The Desert Lion's True Colours Read online

  Perry nodded.

  For verification Leon asked ‘In New-York?’

  ‘Yep.’ Perry replied smiling. ‘The money you was given was just 1 of 5 bags. Bo will make sure you get the rest before y’all bounce. Specific details of the guy you’re supposed to meet will be given to you when you get to New-York.’

  ‘How are we getting there?’ Jay asked.

  Without acknowledging Jay was the one who asked the question, Perry turned to Leon and said

  ‘That’s not my business.’ He paused for a moment then said, ‘Just know you gotta be there by 10 O’ clock tomorrow.’

  ‘In the morning?’ Jay exclaimed in a questioning tone.

  ‘Lucky for you, - No. The meeting is set for 10:00pm. Once you get to New-York just find a spot to lay low.’

  ‘Is that it?’ Leon enquired.

  ‘That’s it.’ Perry replied.

  Before Leon could say anything else, Perry went on, ‘Oh! I forgot to ask. Was it you who put in work down in O.T today?’

  Leon refused to answer.

  Perry smirked. ‘It was you, wasn’t it… ?’ he said over a chuckle. ‘What happen? They turn you down, so you decided to light one of their niggers up?’ Perry let out a cynical laugh. ‘Did you think if you did that everything would be cool with Uncle B? You must be real stupid, or just out of your mind! In the three years Uncle’s had you around, haven’t you learnt anything. Uncle B got eyes and ears everywhere. The Police, FBI, CIA, Shiiiit! He even got peoples in the White-house. How the fuck do you think we do what we do? Uncle B is always one step ahead. So if someone said you were dealing with the enemy. You were dealing with the enemy. God knows why he didn’t kill you.’ Perry paused, picked up a glass of champagne, reclined back in his chair and said ‘I don’t know why, but for some reason he NEEDS YOU to make this drop. But hey, who cares. As long as it gets there and everything goes well, we will be literally sitting on-top of the world.’

  Perry burst out laughing, which caused Leon to look over at Jay. While Perry was in the pitch black about a lot of things Leon thought that last statement carried a lot of weight. However, he calmly picked up two glasses of champagne that had already been poured. Gave one to Jay, raised his glass and said ‘Here’s to sitting on top of the world!’

  ‘Foreal!’ Perry exclaimed smiling.

  After two very large gulps, Perry looked over at Bo and said, ‘Go get these niggers the stuff so they can get on their way.’ Then turning his attention to Leon, said ‘Here, take this.’

  Handing Leon a phone, Perry said ‘Uncle says you need to keep this with you at all times. He will be calling you on it. I suggest you call him as soon as you get there.’ Perry paused, took a tiny vile of cocaine from out of his jacket pocket, dusted the length of his index finger with its white contents and snorted it all in one go. Then rubbing his nose with the back of his hands he looked up at Jay and said ‘Now git! No fun for you guys tonight.’

  Jay moved forward which was mirrored by Bo coming from the opposite direction however before he could take another step Leon placed his glass back down on the table and said ‘Aight man, we out.’

  Jay’s forward momentum became less aggressive and ended with him pouring the untouched champagne into the Ice-bucket which was less than 3 feet away from Perry’s head.

  Bo was watching Jay’s every move anticipating any offensive gesture however nothing happened. Leon looked down at Perry in the leather chair and saw how scared he was.

  ‘Pussy!’ Leon thought. Then turning towards Bo said ‘So what’s good Bo? Are we following you or what?’

  Bo glanced over to Perry for some sort of verification to which Perry gave a sly smile and nodded. Seeing it was ok Bo turned his back on Leon and Jay motioning them to follow him down the stairs.

  Without another word to Perry they followed Bo out of the VIP and out the back of the club. Once outside Bo ordered them to follow him to the furthest part of TooTsies car-park, where a black Infiniti Q45 was stationed in a private bay away from all the other cars.

  Before scanning the area for any unwanted onlookers Bo hit a button on the Key-fob in his hand and immediately the trunk opened. By the time it was fully ajar Leon and Jay were standing next to Bo looking at 4 Gucci bags identical to the one Black had given him the night before.

  Bo looked over at Jay curiously. ‘So what y’all waiting for… ?’ he said.

  Before Jay could reply, Bo went on, ‘I hope you didn’t think I was going to take them out for you?’

  With that he took two steps back allowing Jay room to access the trunk. Knowing it wouldn’t be the best thing to walk around the front of the strip club with the bags in their hands Leon said ‘Yo Jay, go get the ride and bring it round back.’

  Within a few seconds Jay was out of sight, leaving Leon standing behind Perry’s Infiniti with four Gucci bags at his feet.

  After a few minutes of silence Bo reached into his pocket and took out a pack of menthol ‘Newport’ cigarettes. He did not offer Leon one. Just lit one up for him-self and took a long hard pull. Leon watched Bo hold the cigarette smoke in his chest for a while and then exhale the poison slowly - mouth wide open. As he raised the cigarette to his lips for the second time Leon realised two things. One: the cigarette Bo was puffing on was laced with something. He had no doubts. Not only could he smell it but Bo’s eyes were rolling around in his head and a sudden build-up of sweat had appeared across his cheeks and brow. The second major thing he thought was ‘WHERE THE FUCK IS JAY?!’

  Leon was starting to get the feeling things were not going to go well. Before his thoughts could have a chance to snowball, Bo turned his attention to Leon and said, ‘so your Kilo Jnr huh?’

  ‘What?’ Leon replied.

  ‘You is Ole Kilo Brown’s son?’

  Leon thought Bo must know this already but he nodded his head anyway.

  ‘So you know what happened to your Ole man?’

  Leon nodded again. Bo chuckled, took the last pull of his drug filled cigarette and then made a show of putting it out under his foot. He was about to say something but before he could raise his head Leon had stepped over the Gucci bag that was in front of him and within the time it takes to count to 3, Leon had hit Bo square on the temple. Through training Leon instinctively knew how and where to throw the punch. It was a powerful blow but surprisingly Bo did not fall, just staggered sideways a few steps - holding his head.

  Hurting Bo mumbled, ‘What the fuck you do…’ And just like before he was cut off in mid-sentence by another blow to the same area of the head. As Bo started to fall, Leon timed a perfect upper-cut to the underside of his jaw. Leon could feel bones dislocate on his hands impact. Despite his size advantage Bo was three counts away from ten before he even hit the floor. Kneeling over Bo’s half-conscious body Leon smiled then said, ‘The harder they come, the harder they fall dawg.’

  Leon knew the line was corny but this was the first time a real opportunity presented itself for him to use the famous words.

  Bo leaned his head to the side and spat out some blood and two teeth. Leon smiled, pleased with his handy work.

  ‘Now, what was that you were saying about my father?’ He said sharply.

  Leon had his hand mockingly cupped around his ear like a funnel but heard nothing. Bo was too disorientated to answer and Leon knew it. To be honest he was surprised Bo was still awake. Leon slapped Bo in the face so as to try and get some sort of attention but he was fading fast and within seconds he was gone. - Still alive but out cold.

  Leon quickly scanned the area but no one came into view. He could not just stand there with Bo on the floor with the money around his feet so he picked up the car-keys to the Infiniti that had fallen from Bo’s hand and started to put the bags back into the trunk. As the first bag went in Leon heard the distinctive sound of two gun shots coming from insi
de the strip club.

  ‘Shit!’ he said out loud.

  Throwing the three remaining bags into the trunk Leon locked up the vehicle and quickly dragged Bo’s body in between two green industrial garbage bins lined up along the far wall. Then without a second look, headed towards the back door he, Jay and Bo had exited earlier. Leon was no more than 15ft away when the door burst open with Carter running out with a gun in one hand and a fist full of money in the other. Carter saw Leon straight away but before Leon could react or say anything, Carter took a left and sprinted away in the other direction from where Leon was standing.

  Leon was about to call out when another guy came storming out of the door, followed by two more men all wearing black pants and white linen shirts.

  ‘Security.’ Leon thought.

  One of them turned to Leon and said, ‘Yo, which way did he go?’

  Leon replied, ‘What did he do?’

  ‘Does it matter? Just tell us which way he went?’ Another called out.

  Leon did not want to draw attention to where Bo was lying blooded up - somewhere between sleep and hell. But he did not want to send them in the direction Carter went either. Leon stood there silent for a while then said, ‘Dude, why don’t you go ask yo mamma!’

  The security guard looked Leon up and down to which Leon could tell he was being sized up. They were all bigger than him but none of them carried a gun so to Leon it was still a fair fight. Without hesitation Leon stepped forward showing he was not going to back down. One of the guards was about to say something when the sound of several people shouting at each other, came from the other-side of the door. The three security guards turned around just in-time to see the door open and two police men walking out followed by a dozen half naked women cursing loudly.

  One of the security guards called out, ‘Hey! We think this punk knows where he is?’

  Not seeing the person the security guard was referring to, the taller of the two policemen stepped forward and with a frown replied ‘Who?’

  The three guards turned around only to realise Leon had already gone.

  Before the door was fully open Leon caught sight of the first police men, turned right and ran back to the car on the other side of the parking lot. Leon could see the blue glow of police sirens and hear the distant sound of a helicopter.

  ‘Damn!!’ Leon thought. ‘Since when Miami PD, have cops on the scene within a minute and a chopper in less than ten. AND WHERE THE FUCK IS JAY?!’

  Leon ran passed the car and over to Bo, still lying on the ground with his eyes closed and mouth open. Leon quickly riffled through Bo’s pockets and grabbed his phone but decided to leave Bo with his gun. Leon then jumped into the Q45, started the engine and drove around to the front of TooTsies across the main car park. It was filled with the occupants of the club who exited when they heard the gun-fire and onlookers who could not help but be a part of the commotion. Police were trying to keep the situation contained while trying to piece together what actually happened. Leon did not want to stick around however he could not leave without knowing Jay was ok.

  Leon saw an empty parking bay near the main street exit and pulled into it. ‘They’ve probably found Bo by now’ he thought. Leon turned the engine off and was about to get out of the car when the leather interior of the Q45 was engulfed with two quick flashes of light. Leon looked up at the rear-view mirror and to his relief saw Jay sitting in the driving seat of his Mercedes. Leon hit a button on the dash to release the trunk and quickly got out to transfer the Gucci bags from the Q45 to his car. Thankfully Jay was on the same page and already had the trunk of Leon’s Mercedes open and waiting. Within seconds Leon had all five bags transferred and was sitting in the passenger seat next to Jay. As the Mercedes pulled away, Leon looked over at his partner and noticed he had a cut over his right eyebrow. Concerned and a little surprised he said ‘Yo. What happened to you?’

  Without hesitation Jay replied, ‘Perry, that’s what happened.’

  ‘Huh, what you mean? I told you to go get the car. Perry was inside the club.’

  Leon waited for Jay’s response but did not get one. Jay was too busy manoeuvring through the crowd of people in an attempt to leave the area before the police had the whole section cornered off. Despite the small cut above his eye; Leon figured Jay seemed ok, so he decided to wait until they were out of the parking lot before he repeated the question. Within a few minutes, they had exited the clubs parking lot and were heading south down 2nd Ave. As they took the ramp for ‘I95 South’ Jay finally spoke up. ‘What the fuck!’ he shouted.

  ‘What, what happened?’ Leon asked.

  Before giving a reply Jay indicated left, changed lanes then said ‘When I got back to the car - one of the guys I saw in the club were trying to break in.’

  ‘You serious?’ exclaimed Leon.

  Jay nodded and then indicated left again so he could move over into the fast lane.

  ‘So what happened?’ Leon asked again.

  Trying to keep his composure, Jay took in a deep breath and released it slowly. Leon was about to tell Jay to hurry up but his arm movement gave away his intentions, so Jay cut him off by holding up a finger – so as to say ‘give me a minute’ and proceeded to overtake a black Audi A7 with black rims and blacked-out windows. As Jay passed the car and moved in front, Leon said ‘It’s Carter.’

  ‘Who… Carter… ? Where… ?’ Replied Jay

  ‘In the car behind us,’ Leon replied. ‘Take the next exit and find somewhere to park up.’

  Jay complied, took the next exit and pulled into the back of a Burger-King parking-lot. By the time Leon could get out of the car, the blacked-out Audi A7 pulled up on the left beside them. Leon stood up straight with his arms folded, waiting for the occupant to exit the car. The Audi’s engine shut off, the driver’s side door opened and as Leon thought - Carter got out.

  ‘So you guys made it out ok then?’ he said with a smile.

  ‘What you mean.’ Leon’s words trailed off into silence as he paused to take a deep breath. Unfortunately for Carter, in that short pause Jay had got out of the car, walked around it and without saying a word punched carter square across the jaw.

  ‘Motherfucker! Where were you?’ Jay shouted.

  He had Carter pinned up against the side of the Audi and had his hand cocked back ready to hit him again however Leon jumped in and held onto his arm.

  ‘Yo! Get off me. Jay shouted, - struggling to relinquish Leon’s grip.

  ‘Not until you calm down.’ Leon stressed.

  Unable to pull away from Leon’s hold, Jay eventually got the message and reluctantly backed away.

  ‘Wasn’t this motherfucker supposed to be watching us?’ Jay shouted.

  Before Leon could respond Jay continued, ‘Please! Can you tell me who he was watching, because it wasn’t us?’

  Leon walked back over to Carter - who was now leaning on the hood of the car nursing his lip, and said ‘So Carter, you gonna let us know what went on in there?’

  Carter spat out some blood and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his white-Tee.

  ‘I was looking out.’ he said finally

  ‘Bullshit!’ Jay shouted.

  ‘I WAS LOOKING OUT… ! Carter insisted.

  After spitting out some more blood he said ‘Shit, I think you broke my jaw.’

  ‘Good!’ Jay scoffed.

  Leon got even closer to Carter and said ‘Look. If I was you, I’d start talking or Jay’s gonna kick your ass all over this parking lot.’

  Standing up straight Carter said, ‘I was looking out. When you guys left with Perry’s Body-guard, I saw Perry call two other men over. Not sure what was said but when he was finished they both ran for the front door…’ He paused to gently rub his jaw before continuing ‘I wanted to follow you guys but I couldn’t be sure what they wer
e sent to do.’

  ‘So?’ Jay prodded.

  ‘So, I created a diversion.’

  Jay started laughing sarcastically. ‘A diversion… ?’ He said mockingly. ‘You fired two shots in motherfuckin TooTsies… You mean to tell me that was the best diversion you could come up with?’

  Jay was getting angrier by the second. Turning to his friend he said ‘I’m sorry Leon, I gotta say it. I HATE THIS GUY!’

  Pleading his case Carter replied ‘I had to do something! So I snatched some cash of the girl coming off the stage and tried to make a run for it. But before I could get to the door the security had it covered so I decided to fire two shots into the air to cause some commotion.’ He paused, pulled out a small 22 from his jeans pocket then said ‘When everybody ducted I ran for the back door and that’s where I saw you. I couldn’t stop. I had to get out of there.’

  Thinking he had heard enough Leon decided to leave Carter to his busted jaw and lip and turn his attention back to Jay.

  ‘You were saying?’ Leon said flatly.

  ‘What you talking about?’ Jay replied.

  ‘Carter said two guys headed for the door.’

  Before Jay addressed Leon’s statement, he looked back over at Carter and laughed.

  ‘This fools a liability.’ he said.

  Nodding his head Leon replied, ‘Well that may be but I still wanna know what happened to you.’

  ‘There were two guys…’ Jay replied resolutely. ‘. . . I just didn’t get to that part yet. Basically dude was trying to get into the car. I held him up and out of nowhere another guy catches me blind side.’ Jay paused so that he could point to the scar on his eyebrow.

  ‘Then what happened?’ Leon asked.

  ‘The guy that was trying to get into the car ran back into TooTsies, but the fool who hit me…’ Jay paused to let out a chuckle ‘. . . Well, let’s just say he ain’t gonna be walking for a while.’

  Leon scrutinised Jay’s face to see if he was holding anything back but there was nothing there. If anything Jay did not want to bring to light the fact that this time he got caught out.