8. Deuce
DEUCE
The second Alisha said “FBI” over the phone, my whole mood shifted.
Soon as we hung up, I sat there in my truck for a minute, fired up a blunt and let the smoke settle before I made my next move.
That bitch ass Agent Brown had some nerve.
Out of everybody he walked up on my wife.
My fucking wife, that ain’t sit right with me.
I done spent years making sure my street life stayed far away from my house.
That’s why I built Carter Trucking the way I did.
To the world, I was just another businessman moving freight.
Meanwhile, them trucks were carrying a whole lot more than what was listed on them manifests.
Alisha ain’t know none of that and I planned on keeping it that way.
I reached in the console, grabbed my phone, and called Kim.
She answered. “Hey bab?—”
“The fuck your daddy doing questioning my wife?”
Silence. “…What?”
“You heard me.”
“I ain’t know he went to see her.” She explained.
“That’s the problem.”
She let out a slow breath. “Deuce…”
“Nah.” I cut her off. “I told you to keep him off my ass.”
“I can’t control that man.” She whined.
“He your daddy.”
“And you my man,” she shot back. “That don’t stop you from doing whatever the fuck you wanna do.”
I couldn’t even argue with that. Agent Brown wasn’t no regular cop. That old nigga lived for that badge. He’d throw his own family under the bus if it meant closing a case. That’s what made him so damn annoying. You couldn’t pay his ass no hush money for him to leave you alone.
“What did Alisha say?” Kim asked.
“Nothing, she answered his little questions and kept it moving.” I took another pull from the blunt. “But the fact he comfortable enough to walk up on her…” I shook my head. “I don’t like that shit.”
“He getting closer,” Kim said quietly.
“You don’t think I know that shit.” I snapped. “And if he keep pressing…he gonna fuck around and find out.”
The line went quiet. “You talking about him only, right?”
“I’m talking about anybody. If a muthafucka start putting my family in the middle of this, they become part of the problem.”
Kim didn’t say nothing. She already knew what that meant.
I looked out the windshield before putting the truck in drive.
One thing about Alisha if she ever found out I was moving guns she’d probably cry or cuss me clean the fuck out, but she’d eventually understand I did what I had to do to build what we got.
Cheating though that was different. Alisha could forgive a lot of shit another woman wasn’t one of ’em. That’s why Kim had to stay exactly where she was a secret.
“She suspicious about me?” Kim asked after a second.
I sucked my teeth out of everything I just said that was the shit she was worried about? “Why the fuck you worried about that?”
“Because I asked.”
I rubbed my beard, trying not to lose my patience. “She said the energy at the shop felt off.”
Kim let out a breath. “Well… you was acting different.”
I shook my head. “You popped up at my wife’s shop. What the fuck you thought was gone happen?”
“You had been ignoring me.”
“There you go.” I laughed to myself. “Everything with you always come back to feelings.”
“You act like I ain’t got none.”
“I ain’t say that, but right now I got bigger shit to worry about than your feelings.”
She got quiet, good ‘cause I was done talking. I looked out the windshield at folks coming and going, cars flying down the street like Detroit drivers always did. Everybody wanted something from me. Alisha wanted honesty. Kim wanted more than I was willing to give. Shante wanted me to clean up the mess I dragged her into. And the Feds them muthafuckas wanted to tear down everything I’d spent years building.
A nigga couldn’t afford to get emotional.
That’s when mistakes get made. “I gotta go.”
“Deuce—”
“I’ll hit you later.”
I ended the call before she could get another word out.
I wasn’t about to sit on the phone arguing that shit wasn’t gone solve nothing.
I pulled off and headed straight to the warehouse.
The closer I got, the more eighteen wheelers I started seeing rolling in and out.
Soon as I turned into the lot, everything looked like business as usual.
Forklifts moving nonstop, diesel engines rumbling.
Niggas posted up outside smoking and talking shit while they waited on the next load.
Drivers climbing in and out the cabs. The warehouse stayed alive damn near twenty-four hours a day.
That’s exactly how I wanted it to be. At least that’s what it looked like from the outside.
Soon as I stepped out of the truck, Rell came walking over. Tall as hell dark skin with long dreads hanging past his shoulders. Fresh Amiri hoodie and a big Cuban link dancing every time the sunlight hit it. That was my brother not by blood but by life.
We done survived too much together to call each other anything else. He looked me over and smirked. “Damn you look like you ready to put hands on somebody.”
I shut the truck door. “The Feds walked up on Alisha today.”
That smile disappeared quick. “Them bitch ass niggas did what?”
Rell’s face tightened. “At the shop?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Damn.”
He shook his head as we started walking toward the warehouse.
Forklifts rolled past us carrying pallets while a couple drivers stood off to the side passing a blunt back and forth.
The smell of diesel mixed with weed stayed heavy in the air.
Somebody had Jeezy playing from a Bluetooth speaker while security watched the gate like they were supposed to, everybody out here was strapped, you had to be.
“Brown turning the heat up?” Rell asked.
“He definitely getting bolder.”
“What about Alisha?” He asked.
“She don’t know shit.”
“And Kim?”
I sucked my teeth. “She in her feelings.”
Rell laughed without smiling. “That’s worse.”
“Tell me about it.”
We stepped inside the warehouse to anybody else it looked like every other trucking company in Detroit.
Crates stacked damn near to the ceiling, pallets wrapped up.
Forklifts weaving in and out. Workers scanning barcodes and loading trailers.
Regular business, that’s exactly what I paid millions for it to look like.
Most of my loads were clean, that's how you stayed in business. Niggas got caught trying to make every load dirty. That greedy shit got people indicted. Me I played the long game. Furniture, auto parts, construction equipment, medical supplies. Then every now and then a shipment that couldn’t be traced.
The guns were sealed inside custom-built compartments welded into the trailers. Unless somebody knew exactly where to cut, they could search all damn day and never find them. Rell handed me the manifest. “Truck headed to Cleveland.”
I flipped through it. “Drivers solid?”
“So far.”
I looked up. “So far?”
Rell shrugged. “You know how niggas get when the Feds start making noise. A little pressure hits and everybody starts remembering they got kids to raise.”
I smirked. “That’s why I don’t trust everybody. Money make a nigga loyal. Fear make him talk.”
Rell nodded. “So, what’s the move?”
I closed the folder. “The same move it’s always been. Anybody becomes a threat to my family. I'm gone handle it.”
Rell didn’t ask another question. He already knew exactly what I meant.
“You think somebody talking?” I asked.
Rell looked around before answering.
“Man, hell yeah.”
I laughed. “I was thinking the same shit. Ain’t no way them people this close without somebody running they mouth.” I looked over at him. “And while we talking, I got another problem.”
“What?” He asked.
“Kim popped up at the nail shop today.”
Rell stopped walking. “She did what?”
“You heard me.”
“This bitch actually walked in there?”
“Yeah.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Man… she out her damn mind.”
“I know.”
“Alisha see her?”
“She did her damn nails.”
Rell threw both hands up. “Nigga!”
“I know.”
“So, what happened?”
“I played it off.”
He looked at me like I had completely lost my mind. “You played what off?”
“I walked in with flowers and introduced myself like I ain’t know the bitch.”
Rell shook his head. “Boy you playing with fire.”
“I ain’t have no choice.”
“The hell you didn’t. You could’ve turned right back around when you saw her.”
“And have Alisha asking why?”
He sucked his teeth. “Damn I ain’t even think about that.”
“Exactly.” We started walking again. “I called Kim right after.”
“And?”
“I cussed her ass clean out. I told her don’t ever pull no shit like that again.”
Rell laughed. “She listen?”
I looked at him. “When the fuck she ever listen?”
He laughed so hard he had to stop walking. “I’ll give you that.”
I shook my head. “That girl gone be the death of me.”
“Nah.” Rell looked over at me. “You gone be the death of your damn self.”
I smirked. “Probably.”
He laughed. “What about Rico? He been weird.”
“How?”
“Called off twice and asked me if I thought the Feds were watching the warehouse.”
I stopped walking. “He asked you that?”
“Yeah, dumb ass nigga. He's scared, that’s what it sounds like.”
I shook my head. “Fear make niggas stupid.”
My phone started ringing and I looked down, and it was Alisha.
Rell smirked. “You better answer before she think you somewhere doing bullshit.”
I shot him a look. “Shut the fuck up.”
He laughed.
I answered. “What’s up, baby?”
“You still at the warehouse?”
“Yeah.”
“You busy?”
“I’m walking through. What’s up?”
She was quiet for a second. “I stopped by Shante’s.”
My steps slowed. “For what?”
“I was gonna see if she wanted to grab a drink after work.”
“And?”
“Girl wouldn’t even open the door.”
I frowned. “What she say?”
“Said she got the flu. She talked to me through the door the whole time.”
I glanced over at Rell. “Damn,” I said. “She probably ain’t wanna get you sick.”
“Maybe, but it still felt weird. You know Shante, if she got the flu, she usually still talking a mile a minute. This time she was trying to get me off the porch.”
I forced a little laugh. “She probably just wanted to lay down.”
“I guess.”
She let out a sigh. “I’ll see you later.”
“Aight, love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hung up and slid my phone back into my pocket. Rell looked over at me. “Everything straight?”
I shook my head. “Alisha stopped by Shante’s she ain’t let her in. Said she got the flu.”
Rell sucked his teeth. “She barely hanging on already.”
“She gotta tighten up.”
He looked at me for a second before busting out laughing. “You know what’s crazy?”
“What?”
“This gotta be the most Detroit shit I ever seen.”
I raised a brow.
“This nigga got his own sister carrying a baby for his side bitch.” He laughed again, shaking his head. Man, that’s some foul-ass pimp shit.”
I couldn’t help but smirk. “Man, shut the fuck up.”
“Nah, I’m serious. You got your wife trusting your sister. Your sister lying to her man. And your side bitch over here applying pressure.” He pointed at me. “You got everybody out here looking crazy but yourself.”
I chuckled. “You done?”
“Hell nah, I’m still trying to figure out how the fuck you talked Shante into this.”
“I ain’t talk her into shit. I told her what was at stake.”
Rell looked at me like I was full of shit. “Whatever help you sleep at night.”
I laughed under my breath.
“Fuck you.”
“Nah,” he grinned. “Fuck you, ole selfish-ass nigga.”
Before Rell could say another word, all hell broke loose outside. One of my workers came hauling ass through the warehouse. “Deuce!”
I turned around and he was sweating like a muthafucka. “What?”
He bent over trying to catch his breath. “Rico…”
“What about him?” I asked.
“State boys got his ass.”
The whole warehouse got quiet. Rell stepped up beside me. “Where?”
“Right outside Toledo.”
I looked at him. “They searched the truck.” He let us know.
My jaw clenched. “And?”
The driver swallowed. “They found everything.”
Ain’t nobody said shit. Rell finally broke the silence. “How the fuck they know what trailer to pull?”
The driver shook his head. “I don’t know.”
I looked over at Rell. He already knew what I was thinking. “This ain’t random. They were waiting.”
Rell sucked his teeth. “Somebody singing.”
Before I could answer, another one of the workers came through the side door. “Deuce…”
“What now?” I snapped.
“Dawg…you need to come look at this.”
I followed him toward the bay doors. The closer we got, the quieter everybody got. Workers weren’t loading trucks no more, forklifts had stopped.
Everybody was looking toward the front gate. I stepped outside and across the street two black SUVs sat parked with the windows blacked out. Didn’t nobody get out or wave, they just sat there watching.
Rell came up beside me. “They making sure we see ‘em.”
I lit a blunt and took a slow pull. Smoke filled my lungs while I kept my eyes on the trucks. “They trying to rattle us.”
Rell looked over. “It working?”
I blew the smoke out slow. “Hell nah, but whoever opened they mouth, they better pray the Feds find them before me.” Rell looked at me and nodded because he knew I wasn’t just talking. I meant every fucking word.