Rel looked from the ledge back to Jah. Though being shot would be a most painful experience, it probably failed in comparison to falling from the top of a building. For the second time that afternoon, Rel found himself weighing his options. If he was going to die, he wouldn’t go without a fight. Using the element of surprise, he dazed Jah with a right to the chin. Spooky tried to help out, but Rel caught him with a two-handed strike to the gut. When he tried to run, Jah shot him in the leg.

Walking over to the now crawling Rel, Jah grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to his feet. He wrapped one hand around Rel’s neck and gripped his testicles with the other. “You’ve got big balls,” Jah said to Rel, who was whimpering in pain. “And I’m not saying it to flatter you.”

“Mercy,” Rel croaked.

Jah’s face contorted into a mask of hatred. “Mercy is for the weak, and I don’t know nothing about being weak.” Tired of toying with Rel, Jah tossed him over the ledge.

The scream that pierced the quiet afternoon caused Slick to drop the bowl of cereal that he had been eating. He made it to the window just in time to see what he thought was a garbage bag streak past. Peering through the bars, Slick saw that it wasn’t a garbage bag at all. He threw up all over the floor at the site of his partner Rel lying on the ground below. The impact had shattered his skull and left a nasty mess.

It didn’t take Slick long to figure out what had happened. Moving like a man possessed, he began throwing clothes and cash into a laundry bag. He had no idea if his stalkers knew where he was hiding, but if they’d tracked Rel down, they probably did. Grabbing his gun, he headed for the front door. He would call to check on Groovy later, but right then he had to get the fuck outta the projects.

Just as he was about to touch the doorknob, someone knocked. Rel was dead and Groovy had a key, so whoever it was couldn’t have meant him any good. Being that he was only on the second floor, he thought about jumping out the window, but that wouldn’t have gone well for him if someone was covering the front of the building. Slick knew he only had one option. Dropping the laundry bag, he aimed his gun at the front door and emptied the clip.