~Chapter 9~

~Revenge~

November 29th, 2005

Early the next morning everyone was still numb from the wealth of information we received the day before. No one was really speaking to anyone. Bobby, Angel, Jack and I sat on the couch in the living room waiting for Jeremiah to show up; "I called Nicole last night" I said looking at Jack.

"Yeah?" he smiled at me; "Hey, sorry about last night. I didn't really want to talk" After I typed my e-mail to Adam I went upstairs to go to bed. Jack came up right after and went to sleep without saying anything to me.

"It's alright"

"What did she say?"

"One of her friends just got kicked out of her apartment so she's living in my room for now, so…I'm just gonna move out"

Jack smiled; "That worked out nice"

"Excited?"

"I'm excited" he replied; "I just want to see Jerry"

"Yeah. Me too"

A few minutes later Jeremiah walked in the house through the backdoor. He walked through the kitchen and dinning room then stood in the living room looking at Angel, Jack and I; "What?" he asked confused.

"You know what you did" Angel said, taking two stacks of bills out of the manila envelope he was holding.

"No! You don't know who you fucking with!" Jeremiah yelled. Angel, Jack, and I stared at him; "Where's Bobby?"

Bobby stood up from the recliner and punched Jeremiah across the face; "What are you hiding, Jerry? What? What are you hiding?" Bobby asked, shoving him to the floor.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"If you had something to do with what happened to ma, I swear to God, Jerry, I'm gonna kill you right here and now!"

"No, Bobby, no!" Sofi yelled coming into the living room.

"Angel's gonna ask some questions, and brother, I shit you not, the time for lying is over" Bobby said as Angel stood next to him, looking down at Jeremiah.

"We know you're lying about your business, and we know you got mixed up with some gangsters" Angel started.

"Hold on" Jeremiah protested and tried to get up.

"Stay down!" Bobby kicked Jeremiah back onto the floor.

"Y'all think I had something to do with Mom getting killed?"

"You got a check for four hundred grand that you just so happened to forget to mention from mom's life insurance" Angel yelled.

"She took out the policy for the girls man, I ain't have nothing to do with that. Come on man" Jeremiah pleaded.

"You made the payments!" Jack yelled, still sitting next to me on the couch.

"Good timing, Jerry. Just when it seems like all is lost for you, she gets shot by some gangsters and now you hit the fucking lottery!" I said; "Can't believe you"

"So y'all…y'all tripping because I made insurance payments? What? I paid all her bills!" Jeremiah yelled angrily and got up off the floor. Jeremiah shoved Bobby, then punched Angel, sending him into a shelf; "Where the fuck were y'all? Huh? How many years did I have to take care of her my goddamn self? Y'all were around doing nothing! Bullshitting! And you gonna tell me I killed her? Come on, man!"

"So why would you pay off a killer like Sweet and what the fuck did he do for you, Jerry?" Angel yelled, getting in his face.

"What did he do for me? He killed my fucking life! I put everything in that project! I bet it all trying to make something of myself! Trying to make the shit work! Then Vic's goons gonna come try to take a piece"

"You paid him, Jerry. You got in bed with him didn't you?" I asked and got off the couch and stood next to Angel.

"No, no, no I didn't pay them! That's how they fucking shut me down!"

"Wait, I thought the city cut you off Jerry?" Jack asked confused.

"Douglas? Come on, man. This is Detroit! Sweet owns Douglas!" Jeremiah explained when there was a knock at the door. Jack got off the couch and went to answer it; "He ain't nothing but a gangster in a suit! I don't pay him, and now he shuts my loans off! End of story, end of project"

"So, what about the twenty grand?" I asked staring at him.

"I just told you. You wanna cross the bridge, you gotta pay the toll. I took the money from mom's insurance I was gonna pay the bribe until y'all fucked it up" Jeremiah explained.

Jack pulled the door open and saw a kid in a hooded sweatshirt and camouflage pants walking off the porch; "Your mother was a whore!" he yelled, middle finger in the air.

"Hey, fuck you. I will kick-" Jack yelled, when a snowball hit him in the face.

Jack shoved the snow off his face; "Arg!" He ran down the steps and onto the sidewalk, picking up a handful of snow on the way; "Piece of shit! Get back here!" he yelled, chasing the kid out into the middle of the street.

"Jack" Bobby said, noticing he wasn't in the living room with us anymore. He looked over at the open front door; "Jack!"

The kid who threw the snowball at Jack turned around suddenly, he was wearing a Jason hockey mask and pointed a gun at Jack. Jack froze, with his arms up with a terrified look on his face. The kid pulled the trigger and hit Jack in the chest, right below his right shoulder. Jack fell to his knees, moaning in pain.

Bobby grabbed his shotgun and ran to the front door with Angel, Jeremiah and I right behind him; "Jack!" he yelled when he saw his brother shot and stranded in the middle of the street.

"No!" I yelled and pushed past Angel; "Jack!" I wanted to be with him.

"Lexi! Get back here!" Angel yelled and pushed me back into the house, then ran outside with Bobby onto the sidewalk.

"Angel!" Sofi yelled; "Where are you going?"

A blue van pulled up outside the house and the kid wearing the Jason mask raised his gun to Jack's head about to shoot again; "Bobby! Do something!" I yelled, standing on the porch helpless. Bobby raised his gun and sent a bullet through the kid's chest.

Angel ran over to Jack and put his arm around him, trying to help him back to the house; "Jack! Talk to me!" he yelled in panic; "Jack!"

"Help me…" he moaned.

Two guys wearing bandanas over their faces and heavy winter coats jumped out of the van carrying machine guns. They both shot at Angel hitting him in the legs, they both fell onto the snow screaming in pain.

"No! Angel! Damn it!" I screamed; "Angel!"

"You made him go out there!" Sofi yelled, punching me in the arm.

"Jack! Angel! Shit!" Bobby yelled, shooting one of the gunman, before retreating back onto the porch; "Get down! Get the fuck down!" Jeremiah, Sofi and I hit the ground in the living room as bullets from four gunmen flew over our heads, breaking dishes, shattering picture frames, and sending glass shards everywhere.

"Bobby!" Jack screamed towards the house. He was laying on his stomach, gripping onto the telephone pole; "Lexi!"

"Jack. It's alright" Angel stammered. He turned over on his back and was staring blankly at the sky, listening to the terrifying sounds going on around him; "Your going to be okay" he said calmly, he didn't want to scare Jack; "It's alright"

"Jack!" Bobby screamed; "Angel!"

"Bobby!" Jack screamed again, the pain his voice was unbearable.

Bobby fired another shot out a hole in the porch; "Sofi, give me the guns!" I yelled. Sofi shook her head and slid two guns across the floor, one was Bobby's, the other was mine. I stood up in front of the couch and fired both guns out the already broken living room window, hitting one of the guys. Another gunman walked up onto the porch, but Bobby shot him in the knee before he got any further.

"Bobby!" Jack yelled, still stranded outside.

"Hold on!" Bobby and I were still firing at the gunman from the porch, and living room. Jeremiah sat crouched in a corner, covering himself from debris when a picture of him and his wife fell off the wall. He stared at it, thinking of his family.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" The leader of the gang ordered.

"Angel" Jack tried to talk again, laying on his back; "Angel"

"Help's coming. It's going to be alright" Angel repeated; "It's okay"

The leader of the gang signaled another gunman to go in towards the backdoor; "He's behind the bricks! Jackhammer!" he yelled, and they continued firing at the porch.

Inside, Jeremiah broke his trance and ran through the dining room, into the kitchen; "Jeremiah, where are you going?" Sofi pleaded, as she watched Jeremiah head for the back door.

The gunman shot through the doorknob and deadbolt, then kicked the back door in. He walked into the kitchen, ready to shoot when Jeremiah came out from the laundry room with a knife and stabbed him three times; "I got kids! A wife! A family!" he said and the gunman fell to the ground. Jeremiah dropped the knife and ran out the backdoor, across the snow and into his car.

I ran upstairs, still dodging bullets and shot out Jack's bedroom window trying to advert attention from Bobby, Jack, and Angel. I went into Evelyn's room and crouched down by the window, just before one of the gunman shot it out. I crawled on the ground over to the other window in Evelyn's room and shot it out. Both guns clicked, and I checked the empty magazine; "Fuck! Fuck! No!"

Bobby's shotgun was out of bullets too; "Oh, shit" He looked through a hole in the bricks on the porch and saw a gunman walking toward the house, and reload. He looked around and grabbed a brick, then threw it at the gunman in the face before running down the stairs towards him; "Motherfucker!" Bobby yelled and attacked the guy, punching him in the face repeatedly.

I sat upstairs trying to figure out what to do next. It was eerie how quickly the gunshots ceased, and I couldn't hear anymore glass breaking. The only thing I could hear was Sofi screaming and crying out for Angel. If it wasn't for all the adrenaline and anger running through my body at that moment I would be screaming just like her, since Jack was stranded out there with him.

I looked out the window and saw another gunman laying on the ground, shot, but holding a gun up towards Bobby; "Shit!" I yelled and crawled through the window out onto the roof, then jumped down to the ground.

I kicked the gun out of the shooters hand, and saw the assailants van driving towards Bobby; "Bobby! The van!" I yelled throwing myself into him sending us both into a snow bank, Jeremiah's car came out of nowhere and slammed the van.

Bobby ran straight to Jack, and I kneeled down in-between both Jack and Angel; "Angel! Angel! You okay?" I yelled; "Jack! Baby!"

"My…legs" Angel grunted; "Jack…is he okay?"

"He'll be fine" I said, taking Angel's hand; "Your both going to be fine"

"Jack! Jack! Look at me!" Bobby said, taking his face in his hands; "Jack you alright? Hold on. We need an ambulance!"

"Somebody help!" I yelled across the street.

"Is he going to be okay?" Angel repeated; "He has to be okay"

"Your going to be fine" I repeated, tears running down my face.

"Call 911" Bobby yelled. Sofi came out of the house and ran over to us, she kneeled down on the other side of Angel and handed me her cell phone. Jeremiah climbed out of his car and kneeled down next to us also.

"I'm calling" I said, dialing Sofi's phone, and turned towards Jack.

"Jack! Jack! Please" Bobby pleaded crying.

"Lexi?" Jack moaned; "Bobby?"

"Lexi is right here" Bobby yelled; "Nobody's going anywhere"

"I'm right here baby" I said, still on the phone with 911.

"Stay with us Jack" Angel said, turning to his brother; "Please…"

"You have to make it through this" Jack heard someone say to him. It wasn't Bobby. Or Angel. It wasn't Jeremiah, or me, or even Sofi; "You have a future with her. Be with her. Love her. Treasure her. Always"

Jack was fading in and out; "Jack! Jack! No! Come on Jack! I love you!" I yelled; "Bobby!" I yelled, hanging onto him, across Jack's body.

"Is he okay?" Angel screamed; "What's going on?"

"He's alright" Sofi said, turning Angel's face so he couldn't see Jack.

"Bobby…" Jack whispered.

"Come on Jack you gotta breath! Don't you die on me you little fairy! Come on Jack you gotta fucking breath!"

"Lexi…" Jack moaned, trying harder and harder to breath.

Sirens from the cops and ambulances could be heard in the distance a few minutes later; "Stay with him" Booby said turning to me, tears streaming down his face. He picked up a gun that was laying on the ground and cocked it, then walked over to the driver of the van and pressed it to his head; "Who sent you? Victor Sweet?"

"Yeah. Yeah it was Sweet" Bobby let the gun down; "Thank God"

"Thank God?" Bobby asked in disbelief and shoved the gun back against the guy's head; "He killed my mother. You better hope he didn't kill my little brothers you motherfucker! Thank Victor Sweet" he yelled and shot him in the head.

The paramedics arrived a few minutes later and loaded Jack and Angel into separate ambulances. I begged to go with Jack in his ambulance but they wouldn't let me since I wasn't family. Once the police arrived at the scene everyone was ordered to stay at the house to talk to a detective, or we could be charged with fleeing the scene of a crime.

Green showed up; "Hey, let me talk to them, okay?" he told another detective, then walked up to us sitting on the porch steps; "Look, I'm real sorry, man. I really am. But what happened here?"

"Victor Sweet did this" Bobby answered.

"How do you figure that?"

"Because his friend in the bag over there told me"

"Okay, I'll make sure I get a statement from him then"

"Why did Sweet do us like this, man?" Jeremiah asked.

"Why did it have to be Evelyn?" I asked, holding Sofi's hand, consoling her.

"Because Evelyn was going after him. She knew her son, man. She never thought for a second that you were corrupt" Green explained, looking at Jeremiah.

"But I never told her about my business"

"Jerry, were you ever able to keep a secret from her? She knew all about your trouble, man. The moment they shut you down, she went down there raising hell with the councilman" Green contineud.

"You gonna bury Sweet, or are we?" Bobby asked, looking up at him.

"Well, I got me a dirty uniform I gotta deal with first"

"What?" I asked, shocked; "What are you talking about?"

"You see, Evelyn filed a report that got passed on to Victor Sweet"

"By who?" I asked glaring at him; "Who?"

"Look, l just got something I -"

"Don't bullshit us, Green. Who are you protecting? Your boy Fowler?" Bobby asked, his suspicion coming to light.

"Look, Fowler's my problem! I'll deal with him, and then we get Sweet"

"Green!" Jeremiah yelled; "So how we gonna deal with all this?"

"Self-defense. Wasn't it?" he asked; "I'd get over to the hospital if I was you"

"Yeah" Bobby said as we all got out of the porch; "We're going"

"I got a call on the way over here from the hospital"

"And?" Bobby asked, angry; "You didn't tell us? I swear to go Green…"

"Angel's fine" Green said glaring at Bobby.

"Jack?" I asked, standing next to Bobby.

"Awake. Prepping for surgery, but…"

"But what?" Jeremiah asked.

"They don't know if he's going to make it"

"Come on" I said, and we headed for my car that was parked down the street. We walking past black body bags, Jeremiah's smashed car, and Jack and Angel's blood splattered on the snow; "I can't drive. Bobby take my keys" I said and tossed them to him over the hood of my car.