Concrete Jungle

by Onkwehonwe Kashatstenhshera

A cartel hitman, an ex soldier, a wayward gunmen with no cause, an ex KGB agent, & a familiar family oriented coke addicted thug find their way to sunny LS finding themselves around similar scum. Immoral car salesmen, low life bangers, king pins, & hackers. When an eventual rift in the friendship divides their destinies, alliances shift & none of them will ever be the same again.

88. Blood On The Palm Tree

Packie

He exited the cab. He spotted a hotdog stand. The silenced shots whizzed just past his right ear. Two hitters were coming at felt a gunshot wound hit him in the back. The next two hit him in the right shoulder and the right elbow. A fourth hit him in the left hip. He fell over as seemingly every part of him was in pain. The sound of more gunshots filled the air but these weren't silenced. The two shooters went down as two more gunmen made their way up behind them and unloaded into their backs.

Liam and Donovan were at his side. "Packie! Come on, broham get up!" Donovan cried as they grabbed an arm and he held onto them. "Fuck...fuck ..happened...?"

"Guineas, Packie! One of those assholes was an Ancelotti and the other was from the Pavanos!"

Donovan took a round in the right hip and he returned fire. There were two more Italians emerging. The Gambetti and Lupasella goons tried to finish Packie but Liam got the wounded McReary to cover behind a Feltzer. "We got you now ya fuckin mick! You get to join Derrick in hell!"

The first Italian took a shot in the stomach from a blindly fired round from Liam.

Packie was given a handgun and he was letting off shell after shell and he saw three out of nine hit one of the Italians. "Aint that nice...four outta five goombahs are here for a piece of me..." What he meant to say was that the five families had sent hitmen from four out of five but the bloodloss stunted his words. Packie was dragged into a van by Liam and Donovan.

"What in the fuck happened..." Packie growled.

"The fuckin Ancelottis hit you!" Barked Donovan. "Payback for what you did!"

"Doesn't help the charges got dropped either!" Liam added as they sped away.

"I'm fuckin screwed...they made a play at me...Gordon...where the fuck is Gordon?'

"The Albanians tried to get him as a favor to the Ancelottis. Got a price on his head. They seem to know who all is left of the McReary's. Gordon chopped two of em down with a shotgun. He took a few slugs but he's alive."

They sped down the street in the van. "Jesus!" Cried Donovan as they drove through Pugatory with the wounded gang leader. "Gery's with the Brand now right? Hate to say it but we might need some of them against the guidos."

"We don't want to get deeper in with them it's enough that there aijnt that many of us less than any street gang but iof trhe feds atch us it's federal time. That means we do time with the Vanguard. The Mcreary Family and crew aint that strong in prison. We used to be but that was back then. The feds could finish us off before the mob ever gets a chance. We might have to deal with them if we hit prison especially federal ones but on the streets they aint doing anything."

"They still gotta earn money inside so they got hustles which means theey got outside men./ We need all the extra hands we can get. Liberty City is gonna be a fuckin war zone."

"Yeah...we might e stronger.. this point on thee streets...but they're stroger inside. Nothing we can do about that..."

"Yeah but still...Stanford was an asshole. I'm glad he got killed when you two went against those Jamaicans..." Liam pointed out. "Real Irish don't bow to Nazi fags like that. You ever think about what it was like for your family in Liberty's heyday? Before you were born?"

"My old man was a piece of shit who should have been swallowed...I don't like to think about the old days anymore. They're gone. Even the last major job I did...Union Depository...supposed to retire off that and I fucked it up. I';m still in the streets and I just got outta prison...how many times can a guy start over?"

"That was you...?!" Donovan cried. "I don't know if I would have admitted to that!"

"Who the fuck are either of you gonna tell...? I just saw you drop two wops...you'll be sharing a cell with me..."

"Fuck you, Packie! Questioning my loyalty?We always been there for your family even if we were locked up in '08. We're just more at home in Purgatory than Dukes. We aint the ones that

packie turned to Thee King. "Yeah. You owe me. I killed a member of the fuckin royal family while I was on trial for my life for you...so you can patch me up. I admit it...when Derrick was alive I didn't give a fuk about the cause./ But now I'm all in."

"I do admire your enthusiasm even if it is late in the game. I suppose I have two questions boyyo. Were you aware your brother was a rat? And why didn'tr you care about the cause before?"

"Derrick was a grass. That's why Gerry is staying in prison. He sees it as penance.I knew it too. But he's my fuckin family. If I was gonna shoot me own brother over him being a rat I'd have had to do the same to Francis for being a pig."

"Except your brother got arrested. He was high on smack in a park across the street from a police statin. Is it any wonder your brother got pnched? And then the word on the streets is Derrick was meetoing Francis when he was killed.'

"Francis had him killed. That's not the fuckin point."

"Well them maybe this rage you have your own brother should be forgiveness instead. It wasn't Francis whho arrested your brother. He wanted to make commisioner and that wasn't going to happen as long as he had Derrick, Gerry and you for a brother ut even if it was any chance of that went out the drain when Gerry got arrested."

"Yeah that was true for a minute but then he was tough on crime saying Gerry was no exception family or not. He even said despite them giving him fifty years he said they should have made it life without the possibility of parole. He was on the TV saying this. Ma saw it. Broke her fuckin heart...he trie to act like he still cared about her but if he did he would have left it at being tough on crinials even in the family. He didn't have to say all that extra shit about throwing away the key. We already know where we stand with that cocksucking motherfucker. It's that Ma had to see one of her sons pour salt on thee wounds. Gerry's never getting out. And he probably knew that either way. So it wasn't nessecary."

"If you want to make penance for the sins of your brother you very well can. And I understand that you may have a newfoundd perpective on your brother. Truth be told...I loved Derrick. I recruited him personally. He may not hae told you this but I'm tellng you now. But he betrayed Aiden and Bucky and the penalty for treason is death./ It doesn't matter if that's not how I felt about it."

"I'm still gonna put a bullet in that cocksucker. My family is so fucked up. I'd almost say it's good almost none of s had kids but then I remember Gerry has them. Thank God they're daughters they can actually be something other than a criminal. If they'd been born a man it woul;d have been over. Maybe the McReary Family just needs to go extinct."

"Don't say that, lad you are the last brother that is alive and free that is truly of the Mcreary clan. But Francis McReary could be a problem now that he is commisioner despite not getting it before. In so far as that he is cooperating with Uncle Sam and any British authorities regarding apprehending any IRA housed by the likes of a, a family like yours. The cause has never had a shortage of willing volunteers in Liberty City and Waston."

"What are you saying, exactly? Do you want me to forgive my brother or kill him? I don't owe you anything. This patch work you did was arned when I blew up a Princess. Ifthey ever find out tI did that forget throwing away my brothers key. They'll sent me to Guantanamo Bay. So no I don't give a fuck about the cause. Especially coming to terms with the fact that my brother is a rat. I suspected it all this time but I never had proof. But I need soldiersd for a war with the guineas and if anybody wants more help from the McReary Family, that's the price of my hospitality."

"I understand you need a wide birth between yourself and the Sicilians but you are now a soldier of the cause too. Whether you want to be or not. It was your bomb that killed her. I don't know much about British prisons for domestic terrorists. And I don't even know which country has the righhts to fry your arse even if the UK doesn';t have the death penalty, I'd still imagine any prison in England is going to be hell for anybody that killed somebody in the Royal Family. This is an international incident. And it';s one thing if just another paddy killed another fuckin limey but you're a Yank by birth. Even if you are the most Irish Yank I've known besids your brother, this has implications too. Itd be hard to not have some strain on relations between the states and the UK."

Gordon chuckled, "They'd probably just saw him and half and keep his ass in the buroughs while they send his head back overseas so the fuckin limys can make that glky fuckin mug the flavor in an ugly Irish stew."

"Fuck you, Gordo! If I wanted to hear from a fag I'd drive up to Westminster."

"Then again that's still probably tastier than anything they got over there."

This earned a laugh from The King. "I've been fighting imperialists me whole life and I won't give ip the cause now. Maybe this can bee mutually beneficial. I'd rather work with the lot of you than with the Aryam Vanguard.'

"I hate to say it buit we need them too. They're the ones watching Gerry's back inside and there' a lot of prisoners from the neighborhood that stick together in there cause we aint the heavies inside."

Packie grimaced. "FUCK!" As the second round was dug out of him.

"You need our help. But you're in bed with facists..."

"They're not fascist. They're just criminals from prison. You may not have thought about it, boyo but American Irish gotta survive on the inside. I never said it was pretty. Sometimes in prison people gotta have a swastika tattoo alongside a Clover."

"Ireland never sided with the Limeys or the Germans in the war. True Irish are neutral to wars that don't fuckin concern them. And identifying with a feckin skin color? That's some yank shite. There's people like you who come home. They try to be Irish but they're too American. We don't get shit faced on St Patty's day. We eat Shepards Pie at the pub and have a quiet drink. Patrick wasn't an Irishman. He was English."

"I'm one of the few IRA that aint Catholic. Not anymore. The ways of the Druids were the ways to follow. We need to start thinking beyond Catholicism and Protestants. See over in Europe we don't have the same problem with Italians that you lot over here do but just the same it makes no sense to oppose Italians but you practice Roman Catholicism. Me Da was a Catholic and a Unionist and he was killed for it. For land and country I understand but for a couple of shite churhes?"

"Lost the faith eh boyo?"

"That's another thing. You only call younger men boyo not older."

"Jesus Christ can't you give me a break? I'm fuckin shot."

"Aye. You are. But your attitude as a Yank is part of what got you here. I aint like the other mates in the cause who thinks that a Yank born Irish can never be true Irish. I'm not saying that. But it isn't as easy as they think. You want to be true Irish I will teach you to be. But I don't know about the rest of your crew. Men like Gordon Seargeant. It aint like anybody in his family ever fought for the cause like yours did."

He then leaned in and added, "You can't look past the betrayal and guilt you feel knowing Derrick was a grass but he was a deepkly troubled soul. Even though he ratted out the cause and aye we wanted him dead for it...it hurt us. Derrick was the truest thing there was to an American paddy. He represented the hope of the Irishmen coming home. When he turned out to be just another rat it did a great blow to our PR and the need for or at least the desire for Irish American help waned. But in the end...I'm glad he went out by the hands of somebody outside the family.'

"He was killed on me brothers say so. It wasn't outside the family. Some Slavic fuck I used to trust. I wouldn't have minded if ole Niko had killed him on my say so or Gerry's but Francis? He was the last person in the world who has a right to throw stones from a glass house. I mean fuck even though Frankie wouldn't want to be associated with Gerry or Derrick or me, he spends his career trying to get people to rat because he's a rat and misery loves company."

Paul

He had been summoned. "We got a rat. Two of our boys got picked up for possession by tribal police. And Chogan was arrested this time for the same thing in need our guys out there on the streets."

"Chogan? Shit..." Paul replied. Sheppard got a text and got an angry expression. "jesus fuckin Christ! They arrested Ace too. Fuckin idiot was apparently walking down the street and the cops frisked him and found a gun and drugs on him. He probably won't get bail cause of his priors. He has his bail hearing today."

"Fucking what? That's an illegal search. You know back in Liberty City, they have the stop and frisk laws. I never thought the RCMP was good but I want to say they're not as bad as the Liberty City Police Department."

"Think again. RCMP is letting those white trash pieces of shit rape and kill our sisters. A lot of the fuckers are in on it. I let you train my Warriors the way of the Mohawk because I know it works. You're the only tribe left to not be afraid to shoot white people. Soldiers and cops too if you have to..."

"You're a Warrior, Shep. You're angry but you gave up your addictions before anybody else in your family did."

"Yeah but I'm just one man. And me and Cho and Joe and Dawn and Anahu and Nadia are just fuckin individual Crees. No full on Cree band is standing up tp the governmment/ I know you Mohawks like to say that wre're all capable of it but our warrior societies are mostly secret. And I'm tired of it. i don't want to be a gangster anymore either K:or. I will hand the fucking keys to YOU. If you can get our community turned around. Me and my dad...we can't seem to move past our own addiction. I stopped and he stopped now that he';s inside but Chogan and Joe haven't slowed down."

"Chogan has. Little Joe has too brother. They're slowing down at least."

"Who the fuck are you kidding? Even if you get my whole family clean we're all caught up in this drug shit. Look at Aila and Dawn..."

"DON'T say her fuckin name..." Growled Paul with a sudden rage. He was able to look past the initial way he was seen as a buster for leaving Canada, then coming back and forth and not staying around he could handle being ripped on for being a half breed but bringing her up was too painful. Paul got into Sheppard's face. "I love you like a brother. And I always looked at you as an older brother coming up as long as I knew you. I always wanted your approval. Shit I wanted every full bloodfs approval..."

Shep was confused and alert but he asked, "What does this have to..."

Paul grabbed his shirt as though he were on the verge of tears. He slammed Sheppard against the wall. "If you ever bring her name up to me again I'll gut you like a pig and sacrifice you to Airiskoi just like Lucifer. We don't need to say the name of the dead..."

Sheppard stared at him in disbelief. When Paul was younger up till 2013 he was a talented scrapper and brawler but Sheppard would have leveled him out. Now Paul had more training and just a few years in prison but both had taught him more about hand to hand fighting than most would ever know. Sheppard growled, "Take your fuckin hands off me. I don't care what you're capable of. You're still in my house."

Paul calmed down and Sheppard stated, "Okay the only reason I'm not gonna have you skinned alive is because I know what you're going through. The mother of my children the Dead Beats fed her heroin. She was just outta rehab when I met her but she had that vein burn. I killed the fuckers that sold her the shit but she ended up dying anyway. So I know what you're going through. I had kids when you were away you know? Back in 2009. That's not healthy anyway. Didn't you say the dead visit you in dreams and that your people see it as the afterlife? A visit from there? Not talking about it will fuck your soul up and make it leave you."

"He's not on trial for murder. But still we're at war and we need our Warriors right here..." Sheppard stated.

Sheppard looked down. "I'm tired of this shit too. I'm tired of buryin soldiers. And that'sd what we are ya know? We were never as fucked up as Indian Clique we weren;t rapists. But we aint warriors either. So I never had Warriors. Only soldiers. I thought I was Mr. Super Indian when I hit the pen but all I've ever been is a fuckin loser. Just like my father. Just like your father."

"I get it, man. Ray was my friend too. I didn't want that to happen to him. I was there, remember? You tried to warn him and he didn't listen."

"Yeah but that';s the problem, K:or. I'm not a role model. I never was. I never wanted the R Dubs to be my legacy but that's all I inherited from Jean. And now he's pretending to be this traditional fucker. That fag was never know the only reason I don't kill him is Joe and Chogan will never understand it. When Jean was beating the fuck outta me, outta my mom, he wasn't any kinda Warrior. Those two didn't have the motherfucker in the house. I did. By the time they were old enough to know what's what he was in prison."

Sheppard turned looking out the window. Tears blurred his vision and he dared not face Paul. Paul could tell he was crying but he couldn't excuse himself. He knew any vocal excuse would be choked by his silent tears and he wouldn't be able to turn and leave without Paul seeing. He would stand there looking out the window for an eternity watching Paul's reflection behind him just to not be seen crying.

On the one hand, he wanted to tell him there was nothoing wrong gwith that and that it was okay for men to cry even infront of each other/. Because while women said they could cry around them th truth was any man that got in the habit of this ran the risk of being an emo bitch or being seen as such by women. With another dude at least, a trusted one, there was the element of both knowing that the bravado was ultimatley a lot of showing out.

Still, it was just as likely e preferred to do it alone the way Paul did. Paul turned away as if he was already planning to head out and didn't notice Sheppard's behavior. He wouldn't say anything that forced him to talk or look at him. He would let his OG save face. He owed him that much.

"I'll go bail them out. I'll send them to motels. They should avoid contact with the law for a while. Best if neither RCMP or the Apple Barrel know where they are. I'll have them hit you on your pre paid in a few hours. I'll find out where those Lightning Bay corner boys are. I'll find the rest of them."

Shep could do nothing but nod. He walked out.

"I'm sorry, Ray..." Shep said as he found himself alone. When Paul was miles away and Shep was sure he was alone, he threw a water glass at the wall and growled in tears of rage, "YOU WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IF YOU LISTENED! STUPID FUCK!"

He arrived to take care of the bail. Ace turned to Paull, "Hey homie...is Chogan all right?"

Paul turned and said, "They're holding him without bail. I dont know what to do right now. Theres a target on my back too."

"From who, man?" Asked Ace.

"That was Merryweather that took those shots at me and Dawn..."

"What..I thought that was the Agency...man...Im way too mixed up in this shit,..."

Paul grabbed him by the throat. "Yeah Im getting tired of you fuckin up on me. Chogan wasnt out there gettin high in public. Him and Joe act like fools when they're high but they do it at home."

"Man, what would you know? You aint real. Always been too square to do a line with me, man! Either be a gangster or a be a square thats all Im saying man. You should have to do heroin when you really think about it."

Paul glowered at the gang member. To him he embodied everything that a gangster was more than an actual Warrior. "What kind of shit have you been snorting Ace?"

"We put this shit on the street right?"

"You know what our mission is. Theyre a means to an end. They werent meant to be taken."

"Look motherfucker I got problems of my own./ I know you want me off the shit but I got war wounds. I got spiritual wounds and that shit is medicine. Helps me get through the day."

"Why? What happened to you, Ace?"

"I aint looking to talk about it."

"You're as Warrior. You dont get the luxury of secrets from me. Im second in command."

"I was molested when I wa a kid by a friend of the family,okay? Now my family they stopped talking to him and they pressed charges but I hated them. I was the baby of the bunch. I got an older brother and a sister. I ran away. They didn't protect me so I ran away. They aint want it to happen to me but it did and it wouldnt have if they hadn't had us at that fuckin church. You know people in my family went to boarding school. How about you?"

"No. My family was pretty uran and assimilated. Sending them to a boarding school would have been a waste. My family has been colonized since at least the 1800s. It;s taken a long time in my family for anybody to have any real pride. Mostly we just hate who we are."

"Wel;l my family did, homie. My grandpa went to boaring school. To this day he doesnt like when we speak Innuk in the house. He can speak it but man...the shit hes been through its like his brain is still back there..."

He was quiet a moment and then said, "I ran away when I was fifteen. Joined the Warriors when they expanded to Pierre Noir and the surrounding areas. Teranto, Mount Royal, seeing homies popping up in cities this far east of Winnipek was a trip. I got revenge on the motherfucker that fdid that to me though. I rolled up on him with a .45 Magnum and put it to his heart and emptied it into him."

Paul looked at Ace and simply listened. "I want to be a better warrior, dog. It aint easy doing what you want overnight. I been through worse shit than you motherfucker and I want to forget."

Paul would have otherwise argued with him on that point since he;d had to kill his dad, lost his girlfriend to the Angels of Death,and seemingly lost his mother to Tanaka but he had never been molested. No, asshole you have been. Maria, remember? Part of manhood is coming to terms with what happened. But I enjoyed it even if it was pedophilia on her part. I never got raped by a dude let alone a grown man so hes right. He does have it worse than me.

Paul just nodded and said nothing. "I been doing those exercises that you wanted me to do..."

"Working out and doing military drills wont be enough if you can't kick. Im gonna have to insist you go to rehab, amigo. You got it bad. You need to detox. Im not so cold bloodred Id take you out for being a fiend the way the mafia did their soldiers. But I do insist on rehab cause we cant have a junkie watching all our stashes and if some IC punks come rolling up while you're under the influence, what then? Your reflexes will be slowed down by heroin."

"You know that book Scratch by that dude from the Families who was a baby G when Cookie Wilson was running around?"

"I know about the book but I never read it. I would have provably loved to haver read it in 2013 in the first half of the year. Now I cant...well...maybe not can't. Won't."

"He got shot by the Ballas one time and his life was saved by the fact that he was on coke. You can't tell me drugs can't save your life. I looked up the history of heroin. And cocaine. They were both used to cure pain. They just got a little...fucked with..."

"Fuck you'll say anything to justify using. When was the last time you hit?"

"Nine hours ago, man."

"Yeah you're definitley going in there."

"Hey, what the fuck do you want from me, skin?! I go in there I cry like a bitch and what they give me a sobriety token?! This shit's for pussies man only faggots see therapist."

"You got two choices. Be a therapy seeing faggot or be six feet deep with a bullet in your gut. But hey at least you'll still be straight."

"What do you know about druggies first hand K:or? I know your story I know what your pops did and I know what kinda junkies you grew up around but that aint on me. Not one bit, cuz. It's one thing for you to be fucked up by what users did but you don't know how it is first hand getting sick. As many heroin addicts as you seen from Liberty City to here you should know that aint something you can just quit. The withdrawals can kill you."

"So can doing a speed ball, asshole! Human beings were meant to have a clear mind. This is a Haudenosaunee principals but it applies to everybody. We weren't meant to take mind changers."

"You smoke weed though homie I know you do."

"I do but not often. Just when the mental pain gets to be too much but even with that I dont drive when I,m fucked up And Im less likely to shoot somebody when I'm fucked that helps with my mental healing and there's been studies showing how they help people with autism."

"Well that's why I did what I did. Maybe mota aint the same as that. But I do what I had to..." Stated Ace.

He then turned to Paul. "You dont really know ,me, man. My sister...she shacked up with a nigger. I used to not give a fuck. I figured what the fuck better than a white guy right? Except one day...the nigger kills my mom. And my sister helped him do it. It was the first murder this year in Lightning Bay..."

Paul was shocked both at hearing him say that and at the fact that this happened. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"To you? All you see is a drug addict. Which is another way to say all you see is your rakeni'ha..." He said defiantly using the word for father in Kanienkehaka to Paul to make a point. He even used it the correct way. "See your fuckin problem is you don't trust people case you been fucked over. So you don't go out of your way to bully motherfuckers...unless they work for you...but you do want motherfuckers to stay away. I get it. I see you, man. But I told my own sister that if I ever saw her again I was gonna put a bullet in her fuckin heart. I'll probably never get the chance cause they aint letting her out any time soon and by the time they do I'll probably be dead in the street."

"I could help you get revenge for your mom if you wanted..."

"I could. But that would involve seeing her again. I don't want to see her again even to kill her. It's my own way of saying we'll never see each other again. Cause if she does seek me out I will shoot her but I aint gonna go look for the bitch."

"Is that why you started using?"

"That doesn't matter..." Ace replied. He then said, "I hate using that word. But it's what I feel. And you would have realized that we had that in common though that I hate them now cause of that if you'd have treated me like more than a drug addict, bro. See I thought before all that that I was the fuck up. I always was the one making mama cry but because of that she kept less of an eye on sis and as a result shes in the clink."

"I dont even want her dead. Just the monkey that killed her, man..." He said with tears in his eyes. "Prison is too good for that motherfucker. If I see him...it's on./ And they'll probably let him out. You aren't wrong about the shit you complain about with Canada, K:or. It's pretty liberal."

"So then what do you want to happen to your sister? Look you're right. I treated you with disrespect. And you're right about my father. Well...you still have to go to rehab. That's not a debate. But this is how I can make it up to you for being kinda hard on ya. And you can make it up to me by staying your ass put in rehab cause if you're in there getting clean you're not on the streets getting pinched. I want to look after all of you like family but we cant let a liability happen. Cause a drug addict is a liability."

"I dont want her dead...she needs to live with the fact that she did what she did. And she should never get outta prison for it."

"Fuck, an actual life sentence that's really a life sentence and not we-ll-give-you-a-chance-after-25- years? With a woman? Even a Native woman that's unlikely. You sure you don't just want me to kill her?"

"Look it's prison man you can always catch more time."

Paul had an idea. "There's something we can do. How much time did she get?"

"Fourteen years. Accessory. Her boyfriend was Rick Thompson. A drug dealer. Mama didn't want him dealing out of our house. You know dad died back in a boat in Alaska. If hed been around she would have never been seeing a dealer...but it all got fucked up so we live out here. Thompson got twenty one years second degree murder."

"For once...we had a good judge..." Ace continued. "But even then...twenty one years for my mama. All cause him and my junkie sister didn't want to just go live somewhere else if they wanted to sling outta the house..."

"I can't get to him if he's inside. And neither can you. You dont want to go back inside do you? Just to kill him?"

"I want him dead but I like my freedom more..."

"So like I said...I can't get to him but somebody else can."

Paul assured, "I'll have him taken care of. It'll take some strings getting pulled and a few palms greasing but it can be done."

"Hey what about that fool that laid you out? Down in the states?"

"Is that what you heard? That I got laid out? Cause it's a little more complicated than that you..." Paul could feel the sense of that insecure teenager who had just wanted to fit in and be liked. He knew that true manhood was not giving a fuck what others thought. "You can think what you want but there was more than one person against me in that fight..."

"Yo no disrespect meant..."

"None taken but don't interrupt me, fool. Listen I aint gonna do shit to ya...this time. I mean you fuck up anybody fucks up then you gotta have consequences. You think Sheppard wouldn't give me a violation if I fucked up?"

"You're his golden boy, man. He aint about to lay a finger on you. Even if he could what with all that martial arts MMA shit you learned he'd need a gang of his boys just to bring you down and even then he'd have to just kill you at that point cause he'd have to be afraid of what you'd do after."

"On the one hand you're right but I wouldn't try and kill him over a violation. If I could see that I genuinely fucked up I would have volunteered. In fact...I think I may need to schedule the homeboys later to tune me up. It's a chance to see that even I'm not above reproach because trust me I aint."

"I aint seen you catch a beating yet."

"That's because I'm not fucking up as I fucked up bad enough Shep would violate me and he'd have every right to do it. See the truth is maybe there was times when the Spanish Lords wanted to violate me. Or the Aztecas that had my back behind bars that Neto set up to help me. But we should also have that option to where if something is eating at ya and you feel it violated a code even if it was your own code you have a right to a punishment. See pain is good for us. Bad things should hurt. Pain is the ultimate way to see what you're really made of."

He pulled up to a hotel. "We're gonna check you in there. You're not gonna leave that fuckin hotel room until I tell you. Since you got pinched you don't get to come and go as you please until we can be sure you're in the clear."

"Anahu got pinched too man..." He said with concern in his eyes.

"Again? How do you know?"

"Because I was in jail and I heard it. It's legit I trust the motherfucker that got word to me with my life."

"All right. I guess I gotta bail that asshole out. You've bought yourself a week. Under close supervision. Then you go to fuckin rehab. I'll make sure it';s a nice place I put that on MY mama. We look after our own and there's more than enough with the mobile clinics."

"All right...that's all I ask, man. Just let me get my affairs in order. I aint going anywhere."

"You sure this is what you want, Arnold? You gotta remember bro..you can go back to the streets and there's even an injection center now at Pierre Noir."

"That's a Cree rez. I love everybody there but I'm Innuk."

"They prioritize adjacent First Nations communities."

"Adjacent what the fuck does that mean?"

"Nearby."

"Then why not say that?"

"Are you gonna argue with me now?"

"No. No arguments no beef. I just wanted to know."

"Using bigger words is a way to showcase your knowledge and I admit it I like to show mine off. I'm a show off. Maybe I wasn't hugged enough maybe it was rakleni'ha beating my ass and my moms. I was so used to negative attention in school when I actually good positive feedback I didn't know what to think and I didn't trust it. But yeah using bigger words, expands your horizins as you learn new ways to say something and you can learn a word you didn't know. If I can tell you nothing else, being smarter than your enemies is how to beat them. Gangsters are dumb because they do drugs. That shit fucks with the mind."

"But you smoke weed bro that's a mind changer according to your own culture."

"Right. And I admit that I have a problem and I'm probably not going to stop until I have another way to cope. That's what I need rigfht now. You can act like I'm a hypocrite and like me smoking weed is the same as you doing heroin but it isn't. If you weren't so strung out I'd just say you should smoke mota, man but you're already an addictive personality and I know you can get weed any time you want."

Paul then added, "You gotta admit, I must be doing something right. Even my enemies have to admit that. I'm loyal but because I worked with so many crews people act like i'm a hood hopper but they don't know all these crews that turned on me."

"Yeah but I feel like I can't even tell you anything it's like you don't want people disagreeing with you."

"You can. But when you're doing right. Right now you got an addiction. And I know withdrawal alone can kill you but people have survived it. Ray Charles lived till he was seventy four. That's already lucky for a blind bastard. Do you ever look into what the life expectancy is for a blind person without modern safety nets like glasses? They were fucked. They died."

"What's an old blues singer got to do with me?"

"He probably might have lived a lot longer if he hadn't done heroin but I get it everybody copes with pain different. Given how short First Nations life spans are we're probably gonna be dead long before we're 74 but if you're gonna keep shooting that shit, you can go back to the streets or an injection site. if you're gonna stay you have to kick. I need a Warrior to be a Warrior. It's as simple as that."

"Yeah but K:or we're supposed to be gangsters and make money, dude. We aint supposed to be revolutionaries cause we can live as gangsters and make money and MAYBE die violent. Maybe in jail too but some people get rich. I'd say you're in the third category. We can go to war. You have the money to fund a small army and you could do some damage against teh US. Against IAA but for some reason you don't."

"The timing isn't right but I'll always do what i can when i can."

"Yeah but a possible dead or in jail scenario is better than if we're labeled as domestic threats. That takes us from a maye I get smoked or in prison situation to a fuckin gurantee."

"I take the meaning of the word Warrior seriously.I don't take it lightly. We've still got a war with the assholes in the south, plus any Dead Beat retaliation for Lucifer. If we're just gonna deal drugs to our own people forever, we're no better than any other gang."

"You got rid of pimping for all the sets, motherfucker!" Ace growled being more daring. "That's one thing but now you wanna pull the oxy business? That was your idea. Not mine. Not Shep's and you're right we're making a killing. You said it yourself it's better if they get it from us instead of some redneck on a Zombie or some Puatugi motherfuckers that don't care whether Indians croak from you're right about me, K:or. I am a drug addict. And i admit it. But that shit they lace it with could be up my arm next and I don't wanna die. I just wanna get high."

"Im going after the dealers that killed Ray. I'm fuckin done with everybody trying to kill our friends. They killed he was trying to do good. He fucked up by helping a Yardie escape the Dragon Circle but...well he didn't even live long enough to deal with the consequences of that."

"I just don't get it man these motherfuckers could have capped Ray at any time when he was in the streets not rapping but as soon as he starts to do something different and get more Native rappers on the scene he's shot. This is why we can't make it."

"Look, i'm honestly tired of the rap industry, homes. They don't really include our people. Even when we get rappers they're never famous and the mayates will say that it's because brown rappers aint good. They'll say Ese's can't rap all they do is talk about gang shit like there isn't a tomn of Ballas and Families repping their flags on the radio."

"Yeah I hear you but the most popular rapper in any city is gonna be the motherfucker that doesnt bang."

"Not in a city like Carcer City it aint I don't even like their music and I know this much., Just like LS Carcer's history of banging is deep. But check it out. I still don't know where we're gonna land with the Triads either cause they haven't done anything but that doesn't mean they won't."

"I fuckin miss Ray, bro..." Ace said looking out the window with a sniff. He didn't look at the gang member. He had sunlasses on so it wouldn't matter.

"He was naieve...but I miss the fucker too man..." Paul replied.

"What's the deal..with that Creole faggot giving you shit in New Arcadia? Do we need to get the big guns and go after his pot scrubber scalp?"

"Yeah we're gonna hit him hard but I sent some of my Warriors down there to lend a hand and it didn't go as smoothly as I want."

"Well that motherfucker's still reeling from all the shit he's got going on with all those gangs right? I know we aint all ready for the kind of war you been trained in but a week or two teaching us more shit will make us more ready than we'd be if we took him on now."

"Hey you always been this good at this shit, homie..?" Inquired Ace.

"Not even close."

2006

He'd been hanging out with the Lords for a number of weeks. "Yeah, man, we want Puerto Rico to be its own country you feel me? Cuba'a independent. The DR is independent. Why we gotta be taken over by two governments we aint ask for? What we stand for is justice and liberation for all third world people," Stated El Tornillo

"But if it aint its own country then what is it? Just a territory?" Asked Ten Speed

"It's a Latin American outpost that's in poverty. And obviously Spanish is spoken down there," Explained El Tornillo to the Mexican and Mohawk Lord.

"Sounds like Bohan where you put it like that."

This got a laugh out of the other Lords.

"Hey homie i aint seen Maria in a minute. Where she staying in the 'Jects theese days?" Asked Tornillo.

Paul nodded.

El Tornillo grinned. "Maybe I should pay her a visit."

Ten Speed nodded. "It's only a matter of time before it's a state,"He said regarding Puerto Rico.

"Hey, dog where you headed anyway?" They asked as Paul was starting to head towards San Quentin Avenue. "Where you headed?"

"Rotterdam Hill. Out in Broker."

"Who you know in Broker for real cause I got family out there..." Stated Ten Speed.

"You wouldn't know him."

"How you know?" Asked Ten Speed. Not wanting to give him any clues, he replied, "Because I barely know him."

He got on the platform. "Yo, if you're gonna hop between boroughs you better take a pistola..." Ten Speed warned. He handed him a .25 which made him want to check to make sure it was loaded before he got on the platform. "You aint get that from me."

He got on the subway and took it from Bohan to Broker. He got off and got to the bottom of the platform. He spotted a shor skinny woman of Mohawk and Miqmaw ancestry with light almond brown skin and her chestnut hair was in braids. She took a look at him. He and she seemed to be the only brown faces in the area as thehy were smack in the middle of Rotterdam. "Where are you from?" She asked.

"Bohan..." He lied. "You?"

She name dropped the very same reservation he had been born at but had been kicked out of. "My family lives down here though. Steel work. I spend more time up there than down here."

He told he the truth. He knew the Mounties weren't about to find him and expedite him in the city back home but he still didn't want to make things easy for law enforcement. Bt he could sense that she couldn't hurt him. It was really only a half truth. "Yeah my family lived up there too but I been downs here but in Bohan."

"I'm going back home this weekend. Want a ride back?" She smiled at him seemingly making light of his status as a fugitive for murder. His face grew hot.

"Very fuckin funny. Look what you want? This is my great uncle I'm going p to see. I don't need you with me."

"You're not from Bohan and I can tell. Even though you hide it in a Libertonian accent, I can hear a touch of back home. Besides you think I'm not gonna recognize a brother right away?"

"Well, I can't go home to Canada. Not no time soon. Maybe ever."

"I'm gonna be there. If you want me to send a message to anyone I will..'

"Where you headed though? Who you with?" He asked.

She didn't answer the question. He would not find out until later that it was a man who though he had not raped her, he had beaten her.

He walked behind the side of the school. He felt himself hit the ground with a skidding stop and felt the air leave his lungs as he was pounced on by the football player who began to clobber him with blow after blow. He was up against the ropes but with fists for ropes. He hit the floor after being bounced a few kicked the first in the chin and th e next in the testicles. The football player dropped but his friend swung again hitting Paul in the face. Two more cheap shits to the right eye dazed him. He tried pulling out the gun.

The football player had him. "Fuckin bitch! You aint talking shit now are you! Where's those fuckin spics that had your back huh?!" His friend punched him. The man had cornrows and was just as light skinned as Paul but he had blue eyes and blonde hair in cornrows. Hypocrites...blue eyes are whiter than green...and they're fucking with me cause I'm mixed.

He threw a hard right at the mixed blooded football player and threw a left jab at the main guy. His gun clattered to the ground. "hat you gonna do with that shit, pussy boy?!" The teens friend tried grabbing it but Paul, who had a major fear in a fight of somebody taking a weapon from him, kicked it away. He wished he hadn't as now the black teen could grab it and come back but they were packing him out.

Ten Speed hit the bigger footballer with a trash can from behind and Tornillo came from behind too and went for the bigger kid. He threw a hard right to the face and headbutted him in the stomach. The taller athlete punched down on the back of the Puerto Rican's head and hit him again with an elbow down on the skull, a left elbow.

"You fuckin spics can't fight always gotta jump somebody!" Growled the darker skinned football player who was the instigator. The irony was not lost on Paul. "Yeah?" Taunted Turnillo as he finally managed to get the mullato teenager down with a kick to the balls and followed up with a kick to the face. "Then why didn't you steal on him solo?!"

Ten Speed approached with the dropped pistol and pointed it at the football stars left knee cap. "You were told to stay the fuck away from this hermano/. But you didn't./ So now you're going from college football to the special Olympics" He pulled the trigger and the knee exploded in a burst of crimson raining from th air as gravity brought the blood backl to earth.

"Yeah! Fukin punk cocolo piece of shit! Try playing ball now!" Growled Turnillo.

Ten Speed shot him one more time in the left knee. Paul stomped in his other knee and he heard the teen howl as he brought down all his weight on him. Turnillo stood up and Paul saw he had his pocket knife out and it was bloodier than a tampon. The other teenager staggered with five stab wounds in the back as Turnillo had stabbed him. Ten Speed saw him pistol whipped him hitting him in the jaw. He heard a sickening crack as the pistol connected with the jaw.

A few teeth spilled from his bloody mouth. Paul was still trying to process what had just happened. The two teens were alive but in pain.

They ran down the street. They ran through three alleys all the while, and with a gold bandanna, Ten Speed started it down. They spotted a wino passed out next to the entrance of an apartment building. He had a brown bag with an alcohol bottle inside. He set the gun slyly inside the then took the man's hand and put it next to the trigger so that his prints would be on it and not just the gun itself. The man didn't stir. He was snoring and stinking.

They got on the train. Paul had thought that Ten Speed had been stupid shooting them in broad daylight like this but then it was Bohan. Shit like this happened all the time. His heart was pumping as hard as it had been when his father had been shot. When he had shot his father.

'

They soon found themselves walking back through Bohan again like they ran the place. He didn't but they did. They pretty much did run the place and while that status and privilege didn't carry to him he knew he was safer walking with them than without them. The gang boss descended on them. "We got a meeting."

"Hey Pablo we gotta holler at you later, mano..." Began the Puerto Rican youth.

Sobo's glare was dark and menacing. "If he's got heart I say let him come needs to see what true hermanidad looks like in South Bohan. And what the price of violating it is/."

El Turmillo turned to Paul, "Hey you need to bounce homie I know you think he's cool but he's fuckin psycho. I'm in too deep..."

"Turnillo! Quit whispering like a fuckin girl, man!" He pointed to Paul. "Ven aqui!" Paul followed. They walked up the stairs into the high rise apartment. Paul didn't think much of it. To see one housing project in Liberty City was to see another. He heard the sounds of mixes of Bachata, Reggaeton and some mariachi as well as Hip Hop.

A Dominican woman with almond brown hair and brown eyes and coffee brown skin wearing a green sports bra and black sweat pants carried a basket of laundry and a man with her with curly hair, a soul patch and a beige skin tone wearing a Swingers jersey and blue jeans. They were having a discussion in Spanish. Something about muggings happening in the laundry room.

Some man had successfully held off a robber with a revolver after having been robbed in the building only for another man to tr robbin him and the man who had been robbed before shot the robber. A third time the man had gone to do laundry at night he was held up by a kid. He had shot that kid too but the kid also had a gun and this time the kid had gut shot him twice and the man ended up dying in the ER.

Paul shook his head at the conversation. The next floor up had the lights knocked out. The rest were flickering. They spotted a Puerto Rican man in his early 20's with yellowish golden skin and a goatee but no mustache. He was saying goodbye to a neighbor, an African American man who looked hungover and had bloodshot eyes in his mid twenties. "You know it aint no thing, nigga!" The Puerto Rican man stated. "You need a little more to drink to maintain I got you. Name your poison!"

He named some kind of alcohol Paul never heard of. "Hey but for real, B why you scared to come outside and just go to the liqour store yourself, mano?" Asked the gang member.

The neighbor stated, "Got some people...from over on Malcolm X Boulevard want to pop me, son...I got a piece but if I use it...my life is over. I got two strikes, dog. I got me a .38 I aint supposed to have and those niggas said they were finna roll up on me. I know they aint playing."

"What's this shit about, Willie?" Demanded the Spanish Lord. "I aint about to let somebody from X Boulevard to come through here. I'm right across the hall you need something just holler ya heard? For real, B don't hesitate cause I'd rather you asked my help than have those hijo de putas get you."

"Nah don't worry about it, man I just gotta not go outside for a while, bruh. They don't know where I stay they justs know I stay here."

"What you about to do, homie?" Asked the gang member.

"I'm about to get some sleep."

"Just text me when you get up, man. I'll get some food delivered we can smoke a J and you can tell me about it. You need to let me help you on this, hermano. Don't go thinking just cause they don't know where you are they can't find out. If they try you we can back you up this is our hood."

"Some gambling bullshit, dog. If I staty off the street though long enough those niggas wll get in the mix with some other motherfuckers and maybe they'll kill him."

"I feel you man but if you tell me what they look like maybe I can hit em up. Just stay up man I'll hit you up..."

Paul, Sobo, Tornillo, Ten Speed, and even Morena was there. They approached the Lord. "Que pasa, Muneqo?" The gang member, who had been given that name due to being baby faced much like Paul was but was significantly older as this man was in his 20's. He had yellowish skin. "You get the machete, hermano?" Asked Sobo.

The gangster nodded. "Yo who's this?"

"That's Pablo. Over at Roberto Clemente High School. He stood his ground against some cocolos on the football team..." Stated Sobo. "Just moved to the neighborhood."

"Where you from, hermanito?" Asked Muneco. Sobo shook his head. "That's not important, hermano. Do you got the machete?"

"I told you, yeah, bro!"

"Let's go inside, bro. Don't wanna discuss business in the hallway."

"Hey yo but are you sure he's cool?" Asked the gangster.

"You questioning me?"

"Nah,man we straight. I just don't trust new people, man..."

"Well you're gonna have to learn to gegt beyond the primitive stage, bro...we all are..."

"I know I know bro you're past the prinitive stage and you don't be on the streets in colors I get it. But it's hard out here, man..."

"It's hard everywhere in Bohan..." Stated Morena as she lit up a Redwood.

"So where's that brother we gotta kill?"

"Get the machete..." Statetd the gang member. "We need it. This fool we gotta croak has been living in this building and you don't even know it. None of us knew about him..."

"Well shit I should have been known, man! If he's a Lord that fucked up I'll take care of business. You said there was somebody that fucked up in my building. He must be laying low but yo you said you couldn't say over the phone who it was but you here now..."

He took the machete and said, "It's you, baby..." With a swing the blade bit through the flesh of Muneco's right arm. The man gasped and screamed but the song Dime by Ivy Queen played as Ten Speed, with a gold bandanna turned the stereo on so his screams were drowned. Morena grabbed the man's legs and pulled him down. Sobo took the blade and grabbed his other arm and took it off in a swing. The man was speechless now as his skin got paler as blood sprayed from wounds/

The Lord had a look of shock in his eyes before Sobo hit him in the neck ith the machete. He let out a gurgling sound as the blood sprayed everywhere.

Paul gasped staggering back and Sobo kicked the Lord's body back and he smacked against the wall. They got the body to the tub. "Hold his legs up..." He heard the gang leader demand and Ten Speed, Morena and Turnillo all did what was asked. They decapitated him and Sobo held his head up. "He's such a bonito, aint he, Morena?"

Morena smiled with her dark red lipstick making her look more evil somehow. "Si, papi. He's muy bonito..."

He pressed the severed heads lips up to its own refleftion and forced the head to kiss its own lips in the mirror/. He then set the severed head in the sink. Paul turned pale at the sight. he wanted to throw up. He had seen people die and he had killed his own father but it wasn't nasty like this.

"Get this bitch in the tub!" Barked Sobo. "You too."

Paul thought that he might kill him if he didn't. They chopped Bonito's legs and arms and placed him in the tub. "What the fuck did he do?!" Demanded.

"You know if you want to be a Lord you need to learn to do things without question."

"I aint a Lord it aint like you promised anything."

The OG glared at him but after five seconds, broke it and informed him, "You want the truth? He fucked up. He failed to kill somebod he was supposed to. The honor of calling yourself a Lord isn't just wearing gold and black necklaces and tagging up walls. When you're asked to take care of somebody, you do it. No excuses..."

He then added, "You know...in Japan soldiers would commit suicide with a sword when they failed at their duty and were discgacdd. North Korean soldiers have done the same thing. Shot themselves. This puto here?" He held te severed head again, "He fucked up."

He hovered over Paul. "We got a fuckin problem, puto?"

"Nah, man. You know what I did. You looked into it, eh! You know what I've done before."

"So you got one body. Am I supposed to be impressed, pendejo? I brought the Lords to Libert City. I've been killing since you were in your papas cojones. And you expect me to be impressed you killed him?"

"No. I just meant that I shot my dad. He gave me life I took his...since you feel like snitching..." Glared Paul. He knew what he said was a potential thing that could get him killed. Sobo slammed him against the wall and held the machete near his throat. The 14 year old's eyes bulged in terrr as the bloody blade was just centimeters from his skin. "You calling me a snitch, chacho?! I should get your balls out and give you a Colombian necktie with your juevos on your tongue, puto!"

"No, not a snitch lke the cops. But you're dry snitching by airing my business. you never know if any of your homies are gonna flip. I've seen people snitch since I been out here! You gotta figure out who the snitches are. You don't see me speaking on your business, homie why you gottaa put mine out there?"

"You're right. Lo siento, cabron. But this is Bohan. We love and hate harder out here. And this is how we test you. You don't look like you're gonna say anything to the cops. I can see it in your eyes...besides...if you tell on us about this shit? You get deported to where you're from cause I know wwho you really are and you aint no Puerto Rican. Fuck, man where did you think you were gonna say you were from when you aint from LC or San Juan? Vice City? Everybody's either one of those places."

"I hear you. I didn't see shit cause I wasn't here. In fact if I gotta go down for any of the shit today...it can be the shit that we kicked off with those punks from my school...I'll take the heat for shooting that bitch in the knee and the stabbing. I aint going down for this. It had nothing to do with you guys."

"What the fuck happened at school?" Demanded the stony faced Carribean gangster.

El Turnillo told him in Spanish what happened. "Why would you want to take the heat for something you didn't do?" Demanded Sobo as the music was turned down.

"This shit is pre meditated.I watch crime scene shows, man my mom used to all the time. At best I'm an accessory and I do time and I don't get in any trouble inside either. Except you forced me along on this shit. My dad was a con, 'chacho' so I'm not a rookie at teh law. But I'll also take the rap for the shit at school cause i aint no punk."

"You wouldn't last five minutes, niño. You'd be dead within minutes or somebody's bitch..."

The light skinned Native American blinked. "You're not tough just cause you're too fat for anybody to have tried to rape you."

The gangster growled at him. "You're a gordo too you little disrespectful motherfucker..." He had lowered the blade but he was still hostile. "But you got balls. Talking shit to a man with a machete."

"Well I want to make sure you aint no snitch..." He handed him a jerry can and directed him to the tub. He told him, "You can pour the gasolina or you can get in there with him and I'll pour it on both of you."

Paul made the only choice that made sense. He did as he was told. They lit the body on fire and the body burned. They had taken the smoke detector out as well. The smell made him want to throw up. He went into another room and Ten Speed used the shower head and turned the water on and the man's fire was put out after they also smothered him with blankets.

This is so fuckin stupid! We're gonna get caught!

He didn't remember how he ended up outside again but he was glad to not be breathing in smoke and smelling burnt flesh. The smell was like nothing else and even though he had left the apartment, his nostrils had that smell burned in forever. He could feel it emeded in the very hair cells in the inside of his nose. The man had turned to ashes partly.

"You proved you a man today..." Was the last thing he heard Sobo say to him. "But that means responsibility to go with those cojones. We'll see if you got what it takes to be a Lord."

Mai

She and Gina sat talking in her fathers safehouse near Pacific bluffs. Mai wa fascinated by Ginas multi ethnic heritage especially since Japanese Korean Chinese and Vietnamese hated each other historically. She looked more Chinese and Japanese but she could speak Vietnamese and Korean more fluently.

She was curious about Maius mothers heritage and Hmong people. While it was true that Gina had grown up around Hmongs all her life in thee neighborhood she was raised in none of those teens she had come up with growing up had known that much about their own heritage. They wer the kids whose parents spoke little or broken English and they had to often translate for their parents but to be proper American they spoke English everywhere outside the house.

"Miao. That's what my mother is. They're Hmongs from China but my mothers side of thee family is more widespread. She's Hmong from her Chinese blood and Hmong traditions say we came from the Yellow River originally anyway. My mom lived right on the border between the two countries so if you were to say she was either one shed be both but she can't speak any Cantonese or Mandarin. Just Vietnamese and Hmong. But even though the Miao were the same as the Hmong the Miao don;t have the same role."

She sighed. "Most Hmongs fought against the North even my dad. But he betrayed them later. This is something th IAA somehow doesn;t know about. He's given information to the Vietnamese government. My father's people didn't believe they would ever esopect Hmong soverngty the Vietnamese rebels, so even back then most Hmongs sided with the French. I think we might be the most hated kind of Asian people sometimes I don't know..."

"You don't think Japanese or Chinese are?" Asked Gina.

"No. Cause at least some of the Chinese, Vietmnamese Koreans and Japanese resisted coloniation. Hmongs...we fought for it. We;ve never been right in history. Yoyu know...for a long time...after some of the racism I went through in South Yankton...I was more proud to be just an ethnic Vietnamese like my mom was and the weird thing is her Vietnamese blood from her side that aint Hmong were at war with my dads people. My dad raised me to be an American...and even though he taught me the language...he didn't teach me mucth pride for being Hmong."

"But he knew where the French and Americans stood on our country. Why did he change his mind?"

'"Part of it was killing his own dad. The other part...he lost some uncles and aunts and cousins at the My Lai massacre. Even though most Hmongs lived in the north he had some family in the south. And they were killed by the Americans. He didn't find out till years later."

"So what I don't understand is why did he leave Vietnam if he ended uop switching sides?"

Khoi stepped from the shadows.

"Just because I did what I thought was the right thing doesn't mean other Hmongs did./ And when Ho Chi Minh won the war Hmongs were punished. I did the same thing for the Viet Cong in the end of the war that we had all done to fight them for the Americans.

This startled Gina and she reacted with a gasp. "You scared the fuck outta me!" She cried out.

"Tough shit. This is my house and I didn't invite you here. You're one of my soldiers."

"Dad! Her best friend was killed by Eddie Vinke and shed had Vagos and Psychos try to kill her. You understand PTSD better than anybody other than me. She has it. From the streets."

Khoi shot a glare. "Shes going to have to toughen up if she wants to survive. My generation didn;t have thee luxury of crying and being coddled."

"Dad!"

Khoi turned to Gina, "When I saw how they treated us...and I knew my cover was still good with the Agency and they didn';t know I played both sides, I knew it would be better to just leave once the 80's rolled around. So then I was in Southern San Andreas. An IAA agent living stateside. Funneling drug money down to Nicaragua with colleagues of mine stationed down there. Using the war on drugs and the contra wars to fund our side. And I used my own brothers from across the sea in the Da Nang Boyz the same way the US used us."

Mai sighed. "I have pride in our culture, dad. I know the racism you faced when you got to the states was hard. And thjey didn't care you fought for the south. And I know they wouldn't have understoopd why you helped the north. America doesn't like to admit its wrong doing but we're not in a communist country now and that's the one thing I can say for your side."

"Yes..but Ho Chi Minh..."

"I know dad. He wanted an American style independence for Vietnam but the US ended up backing up France out of fear they'd join the eastern bloc. They ended up causing us to be comunist instead but the Domino Theory was wrong."

"What I tell all of you I am trusting you with. You all have secrets you would rather never see the light of day. I don't know how many years I have left. I'm not as young as I once was. Nobody is. But this is the one I would prefer not be known. I would be locked away forever if they ever found out."

Gina searched on Eyefind and read what she was seeing out loud. "Hmong forces suffered tremendous losses in their fight against the communists. Before the war there were approximately 300,000 to 400,000 Hmong living in the Laotian highlands, but about 100,000 of them were killed in the fighting. As the war progressed, Vang Pao began to recruit children between eight and 13 years old to fill the ranks of his depleted forces. The Hmong had always grown opium for their own use, but Vang Pao began to smuggle the drug on a large scale to help fund his war effort."

Mai's eyes hit the floor. "Thats why if somebody said that we were a culture of bannanas and that we were drug dealers it wouldnt be that far from the truth."

"What are you, Jock Cranley? That sounds like something hed say against Vietnamese not you," Gina responded.

Mai sighed. "I know but I also know how a lot of Vietnamese immigrant families are in San Andreas. The kids end up being bannanas that's for sure. Some even voted for Cranley. It's fuckin sad. One generation and they already think like white people. And we're Americas most recent East Asian enemy. And a lot vote for Jock Cranley. What Im saying doesnt benefit the Anglo ruling class."

"I pass by veterans wearing hats saying they served in Vietnam. They dont seem to understand I was theref for our countries upheaval and independence. I am a Vietnam veteran too. But when I see veterans...white, black, Chicano, I see them and I think that they never even think about Vietnam veterans that are Asians," Replied Khoi.

"Thats why we have to teach them the real history..."

"

He sighed. "Most Asian and African countries, North and South America went through one form of war or another.

"Your father was not around for a lot of the months of the year when you were little. That is what men do. They go off to work and leave us with the kids. Both here and in Vietnam!"

"I don't have kids. How could I support a kid with the life I live?"

"It's easier to be an IAA agent these days. It was not as easy in the 80's. You always could."

"But do I want to? I dont know. Plus I'm in my thirties. Asians have kids later than anybody else but not this late."

"Thats a myth that women become infertile after 35. Its true there are more health complicatiomns but you can have kids in your 40s. It's an old wives tale from France in the 1600s that said that women were barren after."

"Yeah but we dont all got the same biological clock..." Gina retorted. "I want babies...but I don't want them to get shot. i dont think I could live with that so Id have to drop my flag first."

"Don't you think you may want to make sure the man isnt TPG either?" Khoi suggested.

"I dont care if a mans from the hood or not. As long as he doesnt disrespect me or put his hands on me he could be a g or a CEO."

"I can't say that I like that answer but there are Familes and Ballas as couples and different Vagos and Aztecas hooked up too. Maybe it is time we had this happen. But I'd rather it was the other DNB hoods that had a first not mine."

"I'm not trying to be disloyal. I love our hood. Freemont Hitters Avenue's in my heart and it's on my skin. I'm just saying I agree with what you're saing plus lately I been thinking that there';s probably somebody on the other side that; been throuh the same shit as me."

"Whether that's true or not isn't your fuckin problem cause you are DONE with LS County and when it comes to TPG version of you I'll shoot him just as fast as anybody else. I know the enemy is human too. It doesn't change the fact that they gotta get annihalated too. We'll probably never get the Psychos out of Southern San Andreas but we can sure as hell lessen their numbers one neighborhood at a time."

"Yeah look I know...it's just you got me so cooped up in here man..."

"It'll be over soon but you're staying put till it is," Khoi glowered. "I will not say it again."

Mai

She turned to her father. He shot her a glance and informed her after a sip of coffee, "You know...we got war on the streets. T Mart is America's most wanted or at least one of them. We either help him escape, kill him which is probably the best option, or hide him out forever..." He held up a newspaper, LS Times. Such a boomer. She thought to herself.

"I'm gonna get him out of the country. I just need this bullshit to die down. They won't come for you or me. Everybody else..."

"That's rewarding his stupidity!"

"You weren't aound for Romeo's death even if you helped him get some of the N.O.O.S.E agents involved. They did a numbe on him. This left T Mart with PTSD. He can't control that anymore than you or me and that made him make a mistake tactically."

"You and me never fucked up that badly. Your mother was on the northern side and she never did."

"That might be true but you can't tell me we never made a mistake. This IS punishment. He gets to live but not here anymore. He's being exiled to the Phillipines. Things aren't great over there at all. He's gonnna have to make do.'

"I just want to know what';s going on in the hood. I aint outside to see shit anymore and I'll never be free on these streets again.i gotta know that the homies are okay even though I fucked up."

"We're at war with the Vagos just like always. It's heating up with the Aztecas even with them kicked outta Cypress Flats some of the ones that lost thir turf to the East Side Vagos were living in Rancho but they decided to go extra curricular with it and started attacking DNB. You already know about that but it's heating up. The Sons are pissed at the Aztecas and Vagos too. Things are heating up on that front too but thy also still got problems with the Samoans that wear burgundy instead of ocean green."

"Shit's all a waste, man. Can';t we all just hustle in peace and stay outta each others hood? Only people I got any beef with these days is the fuckin pigs."

"Didn't you have a problem with Marabunta right before you took the shots at law enforcement?"

"They were coming at me! It was either light up the cops or light them up then have to deal with the one time. Then I'd have twice the amount of heat on me. Or I kill those punks but then they arrest me? Wouldn't that fuck up everything we'd done so far too?"

"The only reason I'm not breaking you neck is that you'e leaving."

"What about Baby Face? He left but he aint leave. He's still in America. I got word he's working at a spot down in East New the fuck didn't he have to go back to Vietnam?"

"Getting him out of the country wasn't going to work.

T Mart stared at the mugshot of himself on the TV screen. All week long it had been shown and his name had shot high up to the top priority for every law enforcement ageny in the country. "All I tried to do is get revenge for my homie, man..."

"No, when you were with me you got revenge. We were careful. We brought them to the children of the mountain. If you just would have tailed those two and called me you could have had your reveng the right way! I guess it's true what they say. Don't trust a Flip to do a man's work."

"Why you gotta be racist, Khoi?"

"We're both Asian so that wonm't work When we have to be gone, we go. The boys I started this gang with the Mercado brothers you look up to got themselves aught. I didnt."

"But you got Mai shot by the East Siders when she was damn near a baby man! I may not be free to be on the streets and I aint got a kid but if I did I wouln't get then shot. I'd drop my flag if i ever became a daddy! Not only after she got hit!"

Khoi's hand shot out snatching his Adams Apple. "If it weren't fpr Mai not onlty would I have given you the time of day I would have ripped your throa toutl The younger generation like you are what make me sick. Making us a Families affiliated gang. You'll party with somebody from Chamberlain Hills that would probably walk into a Korean mini mart, rob and kill the cashier and then go home and eat like it was nothing."

"I wasn't raised to be prejudiced like that..."

"That has nothing to do with it. It's not about hating them it's about knowing they hate us and being aware of it and preparing. Us being allied with the Families makes about as much sense as it does for Armenian Pride to be affiliated with the Vagos when so many of them bullied them for the same reason Vagos and Families fucked with our first generation. We were different. But if their alligieance to the same people that fucked them over didn't make any sense, then it didn't make sense for us to do that either. Or the Sons of Polynesia. We made ourselves hypocrites."

"Look I aint saying everybody from CGF is cool I aint cool with Flash. He was a bitch and he went out like a bitch. I might not like that dude Mai was room mates with but i understand why he did what he did. You don't turn on your homies. I heard about the shit he did for CGF. Without even being CGF. If he'd have come to our hood and Mai introduced us he ould have got some homies on our side of town."

"You said 'Our side of town' and 'our hood'there is no us as far as you're concerned. You're not being asked to lay low a few years after a job. You don't come back to Los Santos ever for any reason. You're a gangster until you get on the boat to the Phillipines and you're going. I'm gona personally burn all your US documents myself and have them deleted from the system. As far as the US will be concerned you don't exist. Not as a Filipino citizen either. So you can function in a third world conhtry like that where officials are more otupt but you can never come back to teh United States. Unless you want to stay here forever in that case I suggest walking outside with your hands on your head and wait for your ride to the big house. It'll be a very short journey'

"Bullshit I'd be on death row for years. This is San Andreas. They aint executed nobody sincr what 2005, 2006?"

"Yeah but none of the people who are on death row in the San Andreas DOC is on trial for killing two N.O.O.S.E. agents who were doing their job. I don't like losing a soldier and you don't like losing friends but from the perspective of the police they had to kill him in that moment. And they paid the price. And now you did it and you paid the price."

"You keep treating me like i fucked up but I was getting revenge for my homie and you said if you s ee an oppurtunity don't wait. You might not get another chance."

"You should have tailed them. We could have got them all and put them with the Children Of The Mountain."

"I couldn't wait and they had two cars/. Which one was I supposed to follow? I aint the first DNB to kill a pig and I know the game looks at it like you gotta sacrifice a pawn when somebody does or the cops will never leave you alone but it doesn't gotta be like that. You could throw them off my scent by having them think I went to the Midwest or Canada."

"Like I said. The only reason I didn't let the cops catch you the way they would have naturally is Mai has a soft spot for you. It's a good thing I'm here to watch out for her again. Because that's a weakness on her part and you're a liability to the organization. All things considered you are more than blessed that you're not face down in the LS River. The Phillipines will be a paradise compared to what you could have got."

He then widened his eyes as he remembered, "Oh and on the boat ride back there since you only have a few tattoos we're going to go ahead and get rid of all of them. Your country has plenty of gangs and they're local and you haven't been here in years. You aren't a Da Nang Boy. They'll take them off you if you don't and they won't be gentle. You're going to get a job. Be a real man. Bring masculinity back to the Phillipines. Model your life after General Luna and you'll be a real man. The country won't get right until the men set it right. You're all over there expecting the woman to do everything. Civilization doesn't work that way."

"If you think I'm such a liability that I could or would just flip on my homies just remember I could have sang if I'd gotten caught and I could have told the pigs about you. And what we did bringing those other N.O.O.S.E agents there. That's murder too. So yeah they'd probably add all those and I'd probably get my execution date faster but you'd be right there alongsidse me.'/

"That's where you're wrong, kid. If you get taken alive by the police I will find a way to make sure you have an aneurism in your cell. I won't let you make it to trial."

He stood over the Filipino gangster menacingly. "You're under a lot of stress so I'll let the fact that you just threatened to snitch go if..."

"But I aint say i was gonna snitch I was just sa...AHHHH!" He cried out as Khoi grabbed him by the throat again. He tried to pull his hand off him but Khoi pulled his thumb with his other hand. "Don't fight me...or you'll lose your last breath...submit!" Growled the Hmong IAA agent.

He then let him fall. "...If... you still lay low and you don't piss off me, my daughter or anybody else until it's time for you to go. But what I will do because you just said that...is once I know you're in the Philippines safe and sound for a couple of months with the authorities still scratching their heads, I'll call in a report you were spotted near the Canadian border. They'll look there. So you really won't be able to come back. And to cover myself, I'm gpoing to have to have authorities go after the Children Of The Mountain. It's not like there isn't a trail back to them for countless other murders. Whatever they tell them about me will sound like a conspiracy theory from desperate men."

"But what if the police if the Phillipines discover me? If I'm extradited to the US I will be put on death row!'

"Yes. And they have an extradition treaty.

"I will. And to make SURE you don't try and come home what I'm going to do is tell them that the Children Of The Mountain were involved with the dissapearance of every N.O.O.S.E agent that vanished other than the two you shot. They;kll be charged and they'll probably get death row too. They'd want to expedite you more under these circumstances so you better make sure you keep your head down and have them thinking that you ran to Canada. They'll believe that before the Philippines since Canada won't send you home unless the states gurantee they won't execute you."

"You just wanna set up more ways for me to fail?! What the fuck.."

"Look I can sense that beneath all that stupidity drug use and that fuckin minstrel act you put on out there for all your friends, you're not one of the worst men out here. You did what you did out of a sense of duty. And loyalty. They killed your friend and leader so you got revenge but you were sloppy. But because you do use I also know that means you're a liar. When it counts a junkie can';t tell the truth. You were willing to sell me up the river in case you got picked up like I hadn't predicted that would go through your coke snorting brain?"

"Look I'm sorry...I..."

"No you're not. But continue. I love to see you grovel evn when I establishd I won't kill you if you listen to me but I will also never respect you again."

"I got a drug problem. I'ma see what kinda programs they got in the Philipins no matter how much it don't work for others I'll make it work I don't care. If I gotta take off my tats..." He started to tear up.

"You're going to cry like a woman?"

"Mai said it was all right for men to cry too..." He sniffed softly.

"Yeah not in the military or gangs, T Mart. But I'll let it go for once. I know you want to try to succeed but the only way that's going to happen is if you lay low. You want to get rich? You have a head start. Your money is worth more there. You're like a rich anglo only you're home. you can live like a king if you save and are not too flashy. You can be the one Filipina women desire instead of some rich gringo there to get them a Fleesa."

"Yo I hear you but I aint that into Filipino girls. I get with them I got with Cherry cause she was the homegirl but most aint wifey matrial they're mattress material. I aint exactly proud of my culture. We aint like the Vitnames or Chinse. We been conquered so many times we don't know what's what no more we'r like th Siciliy of the Pacific."

"But you'r not ashamd of your own family are you?"

"No. I just don't buy into the national shit you know? The Soccer and being Catholic and all that..."

"You aint th only lapsed Catholic around here, believe me."

]

"Liusten if you smarten up the way Baby Fac mostly has...one day maybe I can clear your name. Mayb you can be an asst and work for us. Crazier things have happened. It;d be the only way you'd be able to go anywhere you wanted again. Los Santos included."

"I don't know, Khoi as much shit as there's been...I'm gfonna miss everybody here but I think I'm ready to leave. I wish I could take all the homies with me but this is my journey. You offered me a way out and I'm gonna take it. Wherever Baby Face is...if you see him can you give him my best? Mai hid him off somewhere."

"There's nothing for you here. You could have stayed here another fifty years. You're only going to be missing your friends far away from them because of what you did. That's the problem with your generation you can't handle consequences. You want all the perks of everything but not the drawbacks. You think you should be able to kill a law enforcement agent and still be able to drive around Los Santos."

Khoi then finalized, "You're a drug addict and a liability. I'm thinking strngly about just killing you anyway and letting my daughter be pissed at me. It's not like you've done her any good. Gina proved reliable in that lowrider job he's got Mai involved in. After she's done with it I'm going to make sure she cuts off all ties to him."

"Damn you cold, Khoi. Is this how you survived the streets out here when it was raw? Is that how you survived Vietnam?Dahil tila sa akin ay isinuko mo ang iyong pagkatao."

(Cause it seems to me like you gave up your humanity.)

Khoi sneered as he opened a bottle of Punani water. "Nakaligtas ako at nakaligtas kami sa pamamagitan ng pag-unawa na kasing lakas ka lang ng pinakamahina mong kawing. Oo kami ay magkaibigan na may mga karaniwang background bilang mga refugee at kami ay nasa likod ng isa't isa. Nakatutuwang makita ang lahat ng iba't ibang bansang ito na napopoot sa isa't isa na nagsasama-sama sa kanluran dahil sa kasamaang palad, kinasusuklaman natin ang kanluran. Ngunit kami ay kasing lakas lamang ng aming pinakamahinang link at ikaw iyon. Kung hindi kita kayang patayin ay ipapatapon kita."

(I survived and we survived by realizing that you're only as strong as your weakest link. Yes we were friends who had common backgrounds as refugees and we had each other's backs. It was good to see all these different countries that hated each other coming together in the west because we're unfortunatley hated in the west. But we're only as strong as our weakest link and that's you. If i can't kill you I will exile you.)

"Paano naiiba ang ginawa ko kaysa sa kung sinuman noon ang pumatay sa isa sa atin? Alam ko ang tungkol sa 80's at 90's. Maaaring hindi ako nakikipag-gang banging sa kanila ngunit alam kong ito ay magaspang. Sinasabi mo sa akin na walang sinuman sa Crash ang nakapatay ng isa sa atin?" Demanded T Mart.

(How is what I did any different than if anybody back then had killed one of us? I know about the 80's and 90's. I might not have been gang banging in them but I know it was rough. You telling me nobody from Crash ever killed one of us?)

Khoi softly but clearly vocalized his thoughts next looking at the Filipino. "Shut up and listen. I'm gonna talk uninterrupted. That's if you want your teeth to stay in your skull. Meron sila. At ang pakikitungo ko sa kanila noon ay katulad ng ginagawa ko ngayon. Kung ito ay isang solong tao, sinisikap kong huwag mag-iwan ng bakas ng ebidensya ng DNA. Para kang gangster. At hindi matalino. Para akong forensic scientist. Kahit noong '84 na ang forensic science at ebidensiya ay hindi kung ano ito ngayon, nag-iingat ako dahil alam ko na dahil hindi pa napag-uusapan ang ebidensya ng DNA ay hindi ko alam na darating ito. Nakakalimutan mong IAA ako kahit noon pa. Kaya alam ko ang mga bagay kahit na ang karaniwang foresnsic scientist na kumikilos para sa isang pangunahing metropolitan police crime lab ay hindi pa alam ang mga bagay na ito. Ang pinakamaganda at pinakamahalagang pagpatay na nagawa ko sa mga kalye kung saan ang isang mabigat mula sa kabilang panig ay kailangang ilabas, palaging tahimik na tinitiyak kong mawawala ang mga ito. Kung ang katawan ay nawala, walang pagsisiyasat sa pagpatay sa karamihan ng mga pagkakataon maliban kung mayroon silang iba pa."

(They have. And I dealt with them even back then the same way I do now. If it's a single person I try to not leave a trace of DNA evidence. You think like a gangster. And not a smart one. I think like a forensic scientist. Even back in '84 when forensic science and evidence wasn't what it is now I was careful because I knew that just because DNA evidence was not talked about yet didn't mean I didn't know it was coming. You forget I was IAA even back then. So I knew things even the average forensic scientist working for a major metropolitan police crime lab wouldn't know these things yet. The best and most important kills I';ve ever done on the streets where a heavy from the other side had to be taken out, it was always quietly that i made sure they vanished. If the body vanishes there's no murder investigation most times unless they have something else.)

"You've made Vagos vanish?"

"Quite a few," Nodded Khoi. "No 187. No gang war. Just vanished in the night. I did the same to the 21st Street Families and the Psychos too. The Psychos weren't really around until after I left San Andreas. The next time I was here and they were here, I was more visiting to do damage control with the war on drugs and the funds we needed to keep the Contras fighting. You don't know how many generations of DNB I've tried to keep alive in this game only to have them die because they didn't listen. Or get life sentences. We're considered to be multi generational despite only existing since the 80's. And thagt's because every ten years or so I would see the next generation get knocked off by our enemies."

"Yeah but look at us now. DNB is the deepest Pac Islander clique in the Beach! Psychos are deeper nationwide but not where it started. Not where it counts."

"That's not much of a victory when 21st Street and all these other Family sets have more power than us. Plus the Vagos. We have allies with the Sons of Polynesia but that gang has fallen into much of the same pitfalls that we 's no authenticity and everybody's on speed and snitching."

"Hey I aint snitched if anything you threatened to hand me over to the cops. You can't get mad at me when I threaten to counter snitch. The game don't work that way old man. So yeah...I am gonna sit right here on this couch and wait for my ticket outta here and yeah you might want to put one in me but you won't cause you love your daughter. Or you'll kill me and piss her off and I'll end up being right about you."

"Yeah but then you'd be dead."

"Look, kill me, hand me over to one time or leave me alone but I aint afraid of you no more. Yeah I know I fucked up but I was feeling like the last one who even gave a fuck that Romeo was here and how he aint and that it's the pigs fault. Fuck all this not killing cops shit. A lotr of g's got that mentality and it's punk shit. If we werre supposed to listen to what the one time says why even become criminals?'

"Now you're not thinking like a proper capitalist. You still have to make a living. It might be ignorant to keep hands off cops and make the people that you do kill be other criminals but it's the cleanest way to get lress attention. The mafia did it for decades in Liberty City and Onda and Aryan Vanguard had a long time policy of not assaulting the guards. It won them favor."

"Sounds to me like Onda sold out cause with Mai and you it's like...she's allied with somebody who used to be BGA but BGA wasn't afraid to kill guards. Only nowadays Onda and the Aryans kill guards too. So if they was down to do that they should have in the 60's and 70's too."

"You have a lot of opinions about bygone eras you never saw. They realied that they are in prison. You can fight the system but not from a prison cell. The BGA are a useless organization. They should have realized that even while they could get some clout shanking CO's they were never going to get any prisoner rights. The smarter way is to get some lobbyists on your side who will try to change the laws. You can't have a revolution from a jail cell. Everybody thinks they can but it's bullshit. Including that riot in the 70's in Upstate Liberty. The guards can call in the big guns and get helicopters. Inmates are impoverished young men with little more than a shank and some commissary items. Who did they think would win even if they did take hostages?"

"Whatever, man. It's like you said. I'm almost done here in this city. Shit. I am done here. Whether they catch me or not i gotta try and run. But you know what big homie? If theey do catch me and they give me death row I'd be glad to get the needle for killing the fools that killed Ro. Matter of fact why even bring your name up at all I'll take full credit on doing it. Then maybe what I'll do is i'll mplicate the Children of The Mountrain but not you. Then you don't go to prison and I do but you can't use them to get rid of bodies no more."

"You have to bargain from a position of power. You have none. You're at my mercy. And Mai's. Just keep your mouth shut. You really want to get the needle? On top of that you die on death row as a snitch. Who snitched when he had nothing to gain from it. See I'm, not worried about you turning me in cause it's in my best interest to see you on that container ship as a stoaway. And I won't let you out of my sight long enough to let you talk to any cops. But I've seen death row executions before and people that talked a good game started crying for their mommy or God."

"Yeah well I can go to the other side knowing I was true to me. If it comes to that cause how many homies from the hood that lost another homie to the pigs can say they got back at the motherfuckers that chipped their homies? I'm, proud of what I did. Even if the last two was a stupid move."

"You know Mai is out right now? She's doing another job for Lamar Davis. Tied to those stupid cars again. Why do they have to turn them into hydraulics? Those classic cars were fine as they were. American cars...the one thing I will say is they are better than Asian cars. If only we could have American cars and steel but have them last as long as Asian cars do."

"Shit I don't know. Sems like them old cars lasted a long time. Kind of like you, old timer. An American classic...well al,most American but shiyt if immigrants cantt reallyt become American what's the point?"

"Even when I get American citienship I knew I was only American on paper. Being born in a countrry doesn't changee who you are so how could moving there and saying I'm a citizen now make sense? I always saw myself as a resident of America but not American. It's easier to say I'm a citizen of the world than to say American. It felt like a lie. How can I be one thing my entire life and then be something else just because I moved?"

"Yeah well at least my family did come from the Phillipines I can say that much..."

Khoi grabbed a Pisswasser and tossed one to T Mart. He sat down and took a drink. "You're only getting a beer a day outta me. No beer with food with that you have something normal to drink."

"Why you gotta tell me what to do?"

"Have you figured out yet that you're not in charge? You're my prisoner right now. Better me than the San Andreas Corrections Department."

"What you think I aint never been to the pen? Think again homie. County and state."

"And by some miracle you weren't deported."

"Technically my reentry back into the country wasn't legal homie so I aint supposed to be here. It's like you said I'm on borrowed time. I know that."

"So are all of us if Mai keeps doing jobs for that piece of shit..." Khoi exhaled. "The streets are getting bloodier out there. And it's partly due to what she did. Vagos and Ballas getting killed. This is like her childhood all over again. The Ballas might not be shit in East Beach but the Vagos can always get her."

"Nah no Va Ho's are killing her she'll kill them if they try," T Mart chuckled.

"No because she was shot as a toddler by them remember? By a bullet that should have been mine. A bullet has no name on it. But Mai doesn't have to live down here she could always move into that old apartment of hers she stayed in before with the roommates."

He lit a Redwood. "Every move Lamar Davis makes brings down more heat on us. David Family sets are getting hit back hard by the Vagos and the Ballas. They can;'t find the two to four man teams that have been killing them and stealing their lowriders but they know the Families are behind it. If they can figure out he's behind it they take it out on them. How long until they figure out exactly who worked for him and come back on us all?"

"That's why it aint good I'm getting taken off the board even if you want me gone. I'm a solder and that's one less soldier to defernd the hood."

"You killed two N.O.O.S.E agents in broad daylight. You don't have any idea about defending the hood. You put the hood at risk. They knew who you were your face was on the 10 o'clock news. We've lucked out so far that all the hits on our set have been regular pissing contest bullshit from the East Side Vagos. If they definitibley learn my daughter was behind it they'll come for her and they'll come for us. And even I won't be able to hold them all off."

"So they just have to not find out, right?"

"That's one thing to say but if Lamar is ever caught by the Ballas or the other crew, they'll wonder about who he had hitting their men. He might be the boss of this operation but they'll want the shooters too. They'll make him the same offer they'd make the shooters if they got them first. That if they talk, they'll let them walk and that it's the other one they want. But there would be torture and he'd give up Mai."

"What if Mai doesn't make it back home?" T Mart asked. "I aint trying to be a smart ass. I just mean that if she's out there like that that's why I should be out there backing her up. I can wear a mask."

"Yeah and if you get caught it won't e good for anybody. We;re not chanHow ARE YOU THIS STUPID?!"

T Mart sighed and sadly said, "I try not to be but it's...the motherfucking yayo...the black...and the rocks. I didn't always do this shit. Even for most of my days banging I aint like that. I drank and smoked but not no hard shit. But losing your big homie yourbest homie...who you look up to like a brother? Well you always been the big G from day one when you got to this country you had more experience with the war than any Filipino homies trying to get protection in high school. You don't know what it's like to lose a big brother."

"Yes I do. I had a brother. He died when Saigon fell. He had no idea i had to be on both sides. He died fighting the NVA and I ended up helping them towards the end. He had no idea that he sacrificed everything for nothing."

He was silent for a while. "I do worry about her when she's out like this. But you better say a prayer she comes home. Because if she's dead my promise to her about you is null and void."

"You don't have to keep threatening me. I only did liuke one job with her over those lo-lo's man! Gina's more mixed up in it with her than me. Cherry used to help with that too."

"I';ve been looking intp Lamar Davis and he had a lot of close calls in 2013 especially ones his best friend got mixed up in. Most of them were his fault. The yellow and purple beanie wearing thugs looking to put sixty holes in him aren't wrong for wanting to kill him. We're only gonna stop that from happening because it's in our best interest. The second it isn't thats another story."

"What do you mean the second it isn't? You making a move on Lamar?"

"The man's delusional and he only keeps getting worse with his get rich quick schemes. He's a follower pretending to be a leader. He's in his late 20's and still lives at home with his mommy. He's a bum by any measure you go by. I'm not l4tting him get her killred So when this is over so is he. Hes gotten enough people killed with his half baked iedeas.?

"Good luck with that. Ballas and Vagos been trying to bark up that tree for years."

"Because I',m technically an ally to him, I'll get closer than they will," Vowed Khoi.

He got a call from Gina. "What is it?" He stood up in a flash and grabbed his M9. T Mart turned to him. "What wrong?"

"My daughter is badly injured. Deaths door..."

Paul

Weeks Earlier

He rested up from his battle with Mark. He stood looking down at the city of Red Stick as he was at th Hotel window. He knew that to be an effective gang leader he needed to be mobile. He had been in Pierre Noir and he had been in. He would be sending Warriors to New Arcadia to deal with the enemy and would be joining them as soon as he was better.

He also knew that the bandanna colors would allow them some strategic confusion. He had started to train teh Warriors based on what he had learned. Some were dealing with drug addiction and some were overweight. Some had to be sent into battle before they were ready but he knew that practice oly got uou so far and that you had to be in a real fight to test your might.

He had a knock at the door. he hobled to the door with his Glock at his side. After what had happened in the city he no longer felt safe in the city or Pierre Noir.

He saw that it was Adayh. "Come in..." He said opening the door. "You want something to drink? Food? I got some BBQ pork, soda, water, juice."

"I guess the rumors about you are true. You really don't drink."

"Everybody I've ever known who did was a piece of shit. I'm only traditional by accident when it comes to that. Out of spite for shitty addict and drunk relatives. To not be like them."

"Spoken like just about every sober Indian I ever heard. But good for you, brother. You got a lot of heart for a half breed., If we had just one of you out here I think the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women cases would decrease."

"I'm willin to do that. In th name of the confederacy."

"For whatever reason you do it, we need it."

"You know..don there you should be running that city. Not him. I heard you're an underground fighter and he's just some puink ith a little bit of training. He's a genuis tactically. But his strategy is a joke. You should have leveled him out and I think you even could but you don't want to."

"Are you saying I';m afraid of Mark?"

"I'm saying you're afraid of what a fight with him would entail. I think realistically if you actually put your mind to it you can kick his ass. But you're afraid of what comes after. Because you know he'll come after you hard and injure you or hurt or kil some of your men. Me, I'm not afraid to lose what I have. A Warrior lives and dies by his principals. It took me a long time to learn that."

"I'll say. You know some people in my band think I shouldn't be associating with Mexican gangsters. I tell thm thy're Indian but lost ones they don';t always hear me on that. Like these Marabunta guys i saw when I came out to a deal a few years back with Task. As for Marcus...you're right. I don't have the army you do. With Task maybe I could tak him on. Maybe if he had you to train or motivate him even he could take Mark down. That's the BSU's problem they act as though thy're equals but Mark is holding all the cards. We have to keep reminding him that despite whatever little new responsibility he gives his men, he has the lions share. That'ds what I admire about your Motley Crew. You're all different. You're a truer embodiment of what the BSU wishes it could be. If any fuckin NDNs wanted to join that bullshit!"

"Well at least those gangsters were willing to resist the Roman Boyz. For a while anyway. Same as you but it's just a waste of talent cause to me you're the real Southerner here. New Arcadia is your home. Truly. Everybody else, including me is a guest."

"Certain people around here don't see it that way. What we are is wards of the state to them out here. I know they'd rather see us wiped out and people like Ernesto deported sop thy can fight for the resources here."

"That's no different than up north. Because of how things are down here I'm sure people that never been north think we got it easy up there but I'm a Northeasterner whether I'm on the American or Canadian side."

"You're also Southeastern when you think about it. I aint helping a half Yankee. ut i'll help a fellow Southeasterner."

He knew what he was trying to say. The subtext. The part of Canada he was from was southeast. Paul shot him a nod.

"But you should be in power. Not the Roman Family. Not even Task. He's no leader. He's a lone wolf that tries to be a pack wolf. He doesn't know how."

"He said you were just an angry lost soul that wanted a fight. He saw me in action."

Adayh sighed and said, "The reason I wanted to talk to you..I want you to meet the man you're helping.":

He introduced him to the long haired tattooed Chicano gang leader. "Ernesto Santana, Paul Hoffman..." Adayh introduced. Ernesto slapped hands and did the shaking style but Paul shook his hand the native way grabbing the forearm. Ernesto adjusted.

"That's T Cell..." Ernesto said intrducing his friend. "And that's Cabello and Snapper."

"So you're the one giving my worst enemy trouble? You may be in for more than you can handle. This isn't a fight you want to be involved in. Not even Neto is and he was the best other chance at it...but I've been told what you did coming down here. You got a lot of cojones, wey."

T Cell

"You got your own problems up there in Canada, bro. They killed your homie who was a rapper? I might not be much of a rap fan but I know even an underground rapper can still bring in more feria than most gangsters see in a lifetime. In fact...if it was anybody else's gang and it was anybody else youe age with a different reputation I would say they should use that rapper to clean their cash. But you got a reputation as an upstart. A rookie who shows promise."

He added, "You know when I was dealing with my war with the Roman brothers."

"You go to war with Marcus Roman I want you to know what you stand to lose. I won't say you haven't been in a real war because the truth is I know your reputation and I've heard about the scores you've been a part of. No amateurs' is part of any of the big jobs you did. Now that job you did in Liberty City was bad...but still. I lost a son and a my empire. You need to understand you come with me nothing will be the same. Even if you survive you kill him and his friends in the government come for everything you love."

"That's some talk from the man who ran from his own home. Yeah it';s true I ran cause of the shit I did and I went home but Mark would never beat me on my own turf. As far as whether or not I can beat him in New Arcadia I don't know. Probably not alone. Not as I started out but who ever stands still in this game and lasts? But you let a man beat you on your own turf. Every loss I took from Liberty City to LS I wasn't home. But you are."

"What do you know about it, chico? You showed up late in the fight."

"So did America at Normandy Beach but you have to admit they did a lot in a small amount of time."

"And that's what you think you are? Normandy soldados coming to take down the Germans? Come on..."

"It's a metaphor. You don't want my help you just say so. But I got the people that killed my girlfriend. Same as you did. You've killed every fed involved. I found out a lot in a short amount of time about you. Mark Roman's fiancee's killer is still breathing. He's dicking around fucking with you and Neto and me and Ivan. Rather than kill the people actually responsible."

"He isn't gonna have to worry about that. You want to know why I don't want you along for this? It's a suicide mission. I have no plans to come back alive. I just want to do what I can to take out as many Roman Boys as I can. And the BSU. They destroyed my empire on the streets. They made friends with my enemies."

"And that's how you justify being allied with the Zeros? I know Mark doesn't know this yet but he will eventually. And Neto too. How do you think it's gonna be when Neto finds out that not only did you help smuggle in a bunch of the cartel that killed his family but you're using them to protect yours?"

"If Neto was me...he'd make a lot of the same mistakes I did. But he would have made different calls than I would have. That's why I know he'll outlive Marcus even if I don't. But the one thing he would understand is doing it for my family. Besides, did the Sinaloa Cartel fuck up his life any less than the Ceros did? But that's the problem."

"Why do you want to die?" Paul asked.

Ernesto sighed. "We all die. But mostly it's my sons face. My son Luis. When Marisol died...ever since she died...and then after that with Carmen and Miguel...I've outlived enough of my hijos. I haven't been able to look at some of the old pictures when we were all together. My surviving kids have the rest of them. I made sure of it. But I'm starting to forget Luis's face. I remember his face in dreams and it's like he never left but then when the day goes on I forget the dream i had."

"He visited you in the dream world. I've wanted to die before too. When my mom died. And my girlfriend. But I lived for revenge. I got it in a different way than I expected to but it ended up the best way. For you...it's not about torture is it? It's about just wiping the bloodlines out."

Ernesto sighed. "I can promise easier deaths for all the hynas in Mark's life. I'll be quick with Agent Trueblood. Ana too. She deserves to suffer but I know I can't beat her in a shootout and I'm not gonna try to fight her. But the men? They're going to suffer. In fact...I'm going to kill Yolanda Roman too."

"You really are planning on dying aren't you? You don't need to go after his family."

"He'll probably thank me for Yolanda. That puta let their dad beat them and she didn't protect them."

"She sounds like a woman of her time. My grandma didn't protect my dad from his white step daddy when she remarried. She picked a man over her kid too. My abuela was always kimnd to me but her son was fucked up and hated women because she didn't protect him. I've had a lot of time to think about my dad's death since I did it. He had a choice every step of the way but at the same time he didn't. He could have made different choices but he almost can't be blamed. He should have done better than previos generations. They have their own trauma but..he did what he thought was right. And the one thing I envy about him is he was a sociopath. Light as a feather."

Paul paused and then continued. "Going after his mom won't bring your kids back. And it'll only make your enemies double down. I tried to kill Mark but he has nine lives. The keyword is Brother. You kill his brothers he gets more demoralized with each death. It's hard to top the wedding though."

Ernesto took a breath. "If I could have been behind that I could have taken him and the rest of his family out. Onlt I would have spared Martin and Gwen before this. You know...the best reason for you to not join me on this last fight with them is...you remind me of a mix of how Miguel was and Luis. If I had to be honest about which one of them were smarter criminals I would say Luis but even he was shot by the FIB."

He then filled him in on what he had done to Buck and Eddie. Paul's green eyes flashed with surprise and anger. "So that guy Eddie who we all had a part in the death of...he's not even the one that did that to his friend? You and Ivan?"

"Let me tell you something about your friend. I'm tired...but if you kill him when I fail to...even if you deal with him and somehow survive the IAA, your old roommate is still alive. Tu sabes...with the shit you learned about the Zero's I'm not saying don't tell Neto but hold off on it. In case I fail that's my plan B. Besides, the same men that killed Neto' parents when he was a chavalito are the ones at war with the Romans now."

"Which roomate?"

"Ivan. He's a more dangerous friend than all your enemies put together. Me and him both did things I regret to Buck...but Buck...kjilled a man who was like a son to had to die. Out of all the bodies dropped between me and that family...that' not my proudest kill. In many ways that makes me a hypocrite. I killed somebody's brother too. Somebody's son. How is that any different from anybody killing mine? I've buried three kids because of this shit. My padre he passed it to me. I passed it to Miguel and Luis. They weren';t innocent but they didn';t deserve death. They deserved a chance to make their mama proud. And Carmen was an innocent casualty. But this shit dies with me."

Ernesto headed out. "I got a war to fight and it's almost over. I want it to be over. I'm tired."

He left and Adayh nodded. "Were they just all with you what?" Asked Paul.

"I was on my way here and they must have followed me."

"i'm gonna help them. I just gotta take some adrenaline and I'll feel better. I'm sending down warriors but if this doesn't work I'll help. I'll get Angus and Terry too."

"I think we both should stay out of this for now and see where the chips fall. I've been impulsive with Mark and that doesn't work in anybody's favor but his. You planned things out. To a point. If you were going to kill him you should have done it when you had them as captives."

"I painted their faces red. Mark, Ana, all of them so they were spared. The ones who had to die were painted black."

Adayh rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That girl that pulled you out of the Missisipi. she's a veterana of the war with Mark. She's a survivor of rape. The 4th ward. Neto took care of the sick freak who did that. She saw most of her friends die. Marcus caused her and everybody she's even known nothing but terror. He started the war with the Aztecas."

"You don't have to tell me, bro. I know how it is. This isn't worth it. His soldier took a shot at mine even if neither one was supposed to be there. Either Mark is above them and he should be disciplining him for it or he's an equal in which case Lee Shen was fair game."

"He's in a gang. There's never any equality with that. But she's living proof to how dangerous the Roman family is."

"That's who was taking care of me when I was in and out?"

" yu outta the river too like I said. She's dropped her flag. Everything that happened to her made her lose the taste for the gang lifestyle."

"Huh. I gotta thank her the next time we're both awake at the same time cause we didn;t d a lot of talking."

Mai

She had gotten a call from Lamar saying to go to Bennys where it had all began. She had Gina with her as usual and Ulu and Mahana again riding in the back of her improved new bulletproof Kuruma. "Damn, Mai dont you got a ride that's a little more plus size friendly?"

"Why? Are you planning on doing some plus size modeling, U?" Asked the IAA agent.

"Fuck you. You know what Im saying. This ride is too small for anybody over five eight, cuz! This is why German and American are better."

"What about Italian cars? They know how to make a good sports car..." Replied Mai.

Ulu chuckled. "Yeah. For girls. Matter of fact how the hell are you driving this Japanese piece of shit didnt they invade the fuck outta yall? I grew up on the East Side you already know how I do so I know my Asian neighbors history and if I aint know the ones that do make sure I get it after they talked to me. But I didnt learn that one in the hood I learned that in the pen .

Gina rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Like Samoans and Tongans weret knocking each other off? For what was it? Oh yeah at least four centuries. But go ahead and make your stupid World War II jokes."

"Hey no disrespect you know I lve the homies from Shining Razor. Yall gangsta as fuck but im just saying."

"I drive this shitty Japanese car because the Peoples Republic of Vietnam dont make their own cars.

"Youve never been there have you?" Asked Gina. "Cause they do make their own cars."

Mai shook her head. "Its a small business."

"Small yeah but its still the fastest growing in Southeast Asia. And they're all imports of American Japanese and Korean cars," Replied Mai.

"Infast is the name of the car just opened up their own car this year its their first and only..." Mahana stated looking it up.

"More to the point, Ulu? Your fat ass is too big for an American car. Maybe it's time you started your own car company."

"Shit that's not a bad could make a whole auto industry back on the islands..." Mahana stated.

"Thats if any of us survive whatever Lamar has us walking into..." Replied Mai. "But you make a good point. Ill look into getting one of those cars."

"Theyre electric too! Good for the envioroment."

"I guess Ill buy one as soon as we're done here."

They got to the spot and saw Lamar on the phone. It seemed he was being threatened over the phone. "

"I wouldnt lie to you you're like a father to me, man and on top of that I cant fuckin lie to you, man cause Im fuckin scared youre gonna peel my cap me come up missing or i know how you fucking get down with them car batteries, man come on V you gotta believe me bruh. I didnt do nothing!"

Mai chuckled. You got that right. You didnt lift a finger to help us. Worthless asshole.

"All right Ima make it up to you...c..." After some stammering, Lamar was hung up on. "Fuckin asshole!Im dead as a dead and if Im dead you dead too. We all fuckin dead!"

"What is this we shit? WE aint the one that had this half baked idea."

"Take this shit serious! Vernon, man! This dude has seriously lost his shit, it/. We gotta help this dude get his shit 're gonna make a peace offering."

"Agreed. They shouldnt go after the private security who did the job. It should be the employer they go after. So you think if we give you up to the Ballas or Vagos theyd agree to let us go?"

"Come on girl you dobt gtta be like that lets just listen to the man..." Ulu begged.

" selling this shit last time, that almost worked, this time were gonna get him more cars. But its gotta be some shit worth I need you to hit the streets and see whats Ima see what it do. All we need is some fly whips man it dont take much."

He then went on about dropping it off at Vernons place so that hed kill him quick.

"Wait one times all over us so we on the clock, people. That means no proscrastination, no vaccilation and no bullshit."

"Lamar if you can tell me what either one of those words besides bullshit means without Eye Finding it, Ill let you keep my cut after this is over."

"I dont care if you ADD, ADHD, high as fuck, you OCD today or we all up go!"

Mai headed up Adams Apple Boulevard through Pillbox Hill. "Okay you gotta go to Cypress Flats for the first ride..." Lamar told them, "The second one is in Mirror Park. Boost em and bring em back to Benny's."

Before long, Mai was tearing up Little Bighorn. "Shit feels like we been boosting cars for this motherfucker for a while, now. Seems like that's all we been doing...just for a little bit of pay," Complained Ulu.

"I thought you said Lamar was cool for somebody from CGF?" Reminded Gina.

"He was and he alwayspays but it aint usually good pay I mean if it was just small petty shit I aint even need to leave the Beach for that. I worked with somebody from a set my hood has old funk with on the hustle tip thats what anybody who patches shit up with an enemy do and I did time in LS County Jail with a bunch of locs from The Hills and they had my back against the Va Hos so as far as I see it we cool..."

"But?" Prodded Mahana.

"But Im starting to see this fool for the clown he is. Lamars a homie and Ill ride for him on the Families car any day and throw the whole Others car behind the homie if it was some pen to the streets shit but the same tired ass OGs from my hood could have come up with the same old bullshit schemes he does. Boosting gas tankers is a waste of my time."

"Yeah but LD's been there for us for a long time we gotta stick by him cause he;s on the up look at his homie with the smoke shop."

"Ulu's right, Mahana. If Lamar was really somebody to look up to would he really still be living at his mom's house?"

"I dont know girl, that sounds elitist. You know society expects all this shit from men...how come its only a bad thing to still live at home when it;s them yoj never see anybody knocking a woman for that. Besides we're Pac Islanders, Mai. We dont kick our kids out the house at 18 like white parents do."

"Im not even sure they do that anymore. I dont think they can with the economy being what it is."

Despite having been a feminist for a good chunk of her life, Mai was willing to concede to something. "Look if Lamar was a minimum wage burger flipper at Up N Atom I might agree. But if you're going to act like the big OG you better be living somewhere to show it. You know his best friend Franklin? Im starting to realize I should have introduced myself to him if I was gonna do work with the men in green. Franklin is like the successful version of Lamar."

"I could see how you might think that and you might have been able to get at him a few years ago when he was just another commoner but he aint now. Dudes up in Vinewood Hills he aint just down the street. And people like us I highly doubt a cat like that that made it to the top and got legit bread is gonna even fuck with people like us. Hes not even in the turf himself that much with people he grew up with so why would he give some hood homies from the Beach the time of day?"

They decided to go after the Mirror Park lowrider first as they were simply closer by the route Mai was taking plus with the Trackify coordinates Lamar had just texted she was able to follow where to go. Lamar said something in their headset that the Vago was racing and that the car was pink. Mai had an MP5 on her.

Mai put the blue green bandanna over her face and so did Gina and the two SOP members. As they spotted four lowriders racing, Ulu got the Spas 12 ready that he had purchased for this job while Gina readied an AK-74 and Mahana carried an MP5 similar to Mai. Mai took aim at the white lowrider first and peppered twenty rounds at the back of the ride. She could hear screams from the fron passenger seat and she could hear the shattering of glass.

Ulu fired two shots from the Spas 12 at the aqua blue top down lowrider lagging behind the white car. It was a Manana and Ulu managed to hit the first gangster, a bald Chicano man with light brown skin and a lighter brown mustache in a white basketball jersey and baggy blue jeans. The second shot from the Spas 12 hit the Vago in the left side of the collar bone.

The first shot hit his friend, the driver, a Guetemalan man with a buzz cut in the upper back through the back seat. Gina let the royal blue Glendale ahead of them have it with a barrage of twenty eight rounds from the chopper to hit the car in second place. "We got you fuckin scraps!"Barked Mahana as she sprayed the MP5 at the back of the dark blue lowrider as well.

As Mai flew by she saw the brain matter decorating the windshield of the car up front and every occupant inside was dead, including the driver who had his left ear hanging from just a sinew courtesy of Mahana. They pulled alongide the pink Buccaneer and Mai let off a ten round burst killing the driver. The car slowed to a stop and Ulu and Mahana got into that car.

"Get this back to Bennys! We'll get the other one!" Mai called out.

The return fire had hit the front windshield of Mai's car but it hadnt hit a single one of them. The Vagos had been caught by surprise. She could hear the sirens and she knew that the police wouldnt be far behind. She dialed up Lester, "Hey couch potato! Off the couch and onto the computer!"

"Would it kill you to ask nicely?"

"My money Im paying you to put the LSPDs last known whereabouts of me in Banning. I know you cant run but could you waddle a little faster on the way to the computer? No stopping at the fridge."

Mai pulled them up alongside the other car and Gina quickly finished the driver off of this ride as well pulling the driver, a Chicano male with a black and silver plaid jacket and gray khakis. They began to drive back with Mai still maintaining control over the Kuruma while Gina drove the blue Bucaneer. Mai could hear Lamar going on about how the police treat lowriders like it was the 80;s.

The garage opened as theey got it back and Lamar began whooping. "We done, dog! We aint gotta worr about lowriders nio more unless you trying to drive some of that hard earned bread with your boy LD."

They could hear some male voices and Lamar ijnquired as to if they brought some homies. He realized it wasnt that only moments later. "Oh shit, it's the Vagos, they riding on us! Protect the whips, man, go! I left a pot on the stove."

"Lamar! Wait man! Where the fuck are you going?!" Cried Ulu.

"Fuck him we gotta deal with this shit!" Gina barked.

Mai got in the back alley behind a dark blue dumpster with a fresh magazine for the H& fired striking a Vago who had parked a gray Glendale near the alley and she struck him with seven rounds in the chest. There were two more Vagos to her right and she nailed each of them with shots to the head.

There was another dumpster just south of Mai on her right and it was next to a recycle dmpster and Ulu was beind this one trying to flank the Vagos from his position. Gina was behind a parked black Emporor and she was unloading 7.62 lead at the rivals as they came.

Gina managed to drop three East Side Vagos as they came up the alley. Two males and one female. Mai felt rounds hit her in the back and she fell forward as two Vagos tried flanking her. She looked and saw the rounds came from the roof courtesy of a Mexican American with skin tones similar to Mai who had hit her in the chest. Luckily the ody armor held but she could feel the impact of it.

Gina reloaded a new magazine and was panting the alley red with Vagos as they kept trying to breach that same corner and she ambushed them. Mai saw one of them crawling backwards on his ass with his knees turned to hamburger meat courtesy of Ginas Kalisnikov. Mai decided to put him out of his misery and with a quick trigger pull, the mans right temple exploded and he had no more problems.

Mahana fell over as eight rounds hit her in the back from behind as a dark blue Glendale was parked at the end of the alley from the other side. One of these rounds pierced her right arm. She cried out but let the MP5 kick with her free hand spraying and praying and a barrage of eight rounds found its way towards the Vago who had shot her with the last three catching the man in his solar plexus.

Ulu reloaded his own shotgun as he kept in cover behind the dumpster while Gina moved to behind the adjacent corner wall on the right. She hammered two more ESV members as they tried to hem up Mai.

Gina and Mahanas gunfire caused a black Glendale to catch fire and explode as lead was exchanged from both sides. Mai and Ulu covered the alley from the west while Gina and Mahana covered from the east. Mai felt more rounds hit her and she fell down. Ulu aimed up and fired three shots in succession and he hit one of the cholos who had hit Mai from the rooftop overlooking Bennys.

"Fuck, Mexicans arent just good at jumping fences they're good at getting on roofs too!" Ulu bellowed.

"Somebody drop that Samoan, dog! Fat boys sitting pretty with the shotty light him up!"

"Suck my dick, beaners!" Growled Ulu. He hit another cholo coming around the corner near the bridge adjacent section of the alley. He hit the man at fifty yards with a chest shot. "You better tell your homie from the south theres a new shotgun champ in town!" Bellowed Ulu.

The rounds from an AK-47 came down and hit Ulu in the chest. One went through his vest. "Im hit! Fucking Va Hos got me!" Growled Ulu as he ducked down. Mai cried out, "Get behind the Kuruma!"

Mahana reloaded her MP5 and was keeping four Vagos back. "You aint running shit! Get the fuck outta here! These are our rides!" She hit three out of four of them, the first a Mexican national who was rolling with East Side. She hit him in the stomach and chest of his Pounders jersey. Next was a man in a gold and blue checkered shirt. Him, she hit in the right thigh and stomach down to the belt.

Next was a female which she only wounded with hip shots on both sides. She fell as a shotgun blast hit her however and while the vest held up to the shotgun, Mahana fell onto the ground. Gina was behind the cover of a dark blue Tornado that a Vago had parked. Mai took cover and fired striking the man who had done this in the right cheek and the rounds exited the top of his skull.

Mai felt a barrage of rounds hit her from behind as a Vago on the roof with a Nickle plated Uzi sprayed down at them. Mai was starting to feel the pain despite the armor holding up. Gina fired and struck the man who had shot Mai with a twelve round burst.

Before long, the Vagos stopped shooting. Mai realized they had taken them all down but she had been so caught up in the moment of it flashing back to war she hadn; thought to see how many were left. Lamar said over the headset that he was coming out. "Thats what the fuck Im talking about. Serve them fools man! They know better than fucking with Lamar Davis! And I hope that keeps that motherfucker Vernon quiet man. You wanna know some fucked up shit? I know what youre thinking I know what youre thinking and you right."

Nobody was in the mood to hear him talk. "Its a cruel and loveless world we live in.A world in which genius gets bullied by gang politics and overbearing assholes like Vernon stop talent dead in its guess what thats some bullshit. It takes more than lunatic gangs and no ideas to stop Lamar Davis. Ima be somebody on the set, nigga."

"Lamar let me give you a piece of advice. Give this shit up after this. Its one thing to want Vago and Baller OGs after you. Its another thing to have OGs from yiour own set wanting you dead..." Mai told him.

"You know how it is! Niggas hate cause bitches flock."

"Yeah we do. To get away from you..." Mai shot back.

"Lamar you fuckin pieve of shit! You almost got me killed and you got Ulu and Mahana all banged up. Mai is fucked up too./ I used to resprect your fuckin ass till you almost got me killed. AGAIN."

Girl you know what you signed up for when tyou took the job."

"I did it for the chedder. Not to just do errands for you. This was more than I signed up for."

Ulu limped up to Lamar. "Hey you better clear on outta here, g. The one time will be all over the spot."

"Nah I aint peeking my head up outside this motherfucker for a while. Far as Im concerned it's just a bad neighborhood aint shit that happened have a thing to do with me these bodies are in th alley not the motorshop, dog. Thats on yall but it aint nothing you cant handle. You were never hear. And I ant even here right now."

"There was one thing homie..." Ulu stated. He drove his knee into his stomach and followed u[p with a hard right hook. Lamar fell back with hi nose leaking. "You ever be around me when the ops are busting and dont do shit im a dome you my fuckin self!" Growled the Samoan gangster. "You tal;k about the set, motherfucker? Well here my set..." He lifted up his shirt.

The tattoo on his bruised abdomen said Paka Lolo . That was the name of their set of Sons of Polynesia. There were two major SOP sets in the East Beach Cyp[ress Flats area. There had once been more than that but law enforcement had left a lot of former sets in the city south of LS defunct. His hood was still alive and well, however.

He put the shirt down and Lamar cried out, "What the fuck, loc you wanna head u up nigga?!" Mahana fired two shots from her M9 into Lamar;s left leg. Lamar cried out falling over and Ulu shut the door behind him. "What the fuck are you doing?!" Demanded mai.

"That bitch will live. Look I'm cool with the homies from 21st but I aint cool with none of these bitche from CGF anymore. i just almost got my head blown off cause of that fuckin piece of shit. I thik I finally understand how a Va Ho thinks wanting to dome that fool."

"YOU CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER AHHHHH!" Growled Lamar. Ulu pointed the smokin gun just outside Lamars right eye. "I dont respect pussies and you ran during a fight. But you better have my fuckin money cause I know where your mama stays, bitch. If we dont get paid everything were owed my next stop is her house. Maybe Denise Clinton too since you hang with her..." He pistol whipped the African American once but Mai stopped him. "Its done! Leave him..."

"He can explain his gunshot wound to the cops..." Sneered Ulu before taking the magazine out and tossing it to Lamar. "Come on, girl you just gonna leave me?!" Lamar cried.

"You had an army of cholos looking to kill you and us and you dont even think to pick up a gun and help? You dont value our lives. You better stay in there and hope the police clear out fast..." She shut the shutter.

They took off in the Kuruma and began to drive back to Cypress Flats. "im so tired of lowriders..." Mai said with an eye roll. "If they ever had any novelty to them they lost them with that many people trying to kill us over them."

"Yeah well Eses aint the only ones that appreciate a low low. They might have started it but that shits world wide now. You even got homies hopping in Japan..." Mahana remarked. "Goddamn it, Lamar all he had to do was just have our backs! I dont care how much he paid us for the risk. That could have been my life or any of ours."

"Yeah well if he survives we can expect problems for both our knows who we all are."

"That idiot only gets looked up to by teenagers who havent made a name for themselves. You heard him say it himself. His own homeboys want him off the map. He doesnt mean to be a piece of shit but hes one of those people who can;t help it. If he doesnt pay us itll be me who pay his mom a visit..." Mai said softly with a dead expression in her eyes.

"How about you, you good? You shot anywhere?" Asked Gina.

Mai shook her head. "Nothing went through but Ijm feeling the blunt force trauma just thee same. It kind of hurts to breathe. Heres what I'm gonna suggest. We all check into hotels and stay there a few days. Its on me...but we can't go back to Little Phonm Penh. Not right now. We're as hot on the streets as T Mart would be right now."

Ulu turned to Gina, "Before I forget hows the homie Clayton holding up?"

"He;s still healing but hes got some fught left in him."

"Yo when I heard the story of how he got shot I couldnt believe the scraps didnt kill him. God must really be watching out for him."

Ulu revealed two wounds one had been from a 7.62 round that hit his right wrist. He also had a round in his arm. "I hope you got people ready...I need help."

Mai nodded. "Ill dig those out of you myself."

1 Week Later

Mai rested in a hotel room. She ordered room service getting a burger fries and chocolate pudding. She knew it was time to go home. After a long ride through LS traffic jam she finally made it back to the west side.

She returned to her apartment exausted and she saw a tomahawk embedded in the wall. The tomahawk was dipped in blood. She remembered the history Paul had taught her about war and how that was a way to declare war. She didn't like to admit it but she nly knew that detail from Templars Code III. She had asked him why the main character who was the same mix and tribe as Paul put the tomahawk in the side of the old black man with an English accents house when the man said he could have used a tree and Paul had said that was what they generally did.

Paul had said that it didn't really matter that it was his house. The house was still made of wood which came from the trees. But usually that was placed in ones own abode. When you sent a bloody tomahawk to somebody that was your way of declaring war.

Despite not being Native American, she had been shown how to use it by Freddie. She took the tomahawk downstairs along with a pistol. She was going to drive over to IAA headquarters and see where the hell Paul was now. She didn't want him going off grid but she realized he knew counter surveillance.

Who does this fucker think he is?! Fuckin mamas boy. He's a manchild playing at war. I'm gonna fuckin kill him! I did nothin to this man. IAA tries to kill him and he blames me?!

"I didn't think anybody would be home..." Patrick approached her from behind in the parking garage.

"Patrick, what the fuck are you doing here?!"

Patrick smirked. "You thoght you were going to pawn off what that fuckin cokehead did off on me?! I don't mind credit for things I've done. Or those people under me did. But things I didn't do? That we can't have..."

"What are you doin here Patrick?"

"You can hide behind Bernard, Karen and 14 all you want. There's nowhere on this planet you could go where I wouldn't find you."

He held up the hunting knife. "You know...those men you sent after me in that alley...you probably didnt think I'd remember or at least that you'd ever have to answer for it. And I let you think it. But that's twice you've fucked me over. I'm here to reciprocate."

She threw the tomahawk at him hitting him in the right side of the chest. "You're just one of Devlin's lapdogs. You served your purpose. But now you're Old Yeller with rabies and it's time to put you out of your misery."

"A lapdog? If that's true...when you kill me..will you eat me?" He growled before pulling the tomahawk from his chest. He came and swung at her but she anticipated it. She moved away from the left swipe. She dodged and he took a right swing at her which she also evaded. She grabbed his arm and drove a left knee into his side. "YA!" She growled. She disarmed him with a kick to the left hand. She then followed up with a right cross to his jaw.

He recovered quickly and took another swing at her and she grapperd his arms grappling. He tried a kick at her and she took it in the stomach but grunted and gave a kick back sending him crashing against the Sentinel. She had the tomahawk in hand and came to bring it down on him but he grabbed her wrist and flipped her onto the car.

He brought his right fist down as she cried out but she rolled and he hit his fist. He tried a kick but she was quick moving with that as well. She moved and his foot hit the windshield. She couldn't match him in upper body strength, she understood but she was athletic and she had speed on him. Speed and skill.

She kicked him as she came off the hood of the car and he landed on his back. She still had the tomahawk. She gave a kick to the chest followedf by a left leg sweep and he was knocked down. She just wanted to buy herself enough time. She had her pistol on her too but didn't want to draw attention if she could help it. I'm still in control...just remember your training...

She brought the tomahawk down with a right swing but Patrick decided to try her style and also go on defense as needed. She missed him as he dodged and she brought the blade into the tire. Even as he stood up and briefly had his back turned to her, she swung the blade and cut him across the back. He spun around with a hiss as she was coming up for a blow and he opened the car door to the back left side.

The glass broke as her arm went through it with the tomahawk. He twisted the door and jerked her slammed her against the driver side door winding her. "ARGHHH!" She fried as he then threw her into the back seat of the car. She felt as though he was going to try and slam the door on her but he switched it up and kicked her further in. She hit her head on the back seat.

By some miracle she still had the tomahawk and she swung at him from within the car but he dodged her and this time the blade landed into the steering wheel. He tried to grab the blade as she was sandwiched between the front and the backseat but she kicked him in the face forcing him back.

He grabbed her arm however and slammed it against the right front passenger seat head rest and she cried out as he slammed her arm down in two swift motions and the weapon fell from her punched her with a left hook and she was temporarily blinded by it as a world of blurry vision and blackness and red flooded her sight.

He then drove a follow up elbow to her face and she hit her head cracking the back right window. He kept kicking her as she grappled with him but she dodged his third kick and his boot kicked out the window. She was trying to kick him from the car and vice versa.

He grabbed her and slammed her through the front window but then pulled her back inside. He got behind her with wire at the back of her throat and began to choke her. Where's my gun...gotta get my gun...She panicked.

She tried to reach for the gun in the glovebox but he pulled her back. She felt the blade end of the tomahawk and she picked it up flipping it midair with her right hand while her left flailed against him. She grabbed the weapon and hit him behind her. She hit him twice with the handle and tried for a blade to the face as she felt him release his grip. He then got out of the car and she tried a whirlwind kick at him that he dodged.

She then slashed him across the face with the weapon and followed up with a follow up pary that got him near the left eye. If he hadn't had glasses on his eye socket would have been hanging out. She tried swinging with a left swing with the tomahawk to throw him off but he dodged a forward swing and then an overheard swing.

Don't you ever fucking die?! She screamed in her head as she swung again for his face and while he was not fast enough to grab her arm and hold it, he did block it long enough to deliver a left kick to her belly. He followed up with a punch from the side. It left her right ear ringing. He grabbed her and tackled her along the waist pulling her to the ground but he kept at her.

He gave her another kick to the stomach as she got uip even as he hadn't been able to hold onto her. He pulled out a scalpel one he had used many times on many victims. "I'll give you this... You're a lot more of a fighter first hand...than I thought you would be. Maybe you're not a coward after all. Maybe you just wanted to keep your hands clean. But none of our hands are clean..."

She tried to swing the tomahawk at him again but he was faster this time. He sliced across her stomach a few inches above the navel. She screamed in pain as she felt cold air kiss her open wound. Next as the two took more swipes at each otheer, he brought the scalpel into her thigh, her right thigh. "UHHH!" She cried out.

Her back was shown to him and he stabbed her in the back with it. He stabbed her in the shoulder and she cried out in a quieted moan. He stabbed her twice near the collar bone. She didn't know how she wasn't dead or seconds away from it. She was panicked but she wqas trying to remember where everything vital was but with the second stab as he pulled out to do it again, she screamed with rage grabbing the tomahawk again and she sliced him across his thigh this time.

She sliced his stabbing arm in the forearm with the tomahawk and it caused him to go on the retreat again. She tried swinging at him again but he paried with the scalpel and the two blocked each other's blows just to try again. Patrick tried using a left hook and she ducked under it feeling a sense of relief that she could still evade any of his attacks.

She managed to get behind him just barely and buried the tomahawk into his left shoulder pulling him down and back like he had done to her. She pulled the blade out and he fell face down onto the ground. She had hoped this would at least keep him down five seconds but it didn't. The left side of his dressshirt was caked in blood as well as his nose and under it. The back of his shirt was also caked in blood. She gave him a roundhouse right kick to the face to keep him back.

He grabbed her right arm as he came up and in one swift motion, broke it. "GAHHHHHHHHHH!" She roared. He was not human. it was like no matter how much damage she did to him, he kept coming and beyond grunting he didn't seem to show pain.

She kicked him in the groin finally landing a blow and this slowed him grabbed the antennae off the car having lost the scalpel and she staggered wounded holding her broken arm to her stomach. She wasn't about to give up and neither was he. She brought the tomahawk around and caught him in the right ribcage.

He tried to stab her in the throat with the antennae but she barely blocked it. He stabbed her hand instead. And part of her throat but she was still alive. She gasped falling over. She grabbed her P99 staggering back not even remembering landing inside the car at any point again or grabbing it but her instincts kicked in.

As he came forward, she fired but he grabbed her arm and the round bounced and the ricochet hit the rear view mirror. "I'LL GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!" He roared. He had her tomahawk now in hand. He slammed her hand against the roof and then as the gun discharged next to her ear causing the other to ring, he kicked her in the side. She collapsed coughing up blood whimpering.

"I want you to know...before you die...I was thinking about gutting Neto but now I think you'll be my personal best...you got even more fight in you than he does! And he a;lmost killed me...don't worry Mai...I'll keep that tramp stamp on your back as a trophy."

He leaned in as he had the antane from the car against her throat. "You should know something before you die. Lee Shen killed Miguel and Carmen Santana. On my say so. He didn't want to kill Carmen just Miguel. But I wanted him to prove he was able to do what I said."

"You're lying..."

Patrick chuckled. "You didn't notice he was a little angrier than usual since that stage of the war with them? Then again maybe you just don't mind fucked up men. There was that kid he killed in Rancho. Now you know...I know what you're thinking. He's a kid from Rancho so who gives a shit right? Why should you care you've splattered just as many Arab kiddies for Uncle Sam."

She hated him. She wanted to kill him but he had her dead to rights.

"It doesn't really matter that you don't believe me. I guess you'll never know..."

No... She begged to Jesus and to Buddha at the same time for help. Her vision was blurring more and by some miracle she could talk. No lung damage. She didn't remember what she said as she talked however. Her own words were just movement and wind against her lips and her eyes rolled back even as she somehow had the handgun again and was trying to. She could hear the screeching of tires and Patrick turned looking to see a car door opening.

"This doesn't concern you!" Patrick growled.

"Nobody's gonna kill her but me!" Neto growled. She saw Patrick walking towards him. "Make your move now, chico while I'm...leaking...cause you aint...gonna get another chance. I wouldn't hesitate...if I had you like this..."

She heard Neto's voice cry out, "What the fuck are you doing here?!" He wasn't talking to Patrick but somebody behind Patrick. She couldn't see. She gave up trying to see.

She heard blows and Patrick crying out as well as a shotgun being fired but she didn't hear the sound of the gunshot hitting flesh but she could still only hear it muffled.

She thought she smelled burning flesh and heard Patrick scream finally like an enraged demon and she heard the other voice, a male screaming but it was distant. He sounded enraged while Patrick sounded like he was in agony.

Her last thought as she faded into blackness was that she wondered which had been the one to answer her prayers. And had it been too late?

Neto

He had been tracking Mai with Trackify. He knew she had more than one burner. She was an IAA agent but he was still able to get his hands on tracking her main phone.

He had his Glock 18 ready. He really didn't need more than that to kill Mai. Just the element of surprise. She had kicked up too much dirt with the Vagos and word had gotten back. He knew it was her. Who else was working with Lamar Davis to steal lowriders?

He pulled up to the garage of the apartment and spotted her Kuruma. He spotted her. He saw a familar Caucasian and her fighting. He pulled up just as Patrick had her by the throat. Neto got out with the handgun ready.

"This doesn't concern you!" Patrick growled.

"Nobody's gonna kill her but me!" Neto growled. She saw Patrick walking towards him. "Make your move now, chico while I'm...leaking...cause you aint...gonna get another chance. I wouldn't hesitate...if I had you like this..."

"What the fuck are you doing here?!"

Lee fired his shotgun and surprised Patrick but before the man could say anything Lee pressed the hot barrel to his wounds. He had seen their enemies in the Motley Crew do this to enemies and Lee had no qualms about it.

"Saving her from you!"

"Yeah well this fuckin gavacho beat me to the punch, fool."

"Yeah and now I'm gonna beat him to the punch..." Lee drop kicked the man in the face and as the serial killer fell, he began to punch him again and again and again. "You fukin cocksucking piece of shit! I'll KILL YOU IF YOU TOUCH HER!"

Patrick spit blood at him as he rolled in pain on the floor from the sizzling wound Lee had added to one of Mai's many cut wounds. "I told her what we did together, General Lee. To Miguel and Carmen."

"No..."

Patrick nodded. "Yep."

Lee began to blugeon him again and again left right left right pounding Patrick's already battered face. Neto scooped up Mai. "Fuckin leave that guero, alone. I gotta get her some help. I want her to die but she should get a fair chance."

"Since when do you care about fair?" Sneered Lee.

"When it's an old friend who deserves better than to be laid out by that motherfucker."

"Neto..you save my life im starting to think you like me. You...you think you're a revolutionary but you're not. Strip away the Zapatistas...and the Aztecas...La Onda...the cartel and take you at your pures form. You're more like me than you think...and so is he..."

Patrick laughed. "For all your talk you're just a serial killer and you'd...unleash..your potential...if we combined forces...not as one of my subordinates. As an equal. Better yet,...you couild teach me a thing or two. And I could teach you subtlety..."

Lee punched him with a hard south paw left knocking him out. He had punched him as hard as he could and his nose was broken. he stood up.

He grabbed Mai and said, "I don't trust her with you. Even if you say you don't want to kill her now."

"Then take her upstairs better yet take her to her dads spot in Pacific Bluffs. But this is closer. Go upstairs to her apartment."

"You're telling ME to go into her apartment?"

"Quit fucking around and take the elevaetor. She';s got medical equipment up there we gotta do what we can for her until her dad gets here."

"Fuck that...you aint comig up.." Lee slung her over one shoulder and aimed his shotgun with the other arm. "Get back in the car and take off."

"Firme..."

"You kno if you wanted her dead you could have just let him kill her. That stab to the throat wouldn't be long."

Neto didn't respond but he read Lee loud and clear. Lee thought he was full of shit on wanting her dead. He didn't care what he thought. "What about him? I got what I came for I think..."

"I got what I came for..." Lee echoed. "I don't need anything else from him. You better tie him up...I';d love to kill the piece of shit and Mark and Ana would understand but the IAa wouldn't."

"Why not just take that shotgun and finish the job? He's gonna want to kill you if you let him live. I gave this fool plenty of reason to want me dead when his disciples invaded my hood but now you and Mai are at the top of his shit list."

"You could just do it. There's no reason anybody has to know."

"I don't care about him one way or another if he comes back to the barrio it's one thing but I'd say he knows not to fuck with me I got more resources than that psycho."

"That's th pot calling the kettle black aint it?"

"I'm a sociopath, Lee. Not a psycho. Don't ever confuse the two. I got a fuckin conscious. It's just very weak. So is my sense of remorse."

"You know what? On second though come help me...you know where everything is."

"Chale. She's your girlfriend. You save her. And I'm not gonna be the one to break it to her parents how fucked up she got. I ain afraid of Khoi Thu but we're not on speaking terms and if I'm gonna kill him I'd rather it not be when his daughters messed up."

"You could just give it a rest, man. You're rich! You're a crime boss in LS. If New Arcadia is so insinificant and unwrthy of an Ese's time to take it then leave us to our insinificance. You should know the 48 laws of power. What you draw attention to gets power. Even if you or Paul could beat him and kill him he gets power from negativity and people trying to kill him. It's less of a headache if you stay home and count your cheddar."

"Maybe, pues. I'm still not tellin Khoi. I wanted to do the same thing to his daughter. If I can help it and I have to take out a whole family I'd rather do it one at a time."

Lee got her upstairs. She still had a pulse and he set her down and got to the medical kit. "Fuck, Neto why would you leave me to do this shit alone?!" Mai was alive but she was out cold and her pulse was weak.

He got his cell phone out. He had to call somebody but he wasn't sure who.

Later that night, Neto was driving Eclipse Boulevard when he heard a Weazel News report talking about a Caucasian man fitting Patrick';s description with wounds walking around limping. He didn't know how he could still walk around after all that but he figured there had to be a substance involved.

Neto wondered what Ivan's next move would be as a result of this too. This threw a wrench in everything.

Neto nodded and the two men separated.

He would let Mai and Lee believe that sentiment. That he as too attached t her to kill her. But he wasn't. One shot from the Glock was all he needed. He'd hit her in the sweet spot. He thought aboiut giving her a fair fight on his way here and upon seeing her fight with Patrick but that had been a fair fight and she had lost.

Neto looked at the blood stains where Patrick had been. He followed the bloody tracks into the street. He wasn't here to fight Patrick and had more or less accidentally saved his life but he wondered how pissed he'd be. He also knew that Lee shouldn't have onjured him without killing him.

---

That's it for now. So we had a bit more of a dialogue with Paul and Ace. Ace is not a character I particularly like. He's not meant to bee liked he's a drug addict but I figured I could give him a back story and thatthing about an Inuit woman helping her bfthis black guy mofve the body of her own mother which was the first murder i think in 2020 or 2021 in Thunder Bay.

Native gangsters in Canada are not usually like Surenos but i have heard that because of gang wars in Winnipeg it has gotten a bit racial up there as well with some ogf the Crees fighting blacks. Mostly urban Crees.

And im not the only one who even heard this.

As far as Mai and Patricks fight that was based on the fight between Burton and Nola in Banshee the difference is Mai is not dead.

Now to explain the context of that word Ace said in Inuit.

The names we call each other as a group and the names that groups use to refer to themselves make a fascinating study. Technically, such words are called "ethnonyms."

Last week I wrote about one such word, the word "Yak" or "Yakkie" which whalers used to describe Inuit.

"Inuit" is an ethnonym, as is the out-of-fashion "Eskimo." But there are other ethnonyms used in the Arctic, and each one has its own fascinating derivation.

We know what the whalers called the Inuit. But what did the Inuit call the whalers? Of course, they were known as "qallunaat" – white people. And, as a group, they were referred to as arviqsiuqtiit (also arvagasuaqtiit or arvaniaqtiit), those who hunt the bowhead whale.

But in the eastern Canadian Arctic some of these whalers were Scottish and some were American. And words were needed to differentiate the two.

Inuit simply adopted the word "Scotch" into Inuktitut to describe the Scottish whalers. They were known then, and remembered today, as "Sikaatsi".

The word "American" was less malleable and required some adaptation to fit the sound system of the Inuktitut language. First the initial vowel was dropped so the word would start with "m". The "r" in the middle became an "l," something that happens often when English words are borrowed into Inuktitut. The "c" became a "g", and so on until the word became "Mialigaq" in the singular and "Mialigait" in the plural. This word is commonly used in south Baffin to describe Americans, because the American presence in Frobisher Bay was so dominant during the Second World War and the post-war years.

It even became incorporated into a place name. Crowell Island, named after Major John Crowell, who was in charge of the Crystal Two site, was named "Mialigaqtalik" – the place where there are Americans. If it had an earlier Inuktitut name, it has been forgotten, according to elders interviewed by Melanie Gagnon for an Arctic College project. Once the Americans were no longer there, the name acquired a suffix and became "Mialigaqtaliminiq" – the place where Americans once lived.

In whaling days, farther west, the word "American" may have been incorporated differently into Inuktitut. An Inuk born near Repulse Bay who worked closely with Captain George Comer and his whaling crews in Hudson Bay around the turn of the century was called Maliki (spelled also Meliki or Melichi in whaling literature), although this was not his birth name. In 1983 his grand-daughter, Kanayuk Bruce, told Dorothy Eber, "He got the name Meliki because Inuit couldn't pronounce 'American.'"

Many of the American whalers were black men. Inuit called them "Puatugi." If you think this word bears a resemblance to the English word "Portuguese," you're right. But why? Portuguese may be darker than northern Europeans, but they are not black. And where would Inuit have come across Portuguese anyway?

The answer is not immediately obvious. The Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa had a black population, and these islands belonged to Portugal. Many Cape Verdians emigrated to the United States, particularly to the city of New Bedford, then an affluent bustling community made wealthy because it was the major whaling port on the American Atlantic coast. Many of these transplanted black Cape Verdians, once citizens of Portugal, sailed to Cumberland Sound or to Hudson Bay on American whaling ships. Probably the whaling captains or the white crews of their ships referred to a black whaler as "Portugee." They probably thought, incorrectly, that "Portuguese" was plural, and unnecessarily shortened it to "Portugee" in an attempt to make it singular. Hearing this word from the whalers, Inuit would naturally make the necessary changes to make it flow mellifluously from their own lips as "Puatugi."

The word survived the demise of whaling and is still used today to refer to black people

Anyway enough about that. As far as Raymond they haven't gotten revenge yet for him as they want to lull his killers into a false sense of security based on enough time going by.

Packie's also in bad shape and we'll deal wih the ramifications of that later. For now i hope you enjoyed im gonnna have more chapters coming. This story wont be longer than 100 chapters but as far as Paul and his flashback that was based on Power Book 2 all the way except with the trigger actually pullerd.

Idk if I memtioned last chapter but El Turnillo is supposed to be the same actor who played pablo rosa on Oz.

For those who have wondered where i have been i had a surgery back in january but im all good now. Anyway until next time.