There wasn't enough time to tell the Waves. Soon all the Hunters would know that 'Fredo had left the building. They'd be joining one of Ridley's gangs. The old rock and a hard place, I knew exactly how it would go down too. Ridley would tell the Hunters 1 killed 'Fredo in retribution. They would believe him—very persuasive, that Ridley. Not like it was a total lie anyway. I had to work fast and I couldn't handle Jimmy's questions. I had to broker a deal.
"Jesus, Jenny! Fuck! What did you just do?!" He didn't pull at my arm or grab on my shirt or anything like that but his presence was tugging hard at me.
I couldn't say anything. I had to find Melinda, fast. Just had to walk quickly and with purpose. It's always a good idea to do it whenever you're in an area you think is sketchy. ESPECIALLY if you have no idea where you're going. Don't walk at top speed, just fast enough that you can turn real quick like you meant to. The worst thing to do is double back.
"This is crazy."
"I'll see you at lunch." It was all I could say.
I didn't look back when I rounded the corner. I couldn't. I was sick at me. My stomach was trying to eat itself, for real this time. Hands still shook, blood-covered. I hid them in my pockets. No, I didn't blame Jimmy for Cue's death. I didn't. That would've come anyway, whether by 'Fredo's hand or someone else's. So Ridley sayeth, so shall it be done.
Ridley's killing of 'Fredo was supposed to be a good thing, was supposed to make everything simple. Ridley wanted me to think it was the honorable thing, but the truth was, 'Fredo fucked up. There were witnesses. See, I'm not exactly sure what he was thinking, doing it in the open in front of me and Jimmy, but maybe he thought it'd be good as a show of power. Or maybe he just panicked. Truth be told, if Cue had just disappeared with no witnesses to verify the identity of the killer, we'd've been in a lot worse situation. There'd've been nobody to blame. Three years ago, the Muds got wiped out practically overnight. The same thing happened, their Pop caught three kinfés in soft spots but no one even saw it. Had no idea who did it. Didn't help that nobody left was good enough to step in. The other families smelled blood and circled every last vendetta 'til there was none. Whoever was left the next morning decided to take up the Runners on their offer of membership. But witnesses meant leverage. I knew who had done it and I knew who had ordered it: Ridley. Hands still shook though.
See, if Mr. Big-Time Drug Dealer had had ultimate power from the get-go, none of this would've happened. Kung Fu wouldn't've grown up like this with everyone in different families to protect each other. But as Ridley got more powerful, alliances got made and people started disappearing. That's called getting transferred. Slowly but surely, the number of families opposing Ridley has dwindled. I got to give him one thing: he's patient. It's been years and not once has there been a major bloodletting that couldn't be covered up fast. Every year he gets stronger.
The Wolves own the north side of the library. I passed by it and its awful green doors but there was no Melinda inside. It was more serious than I thought. So I had to double back because I knew that she must've been downstairs in the home ec room, next to the cafeteria. That's where they held their secret meetings. By now the senior Wolves would already be deciding our fates, probably already had the charts out and were ready to make some "x"s. But I still had one trick left.
The chances of me running into Cap'n Joe on his DBD detail had to be below minimal but there he was, right in front of me. I shouldn't've doubled back. Dead Body Disposal, as Ridley always called him, worked for Dermoody. He took care of anything that needed fixing, everything that could ever cast Dermoody in a bad light.
"Why aren't you in class, squaw?" Cap'n Joe called all girls squaws and all boys braves. I don't know why. He just did.
"I got a note," I said, and I knew he wouldn't ask to see it because he had a big black bag in his arms. It had a conspicuous 'Fredo shape to it.
I knew Cap'n Joe was going to let me off with a warning because he had no time to check into my fictional note. But a warning at Kung Fu was guaranteed to leave a mark. When this happens, do not dodge. Take it. Otherwise, there might be more, a lot more. So grit up, be ready for the blow and make it look more painful than it is. Sadistic bastards love that.
Cap'n Joe's boot caught me in the left knee and drove the cap in hard against the joint. I knew he was going for it so I kept my weight off that leg. A solid enough kick to a knee you got your weight on and it's torn ligament city but as it was, I just stumbled forward like it really hurt but actually, it was just a ploy to get past him. The pain brought me back to my body. Forced me to feel. Shifted some of the ice.
I didn't look back. That would've invited more, and he already had one body to take care of. Best not to make it two just because I didn't like how the game was played. He had to be the big macho man, the big in-charge guy. They all do. From Ridley to Dermoody to Cap'n Joe, it didn't matter who it was. If it was a guy, he wanted to be the baddest.
Melinda was more dangerous than any of them. The reason the Wolves were still around was almost completely due to her, because she knew how to play their game. Brush their egos the right way and make her moves behind their backs and nobody gets hurt. Well, too hurt. I grew up with Melinda. We went to elementary school together. We played kickball every day back then. We used to think we could be pilots. Technically, she was my first kiss. We were ten. "It'll be like training wheels," she had said, "you know, before riding a bike all by yourself" Her dad had taught her.
Of course, none of that mattered as I was pulling myself up the stairs by the handrail bolted into the red brick walls. My knee burned, was probably swelling, which was bad because there were two guards at the door to the home ec room. I didn't know them from their faces but I knew they were freshmen. Probably had less than six rolls to their combined credit. They were just babies. Melinda was getting sloppy. Everyone was, with Cue gone: Ridley only keeping Mock in the room and not two or three bodyguards, 'Fredo without his armor, and this, Melinda using inexperienced children during an important family meeting never would've happened if my big brother was around. He was so good he'd kept everyone on their toes. Gone a day and everyone was slipping. Pathetic.
Took me less than ten seconds to get both guards on the floor. Here's a pointer to anyone trying to be a good guard. Never hold out your arm and say, "Stop!" or "Halt!" like they do in the movies and TV. Because that makes it easy for an experienced adversary to grab your straight arm and use it to chop your guard partner in the voice box and then partially dislocate your shoulder before kicking you to the ground. Valuable les sons just like how Cue would've taught them. It was the least I could do.
"Melly!" I said it real loud in front of the whole Wolves council: Aunts, Uncles, even a few high-ranking kids gathered around two shambly tables in the room filled with sewing machines and big white stoves. I hadn't called her that since we were twelve.
"You lookin' to get transferred? Because you're in the right place then, missy." Her voice was raw when she said it. Girl had some power. Melinda put her pen down and stood up. She rolled her shoulders forward and then extended her arms straight back behind her to stretch them. Maybe she just did it to show me that her breasts were still bigger than mine. Of course, Mark and Rico stood up and grabbed her arms to help her stretch better and mostly to look more intimidating. Mark and Rico were her boys. They could roll. Mark was the Wolves Pop but really, he was just Melinda's lapdog and everybody knew it.
I didn't say anything. It was her show.
"Don't make me get the paperwork to put you out of here, because we can put you somewhere nice and sunny, real sunny."
The Wolves laughed at Melinda's sarcasm.
"Wolves only." She was walking toward me, slow but purposeful. She put her hands in her pockets and came out with extra rings: one for every finger and thumb.
Cue used to tell me I could take her, just as long as I didn't lead in with my chin. I had to be ready for more lateral movement and less front-foot fighting. But Melinda was much, much quicker than me. My only chance would've been to go for the diaphragm with my first punch and hope I hit gold. If anything though, I'd get it bad.
If it was anybody else, I would have. Melinda, though, she knew about appearances and she knew about alliances. I just had to ham it up a little more.
She needed us. We needed her. She wasn't going to let ego get in the way, but she was going to save face for me disrupting the meeting, even if I did have valuable information.
"I didn't have to hear it from you to know that," Melinda said.
"We wish to strengthen the Wolves, we will not retain our name." I said what was traditionally said in blending situations, when one family joined another. Cue taught me the right words just in case I'd ever have to say them. He didn't tell me they'd burn a little when they came out.
"Last I heard you didn't have the power to do that." As the punctuation to the sentence, Melinda hit me, hard. I knew it was coming but I didn't really spot it. She was standing right in front of me and I didn't even see it. Tough to say she hadn't gotten even quicker. I didn't flinch though. I didn't duck. It crashed me right in the jaw, underneath the joint. I felt my skin tear but still I made it look good because the Wolves laughed and did their stupid howl.
"I do now. Alfredo got a flyer." I said it looking down at the carpet. Between the sentences, I spat blood. My back tooth was loose but not too bad. My right ear was ringing, but only my right. I didn't get hit again.
"Leave." Melinda wasn't talking to me, she was talking to the Wolves. They didn't argue. Every single one of them knew she could take me.
"What happened?" Melinda asked, completely different now that we were alone.
"Ridley transferred him. Did it right in front of me and Jimmy."
"How'd he do it?"
"Throat."
"Figures." Melinda grabbed me a towel from the nearest stove door handle after she said it. I was bleeding all over the table.
"Cue was good." That was the closest Melinda got to sympathy and it was the closest she got to saying that she was the next target. She knew it, I knew it, and pretty soon, everybody at Kung Fu would know it. I understood I'd have to stand with her. Our fates were tied together like a lead balloon with two tail strings. She was probably happy I'd done what I did. The Wolves were by far the largest family now, but for how long?
Melinda opened the door with her arm around me. She was twice the leader I was and everybody there knew it.
"I will absorb the Waves." She said it more for her family than for me. "I will stand for Jimmy too."
Her eyes lit up when she said his name. Mark and Rico hunched their shoulders at the exact same time. She liked her boys, Melinda did. She kept them in line. It stung bad though, that look in her eyes. It shouldn't've. I mean, I knew he could never be mine. Cue always used to say that there was no such thing as survival without compromise. And when I walked out of there on a sore knee, with a new family name and an aching jaw, I was beginning to understand what he meant.