by Roy Glenn
“How’d you get out of there? You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
“No, I didn’t kick her ass, but I started to. I ended up picking her naked ass up and carrying her back in her apartment, threw her on the bed and got the fuck outta there.”
Mike laughed at him.
Again.
“This shit ain’t funny,” Bobby said, laughing right along with Mike.
“Yes it is, Bobby. This whole shit is funny as hell. I just can’t see you at six-four, wrestling in the hall with a naked woman. That shit is too funny.”
“Yeah, it would be funny if it was happening to somebody else.”
“You need to shut that bitch down, Bobby. Getting pussy is one thing, but when she starts calling Pam, it’s time to shut the bitch down. Unless you planning on leaving Pam for this crazy mutha fucka.”
“I told you, I ain’t leaving my family. I love Pam.”
“Then what you gonna do?”
“I don’t know. But I gotta do something.”
Chapter Nineteen
“It just doesn’t make any sense, Pat,” Kirk said to his partner.
“What doesn’t?” Richards asked
“Black having a meeting with drug dealers in his own place. Black is smarter than that.”
“Maybe he didn’t know about it. I mean, he wasn’t there. Maybe she set the whole thing up.”
“But Simmons is there riding shotgun over her drug meeting, and Black doesn’t know about it? Give me a fuckin’ break.”
“They only said they had reason to believe that Simmons was there.”
“This shit is weak, Pat. He was there. That picture they have of him was taken recently.”
“What makes you so sure?” Richards asked.
“You saw that picture, Pat. Didn’t he have that same scar under his eye last week when we saw him?”
Richards thought about it. “He damn sure did.”
“He was there; they know he was there. I got a feeling that things didn’t happen down there the way they say it did.”
“Why don’t you just call Simmons and ask him?”
Kirk looked at Richards like he was stupid, but then he thought about it.
“That’s not a bad idea. But what do you say we just drop by his place?”
When Nick opened the door, he looked a little groggy. He had stayed a little too long at Cityscape the night before, had one too many lap dances and way too many shots of Johnnie Black.
“Kirk?” What the fuck does he want? Nick thought.
He didn’t have time for Kirk now. He had to leave soon if he wanted to catch Freddie, an old contact of his.
“Yeah, Kirk. Mind if we come in?”
“Come on in, gentlemen. I always have time to talk to New York’s finest,” Nick said and stepped aside.
Once the detectives were inside, Kirk asked, “Going somewhere?”
“As a matter of fact, I was.”
“We need to ask you some questions, Simmons.”
“What do you wanna know?”
“You seen Black lately?” Kirk asked nonchalantly.
“Saw him last night. This morning, actually.”
“When did he get in?”
“Yesterday.”
Just like that slime Marshall said, Kirk thought. “He up here on business?”
Nick looked at Kirk and then to Richards. There was a point to all these questions, and he was willing to go along to see where Kirk was going with this. But not for long.
“He’s got some business to take care of.”
“What kind of business?”
“Let’s stop dancing around, Kirk. What do you wanna know?”
“We have information that you and Black met with a couple of drug middlemen at Black’s club in the Bahamas a couple of days ago. So, I’ll ask you again. What kind of business is he up here doing?”
“First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Me and Black weren’t involved in any meeting with anybody in his club.”
“So, you weren’t in the Bahamas at Black’s club?”
“Yeah, I was there, but Black wasn’t there.”
“Who you meet with then, Nick?” Richards asked sarcastically.
“I didn’t meet with anybody, Pat,” Nick responded in kind. “I had drinks with Black’s wife.”
“Shy,” Richards said. “You had drinks with Shy.”
“Who?”
“Cassandra Sims, a.k.a. Shy,” Richards taunted. “A.k.a. Cassandra Black. Mike Black’s wife.”
“Look, Simmons,” Kirk interrupted, “we know what happened in that club. We know you and Shy met with two drug middlemen. What’s going on, Nick? Black getting back in the game? He up here to set things in motion?”
Nick thought for a moment before answering. Kirk gets around, knows people, hears things. He might be some help with this, he thought. But Kirk was a cop, a good cop, so he decided to proceed with caution. “His wife was kidnapped. That’s what Black is doing here.”
“By who?” Richards demanded to know.
“You ever hear of a guy named Sal Terrico? Runs with some South Americans. They’re the middlemen you keep asking about. Check with the DEA. They might have an ongoing operation involving him.”
“Slow down, Simmons. You say this Terrico guy that kidnapped Black’s wife is involved with the DEA?”
“No, what I said was Terrico is one of the middlemen, and that the DEA might have an ongoing operation involving him,” Nick replied, treading carefully.
“So, what does the DEA have to do with Terrico?”
“They’re probably looking at him in connection with the murder of an agent named Roman Patterson.”
At that point, Kirk was sure that something wasn’t right. The DEA never mentioned anything about Terrico being involved with the agent’s murder. They made it seem like Black was involved. But why? “I need you to tell me everything you know about this.”
“Why, Kirk? Why should I tell you?”
“’Cause I know some things; things you need to know.”
“All right, Kirk,” Nick said. “Agent Patterson was at Black’s club in the Bahamas. He was meeting with Terrico and two other men. Both of them were Latinos, probably South American. During that meeting, one of the Latinos shot and killed Patterson. There was some shooting. During that shooting, one of the Latinos was killed, Terrico and the other guy got away with Shy.”
“I thought she was a part of the meeting. Why’d they take her?”
“She wasn’t involved in their meeting. They used her as a hostage to get out of there.”
Chapter Twenty
“You just got to trust me, Simmons.”
It wasn’t easy, but Kirk finally got out of Nick’s apartment, and more importantly, got out of the apartment without giving him any information.
What now?
Kirk knew something wasn’t right with all this.
Why the different stories? Why was the team led to believe that Mike Black had something to do with agent Patterson’s death? If Black isn’t involved, why is the DEA investigating him?
Those were all good questions, none of which he had the answers to. Whatever was going on, there was one thing he was sure of: He needed to cover his ass and do it quick.
The first step was to make a call. “Captain, this is Kirk. Listen, there is something weird going on here that I need to make you aware of.” He went on to tell his captain about the inconsistencies in the stories about what went on two days ago at Black’s Paradise.
“Wait a minute, Kirk. If she wasn’t involved in the meeting, and one of the Latinos Patterson was meeting with shot him, what the fuck are they investigating Black for?”
“That’s exactly my point,” Kirk said as Detective Richards came into his office. He motioned for Richards to sit down and be quiet.
“And if there is some shit in this, that means that asshole Marshall is in it with the fuckin’ DEA. Fuckin’ state senator, shit!”
“This could get
messy.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Look, Captain, I checked with Narcotics like you told me to, and they agree with me. Black’s got no share in the drug game.”
“I know. I talked to Sanchez too. So, if that’s the case, they’re either after Black for some other reason and they’re using drugs as a cover, or they’re using him to divert attention from the real players.”
“Or both,” Kirk threw in.
“In either case, it’s political. Thanks for the heads up, Kirk,” the captain said.
He was about to hang up when Kirk yelled, “Slow down, captain. Whatever you’re about to do, I need to be a part of,” he said quickly. “What are you about to do?”
“First thing to do is find out exactly what went on down there. Hold on, Kirk.” While the captain called the Bahamian police, Kirk explained the situation to his partner. When the captain came back on the line, he told Kirk, “The Bahamian police confirmed your guy’s version.”
“What do we do now?” Kirk asked.
“I’m gonna start covering our asses and maybe, just maybe, take down a bad guy or two. You do nothing. Hear me, Kirk?” the captain ordered. “Nothing unless I authorize it.”
“Yes, sir,” Kirk said quietly.
Chapter Twenty-one
His name was Paul Clay, and this would be the day that he stepped up. This would be the day that he introduced himself to the big time. He’d made up his mind, after today there would be no more small-time anything for him. Today was the day that he would become a real player in this game.
The truth of the matter was that Clark Kent, that’s what they called him, was small-time; small-time drug dealer, small-time robber, small-time pimp, small-time hustler.
They called him Clark Kent because of the thick, black-framed glasses he wore. He didn’t care about the name. Those glasses had earned him names like nerd and schoolboy. While he was in jail for armed robbery, he was Brother Malcolm. Paul actually liked being called Clark Kent. In a strange way, it made him feel powerful. It made him feel like he was Superman and only he knew it.
This would be the day that Paul made a name for himself. See, if he was to improve his position, now was the perfect time. With Chilly dead, what was left of his crew had splintered into two factions, one loyal to D-Train, and the other loyal to Birdie.
For the time being, D-Train had grabbed power and was trying to prove he was worthy by moving on Freeze and the so-called dead zone. If that move was unsuccessful, then Birdie would surely step up his game and try to force D-Train out and into an early grave. But if Train was successful in eliminating Freeze, then he would surely crush Birdie, unite the factions, and everybody could go back to making money. Paul was there to make sure that happened. His plan was simple. He would be the man that killed Freeze.
Clark Kent sat patiently outside Cross County Mall in Yonkers, because he knew that she would be there. He had spent hours the night before on the phone with her, and she promised that she would be shopping at the mall that next afternoon.
She went to great lengths to make sure that he understood that she was a woman who was used to being taken care of, and used to a certain style, a style that he couldn’t afford.
“Baby, you know I love you, right? We can hang out and kick it or whatever, and you can get this pussy, but until you start stacking some serious paper, the kind of paper where you drop ten grand on me ’cause it’s a sunny day, I will never be yours,” she told him on more than one occasion, and it was unacceptable.
He had to have her. Clark Kent was in love. He was in love with Paulleen. There was only one problem with him loving Paulleen. She was Freeze’s woman.
Shortly after Clark Kent got out of jail, he met Paulleen. She was coming out of Macy’s on 34th Street. He gave her his number and she called him once in a while because she thought he was cute. But as hard as he tried, she would never see him. Paulleen told him that not only was she with Freeze, but she had a man on the side that took good care of her. This went on for a year before she finally agreed to see him.
Paulleen was worth the wait. Clark Kent was hooked the first time she set it out for him. Now I understand why they call her good pussy Paulleen. When he asked about her man on the side, you know, the one that was taking such good care of her, she said that she had grown tired of him and moved up to bigger and better sex with Clark Kent. What he heard was that Freeze had found out about it and killed the guy. It was a fate that he planned to avoid, and it just gave him one more reason that he had to kill Freeze.
“I kill Freeze,” Clark Kent said out loud while he sat in his 73 Nova, “D-Train will blast Birdie, set me up for killin’ Freeze, and Paulleen will be all mine.”
It wasn’t too long after that when he saw Freeze’s truck pull into a parking space. He watched nervously as Paulleen got out, and she and Freeze went into the mall. She was dressed in orange from head to toe. Everything matched: her outfit, her shoes, her accessories. She looked so good to him. It excited Clark Kent just to see her. He wanted to get out of his car and run to her, but that wasn’t what he was there for.
The thing to do now was prepare. He had thought long and hard about how he would kill Freeze. His first thought was to walk right up on Freeze when he exited the mall with Paulleen. He would look her in the eye, make some comment about this being for her, and blow Freeze’s brains out. That’s not strong enough. He would walk up on Freeze and tell him that he was in love with Paulleen and she loved him, and for that reason, he had to die. Yeah, that’s it, he thought. But then he reconsidered. Suppose Freeze wasn’t trying to hear that shit and shot him before he got a chance to declare his love and kill Freeze. No, the thing to do was to wait on them to come out of the mall and roll by Freeze, blastin’.
He briefly gave some thought to the fact that if he did the drive-by thing, Paulleen wouldn’t know that he was the man who killed Freeze. But he slowly came to the conclusion that it was best that way, just in case Paulleen wasn’t happy about the fact he had shot her golden goose and decided to snitch.
So, he waited in the car for somebody to move out of a parking space that would give him the best angle of approach. There wasn’t any rush. He knew how Paulleen shopped; they would be in there for hours.
Paulleen was starving by the time she and Freeze got to the mall, so the first thing she wanted to do was eat. She suggested that they grab something at Applebee’s before they started shopping.
Freeze didn’t care. He had other things on his mind. The night before had been a quiet night, which meant that he got no reports of any of D-Train’s people setting up in any of their spots. Freeze doubted that it was over just like that. What he had to do now was figure out what D-Train had planned and stop it before it started. His conversation with Black and Bobby about the situation kept rolling around in his mind.
He sees this as an opportunity. Me gone, Bobby laying back. Makes it look like your strength is exhausted. We need to deal with this now or other mutha fucka’s will raise up outta nowhere to try some shit like this.
He had to wonder if maybe Black and Bobby thought that he was weak.
After they left Applebee’s, Paulleen went to Baker’s Shoes. After she looked at a few pairs of shoes, she settled on a pair of Mojo sandals, a thong-styled sandal with rhinestone detailing on the upper straps and 3-inch wedge heels. “What do you think, Freeze?”
“They look a’ight,” Freeze replied without looking.
We need to start taking it to them, Black. Just fall up in there and start blastin’ like we used to.
Maybe that was the answer. Bring back the old days. Shoot first and never get to the ask questions part. He had always thought that they had become too soft lately, but it wasn’t his fault. Even though he was running the day-to-day operations, it was Wanda who was calling the shots.
“But I like these too,” Paulleen said, holding up a dressy sandal with a snake-and-leather upper, hooded ankle strap, and lacquered platform wedge heel by Wild Pai
r.
“Fuck it, get ’em both,” Freeze told her, still thinking about the old days. In his opinion, Wanda was now too deeply involved in the business. Sure, Wanda had done a great job at making money for all of them, but back then, Black was very definite about what parts of the business he allowed her to become involved in. Wanda had no say at all in how Black and Bobby ran things. Now, Wanda had her hands up in every part of the business, and she was always on him about the way he chose to handle things. That had to stop.
Once they were finished in Baker’s they passed a Com-Fit Shoes. Paulleen started to go in, but she decided to go to Nine West first. There she found a gorgeous sling in a metallic dust kidskin and a pair of Enzo Angiolini’s. Then it was on to Bath & Body Works. She wanted to pick up some True Blue Spa, All in a Clay’s Work Detoxifying Facial Mask.
“What’s that for?” Freeze asked.
“It absorbs excess oil and draws impurities from the skin. I use it once a week.”
“You don’t need that shit,” Freeze said as they walked to the register.
“Why not?”
“’Cause you ain’t got no impurities in your skin. That shit is flawless.”
“Yeah, that’s because I use stuff like this to keep myself beautiful for you, baby,” Paulleen said and gave Freeze a kiss on the cheek.
Their next stop was CeBon Cosmetics, where it seemed like Paulleen tried every fragrance before settling on Issey Miyake for her and one for him. After that, Paulleen dragged Freeze into Charade Fashions, but she didn’t see anything that she liked.
That wasn’t the case in Wilson’s Suede and Leather. Paulleen found an Italian leather belted briefcase. “Check this out,” Paulleen told Freeze. “It has a phone case, and a detachable cosmetic bag with a mirror.”
“Just get it and let’s go,” Freeze said and walked out of the store. He thought about what Black always said about understanding your enemy. The thing to do now is figure out what your enemies are planning and stop them.
