Destined - Episode 5

Novella Thursdays

Chapter Three

‘Yo, T,’ a voice called out from below Tyronne’s balcony. ‘T…’

These hotel balconies along Bourbon Street had been sold out for months in advance, but with his name and reputation having been well established, such waiting lists meant nothing to The Big Easy’s most infamous thug.

Tyronne spotted his boy Marquis down in the crowd, calling up to him with three mamacitas by his side. ‘Yo, T, these bitches say they wanna sample your sweet beads.’

The trio looked up to him with awe-struck eyes. The kind that say, ‘we know who you are, and we’re ready to fuck.’ They were the kind of eyes that fell on Tyronne more times than not, for in the world of street hustlin’ hoes were infatuated with his kind of power, and would do anything for the bragging rights of being amongst thug royalty.

‘So let’s see ‘em,’ Tyronne yelled back as he put his hand out to the human pillar standing beside him. He was never seen without at least one bodyguard flanking him, and this evening, as the sun sizzled away and made room for the coming night on this Fat Tuesday, the arm of the massive crony guarding him was covered with Tyronne’s ‘sweet beads.’

Taking three of the necklaces into his hand, Tyronne dangled them out for the girls to see, raising his voice loud enough for all to hear. ‘Show us what you got!’

The first two were used to this kind of flaunting, and lifted their shirts with no hesitation at all, their bare breasts sparking an instant cheer from the crowd. The third, however, was apparently a hoe-in-training, needing a little coaxing from her older cousin before she flashed hers as well.

Unlike the other two pairs of tits, that showed obvious signs of wear and tear from years of sluttin’-it-up, the youngest set was so high, small, and innocent that the crowd let out a puppy-love ‘ahhh!’ And like The Big Bad Wolf Tyronne saw himself to be, the scent of her underage innocence stirred his appetite.

He tossed the first set of beads down to hoe number one, and the second down to number two. But he kept the third necklace in his hand, pointed his big scary finger down to the innocent, and gestured with it for her to come up to him.

The girl’s eyes were as wide as the coming moon, with her feeling more nervous than she had ever been in her young life, yet excited to prove that she was a big girl now. So with the encouragement of total strangers and her own cousin, Little Bo Beep allowed herself to be guided by Marquis’ hand and was led upstairs to the dark world of The Big Bad Wolf.

The suite was full of Tyronne’s royal court, and he knew his chambermaids would know what to do with the itty bitty titty once they laid eyes on her. They’d give her the fifteen-minute prep. A glass of Jesus juice, a few hits of Cajun weed to loosen her up from any second thoughts, some bullshit lines of how beautiful and cool she was.

Meanwhile, he’d continue to pass out his ‘sweet beads’ to those Marquis would fish out from down below, the famous street party being the perfect cover to introduce the new coca from down south. Nicely hidden within the festive beads, the free samples would flow freely, giving the eager noses of New Orleans a free ride on the latest white horse to charge out of Mexico…

Among the tourists and locals mingling to the sights, smells, and sounds of the French Quarter at its best was Agent Stevens, camouflaged with beads and the like to blend in perfectly while he stood stationed in front of the hotel across from Tyronne’s balcony. So unassuming he appeared that no one could have guessed that he was about to take part in an assassination.

Lifting his drink to cover his mouth, Stevens spoke into the watch on his wrist to update Cormier. ‘Eagle remains perched. Stand by.’

Above the Agent and in a world all her own, Sarah was in her element up on the roof of the hotel she was staying at, filling her camera with the initial images of this year’s Mardi Gras coming to life.

Above her the last of the day’s light was going out, her fingers clicking away to capture that small window of dusk hovering over the culture of the city as it was about to set ablaze.

Just when she had snapped that last shot of twilight, Sarah’s cellphone rang.

‘Hello? Hey Dennis.

‘Uh-huh. I checked in about an hour ago.

‘Yeah, I’m about to grab a bite-

‘Ok, ok, more than a bite. I know, the food is going to be amazing. But you know what, so are the shots I’ve gotten so far! And the night’s just starting!

‘I will. Talk to you tomorrow.’

Sliding her phone back into her pocket, Sarah was about to head down for her first taste of New Orleans when its nightscape caught her eye. So beautiful were the neon lights in shimmering off the scene that she couldn’t help but stay a little while longer.

‘Five more minutes,’ she whispered to herself. ‘Just five more…’

Turning on to Bourbon on the opposite end, Jimmy pulled along his small suitcase while he walked down the street taking it all in. He had managed to lose Jake when the two had come upon a small group of flight attendants in the terminal, of who had all come together from different carriers in the like-mindedness of the pursuit to party.

Now alone and going wherever instinct took him, Jimmy’s stomach growled at the smell of the local cuisine filling the air, accompanied by the rhythm and jazz and the occasional eyeful of some woman flashing her breasts for a simple string of beads. Unsure if it was sensory overload or just hunger, he was beginning to feel a little dizzy…

Lying flat on his back and covered from head to toe in black, Agent Cormier held his soundless sniper rifle against his chest, waiting for Stevens to whisper in his earpiece the go-ahead to take the shot. He had been staring up at the night’s sky from his darkened balcony for ten minutes now, ever since the concealing color had emerged. It was the highest balcony, closest to the roof, and provided just the right angle he would need to ground the eagle permanently.

And like a flame to a short fuse, as the four words left Stevens’ mouth and came through the earpiece, ‘the eagle is wide’ sent Cormier springing up to a position of combat in a blink of an eye, his line of sight through the scope of his gun finding the back of Tyronne’s head as the thug leaned down to the table in front of him to sniff one of his white lines.

The back of his bodyguard was disappearing into the suite, perhaps to take a piss, or maybe even to take first crack at Little Bo Beep. Whatever the circumstance, the eagle was now wide, and Cormier squeezed the trigger…

Sarah’s five minutes had turned into ten, as she had found it impossible to pull herself away from the spectacle below. The dancing, the floats, the travelling bands. It was more than she had ever imagined. A natural high that actually had her feeling a little light-headed. Or at least that was the first thought to come to mind. But when the light-headedness had turned to full-out dizziness she got a little scared, the neons from down below blurring as she put out a hand to steady herself. But the hand found nothing, sending her body falling towards the edge of the roof, with scary turning to panic as both hands now grasp tight around the crude railing that was stopping her from tumbling forward and to certain death.

Only after a couple of seconds of collecting her bearings while clinging to the barrier did she realize she was safe from falling, her body now lying flat on the roof after having subconsciously pushed itself back to safety.

But then it occurred to her, her camera was gone…

As soon as the bullet split through Tyronne’s skull and rendered his body limp Agent Cormier returned to his horizontal position on the floor of the darkened balcony, just in time to react with cat-like reflexes to reach up and catch a camera falling towards his face.