Saving Face

ART: "Patriotic Tears" By Laurie Cooper

Of course word got around that Lawrence Fontaine...Would be Heir apparent and nephew of the King, Wally O. Went into West Philly to avenge his Uncle's death and got beat down by two of his uncle's former protoge's...Most people couldn't believe that we had let him and his muscle live..but we had....Word floated around that His main man, the Jamaican, Dominic King...a hitman as fearsome as Malik Lockjohn, only without the insanity would be hunting. Contracts were out for Fathead Newton...Donald 'Smooth", Chris Thompson and of course, Me..

We suspended our card game...We told Donald Smooth to gather up all of the muscle that money could buy and be ready to raise holy hell at the sight of Lawrence Fontaine or Dominic King, a ruthless killer who unlike Lawrence was no punk. We wondered why Lawrence Fontaine was running the show and not Dominic.

Fathead made the first move...When Lawrence and two of his girlfriends emerged from a strip
club...A Black Ford 500 drove down the street and several shots were fired at him...he ran for all
he was worth and escaped down an alley.... The Next Day, Fathead was ambushed by three teenagers in white t-shirts,jeans and sneakers weilding Tech Nines..He miraculously escaped unharmed.

Early the next morning, three clubs that Lawrence Fontaine owned, mysteriously caught fire and burned to the ground... A few days later, two workers who were delivering a shipment for
Fathead were shot and killed.

A Week later...Lawrence was coming out of yet another strip club, when six guys wearing jeans
and t-shirts and sneakers emerged out of nowhere and opened fire on him..He once again ran for
all he was worth and escaped harm!

Two nights later...Fontaine's warehouse , where his main distribution was carried out , exploded!!!! and if this wasn't bad enough..A few factions that he had taken over from Loverman Jones who didn't exactly like the new boss decided to turn on him and align themselves with Fathead Newton....They shot and killed his represenatives in their neighborhoods and took back territory that once belonged to him. The war was getting ugly.

He had to save face...He called out his dog, Dominic and told him to have all of us in the morgue by the end of the week. Fathead, Donald Smooth and even Chris went to ground after hearing that..Chris begged me to take Rell and my son and leave town myself...but I couldn't do that. I did pack their things and drive them to Ocean City , Maryland to stay at my Aunt's house...but that was the short of it...

I returned to the city...I had to find my cousin....had to hear his side of the story.... I knew my cousin, Little Pistol and I knew that he had a habit of hiding in plain sight..When we were children and played hide and seek...He would always hide in the last place you would suspect him of being. In this case..it would be right in South Philadelphia..Right up under the nose of Lawrence Fontaine.

I risked my safety. I went to my friend Kevin Morris and told him my predicament. Kevin gave me a kevlar vest and a trauma plate...and he and his friend Clerow rode around with me
from bar to bar in South Philadelphia asking about Little Pistol's whereabouts...

"Chess, One thing I know....Somebody somewhere, always knows something." said Kevin.

"Aint dat da truth" seconded his boy,Clerow.

We finnally found someone who knew something after a week of searching and staying one step
ahead of Fathead's soldiers and Fontaine's soldiers and his nefarious hitman,Dominic King. We found a Prostitute willing to talk. She didn't want to talk anywhere in South Philadelphia...So Clerow picked her up in his car and she met with Kevin, Chris,Fathead,smooth and I on the rooftop of one of the apartment buildings I owned.

"Ohhh myyy,all these handsome men....You guys sure you don't want to do any business?" she cooed.

"I need to know where my cousin is." I asked.

"He's staying with Lawrence Fontaine's girlfriend....Chi-Chi. " she said.

"WHAT????" we all said in Unison.

"Yeah, that's a riot aint it? Lawrence is searching all over the city for him and he's right under his nose..at his girlfriend's house. He was doing her before Lawrence was and apparently he never stopped." she said.

"Can you give me an address?" I asked.

"Sure can...but uh what's in it for me?" she asked.

Fathead's guy passed her an envelope....she looked at it and her eyes grew large......

"Oh my God.......all this, just for telling you where Little Pistol is....sheeeeeeet...I can tell you where several of Lawrence's Lieutenants live and where his muscle lives and hangs out too!" she
laughed.

Chris walked over to me...

"What you gonna do Chess?"

"I'm gonna find him, hear his side of the story and give him money to get out of town..tell him to never come back." I said.

"You can't go in that lion's den by yourself....That hitter Dominic is on the loose...I hear he's a smarter version of Lockjohn.." said Chris.

"Oh Lockjohn light huh?" I said laughing....

"You got jokes at a time like this, huh? I'm going with you....In a matter of days ,we gonna have
Larry's entire operation shut down...but that cat,Dominic King aint no joke...He's killed about sixty people and that was in Jamaica.....He's got at least 10 bodies on him here in Philly...He's dangerous...he needs my kind of justice." said Chris.

"Nah...I got this..Aint you tryin to be a better man? I aint tryin to get you all tangled up in this..
let me handle it...if it gets heavy..I got your number...Please Chris..he's my cousin..This is my mess..Let me clean it up?" I said.

"I hear you and I understand...We all got them kind of relatives....I always liked Little Pistol..He talked a lot of mess..but he was just like you..had a lot of heart...would always back up your play.
I hope you find him before Dominic does, because if you don't....it's a done deal..Dominic is nothing but effecient....Take Kevin and his boy Clerow....He after all did stand tall and take down Lockjohn.." said Chris.

"Nah..they done enough..no need in getting too many more people involved in this." I said.

Chris embraced me and said quietly- "Be Easy Chess."

"Always" I said quietly, "Always that!"

The next afternoon...Just as it got dark....I found myself heading towards the block where Lawrence's girlfriend lived...The block was eerily quiet... Just as I got towards the house..I heard the familiar click of a gun and felt cold steel on the back of my neck!

"Hello Mr. Chess...At last we meet....You know, I've been slipping.....I haven't found your friend Chris or your friend Fathead yet, but I will...I don't expect you to tell me...but that's okay, I'll find them and they'll be just as dead as you're going to be in just minutes....Then I'm going to go inside and kill Mr. Pistol and Lawrence's cheating girlfriend..I'm sure he'll be most pleased."
said the voice with the thick Jamaican accent.....

It was Dominic King....and after all this time....My luck had finnally run out...He had found me.

(Conclusion Next......)