missing the concern in Shadow’s voice when he shook his head and said, “I don’t know, Riggs. Starting up a war between these gangs seems like a whole lot of fucking trouble just to try and keep the cops off our backs.”
“We can’t afford to have the cops looking into us. Hell, they’ve already been asking too many questions. The last thing we need is for them to start monitoring our every fucking move.” Riggs shook his head. “We’ve already been down that damn road, and I don’t know about you, but I got no desire to go down it again.”
“I think Riggs is right. If we can make the cops think there’s a war on the rise, they’ll be more focused on that instead of us. We’ve just gotta make it look like another gang is responsible for bringing the Genocide down.” Blaze nodded. “If we play it right, it could work.”
“Okay, then. When do we start?” I replied.
“The sooner the better,” Moose replied. “We divide up. Shadow, Hyde, Bone, and Murphy will handle the drive-by, while Riggs goes with Blaze, Gauge, and Gunner to tag some walls and set a couple of fires. Just enough to get some rumors started.”
“You gonna tell us who we’re hitting?” Murphy asked.
“Desmond Michaels. He’s one of Booker’s main guys.” Riggs brought his face up on the monitor. “He has a place out in Frayser. He and a couple of members are known to hang out there. Usually in the yard smoking dope and fucking with their cars. I figure they’ll be a good place to start. Once we’re done there, we’ll hit Chris Carter’s place. He’s one of the Fallen.” The Fallen Ones were another local gang who were known for creating mayhem in the projects. While we hadn’t had any issues with them, there were plenty of others who had, so it wouldn’t be a surprise that they were involved in a drive-by. Riggs slid a piece of paper over to Murphy. “Trust me when I say, this guy and his buddies have it coming. Before we do anything, I’m gonna need you, Rider, and a couple of the prospects to go pick up these two cars.”
“What for?”
“We’ll be using them for the drive-bys. One of them is registered to Booker’s second in command, and the other is registered to the leader of the Fallen Ones. We’ll use it to hit Michaels.” Riggs seemed to have it all figured out. “We’ll go there first, so it’ll look like a counter attack when we head over to Carter’s place. From what I can tell, neither of the vehicles should be hard to swipe. You’ll find the Camaro parked in the back of the strip club, and the Mercedes is at one of the section-eight housing complexes.”
“Got it. I’ll get it taken care of.”
“We gotta be able to do this shit without any innocent kids or ol’ ladies getting hurt, and I want Antony Booker alive,” Moose announced. “When Gus recovers, I want him to have the opportunity to face the man responsible for putting him in that fucking hospital bed.”
“Understood.” Riggs nodded. “Let’s meet back here around seven. We’ll sort out the rest of the plan then.”
“We’ll be here.”
Moose stood as he said, “Consider yourselves dismissed.”
When the brothers started to disperse, I walked over to Murphy and asked, “You need any help getting the cars picked up?”
“Nah, man. I got it covered.”
“Okay, then I’m going over to the hospital and check in on Gus.”
“Sounds good. Let me know if anything’s changed.”
“Will do.” As I started to leave, I told him, “Give me a shout if you need a hand with anything.”
“You know I will.”
After leaving the conference room, I headed out to the parking lot and got on my bike. As I rode over to the hospital, I thought about everything we’d talked about in church. I had no idea if Riggs’s plan would actually work, but honestly, I didn’t fucking care. I was itching to take down Booker. I wanted to make him pay and pay big for what he and his fucking crew had done to Gus, and I didn’t give a fuck about the consequences. Cops or not, Booker’s days were numbered. When I walked into the waiting room, I found Samantha sitting in her usual spot while the two prospects we had keeping an eye on her were sitting across the room monitoring the exits. Thinking back on what Riggs had said about Booker’s crew watching us, I