by Roy Glenn
“Did you ask Bobby?”
“No. Me and Bobby are cool, at least we are now, but I haven’t felt comfortable enough with him to ask.”
“And you feel comfortable with me?”
“Yes, I do.”
I looked at Shy. “I know what Black sees in you.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s your eyes.”
“You do know him.” Shy leaned against the bar. “He said I have beautiful eyes, very expressive eyes.”
“Your eyes say, it’s okay, Nick, you can tell me.”
“Well?” Shy said.
She listened quietly while I told her the story. Once I finished, she said, “I understand why you’re having such a hard time facing Bobby.”
“You wanna share that wisdom with me?”
“You said it yourself. Betrayal. When you betrayed Bobby’s trust, you said you felt like you betrayed everybody.”
“And?”
“That includes you. You betrayed yourself. And that’s what hurts you. So now that you know the whole story, you’re gonna have to forgive yourself for what happened. You were just a pawn in whatever game this woman was playing. Maybe when you forgive yourself, it will be easier for you to ask Bobby to forgive you.”
I thought about what Shy said. “Maybe you’re right. I dishonored myself and then ran away, like a coward. I have to move past that. Make peace with Bobby and myself. Maybe then I won’t feel like such an outsider.”
“That’s right,” Shy said, and poured both of us another drink. “You know you have very trusting eyes, too. Or maybe it’s because I feel like an outsider sometimes, too, I don’t know. But I have to talk to somebody, or I’ll go crazy.” Shy took a sip of her drink. “Black’s not here because we had a fight last night. He left the house and I haven’t seen him since. He may be in New York or he may be right here on this island, I don’t know.”
“What was the fight about?”
“You hit it dead center when you said I was bored. I miss New York and I want to go home. I really haven’t made any real friends down here,” Shy leaned forward and whispered, “Probably because I can’t understand what they’re saying half the time,” Shy laughed. “And these woman, oh god, why they all gotta fall all over my man. And it’s not just these island bitches, the tourists are worst. Why do they have to have their half-naked asses, all up in his face, giggling over every word he says, while I’m standing right there? I mean, Nick, I try to rise above that because I know he really ain’t like that anymore, but it’s hard. Bitches ain’t got no respect.”
“Sometimes getting bitches respect is overrated. As long as Black shows you respect, fuck them bitches. You’re his wife.”
“I know that, Nick. And Michael shows me nothing but love and respect. And I love him so much for that. I know that’s just something I have to get past. I guess I’m just a jealous woman and I’m tired of it, you know what I’m saying?” Shy poured herself another drink, and then she pushed the glass away. “But that’s not the real issue. That was just something I threw in to spice things up a little I guess,” she laughed. “The fight was really about me wanting to go back to New York.”
“But you can’t, because of the conspiracy charge,” I said.
“He lost it when I told him that I would rather go home and do my time then stay down here. I don’t want to be on the run for the rest of my life, Nick. I want to be free.”
“I can understand that. I know what it’s like to carry around a burden. Sometimes you got to face it, not run away from it,” I said, knowing that I should take my own advice.
Just then, I looked and saw somebody I thought I knew sitting at a table by the door.
“Excuse me a minute Shy, I’ll be right back.”
I got up and walked over to him.
“Roman, Roman Patterson?” I asked. The man didn’t answer at first. He looked at the door and then slowly at me.
“Nick Simmons?” he said quietly and looked back at the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m visiting some old friends.” I started to sit down.
“Get away from me, Nick. I’m waiting for somebody,” he said practically in a whisper.
“What?”
“I’m DEA, Nick. Get away from me,” he said loud enough for me to hear him this time. I turned quickly and walked away, just as three men, one white and two Hispanic, entered the club and sat down at the table with Roman. I went back to the bar and sat down. Shy came over to me.
“What was up with that? You didn’t know him?”
“He’s DEA.” I saw the expression on Shy’s face. “Calm down, he’s not here for you.”
We looked on as the four men talked and laughed like old friends, until one of the Hispanic men glanced at me. The man stood up, and looked directly at me, took out his gun and shot the DEA agent in the head. Customers began running out the back door, turning over tables in their wake, while others dove on the floor. He turned and fired on me.
“Get down!” I yelled at Shy.
Shy ducked down behind the bar, while I fired wildly and took cover behind a table. The other two men broke out semi-automatic weapons and began firing at me. They had me pinned down as they moved toward the door.
Shy reached for the pump. “Finally a little excitement on this rock.”
She rose up, took aim, fired at and dropped the Hispanic man with the semi. Shy took cover, as the remaining two began shooting at her. This time it was me that came up blasting, hitting the other Hispanic man who shot the agent. He went down.
Shy stayed low as she moved toward the end of the bar. She stood up and fired the pump just as the white man ran out the door. I came out from behind the table, as Shy moved toward the door. With her back turned, she didn’t see one of the men get up.
“Shy! Behind you!” I yelled and aimed my weapon. But it was too late. The man had grabbed Shy and pointed his gun to her head.
“Drop it!” he yelled. Shy threw away the pump. “You too, drop it!” he yelled at me.
“Let her go!” I said taking a step closer.
The man fired, barely missing Shy. “I’ll kill her!”
I knew I could shoot the man in the head before he could get a shot off. And I was about to when the white guy burst through the door, firing that semi. It gave them enough time to get out the door. By the time I got outside, they were gone.
Now that the shooting had stopped, people began to get up off the floor and began to move around. The cook came out of the kitchen. “Go on and get out of here. I’ll take care of things here,” the cook said.
I grabbed a tablecloth and picked up the pump. I picked up my suitcase and left the club through the back door. I walked quickly and with my head down, past the crowd, and along the beach until I reached the canal. Carefully I wiped the pump clean and then proceeded to smash it against the rocks. Then picked up all the pieces and put them back in the tablecloth. Then I walked down the canal and dropped broken pieces of the pump into the water. With all the pieces gone, I folded up the tablecloth and put it in my suitcase. I made my way back to the main road and was able to flag down a cab.
“Bahama Princess,” I said as I got in the cab. “No, take me to the Lucayan Beach Hotel.”
Once I arrived at the hotel, I checked in and went straight to my room. I opened up the suitcase and took the tablecloth and my gun out. I put the gun on the nightstand and took the tablecloth down the hall to the laundry shoot. I went back to the room and sat down on the bed. I tried but couldn’t seem to make sense of what had just happened. I picked up the phone and called Freeze at Cuisine.
“Cuisine,” Freeze answered.
“Freeze, it’s Nick. Is Black there?”
“No, I thought he was down there with you? What’s going on?”
“Some shooting went down at Black’s club. And—” I said but Freeze interrupted.
“Hold up, Nick. Wanda and Bobby are here, I’m gonna put you on speaker.” Great. “Nick, you sti
ll there?”
“I’m here.”
“Now what happened?” Freeze asked.”
“There was a shooting at Black’s club. Bandits killed a DEA agent and took Shy with them when they left.”
“What!” Freeze said.
“They took Shy.”
“Took her where?” Wanda asked excitedly.
“I don’t know.” I replied.
“Start at the beginning, Nick. What happened?” Wanda asked.
“I saw a guy I knew; he turned out to be DEA. He wasn’t there looking for Shy, he was just meeting somebody there. One of the people he met recognized me, when he saw me; he shot the agent and started shooting at me. Shy pulled out a pump from under the bar and started shooting back. One of them got behind Shy and grabbed her on the way out the door.”
“Did you recognize any of them, Nick?” Wanda asked.
“No.”
“What they look like?” Freeze asked.
“One Hispanic male, South American, I think. The other one was white. The Hispanic man’s been shot.”
“Damn!” Freeze said, “This is fucked up.”
“What happened then, Nick?” Wanda asked. “What about the police?”
“I got out of there with Shy’s pump and left the cook to deal with the cops.”
“Okay, he’s a good man, he knows how to handle the situation,” Wanda said.
“That depends on who shows up,” Freeze said.
“Where are you staying?” Wanda asked.
“Lucayan Beach.”
“Okay, stay there. I’ll call you back after I talk to the cook.”
Before Wanda disconnected the call, I heard Bobby say, “What’s he been down there, four hours?”
The End of Private Deceptions
The Mike Black Saga continues in Payback
PAYBACK
PAYBACK
Roy Glenn
© Copyright Roy Glenn 2011
Escapism Entertainment
Atlantic Beach, Florida
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locals are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
Chapter One
Shy tried to stay as calm as she could with a gun pointed at her head. She’d just been taken hostage from Black’s Paradise, a reggae club on the beach in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. She glanced over at her abductor and then to his stomach. He was losing a lot of blood.
“This man is gonna die unless you do something to stop the bleeding,” Shy yelled at the driver.
“How bad is it, Julio?” the driver asked.
“It’s bad, Sal,” Julio said as he continued to hold his gun to Shy’s head.
“Hold on, man. I’ll get you to a doctor.”
The sight of Julio’s blood took Shy back a couple of years to the night she got shot. She thought she was going to die sitting alone in the backseat of that car.
Shy could hear the cop yelling, Freeze! as she turned and pointed her gun at him. The bullet hit her in the upper right chest, near her shoulder. Shy shot back as she fell and hit the cop with one shot to the head. When she got up, deciding not to take the time to ponder the ramifications of killing a cop, she picked up the briefcase and proceeded down the fire escape.
That night changed my life forever, Shy thought as she felt Julio’s gun in her side.
“What’s your name, sweetie?” Sal asked.
“Cassandra Black,” Shy answered defiantly.
“Cassandra Black, as in Mike Black is your husband, Cassandra Black?”
“Yes,” Shy said, hoping that his name carried some weight, but unsure whether it was a good or bad thing.
Where are you, baby? Shy thought.
Mike Black had always been there for her. When someone was trying to kill her, it was Black who provided her with the lead that she needed. And it was Black who intervened when Hector told her, ‘no money, no product’. In the time that she’d known Mike Black, he had saved her life three times, if you count him sending Bobby and Freeze to save her when she had gotten in over her head.
I need you to save me now.
“Shit,” Sal said quietly. “So, that club was Black’s club? What the fuck am I asking? Black’s fuckin’ Paradise. Shit!” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
It was answered on the first ring. “Que pasa?”
“This is Sal. I need to talk to Papi.”
“He is very busy right now. Why don’t you call him back in about an hour?”
“I need to talk to him now! Just give him the fuckin’ phone.”
“Okay, Sal, hold on. Papi!” He continued in Spanish, “Sal dice necesita hablar con él ahora,” letting Papi know that Sal needed to talk to him now.
Papi took a deep breath and reached for the phone. He set it down on his lap, lit a cigar, and took a sip of his tequila before picking up the phone.
“Sal, what is so important that you must talk now? You should learn to relax, take things easy. You think with your mind. You move with your body. Mind and body are interrelated, and you must learn to maintain control of your own body. Relaxation techniques can help you to think clearer, focus more, and concentrate.”
Now it was Sal who took a deep breath. He could hear what sounded like a woman laughing in the background.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Papi, but shit went bad for us in the Bahamas.”
“Really? What happened?” Papi said calmly.
“Julio went wild and just started shooting up the place.”
“I did not go wild, Papi!” Julio screamed in his defense. “Those men were DEA!” Julio yelled as Shy held her breath. The last thing she wanted was for Julio to get excited and shoot her accidentally.
“Now he’s saying that the money guy was DEA,” Sal told Papi.
“So, you didn’t get the money?”
“No, Papi, we didn’t get the money.”
“Why not, Sal?”
“The money guy wasn’t alone. After Julio shot the money guy, this other guy opened up on us and we had to shoot our way outta there. Then Mike Black’s wife starts shooting at us with a pump. She killed Manuel. Did you know that it was Mike Black’s club we was meeting in?”
“You ask too many questions, Sal.”
“All I’m saying is that we had to take her hostage to get outta there.”
Papi laughed out loud, thinking that things were working out better than he planned. “I want you to take her to Miami and call me when you get there.”
“I know this guy from New York. He’s a crazy mutha fucka.”
“I know who he is, and that is exactly why I want you to take her to Miami.”
“I don’t think you understand. Mike Black is connected to some very powerful people. I don’t think we want to fuck with him. I think we should drop her off somewhere and be done with her.”
“Sal,” Papi said, no longer laughing. “I like you, Sal, and we have not worked together for very long, so I’m going to tell you something, and I know that I’m only going to have to tell you this one time. I don’t pay you to think. When you work for me, I demand your respect and your loyalty. I expect you to believe in me, and to do exactly what I say without question. Is that understood, Sal?”
“Yes, Papi,” Sal said and rolled his eyes.
“That is good. Now, take her to the boat. The captain will take you to Miami, and you will call me when you get there. Comprendé?”
“I understand, Papi,” Sal replied reluctantly and drove toward the dock.
Papi hung up the phone and turned to his associate.
“I’m sorry, my dear,” Papi said.
“What was that about?” she asked.
Papi lo
oked her and thought for a second. “This may be of particular interest to you. Sal had to take a hostage.” Papi paused for effect. “Her name is Cassandra Black.”
“Give her to me,” the woman said and smiled.
“Why, so you can kill her?” Papi laughed.
“Yes.”
While Sal drove, trying to heal his broken ego and Julio grimaced in pain, Shy thought about her situation. She tried to convince herself that she wasn’t scared, not really anyway. She was raised around all types of the criminal element: gangsters, hustlers, and dealers. These guys were no different. She could and would kill them if she got the chance. Shy had to laugh at herself as she thought back to the days when all she was good at was pulling her gun and talking big shit. Shy had shot at people, not knowing if she hit anyone. But things were different now. She had stood in front of a man, looked him in the eyes, pulled the trigger and watched him die.
Shy was relieved that whoever this Papi character was, he wanted her alive; at least for the time being. And the only reason for that was because she was married to Mike Black. He controlled a profitable gambling, prostitution and number running business, and although they lived in the Bahamas now, his name was still influential in the States. Once again, he had saved her life.
Mike loved Shy deeply and wanted to ensure that nothing would ever happen that would put her life in jeopardy. That was why he had moved Shy out of New York to the Bahamas. Black thought that she would be safe in their quiet island paradise.
She felt a chill as the idea that she might never see her husband again washed over her. She loved him so much and hated the fact that they had fought the night before.
If Michael had been there, none of this would be happening.
Shy didn’t want their fight to be the last thing they shared.
Sal pulled up at the dock and he looked back at Shy.
“Now listen, we’re gonna get out of this car and go to the boat. You’re gonna go quietly. Some people seem to think that you’ve got some value, so you get to stay alive for a little while. But if you try to get away or call for help, I’ll put a bullet in your brain. You understand?”