Dead End Pt. 4

A Story by LaDain Jackson

Part Four of The Series!

ONE WEEK LATER

Rochelle sits outside of her work building at an umbrella table with two other African American women named Rachael and Sherrie. “Girl I was at this spa yesterday and this guy who was massaging me yesterday said he was from France as in trying to tell me that he’s a real professional but when he actually did I knew he was lying” laughed Sherrie. “You should have gone with me to the gym because I met this man there he said that he works in the stock market” said Rachael smilingly. “If that’s true then you better get with that man, I don’t even care if he is married” says Sherrie. “You’re ruthless Sherrie” laughed Rachael. “You know I am, so Rochelle what’s up with you and your man” asked Sherrie. “My husband and I have been doing just fine but sometimes I worry” replied Rochelle. “Do you think he’s cheating” asked Rachael. “No, he works with the FBI and you all know what type of people they deal with” says Rochelle. “Sounds like a good man to me” commented Rachael. “He is but I just hope that he doesn’t end up like those other people law enforcers who take their stress out at home” said Rochelle frustratingly. “Has he been acting strange at home lately” asked Sherrie. “That’s the thing, he hasn’t been and what I’m worried about is if it will always stay that way” replied Rochelle. “That’s a tough situation” stated Rachael. “If it gets into a psychological problem then you guys could always get therapy but if it gets physical then you know what number to call” Sherrie reminded. “I don’t really think it would get that I just hate the thought of it ever happening but he is one of the most honest and self-willing men I’ve ever known” mentioned Rochelle. “I just think that if a man who joins something like the FBI then there has to be something decent about him” says Rachael. “Speaking of all this talk about my family I have to call my brother to check on my niece and nephew” complained Rochelle. She gets up and leaves the table. Darius walks out of his office and goes outside and sits on the bench near the front entrance. A young Middle Eastern women walks up to him. “Hi my name is Arielle, I’m a new attorney and I just got transferred” she says. They both shake hands. “I’m counselor Johnson” replied Darius. She sits next to him on the bench. “So you’re new” asked Darius. She smiles and nods her head yes. “It seems like just yesterday when I was young starting like you” Darius pointed out. “It’s basically my first day and I’m really excited” described Arielle. “I remember when I was a kid I wanted an important job because my father worked hard for everything we had” says Darius. “How is it over here” asked Arielle. “It’s okay over here but I know a better place where we can get to know each other even better” replied Darius. In the conference room of the bureau director Stevenson flips to a mug shot of Lucas on a protractor. “Now ladies and gentlemen we have a new case and this suspect is wanted for murder and attempted murder” announced Stevenson. The next photo the protractor flips to be a photo of Darius walking down the street. “This is his lawyer Darius Johnson who has defended him for being accused of domestic violence but he also has been rumored to be associated with mobsters in Harlem which could mean that he might have an unknown criminal history that was never proven but beside the point you never know if he and our new friend Lucas are up to” explained Stevenson. All the agents sitting at the table write down notes and look through files. Danny walks in the room and looks at the photo of Darius protracted on the wall. “Agent Danny how nice of you to join us, do you have anything to add” asked Stevenson. Danny pauses for a moment and says “No sir”.

THREE MONTHS AGO HARLEM, NEW YORK

Darius walks down the streets of Harlem wearing a black all around hat with two other African American men. They all go into a party with the men dressed similar and the women dressed in miniskirts and mini dresses. Darius mingles in with the crowd. A man comes up behind him and cheers his name out loud. Darius turns around and looks at him. “Tyrone” yelled Darius. They both hand dap each other. “What’s going on man” asked Tyrone excitingly. “I came down here to visit some old friends” replied Darius. “I remember when you was just a college boy” says Tyrone. “Yeah but I’m big now though” exclaimed Darius. “You think after the party you can come see something with me and the boys” asked Tyrone. “Sure” replied Darius. One of the girls at the party walks up to Darius and hands him a glass of wine. The music starts to play and everybody dances in one big group. Two more girls walk up to Tyrone and Darius. This time they bring a whole bottle of champagne and hands it to Tyrone. Darius turns around and looks at both of them. “Who’s this Tyrone” asked Darius. “These are just some welcoming hosts of the party, go ahead enjoy yourself” suggested Tyrone. He hands Darius the champagne bottle and Tyrone wraps both his arms around both girls and dances with them. Darius grabs the arm of the girl who brought him the glass of wine first and dances with her. A man wearing a white mink coat walks in the room with two other sheer sized men as bodyguards. One the women at the party walks up behind him and takes his coat off for him as he looks around at everybody at the party.

LATER THAT NIGHT

Darius walks with Tyrone down a dark alley with a caution sign on the brick wall up ahead that says dead end. When they make it to the end of the alley they see a man standing in front of a group of young teens and adults with two men blind folded and their mouths taped laid out on the ground behind him. The young teens are wearing attire like du rags and snap back hats and the adults are wearing three piece suits with hats that look similar to Darius’ all around hat. The man standing in front of them waves a silver special .38 in the air. Darius tilts his head towards Tyrone’s ear. “Is that Ray” asked Darius. Tyrone looks at him and nods his head yes. “This is what happens when you break the rules” announced Ray. He turns around and executes both the blind folded men in the head. Darius flinches in reaction. Ray points at two teens in the front and gestures to them to come forward. They both walk up to him. Ray reaches into his pocket and pulls out two lighters and hands one to each of them. One of the adults behind Ray douses the two corpses with gasoline. Ray whistles. The two teens light each of their lighters and throw it on the two corpses. Ray pushes them both back into the crowd and walks a few feet away from the flames. “Dismissed” yelled Ray. Everybody disperses and walks down the alley pass Darius as Ray puts his white mink coat back on. When everybody clears out Darius turns around and looks at the flames. “Darius let’s go” yelled Tyrone. The next day Darius and Tyrone walk into a pool hall. Tyrone points to the left side of the room. “There he is” says Tyrone. They both walk up to Ray who’s sitting at a table in the back of the room stacking cards. “Ray, I would like to introduce you to an old friend” says Tyrone. Ray looks closely at Darius. Ray drops his cards. “Darius” shouted Ray. He gets up quickly and hugs Darius. Darius puts one arm around him and has a confused look on his face. “Brother Darius back in town” says Ray. “Good to see you too Ray” replied Darius. “Tyrone, let’s show Darius what we been doing out here” demanded Ray. They all walk into the back. Ray pulls out a duffel bag and unzips it and pours multiple bank rolls of cash out onto the table. “You seem to be doing well for yourself” exclaimed Darius. “Yeah you know just putting in a little over time here and there on these streets” replied Ray. Darius puts his thumb in his mouth and bites his nail. Tyrone and Ray pack all the money back in the duffel bag. “I remember those times back in Cali when you were too good for us and we called you college boy” said Tyrone while grinning. “Man, you knew how my parents were” says Darius with his eyebrows rose. Ray puts the rest of the money back in the duffel bag and puts it down on the floor and looks up at Darius. “So what did you end up doing afterwards” asked Ray. “I graduated from UCLA and worked for this firm for a little while and now I’m a lawyer” replied Darius. “We knew you were up to something” said Ray nodding his head. “Maybe you could be our lawyer around here sometimes” says Tyrone. “I took this vacation to see you guys” Darius reacted. “Since you on a little vacation let this be your tour guide for your protection” said Ray as he turns around and opens up a locker door. Tyrone and Darius both watch him. He pulls out a .38 special revolver and hands it to Darius. “What are you giving me this for” asked Darius. “If you’re going to be out here on these streets then you need a little safety insurance” replied Ray. “Just consider it as a souvenir from

your dear old friends” says Tyrone. Him and Ray both look at each other and laugh. Darius dangles onto it with his finger and closes the rest of his fingers holding it tightly as he stares down at it. “You hope you got this registered” said Darius sarcastically. Ray turns around and shuts the locker door. “Come on now, you’re the lawyer” he says. Tyrone grabs Darius’ arm and raises it down. “Just keep it in your back pocket and no one will see it” he said in a way to convince Darius to be subtle. Darius tucks it in the back of his pants. “Alright, but just hope that it doesn’t go off back there” says Darius. Tyrone and Ray both grin. “You crazy” they said at the same time. The next day in the afternoon Darius and Tyrone stand outside of a fence outside of a basketball court as teens play a game of basketball with five members on each team with one team wearing T-shirts and the other playing bare chested as they all run up and down the court. Ray sits on the bleachers next to a woman on his right side and a man sitting next to him on his left side. Tyrone and Darius glance back and forth at the basketball game and the people Ray is sitting with. Darius puts his hands up on the fence and curls his fingers. “Who are those people he’s talking to” asked Darius. “The woman is his ex-wife and the mother of his first baby, the guy is his business connection who runs the streets a few blocks up” explained Tyrone. The team wearing T-shirts scores first from the three point line. Darius turns his head to Tyrone. “Don’t take this personal but don’t you guys ever think what you’re doing is wrong” asked Darius. Tyrone turns his head to him. “Of course we know it’s wrong but it’s like what these kids say out here on these streets, we do it all for survival and respect” replied Tyrone. “Maybe that’s what these people out here think but you and Ray aren’t from here, we didn’t grow up in what they call the hood” says Darius. Tyrone looks back at the game and quickly turns his head back to Darius. “Your pops had you trained” said Tyrone with an attitude. “It’s not about that, what I mean is that I remember this one time when I was a little kid and I was riding my bike down the street and saw these people bigger than me and they were looking nice with their hats and fancy coats and during that time I wanted to be like them but if you see some of the people I deal with out there in them court rooms then you know you don’t want to end up like them not knowing the next thing the judge is going to say” said Darius firmly. “Look I hear you but I hope you didn’t come all the way down here to preach to us because that will get you killed out here” says Tyrone as he looks at Ray sitting on the bleachers. One of the members playing on the team whose bare chested rebounds the ball and makes a slam dunk through the hoop. “I’m not preaching but let me ask you this, how did you and Ray end up here in Harlem” asked Darius. “That night after you left the party me and him got into some trouble” replied Tyrone. “What trouble” asked Darius. “He had a little too much to drink and he just took off and wandered in the streets, the next day after I called you I drove around looking for him and when I found him these people who saw him said he got arrested for public intoxication and afterwards I bailed him out of jail” said Tyrone as he continues to look back and forth at Darius and the inside of the basketball court. “What does that have to do with you two ending up here in Harlem” asked Darius. “To make a long story short he kept getting in trouble like that and with his parents being like yours they kicked him out and I was the only person he could turn to since you got away from us in UCLA, he told me he wanted to leave L.A. and then we moved here and he met up with these people and now he’s involved in this” says Tyrone abruptly. Darius puts his hand on Tyrone’s right shoulder and looks in his eyes. “Look man don’t take it to the heart, I just wanted to know and you don’t even have to tell Ray” he says. Ray stands up and points to Tyrone and Darius. The man and woman he’s with gets up and gets off the bleachers. Ray gestures with his hand for Tyrone and Darius to come inside the court. They walk around the fence and enter the court and walk by the teens playing basketball. Ray steps off the bleachers as well and stands next to the man and woman he was just sitting with. Tyrone and Darius walk up to them. “Hey Tyrone” said the woman. “How you doing” asked Tyrone. They both hug and give each other a slight kiss on the cheek. “This is our friend from back in the day, Darius” greeted Ray. Darius reaches his hand out. The man makes his hand into a fist and reaches it towards Darius’ hand. Darius repeats him and they both greet each other by knocking fists. Darius looks at the woman. “How it’s going” asked Darius. She smiles at him and they both shake hands regularly. “Tonight we were all going to meet up at this warehouse so you can get introduced to the rest of the family” says Ray. “Where is this warehouse” asked Darius. “Close by that alley where we had that meeting the other night” replied Ray. Darius shrugs his shoulders. “Okay” he said. Ray turns around and picks up a white Kango hat up off the bleachers and puts it on his head. “Let’s go” commanded Ray. He walks ahead of them and exits the court. They all follow him out. Tyrone stays behind and continues to watch the game. The team wearing T-shirts drop the ball and it rolls up to Tyrone’s feet. He picks it up and aims for the hoop and shoots it. It swirls around the rim and lands through the net. Tyrone pumps his fist in the air in celebration and walks out of the court following Ray and everybody else. They all get into a black Escalade. Ray gets into the driver’s seat and puts the key in the ignition and drives off to a few blocks up the street. Then he pulls over in front of a hotel building. Darius opens the door of the passenger seat and gets out of the car. He walks up to the front entrance of the hotel. Ray rolls down the window and pokes his head out. “Hey Darius” he yelled out.