Tha System: Hood Square Series - Book 2

By Knowledge B

Life hasn't always been good to Trevor Green Jr., also known as Lil Tre Way. At only fourteen years old, this South Phoenix native has experienced life losses that could have easily broken people twice his age. Consequently, he has been forced to man up in the mean streets or become another victim. Where he's from, only the strong survive… and nobody is stronger than him. Nevertheless, all this is quickly put to the test when he finds out just how hard it is to live the lifestyle of a Gangsta. What he fails to realize is that every action he takes to survive causes a reaction that stops him dead in his tracks. He will soon find out that "Tha System" has a solution for a problem child like him.
Nadine Stanton, also known as Miss Lady, considers herself an old soul at only fourteen years old. This old school attitude is much attributed to her much older best friend, who just so happens to be her beautiful mother. She has done her best growing up to avoid getting wrapped up in the streets like most of her home girls but has found it almost impossible to live outside of the huge shadow cast by her big brother. Her brother is known as one of South Phoenix's most notorious gangbangers, which makes her guilty by association. Therefore, the harder she tries to distance herself from her environment, the more she finds herself becoming a product of it. Soon, she will see that there is no escape from being a part of "Tha System"… because it has plans for her as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667889146

Knowledge B

Knowledge B, also known as Abdul-Hakim Works and CEO Hood Square, is an inspiring individual with a profound passion for writing, painting, and reading. He is currently incarcerated in the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry. He has been incarcerated since he was sixteen years old, but has never allowed these circumstances to define or confine him. He commits to the principle of never giving up on his life goals, in'sha Allah (God willing). This mindset has led him to some notable academic and real world achievements from behind bars. He has earned his GED, numerous certificates from Central Arizona College, an Associate in Applied Science – General Business with Highest Distinction from Rio Salado College, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies at Ashland University. Knowledge B is also the esteemed author of "Tha Khronicles" and "Tha System", as well as the CEO of his brand, Hood Square. Find all his social media through: https://superlink.io/ceohoodsquare

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Other Books by Knowledge B

Hood Square Series:

Tha Khronicles

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 by Abdul-Hakim Works All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests, contact: Hood Square, LLC

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Visit our Web site at tharealhoodsquare.com

Printed in the United States of America First Edition: 2023 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Works, Abdul-Hakim Tha System / Knowledge B---1st ed.

ISBN: 978-1-66788-913-9 (Print),

ISBN: 978-1-66788-914-6 (eBook)

1. African American—Fiction. 2. Robbery—Fiction. 3. Drug dealers—Fiction. 4. Arizona penitentiary—Fiction. I. Title.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

System One: Juvenile Injustice

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

System Two: Department of Corruption

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-seven

Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Forty

System Three: Free, But Not Free

Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-two

Chapter Forty-three

Chapter Forty-four

Chapter Forty-five

Chapter Forty-six

Chapter Forty-seven

Chapter Forty-eight

Chapter Forty-nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-one

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to say al hamdu Allah (all praise be to Allah) for blessing me with the talent to turn my thoughts into written words. As I continue to publish my own novels, I continue to refine my admiration for every page I’ve ever read from my favorite authors that gave me some much-needed company while I refused to sit idle and bored inside a prison cell. These books opened up the universe of imagination to me and gave me the inspiration to try my hand at writing.

I want to take a moment to give a heartfelt shout out to my beautiful big sister Latoya Gentry. I’m heartbroken that we also lost you in addition to losing our beautiful grandmother, Ms. Etta Mae Doss. Your lost really hit the family hard. I love and miss you so much and just like I did with grandma, I’m going to honor you through continuing to improve the quality of my life no matter where I’m located in’sha Allah (God willing). Rest In Peace Big Sis. Rest In Peace Grandma. I love the both of you with all of me and through my works, y’all memories will forever live on!

I give a wholeheartedly loving shout out to my parents: Billy and Twilla Works. Dad, I continue to look up to you and seek your guidance. Mom, I continue to love and cherish you. I love both of y’all so much and I will continue to hope that I’m making y’all proud of me for having the courage to Go Get my dreams!

To my big brother Eugene Gentry Jr. I love you big bro and thank you for watching over our big sis until she took her last breaths!

To my little brother DeAndre Outlaw Works. I know yet again this is not shocking to see your bro come up with a follow up to my first book "Tha Khronicles" and I hope like my first, you find this a good read. I love you bro and have your back in life no matter where we located. Keep your head up and stay productive and one day before you know it, we are going be on the other side of them prison gates far away from this broken-down system in’sha Allah!

To my beautiful big sister Trina Marquez. I love you. To all my nieces and nephews I y’all so much and hope I inspire y’all to follow y’all dreams no matter what life throws at you! To my extended family. My two beautiful cousins Tahnisa Edwards aka Big Tee and Tyaneisha Moody aka Ty or my personal favorite Nee Nee. I love y’all for real. I can’t forget my big relative Dewayne Johnson aka Frankie J. Just like with my nieces and nephews, I love y’all kids and hope to be an inspiration to all my baby cousins to be all y’all can be in this life!

To all my solid political prisoners past and present that I have had the honor to have been in the trenches with and see y’all not letting this system break y’all down. To my best Gangsta homie Arlonzo Ticko Loon the Goon Coleman. Salam to lil ahk Ruben Barksdale aka YG. Way Way to both of y’all. Salam to my ahk and comrade Dwain Kuasi Jamaa. I know you gone love this book. To my young author-in-training Just Jaylin, I want to give you an extra special thank you for helping me do my final edits for this book when it was crunch time. Y’all keep y’all heads up and do what y’all need to do to stay positive and productive in this system!

To my relative Darius Dee Ru Agboghidi who has literally known every second of incarceration that I’ve known which started when we were just sixteen years old. You hear that? That’s the clock ticking as we walk off the rest of this time while on the mainline!

To all my fellow incarcerated people around this country doing time and fighting to survive in this system no matter if it’s a county, state, or federal facility you are in. I tell you all that there is a light inside the tunnel, not just at the end. I’m talking about where you are right now in your time because hope is always alive and well. I wrote this book for all of you while slammed down in a super max custody cell because I refused to let the system break me. Therefore, I hope this shed some light on some of the things we have to endure doing hard time especially for those like me walking off a very long sentence!

To my comrade and bro Cameron Killa Ross. Keep your head up bro and keep pushing to improve your quality of life!

To my old librarian Mr. Parker at Central Unit who used to let me come up to the Resource Center for a quiet place to be able to think, research, and write. Thank you for your much needed guidance. I hope you are truly enjoying retirement!

To the friends and families of the incarcerated people all across this country. I thank y’all and encourage y’all to stay the course with y’all loved ones behind the walls because y’all are the lights that shine on us in here to let us know that the system can’t keep us covered with its darkness!

To the hardworking employees at BookBaby who continue to push to keep my dreams of having a career as a published author a reality in’sha Allah!

I thank everybody who has bought any of my books and are supporting me and my brand, Hood Square because it’s not a moment, it’s a Movement!

Yours Truly, Knowledge B aka Tha Real Hood Square!

From Boyz to Men

This journey started at the tender age of sixteen.

At the time, I was caught up in a world so mean.

I jumped head first into a fast lifestyle of gangs and easy money.

However, what I thought was a joke turned out not to be so funny.

See, I never sat back and truly realized that for every action, there was a reaction.

Just when it seemed like I was on a roll, I slipped and my life lost its traction.

I got incarcerated and introduced to Tha System that was even more ruthless than me.

They didn’t even care that I was a high school student with good grades when all they wanted was to throw away a key.

In their eyes, I was just another soft juvenile delinquent that deserved to do hard time.

No matter what my lawyer threw at the them, I was going pay dearly for my crime.

The result was a very lengthy prison sentence in a Department of Corruption filled with hard heads and even harder steel.

When those gates shut behind me, I became another unproven fish who better quickly learn the real.

Since the streets made me, I was somewhat ready because I was already battle tested.

Nevertheless, Allah eventually opened my eyes and led me down a path that I would of never requested.

Now I’m free in my mind even though I’m still locked up in the pen.

This is the rugged rite of passage that has transformed many From Boyz to Men! - Knowledge B aka Tha Real Hood Square 5/5/20 Central Unit aka the Walls.

Prologue

1985

The block was quiet except for a few fiends still braving the cold in hopes of getting a fix. Tre Way had been hustling hard lately to provide for his baby mama and kids. He had been talking to the big homie Beetle about the possibility of hitting the open road and spreading the work outside of the desert. This was where the real money could be found because niggas from all over sought the riches of these real white gold nuggets he had tucked. The whole South Side of Phoenix had been taken over by storm when Broadway had introduced them to the drug that had the City of Angels blowing big clouds of smoke.

It didn’t take long for the Gangstas in his circle to tighten up to form GMO, so to corner the market and keep the power on the Way. When they said money was power, they must have forgotten one thing that held more sway: drugs. This was where the real power could be found and GMO was at the dead center by making sure to use its hold over the flow of crack cocaine to their advantage. However, all this power didn’t come without a cost because there was always haters who wanted in and wanted it all for themselves. Niggas were hating big time and were more than willing to kill for a chance at the throne, so the whole crew stayed strapped up to stay ready for anybody who had balls big enough to step forward to challenge their authority.

Nonetheless, Tre Way didn’t enjoy the ugly side of the game, but life had taught him a long time ago to take the bad with the good. As long as the good was this good, he didn’t see himself slowing down and retiring any time soon especially when Beetle was telling everybody that the getting was only going to get better. The other bad side was all the police activity in the hood. They were trumping up patrols because the punk ass mayor had promised to continue follow through with the bogus War On Drugs campaign that was started in the ‘Seventies by some old white man that had ruled with an iron fist from the White House where white men more corrupt than anybody else made rules that they didn’t follow one bit. In his opinion, they were even bigger haters than these niggas who were roaming and lurking in the streets in hopes of a come up because these white men didn’t like seeing anybody especially from the ghetto figuring out how to get rich and not pay them a dime. Therefore, their only issue was that they wanted their cut which made them start sending their foot soldiers into the hood to crack skulls and steal whatever of value they could get their greedy hands on. This had only resulted in making Gangstas start to organize more to combat the dirty tactics of these thieving ass cops.

There was nothing popping at the moment, so he decided to go look in on his family. He knew staying with his mom would have her all up in his business, but at eighteen years old, he felt like he was old enough to tell her to mind her own business because he had been bringing in more than enough to cover all the bills and still give her money to gamble with. This, however, was easier said than done because she was more of a Gangsta than he could ever be and would for sure blow a gasket if he ever told her anything other than what she wanted to hear.

Nigga, break yo muthafuck’n self fool and don’t fucking move, said the voice of the stranger who had somehow managed to catch him unaware.

Shaking his head for being such a fool, Tre Way slowly turned around and said, Nigga, do you know who you jacking?

A nobody is what I’m robbing. Nigga, who the fuck told yo bitch ass to turn around. Nigga, empty yo muthafuck’n pockets now before I kill yo bitch ass! the masked stranger said aggressively while holding a gun with a twitching hand.

No need to get crazy when you about to get paid my nigga. Let me get yo payment for you, Tre Way said watching the would-be jack boy keep nervously diverting his attention as he looked around for anybody who might intervene.

When he saw the nigga look a little bit too long to the left, he pulled out his gun and fired two shots into the jack boy’s chest, but the jack boy somehow managed to get a shot of his own off hitting Tre Way in his right shoulder with a forty-five-caliber slug. He fired two more shots into the jack boy who had to be some fiend that made the fatal mistake of thinking he was an easy lick just because he was by himself. However, as he went to get little from the scene, he felt his arm going numb from the gunshot wound which made him lose control of it. Then to make matters worse, he saw that sirens were already speeding down from Twenty-eighth Street, so he desperately ran into a nearby yard hoping the sirens belonged to a lone cop car...

System One:

Juvenile Injustice

Chapter One

1995

Beep, beep, beep was the sound of the annoying alarm clock his grandma had brought him to make sure he got up on time for school. Therefore, life hadn’t been the same ever since for fourteen-year-old Trevor Green Jr. He quickly hit the snooze button and found immediate relief as he dozed back off into the sweet slumber he had been so peacefully enjoying. This was short lived, however, when he heard his grandma yelling from what had to be the kitchen.

Okay, okay Big Mama I’m up already, Trevor answered closing his eyes as soon as the lie left his mouth.

Boy yo ass sound like you still in bed. You got fifteen minutes to be brushed and washed for breakfast or yo lil ass ain’t eating this morning, Big Mama said as a warning.

He smiled because he knew his grandma would never purposely deny him a chance to eat. When it came to his wellbeing, there wasn’t a thing she wouldn’t do to make sure he was straight. Nevertheless, he wasn’t no fool because she didn’t play when it came to disrespect. She had long since shown that she could be a stern disciplinarian if tested. Even though he was now a teenager and was taller than her by a few inches didn’t change the fact that he knew how far to push before she literally got on his ass. Acting upon instinct, he got up just in time to start making his bed as if he been up to see her push the already cracked door all the way open to peek in on him.

See, I told you I was up, Trevor said smiling.

Shaking her head while smiling as well, Big Mama replied, Okay, this time you are up, but don’t act like I ain’t never caught yo lil ass fast asleep like you ain’t have school that morning.

I still don’t see what’s the point of me going to school when they don’t teach us shit but some punk ass white man’s lies, Trevor said.

I told yo ass about cussing when talking to me, but school is a steppingstone son. One you are going to need to get ahead in life Junior, Big Mama said with a very serious look in her green eyes as she stared at beloved grandson.

Putting his arms up in submission, Trevor said, Okay, you win Big Mama when you say it like that how can I argue. It ain’t like you was going to let me win anyways. But I know you still salty from how I did you last Saturday in Spades.

This brought a huge smile to his grandma’s beautiful caramel colored face. As she started laughing, she told him that they were going to for sure have to run that game back. He couldn’t help but laugh also because he knew his super competitive grandma could be a sore loser at times and was known in the streets as a real shit talker especially throughout the gambling shacks and bingo halls she like to frequent. She was good at what she did which resulted in her making a nice side hustle out of her favorite pastime.

He quickly finished getting dressed and cleaned up his room which he made sure to keep in orderly fashion because Big Mama would throw a fit if he left his room in disarray. His outfit selection wasn’t difficult to put together because he went with his usual of black-on-black. It wasn’t shocking either when his grandma looked at him and shook her head at his choice of clothes. She had told him on more than one occasion that she was going to make him liven up his wardrobe, but she was a product of Broadway too. Therefore, she knew why he stayed in all black even though she didn’t approve of it. At only forty-six years old, she was a young grandparent of teenaged grandkids which wasn’t rare in the hood and was one of the few well respected female O’ Gs. The streets widely knew her as Lady G Luck.

Trevor was a legacy because he was a true South Side baby which was the part of Phoenix, Arizona that was known as the Valley of the Gun. This was where the heat could just as easily be felt blazing when gunshots got to bursting like direct sunlight hitting skin. It wasn’t an easy lifestyle living as a young Gangsta in the ‘Nineties especially with so much gang warfare going down in the streets, but he had long ago embraced it because this was the only reality that he knew. He had grown up in the South Phoenix neighborhood controlled exclusively by the Broadway Gangstas aka the Way that ran down Broadway Road from Thirty-second Street to Twenty-fourth Street. His hood was a South Side original and had a notorious reputation for being ruthless. Therefore, every other hood knew what to expect if they crossed path with the Gangstas, but all this fear didn’t come without consequence because enemies still lurked and homies were still being killed as well as killing. The streets were a concrete jungle and only the strong survived in the jungle. He was a survivor and planned to be the strongest.

He made sure to get on his sister Trevina’s nerves before he left the house for school. He teased her that if he didn’t do anything else good, at least he had mastered the art of pissing her off. She had threatened to punish him later when Big Mama wasn’t around which he didn’t take serious any more since he had outgrown her almost six months ago and now was the tallest person in the household. He stood awkwardly at five foot seven which made him have to look down on her five foot three frame. However, he still entertained her by acting like he was afraid of her threats.

Nevertheless, he was thankful to have his family. His grandma had raised them every since they were little. Her son which was their father had gotten locked up for a murder ten years ago. This had resulted in him receiving a life sentence at only eighteen years old. Consequently, this had also left their seventeen year old mother who had been still a kid herself suddenly stuck with two very hungry mouths to feed. Not long after that, she developed an addiction to crack cocaine which she eventually ended up feeding more than her kids.

He still remembered the last time he saw his beautiful mother. She had taken them along with her to some apartment complex on the East Side when he was barely five years old and his sister was six years old being that she was only ten months older than him. She had left them in the car to wait for her and had gotten them to behave while she was gone with a promise to take them to go get all the ice cream they could eat if they could just sit still until she returned. Therefore, like two champs, they actually did behave for the most part until the pinkest man he ever seen in a blue shirt with a shiny star knocked loudly on the window to try to get his sister to open up the door. This immediately led to them becoming scared out of their little minds and wailing with fright. Only the calming voice of some equally as pink lady in the same blue shirt was able to finally get a snotty-nosed, puffy-eyed Trevina to open up the door. It took years afterwards for it to register that this was the same day that his mother had gotten beaten to death by some trick too high to care about what he had done.

Consequently, the state had took custody of them for almost a year before Big Mama was finally successful in getting them out of the horrible foster home they had been placed in. Trevor shook these dark thoughts that occasionally plagued his mind. He came across two of his big homies while on his way to school. They looked like they had been hustling all night.

What’s poppin’ with my young Gangsta? Nutty G said shaking Trevor’s hand.

Shit nothing much, just going to school G. But I wish I could come hang with the homies, Trevor replied.

Nigga, you know Lady G Luck ain’t gone play with that ass if you ditch school. Shit nigga, I don’t want to be with you when she come looking, Bogard said laughing, but also serious.

I’m a grown ass man G. My grandma know how I be moving, Trevor said puffing his chest out. Lil Tre Way, so you grown now huh? When you ready G to come get this paper let me know, but until then young Gangsta, you better get that ass to school, Nutty G said seriously pointing up the road.

Trevor made it to school on time. He was an eighth grader at Palmdale Elementary. He couldn’t wait to graduate, so he could go to South Mountain High School where his sister was currently in her freshman year. Other than his grandma staying on him about school, it was one thing he had to admit that made him go to school which was all the pretty females. They made school bearable because they didn’t shy away from showing him that they liked him, and he just knew it was only going to get better when he went to high school. He already had his sister threatening all her home girls to stay away from him. He wasn’t making it easy either for her because every chance he got, he made sure to talk to them. One in particular that he really liked was a female named Nadine who everybody called Miss Lady because of her bossy nature. She was a fine piece of chocolate that knew even though she was young that she had it going on.

Nevertheless, he had to do the same thing with his homies in the hood who had started to give his sister more and more attention. She had really took a liken to all of this and quickly learned to use it to her advantage. He knew that the Way had a way with being a real dog-eat-dog world and just like he would creep with a homie’s sister, his homies wouldn’t hesitate if the opportunity presented itself to creep with his. So far though, all Trevina did was use her developing female charms to finesse for things she wanted.

Lil Tre Way, you really think you fly looking like a baby black hole, his best homie Bobby G chuckled.

"G, I know yo ol’ light skinned half breed ass ain’t hating. You just mad because every bitch you like get lost