Free The Syndicate by Brick

stomach clench as I rushed to the phone with her by my side. I picked up and the first thing I heard was my brother rapidly speaking in panicked Spanish and Tagalog.
    â€œVon! Nigga, you should have answered your cell phone, the both of you. This isn’t the time for a blackout, man,” he said in my ear.
    Putting him on speaker, I put the cordless down then crossed my arms in worry. “What’s going down? Were y’all followed?”
    â€œShit, yeah! We need you at Mama’s. Jojo and Melissa got snatched!” Cory said, emotion making the phone shake on his end.
    A stone cold shot froze me in place. If it weren’t for Shanelle, I wouldn’t have heard what happened.
    â€œAre you serious, Cory?” she said in frantic panic. “How? Where? Who saw it?”
    Rattling started on Cory’s side of the line then he spoke up. “Fuck, man. Shit. A’ight. Lamont is talking to Inez. She said Jojo was going to pick Melissa up from her classes. Her car broke down remember? So, he was going to pick her up and get some shit from the store from Inez. As he was pulling up to Melissa, a black truck got in the way and someone snatched her. Jojo was on the phone with Inez when this was going down, so he was relaying everything he saw. Everything.”
    As I listened, I backed up and quickly got my shit and got dressed as Shanelle followed me with the cordless phone.
    â€œJojo . . .” Cory paused then he continued. “Jojo hopped out his car and ran after them only to be snatched too. We found his cell in front of the student and faculty parking lot. We need you down here, Von. We need you both. We can’t lose them too.”
    Blind, hot anger raged through me. I already knew what I had to do. Everything Mama said and Uncle Snap said was going to happen was in progress, all because they wanted to disrespect her memory and press my family. A’ight. See, when backed in a corner, no one was ever safe from me when I was pinned down and when I broke free.
    Glancing at Shanelle as she quickly dressed, I stepped to the door. “Let’s go. We’re on our way, baby bro.”
    Don’t fuck with mine. That’s all I have to say.

Chapter 5
    Shanelle
    â€œTake me to them,” Javon said as soon as he walked through the doors of Mama’s house.
    Uncle Snap was already there, strapped up like he was five-o or somebody. Dressed in navy blue slacks held up by suspenders and a white dress shirt with a black tie, he looked like the age-old detective he wasn’t.
    â€œYou need to think about this, nephew,” Uncle Snap said, holding his hand out to Javon.
    â€œI said take me to them,” Javon repeated.
    I was nervous, but I was ready for war. Thoughts of Melissa and Jojo being kidnapped in broad daylight made me anxious, my trigger finger itchy. It reminded me of the days we all used to fight in the neighborhood. If one of us fought we all did, but that was normally because kids knew there were eight of us and they normally came ready to jump us.
    â€œFirst you wanted him to suit up and become the leader and now you want him to think about it?” I asked Uncle Snap. “Think about what exactly?”
    Inez’s face was set in stone as she looked between us and our uncle. Monty and Cory stood posted like they were down to do whatever needed to be done. Naveen’s eyes conveyed the worry he felt.
    â€œWhat are you going to do, nephew, run up on a collective of the kings and queens of the underworld? And do what exactly?” Uncle Snap asked.
    Javon stepped face to face with our uncle and stared him down. “Old man, you take me to these motherfuckers who snatched my family or you’re the enemy to me at this point. Make a choice, Uncle. Make a choice and know this is the last option you get to make,” Javon said.
    His tone was so cold and malicious that it made my flesh crawl. I hadn’t expected Javon to go there. Clearly Uncle