Out a Order by Evie Rhodes Page A

yo.”
    â€œLooka here. Don’t even sweat that, man. If I have to I’ll bond Shannon out just so you can have him. But there’s one thing I’ve got to have your word on.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œA man’s word is his bond,” Rico said.
    T-Bone nodded. “Word is bond.”
    â€œYou can rough him up but you can’t take him out. He’s mine.”
    T-Bone wrestled with this thought. He wanted Shannon in the worst way and he didn’t want any strings attached as to how he would get him. Rico told him Shannon had killed his brother, and revenge was in his heart.
    Rico, on the other hand, needed to make an example out of Shannon. He wanted Shannon to represent the dust of an era long past. The O.G.’s. Leaving him as the one who brought in a new day.
    He didn’t have time for old-school punks trying to revitalize their names on the streets. Shannon’s daughter was dead and that was that. Rico had paid props for that. He had a daughter of his own. Shannon should’ve gotten over it, but since he hadn’t Rico would help him along.
    Michael had been T-Bone’s only brother. He’d always looked out for T-Bone when he was small and growing up. Although everyone knew he was a drunk, when it came to T-Bone he had played both mom and pop, always making sure he had what he needed even if it meant passing up a bottle or two.
    Michael was blood. And as his grandfather used to say, blood is thicker than water. Nothing was supposed to come between you and your blood.
    Rico, sensing T-Bone’s reluctance to give his word on this, gripped him by the shoulders to drive his point home. “I’m serious, man. You’ve got to let me pay props for you. You’re my boy. That’s my heart to you, man. We family.”
    T-Bone sighed. He wasn’t happy about it, but he looked up to Rico and he respected the ranks of the streets. If Rico caught a body for him, it would elevate his status in the crew, as well as with the other thugs on the street.
    Rico’s crew was the only other one besides Ballistic’s that didn’t have a street moniker. Rico was of the frame of mind that his crew was known by their actions and therefore didn’t need a name. Ballistic, on the other hand, was the only name a person needed to know.
    After evaluating the situation T-Bone finally said, “Yeah. Okay. You got it. But I ain’t waiting too long. If Shannon’s ass is not on the streets soon I’m going to make like a magician and penetrate them bars downtown to get him. You feeling me?”
    â€œI feel you. Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait too long.”

    In the police station Lombardo was smiling. This was a day he had been waiting for. He was tired of catering to Shannon Davenport. He had an ill feeling about the cat-and-mouse game Campbell insisted on playing with him.
    He’d grown up in Bloomfield, which wasn’t that far from Newark. He knew how hard it was to make it. He hadn’t been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
    But as far as he was concerned, being poor and black was no excuse for the insanity that spewed across Newark’s streets, making victims of the hardworking people who didn’t want any part of the madness. Those were the people he was there to protect as well as his own.
    They definitely couldn’t have the crime from Newark spilling over onto the streets of Bloomfield. Although every city had its problems in Bloomfield you would never see dealers, thugs, and lowlifes out on the corners kicking it like they owned the world.
    Bloomfield didn’t put up with that nonsense. If they tried that in his city, he knew darned well they would lock them up, give them fifty years, and throw away the key like it was nobody’s business.
    He considered it to be his job to at least keep it confined, if he couldn’t control it. He didn’t want that poison and the venomous