THE LOOK ON KAT’S FACE said it all. Her eyes were squinting and her jaw and mouth were tighter than a closed fist. As soon as Tender and Goldie laid eyes on her, they saw evil and knew it was trouble, with a capital T.

“Yo, I took my eye off my clutch bag while I was dancing and one a these petty-ass bitches went into my bag and stole my locker key. I go back to the locker room ta freshen up and when I open up my locker my shit was all fucked up. I ain’t stupid now, I know how I left my shit. First thing I do is look fa my paper and dat shit was gone … Three hundred fuckin’ dollars gone! I ain’t neva been robbed in my life and I ain’t gonna let it start now. Matter fact, they didn’t even rob me, they stole from me. Sneak-thiefed me! Somebody gonna get it! …” Kat announced. Animated, she kept moving her hands while she talked.

“Do you know who did it?” Tender asked innocently, a logical question.

“Yeah, I know who did it!” she barked. “Fuckin’ Cookie and ’em! Somebody told me they seen her creepin’ out da locker room ’round da time I was up on stage … I’m tired of her shit. C’mon, I’m searchin’ lockers. Da first bitch dat buck, we gonna move out on her.”

Goldie thought, Here comes the B.S. again. She’d been around Kat so long she knew when she was telling the truth. And right now she knew Kat was lying through her teeth. But Cookie was a prime suspect. Kat singled Cookie out because she was at the top of her shit list. Goldie had had a serious buzz going on and Kat just blew it with all this drama.

As they went to the locker room in search of Cookie, Goldie caught a bad vibe. Over the years, Goldie had developed a sixth sense for trouble from working in the clubs and surviving on the streets. Something bad was about to go down. She knew it, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Cookie was up on stage and easy to get to, but Kat decided against causing a scene. Instead, she concocted a plan to ambush her when she came back to the locker room. Tender, Kat and Goldie got ready to rumble. They changed into their street clothes, pulled their hair back into ponytails, and greased their faces with Vaseline to protect against scratches. Kat then instructed everybody to take the locks off their lockers and put them into a sock, which is commonly referred to in prison as a lock-in-a-sock.

Wrapping the weapons tightly around their hands, Kat, Goldie and Tender lay in wait for their would-be victim.