Roc Boyz

The Rockland Brothers, Darryl and Calvin , better known as "D-Rock" and "C-Rock" were drug dealers who were looking to move up in the world...Until Chris Thompson and Indian Joe erupted into a major beef..They had quietly been Chris's main competition for supremacy in West and Southwest Philadelphia. With that war between them in full effect..The Roc Boyz were already making moves on Chris's Southwest Philly corners. "C-Rock " had recently bought and renovated a gym. The previous owner had owed him money and had sold the gym to him to get off the hook. C-Rock had had people come in and put down new floors and brought in modern equipment and had equipped it with a sauna bath and a juice bar. The gym had speakers that were hooked up to a satelite feed. The hipest Hip-Hop and R&B music pumped into every room
of his gym. There were flat screen tv's on every wall with MTV, BET, CNN, Playboy channell, HBO , Sports Center and an assortment of other cable chanells playing at any given time and even a barber shop on the upstairs floor. All the hip people went to C-Rock's gym. His brother D-Rock owned 18 units of apartments ,which he rented out....Both of these were of course fronts
that they used to launder their dirty cash and to hide what they really were....Drug dealers, from the world. Everybody knew who they were and what they did..but most folks were willing to

turn a blind eye and patronize their gym and rent their apartments.

I came to their gym for one reason only...To find my fiance's brother.. Billy Ray..who had seemingly vanished into thin air. In Philadelphia...on the streets..no matter what you do..Somebody ,somewhere knows about it...if you lean on the right people, show the right amount of cash or just stand certain places and listen..you can find out anything you need to know. Billy Ray wasn't hard to find...He talked to prostitutes and prostitutes talked to any and everybody...It took me two days..but I found him...Holed up in the Barber shop on top of the Roc
Boyz Gym.

"Damn Chess..caint nobody put nothin over on you." he laughed when he saw me.

"You need to call your sister..she's worried to death about you." I said.

"You mean she's worryin you to death about me." laughed Billy Ray.

"Exactly!" I said and we both laughed.

"Are you crazy Billy Ray? Holed up in the Roc Boyz's gym? You know that Chris is warrin with
them as well as Indian Joe." I said.

"I don't work for Chris no more and he more or less has washed his hands of me Chess...He won't
protect me from Indian Joe..Hell, he might even give me up to protect himself..Chris is one treacherous dude.." said Billy Ray.

"So you down with the Roc Boyz huh?" I said.

"Yeah..D-Rock and C-Rock said that they got my back." he said.

"And you believe em?" I said.

"I'm safer with them than I am with Chris." he said. He looked at me and managed a weak smile.

"I thought you was out the game? Thought you was gonna work a straight job?" I asked.

"I am Chess..but not here..I'm gon get out of Philly in a few days and then start ovah, somewhere else..somewhere where I can breathe...don't have to look over my shoulder." he said.

"Okay Billy Ray, be easy my man." I said and turned to go.

"Yo Chess" he called.

"What man?" I said

"Tell my sister that I'm alright.." He said...

"Will do." I said..

Just then... the door flew open and two gunmen opened fire....I ducked down and pulled out my
.38 ,I looked around for Billy Ray, but he was running for the fire escape... D-Rock came up behind the one gunman and fired his .357 Magnum...at the gunman who turned and fired at him
with his .45 hitting him in the lungs and dropping him down the steps..I fired at the gunman who
was hit in the side and who spun around wildly shooting at everything...People were fleeing and glass was breaking.. C-Rock appeared in the door and fired two shots at the gunmen dropping him and killing him. Unfortunately, C-Rock didn't see the other gunman who had come off of the fire escape, gun smoking....He fired two shots..One that hit C-Rock in the forehead and the other that hit him in his chest...C-Rock and I fired at him ,just before C-Rock fell to the ground dead...The gunman fell to the ground dead too!
Then the barbershop was silent. There was no way that I was going to stay in there and wait for the police. I ran down the fire escape and there was Billy Ray lying in the alley behind the gym!
He was bleeding profusely.

"Billy Ray? Billie Ray...you've been shot.." I said.

"Damn Chess, nothin gets by you, do it?" he said as he coughed up blood..."What happened up
there?"

"I don't know...but everybody's dead...come on , let me get you out of here.." I said....

But Billy Ray didn't say anything else...didn't move....He was stiff...He was dead....I heard sirens..
I was in no mood to talk to the cops, so I ran down the alley.. I had parked my car two blocks away. Chris had taught me that when we were teenagers.. He had said - "If you creepin with somebody else's lady or on your lady or you involved in a caper, never park closer than two blocks away...That lesson had come in good tonight!

(To be continued..........)