Animal (45 page)

Frankie lay there looking at her flowers and contemplating her next move. This was the second time in less than a year that she had almost lost her life, and frankly, she was tired of playing the odds. It was time for her to get out of New York City and go back to the only place that had ever felt like home. She just hoped that Mama Jae would accept her back, considering the circumstances surrounding how they parted.

Just as Cutty had said, he made an attempt to put in extra time with Fatima. When he’d called her expectedly that morning and asked about spending the day together, she was skeptical. In the seventeen years she had known her father, keeping promises had never been high on his list of strong points. Still, she agreed just to have one more tally mark against him when he showed up . . . or not. To her surprise, he was where he said he would be, when he said he would be there.

Fatima was initially apprehensive, but ended up enjoying the outing with her dad. He’d kicked off the morning by taking her to the shooting range, followed by lunch at a nice restaurant
and a movie. Fatima had been resistant at the beginning of the date, but as she hung out with him, she realized her father was a cool-ass dude and more in tune with what she was going through than she’d given him credit for. One date couldn’t repair their relationship, but it was a start.

When he’d gotten word about what had happened to Frankie, Cutty was distraught. His hidden feelings for her had made him overreact about the card game debacle, which caused a rift between them, but he still had love for Frankie. He was hesitant about asking Fatima to detour their date so he could see about Frankie, but she was surprisingly understanding. She had even offered to take the flowers upstairs in case Frankie didn’t want to see him, and if she didn’t, he couldn’t say that he blamed her. He had been a real asshole to Frankie, but if she allowed him to change, he was going to make it right.

Cutty spotted Fatima coming out of the hospital. She wasn’t carrying the flowers so that was a good sign. He opened the door to the truck so he could get out and meet her halfway and found his path blocked by a female. He didn’t recognize her at first, but he placed her face as the girl who lived in Frankie’s building. He opened his mouth to say hello, but his words froze in his throat when she pointed the gun at him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cutty asked her.

“Making everything right. You caused this shit,” Dena said emotionally.

Cutty tried to reason with her. “Shorty, whatever you’re thinking, I can promise you that you’re wrong.”

“We were good together . . . we didn’t need nobody, but then you came around with your broken promises of fast cash.
Frankie was fooled, but I knew you were a snake from the moment I first laid eyes on you,” Dena told him.

“You don’t wanna do this,” Cutty told her.

“The hell I don’t. If Frankie hadn’t been so caught up in your bullshit, then I might’ve had a chance to warm her.” Tears ran down Dena’s cheeks. “You took her from the world, and now it’s time for you to make your exit.”

There was a loud boom. Reflexively, Cutty closed his eyes waiting on the familiar burning of a bullet through his flesh. After a few seconds, the bullet still hadn’t come so he opened his eyes. Dena stood there, still pointing the gun at him. A small red dot appeared on her forehead, which eventually became a fountain of blood. She dropped face-first to the floor, dead as a doornail. Standing behind her holding a smoking gun was Fatima.

“What did you do?” Cutty looked at his daughter in shock.

“She was going to hurt you, and I just—” Fatima began, but couldn’t finish. This was the second time in less than a week that she had found herself staring at a dead body.

Being so close to the hospital, it was only a few seconds before sirens could be heard in the distance. There wasn’t enough time to run and there was no story that Cutty could think of to hide the obvious. “Give me the gun.” He snatched the murder weapon from Fatima’s hand. He immediately began wiping the gun with his shirt, making sure to remove her prints.

“What’re you doing?” Fatima asked nervously.

“Making up for seventeen years of lost time.” Cutty fired another shot into Dena’s dead body to ensure that there was powder residue on his hands when the police tested them.

“No!” Fatima tried to snatch the gun back, but Cutty held it out of her reach.

Half a dozen police cars carrying a dozen police officers converged on their location. Cutty placed the gun on the ground right before the police swooped in on him and cuffed him.

“Why?” Fatima asked with tears in her eyes as they dragged her father away in shackles.

Cutty looked over his shoulder. “When you have kids of your own, you’ll understand. I love you, Fatima.” Those were his last words to her before he was shoved roughly into the squad car.

EPILOGUE

K
ING
J
AMES STOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF
the playground dressed in all-black. The few members of his crew were also dressed in black. The similarities of what they had on hadn’t been a coincidence; it had been an order. The night before they had officially lost one of the realest cats alive . . . for the second time.

It had come as no shock to him to hear that Animal hadn’t perished after the jail break. Animal was a much bigger part in the grand scheme than most understood, so King James knew it would only be a matter of time before he resurfaced, but he never imagined the circumstances or the fact that their destinies would overlap. If only Ashanti had connected them instead of keeping Animal’s presence a secret things could’ve played out different and they’d be celebrating the murder of one of Shai’s instead of mourning the loss of one of their own. When he looked over at Ashanti and saw the crushed look on his face, he knew that no amount of lecturing could teach him a harder lesson than the one Animal’s death had just taught him. He lost his best friend.

When Ashanti got word of what had happened in the scrap yard, he was destroyed. He’d had a bad feeling when he was trying to reach Animal unsuccessfully, and when he’d gotten the news of his murder that morning from King James, his worst fears were confirmed. Fatima had been calling and texting him all day, but Ashanti never answered. For as bad as he needed to be close to her at that moment, he wouldn’t let himself do it. She was supposed to be spending the day hanging out with her dad, and he didn’t want his tragedy to taint their reunion.

Ashanti had spent the better half of the day in his apartment, crying and drinking until he was numb. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that someone he had always looked at as invincible was no longer with them. Ashanti had always been a wayward soul with no real direction or purpose in his life, but that changed the moment Shai Clark had killed Animal. His new purpose in life was to whack Shai. There was so much going on inside his young mind at that moment that he felt like his head would explode if he didn’t get it out, so he turned to his comrade, Alonzo.

Alonzo sat on a crate, dressed in a black T-shirt and black Yankee fitted. He bobbed his head to the sounds of Animal’s first mix tape bumping from someone’s car speakers. He hadn’t gotten a chance to spend much time around Animal, but he understood why the hood loved him. He was a cat who would live and die by what he believed in. Animal’s loss was a tragedy, but what was more tragic was the stain it had left on Ashanti’s spirit. Ashanti idolized Animal, and losing him for the second time killed off whatever youthful innocence that Ashanti had been holding on to. He had crossed the threshold, and nothing
Alonzo said would convince him to turn back. All he could do was hold Ashanti down and try to make sure he didn’t meet with the same unfortunate end as his predecessor.

The first thing Animal could remember thinking was that hell smelled like an old gym locker. He rolled off the army cot he was lying on and got into a sitting position where he could better take stock of his surroundings. Animal blinked, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness, and instead of fiery pits, he was greeted by the stained glass mural that he had stood before a few nights prior. He knew where he was but wasn’t sure how he had gotten there.

“Glad to have you back with us,” a voice called behind Animal. He turned and saw Priest sitting on the front pew.

“You!” Animal snarled. He leaped from the cot and tried to attack Priest, but the shackle that went from his ankle to the floor tripped him, causing him to fall flat on his face.

“There’s that mindless anger again. That’s how you got here in the first place,” Priest reminded him.

“What am I doing here, and where’s my lady?” Animal asked hostilely.

“I’m here, baby,” Gucci called from the aisle. She had traded her hospital gown and slippers for a sweat suit and sneakers. The girl Animal had met during his first visit to the church was helping her down the aisle. She was still weak from the surgery, but moving around far better now that all of the different medications were out of her system.

“Are you okay?” Animal asked when she had finally reached him.

“I’m fine.” She hugged Animal. “They didn’t hurt me.”

“What the fuck is your game, Priest?” Animal turned to him.

“This ain’t about no game. This is about redemption,” Priest told him. “Shai’s reasons for wanting you dead are petty. My reasons for wanting you alive go much deeper. I see something in you that I wish someone had seen in me as a young man, which is why I’ve given you a second chance at life. As soon as you’re able, you and your lady are free to leave and start your lives over. To the world at large, you’re dead now . . . I mean
really
dead, not like that fucked-up job your buddies did a few years back. As we speak, there’s a medical examiner verifying your identities in some lab downtown. Animal and Gucci no longer exist.”

Animal looked at him suspiciously. “Old man, you must think I’m a fool. If it was that simple, then why the hell do you have me chained to the floor? What’re your terms?”

“That chain is to ensure that you sit still long enough to listen to what I have to say, and my terms are simple. As far as Shai is concerned, the two of you are dead and gone. You are gonna leave this beef alone and ride off into the sunset with your lady.”

“I can’t do that,” Animal said.

“You’ve been given a pass. Take it and do with your life what you will,” Khallah added.

“Sweety, where I’m from, we don’t abandon our comrades. Even if I dip off now, Alonzo and Ashanti are marked for death for helping me. I can’t have that on my conscience,” Animal told her.

“Animal, I pulled you from the fire once, and there’s no guarantee that I can do it again,” Priest told him.

“I’m not asking you to. I appreciate what you did, getting me and Gucci out of there, but I can’t turn away now. I gotta
at least make sure Zo and Ashanti are good before I can put all this behind me.”

Priest shook his head and smirked. “You’re determined to keep putting your life on the line until you eventually lose it, huh?”

“They helped me, and I can’t leave them for dead.”

Priest studied his face for a minute. “So be it. If you’re determined to tackle a king cobra, then I guess it’s only right that I show you how to kill it.”

“Priest, I don’t want to sound ungrateful or anything, but why are you helping me? You know what Shai is liable to do to you if he finds out, don’t you?” Animal asked.

Priest nodded. “Indeed I do, but there’s nothing he can do to me that I haven’t already done to myself. Think of it as an old man trying to make his peace in the twilight of his years.” He handed Animal an old photograph.

Animal studied the photo, which was of a much younger Priest with a woman and a small child. Upon closer inspection of the photo, he realized that the woman was his estranged mother and the child cradled lovingly in Priest’s arms was him. “What the fuck is this, some kinda trick?”

“It’s no trick; the photo is real.”

“Then that means—”

“Yes,” Priest cut him off. “You’ve grown into a fine young man, son, and every bit as dangerous as your dad.”

THE BEGINNING

Also by K’wan