The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  It took Gavin five and a half years to graduate from Georgia College with a bachelor's degree in business administration, and another three to get his master's degree in finance. It wasn’t that he wasn’t as smart as his sister, nothing of the sort. Gavin just liked to have fun and he enjoyed those years to the fullest. After getting his master’s, he spent the next year and a half between fucking around in the game with Butch, traveling to anyplace with a beach and enjoying the pleasures of women.

  A passion of mine.

  It wasn’t until Yovanna threatened to cut off his money did Gavin show up at the firm and was hired as a Junior VP. Although his current title was Vice President of Capital Markets and London’s was Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions, they were sharing the Managing Director duties in their mothers absence.

  “You busy?” Gavin stuck his head in to ask.

  “Never for you.”

  London stood up and came around her desk. She was dressed in a fuchsia Alexander Wang long-sleeve curve zipper A-line dress that cling to her like skin and popped against her caramel skin. Her Alexander Wang Rina leather slingback pumps made her long shapely legs look incredible. Simply put, London was beautiful.

  “What’s up?”

  “You look nice in that dress,” Gavin said to his sister as he sat down on the plush couch in her office.

  “Thank you.”

  “I need to tell you something. Something you’re not going to want to hear and you are definitely not going to be happy about,” Gavin began.

  “It’s way too early for this.” London sat down in the chair across from him and crossed her leg. “Okay, I’m ready. Tell me what I’m not going to be happy about?” London asked even though she already had a good idea.

  “Drum and Greg Mac are dead and I’m holding things down for Butch.”

  “I knew it.” London shook her head. “I knew when you started going to see Butchie a lot more often that something was going on, I just never expected it to be anything remotely close to this.” London nodded her head. “Why, Gavin?”

  “You know why.”

  “I understand that with Drum and Greg Mac dead, somebody has to step up, but why you, why does it have to be you?”

  “Butch made two points that I couldn’t argue with.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He reminded me that that is our business too and it’s that business that makes this business do what it do.” He paused and looked at London. “And his second point applies to you too.”

  “Okay, what was his second point?”

  “With him locked down, and Pop sick, I’m the only one I can trust to do it. And that applies to you too. You can’t trust anybody but me to do this either.”

  London slumped a little in her chair. “As usual, I can’t argue with his logic.”

  “Logical to a fault, just like daddy.”

  “Don’t you just hate that about Butchie?” London laughed.

  “Yeah. Yeah, sometimes I do, but you see what I’m saying now, right? I gotta be the one.”

  “I see, I see.” London dropped her head but looked up quickly at her brother. “Because let’s face it, a chunk of our revenue comes from laundering and investing Butchie’s drug money.”

  “So, then you agree that I need to be the one that steps up to run that too?”

  London sat quietly and looked at her brother. “Yes,” she shook her head. “I agree.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  When Rain left Black’s house with Jackie and Carter, she was mad and needed to do something … needed to kill somebody. Somebody had to pay a price for the night before, and to Rain, at this point, it didn’t matter who.

  “We ain’t waitin’ for the cops to tell us who did it,” Rain said and tossed Jackie the keys.

  “Good,” Carter said.

  “Where we goin’?” Jackie asked as they got to the car.

  “We gonna hit one of Mobley’s spots and then we gonna hit Barnes. So, find me someplace. I don’t give a fuck where,” Rain said and got in the car.

  While she drove, Jackie called Baby Chris and they went to pick him up. If they were going to hit Mobley and Barnes drug spots, they needed to be the money-making spots.

  After the need to cut off their money was discussed, Jackie had Baby Chris identify their spots and come up with a plan to shut them down. But when they got there, Rain had a plan of her own.

  “Here’s the fuckin’ plan. Kill everybody,” she said and got out of the car.

  “What was you sayin’ about a plan, Chris?” Carter said and got out of the car. Jackie laughed and then she and Baby Chris got out. They got weapons from the trunk and had to hurry to catch up with Rain.

  As they got close to the building, there was a man standing on the corner. Since he was armed, the assumption was the he was the look out.

  “I got him,” Carter said as Rain put a silencer on her gun. Carter walked up to the man, grabbed him and slammed his head face-first into the wall twice.

  “You like doing that shit,” Rain said went she walked up, and Carter chuckled.

  “Yeah, I kinda do.”

  Then Rain shot the man twice in the chest. “My way was easier,” she said and kept walking.

  “Remember the plan,” Jackie said with a chastising finger. “Kill everybody, not slam their face into the wall.”

  Rain looked around the corner and saw that two of Mobley’s men had come out of the building and were moving toward them. Jackie took out two guns; each had a silencer on it. As the two men approached, Jackie stepped up, raised both weapons, and shot both twice in the chest.

  According to Baby Chris, Mobley’s men controlled the courtyard in front of the building and that was where they did business. As they got closer, it was clear that there were more than just Mobley’s men in that courtyard. In addition to the six men that were manning the spot, there was the steady flow of customers as well as people hanging out on a hot night in the city.

  “A lot of civilians out there,” Jackie said to Rain. “You wanna kill all of them?”

  Rain took out a couple of grenades.

  “Those concussion or fragmentation?” Jackie asked.

  “Concussion.” Rain handed one to Jackie. “When it detonates kill everybody that starts shooting at us.”

  “And don’t miss. We aren’t trying to kill any civilians out here tonight,” Carter said, and he and Baby Chris readied their weapons and took aim as Rain and Jackie tossed the concussion grenades into the courtyard.

  When the grenades detonated, Carter and Baby Chris fired and hit their targets with shots to the head and chest. Disoriented by the sudden flash of light and loud noise, two men drew their weapons and opened fire blindly as they ran toward the street. They were met by Rain and Jackie, who killed them as they ran.

  While the other two opened fire, Carter and Baby Chris took cover and returned their fire. Carter fired and hit him with three shots to the chest, then he laid down cover fire, while Baby Chris fired and killed the other man.

  Two more men came out of the building firing with Ak47s and forced Carter and Baby Chris to take cover. Rain shot one as she moved for cover. With one shooter remaining, Jackie fired and hit him with three shots before she moved to cover just in case more came out of the building. When none did, the four came out from cover and left the courtyard as quickly as possible.

  “Where to now,” Rain asked when she got in the car.

  “Barnes is up next,” Baby Chris said and told Jackie where to go.

  That afternoon, Barnes and Hawkins were on their way to one of their spots that was ran by a man called Bump. It was his people that ran the drive-by that killed Doc the night before and he had been told that Mobley was going to hit Cuisine.

  With all that happening in one day, Barnes was advised that Black and Rain would bust back, and he needed to make sure that he protected his spots from what was sure to come.

  “Them niggas is comin’, trust me. Maybe not today, maybe not t
omorrow, but them niggas is coming, and we need to be ready for them,” Barnes said as they arrived at Bump’s spot.

  Coincidentally, that was the same place that Baby Chris had identified as Barnes best earning spot and that’s where he, Rain, Carter, and Jackie were heading at that very moment.

  After they arrived, Hawkins told Barnes that he had to make a run and would be back for him in a half hour. Barnes got out of the car, walked toward the house, and spoke with the men out front. Then he went up the stairs to the house and was allowed inside by one of Bump’s men.

  “Bump here?”

  “Upstairs.”

  Barnes went upstairs thinking that he didn’t trust all of the advice that he’d been getting, and there were times when he didn’t see how the moves he was making would benefit him, but he believed that in the long run all the moves he was making would put him on top of the game and that was all that really mattered.

  Right?

  When Rain arrived at the spot with Carter, Jackie and Baby Chris, they parked around the corner, everybody armed themselves and Rain got some C-4 and some grenades. “You gonna blow the place?” Jackie asked.

  “Right after we kill everybody,” Rain replied and handed Jackie a couple of grenades. “Concussion and fragmentation.”

  Now that her team was armed and ready to rock, they rounded the corner and were fired upon as soon as they came around the corner. Both Rain and Jackie tossed their M67 fragmentation grenades as Carter and Baby Chris returned fire and advanced toward the house.

  Barnes hadn’t been upstairs with Bump and two of his men for very long when they heard the shooting and then the explosion. Barnes armed himself.

  “Fuck is y’all waitin’ for. Go get them niggas,” he ordered.

  When Bump and his men left, Barnes thought about making it out of the house and getting away from there. He armed himself and started to make his way out of the room slowly.

  Meanwhile, Carter and Rain were getting close to the house. Carter stood up firing and Rain ran to the house. Once she made it and was set, she covered, while Carter ran toward the house. When he made it to her, Carter kicked in the door and Rain tossed a couple of concussion grenades in.

  Once they detonated, they went inside the house firing at the disoriented men. When Jackie and Baby Chris followed them in, he had dive on the floor as the men opened fire while seeking better cover. Baby Chris returned fire while lying on the ground. He made it to his feet, and they exchanged fire. The man ran down the hall and Baby Chris shot him as he ran.

  Jackie moved down the hall stopping in each room and firing on anybody she saw. There was a man hiding in the closet when Jackie came in the room. The man came out, fired once and missed. When Jackie raised her weapon and returned fire, the man took cover and shot back at her. Jackie fired again and put him down with two to the chest.

  While Jackie and Baby Chris shot it out with Bump's men, Carter and Rain moved through the house killing everybody as Rain planted explosives. She approached the staircase and saw Barnes coming down. He fired a couple of shots at her and ran back up the steps.

  “Got you, mutha fucka!”

  Rain stopped at the bottom of the stairs, fired back and then she went up after him.

  When she reached the top of the stairs, Barnes stopped, turned, and fired at Rain. She ducked behind a wall and fired back. Barnes ran in a room, made it out the window, made it down the fire escape and ran as fast as he could away from there.

  When Rain got to the room, she was about to go in after Barnes, but Bump began firing wildly at her and Rain ran for cover. Carter came charging up the stairs and fired at Bump from the other direction. When Bump turned to return fire at Carter, Rain stepped out and fired at him. She hit Bump with three shots, and he went down. Rain and Carter both stood over the body. Carter shot him twice in the head.

  “That’s for Doc,” Carter said, and Rain put two in his chest as Jackie and Baby Chris came up the stairs.

  “I see you got Bump,” Baby Chris said.

  “Yeah, I got his ass. But Barnes was here,” Rain said.

  “He was?” Jackie said.

  “Yeah, that nigga was here, but he got away.”

  “We’ll get him,” Carter said.

  “This our new program,” Rain said as the four walked out of the house. “We hit their spots, kill every fuckin’ body and burn the bitch to the ground.”

  Once they made it back to the car, Rain pressed the detonator and blew up the house.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Da-Juan and Shandrel sat in the car outside a restaurant called Inkosi waiting for their boss, Derick Mobley to come out of a meeting with his advisor. When he found out that his brother, Frank had been assassinated, he had to bust back and called for the drive-by on Marvin at The Late Night’s grand reopening.

  When the Kings struck back, Mobley began going hard at The Four Kings. It took a while for him to calm down and a little longer for him to be shown a bigger picture, but in a rare moment of calm and clarity he now understood that it wasn’t about revenge, it was all about the chance to have it all that drove him.

  Mobley had always been driven by power; it was his need to be on top and in control that made him ruthless, cruel and brutal. If he did have a weakness, it was that quest for power made him easily led. When Mobley came out of Inkosi and got in the car with Da-Juan and Shandrel, he told them that the next target was Shooters.

  “Shooters?” Da-Juan questioned. “The tittie bar? What is we hitting a tittie bar for?”

  “You ask too many fuckin’ questions,” Mobley said as Shandrel drove. But he had asked the same question and was told that they were going after Carter Garrison’s crew the same way they had taken apart Jackie Washington’s crew piece by piece. “You need to do what the fuck I tell you. There’s a plan goin’ on way above your level.”

  “You right,” Da-Juan said.

  “What I need you to do is to get a couple of niggas and go do this tonight.”

  “How you want it done?” Shandrel asked as he drove across the George Washington Bridge to drop Mobley off at the house he had been staying at in New Jersey. When the shooting got thick and Mobley felt the heat of The Family hunting him, he rented a house in Linwood.

  “Four-man team. You go in quick, two of you get the money while the other two go kill Treach and as many of his men as you can and get out of there. Whole operation shouldn’t take more than three … five minutes tops,” Mobley may have said, but he knew better.

  “You got it,” Da-Juan said, but as soon as they drove off, the story was different. “That nigga crazy if he think I’m rollin’ up in someplace shootin’.”

  “You fuckin’ right. Everybody he sent to hit Cuisine ended up dead. Not me,” Shandrel said.

  On the way back to the city, Da-Juan and Shandrel came up with a plan of their own. A plan that hopefully wouldn’t end with them being dead. Their first instinct was to just send somebody else. But that was out because Mobley would find out. So, they had to go.

  “Ain’t nobody said we got to go in first,” Da-Juan said.

  “What you talkin’ ’bout, nigga?” Shandrel asked.

  “I’m sayin’ we follow orders. We put together a four-man team and the six of us roll over there.”

  “I get it.”

  “We send them in, and we go in and clean up after, or we be the ones that got away if the shit goes bad on them. Either way, you and me is alive and talkin’ ’bout it at the end of the day.”

  “I like that,” Shandrel said.

  Da-Juan and Shandrel went to their spot and recruited Dazz, Moe Z, Bullet and Romy by convincing them that it was an honor and a privilege to be selected. It had been the standard line Mobley told his Lieutenant’s to use to recruit these kids to go die at his order. But this time, it would take a little more than just the promise of street fame and glory.

  “That don’t mean shit if I’m dead,” Bullet said.

  “What is you talkin’ ’bout?” Sh
andrel asked.

  “I heard everybody that hit Cuisine last night is dead,” Dazz said.

  “No, they’re not,” Da-Juan said and quickly convinced them that they were all alive. “We sent them to The Poconos to cool out after the hit.”

  “All expenses paid,” Shandrel added. “Free liquor and food.”

  “And you know the Big Dawg got them niggas set up with as much pussy as they can handle,” Da-Juan lied.

  “So, where we goin’ after we do this?” Romy asked.

  “Same spot,” Da-Juan said.

  “I don’t like The Poconos,” Bullet said. “I wanna go to AC or to Foxwoods or some shit like that.”

  “And that’s why you don’t call no shots, little young-ass nigga,” Da-Juan said and got in his face. “What you gonna do in AC or Foxwoods? Gamble in the casino, eat your ass off at the buffets, get drunk at the bars and see some shows? That your plan, little young-ass nigga?”

  “Yeah, all that sounds good,” Bullet said smiling and nodding at his boys.

  “And when the word gets back that your dumb ass is hanging out in AC, your little young-ass will be dead.”

  “That’s if the big dawg don’t have one of these niggas kill you first,” Shandrel added pointing at Dazz, Moe Z and Romy.

  The smile slowly disappeared from Bullet’s face. “I didn’t think of that shit,” he said.

  “That’s why you don’t call no shots, little young-ass nigga. Now let’s go,” Da-Juan said, and the now six-man team headed out for the attack on Shooters.

  Satisfied that she had sent a message after Doc’s murder and the hit at Nick’s reception, Rain was on her way back to J.R.'s. As Jackie drove, she thought about her time as boss. She had come to power after Wanda’s reign as boss of The Family. During that time, The Family was fighting the wars Wanda had started, just as they were fighting the war she had started now.

  Despite what Black told her, the fact that all this death and destruction started because she killed DP was always on her mind. It didn’t matter to her that the executions of Evander and Big Frank were just as responsible, to Rain it was her fault that they were where they were, and it was her responsibility to end it.