by Roy Glenn
“You know, Nick, I been in this game a long time, which means I know enough to know that you ain’t come here just to drink my liquor and talk about the old days.”
“I meant no disrespect.”
“What’s on your mind, Nick?”
“Last week there was a robbery at one of Black’s businesses. Place called Paradise Fish and Chicken. Two people were killed.”
“I hadn’t heard anything about that. Now I’m wondering why you wanna talk to me about this?”
“My sources tell me that the bandits were connected to you.”
“I see. How much money was taken?”
“About two hundred dollars.”
J.R. laughed. “Nick,” he said and tried to stop himself from laughing. “You have to excuse me for laughing. I didn’t mean you any disrespect. I know this is a serious matter, or you wouldn’t be sitting here. But I can assure you that I had nothing to do with it. I ain’t about to fuck with Black over chump change.”
“And believe me; it’s not about the money. Two people were killed, civilians, just standing in line waiting for their food. That type of thing is bad for business.”
“I understand.”
“To be honest with you, J.R., I don’t believe you knew anything about it, because if you did, the people involved would be dead for bringing that kind of weight on you for that little bit of money. But the word is out there that it was your people. All I’m asking is that you ask some questions.”
“You have my word on that, Nick. If I find that it’s true, I’ll call you before I put a bullet in the back of their heads,” J.R. promised and I took him at his word.
Chapter 15
Just then, there was a light knock at the door, and it opened slowly. A young woman walked in. She was attractive, if not pretty, but she had a body that screamed LOOK AT ME!
J.R. sprung to his feet, so I stood up too. Besides, I had said what I came here to say, and I was ready to go.
“Sorry, Daddy,” the woman said. “I didn’t know you were busy. I’ll come back later.”
“No, no. It’s all right, Lorraine. Come in. I want you to meet somebody.”
She went and stood next to her father and I could see the resemblance.
“Nick, this is my daughter, Lorraine. Lorraine, this is Nick Simmons, he’s an associate of Mike Black.”
Lorraine smiled like somebody told her that she had just hit the number. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Simmons. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“It’s Nick, and it’s good to meet you too, Lorraine.”
“Call me Rain,” she said and went to the bar to fix herself a drink. “I’m just gonna get a drink and then I’ll be out of your way. We can talk later, Daddy.”
“It’s good that you’re here, Lorraine. Nick was just telling me that one of his places was robbed, and the word is that we had something to do with it. You hear anything about that?”
“Nope,” Rain said quickly. “How much money we talking about here?”
“About two hundred dollars.”
Rain laughed just like her father did. “I can tell you right now that we wouldn’t be involved in no small-change robbery like that.”
“All the same, Lorraine, I want you to talk to Jeff Ritchie about it and ask around. Two people were killed. Innocent people, just waiting to get their food.” J.R. turned to me. “See Nick, this is exactly what we was just talking about. There was a time when something like this would never happen. Killing civilians over some chump change, shit, every player in town would be all over this, trying to make it right because it makes all of us look bad,” J.R. said angrily.
“I knew you would understand. I’ve taken up enough of your time. If you hear anything let me know,” I said and started moving toward the door.
“I’ll do that, Nick. You have my word on it.” J.R. turned to Rain. “See Mr. Simmons out, would you, baby, and tell Jeff Ritchie that I need to see him.”
Rain kissed her father on the cheek. “I’ll see you later, Daddy.”
Rain looped her arm in mine and walked with me out of her father’s office. As we passed the bar, Rain turned to me.
“You in a hurry, Nick?”
“Not especially.”
“Good. Then you have time to have a drink with me.”
“Sure,” I said, and Rain led me to a table near the back of the club and signaled for a waitress.
I had Johnnie Black of course, she had straight tequila. After we ordered, Rain took a deep breath. “I wasn’t exactly honest with you back there in the office.”
“Honest about what?”
“The robbery.”
“What about the robbery?”
“I heard the same thing. That it was some of our people that did it.”
“Why didn’t you say that then, and the better question is why are you telling me now?”
“You probably couldn’t tell it to look at him, but my father ain’t in the best of health. He’s been sick a lot lately.”
“I couldn’t tell. What’s wrong with him?”
“Doctors don’t know. Bunch of fuckin’ quacks. All that fuckin’ money we give them and other than him having high-blood pressure, they can’t tell us shit.”
Rain stopped talking when the waitress returned with our drinks. Once the waitress left, Rain shot her tequila. Not wanting to be punked by this young girl, I shot mine.
“I don’t like to bother Pops with shit like that. I ain’t trying to make his pressure go up. You see how upset he was getting.”
“I can understand that. But my question is what you gonna do about it?”
“I can take you to the place where they hangout.”
“I don’t need you to take me anywhere. You just need to tell me who they are and where to find them.”
“No deal.”
No deal?
Has this little girl lost her fuckin’ mind?
“What you mean no deal? This ain’t no fuckin’ negotiation. You’re gonna tell me what I need to know, and I’ll take care of it.”
“Good luck finding them without me then.”
I had to admit, the little girl had heart, I just wasn’t gonna admit it to her.
“Look, Nick, if these are my people. I’m the one who needs to make this right. Not you, me. So here’s how it’s gonna go. Me and you gonna roll by their spot, and I’m gonna handle my family’s business. And I’ma tell you why. See, I ain’t no stranger to you and how you handle your business.”
“Really?”
“Really. Niggas is still talking about some of the shit you and that nigga Freeze used to do: Burning bitch-niggas with acid and shit; throwing mutha fucka’s off rooftops and shit. Y’all was the type a niggas that would shoot first and never got to the ask questions part. See, if you do that, all its gonna do is make mutha fucka’s wanna bust back for they homies. Then y’all gonna come at us and that ain’t how this shit need to go. Am I right?”
I didn’t answer her because she was right. The way I was feeling, I wouldn’t be asking how and why. I might just walk up on whoever it was and put a bullet in their brain and we’d be at war over some bullshit when Black, not to mention Wanda, are making plans to move us away from all this.
“Okay.” I stood up. “We’ll do it your way.”
“I knew you’d see the logic in my point,” Rain said and started for the door.
We got in my car, she told me where to go and I headed in that direction. I started to call some people to handle this shit for me, you know, since I was the boss now. But I wanted to do this myself. I needed to let out some of this rage I was feeling over Freeze being dead and it being my fault. And besides, I was the one who promised Mrs. Phillips that I would see that whoever killed Zakiya would get what’s coming to them.
On the way, Rain told me about the stories she had heard about me and I told her which ones were true.
“I gotta admit that I always wanted to meet you. I met Freeze a couple of times. That was one scary
nigga, may he rest in peace; and relentless. Once he was on to something you might as well lay down because you was good as dead.”
The more she talked about me and Freeze and the way we used to roll, the madder I got. I tried to calm myself down by changing the subject. “So with J.R. being sick, and you keeping shit from him, who runs things? Jeff Ritchie?”
“No. Jeff Ritchie is a bullet. You load him in a gun and pull the trigger. Jeff Ritchie ain’t got the mind for shit like that.”
“The question still stands.”
“I run shit.”
“You?”
“Yeah, me. Something wrong with that?”
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-two. And in case you didn’t hear me the first time, I’ll ask you again: Is something wrong with that?”
“No. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, as long as you can handle it.”
“And you don’t think I do?”
“I don’t know you. And even if I did, I still wouldn’t give a fuck. How y’all run your business don’t matter to me.”
“Okay, Nick. Chill out. I wasn’t trying to make you mad or nothing. I got mad respect for you. And if what I hear in the wind is true … then you ain’t the one to be fuckin’ with,” Rain said.
I took a breath. “So, why don’t you tell me how you run your thing?”
“Well, Pops still pretty much runs the gambling and shit. And I run everything else.”
“What is everything else?”
“Little of this, little of that. I usually got something going. Sell a little dope, you know.”
“I thought J.R. wasn’t involved in the dope game?”
“He ain’t, and he don’t know that I am. And I hope that you ain’t planning on telling him. Like I said, shit like that will just send his blood pressure through the roof, and I ain’t having that.”
“You don’t have to worry about me being a snitch. But I seem to remember J.R. having a son. What’s up with him?”
“My brother Miles. He’s playing the family man role. You know, he’s married, got a couple of kids. He runs the club and keeps the books. He ain’t got no heart for this other shit.”
“Okay, Rain, why don’t you tell me who we’re going to see?”
“His name is Rodney Baker, but they call him Shake.”
“You know why he robbed our joint or why he killed those people?”
“I ain’t heard nothing about that. I just heard it was him and his crew. I was gonna see about it, but me and Shake don’t usually see eye-to-eye on shit. That’s what I was gonna talk to Pop about. Get some advice on how to settle our beef.”
“I thought you didn’t wanna bother him with shit like that?”
“I don’t. But that nigga is all out of control.”
Chapter 16
We pulled up in front of the place and went inside. It was a neighborhood joint, long bar and a few tables. Loud rap music pumped from two huge speakers at the back of the room. “You see them?” I asked and Rain took a quick look around.
“No.”
I looked the place over for other exits. Always a good idea to know how we were gonna get out in case shit gets wild. “You know if that door leads to the street?”
“I think it goes to the back door that leads to the alley. But I ain’t sure.”
“Why don’t you get us a table by that door? I’m going to get us a drink.”
I went to the bar and ordered while Rain went to find us a table. The bartender had just put our drinks on the bar when three men came through the front door. I looked over at Rain. She nodded her head and started moving through the crowd to get to them.
“That’s fifteen,” the bartender said.
I peeled off a twenty. “Keep the change.” I shot my drink and started for them. As I made my way, I saw Rain get up in the face of a big Jabba the Hut looking mutha fucka. I assumed that he was Shake by the size of his belly. By the time I got to them I heard Shake say, “You beat me outta ten grand, bitch!”
“Who the fuck you calling bitch, you fat mutha fucka? I ain’t beat you outta shit!” And with that, Rain reached back and slapped the shit outta him.
Jabba the Hut came out with his gun. I already had mine out. Rain was a little slow with hers, so were Jabba’s crew. They were still tripping off Rain bitch-slappin’ Jabba.
Since I wasn’t trying to kill him, I hit Jabba in the arm with my first shot, but that didn’t stop him from shooting at Rain. The people in the place all scattered at the sound of the shots.
Rain turned over a table and took cover. Then she sprang up quickly and fired a few rounds at Jabba. He was a big mutha fucka, so there was no way she could miss his big ass. She caught him with one to the gut and one to the head. Jabba went down hard.
While the crowd forced their way out the front door, I grabbed Rain by the hand and headed out the back. We made it back to my car in time to hear the police sirens in the distance.
Rain was hyped as we drove away from there. “That’s what I’m talking about! Did you see the way I slapped the fuck out that nigga, the way I put two in his bitch ass?”
“Yeah, Rain, I saw it.”
Maybe it was her first time, I don’t know, but she definitely was more excited about it than I was.
“When we do catch up with the niggas that robbed you, I’ma do the same shit.”
“What you mean? That wasn’t them?”
“Na. I asked him about that before we got into it about our shit.”
I was mad as hell, but I tried not to show it. “You believe him?”
“No reason for him to lie about it.”
“I heard him say that you beat him outta ten grand.”
“The mutha fucka say the package I sold him had so much cut on it that he couldn’t do nothing with it.”
“Was it?”
“Why you wanna know all that?”
“Why you think?”
“Damn. Sorry I got you up in that shit.” Rain laughed. “He was right, the shit was stepped on. But that’s not how I usually roll. He just caught me at a bad time.”
“So instead of making it right, you killed him for it.”
This was exactly the kind of shit her father was just complaining about. If J.R. knew his daughter was out here, not only dealing, which he is dead set against, but doing shit like this…
“Hey, I tried to make it right. When he came at me about it I offered to make it right on the next package. But he said he wanted his ten Gs back. I said give me back the dope. Nigga says he cooked it up and sold it. Now what am I supposed to do?” Rain asked and I didn’t bother answering her. She wouldn’t have liked my answer anyway.
There was silence until we pulled up in front of her father’s spot. “What we doing here?”
“What you think we doing here? I’m dropping you off.”
“Why?”
“You got any more ideas?”
Rain folded her arms across her chest and her lower lip eased out a little. She had just shot somebody and now she was pouting like a spoiled child.
“I didn’t think so.”
“Well, where you going?”
“I got shit to do.”
“Let me ride with you?”
“For what?”
“Because I may know somebody who might be able to put us on to them.” Rain reached for the door handle and opened the door. “But if you’re too busy to handle your business. I’m gone.”
“Shut the door, Rain.”
She closed the door and I drove off.
Chapter 17
Who the fuck does this little girl think she’s trying to play? Since I was the only other person in the car, I guess she thought she was playing me. Only question was, whether or not I was gonna let her think she was getting away with it. Truth was I needed her right now. I wanted to put this thing behind me and move on.
“But this better turn out to be something.”
“I can’t promise shit at this point. I just dropped t
he mutha fucka I thought it was. Only thing I can tell you is that this nigga Nacho, he be hearing shit. Maybe he heard something about your thing.”
“Nacho Marquez?”
Rain’s expression changed. “Yeah. You know him?”
“No, just the name.” I’d heard Freeze mention him a few times. He told me that Nacho was a bookmaker and a gambler who made a reputation for himself for having information for sale. At least I knew that Rain hadn’t beat him on weak product. But there was something about the way her expression changed when she thought I might know Nacho that bothered me.
For the time being, I put that aside, but at the same time I understood fully that Rain had her own agenda working here, and I was a part of it. That meant I should be ready for whatever. “Where do we find him?”
“You in a hurry?”
“Yeah. I told you, I got shit to do. I don’t have all night for this shit.” I stuck my finger in her face to be sure she got the point. “So if your boy Nacho can’t tell me shit. I’m done with you. If the mutha fucka’s that robbed my joint belong to you, and you wanna put your house in order, that’s cool. You call me when you put a bullet in their brains.”
“Look, nigga, I’ma say this one more time. Only mutha fuckin’ thing I can tell you is that this nigga, Nacho, be hearing shit. Now if that ain’t good enough for you then pull this bitch over and let me out. I’m trying to help your mutha fuckin’ ass and you giving me this shit about it.”
I stopped at the next red light. “You can get out now. I’ll find Nacho without you,” I told her calmly. Rain didn’t reach for the handle this time.
When the light changed I drove on. “So where we going? And yes, I’m in a hurry.”
“Co-op City. Section four.”
“Anything I need to know about you and Nacho?”
Rain shook her head.
We drove to Co-op City, which is located in the Baychester section of the Bronx, close to I-95 and the Hutchinson River Parkway. It’s the largest cooperative housing development in the world. If it were a municipality instead of part of the Bronx, it would be the 10th largest city in New York State.
