The Grind Don't Stop (33 page)

With his pimping in question, Rainbow jerked his shoulder away and frowned at the hand. “Man, what's the matter with you? I know you ain't about to tell me how to handle no ho. It ain't like they going to come over here to us if they don't know we here.”

Sparkle shoved his shoulder back on the seat again. “Just hold
your ass still for a second there, man.” He nodded toward the small grocery store parking lot on the other corner. “Ain't that that nigga Percy?”

‘B' had placed his elbows on the back of Rainbow's seat as he strained to see across the street. “Uh-huh, dat's dat punk aight, but check that shit out. What the fuck he got those little binoculars to spy on his own sisters for? And who's that skinny muthafucka wid him?”

Sparkle pinched his nose and said gruffly, “That's what caught my attention. Hold on, wait a fucking minute here. That's the skinny nigga who was with JJ that night I was telling you about. You remember when I was looking for you in Buttermilk Bottom? Come on, dog, you got to remember that. Help me out here, will ya?” He started snapping his fingers as he searched his memory.

Rainbow frowned in the direction of the shop, his expression clearly full of puzzlement, as he tried to recall what Sparkle was talking about. Not a clue registered.

Sparkle eyed him impatiently for a moment. “Come on, dog, you got to remember that night when I told you I had seen JJ boosting at the little country store on Memorial. The one with the old kerosene pump on the porch. He was acting all strange and shit and when they went outside, I could tell that the nigga was favoring his left arm. Yep, the same one you shot that night at the crib.”

Rainbow rubbed his brow and stared blankly toward the car they were talking about, trying hard to place the guy's face. “Dat's the dude?” he asked as the veins started swelling in his neck and he leaned closer to the window and squinted. “You sure, dog?”

“Hell yeah, I'm sure because he was favoring that same arm after he bumped into me that night. Just like he doing now. Uh-huh, probably still got it wrapped up and everything.”

As if right on cue, the dude reached up to adjust the sun visor and sure enough his arm was still bandaged. Suddenly overcome with rage, Rainbow opened the door and was nearly out of the car when Sparkle lunged across the seat and grabbed his arm. Rainbow wasn't having it and jerked his arm out of his grasp and started around the car. He came to an abrupt halt when ‘B' kicked the door open.

Rainbow grunted and grabbed his knee. He heaved heavily and gritted at ‘B' for a sec before he straightened up. His eyes were blazing fire across the street. His thoughts raced back to recall the two dark-clad niggas kicking the door off the hinges with their guns spitting death in the pitch-black kitchen. And one of them yelping out in pain after he fired in their direction. He looked down at Sparkle, who was still laid out across the seat from when he had tried to stop him from getting out of the car. He was looking up with a pleading look on his face. Rainbow sighed deeply and came close to sitting on his face when he got back in the car.

Sparkle scrambled out of his way and sat back up and frowned. Rainbow pinched his brow and reached across Sparkle's lap to open the glove compartment and remove the gold bracelet with the ‘JJ' engraved in it. He turned in the seat to face ‘B,' squared his shoulders and turned to Sparkle waving the bracelet around. He started nodding with his mouth twisted down. “Dat's that nigga, yo. Man, fuck some patience on this one here. I've got to have that bitch nigga right now.” His voice had zoomed back to a fever pitch.

Sparkle waved his hand frantically across his face and yelled over, “Hold up, man; think about it for a minute. Now that we know who's down with the cross, all we got to do is follow them niggas and see who's all down with them.”

‘B' spoke up from the backseat. “Makes sense to me, hero.”

Rainbow looked back at him and then over to Sparkle before he settled back breathing hard through his nose and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles ached.

With his brow arched with caution, he reached over and started massaging his collarbone. “Dog, I feel your tension. I'm tense, too, but we got to see if this stuff goes deeper than Don. Neither of us bothered to think about that before, know what I mean?”

Rainbow held his head back and squeezed his eyes before he reluctantly nodded in agreement. ‘B' placed a hand on his shoulder. “Tell ya what, partner, y'all check out them niggas' reaction when I walk past them on the way to the salon. They know we're partners and if them niggas start to yakking and acting nervous, we'll know they on some kind of assignment, you feel me? They may even get nervous enough to lead us to whoever sent them.”

Rainbow glared at the hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Man, them niggas could just be waiting to score or something. Regardless, how in the hell is that supposed to prove any damn thing? He knows that was me and Sparkle at the crib that night.”

‘B' responded quickly, “True dat, but Percy knows that we roll together and be down like that.”

Sparkle added, “Uh-huh, that's right, partner, that three amigo thing Bevy be calling us.” Rainbow fidgeted around in the seat, then shook his head from side to side, before he took a deep breath. He was still steaming but he finally nodded and started rubbing a hand across his mouth and chin.

‘B' and Sparkle eyed each knowing that he had made up his mind. “Okay, I see what y'all saying, but ‘B' go around the block and cut through that alley so you can cross right in front of them. That way they won't be expecting us to be checking them out from over this way.”

‘B' didn't waste another word and reached down to his ankle
and took a .32 automatic out of its holster and slid it in his waistband. He puffed his shirt out to conceal it before he opened the door. He turned his mouth down as he nodded to both of them and eased out and headed down Candler Road.

They concentrated hard on the pair across the street to make sure that they didn't pay ‘B''s departure any attention. As far as they could tell, they didn't. In a little over a minute, they saw ‘B' as he crossed the street and walked in front of the car. Percy and the other guy reacted immediately and started fidgeting in their seats. It was easy to tell that their conversation really piqued as they motioned toward him as he headed for the salon. Percy leaned forward peering through the binoculars with intense purpose, not wanting to miss a thing. When ‘B' entered the beauty shop, his head started shifting from side to side, probably trying to catch the twins' reaction. Then he passed the binoculars to the other guy, lifted a cell phone and started punching numbers. Rainbow and Sparkle smiled openly at his animated antics as he talked with his head swiveling rapidly back and forth down the street like he was expecting some intruders or something. When he nodded his head several times and put the phone away, they had the answer they were looking for.

Responding swiftly Rainbow called the salon and asked for Joyce. She was mumbling something as she took the phone from the other hairdresser. “Yo, redbone, this here's Rainbow. Yeah, sweetie, I'm doing okay. Check this out, after I hang up ease... No, no, wait about a minute and go tell Johnny Bee to pull out of there with the twins and go to room 316 at the La Quinta in Lithonia. Yeah, in about a minute. I'll call you back after they leave. You betcha, I'll pick you up so you can blow a few rocks with us. Bitch, don't worry about who's with me. You'll see soon enough. Yeah, good girl, I'll holla.”

After he flipped the phone closed, he smiled over at Sparkle.
“Now all we got to do is follow them fools.” The wait wasn't long at all for the action to start. As soon as ‘B' and the twins exited the salon and headed down Candler Road, Rainbow revved the car up, ready to follow Percy, when the other guy suddenly jumped out of the car and ran across the street to the Wong Chan Chinese joint on the corner. He joined two guys at one of the tables and started talking to them really fast.

The pair, both wearing dark toboggans and big sunshades, left the joint, jumped into a black sedan and immediately turned down Candler in pursuit of the twins' Nissan. Rainbow and Sparkle sat curious as all hell as they watched the guy run back across the street and shout something at Percy as he was getting back in the car. Percy was pulling into the street before he got the chance to close the door and sped down Memorial Drive toward Atlanta.

They looked at each other for a moment before Rainbow pulled out to the intersection. “Damn, man, which of these fools do we follow?”

Sparkle looked up Candler and then down Memorial as the two cars sped away. Scratching his head and rubbing his hand up and down his face, he finally said, “Uh, uh, Bow, I think we better follow Percy here because we already know where the other two are headed.”

Rainbow hit the right turn, before the light even turned green and pressed on the gas. “Yeah, dog, that there makes sense. Here, call ‘B' and let him know what's up and to keep an eye on those two following them.” After a few blocks, it dawned on Sparkle that Rainbow had told Joyce that they'd pick her up. He looked over his shoulder toward the salon, as they were going around the curve in the road. “Damn!!”

“What's the matter now?” Rainbow cocked a brow at him. “Man, we told Joyce that we'd pick her up.”

Rainbow slapped down on the steering wheel. “Fuck, I sure did, hell. She'll just have to wait on there, dog.”

“Yeah, you right; it's just that, aw, what the fuck, the bitch's got the best head in the muthafucking world and I sure don't want her cutting me off of that there.”

“What! You let a bitch rule you with the little head?” Rainbow eyed him with a sneer on his face.

“The head ain't that little, man.”

“Whatever, dude.” He gave him a quick
tssk
.

“Okay, I feel your square ass, but we got to track these niggas here. Aw, damn, man, go ahead and call her and let her know that we'll be there to get her in a few.”

Sparkle smiled and picked up the phone to call the salon. “Yo, Mary, let me holla at Joyce. Yeah, baby, it's me. Yeah, I'm with him now. Hold up there, girl, you ain't got to holla, geez.” He pulled the phone away from his ear to escape the octave rampage on the other end. Then he looked over to Rainbow and mouthed “fuck you” while he waited for the rampage to end. He was finally able to get with a word in. “Yeah, I... Yeah, he did, but you know that I got you, babe. We got caught up in some heavy shit. We'll be by to get you in a few, though. Okay, now that's better, dat's my girl.” He held the phone to his chest and let out a long whew.

Rainbow shook his head and smiled, which quickly turned into a frown when Sparkle's face balled up and he gritted. “What, when? Ah damn, where they at now?” Sparkle lowered his head and started massaging the bridge of his nose. “Okay, when she call back, tell her to call us. We'll be heading that way in a bit. Later, sweetie.”

Rainbow sniffled and squinted his eyes in anticipation. “What was that?”

Sparkle stretched and rotated his neck. “Miriam's about to meet our boy. This may be it, dog.”

“Where, when?” Rainbow said in a very anxious tone as he stared at Percy's car a half-block ahead of them.

“She'll call us when she get the chance, I guess.”

After hearing that, he figured that he didn't need Percy to lead them anywhere now. “Aw, man, fuck dat,” Rainbow screamed and pressed on the gas pedal. “We can go ahead and do them niggas right now,” he growled as the veins in his neck pulsed in anger.

Sparkle was quick to slam him across the chest with the back of his hand. “Slow your roll there, partner. Them fools can still lead us to da niggas who sent them after us.”

Rainbow raised his foot off of the pedal and started rocking back and forth with his legs waggling wildly as he tried to get a grip on his rage. He finally wheezed. “Aight, aight. I'm cool, I'm cool, whew! Man, fix me up a blast, will ya?”

Sparkle wasted no time complying to his wish and started hooking him up a big chunk of rock on the shooter.

“That's better, dog; we gonna get them, dog, for sho. You damn right, whoosh, whoosh. We're gonna get them. Call the hotel. See what the girls are doing,” Rainbow spewed between tokes.

Sparkle nodded and made the call, but no one answered.

“I wonder were these fools are headed?” Rainbow muttered as they followed them across the Atlanta city limits sign and veered to Decatur Street until they got to Buttermilk Bottom and on to Grady's parking lot.

“Man, this shit is getting weirder by the minute. Whatcha wanna do?” Sparkle asked as they parked a couple of rows from them.

“I'll keep an eye on the ride. You follow them and make sure they don't spotcha,”
Rainbow said while he watched the pair go into the emergency room entrance.

Sparkle jumped out of the car and followed them, slowing down at the entrance door to watch them get on the elevator. He certainly didn't want to lose them now, so he stepped up his pace so that he could see what floor they were going to. He stared at the blinking lights until they stopped at the fifth floor and jumped into the neighboring car and quickly pressed the button. The door opened and he edged his head slowly around the sill and saw them at the nurses' station. Percy's head started to turn his way and he jerked back. He pressed the close button but held the door until he heard their steps coming back his way. The tension started tingling down his neck and he leaned against the wall, as the pair walked by crisply. Counting to ten, he reopened the door and poked his head out, in time to see them go into the last room on the corridor.

Sparkle eased out of the elevator and walked as nonchalantly as he could down the hall. He got to the door and looked back down the hall to make sure that no one was paying him any attention. Then he leaned his head to the door and listened intently for several moments before he cracked the door to peek in. He heard three voices mingled together, but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Suddenly, he heard footsteps heading toward him and eased the door shut and headed back down the corridor. Luckily, he was a short distance away from the restroom. He ducked into it to prevent them from seeing him as he heard the door to the room opening. He stood beside one of the stalls until he heard their shoes click by. He tiptoed to the door and cracked it open.