Gangsta Twist 2

Book 2: Gangsta Twist

by Clifford "Spud" Johnson

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

Synopsis

The Network and its affiliates used to be one of Oklahoma City's most organized crews. No one knew exactly where they got the money to buy up businesses and real estate, but everyone on the streets respected them. Their criminal enterprise is unraveling quickly, though, as member loyalty is challenged and betrayal becomes the name of the game. Taz is dealing with almost more than he can handle now that his crew is falling apart. Cliff is still consumed by a desire for revenge against Taz, and the two of them are locked in an epic battle for Tazneema's heart. Meanwhile, a vital member of Taz's team ends up dead. This calls for a gruesome retaliation, but when Taz discovers the killer's identity, he'll have some serious choices to make. Now Taz's leadership is being questioned by his once loyal crew. Does he have what it takes to stay on top, or is all this heat enough to make him want to leave the streets alone? Clifford "Spud" Johnson delivers an action-packed tale of betrayal, murder, and revenge that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Release date: August 1, 2011

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 336

Sample

Taz, Sacha, and Mama-Mama were sitting in the waiting area of the emergency room at Mercy Hospital. Taz sat dazed as he stared at the wall without saying a word to anyone. Sacha sat next to him, trying her best to console and comfort her man, while Mama-Mama, Taz’s mother, was on the other side of the room silently praying.

Taz couldn’t believe that fool, Cliff, had actually shot his child. His daughter Tazneema was currently in surgery fighting for her life all because of his arrogance. If I hadn’t chosen to goad Clifford on, my child wouldn’t be inside of that damn operating room, Taz thought as he continued to stare at the wall.

“Please say something, baby. You’re really scaring me,” Sacha told Taz as she gently rubbed his back.

Taz turned toward his fiancée, smiled sadly and said, “I’m here, Li’l Mama, but I’m damn sure not all right. This shit is killin’ me.”

“I know, baby . . . I know. But Tazneema is going to be okay. You have to keep the faith, baby.”

“Faith? Faith? Faith is for Mama-Mama, Li’l Mama, not me. All my life I’ve vowed to protect that girl. When I lost her mother because of my cocky-ass attitude, I swore to never let anything ever happen to my baby girl. And years later, look what the fuck I’ve done. Once again, my cockiness has gotten another loved one hurt. I’m tellin’ you, Li’l Mama, I’m a cursed man. You really might want to take some time and think again about marrying a nigga like me!” he said angrily.

“That’s nonsense, boy, and you damn well know it!” screamed Mama-Mama from across the room. “God has a plan for us all. It is not your fault what happened today. It’s that damned Cliff’s! So don’t you dare beat yourself up behind this, Taz. And sure as I know God is good, He’s not going to take my grandbaby away from me.”

When Taz saw tears streaming down his mother’s face, he quickly got to his feet and went and held her in his arms. As they were hugging, he said, “I can’t lose her, Mama Mama! She’s all of MiMi I got left. I can’t lose my baby girl!” he cried.

“She’s gon’ be all right, baby. She’s gon’ be all right,” Mama-Mama said as she held on tightly to her only child.

After Taz seemed to have regained some of his composure, he sat back down in his seat and resumed staring at the wall.

Sacha, still confused about everything, had a lot of questions running through her mind. This may not be the right time, but I need some answers, she thought to herself. Then to Taz she said, “Do you feel like talking, baby? It might help a little.”

“Talk about what, Li’l Mama? How I’m gon’ murder Cliff? Do you really want to talk about somethin’ like that? ’ause that’s the only thing that’s on my mind right now, other than my baby girl.”

She knew not to even go there with him, so she said, “You’re right. I don’t want to talk about any of that nonsense. Why don’t you tell me about MiMi?”

Taz stared at Sacha’s beautiful face for a moment, and once again gave her that sad smile and said, “All right, Li’l Mama. I should have told you this story a long time ago, but for some reason I chose to keep it to myself. If you’re goin’ to be caught up in my cursed life, you might as well know the entire story.” He shook his head from side to side as he began:

“What seems like a million years ago, I was a wild youngsta with a two-year-old daughter. MiMi was my everything. We’d been in love with each other ever since we were in junior high school. I guess the first sign of my curse was when I messed that girl’s life up.”

“Would you please stop with that ‘cursed’ stuff? You are not a cursed man, Taz. God!” Sacha said sternly.

“Whatever! Anyway, I got her pregnant when we were in the tenth grade, and she had to miss the rest of our tenth grade year as well as our eleventh because of the baby. She had plans on becoming a doctor. She actually wanted to be a brain surgeon. I used to laugh at her, but I could tell by the determined look in those beautiful brown eyes that she was going to accomplish every single goal that she had set for herself. And I fucked it all up. Once Tazneema was born, her family flipped out on her and refused to give us any help. They actually put her out! Can you believe that shit?! I was so mad that for a minute I thought about doin’ somethin’ to them. But, as usual, Mama-Mama came to my rescue and let MiMi move in with us.” Taz smiled at that memory and continued.

“Since Mama-Mama had spoiled me so much, I had no choice but to drop out of school so I could get my hustle on. I couldn’t let my mother be the breadwinner for me and my family. I would have felt less of a man. Even though I was just a seventeen-year-old, I had to step up to the plate. So, like everybody else in the city was doin’ in the late eighties, I started slangin’ rocks. But somethin’ about being a dope boy just wasn’t cool with me. I was small time, and I didn’t like the fact that I was destroying my people. So I quit the dope game after a few months and got some of my closest friends together and formed the crew.”

Sacha smiled and said, “The crew, as in Keno, Bob, Bo-Pete, Red, and Wild Bill?”

“Yeah. My plan was simple. Since a bunch of dudes from Texas and Cali were coming to the city, gettin’ rich off of the dope game, I came up with the smart-ass idea that we should just sit back and let those niggas make the money. Then we would come in and jack them for their easily earned dividends. With the Li’l money I had from the game, I bought us some guns, and we quickly put my plan into effect. We was jackin’ every nigga we even thought had some money. We were young, and murder was something that I never even gave a thought about. Can you believe that shit? Here I was, robbing niggas for a living and I wasn’t even thinkin’ about takin’ a nigga’s life. Young dumb and arrogant as hell. Yep, that was me.

“Anyway, after a year of this, we had came up pretty damn good. We all had cars, and we even had our own apartments. I saved a nice chunk of change so MiMi could enroll in college. I was determined to help her become a brain surgeon. As far as I was concerned, she wasn’t goin’ to fail because of me. She was proud of me, yet she hated what I was doin’ in them streets. She understood though, because hell, I didn’t know much of anything else. All I had was my high school diploma, and that wasn’t shit. See, after I dropped out of school, MiMi made me promise her that I would go back so I could get my diploma. I kept my word and went back to school, but I was still robbing any and everybody with chips.

“Everything was goin’ just fine, until the day my stupidity finally caught up with me. Some Crips from California set up shop on the East Side, and as usual, they were slippin’. You see, niggas come out here from out of town and think since we’re from Oklahoma we’re some straight country suckas. And to tell you the truth, most of them dope boys in the city are exactly that . . . suckas. All they want to do is get plugged in with Cali niggas and try their best to be just like them. That’s how we got all of this damn gang-bangin’ in the city now. Anyway, once we found out where them Crips niggas was gettin’ money at, we quickly came up with a plan to get at them fools. The lick went just as smoothly as the rest of them had. But, you see, I was so cocky that I never anticipated any retaliation from any of our victims. That’s why we never wore any ski masks over our faces. After all, most of the niggas we were jackin’ weren’t from here anyway.

“A couple of weeks after that particular jack, the word around town was that those Cali niggas were lookin’ for me and my crew. I was confident that no one knew where any of us lived, so we decided to lay low for a minute until those clowns got tired. That was my second mistake. It took them a Li’l over a month, but somehow they finally found out where my apartment was. I was at the store gettin’ some fish and shrimp for MiMi, because she loved her some seafood,” he remembered fondly. “By the time I came back to the apartment building, I heard my daughter crying. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could because I knew that something was wrong. When I made it to my apartment, I saw that the door had been kicked in. I dropped the bags I was holding and ran inside of the apartment with no gun or nothin’. All I was thinkin’ about was MiMi and my baby girl.

“The first thing I noticed when I entered the apartment was Tazneema crying. For some reason, that’s what I remember most about that day; the way my baby girl was crying. When I saw MiMi lying on the floor with three bulletholes in her chest, I screamed as I ran and held her dead body in my arms.

“After a few minutes, a strange calm came over me. I gently laid my MiMi back on the floor, grabbed my daughter out of her bassinet and took her into the bedroom and fed her a bottle so she could calm down. I then grabbed the phone and called Keno, and told him what had happened. After I hung up with him, I called Mama-Mama and told her that she had to hurry up and get over to my apartment before the police did, so she could take Neema over to her house.”

“By the time Mama-Mama had come and left, the crew had arrived just before the police did. They asked me all types of fuckin’ questions. For a minute I thought they thought I did that stupid shit. When the homicide detective told me that I was going to have to go downtown to the police station for more questioning, I lost it. I told them that they could all go to hell ’cause I wasn’t goin’ any fuckin’ where. My girl was dead, and those niggas had to die. You see, I wasn’t prepared for murder before, but after they took my MiMi from me, my murder game became the most vicious that Oklahoma City had ever seen. Not only did I get those Cali Crip niggas, but almost every other jack we put down after MiMi’s murder resulted with a murder being committed. I didn’t give a fuck about anything anymore. All of the money I made I gave to Mama-Mama for Neema. I kept what I needed for survival, but I had to make sure that Mama-Mama was straight financially, because I knew I was walking around on borrowed time. My niggas rode with me, and we all made a pact that, no matter what happened, if anything happened to any one of us, the rest of the crew would ride until we were either dead or in jail for the rest of our lives. So murder was my game, and that was the only thing that kept me sane. If I didn’t kill someone at least twice a month, I started to feel as if I had somehow betrayed MiMi. That’s how twisted my thinking had become. MiMi was my everything, and without her in this world with me I didn’t give a damn about anyone other than Neema, Mama-Mama, and my niggas.”

“What stopped you from that insane mission you were on?”

Taz smiled and simply answered, “Won. He came into my life because a friend of his had heard about this crazy-ass crew in the city, robbin’ and killin’ everything in their way. This friend then set up a meet for me and Won. That was the day that Won gave me a brand-new way of thinking.”

“What did he say at that meeting, baby?”

“He told me that it was time for me to stop killing and to start living for my seed.”

“So, Won is the reason that you stopped killing and robbing people?”

Taz thought about Sacha’s question for a moment, and then said, “Yes and no. You know what we do, so you know that I’ve never stopped doin’ my thang. But the senseless killings stopped. The only time I’ve had to take a life since then was to ensure the safety of me and the crew—not counting that time that fool tried to jack me and you at the club. My anger has subsided over the years, Li’l Mama, but believe me, the hatred is still in my heart. I lost the woman of my dreams, and I will never be able to have her back. That pain still lingers deep within me, and I honestly feel that it will never go away completely.”

“That’s natural, baby. You were deeply in love, and that love got cut short. But, Taz, you have to stop this madness. You can’t let what Cliff has done turn you back into that monster you once were. It’ll ruin you this time, baby,” Sacha wisely said.

Taz shook his head slowly and said, “If God wants that fool to remain breathing, He has to spare my baby’s life. ’Cause if Neema dies, so will Cliff. That’s real talk, Li’l Mama.”

Sacha stared deeply into her fiancé’s eyes, and knew that he meant every word of what he had just told her. Before she could say anything, the crew finally arrived.

Keno was the first to enter the waiting room. He walked straight up to Taz and asked, “How is she, dog? Why the fuck didn’t you call us as soon as you got here? Who did this shit?”

Taz got to his feet and said, “First off, calm down, my nigga. Neema’s still in surgery. We’re waiting for the doctors to finish up with her now. Her nigga Cliff shot her. He was trying to blast me, and Neema pushed me out of the way and took the hit for me, dog. Some straight move shit, for real. I didn’t call y’all ’cause I haven’t even been thinkin’ straight, G. That’s my bad.”

“Who is this nigga? ’Cause he gots to go!” Bo-Pete said vehemently.

Taz smiled and said, “Remember that nigga that used to try to holla at Sacha? He somehow got Neema to fall in love with him. Not only did they become involved with each other, the nigga got my baby girl pregnant!”

“What? Come on, G! That’s some straight up soap opera shit,” Red said as he stepped closer to Taz.

“Yeah, I know, but it is what it is, dog.”

“All right, G. Where can we find this clown-ass nigga? You stay down with Mama-Mama and wifey while we go handle this nigga real quick like,” Wild Bill said in a deadly tone.

Mama-Mama, who had been silent through all of this, stepped over to them and said, “You will do no such thing, Billy! I want each one of you to sit down and wait this out here with Taz, Sacha, and myself. Do you understand me?”

Keno gave Mama-Mama a hug and said, “Mama-Mama, you know we love you and Neema as if we were all family. We can’t let this clown get away with this. We gots to go.”

Tears fell slowly from Mama-Mama’s eyes as she said, “Keno, you boys have been family to me for a very long time. Just because we’re not blood-related doesn’t mean a thing to me. Out of all of these years, have I ever asked any of you for anything? Have I?

“No, ma’am,” Keno answered with his head bowed.

“Well, I’m asking y’all for something now. Will y’all please leave this alone, at least for the time being? My heart wouldn’t be able to take it if anything else happened to someone I care for. Please, baby. Y’all sit down and help us through this rough time like families are supposed to. Please!”

Red, Keno, Wild Bill and Bo-Pete each took turns hugging Mama-Mama and reassuring her that they would stay and do as she asked them to. They all sat down and resumed waiting for the doctors to come and tell them whether or not Tazneema was going to live or die.

The room became silent, until Taz’s cell started ringing. He pulled his phone off of his belt clip, checked the caller ID and answered it. “What’s up, O.G.?”

“What’s up, baby boy? Look, I was out of line the last time we spoke. This shit is really getting hectic for me. You have to understand that everything we’ve been doing is for a very important reason.”

“Yeah, I feel you, O.G., but right now I got a lot of shit on my plate. That shit with you is like way on the back burner, for real.”

“What’s up out that way, baby boy?” Won asked curiously.

“Neema got shot.”

“What? When did this happen? And why in the hell haven’t you called me?” Won screamed.

“My mind is on a million and one different things right now, O.G. I can’t think straight enough to take a piss, let alone think about callin’ you and lettin’ you know what’s what.”

“I understand, baby boy. Look, I’ll be on the next thing smoking. I should be there some time tomorrow. How is she?”

“She’s in surgery now. We’re all here waiting and praying that everything goes her way.”

“How’s Mama-Mama?”

“You already know how she gets down, O.G. She’s put everything in God’s hands.”

“Is Tari there?”

“Nah. Shit, I haven’t told her either, and she works in this fuckin’ place.”

“So, y’all are at Mercy?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, let me get my flight shit together. We’ll talk some more when I get into town.”

“All right, O.G.”

“Your boy Bob will be flown into town in a couple of days. Magoo has everything set up out east. By the time I get there I’ll have all of the details.”

“That’s cool. At least something is goin’ like it’s supposed to.”

“Hold your head, baby boy. Everything is going to be all right.”

“I hope you’re right, O.G. I hope you’re right. Out!” Taz said, and closed his phone.

Keno stared at Taz with raised eyebrows and asked, “What’s he talkin’ ’bout?”

“Bob’s straight, and he should be home in a day or so.”

“That’s cool. That it?”

“Basically,” Taz answered as he reopened his phone and dialed Tari’s home number. When he didn’t get an answer, he left a message quickly explaining what happened to Tazneema over at Mama-Mama’s house earlier. After he was finished, he turned toward Sacha and asked, “Are you straight, Li’l Mama? Why don’t you go on back to my spot and get some rest. I’m not tryin’ to have you gettin’ sick on me or nothin’.”

Sacha shook her head no and said, “If you think I’d leave your side right now, you’re out of your mind, Mr. Good. I’m going to be standing right next to you when they come out here and tell you that Neema is going to be just fine.”

Taz smiled that sad smile and said, “Okay.” He sat back down and started thinking again about how he was going to kill that nigga, Cliff.

“Taz, tell me some more about what happened to you and the crew after you hooked up with Won.”

“You really want to know it all, huh?”

“Yep.”

“All right. After meeting Won, he took me out to L.A., where he gave me what he likes to call my complete makeover. He taught me a lot of things about the game, and how wrong I was playin’ it.”

“Like what?”

“Everything. But the most important lesson to me was to make sure that I never shit in my own backyard.”

Sacha smiled and asked, “Meaning?”

“Meaning, never do dirt in the city you live in. That has been a rule that I’ve sworn never to break. That’s why I told you that you would never have to worry about any of my actions puttin’ you in any jeopardy. Other than that, everything else was basic common sense really. He told me that I should get healthy and maintain a strict habit of exercising. In order to be thorough, he wanted me and the crew to be trained properly.”

“Trained? Trained for what?”

“In order for us to be effective in what we do, we had to be able to be as fluid as possible. By it being six of us, we had to become accustomed with each other’s moves, and be able to watch each other’s backs so we would always be able to maintain our safety during missions. So, for one year after our meeting, me and the crew worked out seven days a week, and went to the shooting range daily to get familiar with various types of weapons. We went out to the country and practiced all types of simulated jack moves and stuff like that. Won told me to call him back when I felt that we were ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“To get rich! I called him a year later and told him that we were in fact more than ready. After that, everything is pretty much history. I kept my word to Won, and in return he kept his word with me. He made each of us richer than we could have ever imagined. We stuck to the script he laid out for us, and everything fell into place just like he said it would. I owe that man my life, Li’l Mama. He’s been like a father to me. But enough is enough. I want out. I’m ready to live my life with you and put all of this shit behind me now.”

Sacha smiled at that comment and said, “Have you told Won that you want to quit?”

“Yeah, and he told me that we’re not finished yet. We’re almost there, but not yet.”

“What is that supposed to mean, Taz?”

“Right now, Li’l Mama, all I’m worried about is my seed. Everything else has to hold up. Won’s comin’ out here tomorrow, so I guess we’ll talk more about that shit then.”

“He can’t make you keep doing something that you no longer want to do, Taz.”

“Don’t worry about that, Li’l Mama. No man has ever made me do somethin’ that I didn’t want to do, and I ain’t gonna let that shit start now.”

Before Sacha could respond, Tari came running into the waiting area with her face flushed a deep crimson. She stepped straight up to Taz and asked, “How is she?”

“I don’t know. We’ve been waiting here for hours and no one has came and told us shit,” Taz said seriously.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Tari said as she stormed right back out of the waiting area without saying a word to anyone else in the room.

Taz smiled and said, “Tee is ’bout to go the fuck off!”

Keno smiled and said, “I bet she finds out somethin’ for us.”

“They done fucked up! That white girl is ’bout to go on the warpath for real!” Red said from the other side of the room.

“Red! Watch your mouth boy!” yelled Mama-Mama.

“Sorry, Mama-Mama,” Red said sheepishly.

Everyone laughed, and for a minute the tension inside of the room seemed to have eased up a little . . . just a little.

Ten minutes after Tari had left the waiting area, she came back with a smile on her face. That smile made Taz’s heart rate increase dramatically as he stood and stared at her. He was so nervous that he could barely speak as he whispered, “How is she, Tee?”

“She’s all right, Taz. She’s all right. The doctor is on his way here now so he can tell you exactly what’s been going on. But he did confirm for me that she is okay, and that she should make a full recovery.”

Mama-Mama clapped her hands together loudly and screamed, “Thank you, Jesus! I Thank You, Lord! I knew You would keep Your gracious hands on my grandbaby! I knew it!”

Taz was feeling so numb that all he could do was stand there and smile. Tari put her arms around him, and they shared a tight hug. “My God! What the hell happened, Taz?” she whispered into Taz’s ear.

Taz pulled himself from her embrace and said, “Later. I’ll explain everything later on. Right now, I need to see my baby girl.”

A doctor came into the waiting area, stepped toward Mama-Mama and said, “Hello, ma’am. Are you a relative of Tazneema Good?”

“Yes, yes, I am. She’s my granddaughter. And this young man right here is her father,” Mama-Mama said as she pointed toward Taz.

Taz shook the doctor’s hand and asked, “Can I see my baby, sir?”

The doctor shook his head no and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Good, but not tonight. Tazneema is going to be just fine, but she’s been heavily sedated and she won’t . . .