Friend or Foe

  Friend or Foe:

  Brice Simpson Hood Mysteries

  Imani Black

  www.urbanbooks.net

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 - Brice

  Chapter 2 - Brice

  Chapter 3 - Cheyenne

  Chapter 4 - Cheyenne

  Chapter 5 - Brice

  Chapter 6 - Brice

  Chapter 7 - Kelsi

  Chapter 8 - Kelsi

  Chapter 9 - Brice

  Chapter 10 - Brice

  Chapter 11 - Cheyenne

  Chapter 12 - Cheyenne

  Chapter 13 - Kelsi

  Chapter 14 - Kelsi

  Chapter 15 - Brice

  Chapter 16 - Brice

  Chapter 17 - Cheyenne

  Chapter 18 - Kelsi

  Chapter 19 - Brice

  Chapter 20 - Kelsi

  Chapter 21 - Brice

  Chapter 22 - Kelsi

  Chapter 23 - Cheyenne

  Chapter 24 - Kelsi, Cheyenne, Brice

  Urban Books, LLC

  300 Farmingdale Road, NY-Route 109

  Farmingdale, NY 11735

  Friend or Foe: Brice Simpson Hood Mysteries Copyright © 2020 Imani Black

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.

  ISBN: 978-1-6455-6051-7

  eISBN 13: 978-1-64556-052-4

  eISBN 10: 1-64556-052-X

  This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.

  Distributed by Kensington Publishing Corp.

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  Prologue

  “Why did you have to always control everything? Get in the way all the fucking time?”

  Desiree Turner blinked rapidly, her heart ramming into her chest like a wrecking ball taking down a skyscraper. She was too shocked to speak and couldn’t help her knees from knocking against one another. The harsh question resonated through her brain like loud clanging.

  “Huh? Answer me! You always have to act so perfect, right? You easily forgot where you came from!”

  The booming, shrill voice made Desiree shiver. Her lips moved apart, but no sound came out. She would’ve answered the question, but given the circumstances, an answer would probably have made things worse. Was this what they meant when they said the cat got your tongue? Desiree’s mind turned into mush. She saw the faces of her children flash by her. Something in her gut told her it might be the last time she saw those faces.

  “Oh, you ain’t got shit to say now, Ms. Goody Goody?”

  Desiree flinched as her tormentor waved a gun around, haphazardly dangling it in front of her. This had to be a nightmare. There was no way she could be seeing this correctly. Desiree was too afraid to move her hands to even pinch herself to check. Any sudden movements could be deadly, she reasoned—if reasoning was a thing with the kind of fear she was experiencing at the moment.

  “Please.” Desiree finally managed a shaky whisper. Her lips trembled so fiercely she couldn’t even pronounce the L in please. “Can’t we talk about this? I... I can...” she murmured, tears racing down her cheeks in fast streaks.

  The shock of seeing the familiar face made the situation even worse for Desiree. She couldn’t think back to what she’d done to deserve this. In fact, she had never harmed a hair on anyone’s head or ever muttered a malicious word about another person. Desiree had practically given up her entire life for everyone around her. It was her nature to take care of others. All she could think of was, why me?

  “No! Don’t you understand there is nothing to discuss? This has to be done! Especially now! You think I’m that stupid now that you’ve seen my fuckin’ face?”

  The crazed but familiar eyes were scarier for Desiree than the fact that she was staring down the end of a wavering silver handgun. She’d seen guns before, but never had she had one pointed at her.

  Desiree started to pray silently. She should’ve seen this coming. But how? Why? A million thoughts played in her head, rewinding, staticky like an old VHS movie. Desiree quickly scolded herself. She had ignored the writing on the wall, all the signs.

  “After all I’ve—” she whispered, closing her eyes. Her words were cut short. Someone she knew all too well had just opened fire on her.

  Chapter 1

  Brice

  Brice sat across from his sister Ciara and smiled as she picked up her glass of water and took a sip. He knew he was being goofy with her, but he’d rather that than everything they’d been through before. Smiling now was the best medicine for the tears he’d shed over her in the past.

  “What?” Ciara asked, watching him over the rim of her glass. “It’s just water.”

  “I know. I know,” Brice said, putting his hands up for an immediate truce. “I’m just admiring you and everything about you, that’s all. Still out here killing it, despite it all. I’d call that black girl magic.” He made sure to keep his tone supportive.

  Ciara’s shoulders slumped with relief. Brice’s did too. She was learning to trust her big brother again, and Brice was learning to let her.

  They’d had a hard time getting their relationship back in order after everything that had happened when she was sixteen. It had been four years, and Ciara was an adult now, but Brice still couldn’t shake the experience of almost losing her to the streets. He was Ciara’s big brother, but he acted more in the capacity of her father. He had stepped in where his alcoholic stepfather had stepped out. Overprotective big brother had been an understatement back then, but Brice had quickly learned that if he sheltered her too much, she would never really learn the ways of the streets—or the world, for that matter. It was his sheltering in the past that had left Ciara naïve and open to the smooth talk of a sex trafficker. He still worried himself sick about her sometimes.

  He picked up his own drink, a Heineken, and took it to the head for a swig.

  “Ah!” He winced as the cold brew hit his throat. He was praying it would hit his brain as hard to ease his mind. Brice still struggled with PTSD and intrusive memories. They were sometimes better than others, but one thing remained the same—he couldn’t control when and where they’d tramp into his mind.

  “So, what’s new?” Brice asked Ciara, putting his beer down noisily and looking at her across the table of a quaint restaurant in a newly gentrifying section of Brooklyn. A lot had changed, but at the same time, a lot had remained the same as it was back then. Brice had continued the same traditions he’d had with his sister—a monthly, or at least every six weeks, meetup to chat. After Brice left home and landed the promotion to detective, he didn’t have as much time for Ciara as he had before he became (in his assessment) a hotshot at the NYPD. But, just like now, he’d carved out time for her as much as he could. Back then, Brice had looked forward to spending time with Ciara, even if it meant taking her on one of her expensive mini shopping sprees.

  “Nothing new. Same old things. School, work, home. Boring, boring, boring,” Ciara said, letting out an exasperated breath. She ran her pointer finger over the condensation on her glass and darted her eyes around the restaurant. Things felt awkward for them again. It never took long for it to get like this.

  Brice shifted in his seat
, immediately uncomfortable with her response. He looked up at her, and concern creased his brow. He lived on pins and needles when it came to Ciara and her safety. It was still hard for him to shake everything that had happened.

  “But what’s wrong with that?” he asked, which was different than what he’d done in the past. Just as the question left his mouth, his mind reeled backward to right before their lives had imploded. Brice forced a weak smile, but as usual, he couldn’t keep that old memory from flooding back into his head. Another swig of beer didn’t help either. With him, the memories did what they wanted, and so did his mind. Brice had grabbed Ciara from school and taken her to her favorite spot. It was their tradition. He asked her what was up with her, and things had gone left from there.

  * * *

  “Nothing is up,” Ciara snapped. “Why you always asking me that question as soon as we alone?” Ciara continued in typical nasty-attitude teenager fashion, rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her chest.

  “Ay, ay, what’s that attitude all about?” Brice asked in return, looking at his baby sister in a new light. His eyebrows crinkled so far into the center of his face he felt like they’d stay that way permanently.

  “I know Mommy told you,” Ciara snapped, rolling her eyes and bouncing her legs under the table.

  Brice couldn’t lie even if he wanted to at that moment. She was only sixteen, but his sister knew him well enough to know that their mother had indeed told him that Ciara had not come home until 2 a.m. one night, and when confronted about her whereabouts, Ciara had shoved their mother and run to her room. This wasn’t typical behavior for Ciara.

  Although Brice wanted to shake the truth out of his sister, he tried to remain calm in his questioning. “Well, I’m waiting for you to tell me your version,” Brice replied, keeping his voice even. She was a teenager, and he tried to understand, but his patience had begun to grow thin.

  “You’re my brother, not my father. I don’t have to tell you nothing,” Ciara spat, pushing her chair back and standing up.

  Her sudden movement surprised Brice, so much so that he jumped into action.

  “Where do you think you’re going? Sit down,” Brice instructed in a harsh whisper, trying not to attract the attention of numerous customers eating at Dallas BBQ downtown.

  “I don’t want to have these meetings anymore. I’m not one of your suspects to be questioned all the time,” Ciara replied acidly as she rudely got up from the table and stormed for the exit.

  Brice’s pride and feelings had been crushed like a bug on a windshield. His hands shook fiercely as he dug twenty dollars out of his pants pocket and threw the money on the table before he headed out after his sister.

  He spilled out onto the street in front of the restaurant, his chest heaving. He spotted Ciara’s bright coat weaving through the crowd on the sidewalk.

  “Ciara! Ciara! Wait!” Brice called after her as he picked up his pace. She ignored him and picked up her speed. Brice’s chest heaved harder, and his mind raced with questions and anger.

  He’d never seen his little sister so uncharacteristically rude and disrespectful. They’d been best friends since she was born. Up until that point, Ciara usually told him everything. Brice even knew when she had her period before their mother. Ciara confided in him about her crushes and even her little spats at school. If something was bothering her, Brice assumed she would have told him about it.

  Brice finally caught up with her. He’d grown winded and out of breath when he finally grabbed her arm roughly.

  “What are you doing?” he wolfed, holding onto her with an iron grip.

  “Get off of me!” Ciara screamed, wriggling to get free and managing to get some nasty glares from some of the patrons bustling up and down Fulton Street.

  “Ciara, what is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?” Brice gritted through his teeth, wringing her arm to bring her closer to him. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

  “Ouch! Get off!” she screamed again. This time, people stopped and stared.

  “Yo, man, the girl said get off her. You need to find one your own age,” a tall guy with a do-rag and baggy jeans said, moving closer to Brice and Ciara.

  “This is my fucking sister. Mind your fucking business,” Brice spat, still holding on to Ciara’s arm with a death grip. She wriggled and fought him like he was a total stranger trying to kidnap her. Brice experienced both shock and hurt all at once.

  “Who the fuck you talking to?” the skinny stranger snarled. Suddenly, as if they grew out of the brick buildings, six other dudes surrounded Brice like a hungry pack of wolves circling their dinner.

  “I’m a fucking cop, so back the fuck up!” Brice shouted, letting go of Ciara for a second to pull out his shield. When he let go of her arm, Ciara broke free and ran. Distracted by the group of thugs and worried for his safety, Brice couldn’t run after her.

  “Fuck!” he huffed, eyeing the group evilly.

  “Yo, man, we were just trying to help the girl. You know what I mean,” the main guy tried to explain with his hands raised in surrender, unwilling to challenge Brice’s shield.

  Brice spun around to display his badge, hoping to disperse the crowd that had gathered to watch. Out of his peripheral vision, he watched his sister’s pink jacket disappear around the corner. Exasperated, Brice finally walked back to his car and promised that he would be giving his sister a serious talking-to when he caught up with her.

  That day would forever be etched is Brice’s mind, as it set off a series of life events he wouldn’t ever forget.

  * * *

  “Nothing is wrong,” Ciara answered, breaking up Brice’s memory of the past. “I wish you and Mommy would stop asking me that constantly. I’m not a kid anymore,” she said, slightly annoyed. She wanted to understand her big brother’s concerns, but at the same time, she wanted to forget all that had happened to her. It had been a dark time in her life, but everyone around her acted like they were the victims and not her.

  Brice drank the last of his beer. He lowered his eyes. “I know, baby sis. You’re right, but I’m always super worried about you. I love you more than you know,” he said softly. The even tone of voice and understanding way was a sign of Brice’s growth. The old Brice, the one who’d been haunted by his past and had always been angry, would’ve taken offense and gotten defensive with his sister. Not the new Brice Simpson. He’d learned fast that being on the job had the potential to take you out if you let it. He’d found himself a good therapist and wasn’t afraid to say it.

  As a homicide detective, Brice saw some of the worst crimes against humanity. After all, his career as a detective had blossomed out of one of the most horrific cold cases in New York. Brice had been a young street thug turned police officer when he was promoted to detective. That was kind of unheard of in the Department. Before gaining his gold shield, Brice was a New York City patrol cop for six years. He’d shot two fleeing armed robbery suspects who had turned their weapons on Brice’s partner, wounding him in the stomach. Brice was lauded by the NYPD for his heroic and courageous actions and earned a promotion to detective as a result.

  What the Department didn’t know was that, yes, Brice had given chase and drawn his weapon, but the only reason he hadn’t also been shot was that one of the robbers was Brice’s childhood best friend, Earl. Brice and Earl Baker had been friends since before they were born. Their mothers met in the free prenatal clinic in downtown Brooklyn and realized they only lived a block from each other in the same projects. Brice and Earl were born two months apart and had literally grown up together. On their first birthdays, each was the first guest to arrive at the other’s party. Before they started school, they had play dates when their mothers had face-to-face appointments at the welfare office, and when they started kindergarten at the same school, they held onto each other like Celie and Nettie from the Color Purple after the school tried to put them in separate classes.

  Brice and Earl had always been inseparable
in everything they did. For as long as each could remember, they had done everything together, including committing the heinous act of rape. When Earl first suggested that they rape one of their middle school classmates—a special education student who had a huge crush on Earl—Brice had told him no. But Earl always had a way of getting in Brice’s head, calling him a faggot and sissy if he didn’t give in to Earl’s every whim. Brice would always remember that day so clearly—the girl’s screams, her vacant eyes after the third boy climbed off her, and the fact that she never returned to school.

  When Brice went to high school, he poured himself into his academics, and Earl became more immersed in street life. The day Brice received his diploma, Earl got sentenced to three years upstate for armed robbery. In the time that Earl had been locked up, Brice became a police officer. He thought that if he fought enough crime, he could erase his past. Brice had never shared his profession with his best friend or with any of his friends from the old neighborhood, until that fateful day when he came face to face with Earl on opposite sides.

  Brice could still hear Earl’s words every time he thought about it.

  * * *

  “Wait, nigga. Don’t shoot. Wait the fuck a minute! B-boy? You a fuckin’ cop?” Earl asked, calling Brice by his childhood tag name. Earl’s wide-stretched eyes and hanging jaw said that he was clearly shocked to see his former best friend in the gravee blues. That was what they called the navy blue NYPD uniforms on the streets, making reference to how many black boys the NYPD had put in the grave.

  Brice ignored Earl’s question but kept his gun trained on his old friend. They locked eyes, their past indiscretions standing between them like a giant ogre, scary and threatening to eat them alive.

  “Drop your weapon!” Brice screamed like Earl was any other criminal in the streets.

  “A’ight, B-boy, I’ma drop my weapon,” Earl said, calmly placing one hand up and preparing to bend down to drop his weapon.