Halo 19yrs old
“Let’s get started. Cornelius Hicks has three sisters named Margaret, Sondra, and Joycelyn.” Greek clicked the projector remote in his hand. It showed us every picture of the people he named. He also handed us a see-through folder that held the exact pictures and information from the projector.
“Damn, Sondra fine as shit.”
I chuckled at Golden then I flipped to the next picture the same time Greek clicked to the next one.
We were at our one-floor office building being debriefed about our next targets. We purchased this building last year. It was an abandoned old warehouse, so we split it into three sections with wall dividers. That way we could have our own office.
In the center of the room was what we called our round table meeting area. The projector was at the left end of the table, and it faced the wall. We sat at the table and did our debriefing there every time.
We also met clients here and nowhere else. We operated off business hours and anyone who showed up unannounced had the possibility of leaving in a body bag. Much has changed since I was a ten-year-old boy. For starters, me and my brothers were well known hitmen. What we did was on another level.
Me and my brothers were professional, discreet, clean but can be messy if the client required us to be and most of all…we were expensive. Our price went up depending on the details and who exactly we had to kill.
We had to vet a potential client every single time, and it had to be a unanimous vote if we’d accept or deny the client.
“Overall, this is about territory. Perez’s, Alfaro’s, and Bacallao’s are beefing and it’s getting out of hand.
The Bacallao’s came to us, and they want the Perez’s siblings killed.
We need to make it look like Alfaro’s did it that way the two gangs will go after each other.
Leaving Bacallao’s to win the territory.
Let’s vote. We take it or not and feedback is a given.
” Greek waited for me and Golden to speak.
“I’m on the fence. If we take it then we gotta go to Spain. That’s an eight-and-a-half-hour flight. Then again, we have a jet, so we won’t have to deal with passengers. Spain is bomb and I could use some Spanish food.” I shared how I felt about it.
“I agree, don’t feel like being in the air that long. But I could go for some Spanish food too and some Spanish pussy. Necesito recargar energía. (I need to recharge my battery.)”
Golden made me and Greek laugh when he spoke in Spanish. Our parents made sure we could speak at least one other language other than English. We started taking lessons at five years old and auntie Imani made sure we continued until we were fourteen.
“Well, I say we take it with caution. Perez’s is highly known in the crime world. Meaning they will have their mansion heavily secured. We’d have to pull out silencers and not miss a shot. I’m talking damn near invisible. It’s $150,000 dollar job, that’s $50,000 apiece.”
Me and Golden smiled hearing that and we all agreed to take it.
“A’ight, we will leave tomorrow at noon.” Greek closed our meeting out.
“After we all go home to pack do y’all want to sleep over at my spot? I got a new movie we can watch called Monster In-Law. JLO is in it?” I was excited to tell them that.
My brothers and I have had our own place since we were seventeen. Our uncle Thaddeus, auntie Imani’s husband, told us a man has to step out on his own in his own space at seventeen. It was odd being without my brothers but in no time, I liked having my own place.
We went to pick out furniture and all kinds of things for our places together. Plus, we lived in the same building. A twenty-eight-story apartment building. Greek lived on the top floor, he was addicted to heights.
Golden was on the tenth floor, and I was on the sixth. Since we were ten, I have loved watching movies with my brothers. It helped me sleep and gave me comfort from terrible memories. They would let me pick the movie and watch it with me without arguing against it.
“Oh shit, I told Yamika I’d come through her place tonight.” Golden responded.
I looked at my brother and smiled. Greek dropped his head laughing and spoke.
“Sure, baby brother, I’ll be there after I pack.”
“Cool! Golden, you sure you don’t want to come?”
He looked at me then at Greek then his head dropped and he laughed too.
“Okay, I’ll hit Yamika up and tell her that I’ll hit her when I get back. I’m in brother.”
When I happily hugged him, he hugged me back.
“You owe me, Yamika can suck a good dick. I want you to take Eve to her doctor’s appointment.”
“That’s my favorite girl anyways so I’ll do it.” I agreed, then the three of us left our building.
Greek locked the doors up. It was drizzling outside and a little chilly. We had on a Jordan hoodie jogger set. Mine was navy blue, Golden’s was red and Greek’s was olive green. I hit the alarm on my old school, 1969 Ford Mustang.
The three of us were obsessed with old school cars and owned a few. My Ford Mustang was red and black. I also owned a blue and white 1969 Chevrolet Camero and an all-black 2017 Yukon Denali for the winter.
“We’ll meet you at your apartment in two hours brother.” Greek told me before we got in our cars.
“Got it. I’ll get us something to eat from Royale with Cheese place.” That was a restaurant in downtown Detroit that we liked a lot. Since our building was close by, I had no problem picking up something to eat before I took the forty-five-minute drive home.
I unlocked the door to my apartment and closed it behind me. After I tossed my keys in the bowl on the hallway table. I took the three bags of food to my kitchen. My fridge was stocked with beer and other drinks I and my brothers loved.
The way I decorated my place was how I wanted to feel on the inside. It was clear, bright colors and felt free. The floors were light brown hard wood all through the hallway, living, and dining room.
I had a big grey area rug in front of my long white sectional couch. My cocktail table was black with a glass top. It matched my two black accent chairs on the other side of my room. The best thing in my living room was my entertainment center.
It held my sixty-inch TV and all my DVD movies. The walls matched my tan-throw pillows on the couch. Lastly, there were white and tan curtains on the long windows. I opened them every morning no matter what the weather was.
I went to my room, grabbed my suitcase, and started packing. We were only staying for two days so there wasn’t much. The weapons and other things we needed to do the job would be on the jet.
Everything was worked out with TSA and customs. We had our operation air-tight and it was worth every penny.
Packing was done just as my brothers arrived.
They had their pajamas on with their slides.
I already had their covers and pillows out on the couch for them.
Both ends of my sectional let out and that’s where they slept.
We warmed our food up. I got us all drinks and Golden’s favorite chips then we ate while the movie played.
“I’d smash the hell out of Jennifer Lopez. Knock the candy outta that pinata.”
Greek and I were cracking up at Golden’s outburst.
“You always gotta talk from ya’ dick!” Greek joked.
“Fuck what’chu sayin,’ you know damn well you’d pop her!”
“I would but I don’t need to say it.” Greek claimed.
“Well, I do and Jane Fonda old ass can get it too!”
I fell out laughing, “Nigga you’s a straight fool now!”
“Bro, you are missin’ out, she pro-black as fuck. That along makes my dick hard. I’d be like, bring yo’ woke ass here and tell me how you marched with Dr. King.” Golden started demonstrating what he’d do, and it was comical to us.
They told me to pick out another movie after Monster In-Law went off so I selected The Wedding Planner since we were on a JLO kick.
During that movie, Greek was asleep first then Golden.
So, I put the TV on ESPN, they loved that channel, and I went to my room.
It was a little after one in the morning.
I plugged my phone up, took my house-shoes off and got into my bed. I left the TV off. There was a little light coming from my blinds and that was enough. It did not take me long to fall asleep, and I prayed I’d stay asleep through the night.
I jumped out of my sleep coughing and breathing hard. My conscious mind hadn’t kicked all the way in yet because I knocked on the phone and remote control on the floor. The noise pulled me back to reality and I reached for the blanket under my pillow.
As soon as I grabbed it, I inhaled the scent of it hard. It smelled like my room growing up and my mother’s cooking. I sat up in bed when I heard a knock at my door.
“Come on.”
The door opened and it was Greek, “You good?” He asked.
I nodded my head yes and hoped that he would leave but he came and sat on the side of my bed.
“I said I’m good Greek.”
He looked at my blanket in my hand then at me. “You don’t look good Halo. In fact, you look the same way you did when we were kids, and you’d jump out of your sleep. Except, we are not kids anymore and I did not know you still wake up like this.”
Greek went to the half bathroom in my room and came back with a towel for my face.
“It’s nothing, just shit on my mind since dad and mama---
“Quit fucking lying Halo, for real. Me and Golden allowed you to keep saying that for years. But let’s be one hunnid’ about it. You been having these late-night jump scares before our parents died.”
Greek looked at me and like many other moments, I saw our dad. It was comforting but also a pain in my stomach appeared because I missed our parents. I thought about me and dad’s last talk at Burger King when I was ten years old. I remember his hug and how he told me he loved me.
“You and Golden are the best parts of me and there is nothing that will make me or him look at you out of the ordinary. What changed you Halo, just tell me so I can understand.”