Chapter 13: Shark Warning

After reading the paper Gracie said something was confusing and wanted to talk. I let her keep the bag on without tape.

“Look,” Gracie said, “I am smart enough to know that you can’t admit too much about the events when we met. But I got the impression that none of the folks I went into that basement with left that basement.”

“I won’t argue with that,” I said. “I am sure the parts were removed by now.”

“Yuck. But I am confused because the pictures in the paper today showed three black guys.” They had published arrest mug shots of the hacked-up trio; they were not too out-of-date. “However, the pictures did not show the guy who met me at the mall and started the whole party going. I was confused about that.”

That got my attention. “Are you sure about that? I know who was there.”

“Yes I’m sure. Look, all three guys in the paper were real ugly, so I never would have talked to them. Plus, the one with the lip ring? The picture in the paper showed a hole on the right, not at the left corner. I did not recognize him. I recognized the other two from the car. But the guy who picked me up at the bookstore was kind of baby-faced handsome, and a real charmer. He had his lip ring on the left corner, plus a big diamond eyebrow ring on the right.”

That comment twigged to a name for me, a damn critical one, so I had her start at the beginning.

Friday Gracie drove her car to a mall, it was not especially close to her home, but the bookstore she went to had the best selection of ‘naughty’ books like Penthouse Letters. She was browsing there when she met this man who was browsing the same section. They struck up a conversation. He was black, heavy set but not fat, about 5 foot 10, bald with the lip ring and the diamond eyebrow ring. (None of the guys in the basement had any eyebrow hardware.) They got to talking over coffee which he bought for her; she said his speech and references suggested he was in college, maybe grad school. When she mentioned that she was open to some fun, “maybe where guys didn’t have to be real nice all the time,” he suggested a party with two other “frat brothers” at a private spot he knew. When he said he would give her some “fun nose candy and Ex,” she said yes, her mother-approved white boyfriends could not give her those extras. He texted somebody, got a text back, then led her to a car, an old Caddy in good shape with big silver spoked rims, which had the two guys in the back seat. The good-looking guy drove to the location. The backseat pair of guys were pictured in the paper, one was the tall guy and the second had dyed hair. So there were three guys in the car with her. Then, after they parked but before they got out of the car, they bagged her, saying there was a surprise involved. They had to lead her past a building or two plus they made two turns before they got to the stairs leading to the basement. They carried her downstairs.

“When we got there they did the cable ties quickly. Once my arms and legs were secure they all of a sudden got kind of nasty, it was like a switch was flipped as they were cutting off my nice clothes and talking about using me in real bad ways. There were three voices, I heard them distinctly as they moved around. But now that I think of it, only two people touched me between the car and the basement, there might have been somebody already there with the tools and stuff. Anyway, once I was secured and naked they stuck tapered tubes in to expand my front and back holes. Then they got naked, I heard them open their belts and stuff, and while they stripped they talked about doing real bad things to me. Dry ice was mentioned.” She shivered at the memory, they had some really unspeakable ideas for her to think about. “The newspaper did not mention the tubes but they found the ice...”

“I removed the tubes. I don’t know if LAPD has your DNA, but those tubes would have given it to them and that would be a problem for me; it was either leave you or take them. There was no car of any type in the area when we found you, but from what you said I know where the Caddy parked. So it looks like the guy who picked you up passed you off and drove away. The guy with the right-side lip ring took his place. I wonder ... you know, the Sharks just might have planned to come back after you were decorated with lots of Black King DNA. If they killed the Kings themselves, and left some evidence blaming somebody else, there would be more gangs engaged in a more intense war.” I knew who would get blamed. “I wonder ... Now, I have to trust you a bit.”

“What Sharks? You can trust me with anything,” she said.

“Just keep the bag on.”

I had to leave her and get something from a filing cabinet in the house, where I had some pictures. The trusting part was when I returned.

She still had the bag on when I came back - another test passed. I gave her something to look at, then left the room again. She looked at the 6-pack of pictures I had left, just like the cops use. They were all prison shots with no rings in place. Still, at first glance she picked out baby-faced Darnel, the Sunset Shark VP for Mayhem & Turmoil. He was a smooth charmer and a real bastard. I talked to Gracie on the intercom, I said I needed some time to think but that I would get back to her soon.

I called Jax and explained we had a serious problem, he was to go to def-con 2 for the apartment building, street dealers and secure locations. Plus assemble our SWAT unit to standby. However, I was not specific beyond that. Once those steps were in place I could think.

I had thought that the pain party Friday was a petty territorial insult by the Black Kings against the Crystal Aztexs, small-time because they were always fighting for territory. But the face Gracie had picked was a Sunset Shark VP who specialized in smooth-talking folks into things, and that made the situation much worse. It meant the Sharks were deliberately instigating a war which would involve and weaken everybody in the area. They were planning a big move. By now they probably had the remaining Black Kings acting on their behalf. It was the way the Sharks did things, they always had a bigger plan in the works, with more gang-on-gang battles of the “you and him fight” variety. When it was over they would move in and chew up both weakened combatants. Either that, or do a coup.

I channeled The Patron for a moment; grandfather would ask, “why do you not plot to take over the Sharks?” But the answer to that was that the Sharks were all psycho, in a bad way, and one of those (that was me) was enough for any gang. Plus, their presence kept the other gangs, including the big one that dressed as LAPD, to busy to hassle me.

One thing about the Sharks is that they never moved without recon and deep spies in place with all the gangs involved - that was a science they had down pat. They played the long game. They obviously knew the patrol route for Cosmo and I, which probably meant a 49 member had betrayed us. Not too many knew those specifics.

The thing was, I had made a last minute change in our route on Friday that probably saved my life. Simply put, when I parked I decided to walk South instead of North. On the patrols Wednesday and Thursday, I went North which meant we got to the store with the basement three hours later. By then the Sharks would have come back in numbers, killed the Black Kings, and then used Gracie to lure Cosmo and me into a trap. Bingo, three gangs at war, exactly the Shark style. But because I turned South on Friday we killed the Kings too early! The basement was under observation and crawling with Aztexs getting Cosmo’s body and his ear collection when the Sharks returned. They could not get close to that.