30. Omar
Omar
Iwas in East New York when it happened. Me and James, sitting in a parked car outside a building TK's people had been using as a stash house. Kadeem had sent us to confirm the location before Devon ran the full surveillance package. Standard work. Sit, watch, log, leave.
My phone was on my thigh the entire time. I kept looking at it. The screen stayed dark.
"You expecting a call?" James asked from the passenger seat.
"Nah."
"Cos you been checking that phone every thirty seconds for the last hour."
"I said nah."
James held his hands up and went back to watching the building. He was good like that. Knew when to push and when to leave it alone. Right now he was leaving it alone.
Shanay was walking into the salon right about now.
Sitting in Asha's chair with a cape around her shoulders, talking about hair color while Cee scrolled his phone ten feet away.
The extraction was happening and I was sitting in a car in East New York watching a stash house because Kadeem had told me I couldn't be the one to move her.
"You too close to it," he'd said. "If something goes wrong and you're there, you'll react with your heart instead of your head. Let Shanay handle it. She knows what she's doing."
He was right. I hated that he was right.
My phone buzzed. I grabbed it so fast James actually turned to look at me.
Devon: Clean.
One word. I read it three times. Then I put the phone down, leaned back in the seat, and let the air come out of my lungs. My hands were gripping the steering wheel even though the car was parked. I loosened them one finger at a time.
"We done here?" James asked.
"Yeah. We're done."
I dropped James at APEX and drove to Bed-Stuy. The traffic on Atlantic was light for once and I made it in twelve minutes. I parked outside the building, took the stairs two at a time, unlocked the door.
Asha was sitting at the kitchen table with Ma. Two plates in front of them, both nearly empty. Shanay was on the couch with her phone. The apartment was warm and there was food on the stove and it looked like a normal afternoon in a normal home.
Asha looked up when I came through the door. Her eyes were red from crying but her face was calm. She stood up from the table.
Neither of us said anything. I crossed the room and she met me halfway.
My arms went around her and hers went around my waist and she pressed her face into my chest. I held her there for a long time.
Ma watched us from the table without saying a word.
Shanay kept her eyes on her phone, giving us the moment without making it a thing.
"You're here," Asha said against my chest.
"Yeah. I'm here."
"I turned my phone off."
"Good."
She pulled back and looked at me. "Cee's gonna tell Supreme I didn't come back."
"Let him tell him."
"Omar."
"Let him tell him. We ready for that."
Ma stood up from the table, gathered the plates, and took them to the sink. She put her hand on my shoulder as she passed. Didn't say anything. Didn't need to.
Shanay left with Ma once Kadeem's car arrived. I walked them to the door and Shanay stopped in the hallway.
"She's strong," Shanay told me quietly. "Stronger than she thinks. Take care of her."
"I will."
"And Omar." She looked at me. "Don't let this make you sloppy. Kadeem needs you sharp."
She was right about that too. I went back inside.
Asha was curled up on the couch with her eyes closed. I sat down next to her, put her feet in my lap, and let her sleep while I went through my phone.
Devon's updates came in a steady stream over the next few hours.
Supreme knew she was gone. His people had called Cee first, then Supreme directly.
Supreme made six phone calls in the first hour.
Devon's contact inside the crew confirmed he was running a quiet search.
No public noise, no street alerts. Supreme was keeping it contained because a man like him didn't let people know his woman had walked out.
That was weakness. That was blood in the water.
But the search was happening. Teams in cars, people checking her known locations, someone sitting outside Nene's building. Devon flagged all of it.
I called Kadeem from the bedroom while Asha slept.
"He's looking," I said.
"Expected. How wide?"
"Six teams. Inner circle only. He ain't broadcasting it."
"Good. That means he's embarrassed, which means he's vulnerable." Kadeem paused. "Bring her to the house tomorrow. I want to go through what she knows. Properly. Devon can run the debrief."
"She just got here, Deem."
"I know that. Tomorrow. Give her tonight."
I hung up and went back to the living room.
Asha was still sleeping. I sat in the chair across from her and went through Devon's files on my laptop.
The territory reports, the financial trail, the Greyline documents.
Work I should have been doing all day instead of sitting in East New York watching my phone.
Devon texted at nine: Stone wants to come by tomorrow. Review what she's got. Said he can help structure the Associates presentation.
I thought about that for a minute. Stone reviewing Asha's intel meant Stone in the room with her, asking questions, assessing what she knew. It made tactical sense. Stone was the best at organizing information for the Associates. His presentations were clean, thorough, persuasive.
Tell him noon, I replied.
Stone came the next day. Asha was already at Ma's kitchen table with Kadeem, Devon's laptop open between them, a printed map of Brooklyn spread across the surface. Kadeem had a notepad. Devon had a second screen running his database.
"Start with the locations," Kadeem told her.
Asha leaned forward and put her finger on the map.
"This one here, Church Avenue in Flatbush.
Second floor above the laundromat. He keeps two lockboxes of collection money, rotates them monthly.
The new rotation started the week before I left, so the current setup is fresh.
" She tapped the map again. "Two guards.
One on the landing at the top of the stairs, one inside.
The one on the landing is usually young, mid-twenties.
The inside guy is older, handles the counting. "
Devon typed. Kadeem wrote.
"East New York." Asha moved her finger east across the map. "Storage unit near the expressway on-ramp. This one's heavier. Four guards, two outside by the fence, two inside. More product here than cash. He stores both but East New York is the main distribution point for TK's supply chain."
"How do you know the guard count?" Kadeem asked.
"Supreme took me there once. He was checking on a shipment and didn't want to leave me at the apartment alone. I sat in the car but I counted everyone who went in and out."
"Once. You counted them once?"
"I counted everything everywhere, Kadeem.
For three years. Every guard, every location, every name, every schedule.
I didn't know what I'd need it for but I knew I'd need it for something.
" She looked him in the eye. "Four guards at East New York.
Two outside, two in. Supreme visits twice a month, usually in the evening. "
Kadeem held her gaze for a moment, then nodded and wrote it down.
When Stone arrived he sat at the end of the table, put his glasses on, and listened to Asha walk through the operational details from the beginning. He had a legal pad and he wrote in small precise handwriting, noting account numbers as Asha recited them from memory.
"The primary collection account ends in 4471," Asha said. "Supreme used it for the Flatbush money. The secondary for East New York ends in 8803. Both route through a business account under a company called Greyline Holdings."
Stone's pen stopped for a fraction of a second on the legal pad. Then it kept writing. "Greyline," he repeated, like he was confirming the spelling. "And these account numbers, you saw them yourself?"
"On his laptop. He left it open on the kitchen counter more than he should have. I memorized what I could."
Stone wrote down both numbers and circled them. "This is extremely valuable. Devon can cross-reference these against the financial trail he's already built."
He asked three more questions after she finished.
"The cash locations you mentioned. How current is that information?"
"As of last week," Asha replied. "Supreme rotated them monthly but he'd just set up the new cycle before I left."
"And the distribution chain from TK. Did you ever see TK and Supreme in the same room?"
"Twice. Both times at the apartment in Crown Heights. Supreme called him 'the kid' and TK called him 'Unc.' They talked like family."
Stone nodded, his face thoughtful. "That confirms the connection Devon established through the financial trail. Different angle, same conclusion." He looked at Kadeem. "This is solid. The Associates will move on this."
He turned to Asha and his expression warmed. "Thank you. I know this isn't easy. But what you're sharing here could protect a lot of people."
"I just want to be free," Asha said quietly.
"You will be." Stone put his hand briefly on the table near hers without touching her. "We'll make sure of that."
Asha sat back in her chair. Her hands were steady on the table but the cost of the last hour was written across her face. She'd just given up everything she knew about the man she'd lived with since Atlanta. Every account number, every guard count, every location. There was no going back from this.
He spent another hour organizing the information into categories for the presentation. When he left he shook Kadeem's hand, nodded at me, and told Asha it was good to meet her properly.
After he was gone Kadeem looked at me across the table. "We got enough. I'm calling the Associates meeting."
"When?"
"End of the week. Stone's putting the package together. Devon's running final verification on the financial data." He gathered the papers. "This is it, Omar. We move on Supreme, we move on TK, we take back what's ours."
I drove Asha back to the apartment. She was quiet on the ride, her head against the window, her eyes on the passing streets.
"You did good today," I told her.
"It didn't feel good." She kept her eyes on the window. "Sitting at that table giving up everything about the man I lived with. Even if I hate him, it's still..." She trailed off.
"I know."
"Do you?"
I pulled up outside the building and turned off the engine.
"My Pops built something that Kadeem runs now.
Every decision Kadeem makes, every territory move, every operation, it started with Pops.
And now we're tearing down the man whose money might be connected to why Pops disappeared.
" I looked at her. "Yeah. I understand what it costs to dismantle something you were part of. "
She reached over and took my hand. Held it for a moment. Then she got out, checked the street both ways, and walked inside quickly.
I scanned the block for a minute. No unfamiliar cars, no one sitting in a parked vehicle, no one on the corner who looked like they were waiting. The search teams were out there somewhere but they weren't here yet. I got out and followed her up, taking the stairs fast, locking the door behind us.