Get It Girls (26 page)

“So what’s up, Jesse? It’s either all of us or none of us, remember?”

Jessica did remember the pact, but all she could think of was her unborn child inside of her. But before she knew it she had her hand raised also. Tiny coughed harshly then stuck out her fist and smiled. “Get It Girls?”

One by one, they touched fists and repeated in unison, “Get It Girls.”

**********

Jessica’s whole body was numb as she walked around Harlem for hours thinking about the challenges ahead of her. She knew that she couldn’t go to Kenny for support and tell him about her dangerous predicament because he would not allow anything to happen to her nor his unborn child inside of her. She needed to talk to someone or she would go crazy, so she went to the only person she knew who would be able to help her—Cleveland.

When she got to Cleveland’s apartment, she knocked on the door but no one answered. She waited around for another hour, but he still hadn’t shown up so she headed home. Just as she arrived home and was about to stick the key in door, the door opened and she stood face to face with her mother and Cleveland. Her mother had on her house gown and blushed when she saw her daughter stare at them knowingly.

Her mother stammered, “Oh, Jessica, you’re home. Cleveland had just stopped by to move around some furniture that I needed to be moved, and he was just leaving.”

Jessica looked at Cleveland, who was avoiding eye contact with her. Jessica decided not to embarrass them more than they already were and played it down and said, “Thank you, Cleveland for helping my mother out. We need a man like you around more often because this place isn’t easy to maintain.”

Cleveland and her mother smiled widely, appreciating that they were given an out. Cleveland tipped his hat to them and bade them both a good night.

Just as he was proceeding down stairs, Jessica said, “Oh, Cleveland, I came from your apartment just now to ask you is it possible you can stop by tomorrow. I need you to help me take my air-conditioner out my room window. It’s too heavy for me to lift by myself. I asked Bosco to do it, but he was too busy.”

Cleveland knew immediately she had a problem when she mentioned Bosco’s name, but he kept his smile. “Sure, Jessica. I’ll be over by ten. Don’t you worry about a thing, because I hear you loud and clear.” Cleveland knew to come after nine in the morning to ensure that Ms. Jones would already be at work.

They nodded and Cleveland walked off down the block.

As mother and daughter closed the door behind them and headed upstairs, Ms. Jones inquired, “Who is Bosco?”

The strain of it all kept Jessica awake the entire night. Jessica eagerly awaited his arrival, and when he finally arrived and rang the doorbell, she immediately threw her arms around him and began to cry. Cleveland was perplexed, and his suspicion that something was terribly wrong was confirmed.

They sat in the dining room, and Jessica explained to Cleveland everything that had transpired over the last twenty-four hours. Cleveland listened intently and didn’t say a word until Jessica finally finished and admitted that she was also pregnant.

Cleveland removed his hat and began scratching his head before he looked into her eyes. “This just doesn’t sound right, Jessica. It sounds to me like one of those girls is running a number on you, because it’s nobody else that would know all that information.”

Jessica thought long and hard about his words and dismissed it. “No, Cleveland, I don’t think so. I think I would know if one of them did.”

Still not convinced Cleveland gave her a knowing look and asked, “Well, how else would someone know that much information about you all if it wasn’t someone who was present with you for the past seven years?”

Jessica didn’t have an answer that would make any sense. So, she just told her how she felt. “I see your, point Cleveland, and it don’t make any sense to me either, but I been around these girls for over eleven years, over six of which we were around each other every day. We knew more about each other than anybody on the planet. I would know if one of them was gaming me, but that’s not the case here. I looked in every one of their eyes when this happened and I saw the same thing—fear.”

Cleveland looked into her eyes, and that’s was exactly what Jessica still had in hers. He scratched his head once again and asked to see the letters again. He removed his glasses from his shirt pocket and placed them on his face and began reading each of them slowly. When he finally finished reading them he still wasn’t fully convinced.

“Jessica, this sounds like a set up, plain and simple, but I see how you don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Either you do it and risk your life in the process, or you dismiss the letters and risk going back to jail.”

They both sat in place for a long time without a word being said until Cleveland folded his burly arms and exhaled deeply and said, “Well, like I said, ‘if you in this thing for a penny, you got to be in for a pound.’” He smiled at Jessica and she suddenly began to smile again.

She stood up and hugged him again. As she pulled away from him, he observed her closely.

“Jessica, I know you have been noticing me and your mother have be getting very friendly lately, and if I know one thing about you, I know that you are smart enough to see what’s going on.”

Jessica only smiled and let him continue.

“Well, I respect you enough to tell you that I have strong feelings for your mother, I always have, but she ain’t never showed me no interest until recently. She always seemed so sad and unhappy before you came home, and I’ve noticed a change in her. It’s like she’s finally allowing sunshine back in her life.” He put his head down for a moment as he searched for the right words to say to her. “The reason I’m telling you all this is because she told me she is going to be a grandmother already.” Cleveland finally lifted his head to face her. “Jessica, when she told me that, I swear that was the happiest that I’ve ever seen her in the four years I’ve known her, and it was then I realized that you and your baby have given her back her life.”

He paused for a moment. “I’m ready to do what I have to do to take care of your problem, but I can’t allow you to risk getting hurt in the process for the sake of your mother.”

Jessica was floored that a man outside her father could be concerned about her mother so deeply that he would risk his life just so she wouldn’t experience another day of unhappiness.

Jessica took Cleveland’s hand into hers and said to him softly, “I couldn’t imagine a better person to be with my mother than you, Cleveland. You been with me through thick and thin and risked your own life when you didn’t have to, but you did. But, I have to be part of this because me and the other girls made our own pact years ago that no matter what the situation was, we would have each other’s back even if it meant dying together. I know what we are up against isn’t going to be easy. In fact, it’s a chance somebody might die, but I’m willing to take that chance because I have no other options.”

Jessica rubbed her growing stomach. “Just like you said, ‘if you in for a penny, you in for a pound.’”

At that moment, he knew she was a warrior and could never change her mind. He acknowledged her by shaking his head.

“Let me get a look at those layouts of the building they sent you.”

T
hey had only three days to devise a plan to overtake the building and come out of it with the least amount of casualties possible. Jessica and Cleveland called an emergency meeting to have everybody show up that that night at his apartment. By eight o’clock that evening everyone had arrived except Lynn and Tiny. Vonda explained to Jessica that she hadn’t heard from Lynn since they’d had their first meeting.

Tiny finally arrived moments later and looked worse than they had ever seen her. She limped in and immediately sought refuge in an unoccupied chair and sat down. Breathing heavily, she looked as though she had just run a marathon—trying to catch a breath. It was obvious to all present, that small, frail girl was dying a slow death, and nobody dared to question her either out of pity or shame. By nine o’clock they decided to start the meeting despite Lynn not being there.

Cleveland took the lead since he had called the meeting and formally introduced everyone to each other again; Cleveland thanked everyone for showing up on such short notice and briefly explained to them why they were there. After he explained the short version to his men, he asked Jessica to stand up and explain to them the rest.

Jessica was nervous, but she had no choice but to tell them the complete account of everything that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. When she finished, all the men were poker faced and silent. Seeing the men’s skepticism, Cleveland joined in and tried to make light of the bad situation.

“The good part about this is that we can shut down the biggest drug house in Harlem and get paid a lot of money to do the job.”

The men seemed to not be buying into it.

Johnson spoke up for the first time. “First of all, this ain’t no drug house, Cleveland. It’s an entire building. Secondly, this whole shit stinks. It doesn’t sound right.”

Shooter agreed. “Johnson is right. This shit sounds like something out of a movie. Plus, in order for someone to have that much information about you it got to be somebody you all know.”

Johnson then added, “It can be one of you, for that matter.”

Cleveland felt their tension and opposition and decided to interject reason. “Look, bottom line is that we all can go down on this because we already got our hands dirty. This person knows about the job we did on 116th Street, so we got just as much to lose as them.”

Nobody said a word about that, so Cleveland continued. “All we got to do is figure out a plan to shut down that building permanently and we are home free. It’s probably a bunch of untrained junkies that are guarding a post or two and we can overtake the whole building just like that.”

Shooter still wasn’t buying into it and played the devil’s advocate. “We can’t afford to assume anything, Cleveland. You most of all should know that. We need positive I.D. on the locations, how many people we are dealing with, and most importantly, the kind of weapons they’ll be holding.”

Johnson spoke up. “Yeah, and the only way we can know that is if we have someone on the inside. If we don’t, we could be walking into an ambush and get slaughtered.”

Cleveland knew he was right and didn’t have a good answer to tell them.

All seemed impossible from the start until Tiny managed to speak up though her rough, crude voice. “I can get that information for you.”

Everyone turned their attention toward the sickly girl with reservations.

Skeptical, Johnson questioned her, “And how are you going to do that, little lady?”

Tiny stared at the man and was offended by him calling her little. Tiny countered back coldly, “Because, I’m a motherfucking dope fiend, and I get high in that spot all the time and everybody knows me, old man.”

Johnson stared at her grimly, until Doc broke the tension by laughing out loud.

Cleveland nodded his approval and quickly inquired, “Do you think you can get us information on their security, their locations, and where they hold the drugs and the money at?”

They looked at Tiny with anticipating eyes and she simply answered, “Yeah, I can do that, but that’s the least of your problems.”

Everyone’s smiles turned into frowns as they awaited an answer.

Impatient, Johnson spewed, “Ok, spit it out.”

Tiny didn’t like the huge man much and snarled at him before she answered. “Getting into the building is going to be the problem. If you ain’t no smoker or a tenant they ain’t letting you get in the building. And even if you do get in to cop the drugs, if they don’t remember you are going to raise suspicion and they will test you by making you smoke crack right in front of them to be sure. And trust me; none of y’all want to hit that glass dick.”

They all thought about her words then Cleveland asked, “So what about other entrances?”

“They have every entrance—the roof, the side entrance, and even the first and second floor windows booby trapped,” Tiny answered. “They got low explosives for the windows, and you might just lose a finger or two, but its primary function is to warn them in case someone tries to get in. But on the roof I hear they got that big shit, that C-4. Even if we make it in there, it’s going to be a problem getting out without getting blown up.”

Being that he was an expert at explosives, Johnson grew alarmed by her vast knowledge about explosives and challenged her again. “How do you know so much about the locations of the explosives? Better yet, how do you know about explosives period?”

Everyone was still skeptical about the job from the beginning, and this seemed like a question they all needed to know. Tiny scanned the room at everyone waiting eagerly for her response. She turned her attention back to her questioner and said, “Because me and some other people was going to rob the place about six months ago.”

Johnson, still not convinced said, “Cleveland, that’s too much of a fucking coincidence for this li’l girl to be so close to this shit. Before I go further she got to tell us everything and convince me she ain’t trying to use us to do the robbery for her. She got to provide some names or something.”

Tiny jumped, enraged, and said, “Motherfucker, I don’t need to convince you to do shit for me. You free to do whatever the fuck you want to do because I don’t have to answer to your old ass or nobody else.”

Johnson had enough and stood up to leave. “Cleveland, you my man and all that, but this whole shit smells like a damn setup if you ask me. I suggest you stay out of it too.”

Cleveland tried to stop him, but Johnson had already made up his mind and continued to walk toward the door. As he opened the door to leave, there was a large box in front of the door with a mysterious note attached to the top of it.

To the people inside this room

Cleveland and Johnson looked at each other in silence. Johnson bent down and shook the box gently before he picked it up and handed it off to Cleveland. The small group of people inside the room were surprised to see both men reenter the room carrying a box. Cleveland brought it into the living room and placed it on the table and then passed around the note. When everyone read the note they eagerly awaited Cleveland’s next move.