Chapter 9 #2
Griz had left early yesterday to set everything up for Tre that I didn’t get the chance to.
I told him that he didn’t need to worry about that, and that I would pay to get it done when we made it back, but he insisted.
This was something that he really wanted to do.
He’d promised the crib would be assembled, security adjusted, everything ready so we could just focus on getting the baby settled in.
None of it was touched. When we walked into the house, boxes were still near the door and had never been taken to the baby room.
No lights on. No movement. No sign of him anywhere.
My chest tightened.
Griz didn’t miss steps. He never volunteered to do anything and not go through with it.
I didn’t say anything out loud, but my body already knew.
Once I got my wife and our son settled into our room, I kissed her on her forehead and pretended that everything was okay.
I stepped away and made a call. “I need you at the house. Now. Sit on it. Eyes everywhere. My wife and son will be home, I want them guarded with your life.” I said to my head of security.
“Yes sir.”
I needed to check out Griz spot because this shit wasn’t sitting right. I knew like hell that nigga hadn’t gone home and slept through all of this. Something was way off. I went back to Malani. I knew she didn’t wanna hear that I was about to leave, not even ten minutes after we’ve made it home.
“Security gonna be outside. You need anything, you call me. I’ll answer on the first ring and I promise not to be gone too long. Sorry I’m having to leave and you are barely settled in, but it’s urgent baby.”
She nodded, but I could see the worry. “What’s wrong?”
“Probably nothing,” I lied smoothly. “But I need to check on Griz. You remember he said he’d come and get things ready for us, but he ain’t been here. That’s not like him at all.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “I pray everything is okay with him. That’s definitely not like him. Just… come back safely to us.”
“I will.” I promised. Leaving my wife and son this soon was not in my plans today, but I needed to check on my boy.
?
The whole ride, I could tell that my day was about to get worse.
Dank was friends with Griz and always told me that the nigga was dependable and stand up.
He never pulled disappearing acts or went ghost. Even since we’ve been cool, he’d been dedicated to making sure me and my family were safe.
Him not being in pocket today was off. Griz’s house told the story before I even stepped out the truck.
As soon as I jumped out the truck, Ikeys were on the ground. Right beside his car.
His drivers side door was cracked open. I knew for a fact he wouldn’t have gotten out his car and not closed the door. Or just left his damn keys.
My pulse slowed.
That’s what happened when the real work started.
I scanned the area, hand already on my weapon. No signs of a big struggle, but Griz wasn’t sloppy. If someone took him, they did it fast. Why else was his keys just on the ground like this?
I called my father immediately.
“Something happened to Griz,” I said.
“What?”
“Keys on the ground. Door open. He didn’t leave like this. He never made it to my house, so I came over to his spot to check things out and shit is feeling real funny.”
Silence. Then, “You still have a set of keys to his house? If you have his keys now. Make sure the area is secure and go inside. Check his cameras, see if you can piece together what happened. This shit is crazy! All the way in Dallas. Who could be after Griz? It’s gotta be an explanation for his disappearance. ”
I stared at the house, jaw tight. I scoped the area, then went inside.
Griz house was untouched and tidy as hell.
The nigga hasn’t been back home and I could immediately tell that.
His bags from the trip weren’t even inside.
I went straight into his office, took a seat at his desk, opened his computer, and started watching a video footage.
I watched from the time the sunset, up until he was snatched around 10:50pm.
I leaned up, closer to the monitor so that I could get a better look at that shit.
Clear as day, a black van pulled up. Niggas jumped out, jumped Griz and snatched his ass up.
He didn’t go down without a fight. But still, he couldn’t handle a truck load of niggas by himself, especially when caught off guard like that.
I shook my head. How could this shit be happening right now?
This was supposed to be the one of the best day of my life, it had quickly turned sour.
I wasn’t at all mad at Griz, but the muthafuckas who was now interfering with the time that I was supposed to be giving to my wife and my son, they were about to pay. Who had the guts to pull some shit like this? Did they know he was associated with me? If so, they had a death wish.
Whoever did this didn’t just grabbed a soldier.
They grabbed my right hand.
And I was about to remind them exactly who they made their enemy. I didn’t know what any of this was about, nor did I give a fuck. But what I didn’t know is, I had to bring my boy home. Griz had been too solid for me to let this shit go down.
—
I replayed the footage again, and again. The shit had my blood boiling but I forced myself to stay focused. Anger without strategy got niggas killed.
I leaned back in the chair, mind racing through possibilities. Who would move on Griz like this? And why now? The timing was too specific. Right when I was out of town with my newborn son. Right when security was off duty. Somebody had been watching, waiting for the perfect moment.
My hands moved without thinking, fingers running over the chains around my neck.
It was something I did when I was deep in thought, a habit I picked up from my pops.
I touched each piece that hung around my neck—the one my father gave me when I took over, the one Dank got me for my inheritance, and then—
I stopped.
The chain Griz had given me.
It hit me all at once. We was at the hospital just two days ago, and Griz had pulled me aside while Malani was sleeping and baby Tre was in the nursery. He had this black box in his hand, while looking all serious.
“With everything going on around us, with you welcoming your new edition. I need for you to have this,” Griz said, in all seriousness.
“What’s this?” I asked, taking it from him.
“Insurance,” he said simply.
I opened it. Inside was a heavy platinum chain with a small pendant. Looked expensive but simple. Nothing flashy.
“Aight, it’s nice. But what’s the occasion? You know niggas don’t receive push gifts, right?” I said, wondering why the fuck this nigga was buying me a chain.
Griz showed me he had a matching one. “It’s got GPS in it.
Military grade. Can’t be jammed or blocked.
It’s not really optional, you need to wear it.
” The nigga demanded, causing me to side eye him.
Since spending time with baby Deuce, and now my son Tre, Griz ass had been acting strange.
Like more paranoid than usual. Like an overprotective brother and uncle.
I frowned. “Why? You trying to keep tabs on me or something?”
“Nah, not like that.” He shook his head.
“Look, you got a family now. A real family. Your wife, your son. If anything ever happens—if you go missing, if somebody tries to get up on you, if shit goes left—I need to be able to find you. And vice versa. Even a damn shipment gone bad, this shit is just extra reassurance.”
I looked at him skeptically. Having a nigga track my every move didn’t sit right, even if it was Griz.
Yea, we was partners and all, but I wasn’t even this type of nigga.
I killed for a living. I knew how dangerous sharing any kind of location could be.
I was barely sharing my shit with my own wife.
Her ass wasn’t playing that though, so I really had no choice in that matter.
He must’ve sensed my hesitation because he kept going.
“Deuce, I’m not trying to invade your privacy or nothing like that.
This ain’t about control. This about making sure you make it home to your family every night.
You the head now. You got a target on your back that’s only getting bigger.
And I’ll be damned if something happen to you and I can’t get to you because I don’t know where you at.
And while you have Malani and baby boy with you, it’s just best to be safe and prepared for whatever. ”
The way he said it, the look in his eyes—it was genuine. This wasn’t about him wanting power or keeping me close. This was about protection. About brotherhood.
“The app is already on your phone,” he continued. “Fingerprint protected. Only you can access my location, and same shit. Nobody else. I programmed it myself.”
I put the chain on right there, tucked it under my shirt. “Aight. I respect it. Good looking out.”
“I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t cautious.”
—
Now, sitting in his office twenty-six hours after he’d been snatched, I realized Griz had known something might happen. Maybe not to him getting snatched specifically, but he’d been preparing. Making sure we had contingencies.
I pulled out my phone with shaking hands—not from fear, but from the adrenaline starting to pump through my system. I scrolled through my apps until I found it. The icon was plain, just said “Locate” but I knew what it was.
I pressed my thumb to the scanner.
The app opened immediately, showing a map. There were two dots—one blue, one red. The blue was me, sitting right here in Griz’s house. The red was—
My chest tightened.
The red dot was damn near two hours outside of Dallas. Some industrial area I ain’t never heard of. And according to the timestamp, it had been in that exact same spot for the last twenty-four hours.
Since after he got snatched. Now, I was just thankful that they ain’t snatch the nigga chain off.
“Gotchu,” I said out loud to the empty room.
I screenshotted the location, then immediately started making calls. First was to my head of security at the house.
“Status?” I asked soon as he picked up.
“All clear. Your wife and son are safe. I just checked in with her and all is good. She just fed the baby, both of them should be sleeping now.”
“Good. Don’t leave that post for nothing. You understand? I don’t care if the house catches fire, you make sure they get out safe first.”
“Yes sir.”
I hung up and immediately called my lieutenant, Marco.
“Yeah boss?”
“I need everybody. And I mean everybody. Full squad. Meet me at the warehouse on Fifth in one hour. This a recovery mission.”
“Recovery? What we recovering?”
“One of ours. Not too much, just meet me,”
Silence on the other end. Then, “Say less. We’ll be there.”
I made five more calls. Each one the same message—meet me, bring artillery, this is life or death.
By the time I finished, I had ten of my best soldiers mobilizing. A couple niggas who had been with Dank since the beginning, and a few newer ones who’d proven to be loyal and thorough. Niggas who wouldn’t hesitate to lay everything down on command.
I stood up from the desk, checked my weapon—Glock 19, fully loaded with an extended clip. I had two more magazines on my hip, and a vest that I kept in the car just for shit like this. You could never be too prepared.
This wasn’t about being careful. This was about being prepared for war.
I took one last look around Griz’s office. Everything was neat, organized, exactly how he kept it. The nigga was meticulous about everything. And now he was out there somewhere, probably hurt, definitely waiting for somebody to come through.
I wasn’t about to let him down. Besides, he had prepared me for this shit.