The Mike Black Saga; Payback

by Glenn, Roy

  Very early in life, Melinda learned to parlay her looks into getting everything she ever wanted, and for a time, she had it all. Melinda was living the good life. She drove a 500 Benz; she still had the car, actually. Melinda lived in a condo with a view of the Long Island Sound for which she paid no rent. She shopped in all the fashionable places that New York had to offer, and ate in the best restaurants. She went to Broadway shows and traveled the Caribbean. There was even talk of a trip to Europe. She missed going to fights in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. She even missed almost freezing to death watching those damn Jets games at the Meadowlands. Most of all, she missed being Mike Black’s woman.

  Melinda had been introduced to Black by Freeze at a strip club. Melinda was trying to get a job as a dancer, but she just didn’t have the patience to deal with the clientele. Melinda and Black were going along just fine, until that bitch Shy came along. Then everything changed. Black used to say one of the things he liked most about Melinda was that she was no trouble at all. But that was then.

  After Black dropped her for Shy, Melinda was alone. She went back to her condo and packed her things and waited for somebody to tell her that she had to move, but no one ever did, and no bills ever came. She assumed that the condo was paid for and when the bills came, they were just paid automatically by whoever handled that menial task for Black.

  Once Melinda got over the initial shock of her new situation, she began to think about what she was going to do next. She had always been a gangster’s girl and had become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Melinda saw no reason to change that. Why should she?

  She quickly gravitated to the first gangster she found. That was Derrick Washington. But it wasn’t the same. At the time, he was Chilly’s top lieutenant. Now, with Chilly dead, D-Train had risen to power. It was his time now. Now he was moving against Freeze.

  Melinda looked over at D-Train as he moved around in bed. She didn’t have a lot of respect for Curl, a nickname people called him behind his back. The name was a holdover from the old days, when he wore a very bad Jheri-curl long after it went out of style. D-Train had built his rep on being ruthless, but to Melinda, he was weak and easily controlled. And stupid. My God, that is one stupid nigga. How could she respect a man so stupid that he allowed her to tell him what to do? The answer was simple; she couldn’t. At least he got a big dick, Melinda thought as she looked at him. She shook her head and longed for the days when she had a man. Melinda was still in love with Mike Black.

  "You’re up early, baby," D-Train said from the bed. "You a’ight?"

  "I’m fine," Melinda said as she returned to the bed. She slid between the sheets and reached for his manhood. "What’s wrong with you?" Melinda asked when it didn’t respond immediately to her touch.

  "Nothing, baby. I just got a lot on my mind, that’s all."

  "Like what?" Melinda asked as she continued to stroke him.

  "Five of my people are dead, baby. All killed by Freeze. I gotta do something."

  "They’re dead ’cause you aren’t listening to me, or your thugs are too stupid to follow instructions," Melinda told him, still stroking him until he was hard.

  "What you talkin’ bout? You the one who said to post up in their spots."

  "See, that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout. You aren’t listening to me." Melinda straddled his torso and slid her body down on him. "That feels good," she said and began moving up and down on him slowly. "What I told you to do was send a couple of people into their spots. Check things out, see how things are run, make some friends, build alliances. That’s what I told you to do. Not go in there and try to set up shop."

  D-Train said nothing. He lay on his back and enjoyed what Melinda was making him feel.

  "But that’s what they did; ran up in there and started slingin’. The only thing that could happen was for somebody to call Freeze, and what did you expect him to do?"

  Again, D-Train didn’t answer. He was in ecstasy, watching her, feeling her. And besides, she was right.

  "Exactly what he did, he killed them. That’s what he does, but that’s all he’s good for, killin’. Freeze ain’t that bright, baby, and you can take him out, but you have to take your time. I know how they run things. I know how to take him, but you got to do exactly what I say."

  "Okay, okay, brain. What you think I should do?"

  "You’re right about one thing: You gotta bust back or Birdie and his people will think that you’re weak."

  D-Train thought for a second. Birdie was his rival for power. If Birdie saw him as weak, he and his people would go off on their own, and that would be bad for business. "I should call Freeze and—"

  "No, silly. That’s the last thing you want to do. I know your ego wants to sit down with Freeze, but that is not the way. What you gotta do is make people see Freeze for the stupid, weak muthafucka that he is."

  "I’m listening," D-Train said.

  "You’re gonna have to change your tactics. Don’t send any more people into their spots. That’s over. They’ll be waitin’ for you now. What you need to do now is hit them. Take their money. You rob them, let people know that Freeze ain’t—" Melinda paused. She started to say "Freeze ain’t Mike Black," but she knew better. D-Train hated for Melinda to even mention that name. Last time I said Mike Black, his dick went soft.

  "Let people know that Freeze ain’t the man. That they can be touched. Make Freeze come to you. That puts you in a position of strength."

  "Yeah, I’ll hit one of their spots," D-Train said and tried to push himself deeper inside Melinda.

  "What did I just say?" Melinda asked and moaned her approval. She ground her hips harder into him. "That’s over. They’ll be waitin’ for you now."

  "Where should we hit?" D-Train asked, breathing heavily.

  "Impressions."

  "Bobby’s club? You out your fuckin’ mind. That’s fuckin’ suicide. They got so much security up in that bitch it ain’t even fuckin’ funny. On top of that, they always got at least three, four off-duty cops working outside, usually more. How we gonna get past them?"

  "Do I have to think of everything?"

  D-Train gave her a look that screamed YES!

  "You have two people, a man and a woman, start an argument in the parking lot away from the cops, but not too far that the cops can’t hear them. The cops will think it’s a domestic dispute, and at least one of them will come over there to see what’s goin’ on. When they see the cops coming, have the woman fire a gun. All the cops will run toward the shot."

  "I see, create a diversion."

  Melinda rolled her eyes. D-Train pumped harder. "Once the cops are away from the front door, send in four men; one to watch the cops from the door, one to cover the hall leading to the club, one covers security while the other one gets the money. It doesn’t matter how much money they get. The fact that you hit Bobby’s spot will be enough to bring Freeze to the table."

  "Yes!" D-Train screamed.

  "He’ll be callin’ you beggin’ for a meeting. And at that meeting, you’ll kill him."

  "Yes!"

  Chapter Eighteen

  Bobby pulled up in front of Mike’s house and put his car in park. He was tired, hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Even though it was early in the morning when he dropped Mike off, Bobby didn’t go home. He went by Cat’s apartment and did what they do. "Had the best sex I ever had," Bobby said as he got out of the car and went to ring the bell.

  From inside the house, Mike could see Bobby coming, and opened the door. "Come on in and sit down," Mike said then took a closer look at Bobby. "You look like shit."

  Bobby walked straight to the bar and poured himself a drink. "Thank you, Mike. You’re lookin’ very good yourself. But shit would be a step up from the way I feel," he said as he turned up his drink and poured another one.

  "What’s wrong with you?"

  "Didn’t get much sleep last night."

  "Why not? You and Pam up all night?"

  "No." Bobby paused.
"I didn’t get home until after nine."

  Mike laughed. "Shit, Bobby, is the pussy all that?"

  Bobby just looked at Mike and shook his head. "When I got home, Pam was sitting in her spot, waiting for me. First thing out her mouth was, ‘Where the fuck you been?’ I told her that I was out lookin’ for Shy with you. She looked at me and said, ‘That’s your story. You were with Mike lookin’ for Shy, right? That’s your story.’ "

  Bobby recounted the story for Mike.

  "Yeah, that’s where I been," Bobby said and started toward stairs.

  Pam got up immediately and followed him up the steps. "You look tired, baby."

  "Yeah, I’ll nod for a couple of hours then I’ll go pick up Mike and we’ll get back to it," he said and went in their bedroom with Pam on his heels.

  "You didn’t get any sleep, huh?"

  "No, I told you we been riding all night."

  "Just you and Mike, huh? Ridin’ all night, huh? Just like the old days, huh?"

  "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

  Pam gave Bobby a wide-eyed look. "Oh, you wanna know what the fuck is wrong with me? Is that what you wanna know?"

  "Yes, Pam. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

  "Where were you last night and this morning, Bobby?"

  "I told you—"

  "And don’t tell me that you were with Mike."

  "Pam, I was with Mike. Shy’s been kidnapped, and we been out all night looking for her."

  "Did you find her?"

  "No! I told you I wanna grab a couple of hours sleep and hit the streets again."

  "Bobby," Pam said. "I’ma ask you this one more time, and this time I want the truth. And don’t give me that shit about you being out with Mike all night, ’cause I know you weren’t with him, at least not all night."

  "This is insane, Pam. Why don’t you call Mike and ask him?"

  "Why? So he can lie to me too?"

  "Fuck this," Bobby said and started for the door.

  Pam moved quickly to block the door before Bobby got to it. "Who is she, Bobby? Who is the woman who called our house?"

  "I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Pam. What woman?"

  "At six-thirty this morning, some woman called here and said I don’t have to worry about where you are ’cause you were safe there with her."

  "I have no idea who that could have been. I was with Mike." Bobby lied to his wife, but now he was thinking, Goddamn it, I’ma kill Cat.

  "Well, she must have been with Mike too, because she called from your phone!" Pam yelled.

  At that point, Bobby looked down at the cell phone on his hip and knew that he couldn’t say he’d lost it. He was caught.

  "It was just that simple, Mike. She had me."

  "How’d she get your phone?" Mike asked.

  "I was asleep."

  "She took your phone while you were sleeping and called Pam." Mike laughed. "Do we need to roll by her spot so I can kill her?"

  "You know you don’t kill women, Mike." Bobby laughed right along with him.

  "You’re right. I’ll send Freeze over there right now," Mike said, laughing, and then he got real serious. "No, no, wait a minute. I got a better idea. I’ll send Wanda instead," Mike said and busted out laughing again. "Hold up. I know Freeze had to know about you and this Cat woman."

  "I told Freeze not to tell you."

  "Why’d you tell him that?" Mike asked, wondering why Freeze had chosen to tell him about it now.

  "You didn’t need to know."

  "I guess I didn’t. But don’t you think you need to put a stop to this?"

  "This isn’t the first time she called Pam."

  "What?"

  "First time she did it, I had just called Pam and told her I would be home in a couple of hours. She asks if she could use my phone, I hand it to her, she says, ‘Never mind.’ But what she does is redial the number and put the phone down. And starts talking to me."

  "Damn, Bobby."

  "Only thing that saved me then was we must have been ridin’ through a dead zone because the call dropped."

  "Now I know you need to put a stop to this . . . unless you plannin’ to leave Pam."

  "You’re crazy as she is if you think that I’m gonna leave my family," Bobby said definitely.

  "Is she?"

  "Is she what?"

  "Is she crazy?"

  "As hell. And strong as hell."

  "I heard that about crazy people. I heard crazy women got the best pussy. I guess that must be true too, huh, Bobby," Mike said, still laughing. "How you know how strong she is?"

  "I had to fight her off this morning to get out of the house."

  "You’re kiddin’."

  "No! I told you that I fell asleep, right? So when I woke up, she’s lying next to me, sleeping."

  "This must have been after she called Pam."

  "You gonna let me tell the story, or you wanna ask stupid questions that you already know the answer to?"

  "Both."

  "Yeah, this was after she called Pam. Happy now?"

  "Very. You gonna finish the story or what?"

  "Anyway, I wake up and get dressed, but she wakes up before I can get outta there. She says, ‘Where you think your goin’?’ I told her that I was goin’ home and I would get with her later if I had some time. She jumps out of bed naked, talking about I can’t leave, how she’s tired of me fuckin’ her and leavin’ her. That she love me and Pam couldn’t possibly love me like she love me, and all Pam got over her is the kids and shit, so I need to get back in bed and give her some more dick so she can start having my babies. I said, ‘Your ass is crazy’ and started to leave, but she ran to the door and tried to block it. I said ‘Stop fuckin’ around, Cat. I gotta go.’ She’s like, ‘No! You gotta fuck me before you go.’ So I tried to move her out of the way, but she starts wrestling with me. I had to end up picking her up and carrying her out of the way. Then I tried to leave again, but by the time I get out in the hallway, she jumped on my back. So, I shake her off my back, and she falls on the floor hard, but she gets right up and starts wrestling with me again. So, here I am, at eight in the morning, wrestling with a naked woman in the hallway."

  "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 muthafucka."

  "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 ridin’ 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 s
ure 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."