The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  But now, Mobley and Barnes were dead, Hawkins was on the run so he might as well be dead too, and Rain was shutting down the rest of their operations.

  The strategy of responding with superior force was never a deterrent and was therefore ineffective. Now Rain was going hard at them. Black told her that there was more than enough responsibility to go around over how they got where they were, and to a certain point, she agreed. But despite that, none of it mattered to Rain. This war was her fault and it was her responsibility to end it.

  Now that Mobley and Barnes were dead and Hawkins was in the wind, Rain was on a mission to end the war. Still operating from the list of money-making spots that Baby Chris provided them, Rain, along with Carter and Jackie, were hitting their remaining spots and executing Rain’s plan.

  Kill everybody and burn the bitch to the fuckin’ ground.

  Mas Que Nada’s was a bar and grill that served Brazilian food and played MPB which stood for Popular Brazilian Music, a post-bossa nova trend in urban popular music of Brazil. Baby Chris told Rain that Hawkins liked the food and the music at Mas Que Nada’s. So, not only did he do business, he was also known to work out of there sometimes.

  Rain walked in the front door, dressed head to toe in purple leather. Of course, she was vested up and she had a gun in each hand. As soon as she stepped inside, two men rose from behind the bar, took aim and opened fire at Rain with automatic weapons. When the shooting started, the restaurant’s patrons began running for the exits, hitting the floor, or others took cover under the tables and hoped to survive. Rain raised one of her weapons and shot one of the shooters while he was reloading, and Carter took out the other.

  As the DJ continued to mix music, two more men emerged from the back of the restaurant and opened fire with automatic weapons on Jackie and Carter. They returned fire on them as they sought better cover as Rain began firing at them. Once Jackie and Carter found cover, they began firing so Rain could make it to cover.

  “They’re better armed than Baby Chris said they’d be,” Jackie commented as she reloaded. “Probably stepped it up after Barnes got killed.”

  “We may need to think about buggin’ outta here,” Carter said and returned the shooters fire as two more came charging out the back and opened fire. Now, all four men stood in the middle of Mas Que Nada and sprayed the place with bullets.

  “Spread out!” Rain shouted over the sounds of gunfire as she reloaded. “I’ll cover you!”

  When Rain stood up and she opened fire with her HK433, while Jackie and Carter crawled along the floor and tried to make it to a spot where they’d have a better angle on the shooters so they could get a clear shot. When Jackie made it to a spot where she had cover and a clear line of sight to the shooters, she slammed in a fresh clip, stood up and hit one of the gunmen with two shots to the chest. The man went down and Jackie took cover as his partner began firing at her. With his attention diverted, he was easy prey for Rain, and she shot him in the back of the head.

  Now that there were only two shooters remaining and they were suddenly outgunned, they headed toward the rear of Mas Que Nada’s firing shots as they moved. Carter had worked his way around and was at the back door to greet them. He opened fire and forced them to seek cover.

  As the remaining shooters returned Carter’s fire, they turned around and attempted to make it out of the front door, but by that time, Rain and Jackie were blocking their path. With the shooters in a crossfire, the three opened fire and their adversaries’ bullet-ridden and bloody bodies crumbled to the floor to the beat of the music.

  When the shooting stopped, instead of leaving, Rain looked around the room and delivered a message.

  “Any of you fucks see Hawkins, you tell him that I will find his mutha fuckin’ ass and he is gonna fuckin’ die,” she said and had started to walk out of Mas Que Nada’s when one of the shooters raised his weapon and pointed it in Rain’s direction. She fired two shots to his head and continued out of the restaurant.

  Chapter Two

  “Where to next?” Jackie asked when they got in Rain’s car and drove away from Mas Que Nada’s.

  “I don’t give a fuck. You choose,” Rain said, as she reloaded the HK433. “Better if it was someplace where Hawkins scary ass might be hiding.”

  “I don’t know what hole in the ground that nigga got his head stuck off in, but we’ll find that ass.”

  “He’ll come up for air, someplace sometime and we’ll get him. He can’t lay in the cut forever, he’s got to surface, even if it’s just to get out of the city,” Carter said.

  “I do have a spot for us to go hit,” Jackie began.

  “I’m listening,” Rain said as Jackie drove.

  “One of my contacts had told me that since we killed Mobley, most of his street-level dealers had scattered,” Jackie said as she headed toward a warehouse that she had been told that some of Mobley’s people hung out. “Some of his crew got on with other players in the game that will be looking to step into those markets.”

  “Markets we opened up,” Carter said. “The elimination of Barnes and Mobley changes everything in the streets. It’s about to get wild out here.”

  “All the more reason that we need to do what we need to do out here and let these mutha fuckas battle for corners and shit,” Rain said remembering her early days working the corners with Ronnie King. “Fighting these dope boys is bad for business.”

  “Tell me about it,” Jackie said.

  “So, where you taking us?” Carter asked.

  “A few of Mobley’s old crew got on with Stanley Hogan,” Jackie said.

  “I heard of this nigga,” Rain said and put a clip in her nine. “They ain’t ready for us.”

  “Not at all,” Jackie agreed. “They’re trying to regroup and move the program forward.”

  “Without Moe’s stupid ass,” Hogan said as he was known to say to any and everybody that got on with him. “That bitch Rona King had that nigga so fucked up in the head that he couldn’t tell his ass from a hole in the ground. She’s a bad little mutha fucka, but she wasn’t that fine to make a nigga fuck with Mike Black and them. That shit was stupid. And here’s the funny shit about it, the nigga wasn’t even fuckin’ her.”

  Hogan had Mobley’s ear until Rona showed up on the scene and fucked up everything. He tried several times to tell Mobley that Rona was using him, but he couldn’t see it. The way Mobley saw it, he was using Rona to get what he wanted and once he had what he wanted, his plan was to kill Rona and take over her organization.

  “Stupid! I told that nigga that fuckin’ with Black and them was bad for business and his health. I tried to tell him that if it was the smart play, then the bitch would be doing it herself with her own people,” Hogan shook his head, “But, you know Moe’s know every-fuckin-thing ass. Look where that shit got him. Dead.”

  As Jackie drove to the warehouse, like Rain, she had a lot on her mind too. For her, this war had been costly in terms of men with money-making ability. When Jackie and Baby Chris intervened in Barnes’s attempt to hit The Four Kings, she became Rona’s priority and she targeted Jackie’s operation.

  The captain without a crew, was what Black called her because following the arrest of Baby Chris, Jackie’s crew now pretty much consisted of Travis and Fiona.

  But, it wasn’t just the loss of money that rocked Jackie to her core, those were her people, not just people that worked for her. As she drove, Jackie thought about how she became their captain. When Rain and Wanda took the family to war over Nick, the smaller operators feared that they would get caught up in their shit and they took their concerns to Jackie.

  She stood in defiance of Rain when she said that she thought that Black needed to know what was going on in his house.

  You not gonna tell Black a damn thing. You say a fuckin’ thing to Black and I will blow your fuckin’ brains out. Understand?

  That ended with Jackie and Travis escorting Rain out of their spot at gunpoint. In doing so, she earned Rain’s res
pect that night and the bond between them was formed. Jackie also stood in defiance of Wanda when Jackie was summoned to her office and Wanda wanted to know where she stood in her fight with Rain. When Jackie asked her if Black knew what she was doing, Wanda’s response was chilling.

  No, he doesn’t and if you’re thinking about calling him in Nassau and telling him, I can assure you that it would be the last call you ever made.

  Although Wanda wasn’t the type to pull out a gun and blast her on the spot, Jackie knew that she wouldn’t have a problem with ordering it done, so she took the threat seriously.

  However, those acts of defiance earned Jackie the smaller operators’ respect. They trusted and had faith in her, so when there came another time when nothing was certain, Jackie stepped up and came through for them. That’s why they were fiercely loyal to her and she was fiercely loyal to them, and that is why Black made her their captain. She would have her revenge for those that she’d lost.

  Having her revenge was the only way for her to atone for what she saw as her responsibility in this war they were fighting. To Jackie, she should have seen Barnes and Mobley coming and been ready for them. Had she been in the streets, maybe she would have heard rumblings of someone gearing up to come at them. But she wasn’t.

  At a crucial time in The Family, instead of being where she was supposed to be, with her finger on the pulse of the streets, Jackie was too busy with her legs in the air while Fiona and Travis made her scream, shake, and curl into the fetal position. The little adventure earned her a lecture from Black, a position that she never wanted to be in – ever.

  I know, better than most, who you are and what your passions are, and you know that I don’t have a problem with it, but disappearing on Rain for days at a time can’t happen again.

  As she arrived at the warehouse and they exited the vehicle, Jackie’s determination to make this right, which was fueled by her anger at what she had lost, came pouring out of her.

  “Let’s go end these bastards,” Jackie said as she grabbed two fragmentation grenades from the arsenal that Rain kept in her truck.

  “Fuckin’ right,” Rain said as she grabbed her HK433 and then got enough C-4 and detonators to get the job done because once she had killed everybody, her plan was to burn the bitch to the fuckin’ ground.

  Once Carter got some extra .40 caliber clips for his Glock 22, Rain shut the trunk and the three killers stayed in the shadows and headed toward the building.

  As soon as they reached the structure and got to the stairs that led inside of the warehouse, one man stepped to the railing armed with a Kel-Tec CMR-30 semi-automatic weapon, took aim and opened fire at them. As the gunman sprayed the area with shells, Rain, Jackie and Carter immediately sought better cover.

  Once she made it to cover, Jackie raised her weapon and shot him in the head. When he went down, they emerged from cover and started toward the stairs again, but another man appeared at the top of the steps and began firing, forcing them to seek cover again.

  “As long as he’s got the high ground, we’re fucked,” Rain shouted and looked at Carter.

  “I’ll go around that way, see if I can get a clear shot at him. Cover me!”

  When Rain and Jackie opened fire to give him cover, Carter moved out and stayed low as he moved to get a better angle on the shooter. When he was in position, Carter rose up and fired, taking him out with a shot in the chest. He kept firing wildly as he stumbled and fell over the rail. When he did, Rain and Jackie came out from cover.

  “Damn,” Jackie said as she passed by his bloody twisted body splattered on the concrete.

  “Yeah, that’s fucked up,” Rain said, and she charged up the stairs two at a time.

  Jackie and Carter ran up the stairs after her. But when she reached the second level with both of her weapons blasting, Rain immediately had to retreat and run for cover, as two more men with automatic weapons began firing at her. She dove on the floor and covered her head.

  When Jackie and Carter reached the second level, they found Rain pinned down and taking heavy fire. Jackie aimed her weapon and opened fire, hitting one of the gunmen. That gave Rain the time she needed to get to her feet and make it to better cover as Carter took down the other shooter.

  “Thanks,” Rain said once she had made it to cover.

  “No worries,” Carter said as he saw two more men coming at them firing.

  When Rain and Carter returned fire on them, it sent the shooters rushing to take cover. Once they reached better cover, the two shooters broke out heavier weapons and sprayed the area with bullets.

  Rain dove for the ground and Carter ran for cover behind a pillar. She crawled along the floor to make it to a spot where she could get to her feet. They separated and opened up on Carter, trying to get him in a crossfire. Carter fired a couple of shots as he moved to better cover. With their gunfire focused on Carter, Rain was able to keep moving to the rear of the warehouse. As the shooter continued firing at Carter, Rain quietly moved in behind one of them. She put her gun to the base of his skull and pulled the trigger.

  Now that only one shooter remained, Carter and Rain concentrated their fire on him. He kept firing until his weapon was empty, but before he could get to his handgun, Carter stepped out and took him down with one shot to the head. Rain walked over to the one she killed, stood over and put two in his chest.

  “Let’s go find Jackie,” Rain said as she walked over to Carter and then did the same with the other as she passed.

  While Rain and Carter were exchanging fire with the two shooters, Jackie kept moving toward the rear of the building. According to Baby Chris, there was a staircase that led to the third level and that was where Hogan was most likely set up.

  As she moved slowly and quietly along the wall, a man ran at Jackie firing his weapon. She quickly found cover and returned fire. He took cover and kept firing at Jackie until his gun was empty and he stopped to reload a fresh clip. Jackie hit him with two shots to the chest, the gunman went down, and he dropped his gun.

  As he struggled to get to it, Jackie came out from cover, and shot him in the back before he could reach for it. Jackie was about to reload when another gunman began firing at her. She went for her second gun and returned fire as she ran for cover, but one of his shots hit Jackie in the vest. The impact took her off her feet and she hit her head on the ground.

  Still dazed from the fall, Jackie crawled to cover. The gunman kept firing as he walked boldly toward her. With her head still hurting from the fall, Jackie shook it off as best she could, took aim and fired at the gunman until her gun was empty.

  The cluster of shots may have hit him in the chest, but he kept coming. As Jackie was scrambling to reload, the gunman fell over face first in front of her.

  “He must have been on that good shit,” Jackie said as she reloaded both of her weapons, got to her feet with both of her weapons raised and continued moving toward the staircase.

  As she started slowly up the staircase, Jackie pressed her back against the wall. She stopped when she heard a noise, looked up and raised her weapons in time to see Hogan coming around the landing. He froze for a second when he saw her, and Jackie opened fire. She hit him with several shots and his bullet-riddled body came tumbling down the stairs and stopped at Jackie’s feet just as Rain and Carter arrived.

  “Thank you for not making me chase you,” Jackie said and put one more in his head before Rain could get to him.

  “You alright?” Carter asked.

  “No. My head hurts,” she said, rubbing the back of her head. “So, running up the stairs to chase Hogan was the last thing I wanted to do.”

  While Carter checked the building to make sure they didn’t miss anybody and take any money that just happen to be laying around, Rain and Jackie planted explosives throughout the structure. When they were finished, they left the warehouse and moved to a safe distance. Rain pressed the detonator and then she got out of the car to watch it burn to the ground.

  Chapter Thre
e

  “What you wanna do now?” Carter asked as the sound of police sirens began filling the air.

  Rain took a look at her handiwork and then she glanced at her watch as she moved toward her car.

  “Why, you got something else to do?”

  “Not especially,” Carter said, as he got back in the car. He didn’t have anything to do, but it was one in the morning and they had hit their first spot at dawn.

  “It’s still early,” Rain said and after she took one last look at the warehouse she just destroyed, she got back in the car. “Let’s hit another spot before we call it a night,” she said, knowing that she had arranged to meet Black, Bobby and Wanda at J.R.’s at three in the morning.

  Carter looked at Jackie as she started the car and drove off. He knew exactly where her head was at.

  Revenge.

  If Rain wanted to do this for days at a time without sleeping, Jackie would be right there with her. And under normal circumstances, he’d be down for that too. But these weren’t normal circumstances.

  Goodbye, Carter. Please stop trying to reach out to me. It’s over between us.

  Those were the last words that Mileena said to him before she closed her car door, drove away and left him standing there feeling like she had kicked his insides out again.

  That’s where Carter was, still standing there in the parking lot outside J.R.’s, watching dumbfounded as Mileena drove away. It was as if he was stuck in that moment of time, hearing those words.

  It’s over between us.

  He was going out of his head trying to think of a way to get back to her. But the finality of her words, it’s over between us, made him feel like it was useless. That no matter what he did, it would never be enough and this time, it really was over between them. The Family would always come first and to make matters worse, she knew that he had fucked Fantasy. If she ever found out that he was fucking Yarrisa too, she’d be heartbroken. Carter knew that the best thing that could happen for Mileena was for him to leave her alone and let her move on with her life.