Chapter 1 Book 1

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the readers who gave this book a chance.

Prologue

Ten year old Jocelyn Turner peeked out the window, counting down to one under her breath.

“Jo, come away from the window and have your dinner!” Her mother, Ruth shouted from the kitchen.

“I don't want to eat without Daddy!” Jo replied and continued her counting.

Ruth shook her head and smiled, her daughter was a regular Daddy's Girl. She was never content when her father was away. She watched TV with him, she played with him, she read with him, and happily followed him shopping. Sometimes, Ruth worried that Jo's only playmate was her father. In her opinion, girls her age needed friends who were also young and in elementary school, but Jo clammed up whenever she was introduced to children her age.

When Ruth had asked her why she didn't want any friends, Jo had looked her straight in the eye and said, “I have Daddy, and he's enough for me.”

Jo hit her foot on the floor when she counted down to one and her father hadn't knocked on the door. She folded her hands across her chest and pouted, she hated it when her daddy was late.

“Daddy, please come back. I'm really hungry.” She implored, still looking out the window.

Immediately, the familiar figure of a man wearing a trench coat appeared on the doorstep and knocked.

“Mummy, Daddy's home!” Jo shouted with glee as she went to open the door.

“Oh no, you don't. What did I tell you about opening the door?” Ruth demanded, coming out of the kitchen.

“You said I have to ask who is at the door.” Jo said impatiently.

“Good. Now, do that.” Ruth said.

“But Mummy, we already know it's Daddy. Why should I ask?” Jo asked.

“You have to. What if it's not your Daddy? We can't let strangers into the house.” Ruth said.

“Fine.” Jo said. She rolled her eyes as she asked, “Who is it?”

“It's me, Daddy.” Came an amused voice from behind the door.

“I already knew that.” Jo replied. She turned to her mother and asked, “May I let him in, now?”

Ruth nodded, and Jo got to work, unlocking the multiple bolts on the door. When she was through, she opened it and her daddy stepped in, looking tired but smiling at her.

“Daddy!” Jo shouted as she launched herself into his arms.

“Hi, Jo bug. Did you miss me?” Her daddy asked, kissing her hair.

“Yessss. Daddy, I have a lot of things to tell you.” Jo said.

“Which will wait until we've finished dinner.” Ruth said.

Her daddy set her down and went over to her mummy, “Did you miss me too?” He asked.

“You know I did, Gabe.” Her mummy replied before they kissed. Eeeeew! Jo thought as she closed her eyes and wondered why parents had to such disgusting things. Didn't they know a gazillion germs could be spread by kissing?

When they were through, she opened her eyes.

Her daddy ruffled her hair, “I'm going to get out of these dirty clothes, then you can tell me about your day, Jo bug.”

*   *   *

Gabe listened as his daughter told him about the drawing she'd made of the both of them driving around town in a car.

The drawing was a child's squiggle, made with crayons, but to him, the Mona Lisa had nothing on it.

“It's very pretty.” He commended her, giving her a high-five.

Gabe was glad for his wife and daughter, and was disappointed in himself for not giving them the pampering they deserved.

Gabe hoped that one day, they'd have enough money to move to another block, because Odton was no place to have a family. It just wasn't safe because of the hundreds of gangs out there, robbing and extorting people.

Gabe tried to save as much money as he could from the convenience store he ran, but most of it was spent on protection money; money given to gangs to protect his store from them, or other gangs.

The problem was, many gangs were collecting protection money from him, so at the end of it all, he wasn't making as much profit as he should. Adding the economic recession to the volatile mix, Gabe knew that relocating to a safer block was nothing short of a pipe dream. For the time being, they were stuck with a fixer upper in an unsafe neighborhood.

“Daddy, you aren't listening!” Jo accused, snapping Gabe away from his thoughts.

“Yes, I was.” He said, smiling at her.

“Then what did I say?” Jo asked disbelievingly.

“I've forgotten. My brain's old.” Gabe joked.

“Nooooo. Does that mean your brain will die soon?” Jo asked, concern etched on her face.

“No, young lady. Get the plates, let's go wash them. I'll teach you a new song while we're at it.” Gabe promised, and Jo did as he bid. She loved it when her daddy taught her songs.

They were about to start when a knock sounded on the door.

“Let me get it.” Jo volunteered, but Gabe held her back. He wasn't expecting anybody.

“Ruth, are you expecting anyone?” He asked.

Ruth shook her head.

“Wait here.” He ordered the both of them before he went to open the door.

When he did, he saw two adolescent boys dressed in denim, with matching green and black bandanas tied around their foreheads. They looked gaunt and had tattoos inscribed on the various parts of their bodies he could see. One held a baseball bat.

Gabe knew they were gangsters, and was annoyed. What were they doing at his door?

“Who the fuck are you and what do y'all want?” He snarled.

“Now now, mister Turner, no need to get your panties in a twist.” The one with the baseball bat smirked.

“O.G sent us. He says you owe him protection money. Fork it over.” The other said.

“Am I supposed to know who that is? Moreover, I've already paid protection money.” Gabe said intractably.

The boys looked offended, “You don't know O.G? O.G is our leader. The leader of the Night Snakes.”

“Yup. And you mighta paid protection money, but you didn't pay it to us. You know what I mean?” The boys said, explaining to Gabe as if he were a five year old.

“Look, you go back and tell your O.G that I'm not giving him nada. He can go fuck himself for all I care.” Gabe said, trying to intimidate the boys.

“Now, that ain't happening. If we return without the money, we're going to be dead meat.” One of the boys said, shaking his head.

“Again, I don't care.” Gabe said, and tried to slam the door in their faces.

“Okay, Gramps. Playtime's over.” The empty handed one whipped out a pistol.

Gabe immediately threw his hands up, silently cursing himself for coming out without his own firearm.

“Okay. Put that away before shit happens.” Gabe advised.

“No. Now, where's the money?” The pistol wielding one asked.

“I don't have any cash on me. Why don't you two go home? You can come to the shop tomorrow and collect it.” Gabe said.

“No, thanks. If we don't take it now, O.G gon' kill us.” He replied.

“Then don't go back to O.G. You two are young boys with your whole lives ahead of you. Don't waste your lives doing his dirty work. You're either going to end up in jail, or dead before you're thirty.” Gabe advised.

“Or we could end up filthy rich with lots of ice and bitches.” The other boy smirked. “Now, this is the last time we'll ask nicely. Where's the money?”

“Gabe? Is everything alright?” Came Ruth's worried voice from inside.

“Yeah. Yeah! I'm fine!” Gabe shouted.

“You better give it to us, or we'll involve your wife.” The boys threatened.

“How much do I owe you?” Gabe asked.

“Two hundred bucks.” One said.

“I don't have it on me.” Gabe said.

Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Gabe fell to the floor, blood oozing from the bullet wound in his chest.

“Damn! Bro, what'd you do that for?” The boy with the bat asked, alarmed.

“I don't fucking know! I was just playing around with the trigger. I didn't mean to fire!” The other said with tears in his eyes.

“C'mon, let's get out of here.”

*   *   *

When Ruth heard the gun shot, she rushed to the sitting room and saw Gabe's collapsed form bleeding all over the carpet.

She bent over him and checked his pulse. She noticed it was barely there. She rushed to the nearest phone and called 911.

Jo followed her mummy to the sitting room, only to see her daddy on the floor, with blood everywhere. Her mummy was crying as she told her daddy to be strong. Jo quietly watched, a little confused at what was going on. After a while, a white and red van pulled up, and strangers came down from it and took her daddy's body.

She rushed up to her mummy, “Mummy, are you going to let this strangers take Daddy away? What if we never see him again?”

Her mummy cried and hugged her tightly, “Don't worry, we will.”

Later that night, Ruth received a call from the hospital. Gabe had been dead on arrival. She quietly set down the phone and cried herself to sleep.

*   *   *

Ranem Police Department

Precinct 10

Fifteen years later

Lieutenant Ted Baines hated giving the speech he was about to, but it was a necessity. He consoled himself with the fact that it was only done once a year, when the precinct received new recruits who had just graduated from the academy.

He looked at the eager rookies, almost bursting with élan at the prospect of upholding the law and shook his head. A year later, most of them would hate their jobs, of that he was certain.

As his name suggested, Ted Baines resembled a teddy bear with his huge paunch and benign facial features. But his voice was a wonder to hear, a rich baritone that served to relax or to frighten, depending on the kind of mood he was in.

“Okay! Listen up, rookies! You all have successfully graduated from the police academy, but don't think that makes you ready for police work, 'cause it doesn't. The only thing that makes you ready for police work, is ... police work.” He paused to glare at his audience, and was glad to see they were taking his speech seriously. Some were even writing things down.

“Now, let me explain to you all how you all will be distributed among the twelve blocks of our very own Ranem city.” He said as he turned on a power point presentation.

“The city block with most officers is Gulden, while the city block with the least officers is Odton.”

He saw disgruntled expressions on some of the faces of the rookies, but only one of them was brave enough to talk.

“But Sir, Gulden has a crime rate of thirteen percent which is relatively small compared to that of Odton which is a whooping eighty-five percent.” The clean shaven rookie said.

“Your point being?” Ted asked, looking bored.

The rookie blushed but continued, “Sir, I think we need more officers in Odton, not in Gulden.”

Ted Baines yawned, “That's your two cents, boy. You see, Gulden is home to the rich citizens, who donate generously to our department. The mayor wants us to keep them safe. Meanwhile, Odton is filled with criminals and other such lowlives. Did you know that there are more than a hundred gangs in that block alone? Why do you think Odton is also called Ganghaven, a name they relish? We generally leave them alone because the gangs fight and destroy each other, making our work easier. It's the way of things around here, and that's not going to change any time soon. Understood?”

The rookies shouted a resounding “Yes Sir!”, although most of them weren't happy with what the lieutenant said.

“Good! Now get your asses out of here! I've got work to do.” He bellowed at them.