WILD THANGZ by Winston Chapman (An Essence Magazine National Best Seller)

Chapter 22

Brea used the key to cautiously open the door of Hung and Sumy's house. We were relieved to see that they were lying, just as we'd left them, in the bedroom.

Trina, Brea and I stripped naked and found a place to sleep in the bedroom. Well, pretended that we were asleep until the morning.

For us not to be professional criminals, we'd come up with what was to be a rather ingenious 3-Phase plan.

After Brea had no success in New York, she'd thought about where we could get money in the amount of $80,000. Obviously, a bank robbery she ruled-out. And trying to gold-dig it from even the plethora of ballers that she was fucking was far too slow and risky.

She'd come to the conclusion that there were only two places that had that kind of cash on hand. R e f l e x and Slick-N-Thick.

After informing Trina and I of her plan for a robbery, we were frightened of even the idea.

Even more so, by the fact that a robbery was Brea's best idea to keep us from getting killed.

As long as we'd known each other, Brea always had the plan. Whether it was getting money from the director of a shoot in Miami, convincing a man to provide 'creative' financing for her Mercedes, using her connections to be the star in music videos, or hookin' us up with jobs at R e f l e x , Brea always had the plan.

Between R e f l e x and Slick-N-Thick, we thought the better of the two was R e f l e x . We ruled-out stealing from Slick-N-Thick for two reasons.

First, Slick-N-Thick didn't close until 4 A.M. and wasn't totally empty until an hour after that. The 1st-shift bartenders would be in as early as 9 or 10 preparing to open the club at Noon. Therefore, the window for theft would be a very small one. Not to mention that there were two time-locked steel doors that we'd have to get through before we got to the money.

The second reason was that there was definitely more risk of retribution associated with stealing from Herman and Tyanna. If we got caught, the police would be the last thing we'd have to worry about.

Knowing the free and freaky nature of Hung and Sumy, we'd decide that it would be them that we'd rob.

Brea's nosey ass had already previously viewed surveillance tapes, even before we knew of the problem we had with the Vinettis. I couldn't believe that she'd done that, as it indicated that she'd already pre-meditated a theft of her own. However, having been in the situation we were in, it was a good thing.

From the tapes, she'd been able to see the codes that Hung and Sumy punched for the security system and the vault as well.

Our 'Wild Thangz' party experience inspired the way that we'd be able to obtain keys to the front door.

Hung's and Sumy's free and freaky nature made it almost a sure bet that they'd be down with a private 'Wild Thangz' party suggestion that included me, Trina and Brea.

Just as we predicted, they were gung-ho about the spur-of-the-moment idea, suggested to them by Brea, on the Thursday after Brea got back from New York.

The party was all set for Saturday night at Hung's and Sumy's home.

Being a Pre-Med major, Trina was able to steal some Chloral hydrate from the Med- Facility at Spelman. Chloral hydrate is a liquid chemical used to harmlessly sedate a person for several hours, which would be just enough time for us to steal the keys from Hung, drive to R e f l e x , empty the vault and return to their home without them ever knowing that we'd left.

We figured that when the police discovered the break-in, suspicion would obviously be that of an inside-job, first.

Our plan would make for the owners, Hung and Sumy, to actually provide the alibi for us.

As far as they'd be aware, we were at their home all night, during the time of the robbery.

Jamal was added for safety, just in case we ran into problems.

The plan was a simple one. During our 'Wild Thangz' escapade with Hung and Sumy, Trina poured some of the Chloral hydrate into their drinks.

While they were unconscious, we stole the keys, broke into R e f l e x , met Jamal at a nearby hotel parking lot, he jumped in my car as it was the least fancy of all, took the cash from the vault, re-locked the front door, broke the glass to make it look like it was random, then returned to Hung's and Sumy's house, so that it'd not appear that we'd never left.

For the most part, our plan went off without too many problems. However, leaving the tape which clearly outlined the thieves by gender was the one glitch. But, there was nothing that we could do about that now.

On Sunday morning, Hung and Sumy were awakened by a phone call from the police informing them that their business and been burglarized.

"I'm sorry! We gotta go!" Hung said after informing us of the subject of the phone call he'd just ended.

"I can't believe that!" Brea acted surprised. "Do you want us to go with you?"

"Awwh, shit!" Hung exhaled frustration, pre-occupied thinking about the worst. "Um, no.

Ahhh, we just gotta go. I'm sorry to kick you guys out, but we gotta go!" "Oh, no problem! We understand!" I added.

Trina's face wasn't as convincing as Brea and I's so I was glad that Hung and Sumy were in a dazed state, otherwise they would've picked-up on it.

We collected our things and left.

"Call us later to let us know what happened," Brea portrayed concern.

"I will," Hung said, as he and Sumy were hastily trying to do minimum grooming before they left as well.

"Whew! $112,000!" Jamal excitedly spoke the total of our take at the hotel room he'd rented.

Jamal knew about the reason for the robbery.

"I'm just glad that it's enough to pay the Vinettis!" Trina said with relief.

"Yeah, but that leaves an extra 32-grand. Split four-ways, that's 8-grand a piece!" Jamal suggested, as Brea was busy holding one of the bundles of cash.

"I don't want any of it!" Trina claimed. "I just want to pay the Vinettis and be done!" "Fine with me!" Brea hurried to say. "That's about 10-grand each, three-ways"

"Hold up!" I said, before they got too far in their plans. "I say that we give it ALL to the Vinettis. Let's make sure that they won't kill us! We'll call it interest!"

"Are you out of your fuckin' mind?" Jamal yelled. "I'on't risk going to jail to not get anything out of it".

"No! You did it to not go to jail for Statutory-Rape! There was no deal about the money!" I screamed back.

"That's bullshit! I'ma get some of this money!" Jamal charged standing over me to intimidate.

"Chill, Jamal!" Brea said, stepping between me and Jamal, pushing him back with his forearm.

As he walked back to the table of loot, Brea spoke softly to me.

"Jaz. If we pay them their $80,000 the Vinettis won't do anything. I know their reputation. Trust me, it's gonna be okay!" Brea tried to convince.

Her comments fell on deaf-ears, as I recognized that she couldn't really guarantee me shit! She didn't know them like that. I wasn't willing to bet my life on what she thought might be true.

Trina was behind me 100%, after hearing my idea about an extra incentive for the Vinettis to leave us alive.

We argued ferociously, before Trina and I finally came to the conclusion that we could use our share of the money to put with the $80,000, making it now a total of $96,000 that we'd hand-over on Tuesday to the Vinettis when they returned to collect.

We were pissed that Brea and Jamal didn't comply, but we also thought that our goal would be achieved with the extra 16-grand.