35

Five days later and life was getting back to normal. Somewhat. We delivered another package to Juan yesterday. We were sitting pretty as far as money went, but we had scars now and battle wounds. My hands were no longer clean, and I wasn't worried about that much anymore. The events of the last few weeks were over. It felt good to know that none of my enemies were breathing. As cruel as that sounded, I knew there was only one way for the drama to end.

It was bittersweet though, our peace. We had spent the day before planning Todo's funeral. Everything was set and ready to go. He would be buried tomorrow at St. Peter's cemetery. We had paid for everything. It damn near cost our whole first return, but he deserved nothing but the best. My mom wanted to come, but she was at work. Reese's mom came through, and so did Montel's and Joey's.

I now stood at the gravesite alone. I had sat down to say goodbye for good. However, those words would not come out. Everyone else had left an hour ago. Joey and Dale stood near the car smoking a cigarette and waiting for me. The grave digger stood off to the side, giving me privacy. I could tell he was ready to go, though. He leaned casually on his shovel, but every once in a while he would look towards me and then quickly look away.

Taking a deep breath I finally said, "I can't say goodbye to you shaggy." I laughed and cried, thinking about the nickname I called him sometimes. I reached up, dabbed my eyes, and then my nose. "We will meet again bro when God lets it happen. I won't forget you or what you've done for us all. Rest easy Family."

I stood up, dusted the dirt off my skirt, and turned towards the car. Montel was on his phone and he looked worried. Even from this distance, I could see his forehead scrunched up in concentration. Dale had stood as well. He was watching Montel closely. Huffing out a breath, I tossed a single rose onto the casket, followed by a handful of dirt. I put on my game face and went to see what the problem was.

Christian had been arrested. However, that didn't worry me as much as knowing that Reese had been arrested too. There was no coincidence that they had both been arrested and at different places. Reese had been arrested this morning. He came to the funeral but had left during the service. Someone had called and told his mom that their house had been broken into. After calming his mom down, he had gone to check it out.

Christian had left after the service prior to us arriving at the gravesite. He was supposed to be going to meet a new client. That had been two hours ago. The new buyer was a friend of Camilla's and Sara's. Although I didn't know him, they both vouched for him, saying he was cool and he had deep pockets. He pushed coke and was thinking of expanding to China. He lived on the east side. Joey had checked him out, and he seemed cool. He was your average street nigga. So how did they get caught up?

We rushed to the clubhouse. I wanted to make sure there was nothing there in case the alphabet boys come barging in. It nagged at the back of my mind to go home. To my mother's house. However, it looked like the police were on to us. I had to make sure there was nothing there to be found. I was confident they wouldn't find the stash, but I didn't want them to find a crumb in my sister's club.

When my mom's boyfriend had been arrested the last time, the police had kicked in the door and scared the hell out of us. It was the day after one of my birthday parties, I had turned thirteen. My cousins Taya, Christy, Sara, and a few boy cousins had stayed the night. My mom and Mickey had both left that morning and we had the house to ourselves.

We had been making breakfast, while the boys played the game. Without warning, the front door had hit the wall, and the boys came in. They pointed guns at us and yelled at us to be still. We didn't move a muscle. One lady cop looked trigger happy. I saw more of them going up the stairs and making everybody come down to the living room.

They had ransacked the house. They tore apart the couches and broke glass tables. They pulled up the carpet and moved the fridge and the stove. After destroying my home, they seemed to calm down. Some of them were joking and talking. I heard them talking about how they had found crumbs and a gun. They said it would be enough to put Mickey away for a long time. They said he was a felon with three strikes. I heard it all.

I didn't know what it meant then, but I did now. They had also found twenty thousand dollars. After arresting him, my mom had gotten a lawyer, and she was compensated for her broken things and she got the money back. But Mickey got five years. He would be getting out soon, but he had gotten in trouble while in jail a few times, so he had like two more years to go. I didn't want that for Christian.

I didn't want that for any of us, and I didn't want my sister's place torn apart. When we arrived at the clubhouse, the police were there as I expected. We would have driven right by them, but in the middle of the road stood three cops. They pointed at us and soon one was at the window. There was no escaping this anyway, unless we went on the run, and I wasn't running from anything.

That was the day I got arrested. We all did. That was the day, I met my most untouchable foe. The cops. This was a battle I wouldn't be able to shoot my way out of. No one wanted to kill a cop or even know one where I'm from. We kept our distance as much as possible from them. They had the toughest gang in the world behind them.

The worst part was that they had sought us out. They had set us up, and they had a search warrant. That meant they had a case.