Two weeks had gone by, and Derrick kept his head low, working in the shadows.

  He didn't trust many people in this world; life had taught him that harsh lesson years ago. But he trusted the three people he chose for this mission. He'd pulled them out of the fiery depths of hell they called their lives and guided them to their salvation, but now he was asking for them to walk back through those same flames that burnt them more than once, praying they wouldn't get burned again. A risky feat — one alone that was dangerous enough to get them all killed.

  But they weren't just his guys. They were the only men he could bet his life on, and that's why he recruited them for this. Malakie, D’Angelo and Travis were the only three he knew that wouldn't run back to Afra and tell him his plan. They were the ones that Derrick gave their start in this game, gave them the opportunity when life had chosen a different story for their lives, one of suffering and poverty. So they owed him who they were in the game today, and their loyalty lay with him and him alone.

  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for the last two weeks, Derrick had the boys meet up at an off-site warehouse, away from prying eyes. Same time. Same routine. The five of them sat in that cold warehouse, going over the plan diligently, filling every pitfall they could fall into, patching every crack before it became a hole.

  After a while, the routine started to wear on Malakie’s boys and Robert’s home life. Nicole wasn’t blind to Robert’s absence. To her it wasn't something out of the ordinary; Robert had made it their life for so many years, she immediately noticed the patterns. The texts that he has to stay over at work, his colleagues needing help with their projects, and the good old “this project requires his around-the-clock attention.”

  She kept quiet at first, hoping that it would just be for a week or two, but as time went on and his excuses continued, she decided enough was enough — because worry has a way of being the loudest emotion in the room when everything else stays silent.

  One evening, when Robert came home to change, Nicole saw it as the perfect opportunity to confront Robert. Robert ran down the stairs and picked up his keys off the key holder. As he opened the door, Nicole stepped into the hallway just in the nick of time. He had one foot out the door — a few seconds longer and he would have been gone.

  “Robert… wait there,” she said as she stormed down the hall. “It’s been weeks now and yet you’re still off out. How much longer is this going to continue?”

  Robert hesitated for just a second, but it was long enough for her to catch on.

  “I know how this looks,” he said, “but this project of Jamie’s has gone on a bit longer than expected. But I can assure you, I won’t be much longer. I promise.”

  “Robert,” she said, “old habits have a knack of rearing their ugly heads when it comes to you and science. You promised us this time would be different. You said we come before the science, but all I see are empty promises and old habits.”

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  Robert looked at her with sadness in his eyes. He wanted to tell her. To tell her everything about what Derrick was forcing him to do. To tell her about Daniel. To tell her about his past transgressions, that there were no investors, that it was simply him… the Black Hood. But as he looked into her eyes, he wondered… would she understand?

  Robert prided himself in walking the straight and narrow. He told himself the jobs were just so he could get started. For his family to have the start they needed. That he wasn't hurting anyone.

  The one dark stain on his life he thought he buried forever was dug up and resurrected by Derrick. You see, one bad mistake can lead you into an avalanche of mistakes; you don't just walk away unscathed. And that was Robert, the good guy who took two shortcuts that ended up biting him in the ass. Because what happens in the dark always gets revealed in the light, and Robert’s baptism of fire was far from over.

  “I know this drums old memories,” Robert said, “but you’re going to have to trust me on this. I’m not relapsing. I promised you no backwards steps, and I meant every word.”

  “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. My heart can’t take any more false promises.”

  Robert walked towards his wife, grabbing hold of her face with his hands. He leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead.

  “I will be back for dinner tonight, I promise,” he said, smiling as he turned on his heel, slipping out before she could say anything else.

  Outside on the block, Malakie, D’Angelo and Travis waited on their corners until they received word from Derrick.

  “It’s time,” Derrick said as he rolled up to the block. “Get in.”

  Malakie sat in the front of the car, while the other two piled into the back. As the group pulled off into the distance, rumblings amongst the group started to transpire.

  “Ay—yo,” said Thomas, enraged by Derrick’s secret meetings. “Where these man keep disappearin’ to?”

  The guy to the left of him was Crisis, one of Derrick’s top shooters. He stood there in disbelief, shaking his head.

  “Bruv… that’s the same question I’ve been asking myself for the past two weeks,” he said. “All of a sudden they wanna be best friends? And leave us out? Nah. Something ain't right.”

  “You see Derrick and those guys dipping off again?” another said as he came over after completing his sale. “We’re meant to be his guys. We do everything he asks of us, and he can't trust us with what he's got going. So why are we putting our lives — our freedom — on the line for someone that doesn't even trust us?”

  The boys dispersed back to their fingers, but this time was different. They had a decision to make: keep throwing themselves in the line of fire for someone that didn't trust them, or take the initiative and take their future into their own hands.

  Seven fifty-nine, and the boys were in the grungy warehouse that was home to the rats that scoured across the floor without a care in the world, and the spiders who saw it as the perfect habitat. And Derrick saw it as the perfect cover — a place where no one would come looking. The ceiling was battered and worn down, worn down from lack of TLC and clearly abandoned by any plumber with a conscience. But as the water dripped down around the men as they sat on the makeshift boxes they used as chairs, they got straight down to business.

  Because overhead, the only lightbulb that gave them light flickered, barely hanging on as if it was arguing with the Grim Reaper over how much time it had left. So the boys always immediately got down to work, knowing they were on borrowed time.

  Derrick stood next to the board, going over the plan for what felt like the hundredth time. On it was the hierarchy and every step of his plan — every step, every detail. He was meticulous and left no stone unturned.