1As Gustavo smiled wickedly and made his way over in Italia’s direction, Fear sprung up from his chair. He charged at Gustavo and threw all his weight into him, tackling him. Upon impact, the kingpin’s syringe went high into the air before eventually coming down. It stabbed into the carpet and stood erect. Gustavo grimaced in pain as he collided with the floor. Fear, using all his might, broke the white, plastic zip-cuffs with one tug.
60Fear slipped the cellular into his pocket. He made Gustavo get out of the limousine at gunpoint and ushered him to the backdoor of Skip’s house. They waited outside the door while Italia played watchdog with her AK-47. The back porch light came on and everybody frowned from it. The door locks came undone and the door opened enough for Skip to stick his head out. Instantly, the crackhead’s foul odor slapped everyone in their faces and their noses wrinkled. No matter how many times Fear had gotten a whiff of Skip’s funky, ass he’d never grown used to it. He was pretty sure he never would.
2The goons at the four corners of the room pointed their AK-47s to chop him down, but they were afraid they’d accidentally hit Gustavo. Keeping that in mind, they lowered their choppaz and ran toward Fear. Seeing them coming, Italia tackled one of them to the floor and rolled off him. Fear eyed the others as they were about to chop the love of his life down. Swiftly, he snatched the syringe out of the floor and snatched Gustavo’s holstered gun from inside his suit’s jacket.
61“What in the hell is going on here?” Skip asked with a furrowed forehead. He noticed Italia holding the choppa and Fear holding Gustavo at gunpoint.
3Fear threw the syringe with precision. It spun around like a helicopter propeller and stabbed the goon closest to Italia in his eyeball. He threw his head back screaming at the top of his lungs and involuntarily fired his AK-47. Italia rolled out of the way out of the paths of the bullets as they pelted the goon she’d tackled to the floor. By the time the goon with the syringe jammed in his eyeball pulled it out, Fear was bringing Gustavo’s gun around and opening fire. He had the skill set of a marksman.
62The situation looked to be one he didn’t want anything to do with. The last thing he wanted was to be locked up in the county, sick as a goddamn dog, detoxing off crack.
4Fear pulled Gustavo up to his feet by his tie, legs wobbling. The beating he’d given him left him woozy, and his legs felt like cooked noodles under him. Fear got behind the kingpin and placed his gun to the back of his skull. He looked to Italia. She’d managed to break free of the zip-cuffs and pull the duct tape from off her mouth. She rushed over to Fear, hugging, and kissing him.
63Fear gave Skip a quick rundown of what had occurred that night. “We just need to crash here till we figure out our next move, OG.”
5“You okay, ma?” Fear asked with concern.
64“Lil’ Al, you know I love you like I love cooked crack. But I’m not tryna get involved with no kidnapping situation, youngsta. Do you realize how much time them crackaz will hit cho black ass with for kidnapping this cat?” Skip looked at him like, Nigga, you don’t really want to do this. Skip was a middle-aged, five-foot-nine nigga with a mahogany hue. He had beaded hair and a graying unkempt beard. His yellowish eyes were sunken into their sockets, and they had black rings around them.
6Italia nodded her head rapidly and said, “Yes, I’m okay. We’ve gotta get outta here. I’m sure the others heard those gunshots.” She picked up one of the dead goons choppaz. After she checked the banana clip inside it, she smacked it back in and cocked it.
65Skip removed his tattered black brimmed hat, with the feather sticking out of it and scratched his nappy head. Fear could have sworn he saw bugs jumping out of his scalp but figured his mind was playing tricks on him. “What if I make it worth your while?” Fear asked him, as he watched him put his hat back on and adjust it. “That depends on whatchu got,” Skip told him. Fear was about to offer Skip a few bucks but remembered he was broke. Gustavo’s goons had taken all of him and Italia’s money when they snatched them up. A gleam below stole Fear’s attention and he looked down. He spotted the expensive-looking watch around Gustavo’s wrist. He quickly removed it and passed it to Skip.
7“You damn right they did,” Gustavo confirmed her suspicions. His entire face was bloody and blood was dripping onto his suit. “And they’re gonna storm up here any minute and send both of your black asses to nigger heaven!” “Shut the fuck up!” Fear whacked him across the back of his head, he groaned in pain. He then looked to Italia and said, “Pat his ass down and see if he’s gotta cell phone on ‘em, baby.” Italia did as her man instructed and brandished a cellular from Gustavo’s suit’s jacket. “Alright, give it to ‘em.” She did. “Okay, Mr. Drug Lord, I want chu to hit up your chauffeur and tell ‘em to meet us downstairs inside the parking lot. You got that?”
66“There you go, OG. You know what that is, right? That’s a genuine Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 33mm 18-karat frosted white gold watch. That’s damn near a forty-thousand dollar piece. Do you know how much crack you can buy with that?”
8“Now, why would I do that?” A scowling Gustavo asked with mad attitude.
67Skip’s face balled up and he narrowed his eyelids into slits, staring at the timepiece. His eyes were as bad as his habit so he put on his glasses. He inspected the watch thoroughly. He even went so far as to slip it on and model it. Afterward, he slipped the watch into his pocket and put his glasses up.
9Fear’s face balled up with anger and he spoke through clenched jaws, veins bulging at his temples. “Cause if you don’t, I’ma slump your beans and rice eating ass and leave you right here! So help me God, muthafucka! Now, do like I said and put the goddamn cell phone on speaker!”
68“Come on in.” Skip smiled broadly and showed off his top row of missing teeth. He opened the door and stepped aside. “Mi casa es su casa, nigga.”
10Fear watched Gustavo closely as he dialed his chauffeur and placed the call on speaker. The Mexican chauffeur answered with the quickness, greeting his boss in Spanish. Gustavo started talking to him in Spanish and Fear whacked him across the head again. The kingpin howled in pain and dropped the cell phone. Italia picked it up and handed it back to him.
69Chapter Four
11“Talk to that nigga in English, I needa know what the fuck you’re saying to ‘em!” Fear told him while gripping the back of his shirt’s collar aggressively.
70“Good looking out, my nig.” Fear walked Gustavo inside of Skip’s crib with Italia bringing up the rear.
12A wincing Gustavo went on to tell the chauffeur to pull in front of the elevator lobby.
71Skip closed and locked the door behind them. He then led them through the kitchen and inside the living room. The place was fairly cleaned considering Skip wasn’t at all. He didn’t have much furniture to speak of besides two black leather sofas. The leather of them were worn and cracked. There were strips of duct tape lying over the large cuts in them. A small box television set with a wire hanger acting as an antenna was sticking out of it. The occasional lines of static danced across the T.V.’s screen, distorting the picture of the program playing.
13“Is everything okay, jefe?” the chauffeur who went by the name Jorge asked.
72“Skip, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How do you keep the juice flowing through this muthafucka?” Fear asked as he looked around the living room. He knew Skip didn’t have the bread to pay the utilities in the place, so he wondered how he managed to keep the lights on.
14“Yes, everything is fine, Jorge,” Gustavo assured him before disconnecting the call. Italia took the cell phone from him and slipped it inside of her pocket.
73“Man, I run extension cords from the house next door and use their power,” Skip reported as he held a wastebasket to the end of the coffee table. He swept all the empty cans, beer bottles, and loose trash inside it. “When your dirt fucking poor, you’ve gotta improvise, baby.” He cracked a smile before heading inside the kitchen to put the wastebasket back.
15“Okay. Let’s move.” Fear ushered Gustavo toward the door at gunpoint. The goon he’d shot through the throat was on the floor gurgling on his own blood. He was holding his bleeding neck and kicking his right leg in agony. Without turning to look at him, Fear snatched his gun from the back of Gustavo’s head and popped two in the goon’s beating heart, he went still.
74“Aaah!” Italia hollered and jumped.
16“I’ll get the door,” Italia said. She unlocked the door and removed the latch. As soon as she pulled open the metal door, they came face to face with six of Gustavo’s goons.
75A scowling Fear whipped around with his gun ready to make a nigga rest in peace, but he didn’t see anyone posing a threat. He looked at Italia like she was crazy.
17They were mad dogging them with their AK-47s pointed at their faces. Unlike Gustavo’s other goons these niggaz weren’t rocking ski-masks. They rocked black baseball caps and black bandanas over the lower half of their face. They also had bulletproof vests strapped against their torsos. The eses were hardened criminals and that’s just how Gustavo liked them. He recruited them fresh out of the pen, or while they were in the streets down on their luck. He saved them from a pitiful and meaningless existence, so they were loyal to him without a fault.
76“My bad, a rat ran by my foot.”
18Goddamn, Fear thought as he looked around at all the hostile expressions of the goons. He could tell they were trigger happy and dying to blow his black ass off the map.
77Fear laughed and said, “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, ma. All that gun busting and yo’ lil’ ass scared of a lil’ punk-ass rat?”
19“Yo, tell these muthafuckaz to back it up ‘fore I start clapping shit! We can all be some shot up, dead muthafuckaz today, the way I’m on it! Tell ‘em, nigga!” Fear shook Gustavo by the back of his collar roughly.
78“Whatever, nigga.” Italia’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
20Gustavo started off telling his goons to fallback in Spanish, but then he recalled Fear whacking him in his head the last time. So, he hollered at them in plain old English. Hesitantly, the goons lowered their AKs at their side and parted like the red sea so Fear, Gustavo, and Italia could go on about their business.
79“Everything all right in here, folks?” Skip poked his head inside the living room. His forehead was wrinkled, and he was wondering why he’d heard Italia scream.
21Fear was about to proceed down the path they cleared, but he had a feeling they might try something. He couldn’t risk falling in Gustavo’s hands again. Because if he did he was sure he’d have him and Italia executed on the spot this time. “Nah, fuck that!” Fear said as he mad dogged the goons like they did him. “Tell they ass to eject the magazines from them choppaz and toss them shits down the hallway,” Gustavo told his goons like Fear demanded. “Alright, now tell ‘em to lie down on the floor and put their hands on the back of their heads. If they try anything funny style, I’ma do yo brown ass first, then everyone else gets to go along for the ride.”
80“Everything is straight,” Fear assured him. “My lady just saw a rat is all.”
22Gustavo was about to do what was demanded of him until his cell phone rang. Italia pulled it out and told Fear it was the chauffeur. Fear took the cell phone from her and hollered into the receiver, “Yo, don’t call this muthafucking phone no more! If you do, I swear on my mother’s soul, I’ma blow yo boss’s brains out. You got that?” Jorge told him yes in Spanish. “Good. Have yo ass where he told you to be when we get down there!” Fear disconnected the call and tossed the cell phone to Italia. He was frustrated, hurt, pissed off, and on the edge, which explained why he was so hostile now. “Proceed, nigga!” he ordered Gustavo.
81“Oh, don’t mind him. That’s just Arnold my roommate,” he said as if it wasn’t a big deal.
23The kingpin relayed Fear’s message to his killaz and they followed his orders. Fear, Gustavo, and Italia stepped in between their bodies as they laid flat on the floor. They kept a close eye on the killaz. Like Fear had warned before, if they tried some funny shit, Gustavo was getting it first. He meant that shit! It was on them if they wanted to test his gangsta.
82Italia’s face balled up with confusion. She looked at him and said, “Wait a minute, you have a rat as your roommate?”
24Once Fear, Gustavo, and Italia had cleared the path of the killaz. Fear turned Gustavo around to them, keeping his gun to the back of his dome. He instructed Italia to get the elevator while he played lookout. The killaz were gravely silent. They didn’t make a move. It was good for them because their boss’s life was depending on them.
83“Yeah,” Skip confirmed. Right then, Arnold crawled up on his shoulder and sniffed him. “Hey, there, main man,” he spoke to him excitedly. “I hope you don’t mind but a couple of friends of mine gon’ crash at our pad for a while. Cool?” The rat made squeaky noises. Fear and Italia exchanged shocked glances. “Hey, Arnold, says it’s all good.” He then pulled a few peanuts out of his pocket. The rodent took one and hurried down his back, disappearing somewhere inside the kitchen.
25Italia kept her eyes glued on the numbers above the elevator’s double doors as they lit up. She tapped her foot as she impatiently waited for the elevator to reach the floor they were on. The number of the floor they were on lit up and shortly thereafter there was a ding sound. The double doors slid apart and Italia made her way on the elevator. Keeping his gun to the back of Gustavo’s skull, Fear slowly backed up inside of the elevator while keeping his eyes on the killaz. Once he was safely inside, Italia pressed the button for the garage and the doors closed. They could hear the killaz hustling upon their booted feet as they did.
84Skip tossed back the last of the peanuts inside his mouth and started munching on them. He smacked the residue from them off his hands and addressed Fear. “Yo, I’m ‘bout to hit these streets and see what I can get for this watch. I’ll be back when I get back so don’t wait up.” Skip threw up two fingers and disappeared through the backdoor.
26“Come on, come on, come on!” Italia watched the numbers on the metal key-pad light up with each floor they passed. She knew the odds weren’t in their favor with so many of Gustavo’s killaz out for their blood. That’s why she was anxious to get in the car and peel away safely.
85“If I were either of you, I’d stick that gun in my mouth and pull the trigger.” Gustavo looked over his shoulder at Fear.
27Ding!
86“Oh, yeah? Why is that?” Fear asked him curiously.
28The elevator doors opened, and everyone made their way out. As soon as they stepped out into the lobby, their eyes landed on a Mercedes-Benz limousine idling in the parking garage. They speed-walked towards the limousine. Fear instructed Italia to drive. She snatched open the door of the stretch Benz and yanked Jorge out. He scrambled to his dress shoes and took off running, occasionally glancing over his shoulder. Italia propped her AK-47 up on the front passenger seat and slammed the door shut.
87“Trust me. You’re gonna wish you took my advice once my men catch up witchu,” he swore with confidence.
29Fear and Gustavo got into the back of the limousine. As soon as he slammed the door shut, the staircase door that led out into the parking garage swung open. The killaz spilled out with their AK-47s and chased after the Benz. They spat fire at the vehicle as it sped toward the exit of the building. Their bullets pelted the rear of the car and ricocheted off it. The Mercedes was completely bulletproof, so the shots didn’t damage it at all.
88Fear’s eyebrows sloped and his nose wrinkled. “You know what, I’ma kick yo’ coke peddling ass! I’m tired of you talking shit! Plus, I owe you one anyway for killing my mother!” Fear took the gun from the back of Gustavo’s head and tucked it into the small of his back. He then went about the task of untying him.
30Boom! The Mercedes-Benz limousine rocketed passed the guard booth and broke the arm divider. The killaz continuously opened fire on the limousine until it disappeared out of their sight. Italia bent the corner out of the building’s exit nearly flipping the Mercedes-Benz. She glanced back and forth between the windshield and the side-view mirror. She expected to see the killaz tailing them but they weren’t there. She cut a few corners, drove down some blocks, and made her way out onto a main street. All this was done to shake the killaz in case they were following them.
89Italia’s forehead creased as she wondered what Fear had in mind. “What are you doing?”
31Italia let down the patrician that separated her from the passenger. She glanced over her shoulder at Fear. “Bae, you good?”
90Fear glanced over his shoulder at her as he continued to untie the tie. “I’m ‘bouta give this mouthy ol’ spic a good ol’ fashion ass whipping,” he responded and pulled the tie loose from Gustavo’s wrists, slinging it aside.
32“Yeah, I’m straight, slim. You good?” Fear asked as he stood over Gustavo.
91Gustavo turned around to him wincing and rubbing his aching wrists. Fear had tied his wrists so tight that he cut off the blood circulation to his hands. In fact, his hands were a purplish pink from poor circulation.“Help move this furniture, nigga, so you can get this work!” Fear’s voice strained as he pushed one of the raggedy sofas up against the wall. He stood upright with his hands on his hips and watched Gustavo push the other sofa against the opposite wall.
33The kingpin was lying on his stomach with his fingers interlocked on the back of his head. Fear held him at gunpoint while he untied his tie and pulled it loose from around his neck. The assassin laid his gun down on Gustavo’s back. Once he bound his wrists behind his back, he picked his gun back up and shoved him into the seat across from him. He kept his eyes and his gun on him while Italia drove them.
92The kingpin removed his suit’s jacket and flung it aside. He unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt and unbuttoned his cuffs, rolling them up.
34“I’m good, babe,” Italia answered him. “Where are we headed?”
93Fear and Gustavo bent their necks from side to side and stretched their muscles. They heard their bones crack as they prepared for the fight at hand. The kingpin came at the assassin with a jab that he easily avoided. A smirk formed on Fear’s lips. He could tell that this was going to be easy work for him. He jabbed Gustavo in the face twice and followed up with his right, launching his head backward.
35Fear gave Italia the address to the place he had in mind. Forty-five minutes later, they were driving across a ten-foot-tall stone that read: Welcome to the city of Compton. There was colorful gang graffiti on the stone which let tourists know they were entering a danger zone. Italia drove a mile out passed the stone before Fear told her to make a left. She drove down the residential street looking around. A lot of the houses were modest in appearance. Then there were some that looked so nice they didn’t belong in the hood.
94The kingpin righted himself before he fell. He had a discombobulated look on his face but he shook it off. He came at his opponent again. For every punch he threw that didn’t land, Fear followed up with a combination. The swift blows opened up the bloody cuts on Gustavo’s face he’d sustained from getting pistol-whipped. Pretty soon Gustavo was in a daze and throwing wild punches that didn’t connect. Fear danced around his ass like Bruce Lee dropping solid punches to his face over and over again.
36Coasting down the residential block, Italia was startled when something slammed into the side of the Mercedes-Benz limousine. Hearing screaming and shouting coming from outside, she went to grab her AK-47 thinking Gustavo’s killaz had launched an attack on them. She lowered her hand when she saw that it was just two hood rats fighting in the street. There were wigs flying and titties and ass flopping from beneath skimping clothing. Niggaz and bitchez stood around them cheering and egging them on.
95“Unh, huh, just like I thought! Yo ol’ bitch ass ain’t shit from the shoulders,” Fear told him, as he continued to dance around him. He faked him with his left fist and followed up with his right, bloodying his nose. The assassin continued his 360 circle around Gustavo, dropping blow after blow on him. “You can’t fight for shit! And I’m pretty sure you ain’t busting yo gun like that. Definitely not. That’s why you keep killaz like me on yo payroll.” Bwap! Wop! Bop! Wammm! Fear kept sticking Gustavo’s ass. The older man couldn’t touch him. He was severely outclassed but his pride wouldn’t allow him to throw in the towel. This is why he kept on fighting although he was getting his ass handed to him. Wop! Bop! Bwap! Wammm! Fear kept on tagging that ass. His punches felt like bricks to Gustavo’s face. Each blow seemed harder than the next. The kingpin found himself panting out of breath. His eyes moved around lazily. He looked like he was about to faint as his chest jumped up and down with
37“Whip that bitch ass, Lala!” one of the broads called out to her homegirl. Her homegirl was in a white halter top and Daisy Dukes.
96He hated the fact that he couldn’t land a punch. He hadn’t been trained in any form of martial arts. But he figured since boxing wasn’t working out for him he may as well try karate. He’d seen enough Kung Fu flicks to know how to handle himself, or so he thought. Gustavo slid into a martial arts fighting stance. He tried to kick Fear in the body and head twice, but the younger man swatted his attack effortlessly.
38She had one flip-flop on and two knots on her forehead. Her fists were wrapped up in the other girl’s shirt and she was throwing her merciless uppercuts. The girl on the losing end was leaking profusely. Her blood gushed from her nose and mouth.
97Next, he followed up with a spin kick. Fear caught his leg which surprised him. The assassin swept him off his last leg and he hit the floor, grimacing. Fear brought his other leg over Gustavo which put his back to the older man. His face balled up angrily and his jaws tightened. He interlocked Gustavo’s foot and ankle within his muscular arms. He grunted, then he violently jerked his foot to the right, breaking it.
39“Don’t let her do you like that, Tiana! Smash that ho!” a girl with colorful individual braids shouted out at her homegirl who was losing.
98There was a loud and disturbing sound of a bone snapping. Gustavo’s eyes exploded in excruciation and he screamed loud enough to rupture Fear’s eardrums. Fear released his opponent’s foot to the floor. A glassy-eyed Gustavo looked down at his foot and it was pointing in an awkward direction. He knew for sure his shit was broken. He blinked back tears of pain. His foot felt like it was ablaze and throbbing madly.
40She was trying her best to fight back but it was to no avail. Having grown tired of seeing his baby’s momma getting her ass kicked, a lanky cat wearing cornrows and an oversized T-shirt reached for his waistline. Through the side view mirror, Italia watched him pull out his gun and bust shots into the air. The sudden eruption of gunfire succeeded in ceasing the fight. It also startled Fear.
99“I’m tired of playing this game,” Fear told him as he pulled his gun from around his back. He mad dogged him as he said, “You took my mother away from me. Now I’ma take you away from the world!” Italia looked on as her man leveled his gun at Gustavo’s forehead. He gently laid his finger on the trigger. He was in the middle of pulling it back when Gustavo threw his head back laughing maniacally and smacking the floor.
41He whipped around to the back window and pointed his gun, thinking they were under attack. Once he peeped what was going on, he focused his attention and gun back on Gustavo. The kingpin was sitting back, mad dogging him. The assassin had a feeling if he had the chance he’d put a bullet in his head. The thought alone angered Fear. He felt like Gustavo had some nerve seeing how he was the one that caused the situation in the first place.
100He was laughing so hard that tears were accumulating in his eyes. A confused expression spread across Fear’s face. He thought the kingpin had finally lost his mind. “Fuck is so funny, puto?”
42“I suggest you turn that heat somewhere else before I get the notion to pop you in yo’ kneecap,” Fear threatened and leveled his gun at Gustavo’s right knee. The kingpin looked away, avoiding eye contact completely. “That’s what the fuck I thought.”
101“The GPS tracking on my cell phone—it’s—it’s connected to my men’s cell phones.” Gustavo tried to get his laughter under control, but he couldn’t help himself. The entire situation was hilarious to him. “They’re on their way if they aren’t already here now!” He laughed even harder when he saw Fear pull out his cell phone and check the device for a tracking app. Sure enough, it was there.
43“We’re here!” Italia announced as she pulled up to a tan and brown house. It had a patchy dirt lawn and a raggedy-ass fence. The place looked like a crack house, or someplace crackheads went to smoke crack.
102“Baby, duck!” Italia hollered out to her man having seen a red dot shining on him through the window.
44“Drive down the driveway and park in the backyard,” Fear gave Italia further instructions which she promptly followed. Once she drove into the backyard, she killed the engine of the limousine and sat up.
103Instantly, he dove to the floor and the sniper’s bullet meant to take his life zipped past him. The metal slug narrowly missed him and went through the wall, spraying the air with debris. Fear landed to the floor wincing and Italia was right behind him. What seemed like one-thousand bullets zipped through the windows and ruffled the curtains hanging over them. The sound of shattering glass filled the air and shards peppered the carpeted floor.
45“What now?” Italia inquired after grabbing her AK-47. She kept a close eye on things while she waited for him to answer her inquiry.
104Automatic gunfire from the outside seemed to go on forever like the shooters had unlimited ammunition or some shit. Bullets went through the walls of the house, blowing out the television’s screen, shattering a lamp, splintering an end table, and knocking the cotton stuffing out of the raggedy black leather sofas.
46“What now? You pass me his cell phone and sit tight,” Fear answered.
105Fear and Italia lay on their stomachs with their hands over their heads. Once the gunfire stopped, they could hear the killaz moving around in the yard. They were reloading their AK-47s and moving in on the house. Fear looked to Italia and signaled for her to go to the backdoor. She nodded and got up cradling her choppa, retreating inside the kitchen.
47He took Gustavo’s cell phone from her and started punching in a telephone number. He stopped for a moment as he tried to recall the number he had in mind. He glanced at the ceiling with furrowed brows and quietly recited the telephone number to himself. Recalling the last of the digits of the telephone number, he finished dialing the person who owned the house. He placed the cell phone to his ear and listened to it ring.
106Hearing hurried footsteps coming up on the steps of the house, Fear flipped one of the sofas over and got down on his knees behind it. He took aim at the front door and looked over his shoulder at Italia, she’d just disappeared through the backdoor. Right then, he focused his attention on Gustavo. He found him crawling away dragging that raggedy-ass foot behind him.
48On the fourth ring, a very familiar voice answered. “Who dis?”
107Where the fuck you think you’re going? Fear thought. Turning the deadly end of his gun on the kingpin, he squeezed his left-eyelid shut and aimed at the back of his skull.
49“It’s me, Skip. Lil’ Al,” Fear informed him. The nickname, Lil’ Al was given to him by Skip because of his short stature. At first, Fear wasn’t feeling it, but the name eventually grew on him. The crackhead was the only one that called him that and he was okay with it. He fucked with him the long way.
108He took his finger from the side of his gun and placed it softly on the trigger. He went to pull the trigger and then there was a Ba-doom!
50“Lil’ Al, Lil’ Al, Lil’ Al,” Skip tried to recall the name he was given. When it dawned on him, he snapped his fingers and excitement filled his voice. “Lil’ Al, what’s hapnin’, young blood? I ain’t got up witchu in a minute. What’s up?”
109Fear ran through the kitchen shooting behind him blindly. He heard one of the killaz yelp so he knew he’d hit another one of them. He just wasn’t sure if the nigga was dead or not. The killaz went to reload their choppaz again. Once they finished, all of them except one went after Fear. The one left behind grabbed Gustavo and helped him up on his feet. The kingpin balled up in pain as he threw his arm around one of his killaz’ shoulders. He then snatched the Glock .40 from out the killaz waistline and cocked it, putting one in the chamber.
51“What’s up is me and my people need a place to lay low for a minute.”
110“Help me to the backdoor, quick!” Gustavo commanded, with the killaz assistance, he hobbled through the kitchen and to the backdoor.
52“What’s the deal, homie? The Man on yo back?”
111He found his killaz blazing at the Mercedes-Benz limousine as it backed up in a hurry. Their bullets pelted the bulletproof limousine and the dirt ground, sending clouds of dirt into the air. “Move, move, move!” Gustavo ordered his killaz by waving the Glock around.
53“Something like that. You think you can look out for yo boy?”
112They cleared a path for him. He leaned all his weight against the doorway and started busting at the back of the limousine. He was trying to take out its back tire, but he couldn’t quite draw a bead on it. Before he knew it, the limousine was crashing through the chained up double gates of the backyard and rocketing down the trashy alley. Gustavo watched them flee and took a deep breath, lowering his gun at his side.
54“Fa sho, man, you know we go back like two flats on a Cadillac,” Skip told him.
113***
55The men had known each other since Fear was a boy spending summers with his cousins. Old Skip was the man during this time which was ten years ago. He was the man in the hood selling mad crack. Fear, Malik, and Wameek used to work for him. He taught them the game. He showed them how to cook crack, cut it, and bag it up. He had their young asses out there on the corner pitching his poison for him.
114Italia looked back and forth between the windshield and Fear dialing on Gustavo’s cell phone. A crease formed on her forehead and she asked, “What are you doing?”
56Skip eventually fell off when his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He wondered what was it about crack that got muthafuckaz to screw up their lives chasing it. Foolishly, he tried his own product and winded up getting hooked on the shit. Once he fucked off all his work, he started getting it from other hustlers on consignment. The problem presented its self when he didn’t sell the shit. Instead, his wayward ass was smoking it. When the hustlers realized he wasn’t ever paying them back, they sent some killaz at his ass to collect the debt.
115“I’m trying to warn Skip’s ass!” Fear told her and pressed the cellular to his ear. The phone rang until the voice mail picked up. He hit Skip up three more times, but he didn’t answer. “Shiittt!” He punched the dashboard out of frustration.
57By then, Skip had left the Eastside of Los Angeles for Compton. He’d formed a brotherly bond with Fear so he was the only one he’d told where he was laying his head. Every now and again Fear would drop by with a few dime rocks for Skip. He’d smoke a blunt while he smoked crack. They’d watch television and chop it up for a while. Then Fear would bless him with a few dollars before he left.
116“What’s the matter?” Italia asked.
58“Cool.” Fear smiled. “I’m at cho backdoor. Come open up, nigga.”
117“He’s not answering. Hopefully, he made it outta there before them niggaz arrived.” Fear let down the front passenger window and tossed out the cell phone. That muthafucka had a location app on it so he had to get rid of it asap.
59“Alright, I’ll be out there in a minute.” Skip disconnected the call.
118Chapter Five
