Free Street Pharm by Allison van Diepen

sure: If Darkman thought he could just come to BK and crown himself a kingpin, he was wrong.
    I was thinking of all this when I walked through the door at 11:30 that night. Mom wasn’t home, lucky for me. I needed to be alone to do some serious planning.
    There was a postcard on the kitchen table.
    Hey Ty,
    How about them Giants? What a great game last night! I’m missing your letters. Don’t forget to write when you get time.
    Your dad
    Anything about a sports team was our emergency code.
    Dad wanted me there ASAP.

ORLANDO’S SOLUTION
    W hat I gotta say couldn’t be said over no phone.” Just like my dad to get right to the point. “Word is, Kevin King’s tryna take over. Calls himself Darkman.”
    “How’d you know?”
    “Ain’t no secret. I know the family. They too ambitious for they own good.”
    “Why the hell did he come to Brooklyn?”
    “A few years back, his brother Max tried to run me outta business. Thought because I wasn’t backed by a gang that he could set up shop right on top of me. He was wrong.”
    “What you do?”
    “Brought him in. Fucked him up till he was almost dead. Sent him back to Miami.”
    “ Shit. So this is Max’s revenge?”
    “I don’t think this was Max’s idea. He knows it would be setting up his brother for certain death. Nah, this is about Kevin wanting to show up his brothers. Kevin thinks if he can take over the Johnson territory—something Max couldn’t do—he’ll be on top.”
    “Do they know you’re still in the picture?”
    “Trust me, son, they know.”
    “You don’t have to worry, Dad. We ain’t giving up nothing to them. The situation is under control.”
    “No, it ain’t. Not as long as Kevin King’s around.” Taking a folded piece of paper from his pocket, he passed it under the table. I slipped it into my pocket.
    “What’s this?”
    “A phone number. Guy named Ronnie. He’ll take care of King for us.”
    I swallowed. I never dealt with shit this heavy before.
    “What if this guy fucks it up?”
    “He won’t. Ronnie’s a professional. He know how to get the job done. No mistakes, no messes.”
    “This guy botches the job, and everybody points at me and Sonny.”
    “That’s why I want you to use Ronnie and not some street thug. I used him a few times, and he always came through.”
    A few times.
    “He ain’t cheap, though, Ty. Professionals are never cheap. I probably paid him ten grand for the last one, and that was years back.”
    “ Ten grand? You kidding me?”
    “Probably more, with inflation.”
    “I ain’t spending one red cent on that nigga King.”
    “You’ll spend whatever you got to. Shit, you got cash coming out your ass, boy! Don’t go cheap on something this important. Getting rid of King is an investment.”
    “A’ight, so I get rid of Kevin King, and the rest of his family wants revenge on my ass. Then what do I do? Hire Ronnie to eighty-six all of ’em?”
    “Ty, I don’t think you get what I’m telling you here. You got no choice but to get rid of him. You a man now, and you gotta act like one. You let him live, and it’s your funeral. Sonny’s, too.”
    “I ain’t scared of him.”
    “If you ain’t scared, then you too stupid to be running the family business.”
    “I’m holding shit down, Dad. I already got a plan to deal with him.”
    “ ’Course you do. You always been the man with the plan. But I know how shit like this go down, and a man in your position gotta do whatever it takes to stay on top.”
    “I will, Dad. If I need Ronnie, I’ll call him.”
    “Good.” He smiled his dangerous smile. “ ’Cause if you won’t, I will.”

SCHOOL DAZE
    I rolled out of bed, showered, and threw some clothes on, then went to the clinic up the block.
    I had to wait an hour and a half in a waiting room full of screaming kids and wrinkly old people. By the time I got in to see the doctor, I really did have a headache.
    The doctor was a middle-aged Chinese lady. I gave her a story about my