The Mike Black Saga Volume 2

by Roy Glenn

  “Yes, of course, you have guests to attend to and I’m monopolizing your time. I’ll give you a call tomorrow and we can talk more then.” Nick extended his hand. “Once again, it was an honor meeting you, sir.”

  “You as well, I’ll look forward to your call.” Marshall stood and watched Nick until he lost sight of him. He looked around the room again and began walking very quickly through the crowd. Marshall approached a man talking to a group of ladies. “Excuse me for interrupting, Ladies. Scotty, can I speak with you in my office. I promise it will only take a minute Ladies, and then you can have him back.”

  Marshall and Scotty made their way through the crowd to Marshall’s office. By that time, Nick was in the van with Monika and Travis. Marshall entered the office and slammed the door. “I thought you were gonna take care of Hawkins?”

  “I did,” Scotty answered with a blank expression on his face. “I did just like you told me. Made it look like she Od’d on sleeping pills.”

  “Right. Then maybe you can tell me why I just got finished talking to some private detective about her?”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. He said he wanted to talk to me about a murder, not a suicide, Scotty, a murder!” Marshall yelled. “He was here, in my house.”

  “I’m sure that the police ruled her death a suicide. I checked with my source.”

  “Then it would make sense that the only way he could connect her to me is the evidence.”

  “Marty, I took care of that, I shredded the paper trail and wiped her files from her work and home computers, I even took any disks she had laying around.”

  “Then why was he here? Are you sure you didn’t leave anything on her computer?”

  “I’m sure. The program I use is called Evidence-Eliminator. It eliminates the specific application files, temp files, system backups, it even wipes Outlook’s deleted items and sent items. And when it’s done, it eliminates the program. You know I’ve used it to clean up hundreds of times and it’s never failed me before.”

  “Then why was he here?” Marshall asked softly this time.

  “I don’t know,” Scotty answered in the same tone.

  “Then you better find out.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Patrick Mitchell. He’s going to call me tomorrow. You get on top of this, find out what he knows and who he’s told and do it quick.”

  “I understand.”

  “And don’t mention any of this to DeFrancisco, he’s an idiot and he talks too much.”

  Outside in the van, Monika laughed. “Yeah, asshole, you talk too much too. Got your ass on tape.”

  “Nick,” Travis said. “I was telling Monika that I got something that I recorded earlier that I think you need to hear.”

  “What’s that, Travis?”

  “It’s a recording of two men talking. I knew it was important when they started talking about Black. And now I’m sure one of the voices was Marshall’s.”

  Travis played the recording back for Nick and Monika. After listening to the recording, Nick agreed that it was Marshall that Travis recorded. “But who’s the other guy?” Monika asked.

  “Diego Estabon.”

  Chapter Forty-one

  Diego entered his hotel suite and immediately poured himself a glass of Tequila. Although there was a woman lying on the bed, he didn’t speak to her. Diego walked to the window and looked out. As he looked out at the Manhattan skyline he thought about how well things were progressing for him. Tomorrow he would make an easy five million dollars on the sale of prescription drugs and there would be more to come.

  Diego had to laugh at his good fortune; he had bought the failing pharmaceutical company years ago as a way to launder his drug profits. It was only recently that he started selling prescription drugs over the Internet, never expecting that there would come a day when he would be able to make that kind of money. And if the buyers were the serious businessmen that they claimed to be, then this would be just the first of many more such deals.

  DeFrancisco had gone to great lengths to assure him that the DEA investigation of Black was moving into the next phase.

  Even though he had assured Marshall that the papers would be recovered, Diego was still very concerned that they would become public. Those papers contained detailed information about his drug operation. Although he never told anybody, those papers came into existence because of his carelessness. Her name was Isabelle, or at least that’s what she called herself. She was young and beautiful, and for a time, Diego lost himself in her.

  Over a three-year period, Isabelle worked her way into Diego’s bed and into his confidence. In reality, Isabelle was a deep cover operative for the DEA. It was only by chance that he found her out when DeFrancisco told him that he had gotten wind of a South American operation and mentioned details that he’d heard. Diego knew the only person that could have that type of information was Isabelle.

  It hurt him deeply to do it, he tried to have her killed. But it was too late; Isabelle had completed and filed a report, and had turned them over to her control, who she met in Singapore when she and Diego visited there. Diego had him murdered, and had made arrangements to recover the report, but things went wrong and the paper got into the open and to this date have not been recovered. He knew that if those papers became public that his associates would be indicted. If that happened, they would surely kill him.

  His plan was simple; divert as much attention away from himself and his operation by giving them some other high-profile target. He would make it appear that Black had ordered the murders of Chilly, Felix and the General and would soon murder D-Train and take over the drug traffic. Diego never forgot that Black caused him to go to jail. He had never gotten over the shame and humiliation that he suffered when Black and Bobby came out of the club. They laughed when they saw him in handcuffs with his face pressed against the hood of his car. There was one other person that he had not forgiven, that was his father, Gomez.

  “Diego,” the woman said to him. “Aren’t you going to at least say hello to me?”

  “Hello, Esperanza,” Diego said to her without looking at her.

  “Aren’t you glad to see me?” Esperanza asked.

  “Overjoyed, my love,” he replied and continued to stare out the window.

  “Have I done something to displease you?”

  “No, my love, everything is fine. Now stop asking me questions.”

  Esperanza got up from the bed and walked toward Diego. She stood behind him and put her arms around his waist.

  “I thought that you were going to take me to dinner, Diego?”

  “We are still going.”

  Esperanza moved to Diego’s side. “Don’t you like the way I am dressed, Diego?”

  “You look lovely,” Diego told her, but still hadn’t looked in her direction.

  “I knew it,” Esperanza said angrily. “You don’t like it.”

  “I did not say that.”

  “You didn’t have to; I can tell by the way you said it. You hate it.”

  “I did not say that, Esperanza. I said that you look lovely. Like a goddess.”

  “You lie, Diego. So, I will take it off,” Esperanza said and walked away from Diego undressing. He turned to watch her. “This is how you like me to dress, isn’t it Diego? You love to see me naked, don’t you Diego?” she said and lay across the bed.

  “Yes, my love. I love you when you are naked,” he said, and his cell phone rang. Diego took a deep breath and looked at Esperanza, who had begun to play with herself for his amusement. “Excuse me, my love,” he said and answered the phone. “Hello.”

  “Diego Estabon.”

  “Yes, who is this?”

  “We have your father,” the digitally disguised voice said. “And if you ever want to see him alive again you will do exactly what we tell you. Any deviation from our instructions will cause your father great pain before he dies.”

  “Who is this?” Diego demanded to know.
/>   “Who I am is not important, who we have is.”

  “What do you want?”

  “You have two days to get five million dollars. Have the money ready by eight o’clock. You’ll receive further instructions.”

  “I want to talk to my father right now,” Diego insisted.

  “Diego,” Gomez said to his son. “Do what these people say, Diego, and give them what they ask.”

  “Remember, five million dollars in two days or your father dies,” the digital voice said and disconnected the line.

  Diego hung up the phone and immediately called his father’s house and his cell phone, but he got no answer. There were at least five men at Gomez’s house at all times, had the kidnappers killed them all and took Gomez?

  “Is everything alright?” Esperanza asked.

  “Shut up.” Diego went to the door an opened it. Three of his men were sitting outside. “I want you to go to my father’s house and call me when you get there.”

  “Yes, Papi,” the man said and left.

  Diego closed the door. This can’t be happening. He sat down on the bed and buried his head in his hands.

  “What is wrong, Diego?” Esperanza asked and put her hand on his shoulder, but Diego pushed her away.

  “I told you to shut up or get out.”

  “But, Diego, I just want to help.”

  Diego quickly got up from the bed and grabbed her dress from the floor. Then he returned to the bed and grabbed Esperanza by the hand. Diego dragged her to the door, opened it, threw the dress into the hall, and Esperanza behind it.

  Diego slammed the door and returned to the bed. He needed Gomez alive if his plan was to work. It wouldn’t be enough to hand them Mike Black. When Black was arrested for those drug related murders and they started looking for a supplier, Diego would hand them Gomez and he would disappear.

  He had never forgiven Gomez for not doing enough to get him out of jail and out of the country after the incident with Black.

  You need to be taught a lesson to not involve yourself in matters that don’t concern you, he could still hear Gomez saying to him at the time.

  “Maybe jail will make a man of you,” Gomez told him.

  He had always hated Gomez for treating him like a child. No matter what he did it would never measure up to Gomez.

  In the end, Gomez did get his case heard before a sympathetic judge, got the drug charge thrown out and provided him protection, even status while he was in prison. Diego swore that he would pay him back.

  If this had happened at any other time, he might have told the kidnappers to kill Gomez and hung up the phone, but not now. Now he needed Gomez alive.

  Chapter Forty-two

  Melinda parked her car outside of Cuisine and turned off the engine. She sat there for a moment thinking about how everything had gone wrong.

  How could things have gotten so fucked up? Melinda asked herself.

  The answer was simple, maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are.

  Melinda thought she had D-Train wrapped around her little finger. She felt the stinging in her cheek and knew that wasn’t true. Melinda got out of the car and went inside.

  I’m gonna make damn sure his ass pays for that.

  Not much had changed at Cuisine since the last time she was there. Same band, still playing the same kind of music. Melinda thought back to all the times when she would walk in the club with Black and the band would break into The Girl from Ipanema. She wondered aloud if that was still his favorite song.

  Melinda took a seat at the bar, knowing that it would be a waste of time to ask for Freeze. Everybody would just act like they never heard of him. Melinda looked around for somebody that she knew, there were a lot of new faces. The bartender came and asked her what she was drinking.

  “Double Black Russian.”

  When the bartender returned with her drink, Melinda sipped and enjoyed the show while she continued to look for somebody she knew or for Freeze to come out of the office. She looked at the door to the office and the man standing by it. Maybe she could use her charm to get him to let her back there, but she knew better. That’s when she saw a familiar face coming toward her. Melinda couldn’t remember her name, all she remembered was that she used to fuck Freeze, but she knew her face.

  As the woman got closer, she smiled. “Melinda?”

  “Hi,” Melinda said faking surprise.

  “How are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

  “Yeah, I haven’t been here in years,” Melinda said casually. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your name.”

  “Lexi.”

  “That’s right, Lexi. I see a lot of new faces, but other than that, not much has changed.”

  “Well, there have been a few changes since you were here last, but you’re right, not much has changed.”

  “I heard Freeze is running the place now.”

  “He does.”

  “Is he here? I’d love to say hello.”

  “He was in the office. If he’s still here, I’ll let him know that you want to holla at him,” Lexi said.

  “Don’t go to any trouble. It ain’t that deep,” Melinda lied.

  “It’s no trouble at all,” Lexi said, tired of making small talk. She couldn’t stand Melinda when she used to come to the club.

  Always thought she was better than everybody just cause she was fuckin’ Black, she thought as she walked off.

  By the time Melinda finished her drink Lexi was back.

  “Come with me,” she told Melinda and started walking toward the office.

  When they got to the door that led to the office, security handed Lexi a metal detecting wand, then he took Melinda’s purse and searched it. When they were both satisfied that Melinda wasn’t carrying a gun, Lexi escorted her to Freeze.

  Lexi opened the door and showed Melinda in. There sat Freeze at what she remembered as Black’s desk. A rush of memories washed over her, and Melinda saw herself lying on that desk having the most fantastic sex. Only now, there was a gun lying where she used to lay.

  “Hello, Freeze.”

  “What’s up?” Freeze tilted his head to the side. “What happened to your face? Your boy Curl do that to you?”

  “It’s nothing, it’s what I got for thinking I was smart, that’s all. No big deal, Freeze.”

  “So, what are you doing here? I know you didn’t come here trying to get me to do something about that. So, what’s up?”

  “I came here to tell you what you wanna know.”

  “What do I wanna know?”

  “Who killed Paulleen and why.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “A guy named Paul Clay; they call him Clark Kent.”

  “Yeah, but he’s dead. So, tell me something I don’t know. Who killed him?”

  “D-Train killed him.”

  “Stop fucking around and tell me why,” Freeze demanded.

  “Because he missed you and killed Paulleen instead. He wants you dead so he can get to Black. But he knew Black wouldn’t talk to him, he’d have to go through you. And besides, Black’s been busy trying to find his bitch.”

  “How you know about that?”

  “It ain’t no secret, Black and Bobby been riding all over the city looking for that bitch, and they haven’t exactly been nice and quiet about it. Word gets around quick.”

  “So why does he want to get to Black?”

  “He doesn’t think that you’re on his level, so he needs Black to sit down with him, like he did with Chilly. You see, after your boy killed Chilly, D and two of his people, wanna step up to Chilly’s position in the game.”

  “You mean them other niggas don’t respect him.”

  “Yup.”

  “Figures. I always thought Curl was a bitch and Chilly was fuckin’ him.”

  Melinda had no comment.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m talking about the man you love. But now that he slapped the shit outta your pretty ass, you come sneaking back here want
ing me to do something about it.”

  Melinda dropped her head and said quietly, “Yes.”

  Freeze laughed. “That’s okay, Melinda.”

  “You get what you want, I get what I want. It’s business. It’s just business for personal reasons.”

  “Where is he?”

  “I know where he’ll be in about an hour.”

  Nick turned the corner and drove slowly down Wanda’s block. He promised that he would call her to let her know what happened with Marshall, but he decided to drop by instead.

  This might prove to be a bit more interesting. Nick thought as he got closer to Wanda’s house.

  He figured by now she had come outta that evening gown that she looked so good in, and she had changed into that robe she had on the night they talked. Since he saw no lines, Nick wondered if Wanda had anything on under it. Maybe tonight he would find out.

  He put the car in park and was about to get out when his cell rang. He started to ignore it, but quickly thought about the last time he ignored a call and what happened to Monika because of it. He looked at the display. It was Freeze.

  “What’s up?”

  “I need you to ride with me,” Freeze said.

  “Now?”

  “Yeah, now.”

  “Okay,” Nick said and started the car. “Where are you?”

  “I’m at Cuisine. Where you at?” Freeze asked. “I’ll come get you.”

  “No,” Nick said quickly. “I’m on my way to you.”

  Freeze laughed. “I’ll see you when you get here.”

  When Nick got to Cuisine, Freeze was standing outside by his truck waiting for him. Nick got out of his car, got his bag out of the trunk and came toward Freeze, who started walking away. When Nick caught up with him, Freeze pointed to the cars parked along the street.

  “Pick one. Make it a four door.”

  Nick knew they were going to ride on somebody, the only question was who? Nick looked around and walked toward a late model Lincoln.

  “What did you find out?” Nick asked.