And I didn't give a fuck who knew it.
—
Instead of going back home, I went to check on a few of our spots and see how shit was looking when they thought nobody was doing pop ups. Checking on spots was usually Zaire role, he was hands on with the street shit. While he was away handling his business, Namier had taken over that role. He’d always worked beside our brother, so he fell into the role naturally. Today, I was already on bullshit, so I was about to surprise some niggas. While seeing if anything had been said from the South Dallas niggas. Today, I’m sure they knew we was smokin on Elijah ass.
From the first and second traps, I knew that word had gotten around about that nigga getting toe tagged last night. Nobody had heard from the Brick Boyz though. Quiet always meant plotting. I’d learned that as a yougin. Whatever they had planned, it wasn’t gone be good enough once they saw what we had coming for they ass tomorrow. By the time I hit the third spot, it was getting late. I called Namier.
"Aye, you got everybody at the warehouse?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said. "They all here. Waiting on you."
"I'm on my way now."
I hung up and headed straight there.
---
The room was full when I walked in. Twenty men. My core operation. The ones who handled the shipments, the money, the muscle, the logistics but were also trained to kill. They all went quiet when I walked through the door. That's how it was supposed to be.
I didn't waste time.
"Tomorrow," I said, standing at the head of the table. "The Brick Boyz are moving something south of the city. Namier gave you niggas the details already. We intercept it. No loose ends. That mean if a nigga wanna risk they life to save that work we about to take, don’t hesitate to send they bitch ass to the upper room. It’s you or them, and all you niggas better leave out the same way you came.”
I looked around the room at each face.
"You move like professionals or you don't move at all. You can’t second guess for a second, or that’ll get you killed.” I continued. "Namier's got the locations and the timing. Mars has the squad. You listen to him like he's me. You don't improvise. You don't get creative. You follow the plan unless you have no other option."
"What about after we grab the shipment?" one of the older niggas asked.
"After we grab it, we sit on it. We not finna move that work. It’s the principle and making sure they get my message. You send one nigga for me and mines, now you gotta plan 20 funerals.” I said. "We let them know we got they work. We let them knowthey killed the wrong nigga and left him on my property.” Then we wait for their response."
"You think they gone retaliate?" another one asked.
"I know they will," I said. "That's the point. They took from us. We take from them. Now we see how they handle that."
I leaned forward on the table.
"This ain't just personal," I said. "This is business too. But make no mistake — if anything goes wrong tomorrow, if anybody gets sloppy, if anybody move wrong, if anybody thinks they can use this as an opportunity to do something stupid — I will handle it. And you won't like how I handle it."
The room stayed silent.
"Namier will go over the rest of details," I said. "Everybody's got a role. Everybody's got instructions. Questions?"
Nobody raised their hand.
"Good," I said. "Get familiar with the plan. Check your guns. Check your vehicles. tomorrow morning, we move. You niggas are Dismissed."
They filed out quiet, and Namier stayed behind with me and Mars.
"They ready?" I asked Namier.
"They ready," he said. "They know what's at stake."
"Good," I said. "Because tomorrow changes everything."
Iwoke up to an empty bed.
The side where he'd been laying was still warm but he was gone. I laid there for a second just breathing in the smell of him that was all over the sheets, all over me. His cologne mixed with whatever body wash he used. It was intoxicating and I hated that I liked it.
