The Grind Don't Stop (41 page)

“Yeah, the fucking deputy chief. Man, what the fuck's going on here?” Sparkle finished as he strained his eyes to keep Woo's taillights in sight as she wheeled around a bend in the street.

Aunt Rose didn't really start feeling suspicious until she had stopped by the Hardee's restaurant on Dunlap Avenue. She was standing in the line waiting for her order when the hairs on the back of her neck started to tingle. From there her street instincts took over and helped her to control her composure as she accepted her change from the cashier and headed for the bathroom. While inside, she counted to twenty and cracked the door enough to see a suspicious character across the street at the Chinese joint. He was in a dark coupe and jerked his head away when she tried to make eye contact after leaving the bathroom. She leaned further in his direction to get a better look, and he responded by acting as if he was getting something out of the glove compartment.

He had ducked down rather quickly, but not quick enough.
Damn,
is that& naw&
Now why would he be way out here, unless…
, she thought as her anger started to rise. She could've sworn that she'd seen him peeking over the edge of the door when she'd left the restaurant.

Her antenna was at full alert as she watched him in her rearview mirror when she turned onto and drove down Main Street. Her adrenaline pumped up immediately when his head jerked up and
he was instantly on her tail before she had even got two blocks away. Still, to be absolutely certain, she made a right on Second Street and stopped at the first available service station to get gas. She stayed at the pump until she saw the car pass and jumped back in hers and headed back to Main. Now that she knew that he was definitely following her, she started thinking about going to some dark and crowded area with plenty obstructions, where she could confront him. After passing up several possibilities, she decided that the Lee Street MARTA station would be the perfect place.

As she was turning into the gated fence, she noticed Lt. Woo standing outside her car in the club's parking lot. That really piqued her curiosity, pushing her antennae up that much further why it seemed that nearly every time that she came by the club, that the little bitch was somewhere around. Was that little slut sniffing at the same pussy that she was? She'd have to get in her shit real soon if that was the case. But right now she had to handle this fool following her.
Whaddafuck's up with all these cops?
she thought as she pulled in between a couple of SUVs and settled in to wait on her pursuer.

A few moments later, she saw his car pass by and then back up and enter the parking lot. This fool had now become the prey as she checked her wristband blade holder to make sure that it was working right. She quickly scanned the area for any witnesses. There were none, so she took a deep breath and eased out of the car, making sure that she made enough noise for him to hear.

With her senses on full alert, she tiptoed to the other side of the car trying to camouflage her exact position. She was poised for attack as she faced the direction where she figured he had stopped his car. Therefore she was taken totally by surprise when she reacted to a rattling sound to her left, only to have her feet taken from under her by his unseen hands. Dazed from her head
and back being slammed solidly against the vehicle parked next to her, and then the unforgiving pavement, she was barely aware of the cold steel of his gun pressed into her neck. Much too late it registered on her wobbly mind that he had yanked her by the hair and slammed her into the SUV. “Bitch, do you realize how much money you have caused me?” he spat angrily in her ear as he gripped her neck in an iron grip.

Flinching and gasping from fear and shock she could only mumble, “What are you talking about? How did I cause you any money?” The foul spittle from his obviously drunken mouth caused her to recoil away from the stench as he continued. “Bitch, don't play games with me. Your stupid ass killed my man Al. That shit fucked up my digits big time and now your stanky ass has got to pay for getting in my godayum business.”

He emphasized how pissed he was by yanking harder on her neck. She groaned as the darkness of unconsciousness started to cloud over her senses. He yanked hard one more time and pulled the trigger. Only the bullet didn't go into her neck as he had planned. He grunted in pure shock as his gun hand instinctively jerked upward when he felt a sharp pain in his neck. Followed immediately by another burning sensation in his rib cage. He folded over, mouth gaped in shock, while her stiletto craved a deadly path across his stomach. Blinking into a void of nothingness, he fell to the pavement as the blackness began to take over. But not all of his consciousness was lost as he struggled to his feet and got off several shots as her car was backing away. He staggered after her, getting off some more shots in pursuit, until he ran out of energy and ebbing life flow. With the dizzying spiral of death surrounding him, he leaned against a lamp pole as her taillights faded into the night. Blinking to oblivion, he slid down the pole, seeing nothing at all when his head clunked off of the pavement.

Lt. Woo paused momentarily at the entrance to the parking lot to see that it was the deputy chief fading to his death. She now knew that she was in hot pursuit of a cop killer. She knew that she had seen the car several times, but at the moment, she couldn't remember where. That was okay, though, she'd know soon enough. She picked up her mike to call for assistance, when her hand suddenly froze before she pressed the button. She had seen the same car at too many drug scenes she had stacked out, as well as at the club, for it to be a coincidence. She'd see where it was headed before she decided on whether to call her crew. After all, she already knew that RJ was involved in the hijacking ring, so there was no telling what else that he and the person she was following were engaged in.

She followed the car into East Point and when the car made a right turn on Dunlap Avenue, she got a good look at the driver behind the wheel with the aid of the lamp pole. It was the old lady that she had seen frequenting the club and several drug hot spots, but she hadn't really paid her that much attention up until now. The bitch had killed RJ. Why? She'd have to get the ups on her whenever she reached her destination, which had to be nearby since she had slowed her pace.

She drove past as the car parked and the lady got out and headed down the sidewalk. She quickly parked in the adjacent lot and ran to the corner of the other apartment building. She realized that she was moving too fast and tried to slow her momentum. She was forced to grab onto the wall when her feet slid from under her, taking her beyond the edge. She groaned in agony as her backside rolled onto a scattering of jagged rocks and pinecones on the ground. She covered her mouth to keep from crying out
loud as she looked down the roll of apartments, hoping that the sound didn't attract the attention of her prey. Momentarily stunned, she gave a silent pray as the old lady didn't show any recognition of discovering her, and entered the apartment several doors down.
Now what? Do I call for backup now or come up with a plan to get in the apartment?
Woo thought
.

“Damn,” she cursed under her breath when a set of headlights washed across her back and forced her to roll behind some bushes aligned beside the walls. There was no need to let anyone see her.

After the car had passed, she started to creep along the wall until she got to the door she had gone in. She could see a silhouette of the lady through the shades at the kitchen window and she started looking around thinking of a way to get in. It didn't take her long to figure that one out as she smiled when she saw an upstairs window opened. She took a deep breath and set to the task.

“Hey, baby, this ain't too much tales in the hood for you, is it?” Sparkle smiled at Mercedes, who was sitting between him and Rainbow as they followed Woo. She gave him a curt smile in return. Luckily there were several other cars on the street where they couldn't easily be detected. After all, the little bitch was a sort of a super snoop, so it wouldn't be that difficult for her to spot a tail. So to play it safe, he stayed a couple of cars behind; but not far enough where he couldn't recognize the car they were following.

“Hey, dog, this little bitch sure is acting funny. Damn, there ain't no way that she could have missed the deputy chief dying beside that pole. If we saw it, she had to see it, too,” Rainbow said
as he checked his piece. From the way things looked, they weren't on the trail of some small fry.

“Ain't that the old lady who was tracing that nigga Al out of the hospital? Shit, dog, she looks a lot like that old lady that came out of Don's house that night, too.” Rainbow relived the frustrations that night had caused.

“Who are these people? I'm getting a little nervous, sweetie.” Mercedes finally spoke up in a scary tone.

Sparkle pulled her closer to him, trying to offer her a blanket of security.
Damn,
why'd I have to bring her along anyway? Aaw, fuck it, she here now,
he thought as they watched Woo slip down as she got to the corner of the building.

Rainbow parked the car in front of a house that seemed to be abandoned, not far down the street. They told Mercedes to stay in the car as they got out and eased back to the apartments. They peeked around the corner of the building, but there was no sign of Woo or the old lady. Rainbow nodded for Sparkle to go to the other side while he covered the front entrance.

They met up at the end of the building. Sparkle started rubbing his hand across his mouth as he said, “Hey, man, I only saw one way for her to disappear like that.”

“Whatcha mean, man?”

Sparkle shook his head and started massaging his brow before he spoke. “There's only one window open back there, but I don't see no way she could've gotten to it unless she did some Spiderman shit and scaled the fucking wall.”

Rainbow cocked his head to the side, his face also full of puzzlement. “Come on, let's just knock on the door and if it's the old lady, we'll pressure her to reveal whatever the fuck's going on.”

“And if she don't?” Sparkle asked.

“Fuck it, man, we take her ass out; you can bet your own ass that she knee deep in this here shit.” They eased up to the door
and to both of their surprises, it was still ajar. As Rainbow was about to push it open, they heard sounds of a struggle coming from upstairs inside the house. He eased it open and turned around to
ssh
Sparkle, then stepped inside.

There was no one in the living room. Like the sound of the struggle, they heard a soft moan come from upstairs. Walking on their tiptoes they started easing up the stairs. There were no lights on, which made it feel that much more eerie and dangerous. The door to the bedroom on the left was cracked and they could see a figure lying on the floor beside the bed. As they approached the prone figure, Sparkle saw a hand shoot out and hit Rainbow in the temple. He fell down like a rag doll. Sparkle jumped back and to the side as a foot grazed his ribcage. He raised his weapon to fire at the shadow silhouetted against the curtains. As he fired, he could have sworn that he saw the figure jerk back from the impact. But there was no way he could be sure because his lights were put out by a stinging blow to the back of his head.

Sparkle moaned loudly when he came to with his head throbbing from the blow he had taken. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the cobwebs that gripped his mind. Finally able to shake away the weariness, he saw Rainbow tied and gagged a few feet away.

“Hey, they seem to be waking up,” he heard a sweet familiar voice say as he watched Rainbow's eyes fluttering. There was a look of pure defiance written all over his face as he watched Woo walk over to him and kneel down in his face and snatch the gag out of his mouth. “Bitch, what the hell's the matter with you?” Rainbow spat after he worked the cramps out of his jaws.

“You don't remember me, do you?” she snarled angrily.

“Of course I remember your crazy ass. You done kicked in enough of my girls' rooms; how in the hell I can't know you,” he snarled back at her before she slapped spit out of his mouth. He struggled against the ties bonding his arms behind his back; all to no avail.

She leaned even closer into his face and grabbed his jaws in a death grip, which had his eyes about to pop out of his head. She spat in his face, “Muthafucka, you don't remember the woman you raped back in the war with your army buddies?”

Rainbow looked her straight in the eyes. “Bitch, I ain't never raped no fucking body.”

“No, but you certainly didn't stop your buddies, either, which makes it just as fucking bad, as far as I'm concerned.”

“What the fuck do that have to...” His words were choked in his throat as the recognition etched across his face.

“Wait a minute. There was only a little…oh shit, it can't be.”

“But it is, muthafucka, that's right. I'm that little girl and my mother died that night. But you wouldn't know that, would you? Because your sorry ass left us there.” Her eyes widened as her voice raised several octaves. “Just left us there, you, you, you bastard.”

“That's right, our mother died that night. She was dead while my sister pulled me out of her dying womb,” another voice added from the shadows.

Rainbow and Sparkle stared at each other in total shock as Mercedes stepped out of the shadows into the glow of the moonlight. They stared at each other as they shared the same thought. Rainbow was the first to speak through his swollen lips. “So that's how you knew every move we made?”

Woo stood up and started pacing before them. “That's right, my baby sister here really had y'all fooled, didn't she? Betcha thought she really loved you, huh, Mr. Sparkle? Ha, ha, ha.”

“So you was behind all the robberies and killings?” Sparkle said astonished.