Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kross and Ezekiel rushed into Jackson Memorial Hospital like a hurricane that came down to destroy the city.
Dark clouds hovered over them as their hearts ached at the thought of possibly losing a homie they considered a brother.
Los was family, and losing him would devastate them and possibly dismantle and break the Paper Chase Crew.
They walked into the waiting room and were met with Noonie seated with his head in his hands.
Alongside him were two of their soldiers, Juvie and Dee, who had the same distraught look on their faces.
“What the fuck happened?” Kross asked as he pulled a seat.
Noonie glanced around to ensure no one else was in earshot of them. “I don’t fucking know. I got a call from his sister, and she said a car slid at her house and just started dumping.” He offered the little details he did have.
“If they know where Audri stay, then they for sure got eyes on us.” Ezekiel shook his head.
Audri was Los’ twin sister, and he frequented her spot often to kick it with her and see his nieces and nephews.
The Zone 7 niggas had to have been watching and plotting all this time to pinpoint the right time to spin on Los.
Kross ran his hand down his face frustratedly.
Los was hit. Now, either one of them could be next in line.
“Aye, go post up at Raq’s and Andres’ crib,” Kross ordered Juvie.
“If anything happen to my son, mom, or stepdad, then it’s on you, nigga,” he made it clear to Juvie, who nodded and took up the responsibility.
Juvie didn’t waste another second. He got up and took the nearest exit to speed over to Raquel’s and Andres’ crib. Kross wasn’t about to let the people he cared about the most go unprotected. This was a war he put fire to, so if any smoke was to be thrown, he wanted it all on him.
“Dee, go make sure everything straight by Noonie’s people’s crib. Same thing goes. Nothing better happen to my auntie,” Kross ordered. Dee nodded before dapping the boys up so he could leave out.
“I got them boys strapped out there in Pompano just in case them niggas try to run in our spot,” Ezekiel advised Kross and Noonie.
Kross wouldn’t put it past the Zone 7 crew to use Los’ situation as a distraction so they could raid the trap out in Pompano.
Shop had been open for a little over a week now, and the Paper Chase Crew was doing numbers.
Kross was hustling smarter by undercutting the numbers the Zone 7 crew were going for just to build clientele in the area.
The Paper Chase boys plugged themselves in with a few heavy hitters in the city who wanted to cop by the boat load.
Not only was Kross planning to put the Zone 7 niggas in a body bag, but he wanted to hit them where it hurt the most: their money.
After just a week, if any money was to be made in Pompano, Kross was now touching the majority of it.
During the days leading up to Los getting hit, Los had been real paranoid, and Kross hated himself for clowning his homie and telling him he needed to calm the fuck down.
Los had always been paranoid, though. He was one of them niggas who was out to get everybody before they got him.
Kross wished he would’ve listened to Los and had a few soldiers riding with everybody.
Los for damn sure wouldn’t have been in a hospital bed if he had.
Tension in the streets was at an all-time high right now.
After the club shootout, the Zone 7 Disciples were planning two funerals.
Kross dropped two bodies that night, and that still wasn’t enough.
He wanted to wipe all them motherfuckas out.
He spent days scoping out the Zone 7 crew, and he still had yet to see or hear about the head nigga in charge.
He knew he ran into the nigga with the scar on his face when he rolled through their hood solo, but that nigga just didn’t have the demeanor to be running shit.
With the Paper Chase crew, everyone knew who the big homie was, and that was Kross.
He had the demeanor, the respect and the reputation.
Zone 7, though? They just lacked that structure, which was why it was so damn easy to take over their city in just a week.
They were dismantling, and their foundation was crumbling, so they reacted and spun on Los.
“We need to hit up Nina to cop some shit to blow these motherfuckas’ heads off. Ain’t no way they got Los, and we ain’t gone spin back in the next 24 hours,” Kross gritted with his fists balled up in anger.
Noonie agreed and whipped out his phone to make the call to Nina.
She was their arms dealer out in South Florida.
Shawty was touching everything and could get them whatever the fuck they needed.
Her roots with the Cartel gave her a hell of a reputation, and Kross was fortunate enough to be in the right rooms and network with her before he got locked up.
Kross sat with his mind brewing, trying to figure out what their next move should be.
As much as he wanted to say to hell with the hospital and hit the streets to murk every last one of them Zone 7 niggas, he knew he couldn’t.
The Paper Chase Crew was a family, and there was more to them than just making money together.
Los was down, so he needed to be there for support.
“Oh, shit! There go Audri.” Ezekiel nudged his brother, snapping him out of his thoughts.
As he looked up, he saw Audri exit through the double doors that led to the trauma unit.
Her usual vibrant olive tinted skin was dull and pasty, almost as if she had just seen a ghost. Weakly, she trudged over to the men, and they all stood up to hear what condition Los was in.
Before she could muster up the strength to utter anything, all she did was shake her head as a storm of tears rushed down her face.
Kross knew that look and feeling. It was the same look and feeling he had when Ezekiel told him Cassie died.
It was like his entire life changed in just one second, and he was left lost to fend for himself.
That was exactly how Audri felt as she returned to them with the news that Los had succumbed to his injuries.
“He’s gone,” she croaked out faintly through her tears.
“No, no, no, not Los!” Kross shook his head in denial that his homie from middle school was no longer alive.
They had just celebrated his birthday not too long ago, and even though the night ended in bloodshed, all Kross could remember was how happy Los was.
He finally got his boys back together with Kross finally home, and he was grateful to celebrate 32 years around the sun with them.
That night was a true testament of what type of nigga Los was.
Even though it was his night to celebrate, he still shared the spotlight with Kross and made it clear that they were celebrating his homecoming as well.
Los was a real nigga, and Kross was blessed to have him by his side for twenty-plus years.
“Fuck!” Ezekiel crouched down, too weak to stand. He felt like he had just gotten the wind blown out of him. Los was such great energy and one of the realest niggas he knew. He ain’t deserve to go out the way he did.
Noonie opened his arms for Audri, knowing that losing her twin must’ve been devastating.
“I don’t know how I’m gonna tell Mami. She can’t handle this type of loss,” Audri cried while burying her head in Noonie’s chest. Her and Los’ mother, Lizette, was in the process of receiving chemo right now, so she had no idea how she was going to break the news to her.
Kross sighed deeply as he rubbed Audri’s back alongside Noonie. “Listen, we family, Audri. Whatever you or Lizette need, we got y’all,” he assured her. He knew that nothing he said could make her feel better, but it was still nice to know Los’ boys were going to look out for them.
One by one, the men were taken back to pay their respects to their homie.
Seeing Los like that scarred each one of them for life.
Los was a straight shooter, and he didn’t play out in the streets, but that never took away from the fact that he was so full of life.
His big frame was intimidating as hell, but once he got to know you, he became a big-ass teddy bear.
Kross gripped Los’ cold hand in his, withholding the tears that were threatening to fall from his eyes.
“I love you, bro. Look out for Cassie for me up there. This shit not over, and I put that on everything I love,” he promised Los before leaving out of the room.
He was the last one to pay his respect to Los, and one by one, each of them lost a piece of themselves as soon as they laid eyes on Los’ lifeless body.
Eventually, Audri’s husband was able to make his way over to the hospital, and the guys left, trusting her in his hands.
“I need Serge to get us right with a van and some license plates by sundown. Handle that,” Kross directed his little brother.
The coldness he had in his tone let Noonie and Ezekiel know he was out for blood.
“Make sure them boys are on go out in Pompano and all-around Liberty. I’ll get us right with all the shit we need from Nina,” he then instructed Noonie.
The three men dapped up with chilling looks in their eyes. “We not wasting no time. Them niggas is dead,” Kross throated out before they went their separate ways in their cars.