Chapter 76

I waited on Red inside L’s Barbershop, a little spot on Grandville and Joy Road. I got the phone call at the hotel while counting the money in the Looey bag that I had taken from it. The rat also had four kilos of cocaine in the bag along with several stacks of money. I had reached the amount of $85,000 before the call came, disturbing me. I threw everything back in the bag and then left my suite to go meet up with the rat.

I sat around listening to all the guys in the barbershop debate about trivial matters, such as who had the flyest cars and money in the streets of Detroit all the way up to what women in the entertainment industry had butt cheek implants or had butt cheek injections and who were the top five dead or alive best rappers in Hip-Hop. After hearing most of them agree on 2-Pac, Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, Eminem, and Nas, I got another phone call from Red. He told me to drive out to Fair Lane Mall like I was a flunky or something. I felt like if I did what he requested then it would easily make me look like a peon who was too eager and too pressed to follow orders.

“Look here, Slim, I ain’t with all that driving around town shit. When you ready to fuck with me on some real shit, gimme a call,” I said and hung up.

As I got up to leave the barbershop, one of the barbers asked for my input in the top five rappers.

“For real for real, I jive like that list, but I think y’all could have at least thrown Scarface and Jadakiss in there somewhere.”

“See, I told y’all!” one man yelled, which sparked another heated debate.

I looked around and smiled before slipping out of the spot undetected. When I got back to the hotel/casino ten minutes later, I counted up the money, which totaled to $138,000 plus the four kilos. Now I had a total of ten kilos of cocaine and $183,000. Plus on top of that, I was guaranteed another $100,000 for eliminating these cheese chumps in Detroit.

Later on, I got a call from Markita and sent her to voicemail. I looked at the clock, which read ten minutes after 6 p.m. I decided to head down to the casino and do a little gambling to pass the time.

By 11 p.m., I had lost $80,000 and won back $95,000 and then loss $20,000 more. I decided to call it a night and take the $5,000 loss on the chin from the $80,000 I brought out of the suite to gamble with. As I began walking back towards the elevators, I got a phone call from Red the rat. I answered on the third ring.

“Yeah?”

“Whuddup, Dough? You ready to do business, nigga?”

“You mean right now? Sounds kind of funny to me, dog, to be making moves this late at night?”

“I ain’t on no bullshit, nigga. I just got up with my nigga and I’m filling orders right now,” he said, sounding a little drunk or high off something.

“I’m in the bed, homes,” I lied.

“With all that fucking noise in the background? How you sleeping through that shit?” he asked.

“I jive went out with the TV on,” I lied as I jumped on the elevator. When the doors closed, the noises of the casino died.

“Oh, a’ight den. Well look, if you still want that work, meet me at the French Quarter apartments tomorrow at noon.”

“Listen, Slim, don’t have me chasing a ghost like you did today.”

“I won’t, and I’ma get you to meet my guy Lucky too.”

“I hope everything official so I can keep coming back to fuck with you.”

“After tomorrow, you gon’ see the benefits in fucking with some real niggas from the D.”

Real niggas? Picture that! Yeah, some real cheese eaters! I thought. After thinking for a second, I called up Jay. I told him about the phone call and told him to take me to the French Quarters apartments that night.

“I’ll be at you in about fifteen minutes, my nigga.”

Thirty minutes later, Jay pulled up to the French Quarter apartments in the rental Volvo. After he pointed out the rat Lucky to me, I chambered a round in the .45 and switched my mind over into murder mode.

“You about to kill the nigga right now?’

“Yeah, why, what’s up?”

“You should at least get both dem niggas together.”

“Well, well, well….speak of the devil. I guess you just talked up the other rat,” I said, catching Red exiting the duplex row houses.

The apartment complex reminded me of Sursum Quarters projects back in D.C. After making his way across the grassy front yard, Red walked up to Lucky and gave him a manly hug. They jumped in a charcoal-gray black Bentley Continental GT and pulled off.

“Wait a few minutes before you follow them niggas,” I told Jay.

“I can’t wait that long, them niggas in a Bentley. They might take off soon as they get out the parking lot,” Jay replied.

“You right, go on and get on ‘em.”

Moments later, we ended up parking on Heyden Street. The quiet block was lined with big houses as far as my eyes could see. While tailing them, all I could think about was how much money these rats actually had. I mean, they had to be getting some change to be pushing a Bentley GT in the hood. I never seen no shit like that unless it was in a music video.

“Ay, I heard that’s the Reload House them niggas going into. A few niggas who be jacking niggas been tryna find out about the location of this spot for years. All the work them niggas be moving round the D probably up in there,” Jay said, invading my thoughts.

“You just keep the car running. I’ll be back!” I said, sounding like The Terminator, drawing laughter from Jay.

“Nigga, you stupid!” He giggled. “I got you though.”

As I got out of the car and moved towards the house, I looked back at the rental. I saw Jay waiting on me like a getaway driver does for his team who heading inside a bank to make an illegal withdrawal. Instead of planning on making a withdrawal, my mind was set on making a bloody deposit.