Armed and Dangerous.

They say you never really know until you do. Back in those days, we were born into the violence, and I was no stranger to people I knew ending up dead, but pulling the trigger? That was another thing entirely. Killing a man leaves a dent in your soul forever. I was never a religious person, never had the time for it. But yeah, I knew right then that if heaven and hell exist, it's gonna be hell for me. I also knew it was only the start, not the end, the kid in the street was the first, he wasn't going to be the last.

Sanusi was pronounced dead at the hospital, and some weeks later we had to attend his funeral. He was a Muslim, and they had this whole ceremony that mostly involved Muslim clerics praying and getting paid for it. He was very popular, the most important person in his family actually.

The service was full of praise-singing by the clerics. They would talk and sing of the good deeds done by Sanusi when he was alive, but they never really pointed out that the man was a gangster and a killer. Since details like the number of people he threatened, maimed, killed, orphaned, and widowed wouldn't have made people stand up and spray the clerics with their hard-earned money, I supposed. This was part of the reasons why I never really got involved in religion, too much hypocrisy, and the moment you question these clear lapses, you are seen as a pariah.

It was at Sanusi's funeral that I met his son, Amin. Amin had just got back from London when the news of his father's demise reached him. Like his father, Amin was working with a gang in London with connections to Mr. Sarumky's organization. He was the carbon copy of his father, he had the man's muscular physique, and stern look.

After the service, Kaz and I went to greet him as others were doing the same.

"Hello, Amin. I am sorry for your loss. Sanusi was a real one, one of the best," Kaz said, as he shook Amin's hand.

"Thank you, Kaz. I appreciate it. I heard you dealt with the ones responsible as much as you could. I'll take from there, let's meet and talk later when you have the time," he replied and went on greeting other people.

"He's not a nan of many words just like his dad, and he looks like him too," I whispered to Kaz.

"Yeah, he's crazier than his dad though. This war is about to get some London touches," Kaz replied.

"Well, I have to leave. I've got school work. I missed like two weeks already, I have some catching up to do."

"Good, go on then. There is nothing here for you to do anyway."

I turned to leave, but I was met by one of Bammy's men. "Hey kid, Bammy wants to talk to you for a minute," he said, as he gestured to me to follow him.

I followed him to where Bammy sat, surrounded by his men, chatting loudly with some girls. As he saw me, he jumped to his feet and grabbed me by my arms.

"I heard, you saw action last week, good. You've proven to be able to handle your shit, and I'm about to give you a promotion," he whispered into my ears, laughing loudly. His breath stank of alcohol and cigarettes joined together, making him want to puke.

He grabbed a bottle of spirit and gave it to me, he waited for a moment as I stood there looking puzzled. Then he suddenly screamed "Drink the fucking thing, kid! You're like a fucking zombie, waiting for orders."

"I am sorry, but I don't drink alcohol," I mumbled.

"What the hell!", he screamed.

"I am not eighteen yet, sir, and I don't really like anything that would dull my reasoning."

"Good, smart boy. But if Mr. Bammy tells you to drink, you don't say no, you just fucking drink!" one of the men screamed at me.

I felt trapped and I could feel every one of their eyes piercing through me. I decided to drink the spirit, opened the bottle, and raised it to my mouth, then I suddenly felt a hand snatch the bottle from me.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kaz screamed as he threw the bottle to the ground.

"We're just having some fun here, Kaz," the fellow that had earlier lectured me about obeying Bammy's orders shouted, walking towards Kaz.

"Stay the hell away from me, Mark!" Kaz warned.

"It's okay, Kaz," I mumbled trying to calm my brother down. Everybody in the room had turned their gazes towards us, and that was not something good.

"No, it's not Okay! Get on out of here, now!"

"He's not going anywhere, Bammy suddenly shouted, making everyone in the room stop what they were doing.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You and your brother work for me! You belong to me, Kaz. Never forget that! So when I tell your brother to take a fucking drink he fucking does it! If I tell you to fucking fuck your mother you fuck your mother, damn it!" Bamny screamed as he staggered towards Kaz. He suddenly threw a punch, but Kaz blocked it and landed a jab on his face, the blow landed him on the ground, making everybody in the room shriek.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Kazeem?" Billy shouted from the crowd.

"Just get out of here, Kunle. Now!" Kaz shouted, and I ran out of the room.

I ran out wondering what the hell had just happened. Why the hell was Kaz acting crazy, he didn't like Bammy, but there was something else. Kaz didn't want Bammy getting access to me at all.

"Kaz knew better than to disgrace the boss's son in public like that. When Mr. Sarumky hears what happened, he won't be pleased," I whispered to myself.

I knew I had to do something, but what could I have done? Well, I decided to talk with Titi,  maybe she could talk to her brother or even her dad for me. Titi and I haven't talked since the party and I didn't know if she would want to talk to me, since I pretty much avoided her.

I hadn't been to Mike's place in a while too. It just seemed like my whole life was falling apart, in just a couple of weeks. I hadn't been paying attention to school, and it was killing me, I stopped talking to my best friend like I used to, and I hadn't seen the twins since they moved to uncle Kasali's. I was just busy with gang stuff.

The thought of Kaz being in trouble with Mr. Sarumky was on my mind, but whenever I thought about it I would just whisper " They need him" to myself.

I had school the next day, so I had to go home to face the shitload of school work I hadn't been able to do in the past week. I sat down at my reading table in my room trying to do the school work, with a lot of things eating at me in my mind, then I suddenly heard the door flung open and someone rushes into the house. I quickly stood up to check who it was as if I was looking for an excuse to get away from the books anyway.

I went into the parlor and nobody was there. The tap in the bathroom turned on, and the gushing sound of water caught my attention, I walked towards it and there he was, Chuks, covered in blood. 

"What the hell is going on, Chuks?" I screamed.

He signed to me that most of the blood wasn't his, he had been to Tommy's for collection and some Seaville boys were waiting for him, not the Seavile boys now, it was actually Fakunle family hitters. He managed to kill two of them and escaped. He was just home to clean up and go find Tommy before he could skip town.

"Well, I am coming with you, Chuks, before you get yourself killed," I mumbled and grabbed the glock that Kaz had given to me.

We rode to Tommy's house on Allen avenue. The place seemed deserted already, but we still went in to be sure. We were right to do so, Tommy was at home packing. He was trying to escape, of course, but he wasn't alone.

"You were warned Tommy, you had a good deal with us but you just had to go fuck it up, " I shouted at him.

"Well, I would rather die than deal with that fucking mute again, but I'll make sure you both die first," he screamed back, and suddenly reached behind his trousers.

Chuks quickly pulled out his desert eagle and shot Tommy twice in the chest, he fell violently on the floor knocking some furniture over. We turned to leave but immediately found out we were set up. The Fakunle boys had surrounded the building and there was no escape. We retreated into the building and took cover as they started spraying bullets at us.