Читать книгу The Nightmare on Trap Street - C. N. Phillips - Страница 5

Chapter 1

“Pull over there, by that tunnel, and let me out.”

The deep and demanding voice belonged to Cam Lewis, one of Detroit’s big-time hustlers. He sat in the back seat of his Maybach and took notice of a black Mercedes already parked. He wasn’t surprised, being as he was there to meet someone. However, that didn’t mean he was happy to see the vehicle. Cam grabbed a duffle bag that was on the seat next to him and placed it on his lap. He unzipped it, and his eyes were instantly met with the green contents inside—$250,000, a payment that he owed and wasn’t happy to be parting with. The vein protruding from his right temple showed that. Before blessing the ground with the Ferragamo loafers on his feet, he pulled a flip phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

“Hello?” Cam’s young soldier Dwayne answered with a gruff voice.

“I’m here,” Cam said.

“We see you.”

“Everybody in position?”

“Yup. Whoever is in that tunnel won’t be making it out of here alive, boss.”

“Be sure of it,” Cam instructed icily. “If everything goes as planned, you won’t just be leaving here with some extra money in your pocket, but you’ll have a new Mercedes, too.”

He flipped the phone closed and cleared his throat. He looked up at Felix, his driver for the past five years, and nodded before putting the duffle bag strap on his shoulder. Felix got out and went around to open Cam’s door. He stepped out and smoothed the jacket of his gray suit.

“I’ll wait here,” the older man said and tipped his hat.

“I shouldn’t be long,” Cam told him and started walking toward the tunnel’s entrance.

They were in a construction zone. However, it had rained that summer day, and all of the workers had gone home, leaving behind all of the machinery and half-dug holes. Although it was midday, the sun was battling against the clouds to peek through.

The meeting for payment had been in motion for a few days, but the location was switched last minute. However, that didn’t put an end to Cam’s plan to not have to pay a dime. See, not only was he tired of having to go through a middleman to get his product, but he was tired of having his title on the streets capped at “lieutenant.” He wasn’t anyone’s lieutenant. He was the boss, and it was time that Detroit knew that. Everyone knew that The Last Kings ruled over Detroit, but every reign came to an end sometime.

Some years back—when Khiron, a cat from Atlanta, had overthrown The Last Kings and taken over business in Detroit—Cam was much happier. He was given control over three territories and was eating good. However, when Khiron was killed and The Last Kings regained power over the streets, business went back to how it was before Khiron took over. Cam went back to his one territory. And that meant less money. The goal was for everybody to have a way to eat, but Cam couldn’t be worried about the next mouth when his plate wasn’t filled up. Growing up as the block’s “brown-skinned pretty boy,” Cam had grown accustomed to getting what he wanted. All he had to do was flash his perfectly straight teeth and follow that with some smooth talking. Now things were different. He had to take what he wanted.

Cam cleared his throat when he stepped into the shadows inside the tunnel. It was dim, but he could still clearly make out everything around him, like the woman in a form-fitting pantsuit and Christian Louboutin heels leaning against the cement wall, filing her nails.

“You’re late,” she said without looking up from what she was doing.

“My apologies, Sadie,” Cam said, addressing the head of The Last Kings. “The change of location threw me off.”

“Don’t worry about it. Do you have my money?”

“Right here,” he said and tossed the bag to her feet. “No need to count it. It’s all there.”

Sadie finished with her nails and placed the file inside of her Birkin crossbody bag. She glanced briskly down at the bag of money and didn’t bother to check it. Instead, she stepped around it and walked toward Cam. He couldn’t read the expression on her beautiful face, but still he held his ground.

“Unlike you to travel alone,” Cam said when she was directly in front of him.

“I didn’t think I needed an army to collect a payment,” Sadie said, and the corners of her lips twitched. “Carry the bag to my car.”

Sadie stepped around him after her instruction and started toward the tunnel entrance. The click-clack of her heels echoed against the walls, and Cam clenched his jaw and fists. Knowing that was her last order to him, he kept his emotions in check and picked up the bag of money. He walked behind her, but not too closely. He stared at the back of her head and waited for the first bullet to strike her body. He held his breath as her right foot hit the sunlight, and then her left. In seconds her body would be riddled with bullets, and her designer suit would be bloody . . . but when she was completely unshielded by the tunnel, nothing happened. Confused, Cam too stepped out of the tunnel and glanced around the construction site. His men had distinct instructions to fire upon sight, but it was quieter than when he had come. In fact . . .

Cam glanced to where he’d left Felix standing next to the running car, but he was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t even in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, and the car had been turned off. Cam’s brow furrowed. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialed Dwayne’s number. The phone rang and rang until the automated voicemail picked up. Where was he? And why hadn’t he followed instructions? Cam looked up to see Sadie facing him with a smirk on her lips. As she stared, he saw a glimmer of pleasure flash across her face.

“You might as well put that phone away. There’s no point,” she said. “I was supposed to walk out here and boom, off with my head, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cam told her with a straight face.

“You don’t? Then let me enlighten you,” she said. “Do you think that I would ever let you run any business or push any of my work without you being watched? Especially after you worked for Khiron when he slid into my city?”

“So, you never trusted me then.”

“Correction: I presented you with an opportunity to redeem yourself... and you’ve failed.”

The two of them stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, his filled with thirst and hatred, and hers filled with amusement. In a swift motion, he reached for the Glock on his hip, but she didn’t budge. It wasn’t until he heard the clicking of a gun cocking behind his head that he understood why.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a woman’s menacing voice warned. “Not unless you want to join your friends and driver. Hands up.”

Cam did as he was told, glaring at Sadie the entire time. It had been a setup. The meeting, the change of location. If what she said was true, he had no idea who the rat was in his camp. She could have known about his plan for weeks.

“I brought you something,” the voice behind him said.

She dropped something on his designer shoe, and when he looked down to see what it was, he almost threw up everything in his stomach. It was a severed head, but not just any severed head. Dwayne. His eyes were still open, staring blankly up at Cam.

“What the fuck!” he exclaimed and kicked it feverishly away. “You killed Dwayne!”

“And everybody else you brought with you, including your driver. He seemed like a sweet man. Sorry he had to work for a snake like you,” the woman behind him said as she nudged the back of his head roughly with her gun.

“Enough, Rhonnie,” Sadie instructed.

Cam’s blood instantly ran cold. He recognized the name as one of Sadie’s two security guards. At first, it was laughable that she trusted two women to protect her with their lives, but after seeing what they were capable of, those same laughs were muffled. Rhonnie and her sister, Ahli, weren’t just goons. They were savages. Dwayne’s severed head was proof of that.

“I thought you said you didn’t bring an army.”

“I didn’t, but you should know I always keep a few shooters with me,” Sadie said, turning her attention back to Cam. “You remind me a lot of Khiron, do you know that? So thirsty for power that you would do anything to get it. I pity you for that.”

“Easy for you to say when you have all the power,” Cam spat.

“But do you know why I have power? Because I never wanted it. The difference between you and me is that I would have been content working under my cousin, Ray, and breaking bread with my people. People I could trust, because when you have a loyal team, you can eat forever. However, fate dealt a different hand for me. I didn’t have to take my throne. It was granted to me.”

“All of this to say what?” he spat.

“If you were meant to rule the streets, it would be me with a bullet in my head, and not you.”

Cam was in the middle of inhaling one last breath when the trigger was pulled behind his head. He didn’t stand a chance with a bullet entering his skull at that close range. Blood and brains exploded everywhere, and his body dropped like a heavy weight next to his soldier’s head.

Sadie didn’t blink, but she did she turn her nose up in disgust. She glanced down at her suit to make sure not even a droplet of blood had gotten on it and was happy to see that none had. When she glanced back to Rhonnie, she gave her a look and shook her head.

“What?” Rhonnie asked with her hands up. “I thought you wanted me to shoot this nigga.”

“I did. That’s not what the look is for. I’m talking about that,” Sadie said and pointed to the head. “Sadistic much?”

“I thought it would be a nice touch. Something to send the message to anyone out there who is even thinking about crossing The Last Kings.” Rhonnie grinned and tucked her gun under the black hoodie she had on.

“If you say so. Were there any survivors?” Sadie asked and opened the front door of her Mercedes.

“No. The four of them didn’t even see me coming from where they were hiding behind the equipment. Do you want me to call someone to clean the mess up?”

Sadie stared at Cam’s dead body and watched him bleed out for a few moments before shaking her head. “Leave them all here,” she said after pondering it. “Let the construction crew find their bodies in the morning. Like you said, this will send a message. As merciful as I’ve been these past years, I don’t need anyone thinking I’ve lost my touch. The Last Kings isn’t going anywhere ever again.

“Let’s go. We have an important meeting tomorrow, and I need both you and your sister to be sharp. I allowed you to cover for Ahli today, and luckily you pulled the job off. But tomorrow, I need the two of you by my side. I don’t trust anyone else.”

“What’s so special about tomorrow?” Rhonnie inquired, walking to the passenger’s door.

Sadie didn’t say anything until the two of them were both inside with the doors shut. She could feel Rhonnie’s eyes burning a hole in the side of her cheek, waiting for an answer. Sadie turned to face Rhonnie with a mischievous shimmer in her eyes.

“Vita E Morte is ready to be put on the market.”