by Roy Glenn
“You can put your hands down,” Mike said and put his arm around the doctor. “Is he gonna be okay?”
“He suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He is very weak from the blood loss. I think that he’ll be fine if he is allowed to rest and give the wound time to heal,” the doctor went on to explain.
“Where’s the woman they had with them?”
“I don’t know. I left her and the other man on deck, and I came down here to treat this man.”
“You know what this other man’s name was?”
“No, I don’t. Nobody said any names, and they always spoke in Spanish, except when he was talking to me.”
“Was he a white man?”
“Yes.”
“The woman, was she all right?” Mike asked.
“Yes, from what I could tell. But she looked scared.”
“Did you hear them say where they were going?”
“If they said where they were going, they said it in Spanish, and I wouldn’t have understood them anyway. Sorry I can’t be any more help,” the doctor said. It was obvious from the way his voice cracked when he talked that he was scared too.
Nick came back into the room. “Rest of the ship is clean.”
Mike picked up the doctor’s bag, handed it to him. “You can go now, doctor. I think that we can handle it from here.”
Mike reached into his pocket and pulled out some money. He peeled off five hundred-dollar bills and handed them to the doctor, and then he turned to Nick.
“Would you mind showing the doctor out?”
“Not at all.”
“Thank you, thank you,” the doctor said as he left the room, thankful to be leaving with his life.
When Nick returned, Bobby slapped the shit out of Julio.
“Wake up, asshole! Where’s the woman you took from the club?” he demanded to know. Julio opened his eyes and looked at Bobby and then to Black. When he saw Nick, his eyes opened wide.
“Remember me?” Nick asked.
“He feels that pain in his gut, Nick,” Bobby said and punched Julio in the face. “Yeah, he remembers it was you that put that bullet in him,” he said and punched Julio in the face.
Mike put his foot on Julio’s stomach and put his weight on it. “Who are you working for?”
Julio screamed in pain and spit at Black. “Usted no puede entender una palabra yo digo y yo no le diría nada si usted puede,” Julio said in Spanish.
Nick stepped up and leaned over Julio. “Puedo … y usted hace,” Nick replied in Spanish.
“What did he say?” Bobby asked.
Nick turned to Bobby. “He said we can’t understand a word he’s saying, and that he wouldn’t tell us anything even if we could. I told him that I can understand him, and he will tell us.”
“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish, Nick,” Mike said, grinding his foot into Julio’s stomach. Julio winced in pain.
“Yeah, I speak Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, several Arab dialects and a little German,” Nick said.
Bobby started laughing. “Damn, I remember when you could barely read.”
“Yeah, well, things change,” Nick told Bobby.
“Ask him who he’s working for, Nick,” Mike said, trying to stay on task.
“Quién es usted trabajando para?”
“El me matará si yo le digo!”
“ Qué le hace pensar que va a vivir Si usted no”
“What y’all saying?” Bobby asked.
“I told him I’ll kill him if he doesn’t tell me.”
“Oh, that’s good, Nick. Really original,” Bobby said with a laugh.
“This is taking too fuckin’ long,” Mike said. “Nick, hold his arm.” Nick grabbed Julio’s arm and Mike shot him in the hand. Julio screamed and cursed in Spanish.
“Where the fuck is my wife?” Mike shouted.
“Dónde está la mujer que usted raptó?” Nick demanded.
“Yo no sé!” Julio screamed.
Mike shot him again, this time in the kneecap. “Where the fuck is she?” Mike yelled.
“Don’t you see these boys ain’t playing with you?” Bobby said to Julio. “I know you understand what I’m saying to you, and I know you understand this,” he said and shot Julio in his other kneecap. Once again, Julio screamed and did some more cursing in Spanish.
“Dónde está la mujer que usted raptó?” Nick asked him again.
“Yo no sé donde, pero Sal la tomaron a Nueva York.”
“He says he doesn’t know where, but Sal took her to New York.”
Mike took his foot off Julio’s stomach and started to walk away.
“Bobby.”
“Say goodnight, Gracie.”
Bobby raised his gun and shot Julio twice in the head. Mike turned to Nick.
“So, Mister I-speak-Spanish-French-Italian-Japanese-several-Arab-dialects-and-a-little-German, can you pilot this ship?”
Both Nick and Bobby laughed. Nick looked over the ship.
“Carver 404, twin Mercruiser engine; cruising speed, seventeen knots; max speed, twenty-five knots. Yeah, Black, I can pilot the ship.”
“Good. Take us out to sea so we can dump these bodies,” Mike said. “We’ll take care of things down here.”
While Nick went on deck to take the ship out to sea, Mike and Bobby cleaned the room of blood and wiped down any area that might have their fingerprints, just in case the doctor decided to report what he had been involved in that night to the police.
Once they were finished cleaning, Bobby came up on deck and sat down next to Nick. “I’m gonna learn how to sail one of these things so next time I can be up here chillin’, enjoying the night air, and you can be the cleaner.”
Nick laughed. “It ain’t that hard, Bobby. You want me to show you?”
“Nah, not tonight,” Bobby replied as he yawned and stretched. “You know we ain’t sleeping no time soon, right?”
Nick nodded his head slowly then turned to Bobby. Despite what Bobby said about the shit being over, there was something Nick felt he had to get off his chest.
“Look, Bobby, I’m sorry.”
“For what? Because I can’t sail this ship?” Bobby joked.
“No, about Camille.”
“Listen, Nick, I can’t be mad at you for fuckin’ her when she set the pussy out for you. She was a ho, and I shouldn’t have gotten so strung out on her. I mean, shit, the bitch fucked Freeze and Mike then she fucked me, threw the pussy at you from the first time she saw you, and she wanted to fuck Wanda. And those are just the ones we know about.”
“I didn’t know that until I read that journal she was keeping,” Nick said and laughed. “You’re right. She was a ho.”
“It’s me who should be saying sorry to you. I should have never pulled my gun on you. I’ve regretted that shit every day since. I should have never let a woman, any woman, come between us. You’re like my brother, Nick, so let’s just put that shit behind us. Cool?” Bobby stood up and extended his hand.
“Cool,” Nick said and accepted his hand.
Mike came up on deck and joined Bobby and Nick. “How far out are we?”
“About ten miles,” Nick responded.
“That’s far enough. Come on, Bobby.”
Mike and Bobby carried the bodies up on deck. They weighted the bodies down with whatever they could find and tossed them overboard. Once they were done, Nick turned the ship around and headed back to the dock.
Chapter Six
Bobby got behind the wheel and started the car. They went to check out the address of the woman who owned the boat, but the house was in darkness.
“Where to now, Mike? Back to the airport?” Bobby asked.
“Not yet.”
“Where you wanna go then?”
“Let’s go see Hector. He hangs out at a club called La Covacha. It’s on Twenty-fifth Street.”
“Hector?” Nick questioned. “Hector Villanueva?”
Mike nodded.
“I remember that guy
,” Nick said.
“You think Hector has something to do with this mess?” Bobby asked and glanced over at Nick.
“Not really,” Mike replied casually. “But you never know.”
“Yeah, right.” Bobby laughed. “You just wanna fuck with Hector, see if you can go up in Nina while we’re down here, don’t you, Mike?”
“I remember Nina,” Nick said. “That was one beautiful woman. Seeing her would be enough reason for me to go fuck with Hector.”
“No, I just wanna ask him some questions.”
As Bobby drove off, Nick thought about the years he had missed. He glanced in the backseat at Mike and then over at Bobby. He was glad to be able to close the door on that part of his life, after all these years, to finally say that he was sorry to Bobby. Maybe now he could take Shy’s advice and forgive himself for betraying Bobby and fucking Camille.
Even if she was a ho who was fuckin’ everybody.
It was 2:30 in the morning when Bobby pulled up in front of La Covacha, one of the most popular spots for Latin music in Miami. Once they were inside, Bobby went one way while Nick and Mike went another.
“Nice place,” Nick said as they wandered around the club looking for Hector.
“Yeah. It almost burned down once before, but it is a nice club,” Mike said over the music. They went out to the open-air part of the club, which was under a thatched roof.
“How you know so much about this place?”
“I came here few times with Nina before I knew she was married to Hector.” Mike paused. “She really liked this place.”
“You really liked Nina, didn’t you?” Nick said.
“There was something special about her.”
Out on the patio, the place pounded with a mix of new and old salsa. The crowd ranged from the thirty-something crowd to South American teenagers. There were even a few older couples. But Hector wasn’t out there, so they went back inside. That’s when Mike saw her coming out of the VIP room.
He stood and watched her walk through the club as she made her way to the bar. Mike tapped Nick on the shoulder. “There she is.”
“Who?” Nick asked.
“Nina.” Nick turned around quickly. “Wait here,” Mike said as Bobby walked up.
“I don’t see Hector anywhere,” Bobby said to Nick.
“He’s here.” Nick pointed toward the bar where Mike was now standing next to Nina.
“Hello, Nina,” Mike said.
Nina closed her eyes and allowed her head to drift back at the sound of his voice. “Hello, Black,” she said without looking at him. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for Hector.”
“I was hoping you’d say something noble like you came here looking for me. That you couldn’t live another minute without seeing me.”
“It is good to see you, Nina, even if you won’t look at me.” Nina took a deep breath and turned around slowly. “You look good, Nina.”
“So do you. Very good.”
“Where’s Hector?” Mike asked before the conversation went in another direction.
“He’s in the VIP room. But if you stand here and talk to me long enough, he’ll be out here soon. I’m sure somebody will run and tell him that I’m out here talking to this big, fine black man,” Nina said and put her hand on Mike’s chest.
“I wanna talk to him, Nina.” Mike slowly removed her hand from his chest. “Not have to kill him over you.”
Nina looked at the ring on Mike’s finger. “You’re married?”
“Happily.”
“Now that we’re both married, maybe you’ll come down here to see me.”
“I still don’t mess with married women.”
“Is that why you never came looking for me?”
“It’s the only reason I didn’t come and get you, Nina. If you weren’t married to Hector …” Mike paused and looked around the club. “Who knows?”
“I do.” Nina smiled a satisfied smile and turned around to motion for a waitress. When one responded, Nina talked to her for a minute, then she returned her attention to Black. “Tell her what you want.”
Mike reached in his pocket and handed the woman a hundred-dollar bill.
“Tell Mr. Villanueva that Mike Black sends his respect and asks that Mr. Villanueva give him a minute of his time. Tell him exactly what I said. I’ll be right here waiting for his answer.”
The waitress was about to go to deliver the message, but Nina stopped her.
“Wait until ten minutes after I’m back in the VIP before you come in there.”
Once the waitress was gone, Nina turned to Mike.
“Goodbye, Black. I want to kiss you. I want you to hold me in your arms and kiss me, not just a goodbye kiss or a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I want you to kiss me the way that you used to.” Nina took a step closer and ran her hand up Mike’s crotch then whispered in his ear, “What I’d really like to do is suck that big dick, and then ride you until I feel it swell up and explode inside me.” And then Nina stepped away. “But then somebody would die tonight. Goodbye, Mike Black. I hope this won’t be the last time I see you.”
“You never know, Nina. Anything is possible.”
“We’ll see,” Nina said and walked away.
Nick and Bobby joined Mike at the bar. Mike watched Nina as she made her way back to the VIP room. She didn’t look back.
Nina looked exactly the way he remembered her. It was like time stood still for Nina.
“You all right, Black?” Nick asked.
“Yeah. I sent Hector a message.”
“Yeah,” Bobby said. “Nina is still fine as hell.”
A half-hour later, Mike looked up and saw two men escorting Nina out of the VIP room. “Get ready.”
“What’s up?” Nick asked and put his hand on his gun, while Bobby turned toward Black.
Mike pointed as the two men pushed their way through the crowd and took Nina out of the club.
“You know Hector wasn’t gonna talk to me with Nina around. Probably took him this long to convince her to leave.” Once Nina was safely out of the club, the two men approached Mike at the bar.
“Mr. Black?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Villanueva will see you now,” one of the men said then turned toward the VIP room. Black, Bobby and Nick followed them.
Nick overheard one speak to the other in Spanish. “Debemos apenas los dirigió fuera espalda y los mata.”
“No, permitió que ellos hablen primero entonces que nosotros los podemos matar.”
Hearing their plans, Nick laughed. “Black.”
“What they say?”
“One said they should just lead us out back and kill us. The other said, no, let them talk first, then we can kill them.”
“Okay,” Mike said. “So, now we know. Be ready.”
Hector Villanueva sat alone in a booth in the VIP room, but one of his men stood next to him. As Mike approached, Hector extended his hand for him to sit down.
“Mike Black.”
“How are you, Hector?” Mike said as he sat down. Nick and Bobby stood on Black’s side of the table, while Hector’s men stood on the other. Bobby smiled, and the stare-down began.
“I am doing very well, Black. But I am curious. I thought that I made it very clear that I considered our business together concluded. Now here you are, and I want to know why. Why are you here?”
“My wife was kidnapped by two Latinos and a white guy at my club in the Bahamas earlier today. The bandits brought her by boat to Miami.”
“And you think I had something to do with it?”
“No, Hector. I just wanna find my wife. This is your city. I was just hoping that you might have heard something.”
Hector sat back in the booth and finished his drink. It caught him off guard when Black asked for his help. It made him feel powerful.
Mike Black comes to me for help.
“I am very sorry to hear about your wife, Black, and very sorry that I can’t h
elp you. I don’t know anything about it, but if I hear anything, I will let you know.”
“Thank you, Hector. I would appreciate that.” Mike started to get up, but sat back down. “One more thing you can help me with, Hector.”
“What is that, Black?”
“I overheard your boys saying that they were going to kill us after I talked to you. I don’t think anybody needs to die tonight. I hope you agree.”
Hector looked at Mike and then to his men. “Yes, I agree. Nobody needs to die tonight.”
Mike stood up and extended his hand. “Thank you for taking the time to see me.” He started to ask how Nina was doing just to fuck with Hector, but he decided against it.
Hector accepted Black’s hand and stood up. “I am honored that you would come to me.”
Once they were out of the club and in the car, Bobby asked, “Was all that really necessary? I’m about to throw up with all that touchy-feely, thank-you-for-seeing-me, honored-that-you-would-come-to-me shit.”
“You never know when we might need an ally down here. Let’s get back to New York. And besides,” Mike paused as Bobby drove off. “I really came here to see Nina.”
Chapter Seven
Freeze met them at JFK airport in New York at 10:30 that morning and drove them straight to Cuisine, a supper club that Mike owned. Their flight left Miami at 5:30, but they had an hour layover in Atlanta. During the flight, Nick and Bobby slept, while Mike looked out the window at the early morning sun above the clouds. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t sleep. The only thing on his mind was Shy.
Was she all right?
Who had her?
Where were they taking her?
If they were holding her for ransom, why no demand?
Hundreds of possibilities and countless questions rolled around in his mind. When they arrived at Cuisine, they stopped at the bar before heading to what was now Freeze’s office.
“Freeze,” Mike said.
“Yo.”
“Tell me what’s up with Bitch-ass D-Train?” Mike asked, more to take his mind off Shy than anything else.
“Last couple of nights his people been posting up in our spots. I thought he was smarter than that, to just roll up in our spots and set up. What they think I was gonna do? Nothing they could do to avoid the consequences.”
