The Cartel Deluxe Edition Read online

  Both men were silent, each with a different pain in his heart. The war with the Haitians had been won, but at what cost? They both felt like they had given up too much in order to win. Yes, they still had control of the city, but everything that really mattered in life had been destroyed. Their family had been dismantled all for the sake of power.

  “Where is she, fam?” Carter asked aloud as he opened and closed the black velvet ring box that contained the engagement ring that he had planned to give to Miamor. It had been months and he hadn’t heard from her. As soon as he was arrested, Miamor had disappeared, and although he could deal with the thought of incarceration and he could handle all of the risks that came with the game, he could not fathom the idea of never seeing her again. He could see her face, her smile, her eyes, as if she had been by his side just yesterday. She was on his brain constantly, and as long as he was unaware of her whereabouts, he would not be able to concentrate on anything else. She was important to him . . . the only thing he had left to keep him sane. She was the woman who was supposed to be his wife and bear his children. How could she just walk away? He thought grimly. The thought angered and saddened him at the same time.

  Mecca stopped himself from smirking. Look at this lovesick ass nigga! he fumed. He was tired of Carter sulking over Miamor. He didn’t feel a need to tell Carter of Miamor’s deception. He had handled that beef personally, and now that she was out of the picture, he was completely satisfied. He had avenged the deaths of his mother and sister. Although vengeance had come at the expense of Carter’s heart, he knew that in time Carter would move on with his life.

  “Nigga, you need to take them blinders off when it comes to that bitch,” Mecca stated harshly. “She left you stinking. You haven’t seen or heard from her since the day you were knocked. She was probably a Fed or something. Forget about her. Grimy-ass bitch was playing a role to get you caught up. You took the bait. It happens to the best of us.”

  Mecca’s words made Carter’s heart throb in agonizing pain. The thought of Miamor’s betrayal was too heavy a burden for him to carry. “Maybe you’re right, bro,” he said with doubt.

  “Nigga, I am right. That bitch got you around here fucked up. You a clean nigga. She got you growing beards and shit,” Mecca joked, making light of the situation. “You need to be thinking about keeping the Feds off your doorstep. Just because that snitch nigga, Ace is in the wind don’t mean you’re in the clear. The government doesn’t lose often. You walking free is an embarrassment to them. They’re not done with you yet, so we need to be prepared for whatever they have planned. After your freedom’s guaranteed, the rest will fall into place.”

  Carter nodded, knowing that Mecca was speaking the truth. He was focused on all the wrong things. His life was hanging in the wings, and he needed to be at his best in order to overcome the odds that were stacked against him.

  Mecca stood. “I’m outta here, fam. I’ll get with you later. I won’t be making too many more trips to this side of town coming to check on you. I still got issues left unsettled,” he said, reminding Carter of his unfinished business with Emilio Estes.

  “Keep a body with you at all times,” Carter said with authority. “Don’t be on that Superman shit, Mecca. You can’t go against the Dominican mafia alone.”

  Mecca lifted his shirt with one hand, revealing a .380 snub chrome 9 mm, and a .45 tucked against his rock hard abdomen. “Fuck another nigga! I got my bitches lined up right here,” Mecca replied arrogantly. “They won’t catch me slipping again.”

  Carter nodded. “I hear you. Be smart and be careful,” he said.

  Carter arose and walked around the immaculate mansion. The gray sweats and white T-shirt he wore were very uncharacteristic of him. The fear of the unknown had him out of his element, and he spent his days confined to the house, his thoughts of Miamor driving him insane. He had everything in the world that a man could want—power, money, luxury, but without her, it all held no value. He would easily give it all up to be with her, and had thought that her love for him ran just as deep.

  Pouring himself a glass of Remy VSOP, he made his way over to the picturesque window that overlooked the front of the estate. A cable van sat on the street, undoubtedly filled with federal agents who were monitoring his home, trying to build a new case on him. He wouldn’t give them the ammunition they needed to send him away. Prison wasn’t for him. He’d send them to their graves before they shipped him back to prison. He opened the door and walked outside. He acknowledged his armed workers with head nods as he carried the glass of cognac in his hand. Fifty men surrounded the estate, all fully aware of everything and everyone around them, but no one was allowed to enter his home, with the exception of Mecca and Zyir. Carter made his way to the gate and nodded for his keeper to open it. He walked to the edge of the street to retrieve his daily newspaper. A huge picture of his face covered the front page:

  Drug Kingpin Carter Jones Walks Free.

  The cable truck was not even five feet away from him. He smirked and held up the paper for the Feds to see, then he approached the van. “Good morning, gentlemen,” he greeted when he finally reached the driver’s side.

  “We’ve been made,” he heard an agent whisper from the back. The driver of the van watched him with cold eyes.

  “Of course you’ve been made. Look up and down this street,” Carter said. “Cable vans don’t quite fit in with hundred thousand dollar cars.”

  His arrogance and power intimidated even the highest of the law. He could see that he made them nervous. It takes a wolf to catch a wolf. Carter was one man who would not be easy to get to. They were playing out of their league, and their amateur tactics of surveillance proved that.

  “Step away from the vehicle, Mr. Jones,” the driver commanded.

  Carter smiled at the officer’s attempt to be dominant, but the tremble in his voice revealed his cowardice. “Not a problem, but I would like to see your badge. Since it’s obvious that you’ll be guests in front of my home, I need to be sure you are who you say you are . . . you understand,” Carter answered sarcastically.

  The federal agent removed his badge and handed it to Carter. Carter inspected it with the same hand he held his drink in, then passed it back. He tapped the inside of the driver door. “Agent Marshall,” he said as he smiled and walked away. Carter had slyly slipped a transparent audio device, no larger than a small piece of tape, onto the back of the agent’s badge, and also one on the inside of the van. Idiot mu’fuckas! he thought to himself as he entered back onto his property and disappeared inside his home. They thought that they were watching him, but now he would know exactly what they were saying. He would always be one step ahead of them now that he had infiltrated their operation. The listening device had a radius of 100 miles, and wherever that badge went, Carter’s ears would follow. I’ll even hear you fucking your wife at night, he thought.

  Carter rubbed the abundance of hair on his face and thought, Mecca is right. I need to get my shit together and stay focused.

  * * *

  Breeze whimpered weakly as a cold sweat drenched her body and chills stiffened her spine. Her light skin was a sickly bluish tint, and she was barely strong enough to lift her head. Ma’tee had tried to stop the poison from spreading, but his home remedies were useless, and the medicine he had given her had no effect on her condition. Breeze’s foot was swollen and the skin directly around the spider bite was black. The red streaks going up her leg was a clear indication that the poison was spreading. If she didn’t get medical treatment in a matter of days, she would be dead. “Water!” she whispered desperately as Ma’tee jumped at her every beck and call. The tender way in which he touched her revealed his growing obsession. He was crazy over her. In his mind, no one loved her more than him. He would die before he gave her back. Breeze was the only thing he had left in this world, and he imprisoned her so that she would only be his. She was too beautiful for anyone else to see, too delicate for anyone else to touch. She belonged to him.

>   He could not see it, but his possession over her was slowly causing her sanity to abandon her. She did not have the strong Diamond will that the rest of her family possessed. Her eyes were empty as if her soul was now gone. She had lost all hope, and as she looked up at the man who had taken her away from everyone she loved, she cried. She didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. She was his slave in every sense of the word. He had taken her body, her mind, and her spirit, and trapped them in Haiti. Even if she did ever make it out alive, she would never be the same. Things could never go back to the way they used to be. She had endured too much. Psychologically, she was ruined. Emotionally, she was drained. Physically, she was raped. The lovely young woman that Breeze used to be did not exist anymore. Only Ma’tee had the key to set her free, and she knew that would never happen.

  Breeze began to cough violently and bile flew from her mouth, her body desperately trying to get rid of some of the venom that was slowly killing her.

  Ma’tee sat near her bedside and applied ice to her wound and a cold wet towel to her forehead to try and lower her fever. Her temperature was dangerously high, yet she felt so cold that she shivered. He desperately tried to bring Breeze’s health back up to par, but the more days that passed, the worse she became. He wasn’t ready to let her go. He refused to lose her, even to death, so his only alternative was to take her to the only doctor in town. Ma’tee knew that he was taking a big risk by taking Breeze to town, but if he wanted her to live, then he had to.

  He stood to his feet and looked around at all of the Polaroid pictures he had taken of Breeze. They covered the walls, almost entirely constructing his very own wallpaper of lunacy. They were his masterpiece. “So beautiful!” he whispered. The photos chronicled her time in Haiti. Her smileless face and hateful expressions went unnoticed by him. He was delirious to think that he loved her. The misery and fear that he was causing her was evident on her face in every photograph. He went upstairs to retrieve his gun, rummaging through his kitchen drawers until he found bullets to load it with. He was unsure about taking her to town, but his hand was forced. He did not have a choice.

  Ma’tee returned to her side. “Me princess,” he said as he stroked her face with the nose of his gun.

  Breeze turned her head in disgust, causing her to vomit even more.

  “Me am going to take you to town to see de medical doctor, but chu have to promise not to run. Me run de entire city. If chu say one word to anybody, me will kill chu, young Breeze. Chu understand?”

  Breeze did not respond. Hot tears had dried on her ashen face.

  “Do chu understand?” Ma’tee asked again.

  Breeze nodded her head and felt Ma’tee lift her from the bed. The feel of his hands on her body made her cringe as he carried her to the back of his mansion and into the thick of the jungle. The average person would become lost in the jungle-filled mountain terrain, but Ma’tee had grown up here. He navigated the area well, and knew the dangers that lay underneath the deceiving appearance of the land. Even the most beautiful flower could be deadly.

  Breeze tried her hardest to remember the path that Ma’tee took, so that she would know the way to town, but she was so weak and everything looked the same.

  “Chu will never remember de way,” he said as if he was reading her mind. “So stop trying.”

  They came to a clearing where a green Hummer sat covered in a tarp that was disguised by brush and leaves. Ma’tee sat Breeze down on the ground and removed the large tarp, then placed her in the passenger seat.

  There’s a car here, she thought. I have to remember how to get back to this spot, she told herself.

  Ma’tee started the Hummer and rode the rough terrain the rest of the way down the mountain, navigating the deadly path like an expert, until he reached the town below.

  For the first time in months, Breeze saw other faces besides Ma’tee’s as they passed some of the townspeople, but her health was fading. Everything appeared blurry, and the pain radiating through her body was becoming unbearable.

  Ma’tee drove with one hand on his gun and the other on his steering wheel. “Remember what me told chu,” he instructed as the car finally stopped moving.

  He attempted to carry her out of the car, but she fought him, pushing him off of her. “Don’t touch me! I’ll walk!” she screamed in frustration. She shook like a leaf in a strong wind as she stepped out of the car, but she was determined to not have his hands on her in public. However, when she put weight onto her poisoned foot, her body came crashing down like a house of cards.

  “Stop fighting me and let me help chu,” Ma’tee whispered the words, but it sounded more like a demand as he bent down and scooped her up in his arms.

  She had lost a considerable amount of weight and was light as a feather. Against her will, her head fell onto his chest and she looked up at her captor. It was the first time she had ever looked directly at Ma’tee, and his heart melted into her grey eyes. “Please, let me go!” she pleaded.

  “I can never do that, my princess. Once you learn to love me, your life will be filled with riches,” he promised. He carried her into the doctor’s office and rushed over to the receptionist’s desk. “Please, help me! Me daughter was bitten by a black widow and is extremely sick!”

  The receptionist took one look at Breeze and stood to her feet in a panic. “Doctor!”

  The most beautiful woman Breeze had ever seen came rushing out of the back. “Oh my!” she exclaimed at Breeze’s condition. “Please, put her over here . . . hurry!” Ma’tee rushed and placed Breeze on a stretcher. The doctor began to wheel her to the back of the office while Ma’tee followed closely behind.

  “No, please sir, chu need to wait up front and let me do me job. Me will take care of she,” the doctor reassured. “Me receptionist has paperwork for chu to fill out. Me will keep chu updated.”

  Ma’tee’s eyes shifted from the doctor to Breeze as he became nervous. He had not planned on leaving Breeze’s side. He nodded and said, “Can I just speak to me daughter for one moment?”

  The doctor nodded and Ma’tee walked over to Breeze. “Me will kill chu!” he said as he wrapped his hands around her tiny neck. He applied pressure and leaned over her so that the doctor could not see what he was doing. He had killed many men in his lifetime, and he knew that there was a delicate balance between death and unconsciousness.

  Breeze felt her oxygen being cut off, and she wanted to struggle, but her body felt so heavy. The poison was rendering her helpless.

  “If chu say a word, me will kill chu.”

  Those were the last words she heard before she went unconscious. Ma’tee had cut off her air supply long enough to knock her out without killing her. He hoped she would stay that way until the doctor would allow him to be by her side again. He turned to the doctor in panic. “She’s passed out! Please help she!” he whispered as he wiped tears from his eyes.

  “It’s de poison. It’s shutting down her nervous system. Why didn’t chu get help sooner?” the doctor asked.

  Ma’tee played the grieving father well. He acted as if he was so choked up that he couldn’t respond.

  “Me will do all me can,” the doctor said before taking Breeze and disappearing behind two double doors.

  Ma’tee paced back and forth in the waiting area for two hours. He kept watching the clock, each minute taunting him and threatening to expose him. Finally, the doctor emerged through the double doors.

  “How is she?” Ma’tee asked.

  “She will be fine, with medicine and rest,” the doctor replied.

  “Can me see her?” he asked.

  The doctor shook her head. “Not right now. She is still asleep. We have her in a sterile recovery room. Me cannot allow chu back there and risk infection. When she awakens, me will come get chu.”

  Ma’tee sat down impatiently, his leg bouncing in anticipation as he watched the doctor disappear into the back once more.

  * * *

  Breeze’s eyes were so heavy that s
he could barely open them. Flashes of white light sneaked through her closed lids as she slowly came out of the anesthesia. Her head was groggy, and she could barely remember where she was, but when she closed her eyes, it all came rushing back to her like a bad dream: The jungle; the spider bite; the doctor. Every detail was fuzzy, but it was all slowly coming back to her. I’m at the doctor’s office. I have to get out of here before Ma’tee comes for me, she thought. It took all of her might to roll onto her side. Her neck felt as if she were a newborn baby. She couldn’t support her head and her vision was blurry. Get up! she urged herself. Get up! There was an IV in her arm. She snatched at it. She was so weak that she could barely get the needle out of her arm. Forcing herself to sit up, she stood on wobbly legs which caused excruciating pain to shoot up the right side of her body. She shook her head from side to side trying to clear her vision, and saw that she had an incision that ran down the length of her leg, and that her foot was bandaged. The anesthetic hadn’t completely worn, off and it was hard for her to stay focused. Her limbs were so lazy, every move she made exhausted her, but she fought the urge to lie back down.

  The ringing of a phone snapped her to attention. I have to get to that phone, she thought. Breeze was in a state of emergency. This was her only shot to reach out to her family. She knew that if she didn’t make it to that phone, she could kiss everything she ever knew good-bye.

  She forced herself to stand on her injured foot. She wanted to scream at the pain that she felt when she was fully standing, but instead, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths until the blinding ache died down and she was able to move. The excruciation kept her alert as she used the objects in the room to help her toward the door. “Where is the phone?” she whispered to herself. She stuck her head into the hallway. She could see the double doors that led to the lobby. Behind them was Ma’tee, lurking, preying on her. Her heart rate increased from the fear of seeing his face again.