Country Girls 2

Book 2: Country Girls

by Blake Karrington

Genres: African American Urban; African American Women's Fiction

Synopsis

Sometimes going hard means sacrificing the very thing you love the most in order to be at the top. Gwen knows firsthand about this sacrifice as she struggles to get her son back from a heartless killer bent on revenge. Niya, on the other hand, is sitting at the top of the throne. Still, she will have to determine whether she's willing to sacrifice her girls' lives in order to make MHB a dominant force in North Carolina's drug trade. She's about to find out that playing with the big boys has its consequences, unless you are really about that life.

Put your seat belts on and get ready to ride into the next chapter of MHB. Trust and believe that everybody is bound to crash on the road to the top and the fall to the bottom. Blake Karrington takes you back down the Southern streets that made him the literary king of the Dirty South.

Release date: October 27, 2015

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 304

Sample

The visiting room was nearly empty when Gwen stepped in. She went straight to the vending machines and grabbed a couple of sodas. Almost four months had passed since her last visit with Niya, and that was mainly due to how far the feds had shipped her out. No one could figure out why Niya was sent all the way to Tucson, Arizona, but it was the government, and they could do what they pleased once you belonged to them.

Gwen did manage to make the trip on a couple of occasions, but as time went on, business on the streets took up a lot of her attention. Niya understood; she knew what it was like to have all the pressure of the team on her back.

“You look good, girl,” Gwen said, greeting Niya with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“You like my khakis?” Niya playfully joked, stepping back and posing in her inmate uniform.

Gwen just shook her head. Even under these circumstances, Niya kept her sense of humor.

“Girl, you crazy.” Gwen smiled then sat down. “Did you get the pictures of the twins I sent you two weeks ago?”

“Yeah, thanks. I can’t believe how big they’re getting,” Niya replied. “I know they bad as hell.” She chuckled.

Gwen couldn’t argue with that. The twins had been living with her for the past seven months, and she had come to know them very well. Bad wasn’t the word for those kids. They were terrorists. Even so, Gwen loved them as if they were her own. Having them around led to her decision to finally remove Zion from life support. She knew he was in heaven now, cutting up with all the other children, and that warmed her heart.

“I still don’t know why you won’t let me bring them up here,” Gwen said, taking a swig of her soda.

“Nah. I don’t want them to see me like this. Then after the visit is over, I know they are gonna cry ’cause I can’t leave with them. I just can’t do that right now. I’ll be home in a couple of months anyway,” Niya replied.

November 19th was Niya’s release date. She had to go to a halfway house, but that would only be for about a month, or at least until her probation officer approved her home plan.

“So how is he?” Niya asked, inquiring about Chad.

She really hadn’t heard from him much. Even though they weren’t together, she still cared about his well-being. Plus, she knew how much losing Zion had affected him.

“He’s doing okay.” Gwen lied. “Chillin’ wit’ the twins.”

Chad wasn’t doing well at all, and hadn’t been since the day they buried their son. He stopped going to work, which cost him his job, and the couple of rental houses he owned were becoming worthless in the housing market due to him letting them fall apart. Not only that, but he had also picked up a bad drinking habit. He was drunk every day. On several occasions, he had to be taken to the hospital for near alcohol poisoning.

Gwen didn’t want to tell Niya all of that. She didn’t want to stress her with outside problems. The main focus right now was preparing for Niya’s return to the streets.

“What about the girls? Is everybody all right?” she asked, missing her MHB sisters.

“Everybody’s good. We miss the hell out of you. Everybody sends their love, and MHB is growing larger than ever. Last I checked, we were over five hundred members, scattered throughout Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh, and Greensboro. We growin’ at a nice rate, and it’s all love out there.

“Wow!” Niya said with a big smile on her face.

She was excited to hear how much MHB had grown. With over five hundred members, they pretty much had Charlotte on lockdown. They controlled the drug trade and now were about to expand into a different market, one that would take them to a completely new level.

Gwen and Niya sat for the remainder of the visit, catching up on old times. Gwen had made plans to stay in Tucson for the weekend, so they were going to have a few days to talk. She definitely had some power moves for MHB, but before she could put anything into motion, she had to run it by Niya. Even while in prison, Niya was the boss. Nothing went on in the streets without her knowledge.

Mayo sat in the prison yard with his celly, Lucky. They were talking smack about how they used to get down when they were out in the world. That was typical for most inmates to do. They shared war stories and bragged about how many females they’d slept with. Most of the time it was all lies, but Mayo was known in the streets and could back up every story he told and prove that he had sex with every female he talked about.

“Inmate Harper, report back to your housing unit!” the correctional officer yelled over the intercom.

Mayo looked at his celly and raised an eyebrow. He had no idea why he was being called.

Once he got back to the block, the unit officer informed him that he had a legal visit. He was given a pass then sent on his way. The whole way to the visiting room, he thought about his upcoming trial. The last he had heard, the government was ready to take another shot at a jury trial.

“I hope you got some good news,” Mayo said to his attorney when he entered the lawyer’s room.

“In fact, I believe I do,” Robert Graham, Mayo’s lawyer responded. “I just came from the district attorney’s office. They are willing to drop the first degree murder charge and allow you to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder,” he said, pulling the paperwork out of his briefcase.

“And how much time does that hold?” Mayo asked.

“The D.A. said they would go as low as ten years for the conspiracy count. I think it’s a hell of a deal, since you’re facing life without the chance of parole if you get convicted on the murder one charge,” the lawyer explained.

The state had a case, but the chances of winning it were fifty-fifty. Obviously, the jury couldn’t come together and agree on a verdict at his last trial. That’s what caused the hung jury. When the government knows that their case really isn’t that strong, they normally offer a deal just so they can at least walk away with a conviction. Many times, it’s a deal one would be stupid to refuse.

“So you telling me I’ma get ten years if I sign these papers?” Mayo asked as he sifted through the paperwork.

“Yeah! You can be a free man within the next eight years,” the lawyer said.

Ten years compared to a life sentence was a no brainer, and Mayo wasn’t stupid at all. Ten years was nothing; it was spending the rest of his life in prison that would kill him.

Mayo finished looking through the documents then looked up at his lawyer. His choice had been made the moment Graham told him the number of years.

“Let me see ya ink pen,” Mayo said, more than willing to sign off on the deal.

Chad walked into the gas station and approached the counter. Without a word, he pulled out a large .44 Magnum and pointed it at the cashier’s head. No mask covered his face; he looked at the cashier dead on, as if he wanted to be remembered. The strong scent of alcohol radiated from his pores, tickling the cashier’s nose.

“Take whatever you want. Please, just don’t shoot me,” the scared man pled, placing both hands in the air.

Several customers darted out of the store when they realized what was happening. To the surprise of the cashier, Chad made no move to stop them. He actually seemed to be pleased.

Another employee came from the back and walked right into the robbery. “Oh, shit!” he said as he stepped back with his hands up.

Chad still didn’t say anything. He nodded toward the cash register while keeping his gun on the two men. Then he pointed with his free hand to the boxes of cigarettes behind the counter, and finally to the candy bar section.

The cashier looked at him curiously, wondering what he was thinking. Snapping out of his thoughts, he quickly did what he was told and threw everything in the bag.

The tension in the air was thick as the employees waited anxiously for Chad’s next move. The bag sat on the counter, but Chad just kept his gun pointed at the two cashiers.

“Please don’t shoot,” one of the men pled, feeling that this was more than just a simple robbery.

Chad didn’t budge. He didn’t say a word. He just kept the two men at gunpoint and waited.

Within minutes, Charlotte police were on the scene. One of the customers had immediately called the cops once they were safely out of the store.

“Drop the gun and get down on your knees!” one officer yelled as he burst through the door. “I’m not gonna tell you again!” the cop threatened, inching his way toward Chad.

The young rookie cop swore for a moment that he was going to have to shoot Chad, but as he walked right up behind him, Chad began to lower his weapon. He didn’t put up a fight or a struggle; he complied by dropping to his knees. As the officer was patting Chad down to see if he had any more weapons, Chad looked up at the two scared employees and he silently mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

Diamond walked into the condo and jumped slightly at the sight of people standing in the living room. She was about to reach for her weapon, until Tiffany pushed her way through the crowd and began clapping. Everybody else in the room joined her. They were celebrating the fact that Diamond had received her realtor’s license that morning after completing a three-month program. It didn’t seem like much to the average person, but for MHB, it was a huge step. Diamond was just the first. Tiffany, Gwen, Alexus, April, and Portia would get their licenses too.

“Congratulations!” Tiffany said, leaning in and giving Diamond a hug. “We ’bout to turn dis shit up!”

Diamond looked around the room and smiled. Everyone there was an MHB member, and it had to be at least fifty girls present. Diamond could feel the love. It was a feeling she could never get tired of. The support and loyalty MHB members showed to each other was beyond anything any of the girls had ever seen in their lives.

Chad was taken to the police station and charged with robbery, reckless endangerment, and about twenty other offenses. Chad didn’t mind at all. He needed this case to be violent. This was the only way he could heighten his chances of being put in one of the most violent housing units down at county lockup. Two main blocks in that jail housed violent offenders. It was a fifty-fifty chance he would land on his intended cellblock, but Chad was willing to take that chance.

“Chad?” Detective Rose said as she passed the holding cells.

Chad tried to turn away before she could see him, but it was too late. She was standing right in front of the cell, looking directly at him.

“What are you in here for?” she asked, tucking her folder under her arm.

Chad shook his head in frustration. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to answer her, but more so because he knew that Rose was still an active member of MHB. The last thing he wanted her to do was try to help out, which he knew she was going to do anyway.

“Drunk in public, and disorderly conduct,” he lied, hoping she wouldn’t investigate any further after hearing the non-serious charges. “I’ll be out when I sober up.”

She could see that he was drunk, but she knew that wasn’t the reason he was there. The cell he was in gave it away. Drunk and disorderly conduct inmates were placed in the tank on the other side of the cellblock. Where Chad was, only violent offenders were housed. Rose went ahead and played along for the time being.

“A’ight, Chad. Let me know if you need anything,” she said, tapping on the cell door before walking off.

Rose didn’t hesitate to go straight to the logs to find out what Chad was in for. She was a cop, but her loyalty remained with MHB, so whether Chad liked it or not, he was still an extended part of the family.

“Damn, Chad!” Rose said, looking at the long list of charges stemming from the robbery. “What in da hell did you do?”

She was perplexed. This wasn’t like Chad. As Rose thought about it, she realized what Chad was attempting to do. She grabbed his paperwork and stormed back down to the holding cells. She slammed the papers on the window of the cell’s door.

“Are you serious, Chad?” Rose snapped. “You actually think this shit is gonna work?”

Chad didn’t say a word. He just looked at Rose.

“Are you forgetting that you got a set of twins out there, you asshole?” Rose spazzed.

She wasn’t just MHB; she was personally connected to Niya. Her family was Rose’s family. The twins were like her niece and nephew, and she had mad love for them. Chad was being selfish, and he wasn’t thinking about the lives of his other two kids. All he wanted to do was kill Mayo, and he was risking his life just to get next to him for the opportunity to do so. Anything could have happened. The rookie cop that arrested him could have blown his head off at the gas station. Chad wasn’t thinking about stuff like that, and that was what made Rose so angry.

She walked away from the door without saying another word. As she walked down the cellblock, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell. She didn’t know what Gwen was going to say about it, but she definitely was going to let her know what was going on.

“What’s the matter?” Tiffany asked Diamond as she joined her on the balcony.

Diamond leaned over the rail with a glass of Moscato in her hand, looking out into the city.

“What? You thinkin’ about Ni?” Tiffany asked.

“Yeah. I wish she was here right now. I miss da hell out of her,” Diamond confessed.

“Well, it won’t be that much longer. Two more months.” Tiffany smiled, leaning over the rail next to her.

Everyone was anticipating the boss’s return to the streets. She was like the missing link, and although MHB was still running strong, it would have been a lot stronger with Niya leading the pack. Her presence was missed and needed.

“Oh, yeah, I set up the meeting with the Hearst Tower for next week. We have to bring proof of our business license along with our checkbook. A floor just opened up, so we gotta be on point,” Tiffany advised.

Hearst Tower was one of the tallest office buildings in downtown Charlotte, and MHB was trying to set up shop among some of the most lucrative companies in North Carolina. This was all part of the plan to expand MHB. It would put the crew in a position to launder millions of dollars in drug money through their very own realty company. Houses, storefronts, and open land were a hot commodity and the perfect cover to clean large amounts of money at one time. After getting the right office space, the next thing to do was start buying properties. That wasn’t going to be easy, especially in the cutthroat business of real estate.

Other companies were like wolves when it came to buying and selling properties. If MHB was going to have a chance, they were going to have to do what they did best: roll up their sleeves and get their hands a little dirty. It was something neither Diamond, nor the rest of the crew had a problem doing.

Chad spent the night at the police station and then was shipped down to the county jail after not being able to post the fifty-thousand-dollar bail. He could easily pay it. All it would have taken was one phone call, but he was on another mission. So far, everything was going according to plan.

“All right, look, guys. The faster we get this process out the way, the faster I can get y’all to ya assigned housing unit,” the correctional officer said as he walked over to the fifteen men, including Chad, standing against the wall.

The receiving room procedures took Chad and the rest of the men at least five hours to complete the process. Now, they were waiting to find out what block they were assigned to.

“Yo, you gonna eat that?” a dopefiend asked, seeing that Chad wasn’t touching his bag lunch.

Chad gave it to him. He really didn’t have an appetite for food. He was only hungry to kill, and Mayo was the only thing on the menu. He just hoped that once he made it to the cellblock, he would have enough time to do what he had to do before the police interview. Chad planned to kill Mayo with his bare hands. There was no question in his mind that he could do it. He had enough anger built up inside him to break every bone in Mayo’s body.

“Everett!” one of the guards called out, motioning with his hands for Chad to come up to the front desk.

He walked out of the holding cell with his bedroll and cup right up to the front desk. The officer looked into the computer screen then back up at Chad before speaking.

“You can toss the bed roll in the hamper over there. It seems that you have made bail,” the guard informed him.

“Bail? What do you mean I made bail?” Chad shot back with a bit of an attitude.

“Look, you wanna go home or what?” the guard questioned.

Chad wasn’t trying to go anywhere except to where Mayo was, and that wasn’t on the streets. He wanted to do what he had set out to do. “I’m refusing bail,” he told the guard, determined to get to the cellblocks.

“Hey, you can refuse bail, but for your safety, we’re gonna have to put you in the hole or protective custody until you go back to court,” the guard told him.

Chad was frustrated, irritated, and downright mad as hell. Going to the hole would defeat the purpose. He would never be able to get to Mayo that way. He had no other choice but to toss his bedroll in the hamper and prepare for discharge.

Niya walked back to her housing unit from the visiting room, happy and thankful for Gwen coming out and staying for the weekend. She enjoyed the time they had to talk. It took her back to the better days when she and Gwen were best friends. They hadn’t laughed and gossiped like that in a minute. Friday and Saturday were all about fun, but when Sunday came around, it was all about business.

Gwen broke down the status of the drug game and where MHB was concerning cleaning the money. She gave Niya the whole rundown about the realty company and the plan to wash the money through businesses and the housing market. Gwen went into specific details about the laundering process, all of which was approved by Niya. In that aspect, everything was a go.

“What da hell?” Niya mumbled to herself as she walked into the unit.

The tension in the air was thick, and females were huddled up like it was about to be a riot. It didn’t help that all eyes were on Niya as she walked toward her cell. All the girls that were from Charlotte were standing in front of Niya’s unit. It was only five of them, including Melissa, Niya’s celly from North Philly.

“What’s goin on?” Niya asked as she walked up to the cell.

“One of dese dirty bitches stole my fuckin’ radio!” Melissa shouted as she stepped out of the cell so everybody could hear her.

Melissa had her hair wrapped up and her boots tied up tight. She was amped up and ready to fight.

“All this shit for a radio?” Niya asked, looking around the unit at the many girls from different cities, standing around, also ready to fight. “Come here, Mel,” Niya said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into the cell.

Big Trina and the rest of the North Carolina girls remained posted out in front of the cell door.

“How much longer until you go home?” Niya asked.

“Come on, Ni. Don’t do—”

“How much fucking longer?” Niya asked again, stepping in front of Melissa.

“Six weeks,” she answered, putting her head down in shame. “But, Ni, I can’t let these bitches try—”

“Stop!” Niya cut her off. “Yo, I fucks wit’ you, Melissa, and I’d be less of a friend if I didn’t. . .