“Set it up then,” I said. “As soon as possible.”
My eyes flicked toward the duffel again, then over to the pile of car parts we had stolen. It consisted of rims, speakers, and anything we could flip quick without question. We would have taken some cars too if we had more niggas with us. A slow smirk pulled at my lips.
“Between this money, that dope, and them parts…” I exhaled. “We up.”
Ghost ain’t smile much. He never did during the aftermath. But I caught that slight nod, and that was enough to let me know that he was indeed satisfied. By the time we finished counting, the sun was damn near high in the sky. It took us a little over three hours to get through everything. Once it was done, we split everything down the middle. We both walked away with ten thousand dollars. That was PPP loan money made in just one night. I had grabbed a nearby empty duffel and started tossing my share inside. Ghost moved the same way, quietly and precisely, like this was just another day at the office. Now that the table was clear, we had to pull the real problem out. The contents of that black duffel bag. We were both silent in the room while we waited for his man, Chino.
Ghost leaned against the wall with his arms folded, while I paced the floor, glancing at the door every couple of seconds. This wasn’t my lane, and I was trying my hardest not to show it.
“Man, how long he said?” I asked as irritation crept into my tone.
“Soon,” Ghost replied.
I sucked my teeth.
“Everybody says soon. That nigga was probably just now getting up when he told you he was on his way.”
Right on cue, there were three knocks on the door. The sound was firm, and in the methodical rhythm he had told Chino to use. I shot Ghost a look and then nodded at the door for him to go and get it. He pushed off the wall and then headed that way.
I saw him checking the side window next to it before cracking it open. Chino stepped in like he had been here before. Once Ghost told me who he had called, I knew exactly who he was talking about. I had only heard stories about Chino, but from what I gathered, he seemed solid. He had been out in the streets moving weight since I was a young boy. But now I was able to put a face to the infamous name. He walked in and scanned the room. He had a medium build with a hard-stoned face that looked like he had seen some shit in his life. He was wearing a clean fit, and his eyes were sharp, too sharp. They were small and beady but looked like the type that noticed everything. He dapped up Ghost first, then looked at me.
“You his mans?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
I kept it short because I honestly wasn’t with the formalities, so we didn’t waste time with small talk. Ghost bent down, dragged the duffel bag onto the table, and then unzipped it slowly. The second Chino looked inside, his whole facial expression changed. That interest that Ghost was speaking of, I literally saw wipe clean off his face. It was replaced with something else. You would have thought Jeepers Creepers was in the damn bag the way he looked inside of it. He reached into the bag, pulled one brick out, and turned it over in his hand. He was inspecting the shit out of it. That’s when I saw it, the red stamp of a cocoa plant on the wrapping. Chino let out a low whistle while shaking his head before setting it back down into the bag like it burned his hand.
“Nah,” he said, stepping back. “I can’t touch this.”
My brows furrowed in anger.
“Can’t touch it… or won’t?”
He looked at me with a serious glare.
“Both.”
The room went quiet, and when it did, I folded my arms in frustration. I needed to know what the fuck was going on.
“You mind explaining?”
Chino rubbed his jaw and then let out a breath like he was debating even saying it.
“When I was younger,” he started, “back home in the Dominican Republic, my Papi, before he died, had ties out there.”
He nodded toward the brick.
“I used to hear stories about them. The Ruiz Cartel. Them boys run the DR. Shit, they run this side of the states. They don’t play fair, and they don’t forget.” He shook his head again. “For anybody moving they work without permission, that’s a death wish.”
I glanced at Ghost and then back at Chino.
“So, you scared?”
My statement earned a slight smirk, but the curve on his lips never reached his dark eyes.
“I’m smart.”
His gaze dropped back to the bag and then lifted again.
