The Set Up: Part I

By Marcus Payne

Denarius Payne has his mind set on following in his big brother's footsteps. In his last year of school, he was enrolled in the R.O.T.C. program, and was set to go to the Army following graduation. When Denarius was influenced by an older gentleman in the drug trade; to make a couple of extra dollars on the side, his entire plan to make those few extra dollars was foiled when Denarius is caught up in a drug sting operation. Denarius finds himself now with a felony and a thirst for money, and all that the drug trade has to offer. He quickly finds out that this is a business where no one is your friend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667831541

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This is a Re-release. This book was first published in 2021.

This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters and references, except for a few well-known historical landmarks, are products of the author’s imagination, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental, and is not intended to depict actual events.

Copyright © 2022 by M & M Global, LLC

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Print ISBN: 978-1-66783-1-534

eBook ISBN: 978-1-66783-1-541

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Preface

Chapter 1 Making It happen

Chapter 2 Trick No Good

Chapter 3 One At A Time

Chapter 4 Tranquility

Chapter 5 A Step Ahead

Chapter 6 Plotting And Planning

Chapter 7 Now Or Never

Chapter 8 Justifiable

Chapter 9 Relax And Take Notes

Chapter 10 Time To Break Bread

Chapter 11 As Iron Sharpens Iron

Chapter 12 Violating The #1 rule

Chapter 13 Keep It moving

Chapter 14 When All Else Fails

Chapter 15 Streets Is Talking

Chapter 16 Time To Get Right

Chapter 17 Making Things Right

Chapter 18 Putting It Down

Chapter 19 The Big Leagues

Chapter 20 Meeting of The Minds

Chapter 21 Mayhem

Chapter 22 Back To Business

Chapter 23 Who Is It?

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

I was encouraged to write this work of fiction titled The Set Up, Part 1. First, I would like to acknowledge and say a big thanks to my children, my mom, sisters, brother, aunts, uncle, cousins, neices and nephews, I love you all. I thank each and everyone of you for shaping me into the man that I am. I would like to give a special thanks to Mike Parker from Garfield Hts. Thanks for your patience in the preparation of this book. I also would like to thank my editor, Shannon BookwormDiva Ward for her participation on this project. This is just the beginning of something much greater. Of course, none of this would have been possible without God, our creator. Its only because of my faith and belief in God, that I was able to begin and finish this book. When I waivered and my dark days grew even darker, and I was on the brink of giving up, it was you O’ Lord who gave me the hope and strength to continue on in my journey to fight for what is right.

Introduction

I spent many years in exile which in turn gave me the inspiration to write. I choose this particular title due to some of my own experiences in life, situations that other’s went through, and what I was surrounded by growing up in the inner city. Some use the excuse and say, I am a product of my environment. I say, you create the environment in which you choose. Change only comes when you want change. In order to want change you must change the characters in your script. If you don’t change the people around you and your surroundings the same results will follow, and you will find youself in a revolving door. The efforts we apply in running our daily street operations, if we can apply 20% to 30% of those efforts in corporate America you can be the next big factor without having to look over your shoulder. Don’t be afraid to implement your same hustling skills to a different brand, because if you come to know like I knew it’s a much easier hustle, just don’t get discouraged. So, I encourage all my readers, followers and friends to embrace change because if you don’t, THE SET UP will follow, and that’s the environment you created.

Preface

High school graduation was in a week, it was May 31st, 1988 and prom was in two days. Denarius Payne was not allowed on school premises in the last two weeks that was followed by prom and graduation. Two weeks prior to the events he was indicted on drug trafficking charges. No arrests were made, nor did he have any idea that the sixteenth of powder he gave to a girl at school would be the cause that changed his entire life. The cocaine he handed the girl at school was not his. As a matter of fact up until that day Denarius never sold cocaine or had any in his possesion. He was approached by an older guy they called Unc, who lived in the neighborhood. Denarius thought he was doing Unc a favor, because Unc would look out of place being that he was 10 years older showing up on school grounds to serve an under aged white girl cocaine. All he knew was he was receiving $25 out the deal and Unc would receive his $75. Back then a sixtenth of powder cocaine sold for $100. The fee he received for keeping this older guy out of harm’s way backfired and caused catastrophic results. Denarius was part of the ROTC program in school, and was due to start bootcamp in the Army June 21st. All these plans and more were changed when his mother Ms. Payne said he had certified mail at the post office. That day when Denarius went to sign for his mail at the post office counter, it had to be thunderstorms in the forecast. When he signed for the letter and opened it you would of thought he was reading his own death certificate by the look on his face. Walking out of that post office the skys were cloudy and began to get dark as he read over and over;

ON OR ABOUT MARCH 31ST, 1988 DENARIUS PAYNE DID KNOWINGLY POSSESS AND TRAFFIC 1.7 GRAMS OF A POWDER SUBSTANCE (COCAINE) ON SCHOOL PREMISES.

SPECIFICATION 1. POSSESS, CONTROL OR SELL A SCHEDULED 1 DRUG KNOWN AS POWDER COCAINE WITHIN A 1,000 YARDS OF A SCHOOL ZONE.

SPECIFICATION 2. TRAFFICKING POWDER COCAINE UNDER THE BULK AMOUNT.

Monday when he returned to school, he was escorted off school grounds by security. The following week after prom he was in the Cuyahoga County Justice Center being arraigned. He heard the Judge read off the indictment, and was asked how do you plea. Advised by his counsel who represented him, he pled not guilty. He pled this not guilty plea to give his attorney a chance to investigate the facts. Things happened so fast the attorney had no time to order a discovery or have the drugs tested to prove what the substance was. All Mr. Tolliver had was an indictment and a police report. This was Denarius first time in any serious trouble as an adult. Seeing that he had no juvenile record the judge took that in consideration and let him out on a five thousand dollar cash or surety bond. Denarius was released that afternoon on a bail that was 10% of the bond amount to a bondsman, which his grandfather took care of. Mr. Tolliver was a friend of Mr. Payne’s and as a favor he took his grandson’s case for next to nothing. The Army recruiter told him that he could possibly get a waiver if the judge didn’t put him in prison. The end of the summer came so quickly and Denarius finally pled guilty to the charges. The Judge gave him a suspended sentence of 18 months in the Old Mansfield Reformatory and placed him on five years probation. The Army by now was a thing of the past and Denarius had got a job at an automobile dealership on the Bedford automile. He was the head detailer at the dealership with three guys under him. With a chance to make some extra dough on pay day he purchased cocaine from Unc, and sold it to those he worked with. This plan seemed full proof and low key. By Thanksgiving he had even more clientele. By his accounts he was making a killing just at work, sometimes making between a thousand and fifteen hundred a week just off powder. He was selling a half ounce a week, and most of his clientele came from the white guys that he worked with. He had five customers on the job, Four mechanics, and one white girl named Ami that worked in finance. This was easy and to good to be true. Between Friday after work and Saturday night Denarius pocketed a pretty nice piece of change. His needs and wants grew by year’s end, and crack was at an all time high. It was an epidemic around the world by the late eighties and early nineties. Denarius choose to add this to his side hustle by spring time that year. Back where he was born at he hustled in the park on 136th and Harvard. Cars were pulling up like it was a drive thru, It didn’t matter that it was eight other hustlers in the same line of work. They all got a share of the money and it was more than enough for everyone. On the 1st thru thru the 15th the park was jumping like an amusement park. The crackheads came all day and all night, Denarius just ate a little off the plate because his time was split between his job at the dealership and at the park hustling. In the evening after work he usually got to the park by 7P.M. and hustled til 2am in the morning. He sold on average a half ounce a day, this brought him at least a thousand extra dollars a day. Crack was definetly making more than powder. However, the powder was a much smoother hustle. It was a lot of work selling crack, the dope fiends were treacherous and would do just about anything to get it. Crack was a lot cheaper than cocaine and was known as the poor man’s drug of choice. Cocaine was for the rich and the elite. Rick James said it best, cocaine is a helluva drug! Denarius seen guys get dragged by cars when they ran up and tried to serve them. The crackheads would actually grab their arm and drag them down the brick street until the young hustler would let loose of the dope they had in they hand. Denarius was no dummy and refused to run up on cars just to get a sale. At the ripe age of 19 years old he had what you called runners and lookouts. He would sit on the swing set and watch out as crack heads would run customers for him. For every $100 they would run his way he would give them a $20 in cash or crack. He was running a Fortune 500 company without even knowing it. At night he would sit in his black Chevy Caprice and conduct sales to his runners keeping him out of sight from sitting out in the open in the park. Every now and then he would pull off making rounds on 138th, 135th down Marston and back up a 131st to Harvard where the park sat. One night in the upstairs of an empty two family house on 136th and Benwood he posted up catching the sales that came. One of the fiends had turned him on that the house was a perfect money maker. The fiend had the door while he sat in the kitchen and filled the orders. This particular night the fiend let two guys in who wanted a fifty piece. All he remembered was reaching in his stash spot and turning back around only to be face to face with a long nose 38. This was his first time being robbed and his only time not having his gun in hand as he conducted business. The loss was nothing to Denarius, the dope fiends got away with $200 and six twenty pieces of crack. They were so thirsty and desperate that they bothered not to take his car keys. Denarius was out of dope by the time they robbed him, but he had a little over eleven hundred under his drivers seat. That night would be the turning point for him. Denarius beat the shit out of the fiend who let them in, because he knew it was a set up. He was destined to catch the other two who robbed him. In Iess than a week he camped out til 4am on the Block laying low in a car no one knew. It was already understood they would be back. The same thing they did to him they more than likely did this before. So its without question they would be back, it all was just a matter of when. In the early morning hours he seen the fiend who had him at gun point. Denarius jumped out the car chased him down 136th. When he caught up to him Denarius beat him half to death on the playgrounds basketball court. Afterwards Denarius felt a rush, he got in his car and grabbed a towel that was in the back seat to wipe the blood off his hands and the few splatters that was on his face. As he pulled into the early morning light traffic headed home he knew he was all in, and it was no turning back.

Chapter 1

Making It happen

5 1/2 Years Later

It was exactly 9 o’clock am. When the alarm clock went off and the clock radio was blaring throughout Denarius’s two-bedroom apartment. Will Smith’s song summertime was playing and the moment couldn’t have been better. The temperature on the TV screen read a cool 80 degrees with the high being 92 degrees by noon. Nicole was Denarius’ fiancée and she already had left for work at 6 am. Nicole was in her sixth month of pregnancy and was working as many hours as Cleveland Clinic would allow her to because in 30 more days, she would be off work on maternity leave.

It was amazing that she made it thus far seeing that in the past it had been complications with her pregnancy. Denarius never liked the fact that Nicole worked; he tried several times to talk her into quitting, but to no avail his attempts failed. Nicole enjoyed her freedom she had when she went to work, plus she liked having her own money. Denarius’s hustle brought good money, but Nicole always thought ahead never losing sight of her man’s lifestyle and what tomorrow could bring.

Denarius got out of bed and his palms were itching. He knew right then that today was about to be a good day… He cut the alarm clock off and headed to the bathroom down the hallway straight to the shower. Nicole might have been six months pregnant, but they still had sex on a regular and that morning before she left for work was one of those regular days. Denarius loved his woman and everything she stood for. The thought of losing her would crush his world. He was a straight player in the streets and if you didn’t know him you would have never guessed he was engaged to be married. He liked what people thought because he never wanted anyone outside of close family and friends to know who his girl was. Denarius lived and breathed the streets, and he knew that the streets was a cold and cruel place if you got down in the belly of them, and that’s just how he got down, deep in the belly where no holes were barred. His life in the suburbs was totally different and separate from his life in the inner city. He loved his separate lives and would never give it up if it was left up to him.

Denarius got out the shower and called Nicole at work, as usual, the phone rang twice before he heard the voice he fell in love with, "Cleveland Clinic G – 71, Nicole speaking, how may I help you?"

Hey baby, how are you doing this morning? I just called to let you know that I was up and if you need me just hit me on my hip, because I won’t be answering my phone once I get into the city. Nicole responded hesitantly but knew not to upset him especially if she wanted him home in time for dinner. Denarius wasn’t blameless when it came to being caught up in different affairs with other women, but through it all he and Nicole stuck it out. Denarius got off the phone with Nicole and dialed his best friend Mitch up.

Mitch and Denarius have been getting money and making moves together since Denarius was in high school and for their ages, they were pretty advanced in the game and all the old heads loved how they handled their business. Denarius was 21 years old, and Mitch was 22. Just about every day the two of them were on a mission to get some money, both of them were destined to be rich, and were making just about every play possible to make that vision a reality.

Mitch answered the line in his voice of some back in the day 1970’s pimp type character, Talk to me playa, I’ll talk back! Mitch was always the animated one of the two, while Denarius was laid back and quiet about what he did, always observing and looking for an exit if things ever got out of hand. Denarius asked Mitch what was up for the day because he had a feeling that they were gonna pull in some real money before the day was over. Mitch laughed and said, You right about that because I got my hands on some paper that keeps on giving and I know you want in.

Denarius responded, You damn right I do, what’s the move Mitch said, "be over to my mother’s house at 12 noon. Denarius said, Bet! I’ll see you then."

Denarius Cadillac was in Cottman’s Transmission Shop on Broadway and would be done that day, but if him and Mitch were gonna be busy the car would have to wait. It was a perfect day to pull the Caddy out and stunt down Harvard, Lee Road, 131st, 116th, Kinsman or any other streets up the way, down the way, or across town. However, today was a M.O.E. Day – Money over Everything!

Denarius also had a 1979 Cutlass Supreme with a 427 cubic inch motor in it; this wasn’t your average car. It was clean in and out, tinted windows, a nice sound system and loud pipes, not to mention the car sat on a pair of chrome Iroc rims, wrapped with a set of YOKOHAMA wide track tires.

Denarius hustled in this car and hit plenty of moves in it. The car was fast and low key and if the law ever got on his tail they were in for the run of their lives because this car can run like a hooker in flats! It also was a gas guzzler with this big V8 tucked under the hood. Denarius got in the car and pumped the gas twice to get the gas flowing into the four-barrel carburetor. When he turned the key, immediately the car turned on with a rumble and every time Denarius hit the gas the car roared. He put the power sunroof on tilt and popped in Back to Life, by Soul to Soul on his way to Mitch’s moms. When Denarius turned on Christine, he saw both Mercedes on the street and Ronnie’s light blue Pontiac he brought home after getting out of the Navy. Right then and there from the presence of who was already there. Denarius felt that it really was a good day, and it was all about the money…

On the porch sat Mitch, Ronnie, Don, and shiesty-ass Percy. What up Gangsta! Denarius greeted and they spoke in unison What up playa? Denarius said, So what’s the word and what’s the mission? Mitch said, To get at them endz, that’s the mission. Then Percy chimed in, you can pull out the Caddy and relax after this lick, Ronnie said, yeah, I’m buying a Saab after today. Don said, I’m putting some Whales and Vogues on my Park Avenue. Everybody had a plan for how they would spend their cut, but nobody spoke on what the play was. Denarius listened before saying, so what’s the move? When Percy began to lay the plan down, he went into the trunk of his Mercedes and pulled out a stack of blank American Express money orders. Percy said, You see these are straight from the bank, we got close to a thousand of them. This is a lick worth a half million, and your cut is a hundred thousand.

Denarius was confused because what the hell was he going to do with a blank money order? Who was gonna fill them out? And who was going to cash them was the next question. Percy almost reading Denarius’ every thought said, Don’s girlfriend got the hook up at the bank to cash them, so long as they don’t exceed five hundred dollars apiece, we will put some females in her line, and Mitch got this girl he just knocked off up in Shaker Heights who works at Key Bank and she’s down for the cause as well, on top of that, Ronnie’s little sister got another little broad that works at Huntington Bank, so we covered. It’ll take about a week tops, to pull this demo off. All we need is the printer to put the money orders through, Denarius still listening; Percy tells him, That’s where you come in at. Mitch and Ronnie already scoped some spots that got the machine right on the counter, all you have to do is hoodie up, or wear a hat and some sunglasses, go in and fake like you want to purchase a money order and when the cashier or teller places the machine next to it, snatch it and run, I’ll pick you up around the corner." This just sounded too easy, and Denarius hesitated for a minute to weigh his options, it was the first week of