Chapter 18

“I was afraid that this would happen. That’s Rapey Royce’s Dark Raven gang,” Lavelle warned us as we got deeper into the fight with the local gang.

“Why do they call him ‘Rapey’ Royce?” Hannah asked with a shiver.

“Well, as the name implies, he loves to rape girls. Lots of girls. That’s his deal. He started young, at just fifteen, when he raped his own mother and sister ... and it just got worse after he got out of prison the first time. Of course, when he was in the joint, he was the one who got raped, and he went out of his way to retaliate once he had the chance. His rapists were tracked down and murdered, especially since he took over this area.

“His gang have a marked tendency to torture, mutilate, and kill the male victims while raping any girls or women in their company. They’ve done this a lot lately, too. They keep the testicles of male victims pickled in jars as trophies. By the way, the man is highly literate and a keen fan of Edgar Allan Poe. He got into poetry and Gothic literature in prison. That and his football fandom are why his gang are the ‘Dark Ravens.’ This is not even the worst gang in Baltimore, though.

“The Hungry Gang is the worst. They’re cannibals. Literally. They also collect the skulls of their victims to use as drinking cups. Those guys are vicious. Their leader is someone named Nadia Kozin. Yes, a woman runs that outfit. She is a former stripper and sex slave from fair Minsk in Belarus, in fact. Fifty-five years old and more than a little certifiable by now. She has a notable scar on her belly that she likes to expose by baring her midriff.

“Then there is the Aryan Cross gang, the only white gang in the city ... and they control a very limited sector. They’re mostly led by ex-cons who were in the Aryan Brotherhood as well as lifelong skinheads. Ironically, despite their professed racism, they have a heavy trade in Asian and Latin sex slaves. Their leader is a self-proclaimed ‘white Cuban’ named Victor Ibanez, who spent half of his life in prison, mostly for gunrunning, flesh peddling, and drug trafficking.

“There are also the Black Umma and the Black Mamba, two avowedly black nationalist gangs, but their politics are very sketchy. Their racket is hashish for the former, booze for the latter, and a so-called ‘head tax’ levied on everyone in their respective districts, plus tolls they imposed on outsiders. They tend to treat their own people well enough, though, and in the latter territory, there is even some limited democracy. In the former, it’s technically under Sharia law.

“And there is La Raza Sindicado, which as the name suggests, is the lone Latin gang in town. Mostly Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, mind you. Nothing exotic there, just loan sharks, bookies, ecstasy, crack, heroin, and black market Viagra. They make money hand over fist, to put it mildly.

“Octavio Cesar Ruiz is in command of them. They call him ‘Little Emperor,’ because of his name and his short stature. Unlike Napoleon, who was actually tall for a Frenchman of his day, Ruiz is rather puny in size. But he makes up for that deficit in sheer sadism and ruthlessness. The man killed his own brother-in-law with a machete for beating Ruiz’s sister.

“Now, each of these gangs has access to the docks, per a sort of limited accord that makes the harbor district a neutral zone. They do this to protect their profits, of course,” Lavelle leveled with us a bit now.

“Oh, shit, here come more technicals!” I blurted before shutting up, relaxing a little, and then focusing to snipe at the foe.

Finding a good spot from which to aim at the enemy through my scope, I drew a bead and hit one of the drivers in the face. I shattered part of his head and saw brains fly out of the chasm. Other snipers in our group also hit people, overwhelmingly killing rather than wounding our adversaries. Ryan, Bonnie, Till, Raquel, and Xavier hit them with more Molotovs as well, making an even bigger mess of their advance. A pile-up of technicals soon exploded into one helluva fiery clusterfuck, but for now, we couldn’t rest on our laurels.