The cost of vengeance - [2]

“We?” Shay asked.

“Yes, we, Shay. We gotta do this,” I said.

“What; now that you’ve killed somebody you’re a killer?” Shay asked.

“That’s not it, Shay. I don’t think I’m a killer, but we gotta do this. We can’t let this go without us doing anything about it. We can’t have people thinking that they can just rob us and we let it go.”

“What you say, Teena?” Shay asked.

Teena looked at both of us. “I agree with Nina. We gotta kill them. Three of us, three of them.”

We planned how we’d do it. Shay was shaky. “We’ll do it together,” I said.

“We’ll both be right there with you,” Teena promised.

That next night, I drove to the house I saw the women with Victor and waited. The three of us sat in the car and talked about everything, except what we were there to do. The only thing that was different was that we all had on bandanas and gloves. We had been there for a couple of hours when the front door opened. “There go one of them,” I said as she walked out of the house and locked the door.

“Which one is it?” Shay asked.

“She’s mine,” Teena said and got out of the car.

I grabbed my gun and got out of the car as well. Shay got out, too, but she didn’t bring her gun with her. Teena walked up on her so fast that we had to hurry to keep up with her. She got to her just as she made it to her car.

“Hey, bitch,” Teena said, and she turned and looked at Teena. “Time to die.” Teena raised her gun and pulled the trigger. She fired three shots and hit her with all three.

Now the plan was that Teena would kill one woman, Shay would kill the other, and Victor was mine. This way we were all in it together. But Shay left her gun in the car, so when Teena took care of hers, Shay froze. I ran to the door and waited with my gun raised. When the other woman came out to see what was going on, I put my gun to her head. I thought about just going ahead and shooting her, but I thought it was important to stick to the plan. I walked her at gunpoint to the car. Once she was inside, I said to Shay, “Find something to gag her with.” Shay took off the bandana she was wearing and shoved it in her mouth. Teena drove off. We took her to Kenyatta’s dope spot.

When we got to the spot, I called Kenyatta and told her to come to the car. “Here she comes,” I said, and Teena got out of the car and walked up on her before she got to the car. She told Kenyatta that we needed a vacate apartment. “What’s goin’ on?” I heard Kenyatta ask.

“Never mind all that. You got a spot or not.” Teena said.

Kenyatta led Teena toward the building and ten minutes later, Teena came back and we took her inside to a vacant apartment on the third floor. As soon as we got in there, we made her get down on her knees. Both Teena and I looked at Shay.

Shay stepped up to her and pointed her gun at the woman’s head. She closed her eyes and got ready to die. We all stood there watching Shay, as she lowered the gun.

“I can’t.”

“Gimme that,” Teena said and took the gun from Shay. Without another word Teena shot her point-blank in the head. She looked at Shay, handed her back the gun, and walked away.

Shay looked at me. “I’m sorry, Nina.”

“Come on,” I said and followed Teena out of the apartment. There was only one thing left to do. There was nothing said while Teena drove us to our next spot. When we pulled up outside, Teena put the car in park and her and Shay started to get out.

“Let’s go get that nigga,” Teena said.

“No. I gotta do this myself,” I said.

“What?” Teena asked.

“No, Nina. You shouldn’t go in there by yourself,” Shay said.

“I know I shouldn’t, but I have to,” I said and opened the car door. I got out of the car and started walking toward the house. Teena jumped out of the car and ran up to me.

“Why you doin’ this, bitch?”

“I need to do this alone, Teena,” I said and started walking toward the house again.

I rang the bell and there was no answer. I walked around the house looking for another way in. I found a window in the back of the house that was cracked open. I went in and made my way to the living room. I got a chair and pulled it in front of the door. I sat down and waited, knowing that when he turned on the lights, the first thing he would see was me.

I had been sitting there for over an hour before I heard the key hit the lock. I raised my weapon. Victor opened the door and turned on the light.

“Nina?” His eyes opened wide when he saw the gun. “What are you doing here?”

“Come in and close the door,” I said. I should have shot him on sight and been done with it. But I didn’t.

“What’s this about, Nina?” Victor asked.

“Don’t play stupid. You know what this is about.”

“’Cause I wouldn’t go out with you again,” Victor said and laughed a little.

“Very funny. Chose your next little joke carefully, ’cause it will be your last.”

“Can I sit down?”

“Go ahead,” I said, and Victor sat down on the couch. When he sat down, I stood up.

“So, you wanna tell me what this is about?”

“You set me up.”

“What?”

“You were the one that sent those women to rob me that night.”

“And I suppose that I set it up to get beat to death?”

“There was no way you could know that Cedric would be there, or that I would have to call you to untie me.”