Big L's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

Big L held his mother in the back seat while Rob drove. Her breath came slow. Her hand slipped off the wound, and blood soaked her gold rings. No hospital would keep quiet. No clinic would touch a gunshot without calling the law. Big L pressed his palm to her shoulder and made a choice. He knew one man with a doctor on his payroll and a locked room to hide it. That man was Dread's father. "Turn around," Big L said. "Take me to the compound." Rob looked back. "Dreads' place? He came to kill you tonight." "He'll help her or I'll burn it down around him." The compound sat behind a tall gate and thick walls. Big L's men rolled up in a line of cars. Guns pointed over the gate at them. Big L stepped out with his mother in his arms. He did not reach for his waistband. He held her up so they could see. The gate opened. Marcus Washington walked out alone. He was a huge man with long dreadlocks and a hard, still face. His son had lost twice to Big L, and this old man had come for revenge only hours ago. Now he looked at the woman bleeding in Big L's arms. His men waited for his word. "You brought a hundred guns to my door," Marcus said. "For what." "Your bullet did this," Big L said. "Now your doctor fixes it. Then we talk." Marcus stared. Both crews stood one twitch from war. He looked at the old woman's face, at the gray hair, at the small still hands. Something moved behind his eyes. He turned his head and called into the yard. "Get the doc. Open the back room." They carried her inside. A quiet man in glasses cut her jacket and worked fast. He pulled the bullet and stitched the wound. Big L stood at the door with his hand near his gun the whole time. Rob blocked the hall so no one came behind them. An hour later she opened her eyes. "Where am I, baby?" "Safe," Big L said. "You're safe." Marcus stood in the corner, arms crossed. He waited until she slept again. "She lives," he said. "So we're square on tonight." "We ain't square," Big L said. "Your son keeps coming. Next time he doesn't hit her shoulder. He hits her heart." Marcus did not argue. He looked at the floor, then back up. "Somebody set my boy on you from the start," he said. "I been hunting the name. You want peace, help me find him. Or keep the war." Big L held that. He had come for a doctor and walked out with a truce built on sand. His mother would live. But Dread still breathed somewhere in that house, and now the old man offered him a deal that tied their fates together.