Toy's trigger finger began to itch as she prepared to light the city of Flint up on behalf of her slaughtered family. “Set up the meeting!” she yelled, rage and pain in her voice. Then she walked off, her entourage right behind her.
Chapter Sixteen
H
alleigh put on an Oscar-worthy performance, screaming as if she were scared to death.
“I will shoot this bitch!” Malek yelled. “Back the fuck up!” He pressed the gun to Halleigh's temple.
Malek inched his way to his car as at least ten police officers, partially hidden behind car doors, pointed their weapons toward Malek.
“Back the fuck up!” Malek jerked Halleigh closer to him. “Sorry,” he whispered in her ear, trying to comfort her because he had her in an uncomfortable hold. “We almost to the car, baby.”
Malek and Halleigh finally reached the driver's door, and Malek, with his free hand, opened it and stuffed Halleigh in. She scooted over, and Malek hopped in right after her.
The police officers tried to get a good aim, but Malek's tinted windows hindered them, and they didn't want to risk shooting the innocent hostage by just blindly shooting at the vehicle.
Malek sped out of the parking lot with a trail of local police officers and state troopers on his tail.
Tasha remained back at the hotel room, tied up with sheets. Just in case the police questioned her, she'd appear as though she were a victim too.
Halleigh glanced back and saw the many flashing red, white, and blue lights. “Oh my God, Malek, they're on us!”
Malek hated that he had brought Halleigh along with him, but she had refused to let him go by himself and devising the hostage plan.
Halleigh saw the look in Malek's eyes as he pushed his whip just over ninety miles an hour on Pierson Road, trying to reach the highway. Lucky for him, Flint was not the type of city that harbored traffic jams. Mostly everyone in the city was broke and unemployed, so the streets were never packed with after-work cars. He floated through the few vehicles on the road as if he were an Indy 500 driver.
The longer he drove and shook the police, the more police cars seemed to accumulate behind them.
“Oh, shit, Malek. It's like twenty cars behind us!” Halleigh yelled out. “You've got to go. Drive faster!”
Malek, disregarding all traffic laws, was going as fast as the car would take him. He barreled through intersections, knocking other cars out of his way, holding Halleigh back against the seat with one arm, trying to keep her from getting hurt. “Put your seat belt on, ma!” he screamed.
“I'm with you!” Halleigh braced herself against the door handle as he swerved through traffic. She was affirming that she was willing to ride or die with her man.
Malek gave her a forced smile and gripped the steering wheel tighter. This wasn't the way he envisioned life with Halleigh. If it was his time to go, then so be it. He was a man and he had gotten himself into the situation, but he wanted Halleigh to die an old woman. He wanted her to see things and go places he'd only dreamed of. He wanted her to live and breathe. He wanted her to love and be free. Only after she experienced all these things did he want her to die; not right now. She hadn't done enough yet. In fact, she hadn't done any of it yet.
“I love you,” Malek said.
“I love you too.”
They jumped on the highway, police cars tailing them and spinning out of control as they turned onto the ramp without even touching the brakes.
Malek looked up and saw a news helicopter hovering just above them. They had managed to outrun the cops on the highway headed toward Detroit. The police cars began to fall back as if on command. Malek figured that for some reason they'd deemed the chase too dangerous to pursue, but he couldn't outrun the aircraft.
Malek had a souped-up car. His Benz engine was custom-made to outrun any car in the police department. But he didn't think there was a car invented that could outrun a helicopter.
They were approaching the tunnel that ran between Detroit and Canada. “I know they're going to have tire spikes to stop us after the tunnel,” Malek said, sweat dripping from his forehead. He had watched too many high-speed chases on television to be green to their tactics. Even though they were crossing into Canada, he had no doubt they'd be stopped.
Malek looked over to Halleigh to see how she was doing, only to find her peeking over his shoulder like she was the lookout chick. Halleigh didn't care what happened, just as long as she was with Malek.
They entered the tunnel doing at least 130 miles per hour. Malek knew they only had about a minute or so before more cops got on them to catch them after flattening their tires. He stopped in the tunnel and threw the car into park.
Halleigh looked at him like he was insane. “What are you doing?”
Malek took a couple deep breaths and then looked at her. “I love you, Halleigh. I always have. You are the only person I got in this world. I want you to know that you are my soul mate.”
“I love you too, Malek. You all I got too. Why are you talking like this is the end?” Halleigh tried to figure out what Malek was about to do.
“It is.” Malek's eyes began to water, but he remained strong as he displayed his smile, trying to put Halleigh at ease.
They could hear the police sirens nearing the tunnel exit. Malek knew it was time to go through with his final plan.
“Let the baby know that I loved him or her, okay?”
“Loved?
” Halleigh said, trying to understand why he was talking in past tense as if he was preparing to die.
“Look, Jamaica Joe used to use this tunnel to bring drugs in from across the border, so I know another way out. There's an old escape hatch that I'm gonna take you to. I'll distract the cops to give you some time to get out the tunnel.” He handed her the duffel bag full of money. “Take this and go to a bus station. Get the hell out of Flint for good. I want you to never look back. Understand?” Malek cupped her face and stared deep into her eyes.
“No, Malek, I am not leaving you. We're in this together. It's me and you against the world, remember?”
“Halleigh, go! We don't have much time.” Malek revved up the engine.
Halleigh shook her head in defiance. “I'm staying with you.”
Malek couldn't change her mind. He took a deep breath and prepared for what he was about to do. He gripped her hand tightly. “No one loves you more than me, Hal.”
Chapter Seventeen
E
very local channel was covering the breaking story of Malek taking a hostage on a high-speed chase with the law.
Sweets and the Shottah Boyz were sitting in his living room, waiting for Toy to arrive. “Can you believe this shit?” Sweets asked as he watched Malek on television.
Sweets didn't want to admit it, but he was kind of glad that Mitch was dead. He was finally in total control of the city.
The North Side crew took each other out. Dumb niggas! It's my time now,
he thought silently as his crew watched the chase like it was an action movie.
One of Sweets' goons, who was glued to the television, said, “The camera lost him in the tunnel.”
Everyone waited in anticipation as the news helicopter filmed the police officers waiting on the other end of the tunnel so that the road spikes could slow Malek down; but Malek's car didn't come out.
“They're gonna kill that mu'fucka as soon as he come out of that tunnel.” Sweets laughed. “Ain't no way out. He either got to come out, or in a minute, they gonna go in there after his ass.”
After about two minutes of waiting, Malek's Benz appeared, speeding wildly out of the tunnel. The car ran over the spikes, causing it to lose control and spin before it hit a railing and flipped repeatedly. Malek's car caught fire. Seconds later, the car exploded, causing a balloon-like flame to mushroom into the air.
A smile spread across Sweets' face as he imagined Malek burning to his death.
The news reporter was giving the viewers a play by play of the chaos, informing them that the chase had come to a tragic end. Seeing Malek's life crumble on television, all of the people in the house were smiling with satisfaction.
A knock at the door put a brief halt to their entertainment. Everyone reached for their guns, but Sweets told them to relax and put away their weapons. Mitch's sister was supposed to come and meet with them, so it was probably her.
“I hope this dike bitch don't think she's coming to fill her brother's spot,” Sweets said. He had heard Mitch talk about her as if she was a street legend. From what Mitch told him, Toy had schooled him in the game. Mitch had also told Sweets that his sister was not to be underestimated. She was just as deadly as any killer walking the streets. Sweets didn't know what to expect, but he would soon discover what Toy was all about.
One of the Shottah Boyz answered the door and let Toy and her people in.
Sweets stood up to greet Toy as she walked in with four men. Toy left her signature shades on as she walked into the room like she owned the place.
“Toy, these are the Shottah Boyz. They worked under your brother.” Sweets threw his head in the direction of the couch, where they sat watching the news telecast. “That's Malek, the dude you don't have to worry about anymore.” He nodded to the television. “Looks like he's burning in hell.” Sweets chuckled.
Toy wasn't at all relieved. She still wanted to know what went down between her dead brother and his now dead killer. “What went down between that rat bastard and my brother?” she asked Sweets.
“Mitch had Malek's girl kidnapped and wanted a ransom. But everything went wrong. I don't know how all of this shit happened. Mitch was here one minute, gone the next. Feel me?”
“Who was supposed to have my brother's back when he got killed? Who was with him?” Toy asked coldly, not wanting to hear anything extra come out of Sweets' mouth.
Sweets looked at the Shottah Boyz, who were supposed to always have Mitch's back, and Toy's goon wasted no time loading up all three boys with bullets. Sweets was taken by surprise as he watched the young boys he had practically raised die from multiple gunshots.
Toy pulled out her gun and put it to Sweets' neck. She put her lips close to his ear. “Now that that's taken care of, who killed my family?”
In shock, Sweets couldn't fix his lips to say anything. He just stared at the boys as their eyes were rolling in the backs of their heads.
“Who is responsible?” Toy was ready to put her murder game down and take out all of the city of Flint to get to the bottom of things.
“What the fuck?” Sweets became frantic. He wanted to reach for the gun in his waist, but five people had their guns trained on him at that point. Sweets felt his knees get weak as his entire team had just been murdered. “Why did you have to do that?” Sweets asked, almost in a pleading tone. He looked at his young'uns, and his heart broke in two. “That nigga Malek killed him. Malek did it, bitch!” He pointed to the TV screen.
The room was silent, except for the voice of the news reporter. Malek's face appeared on the screen.
“This is a picture of Malek Johnson in his better years, when he was a superstar high school basketball player headed for the pros. Now this once promising life has come to a tragic end. . . .”
Toy asked, “That's him?”
Sweets nodded his head as he clenched his fists. He wanted to kill Toy, but was in no situation to act on his impulse.
Toy sent a single shot through Sweets' skull, reuniting him with his crew.
What Malek and Jamaica Joe had spent years trying to accomplish, she had come to town and done in literally days. She had killed the infamous Sweets. Her main focus now was getting revenge for the death of her family members. She didn't care if Malek was dead. She wanted every trace of Malek Johnson wiped from the planet. She wouldn't rest until she saw everyone who had ever associated with him suffer and die.
Toy wiped Sweets' blood from her face. “Check the house and see what they got in here,” Toy said. She was an opportunist, the exact kind Scratch had spoken of. She didn't want to leave any money in the house. Toy was a hustler first, killer second.
They stumbled upon the surveillance tape that Sweets had just retrieved from the stash house where Halleigh had been held captive. Toy and her crew examined the tape and saw a woman pacing back and forth in a room, looking scared. It didn't take them long to figure out that this was Malek's girl, the one Sweets had said was being held by Mitch. Hate flooded Toy's heart. The way she saw it, this bitch was part of the reason her brother was dead.
They kept watching, and witnessed the moment when Tasha broke into the room and rescued Halleigh.
“Who the fuck is that?” Toy asked. But it didn't really matter who the other woman was. Toy knew it wouldn't take her long on the streets to ID this chick, and then she'd be dead. If she rescued Malek's woman, then Toy considered her an enemy. Anything and everyone connected to Malek or Halleigh was living on borrowed time.
Toy and her crew grabbed the tape and headed out, itching to kill.