Chapter 12 Zo
Zo
The conference room inside the Jennings headquarters was already full when I walked in.
The long black table, the wall of screens, the low hum of the generators, and the sounds of the cameras running nonstop, all of it was waiting for me.
I had never led a meeting. And this was one of the biggest. The quarterly meeting.
Most of the key players in the organization were under one roof, discussing where business was currently, and where we wanted it to be.
Jaxon and Trouble were both still away on business.
Judah was here, but he had been called earlier in the day for some emergency with Mateo, and he had been on a Zoom call for over two hours.
For a while, I could hear him screaming down the hallway.
But it had gone quiet. I preferred being in the field or sitting at the table in silence.
But today, with everybody gone, the reins were in my hands.
The room quieted the moment I walked in, not out of fear, though, but out of respect. I didn’t demand silence, but I carried it with me. Though we all had a mutual respect for each other, I could feel the moment it shifted once I was promoted. Now, they respect me as their underboss.
“Let’s get started.”
I grabbed the reports and the agenda that the receptionist had prepared for me and skimmed through them.
There wasn’t much to be said today. I knew firsthand that the counts had been correct, that the drops were still on time, and that the streets were still quiet.
I reviewed them quickly, flipping pages, making sure that all the numbers had checked out.
Everything seemed normal until I reached the perimeter log.
I scanned the security report and realized that we had a major problem.
The slight crease in my eyebrows made the niggas sitting on that side of the table straighten up.
I tapped the page with two fingers. “Whose block is this in the orange?”
Darius cleared his throat. “Mine.”
Each guard had to scan in with their thumbprint, and their activity was color-coded on the report. So, either way, I would know, but I respect that he manned up, and I didn’t have to go investigate.
I nodded. “So, walk me through why I’m seeing thirty-six minutes of no perimeter feed.”
His eyes dropped. “Boss, I… might’ve dozed off. I was up late doing the drops for the south side and I-”
I held up my hand to silence him. I wasn’t being aggressive; I just wanted to see if I had the right understanding.
“So, you were tired?” I questioned.
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you tell anybody you were tired?”
“No.” He admitted.
He shifted in his chair as I closed the folder, probably expecting a harsher reaction.
“You know my issue?” I said, voice even. “It’s not the mistake. It’s the fact that you didn’t stop it from happening.”
Darius swallowed. “You’re right.”
“You were put there to watch the building while Remy worked late last night. She was walking those same hallways that you weren’t securing. You weren’t just sleeping on a job; you were sleeping on my responsibility.”
Darius swallowed hard and watched me with wide eyes.
I sat in silence to see how I was going to handle him. Darius was new; I don’t know when he started, but it couldn’t have been more than a couple of months since I had been seeing him around. Hollow replaced me once I was promoted, so I wasn’t really familiar with his guys.
“Here’s what we’re doing. You’re off for the next two nights. Get some rest. After that, you shadow Hollow for a week. He’ll tighten your routines and show you how to handle your workload.”
Darius let out a deep breath, grateful to still have access to air. “Yes, sir. I won’t slip again.”
I stared at him, and my gaze didn’t budge.
“Good. Because I give one correction,” I said. “Only one.”
The room went still. The air changed. Everyone knew how I was coming. I didn’t need to bark or throw my weight. Still, I was fair. I’d been dragged down by this life once, too. Since it was still fresh for him, I knew it took time to adjust.
Darius nodded. “Thank you. I won’t-”
I cut him off quickly, eyes never leaving him. “I need you to understand something before you thank me. If you ever fall asleep on Remy’s perimeter again, I’ll make sure you don’t wake up.”
He froze; breath caught in his throat. I didn’t raise my voice, just delivered him a simple promise.
The room was so quiet that you could hear some of their thoughts.
But I took this time to address them as a whole, “Anyone else stretched thin, speak up now. Nobody here is bulletproof. But if your pride gets someone hurt, I’ll treat it as intentional and handle you accordingly.
We can handle ourselves. But we have you here for the safety of our families in places that we can’t be.
I’m not letting you slip on anyone’s wife or children.
Especially mine. In this life, naps will get you killed. If not by them, by me.”
A few murmured in acknowledgment and nodded respectfully, but no one accepted the vacation I offered.
I scanned the room, giving one last chance before they made a mistake they couldn’t fix. No one spoke up.
“Alright. Next item.”
And just like that, the meeting continued, but I’m sure my last words hung in the air.
I don’t threaten niggas. But if I ever did, I never did it lightly.
And for sure, I never did it twice. I made a mental note to call Hollow later.
I needed to make it perfectly clear to that nigga never to schedule a rookie for any of our families.
The last thing we needed was someone who was untrained when some shit popped off.
When the meeting was over, I dismissed the family and gathered all my folders. Then I tucked them underneath my arm and went to find Judah. I tapped on his door three times before I pushed it open.
His office was on the far side of the building. It was the last one in the hallway. From the outside, you would think it wasn’t occupied. But this nigga worked in the dark, and his office always had the faint smell of burned wires. He used computers like we all used guns.
“Damn, nigga. I didn’t say come in; I was trying to pretend I wasn’t here.” He said, never taking his eyes off his computer screen.
I scoffed, “You still on call with the Elites?”
“Nope, been off for about an hour now, what’s up?” He asked.
“Then why the fuck didn’t you come lead the meeting?” I shot back.
He blinked slowly, and then he spun in his chair and finally looked at me. “If I got to do it, what the hell you got the title for? Bragging rights?”
I chuckled, hit the button on his light switch to turn back on the motion detector, and took a seat in front of his desk.
“You got what I asked you?” I questioned.
I had handed Judah all the information that I could find on Karlos Weston.
From my background in Homeland Security and my experience in the business over the last few years, I knew my way around a computer.
But Judah? That nigga could make a computer do shit the developers cried about at night.
He could break through anything, so when I needed the real truth, I brought it to him.
“Yeah, I found the same shit that you found. That nigga is most likely dead.” He said, before he reached into the drawer, and got an envelope. He slid it toward me.
“That doesn’t make sense, Judah. His family never touched his assets. When muhfuckas die, that’s the first thing they do. Fight over shit.” I flipped through the pages, and sure enough, it was the same information that I had gotten. Same incomplete details and missing signatures.
“You’re right, but neither did he. If he were alive? He would have touched something. Even a ghost slips up somewhere.”
“Unless he was planning to die.”
Judah stopped typing and gave me a look like I needed to be drug tested.
“Zo, come on. Don’t start that bullshit.”
He called it bullshitting, and maybe it was. But my gut wouldn’t shut up. Ever since Rem told me about that letter, nothing felt right. A death was reported, but no documents were sent in. To me, it sounded like that nigga was ready to let Rem know he was still around.
“Look, man, that nigga is dead and gone. I would normally find something that tells me otherwise, but this one seems solid. The slickest niggas still leave a digital footprint. Rem said he was a piece of shit. That nigga died, and his whole organization probably put something on the grill,” He chuckled as I looked at each paper.
Still trying to find a flaw in what was in front of me.
He laughed; I didn’t.
“Do something else for me. Look up this nigga name, Douglas Black.”
“The old head who you said you thought sent the flowers? Why?” He asked, raising his eyebrow.
I nodded and gave him all the information that I had found on him. We had security measures; to even get an appointment, you had to go through a security check. But still, I needed to be sure.
“Because that nigga hesitated to shake my hand. And I don’t like when niggas hesitate around my wife like that. I don’t trust it.” I answered flatly. The reason was simple. The look in his eyes when he did it told me that it wasn’t business for him. It was personal.
Judah cracked his knuckles and started typing again. “Aight. Let’s see.”
The screen lit up, codes and systems came up one after the other like he was hacking the damn FBI database. I sat back and watched him work. Judah worked best in silence, and when he found something, his face always said it before his mouth did.
“Gah DAMN,” Judah wheezed as he jumped back from the screen. “This nigga must’ve been swept up in a tornado.” He said as he turned his face from the screen and made a face that made me laugh, despite the moment.
“Man, just tell me what you found.”
“Douglas Black, fifty-two. He’s listed on quite a few businesses and charities. Some are real, and some look fake as hell. No criminal background, just a victim of some big accident.” He said as he scanned the computer screen and then rotated it for me to see.
I nodded.
“There are some pictures from before the accident. He was an ugly ass nigga back then, and even worse now,” He snorted as he clicked on an icon that brought a gallery of Douglas up.
“Go back to that one,” I said as Judah scrolled through them way too fast.
I slapped the desk. “Nigga! Back!”
“This nigga at the beach?” He muttered, confused.
When he scrolled back to it as soon as the image appeared on the screen, I jumped out of my seat and went to my office to grab my phone.
“Zo?” Judah called out, confused.
By the time I was jogging back by, he was leaning out of his doorway.
“Nigga what the fuck is wrong with you?” He asked.
“I gotta get to Rem,” I said, putting the phone to my ear and calling her twice. Once she didn’t answer, I called the nigga who I had assigned as her primary security. He didn’t answer the phone either.
“Shit!” I said as I jumped into the truck and gripped the leather, making it creak. As soon as the engine started, I headed toward the ranch she had given me the address for.
I called someone else from the team who I knew was on duty.
“What’s up, boss?” He answered. I could hear the loud background noise of talking and music.
“Where is my wife?” I gritted.
“She’s on some kind of ride, boss. She’s good.” He said. As soon as the words left his mouth, I exhaled.
“Listen to me, G, get her now. And she needs to get the fuck outta there. I’m on my way, but I’m still about twenty minutes out.”
“Everything good?” He asked.
“No,” I answered honestly. “But it will be,” I assured him.
My stomach was in knots as I pushed the truck to its limits, trying to make it to her. On the way, the words Remy said to me kept replaying in my head when she finally opened up to me and talked to me about Karlos.
“Karlos was obsessed with me. He had been pursuing me for years, and I never gave him a chance. After I agreed to the arrangement, I hadn’t been there a full three weeks, and he walked in the house and showed me a tattoo of an ‘RW’ on his chest.”
That beach photo of Douglas Black? Same initials, same place, and the same ink style she had described. The scars on his face were the perfect way for him to come back from the dead with a new identity and be unrecognizable.
Yeah, Judah may have been the best at what he does, but that’s my wife. That was my heartbeat, and if my gut tells me that some shit ain’t right with her, I have to listen.
I called Rem’s phone again as I continued to race down the road, and I didn’t get her. I checked her location. Her phone was still powered on, and it seemed to be moving from place to place. I pressed her contact and called again.
But as soon as I heard the voice on the other end, my pulse spiked again. “Boss!” I heard one of the guards yell into the phone.
“Where the fuck is my wife?” My voice went cold.
“I don’t know, Boss, she went on a ride with two children, and she didn’t come out,” The words seemed to echo as they flowed through the speakers. I gripped the steering wheel tighter. So tight that my knuckles cracked.
“If you don’t have my wife safe and in a truck by the time I make it, all you muhfuckas are dead,” I said before I hung up and ran a red light.
I made it to the Ranch and down a long path before reaching the back gate.
They opened, slowly but not fast enough.
I floored the truck through the gates, and all I could hear was the sound of metal scratching against the iron gates.
People walking to the entrance jumped onto the sidewalks as I rode by on a mission.
I didn’t give a fuck who was in the way. I was getting to my wife. And anybody standing between us was already dead.