Read Bishop's War (Bishop Series Book 1) for Free Online Page B

for all your brothers and sisters.”
    “Bury you? I’ll send for you first.”
    “No, my son. It is my time, and your father has been waiting. I go to him now. But I can die happy once I know my children are safe in your hands… Promise me! Promise me, Gonzalo.”
    He took her hands in his and swore that they would all be together.
    “Good. Never forget who you are, and the power of the blood flowing through you my son. Now call the others so I can say goodbye.”
    And she did. The entire family gathered around her and she explained to them what they all must do. Maria died that night and right after the funeral Gonzalo boarded a ship bound for New York. He kept his promise and within a year his eleven brothers and five sisters had all joined him on the Lower East Side.
    Maria’s nephew was a small time dealer who introduced them to the drug trade and with his brothers behind him, Gonzalo and the “Valdez Boys” quickly became a powerful force on the streets. LES in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s was a war zone with almost as many abandoned, boarded up, and crumbling buildings as those that were lived in. Most of the neighborhood was just an open drug market where dealers, junkies, hookers, pimps, and gunmen strutted the streets that the police rarely bothered to patrol.
    Gonzalo planted his flag, staking claim to an area known as Alphabet City. Running from Avenue A to D, and from Houston to 14th Street, he “owned” about twenty square blocks of prime real estate. There were many casualties over the years. Four of the brothers were gunned down in the early days, another was sent to prison for thirty years, and Gonzalo himself had been shot several times as they fought and died to build their multi-million dollar drug and gambling empire. Then, in the 1980s with his power base secure, he became careless with security, and the family suffered its most devastating loss.
    Christina Valdez was the youngest of the seventeen siblings. She was tiny at just five feet, with beautiful bright shining eyes and a dazzling smile. She spoke very little English and had such an amazing voice the neighbors from all the adjacent buildings would open their windows wide so they could hear Christina singing from her kitchen. A happy little bundle of energy, she touched every person who ever knew her, infecting them with her joy of life.
    In contrast, Michael Barrington Bishop was a feared Valdez enforcer who spoke little Spanish, stood tall at six foot four, and was pale skinned with long tangled dreadlocks. He grew up on the mean streets of Kingston, Jamaica and had a thick island accent.
    With the language barrier, and the foot and a half height differential, Christina and Michael may have seemed like an unlikely couple, but for them it was love at first sight.
    Gonzalo liked the young man a lot, and after warning Michael not to break his little sister’s heart, he gave the happy couple his blessing. John Michael Bishop was born soon after they were married and Christina, who named him for her father Juan, only called him Juanito.
    Madly in love and inseparable, they doted on their baby boy and only child. Those early years with his parents were happy times for John even though his cousins used to tease and torture him for his light skin and his gringo name. He used to come home in tears of rage and his mother would comfort him by pulling him to her breast and sing softly to him in Spanish. His father, being more practical, taught him how to fight and the teasing stopped soon after.
    On a warm summer morning when John was nine, Christina asked Gonzalo if they could borrow his new car for a family outing. He sent the Cadillac over with his driver and they piled in the back, excited to take a trip out of the city. Heading south on Avenue D, the Bishop family was laughing and looking out of the dark tinted windows when the world exploded all around them.
    Christina screamed as machine gun fire ripped through the doors and windows.