Supreme Clientele

“Fuck is your problem? Why did you take off the wire?” Wade yelled as he gripped Zya’s arm firmly.

Zya looked at the detective like he was crazy, and she snatched her arm away from him. “Look, you aren’t the one sitting in a room full of killers. If I’m gon’ do this, it has to be my way! I’m not wearing a wire into those meetings. That’s like sending me into a death trap,” she stated firmly, standing toe to toe with Lonnie Wade.

“Fuck! I had them. She was getting ready to talk herself right into a conviction,” he said in a frustrated tone.

Zya put her hands on her hips and sighed deeply. “Look, I can tell you whatever you need to know about Anari and her involvement in Supreme Clientele.” She paused for a minute, hating the fact that she was getting ready to snitch on her friend and mentor.

“That won’t work. You were just a fucking waitress. I need someone who was directly involved in Supreme Clientele.”

“I am,” Zya admitted hesitantly. “I’m a member of the roundtable.”

Lonnie Wade’s face dropped in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Here he was, chasing Anari when he had a member in his presence, admitting her involvement in the most notorious drug operation America had ever seen.

“Are you going to arrest me now?” Zya asked.

Lonnie seriously thought about it, but changed his mind when he realized exactly what she could do for him.

“You know you are going to have to testify. If you can’t agree to that, I can’t agree to help you out,” Wade said as he stared down at her.

Zya closed her eyes. I’m a fucking snitch, she thought as she shook her head in dishonor.

“I know . . . I know,” she said softly, opening her eyes and revealing her pain to Lonnie Wade. “What about Snow? When will he get out?” she asked.

“You fucked up his deal when you took off that wire.”

“What!” Zya yelled. She put her hands on her face and shook her head. I knew it. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him. That wasn’t what we discussed.

“That wasn’t the deal. You said that if I got Anari—”

Zya was standing directly in his face, screaming at him. Wade grabbed her wrists just as she was getting ready to smack him. He grabbed her violently and pulled her close to him. She could smell his cologne, and she breathed heavily as she tried to free herself from his grasp.

“That wasn’t the deal,” she said between clenched teeth.

“Well, it is now. You can take it or leave it,” he replied.

“Fuck you. I’m not doing it if Snow goes to prison.”

Wade nodded his head, turned her around in one swift movement, and clamped the handcuffs around her wrists. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided . . .”

Zya turned around and stared coldly at Wade. “Okay, okay!” she shouted. Wade stared at her with a smirk on his face.

“Take off the damn cuffs!” she yelled.

“Torey Smith aka Snow is a done deal. You do what I want, or you will end up just like him, behind a cage.”

She lowered her head to the ground and nodded in defeat. He spun her around and took off the handcuffs.

“What do I have to do?”

“Tell me all the security codes to the restaurant. You are going to lead me directly to Supreme Clientele and Anari Simpson. I’m going to arrest her in the middle of the meeting.”

Zya walked into the restaurant, and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. Calm down. You’re not wearing a wire, so there’s nothing for them to find, she thought. She walked down the hallway, and it felt like she was taking the walk of death.

There was an eerie feeling in the restaurant, and Zya began to have second thoughts about what she was doing. She stopped before entering the room and tried to gain some type of composure. Her mind was all over the place, and she couldn’t stop herself from shaking. She reached for the handle and slowly opened the door. She gasped when she stepped inside. The meeting room looked completely different. Everything had been removed from it.

Where’s all the charts . . . the documents . . . where are the guns and the safe? What the hell is going on? Anari was the only member that sat in the room, and she sat back at the head of the table with a drink in her hands. Her stare was deadly, and Zya knew that something was wrong. The room had been stripped, and the other members who were supposed to be present were not there.

It’s as if Supreme Clientele never existed, Zya thought as she stood perfectly still, waiting for Anari to speak.

“Where is everyone?” Zya finally managed to say.

“We wouldn’t want them to be a part of what is about to go down,” Anari replied. “Sit down. Have a drink with me before I go to jail,” Anari stated as she motioned for Zya to sit across from her. Zya’s mouth dropped in astonishment.

She knows. She already knows about the set-up. Zya sat down reluctantly, at a loss for words. She didn’t know what to say to Anari, but she could see the look of pain mixed with anger in her face.

“Remember when I told you that this day would come? I told you that you would have to make a choice.”

Zya took a deep breath. The fear in her heart slowly left as she realized that she was just as important as the woman who sat across from her. It finally hit her. She was a part of the same notorious organization as Anari. She held just as much power.

Her mind flashed back to the pictures of the people that Anari had double-crossed. Fuck that. All of her other friends ended up dead. She would do the same to me if she was in my position.

“You told me that I would have to choose between loyalty and supremacy. I’m following in your footsteps. I’m choosing supremacy,” Zya said as she poured herself a drink.

Anari laughed and replied, “I didn’t know that there was supremacy in snitching.”

Zya didn’t reply. She just shook her head. Although she no longer feared Anari, she did feel guilty about what she was doing. Anari had been a good friend to Zya. She had given her something that she would not have been able to get on her own: the world.

“We were friends,” Anari stated. It had been a long time since Anari had befriended anyone. Her life had been one of business interactions only. Zya had been the first person to get close to her since best friend, Tanya, had died. She was hurt by Zya’s betrayal.

“We were friends, but you predicted this, Anari. There isn’t enough room in this game for both of us. I don’t want to do this, but I don’t have a choice. I’m doing what I have to do.”

Anari nodded her head and replied, “Then do what you have to do. Let him in.”

Zya looked toward the door and knew that Wade was approaching. She stood up and walked slowly to the door. She could hear the footsteps coming near, and when she looked back at Anari, a tear slipped from her eye. They had been good friends, and Zya knew that she was personally responsible for Anari’s downfall.

Zya opened the door, and a team of SWAT agents stormed the room with their weapons drawn and aimed at Anari. Suit after suit filled the room, until there was no room left. Fifty agents came in full force for one person . . . one woman . . . Anari Simpson.

Anari stayed seated, with a calm but heated expression on her face. She crossed her legs and continued to sip her drink as she looked around at all the guns pointed in her direction.

She is fearless, Zya thought as she watched Lonnie Wade approach Anari with a piece of paper in his hand.

“Search the premises. Tear this place up until you find something,” he ordered. He grabbed Anari up out of her seat and placed the handcuffs on her. He read her rights as he maneuvered her through the busy room. She stopped walking when she reached Zya.

“I trusted you,” she said. “You could have been great.”

Zya dropped her head, and Lonnie guided Anari out of the room. Agent Bryson Matthews aka Buggy walked up and grabbed Zya gently by her elbow. “Let’s go. Wade wants you at the station,” he said.

Zya knew that Wade wanted to keep her close so that she wouldn’t skip town to avoid testifying against Anari. Zya knew what she was about to get herself into. She was about to face off against the most powerful woman in the country, and she hoped that she could handle it.

It’s all or nothing. It’s her or me.