Alice in Gangland: Chapter Three

Chapter Three: All About Ali..

Ali aka “Toni”

My name is Alice Octavia Phillis Cooper. Named after three literary greats: Alice Walker, Octavia Butler, and Phillis Wheatley. In other words, I was destined to change up the game.

As an FBI agent, I was doing exactly that. Following in my father’s footsteps, I carried on his legacy of being the best by working my ass off to also become the best. At only 27-years-old, I was the most awarded officer on the field, known for doing whatever it took to solve every case placed in front of me.

But this case right here? This one was going to be my masterpiece. My fuckin’ Mona Lisa.

Because nobody, and I mean nobody, wanted to step foot in Gangland.

And yet, somebody had to.

Never one to back down from any challenge placed in front of me, I decided that the person for the job was me.

As an undercover agent, I borrowed the name of another author, Toni Morrison, and took on the pseudonym and persona of Toni Wells. As Toni, I was a west coast self-made barber from California who had moved to Gangland after her grandfather passed in order to settle his estate and take advantage of the free rent.

Being placed right in the center of the city’s west end made it so a lot of my customers were members of the G Squad or people affiliated with them. I quickly became a known figure in the community but only had connections to gang members on the low end of the organization with the exception of Ace and Goshay.

Of the two, Goshay was my door to getting access to the ones at the top and that’s why I treated him like my V.I.P. client. And now, thanks to him, I was able to connect with a few other squad members, the most important one being Mecca.

Or, as he’d introduced himself to me last night, Mikhail.

“Ali, what took you so damn long to call? I was ‘bout to pull up. Thought something had happened to you.”

Laughing, I free-fell onto the couch in my living room. The mental image of my boyfriend, a man born right into the bosom of privilege, threatening to ‘pull up’ on anyone was hilarious.

“First, stop learning street talk from the comments on posts from The Shaderoom. Secondly, it’s all good,” I told him as I placed the phone on speaker so I could free up my hands. “I stayed late to finish a cut. And...” I paused, smiling hard as held out on the rest of my news for sheer dramatic effect.

“And what?” Jay prompted.

“And I finally met him. Mecca,” I clarified. “I finally came face-to-face with the man behind the name. He told me his name was Mikhail, but I know it was him. I could just feel it.”

On the other end of the line, Jay let out a long breath.

“Whoa,” he said, and my smile deepened. I could hear the shock in his tone. “That’s fuckin’ incredible. We’ve been together three years and you still never cease to amaze me. I guess that’s why they call you the best.”

Even though I wasn’t one to bask in the complements of others, Jay’s praise meant everything. Also, an FBI agent, he had more seniority than me and was just as accomplished. In fact, the reason we even met was because we initially considered each other our sole competition. We started out as enemies and eventually became friends. Now we were lovers and Jay was constantly pushing for the next status change.

The only problem? I was not trying to get married. Like ever. I had my own dreams and none of them included being an extension to some man’s ego.

“So... what was he like? Did he have a wild, crazy look in his eyes. Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining? Or was he more like Al Pacino in Scarface?”

I almost howled with laughter. “No, he wasn’t anything like that,” I told him, as I reached through my mind’s eye to recall everything about Mikhail. “He’s more like...”

Pausing, I let my head fall back onto the pillow propped up behind me and focused on the image in my mind. The piercing stare in his eyes when he looked at me and the way it sent ripples of emotion through my body. The curl of his lips when he shot me the sexiest smile I’d ever seen and how my belly immediately filled with butterflies. The familiarity I felt in his company, like I wasn’t meeting a stranger but someone from my past. Someone I’d known before. Someone I’d loved before.

“He was just... normal,” I finally said coupled with a shrug of my shoulders. “There was no crazy eyes... no hostility. He wasn’t power-tripping or aggressive. He was more like the boy next door.”

“The boy next door who is actually the man who has ordered over 75% of the homicides that have happened in the city. This year alone, the number of homicides he’s behind are four times the total registered for all of last year. And we are only in the third month of the year! Don’t underestimate him, Ali.”

“I’m not underestimating him, Jay,” I assured him, gently. “Don’t worry.”

A long pause followed, as if he were trying to figure out whether or not he truly believed the words I was saying.

“I hear you, Ali. But I also know you. You don’t like to admit it when you’re in over your head. You’ll keep working at something until you get it.”

“And is that a bad thing?” I posed with a frown. “I mean, you’re right, I’ve done that but it’s always worked out well for me. I get the job done in the end.”

“Yes. But this thing right here is different. Mecca is a dangerous man. You can’t underestimate someone like him.”

Sighing, I sat up and grabbed my notebook and pencil to do a quick sketch while the image of Mikhail was still clear. The way that Jay spoke about him, you would think that he was more than just a man. I couldn’t blame him. It was easy to think a person was more than what they were when you were fixated on the legend instead of the person behind it.

“There is something about him that feels familiar,” I admitted aloud without thinking. “I just don’t know what it is.”

“Familiar?” Jay parroted. “That’s not good. Is he someone you used to know?”

I tapped the pencil on my bottom lip as I thought it through. “No. I haven’t lived here since I was 12-years-old. Everyone who would recognize me out here has either been killed, locked up, or moved on. Plus, Mikhail didn’t grow up here. And he doesn’t live in Gangland.”

Jay began to process it all. “Ohhh. So that’s how he stays so mysterious.”

“Yeah, that’s part of it.”

A few moments of silence slid by before Jay spoke again. “Do you ever think of finding your sister? What was her name?”

“Sashi,” I replied, her name falling easily from my lips. “No, I don’t. Last I heard, she was adopted by a wealthy family and she had adjusted well to her new life. There’s no need for me to come in between that.”

“You’re her family. You wouldn’t be coming in between anything.”

He was trying to make me feel better, but I wasn’t in the space to hear it. I didn’t like to talk about Sashi. Didn’t even like to think of her. Losing my sister was like losing a part of me. Being reminded of it all hurt too much.

“It’s not your fault what happened to her. It’s not your fault that your parents were—”

“They weren’t my parents,” I corrected him. “They were donors. Junkies who couldn’t get themselves together enough to be who they needed to be. I hate them. They were never my parents. Carol and Roland Jonas are the ones who raised me. They are my parents.”

“And they were the best anyone could have,” Jay said. It was the perfect way to end the subject.

“I’m going to make some notes and look over a few things and then go to bed. I need to make sure that I can figure out how to spin this. Now that I know who he is, I have to find a way to get closer.”

Tapping my pen against my lips, I took a moment to think on that. After working in Gangland for over six months, I’d gathered a lot of trust in the neighborhood but hadn’t gotten much leeway on the real reason for me being there. It wasn’t fruitful to keep locking up the gang members that were low on the totem pole. To really make my mark in history, I needed to find a way to nail down the leaders.

“I know you’re in your mode and I know how that is. You’re focused, you’re hard to reach, you’re busy and you’re dedicated.” Jay sighed heavily after stating all that. “I guess the problem is that... I just miss you, Ali. This is the longest time you’ve been away on a mission. I never saw us having a relationship like this but... I understand.”

I pursed my lips, stopping myself from saying what was in my mind. He was saying that he understood my ambition and dedication to my job, but I wasn’t sure that was true. At some point, as with all of the relationships in my past, I knew it would eventually become a problem.

“Thank you for understanding,” was what I chose to say instead. “I know it has to be hard on you.”

“Damn. So, is that it? I mean, I was hoping that us being apart would at least be hard on you too.”

My entire body went rigid. From the sudden change in his tone, I could tell that Jay was on the verge of tiptoeing right into his feelings and I didn’t have time to deal with relationship drama.

“It is hard on me, Jay. I just know how to deal with these things a little better than you. I know how to fill my time with—”

“With the thing you love the most. Work.”

Closing my eyes, I let out a deep breath to try to counter the effect of Jay working my nerves.

“You know that’s not true. I signed up for this and I spoke to you about it before I did. We both knew that it was a huge commitment. I’m just doing what I said that I would do.”

“And I understand that. I would just hope that your need to complete missions like this will be satisfied as our relationship continues to progress.”

And there it was. The hint that marriage was still very much on Jay’s mind no matter how much I always said that I didn’t think it was for me. Men always thought that once marriage came into the picture, anything a woman chose to do had to be approved by them. I wasn’t having that shit.

“I just hope that whatever I choose to do with my life, you will learn to accept. Otherwise, you won’t have to even worry about this relationship progressing. At all.”

“Have a good night, Ali. I love you.”

“I love you too, Jay. Goodnight.”

As soon as we hung up the phone, our relationship problems became the furthest thing from my mind. The only thing I could focus on was Mikhail.

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