Chapter Three

town a few hours later...

Antman came out of a motel room at the Days Inn with one of the jump-offs under his arm. Her name wa sMichelle, and she reminded him of Nicki Minaj, short, thick, and juicy. They walked toward the cab that awaited them. Antman knew how to creep. He left his car parked at the bar and took a cab to the jump-off. He had to keep up appearances for his wife."Baby, I told you. Now, don't act like that. I need to go shoppin'," Michelle whined as they got in the cab. Antman closed the door behind him and sucked his teeth.

"I got you, yo. Ai'ight?" "That's what you said last time." She pouted.

"Well, then you'll never be broke," he quipped.

"Where to go?" the cabby asked."Grove Street, yo," Antman told him as his phone rang. He answered, "Yo... Thump, what up ... Yeah, yeah, no doubt.

... Like a half-hour ... Yep," he spoke quickly and then hung up.

As they rode, Ant turned to Michelle and said, "Please!

youfuck wit' that nigga from out Southside? Why the ain't ask him?"

Michelle rolled her neck with sass, answering, real!"Amused, he let it go. They arrived on Grove Street.

"Where at, bra?" the cabby asked.

"Cause I'm stopped him a block away."Right here, yo. I'm good," Ant told him. The cabby pulled over. Ant went in his pocket and pulled out a knot of hundreds."You got change, playboy?" Ant asked.

"Yeah."Ant put the money in the money cup cut into the Plexiglas separator. When he pushed it closed the cup fell out on the other side in the front seat, broken. Ant peered over the seat.

"Ay yo, my bad. That shit musta been broke." "No problem."Ant had looked down at the money for a second, but when he looked back up, the cabby had a .38 snub pointed through the hole where the money cup used to be."Ay," was all Ant got out, before a single shot caught him in the throat and slammed his body back against the seat. Michelle stifled her scream. The cabby got out casually, walked around the car and opened Ant's door. Ant held his throat, blood gushed through his fingers while he gasped for air. He looked up at the cabby with pleading eyes. The cabby looked back through unforgiving ones. He grabbed Ant by the collar and then shot him twice more in the head, point blank, coating the seat behind him with his dying thoughts. Michelle was hyperventilating.

Swag H didn't know you were gonna do it right herer Sze gesped, looking around frantically to see if zaryone was loo kin gThey were in the residential section of Grove Street Swag bent over, hands rested on his knees and looked at her.

Chil, okay? We good, okay? We good. Just chall, Swag såd in his soothing but raspy baritone. She nodded but couldn't speak. She reached for the door handle. Naw, don't get out. You good right there," Swag told her, rásing the gun and shooting her in the face. Blood splattered all over the window as she slumped over on Ant. Swag, taking his time, took Ant's 40-inch platinum chain off his neck, his diamond watch, the knot of hundreds, and his cell phone. He closed the door, leaving the cab running and walked away. Swag hit the dial button on Ant's cell twice, redialing the last number."Yo, you there already? Thump answered with a question "We meet again, huh? Swag quipped."Wer Thump scowled, and then the voice instantly registered. "Ay, yo, who this? Swag laughed. "Your man from the other night!" "Where the fuck i s A ntiSleep. But dig, before you get into that gangsta shit, don't!

Just know this. If I don't eat, y'all don't eat, period. You wanna holler, you know the number," Swag explained, and then deadened the connection without a reply.

"Hello! Hello! Hello!" Thump bellowed, holding the phone in front of his mouth and screaming into it. He was so hot he flung the phone into the wall and watched it smash.

"Yo. Thump, what up? Yo, Thump. Thump! What up?

held the door down with fully automatic AR-15's outside. They were in one of the crew's safe houses. Two dudes Three more secured the perimeter. Inside, the sound of the tw oThe money machines fell quiet instantly. Thump paced the floor and his team stayed out of his way. He was a big dude.

one of his lackey's asked.

money machines filled the air."Yo, turn them shits the fuck off!" Thump barked.

Big, black, and ugly. He looked like the rapper Rick Ross without the beard and one cockeye. They called him Thump because when he hit a nigga, that was all you heard when he hit the floor."Yo, I'm tellin' you right now! Right. The. Fuck ... now.

Somebody in this room is a dead bitch ass nigguh. That's my word!"The whole room froze with various degrees of chills up their spine. They looked from one to another."Yo, Thump. I'm sayin', what's up, big homie?" one of his bravergoons asked.

Thump got in his grill, poking him in the chest to punctuate his every word."You don't know? Then you didn't need to know, 'cause if you knew then you fucked up!"Thump surveyed the room slowly, from face to face. Deep in his heart, he knew somebody in the room had set Ant up.

This was the second time in the last month they'd been hit. He knew nobody would even attempt to move on their crew without an inside man guiding their steps. The streets knew how Love's crew got down. Maybe they had forgotten, but Thump was definitely going to remind them. He dropped his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

That was his moment of silence for his right hand, Antman.

"My word, my nigguh. My word," he mumbled, vowing to his now dead homie. He looked up.

"Ai'ight ... turn 'em back on," he ordered. Several seconds later, the splat-a-rat of the bills being counted began again as Thump headed for the door to break the news to Love.