The Grind Don't Stop (2 page)

Sparkle rotated his neck on the headrest, cursing the nauseous effect the comedown from the coke, mixed with the empty feeling of their failed mission, was having on him. He took some deep breaths before squeezing his eyes shut and reached for the crumbled pack of Kool cigarettes resting on the dashboard. Taking a long deep drag, he exhaled the smoke slowly, exhilarating in the calming taste and feel of nicotine.

He looked over at Rainbow and huffed. “Aw man. Why I let you talk me into this dumb-ass shit, I'll never know.”

Rainbow had rested his head and arm on the steering wheel. He cocked a wary eye at him. “What, I talked you...”

Shaking his head up and down, Sparkle cut him off. “Yeah. man, that's right, talked me into this commando bullshit.”

Rainbow lifted his head off of the steering wheel, raised his hands in exasperation and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Well, I'll be damned.”

Sparkle feigned shock. “You're being what?”

Bracing his back against the door Rainbow coughed and swallowed hard. “Well, I'll be damned if you ain't bitching about a little mud and...”

Sparkle cut him off again. “Nigga, please, a
little
mud…man, this here's a real live welt across my nose,
shit
.” He hissed, then rubbed the bridge between his eyes.

“Let me see.” Rainbow reached over and pulled his hand from his face. “I said, let me see.” He leaned forward and squinted to get a better look in the dim light. His eyes widened before he jerked back and put his hand over his mouth to try to hide the smile he felt creeping to the corners. “Damn, dog, dat do look kinda fucked up, yo.”

Sparkle turned his face in different angles in the mirror. He turned away and pinched his nose when he felt the laugh boiling in the pit of his stomach. It didn't do any good for as hard as he tried to look serious, he couldn't hold it and grabbed his side and laughed. His forehead was wrinkled as he stared at Rainbow for a full thirty seconds before sighing.

“Aw, fuck you, nigga,” he growled at Rainbow, who had started rolling around in the seat, wiping tears out of his eyes.

Rainbow swiped his forearm across his eyes and folded it across the steering wheel. He moaned and looked at Sparkle one more time before putting the key in the ignition. While the car was revving up, he leaned sideways to dodge Sparkle's wild swing at his head and pulled into the street. They had only driven a short distance before he switched on the windshield wipers to clear the mist that was starting to blur his vision.

Sparkle was reaching over to cut on the radio when the harsh
high beam lights of a fast-approaching vehicle suddenly flooded the interior of the truck. Before it registered, the vehicle was right on their bumper.

“What the fuck?” Rainbow grumbled when the stinging glare from the rearview mirror blinded him. He raised his hand to cover his eyes. Sparkle peeked backward but the pain made him jerk away. There was a shocking boom, as the invisible terror rammed into the truck, jolting them into the dashboard.
Boom.
Another jolt sent Sparkle head first into the windshield and forced Rainbow to put a death grip on the steering wheel, as he struggled to maintain control of the now swerving truck. No sooner had he managed to keep the truck from skidding when there was another sound that sent shock waves down their spines.
Plink, plink, plink.
The sound of hot metal piercing metal invaded their senses and then the rear window exploded, splattering them with lethal shards of glass.

Both of them hunched over as the shock sent them into near panic mode. The rarely rattled Rainbow was forced to steer with his head barely able to see over the dashboard.
Plink, plink, plink.
Another round of scorching metal screamed over their heads, eating up the roof's upholstery
.

Fuck this, time to fight back,
Sparkle thought and shifted his body and reached under the seat, where he had placed his gun. He maneuvered around for a better angle. He reached over the seat and started firing blindly. His confidence immediately soared when the blinding light was cut in half, followed by the sound of tires screeching as the charging vehicle swerved sideways and slowed down. Recognizing the bleak advantage with renewed energy, Rainbow sat up and wheeled the car into a quick U-turn. Both of them stuck their guns out the windows and blasted away.

They were still firing when their truck bumped onto the
sidewalk and skidded sideways into some thick bushes. Their bodies jerked around for a moment before they gathered themselves, reloaded their weapons, kneed the doors open and sprung out of the truck. Kneeling behind the doors they pumped lead until their pursuers skidded into a U-turn, before righting themselves and speeding out of range around the winding bend.

With the scent and sight of gun smoke swirling in the air, they slowly rose up and face each other. The combination of sweat, fear and chilly rain had them trembling in their soaked fatigues. Sparkle closed his eyes and twisted his neck in short circles embracing the sound and feeling of the crackling release of tension. Sighing heavily, he stretched a weary arm onto the roof of the truck. “Whadda fuck; how in da hell did somebody know we were out here?”

Rainbow lifted his muddy shirttail and put his gun in his waistband, then leaned forward to put his hands on his knees. Steam hissed through his fingers when he wiped the sweat off of his face. His whole body screamed
ouch
when he straightened up and hunched his shoulders. He took a deep breath, eased out of the truck and started circling the vehicle for damages. After taking a head-shaking tour, he eased back into the driver's seat, leaving one foot on the damp road and the other on the running board. With mounting frustration, he braced an arm on his knee to rest his head and stared off into the darkness.

Sparkle let him agonize for about a minute, before he circled the front of the truck and leaned on the open door and faced his boy. Gasping between clenched teeth, he snarled, “Hey, buddy boy, don'tcha think we better roll up out of here before one of these neighbors sends the five-o to check out all of the gun play?”

Rainbow sat mesmerized for a while longer before he slammed the door shut and cranked up the bullet-riddled truck. The tires
spun for a moment before he was able to back out of the bushes and pull into the street. Sparkle barely had the chance to close the door.

They were only about a half mile away from the scene when they heard police sirens approaching fast in the distance. Rainbow refused to let the panic overwhelm him when he saw the red and blue lights on the horizon and turned into the next alley. Since he had been driving with the lights out, he doubted if they had seen him make the turn. When he got halfway down the alley, he turned the lights on and pressed the pedal to the floor, zooming along the bushes and tree-laden path. He alternated between side streets and other alleys until they got into College Park. From there he mixed with the normal flow of traffic on Main Street, through East Point and headed to Lee Street toward his crib near Turner Field.

Both of them were stuck way too deep in their own thoughts of what had just happened for them to have a conversation. Rainbow eased the truck alongside of the gray brick house, into the backyard and parked under an often used, rusty tire rim basketball hoop nailed on the garage door. He laid his head on the headrest. He stretched the seat out and lay back. “Aaah.”

Several tension-filled moments later, Sparkle pulled on the handle and kneed the door open. The only light available was the car's dim roof bulb. “My nigga, I've been wracking my brain all the way over here and I still can't figure out how they could've known we were out there.”

Rainbow lifted his aching body. “Mmm, me too, partner, there's one thing fer sho: we must really open our eyes to anybody other than the two of us.”

“No doubt, no motherfucking doubt,” Sparkle moaned.

T
he persistent staticky racket on the police band was really starting to get on Beverly's last nerves as she spun around the corner in pursuit.

In pursuit of what, who?
Her thoughts were twisted in a whirlwind of scenarios.
Am I following Lt. Woo because Woo and her squad
of police hoodlums were trying to bust one of her boys? Or am I chasing Rainbow to see if he'll lead me to that bastard Sparkle? Does he or Rainbow know or have a hint of who took out old man OJ? Or if the hit was actually meant for him instead?

Woo was such a valuable asset to erasing the drug problem in the Atlanta Metro area, but she was winding up in places that didn't fit and Beverly couldn't help but to question why. Digging too deep would cause others to formulate questions that Beverly wasn't prepared to answer. For Woo to try getting on Beverly's good side to advance her career was commonplace in the police ranks. She well understood and couldn't really blame her. On the other hand, she wouldn't be able to face her own self in the mirror if she allowed Woo to crack down on her peeps without at least sidetracking her some kind of way.

And that damn Rainbow and Sparkle, UGH!!
How much more could she take of their crooked activities? She couldn't protect them forever like she was a mother hen refusing to realize that these guys were plain no fucking good. She shook her head,
disgusted with herself for even thinking that way about the guys who'd helped her attain her position as police chief. But hell, it was her hard work and dedication to her beloveth Atlanta that had gotten her there. Still without them putting their own freedom on the line, hustling in the deadly streets of the hood to get up the money to pay her college tuition, she wouldn't have even gotten the chance to go to school. And how many dirty muthafuckas had they beaten down back in the day to make life so much easier as she grew from child to adolescent to womanhood to Police Chief. Without them it could've never been accomplished.

Rainbow and his sweetheart of a mama had always been there whenever she had needed a guiding hand regardless of the circumstances. She'd taught her how to be a woman and he'd taught her how to deal with crooks and the antics of the red light district. And then there was Sparkle.

Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle. Naw, to hell with that. It's Larry, Larry, Larry. Why did I have to fall in love with that knucklehead, that fuck
ing fool? His crazy ass will never change. But hell, he might.
“Aw, who the hell am I fooling? That nigga ain't gonna neva change.” She wheezed, so frustrated that she grinded her teeth so hard that they started aching.

And those two bitches rolling with him.
Hmmmm!!
She knew Violet and could understand why his so-called “playa-play-ass” would be drawn to one of the best boosters in the city because he loved being the flyest-dressed dude in the hood. Violet was the aunt of one of her best friends, Yolanda, and Beverly had been aware of her boosting legend status for as long as she could remember.
But who is that other little bitch?
She nodded with her mouth twisted downward. She knew she'd find out all she needed to know about her sooner thatn later.

“These bitches must really think I'm some kind of chump bitch or something,” she muttered under her breath in frustration. Her eyes swayed back and forth to the pursuit in front of her and then to the rearview mirror.
She snapped out of her trance when she heard wheels screaming in protest. The car immediately in front of her with Woo and her henchmen of a drug squad pushed through the intersection, barely avoiding the crossing traffic. She had to concentrate on what was happening and gather her police sense instead of pouting about these niggas. She rotated her neck, squared her shoulders and got back into super cop mode.

It was a hit that Rainbow felt; naw, a hit he knew was meant for him. What other reason would that nigga Joker, the nephew of his other partner, “B,” be sneaking gritty sneers at him while he was shooting the breeze at the store counter with Junior's brother, “Big Guy”? He was the longtime part owner of the store with OJ. The three of them had practically raised that little nigga from the diaper into the hustling life. Add that grit with watching Joker's reaction and facial expressions as he dashed from his and OJ's checker game right before the shooting had started. The circumstances and consequences added up to a hit, no matter how you wanted to see it.

It had been some time since he had seen Joker; not since he'd been sent to juvie for blasting lead at a couple of younguns about some slutty little ho. So what had the little nigga been involved in since then? He instantly recalled when Joker, snotty nose and all, used to hide their dope package in his nasty drawers while he, Sparkle and Johnny ‘B' strolled the streets of their little drug turf when they'd first ventured into the game. He smiled to himself
recalling the wide grin on his little face when they'd given him his first pair of Air Jordans.
How old was that little nigga then, around seven or eight?
“Damn, how the years fly by,” he muttered under his breath as he recalled all that crazy stuff that little fool used to get into. They'd have to come to his rescue before the other little toughies smashed his little ass. What in the world had happened to him since getting out of juvie? He didn't have a clue, but he was definite he would find out now.

He shook those memories out of his brain for things had gone way beyond what had happened in the past. His present state of mind was now in killer revenge mode as he jumped into his Caddie and jetted in hot pursuit of those niggas. Mistakenly, he hadn't paid the least bit of attention to Lt. Woo and her drug squad hoodlums parked near the end of the block as his tires screamed around the corner. His only concern was finding out where those niggas were headed.

After screeching through the intersection with the pedal pressed to the floor, hoping to overtake them, he chanced a look into his rearview mirror and spotted that worrisome little bitch and her henchmen.