Chapter 93

After leaving Mama Vernie’s house, I walked down Flagler Street and then turned on First Street. The first thing that caught my eye when I got close to U Street was the sleek Lexus cruising up the street. I had been thinking about getting one of them before all this madness had upended my life. The car reminded me of  happier times when I had a simple life.

Then the car suddenly threw me off - well, the driver did when he began mean mugging on me as I made the turn on U Street. I looked on the block and noticed a small crowd of guys gathered around a dark station wagon. I glanced back and saw the Lexus making a quick U-Turn.

I began speed-walking up U Street until I reached the crack house where I killed Twan over two years ago. I thought the paranoia had gotten the best of me until I saw the Lexus turning on U Street in a fast motion. I pulled out my .45 suppressor, eased it down by my leg, and turned on the Lexus ready, to Swiss cheese the sleek automobile. As I locked eyes with the driver again, he smiled. I relaxed, not taking the driver as a threat, but then he jumped out of the car and started shooting at me.

Blat-tat-tat-tat…blat-tat-tat-tat! The deadly sounds of his continuous shooting rang out. I was a sitting duck, but I refused to die this way.

“You tryna kill me for your hot-ass uncle, huh! Fuck that bitch-ass nigga! He deserved everything he got!” I yelled over the loud sounds of rapid gunfire and then I went to work.

Everything that’d been affecting my life and making me frustrated was unleashed in my actions. I wasn’t thinking clearly and I let my emotions carry me into battle. I leaned around the side of the Bronco and let the cannon loose on Twan’s nephew from about thirty yards away. I felt like a cowboy in the old West at a high noon deadly shoot-out.

Remembering the Teflon body armor I wore like a second skin, I raised up in plain view, getting some Superman heart. I spotted him ducking as I leaned over the hood of the Bronco and fired until the .45 emptied. As soon as it did, more shots came from his fully-automatic weapon.

I had to tread lightly because the gun battle wasn’t in my favor. I had to make him come to me so I could eliminate him. His sudden move threw me off track, and honestly, he had me because he struck hard and fast. But he made the mistake of giving me the chance to recover, so I used my instincts to regain balance and an advantage in this deadly gunfight. I stuffed the warm .45 in my front pocket and pulled out the Glock 40 from my waist as I heard bullets chiming and dinging the metal armor of the Bronco that I hid behind.

Damn, this young nigga ain’t bullshittin’, I thought as more gunfire erupted from behind me. I really got low, thinking he had someone helping him to end my days of living. I flinched and looked back up the street through the back windows of the Bronco.

I saw Lil Wee Wee, his man Leo, and none other than big homie Titus in the flesh taking up positions on the block and firing non-stop at Twan’s nephew. Seeing the back-up come to my rescue, I felt bold enough to run out into the street and fire down on the Lexus.

As he jumped back in the Lexus, he threw a few retreating shots my way, giving himself cover. As he backed the Lexus all the way down U Street, peeling rubber, I ran after him shooting in the middle of the street.

“Moe, I’m outta here!” I heard Leo saying before breaking into a wind sprint through the nearest alley.

I jogged back up the street to where Titus and Lil Wee Wee stood waiting on me. I looked around and saw nobody on the ground bleeding from the gun battle, so I figured that nobody got hit, which surprised the hell out of me. We just had a mini gun battle out here in broad daylight like we were working in the climax of the movie Heat.

“Moe, who the fuck was that?” Lil Wee Wee asked me.

“Somebody that ain’t bullshittin’, that’s who!”  Titus blurted, saving me from telling them.

I really didn’t want to say a word because I didn’t know how they’d react about Mama Vernie’s grandson shooting up the block. Everybody loved her and she was considered family to all, but when guys violated, some guys went to the extreme to get revenge and I just didn’t want Mama Verne to be in harm’s way

“Man, I’m gone. I know them peoples on the way,” Lil Wee Wee said as he jogged over to his SUV.

I saw Titus running over to his Cadillac DTS and I followed him. As soon as he jumped inside the car, he hit the automatic locks for me so I could get in the passenger seat.

“Fuck you doing over here bullshittin’?” Titus asked as he sped over to North Capitol Street before the cops could swarm the area.

As Titus made a right turn and sped to only God knows where, I began running the whole story down to him, starting from the night I smoked Twan. As I explained everything to him, I made it a point to leave out Mama Vernie and what I suspected to be the truth about Twan’s nephew wanting to kill me.

Titus looked back and forth at the road and me as he drove and listened. I finished up the story to the point where he along with two of the younger homies had to save my ass from Twan’s nephew.