The Desert Lion's True Colours (3 page)

‘I know you gotta carry something else.’ he demanded. ‘Nahh man…’ replied Leon. ‘. . . Ask your boss. It’s just me and my P-266.’

The guy looked at Leon suspiciously.

‘I don’t believe you.’ he said and immediately started to pat Leon down again.

Feeling confident Leon had no other weapons on his person the tall guy turned to open the door behind him. A large cloud of smoke bellowed out, carrying with it the distinctive smell of “Black n’ Mild’s” and Weed. Leon followed the guy into the room and immediately heard the words, ‘So you finally decided to show, huh?’

Leon looked towards the direction the words came from and was immediately drawn to the fully stocked bar
-
at least three meters out from the wall to his left. Behind the bars counter were glass shelves with mirrored backing and Crystal-cut tumblers with brown and clear liquor placed throughout. The main reason why it caught Leon’s attention was because the bar itself was a gigantic fish tank, filled with different coloured stones and tropical fish. Black
–
the person who had initially spoken was sitting on a caramel-mocha leather couch to the right of the bar with his right-hand-man
-
and nephew
-
Perry, sitting on a stool to the left.

‘He’s clean.’ said the tall muscle-bound man handing Leon’s P-266 to his boss.

Black casually introduced his new muscular bodyguard to Leon. ‘Bo, Leon. Leon, Bo.’

Bo turned around and looked at Leon with slight disappointment in his eyes. It was as if Leon did not quite match up to the image he had conjured up in his head from all the stories he had heard.

Black peered around the shoulders of Leon as if expecting someone else to show up.

‘So what, No Jay?’ he asked surprised.

‘Nah, not tonight,’ Leon replied. ‘He had to go handle some business.’

Black frowned for moment before saying, ‘Word? I thought you two niggers were joined at the dick. Does your Shorty know you dipping out on her with a dude?’

Leon refused to answer.

With a snort, Black looked down at the brushed chrome, semi-automatic P-266 in his hand and for a split second looked confused but then smiled and said ‘With all the dirt you’ve done for me in the last three years, you still carry this thing? Don’t you watch CSI… ?’

Leon did not reply.

‘Dang, you is one sentimental mother-fucker!’ He said chuckling.

Leon did not need super human hearing to know Black’s words were filled with sarcasm, which only solidified what he already knew
-
something was wrong. It had to be. Aside from the life-size action figure he had hired, Black was acting differently, he was acting weird
–
he was asking too many questions.

‘Yo, what’s the deal Black? What’s up with all the questions… ?’ Leon said finally
-
trying to say the words as cool and as calm as possible. With a roll of the eyes he continued ‘. . . How long have you known me
?
I’ve been working for you and coming into this spot for three years and now for no reason, you gonna have the
black
Hulk
man handle me! What the Fuck!’

Black slowly looked Leon up and down and after a short pause said ‘Leon, you’re a smart guy. You know exactly what is going on.’

‘I do?’ Leon replied surprised.

Shaking his head Black said ‘I was the one who decided to help you out and now you got your shit together…’ He paused long enough to heave his 300 lbs. of the couch and then after letting out a sigh, said ‘. . . I have to hear you’re trying to fuck with my business.’

‘What! What are you talking about… ? Leon replied surprised. ‘. . . Why would I try to get over on you? I’m straight where I’m at.’

Black moved in closer which immediately caused Leon to shrink back. Not out of fear but out of sheer disgust. Mixed in with the smell of weed, Black was carrying a strong smell of body odour
-
stale and unpleasant. His 5'9, 300 lbs. was regrettably all fat and this unfortunately caused him to sweat like a pig. Over the years Leon had often wondered if Black knew he even had a problem or if his father had said anything to him when he was alive. With a slight frown Leon thought someone should say something
-
but not him.

Black stopped within Leon’s five feet of personal space and watched him closely, trying to read any expression or deviation in his eyes. Leon could see what he was trying to do, so he just hit him with a blank stare and said ‘What… ?’

Black cleared his throat first and then said ‘Perry tells me your clientele got a little bigger last week.’ Despite the fact Black had just made a statement, Leon knew it was a direct question.

‘What are you talking about?’ Leon replied.

Not missing a beat Black quickly said ‘Well, as I understand it, helping me in my business is not enough for you. From what I hear you’re now working for Pyro as well…’

Leon heard the name and for what seemed like minutes everything stood still. Leon knew that Black could never really know the dealings he had with Pyro, but the very fact he was being accused of having any association with the major competition was not a good look. Leon could feel sweat making its way down his back, giving him that uncomfortable, tickly feeling. He looked to Black’s right and saw Perry fidgeting in his seat. Leon then focused his gaze on Black’s beady eyes, smiled and then said ‘Yo, if Perry can prove that, then cool. But until then,’ Leon paused. ‘I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.’

‘Plead
innocent
until
proven
guilty.’
Leon thought.

Black took a step forward and frowned. The two of them standing in front of each other looked like a picture op of an upcoming boxing match of professional fighters. Leon was no longer smiling, now his expression was serious and cold.

‘So what’s the deal Black?’ He said dryly. ‘Is that the reason you called me here, to start throwing accusations? I thought we were going to talk about business.’

Black looked over his shoulder at Perry and said ‘you sure you know what you know?’

Getting up from the chair, Perry walked up to Black’s side and said ‘I know what I know and your so called golden boy is playing you unc. He’s working for Pyro… !’

‘Yo, what’s your problem… ?’ Leon interjected. ‘. . . Can you prove that yo? You don’t know what you’re talking about…’

As soon as the words left Leon’s mouth, Perry let his fist rise from the lower right with a quickness that resembled a cobra attack. It would have caught any other guy off guard and square across the jaw but fortunately Leon was not just any other guy and smoothly dodged Perry’s clenched hand. The punch was thrown with so much force the momentum carried Perry’s body clean into Leon’s path; so in one swift motion Leon stepped to Perry’s side and wrapped his right arm around his neck.

‘Don’t be stupid!’ Black shouted.

Firmly holding Perry in what had now morphed into an unbreakable full-nelson, Leon looked up and saw Black’s short podgy index finger wrapped around the trigger of his own gun. Leon could also see Bo
–
who was standing to his right, also had a gun however he was cradling the pistol in his hand like a small stone and standing in an offensive line position as if he would much rather run over him, than use the gun he was holding.

‘Yo, you can do what you wanna do, but no one tries to disrespect me.’ Leon barked.

He meant every word and everyone who knew him understood he did not take kindly to disrespect. Black started to laugh loudly, ‘You are one brave dude…’ He said. ‘. . . Crazy! But brave. If you isn’t your father’s son, shiii…’

Black’s words trailed off into silence. He looked like his mind had just switched channels and his expression changed with the thought. He was no longer smiling but held a serious frown, causing the wrinkles on his greasy forehead to become more pronounced. They stretched from one side to the other with a slight dip filling in the space between his eyebrows. Leon could see Black’s mind was moving from thought to thought because his expression changed three times in the same amount of seconds. Looking at Leon still holding Perry in the full-nelson Black simply said ‘
Let
him
go
.’ Before slowly raising the gun he was holding until it was level with Leon’s head. Perry craned his neck to the right in anticipation of his assailant’s head getting torn off by the hollow point parabellum. Leon however weighed up his options and quickly came to the conclusion he had no choice but to relinquish his hold on Perry. As soon as he felt Leon’s grasp weaken Perry pushed him off and staggered away
-
visibly in pain.

With a slight nod, Black lowered his aim on Leon’s head, turned his attention to his nephew Perry and said ‘How the fuck you gonna let him come in here and do you like that? If you can’t take care of your own ass how you gonna be looking out for me? You stupid mother-fucker! You lucky you kin.’

Leon started to smile. He could tell Perry was not only upset but embarrassed. Black’s insults had got underneath Perry’s skin and to make matters worse he could see Leon was enjoying his public humiliation. At that moment he hated Leon and decided he would do whatever it takes to have Black get rid of him. He was Black’s nephew and there was no way he was going to let some new guy come in and take his shine. He was next in line to run the South-Side syndicate and no one was going to change that.

Black wiped the sweat that was gathering under his chin with the back of his sleeve and took another deep breath before saying, ‘Leon, I’ve known you since you were a little jit. You probably don’t remember but me and your pops go way back. In fact, I drove your dad to the hospital when he got the call you were born. When your mum and pops started to have problems and she took you away, I’ll be honest I never thought I would see you again. So when you came back for your ole’ mans funeral I told you I would look out for you,’ Black paused for a moment, then said ‘but you ain’t my kid! So if I even have a dream of you trying to pull something,
-
you’re dead! You hear me, dead! Just like your ole’ man!’

The words scrapped on Leon’s ears and his facial expression changed. Black smiled because he thought he had touched a nerve but what Black took for weakness was three years and two months of pent up anger. While everything inside of him wanted to snatch his gun out of Black’s hands and let loose on everyone within the room Leon just let out a discreet sigh and simply replied ‘I hear you.’

Black looked down at the gun in his hand and finally decided to ask Leon a question he had been waiting to pose for the last three years, ‘How did you get your pop’s piece Leon?’

“
Finally
”, Leon thought. He knew it was only a matter of time before Black would bring up the gun subject again but before he could answer Black carried on talking.

‘I gotta admit, when I saw it in your waist at the funeral I thought I saw a ghost. You looked just like him when he was around your age.’

For the second time that night Leon found himself in a position where his silence would be the best thing for everybody. However his non reply to the question was duly noted by Perry.

‘Do you know how your dad got this piece?’

Leon shook his head. After a long pause, Black replied ‘Hah, well it’s probably best you don’t know. Let’s just say your dad was a gangster. A true gangster and I for one will walk over anyone who says anything different.’ Black paused to let out a chuckle before continuing ‘When we first decided to run this shit, there was this crew from outer Detroit. At the time they ran the whole city grid lock. Everything you could think of, they were in it: drugs, contract killings, extortion, prostitution. They had their shit on lock. Anyway, out of nowhere
-
your ole’ man decides he wants in. Sure, we were cool with our set-up, but your pops had plans for us. He knew what was going to happen but see that’s what I loved about your pops. That nigger wasn’t afraid to go to war. If he wanted something, that’s all that mattered. Needless to say that crew are no longer with us. Just a distant memory…’ Black’s signature laugh returned. ‘. . . If you go to the public library, you’ll probably find pictures of them in the obituary section of the Detroit News. Hey Perry.’

‘Yes uncle.’

‘How much do our boys bring us in from D-Town?’

‘About six mill.’

‘See what I’m saying Junior? Six million a month niggah and that’s just Detroit.’ He paused to enjoy the thought of all the money rolling in before saying something that would stay with Leon for a long time.

‘If it wasn’t for your ole’ man, life round here would be very different. Trust me.’

Not really wanting to hear anymore Leon decided to cut in. ‘Err, no offence but what does this walking down memory lane with visions of my father got to do with me now?’

As soon as the words left his lips, Leon realised the words came out a little harsher than he expected but he was not apologetic. He was vexed, upset at the fact that he was standing in a room with three men who for all accounts and purposes wanted to bring him harm, instead of him being at home with the one person who cared.

Getting his thoughts in check and his feelings under control he said ‘Black, I get it. You and my ole man were tight, but he ain’t here. So unless you wanna hold a séance, are we gonna do business or what?’

Black smirked. ‘Are
WE
gonna do
BUSINESS
?’ He repeated, emphasizing the words ‘we’ and ‘
business’
. Handing the nine-millimetre back to Leon he said ‘Nahh, not tonight. Think of this as more like a favour.’

Black walked across the room to a gigantic oak desk, reached down behind it and came up with a large Gucci travel bag full of money. At a glance Leon could see bundles of hundred dollar bills. The red money straps holding them in place said $20,000. Due to the size of the bag Leon quickly calculated there had to be around 3-5 million in the bag easy. Leon noticed Black’s eyes starting to narrow. Before clearing his throat and saying ‘Look Junior, I need you to drop this money off for me.’