The Grind Don't Stop (20 page)

Rainbow gave her his best hundred-watt smile as he reached for the paper, only to have her snatch it out of reach. “Hold on a minute, playa.” She batted her long lashes, face full of suspicion. “How I know your nasty-pimping ass ain't gonna try to go gorilla on me after y'all pull this here off?”

The words had barely rolled off of her tongue when he snapped his arm out with the speed of a cobra and put a vise grip of steely fingers around her narrow neck. She was in total shock, eyes bucked wide open in horror as he leaned forward and spat venom in her face, “Bitch, this is the only chance you get to question me, period, you got that?” His eyes were blazing to add to the death grip.

Oh, fuck, this sadistic muthafucka's really enjoying this shit
. She felt the darkness overcoming her. Through the haze of bare consciousness, she heard him growl, “Don't you ever play games with me ever again, you feel me, slut-ass bitch?” He applied more pressure, yanking her closer to his satanic features.

She couldn't recall nodding, but she must have because she suddenly felt the pressure easing off. Through the thundering ringing she heard him say, “Good, now get your ass down there to the bottom. You on foot patrol, bitch.” There was a slight pause before she faintly heard, “Stanky-ass ho, stay on point. If you fuck this up, I'm gonna bury your ass, for sho.”

She staggered back and thumped her head against the door. Several minutes later she was still fighting the cobwebs when she felt a pair of hands pulling her along. She noticed the cemetery across from the King Memorial.

“Girl, you aight?” The buzz wasn't completely gone as the voice continued, “'Cause we ain't got but a little while to check things out.”

Hell, I figured her ass already knew that nigga was crazy,
Sparkle thought. “Hell, I thought she knew better, being a street bitch and all.”

She swiped her hand down her face, jerking it away when she felt something icky on her palm. She took a quick double-take, then ogled at the mixture of blood and snot smeared from the base of her fingers to the hump on her wrist.

“Here, girl, use this tissue,” she heard one of the twins say. The more her head cleared, the more she started to realize how deadly a situation she had gotten herself into.

I
t was well past midnight when the phone finally rang. Rainbow, Sparkle and Violet all jerked nervously from the couch as the echoing noise dominated the air. They had spent the past few hours alternating blazing heroin, coke, reefer and combinations of all three while they watched television and played video games.

Violet, who had been answering most of the incoming calls and running the drug scoring missions, picked up on the second ring. She listened intently for a moment before handing the phone to Sparkle, who did his share of listening through a series of yeahs and head nods before he handed the phone to Rainbow.

“Bet, we rolling right now, soldier. See ya at the Krispy Kreme in about ten minutes.” Rainbow unzipped his jacket, pulled out two Glocks, checked both of them before he handed one to Sparkle and then headed for the door.

They were lost in their own thoughts as they turned onto Ponce De Leon a couple of blocks from the donut shop. Sparkle started fidgeting, lit up a Kool cigarette and inhaled deeply. “Yo, dog, I know you all pumped up, too.” He pinched his nose and sniffled. “Hey, man, why all the espionage bullshit? First, you don't let me know how deep Joyce is involved in this here and now you acting all secretive about handling this nigga Don. What's up, player?”

When they pulled up to the next red light, Rainbow snatched
the cigarette out of his mouth, then squared his shoulders.
“Son, how long you been knowing me?”

Feeling no need to answer such a dumb question, Sparkle continued looking down the street. Rainbow was about to say something else when they saw Duke's black sedan parked in the donut shop's parking lot. Peeking through the misty window, they spotted Duke in the last booth sipping on a cup with Googie, their old gambling mentor from their prison days. Old fly-ass Googie. When they stepped inside, Sparkle's face broke out into a brilliant smile, one that matched Googie's. They strode to the back of the shop.

Sparkle spat at Duke out of the side of his mouth, “Aw, nigga, you could've told me about this one when you saw me on the track last week.” He elbowed him in the side as he slid out of the booth. He squared his shoulder and started scissoring his arms in the air excited to see his old crew. He was dressed in black fatigues, the same as Duke. They embraced in a circle, pumping and rubbing each other on the back with exuberance. “Damn, y'all, it's been too long, niggas, too damn long.” He beamed a gold- toothed smile as he held them at arm's length, showing no shame while admiring his two best students of the game.

Sparkle pinched his nose and bit down on his bottom lip.He stared at him in obvious awe, respect and love. “What can I say? You know what you are to me, playa.”

Duke leaned back waiting for the display of emotions to subside before he teased, “Okay, enough of all that mushy girly stuff. We got to get a move out. We'll celebrate with a long orgy after we do this here.”

They paused, looked him up and down and said in unison, “Fuck you, fat boy,” followed by high-cheeked smiles as they slid into the booth.

Sparkle stared across the table at Rainbow, his eyes saying,
Thanks, you dirty muthafucka.

Rainbow smirked and turned his attention to Duke. “The girls have been in place since early this evening fronting like they selling dope and keeping me up on everything that's moving and happening. Ain't nobody moved in or out of the joint for hours, so we set, dog.” His smile brightened as he waved the paper with the combination on it in a big
arc before slamming it on the table.

Duke picked up his glass and bumped it against each of their balled fists. “Man, I got to have this nigga. His jive ass sided with all of them snails against me after all those years of playing fair with him and in his joint.” He paused to seriously eye Sparkle and Rainbow. “I know why y'all want this nigga, but Googie, why was you so quick to flow on this shit?”

Googie let him stew for a few before he shifted his lanky frame around in his seat, reached across the table to retrieve his glass of whatever it was he was drinking, took a couple of really loud sips, then took a deep breath. “Game is game, hustler. When you hipped me that my boys here was involved, I was automatically in. Besides, I happen to have a love affair with money like you and every other real nigga around this bitch. Oh yeah, and it'll be well worth it to see the expressions on these so-called boss niggas when they ass be getting scraped with a hard dick; no grease and they can't figure out what the hell is going on. That alone is enough to bust nut after nut, you feel me, playa?” He rubbed his bejeweled hands together with a gleam in his eyes. “What the fuck, these two niggas here be my prize protégés. I love all y'all niggas because y'all love living on the edge of this life just like me.”

They all sat momentarily mesmerized with his spiel and nodded. Duke, the most impatient of the crew, spoke up. “'Nough said, old timer, let's roll.”

They left the shop in Rainbow's ride, then turned right and stopped between street lights halfway down the block. Rainbow got out first and strolled innocently alone to Auburn Avenue. No
one would really be paying him that much attention since he frequented the strip collecting ho trap. He spotted Cheryl immediately across the street leaning against the window of the Chinese place. He continued across Auburn and saw Sherry and Joyce on opposite corners scoring the scene. Good, the girls were on point. He motioned for Cheryl to join him where he pantomimed collecting digits as he lit up a cherry blend cigar. He puffed three times before putting it out on the bottom of his shoe. It was the signal to the others that it was on. They were set to make their move. Then he took his hat off and fanned it across his face three times. He waited until both girls down the street returned the same gesture before he headed back down the street where his boys had started toward him.

He got to the alley leading to the club and repeated the lighting signal and disappeared into the darkness. The rest of the crew entered the alley moments later, mumbling in whispers until they met him at the bottom of the stairs leading to the back door two stories up.

Googie lead the way up the stairs, stepping gingerly like a panther, followed by Sparkle, Rainbow, Duke and then Violet. Halfway up the first set of stairs they all froze when a loud squeaky noise erupted into the night air causing tingles to shoot up their spines. Sparkle waited until his knees stopped shaking before he turned halfway around and said in a trembling whisper, “Godayum, man, walk yo fat ass to the ends of the boards. You damn near had all of us jumping out of our skins, whaddafuck, nigga.”

Duke pssted him off. “Shh, okay, scary-ass muthafucka, get your skinny ass on up there.” He wheezed under his breath and nudged him up the stairs. They were nearly to the top when Googie shrieked. “Oh shit,” and fell against the railing panting. The rest of them shrieked right along with him as a pair of glowing eyes sprinted by wailing.

Rainbow clutched his heart and cursed. “What the fuck, Googie? A cat, a fucking cat, you scary old bastard.”

Googie swiped the sweat off his brow and sneered. “Nigga, yo ass sucked up like a bitch, too. Hell, all y'all niggas did. How the fuck was I supposed to know what the hell it was? I can barely see my own hand in this pitch dark, muthafucka.”

Violet stepped past the mumbling men. “All y'all need to shut the fuck up. Dat shit shook yo ass like it did all the rest of us. Let's get this shit over with, y'all.”

Rainbow ran his eyes up and down her body. “Hmmph, dat scary old lady up there jumping like he did is what spooked me and I won't scared, I was shocked. Girlfriend, I was shocked, big difference, shocked.”

“Yeah okay, yo ass was shocked, whaddafuckever. Shocked, sure you was, then how come I can smell scary bitch coming off yo ass then?” Duke whispered as he eased by.

“Fuck y'all, fuck all y'all. Get yo ass to that window, dog, before sumthing else jump out of the shadows,” Rainbow said, his voice much calmer than before.

Sparkle pulled a harness out of his jacket, tied a set of ropes around the stairs and bent under the railing and eased out to the window. He took out a glass cutter and cut a hole big enough for his hand to get through right above the latch.

He deftly flipped the latch, pushed the window up and crawled through, grunting loudly from scraping his shin along the ledge as he lowered himself to the floor. He quickly righted himself and stood up. There was a light breeze rolling against his chest. He shivered slightly before he realized that he was sweating like a dog, either from fear or the excitement or a combination of both. Exhilarated from the adrenaline rush of the first stage of a sting again, he shook off the tingling, unlatched three sets of locks and opened the door for the rest of them.

He heard a low guttural growl behind him. He was almost too scared to look around, but he did, right into the eyes and snarling mouth of a hairy beast. He turned back around to sprint for the door when he saw the dog spring at him. He opened his mouth to scream from those sharp fangs digging into his flesh when he suddenly heard
thump, thump, thump
before there was a loud crash. He turned around to see the beast whining and flopping its legs on the floor.
Damn, one of them fools done killed the dog.
He looked around to see the dart gun smoking in Rainbow's hand.

Rainbow held up his hand to say, “Hell, I didn't know, either. I was prepared for whatever, my nigga.” He hunched his shoulders, stepped over the now prone dog and headed for the safe. Kneeling down in front of it, he pulled out a pen flashlight and fished out the combination. In a matter of seconds, he was stuffing boxes of cards, money and jewelry into a saddle bag draped over his shoulder. “Damn, man, I figured the niggas for at least fifty or so decks but hell, this here's closer to a couple of hundred.”

“Huh!” Duke grumbled as he peered over his shoulder.

“Shit, it's like three, four, hell, maybe even five times as many as I was expecting. Fuck, we gonna need some more help with all these muthafuckas, man. Sparkle, call Lady and your nephew and tell them to meet us at the apartment over this way. Like ten minutes ago, whaddafuck.” Rainbow handed some boxes of the cards to Googie.

As they were preparing to leave, Sparkle saw Duke putting together a torch set. He had been wondering what was in the saddle bag on his shoulder. He leaned over to whisper in Rainbow's ear, “What the fuck is big boy getting ready to do, yo?”

Rainbow frowned for a moment before he realized that he hadn't told him the deal. “Damn, my bad, I was thinking that I'd already let you know.”

“Let me know what?” Sparkle responded angrily under his breath.

Rainbow rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Please, man, ain't no time for that. Hell, I can't remember everything.”

Sparkle sighed heavily. “Alright, but still what the fuck is he doing?”

He felt Googie's breath on his shoulder. “Yo, playa, we got to make it seem like a regular robbery, know what I'm saying?”

Sparkle stared off into space, scratched the side of his neck and mouthed. “Okay, man, I feel ya. Fuck it, let's roll, yo.” It had finally dawned on him it was important to cover up having the combination. Boy, that dope really had his mind working at a snail's pace.

They slid out of the door, leaving Duke behind to do his thing, and headed for Rainbow's slum apartments four blocks away. When they reached the corner of Auburn, Rainbow flicked his lighter to let the girls they'd pulled off the lick and to stay on point until they got back.