The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  Yarissa never calls me, Wanda thought.

  “I need to answer that.”

  “Not now you don’t,” James said and spanked her ass.

  When Wanda began to buck harder and harder, James let her go and leaned forward to finger her clit. She pounded her body against his until Wanda felt her body begin to tremble and she could feel him begin to expand inside of her. They went at it hard and fast until they both climaxed and collapsed from exhaustion.

  Once Wanda’s breathing returned to something close to normal, she rolled over and called Yarissa.

  “Hey, Yarissa. It’s Wanda.”

  “Rain was shot last night, and she wants to see you.”

  “I’m on my way,” she said as she got out of bed. Yarissa told her where they were, and Wanda ended the call.

  “Where are you going?” James asked as Wanda headed to the bathroom.

  “Family emergency,” Wanda said, slamming the door behind her.

  Chapter Eleven

  “He’s gone inside,” Martel said and checked the silencer on his weapon. Martel, Brooks and Busta had trailed Carter to the house where Rain was recovering. They had parked the car up the block and watched Carter go inside.

  Martel opened his door. “You ladies coming?”

  Both Brooks and Busta checked the silencers on their weapons, got out of the car and rushed to catch up with Martel. He pointed at Busta and then pointed across the street to signal where he wanted him. He trotted to the other side of the street and then continued toward the car. As Busta, moved into position, Martel and Brooks approached the car where Carter’s men were waiting like sitting ducks.

  It was a nice summer night in the city, and Sean and Zack were relaxing with the windows down, enjoying the night’s air. Unbeknownst to them, this would be their last night.

  As Martel approached, Brooks hung back to cover them. When Martel signaled with his hand, Busta moved quickly to the driver’s side window as Martel eased his gun out of his pants. Both men arrived at their targets at the same time and fired one shot a piece to the head.

  “What you wanna do now?” Brooks asked.

  “Fuck you mean?” Martel asked.

  “We gonna wait until he comes out?”

  “Hell no.” Martel looked at Brooks like he was crazy. “Nigga is you stupid; we going in after his ass.”

  Martel turned around and started for the house and then they went around to the back.

  When Yarissa went back in the room to see about Rain, Carter looked at Glenda and extended his hand toward the steps. Neither said anything to the other as he followed her down the stairs to where Dixon and Eddie were sitting in the kitchen talking.

  “I’m out,” Carter yelled as he passed them by.

  Glenda kept walking toward the door and started to reach for the handle to let Carter out, but then she stopped, turned around and faced him.

  “How have you been, Carter?” She asked. Her eyes taking him in.

  “I’ve been good. Being a free man agrees with me.”

  “I bet it does.” Looking away and laughing shyly, and then she looked back up at him with a direct stare. “I wanted to come see you.”

  “I understand why you couldn’t.”

  “It’s good to see you, Carter.”

  “It’s good to see you too.”

  “You could have let me know you were out.”

  “You understand why I didn’t. How is Perry anyway?”

  “He’s fine. And you could have found a way if you wanted to,” Glenda said, bringing the topic back to where she wanted it, but stopped when she heard the door open upstairs.

  “Look,” Carter said, stepping around Glenda to make it to the door. “This really ain't the time or place to be having this conversation.”

  “So that’s it?” Glenda asked as Yarissa came down the stairs.

  Carter grabbed the doorknob. “I gotta go, Glenda,” he said and looked at Yarissa. “I’ll see you ladies later,” and Carter was out the door.

  When Glenda turned, Yarissa was looking straight at her. Without a word, she stepped around Yarissa and went to the stairs. Yarissa watched Glenda as she went back upstairs and even though Glenda didn’t say a word, Yarissa knew that there was something up with her and Carter.

  It’s written all over her face.

  As both ladies returned upstairs to check on Rain, Dixon moved to the living room, with Eddie staying in the kitchen.

  When Martel, Brooks and Busta made it around to the back of the house, Busta started on the basement door lock. Once they were inside, they took a quick look around before heading upstairs quietly.

  Once he was outside, Carter ran down the steps to the curb and got in the back seat of the car. He was glad that Yarissa came downstairs and interrupted the conversation with Glenda when she did.

  “Let’s go,” he told the driver, thinking that he didn’t want or need to deal with that drama with Glenda now. He hit the headrest of the passenger seat in front of him. “I said let’s go.”

  When Sean fell forward and hit his head against the dashboard, Carter looked at Zack. He saw how he was slumped in the seat. Carter took out his Glock nine millimeter and put in the seventeen round magazine.

  When they reached the top of the stairs, Martel eased the door open enough to peek out and see the set up before closing it back gently.

  “There’s one in the living room by the door to my left,” Martel said softly. “One more in the kitchen on my right. I’ll go left; Brooks, take the one on the right.”

  “What you want me to do?” Busta asked.

  “Be looking out in case there’s more of them in there,” Martel said and burst through the door.

  He fired twice and hit Dixon with two shots to the chest. Eddie bounced up and reached for his gun, but before he could get a shot off, Brooks came through the door and hit him with a shot to the shoulder.

  Eddie stumbled back, but quickly regained his balance. He was about to return fire, when Busta followed behind Brooks blasting. He hit Eddie with multiple shots, and he fell back into the chair that he was sitting in.

  Carter ran up the stairs and hit the front door hard with his shoulder. Once he was inside, Carter saw that Dixon and Eddie were down and then he saw their killers.

  The noise from Carter busting through the door was loud enough to be heard upstairs.

  “What was that?” Glenda asked.

  “I don’t know,” Yarissa replied and looked at Rain to see what she wanted her to do. When Rain nodded her head, Yarissa stood up. “I’ll go see.”

  Brooks saw Carter first and opened fire. Carter dove for the ground and crawled behind the couch to find cover. He readied his weapon and prepared to fire on them. When Carter rose up to return fire, Martel, Brooks and Busta all opened up on him and he was forced to drop back behind the couch for cover.

  Carter crawled to the edge of the couch and took a shot at Brooks, which hit him in the leg. Carter fired again and hit him in the chest before retreating to cover.

  Before she could get to the door, Yarissa heard what sounded like gunshots coming from downstairs. Glenda bounced up and Yarissa stopped in her tracks. They both looked at Rain.

  “Where are my guns?”

  While Yarissa hurried to get Rain her guns from on top of the dresser, Glenda watched in horror as Rain gritted her teeth and started to get out of bed.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Rain didn’t answer her.

  She put her right leg on the floor and then Rain eased the other one out of the bed and gingerly put her weight on it. Rain closed her eyes and tried to focus her mind as the pain seemed to shoot through her entire body.

  “You can’t even walk,” Glenda said and held on to Rain’s arm to steady her. Yarissa handed Rain a gun and then she helped Rain get to the door.

  Back downstairs, Busta and Martel continued firing rounds at Carter. When Busta’s gun was empty and he stopped to reload, Carter came up from behind the
couch firing. He hit Busta with three shots to the chest and he fell back over a chair and hit the floor.

  Martel and Carter exchanged shots and then Martel ran for the steps that led to the third level. He stopped and opened fire at Carter, and he ducked behind a wall for cover. Martel kept firing until he ran out of ammo. Now forced to retreat, he headed up the stairs intending to reload on the way. What he found was Rain standing at the top of the stairs waiting for him. She raised the weapon in her left hand, fired and hit Martel with one shot to his head.

  Carter watched the body come tumbling down and he got to the bottom of the stairs in time to see Yarissa helping Rain back to the room. He stepped over Martel’s body and rushed up the stairs to make sure everything was all right.

  “Everybody okay?”

  “Yeah,” Rain said through painful breaths.

  Rain sat down on the bed and Glenda helped her get her settled back in, and then she checked her wounds. Blood had begun to seep through the bandage.

  “I need to redress that bandage on her leg,” Glenda said to Carter and went to get her bag.

  “You didn’t have to do that, you know. I had him,” Carter said to Rain as he came toward the bed.

  “Maybe. But I got him.”

  “Excuse me,” Glenda said to Carter with a bit of an attitude and he moved out of her way so she could get to Rain.

  When Wanda arrived at the house thirty minutes later, dressed in a Philippe Lace Cold-Shoulder ruffle jumpsuit by Alexis, Carter was gone. He left more to avoid Glenda than anything else, but more men had arrived.

  Ten to be exact.

  Before he left, Carter had called Billy, the Cleaner, and he had taken care of Sean and Zack’s bodies that were outside in the car. He was getting ready to go to work in the house when Wanda came strolling in. She stopped and looked around at the carnage that surrounded her.

  “Hey, Billy.”

  “Hey, Wanda,” he replied.

  “Looks like I missed all the fun.”

  Billy stopped what he was doing and looked at Wanda like she had four heads. “When did this become your type of fun?”

  “I’m just kidding, Billy. You know this is not my style,” Wanda said, and she and Billy laughed. “Where is everybody?”

  “They’re upstairs,” Billy said and went back to work.

  “Good to see you, Billy.”

  Billy stopped to watch Wanda walk away and upstairs. He shook his head. “Always a pleasure.”

  When Wanda walked into the room, Rain was resting, Glenda was sitting next to the bed reading and Yarissa was standing by the window looking outside into the night.

  “Hey, Wanda,” Yarissa and Glenda said at the same time, making them look at each other just as Rain opened her eyes. Glenda got up from the chair so Wanda could sit down.

  “What is going on?” Wanda asked.

  “I have no idea,” Rain said. “They hit me last night, shot up Conversations earlier tonight, and then this.”

  “Was anybody hurt?”

  “Four dead and fourteen more had to go to the hospital.”

  “Well you can’t stay here,” Wanda said and turned to Glenda. “Can we move her?”

  “Yes, we can.”

  “Then get her ready.”

  “Where are you taking me?” Rain asked.

  “I have a fortified safe house, complete with a panic room and enough stock to last a year.”

  Chapter Twelve

  It was getting late and with Bautista at the wheel, she and Kirk were heading back to the precinct to call it a night. After she complained about him never letting her drive, Kirk tossed Bautista the keys and said, “You drive.” His intention was to let her drive for a couple of days just to shut her up. But after a couple of days of relaxing in the passenger seat, Kirk found that he liked it and hadn’t driven since.

  They were stopped at a red light a few blocks from the precinct when the call came over the radio about the shooting at Conversations. The detectives looked at each other. Bautista tipped her head to one side and smiled at her partner. When Kirk nodded his head, Bautista went lights and sirens and headed for Conversations.

  “Tread lightly, detective, this isn’t our case,” Kirk warned as Bautista parked as close to the scene as she could get.

  “Don’t worry; I’ll be nice and courteous. The model of cooperation.” She got out of the car. “And besides, something like this, four dead and dozens injured, come on, Major Case is gonna catch this and with any luck, Goodson and Harris will be there and they’ll be glad to see us coming,” Bautista said as they fought their way through the crowd to get to the crime scene.

  Once they made it past the police tape, Bautista asked an officer who was in charge of the chaotic scene. They were directed to Lieutenant Torres. He told the detectives what they had been able to put together from the physical evidence and eyewitness accounts.

  “They drove down the sidewalk,” Torres pointed, “Killed two people and fifteen more had to be treated for injuries. Then they stopped right here, two of them got out and shot up the place.”

  “Anybody hurt?” Kirk asked.

  “Two more dead from gunshot wounds, twenty-seven injured. Some of the injured needed to be hospitalized.”

  Then the lieutenant informed them that Goodson and Harris had indeed been assigned the case. “However, they haven’t arrived yet,” Torres said.

  He respected Kirk and thought Bautista was hot, so he gave them the run of the crime scene just as Bautista had hoped. “One more thing, Kirk. There’s a rumor been going around that there was a shooting at J.R.’s last night.”

  “I hadn’t heard that,” Kirk said.

  “And there’s more,” Torres hinted.

  “What else?” Kirk asked.

  “The word is that Rain Robinson was the target.”

  “Really,” Bautista said excitedly and glanced at Kirk.

  “Definitely hadn’t heard that one,” Kirk said.

  He knew Bautista well enough to know from the smile on her face and the look in her eyes that she could barely contain herself. “Come on, detective. Let’s have a look around.”

  After Kirk and Bautista reviewed the scene outside the club and reconstructed the shooting, they went inside Conversations. There were still a number of officers inside, as well as crime scene technicians who were gathering evidence.

  “I’m guessing the guys watching our guys are Jackie’s guys,” Bautista said as they walked around.

  “That, you can be sure of,” Kirk said. “But let’s test that assumption.” He started walking toward the back of Conversations where the stairs leading to the other levels were located. Coincidentally, that’s where the majority of Jackie’s men, including Baby Chris, were standing. Kirk walked right up to the ones standing closest to the steps.

  “I’m Detective Kirkland and this is Detective Bautista.”

  They both raised their shields.

  “We’re here to see Jackie Washington.”

  “Who?” Rhashan asked.

  “Jackie Washington,” Bautista said. “You know, you’re boss.”

  Rhashan shook his head. “I never heard of her.”

  Kirk took a step closer to him. “If you don’t take me to her right now, I will make a call for a warrant and more officers and we will search the entire building inch by inch.”

  Rhashan looked at Baby Chris and he nodded his head that it was all right. Both Kirk and Bautista saw it.

  “Right this way, detectives.”

  When Kirk and Bautista passed Baby Chris, Kirk stopped. He looked at Baby Chris for a second or two and then approached him.

  “I’m Detective Kirkland and this is Detective Bautista.”

  “Don’t bother introducing yourself. We’ll know all about you soon enough,” Bautista said and then she and Kirk followed security to Jackie’s office.

  Once they started up the stairs, Baby Chris tapped his headset. “Let Jackie know that Kirk and Bautista are on their way up.”
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br />   When they reached the third level, the detectives were escorted to Jackie’s office and shown right in.

  “Morning, detectives,” Jackie said. “What can I do for you?”

  “You can start by telling us what’s going on? Who hit you tonight?” Kirk asked.

  “Honestly, Kirk, I wish I knew. I wasn’t here when it happened, and I can’t think of anybody who would do this. We been playing real nice lately.”

  “Any truth to the rumors that J.R.’s was hit last night?”

  “I heard that rumor too.”

  “You didn’t answer his question,” Bautista said. “He asked you if it was true.”

  Jackie laughed. “Like I was about to say, Detective Bautista, I heard that rumor too, but I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

  Kirk placed his hands on Jackie’s desk and leaned forward. “Let me share something with you, Jackie. I really don’t care if you assholes shoot and kill each other. My job is to investigate and arrest who did it. But when people, innocent people, start getting hurt and killed over your bullshit, that’s when I start caring,” he told her.

  Unintimidated, Jackie leaned forward and met his eyes.

  “Believe me, Kirk, if I knew who it was or what it was over, I would tell you. But as far as I know, and I’m being serious about this, nobody knows what this is about.”

  Day Two

  Chapter Thirteen

  After spending over an hour at the precinct talking to Detective Harmon again, Carmen was on her way to talk to Frank Abbate, the owner of Abbate Construction, or so Carmen thought. Abbate Construction was actually owned by Milton Petty. Abbate was just the face of the company. Behind the scenes, Milton made all the decisions.

  Despite the fact that her lawyer, the station executives, and Detective Harmon all told her that she should stay away from this, Carmen was there to talk about the murder of Katana Jackson.

  “If you want my advice, and from what Mitchell tells me, you don’t, you’ll let this go. Go to Paris with your friend,” Harmon paused, “And let us do our jobs. Whatever’s going on at Abbate Construction was enough for them to kill two people to keep it quiet.”