Grizzley

Chapter 10

The warehouse on Fifth was one of our spots.

Nothing major stored there, just a place we used for meetings when we needed privacy.

When I pulled up, trucks were already lining the lot.

Niggas posted up, checking weapons, loading up.

Marco gave clear instructions from me, so these niggas knew what time it was.

I appreciated that because right now, I didn’t have time to be slowed down.

I got out and they all turned to look at me. You could feel the tension in the air—everybody knew this wasn’t a regular move. When the boss calls an emergency meeting and says bring everything, that means bodies about to drop.

Marco walked up first. He was my age, we grew up together.

His father worked for mine and he was around often.

It was only right that I brought him down here with me.

I knew him and his character. If I trusted anybody outside of family, it was him.

He’d worked close with Griz and Dank for years, so the nigga knew everything there was to know about this business. On all sides.

“What’s the situation?” he asked quietly.

“Griz got snatched yesterday. I got his location. We going to get him.”

“What the fuck? How? Who took him?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” I looked him dead in the eye. “This what I need everybody to understand—we don’t know what we walking into. Could be five niggas, could be fifty. Could be a simple grab, could be a setup. I don’t got all the answers right now.”

I raised my voice so everybody could hear.

“Listen up! This is a recovery mission. Our only objective is to get Griz and bring him home. I don’t know who took him or what they want.

I don’t know how many people we up against. What I do know is this—kill anything moving that ain’t him.

No questions asked. No hesitation. We going in heavy and we coming out with our people.

Griz family, so every second we’ve wasted talking, is a second too long. We gotta head out.”

Heads nodded all around. Some niggas cocked their guns. Others checked their vests. The energy shifted from tense to focused.

“Now I’ma be real with y’all,” I continued.

“This might get messy. Some of us might not make it back. Like I said, we don’t know who this is, what they want, or what we walking into.

This the shit y’all signed up for when I welcomed y’all aboard, and broke bread at my table.

No half stepping. No backing out once we there. ”

Nobody moved. Not a single person stepped back.

Marco spoke up. “We with you. All the way.”

“Facts,” somebody else called out.

I felt something in my chest—pride mixed with the weight of responsibility. These niggas was willing to ride into the unknown because I asked. That meant something. I’d never had to run an organization, but these niggas made it easy right now.

“Aight then. Load up. We move now, and mentally prepare for whatever.”

Everybody dispersed, heading to the two vehicles I had waiting for my people. We rode together and we would leave together. I walked back to my truck, mind already running through scenarios. Best case, we pull up, smoke whoever guarding Griz, and we out. Worst case—

I stopped myself. Couldn’t think like that. Had to stay positive but prepared. I had to make it home to my wife. I knew if I died on this mission, Malani would kill me again. That couldn’t be my outcome.

I climbed in the driver’s seat and just sat there for a minute. My phone was in my hand before I even realized I grabbed it. I pulled up a picture of Malani holding Tre at the hospital. Both of them sleeping, peaceful, safe.

My family.

The family I might not come home to if this went wrong.

I thought about calling her. Hearing her voice one more time.

But what would I even say? “Hey baby, I love you, I might die tonight”?

Nah. That wasn’t the move. I was trained for this shit, only difference is, I never went into a mission blind.

I always knew what I was walking into, and I always stalked my marks prior to.

Instead of moving prematurely, I just stared at the picture, memorizing every detail. The way Tre’s little hand was curled into a fist. The slight smile on Malani’s face even in sleep. The way the hospital light hit them just right, making them look almost angelic.

I had everything to lose.

But I also had everything to fight for.

And one thing I knew for certain—you don’t leave your people out to drown.

Griz had been there for me through everything lately. Helped me build this empire, protected my family, never asked for nothing in return. If he was in trouble, I was coming. Without a question.

I tucked my phone away and started the engine. Through the rearview I could see the convoy forming behind me. Three trucks deep in total, at least five niggas in each one, all strapped and ready.

I pulled up the location on my phone one more time.

The red dot was still in the same spot, two hours out in some abandoned industrial zone.

That told me whoever had Griz wasn’t planning to move him anytime soon.

They felt safe there. All I could do was pray that my nigga was still in one piece when I got to him.

They were wrong to think they were safe, and nobody would find them.

I leaned back in my seat and rested my head on the headrest while I drove cautiously, but still a little above the speed limit.

I had a knot in the pit of my stomach. It was the feeling of the unknown tugging at me. I said a silent prayer.

“God, I know I ain’t came to you in a while on no begging shit, but just to thank you lately.

But now, I’m asking for a favor. I know I done a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have.

But if you listening right now, I need you to get me home to my wife and my son.

Let me see my boy grow up. Let me hold my wife one more time.

And help me bring my brother home safe.”

I stared straight at the rode ahead.

At the end of the day, this was what it meant to be a man. To be a leader. You protect yours. You show up when shit gets real. You don’t leave your people behind, no matter the cost.

The city lights faded behind us as we headed into darker territory. The GPS said we had an hour and forty minutes until we reached the location. An hour and forty minutes to mentally prepare for whatever was waiting.

I glanced in the rearview again at my soldiers. Every single one of them was ready for whatever. Every single one was willing to die tonight if it came to that.

I couldn’t let them down.

More importantly, I couldn’t let Griz down. The nigga came around and had been nothing but a brother and a right hand to me.

“Hold on bro,” I said out loud, even though he couldn’t hear me. “We coming.”

The convoy sped through the night, headlights cutting through the streets, all of us heading toward the same destination. Toward violence. Toward blood.

Toward family.

Because that’s what this was really about. Not business. Not territory. Not money.

Family.

And I’d burn the whole world down before I let anybody take mine from me. In this game, you learned that when you find someone loyal, you keep them in your corner by any means necessary.

—

The closer we got to the warehouse, the more my hands started sweating.

I wiped my palm on my jeans, but that shit didn’t help.

My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.

This wasn’t fear—nah, I’d been in worse situations.

This was something different. This was the weight of not knowing what the fuck I was about to walk into.

Or who the fuck Griz had gotten mixed up with.

I pulled out my phone one more time, staring at that picture of Malani and Tre. My whole world right there in one frame. I brought the screen to my lips and kissed it, holding it there for a second longer than I needed to.

“Please God,” I whispered. “Just let me make it back to them.”

I called Marco and let him know the plans now. He was directly behind me, and I had sent him the pin before we left the warehouse.

“We gone pull over and foot the rest,” I said as he picked up.

“We still got like half a mile—”

“I said pull over right here,” I repeated, my voice leaving no room for discussion.

He pulled to the side of the nearly dark road and put it in park. And I did too. I could see the warehouse in the distance, barely lit up by a few dim lights around the perimeter. The other two trucks pulled up behind us.

I spoke to one of my men, who I was now making the designated driver instead of sending him in with us.

This nigga was known for speed racing, I wanted him to put those skills to work.

“Listen to me carefully. I need you out here more than I do in there tonight. I’m trusting you with all of our lives.

After fifteen minutes—and I mean exactly fifteen minutes—you and the other drivers pull up to that warehouse full speed. We gonna need a quick exit.”

“Fifteen minutes. Got it.”

“And tell the other drivers the same shit. Y’all stay ready, engines running, doors open. Soon as you see us coming out, be ready to move.”

“Understood.” He nodded and started making moves to alert the other drivers.

I grabbed my piece from my waistband, checked the clip, chambered a round. The sound of it echoed in the quiet truck. I stepped out the truck and was met by Marco. The nigga had made it to my truck fast as hell.

“You ready?”

“Been ready,” he said, his face stone cold.

I pushed open the door and stepped out into the night air.

It was getting cold as fuck, but I barely felt it.

The adrenaline was already pumping through my veins.

My soldiers piled out of the other trucks, all of them strapped, all of them silent.

We moved like shadows, communicating with hand signals and head nods.

I gathered them close, keeping my voice low. “Aight listen. We going in quiet until we can’t be quiet no more. Kill everything breathing that ain’t Griz. I don’t give a fuck who they is or what they saying. You see movement, you drop it. No questions. No hesitation. We clear?”

“Clear,” they all said in unison, voices barely above a whisper.

“And another thing—watch each other’s backs. We came here together, we leaving together. That’s on everything. It ain’t no every man for himself around this bitch. Be yo brother keeper, if you yourself wanna keep breathing.”

Heads nodded all around me.

“Let’s move.”

We crept toward the warehouse, weapons drawn, eyes scanning everything. The place looked abandoned from the outside, but I knew better. Somebody was definitely inside. The question was how many and how ready they were for us.

We spread out, moving along the sides of the building, staying low and in the shadows. I signaled for half my niggas to circle around back while me, Marco, and three others approached from the front.

My heart was still pounding, but my hands were steady now. This was what I was trained for. This was what I knew.

As we got closer, I spotted movement—a guard walking the perimeter, doing a check. He had his gun on his hip but wasn’t paying attention, probably bored out his mind thinking nobody would be stupid enough to run up on this spot.

He was wrong.

I raised my fist, signaling everyone to stop and get down. We crouched behind some old equipment and storage containers, watching him. He was walking right toward us, still oblivious. Fifty feet away. Forty. Thirty.

When he got about twenty feet out, he must’ve caught something in his peripheral because his head snapped in our direction. His eyes went wide when he saw us, and his hand immediately went for his gun.

I stood up slowly, my pistol already aimed at his head. I brought my other hand to my lips, putting one finger up. “Shhhhh.”

His hand froze on his weapon, eyes locked on mine. For a split second, I saw the fear register on his face. He knew what was about to happen.

I squeezed the trigger.

Pop.

The suppressor did its job, muffling the sound to barely more than a loud cough. His head snapped back and he dropped like a bag of rocks, dead before he hit the ground.

But it wasn’t quiet enough.

The warehouse door burst open and two more niggas came running out, guns already drawn, looking around trying to figure out where the threat was.

“Light them up!” I barked.

My soldiers opened fire. The two guards didn’t even get a chance to aim before bullets ripped through them. They dropped in the doorway, bodies jerking from the impact, blood spreading across the concrete.

“Move! Move!” I ordered, already running toward the entrance.

We rushed the door, stepping over the bodies, weapons up and ready.

Marco was right beside me, covering my right while another soldier covered my left.

The inside of the warehouse was dimly lit, full of shadows and stacked crates.

Could be niggas hiding anywhere. All that I could do was hope that we’d taken all of them out.

I stopped just inside the entrance, holding up my fist again. I was listening for movement, for any sound to indicate there was life inside of the warehouse before we made our next move.

My mind was racing. Griz was in here somewhere.

I could feel it. But I had no idea what condition he was in or how many more niggas we were about to face.

For all I knew, this could be a trap. Could be twenty shooters waiting for us to walk right into an ambush.

Maybe they had found Griz chain, and knew we’d eventually track it, and come looking.

But I didn’t come this far to turn back now.

I took a deep breath, my finger resting on the trigger of my gun. I thought about Malani one more time. About Tre. About everything I had to lose.

Then I thought about Griz. The nigga who had grown to be my brother. The nigga who’d been showing up for me and mine, without a question. A loyal and thorough ass nigga, who was the reason I was fully stepping into my position. My family.

I steeled myself, pushed all that doubt down deep, and let the cold, calculated killer in me take over. The part of me that didn’t hesitate. The part of me that did what needed to be done, no matter the cost.

I looked back at my soldiers, their faces hard and ready, waiting for my command.

I turned back toward the doors, toward whatever hell was waiting for us in this warehouse.

“I ain’t leaving this muthafucka without my boy,” I said quietly, more to myself than anyone else.

Then I moved forward into the darkness, ready for whatever came next.