Animal 2 Read Free

your ultimate goal: Shai Clark. If you move wrong this time, I doubt if there’ll be another resurrection. Kahllah.” He turned to her.
    â€œYes, Father?”
    â€œTake them upstairs to the place we’ve prepared for them. Tend to Animal’s injury, let him shower, and give him the fresh clothes I left. I need him ready to travel by the time I come back from my meeting,” Priest told her. After issuing some last-minute instructions, he pulled Gucci to the side. “For all that you’ve gone through with and for him, I take it you love my son?”
    â€œI don’t think whether I love your son or not is the question. I’ve been in his life longer than you have,” Gucci said with a hint of attitude. Flashes of the older her were coming back.
    Priest’s bowed lips cracked into a half grin. “A bit of fire in the soul is a good thing, but don’t let that fire get so big that it burns you. My ties are to Tayshawn, not you. As far as I’m concerned, your life serves as nothing more than a distraction tothe grand scheme. The only reason there are two empty graves in that scrap yard instead of one is that I know my son cares about you, and your passing would no doubt leave him irreparably broken. You don’t have to like me, but you will respect me. Are we clear?”
    â€œCrystal,” Gucci said, but she’d taken some of the bass out of her voice.
    â€œWhen I return, my son and I are going for a little ride so we can have a long-overdue talk. Kahllah will tend to your needs in our absence,” Priest told her.
    â€œWhere are you taking him?” Gucci asked.
    â€œThat isn’t your concern. What you should be focused on is helping me persuade him to do the right thing so that you may both walk away from this with your lives.”
    â€œI can try, but Animal has his own mind. Once it’s set, it’s hard to change,” Gucci said honestly.
    â€œYou’ll do more than try, for your own sake. There are a great many things in motion which neither you nor Tayshawn totally understand. Things that have been years in the making, and we will not see them ruined because my son couldn’t control his emotions. I am tolerant, but Kahllah is not, and there’s no doubt in my mind that she won’t hesitate to hurt you to control him,” Priest warned, and left the church for his meeting.

TWO
    T HE MEETING WAS SET TO take place at a truck stop off the New Jersey Turnpike, just over the George Washington Bridge. It was early in the afternoon, so the parking lot was busy with cars coming and going. The tall black man in the priest’s robes drew more than a few stares as he crossed the lot, headed to the diner. A trooper, who was coming out of the diner, stopped to hold the door for the holy man.
    â€œBless you, my son.” Priest gave him a phony smile and stepped into the diner. The man he had come to see wasn’t hard to find. His was the only booth flanked by minions who looked every bit of the hired guns they were, dressed in off-the-rack suits and wearing sunglasses indoors. The man they were protecting sat at the rear of the booth, facing the door. He was dressed in a white collared shirt, with a salmon-colored blazer and blue jeans. He was joined by two other people. A woman, who had her back to him, and a young light-skinned man with dusty brown hair. When the man in the salmon blazer spotted Priest, he motioned for him to come over.
    â€œThanks for coming.” Shai Clark stood and greeted Priest with a handshake and a smile. He was a handsome man, with a baby face and joyful eyes. Shai looked more like a college kid than a ruthless crime boss who controlled the New York City underworld.
    â€œYou call, and I come, that’s the way it works, right?” Priest said with a smirk. “I thought this was a private meeting.” He glanced from the young man to the woman at the table. She was older than Priest but had