by Glenn, Roy
“What you gonna do?” Floyd asked wide-eyed with terror.
“I want to make sure that you understand that I’m serious.”
Freeze came back with the gas can and handed it to me. Then Freeze punched Floyd in the face a couple of times. I poured it around the tire.
“You got a lighter, Freeze?”
“No, you know I don’t smoke.” Freeze punched Floyd in the face again. “Floyd, you got a fuckin’ lighter?”
Floyd looked at Freeze like he was crazy.
I slapped him. “He’s talkin’ to you, Floyd.” When Floyd didn’t answer, I slapped him again and Freeze dug in Floyd’s pockets until he found one and handed it to me.
Freeze picked up the gas can an poured some more gas on the tire. I was just about to set the tire on fire, when Floyd yelled; “The money is in the safe!”
“See.” I turned to Freeze. “I knew he was holding out on us.” I punched Floyd again. “Where’s the safe?”
“In the office,” Floyd said.
“Show me.”
Floyd took us to the safe, then he told me the combination. I opened the safe and took all the money. We left Floyd there with the gas soaked tire around him, laughing as we left. After that Floyd left the city and moved to Philly.
Chapter Six
Mike Black
I didn’t always send Nick and Freeze to collect for Andre. Sometimes, me and Bobby would make the run. On this particular night he sent us to see a man name Dudley Roberts, but everybody called him D.R. He was a dealer of some note, but his downfall was that he was a shooter and liked to get high on his own supply. D.R. owed Andréfifty grand and he sent me to collect. “A simple pick up, Black,” Andrésaid. “No trouble, no resistance, and definitely no shooting. Just get my money.”
When me and Bobby got to the bar on White Plains road, we saw DR surrounded by his set. There were five of them. Bobby turned to me. “These fuckin’ guys. I really don’t feel fuckin’ with them tonight.”
“So what you wanna do?” I asked.
“Wait. See if they split up and take him then,” Bobby said.
“Cool,” I said and took a seat where I could see them and signaled for a waitress.
“I gotta take a piss,” Bobby said and got up.
“Two shot of Remy, straight up,” I said when she showed up. The waitress was on her way back to the table when a man noticed me siting there. He tapped his boys on the shoulder, then they both immediately took out their guns and started shooting at me and then another guy joined in. The other people in the bar hit the floor.
I turned over table and fired back and there was no sign of Bobby. I wondered if somebody had gotten to him while he was in the bathroom. I ran out of the bar with two armed men right on my ass. I took out my guns, stopped, and turned around quickly. I fired a couple of shots at them as they came through the door. The shots ricocheted off the door and the men tried to return fire, but it was too late. It gave me enough time to make it to my car. I emptied the clip in one gun and got in.
I cursed Andréfor sending me into this mess and started up the car. As I drove off I looked in the rearview mirror and I saw those muthafuckas make it to their car. The question was, who the fuck were they and why the fuck did they just open up on me as soon as I came through the door?
I would have to take the time to consider all that later, right now the only thing I had to concern myself with was gettin’ the fuck away from there. I reloaded my gun; I only had one clip left. It didn’t take long for them to catch up with me as I weaved my way through traffic on the avenue. Once they got close enough to me they started shooting.
One of their shots took out my back window; I tried to stay low as I kept on driving. I fired a few shots blindly at them and they continued blasting at me. My car went into a spin when a shot hit my back tired. I gripped the steeling wheel tight and cut the wheel into the spin. I slammed into a parked car and hit my head hard against the steering wheel.
My head hurt like hell and I felt the blood begin to trickle down my face. I tried to shake it off and start the car, but that wasn’t happening. I got out of the car just as they rolled up on me. As soon as they got out of the car, I let go with both guns. When they both dropped to the ground and I took off running. They got up and ran after me, bustin’ shots all the way. I wheeled and fired. They took cover behind a car and shot back, but I was gone.
I ran down the street trying, but couldn’t remember the last time that I had to run away like a little bitch.
When I reached the next corner I dropped down behind a car. I knew that I didn’t have a lot of bullets left. I stayed still and quiet, waiting for them to come tearing around that corner, and then I’d have them.
Damn they were good.
I watched through the car window as they stopped at the corner. They stood and talked for a second or two before they seemed to look dead at me and split up. They knew where I was hiding and were gonna try and surround me. I stood up, spread my arms, and fired at both of them.
I didn’t wait around to see if I hit either one of them and ran down the street. The sound of shots being fired from behind me answered that question.
I ran up the steps of an apartment building, took aim, and fired one of my guns until it was empty before running inside. As I ran up the steps, I saw that there was only one man following me now. Maybe I had gotten lucky and hit one of them. What was more likely was that they had split up again and the other would be waiting for me when I came out.
I would worry about him later. Right now I had his partner on my ass. He came bustin’ through the door and fired a few shots at me as I ran up the steps. When I reached the top of the stairs, I shot back. Now, I was out of bullets. I ran down the hall hoping that there was a window to a fire escape, or back staircase, but there wasn’t. Just more apartments.
I was trapped.
With nowhere else to go, I picked a door and kicked it in. I closed the door behind me and made my way into the apartment. There was an old lady watching TV, she screamed when she saw me. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said and lowered my empty weapon. “Where’s the fire escape?”
“In the bedroom,” she said quietly and pointed.
I apologized for disturbing her and ran in the direction she pointed, through her bedroom and out the window. I made my way down the fire escape as quickly as I could. Once I reached the ground I looked around, I tried to decide which way to go. I looked up and saw my relentless pursuer. He fired at me and I started running down the alley. I could hear his footsteps coming up behind me as I run toward the sound of traffic.
That’s when I saw the other one standing there. “Hold it!” he yelled as his partner caught up with me.
They had me. I put my gun on the ground, why not, it was empty anyway, and put up my hands. I was about to die and I had no idea who these guys were or why they were about to kill me.
I didn’t see him coming up behind them, I just heard the shots. Bobby stepped out of the shadows. “I can’t let you out of my sight for a minute, can I?” Bobby asked. “Can’t even take a piss in peace. I’m standin’ there with my dick in my hand and I heard gun shots.”
“How did you find me?”
“Followed the gun shot and banged up cars until I found yours. Knew you couldn’t of gone too far on foot, so I drove around until I saw this asshole goin’ down the alley with his gun out. The rest was pretty easy,” Bobby said as we got in his car.
“Thanks, Bob.”
“Yeah, I know, I saved your life—again. But I’ll tell you what, next time I go to the bathroom you’re comin’ with me. You wanna act like a little kid then I’ma treat you like one.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
After that we went by André’s. He got a kick outta my I almost got killed tonight, story, then he put us back to work. Andrésent us out to Long Island to collect fifty grand for a guy name Gordon Hicks. Gordon wasn’t involved in the game, he was in construction. He was the little brother of s
ome guy Andréused to run with. Gordon was sub-contracting the electrical work on some big job. He needed the money to make payroll and cover his other expenses until he got his draw down from the general contractor. When the banks wouldn’t loan him the money against the contract, he came to André, who gladly give him the money in exchange for the fifty he loaned him plus part of his company.
“After the night you had you can use an easy run,” Andrélaughed. “He’s havin’ a party tonight, celebrate finally gettin’ that money. You and Bobby go on out there, drink up his liquor, fuck some of his woman and bring me my money. You shouldn’t have any problems, he called and said come get it. But if he don’t have it all, make sure you give him to a new understanding.”
So me and Bobby drove out there, and Gordon had the money waitin’. Bobby wanted to head back to the city right away, but I saw a few women that I was interested in so I wasn’t ready to go. “Why don’t you take the money and go?”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, shit, yeah, I’ll be all right. I need to fuck new pussy tonight, and I saw a big amazon bitch that I wanna see naked.” I looked at Bobby. “And what’s up with you? I saw a couple that are your type. Skinny as a rail, flat as a board, with a juicy ass.”
“Yeah, that me. But I got somebody to do tonight,” Bobby said. “So I’ll go take Andréthis money, and you get their numbers for me.”
After Bobby left, I wondered around and mingled with Gordon’s guest. He hadn’t actually invited me to stay, but he didn’t seem to mind. The whole time I got my eye on the amazon, patiently waiting for my opening, and when she stepped away from her group to get another drink, I went after her like a predator goes after his prey.
Her name was Cézanne; she was a registered nurse and worked in an emergency room. She was there with a friend of hers who knew Gordon’s secretary. Cézanne was at least five eleven, with long powerful legs and big thighs. Cézanne had big delicious looking titties and fat juicy nipples that were fighting to get out. All tucked neatly into a tight black mini dress, and you know how I love a woman wearing black.
Some time I feel like they’re wearin’ it just for me.
We were having an interesting discussion about treating gunshot wounds. I was especially interested since I almost got shot that night. While she was talkin’ I noticed that somebody was watching me. There were two women standing off in a corner and neither of them were taking their eyes off me. They were both fine as hell, although I thought one of them was more Bobby’s type than mine. She was rail thin and had the kind of ass he likes but she had nice sized titties. They were both definitely fuckable. I tipped my head in their direction and they both smiled and waved.
I kept on listenin’ to Cézanne talk about her life in the ER when I noticed that one of the women that was watching me had moved. I looked around the room and saw she had gone to the bar and gotten a drink and now she was coming my way.
She walked up and said, “Excuse me”, like Cézanne was in her way. Cézanne stepped aside and she passed between us. Then she looked around like she was looking for somebody. Of course, Cézanne was oblivious to all this and was still talkin’ away. Next thing you know the three of us are talkin’, only now she’s telling us about her job as a receptionist at a doctor’s office. Finally, it got around to me and what I do. “I’m a collector.”
“You mean like you call people on the phone and try to get them to pay their bills,” she asked.
“No,” I laughed. “Not quite.”
“So what do you collect? Stamps, coins, something like that?” Cézanne asked.
“No, people owe the people I work for money and I collect it for them.”
“You mean like a gangster?” Cézanne asked.
“You could say that.”
“Do you, like, kill people?” she asked.
“If I did, and I told you.”
“I know, you would have to kill her,” Cézanne said. I swear it looked like her nipples swelled when she said that. Now the conversation was all about me, until Cézanne excused herself to the ladies room.
“I thought she would never leave.” I heard her mumble as Cézanne walked away, but looking back at me the whole time.
“What do you say?” I asked even though I knew.
“I said my name is Regina.”
“I’m Mike Black.”
That was how it started for me and Regina. At the time, I had never met anybody like her. Regina had style and she was interesting to talk to. Regina was the most articulate woman I had ever been with. Regina said she spoke that way because her grandmother always insisted in her speaking perfect English no manner how the other kids were talkin’. All I can say was that Regina was a lady, a lady in every sense of the word.
Regina introduced me to a whole new world. It was her that introduced me to fine dinning, and goin’ to plays, and art museums, and recitals. And we used to dance, every night, out on the dance floor having the best time. I loved Regina, but I cheated on her relentlessly. At the time I met Regina, I was fuckin’ Vanessa, Victoria, and Lisa and a couple of others that I can remember their faces, but not their names.
Chapter Seven
I was goin’ to collect from a guy named Herman Epps. He was a nice guy, I mean it. Herman Epps was really a nice guy. But one thing about Herman, he was all about business. He was a consistent buyer, never late with the paper. He wasn’t gettin’ rich with it, but he was doin’ well. Herman’s down fall, like most men, was women. He loved them and he loved to love them. I’d see Herman hangin’ out at all the hot clubs. Always with a different woman, but then he met Anastasia. After that Herman was never the same. After that his game got sloppy, but Herman couldn’t never see what kind of poison Anastasia really was.
Anastasia was an attractive woman, but she wasn’t a star or anything close to it for that matter. But to hear Herman tell it, Anastasia had a gift. He told me once, even though I didn’t really wanna hear it, that he didn’t know what cummin’ was until he met her. Long story short, he was pussywhipped.
Herman said the only thing wrong with her was that Anastasia was insanely jealous. If a woman ever got near Herman, she’d make a fool of herself and Herman too. After a while, Herman laid back, cut loose all of his woman and married Anastasia.
So like I said, Herman had got a little slow with the money, but he always came though. At the end, Herman was tryin’ to step it up, making bigger and bigger buys. Until this one time, he had re-ed up on the product, even though he owed fifty grand. It was Herman, always straight with the paper. So when he assured Andréthat he would have his money in a few days, nobody thought twice.
But all of a sudden, Herman goes missin’, nobody and I mean nobody had seen or heard from him in weeks. I had gone by his apartment, Herman wasn’t there. Wasn’t in any of his usual spots, he was ghost. One night about two in the morning, I was in the area hangin’ out with Cézanne and I see a light on in his apartment. I told her to that I would be right back, put my gloves on and went inside.
When I got to the door, I heard music playin’ softly. I knocked on the door, Herman didn’t answer. “Herman! It’s Black! Open the door, I just wanna talk.” No still no answer. “Come on, Herman, I know you’re in there. I can hear the music.” He still didn’t answer, so I used this size fourteen key I got.
When I kicked in the door and went inside the place was a mess, and it smelled bad. It was hard to breath, it was so funky in there. My first thought was, I would think Anastasia would at least keep the place clean, but maybe cleanin’ ain’t her thing. Herman said she could fuck, not clean. I went into the living room and found Herman sittin’ in a chair, listening to Teddy Pendergrass, staring at the snow on the TV screen, but he had a nine-millimeter in his lap. At first, he didn’t seem to realize that I was there. “Herman! Herman!” I yelled and got a step closer. “Herman!”
Slowly he turned toward me. “Black,” Herman said softly. “How’d you get in here?”
“I kicked in the door.
”
“Oh.” I looked at Herman, he was dressed in black, but it was wrinkled, like he’d slept in those clothes for a while. He needed a shave and his hair was matted to his head. And I found out what I smelled was Herman. I had never seen him look so bad.
“What the fuck is wrong with you man?” I asked Herman.
“I know you come here for money, Black, but I ain’t got it,” Herman said slowly.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked again.
“I ain’t got it, Black. I wish to god I had it, I wish—,” Herman said and started cryin’. I’m not talkin’ about a tear or two, he was cryin’. “I wish Anastasia was here.”
I hate to see a woman cry, I admit it, it’s one of my weaknesses. But a man cryin’ is the worst. “Dude, dude, what you talkin’ about? Where’s Anastasia?” I asked as Herman continued to cry.
“She took everything from me, and left me here with nothing, Black. And I loved her, Black and I trusted her. I fuckin’ trusted her!” Herman yelled and swung the gun around.
“Who, Anastasia? She left you? Damn Herman, I’m sorry.”
Here I am come to collect money or administer pain and I’m feelin’ sorry for the guy. “It’s gonna be alright, man. Just watch how you swung that gun.”
“She left me, Black. Ran off with some nigga she used to get high with,” Herman cried. “I thought she loved me. I gave her everything.”
“Sometimes that’s a mistake. Some woman take you for weak when you give them too much” I reasoned. “But chill out, it’ll get better. There’s plenty of other fine ass woman out there,” I said thinkin’ about the one I left in the car.
“You don’t understand!” Herman swung the gun again. “I don’t want anybody! I love her!” Again with the tears.
“Look, man. I’m sorry Anastasia left you. I didn’t think she was like that, but I guess you never know. You gotta get your shit together. Clean yourself up, clean this place up,” I said and pointed around the room with my gun. “Get your package back and find you some new pussy. I guarantee it will make you feel better. I ain’t gonna fuck you up, cause you shootin’ bad like this and shit. Just tell me when you think you’ll have some money and I’m out.”
