The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  “I don’t know who the fuck you think you talkin’ to, but I ain’t about to apologize for shit. In fact …” Sterling said, and his boys stood up.

  “Is there a problem here?” Pills asked, as he raised his pump and pointed it at Sterling’s head.

  “No, ain’t no problem,” Judah said as Marvin pulled out his gun. “Sterling and them were just leaving. Ain’t that right, Sterling?”

  Sterling began nodding his head and then he started laughing. “Yeah, I was just about to break out of this shit-hole. But I promise you niggas, this shit ain’t over.”

  “It is for now,” Marvin said.

  It was just at that moment when two people, that had no business being at The Four Kings, walked in The Four Kings. Barbara Ray and her best friend Destiny.

  Since Bobby and Pam were in Fiji with Black and Shy, and the twins were with Pam’s sister, Barbara had been staying with Destiny and the pair had been running hard.

  “What I wanna know is if this is R.J.’s spot, why did we need the hook up from my sister to get in?” Destiny asked.

  “Because I don’t want R.J. to know I was here,” Barbara said over the music.

  Barbara and Destiny had been friends since they met in the seventh grade. When they met, the pair hit it off right away. They loved the same music, clothes, and each tried to keep to themselves despite the fact that they were both very popular with the boys because they were pretty.

  Even after Barbara moved and they no longer went to school together, they called each other on the phone every day and made a point to go to the mall or to the movies or somewhere each weekend. Now they went to clubs that, being seventeen, they had no business being. They had already been to 48 Lounge that night.

  “What if Marvin, the white boy or cute-ass Judah sees you?”

  “Please.” Barbara laughed. “First of all, they’re not gonna see us. They’re always too busy on the other side of the club. And even if they do, I can handle both Marvin and Pills.” She leaned close to Destiny. “That means you gotta handle Judah.”

  Destiny shook her head. “He looks at me like I’m a little girl, Barbie.”

  “Probably because that’s how he sees me, as R.J.’s little sister.” She looked at the sleeveless two-piece red pantsuit with the plunging neckline that Destiny was wearing that night. Which wouldn't have been so bad if the pants didn't fit her like skin. Everyone knew Destiny had ass for days. “He won’t look at you as a little girl in what you got on, trust me.”

  Barbara was wearing a black jumpsuit that tastefully emphasized her curves. She accentuated the one-piece with gold jewelry. They looked like women, and not teenage girls that had no business looking like that up in a place like that.

  Just then, a man grabbed Destiny’s hand. “Come on,” and before she could say anything, started pulling her toward the dance floor. Barbara laughed and shook her head, but it wasn’t long before a man was in her face with the same request.

  Barbara jerked her arm back. “Not right now,” she said, because she didn’t like the song, but the bronzed-skin man standing in front of her, now that was another matter. He had soft looking full lips, light-brown eyes and he was tall, just the way she liked them.

  He stepped a little closer. “So what’s your name, cutie?” he asked, as Marvin stepped in between them.

  “Is there a problem here?” Marvin asked.

  “Naw, wasn’t no problem. I was talking to the lady. Fuck is wrong with you?”

  “No you weren’t. You were about to walk away from the lady,” Marvin said, as Judah walked up on one side of the man.

  “Is there a problem here, Marv?” Judah asked, with his gun still in his hand.

  “I was talking to the lady and this mutha fucka−” the man began, but Marvin cut him off.

  “Ain’t no problem. My man here was just about to walk away,” Marvin said, as Pills arrived with the pump on his shoulder. He stood directly in front of Barbara.

  “Is there a problem here?”

  “No Pills, ain’t no fuckin’ problem,” Judah said. “Dude was just about to walk the fuck away from here before he gets carried out.”

  He tried to look around Pills to see Barbara, but Pills moved with him. Barbara peeked around Pills, shrugged her shoulders and then she waved goodbye.

  The man dropped his head and walked away, with Judah and Pills close behind him. Marvin grabbed Barbara by the hand. “Come on.”

  Marvin forced his way through the crowd, literally dragging Barbara behind him. It wasn’t until they got to the office that Marvin let go of her hand long enough to punch the code into the keypad. When he opened the door, he stepped aside, and Barbara walked in with a smile on her face.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Me and Destiny were at a house party nearby,” Barbara lied, “And we were on our way home and we decided to stop by to check this place out.”

  Just then, Judah burst through the door. “What are you doing here, Barbara?”

  “Like I just told Marvin, me and Destiny−”

  “Destiny is here too?” Judah held up his hand. “I don’t even wanna know.” He shook his head. “Does R.J. know you’re here?”

  “No and honestly, I see no reason to tell him,” Barbara said raising her chin in defiance as Pills came into the office.

  “Barbara!” He slammed the door behind him. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

  “Like I just told Marvin and Judah, me and Destiny were at a house party,” Barbara easily lied again, “And we were on our way home and since it was on the way, I told the cab driver to stop so we could check this place out.”

  “Yeah, right,” Marvin said.

  “Seriously; we weren’t even gonna stay long. We were gonna holla at y’all and go home.”

  Pills shook his head. “Wait. Does your father know you’re here?”

  “No, Pills, he doesn’t.”

  “You’re father’s gonna kill me,” Pills said and dropped his head.

  “You need to take them home, Pills,” Judah said.

  “Why me?”

  “’Cause Mr. Ray likes you and he won’t kill you for bringing her home, Pills,” Judah said.

  “He’s right, Pills,” Marvin said.

  “Okay,” he said because he knew they were right. Pills turned to Barbara. “Come on. Let’s go find Destiny.”

  When Barbara and Pills found Destiny, Barbara insisted that they come back to the office to say goodbye, but it was really just so Destiny could see Judah. Then, three of the Four Kings escorted the young ladies out of their spot.

  Once Pills drove off, Marvin and Judah noticed that a car with three men in it, were double-parked a little way up the street. When the car pulled off and began coming toward them with no lights, Marvin called for security and he and Judah prepared themselves.

  Just then, a police car drove down the other side of the street. They flashed their headlights at the car with no light. They turned on their lights and drove on.

  Chapter Twenty

  After seeing that Nesmith got the medical attention that he needed, Jada and Carmen were on their way to J.R.’s to see if she could connect with Rain. And besides, after what just happened to them at Enzo’s Palace, J.R.’s was the safest place for Carmen to be or so you would think. This wasn’t a veiled threat like pointing a gun at her. They were trying to kill her, and would have succeeded had it not been for Nesmith making himself a human shield.

  Carmen looked over at Jada. “Go ahead and say it.”

  “Say what?”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me that I should back off of this? Everybody else has.”

  “No,” Jada simply said.

  “You’re not?”

  “No. You're a big girl now, Carmen Taylor. You certainly don’t need me telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing. Men tried to kill you tonight, Carmen.” Jada paused. “To me, that means that you know more about … whatever it is you’ve gotten yourself into than you
think you know, or at least they think you do.”

  “Right.”

  “So, going to Paris isn’t going to stop them. You have to stop them. Your life actually does depend on it.”

  Carmen laughed quietly. “Thanks for that.”

  “You’re welcome. I thought you needed a reality check,” Jada said as they arrived at J.R.’s. When the driver came around and opened the door, Jada got out and then she looked back at Carmen.

  “You go ahead. I got a few calls that I need to make,” Carmen said, and the driver closed the door. Jada walked away from the limo thinking that may have been too direct, but they were words that she needed to hear.

  Jada walked toward the club and went straight up to Leo.

  “Good evening, Mr. Williams.”

  Surprised by her sudden appearance, Leo practically sprang to attention. “Good evening, Ms. West.”

  “Would you mind escorting me in, please?”

  “It would be my honor, Ms. West.”

  “Splendid,” Jada said and looped her arm in his and he escorted her in J.R.’s.

  Carmen sat in the limousine thinking about what Jada had just told her. She was right, it was direct, but it was exactly what Carmen needed to hear. Deep in her core, she knew that Jada was right. Within the last twelve hours, men had tried to kill her twice. So her running away for a couple of weeks in Paris wasn’t the solution. And neither was letting the police handle it. Jada’s words rang in her ear.

  You have to stop them.

  The fact was, Carmen had the flash drive; she’d seen what was on it. But what is it about those women dancing and masturbating that is worth killing for?

  It strengthened her resolve to find out what it was.

  Even though she was still a little weak, Rain, along with Wanda, Glenda, Yarissa and the men that Carter assigned, were on their way to J.R.’s. Wanda felt, and Rain agreed that the fewer people knowing the location of her safe house the better. She was going there to meet with all the Captains to talk about what was going on.

  Since they thought Rain was dead, and knowing that Carter came there to see Mileena, DP had three men watching J.R.’s looking for another opportunity to kill him. There was Earl Dozier, though some would disagree, he considered himself the best wheelman in the business. The shooters were Porter White and Jake Ross. They were the same crew that hit Rain at J.R.’s. Jake had personally taken credit for killing her. Since Brooks, Busta and Martel missed Jackie Washington, and hadn’t been seen or heard from since they went after Carter and Terris and Kordell missed Ed Weather earlier that day, Jake had taken a certain amount of pride in the fact that he was the only one that got his target.

  “Them niggas is hard to kill,” Terris told him.

  “Bullshit, nigga. I got mine,” Jake boasted.

  Jake was surprised and his pride swelled as one by one, their targets arrived at J.R.’s. First was Ed Weather, and then a short time after that, Jackie Washington got there. He knew something was going on when Doc arrived. The last of the Captains to arrive was Carter.

  Jake had just called Kwame Coleman to see what he wanted him to do, when a convoy of four Tahoe’s pulled up and rolled around to the back of J.R.’s.

  “Someone important just got here,” Jake said.

  “What makes you say that?” Coleman asked.

  “Four black Tahoes just pulled up and rolled around to the back.”

  “Shit! Can’t be nobody but Mike Black. I tried to tell DP if he kills Rain Robinson first, all that gonna do is bring Black back to the country and Bobby outta hiding in the Bible. But that nigga hardheaded like his damn daddy. Can’t tell either one of them shit,” Coleman went on and on.

  “Well you can tell them that Rain Robinson ain’t dead.”

  “What?”

  “They’re helping her out of one of the Tahoes now.”

  “I thought you said that she was dead?”

  “We must have hit her in the leg or some shit, ’cause she’s limping really badly.”

  Coleman took a deep breath. He had already told DP and Milton that Rain was dead. The last thing he wanted to do now was tell them that he was wrong. Upside was, he could drop the whole thing on Jake.

  He was the one bragging that he killed the bitch.

  For whatever reason, DP was adamant that Rain needed to die first, so that was how it was gonna go.

  “New target. When Rain comes out, follow her and kill her,” he said to Jake because he absolutely refused to go against DP’s wishes. The last man that tried that isn’t breathing anymore.

  “Yeah, well, it’s just me, Porter and Dozier and there’s at least ten guys with her. So maybe you should send some more men.”

  When Rain got to the office and got settled in, she noticed on the monitor that Jada was in the club. It made her curious about what Jada was doing in the city. Rain knew there was a warrant her Jada’s arrest and for that reason, she stayed out of New York.

  “But there she is,” Rain said aloud.

  “Did you say something?” Yarissa asked.

  “Yeah, go get Fish and Clinton. I got something for them to do,” Rain said and zoomed in on Jada, who, at the moment was surrounded by her Captains. “How have you been, Ms. West?” Carter inquired as he hugged Jada.

  “Very well, thank you so much for asking, Mr. Garrison.”

  It had been years since Jada had seen Doc and he gave her a hug. “It is so good to see you, Ms. West. It’s been too long.”

  She gave Doc a kiss on the cheek. “If that were the case, you would have accepted one of my many invitations and I would have seen you in Nassau.”

  And since she’d never met him, Jackie introduced her to Ed Weather. “It’s my honor to finally meet you, Ms. West,” Ed Weather said and bowed to kiss her hand.

  “The honor is mine. I have heard so many good things about you, Mr. Weatherly.”

  Rain looked on as Jada was shown the respect she was due, but there was a part of her that couldn’t help but wonder if Jada was somehow involved in this move on her.

  Fantasy was at J.R.’s right before I got shot and she was at Conversations right before the hit there.

  “You wanted to see us?” Fish asked when he and Clinton came in the office.

  “Go out on the floor and bring Jada West up here.”

  Clinton said. “Gladly.”

  When Jada arrived in the office, Wanda excused herself, because she never did like Jada and Yarissa made her a French 75 before promptly leaving the office. Once she was gone, Jada wasted no time telling Rain what Chanté told her about Bautista having an informant inside The Family.

  “Bautista.” Rain shook her head. “Damn that is one annoying bitch,”

  “So I’ve been told.”

  “This is the last thing I need right now. Somebody is going hard at us, Jada. And I have no idea who or why.”

  “Would you like me to look into the matter for you?”

  Rain said nothing at first, and then she had a question.

  “What are you doin’ in New York?”

  Jada was put off at the question and the tone in which it was asked, but considering the circumstances, she felt it was entirely understandable.

  “I was supposed to be going to Paris with Carmen; however, she got caught up in a murder investigation.”

  “I’ve never met her.”

  “She’s here. I would be happy to introduce you.”

  “Yeah.” Rain nodded. “I’d like to meet her.”

  “Not a problem,” Jada smiled easily. “But now I’m curious. Why do you ask?” and just like that the easy smile was gone.

  “I like you, Jada,” Rain began.

  “That’s good to know,” Jada smiled.

  “I just don’t know you enough to trust you.”

  “That’s understandable.” Jada sipped her drink. “I trust you, because Mr. Black says that I can trust you.” Jada put her glass down, looked at Rain and leaned forward. “Because of that, my respect for you and my lo
yalty to you are absolute and unquestioned.” Jada sat back and picked up her drink.

  “That’s good to know, Jada.”

  “And although I am Mr. Black’s partner and therefore technically don’t work for you, I can assure you that I respect your position and authority.”

  Rain took a deep breath. She knew that she needed to trust Jada for the same reason that Jada trusted her.

  “Go ahead and handle it.”

  “Am I free to use whatever resources within The Family as I see fit?”

  “Do whatever you gotta do to squash this.” Rain laughed. “Everything but killing Bautista.”

  I’ll take care of that myself.

  “Good.” Jada started to get up, but then she thought about it. “Is there anything else you need to speak with me about or that I can do for you?”

  “No, Jada, that’s it.”

  Jada stood up and started for the door, but then she stopped and looked Rain in the eyes. “You really can trust me. Believe that,” Jada said and left the office.

  When she got out on the floor, Carmen had made it inside and now she was the one surrounded by the Captains. Once Jada was able to pry her away from Jackie, Carter, Doc and Ed, Jada and Carmen left J.R.’s and the Captains went to the office to meet with Rain.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  At that meeting, nobody seemed to have a clue about what was going on or who is at them. “Like I told Kirk, we been playing real nice lately,” Jackie said.

  “I bet you Flip would disagree,” Carter said, and everybody laughed.

  “And Ramello,” Ed Weather added.

  “I guess we found the new killing Captain,” which was what they used to call Howard Owens. “Howard didn’t allow no drama in his house,” Doc said.

  “No,” Ed said. “He’d just send Carter to kill them.”

  “Damn sure would,” Carter said to more laughter.

  Rain held up her hand and there was silence in the room. “I need to know what the fuck is going on and who is at us. I’m counting on the four of you to find out and end this.”

  “Understood,” Carter said, and everyone gave Rain their word that they would get to the bottom of this before leaving the office.