Tied to a Boss 3
Page 9
“Oh God!” Angela cried in a panic, dropping her phone into her lap as she quickly switched her car into drive, pulling off back into the intersection, ignoring the horns blowing behind her.
Speeding and running red lights, Angela swung down her street ten minutes later, slamming on the brakes in front of her house. She hopped from the car and rushed around, noticing both her husband and sitter’s cars parked in the driveway.
Angela unlocked the front door and opened it. She rushed inside the house and yelled out her husband’s and sitter’s names. She ran through each room inside the house, only to find each one of them empty. Angela then ended up standing in the middle of the floor inside the den, staring around in a state of confusion and fear.
Angela was startled when she heard the house phone ring. She rushed into the kitchen and snatched up the phone from the base. “Hello! Geno!”
“So that’s who you’re expecting, is it?”
Hearing Dante’s voice again, she remained quiet a moment. Angela then asked, “Dante, where the hell are my brother and my daughter?”
“Both your husband and my daughter are safe,” Dante told her, but then added, “Like I said beginning back from the first phone call, don’t disappear any time soon. I’ll be in contact real soon.”
Hearing him hang up again, Angela felt her strength leave her. She fell back against the counter as tears of fear and frustration ran down her face.
Getting control of herself, she dialed the number out to the jail where Dante was supposed to be getting connected with booking. However, she found out that he was, in fact, still locked up. She thanked the woman on the phone and then turned and hung up her house phone.
Noticing the yellow sticky note on top of the counter, Angela picked it up and read it out loud: “Contact DEA or the MDPD and you’ll never see your husband alive again, and Mya will never see her mother again. We’ll be in touch.”
“Son of a bitch!” Angela yelled, balling up the note and tossing it onto the counter in anger.
***
“Hello!”
“What’s up, shorty? Where you at?”
“Heading to Georgia. What’s up, Dante?”
“I holla’ed at Amber and Vanessa. They took care of something for me.”
Alinna started to ask Dante what he was talking about but changed her mind, figuring he would tell her if he wanted her to know, so she instead said, “I spoke with Mr. Goldmen and Mr. Sutter. The shipment will be here or back in Miami tomorrow. I’ve got Vanessa and Kyree taking care of the pickup tomorrow.”
“Who the hell is Kyree?”
“Vanessa brought him to the family. So far, he’s doing good business.”
“You say Vanessa brought him in?”
“Yes, Dante.”
“Alright. Where Natalie at?”
“Hold on,” Alinna told Dante as she passed the cell phone back to Natalie.
“Hello.”
“What’s up, beautiful? You alright?”
“Yes, Dante,” Natalie answered with a smile. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good. I just wanted to check up on you. Let me talk to Gomez real quick.”
“I love you!” Natalie told him as she did as she was told, handing over the cell phone to Gomez and explaining to the bodyguard that it was Dante on the phone.
“Dante . . . my friend.”
“Gomez. What’s up, big man?” Dante said, but continued before Gomez could respond. “Listen, Gomez. I’m holding you responsible for Natalie and my seed’s safety. Anything happens to them—”
“Relax, Dante,” Gomez told him, cutting off Dante. “I will give my life for Natalie and the baby. You have nothing to worry about. I promise my life to you that she will be safe.”
“I’ma hold you to that promise, Gomez,” Dante told the big man in all seriousness. “Put Alinna back on the phone.”
“Yes, Dante,” Alinna said into the phone after taking the cell phone from Gomez.
“Where’s James?”
“He’s up front with Gomez driving. You wanna talk to him?”
“I’m good,” Dante answered. “I know James handling his business. I really just wanted to hear your voice.”
“I love you too, Dante,” Alinna told him, smiling.
Hanging up with Dante after a few more minutes and still smiling, Alinna looked over at Natalie and said, “We’ve really got to get him out of jail, Natalie.”
“I was just thinking the same exact thing, Alinna. We really need to,” Natalie replied, smiling back at Alinna.
***
“Agent Murphy, sir!”
Looking up from the papers he was reading over at his desk, and seeing his assistant at his office door, Agent Murphy waved the assistant inside the office and said, “What is it, Rachel?”
“Sir, I just put the call you’ve been waiting for through to your phone,” the assistant told Murphy, nodding toward the desk phone.
Instantly catching on to who was holding on his phone, Agent Murphy snatched up the desk phone headset. He then hit the blinking red light on the phone and asked, “Martin, you there?”
“Yeah, Victor,” Monica Martin answered. “I got your message. What’s this about Paul disappearing?”
“I sent a team over to Agent Young’s house after he didn’t show up this morning and wasn’t answering his phone. His car was in the driveway, but when the agents got into the house, Agent Young wasn’t there.”
“Has anyone called his personal cell phone yet?”
“I called it myself,” Agent Murphy answered, but then said, “The thing is that the two detectives we gave the arrest to for Dante Blackwell . . . they’re also now missing as well. Even Detective Howard Fuller’s wife is missing, Martin.”
“Where is Blackwell? Is he still in jail?”
“Of course.”
Quiet for a few moments thinking, Monica finally spoke up: “What about Angela? Where is she? Have you kept a tail on her like we agreed?”
“Relax, Martin,” Agent Murphy told her. “We’ve been keeping a close eye on Captain Perez. We’ve even caught her visiting Blackwell, but she couldn’t get inside because of a visit from a Natalie Saldana that Blackwell accepted.”
“Wait a minute! You said Natalie Saldana . . . right, Victor?” Monica asked. “Where have we heard the name Saldana before?”
“What do you—?”
“Come on, Victor!” Monica said, cutting off Agent Murphy. “Dominic Saldana . . . out in Phoenix.”
“You mean the same Dominican drug lord out in Phoenix? What the hell does Blackwell got with Dominic Saldana’s daughter? How the hell does he even know her?” Agent Murphy asked, sounding both surprised and shocked.
“I’ll admit, Victor . . . Dante is extremely handsome, so I can see how Dominic’s daughter would be interested in him. But knowing what Dante is capable of and how deadly and ruthless he can be, that easily explains Dominic’s interest in Dante,” Monica replied.
“Victor . . . you need to put a trail on Alinna Rodriguez and talk with Chief Johnson about seeing if he can have Dante moved into a more secure jail than the Miami-Dade County Jail.”
“I’ll look into that,” Agent Murphy replied, but then asked, “Where exactly are you at, Martin?”
“You know how to find me if you need me, Victor,” Monica told her ex-boss. “I’ll see you when the time comes to stand before the judge. I gotta go.”
“Mart . . . !” Agent Murphy heard Monica hang up the phone, cutting him off as he was speaking. He sighed deeply as he hung up his phone, shaking his head and thinking about what he and Monica had just finished discussing.
12
A linna made it back to Miami a few hours after leaving Georgia, where she found Monica’s cabin empty and in a condition suggesting no one had stayed there for some time. She now sat inside of the courtroom, with Natalie next to her, and with James and Gomez sitting behind them. She ignored the cameras and the people staring and pointing at her.
Slowly allowing a small smile to show at seeing Dante in a silk white and gray Armani suit, Alinna met his eyes when he looked over at her, winking his eye at her.
Alinna held Dante’s eyes the whole time they were in the courtroom with his attorney, Jonathan King, and his team. She caught a little of what the judge and the state attorney were saying about denying Dante a bond, as well as the state attorney asking the judge for more time. She then heard the judge grant the state attorney’s request and set Dante’s next court date for two weeks.
Alinna watched Dante being escorted back out of the courtroom. Catching the wink of an eye he shot her as he left, she stood from her seat, causing James, Gomez, and Natalie to stand as well as they all followed Alinna out of the room.
Alinna allowed James to lead, while Gomez followed behind the women. Alinna then pulled out her cell phone from her Dolce & Gabbana bag. She turned her iPhone back on, only to see two missed calls and a voice message from a few minutes earlier.
Seeing that both Dre and Amber had called, Alinna first checked her message before calling either of them back.
“I’ve got information you may want. I’ll be in touch real soon,” Alinna heard on her phone message. She stopped right outside of the courthouse in front of the entrance.
“James!” Natalie cried after Alinna’s sudden stop. Seeing the look on her face, she asked, “Alinna, are you okay?”
“Alinna! What’s up?” James asked as he quickly stopped in front of her in three steps. “What happened?”
“Listen to this,” she told James, handing him her cell phone before she began walking again.
Following alongside Alinna on her right while listening to the message on her phone, James played the message again, handed the phone back to Alinna, and then asked, “You don’t know who that was?”
Shaking her head in response to James’s question, Alinna was deep in thought when they walked up to the Phantom and her phone rang inside her hand. She answered it as she was climbing inside the car: “Hello?”
“Did you get my message?”
Quiet for a moment and meeting James’s eyes, Alinna asked, “Who the hell is this?”
“Who I am isn’t important right now, but what I have to tell you is. Do you want to meet?”
“What can you tell me that’s so important that I would agree to meet with you without knowing who the hell you are?”
“I know who the informant is on Dante Blackwell’s case, and I know who set all this up against Dante Blackwell. Are you interested in hearing this information or not?”
“What is it you want?” Alinna asked, sighing into the phone.
“I want $5 million,” the caller told Alinna.
“Only $5 million? That’s all?” Alinna asked sarcastically. “I tell you what, muthafucker: I’ll meet with you, and if what you have to tell me is worth it, then I’ll give you the money.”
“I’ll be in contact,” the caller told her, hanging up the phone afterward.
“Who was that, Alinna?” Natalie asked, seeing her lower the phone from her ear, only for the phone to start ringing again.
“Yeah, Dre!” Alinna answered after seeing it was him calling.
“What’s up, Alinna? Where you at?”
“On the way back to the house.”
“Well, we took care of that little issue out in Tampa you told us to handle, and we got it at one of Harmony’s spots out in the city.”
“Alright. Find out where Monica at, and if they won’t talk, let Maxine and Keisha talk with ’em,” Alinna told Dre. “I’ll be there later.”
Hanging up with Dre, Alinna then called Amber back.
“Hello.”
“Amber, this Alinna. What’s up? You called me earlier?”
“Alinna, you not gonna believe this shit!” Amber started, but quickly continued, “We was keeping a watch on Angela’s ass like you wanted and ended up finding out something else. We weren’t the only ones following her.”
“Who else?” Alinna asked eagerly.
“Not really sure, but it’s got to be some type of police.”
“Where you at now?”
“I’m with Vanessa right now. We about to meet up with Keisha and Kyree at Vanessa’s spot out in Fort Lauderdale.”
“Who’s watching Angela?”
“Harmony’s with Maxine. They’re watching Angela right now, but we’re hooking back up with them later after Vanessa takes care of this business with Kyree.”
“Alright. I’ll call you later,” Alinna told her girl, hanging up the phone, only to go right back to thinking about the caller with the information for her.
Looking at her cell phone screen, and seeing the time, Alinna wondered when Dante was planning on calling her, so she could tell him about the caller and what Amber just told her about Angela being followed.
***
Pulling up in front of the Fort Lauderdale trap house just as an Escalade was pulling off, Vanessa parked her truck behind a nice-looking Lexus that was parked in front.
“Vanessa . . . look!” Amber said at seeing Keisha climbing from the passenger seat of the Lexus. “Who that Keisha with?”
“I’m wondering the same thing!” Vanessa replied as she turned off the Benz truck, then climbed out and called to Keisha: “What’s up, Keisha? Who’s your friend?”
“It’s okay, Vanessa. It’s just my boyfriend, and he’s about to leave now,” Keisha explained.
“What’s up, Vanessa?” Rob called out from the driver’s window of the Lexus. After noticing her, he climbed out of his car.
“Look who it is!” Amber said, looking Rob over with a slight frown. “What you doing here, Rob?”
“What’s it to you, Amber?” he said, showing a small smile while shaking his head and staring at her with a sarcastic look.
“Wait a minute! Ya’ll know each other?” Keisha asked, looking from Rob to Vanessa to Amber and back to Rob again.
“Let’s just say we got a little history together,” Rob answered just as he was pulling out his ringing cell phone.
“What’s up, Vanessa?” Kyree asked, walking out the front gate and stopping to hug Amber. He then turned to face Vanessa and said, “Everything set up inside. You brought that with you?”
“It’s in the trunk,” Vanessa told Kyree, handing him her truck keys before shifting her attention back over to Rob just in time to catch Keisha kissing him goodbye.
Shaking her head but saying nothing, Vanessa followed both Kyree and Amber from outside to inside the trap house to finish handling the business with Kyree.
***
“You plan on telling me how you know Vanessa and Amber, Rob?” Keisha asked, sounding a little jealous while staring directly into his eyes.
“We used to fuck with each other back in the days before shit kind of went sour!” he briefly explained, but then quickly asked, “What you know about He-She and Amber?”
“Who the fuck is He-She, Rob?” Keisha asked, staring at him with a balled up face.
“That’s what everybody used to call Vanessa back in the day,” Rob told her. “She used to be mean as fuck before she got with that nigga Dre and had that baby. Vanessa was worse than most niggas out here on these streets, and she was just as quick to knock a nigga and bust a nigga’s ass in a heartbeat. That ho is Alinna’s right-hand bitch.”
Hearing the way Rob was talking about her team and staring at him as he was reading a text message on his phone, Keisha decided she would question Vanessa and Alinna about Rob later on when she got the chance.
“Keisha, let me holla at you later, shorty!” Rob told her, kissing her lips and then climbing back inside his Lexus.
Standing out in front of the trap house and watching Rob as he drove off, Keisha found herself slightly hoping she didn’t find anything fucked up about Rob, since she was
actually starting to catch feelings for him now.
***
Climbing out of the Phantom in front of the trap house in the city run by Harmony, Alinna allowed James and Gomez to lead the way while she and Natalie followed with a team of men surrounding them. She looked around and saw that since the spot was closed, the area was deserted of its normal crowd. She only saw a few people walking the streets.
She entered the house just as Dre stood up from the brown sofa he was seated on across from Wesley, who was smoking a blunt. Alinna then wasted no time and asked, “Where are they at?”
“In the back room with Maxine,” Dre answered, nodding his head toward the back of the house.
Alinna walked off and found the bedroom where Maxine was keeping Monica’s family. Their muffled screams could be heard before Alinna even opened the door. As she did, two of her men shifted toward the door but relaxed when it was opened and they saw Maxine in control of the situation.
They watched as Maxine was going to work on the tall and slim brown-skinned man tied to a wooden chair, next to a darker-skinned female who was also tied and gagged to another chair. Maxine was pouring a clear liquid onto the man’s bleeding scrotum, causing him to scream out in pain behind his gagged mouth. Alinna calmly called to Maxine to get her attention: “Let me talk to ’em for a moment. Pull the gag off from the woman’s mouth so she can talk.”
Holding the woman’s eyes as Maxine moved around behind her and began untying the gag, Alinna spoke up and said, “If you scream once the gag is removed, I will have you killed.”
“What’s going on? Who are you?” the woman begged, staring at Alinna standing in front of her. “Why are we even here?”
“I’m going to make this simple, Nicole,” Alinna started, using the woman’s name and seeing the change in her expression. “I want to know where your sister, Monica, is, and understand that if you lie or waste my time, I will kill you and your husband. Again, I ask you, where is your sister?”
Staring at Alinna standing in front of her with a serious face, Nicole softly said, “What are you going to do with me and my husband if I tell you what I know?”