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bad too, but I respect old people, so I’ma do her kinda quick. But not until I explain this whole thing to her so she knows just how bad you fucked up this time.”
    Kadir was satisfied by the look on the dude’s face. He mighta been brave, but he wasn’t a fool. “Then I’m coming for you, Big Boy. But by that time I’ll probably be pissed off. Don’t count on me to treat your people proper, homey. I get stupid sometimes too, you know. Especially behind my money.”
    Ten minutes later Kadir was alone in the warehouse, his prey having scurried away with the promised assurances to deliver a package to a designated location in Brooklyn the next night.
    Kadir waited until they were gone, then jumped behind the wheel of his Lexus coupe and headed north. His mind wasn’t on them low-level cats and it wasn’t on no money either. The only thing he could see in front of him was about 70 miles of bad road. Road he was about to burn rubber on so he could get back to his moms’s crib and join his brothers as they tried to figure out how to get Baby Brother outta jail.

CHAPTER 4
     
    T here’s no such thing as a Monster. There’s no such thing as a Monster.
    Priest awakened to the sound of footsteps outside his door. There’s no such thing as a Monster. There’s no such thing as a Monster. He’d been having a nightmare. The same one he fought against almost every night. The footsteps outside his door were heavy. Different from those made by Finesse or Farad.
    There’s no such thing as a Monster. There’s no such thing as a Monster.
    The years he’d spent behind bars had sharpened his senses. Survival had been paramount, especially for a killer like him. Watching his back had been a full-time job, and he was on alert at all times, even when he was asleep or in prayer.
    He heard a hand fall on his doorknob and watched it turn. There was no fear in him, but his eyes were trained and his body tensed. He slid his hand under his pillow and searched. Years earlier, his fingers would have come out clutching a burner. Tonight they came out clutching a cross.
    There’s no such thing as a Monster. There’s no such thing as a Monster.
    The door opened and light from the hallway spilled into the room. Priest sat partway up and squinted, confused by the sight of his brother standing before him in his uniform.
    “What you doing here, Malik? What’s going on?”
    “Baby Brother,” Malik said simply, and Priest fell back against his pillows, the name of his Savior flying from his lips. He felt damnation running through his blood. The sensation of being led to the heights of a mountaintop, only to be hurled over the edge before setting eyes on the glory. Please, he prayed. Don’t let that boy suffer for the ills of his brothers. Oh, God was vengeful.
    His strong voice came out in a pained squeak.
    “Hurt? Dead?”
    Malik shook his head no. “But Sari is.”
    Relief flowed through Priest and perspiration soaked his bedsheets.
    And then came the fear.
    “What happened? Where is he? What happened to Sari?”
    The answer to those questions hit Priest so low that he rolled over and staggered from the bed. He tripped over his shoes and pushed past Malik to the bathroom, then stood over the toilet and retched. O, Father, please, he implored. Don’t let this be true.
    Baby Brother was pure, but every foul thing Priest had ever done flashed through his mind as Malik pulled him to his feet and held him.
    “Where they got him at, man?” he begged his younger brother. “We gotta go down there and get him!”
    His heart thudded as Malik shook his head with tears in his eyes.
    “I already tried, Twan. He had a hearing. You shoulda seen me, man. On my fuckin’ hands and knees. I begged that motherfuckin’ white judge to release him to me. Told him I’d hold Baby Brother’s hand twenty-four seven. I put my badge on that shit. My word. My rep, my whole life!
    “That smug bastard refused. He wouldn’t even listen when I tried to tell