“One of them said, ‘Oh, your mouth is sealed? Okay, we’re going to make sure it stays that way,’” Danny informed King Kong. “You see my face, man? You think they would cut me up if I had said anything?” Danny forced himself to lock eyes with the gorilla’s dark, infuriated ones.
King Kong held Danny’s stare for a few seconds, then responded, “Maybe you held out until they beat you so badly you couldn’t stand it anymore, so you talked. Is that what you did, Danny?”
“Shame on you, King!” Danny struggled to sit up straighter but whimpered in pain and slumped back down on the bed.
King Kong inhaled deeply, exhaling loudly as he reclined back in the chair. “Sorry, man. You know you’re my right hand. I had to know if they pressured you into telling them anything that could come back to haunt me. You do know I would understand if you had to talk to save your life, right?” King Kong’s eyes held faked compassion. He looked point-blank at Danny as if he were trying to hypnotize him to reveal the secret.
Danny wanted to roll his eyes. Yeah, right. You would put a bullet in my head right now, and then do the same to my wife and three kids to eliminate all the witnesses. He moaned and groaned as he slowly and deliberately raised himself a little. He looked King Kong straight in the face. “I. Did. Not. Say. Anything.” He placed his hand over his heart. “We’re in this for life, King. It’s you and me all the way, brother.”
Danny wondered if he had managed to fool King Kong, and King Kong wondered if Danny was full of crap.
King Kong’s face broke out in a wide grin. “My bad.” He reached over and took Danny’s hand into his. “I apologize for doubting you. You know I get a little anxious sometimes, especially when dealing with that snake, Suave. I’m happy he didn’t get the info he wanted. Next time I hit him, it’s not only business, but it’s also personal.”
Danny tried to smile but grimaced at the pain that shot through his jaw. “We’re going to take care of him, King. Just wait until I get back on my feet.”
“That’s the plan, baby.” King Kong released Danny’s hand and stood to his feet. “I have some business to take care of, but I’ll stop by later. Call me if you need anything. Cool?”
“Thanks, man. Hold it down out there until I get back.”
“You got it, Danny. I’m out.” With that, King Kong walked toward the door.
Danny closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as he slowly and painfully lowered himself down on the bed. Good God, he pulled it off. King Kong bought the story as he hoped he would.
“You have to rough me up a little bit, so King Kong doesn’t suspect anything,” Danny had said to the men who kidnapped him after he had told them all they wanted to hear. “I need him to believe me when I tell him I didn’t say a word.” Danny was sure they would go easy because he had cooperated.
“No problem, Danny. I think we can do that for you.”
The men laughed. Danny didn’t know he was going to get the whooping of his life, whether or not he asked for it. It was just GP—General Principle. He helped King Kong rob and disrespect Suave, and he had to pay for that. Danny talking saved his life... for now but didn’t prevent the beating.
Danny was gagged and beaten within an inch of his life. His muffled screams went unnoticed. He wiggled, twisted, and turned but couldn’t escape the kicks and blows. Danny could have sworn he saw stars behind the blindfold when the knife cut into his jawbone. His body couldn’t handle the intense pain, and mercifully, he slipped away into a black, pain-free darkness. Danny came around when his body was thrown out of the moving car into the middle of a busy street. The blaring of horns, squealing tires, and curse words brought him to his staggering feet as he tried to peek through the blindfold.
Danny has a vague recollection of being led into a car and taken to King Kong’s headquarters. Everything and everyone was a blur until the next day when he woke up in his bed with his wife’s anxious face hovering above him.
“You weren’t supposed to beat me that bad,” Danny muttered under his breath. “I snitched on my partner, but yet, you disfigured me for life.” He reached up and gently touched the bandage over his injured jaw. “What else did you want?” Tears seeped out of Danny’s eyes and ran down his bruised cheeks. He never saw King Kong tiptoeing away from the doorway, where he stood all this time watching him in silence.
Chapter Eight
“Respect, Boss.”
“Big up, Godfather.”
“What’s good, player?”
“You the man, Suave.”
“Blessed, my Lord. Good to see you in the place.”
Suave pounded fists and exchanged man hugs and high fives as he strutted toward his bar, a front for his headquarters, in Wilton Gardens, better known as Rema.
Rema was a crime-infested, inner-city community in Western Kingston. Often, unstable and dangerous, it was plagued by rival gangs who wreaked havoc on the residents and war against law enforcement. Rema and Jungle were neighboring rival communities. Suave was from Rema, and King Kong was, appropriately, from the Jungle—two fierce rivals.
Suave had just parked his Mercedes-Benz in front of his bar and hopped out to see a bunch of men waiting for him. Most of them were his
