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Chapter 8
Neo
“Whey yuh deh yasso a do?” (what are you doing here?)
Neeky caught me sunbathing naked in the backyard two days later. Having had my hair trimmed to almost scalp, I thought the next step was to deepen my skin tone. Our resources confirmed that Rusty Cock was planning cleansing of a community where he had some enemies. That should happen later that week and I wanted to be prepared. I knew I stood out, therefore darkening my skin would make me fit in with the crowd.
The Hagley Park community was where Rusty Cock planned to attack. There was talk on the backstreets about Point Blank wiping out the Hot Dawgs. Rusty’s MO was moving into the area in the still of the night when everyone was asleep and icing men, women, children, and animals. Our mission was to end Rusty’s terror once and for all. Therefore, our plan was to move as quickly as possible.
“Bringing out my African side.”
She laughed. “What nonsense. Did you use suntan lotion? I hate the smell of roasting flesh.”
I held up the tube. “All nice a smoothed down. I’ll be real toasty in no time.”
“Anyway, we move out at dusk. We want to get there and link with our contacts.”
The rest of the day was spent planning the mission. I was hoping Uncle’s source of information was correct and that he didn’t have mole in his camp. What if this person worked for both sides? What if our mission was a trap. All these questions plagued me as we spent the day organizing weapons and people. Since I was new to this country and knew nothing, I relied on Uncle to lead the way.
My job was execution once we got there. We had a rough layout of the community and planted a few locals at strategic locations. Some were on watch from the days before, keeping a lookout for Rusty’s crew. I was highly anticipating some action, especially slitting Rusty’s throat.
As we packed our stuff and got ready to leave, I remembered the conversation with Mass Joe and how he thought he might be my great grandfather. Upon leaving him that day, I’d promised him that we would take a DNA test to settle the matter so he could be at ease. I didn’t know my great grandmother or my grandfather, and he would be the only link to those relatives. I also wanted this to be true to tell my mother when I returned home.
At dusk, when we moved out. I pushed the conversation with Mass Joe aside and concentrated on the mission at hand. We drove the SUV, Neeky behind the wheel as usual, but this time Uncle rode round the back seat and I shotgun.
“Are we all set?” Uncle asked.
I twiddled the nunchaku in my hand and looked at Uncle through the rear-view mirror. “We’re good.”
“I know you’re anxious to get some action but be careful. These boys are trigger happy.”
“Uncle these boys you talk about, how’d they become badmen … as you Jamaicans like to call them?”
“Some of them are recruited by the gangs while others seek out ways of making trouble.”
“Would you say they were born into the family of the gang?”
Uncle stared keenly at me through the mirror. “Not at all.”
I turned in my seat to look at him. “Then Uncle, these badmen won’t know real badness until they’ve met someone born in it.”
I could see a smile curve Neeky’s lips as Uncle nodded. “You got a point my boy. You are a rare breed indeed. Born to Melody and Adriano … they won’t know what hit them.”
We rode the rest of the way in silence, around half an hour due to the evening traffic. It was easier to enter the community during the busy hours so as not to attract too much attention. Once the three of us were settled, one of the kings left with the SUV around ten o’clock that night. Ten o’clock was the hour that most parties got started, the bars were opened, and people played dominoes in front of the shops.
Our humble abode was Miss Enid’s guest house, a/k/a fuck house. You could smell the stale sweat and bodies as you strolled the halls, not to mention weed and cigarette odors. Once a reputable establishment for visitors, it soon became a place for ‘couples’ to meet for hook-up after Miss Enid passed away. Now operated by two of her grandkids, it was the ideal place for us to hide.
Out front was a restaurant and bar, while a chicken coup was out in the back yard. Behind the coup was a fence leading to a concrete canal, otherwise known locally as a ‘gully’, which was empty of water unless it rained heavily. However, we knew the gully was a route for the gunmen who were entering the community.
Uncle went to his room to take a short nap before we headed out while Neeky wrapped a weed and lit it. I sat on a wooden chair at a small table in the corner of our room, contemplating the situation. It was then I noticed how quiet Neeky had been all night. I looked up and saw her bleak disposition.
“Babes, what’s eating you?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.”
I got up and strolled over to where she stood near the small window. The room was tiny with hardly any space to move around, and the window had three wooden blades, just enough for some fresh air.
“I know something’s bothering you.”
