Hide & Seek (37 page)

“
Come on DeNoah,” Role whispered quietly as yet another dancer took the stage and the crowd began to get rowdy again.

Willing himself to stop worrying, Role turned his attention to Lollipop, watching her dance and thinking how much he wanted to lick her himself.

*****

Xae walked into Pink Panty, glancing around the club looking for his target. He was having a hard time seeing anything with all the rowdy men hollering and jockeying for position to see the stripper on deck. Glancing up for a moment, Xae had to admit the woman was sexy as hell as she continued to grind and gyrate on the steel pole she was now sliding down, head first.
Concentrate man, you’re here on business,
his mind told him snapping him out of his lust filled thoughts for the moment. Methodically making his way to the bar, Xae ordered a beer and sat on the empty barstool next to him, once again casing the club. He finally spotted Role stuffing money into the dancer’s thong as she smiled at him and he smiled back, licking her butt, before she pushed him away and went to another patron. Taking another swig from his beer, Xae put the bottle on the counter and began make his way to his target. He’d concealed the .9mm in the baggie jeans he wore, attached by a short chain to his belt loop, eliminating the heavy weightiness that would have given him away when he entered and the bouncers looked him over.

He was close now and the crowd was still thick, providing perfect cover. Xae eased the gun out of his pocket, carefully disengaging the safety with the same hand. Role was sitting again, sipping a drink and still lustily eyeing the dancer on stage. Xae crept behind a rowdy crowd of 4 or 5 men, who were laughing loudly and throwing money onto the stage. He reasoned that all their movements and noise would mask him own, as Xae began to raise the.9mm and take aim. As he squeezed the trigger, hell broke. Shots began to ring out from seemingly every angle of the club. Xae hit the floor, turning over a table to take refuge behind. He saw Role dive on the floor close to the stage. Not wasting any time, Xae aimed and unloaded six shots, each one hitting their mark. Role was dead almost instantly.
Now I gotta get the fuck outta here,
Xae thought as he looked around seeing a rear exit. People were screaming, running and ducking trying to avoid the carnage as Xae made his way to the back door.

*****

“
What the fuck,” Ian spat angrily sitting inside the Benz watching the people screaming and scattering as they got out of the club.

He saw Dixon stumble to the car unlock the door and get in.

“
What happened,” Ian asked calmly.

He saw the blood and assumed his bodyguard had been shot.

“
Where are you hit,” he asked again.

Dixon replied he’d only gotten lightly grazed. The blood on his shirt wasn’t his own.

“
Top’s crew musta smelled the trap,” he told Ian as they continued to watch and wait, hoping more of their own made it out.

“
Two dudes came outta nowhere and just started blastin’,” he explained as Ian frowned deeply.

This was a fiasco and he was pissed. He saw more and more people pour out of the club. He also heard the police sirens in the distance.

“
They got 3 minutes, and we’re out,” Ian told Dixon, who knowingly acknowledged his understanding.

Andre’, Reggie, and Jose’ made it to the car in time.

“
Where is Manuel,” Ian asked, hating to leave the man behind.

“
He’s gone, Ice,” Reggie replied.

“
Fuck,” Ian swore as Dixon started the Benz and spun out of the parking lot.

They passed the police cars screaming onto the scene a half mile down the road as they turned onto the interstate and headed back to Mardi Gras to regroup.

*****

Xae jumped into the passenger side of the car as DeNoah regarded him calmly. “You finish him,” he asked as Xae assured him Role was dead.

“
Man who was them fools up in there shootin’,” he asked as DeNoah shrugged slightly.

Truthfully he’d seen the men as they entered, wondering why they were there.

“
We’ll sort all that out later,” DeNoah replied starting the car and heading to the hotel where Xae had a room.

“
Wanna stop and get some liquor or something,” DeNoah asked amiably.

Xae told him he had some beer and weed at the room so he was good. Grunting again, they rode in silence except for the constant boom of the bass from the stereo in DeNoah’s car. The trip was short as they arrived and headed inside the room.

“
That shit was crazy,” Xae remarked heading into the bathroom.

DeNoah said nothing as he sat down, waiting from him to re-enter the room.

“
You want a beer, some smoke,” Xae asked as DeNoah declined the beer, but accepted the weed.

Rolling the blunt, Xae passed it to DeNoah to light.

“
So what’s next,” Xae asked as he enjoyed the beer.

“
Gotta make a call and see,” DeNoah replied simply, taking another hit from the joint.

“
How long you been rolling with Deuce and Top,” Xae asked again, his nervousness still obvious, hitting the blunt himself now.

“
Bout a year or so,” DeNoah answered honestly.

“
Mhmph, okay,” Xae replied. “How are they to work for?”

DeNoah told him Top was good people.

“
He don’t play his folks, treats us all good,” he added as Xae opened another beer.

“
This your first kill,” DeNoah asked curiously watching the man drink and smoke.

“
Nah,” Xae replied. “This is the first wild west shoot out though,” he threw in, chuckling at his own joke.

DeNoah smiled slightly, rising and heading to the bathroom now himself. Xae rolled another blunt and was enjoying it when DeNoah came back into the room.

“
Man, what the fuck,” Xae spat, choking on the smoke and coughing furiously.

Without a word, DeNoah pulled out his cell and hit speed dial.

“
Hey, we’re here,” he said simply, pressing speaker.

“
Hello Xavier,” Tariq addressed him calmly.

Xae frowned slightly at the voice, not recognizing it.

“
I’m Top,” Tariq clarified for him.

“
Wow, um, hey Top,” Xae returned genuinely excited to talk to the big man personally.

“
What’s going on with DeNoah,” he asked still eyeing the man as he held the .10mm aimed directly at him.

“
Ahh, yes,” Tariq replied. “Well, Xavier, it seems we have a problem,” he went on as Xae listened mutely. “When everything went down in Mississippi, you ran,” Tariq told him. “You left everything in the wind and just bolted, you didn’t even call Deuce to give him a heads up until you were here and safe,” he explained patiently as Xae swallowed the large lump in his throat.

“
Top, I,” he tried, as DeNoah told him to shut up and not interrupt.

“
You proved to us at that point that you weren’t a team player Xae,” Tariq began again. “This is a team, we’re a family and we look out for each other,” he went on. “We handle business, we don’t run and cover our own ass,” he finished irritably. “So, as you can see, this is not the organization for you,” Tariq told him, the meaning now evident as DeNoah smiled slightly.

“
Come on Top,” Xae threw back, panicking. “Give me another chance, I did what you told me tonight,” he tried to reason. “I did it without hesitation,” he added praying he was getting through.

“
You’ll be pleased to know Tate is dead,” Tariq told him not addressing his earlier pleas. “He suffered horribly, and that was for your sister’s injustice,” he added as Xae thanked him, the lump in throat becoming painful.

“
You however,” Tariq began again. “Well, I can only say I’m disappointed, you had so much potential,” he finished as the line went dead.

Xae looked up into DeNoah’s eyes as he felt the first bullet enter his body. It was followed by three more as Xae gasped loudly, felt no more pain, and fell face first onto the floor beside his bed.

*****

LaRon and Mook were standing outside the back door of the house now watching Caramel through the window. She’d left the blinds open assuming no one would be near enough to watch or accost her. Ryan wasn’t here, but they assumed he would arrive later.

“
What you wanna do,” Mook whispered.

LaRon thought for a few moments before telling him the plan. Nodding his understanding, Mook waited for LaRon to make a move. He knew this hit was intensely personal, so he let him take the lead. He gingerly tried the knob, thinking they might get lucky twice in one day. Unfortunately the door was locked this time. Stepping back, LaRon kicked the door hard as Caramel jumped up at the sound screaming shortly. The two men were inside the house before she could run to the bedroom and get the gun Ryan had given her.

“
Relax, trick,” LaRon told her angrily, grabbing and throwing her back into the easy chair she’d been sitting in.

“
Where’s your man,” Mook hissed, giving her an evil look.

“
He’s not here,” Caramel replied honestly, terrified the two men would kill her.

“
Duh, bitch, we can see that,” LaRon returned. “Where the fuck is he and what time is his ass due home?”

Caramel swallowed hard and told them she didn’t know where he was exactly or what time he might come home.

How long you two been playin’ house,” Mook asked glancing around the home.

“
Couple months,” she replied quietly, curled into the chair watching them both suspiciously.

“
What’s this,” LaRon asked, picking up the book. “Pregnancy for dummies,” he murmured aloud. “You’re pregnant,” he asked eyeing Caramel once again.

“
Yeah,” she replied saying nothing more.

This muthafucka messin’ with Tweety and this hoe too, knocking’ her ass up,
LaRon thought angrily. He stopped his thought, recalling that Jaleesa wanted to be with him again and was carrying his child.

“
What’s to eat in this bitch,” Mook threw out. “Get up and cook something, make yourself useful.”

Caramel quickly did as she was told, heading into the kitchen and putting together a meal. Her mind raced as the two men continued to hold her hostage. LaRon left the kitchen to look around the house as Mook continued to keep an eye on Caramel.

Wandering inside their bedroom, he took notice of everything he came in contact with.
So when was he gonna tell Tweety the shit was done,
LaRon thought. He was almost as angry with the man for cheating on her as he was with him for sleeping with her.
Did he even give a fuck that she was missing, shit,
LaRon continued to think. He found the gun Caramel was running for earlier, unloading it and putting it back in the drawer. Snooping in the closet he found money stashed in several shoe boxes tucked behind heavy winter coats. He found three more weapons in the top of the closet, quickly unloading and putting them back. LaRon heard the phone go off and headed back to the kitchen.

“
Answer it,” he barked at Caramel. “You better put on an award winning performance too,” he added, pointing the gun at her once more.

“
Hello,” Caramel answered softly.

“
Hey baby,” Ryan threw back. “You okay,” he asked hearing something amiss in her voice.

“
Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. “I was napping,” she added quickly, switching to speaker as Mook motioned.

“
Oh okay, well I called to let you know I wouldn’t be there for a few days,” Ryan told her as both LaRon and Mook frowned deeply.

“
Why,” Caramel asked simply.

“
Some shit poppin’ off with Ice, I need to be there,” he replied giving the men his itinerary.

“
How long will you be gone,” she asked honestly missing him already.

“
I don’t know, but I’ll call you,” he replied.

“
OK, well be careful,” she told him.

“
I will baby, take care of my son, and I’ll see you soon,” Ryan replied disconnecting.

“
What you wanna do with the missus here,” Mook asked sarcastically.

LaRon knew they had to keep Caramel within arms reach. If they left her alone she would be on the phone before they got back to the truck, alerting Ryan to their presence.

“
Go pack,” LaRon barked as she jumped slightly before complying.

Pulling out his cell, LaRon called Tariq.

“
Ryan is headed back to Atlanta,” he told his friend.

“
That’s fine, we can finish shit here,” he told him.

“
We got his chick, need to keep her on lock for a while,” he told Tariq.

“
That’s fine, take her to the first house,” he replied as LaRon acknowledged the direction.

“
Mook,” Tariq called out knowing he was on speaker.

“
Yeah, Top, wassup?”

“
I talked to Kim,” he told him as Mook listened. “She’s going to kill him, and I gave her permission,” he said simply as Mook frowned deeply.