CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sheika
After being in the house for a week nursing my wounds and using cocoa butter on my scars, it was finally time to get out and do some much needed shopping. I was on my way to the bus stop when a car pulled up on me. I was scared because I didn’t know who the fuck it was. “Miss Jones,” a woman in the passenger seat yelled at me.
“Hello. Do I know you?” I asked suspiciously because I’d never seen this bitch before.
“No, but my name is Federal Agent Rodriguez. Get in the car.”
“Lady, I don’t know no federal agent and I damn sure ain’t going anywhere with you right now.”
“I said get in the car, or I will step out of this car and lock your ass up for money laundering and conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.”
“Say what? I ain’t distribute no crack and I ain’t got no damn money.”
“Get in the car,” she yelled.
I looked over at the driver and then back at the bitch who was yelling. I swear I had no idea what was going on and I needed to know. Shit, I ain’t never been locked up and I had no intention of going to jail.
I opened the door and got into the car. I was nervous as hell and I felt like I wanted to piss on myself. I hoped this was a joke.
“Pull off,” she told the driver.
“Where are we going, lady? This is kidnapping. I ain’t tell you I was going nowhere with you.”
“Miss, like I said before, I am a U.S. federal agent, and this is my partner, Agent Smith. We want to talk to you, so we are taking you to our office on Broad Street. Here are my credentials so you know we are not kidnappers, but federal agents.”
She shoved her badge in my face. I read her name. I was sweating bullets. What could the feds want to talk to me about? I didn’t break no law or anything like that. This shit sounded serious as hell. I started praying to God because I felt so alone right now.
They pulled into a garage and we walked into what seemed like an office. “Sit down,” she said as she shoved a seat to me.
“Listen, lady, I don’t know what you talking about. If I’m under arrest, I think I need a lawyer.” I didn’t know shit about the law, but I’ve watched enough Law & Order to know that I do have rights.
“No, you’re not under arrest, but you can talk to us now or you can get indicted and slapped with several federal charges along with your drug-dealing boyfriend.”
She threw some pictures on the table in front of me. I thought about touching them, then quickly dismissed that idea.
“Go ahead and take a look.”
I looked at her, then at her partner. I then looked down at the bundle of Polaroid pictures that were in front of me. I swallowed hard and picked up the pictures. One by one, I looked through them. What the fuck is this?
There were several pictures with Tony coming in and out of his trap house, and pictures of him with several dudes in his clique. The last four pics, I noticed, were of me and him. Oh, my freaking God! What kind of stunt were they trying to pull off? I mean, just because they had a few picture of me going in this nigga’s place didn’t mean anything.
I shoved the pictures back to the other side of the table. “This don’t prove anything other than I visited a friend a few times.”
“Listen, Miss Jones. I don’t think you understand what is going on here. Mr. Branch and his crew are some of the biggest dope suppliers in the Northeast. We’ve had them under surveillance for quite some time now. We do know that you provide him with information and you’re also his ear in the streets, which make you a conspirator. With the amount of drugs and guns he’s moved, you will be slapped with several charges on an indictment.”
I looked at this bitch like she was crazy. Indictment? Conspirator? What was this bitch saying? I knew her ass was just bluffing. I wasn’t wrapped up in any of his illegal activity. I was only fucking the nigga and I supplied his ass with a few details now and then.
“Listen, lady, no disrespect. But I know you ain’t got shit on me, so you need to go holla at the nigga you really after.” I got up. I was ready to go.
“Sit down! I promise you that we’re going to arrest him, and you will be arrested too. This ain’t no joke, so if I were you I would consider my options before you get buried for a street thug who has a woman, and who watched you get beaten down and didn’t do a damn thing to help you. You need to consider fast, because I have no problem slapping you with several charges. This is the federal government, and it’s as serious as it’s going to get.” She then moved away from my face.
“Can I go now?” I turned to her partner and asked.
“Sure, but here is our card. Please consider what she just said.” He shoved a card on the table in front of me.
I took up the card without thinking and walked out. Once I was out of their office and into the corridor, I let out a long sigh. While I was there, I felt like I was going to suffocate, and that federal bitch sure didn’t make it any easier. I knew she had a job to do but, damn, did she really have to be that cold? I was happy to step outside the building.
I leaned on the building for a few minutes before I walked across the street to jump on a bus. I was in no mood to go shopping after what I just went through. This was some crazy shit.
* * *
I hadn’t been out of the house since the fucking feds scared the hell out of me. I would hear noises outside and I would peep through the curtains to see what was going on. I also thought about leaving, but I had nowhere to go and they were the feds. I was pretty sure that if they wanted to find little old me, they had the resources to do so.
I’d tried calling Tony since the day I got home, but instead of answering the phone he kept pressing ignore. I dialed his number again. This time I was going to leave his ass a message. I just hoped the feds didn’t have his phone tapped, also.
The phone rang and rang until his voicemail picked up. “Hey, this Sheika. I need to talk to you. It’s very important. I swear it really is.”
I hung the phone up, and went back to browsing Facebook. My phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID. I guess he got my message. “Hello, nigga. I been calling you.”
“Surprise, bitch, this is Lashia, his woman. I see that ass whupping didn’t do no justice ’cause here you are blowing up my man’s phone.”
“Listen, bitch, you ain’t whup my ass. I bet you the next time I see you, it won’t be like that. But like I said, if you was fucking him right, he wouldn’t want to be sucking and fucking my pussy.”
“You’re a fucking joke.” Then she yelled in the background, “Honey, come tell this little stupid-ass bitch not to call your phone no mo’.”
This bitch was silly. Big Tony knew how much I’d done for him, and there was no way he was going to fuck that up over no pussy that could be easily replaced. I waited on the phone, rolling my eyes.
“Ay, yo, what’s good?”
“Man, I been calling you—”
Before I could finish my sentence, he cut me off. “No disrespect, shawty, but stop calling my fucking phone. My woman ain’t feeling us being friends so just lose my number.”
“Wha—” Before I could get another word in, I heard a click in my ear.
I sat up on my bed, irritated as fuck. How did I just get disrespected by this nigga I was trying to help? I was furious as hell. I kept trying to call his number back to back, but I got his voicemail. Man, I was hurt as hell, but that was quickly replaced by anger.
I looked over at the card the feds gave me the other day. I swear, I was tired of people using and abusing me. Let’s see how the fuck he likes it when his ass is locked away for good. I was done playing nice with this fuck nigga and his bitch. I grabbed the card and dialed the number.
“Miss Jones, I have been expecting your call,” this arrogant-ass bitch said. I was also curious how the bitch knew it was me. I never gave her my phone number.
“Listen, lady, don’t flatter yourself. I’ve been thinking about what you said the other day and there’s no way I am going to get locked up behind Tony and his illegal activity. I don’t know what you need me to do, but I’m ready.”
“I’m happy you finally see things our way. I will pick you up tomorrow at ten a.m. near the store we picked you up last time.”
“All right.” Even though I was motivated to show Tony not to fuck with me, I was also scared for my life. I knew the feds played dirty and couldn’t be trusted. I couldn’t afford to let anyone find out about this because I already knew my ass was going to be killed.