Volume One: 150 Racks
“Another Let Down”
CHAPTER I
It had been a long week, and this was the perfect time to be sitting at the strip club discussing what had just happened. As the music plays and the girls are dancing, the guys are trying to shake off how close this weekend's loss could have been. “We should have been able to plan things a lot better than that. The information wasn't as viable as it should have been,” Pane says, looking over at Sure Shot. “We gotta get our girls to be a little more thorough about the type of details that they're getting, if we're gonna continue making real money.”
Sure Shot’s pissed because of how sloppy K.O. and Sinner were the other night. Those guys, along with the information these girls gave them, really fucked them over. “30k ain't nothing when it's split between ten people. If we’re blowing money like this, and we're not putting it in the pot, how are we ever going to get our own business started? At the rate we’re going, we won’t be able to open up our own garage for years.”
That’s when Raven; a dark, seductive, sassy, curly-haired, curvy dancer walks up to the guys with drinks in her hand and a smirk on her face, “What's got you guys so pissed off,” she says with sarcasm.
Sure Shot snaps back, pointing a finger inches towards her face threateningly, “what do you mean? You know exactly what the fuck happened. You didn't tell us all the people that were going to be there. You left us hanging, and we almost got caught up. You and the girls don't deserve to get what you had coming.”
With quickness, Raven throws tequila in Sure Shot’s face. The stinging in his eyes doesn’t stop him from his quick reaction as he snatches Raven by her hair.
Pane jumps up, separating the two of them, before things get out of hand. “Cool it,” He whispers.
Sure Shot has always been hot-headed, and it doesn’t take much to set him off. However, foolishness is his biggest pet peeve, and the way things went down the other night, Sure Shot knew he couldn’t let it go.
At this point, people in the club start glancing over, looking curiously at what's going on. Pane pulls up a stool and directs Raven to sit down. “What the fuck happened? You said there were only gonna be three people. There was almost double that, and our guys could have seriously gotten hurt.”
Raven mumbles under her breath, “I mean, we’ve been partying with the guys for weeks now, we gave you the info we had,”
“Well, this is where the sloppiness of K.O. and Sinner also comes in. We can’t forget about those guys.” Sure Shot interrupts, “This was their responsibility, you guys all fell short. They were supposed to be scoping out the spot for at least a week. Come to find out, they only checked it out once or twice. We went in fucking blind.”
While focusing on Raven’s demeanor, Pane adds, “That 30k that was supposed to be there, was only 10, and a couple pounds of work. So you three girls are gonna have to take a loss, same with K.O. and Sinner. You guys fucked up the information, so this 10k is going straight to the pot.”
“Wait what? What do you mean? What the fuck. That’s not fair.” Raven hisses back at Pane, while avoiding eye contact with Sure Shot.
“So hold up, let me finish.” Pane continues, “With the couple pounds of work we came up on, you mentioned you got another crew that might be balling. So, Raven, why don't you see what they got going, and see if you can hustle this work to them. And while you’re at it, find out what kind of come up we can make happen.”
“Well, how does that solve our money shortage?” Raven asks, annoyed.
Sure Shot interrupts her once again, ”Make a transaction with this, and we split that between us.”
“Okay, let me make some contacts, and see what I can do. I'll talk to the other girls, and let's all get together in a couple days and discuss this next job.” Raven stares down at the floor, trying to make sense of what just happened.
“Hey! What the fuck are you doing, you working or you socializing, get your ass on that stage.”
The club owner shouts as he bursts through the back doors. Fat Man, he’s one greasy mother fucker. Always getting in the way.
Sure Shot yells back at him, “We’re paying customers, don’t worry about what the fuck we’re doing with these bitches.”
Fat Man scoffs, “Ya, you always pay, but I ain't never seen no money. Matter of fact, a payment on your credit is due.”
As the night ends, Raven makes her way back home, staring out her window, waiting for Pane to come by. And as the sun comes up, the echoes of Pane’s bike finally rumble through the empty streets of Northeast Los Angeles, as he pulls into her driveway. Before getting off his bike, Pane fires off a page to the rest of the guys, “222” to let them know a meeting is scheduled at the club the following evening.
Nearby on a dead end street, Sure Shot finds himself in bed with Sapphire and Jazmin from the club. And as he receives the page, he mentions to the girls “we all gotta meet up tonight.”
“A Plan of Attack”
CHAPTER II
“When we first met, things weren’t this complicated,” Raven says while lying naked in bed next to Pane. After a long morning of passionate love-making, the conversation about mixing business with pleasure, and the boundaries that were crossed might have been something that they should have thought twice about. But there's something about the chemistry between the two of them that makes it all worth it. Dreams of a stable relationship feel right, but it's hard to trust. They both feel the same.
“Alright, I’ll see you tonight, make sure you and the girls have all your shit together.” Pane grabs his keys and makes his way to the front door.
As tonight’s meetup gets closer to the hour, K.O. and Sinner are back at the Club House loading rounds into their burners. That’s when Kaos walks in after spending the day at the hospital with his sister who is battling leukemia. “What’s up with you two mother fuckers, always up to no good. Doing nothing, and failing at what you’re supposed to be doing. Because of you two, we are all gonna be short on our bread.”
Sinner jumps up with an attitude, sticking his pistol in his waistband in an intimidating manner, and before he can get a word out, Kaos doesn’t hesitate and takes off on him. An all-out brawl ensues between the three guys.
Pane and Sureshot simultaneously pull up and as they turn off their engines they can hear the ruckus from outside. Without any hesitation, they run in, and Pane stands between the three guys with his arms reaching out, trying to keep Kaos from getting to the other two. “We gotta get our shit together, these jobs are only gonna be beneficial if we all do our part. Anybody who isn't, is gonna be disciplined and be cut out from what we got going.”
“Yah, we understand, we wanna redeem ourselves. We know we can pull through. What’s our next move?” K.O. asks eagerly, talking for both him and Sinner.
The five of them leave the Club House and jump on their bikes, speeding through the backstreets of L.A., edging closer to Hacienda Boulevard. Once they reach the crossroads, the last of the crew joins them - a guy named Havoc. Now there’s half a dozen of them in total.
“There he is!” Shouts Kaos, laughing. He slows down to let Havoc catch up, but Havoc speeds past him, challenging him. The boys all race one another, driving stupidly as they make their way towards the Players Club. Bikes roaring as they pull in, The Undertaker's presence is felt by everyone in the parking lot. As they push their way through the door, the bouncers step aside. When The Undertakers are all together, no one else really matters. Their VIP lounge awaits them in a private corner in the club.
The four girls pull up with drinks, and make their way to the area as they all sit down to discuss what’s next. Jazmin throws a bag of X onto the table, “this is the crap that these fucking dudes are hustling, and my little sister got the short end of it. They’re hustling this shit to kids now.” Jaz is pretty upset that her little sister is starting to pick up similar habits as her, partying and getting high at such a young age.
“Yah, and it’s the same guy that slapped me around the other night” Sapphire added.
Sinner throws his shot back and slams his glass on the table. “These fucking guys have it coming.” Sapphire is Sinner’s youngest sister, so when he hears that someone put their hands on her, it makes him boil inside.
These guys have been pushing dope near an elementary school for months now. They’re wannabe thugs who don’t follow the rules that the streets have in place. They’ve been crossing boundaries and targeting kids in the neighborhood, and The Undertakers don't tolerate that sort of irresponsibility.
“Alright, Raven, what's up, what's the business? What do they got, and is there real money or is it just change? Let's weigh out the pros and cons.” Pane says.
“Yeah, they’re driving a Mercedes Benz and flossing gold. They’ve got a big house and all that.”
“Have any of you figured out where the stash house is?”
“Yah matter of fact, we did a transaction with the work that we had earlier, and they're willing to buy what we got. The meeting is this weekend. Earlier today, two dudes pulled up and asked Sapphire and me to take a ride with them. They took us straight to the stash house. It's a quiet neighborhood, gritty but not much traffic, it’s pretty low-key.” These dudes’ first mistake was trusting Raven and Sapphire, and the second mistake was taking the girls straight there. “These guys are sloppy as fuck, and this is gonna be an easy buck fifty.”
“Wait, wait, wait, did you say 150?” Kaos’ eyes lit up. “That’s $15k each. That could seriously help my little sister get better care at the hospital.”
“Let's set the meetup for Saturday and get them on Friday.” Pane concludes.
“Havoc, Kaos, get the unmarked cars. Sinner, K.O. you guys get tools. Sure Shot and I will scope out the spot, and I'll page 464646 when it's time.”
“464646”
CHAPTER III
It had just stopped raining and was perfectly quiet for 4 A.M. the streetlights reflected off the wet pavement, painting a perfectly specular reflection. The guys were all getting ready in their own ways; Havoc and Kaos loaded into the car with two 5.7mm Bullpups, patiently and silently waiting for the page from Pane to come through. Although Kaos was known for being a hard motherfucker, when it came to these jobs, he could feel his heartbeat racing just a little bit faster with anticipation and nerves. He tried to sit calmly in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, taking deep breaths. Sinner was still in the house making sure he had everything they needed ready. He laid out the zip ties, pepper spray, ski masks and gloves neatly on the table in two separate piles, making sure they were grouped in a way that he could hand them off without any confusion.
At the same time, a few blocks away, Pane, Sure Shot and K.O. were sitting at the dining room table loading their Sig 40s, making sure they had ample ammunition. They had no intention of using them tonight, but you always have to be prepared just in case.
*464646*
The guys simultaneously grab their pagers as the page comes through. Once Sinner gets in, Havoc turns on the ignition, “It’s go time boys.” The two cars make their way across town and start to creep, shutting off their headlights as they inch closer to Depot Ave. Both cars park a block away from one another in opposite directions. “You got a clear view?” Sinner reaches Sure Shot over the two-way radio.
“Yup, yup.”
The six of them sit for a minute with their heads on a swivel, making sure there are no lights visible. Pane nudges Sure Shot, “Let’s go.”
“Copy that.”
The four of them put on their ski masks and make their way towards the house. Pane and Sure Shot head to the front door, while Kaos and Sinner head to the back.
“Affirmative.” Sinner two ways letting them know they’re situated and ready for action.
On the count of three, they kick in the front and back doors, weapons in hand.
Pane rushes in, spraying the first guy he spots who was lying on the couch. He must have been sleeping as he was disoriented when he woke up abruptly. “What the fuck, do you know who the fuck you’re robbing?” He tried to shout, choking on the words. He’s scratching at his eyes trying to stop the burning that instantly takes over.
“Shut the fuck up.” Pane said, kicking him in the face and placing a knee on his back as soon as he hit the floor. He grabs both of his hands behind his back and begins to zip tie him when Sure Shot meets him after clearing the front of the house, “We’re good.”
*bang* *bang*
Two shots are heard in the backroom. Pane and Sure Shot look at one another wide-eyed with uncertainty. “Fuck.”
Once the guy is secured in zip ties, Pane and Sure Shot slowly make their way to the kitchen, guns drawn. Surprised by the scene that greeted their gaze, there lay two men, one dead and one moaning with a bullet wound to his side. “We had no choice, he reached.” said Kaos panicking. You could see the gun in hand and it was evident what had happened. “Hurry the fuck up, we gotta get the fuck out of here.” Kaos says, voice shaking and stunned.
Pane places a hand on Kaos’ shoulder, “Stop talking. Eye’s on, we’ll take care of the rest.”
Sinner makes his way through the house, stopping in the bedroom that Raven had described the night before. He lifts the mattress to see the multiple shoe boxes stacked underneath - just as mentioned. Eyes widened when he opened each box to stacks of bills neatly bundled inside.
Pane opens a drawer in the same room, only to find a couple pounds of work and stuffs it in his bag and Sinner finds himself with a few extra racks that were taped under the bathroom sink.
That’s when Havoc two-ways from the car, “It’s starting to get hot, let's move it.”
“Yeah, people are getting curious.” K.O. follows.
Sure Shot, Pane and Sinner make their way downstairs, each carrying a garbage bag half full. Kaos joins them, still shaken up, and as the four of them split into two, they run back to the cars. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
THE END
