"Marley, I need you to get to mine, now," Brian says over the phone the next morning.
"Okay, I'll be there as quick as I can," I say and hang up the phone, I then quickly shoot Nala a text and as I get dressed, Nala walks in through the door.
"I've got to go, I'll be home later, thank you for coming so quickly," I tell her and she smiles and gives me a quick hug.
"No worries, now get going," she says and I nod, grabbing my keys and I run out to my car and speed off to Tej's garage.
"What the hell is going on?" I demand as I enter my brother's place, I freeze in my tracks once I see Monica sitting on my brother's bed.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I demand her and she glares at me.
"Why are you here? You here to sleep with him?" She asks me and I start laughing.
"That's gross, he's my brother," I tell her and she looks shocked.
"Hey, Verone's boys are outside..." Roman says, as he walks in through the front door, he stops once he sees Monica.
"Oh, I see what they're looking for, you're little girlfriend here," Roman says and we quiet down once we see Enrique and Roberto looking through the window.
"They don't know that I'm here, I snuck out," Monica whispers.
"Then what are they doing here?" I ask her.
"I don't know, maybe they're guessing," Monica whispers and I just glare at her in anger.
"Oh just shut up," I mutter to myself, making sure that she can't hear me, we watch as they try to look through the window, and we slowly creep towards the door.
"Hey, Rome. Go stall them for like two minutes," I tell him and he nods.
"Check her!" Rome demands and I nod as he walks outside.
"Found what you're looking for? Hey, buddy, Hi guys. How are you doing? Y'all ain't still mad about the car. Don't even trip, come on man, can't you take a joke?" Rome jokes with Roberto and Enrique as they stand on the dock.
"This isn't a joke Brian, this isn't about being a good cop or doing your job, they're gonna kill you, you gotta pull out," Monica whispers and my brother sighs.
"Verone pay you to keep a straight face like that? Cause if I was making money I'd remove that mole off my nose," Roman continues to stall as we look for a way for Monica to sneak out.
"Yeah, okay," I mutter to myself as I look into the tiny bathroom and see the skylight.
"Monica!" I call out in a hushed voice and she walks over to me, I point up at the roof and she nods, I then close the door behind me as I walk away.
"How much he pay y'all anyway? Every time I see you, y'all got the silk shirts on, the jewellery, looking real Miami. I caught you walking up in the club, the hamburger meat all hanging out," Roman laughs,
"Don't make that run Brian, don't make that run," Monica says and kisses my brother on the lips and rushes over to the bathroom as a new set of footsteps lands on the houseboat.
"Where are you going? You stay right here with us, buddy," Enrique points his gun at Brian as I step out of the door and try to stop Roberto from entering Brian's home, but it fails and he walks inside, looking around for something.
"Don't even think about it," I mutter to my brother as he stands beside me as Enrique and Roberto speak in Spanish a bit too quickly for me to understand.
"Stay your ass off my Homeboy's boat!" Roman exclaims and pushes Roberto back which causes all hell to break loose between everyone, Rome and Enrique start to fight and I jump onto Roberto to get him closer to the ground as Brian turns the gun he was about to point at me to his shoulder and pushing it in as I tighten the grip my legs have around his neck ever so slightly.
"Put the gun down now!" Brian shouts.
"You first, asshole!" Enrique shouts as well.
"I'll shoot the shit out of him!" Brian screams and both Enrique and Roberto start shouting in Spanish so I shout back.
"Put the gun down now! Put the gun down now!" Brian is shouting over everyone.
"Enough!" Verone shouts and everyone stops and looks over at him, Enrique starts to complain but Verone stops him.
"Shut up, it's over, come on," Verone beckons them but they don't move.
"It's over, let's go, it's our gun. Come on, let's go," Verone says and everyone backs away with Roberto and Enrique walking back over to Verone.
"I'm glad to see you boys are getting along so well, especially you Marley... because tomorrow, Roberto and Enrique will be riding with you, just so we don't have any problems, I'll see you guys in a bit," Verone says as they leave.
"What the hell was she doing in there?" Rome demands and I sigh.
"Let's get going, we gotta tell Markham and Bilkins of this new 'Development'" I say and we climb into our cars.
"Nice shirt, Bilkins," I joke as we walk inside and he smiles.
"It's my day off," he tells us and I nod, sitting down on a chair that's in the room.
"Well, anyhow. Here's the deal, a few nights ago, Verone threatened a cop into giving us a window, we're diving to an airstrip in the keys, off Millwood Avenue. Verone has a plane there and he's taking off for good," Brian explains and Markham looks at us in suspicion.
"Wait a minute. How do you know any of this?" He inquires.
"Monica, she's doing her job well, she warned us," I speak up from the back of the room and Markham turns to face me.
"Verone plans to kill us after we make the drop with the money," I cross my arms and sit back in the chair.
"Driving into an ambush wasn't the deal, I'm calling it off," Bilkins stands up, reaching for his phone until Markham stops him.
"Like hell you are, this is a customs case Bilkins. No one is calling this off unless I do. Look, this is simple. Make the run, get Verone and his cash together so I can move in. You don't... I'll file enough charges against you to make you disappear, Like Marley's baby daddy," Markham tries to get a rise out of me and it works.
"Bad idea, bringing him into this conversation Markham, Brian knows who he is, and how he is when his family is threatened," I look right into his eyes and I can see the fear behind the hard defensive shield.
"Let's get going before I hurt him," I tell my brothers and they nod, following me out of the room.
"That guy's a dick," Rome says as we walk outside.
"Let me get this right, if we don't do this, then we go to jail. And if we do it, Verone's gonna kill us," Rome tells us our options and I sigh in frustration.
"It's a hell of a deal huh?" I wonder and they nod.
"Yeah, maybe it is," Brian runs a hand through his hair.
"This guy got an ass full of loot that he's ready to dump into our cars," Roman rants and all of a sudden I get an idea, which causes a smirk to appear on my lips.
"I can think of three reasons why he doesn't need that money anymore," I turn to face both Roman and Brian and they see the smirk on my face.
"Here we go!" Roman rubs his hands in excitement.
"Us three, just like the old days, what do you think?" I ask them and Brian laughs.
"They messed with the wrong family," Roman laughs as Brian gets on the phone with Tej.
"Tej, what's up bro? How quickly can you organise?" Brian wonders and we drive to the warehouse where Tej wants to meet.
"Look, if y'all want to carry out this plan... this is the best place to do it, what do y'all think?" Tej shows us and I look at the multiple garage doors in front of me.
"I think... I think it is perfect. So, what do they store here,?" I wonder and Tej smirks.
~~~~~~~ Tej's Garage ~~~~~~~~~
"Man, this thing is clean," I look up at the underneath of the Yenko.
"Distributor cap," I hear Roman mutter as he goes through the engine of the Dodge Challenger R/T.
"Hey, Jimmy! Do we have any half-empty bottles of NOS lying around?" I interrupt his conversation as Brian and I stand underneath both the blue and orange chargers.
"Yeah, sure. But I've already loaded you with the spray needed," Jimmy looks over at us and Brian and I smirk at each other.
"I'm thinking, we may need it for something else, since our cars are gonna get a little crowded, ya know?" Brian hits the undercarriage which causes me to laugh at the goofy smile on his face.
"When did you start eating so much?" I look over at Roman who is leaning against the railing, shoving a sandwich into his mouth.
"I was in jail Marls, I know how shitty the grub is on the inside. The way things are shaping up out here right now... it'll be a matter of time before I'm back inside, or dead," Roman explains and I nod, understanding where he is coming from.
"So, you're trying to eat all you can while you can, to savour it," he nods, taking another bite.
"Plus the doctor tells me that I have a high metabolism," we all start to laugh, but we eventually calm down.
"You remember us growing up? Playing football in the dirt? Getting our asses kicked by Marley? Getting into trouble. All the stupid things we did?" Brian reminisces and I smile but it drops when I see Roman looking at the ground.
"When you got busted, whether I was a cop or not... if there was anything I could have done... I would have done it, I just wanted you to know that," Brian tells him.
"Is that why you let that dude go back in L.A.?" Rome asks and I look up at Brian, watching his reaction.
"Yeah, I think that had a lot to do with it," Brian confirms and I smile, I look out at the ocean as I lean on the edge of the railing.
"When I got busted... it wasn't your fault. It was all on me, Mr. Roman Pearce. Wild and out, crazy man. No one could tell me nothing, Riding solo," Roman rants and I laugh.
"Yeah, well. Not anymore, especially with Mia and Luka," I speak up and Roman smiles at me.
"Yeah, not anymore, bro," Brian says and we make a three-way fist bump.
"Here we go," Rome's voice floats through the radio.
"Yeah, so you know what to do, stay cool. Keep focused," Brian answers.
"Remember, the airstrip is off of Millwood Avenue, it's the third exit after the bridge," I remind them.
"Got it," Rome responds and I smile.
"You guys ready for this?" Brian's voice comes through.
"Come on man. Guns, murders and corked cops? I was made for this Bruh," Roman jokes around but everything gets serious as Enrique and Roberto climb into their cars, that's when I realise that I'm alone.
"Come on," Roberto gestures as he and Enrique walk up to the trailer door, knocking on it and kicking out the occupant in Spanish, they both then walk inside and start to destroy the wall after the painting is removed, they fill up the duffle bags, making sure that there is enough for the two cars that Roman and Brian are driving, keeping my car empty for some reason.
"Load up," Roberto tells us and we nod, grabbing the duffle bags as they throw them out to us and we put them in Brian and Roman's boots.
"There aren't enough bags for my car, so something is going to go down when we get to the destination," I whisper to my brother and I walk over to my car since we have finished packing the duffles into their cars.
