“You can’t force this, OK. This is heavy. So, go handle things with Brick. I know he’s flipping out about Six right now. Focus on that and I will handle Cambrie,” Sol insisted.
“I just need her to be OK and come back home. The kids are asking about her, and I don’t know what to tell them except she’ll be back.”
“And she will. Listen . . . I see what she means to you, OK. You, who never wants to let anyone close, let this woman into your home and around your kids. That alone says everything, Staten. I want you to be happy, and Cambrie has become a very good friend, so I want her happy too. Trust me, I’m on your side. I know things with Rossi are tense right now?—”
“I don’t want to talk about that. Just tell Cambrie the kids miss her and want her to come home. I gotta go.”
“I’ll let her know. Y’all be careful,” Sol warned before we hung up. “Tell my stink to hold his head. You are Marek men, and you always make it happen. Swear on the bottle.”
“Sealed with a sip,” I recited with a nod.
Sol was right. The situation with Cambrie was fresh. I needed to give her time to think, but I wasn’t exactly a patient man when it came to what I wanted. After hanging up, I pushed my car door open and planted both feet in the dirt. I was still smoking on my blunt when I slipped through the cellar door of a small, worn-out shack. This land was ours but registered under my grandfather’s brother’s name.
It was his idea to buy the land, allow farmers to use it, but keep a small, closed-off section for himself with this shed and a hidden bunker. The metal door slammed shut behind me, and I slowly moved down the concrete steps. The fluorescent lights guided me inside, where I found Brick pacing and Ivo beside him, bent over at the table, scrolling through something on his tablet.
“What’s going on?” I asked, causing them both to glance in my direction.
“Moniece is working on it. She found a hit on this Skully nigga in Omaha. Stanley Skinner is his name. He’s mid-level but tied in with some high-level niggas.” Ivo straightened up and swiped something on the screen.
“The fuck is taking so long?” Brick shook his head.
“Calm down, bro. You know she gon’ work her magic,” Ivo assured him.
“I don’t know what this fuck nigga capable of or what he gon’ do to her! We need to find them, now!”
Ivo squinted at the screen, and his brows dipped while studying something. I paused on the other side of the table and handed him the blunt before placing the palm of my hands on the surface. Brick’s phone lit up, and he immediately swiped it off the counter.
“Niece, what’s good?” he asked, placing her speaker phone.
“Well, for starters, this nigga got a record a mile long for just about any petty crime you can think of. Some drug charges, did a bid about ten years ago, been arrested for disorderly conduct, assault, and fraud. His name is coming across a lot of paperwork. Not only is he connected in the streets, he’s also a CI. Has been for some time now, which is why he hasn’t had to do any hard time. Any time he goes down for something, he just brings someone bigger down with him.”
“How the fuck this nigga still breathing?” Brick sneered, glaring at me and Ivo before looking back down at the phone.
“Whoever’s CI he is must be high level too, more than likely federal. But I was able to trace the car since it’s a rental. I hacked into their GPS tracking system.”
“Did you find him?” Brick asked anxiously.
“Not only that, I got visuals from some surrounding cameras,” Moniece declared, keyboard clicking away in the background. “They got off on Route 10. Looks like he’s about an hour away from the bunker at some old mansion. I cross-referenced the address in the system, and apparently, it’s used for parties, mostly masquerade style. A lot of people secure it for Halloween or New Year’s. It costs a grip to even rent it out, and it’s very exclusive, some invite-only type shit. But you know ya girl is plugged into the dark web too, so I poked around with some heavy hitters I know like to party like that and came across a flyer for an auction tonight.”
“What kind of auction?” Ivo queried.
“The kind that involves young, beautiful women and girls. They even have a catalog with descriptions, and about thirty minutes ago, a girl matching Six’s description was added.”
“Muthafucka,” Brick growled, nostrils flaring as he squeezed his phone in his hand.
“I can tell you now, security is going to be ridiculous. I’ve seen the guest list, and it’s nothing but heavy hitters attending, and all of them have their own security. But I can get one of you on the guest list, let me know now.”
“Add me,” Brick quickly replied.
“It’s a masquerade. So you’ll need to dress up. The auction starts in two hours,” Moniece concluded.
“Bet. Send me all the info I need.”
“Copy that. Be careful and call me if you need anything else.” Moniece hung up, and Brick lifted his eyes to me and Ivo.
“I’on like this shit.” Ivo shook his head.
“Me either. We ain’t got no eyes on you in there and we don’t know the layout.” I handed him the blunt.
