by Glenn, Roy
“Mine if I finish my drink first?”
“No, by all means, finish your drink,” Bobby said. “This better he good; that’s all I’m sayin’.”
We talked while Black finished his drink and let Sammy out. Then he led us in the back to the storage room. Black knocked on the door twice and opened the door. There was The Kid, sitting in a chair by the door. As we got in the clear, I saw four men kneeling down on a large piece of plastic. I recognized one of them right away. He dealt blackjack at Cynt’s. Which is Ayana’s game and where she likes to play it.
Bobby started smiling, “What we got here, kid?”
“These the mutha fuckas that robbed us,” Black answered.
“You caught them,” Jamaica said and took out his gun. So did Bobby. Black already had both his guns out, so naturally I pulled mine.
“Freeze did,” Black said.
We all looked at Freeze. “By yourself? All at once?” Bobby asked sarcastically.
“By myself. One by one over the last couple of days,” Freeze said quietly but proudly.
After that there was no more talk. No questions of how he found them. Me, Black, Bobby, and Jamaica lined up across from them and opened fire.
I saw Freeze a few days later and I asked him how he found them. Freeze said, “Black figured it out. That night you walked up on us at The Late Night, he was lyin’ it all out for me. Keep your enemies close, but watch your homies. See Black knew if Ayana didn’t tell nobody, then it had to be somebody who knew she owed Black that money and knew the broke bitch had to have something else to deal with. That’s what led me to your boy at Cynt’s. He’s the one that gave Ayana the idea. They had them a little robbin’ crew, so once I had him, catchin’ the rest of them was easy. Black told me that there ain’t too many mutha fuckas that would want to touch a shipment of electronics like that. Black told me who the people were that should handle that type of merchandise. Then Back told me to start with the guy he had a deal with. He called me right after they called him. I got the last one when he rolled up in truck.”
After that, Freeze was part of the crew. He had proved himself and Black taught him the game.
Chapter Four
Mike Black
On the train one day when me and Freeze were going to kill a Rasta named Desmond Kelly. Since I don’t like to drive and at the time, Freeze didn’t know how, we would take the train to get where we were going. Once we had taken care of our business, we’d would catch the train home.
On that particular day I saw a beautiful young lady. I tapped Freeze on the shoulder. “Be right back,” I said and moved toward her. Freeze followed me anyway. When she look up, I was standing over her. At the next stop, the person sitting next to her got off the train, and I sat down. I had my gun in my coat pocket when sat down next to her. I’m sure she could tell that because she could feel it bump against her leg every time the train stopped. And it didn’t seem to bother her.
“Hello,” I said and smiled at her.
She looked at him and smiled. “Hi.”
“What’s your name?”
“Carmen.”
“So, Carmen, where are you goin’?” I asked.
“Jackson Ave.”
“I’m gettin’ off there too.”
“Do you live around there?”
“No. To be honest with you, I’m goin’ there to kill somebody.”
“Kill somebody! Why?”
“‘Cause they tried to kill me. But I don’t want to talk about that. I’d much rather talk about you. Is that a Georgia accent I’m hearin’?”
“Yes, I’m from Atlanta.”
“Atlanta is a nice city. What brings you to New York?”
“I came here ‘cause I needed a change. So I’ve been hangin’ out with my girl here. If I like it, I’ll stay. Get back into school, see if I can pick up some work as a model.”
“You’re a model?”
“I’ve done some modeling in Atlanta. Some print, some commercials, shows, that type of stuff.”
“Freeze,” I said glancing up at him. “Nevermind. Do you have a pen and a piece of paper, Carmen?”
“What do you want it for?”
“I want to give you the number of somebody who might be able to help you.”
“Okay,” Carmen said digging in her purse.
Carmen handed me the pen and paper and he wrote a name and number on it. “Here,” I said, handing the pen and paper back to Carmen. “This guy’s a modeling agent. Call him and tell him what you’ve done and what you’re interested in doing and he’ll take care of you,” I said as the train approached the station.
“Thank you. I’ll do that right away,” Carmen said as we got off the train and walked down the platform toward the steps.
When I got to the bottom of the steps I turned to Carmen. She was so beautiful. “It was nice talking to you, Carmen.”
“Hey!” Carmen yelled as he started to walk away. “What’s your name?”
“My name is Mike Black. Just tell Calvin that I’d consider it a personal favor if he found you something.”
After that brief meeting, Carmen called Calvin and once she told him that mike Black recommended her, she was able to made an appointment to go and see him. The second Calvin laid eyes on Carmen, he knew that she had the potential to be something special. He was able to get her some modeling work right away. Those led to more jobs led to more jobs and Carmen Taylor was on her way.
Carmen Taylor
I was so grateful to Black for the introduction. I always had thing for thugs and I thought that he was so fine. So I asked Calvin where I could find him. “No,” Calvin’s simple answer to my request.
“No? What you mean no? No you don’t know where to find him. Or no, you won’t tell me.”
“No I won’t tell you, Carmen.”
“Why not?”
“Because Mike Black is a very dangerous man and you don’t need to know how to find him.”
“What do you mean that he’s a dangerous man?” I asked even though I had a good idea. After all, he was carrying a gun and he did say he was on his way to kill somebody.
“You just need to take my word for it. That is not the type of man you need to be involved with, and leave it at that.”
I was a little insulted that this man that I barely knew was telling me what type of man that I needed to be involved with. I was about to cop an attitude and tell him, but I knew that would get me nowhere. “Please, Calvin, all I want to do is thank the guy. If it wasn’t for him, I would be where I am and doing the things that I’m doing. Just a phone number or something. What could that hurt?”
Calvin looked at me for what seemed like a long time. He took a deep breath. “Black doesn’t have a phone.”
“You’re kidding. If you’re not going to tell me just say so.”
“Really, Carmen, Black doesn’t have a phone, but I know where he hangs out.”
“Where?” I asked excitedly.
“He owns a after hours spot called The Late Night. But I don’t want you going there alone.”
“So come with me. That way you can make sure that I stay out of trouble.”
Calvin agreed and that night around three in the morning, he and I went to the late night looking for Black. He wasn’t hard to find. When we arrived, Black and Bobby were throwing somebody out of the club. He landed at my feet.
Calvin leaned close to me. “I told you he was a dangerous man”
“And if I catch your ass up in here again, I’ll kill you,” Black said and looked up. When he saw me standing there, he smiled and walked up to me. “Hello, Carmen.” When he looked at Calvin. “What’s up, Calvin. You a little out of your element tonight,” Black said.
“I’m just escorting the lady,” Calvin explained. “She wanted to—,” Calvin started but I quickly interrupted.
“I wanted to come by and thank you personally for putting me touch with Calvin.”
Black took a step closer and reached for my hand. “I
’m glad that I was able to help you, Carmen.” Then he kissed my hand and I felt warm all over. “Did you want to come in?”
I glanced at Calvin and smiled. “Yes.”
After that night, Black and I were practically inseparable. I was so in love with everything about him. All I wanted to do was he with him. My ambition in life was to have a bunch of his babies. We did everything together. Since he didn’t like to drive he would show up in different cars and throw me the keys. I knew the cars were stolen, but I didn’t care. If we got caught, we would have gotten caught together. Sometimes me him and Freeze would ride, smoke big weed, talk big shit and get fucked up. I even think they killed somebody one of those times, but naturally they didn’t tell me. We drove out to the island and spent the night parked outside a bar. Then they said they’d be back. Fifteen minutes they came back and Black said let’s go.
Mike Black
It all ended the day that there was an unannounced visitor at my apartment. “Calvin?” I said when he opened the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you about something,” Calvin said and took off his hat.
“Come on in and have a seat.” I walked away from the door.
“Thank you.”
“I don’t remember ever telling you where I lived,” I said and sat in my chair.
Calvin sat down. “How you think I found out where you lived?”
I looked at him and smiled. There was only one way he could have found out. “Carmen.”
“Right.”
“She send you?”
“No. She doesn’t know anything about me coming here. But it’s her I wanna talk about.”
“What’s on your mind?”
Calvin hesitated and twisted uncomfortably in his chair. “I wanna talk to you about Carmen, Mike.”
“You said that Calvin. Get to the point.”
“The first time I saw Carmen I knew that she was something special. She has a classic look, she has carriage and poise.”
“She does, doesn’t she,” I said and smiled.
“With a lot of hard work, Carmen has the potential to be big in the industry.”
“I think so too, Calvin, but what’s your point? I know you didn’t come here to tell me some shit I know. Carmen is beautiful.”
“I know you know. You probably knew it the minute you saw her. That’s why you sent her to me, so I could make something of her. And I can, I know I can, but its not going to be easy.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Carmen is undisciplined.”
“Carmen?”
“Where was Carmen last night?”
“Since you’re askin’, I know you know she was with me.”
“Did you know she had a show to do last night?”
“She didn’t mention it,” I said quickly and was surprised that she hadn’t. “If she had, I would have made sure she got there.”
“I know that. But this is not the first time this has happened. Anytime she is MIA, I know she’s with you. Because to Carmen, there is nothing more important than being with you.”
“You want me to give Carmen up, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Calvin said and leaned forward. “For her sake, Mike, let her go. Let Carmen be somebody more than just your woman.”
“Tell you what, Calvin,” I said and stood up. “You got a lotta fuckin’ nerve coming here to tell me some shit like that.”
“That should tell you how serious a matter this is for Carmen.”
“And you too.”
“You’re right. If I’m right, Carmen is my ticket to the big time.”
“How long we known each other?”
“Long time, lotta water under the bridge. And in all that time, I never asked you to do anything for me. But I’m asking. Not just for me, Mike, for Carmen. She deserves a chance. Do it for her.”
I broke it off with Carmen that same night.
Chapter Five
Nick Simmons
Once Black thought that Freeze had mastered his craft he turned Freeze loose and made him work with me. But he was just a kid. That’s what we used to call him, The Kid. All Freeze did was run little errands for Black and hang out at the club messing with the ladies. That all changed one night after we robbed a warehouse and somebody robbed our load. I had mad respect for the kid for catching them muthafuckas that robbed us by himself, but I didn’t wanna work with him.
The way shit worked was, since Black doesn’t like to drive, whenever he had a little job to do, he would call me and say “Come scoop me up.”
Only this time when I get there, Black is nowhere to be found and Freeze gets in the car. “Let’s go.”
“Go where? Where’s Black?”
“Black wants me to go with you.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t say why. He just said when Nick gets here that I should go with you.”
I put the car in drive and pulled off. “Where to?”
“Spot off Boston Road.”
“Who we goin’ to see?”
“You know Harry Walker, right?” Freeze asked as I drove.
“Greasy?”
Yeah, I knew his fat ass. He was a gambler who liked to bet on football, but Greasy had a string of bad luck. Lost a lot of money one Sunday then tried to bet his way out of it; as some gamblers are known to do. Now he owed one of our bookies a hundred grand.
We waited outside Greasy’s apartment building, waiting for him to come home for the night. Neither of us had much to say while we were waiting, just listened to the radio, and watched the door. I was thinkin’ about whether it was good idea for Black to send Freeze along with me. I didn’t think he was up to it.
It was after three in the morning when Greasy got to his apartment. He was in the company of a very pretty full-figured woman.
As soon as Freeze saw Greasy headed for the building, he was out the car. I gave him points for enthusiasm. I was anxious to see if he got any points for style and more importantly, effectiveness.
By the time Greasy wobbled to the door and got his keys out, Freeze was on him. He put his gun to the back of Greasy’s head.
“What the fuck!” I heard Greasy say when I finally got to the door.
“Unlock the door and go inside,” Freeze ordered the big man.
“What the fuck is goin’ on?”
“Black sent me.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m the nigga that’s gonna shoot you and the titty bitch here if you don’t unlock the fuckin’ door.”
Greasy unlocked the door and we went inside. Freeze told the woman to sit down and be quiet, while he backed Greasy up to the wall at gunpoint. It was only then that Greasy recognized me. “Nick? That you, Nick?”
“What’s up, Greasy?” I said and took a seat next to his big tittie companion.
And they were pretty titties too.
I put my gun on my lap and she smiled at me. She looked like the sight of my gun and all that was going on was exciting her. Maybe she was just hoping that those big-ass titties would allow her to walk out with her life. Truth was she had nothing to worry about. At least I didn’t think so. Freeze never said if Black wanted them dead or not, but I knew Black didn’t like killing women.
“Who the fuck is this kid, Nick?” Greasy asked and Freeze punched him in his stomach for asking. He doubled over in pain.
“I already told you who I am,” Freeze said calmly. “I’m the nigga who’s gonna put a bullet in your head if you don’t do what I tell you, which means you don’t talk unless I tell you to.” Freeze hit him in the stomach again. “Understand?” And then he hit him in the stomach again. This time Greasy went down to one knee. Those shots to the gut had taken all the wind out of him.
“Okay, okay,” Greasy said, sucking air, trying to catch his breath.
At that point I knew Greasy wasn’t gonna be any trouble, at least not that night. I was impressed with the way Freeze had taken control of the situation, just
like Black would have.
What I didn’t know, and didn’t find out until much later, was that Freeze had been rollin’ with Black. Freeze had learned his craft directly from Mike Black. Like I said, Black doesn’t like to drive, and at the time, Freeze didn’t know how to drive, so they would take the train. Picture that; they do what they gotta do, and then walk calmly back to the train station and go back uptown.
It only took a few more shots to the gut before Greasy went on and handed Freeze twenty large, and promised to have the rest in three days. “Three days, big boy, no more,” Freeze threatened and we left.
From that first day, me and Freeze not only worked together, but became good friends that trusted each other, had each others backs and had fun doing it.
Black sent us to see a man named Floyd Green. He worked at a garage and was running a little numbers for Black, but he made his money selling heroin. He owed Andrémoney.
As soon as he saw us coming, Floyd tried to run out the back door. We ran after him and he might have gotten away, but he tripped on some tires. Freeze got to him first and started kicking him. “Where the fuck you think you was goin’?” Freeze yelled as he kicked away. When I got there I joined in the kick fest.
“Where the fuck is the money?” I yelled.
“I ain’t got it.”
“What the fuck you mean, you ain’t got it?” Freeze yelled.
“I ain’t tryin’ to hear that shit Floyd! Where the fuck is the money?” I yelled.
“I’ll have it in a couple of days,” Floyd managed.
Freeze picked up a tire and started hitting him in the head with it. I pulled Floyd up from the ground. “Put the tire around him.”
Freeze put the tire around Floyd and took a step back. Then we took their time and worked him over. But all through the fierce beating, Floyd kept sayin’ that he would have the money in a couple of days.
“Freeze.”
“Yeah.”
“Find me some gasoline,” I said. Freeze smiled and went off in search of gasoline.
