had shot Reggie. That thought alone made me want to pick up something and fuck him up.

  I noticed the tears running wild down Lil Man’s face. I could only imagine the pain he was feeling. And they were just getting started.

  “Pull the tape from his mouth,” I said to no one in particular.

  Damian looked at me but he didn’t say anything. He did what I said.

  “Lil Man, I do remember you. You were a nice young man. I remember you eating over our house and running errands for my dad. Whoever is behind all this, are they really worth you dying? Hell, what you gonna do now. You have no trigger fingers and you know these motherfuckers out here will try to make an example out of you.”

  “It . . . it . . . it was Wa . . . Walt.”

  Immediately, Ben and Dre ran out the door to get Walt, but they returned within a couple of minutes. Walt was nowhere to be found. They called his number and it went straight to voicemail. They called and talked to the guys downstairs and everyone else in the four towers, and no one had seen the motherfucker.

  Reggie told Damian to do what was necessary. It was then I noticed everyone had latex gloves on except me. I didn’t know if Lil Man could hear the clock of death ticking loudly in his head, but I sure could.

  Damian asked him a couple more questions and I believed Lil Man told the truth. Walt was the front man, not the HNIC. Someone else was calling the shots. Plus, he swore t
hat he wasn’t involved in Reggie’s shooting.

  When Ben was about to put the tape back over Lil Man’s mouth, he said, “Damian, this ain’t right, man. You don’t know what you are doing.”

  “How so?” Damian asked.

  “I’m a member of AFH and they won’t let me die in vain.”

  “So, that’s the reason no one has heard from you in a while,” Damian stated. “So you are one of them motherfuckers, huh? Well, I guess all of fucking Harlem is at war . . . and guess what, round one goes to us.”

  With that, Ben put the tape over Lil Man’s mouth, then Damian, Ben and Dre huddled up around each other. I heard Damian talking but I couldn’t make out what he said.

  When we left, Lil Man’s eyes were filled with tears and I understood his fear. I asked Damian who and what was AFH?

  “AFH is short for Assassins For Hire,” he replied. “They are a gang of about fifteen young cats who kill for money, usually in Harlem only. But maybe they are branching out. I think I shot a couple of them niggas in the parking garage.”

  Inside the elevator, I couldn’t help but draw near him, so I walked over to him and laid my head on his chest and he hugged me. I knew now that he was my security blanket. I had objected when Reggie first told me that Damian would be by my side from here on out because of the shit that happened. Now I wanted him to never leave my side. I felt safe with him around.

  New York’s Finest Kiki Swinson

  Chapter 16 – Back at Headquarters

  Once again, we were back on the road, but this time we were en route to Reggie’s place. I asked Damian what would happen to Lil Man. I don’t know why I asked. I knew whatever they had planned would end with one result—Lil Man’s death. When Damian told me they would wait until later, then take Lil Man to the roof of their tower and let him sail downward while still tied up to the chair, made me realize I really was in deep.

  I didn’t know how to feel. I was numb. My own brother, Reggie, was the kingpin of this operation—and I was his partner, along with our best friend, Damian. Now we were being hunted, and worse, we were killing folks as well. Whatever happened to this being a simple operation? What happened to just a little supply and demand? That’s how Reggie sold me on this crazy ass shit, a little supply and demand.

  Trying to take in the shit that happened to Lil Man and then heading over to Reggie’s apartment to have the meeting with Miguel had begun to take a toll on me. Luckily, I had taken time off at work. I knew if I hadn’t, then I’d be a nervous wreck trying to service our airline’s passengers and deal with the other bitches I worked alongside with. On many levels I took my job seriously, so I was very fortunate to be able to take a leave of absence for a few days to handle my affairs at home.

  When we arrived at Reggie’s building, we had valet park my SUV. Then we headed up to the penthouse floor. To my surprise, Vanessa was very pleasant with Damian and me when she answered the door.

  “Hola, Mommie!” she greeted me. “And how are you Damian?” she continued, as she let us inside the luxury apartment.

  I swear I didn’t know how to take her happy-go-lucky routine. In actuality, Vanessa was a mean bitch eighty-five percent of the time, so for her to act like she was excited to see us was weird. In fact, I knew she was being phony, but I went along and played her game with her. I even went as far as hugging her and giving her a kiss on her cheek. Damian looked at me like I was crazy.

  “Where’s the man of the house?” I asked.

  “He and Foxx are in the bedroom, but they’ll be out in a minute. Go to the den area and wait for them.”

  “A’ight. Thanks,” Damian replied and then he followed me towards that area of the penthouse, while I followed behind Vanessa.

  I looked back at Damian and gave him a funny expression while Vanessa wasn’t looking. He smiled back at me and shook his head like he knew what time it was. “Y’all want something to drink?” she asked after we entered into the den area.

  “Nah, I’m straight,” Damian spoke up first.

  “Yes, I’m fine too. I just had a sixteen ounce bottle of water on my way here,” I lied and then I took a seat on my brother’s white leather sofa. Damian sat next to me.

  “Well, just let me know if y’all change your minds,” she replied as she stood in the middle of the floor showing off her Python print sling back Christian Louboutin heels. Even though I couldn’t stand the sight of this snake ass bitch, she wore the hell out of those shoes. And to sport the Python print satin blouse and a belt to accessorize with the tan linen shorts she had on was really hot! One thing I could say about the slut was that she was a miserable ass- hole, but she knew how to spend my brother’s money. She took advantage of Reggie’s cheating by going on serious shopping sprees to make herself feel better. She even took money from his emergency stash a few times after she learned or suspected him of cheating. That was why Reggie got the other spot, to keep her slimy paws off his loot. He kept his money there. And Damian and I were the only ones who knew about it.

  While Ms. Gold-digger stood front and center so Damian and I could look her over, Foxx finally escorted Reggie into the room. It was then that it hit me that when our mom or dad was around, then Vanessa would go into that nice daughter-in-law routine. I laughed inside because both my mom and dad knew she was a money grubbing bitch, who didn’t know the meaning of the word love.

  Reggie’s shoulder and left leg were bandaged. He was moving around gingerly. While Foxx was getting him situated on the love seat across from us, Vanessa walked over to them and acted like she was concerned for his well well-being. “Baby, think you’re gonna need a pillow for your back?” she asked.

  Reggie knew she was putting on an act in front of everyone, especially for Foxx, so he played along with her. I’m sure he figured if he went along with her game, then he’d be able to have a little more peace than normal. “Yeah, but get me that small black pillow on our bed. That one would probably work better than all the other pillows we’ve got,” he told her.

  “Okay,” she said and then she left the room.

  Damian and I looked at each other again right after she left the room. “She’s so fucking fake! It’s ridiculous,” I mumbled loud enough for only Damian to hear me.

  While Vanessa was in the bedroom, Reggie started in on a conversation. “I’m glad y’all made it here in one peace.”

  “Me too,” I chimed in.

  “Yeah, it was rough at first, but we came out of it,” Damian added.

  “You don’t think no one followed y’all back here, do you?” Foxx wanted to know. I loved my dad but he was nothing like his best friend, Stone. Stone was a very adequate name for Uncle Stone. Nothing fazed that damn man. But Foxx was overcautious and always on alert. I couldn’t complain though. He had only spent one stint in prison for three years and that was saying something for a man who had been running the streets for over fifty-five years.

  “Nah, because after we got away from that run in, we made a detour and went straight out to the Polo Grounds.”

  “So you don’t think no one followed you after you left the Polo Grounds to come here?” Reggie wanted to know.

  “Nah, nobody followed us,” Damian said adamantly.

  “What about Ben and Dre? They handled their business tonight?” Reggie continued.

  “Yeah, they put in the required work. It just messed me up to see that Lil Man was down with that shit that went down,” Damian said.

  I sat there and remained quiet. I had no knowledge of the relationship Reggie and Damian had with Lil Man. Nor did I want to know, especially after what I witnessed tonight. While they discussed bits and pieces of what transpired tonight, Vanessa walked her grimy ass back in the room and placed the black pillow Reggie had requested behind his back. Two seconds later, their door bell rung. Everyone in the room knew it had to be Miguel, but no one opened their mouth to actually say it. Reggie instructed Vanessa to answer the door.

  After she went to let Miguel in, I got up from my chair,
told them to excuse me and then I went to the bathroom located in the nearby hallway. I had to get away for a moment so I could clear my mind and douse my face with some cold water before I came face-to-face with Miguel again. He wasn’t like his father Marco, but I could tell that he was a piece of work. And if he was anything like his father, I knew when he stepped into that back room with us, then he would mean business.

  By the time I got out of the bathroom he had already entered the room and greeted everyone, including Foxx. I heard all of their voices loud and clear. I started to exit the bathroom so I could enter back into the den and make Miguel aware of my presence, but I decided that I’d wait just a few more minutes. I wanted to hear how Reggie would handle Miguel’s shipment situation without my involvement. After I sat down on the side of the toilet stool, I heard an earful. Miguel’s English was much better than his father’s, so it wasn’t hard to follow their conversation at all.

  “Naomi is taking care of business in another room but she’ll be out in a moment,” Reggie said.

  “What you and I need to discuss doesn’t require her presence,” Miguel stated.

  “Well, let’s begin then,” I heard Reggie say. Then I heard Miguel start up by saying that he and his father had a lot of new territory that needed to be supplied and in order to do that they needed me to make a way for his shipments to come through my channels at least twice a month.

  “That part I’m already aware of Miguel. What I need to know now is how much is coming through? Remember, the amount of product you’re requiring to come through Naomi’s channels will determine how much manpower we’ll need. We can’t have a half of ton of product coming through and we have only three men working the site. With a load like that we’ll need at least two or three extra men. And with more manpower comes more payout.”

  “If the products are packaged inconspicuously then we wouldn’t need all of that manpower,” Miguel suggested.