by Roy Glenn
Mike Black Saga
Volume 1
THE MIKE BLACK SAGA
VOLUME 1
Roy Glenn
Escapism Entertainment
Atlantic Beach, Florida
Copyright © 2020 Roy Glenn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locals are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Is It A Crime
MOB
An Urban Drama
BONUS: In Your Arms
IS IT A CRIME
Is It A Crime
Roy Glenn
Escapism Entertainment
Atlantic Beach, Florida
Copyright © 2015 by Roy Glenn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
Dedicated to my father, Charles Glenn.
It’s about living your dreams.
CHAPTER ONE
It really doesn’t matter; does it?
What’s the point of having everything I ever wanted, if I don’t enjoy it? Mike Black asked himself. He had reached a point where no matter what he had, and he had it going on, none of it seemed to matter. Something was missing in his life. That special feeling that can only be shared with a woman. One woman. Someone he could talk to. Someone that he could share his thoughts and his dreams with. To lay the world at her feet. A woman who could unleash the river of emotions that lies dormant within him. One woman to love.
“That ain’t it,” he thought, refusing to give the possibility any power. “You’re just bored that’s all.”
“What’d you say, Mike?” Bobby asked.
“Nothing, Bobby,” he fired back.
“Talking to yourself now, huh. You know it’s a shame that Perry’s a surgeon.”
“Why’s that, Bobby?”
“Because you need a psychiatrist. You’re really out there. Like Pluto, you’re out there. He could have helped you.”
“Very funny. You coulda been a standup comic,” Mike said and looked away.
Mike Black was thirty-four years old and controlled a profitable and growing business in New York City. For lack of a better definition, Mike was a gangster. His business was gambling, prostitution and number running. When he was fifteen, he and Bobby started out selling weed and doing a little number running for André Harmon, who ran most of the illegal activity in the area. André was a drug dealer. As far as he was concerned, gambling and prostitution was just a sideline. As the years passed, André put them to work collecting. Enforcing Andrés law earned Mike the nickname Vicious Black, but everybody called him Black.
Mike and Bobby hung with their crew, Wanda Moore, Nick Simmons, Perry Dukes, Vickie Payne, and Clyde Walker who was from Jamaica, so everybody called him Jamaica. Soon Mike and Bobby went freelance and did a few jobs on their own. Wanda, who always had a head for business, insisted that the first thing they should do was to start a business to run their money through. The name of their company was Invulnerable Security, specializing in private security and personal bodyguards. Mike chose a security company because it would afford them a license to carry guns. They began high jacking trucks in New Jersey, Northern Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Sometimes they would park the truck on the block and give the stuff away. They robbed a few warehouses early on. However, Mike decided that all that time waiting to load the truck was time waiting to get caught. Hijacking trucks on the other hand was quick, clean, and extremely profitable.
Drug money was flowing and they lived large, doing everything they ever imagined. But Mike soon faced the reality of his world. When Vickie died smoking cocaine, it caused his attitude on many things to change. He began to see cocaine as death and heroin as slow death. He became totally opposed to selling death to his own people. So when André met his untimely demise nine years ago, Mike took over and moved quickly to get out of the drug business.
The violent days were behind them now. Mike opened a supper club called Cuisine. Meanwhile, Bobby opened a nightclub named Impressions. Mike spent the majority of his time insuring that every aspect of the operation met very high standards of quality. It took some time and a great deal of energy, but for the last three months things had been running smoothly and did not require as much attention. Now, Mike found himself bored, looking for something to do with himself.
“Yo, Black!” Freeze yelled. “Are ya with me?”
“Leave him alone, Freeze. Can’t you see he’s in the zone?” Bobby said, looking back at Mike.
He sat in the back seat of Freeze’s new Rodeo, looking out the window at the Hudson River. He had spent a month island hopping in the Caribbean, hoping the change would bring him out of the funk he had been in lately. It didn’t; so for the last couple of weeks Mike had been hanging out with Bobby and Freeze, trying to recapture a bit of the old days. Mike stared out at the water; a blank expression covered his face. It felt good being back, feeling his power. However, he still felt empty.
“Like, you a zillion miles away. Something bugging ya, man?” Freeze asked as he drove downtown along the West Side Highway. Mike wanted to see a show at a club in Manhattan, so he had Freeze drive him. Although Mike can drive, he didn’t like to.
“Na, just thinking.”
“You ain’t sick or nothing are you?” Freeze asked, but Mike didn’t answer. “We just need to get him inside that’s all,” Freeze said, laughing as he pulled in front of the club. “Yo, Black, you just need to relax. You know what I’m saying? You’re too uptight. Where’s that fine ass Melinda at?”
They entered the club and were escorted to a table next to the stage. As the show began, Mike noticed a lady walking by. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had the type of smile that won you over almost immediately. As he watched her walk past him, he couldn’t help feeling that there was something about her, a kind of familiarity. Nothing he could put a finger on, but definitely something. Mike turned to Freeze, who always seemed to know everybody. “Who is that?”
“Who’s who?”
“The one in the black.” Mike fired back.
“Oh, her name is Shy.” Freeze answered.
“Who?” Mike said, while he looked her up and down.
“They call her Shy. You know, like she’s so shy. But she definitely ain’t shy. Them guys with her are …”
Mike cut Freeze off in mid-sentence. “I’m not interested in them. I’m only interested in her.”
Freeze cut his eyes at Mike and looked away. “She runs that crew. They slinging sacks.”
“She’s rolling!” Mike stood up to see where she went. “There she goes. Let’s go, I wanna get a closer look.”
Shy, whose name is Cassandra Sims, stood five feet eight inches tall, one hundred and fifty pounds, with a small waistline. Deep brown skin and dark brown bedroom eyes. Shoulder-length black hair, which appeared to be her own. She was dressed head to toe in black, which always caught Mike’s attention since he usually wore black himself. Black cardigan trimmed in mink, black wool-jersey tube skirt, with black leather boots, also trimmed in mink.
Shy wasn’t your average drug dealer. She had dual degrees in Management and Marketing and ran things like a business. In her view, cocaine was nothing more than a product to be marketed and distributed. She was with her associates, Jack, Tony and Eddie, or E, as he preferred to be called. They had known each other since high school, when they sold weed for Shy.
When Shy went away to college, each of them went their separate ways. When Shy returned to the city after graduation, unable to find a job in her field, she rounded up her old partners, changed the product, and went to work. Business was booming; however, lately, someone had been trying to move in on what they considered their “piece of the rock.” Over the last month, several of her associates had been robbed. Shy had been unable to find out who was responsible.
They stepped to the bar to order drinks. Jack ordered his usual Red Stripe. Jack was a big guy, six five, and weighed over three hundred pounds. Despite his size, he was always well dressed and had a way with the ladies. He stayed in New York and attended City College, going on to earn his degree in Public Administration.
Tony ordered juice and gin. Tony enrolled at City College also but dropped out during his freshman year. After that he got married and promptly divorced. Going from bad job to worse job, he finally ended up with no job, no money, and no plan. He was good looking; always was a smooth talker and a sharp dresser. So when things got too thick he began scamming rich white women.
E had attended a college of sorts as well. He was caught in a failed armed robbery attempt and did three years at Rikers Island. He ordered for himself and Shy. E didn’t drink much, so he had a Pepsi.
“What you want, Shy?” E asked.
“Gimme a Sex on the Beach.” Shy looked up at him and smiled. “I might get chose tonight.”
Knowing that she wasn’t serious, E laughed at her. “Fine as you are, you can get chose anytime you want.” But he wanted her. “Mattafact, I might …”
Shy threw her hand up in his face. “Don’t even go there. You know we are strictly business.”
“All right, all right.” He said, turning to the bartender. “Give the lady a Sex on the Beach.”
“Hey y’all, check them out,” Jack said.
“That’s Freeze. And ain’t that Black and Bobby with him?” Tony said. He had known Freeze since junior high school.
“Where?” Shy stepped to the front.
“Right there.” Jack pointed them out.
“Why they sweatin’ us? Maybe it’s Freeze that’s been bitin’ on us.” E said.
“Hell no. If you knew anything about Black and them, you’d know that ain’t his style.” Tony said. “Black would just kill you.”
Shy looked Mike up and down. She smiled and took another sip of her drink. “So that’s Vicious Black. He’s kinda cute for a killer.”
Jack and Tony turned to each other and then looked at Shy in shock. This was a revelation. Shy noticed a man. It had been a little more than a year since Shy had broken up with Ricardo, whom she had been dating for three years. The breakup wasn’t pretty. Since then, she hadn’t shown any interest in men, preferring instead to concentrate on making money. This became her defense mechanism. When men would try to talk to her, she would play them off with, I’m strictly business.
Shy’s thinking that Vicious Black was kind of cute did not amuse E. “Fuck all that. That’s just the kinda shit that dirty mutha fuckin’ Freeze would do,” E said as he walked away and headed straight for them.
“Damn! Y’all go with him.”
Freeze saw E coming, followed closely by Tony and Jack. “Here they come, Black.”
Mike reached behind his back and cocked his 45, turning slightly to his right so the oncoming attackers wouldn’t see his weapon.
“What’s up, Tony?” Freeze shouted with his hand up to stop them.
“What’s up my ass!” E shouted. “Why y’all sweatin’ us!”
“Bad taste, poor eyesight, you choose,” Bobby said.
“I asked you a question!” E fired back, stepping closer to Bobby.
“Chill out, gentlemen,” Mike said without taking his eyes off of Shy. “I was just admiring the lady.” Mike turned and put the gun away to be sure that they could see it. “Let’s go.”
“I thought you wanted to see the show?” Bobby said, laughing as he followed Mike away from them. Freeze laughed at them and took a few steps backward before turning around and walking away.
“What was up with that?” Shy asked as her associates returned to the bar.
“Says he was just admiring the lady,” Tony answered.
“Who, Freeze?” She asked; her eyes focused squarely on Vicious Black as he made his way through the crowd. She knew who was watching her.
“No, Black.” Jack took a seat at the bar. “When we stepped up, kid had his gun cocked and ready.”
“I tried to tell you, he ain’t no joke,” Tony reminded them. “If we had came wrong he woulda shot somebody. And Freeze ain’t no better.”
“Who are you, their fuckin’ press agent?” E shouted. “You bust a cap in they ass, they die, like anybody else.”
“Shut up, E.” Shy watched as they left the club. “All right, Tony, you check it out. See if you can find out what, if anything, they’re up to. Jack, you ask around. I wanna know everything there is to know about Vicious Black. If we gotta go up against him, I gotta know how he’s coming. E, you just need to chill out.”
On the way back uptown Mike was very quiet, once again staring aimlessly out the window. As the events of the evening slowly faded away, he slipped back into his funk. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t escape it. He would have to face it sooner or later. Meanwhile, Freeze and Bobby, who usually go back and forth about most things, were going back and forth about who was pound for pound the best fighter in the world.
“You should be more concerned about taking on Pam “The Interrogator” when you get home,” Freeze said.
Pam was Bobby’s wife. Mike and his long time girlfriend Regina introduced them eight years ago. Back then, Pam and Regina were best friends, so it seemed only natural to hook Bobby up with Pam. They were married two years later, an occasion that marked the end of Mike’s long time relationship with Regina. Mike and Regina got into an argument over, of all things, listening to Prince on the way to the wedding. That minor dispute escalated from there to open warfare throughout the day. It got to the point that when the bridal party was going to dance, Pam had to force them to dance with each other. So there they were, dancing cheek to cheek, not saying a word. They stood quietly and smiled politely through the pictures. Once the last picture was taken, Regina turned to Mike. “I hate you.” She left the reception and they haven’t spoken since.
“You going in with him, Black?”
“Hell no. He gotta face the Cracken alone.”
“I’m gonna need the head of Medusa,” Bobby said. “When I called Pam she was mad as hell.”
“Okay, I’ll go with you. But I gotta leave some time, Bob. Might as well face her now.”
As they pulled up in front of his house, Bobby noticed that the lights were still on. “I knew she’d still be up. She loves to watch late night.”
“Man, stop being such a punk and face that woman.”
“Freeze, until you have a relationship that lasts longer than a day, shut up.”
Mike got out of the car shaking his head. Although he and Freeze would slay Bobby about it, he was envious of the relationship that Bobby and Pam shared. Pam was good for Bobby. Sure, Pam talked a little shit sometimes, but so did Bobby. Actually, Bobby talked a lotta shit. Besides, most of the time she was justified. They loved and respected each other. She was truly his better half.
“Freeze, I’ll get with you tomorrow,” Mike said.
“You gonna babysit him, Black?” Freeze asked.
Bobby got out of the car as Freeze continued to laugh at him. “Get out of here!” Bobby shouted, but Freeze got out of the car.
“Why you yelli
ng at me? It ain’t my fault you got married. I tried to warn you before you did it.”
“You don’t know nothing about this,” Bobby said as he sat down on the steps. “Being married ain’t the death sentence you think it is. Most of the time it’s pretty cool.”
“That’s because Pam is cool, but suppose you get one of them nightmare bitches. You know what I’m talking about. The ones that are real sweet for a while, then they become your worst nightmare. Following you around, going through your shit, fuckin’ everybody type,” Freeze said.
“You just got to be smart enough to see it coming.”
“How you supposed to see that shit coming?”
“When you’re just messing around with them, instead of being so preoccupied with getting fucked, watch them. Listen to what she says, tell her no a couple times, and see how she takes it. The ones that get mad got potential to get ignorant. Real player like you should know that, Freeze.”
“No, real player gets fucked and moves on, not wait for them to get ignorant.”
“It ain’t easy finding a good one. I ran plenty of women before me and Pam hooked up. Back in the day me and old Vicious Black here used to be rough on the ladies. Right, Mike?”
“Right,” Mike said, watching the cars roll by.
“You mean you used to be rough, Black’s still rough on them. And if he wasn’t in the zone, he’d tell you, all them bitches want is money.”
“Don’t get me wrong, some of them are like that. All I’m saying is that there are one or two cool ones out there, but its takes time and energy to make it work. And that’s why you will never have a good woman. You ain’t that patient!”
Freeze started to walk away. “Yo, Bobby, the only good ho is a fucked ho. No disrespect to Pam, but all them ho’s are alike. I’m out. Yo, Black, I’ll get up with you tomorrow.” Freeze got back in his Rodeo and drove away.
