Suave, Cobra, Daddy Lizard, and about ten of their soldiers were in the house. A supposedly gun-free venue, Suave and his men paid a hefty price for the bouncers at the door to look the other way. Needless to say, the men were heavily armed.
“Now, this is what I call a party.” Suave bobbed his head up and down to the beat of the music, the rest of his body as stiff as a corpse. He looked across the room and made eye contact with a young, dark-skinned woman. She was wearing a pair of shorts that exposed her big buttocks leaving little to the imagination. Unconcerned about a wardrobe malfunction, the woman bent over with her head almost touching her ankles, her huge breasts fighting hard to stay in the low cut blouse, her booty jiggling in the air.
Suave began to perspire, and it wasn’t because of the warm, close quarters of the club. He gobbled down the rest of his Hennessy and handed the glass to a worker for a refill.
“You see how little mama is watching you?” Daddy Lizard whispered in Suave’s ear. “You want me to call her over?”
“Nah, maybe later.” Suave was aware of many of the women scoping him out. A few were exes, and others were prospects. A player to the end, he didn’t want to single out any one woman in public, so he kept everything neutral and partied with his crew.
“It’s almost time,” Cobra muttered in Suave’s ear. “I just got a text message that everything’s in place, and it’s a go when you say so.”
Suave nodded his head. “Do it.”
Cobra stepped away to make a call with Suave’s instruction. A minute later, he returned and winked at both Suave and Daddy Lizard. The deed was done.
* * *
The door almost kicked off its hinges and exploded against the wall. Screams echoed from the living room as three armed, masked men rushed in with guns drawn.
“Hands in the air!”
“Nobody move, nobody gets hurt!”
Mother Bloom stood to her trembling, arthritic feet, her aged back bent, with her hands in the air. Tears ran down her weathered face as she stared at the intruders in her home. “Wha... What do you want?” her voice shook.
They ignored her. One of the gunmen turned to the old man sitting on the couch, watching the late-night news without concern. “Old man, get to your feet now,” the gunman yelled.
Elder Bloom turned his droopy face to look at him. Without saying a word, he nestled farther back into the couch and crossed his legs in defiance. “You don’t break into my house and give me orders.”
“Elder, please do as he says,” Mother Bloom begged her stubborn husband. “I don’t want any problems.”
But Elder Bloom sucked his teeth and folded his arms. He wasn’t moving.
The gunman said, “You hear what—”
“Let’s just get the stuff and get out of here,” another gunman remarked. “I’ll watch these two while you go take care of business.” He pointed his gun at Mother Bloom, his eyes going back and forth between her and Elder Bloom.
“Where are you going?” Elder Bloom screamed at the backs of the other two gunmen as they exited the living room. “Get your sorry behinds back here.” He jumped to his feet, took a step, but stopped when the gun was turned on him.
“Don’t move another step,” the gunman who remained behind warned. “We don’t want to hurt you, Grandpa. Relax.”
“I’m not your grandpa!” Elder Bloom stomped his feet in anger.
Elder Bloom was Saddam’s grandpa, one of King Kong’s main soldiers. He and his wife of sixty years, Mother Bloom, raised Saddam after his parents were killed in a car accident when he was only ten years old.
The couple lived in Ensom City, Spanish Town, in the same house they bought over forty years ago. They were active members of their church and well known to everyone in their community. However, they harbored one deep, dark secret that placed them in the situation they were now in. In the kitchen, under the big six-burner cooking stove, was a deep cellar filled with tons of marijuana, cocaine, and bundles of money. This was King Kong’s biggest stash.
After waiting two months, Suave was now using the information he got from Danny. He knew this financial loss would bring King Kong to his knees while keeping Suave at the top of the game where he currently sat. Suave also chose this night because he, Cobra, and Daddy Lizard had perfect alibis.
It was payback time.
“Got it!” one of the gunmen stuck his head into the living room and shouted, his yellow teeth flashing through the mask. Over his shoulder were two large flour bags. He hurried off to put the loot in the stolen car parked in the Blooms’ driveway.
Elder Bloom dragged himself back over to the couch and gingerly lowered himself into it.
“Go and sit down, Grandma,” the gunman said to Mother Bloom, who gladly accepted. Her back and legs were aching like crazy.
“About three more trips to the car and we got everything,” a gunman updated his colleague standing watch in the living room.
“You’re going to pay for this,” Elder Bloom warned. “Mark my words, you are all going to pay.”
The masked gunman chuckled. “Oh, I’m going to get paid all right.”
Elder Bloom replied, “You think—”
“Shut up!” a gunman hissed in a much-lower tone so as not to alert the neighbors. “Keep threatening me, and I’ll make you pay, old man.”
Mother Bloom reached over and patted her husband’s leg, willing him to keep his mouth shut. Getting killed over Saddam and King Kong’s drugs and money wasn’t the way Mother Bloom wanted to go and meet her maker. Mark you, King Kong did take good care of them for using their house, and the balance in Bloom’s retirement bank account was a testimony to that. But it wasn’t their fault they got robbed. Who told
