Wifey 4 Life (22 page)

“Oh shit! I see him right there,” I said, pointing in his direction.
He was indeed driving his wife’s car, and I could see it as clear as day.

I looked at Walt to see what his next move would be. He looked
clueless about how to handle this situation, so I sat back and wondered how this
scene would play out. Walt kept the phone glued to Tony’s ear, so he could keep
the dialog going while Jeff continued to exit the parking lot from the other side.

“So are you going to turn back around or what?” Lanier asked.
“Yeah, um, er, gi-give me a second,” Tony said, stuttering. “Why you leave anyway?
You knew I was coming.”

“I left because, er, I didn’t want Kira to look out her hotel
window and see this van sitting in the parking lot.”

“Does she know who the van belongs to?”

“Nah, but I think she saw me pull up when she got out of her
cab.”

“What made you think that?”

“Because when she got out of her cab, she did a double take,
and then she rushed into the hotel.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me this before? Shit! She might’ve
called the cops.”

“Nah, I don’t think she did that, because I’ve been sitting up
here ever since I talked to you, and I haven’t seen any police patrolling this area.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Well, what you think we should do?” Lanier sounded like he had
run out of ideas.

“I think we should park somewhere else, but close, so we can
be within walking distance of our cars.”

“What the fuck we gon’ do when we get on foot? Time is running
out for us, so if we gon’ do something, we gon’ have to do it now. And to begin
that process, we need to figure out how the hell we gon’ get her out that hotel
without anyone seeing us.”

“I’ve been trying to figure that shit out since I got off
the phone with you.”

“Well, look, let’s find a parking spot first, and then we can
deal with the other shit after that,” Lanier said.

Everybody in the van remained quiet because we didn’t want to
tip off my uncle that Tony wasn’t alone. I guess, since Tony couldn’t see exactly
where Jeff was driving, he decided to let my uncle suggest where they would both
park.

“I see you making a U-turn at the light, so do you want to park
over there in that residential area near that basketball court off North Hampton
Boulevard?”

Tony looked at Walt, who nodded, giving Tony the green light.
“Yeah, that’s cool.”

“All right. Well, I’ll be over there in a second.”

“A’ight.”

Walt took the phone away from his ear and pressed the end button.
Right after Walt ended the call, Jeff looked at him through

the rearview mirror. “You want me to drive over to the residential
neighborhood near the basketball court?”

“Yeah.”

“What we gon’ do when we get over there?” Griff asked.

Walt said, “Jeff, try to beat that nigga over there, so we can
jump out the van and wait for him in the cut somewhere.”

“A’ight,” Jeff said, and then he pressed down on the accelerator.

“You better hurry up, because that red light my uncle is at is
getting ready to turn green.”

“I’m trying.”

When Jeff finally pulled on to the street, I looked around to
see if anyone was in the vicinity, but no one was there. Well, at least I didn’t
see anyone. As soon as Jeff pulled up to the basketball court, Griff and Walt opened
the door to get out of the van.

Before Walt closed the sliding door to the van, I asked, “Are
you getting ready to take out my uncle now?”

Walt looked at me. “That was the plan.”

“Well, do you think I’d be asking too much if you let me torture
his ass first? I mean, I want him to feel the same shit he put me through earlier.”

Walt looked around to see if my uncle had arrived yet, and when
he didn’t see any trace of him, he looked back at me and said, “If me and Griff
take him hostage, we ain’t gon’ have a place to put ’im. You see how much space
this nigga is taking up,” he said, referring to Tony.

I looked at Tony and then back at Walt. “We don’t need him anymore,
so get rid of him.”

“No! No! Please don’t kill me!” he pleaded, his voice getting
louder and louder with each word that came out of his mouth. If we didn’t do something
to shut him up, he would’ve attracted someone’s attention, and we didn’t need that,
especially since we had plans to kidnap my uncle.

A pair of headlights came racing around the corner toward us,
and everyone turned around to see who it was.

“Oh shit! My uncle is coming,” I said in a panic, paranoia consuming
my entire body. He was approximately one hundred and fifty yards from us when we’d
first noticed him, and at the speed he was going, it was going to be a matter of
seconds before he was right next to us.

Caught totally off guard, Walt and Griff didn’t have any time
to run for cover and hide behind one of the cars parked near the van, so they both
climbed back into the van. As soon as they got back into the van, they closed their
doors, looked at each other, and wondered aloud about what their next step was going
to be.

The way we were parked, my uncle’s car was coming toward us
from the back. I watched his car approach from the back window of the van.

Walt scrambled to the back of the van where I was, so he could
look out the back window too. “We gotta think of something quick,” he said.

“Where is he now?” Griff asked.

“He’s pulling up to the back of the van now,” Walt told him.

“Yeah, I can see him through my side window,” Jeff said.

As Walt and Jeff followed Lanier’s every move, I saw Tony moving
through my peripheral vision. I turned my head around and looked directly at him.
I thought he was trying to ease his way over to the sliding door, but he was only
trying to turn on his side. I knew he couldn’t be so stupid as to try to scoot his
body toward the sliding door, knowing Jeff and Griff would see him. But I’d been
taught that you never underestimate anyone, especially those close to you.

Speaking of those close to you, my uncle stopped the car directly
behind the minivan. After he turned off the ignition, he got out of the car.

“He’s out of the car,” I whispered to everyone in the van.

Griff shifted his body, and Jeff pressed the recliner button
on the side of his seat so he could lean back. I continued to watch my uncle from
the back window as he approached the van. He walked on the left side of the van
and headed toward the front. I figured he assumed that Tony was in the driver’s
seat. I looked toward the front of the van and saw Jeff lay farther back in his
seat.

“Walt, whatcha want me to do?” Jeff said. “He’s almost at my
door.”

“Just remain calm and act normal,” Walt told him.

“What am I gon’ say when he asks me where Tony is?”

Before Walt could answer, my uncle was standing outside the driver’s
side door. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him clearly.

“Where’s Tony?” Lanier asked.

Jeff sat back up in his seat and rolled down his window. “He
just ran to the side of that house across the street so he could take a leak.”

“I wonder why he didn’t tell me he was rolling with somebody.
When I talked to him on the phone, he acted like he was rolling solo.”

Griff wouldn’t look at my uncle. He turned his attention toward
the basketball court, which was to his right.

“When he was on the phone with you, I thought you heard us in
the background, because me and him was talking the whole time y’all was on the phone.”

“Nah, I didn’t hear nobody talking.”

I heard him take a step backward.

“Which house you said he was by?”

Jeff reached out the window and pointed to a beige-colored ranch-style
house to the left of the van. All the lights were out at that house, so it was pretty
smart of him to say that was where Tony was trying to take a piss.

I peeped out the left side window of the minivan to see what
my uncle was doing. I couldn’t see him that good, but I could tell he was getting
a little nervous.

Without warning, he yelled, “Hey, Tony. Where you at, man?”

Of course, Tony couldn’t answer him because he was tied up
in the back of the minivan with me and Walt.

Jeff tried to remain calm, but he knew if Lanier continued to
yell, someone who lived in one of the houses in the neighborhood would sure enough
look outside their windows to see who was creating all the noise. Jeff knew we didn’t
need any witnesses, especially since the minivan belonged to him, so he took it
upon himself to eliminate the source of the noise. He opened the door, gun in hand.

“Lanier, they trying to kill you! You better run!” Tony blurted
out, catching everybody in the van off guard.

Lanier was looking in the direction of the house where he was
told Tony was taking a leak. His back was turned to Jeff, so Jeff had the upper
hand when he saw Lanier shift his body to turn back around.

Before Lanier could do anything, Jeff was out of the van, and
standing before him, his pistol pointed directly at his head. “Nigga, if you say
another word, I’ma blow your motherfucking head clean off your shoulders. Now
turn your ass back around and put up your hands!” Just as Lanier turned around and
raised his hands, Griff opened his door and hopped out to assist Jeff.

Walt turned his attention to Tony, who was curled up in a fetal
position, a dumbfounded expression on his face. He knew he had fucked up royally,
and his time on this earth was about to expire. Walt got down on his knees with
the gun in hand and started pistol-whipping the hell out of Tony.

Tony screamed, “Owwwww! Please don’t kill me! I’m sorry! Please
give me another chance.”

Blood was flying everywhere. It even got on Walt’s face, but
Walt acted like it didn’t bother him, because he kept pounding Tony with one blow
after the next. Tony’s face looked really raw, and it became unbearable for me to
look at it, so I closed my eyes and placed my face in the palms of my hands.

As Tony’s cries got louder and louder, Jeff and Griff grabbed
my uncle and marched him around to the side of the minivan to see what was going
on.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jeff asked as soon as he slid
the van door open.

“I wanted to teach him a lesson about opening his mouth.”

“But why did you do that shit in my van? Do you know how hard
it is to clean up blood?”

“Yeah, Walt,” Griff said, “he ain’t lying. Trying to get rid
of bloodstains ain’t no easy task.”

“Why you ain’t just shoot him in his fucking head and be done
with it?” Jeff said.

“Good idea.” Walt then turned back around, put his gun against
Tony’s head, and shot him.

Tony’s eyes were still open, but his body became still. I knew
he was dead.

Uncle Lanier started trying to make deals with Jeff and Griff.
“Look, y’all, if y’all let me go, I’ll make you very rich.”

“That’s a fucking lie!” I said. “He ain’t even rich himself.”

Lanier didn’t see me sitting in the back of the minivan, but
when he heard my voice, he leaned into the van to see if his ears had played a trick
on him. And when he saw my face, he looked like he was about to have a fucking heart
attack.

“Surprised to see me, huh?”

While he was at a loss for words, Jeff and Griff started tying
his arms and legs together with duct tape.

“Well, since you ain’t got shit to say,” I continued, “I might
as well tell you that you are about to go on the wildest ride of your life. And
when I’m through with your grimy ass, your lame-ass wife gon’ be burying you.”

“Kira, I know I hurt you, but can you please forgive me? We are
family, and nothing should come between that.”

I wasn’t trying to hear his bullshit. He’d taken me through so
much agony and pain, it felt unreal. I still couldn’t believe that he’d planned
the whole kidnapping thing and participated in torturing me.

Walt took off his shirt and wiped his face with it. There was
still a lot of blood near the creases of his eyes and around his nose, which Jeff
brought to his attention.

After Jeff and Griff tied up my uncle, they pushed him inside
the van, and he fell onto of Tony’s limp body. The shit must’ve scared the hell
out of him, because he screamed like a little bitch.

Walt kicked Lanier in his side. “Shut the fuck up!” Then he looked
at Jeff and asked him if he had checked my uncle to see if he had a burner on him.

Before Jeff slid back the door, he told Walt, “Yeah, I checked
while we were on the other side of the van. He’s clean.”

“It’s probably in his car,” I blurted out.

Walt told Griff, “Go check his car and see if he left his burner
in there.”

“A’ight.” Griff dashed off toward Lanier’s car.

While Griff searched my uncle’s car, Jeff slid the van door closed,
got back into the driver’s seat, and turned on the ignition. I took it upon myself
to look out each window in the back of the van to see if anyone in the neighborhood
was peeping out of their front door or windows. Thankfully, I didn’t notice anyone
watching us.

Once Griff completed his search, he rushed back to the van and
hopped into his seat, sounding a little out of breath.

“You all right?” Jeff asked him.

Griff sighed. “Yeah, I’m straight.”

“Did you find his pistol?” Walt asked.

“Yeah, I got it right here.” Griff showed him Lanier’s semi-
automatic handgun.

“Walt, you know we gon’ have to hurry up and get rid of Tony’s
body before all his blood soaks into my carpet.”

Griff stuck Lanier’s gun into the glove compartment. “Yeah, Walt,
he’s right. We gon’ have to get rid of his body ASAP.”

“Where you think we should put him?” Walt asked.

“Let’s leave him in the same spot where we put his girl,” Griff
suggested.

“Nah, that won’t be a good idea,” Jeff said. “It would be really
stupid to go back to the same area where we dumped off one body, and then turn around
to do the same shit again. For all we know, somebody could’ve seen this van, so
if we chance it and go back out there, we would really become suspect.”