No Room for Mercy (47 page)

“Kimi and Koko y’all was supposed to be at the movies.
What y’all doing in here?” Twiggy asked as she eyed the
weed spread out on the table while inhaling the scent of the
marijuana.

“Twiggy we was just dancin’. I swear.” Koko stated
anxiously.

“Look around this room, Koko! Look how y’all playin’
yourselves.” Martha reasoned, extending her hands outwards.

“How we playin’ ourselves?” Koko asked in dismay.
“It’s just us two. Ain’t no boys in here, no crowd
or nothing, just us two. We was chillin’, Martha! We could
never do this at home! We just wanted to have our little party of our
own that’s all.”

“Can I get a piece of y’all chicken?” Twiggy asked
as she eased over to the table.

Martha placed her hands on her hips and eyed her friend in surprise.
She’d just caught her nieces smoking and was trying to school
them right, but Twiggy wasn’t on the same page as Martha by a
long shot.

“What?” Twiggy asked as she grabbed a napkin and picked
up a chicken leg. “They could be doing a lot worse, Martha. And
this is nothing like what we thought we would see. These girls ain’t
bothering nobody.”

“Smoking weed at sixteen? How y’all was gone get back
home?” Martha asked her nieces.

“We had like five hours left before curfew. We was gone be
good. We had one beer and I was gone throw it away because I don’t
like the taste.”

A lighter was soon heard flickering and the twins and Martha turned
and saw Twiggy lighting up the blunt. She took a toke and choked and
sat the blunt back in the ashtray as she pounded her chest. “What,
what the fuck y’all smokin’?” she asked as she
coughed repeatedly.

“We got that from Jane Dow people. They said it’s called
purple haze,” Kimi answered lowly.

“This is some good shit! Here, Martha! Hit this one time,”
Twiggy said as she picked up the blunt and held it out for Martha.

“Twiggy this here ain’t even much what we had in—”

“Fuck that! Hit this shit, girl!” Twiggy snapped as she
held out her arm with the blunt in between her fingertips. “Look
the fuck around! They chillin’ big time!”

Martha eyed the room briefly. Food was laid out, Kimi and Koko had a
wide assortment of cosmetics and lotions spread out to pamper
themselves, the wet bar was ripe for the taking, and the Jacuzzi
looked more than inviting; and seeing Twiggy choking off the weed
after only a couple of tokes did arouse her curiosity as well.

“How often y’all two do this?” Martha asked
curiously.

“This our first time,” Koko answered, not sure what
Martha was going to do.

“That’s some good smoke, Twiggy?” Martha asked as
she removed her hat and jean jacket.

“Girl, if you don’t hit this weed I’m gone walk
over and slap fire from your ass!” Twiggy said before taking
another toke, that one forcing her down into a chair. “Goodness
gracious I ain’t had one like this in years—
years
!”

Martha eyed her nieces, who now had smirks on their faces. “I’m
a, umm, I’m a see, see what she saying.”

Kimi and Koko stepped aside and watched as Martha took the blunt from
Twiggy and hit it a couple of times. She held the smoke in, trying
not to choke, but it was all in vain. She let out a loud cough, and
took a knee as she pounded her chest while passing the blunt back to
Twiggy, who took a toke of her own.

“What we gonna do now?” Kimi asked as she and Koko stood
staring at their aunt and Twiggy.

*******

“…
When I move you move…just like that…when
I move you move…just like that…when I move you
move…just like that…hell yeah, eh DJ bring that back…”
Ludacris’ song
Stand Up
was blaring from Kimi and Koko’s
radio once more as the two danced with their aunt and Twiggy while
sharing another blunt.

Originally she’d set out to try and correct her nieces. Martha
Holland, however, now found herself wrapped up in one of the hotel’s
complimentary robes dancing as if she were in a night club. She’d
showered, removed her nail polish and now had her face covered with a
mud pack and was preparing to give herself a French manicure while
taking tokes and going so far as to pass the weed around to her
sixteen year-old nieces as the four danced in unison, bouncing their
shoulders as they dipped in one place while slowly turning around in
a circle where they stood. This wasn’t Martha’s plan by a
long shot, but Kimi and Koko really were parlaying and it was easy
for Martha to get down with her nieces, who were taking her and
Twiggy back to their younger days in Ghost Town with their antics.

Kimi and Koko, in Martha’s eyes, when it got down to it, were
the coolest of her nieces. They did their own thing and had their own
style, a style Martha could relate to fully. Although being on the
ranch, Martha hadn’t really got down with Kimi and Koko, or any
of her nieces for that matter, in this manner ever. Bay and T-top
were different breeds. They were all about business most times and
that was understood given the business they were involved in. Spoonie
and Tyke were pure athletes and were interested in sports and sports
only. Kimi and Koko, however, Martha, quickly realized, were
fun-loving and laidback.

Apprehension and counseling was thrown away on this night as Martha
had made up her mind that she would kick it with her nieces
uninhibitedly. This wouldn’t be a routine thing, however, and
she’d admonished the twins to not let anyone in on what they
were doing.

Kimi and Koko promised to do so and had also made up their minds that
what they were doing wouldn’t become habit. With that
understanding, a private party meant for two had turned into a
gathering for four.

“This bitch here had a gun and was about to shoot your aunt the
day we first met yeah?” Martha said over the music as she
pointed to Twiggy.

“Your ass robbed Chug-a-lug shit, girl. You had Ghost Town hot
with your ass, Martha!” Twiggy laughed as she went and poured
her and Martha a glass of Dom Perignon as they’d cracked open
the wet bar fully.

“How y’all fixed that?” Koko asked as she began
styling Kimi’s hair, still gyrating to the music.

Martha went on and told her nieces about some the things that
unfolded when she ran the streets while she did her nails. She talked
a good bit about Ne`Ne` also, bringing Regina’s twin to life
and giving Kimi and Koko profound glimpses into the life of a cousin
they’d never met. The marijuana had Martha talking more
candidly than ever before; she’d brought tears to Kimi and
Koko’s eyes as she went into detail about the events that had
led up to Ne`Ne`s death.

The story of Ghost Town was given to Kimi and Koko in explicit detail
and they had newfound respect for their aunts and Twiggy given all
they’d been through before the family was reunited. Another
blunt was rolled and the females went on to pamper one another;
Martha had called Naomi and told her that she and her nieces and
Twiggy were going to camp out at the hotel because the roads had
become too icy to travel.

Dawk, Bay and Walee had made it home already, Spoonie, Tyke and their
company was still hanging out in the theater room watching EPSN, so
Naomi was comforted knowing her daughters were with her sister. The
girls went on to have one of the most memorable times of their lives
before returning home the following afternoon.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

HERE ME OUT

While Martha, Twiggy, Kimi and Koko were unpacking from their
overnight party down on the ranch, a meeting that would soon ignite
that spark within the organization was being held 1,300 hundred miles
away on the east coast.

“So what I’m asking for is four hundred thousand dollars
to run a brief investigation into the on-going activities in Seattle,
Washington. It is my goal to seek out those responsible for the
deaths of Hayate and Isao Onishi. These two guys were on the verge of
being apprehended by myself and agent Norcross here before they were
murdered,” forty-seven year-old Lisa Vanguard told the Senate
Appropriations Committee as she sat before the gang of seven
Caucasian males and one female Caucasian, all over the age of sixty.

“The funds were pulled on your investigation after the death of
Hayate and Isao,” one of the male Senators remarked.

“That was the first thing I said when this hearing began,”
Lisa responded in frustration.

“You didn’t let me finish,” the Senator said as he
shifted in his seat and stared down at Lisa over his eyeglasses.
“What evidence do you have concerning those involved in the
Onishi hits if any at all?”

“None yet, but the monies allotted will allow me to conduct a
secret investigation into the Onishi brothers’ affiliates. I
can do a loop-around and capture their murderers and take down an
entire network that has filled their position.”

“A loop around,” the lead female Senator inquired. “Is
the ‘loop-around’ a legal procedure?”

“I’ll make it legal. Look, Senators, let’s not drag
this out. Hayate and Onishi have been removed by another
organization—one more violent than we could ever imagine. Does
anybody care about the citizens that are succumbing to the drugs
being peddled on the streets of the Pacific Northwest?”

“If I’m correct, they’re pushing hard to make drugs
legal in that part of the country,” another Senator remarked.

“Marijuana only. I’m talking cocaine and heroin here.
That’s still illegal last time I checked, sir.”

“But you have no evidence. No proof that a criminal
organization even exists,” the lone female Senator remarked.
“You were on to the Onishi brothers and had our full support,
but they’ve been dissolved and you have, as has already been
stated, no proof that another criminal network is in operation.”

“And even if one does,” another male Senator said, “an
investigation of the magnitude that you’re proposing as we all
know, could take years and millions of dollars—not the four
hundred thousand dollars you’re asking for today.”

“You know,” Lisa said in frustration as she stood up and
ran her hands through her cropped red hair, “I genuinely
believed that by asking for a minimal amount of funding? I’d
receive the grant unabashedly. I’m asking for funding to take,
I admit, a shot in the dark. But, so help me God if I’m right,”
Lisa said as she smiled and looked down at her files. “If I’m
right about this hunch, we would have uncovered, for the cost of what
it takes to operate an aircraft carrier for an hour in the Persian
Gulf, one of the biggest drug networks on the west coast.”

“That hunch can be argued as speculation, Miss Vanguard,”
a Senator remarked. “Those aircraft carriers you speak of have
a designated assignment—you, on the other hand, have no
designated assignment. And taking, as you say, ‘a shot in the
dark’ or operating on a ‘hunch’—your own
words mind you—isn’t worth the return on investment—which
could amount to a pile of beans.”

Lisa began packing her briefcase at that moment. “Laddy,”
she said as she headed for the door.

“The Senate Committee—”

“Has ruled against my proposal for funding. I already know the
outcome so save me the formalities, okay, Senator?” Lisa
scoffed, cutting the female Senator’s remarks short as she
headed for the doors.

“Wait a minute,” the female Senator said. “I come
from the west coast—California. My colleagues in Oregon and
Washington state have interests in what you’re doing, or trying
to do.”

“So, I have the funding?” Lisa asked, getting a little
excited.

“Not yet. You bring us back something. Anything. And you have
my word that you’ll get—”

“I don’t think this deal is a good—”

“Just hear me out, Senator,” the lone female Senator,
responded, interrupted her colleague. “If Miss Vanguard can
bring us a shred of solid proof on her own, I say we grant her what
she’s asking. All we have to do is park an aircraft carrier in
the Persian Gulf for an hour? Something we won’t ever do, but,
but we’ll find the money somewhere. Do you understand your end
of the bargain, Miss Vanguard?”

“I do, ma’am. This will have to be done on my own time.”

“We’ll, we’ll give you a start, though,” the
female Senator remarked.

“In what way?” Lisa asked as she returned to her desk.

“Several cases are still open in the south that I know of—I’ll
give you something to get you started. From there, you do your part.
Bring us something—then you’ll get your funds.”

“We have ourselves a deal. But I must inform the committee that
I will continue to pursue all avenues in order to accomplish my
goal,” Lisa replied.

“I can respect that,” the female Senator remarked. “Don’t
give up.”

“That’s not in my blood. Thank you, Senator Feinstein.”
Lisa ended as she and Laddy exited the conference room.

*******

The following day, Lisa was planning on flying to Massachusetts to
meet with a powerful longtime Senator in hopes that he could pull
some strings to get the Senate Committee to appropriate the necessary
funds without her having to leave D.C. when Laddy walked in and threw
a folder onto her desk.

“What’s this?” Lisa asked as she picked up the
folder.

“That’s the Ben Holland case and the files on Leaky
Faucet. Senator Feinstein threw us a bone.”

“What are they doing on Capitol Hill?”

“Tryna get rid of us if ya’ ask me.”

“Well, I’m behind on this Ben Holland trial. But I tell
ya’ what? I’m so ready to leave Washington I’ll go
there and wing this one. Cancel my flight to Massachusetts, please. I
doubt if the senator would even listen to what I have to say anyhow.
How’s that informant coming along on Leaky Faucet?”

“You didn’t hear? The guy hung himself in his cell.”

Lisa sat down in defeat. “My name should be brick wall.
Brick-fucking-wall! When did this happen?”