Teri Woods - Angel's Revenge

Since her conversation with Rahman, Angel’s demeanor had changed, and Goldilocks was worried. Everything became strictly business and money. She took no shorts from her team, and Goldilocks was no exception. Any little thing set her off. Angel was like a walking time bomb. Goldilocks didn’t understand why.

For Angel, all she had ever loved was Dutch and the family. Rahman had come to represent all that to her since everyone else was gone. True, they had irreconcilable differences, which she understood, but for Roc to tell her they were enemies extinguished whatever feelings of love she held in her being. For Angel, there was no more loyalty, therefore no more trust. So she trusted no one, nor could she be trusted. All she had left was the money, power, and respect she extorted from the streets, and she held it all down with an iron fist.

Goldilocks had watched in horror one night as Angel made Capo beat a nigga to a bloody death with a lead pipe because he had fucked up fifty grand, peanuts in their operation. It was then Goldi realized that Angel was walking a very dangerous edge.

“Baby, I’ve been thinking,” Goldilocks said as they walked through the mall. “Why don’t we go away for a while. Take a trip somewhere. Anywhere. Just you and me.”

“Maybe in a couple of months, ma. Shit is too hectic right now for me to get away,” Angel replied.

“Which is exactly why you need to go. Capo can handle things, right, Capo?”

“No doubt. There’s nothin’ I can’t handle,” he confirmed, trying to convince a leery Angel. Angel grinned slightly, but her eyes remained stone.

“ Callete, okay?” She spoke calmly.

Capo and Goldi knew not to push the point so the conversation was over.

Angel looked at Capo, then at Goldilocks. She just couldn’t figure it out. Goldi never thinks about the paper. Capo’s a thirstball but Goldi acts like the money is nothing. Angel didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. If she took the “love” issue out of the equation, then what was Goldi doing with her?

Angel no longer believed in love, so she doubted the authenticity of Goldi’s. If Roc could turn against her, then anybody could. Angel decided to let the relationship run its course. She was on point, now more than ever, and even Goldi would fall under her magnifying glass.

They entered Angel’s favorite sneaker spot in the Newport mall and began to browse. The walls were covered on all four sides with the newest editions and retro throwback styles. Angel came to spend even though she already had over a hundred pairs of sneakers and hadn’t worn even half of them.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Alvarez,” said a white guy in a referee-striped shirt. He welcomed her like the regular she was. “Glad you dropped by. That special order of Air Force Ones arrived two days ago.” He smiled, then disappeared into the back to get them.

“Now, these are hot,” Goldilocks remarked, removing the silver-and-black T-Macs from the display. “You like ’em, boo? You gonna cop ’em for me?” she chimed.

“Why? So you can walk away from me in ’em?” Angel retorted sourly.

Sourpuss, sourpuss, Goldi thought. “Yo, what the fuck is wrong with you? You got a real fucked-up attitude.”

The man returned with four boxes of sneakers and set them on the counter. “Here you are, Ms. Alvarez.”

“Yo, Duke! What color you got these in?” Capo asked the salesman across the floor as he held up a pair of shell-top Adidas.

The man squinted and replied, “I’ll have to check.”

“Just give me every color you got in a size ten,” Capo ordered. He loved shopping ’cause he was able to order around the salespeople.

Just as the clerk started off for the back, a loud, irrationally high-pitched alarm filled the mall, startling everyone.

“What is that?” Goldilocks cringed, covering her ears.

The clerk rushed over to the register and picked up the phone.

The PA announcer came over the system.

“Mall shoppers, may I have your attention, please. At this time, we ask that you calmly move toward the exit nearest you. There is no need for alarm but we do request your immediate cooperation. Thank you.”

The alarm continued to scream. Despite the calm announcement, shoppers moved at a rapid pace, bordering on panic. On the way out, Goldilocks commented to Capo, “What the hell is going on? Terrorists attacking the malls now?”

Her comment sparked a déjà vu in Angel, stopping her dead in her tracks. During the Month of Murder, Roc and Zoom had used the same tactic. Create confusion, murder, and then escape in the chaos. It was a timely thought that made her instantly aware of her surroundings. She felt her life was in danger, saw it coming for a split second, and then all hell broke loose as the mall erupted in gunfire and screams. The first shot from Rahman grazed her in the upper arm as she pushed people out of her way. The second shot shattered the window behind her as she dove for cover.

“Fuck!” Angel cursed at the sight of her own blood, adrenaline pumping too fast for her to feel the pain.

“Angel!” Goldilocks screamed, not knowing how serious her wound was.

“I’m good! Move! Where’s Capo?! Capo!”

Angel came up firing recklessly, almost hitting two young girls.

The mall was in total chaos. Six shooters and Rahman were all trying to take Angel down.

Capo pulled his gun and popped the safety.

“Angel!” he called out, peering from a rack of T-shirts.

His voice and words were rewarded with a barrage of gunfire. He returned the shots, but the next round found its way into the flesh of his neck. Two more shots finished him off.

“Capo!” Angel screamed from behind the counter. She and Goldilocks were using it for cover. She watched as Capo was gunned down and fired on the killer.

“Move with the crowd! He won’t shoot into a crowd!” Angel commanded Goldi, then reloaded her nine. “Let’s go!”

Goldilocks emerged from their hiding place first, gripping her pistol like a trained gunman. Two of her three shots found fatal homes in the flesh of two of the shooters. As she and Angel ducked and dodged through the crowd, Angel was amazed at her accuracy. Damn, this bitch shoot better than me.

Rahman and his team circled the mall, trying to cut Angel off and fish her out of the crowd. The mall police were looking for the shooters in the midst of the madness.

Angel saw the police at the door and made a decision to dip through the exit that led to the subway that ran under the mall.

“She took the stairs!” Hanif shouted to Rahman. They both headed in that direction.

“Freeze, or I’ll shoot!” a cop screamed at one of the shooters, before catching two shots in his face from a second shooter to his left.

“Ock! Let’s go!” Hanif screamed.

Angel and Goldilocks jumped down the steps three at a time and fired back up to keep Roc at bay.

The people waiting on the train platform screamed and ducked as Angel and Goldilocks ran down to the far end.

“Go back, Hanif! I got it from here! Police is everywhere! Let me do this,” Rahman ordered.

“You sure?”

Rahman nodded, and Hanif moved in the opposite direction, away from Rahman.

Rahman skipped down the steps, staying close to the wall as he reached the platform. The train hadn’t arrived yet and the people were hiding behind whatever they could.

“So this is how it ends, Roc, huh?” Angel screamed from behind a steel support column. She fired two shots that struck the wall inches from Rahman’s head. “I know you can hear me, muthafucka!”

Rahman remained quiet, inching closer to the pinned-down Angel. She peeked around the column, and he let off three shots in rapid succession. She nodded to Goldilocks next to her, who hunched down low and crept along the opposite side, attempting to circle around and trap Roc.