Chapter 15
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Keyshia met him at the door and said, “What’s up, Clyde, what did he say?”

Clyde slung the duffel bag off his shoulder and laid it on their bed. “Said I have two weeks to come up with a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

Keyshia gasped as terror lines filled her face. “A hundred and fifty thousand in two weeks!” she yelled.

Clyde nodded and said as he rubbed his face, “Yep, two weeks.”

“Clyde, how do they expect you to come up with that kind of money in two weeks?” she said, both angry and fearful.

Clyde shook his head. “I don’t know, they just do.”

Keyshia paused and looked at him with her arms folded. “Clyde, are you sure about this? You sure you can trust what your brother say about this?”

Clyde assured her, “One thing about Sonny, when some shit like this go down with anybody in the family, he don’t play—especially when it comes to me or Ceasar.” Keyshia shifted her weight to her other leg and listened as Clyde explained, “When we was coming up, me and Ceasar never once had a fight with other boys on our block because either Sonny jumped in and fought for us or the other boys refused to fight us because they knew who our brother was and got scared. Sonny didn’t play that shit. It’s like he’s unable to see any of us hurt in any kind of way, it’s crazy. Sonny loved fighting. I mean, he loved it. It was like when he was fighting somebody he came to life or something, you could see it in his eyes. One time, Ceasar’s gym teacher made a joke about his shorts being too tight or something and all the students in the gym started laughing at him. Ceasar came home crying his heart out. Sonny was so angry that he ran all the way to Ceasar’s school to defend his older brother’s honor and went to fight the teacher. He stopped the teacher just as he was leaving school and asked him why he made a comment to his brother Ceasar Barker. The teacher laughed, dismissing Sonny, and walked away. Sonny pulled out a kitchen knife and started stabbing the gym teacher everywhere. Sonny was only eleven years old at the time.”

Keyshia was stunned. “Damn, eleven!”

“Yeah, don’t fuck with his family. I’m surprised Sonny ain’t do nothing to Black Sam and them already, because he killed niggas for much less, I seen him.”

Keyshia pleaded, “Then let’s just take the money that we have left and move out of Harlem for good, at least we be safe.”

Clyde looked at Keyshia, who had a hopeful look on her face, and debated whether he should tell her everything. “Your aunt lives on a Hundred Twenty-second and Second Avenue, in the Wagner projects?”

Keyshia was surprised. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

Clyde looked her in the eye and said, “Black Sam’s people was waiting there for you for three days.”

Shocked, Keyshia sat down. Clyde quickly assured her, “Don’t worry, Sonny made sure they won’t come after you no more.”

“What about my aunt, and my li’l cousins?” she asked, panicked.

“They didn’t bother them, they just wanted you.” Keyshia was relieved. Clyde continued, “They also said if we don’t come up with the money, they . . .” He grew silent, then said, “They said they was gonna execute your entire family.” Seeing how distressed Keyshia was, Clyde said, “Don’t worry ’bout nothing. We gonna come up with the money and pay them off, and that will be that, trust me.”

Keyshia remained in a daze, and after a few moments she looked at Clyde with fire in her eyes. “Okay, okay, we just have to do this, baby. We just got to figure a way out of this shit.”

Clyde picked up the duffel bag and emptied it out on the bed, and about eight large-caliber handguns, a shotgun, and box after box of ammo fell out. Keyshia was in awe at all the guns and picked one up slowly and handled it as if it were a venomous snake. The weapon seemed longer than her entire arm as she aimed it and smiled at Clyde, then asked, “When do we get a chance to test these babies out?”

Clyde looked at her in amazement.

Keyshia and Clyde hopped out of a cab on 118th Street between Eighth and Manhattan that afternoon. Pops smiled as his young protégé exited the cab with a duffel bag dangling from his shoulder and a girl at his side.

“Hey, Pops!” yelled Clyde, genuinely happy to see him.

“What’s up, Rocco?” Pops said with a wide, toothless smile.

Clyde bent down to hug Pops. They pulled apart, and Pops turned his attention to the girl at Clyde’s side. “Pops, I want you to meet my girl, Keyshia,” Clyde said with a huge smile.

Pops turned on the charm and gripped her hand softly and kissed it. “Why, my, my, my, Rocco. What is this beautiful, charming young lady doing with an ugly big-headed boy like you?” He looked at Keyshia with a dirty old man stare and said, “Hey, beautiful, what do you say you toss this one aside and get with a handsome teenage boy like me?” Keyshia blushed, and Pops laughed so loud that he began to choke on his cigar. He patted Clyde on the back and said, “Come on in, come on in.”

Inside Pops offered them some sodas and hot peanuts. After they short talked for a while, Clyde and Pops went into the back to talk privately. Clyde said, “Listen, Pops, I got myself in some trouble and I need a favor.”

Pops frowned but listened in silence to every word that Clyde said as Clyde told him the whole story. After he’d finished, Pops asked, “So tell me, Rocco, what can I do to help you?”

Clyde smiled and said, “Well, I remember you telling me you used to go down into the basement and practice shooting your pistol in case a nigga ever got out of hand.”

Pops nodded proudly. “Still can shoot a peanut off a rat’s ass if I wanted to. This building was built in the 1800s; you can shoot an atom bomb down there and nobody would hear nothing on the outside.” He looked at Clyde suspiciously. “Why, you got a bomb in that bag or something?”

Clyde smiled. “Naa, nothing that big, but I got some shit for a nigga’s ass if they want it. I got to show old girl how to handle these big babies.”

Pops’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as he asked if he could see inside. Clyde opened up the bag, and Pops looked in and nodded. “Okay, okay, not bad, not bad.” He hobbled over to the wall and retrieved a key. “Take that stairway in the back to the basement. Be careful of them stairs, they old, okay?”

Clyde nodded, and before he walked off, Pops added in a whisper, “I don’t know where you meet that li’l girl at, but I can tell she love you and would fight tooth and nail for you, even kill for you.”

Clyde stared at Pops and wondered how he knew that. Seeing the questioning look in Clyde’s eyes, Pops said with a wink and a nod, “Body language, boy, I can see it in her eyes.”

The basement was old, dark, and dank. If it weren’t for Clyde guiding Keyshia down and through it, she would never have made it. Clyde had to turn on each lightbulb individually as they hung precariously throughout the basement. When they finally made it to the rear of the long basement, Clyde turned on a final lightbulb and Keyshia saw hundreds of green sandbags stacked to the ceiling against the far wall. Clyde brought a sawdust-ridden table over to Keyshia. He found an old piece of cloth and began wiping dust off the table. After he’d finished, he picked up the duffel bag and pulled out each and every weapon and laid them all out on the table. He pulled out three boxes of ammunition and took the cover off each one.

“Okay, you ready to get down?”

Keyshia chuckled, a little overwhelmed as she stared at all the black and deadly weapons laid out before her. “Yeah, I, I, guess so.”

Clyde lifted up one of them and pulled out the clip. “This here is a Glock nine-millimeter. It holds seventeen bullets in the clip and one in the chamber.” He held up the clip in front of her and slid back the chamber. Then he put the clip back in the weapon and showed her the safety.

“This here is called the safety. Now this is very important to remember.” Putting it close to her face, he continued, “If you switch it to the red dot, that means it’s ready to fire. If it’s on the blue dot, it’s on safety. You got it?”

Keyshia nodded and repeated, “Red, fire, blue, safe.”

Clyde nodded and smiled at her. “All right,” he said, “just put it in your hand to feel the weight for now and pull the trigger.”

He handed it to Keyshia, who was amazed at the lightness of the huge gun and said, “Oh, shoot,” holding it with both hands and waving it around.

Clyde immediately said with a smile, “Rule number one: Never point the weapon at your partner!”

Keyshia let out a goofy laugh and said innocently, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, baby, you learning,” Clyde said reassuringly. Keyshia pointed the weapon unsteadily at the sandbags and aimed. Clyde wrapped his arms around her, steadied the weapon in her hands, and said, “Always aim low or at the center of the body.” She followed his instructions. “That’s right, baby, never aim at the head, always low and centered to their body. That way you have a better chance of hitting something.” Keyshia aimed at her target, and “click.” They both smiled.

“All right,” Clyde said. “It’s time for the real thing.” He pulled out bullet after bullet and placed them inside the long clip. He showed her how to load her clip until she could fill her own.

“Always respect your weapon and it will respect you,” Clyde preached. “Never take for granted that your gun is empty.” Keyshia hung on every word he was saying. “That’s how most shooting accidents happen, someone assumes that the gun is empty. Always clear your weapon by cocking it several times like this.” He then gripped the upper rear part of the weapon and pulled back several times and said, “See, it’s all clear.” She nodded. She looked at Clyde the way a kindergartner looks toward her teacher for guidance.

“All right,” Clyde asked, “are you ready?” Excitement in her eyes, she nodded. He nodded back and said, “Okay, its gonna be loud and have a nice little jolt to it, so be prepared, okay?” She nodded again.

“I’ll go first.” Clyde lifted his arm and aimed at the wall of sandbags and fired ten steady bursts from the weapon. When he finished he looked at Keyshia, who was clearly eager.

“What you think?” he asked.

“Loud,” she answered.

“Yeah, you ready?” She nodded, more excited now. “Get down, then,” Clyde said as he moved behind her. Keyshia raised the weapon and closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. Nothing. She opened her eyes and Clyde said simply, “Safety switch?”

Keyshia smiled and switched the safety and said, “Red, fire, blue, safe.”

Once again, Clyde stepped behind her and said, “Remember, keep squeezing the trigger.” He showed her with his finger. “Bap, bap, bap! Okay, get down, baby.” Keyshia flipped off the safety, raised the weapon, and pulled the trigger. Bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap . . . Clyde watched the sandbags twist and turn as sand leaked rapidly out of the bags. Keyshia continued to squeeze the trigger until the gun was empty and smoking!

“Goddizam!” Clyde exclaimed as he stared at Keyshia with utter surprise. “I thought you said you never shot a gun before?”

Equally amazed, Keyshia finally opened her eyes and watched the smoke rise from the gun, then saw the leakage of the sandbags, then smelled the acrid gunpowder. She suddenly felt invincible.

“Goddamn!” she cried as adrenaline coursed through her body. She looked at Clyde and asked, “Can I do it again?”

Clyde nodded, and they both rushed to the other guns, loaded them, and began blazing and bucking off rounds for the next hour. All the guns were broken in except for the massive shotgun left on the table. Keyshia looked at Clyde mischievously.

“Oh hell, no. Don’t even think about it!” Clyde said with a smile. “That shit there ain’t for no li’l girl.”

Keyshia continued to approach, staring into his eyes all the while. “I ain’t no li’l girl no more. I want to shoot it!” she said as she locked him in a corner.

“Hell no, Keysh, that shit will knock you on your ass!” Clyde’s back was now against the wall. “You don’t need to fuck with that bitch, you already—” Keyshia started kissing Clyde’s neck. “No, don’t do that, baby!” he began to plead.

“Let me shoot,” Keyshia said in a low, sexy tone.

“You might get hurt,” said Clyde as his voice became weak.

“I’ll hurt you, then. Give me some!”

They started kissing and hugging when Clyde suddenly broke free and relented, “Okay!”

Keyshia smiled.

Clyde wondered if he would ever be able to tell her no. Keyshia watched carefully as Clyde filled up the shotgun casing with rounds. He looked at her and said seriously, “This bitch here ain’t nothing like the nines, this shit got kick to it.” He pumped the shotgun and said, “Hold your ears,” and then the shotgun roared, Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Clyde’s whole body jerked violently from each pull of the trigger. After he finished he yelled at the weapon in his hand, “Goddizam! Fuck!” He admired the powerful weapon for a few moments longer and then looked at Keyshia. “You sure you ready for this shit?”

A little intimidated, but still willing, she nodded. Clyde gave her the shotgun, and she was shocked by the weight of it. She looked at Clyde, who was still amped up, and he nodded.

“You can do it, baby, plant your legs firm, hold it real tight between your arms, and pull that shit!”

Keyshia nodded quickly and took a deep, deep breath. Adrenaline started flooding her bloodstream, then suddenly she gave a bloodcurdling yell and pulled the trigger, and, BOOM! roared the mighty weapon, nearly causing her to fly into the wall.

“Goddizam!” she repeated as she stared at the shotgun in her hand.

She looked at Clyde, who was smiling wickedly. He said, “Squeeze that shit, baby, squeeze that shit!”

Keyshia obliged as she took aim and squeezed off round after round and didn’t stop till she was out of ammo. Her mouth was open as if she had just run a hundred-yard dash.

Clyde was elated and hugged Keyshia, who was still in a zone, and he said, “Oh, shit, my baby look like Rambo in this piece! Yo, you ain’t no fuckin’ joke!” Keyshia, equally excited, hugged him for joy. They kissed and Clyde said, “Yo, let’s start cleaning this place up to get ready for tomorrow.” He began picking up each and every round, talking all the while.

“I ain’t got no doubts now, we gonna handle our business, naa mean, baby?”

When Keyshia didn’t answer, he turned and looked at her. She had unbuttoned her shirt, and her firm breasts and nipples were hardened. Clyde paused as he stood up with an instant erection. Keyshia walked over to him and said in a husky voice, “Make love to me, boy!”