Spring 2009-
It was June...I had been out of the game for six months...I had sold my connect to a cat named Scooter...He rode the trains, picked up the package and sold it to all of my old customers...I watched him make the money I used to make and brag about the things he was getting...Just as i once had...It didn't concern me anymore...I was making an honest buck, didn't have to look over my shoulder and wonder if I'd get pinched by the cops anymore... I felt freer than I had in a long time...
Scooter ,unfortunately..talked a little too much and his incessant chatter caught the attention of the rail police, who passed it on to the DEA...In May of 2009, Scooter, Brad Richardson and 49 other people...got themselves arrested and charged with drug smuggling, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, et al....I was so glad that I was no longer a part of that.
The 49 runners had to eat the charges and take 5- 10 year prison sentences...Brad Richardson, got off with two years probation, but was told he could no longer ride this particular train....Scooter was out on probation, pending sentencing.... He was found in a Maryland suburb with a rat in his mouth, and two neat bullet holes in his dome....A pretty nasty business...I imagine Geechie Dan lost a lot of revenue.
Brad Richardson got word to me that Geechie Dan wanted me to reconsider and to come back into the fold...but I said "No"...I was done...I wasn't meant for this game...I ran into Chris Thompson and Donald Smooth around this time and they told me to watch my back...They said they had heard from a good source that maybe I had better not spend anytime in Brooklyn , when my train banked in New York...I knew what that meant...That there was a contract out on me. My old friends, Geechie Dan and Brad Richardson had it in for me!
I admit...It wasn't the best news...but I didn't think about it too much.....My mind was on a cute little dime piece that was riding from Washington D.C. to Philly like clock work every weekend..
almost. She started riding in March and here it was May and she was still riding....I struck up a
conversation with her.
I figured she was a college chick....She had that written all over her...I expected her to be stuck up...She wasn't...She turned out to be quite easy to talk to...So easy that I practically told her my life story...even about the drugs...and how I'd stopped dealin and slangin and was dedicated to working an honest job...I told her how I gave everything up...The fast life, the good life..everything! She was surprisingly touched by what I had done...
"Not a lot of guys would have turned their backs on all of that." she laughed.
"I kept the car." I joked....I really did...She laughed....
Her name was Jenny...Jenny Smith.....She had just gotten her Masters from Howard and was in the process of moving back to Philadelphia.
"So what , you're coming back and forth every week to see your man?" I asked.
"Is that your way of asking if I got a man?" she asked with a laugh..
"Well uh, yeah." I said. I felt no reason to be coy or dishonest...I felt no fear around this woman at all..
"No...I don't have a man..Don't have a working car anymore either...So I've been slowly transferring stuff back and forth up here ever so often...and my girlfriends meet me at the train station..I'm moving back to Philly...I've got a couple of job offers lined up." she said.
"Fine as you are and you don't have men knocking down your doors...I'm surprized." I said. She had that look like...She'd heard this line before and she probably had.
"I've been busy.....YOU been busy..I don't hear you talkin bout no woman." she retorted.
"Touche'...I guess I had that comin.....Nah...I had friends...but nobody really important..." I said.
"Friends eh? Hahahahahahah, okayyyyyy." she laughed.
"For real...Nobody important....I could be lookin to make that move in the near future though." I said with a sly grin.
"Oh Really?" she said and then smiled.
"Ya never know...anything could happen." I said.
"That's true." she continued..
"Listen...I got some days off...I can get a U-Haul truck and drive down to DC with you and bring the rest of your stuff back up here...You were gonna need one eventually anyway...You can't bring your furniture back on the train." I said.
"Would you? That's sooo nice...I was gonna either ship it or put it in storage until I could find some guys to help me." she said...
''Nah...I got you."I said.
Funny how you notice somebody, but you don't notice them?....This guy used to get on the train in New York ever so often...He wore dark sunglasses, a trench coat, khaki pants with no socks and Penny loafers...He carried a small metal case with him at all times and ,I guess an ipod...He listened to his music...Got off in DC...Got back on and rode back to New York....He had looked a little odd...but so did a lot of folks...
I was talking to Jenny one particular Friday afternoon, when her eyes got as large as saucers...
She pushed me out of the way and took her pocketbook and slugged this guy in the face....He had
a gun with a silencer!!! That's what was in the metal case and he had it aimed at my head!!!He fell backwards and the gun went off! I grabbed Jenny and we ran into the next car...The man followed us!
"GUN...HE got a gun!!" screamed some of the passengers....He attempted to run...but an armed train cop in plain clothes ordered him to stop...He turned with the gun aimed at the cop!...Bad move...The plain clothes cop fired two times...striking the guy in his chest and killing him instantly!!!He fell to the ground and dropped his weapon....
"Basil, he had a gun...Oh my God ,What was up with that?" screamed Jenny...
"He was crazy, I guess." I said...but I knew that he was the man assigned to kill me!
There was pandemonium on the train....as you could guess....We were all a bit unnerved!!!
Jenny had saved my life!! Geechie Dan and Brad Richardson had made their first attempt on my life...They had failed...
Of course the story made the news....No one knew why this man was on the train with a gun!
Except me!....
(Definitely To Be Continued......)
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