Baltimore Chronicles (11 page)

 

All of Mayor Steele's packages must have arrived at the television networks at the same time. The telephone lines in his office were ringing off the hook. Marsha, his intern, could barely answer one before the other starting buzzing. The mayor had instructed her to take every single call and confirm that the DVD contained in the package was in fact authentic.

Mayor Steele sat in his office smiling. He had cleared his calendar so that he would be able to watch when all the news programs started airing Tiphani's dirty laundry. It wouldn't be long before she was exposed. He had purchased a brand-new suit for the press conference that was sure to follow Tiphani's little unveiling.

The mayor would have to speak out against Tiphani and her crimes. This scandal would put him in the media's eye, and he would get the pre-election boost he needed. Shit was going according to plan. He had already paid somebody in the jail to get rid of Derek.

It was bad enough that the woman he had appointed to circuit court judge was corrupt. There was no way he could risk Derek revealing that he, the mayor of the city, had struck a deal with a convicted dirty cop, who was a cop killer himself. In Mayor Steele's assessment, Derek should be dead, or at least, that is what he had paid for.

 

“Yo, man, I saw her talking to a cop, my nigga. I'm telling you, Scar, it was her,” Day said.

“Nigga, you better have yo' fuckin' facts straight,” Scar barked as he paced the floor.

“I'm tellin' you, boss. I followed her just like you told me to. She went to that court building, but at the back door. I got out the car and watched her talk to that Puerto Rican bitch that was coming here before. She was crying and shit, and then after a minute, she shook hands with her.”

Scar punched a hole in the wall. He was angry at himself for letting Tiphani back near him. “I should have trusted my first instinct after the trial and dead-ed that bitch! I had a brand-new start, and I let this dick-hungry bitch weasel her way back in. She is as good as dead.”

“Yo, nigga, let me take care of that bitch,” Sticks ranted. “I can't tell you how much I wanna murk that bitch. She been a casualty in my book.”

“Nah, I got something else in mind for her,” Scar growled. “I want everybody to gear up. Tonight is gon' be bigger than I expected.”

As Scar continued stalking up and down the warehouse, all of his little workers were silent. No one dared to even make eye contact with him. They knew he was highly unpredictable when angry, and no one wanted to be the one he took his anger out on.

Scar made his way back to his office and sat at his desk, his blood boiling that, against his better judgment, he let Tiphani back into his life. He hated being lied to. He demanded loyalty, and if he wasn't getting it, then that person deserved to die.

“Boss, can I say something else?” Day stood in the doorway to Scar's office.

“Nigga, what? I ain't in the mood, nigga.”

“A'ight, when you ready,” Day said in his most soothing voice. Scar was volatile, and Day needed him to listen. “I've got a plan to set Tiphani up and pull off the heist at the same time.”

“Nigga, I'm always ready. Speak.”

Day proposed, “I was thinking I could find Tiphani and tell her the plans of our next heist then make sure she tells that Puerto Rican bitch and flip the script on them bitches.”

Scar sat and listened intently, going over the pros and cons of the plan in his head. He liked the idea. He liked it a lot. He gets revenge, and he gets his money. “I like that shit,” he said, a sinister grin on his face. “Get Sticks and go find that bitch.”

“I think I should do it alone,” Day said. “Not sure Sticks is the man for this job.”

The grin disappeared from Scar's face. “What you sayin', nigga?”

“I just think Sticks should stay away from this one,” Day said, leading Scar on.

It was a fine line between snitching and just giving information. If Scar thought Day was snitching, then Day's whole plan would be shot, and he would be in danger of being shot.

“Why, nigga? Stop being so cryptic. Just tell me. This ain't no twenty questions.” Scar was falling right in line with what Day needed.

“I ain't no snitch, but Sticks has been buggin' lately. Timber wasn't talking about how he would spend his money. He clowned Sticks, and Sticks murked him for no reason. And I don't know for sure, but I think he murked Trail. He's been dropping a few hints around the warehouse.”

“I hear you. I've had my eye on that nigga. I have my suspicions about him murdering Trail.” With his suspicions about Sticks being confirmed, Scar's body was tensing up.

Sensing he had Scar on his side, Day pushed his luck and went for the one thing Scar would definitely react to.

“But the thing that got me wanting to stay away from him is, I think he's got his eye on your throne, boss. I know you ain't gonna let that happen, and I don't want to get caught in no crossfire when you gotta take that nigga down. He's a loose cannon, boss, and I don't want no part of his craziness.”

Scar's heart was about to pound out of his chest, he was so furious. Another person in his life was now betraying him. His brother was the one person he could trust, and he fucked that up by fucking his wife and getting him thrown in jail.

“Fuck that nigga!” Scar growled. “You stay away from him. Do your shit with Tiphani alone. What was said in here stays in here. If I hear that you said even one word of what was said in here to anyone, you as good as dead, nigga. Got that?”

“You can trust me, boss,” Day said, trying to appease Scar. “This shit stays in this room.”

“Get the fuck out my face!”

Not wanting to push his luck any more, Day got the fuck out of the office as fast as possible. He left the warehouse without speaking to any of the other soldiers and made his way to Tiphani and their meeting spot.

Tiphani and Rodriguez sat across from each other in a hotel room talking about their plan. Tiphani explained all of the nuances to Scar's methods. She drew a small map and told Rodriguez where each of Scar's henchmen would be posted. She laid it all out, with ease.

Rodriguez grew more and more excited by the minute. It would just be a few short hours and she would have Scar Johnson by the balls once and for all.

“You said Scar killed your sister. I didn't know you had a sister,” Tiphani said, changing the subject.

“Yeah, a baby sister. Her name was Danielle. She was a good girl, until she got caught up with that boy. He's a part of Scar's crew. No matter how hard I tried to get her out of it, she didn't listen. When I found out she was running with Scar's crew, doing jobs right along with them, I tried to demand that she stop. That backfired and drove her even further in. They set her up to get killed, probably because they found out I was her sister. I don't have anything left to live for if I don't bring Scar down. It was all my fault. All of this was my fucking fault.” Rodriguez ended her rant by slamming her fists on the table. She didn't want Tiphani to see the tears welling up in her eyes.

Tiphani was speechless. She had always pictured Rodriguez as a hard ass, but this emotional side was refreshing. She was more encouraged to help Rodriguez now, understanding her sudden quest for revenge. Besides, she had her money tucked away, and there would be other men to fulfill her every need, so she figured it better to save her own ass and help Rodriguez.
Maybe getting rid of Scar is what I need to get over my shortcomings and my sex addiction,
she thought, feeling better about helping take Scar down already.

“Call him. I want to make sure he is still planning to do the job tonight before I send out all of our resources,” Rodriguez told her.

Tiphani knew for sure that the heist was still going down, Day having told her all of the details. Nonetheless, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Scar's number.

“Hi, baby,” she sang into the receiver. “I'm at the courthouse getting some last-minute work done,” she lied. “Is everything still on for tonight?”

“Yeah, everything's on,” Scar replied.

“Ohhh! That's so good. I'm so excited. Can't wait to get more of that cold cash in my hands. Maybe after this we can retire to Mexico or even Africa.”

Tiphani was laying it on thick with Scar. A little too thick for Rodriguez's liking. Rodriguez used hand signals and motioned to her to hang up the phone. Taking her cue from Rodriguez, Tiphani cut her call short.

“He said everything will go as planned.”

“Oh, yeah? And what did he say about your share of the money?”

“He said it would be waiting for me,” Tiphani replied, lowering her eyes.

Tiphani didn't care that Rodriguez and the state troopers planned on busting up Scar's heist. She had enough money from the first two heists to be comfortable if she had to go on the run with her kids. Tiphani had already moved her money and closed her foreign accounts to make sure that her money was safe and that she could not be implicated in any of the crimes if Scar decided to try to take her down with him. She planned to outsmart all of them, including Rodriguez.

What Tiphani didn't know was that Derek had provided Rodriguez with her social security number and all of her computer passwords. Rodriguez knew where she had wired all of her money, knew every transaction she made with a credit card, and even what types of snacks she bought for her children. Rodriguez didn't fully trust her either, so she was always one step ahead.

Bringing Scar down was only part of the plan. Tiphani wouldn't get away completely free. She would also have to pay. Literally.

 

“Where the fuck is Trail?” Scar asked Sticks.

Sticks was caught off guard. He had always had slight suspicions that Scar had a soft spot for Trail, but he could never really confirm it or figure out why. “That little nigga ain't show up today. I haven't seen or heard from him,” Sticks lied.

“Call the nigga. He needs to be here. I'm not trying to do no major shit without one of my majors, you feel me?” Scar gave Sticks the once-over.

Scar wasn't stupid either. He knew Sticks was kind of jealous of Trail, so he'd purposely told Sticks about Trail's complaints to see what Sticks would do. He wanted to test him, see if he was a capable and trustworthy number two. The bitch-ass thing for Sticks to do would be to try to show Trail some malice, but the man-up type of thing to do would be to have a man-to-man sit-down with Trail. That Trail was missing, Scar felt like Sticks had taken the bitch-ass way out.

When Scar was just seventeen he had fallen in love for the first and only time with a woman named Rita. Rita just couldn't be kept. She was a wild child and loved to party and get high. Rita got caught up but not before giving birth to a son—Scar's son.

“I called that nigga, and he ain't answering,” Sticks said.

“It's just not like that nigga not to show up for something as important as this. I better not find out that nigga dipped on us with that fuckin' money.” Scar gritted, playing it off.

“He probably did. I told you already, when you was gone, this nigga was tryin'-a take over the game like a one-man show. He even went down on the south side and muddied the waters with those cats, Tango and them. I'm telling you, Scar, you thought that dude Trail was quiet. He was a fuckin' quiet menace and a liability.” Sticks wanted so badly for Scar to feel for him like he felt for Trail.

“It's all good. The show must go on,” Scar said in a low whisper.

Scar needed Sticks for what he had planned for tonight, but there was no fucking way he would let Sticks slide. As soon as he found out what was up with Trail, he planned to get at Sticks in a deadly way.
This nigga better hope not a hair was harmed on my boy's head, or he is a fuckin' dead man,
Scar thought to himself as he eyed Sticks.

 

Tiphani sat in front of the police van with Rodriguez. She was shaking like a leaf.

“Why are you so nervous? Didn't you do this same shit to help Scar out?” Rodriguez asked her.

“What same shit?”

Tiphani felt her heart sink into her stomach. With all of the precautions she had taken to help Scar, she'd never thought about the human factor—that somebody could be following her and making note of all of her actions.

“Whatever,” Tiphani whispered, looking straight ahead out of the window. She watched as all of the unmarked police cars got into position. She noticed the undercover cops strategically placed near the buildings. Tiphani thought about Scar. She was sorry she had to do this to him. She was truly in love with him, but she was more in love with herself.

“What time do you have?” Rodriguez asked her.

“Ten minutes past ten,” Tiphani answered.

It would only be a few more hours before that entire street would look like a scene out of a movie. Tiphani's stomach began to cramp. Then her cell phone rang. It was Scar.

“Hello?” she answered, trying hard to keep her voice from quivering.

“What's up, baby girl?” Scar asked, knowing exactly where she was at.

“I'm just here with the kids about to go to sleep and wait for you to come through,” she lied. She closed her eyes as she felt her heart breaking.

“That's good. Tonight is gonna be perfect, so have your bags packed and ready to go. I'm bringing you a couple of million tonight. Fuck being a hundred thousand-
aire
. You gonna be a millionaire,” Scar said.

“Good! I can't wait,” Tiphani replied.

They hung up the phone.

“Boy, he must really be in love with you, or is it the other way around?” Rodriguez said.

Tiphani, frustrated and nervous, ignored her comment. “I just want this to be over with. I don't even know why you need me here. I'm a damn judge!”

“I need you here as collateral. I couldn't trust you to be somewhere that you could let Scar know what's going on. I've seen your sex sessions with him up close and personal. You are in love with his dick, and up until now, dick has made you do some crazy things—Judge.” Rodriguez didn't have an ounce of respect for Tiphani's ass and wasn't pulling any punches.

“By the way, did you start thinking about how we're going to get Derek out of jail? I know you must have some strings you can pull down at city hall.”

“I will sort things out when this is all over. But let's get one fuckin' thing clear. After I meet all of your demands, I don't want to see your fuckin' face ever again!” Tiphani was tired of Rodriguez putting all of this pressure on her. All she wanted was to meet her demands so she would turn over that pack of pictures.

 

Tiphani had fallen asleep in the van when she heard Rodriguez's watch alarm going off. She jumped up and wiped sleep out of her eyes.

“It's time,” Rodriguez told her. Awake and wired, there was no way she could even think about sleeping on a night where she was so close to bringing Scar Johnson down.

“You better say a prayer. I know Scar very well, and he is not coming without some heavy artillery,” Tiphani told her.

Rodriguez instructed Tiphani to climb into the back of the van, not wanting to risk anyone seeing her face through the windshield. She also instructed her to climb into the back and use a long scope to watch for Scar's arrival. Rodriguez had her men in place, and everyone knew the precise time shit was going to jump off.

Tiphani had warned Rodriguez that Scar was very prompt and thorough when it came to these jobs, the main reason he was so successful at it.

The time had finally arrived. Rodriguez watched through a scope as the armored trucks arrived. Her heart thumped wildly as she watched the drivers and guards unload the bags of money. “Scar and his little band of misfits should be rolling in another minute or so,” she whispered.

According to the way Tiphani had explained it, Scar and his little men would hit, once two of the guards had gone in to do the drops. Rodriguez held her breath for a minute in anticipation of Scar's arrival. But nothing happened. She looked down at her watch. It had been almost five minutes since the guards disappeared into the building, and there was still no sign of Scar.

“Where the fuck is he?” Rodriguez asked, growing antsy.

Another two minutes passed, and still no Scar Johnson.

“Officer Rodriguez, where the fuck is your band of thieves?” one of the SWAT guys asked through on the radio. They had been in position for so long, they were tired of waiting.

“He was supposed to be here already,” she responded.

More time passed and still no Scar. Now the guards that had gone into the building returned, and all of the guards began preparing to roll out.

“What the fuck did you do?” Rodriguez screamed. “You fucking told him, didn't you? You slimy bitch!” She dropped her scope and grabbed Tiphani around her throat.

“No! I didn't. I—I d—did not,” Tiphani croaked out.

Rodriguez continued squeezing her neck. She had lost all control. The opportunity to bring Scar down was slipping away, and she thought Tiphani was responsible once again.

“I will kill you,” Rodriguez growled, spit dripping out of her mouth. She looked like she was possessed by a demon. She continued to squeeze until she noticed Tiphani's eyes rolling up in her head. Tiphani made gurgling noises like she was about to die. Rodriguez snapped out of it and let her go.

“
Ahem! Ahem! Ahem!
” Tiphani was coughing like crazy, trying to catch her breath, tears streaming down her face. She instinctively sucked in gulps of oxygen as she held her throat. Everything had gone wrong, but she hadn't tipped Scar off. She was worried that Scar not showing up might mean he was on to her. If that was the case, she knew she'd be marked for death.

Once the armored trucks pulled out, Rodriguez, feeling defeated, slumped down in the back of the van.

“Officer Rodriguez, was this some fuckin' kind of joke?” one of the undercover officers blared through the radio.

Rodriguez ignored the questions that came through the radio one after the other. She felt like a total fool and a failure. Again. She looked out of the van's windshield and noticed that all of the state troopers she had enlisted for the bust began coming out of their hiding spots. Rodriguez guessed it was to discuss what had gone so damn wrong. She knew she had to eventually get out and try to calm them all down, but she was so damn embarrassed, she hesitated.

“You fucked up, Tiphani,” Rodriguez said in a harsh whisper. “You are going to be ruined.”

“I swear I didn't tell him anything. I wouldn't be sitting her like a sitting duck if I had tipped him off. You have to believe me. I held up my end of the bargain, but something must've happened to keep him from coming here.”

“No! Something doesn't just happen! Somehow he must've fuckin' found out!” Rodriguez screamed. “My first guess is, you fuckin' told him, so he would fuck your brains out. My second guess is, you're so stupid, you didn't notice that he fuckin' had a tail on you the whole time.”

Just then there was a knock on the van door. They both jumped.

“Officer Rodriguez, it's me!” the SWAT team leader screamed.

Rodriguez pulled back the door and climbed out of the van. Tiphani sat inside listening to their conversation. Rodriguez was pleading for forgiveness, telling the other enraged troopers, she had everything planned out to the minute and didn't know what happened.

One of the SWAT members stepped in front of his boss to give Rodriguez a piece of his mind. Suddenly, the SWAT team leader dropped to the ground, a perfect hole in the center of his forehead.

“Oh, shit!” Rodriguez screamed.

Next, the other SWAT team member fell to the ground. Same thing, a perfect hole. Then two more officers were down.