Platinum Dust (Urban Fiction) by K.C Blaze (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

            I knew I should call Felicia back but I didn’t want her to talk me out of it. If I heard her voice I would crack and probably want to see her and I knew that wouldn’t be good for Amir. I had to stay focused and if I made it out alive I swear I wouldn’t mess wit any other woman but her. A quick look down at my Cartier watch showed 6:30, it felt like the time was moving way too fast.

“Let’s go” Dre stood in the middle of the dining room and shouted out his last order. Adrenaline filled my veins. I knew if I had to die to save my brother than I needed to make peace with both myself and God. I sent up a prayer asking for forgiveness if nothing else Amir tried to show me that God would forgive even the worst of us. Everybody started heading outside to get into the five cars and trucks parked out front. Dre held my arm back so we both could stand and watch everyone load into the vehicles.

“I told you I got you right?” He looked me in the eyes.

“I love you man”

“Yeah and I love you too man. Now enough of this girly shit, let’s go take out Showboat.” We jumped in his grand marquis and he blasted Beanie Sigel’s ‘feel it in the air’ track as we started the procession of cars that would bring on the destruction. The streets of Philadelphia were always busy and tonight was no different. Tall buildings provided cover for mischievous behavior and shadows were mistaken for figures. I didn’t know if my mind was playing tricks on me or if I actually saw a tall dark figure staring directly through me. I closed my eyes and let the music consume me.

“You may be dead by morning” I told myself and in that brief moment I thought about me and Felicia in Jamaica. I thought about how happy she was when I said she was my woman. I thought about my visit with Janet and how I needed to save Amir so I could tell him that I went up to see her.

            The old warehouse set a few feet back off the curb. There were a few cars parked out front of the building but not enough for it to be suspicious. Light came through the windows letting us know they were already there. The street was pretty much abandoned with no stray cars driving by. In unison all cars slowed down and music went off. We were there 45 minutes before 8 which gave me an advantage. Dre pulled over a few blocks down from the warehouse and got out of the car.

The drivers of each car jumped out and Dre let everybody know that they would stay parked the distance until they heard the cue. He also said that if he heard anything foul he would leave early which made me feel better. I decided to get the party started earlier cause it gave me an advantage. It would interfere with the amount of time they had to plan a counterattack. I jumped out of the car, shook Dre’s hand again and stated.

“For the first time in your life please don’t be on nigga time” He nodded and he checked my cell strapped to my back and dialed his number. I started making my way down the long road leading up to the warehouse after he answered and verified that he could hear me talking. My eyes were alert for any suspicious movements on the road but there was nothing. I felt naked without my piece but Dre insisted that it could be deadly if they did a weapons check. My heart started pounding the closer I got to the warehouse.

‘Amir is in there, go get your brother’ I had to coach myself to approach the door. I could hear talking on the other side and knew right away I wouldn’t be the only man at the party. This made me uneasy cause I only thought it would be Jackie doing the transaction. I guess Showboat was there to get a bit of pay back. I wish I could get him alone cause I would beat his ass again. I knocked on the door and the voices stopped and the sound of movement took its place.

“Who is it?” The familiar female voice asked.

“Raheim” what I really wanted to say is who the fuck do you think it is but I held my tongue. The door was opened after a long pause leaving me feeling vulnerable. I knew I was walking into a trap but what type of trap was the question. Jackie was standing in the middle of the floor and I didn’t step inside for a moment.

“I said 8’oclock now didn’t I?” Jackie was much smaller than I expected not a chick I would mess wit but definitely not bad for a sadistic broad.

“Well when family is involved we tend to not be late.” I stepped inside and braced myself for an ambush but nothing happened.

“Where’s my brother?” I looked around the partially empty room and noticed three husky dudes each holding hand guns.

“You don’t call any shots nigga I wanna know why the hell you think you can go breaking people’s jaws.” She started to walk toward me and I knew this was a setup at the same moment I could see one of the guys approaching slowly.

“Check this sucka”

I needed to be cool but I could feel the sweat beads popping up on my eyebrow. I knew my life was on the line if they felt the cellphone strapped to my back. One of her goons rocking a black hoodie gave me a standard pat down. His hands quickly went up and down my legs and over my arms and sides. Grateful he wasn’t smart enough to check my back I had to calm my breathing.

“Where’s my brother? I said I would switch places.” From the glint in her eye I could tell she liked what she saw. She was searching my face and I almost wanted to smile and shake my head. She was acting gangsta for an ugly ass dude that wasn’t man enough to handle his own shit.

“Yo just let me blast this nigga” The smaller of the three guys raised his gun like he just might shoot. I never took my eyes off of Jackie.

“Boom, calm your ass down. I said I got this. Go get baby boy” With a nod of the head Boom reluctantly walked into the backroom. Within moments he came back dragging Amir by the arm. He was noticeably thinner with silver electrical tape across his mouth and his hands tied behind his back. The only clothes he had on were his boxers and a dirty wife beater. Large bruises covered his arms and shoulders.

He had a look of fear spread across his face. I read the message in his wide eyed stare loud and clear. They were gonna play me and I had to think fast.

“You see your brother? He still living; if you want to keep it that way I’m gonna need you to strip down now.”

“No hold up” I stalled for time. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge. I needed to move from in front of the door without appearing suspicious. “I’m not stripping down until you let my fucking brother go.” I could feel the nervous energy in the room. My mind started to race but I needed to get closer to Amir. A door to the back room opened forcing me to look quickly in that direction. It was Showboat himself. He was still the same ugly muthafucka I whipped that day at the club. He strolled toward Jackie like he thought I was supposed to be scared. I knew it was about to get real serious, he had a point to prove.

“Listen, my girl said strip nigga, so it looks like you don’t have a choice.” He put a toothpick between his lips. I swear by the end of the night he would be choking on it.

“Listen homie, all of this dramatic shit is unnecessary. I said a trade and that is what the fuck it’s gonna be.” Boom was starting to pace and I knew I’d have to watch out for that sucka.

“Fine, take him his brother.” Jackie nodded to Boom to walk Amir over. It was too easy, either they were the biggest dummies on the planet or they were planning on killing us both.

“Amir you ok? I elevated my voice loud enough for him to hear me but also to signal Dre and the gang. Amir walked slower than Boom cared for so he slammed the butt of his gun into his shoulder. Amir flinched and stumbled for a moment and I flipped.

“Yo, what the fuck is wrong wit your punk ass?  I swear if you didn’t have that gun I’d fuck you up right now.”

“But I got the gun nigga, so do something and you and your nut ass brother will be swimming in the Delaware River.” I looked at Amir one last time and I shouted.

“Amir? I said are you ok?” Amir looked up from the floor and stared me straight in the eyes. He nodded again and I gave a knowing head nod but Boom picked up on our little signal and half spun.

“Yo sumthing ain’t right” I swear it was something out of the matrix. His voice seemed to slow down and in that same moment Amir reached for the small gun Boom had hidden on his waist and managed to get off one round before the front door burst open. I dove forward on top of Amir before the sound of bullets could be heard over my head. Jackie’s screams were bouncing off the walls.

“You ok?” I yelled near Amir’s ear. One of his hands were free. He ripped off the tape leaving a bright red mark around his mouth.

“Yes” I grabbed the gun out of his hand and told him to crawl over to the door with me covering him in the back. For a moment I felt like I might actually make it out alive. My eyes darted back and forth across the room. Bodies were lying on the floor in a growing pool of blood and brain matter. A mess of curls on the floor let me know Jackie was put down. I searched for Dre in the crowd and saw that he was still standing. I turned to run out of the door behind Amir to the car Dre and I had parked a block away earlier for me to get away in. In the same moment I turned I saw Amir’s body jerk forward and he fell to the ground. At the same moment Amir fell I heard a loud feminine screaming out NO from the back of the room.

“Shit!” I dropped to my knees barely missing a bullet.

“Get up, Amir?”

“I can’t” his eyes were wide with fear. This couldn’t be happening. I didn’t come all of this way just to lose my brother. “Amir? Come on stay wit me.” I lifted him up over my shoulder and ran us both to the exit. A piercing sting hit my arm but I didn’t have time to think about it. I could hear Amir gasping for air.

“I’m gonna get you to a hospital. Hold on.” Running that block to the navy blue Honda civic was the longest distance I ever had to run.

            Both car doors were unlocked as expected