Thanks to all that reviewed! It makes my day, really! Be aware that there are quite a few POV's here. Jerry, Angel, Em, Bobby and a couple parts in 3rd person.
I left Jerry's house early enough to go find Fowler and immobilize him. Sweet would be rolling up at Jerry's any minute and I needed to have Fowler with me before it happened. We had it all planned out and as long as everyone did their job everything would go perfectly. Now all I needed was a decoy.
I looked around Fowler's neighborhood and heard the sound of metal hitting hard plastic. I turned toward the baseball field and saw one lonesome kid taking shots with a bat. I smirked at the box of Baby Ruth's in my hand and jogged over to the kid.
"Hey, kid!" I called out. "What you doing playing out here in the snow?"
"I'm just working on my swing for the spring." he told me and let the bat fall to his side. I chuckled and walked up to the fence.
"Hey, man, I need a big favor. I'll give you 20 and this whole box of Baby Ruth's." I offered and held it at the fence. He looked at me and the box and slowly walked over.
"You see that house over there?" I asked and pointed Fowler's house.
"Yeah." he nodded.
"Ya see I just got back from Iraq, I'm a marine, and he's an old buddy of mine. He don't know I'm coming and I wanna surprise him. I need you to go distract him for me. Think you can do that?" I asked. The kid looked over at the house and back at me.
"Sure." he agreed and walked over to the gate and walked out. "What do I say?"
"Just tell him your selling candy for the upcoming baseball season. Uniforms or something." I said and handed him the candy. "Thanks kid."
"Hey!" he called after I turned around. "Where's my money?" he asked. I laughed and pulled out a twenty from my pocket. I jogged across the street and cut between two houses a few yards away from Fowler's and crept through the back yard. I saw the kid walk into Fowler's yard and I stood by the back door.
I waited for him to knock before I jimmied the door open. I shut it softly and made my way through the kitchen and into the den.
"Thanks. Now get the hell out of here." Fowler grumbled and shut the door. As soon as he shut the door and draped the plastic bag I picked up around his head and held him to me.
"This is a big problem. A big problem for you." I hissed as he struggled in my grip. "Even a completely calm person will suffocate in four minutes without oxygen. And you're not exactly calm, are you?"
I forced him into the living room and pulled my belt off. I wrapped it around his neck and pulled out my phone and called Bobby.
"Angel?" he answered.
"Hey man, I got him." I told him.
"Is he out of the way?" he asked.
"What, you wanna ask him?" I asked.
"Let me hear his voice." Bobby asked.
"Hold on, let me put him on." I laughed and put the phone next to Fowler's face. "Hey, man, say hi to my brother." He let out muffled screams and I hung up with Bobby.
"You'll never get the belt." I chuckled as he scraped at his neck. "Trust me." His eyes widened and his hands ripped open the bag at his mouth.
"People never think to go for the bag. It's always the belt first for some reason. The bag has to be clear, though. Black doesn't work." I hissed and held the gun to his head. "Get up. Get over there right now." I ordered him to go to the couch.
"Where is she at?" I asked as he sat in the chair.
"Who?" he asked. I jammed the gun into his temple and looked around.
"Emilie!" I yelled and waited to hear something.
"Angel!" came the distant sound. "Angel!" I looked up when I heard the sound of banging on the roof. I yanked Fowler to his feet and drug him to the stairs.
"She's one pretty bitch, ya know?" he chuckled. "Nice underwear. Jack's a lucky guy." I pushed him against the wall and brought my fist across his face. He held his jaw and looked over at me before I finished walking upstairs.
"Angel! Help me!" she screamed again. I kicked the attic door open and sighed when I saw Emilie there. She smile widely when she saw me holding Fowler but I could still see the pain and fear in her eyes.
"Hey, Diddle." I smiled and pushed Fowler behind the chair. "Untie her." Fowler scowled at me and slowly undid the ties in her feet and hands. She leaped from the chair and faced Fowler.
"You son of a bitch!" she screamed. I flinched when I heard the sound of her palm hitting Fowler's cheek and laughed when he hissed and rubbed the red spot.
"Let's go." I said waving the gun to Fowler. We ushered him back downstairs and set him the chair. I sat on the coffee table and Emilie stood behind me.
"You can sit." I smirked at her. She glared at me and crossed her arms.
"I'm sick if sitting." she mumbled. "What's going on Angel?"
I looked at Fowler as he smirked and then at Emilie.
"Don't worry. We got it under control." I promised her. She nodded and looked around nervously before sitting behind me on the coffee table and laying her head on my shoulder.
Not too long after Angel left and we sent Camille and the girls off Evan rolled up in the driveway. Me and Bobby peeked out the window and I started pacing.
"Not till we hear from Angel." he reminded me. I looked down at my watch and sighed as the horn continued to beep outside. I paced the living room and saw a shadow at the door.
"Jerry! Jerry!" Evan called and rang the door bell.
"Fuck!" I cursed and bit my knuckles.
"We ain't going nowhere without the call, so just calm down." Bobby told me as the horn and door bell went off repeatedly.
"What the fuck you-?" I started.
"Jerry!" Evan sang through my door.
"Just keep stalling him." Bobby ordered.
"Hold! I'm grabbing my scarf, man. Hold on. I'll be there in a minute!" I yelled to Evan as Bobby's phone went off.
"Jerry, come on man." Evan whined.
"Angel? Is he out of the way? Let me hear his voice. We got you now, bitch." Bobby hissed into the phone.
"Hold on. I'm coming." I yelled waiting for Bobby to give me the go ahead.
"Go." Bobby signaled and left the room.
"Jerry, what the hell? You in there?" Evan yelled as I zipped my jacket up and grabbed the big duffle bag. I opened the door calmly and walked out.
"That's our money?" Evan asked.
"Yeah." I nodded and walked down the walkway. I jumped back into Evan when two guys walked to me.
"Hey, man, hey!" I exclaimed.
"Relax, relax." Evan told me.
"Hey, what is this, man? What is this?" I asked as they felt my body and jacket.
"Relax, relax. Just relax. We just gotta check it out, make sure you ain't strapped." Evan assured me. "Relax, relax."
"He's good." one of the guys said.
"Okay. Let's take a ride, Jerry." Evan nodded and walked me to the car. We drove in silence for a few minutes until Evan picked up his phone.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Well, he's onboard, boss. Yeah, all right." Evan mumbled and hung up.
"What did he say?" the guy in the passenger side asked.
"He said, 'Hurry the fuck up.' Then he hung up." Even told him shortly.
"He's gonna end up dead." she screamed at the police man behind the counter.
"Ma'am, ma'am, slow it down a gear." the officer said softly. Sofi shook her head and ignored him.
"And this isn't even his fight. It's his stupid brother's fault!" she exclaimed.
"I understand. I can help you." the man said trying to keep his cool. "But you're gonna have to let me know who it is we're talking about and what's about to happen."
"My boyfriend." she cried. "He was talking about killing a cop."
Words cannot describe how relieved I felt when I heard Angel's voice scream my name. Every bone in my body jumped into action and I strained to scream as loud as I could. I wanted to laugh in Fowler's face when Angel pushed him in the room holding a gun to his head. He was seriously underestimating the Mercer's and that's the last thing you should do. But as happy as I was that they had found me, I was confused. I tried to ask Angel about a plan of some sorts but he just told me that everything was under control. It didn't seem that way though when we heard the police sirens fill the air.
"You hear that? You know what that is?" Fowler smirked at us. "That's a damn beautiful sound. Those are my boys coming. No. It's not looking good for you, homeboy." he laughed. I walked over to the window and my hear beat as I saw at least 6 cops cars, a SWAT van and two under covers parked outside.
"We'll see if they're still your boys after they find out you killed your partner Green, homeboy." Angel smirked holding the gun to Fowler. I turned around and looked over at him. How would he convince them that Fowler did it? I was the only witness and I was associated with the Mercer's.
"That's your angle, huh? You gonna walk out there and tell them I killed Green. That's your story?" Fowler laughed
"It has the advantage of being true." Angel told him.
"It is true." I piped up.
"So what? I killed my partner. I could kill the whole damn police department if you two were
the only witnesses. They'd probably just promote me to chief. You're one of the Mercer brothers, brother. No cop in the world's gonna believe your word over mine. Sorry." He told us and proved my point. I looked over at Angel and waited for something that would make him eat his words.
"You know what? You're probably right. Other than the ones I got outside right now in the van listening to every bit of our conversation, brother." Angle told him. I smirked and relished the look on Fowler's face.
"You're lying." he accused.
"Afraid not." Angel smirked and opened his jacket. "Take a look." Angel said and nodded over to the window. They walked over next to me by the window and Fowler peeked out of the curtains to see the cops taking place.
"Okay, lieutenant, I'm bringing him out now." Angel said into the wire in his jacket. "Come on, man. It's all over." Angel said and nodded to the door. I saw Angel send me a look over Fowler's should and I stayed put. Fowler took a few steps and then grabbed Angel's arm. I gasped and ducked by the wall when Fowler snatched the gun from Angel and threw him on the floor.
"I'm gonna pop your head like a champagne cork." he hissed kneeling on Angel's back. "You hear me? I'm taking your clown down with me!" he yelled into the wire. He yanked Angle up to his feet and drug him to the door. I crawled over and looked out of it as he drug Angle across the porch.
"I swear to God, I'll kill him!" Fowler screamed. "You guys set me up, huh? You think you're real smart, getting this shit on tape, huh?" he yelled and held Angel out while pointing a gun at his co-workers. I looked at the police and saw them look at each other confused. Was this the plan?
"Back off! I'm serious!" he continued to yell.
"Fowler, what are you doing, man? Drop the goddamn gun! We're here to help you!" one cop stood up and yelled out to him.
"Back off now! I'm serious!" he screamed.
"That's right. Fowler, put down your weapon!" another cop yelled.
"Not a chance! I said, back off! Now!" he yelled and fired a few shots at the cars. I saw the officers take cover and Angel elbowed Fowler in the stomach and then punch him. Fowler went flying back and aimed the gun at Angel when he was up. I was about to scream when another shot sounded and Fowler's leg was shot. He turned to aim the gun at the cops again and they fired. Fowler sank to the ground as the bullet pierced his chest.
"He's down! Man down! Man down! EMS! Call it in!" the cops yelled. I walked down the porch and over to Angel as he walked to Fowler. We kneeled down next to him an smirked. I pulled Angel up and out of the way as the police surrounded Fowler.
I looked out the window as we drove to the outside of Detroit and made our way to the river. Everything was covered in snow and it was deserted until I saw a black SUV and a few mew standing outside.
"So, what do we do now?" I asked looking over at Evan.
"We get out." he told me. We piled out of the car and when I got to the front of the truck I heard chainsaws and saw them cutting into the ice.
"Jesus Christ! What is that? Wha-What's that?" I asked taking a step back.
"It's ice fishing. Tommy there is part Eskimo." Evan joked and they laughed. I took a few steps forward and looked back at Evan before walking to the group. We waited for a few minutes until we saw Sweet's SUV pull up. He crawled out of the back and walked over to me. I wanted nothing more that to smack that smirk off his face.
"Jeremiah Mercer. Businessman." he greeted. Give me that." he said snatching the bag from me. He laid it on the ground and unzipped it, looking at the money. He looked at a stack and then looked up at me.
"Goddamn it, I like the way you do business! You're a reasonable man. You should have let me in on your project. We could have been partners. Could have been a sweet deal for both of us. Now it just a sweet deal for me." he laughed and zippped the bag up.
"Come on, man. We gonna do business, or what?" I asked looking down at him. He peered up and me and nodded.
"Right." he mumbled and stood up. "Right. Right. Down to business. What were the- What were the terms again? You give me grand, and I pardon you and your brothers, is that right? Forgive and forget, right?" he asked looking at me.
"That's right." I nodded. "My brothers said I was naive. That you would shoot me and just take the money. Yeah." I told him.
"Damn, man, you hurt my feelings." he laughed.
"Good. Because you don't know shit about hurt feelings. I just buried my mama and I might have to bury my brother." I seethed. "And I think that's payment enough, Vic."
"You been doing a lot of thinking, boy." he growled.
"Yeah, my mama raised me to be a thinking man. So me and my brothers, we came up with a whole new proposal." I told him and saw the guys start to move around.
"A whole new proposal?" Sweet asked. "Is that right?"
"Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You gonna like it too. Because it is a-- A sweet deal." I told him. "Check it out. Instead of giving you the grand, we decided we'd give it to these mistreated workers you got standing behind you."
"Pistol." he said holding up his hand. "Evan, I said pistol!" he yelled.
"Uh, no, bitch. The one thing you forgot about me is this: I was in the union for a long time. I ain't never missed no meetings." Evan smirked.
"He ain't lying." I agreed. "It's cold out here when you by yourself, ain't it?"
"So, what now? You gonna kill the hand that's been feeding you? Over some stupid old lady?" Sweet yelled.
"Watch your motherfucking mouth." I warned.
"You dumb shits! I told Fowler and his pals all about this meeting! You kill me, you all go down! Murder! He's already late. Shit, he's probably on his way right now." he yelled turning and looking at all the men surrounding him.
"He ain't coming." I told him. He turned to look at me and I smirked at him. No this was not his day.
"Come on now. Who's gonna do it, huh? Who the man here, huh? Which one of you tough guys gonna do it? Who's gonna take on the champ?" he exclaimed hitting his chest. "You, Charlie?"
"Yeah. That's right." I smirked when Sweet's eyes landed on the figure walking to us.
"Is this who I think it is? Is this what you all been waiting on?" he asked looking around. I nodded as me and the guys started clapping as Bobby came into view. This was going to be fun.
I walked up to the group of men and Jerry met me at the front.
"You all right, Jerry?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm straight." he smirked.
"Oh, Bobby Mercer. Back in town. You gonna be the one, man?" Sweet smiled and shrugged his jacket off. I threw mine to the side and tucked my rosary in my shirt.
"Come on, Bobby." Jerry cheered and stepped back as I walked over to Sweet. I flexed my arms and got all the kinks out as the men crowded around us.
I stared at him and tried to block out all the cheers as we started to circle one another. I took a swing at him and he ducked. I took another and he moved. I started to stumble and he took his first shot, hitting me in the mouth.
"Get your ass up! Come on!" Sweet yelled as I fell to the ground. I stood up and shook it off.
"All right, you got him! You got him!" Jerry chanted. I nodded and regrouped myself and took another shot at him. My fist connected with his nose and he stumbled back into the group. He smirked and regained composure and as he was about to come at me again, my fist met his nose one more time.
"Get back. Get back." Sweet yelled and waved an arm to the crowd. I took another shot at him but he pushed my arm away and shove me. His fist came flying across my face again and I fell back.
"That's it!" he yelled and brought his foot into my ribs. I groaned and grabbed my stomach as I tried to get up. I was on my knees when he tackled me back down to the ice and slid very close to the hole. He flipped me over and started chocking me.
"All right, come on, man." Jerry cheered. I rolled him off of me and rolled my back onto his and tried to wiggle out of his grasp.
"Elbow, baby, elbow!" Evan yelled. I stopped moving for a second and lifted my elbow up and crashed it into Sweet's side. He let go of my neck and I started to move but he tried to grab me again. I used my elbow again to hit him in the nose and stood up.
"Fucker! Hey, get up, bitch!" I yelled as he tried to get up. I hit him in the jaw and waited for him to get up. When he did I sucker punched him in the back, making him fall into Evan.
"Motherfuck!" Sweet yelped.
"Get your bitch ass back in there!" Evan laughed and threw him back to me. I head butted him as he came flying towards me then kneed him in the abdomen. I took three more punches until he fell back into the snow and didn't move.
Everyone quieted as we looked at him laying on the ground, bloody nose and mouth, and all alone. He wasn't top dog anymore, he was below everyone else. The past few weeks of hell he put us through flashed through my mind as we stared at him.
"Get him in the hole." I told them. I grabbed my jacket and watched them throw him in the hole before turning around.
"So, what we gonna do about the police?" Jerry asked as we walked off.
"Police? Cops love the Mercers, Jerry." I told him.
Bobby's Interrogation
"Sit him down." the cop yelled and threw him into desk.
"Damn! You girls are trying to kill me!" Bobby screamed holding his head.
"Let me ask you again." the cop said as Bobby squinted from the bright light. "What happened to Victor Sweet, Mercer?" he asked.
"Ellis, you might wanna close your ears. This is nasty shit." Bobby warned him.
"From about 5:30 p.m. till 11 about or so last night, I was banging that pretty little wife of yours,
okay? It's the tru-" Bobby said casually as the other cop walked over and smacked him.
"We got you, Mercer." the cop yelled.
"That true? What do you got now?" Bobby asked. The cops had his head pinned to the table and they waved a little baggy in his face.
"Your hair, scumbag! Taken off Victor Sweet's dead body." the cops yelled. Bobby let out a menacing laugh and looked at the baggy.
Angel's Interrogation
"What are you doing, man?" Angel yelled as the cop slapped the back of his head. "All right!"
"That's what you wanna hear?" Angle yelled into the microphone. "I did it. I did it, okay?"
"If you did it, then I wanna hear you say it!" the cop yelled and pointed to the recording box. Angel smirked and held onto the table.
"I was bumping uglies with your wife." Angle laughed moving in his seat, earning a backhand form the detective.
Jerry's Interrogation
A fist came across Jerry's face as one cop held him back.
"You wanna go another round, huh?" the hitting cop asked. "What happened to Sweet? Where were you last night?"
"Your mama, she wasn't good the first time." Jerry smirked and grunted when another fist met his face.
After the scene at Fowler's the cops took me and Angel to the station. I was surprised when they weren't worried about the incident with Fowler but apparently, Sweet was dead, and they drug Angel into an upstairs interrogation room. I went ahead and called Sofi and Camille up here incase anything bad happened and they got there in record time.
"You arrested him, and he didn't do anything!" Camille yelled. "Where's my husband?"
"He didn't do anything." Sofi yelled. The poor man at the desk was so flustered with both of them yelling at him he didn't know what to do.
"His name is Jeremiah Mercer, and I wanna see him now!" Camille demanded and Sofi nodded. I was leaned against the wall and gasped when Jerry, literally, came flying out of one of the rooms.
"Don't push him like that!" Camille yelled and ran over to him while Sofi cried at the desk. I looked by Jerry and Camille to see Angel walk out of the elevator. Sofi noticed and ran over to him.
"Oh, baby! Oh, my God! Are you okay?" she gushed over him. He sent me an annoyed look and I smiled.
"I'm okay, baby." he assured her.
"They bought it, baby. They bought it." she smiled and hugged him. While we were waiting Camille and Sofi filled me in on the blanks. They told me Angel meant to let Fowler get the upper hand, that Sofi had 'ratted' him out, and that Jerry and Bobby turned Sweet's men against him.
"Let me see. Come here." Camille gushed and helped Jerry up from the floor.
"It's all right." Jerry mumbled.
"Let me see." she demanded.
"It's just a boo-boo." he told her and looked over at me.
"It's not just a boo-boo! Somebody put their fist in your eye!" Camille exclaimed. I gave him a wink and laughed. "Let me see it!"
"Come on, now." Jerry groaned and I looked over at Angel.
"Are you okay?" Sofi asked again.
"Yeah, I'm all right." Angel told her.
"Oh, my God. You're bleeding, baby." Sofi shrieked.
"You know I can take a punch." Angel smirked.
"I know you can take a punch." Sofi laughed and leaned up to kiss him. I rolled my eyes and looked back over at Camille and Jerry.
"Baby, you don't talk about peoples mamas!" Camille hissed.
"Well, he talked about mine." Jerry defended.
"Did you get some licks in?" she asked switching gears.
"Of course." he sighed.
"Does his eye look like yours?" she asked. I walked over and looked at them.
"Hey, guys, where's Bobby?" I asked. And like clockwork…
"Let me catch you on the street without that badge. I'll smack that smirk off your face,
Punk!" Bobby yelled to the cop than escorted him out.
"I'm gonna smack you, Bobby." Camille threatened. "I told you not to let Jerry get hurt."
"He's breathing." Bobby told her. "You all right, Jerry?" he asked.
"I'm all right, man." Jerry nodded. Bobby looked past him and walked over to me. He pulled me into a tight hug and buried his face in my neck.
"I'm so sorry, Diddle." he whispered.
"No, I'm sorry. I should have known better." I whispered and looked at him. "I was just so hurt. I wanted him to pay." I confessed. He nodded and pulled me over to the desk.
"Let me get my property." he yelled banging his fist on the desk. Jerry came up next to me and put an arm around me while Angel stood on the other side of Bobby.
"Man, you all right?" Angel asked.
"I'm good." Bobby nodded. Angel looked over at Jerry as he wiped his eye off.
"You said something, didn't you, Jerry?" Angle asked.
"I did not say nothing, man. Why you always-?" Jerry sighed.
"I did." Bobby cut it. We stared at him and all spoke at the same time.
"What you say?"
"I told him I was banging his wife." Bobby told us. He looked at us and we all laughed.
"Come on, man!" Bobby yelled again from the desk. Neither Jerry or Angel spoke for a few seconds but I knew it was coming.
"I did too." Angel confessed.
"Me too." Jerry nodded and looked over at them. I shook my head and leaned over on Bobby. He finally got his stuff and we were able to leave.
"Emilie, I'm going to get the girls, you wanna come stay with us and relax?" Camille asked. I looked at her and smiled.
"No thanks. I'm gonna ride with Bobby to the hospital." I told her. I was about to walk to Bobby's car when Paisley's Honda pulled up and stopped in the middle of the street. She jumped out the car and looked frantic.
"I've been trying to call all of you!" she screamed, on the verge of tears.
"Our phones were with the cops." Bobby told her.
"Pais, what's wrong?" I asked. She looked over at me and shook her head.
"It's Jack." she whispered and let her tears fall.