Free The Desert Lion's True Colours by Ikechi Hayden

anyone about our little deal - if he doesn’t. Oh! And tell him my first payment is keeping his two fine mamacita’s alive. I think that should be more than enough to let him know we’re foreal.’
    The sisters looked at each other as if they were discussing the decision subliminally. However their unspoken conversation was cut short by Jay raising his gun and pointing it in their direction.
    ‘Ladies - It’s not like you have a choice.’ He said dryly.
    Still grimacing, Chocolate nodded her head and said, ‘Ok.’
    ‘Ok, what?’ Jay replied impatiently
    ‘Ok, we’ll set up the meeting.’
    ‘Cool.’ Leon said with a smile.
    ‘Oh and as for Perry, tell Pyro to avoid that nigger’s calls or the only chance of making some real paper is gone. You can also tell him I know about his little hold up at the wharf. Lucky for him we know some peeps at the docks that would be able to help out.’
    The two sisters thought about the offer for a moment longer then nodded in unison. While Leon headed towards the door, Jay kept his gun aimed at the two sisters. Once he was outside, Leon took a quick look to his right, then his left and then over the edge of the balcony to check their surroundings. Everything seemed clear. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Sure a man had just been shot in the head but that was O.T. People would go missing from that area every-other-day but it did not matter who you asked, no one saw anything.
    Confident there were no other men like Coli lurking around; Leon called back into the apartment for Jay. A short moment passed and Jay exited the apartment door, - back first, with his aim still pointed at the sisters on the couch. Once he was fully outside he smiled at Cinnamon and said ‘May be in another life.’
    She shot him a scowl to which he replied ‘I am sorry about your leg girl.’
    By the time Jay closed the door and pushed up the grill, Leon was already at the top of the staircase near the other end of the balcony. Within seconds they were both downstairs and quick footing it past the burnt-out Cadillac and through the whole in the fence towards Leon’s Mercedes. Leon opened the drivers-side door and noticed the same pretty twenty-something sitting in the doorway of her apartment with the baby resting in one arm and a mobile phone in the other hand. Leon was about to approach her as he knew she must have been playing watcher and sent Coli after him but after seeing Jay waive and then blow the same girl a kiss he stopped in his tracks.
    ‘What the hell was that?’ asked Leon, visibly perturbed.
    Jay let out a hearty laugh. ‘She’s one of Pyro’s walkers…’ He said. ‘. . . the whole building is a whore house. The dude with the all-new reconstructive surgery to his face was supposed to be the look-out slash muscle for the girls. He had put Trina on look-out.’
    Leon smirked. ‘Trina huh… ? You had enough time to get to know her name too?’
    ‘Hey, you know me dawg…’ replied Jay with a smile. ‘. . . If she got a body like an hour glass and her 24' hour clock is past nine, then I always got time.’
    Leon shook his head but allowed his face to give way to a smile.
    ‘You stupid.’ Leon said jokingly.
    Once inside the car, Jay replied ‘That may be. But correct me if I’m wrong; it was Mr Stupid here who got her to give up Coli.’
    Leon could not deny the point Jay had just made, so he just ended the conversation and settled into the driver’s seat.
    Knowing they would be receiving a phone call from Perry soon, they decided to make the most of the time they had and headed over to H.Q - a secret location tucked away underneath the parking lot of a co-op building on Collins Avenue. There they would have a chance to meet up with the chief, make him aware of their intentions and for Leon to officially meet Kevin Carter O’Neal.

CHAPTER 6  

    U nder the co-ops underground parking lot, Leon pulled up to a barrier and waited for the red light above the entrance to