Chapter 147

We made a stop on the way to the rebuilt house where Holly might be held. The house had been rebuilt with insurance and Disaster funds, then it was taken over from the owner who couldn't repay even that small amount. The gang had taken over, but left the ownership in the name of the previous owner.

They had made even more improvements. They reinforced doors, and barred windows not so much from concern about random crime, as concern about rival gangs and the New Orleans PD. The gang also had a guard on the street in front of the house, any time it was being occupied by the bosses or under bosses.

My job was to distract him long enough for the strike team to enter the house, If I couldn't keep him occupied I was to kill him. Real simple assignment, but it was much easier to shoot a man ten feet away, than to cut his throat. When you cut his throat you could smell him and even smell the fear as his blood drained out.

My choice would be for him to run away, when he saw Karl, Mickey and The Brit hit the door. I knew even after they hit the door I couldn't let him get behind them. I stopped and bought a slutty outfit at Kmart. I was going to ask, but I doubted they would say slutty outfits on aisle three.

I bought a fake fur coat. leggings. short gold shorts and a low cut sweater. I even got a cheap wig on the Swamp Dog's dime. I changed in back of the SUV. We drove right to the house before anyone changed their minds. They were probably worried more about me, than anyone else. I seemed to be the only one with a qualm about killing, and yet I was the first to be put in the kill or don't kill situation.

I got out of the SUV two blocks before the house. I walked in my hooker outfit up to the house. I could see that the gang member in front of the house was a young black man. I again hoped he would run away, when he saw the hardened soldier go into the house.

It was about ten at night, when I asked him, "Hey baby you want to have a good time?"

"How much?" he asked.

"Twenty," I said.

"What do I get for that," he asked.

"I'll blow your whistle and your mind," I said with a sleepy look.

"You do it right here?" he asked.

"I would rather go in where it is warm," I said.

"Not possible, how about behind the house?" he asked.

"Yeah, but the money first," I said.

"Sure just come on back out of the light," he said.

If I had really been on the street, I would have demanded the money before going back into the dark. The problem was that I wanted him out of the light as much as he wanted me, back there, I knew I was going back where he could rape me and take my money, rather than pay me. Being a whore had it's risk. It was all part of the game. Rape and robbery were in the job description under the down side. It was just one of the dangers of street walking, I told myself.

He was standing real close when he went for the pistol behind him. I was standing so close that by the time it came out of his waist band with the black automatic pistol my club hand pushed it away. Because I knew what he was going to do, but he didn't know what I was going to do, I was able to cut his throat before he knew what was happening.

The stupid bastard never noticed that I was wearing lightweight cotton gloves. They were not thick enough to keep me warm, nor were they so thick as to impede me, when I reached into the coat pocket. Since the large box opener was clean, when I put it in the fake fur jacket, and I wore those gloves, I just dropped. It fell beside his already dead body, which ended up in a seated position by the side of the house. My main role in the drama was done, but I couldn't hide out in the back. I could have, but it just wasn't me. So I picked up his automatic and I went to the front of the house. The strike teem was already inside

I went in behind them to watch their collective asses. They had already cleared the downstairs or so I thought. They headed up stairs where the intelligence said the gang would have the dope processing room. It the girl was in the house she would be there. As they went up the stairs a man stepped out the kitchen door. I shot him in the face while he was getting his bearings. I looked around to check the rooms downstairs. There was a TV room the team had cleared before going up the stairs. The kitchen and dining room were behind the stairs and behind the living room. It also had a door to the rear yard. The man I shot must have been on patrol there.

The house was three stories. The strike team cleared them while I guarded the stairs, there were lots of shots. Then a couple of minutes of screaming before the strike team came down. Everyone but Helen had come and they all were in the house. When the team came down, we all jumped into the SUVand it sped away immediately. Someone had jumped in the car while we were inside.

That someone drove us to a second location, where the man on the curb acted as though he had no idea what was happening. They shot him as we went into the house. Clearing that house was just as fast as the first one. Again I guarded the path of our retreat. The difference was they came out with Holly. I knew it was a black female, but I didn't know for sure that it was Holly. I just presumed it was.