Kiss the Ring Read Free

normally and wasn’t yelling out commands. With his mask still in place he checked his 9mm before lowering the window to point it back behind them.
    No the fuck he ain’t . . .
    â€œYo . . . chill, Bas,” Hammer insisted, reaching over to grip his wrist. “Not yet. I got this, son.”
    The gun stayed pointed out the window, aimed and ready to fire, Bas’s finger still on the trigger even as he gazed down at Hammer’s hand with hard eyes. Eyes that shifted up to lock on his friend’s profile in the mask.
    Everyone in the car froze.
    What the fuck?
    Hammer instantly slid his hand off Bas and back onto the steering wheel.
    POW!
    THIS motherfucker just blasted off without even looking to see where the bullets might land. Hurt. Destroy. Injure. Kill.
    POW! POW!
    Yes the fuck he did.
    Again everyone checked over their shoulders or in the mirrors as hearts pounded and the sweat of fear filled the small confined space. The police car was still on their asses even with the front windshield shattered by Bas’s bullets.
    Hammer turned a corner sharply and the wheels burned black streaks on the brick paved roads. He swerved suddenly to miss a woman pushing a stroller across the street. They could still hear her high-pitched scream as he left the outskirts of South Orange and entered the city limits of Newark through its Ivy Hill section.
    The flash and blare of sirens were still close behind them, almost overpowering the sounds of early summer.
    â€œLet’s go, Hammer,” Red shouted, pounding his gloved fist against the back of the front seat.
    He screamed the words they all felt as their hearts pounded and their pulses raced even faster than the car. Nearly all.
    Bas calmly kept his slanted eyes on the rearview mirror, his body relaxed in the seat as he tapped his gun against his knee. “Go up two lights and make a right,” he said, his voice just as steady and sure as the hand ready to fire off another round. “Get off these main avenues.”
    Hammer deftly followed Bas’s commands until theyfinally reached a one-way street devoid of homes or traffic. He was able to open up the car and zoom ahead, steadily increasing the distance between them and the police. They knew the streets of the Brick City and used that knowledge to their full advantage, taking small side streets and shortcuts from one street to the next via openings where homes once sat. Soon the police were left behind to wonder where their prey disappeared.
    Thank God.
    Hammer slowed the car as the sounds of sirens completely faded. His shoulders and his stance in the seat relaxed a little. Shit was less tense. Less on the edge.
    They did the crime but no one gave a fuck about doing the time.
    Even without the presence of the police on their necks, no one said shit and the silence inside the vehicle was deafening. Everyone was lost in their thoughts. How to spend the money they just stole? How long before they were caught? What would the news say about them? When was the next bank robbery?
    Would they make it out alive the next time?
    Crime? Fine.
    Time? Fuck that.
    We just robbed a bank. I just helped rob a bank.
    Hammer drove the streets at a much less noticeable speed but he still was taking no shorts in getting them to the spot. He slowed down as he neared an old garage attached to a two-story abandoned brick church with its stained glass windows covered with sheets of wood. One push of the remote clipped to the sun visor and the door lifted for him to drive inside.
    It wasn’t until he put the car in park and closed the garage door that they finally removed their black masks and climbed from the vehicle. Seconds later the almost indiscernible “click” of the generator sounded before the overhead light illuminated the windowless garage. The machine hummed loudly as it provided the electricity they wouldn’t dare request from PSEG.
    The garage smelled damp and musty and was