A Gangsta Twist Saga (5 page)

Taz was pulling out of Tari's driveway when his cell rang. He flipped it open and saw that there was a picture of Michael Jordan slam-dunking the ball over Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks. Taz smiled as he closed his cell because he knew it was on. That was Won's signal for them to get ready. Taz called Keno and told him to have everyone meet him at his place within the next thirty minutes. After he was finished talking with Keno, he called Tari at work and said, “Baby, I'm about to be out for a minute. I'm going to need you to make sure everything is straight at the house for me.”

“No problem, Taz. Is there anything else?”

“Nah. Just feed the dogs and let them loose so they can roam around while I'm gone.”

“How long this time?”

“Ain't no telling, so make sure you keep a line open just in case I need to holla.”

“Don't I always? Bye, Mister! Oh, and Taz.”

“What up?”

“Be careful.”

“All the time, baby,” he said and closed his cell phone. Whenever he went out of town, he always told Tari. She was the only person other than the crew that knew what he did for a living. She would make sure that his beloved Dobermans would be fed and taken care of while he was away. Even though he never expected to be gone longer than forty-eight hours, he never left the state without having her check on everything while he was gone. The trust and love he had for her was just as strong as the love he had for his homeboys—unbreakable.

Everything about Taz and the crew was timing. They were all disciplined in a military-type fashion. When it came to their missions, they remained prepared at all times.

Taz smiled as he pulled into his driveway and saw everyone there waiting for him. He jumped out of his truck and said, “Time to go to work, boys.” They followed him as he entered his home. He led them to his den, and they watched as he grabbed his laptop computer and punched in several keys.

After about three minutes, he said, “All right, it's like this. Keno and I are bouncing outta DFW. Bo-Pete and Bill, y'all are out of here this time, so Red, you and Bob gots Tulsa. All three of our flights are to arrive at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport within twenty minutes of each other. Catch a cab to the Sheraton off of Peach near downtown. As usual, the rooms will already be reserved, so give them your Barney, and everything should be good. Once me and Keno get in, I'll hit the front desk and check to make sure that y'all are in. Then, I'll leave a message for y'all to hit me up in my room. Once we all hook up, we'll then hook up with Won. Any questions?”

“Yeah. How do that fool Won be knowing what Barney we're going to be using?” asked Bob.

“He's made all of the arrangements, Bob. He's the one who takes care of getting us the fake IDs and shit. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have any Barneys. We'd be using our real hookups. Anyway, there will be a package left for me at the front desk when we check in. Knowing Won, that package most likely will have our instructions. So, it is what it is, gentlemen. Time to get paid. Let's do it.” Taz stood and watched as everyone except Keno left his home. He checked a few more things on his laptop, turned it off, and said, “Since we have to make the ride out to Dallas this time, you're driving.”

“That's cool, but you're driving back,” Keno said as he followed Taz out of his home.

Once they were inside of Keno's Range Rover, Taz asked, “Do you have everything?”

“I repack my bag as soon as we make it back, dog. Everything I need is in the back.”

“I hope you brought a different DVD this time. I'm tired of that damn
Scarface
.”

Keno laughed and said, “Come on, dog, don't hate. You know you be loving
'Face
.”

Taz moaned as he relaxed back in his seat. It was going to be another long-ass flight.
Damn!

By the time Taz and Keno had checked into the Sheraton in downtown Atlanta, the sun was setting and the weather was nice and warm. Taz wished they could get to do some things while they were in the ATL, but he knew that was out of the question. They were there to handle their business, and that's exactly what they planned on doing.

After Taz and Keno entered their room, Taz called the front desk and asked for the room numbers of James Jenkins and Walter Johnson. The operator gave him the room numbers and asked if he would like to be connected to one of the rooms. He told her yes, and she transferred him to James Jenkins's room. James Jenkins was Red's alias.

Red answered the phone on the first ring and said, “What up?”

“Room 3923,” Taz said and hung up the phone. He then called Walter Johnson's room, which was Wild Bill's alias. When the phone was answered, he once again said, “Room 3923.” After hanging up the phone, he went to the dining room table and opened the package that was left for him at the front desk. Inside of the small package was a DVD and a brief typewritten note. After reading the note, he smiled and said, “Dog, this lick is worth a grip. Look.” He passed the note to Keno.

Keno read it quickly, smiled, and said, “I'm loving those figures, my nigga.”

Before Taz could reply, there was a soft knock at the door. He went and let the rest of the crew inside.

Wild Bill walked by him and said, “Damn, dog! It's a gang of hoes out here in the ATL! Bitches was choosing like a muthafucka at the airport when we got in. I'm tellin' you, dog, I'm going to have to bounce back this way sometime this summer.”

Bo-Pete laughed and said, “Nigga, would you sit your blind-ass down so we can get to business? Worry about your dick on your time. I'm trying to make some money right now.”

Taz laughed and passed Bo-Pete the note that was inside of the package. Then Bo-Pete passed it to Red, who in turn read it and passed it to Bob. After Bob was finished, he passed it to Wild Bill. Every last member of the six-man crew had smiles on their faces as they all stared at Taz.

Taz grabbed the DVD and went and inserted it into the DVD player sitting under the television in the hotel room. He turned it on, and the first thing that came onto the screen was a picture of Michael Jordan doing a reverse layup against A.C. Green of the Lakers.

After a full minute had passed, Won's voice could be heard. “I'm glad that you all made it safely. Taz, take a look under the bed in your room and you'll find everything you need necessary for this job. Make sure that everything is to your liking before you leave. If there are any problems, hit me on my cell immediately. As you all know, everything is timed down to the last minute. In exactly one hour, you are to leave your rooms and meet in the underground parking area. In the B-Section, you will see an all-black Ford Excursion, Georgia, plates 115 BHB. The doors will be unlocked and the keys will be inside of the glove box.

“You are then to proceed to a club located right off of Highway 75, exit right on Butner Avenue. That street will take you straight to the club. Once you have the club in your sights, drive one block past it and you'll see an alley. Make a left turn, and the alley will lead you right to the back entrance of the club. The back door of the club will be unlocked, but there will be one sentry to your immediate left. Once you enter the club, he must be secured.

“You'll then see the staircase leading to the upstairs office. There should be no more than four or five people inside of the office, but to be on the safe side, assume that there are five. Once you have entered the office and secured everyone, you will have ten to twelve minutes approximately to clean out the safe.

“Before I continue, Taz, one of y'all might want to write what I'm about to say down.”

While there was a pause in Won's instructions, Taz quickly grabbed a pen and some writing paper out of the desk over by the bed. Just as he turned back toward the television, Won continued.

“Okay. Once you're in the office, to your right will be a wall with a yellow and brown sofa against it. There will be a thermostat at the left end of the sofa. That's where you'll go, and move the thermostat's knob to twenty degrees, then back to zero degrees, then to fifteen degrees, and lastly back to twenty degrees. Again, that's twenty degrees, back to zero degrees, fifteen degrees, and back to twenty degrees. Once you make that last turn, the wall will part like the Red Sea, and you'll see the rest.

“In your bag of goodies under the bed are backpacks for each one of you. The backpacks, as well as one ample-sized carryall bag for each, are for what's for me in the safe. The carryall bags are for the ends. Once you've cleaned everything out of the safe, double time it up outta there.

“There shouldn't be any need for violence, but you know how that goes. So have everything locked and cocked. Once you've made it safely back to the highway, head back to your rooms. When you've made it back to the hotel, leave everything inside the Excursion.

“I wasn't able to get you flights out tonight, so y'all are going to have to chill and relax for the rest of the evening. Here are your flight reservations.”

The picture of Michael Jordan was replaced with flight reservations, which Taz quickly wrote down.

A minute passed before Won started speaking again. “You know the routine once you've made it back to the City. By the time you get home, check your accounts and give me a holla. Be safe, and remember, ten to twelve minutes tops. If you're in there any longer than that, be prepared to shoot your way up outta there. Be precise, be prepared, and most of all, be careful. Out!”

The television screen went blank, and Taz went over to the DVD player, popped out the DVD, and dropped it onto the floor. He then stepped on it with his Timberland boots. After crushing it, he picked up the pieces and went out onto the balcony of his room and threw them over the railing. After that, he came back into the room and said, “All right, we got about forty-five minutes to get ready. Let's do it.”

Keno pulled three large bags out from under the bed and set them on top of the bed. In one bag were their weapons. Each member of the crew had a nine-millimeter Beretta with a silencer already attached to it. There were three magazines full for each, a bulletproof vest for each man, as well as several pairs of plastic hand restraints.

Bo-Pete and Wild Bill put their weapons, vests, and backpacks into their bags and set them down next to where they were standing. Red and Bob did the same, and so did Taz and Keno. Keno pulled out what looked like earplugs and gave one to every man in the hotel room. After each one of them had inserted the earplugs into their ears, they pulled out their cell phones and punched in a three-digit code. Keno then went into the bathroom and said, “Testing, 1, 2 . . . testing 1, 2!”

Back inside the room everyone said, “Good!”

Keno came back into the room, smiled, and said, “Ready!”

Taz checked the time and saw that they had thirty minutes before it was time for them to leave. “All right, go get changed and meet us at the truck in twenty.”

Red, Bob, Bo-Pete, and Wild Bill left the room in single file.

Keno slipped out of his Sean Jean sweat suit and put on a pair of black army fatigue pants and a black, longsleeved T-shirt. As he was lacing up his black Tims, Taz started getting dressed, identically as Keno. They both put on their bulletproof vests and snapped them tightly on each other.

When they were finished, Taz said, “Time!” They smiled at each other briefly; then Taz led the way out of the room. They took the stairs to the parking area and met up with everyone inside of the Excursion. Once everyone was inside of the truck, Keno started the ignition and backed out of the parking space. The mission had begun.

Keno had no problem finding the club as he drove down Butner Avenue. He passed the club and made a left turn down the alley, just like Won had instructed on the DVD. He bypassed the back entrance of the club and made a U-turn onto the next street and returned back toward the club. That way, they were now facing the same way that they had come.

“Fa' sho'. I don't know the terrain that cool, so I figured, why risk it? At least this way I know all I have to do is go straight out the alley and bust a right, and we're on our way back to the hotel,” Keno said confidently.

“Do you, baby. I'm always comfortable when you're behind the wheel,” Red said as he once again checked his weapon. The only noise you heard inside of the Excursion was the click-clack of the chambers of the nine millimeters that everyone had inside their hands.

After their weapons were checked and the safety buttons were off, Taz said, “Red, you and Bob take the sentry to the left. Once he's secured, bring up the rear. We're not entering until we know y'all are on our ass.”

“Gotcha'.”

“When we hit the office, y'all know the drill. Two to the right, two to the left, and the last two posted at the door to watch our backs. When everything is secure, I'll hit the thermostat. Once the safe is open, Keno and I will fill up our bags and backpacks. Then, we'll switch with Bo-Pete and Wild Bill. Then they'll switch with Red and Bob. Time check.”

They checked their watches and made sure that they were all on the exact same time. One minute off could cost one of them their lives.

They got out of the Excursion, with Red and Bob leading the way toward the back door of the club. Once they were in front of the door, Taz gave Red a nod of his head; then Red and Bob rushed into the club. Just like Won had told them, there was a security guard posted to their left. Red's nine millimeter was aimed directly at the security guard's head as he whispered, “Get the fuck on the ground or die!” The security guard was so scared that he couldn't move. Bob ran up to the guard and slapped him across his forehead. The guard fell to the ground, and Bob quickly restrained him with a pair of his plastic hand restraints. Once Red saw that Bob had the guard secured, he spoke softly and said, “We're good.”