he wasn't a cop anymore. But Malik kept at him, helping him through the rehab, sitting up with him while he went through the DTs.

Tayvon didn't really go for religion-it wasn't his thing-but after spending so much time with Malik, he did respect the Nation of Islam. In particular, he respected what they had done for the Original Man. He didn't really believe in it, but folks like Malik and Hakim el-Jabbar, he had mad respect for them and people like them who preached the word. Even if the words didn't really mean anything to Tayvon, they meant something to other people.

Black folks who listened to people like Hakim and Malik, they felt better about who they were. They weren't ashamed of the color of their skin. Tayvon was down with that.

Like Malik before him, Hakim respected Tayvon's lack of faith, because Tayvon didn't do bullshit. He didn't try to pretend to be faithful because it might do him some good. Nah, Tayvon just did his business, and he got caught. Yeah, he was off the coke, but he was still a big dude who was good at beat-downs. So he started working for folks he used to buy his dope from-as well as taking legit bouncer and bodyguard jobs. One time, he beat up somebody that actually filed a police report, and for the second time, Tayvon got nailed by the cops.

No rehab-he had to do his time, but that was cool. He'd be out in the street once he did his bit, and then it'd be back to business.

Until then, he was more than happy to put a beat-down on some fool who had earned it.

And Melendez had. That little punk-ass fool didn't believe in Allah or Mohammed or none of that other stuff any more than Tayvon did, but Melendez tried to make like he did. Even went to Malik's Koran class.

That was why Tayvon wasn't surprised when word came down from Hakim: Melendez killed Malik. Well, okay, he was a little surprised that a punk like Melendez had had the balls to do the deed. But after that throw-down they had in Malik's class, Tayvon figured Melendez had enough of a mad-on to take Malik out. Besides, he did it while everyone was watching Mulroney ice Vance.

And that was weak. Vance didn't do nothing wrong. Okay, so he slid hard, so the hell what? Tayvon saw somebody pull that on Derek Jeter just last week, and Jeter didn't go stabbing the guy with a razor.

Tayvon had no idea how Hakim knew that Melendez was the one who did in Malik, but Hakim was always knowing things he wasn't supposed to. His word was good enough for Tayvon.

The deed would be done in the shower that morning. He wouldn't have long, but the shower was the best time, especially since it could wash away blood. Besides, Tayvon had been doing push-ups on his knuckles for twenty years. As long as he punched with the first two knuckles, nobody would even know he'd punched anyone.

Bolton was the CO watching the showers, but he kept his distance. There were two other COs in sight, too, which was weird, but Tayvon figured after what went down in the yard, everyone was a little squirrelly.

Tayvon grabbed the soap and lathered himself up. It had been a long night stuck in the dorms, which weren't air-conditioned, and the COs decided to be assholes and keep the fans off, too. Tayvon spent the whole night sweating like a mother.

Of course, the water was practically ice cold and the pressure was down. Tayvon figured that was on purpose, too. Damn hacks, always messing with them.

'Yo, Bolton,' somebody yelled, 'what's with the damn water?'

'Is it wet?' Bolton asked.

'Well, yeah, but-'

'Then shut the hell up.'

Even dribbly cold water felt good after sleeping in an oven all night, so Tayvon enjoyed it while he waited for the right moment.

After yelling at the guy who mouthed off, Bolton turned away from the showers, shaking his head in annoyance.

Tayvon took advantage of this opportunity to move closer to Melendez. It wasn't hard-ever since he and Malik got into it, nobody'd been all that fond of Melendez. Hakim had accused him of being a carpetbagging Muslim. Tayvon didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound very good.

Then Tayvon looked around until he caught Hakim's eye. At his nod, several other people moved so they were standing in Bolton's line of sight. Even if Bolton turned around, all he'd see would be a dozen wet bodies, and not Tayvon beating the holy crap out of Jorge Melendez.

First Tayvon closed his eyes, slowing his breathing down. That was something they taught him in martial arts school back when he was a kid, which was where he got started doing the push-ups on his knuckles. Hurt like hell, but it was worth it. Sometimes, Tayvon thought he should've stuck with martial arts, but at the time, he liked cocaine more.

Once his breathing was nice and regular, he placed one of his massive hands on top of Melendez's head. Tayvon was almost a full head taller than Melendez, so it was like grabbing a golf ball on a tee and turning it around.

Rearing back with his other hand, he punched Melendez in the solar plexus.

While Tayvon remembered very little of the specifics of his martial arts training, he did remember a few things. One was how useful it was to do push-ups on your knuckles in order to toughen your fists and make your punches more effective. In a life spent beating people up, both as a bouncer in legit bars and strip clubs and working for slingers and bangers, that lesson had stuck real good.

The other one was a Japanese word. He'd studied shotokan, and he'd had to learn all kinds of Japanese words, but the only one he really remembered was suigetsu. It meant 'solar plexus,' but that wasn't why Tayvon remembered it. The literal translation of the word was 'moon on the water.' According to the old guy who ran the school, there was an old story about a monkey who would see the moon reflected on the water and try to grab the moon, but he couldn't because it was just a reflection, and monkeys were stupid.

The solar plexus was called suigetsu because trying to catch your breath after being punched there was like that monkey trying to grab the moon.

In Tayvon's line of work, it was good for your first punch to be one that kept the guy you were beating up from making any noise. That was especially handy in the echo chamber of a prison shower. Even with the water going- and that wasn't as useful a masking sound, as the pressure was down today-if Melendez started screaming, it would all be over.

Instead, Melendez was kneeling on the wet floor of the shower, cold water dripping down his face, eyes wide, mouth open, trying to catch his breath like the stupid monkey in the story.

Next Tayvon grabbed his head a second time, yanked his head up by his hair, and brought his knee up into Melendez's jaw.

Bone on bone was always risky, but it would hurt Melendez a lot worse than it would Tayvon, and that was what mattered. Besides, if he broke the jaw, Melendez couldn't talk.

Several of Hakim's people started milling around, closing the circle so that no one outside would see what was going on.

Tayvon got a few more punches in, including one to the ribs that resulted in at least a couple of broken bones.

Then he heard Bolton's voice. 'Hey!'

As soon as he heard that, Tayvon disappeared into the crowd. Several people moved aside to let him blend in.

Bolton started wading into the shower, bellowing, 'Kill the water, now!' As soon as he got to Melendez, who was now curled up in a fetal position on the wet floor, bleeding from his mouth and nose, Bolton said, 'Ah, shit!' He pulled out his radio and called for medical.

Tayvon smiled. He got to throw down on the asshole who killed Malik. And Hakim had said that Tayvon wouldn't have to worry about any heat.

After over a year inside, Tayvon hadn't gotten to beat anyone up. He'd forgotten how much fun it was.

Of course, beating people up was what got him in here in the first place, but whatever. Putting a beat-down on some fool who deserved it-there wasn't anything better in the world.

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