by Roy Glenn
“I understand,” Shy said.
Sal got out of the car and pulled Shy out. He moved down the walkway quickly, practically dragging Shy along as he headed for the boat. Julio held his stomach and followed behind them as best he could.
As they made their way to the boat, Shy looked around the crowded dock and hoped that she saw someone she knew. You know, somebody who would question why this man was dragging her along, and do something to help or at least get word to Mike.
That’s when she saw him. Shy didn’t know what his name was, but she recognized him from the club.
He’s practically a regular.
Shy had seen him many times laughing and talking with Mike and Jamaica. But the only problem was he wasn’t looking in her direction. Knowing that she would have to do something to get his attention, Shy pretended to stumble and fall.
“Ouch!” Shy screamed, acting as if she was in pain and grabbing her ankle. That got his attention, as well as a few other people.
“All right, sweet cheeks, get up,” Sal said as Julio caught up.
“I can’t! I hurt my leg.”
“I said get up,” Sal demanded, grabbing Shy by the arm and pulling her to her feet.
“Where are you taking me?” Shy asked as she struggled just enough to put on a good show, but not enough to get herself killed.
“We’re taking a little trip to Miami. Now, stop fuckin’ around and get on that boat,” he commanded and pointed at the boat.
As they continued walking, Shy looked straight at the man and mouthed the words, Help me.
Chapter Two
Nick hung up the phone and lay across the king-sized bed at the Lucayan Beach Hotel. He looked out the sliding glass door at the Caribbean Sea and tried to clear his head. He got up, walked over to the mini-bar, and took out a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. Nick felt bad, very bad about allowing Shy to be kidnapped.
What else could I have done? What could I have done to save her? There was only one answer.
He should have never been there in the first place.
And what would he say to Black?
How would Nick explain to him that he was not only the reason the shooting started, but that he had a shot, but was too slow in taking it?
He went to the door and looked out. As Nick finished the small bottle of Johnnie Black, he gave some thought to the fact that he had hung out in New York the night before, caught an early flight, and had been up the better part of the day. He did close his eyes during the flight to the Bahamas, but now, he suddenly felt tired.
As Nick laid back across the bed, his head began to spin. He realized the he and Shy drank quite a bit that afternoon. He closed his eyes and began to think back over what had just happened.
As he drifted off to sleep, he acknowledged the fact that his intoxication definitely played a role in Shy’s kidnapping. With his level of skill, Nick should have been able to drop all three of the bandits, semi or not. He shot Julio, but Julio was still able to get up and walk out with Shy. If he had taken the shot, would he have hit the target, or would he have hit Shy? Nick tossed and turned, and the nightmare began again.
“Bobby put the gun down!” Mike yelled.
“I’ll kill you!” Bobby screamed at Nick.
Mike put his gun to Bobby’s head. “Bobby please,” he said quietly. “Take the gun out of his mouth and put it down.”
“Don’t think this is over. I’ll kill you!” Bobby shouted. “And that bitch!”
Nick sat straight up on the bed and reached for his gun. He was sweating and breathing hard. Slowly, he began to calm down. He looked over at the bed next to him; there was a man lying down. Nick aimed his weapon at the man. With the barrel of the gun, Nick poked the man in the back.
“Get up. Nice and slow,” Nick said as he backed away and the man began to move.
“Don’t you think I unloaded your gun before I laid down?”
“Black,” Nick said as Mike Black sat up on the bed.
“Hello, Nick. Damn, it’s good to see you.”
Mike stood up and held out his arms. Although he was glad to see him, Mike would have preferred that it be under better circumstances than this. Mike was pretty excited when Wanda called and said that Nick was on his way to the island to see him. Now this had to happen.
“Good to see you too, Black.” The two men embraced. “How long have you been here?”
“Not long. You still having that same nightmare?”
“Yeah.” Nick nodded his head. Mike understood; memories of that night haunted him too. His two closest friends at each other’s throats. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” Nick asked.
“I tried to wake you up, but you were dead to the world. I heard you and Cassandra had a lot to drink.”
There was an uncomfortable silence that drifted between them. “So, you know what happened?”
“Yes,” Mike said and sat down on the bed. “I talked to Wanda after you called her. She told me what happened. I went by the club and talked to the cook.”
“I’m sorry, Black,” Nick said as he sat down and started to tell his story.
“Never mind that now. Get up and let’s go. You can tell your story on the way.”
Nick stood up and got two other guns out of the suitcase. “Where we going?”
“Eight Mile Rock.”
While Mike drove, Nick told Mike exactly what happen that afternoon at Black’s Paradise. Mike listened without comment until they reached a house off the main road.
“Let’s go,” Mike said as he got out of the car. Nick followed Mike to the door. He knocked twice and the door opened. A man with an AK47 stepped to the side to let them in.
“He here?” Mike asked.
“In the back,” the man answered and escorted them out the back door to the pool. There were four men, all armed, sitting around the pool. Three of them jumped to their feet when they saw Mike. Slowly, the fourth man turned around. He smiled when he saw Mike coming toward him.
“What’s up, Black?” Jamaica stood up. Then he saw Nick. “Is that Nick?”
“That’s him, Trouble Man in person,” Mike said.
“What’s up, Jamaica?” Nick said, remembering that Trouble Man was what they used to call him when they were growing up. At the time, it was because of Nick’s fondness for the Marvin Gaye song. Now, at this time, the name took on a whole new meaning.
“Been a long time, Nick,” Jamaica said, reclaiming his seat. “You still drinking that Johnnie Black?”
“Yeah, but I’ll pass. I think I’ve done enough drinking today,” Nick replied and sat down.
Mike walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of Remy Martin. “You heard anything yet, Jay?”
“The word on the rock is they come to do business. They go ’round talkin’ ’bout they gon’ make big money. Them say that Conchie Joe have plenty money.”
“Nick, when they left, did they have the money with them?” Mike asked. “Where was the dope?”
“I didn’t see any drugs or money change hands. And now that I think about it, I didn’t see Roman with anything that might have had money in it.”
“Maybe they were just meeting to set up the buy,” Nick said.
“Maybe,” Jamaica said. “But me hear that the deal was to be done today.”
“But if the deal was to get done today, then where was his backup? You can’t sit there and tell me that the DEA is about to do what sounds like a major bust, and the agent is in there by himself. And even if today wasn’t the day, why didn’t he have any backup? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Mike walked over to the pool and sat down on the diving board. “You got names on these bandits?”
“Not yet, but me have me brethren out looking for them,” Jamaica said. “Me have someone at the airport and at the dock. Them have to charter a plane or a boat to get off the island.”
“Send someone around to all the people we know that charter. If they try to get off the island, I wanna know about it,
” Mike said as the phone rang.
Jamaica answered. “Hello.”
“Me find a man at the dock,” one of Jamaica’s men said. “Him say that he see Shy and two men get on a boat. Him think he hear them say they going to Miami.”
“Him sure ’bout that?” Jamaica asked.
“Me don’t know. I just tell you what him tell me.”
“What was the name of the boat?”
“Destiny.”
Chapter Three
Jamaica wasted no time giving Mike the information he had just received. Mike picked up the phone and made arrangements to have a chartered plane meet them at the airport. Then he called Bobby in New York.
“What’s going on down there, Mike? You find her?” Bobby asked.
“No. I need you to meet me in Miami.”
“You got it. I’ll call you from the airport.”
“Let me talk to Freeze,” Mike said.
“He had to go handle something. I’ll tell you about it when I see you.”
“Okay, you get down here as soon as you can. Let me speak to Wanda.”
Bobby handed Wanda the phone and left the office at Cuisine.
“Hello, Mike,” she said. “Have you heard anything yet?”
“Yeah. Do you have anybody in Miami?”
“We got a couple of good people. What do you need?”
“I need you to find out everything you can about a boat named Destiny. I wanna know where it’s docked and who owns it and find out fast. I’m on my way there now.”
“You find Nick?”
“He’s with me.”
“He was with Freeze last night. He can tell you what Freeze is dealing with.”
“You just find out what’s up with that boat, Wanda,” Mike said and hung up the phone. “Jamaica, you have the brethren meet me at the airport with whoever gave them this information. I wanna talk to him myself.” Mike turned to Nick. “What’s going on with Freeze?”
“Huh?” Nick answered, not knowing what Mike was talking about.
“Bobby said Freeze had to go handle something, and Wanda told me that you were with him last night and that you could tell me what Freeze had to go handle.”
“There were some guys posted up, trying to roll at Doc’s place last night. Freeze thinks they work for Derrick Washington, calls himself D-train. He used to be Chilly’s lieutenant.”
“Curl? That bitch nigga ain’t got the heart to take Freeze on,” Mike said, thinking that somebody must be backing D-Train.
Jamaica sat in the front seat and talked on his cell phone while one of his men drove. Nick sat quietly behind the driver while Mike stared out the window. Naturally, his mind was on Shy, hoping that she was at least unharmed, if not safe. But there was something, a few things, actually, about this that was bothering him.
First off, why would somebody plan a drug deal in his place? Anybody who was anybody who was connected to the game knew who he was and knew that Black’s Paradise was his place, and the one thing Mike Black didn’t tolerate was drug dealing. Then he couldn’t get past the DEA agent being in there with no backup.
Mike looked over at Nick and he leaned toward him.
“I’m sorry, Black. This is all my fault. I was too slow taking the shot.”
“Don’t worry about it. What’s done is done. Besides, I should have been there. Something I wanna ask you, Nick. This DEA agent, what was his name?”
“Roman Patterson.”
“This guy, this Roman Patterson, how well did you know him?”
“I knew him pretty well. We were in the same unit for two years when I was in the Army.”
“What kind of guy was he?” Mike asked. “Was he a team player or a cowboy?”
“Team player, no doubt. Always about procedure, everything by the book.”
“See, Nick, that’s what’s bothering me. Cowboys go in alone, without any backup, because a cowboy always thinks that he can shoot or fight his way out of anything. Like you, Nick.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.” Mike laughed. “I heard you rolled up in Rocky’s place by yourself,” he said, noting that Nick had rolled up in a den of drug dealers and killers by himself.
“Twice.”
“Risky business.”
“I seem to remember you falling up in a bunch of places by yourself. So, if I am a cowboy, I learned that shit from you,” Nick said.
“I only did that shit when I knew I would be all right. If I thought there was a possibility that shit would get wild, either you or Freeze or Bobby was coming with me.”
“You knew that we had your back,” Nick said, now proud of the life that he ran away from for years.
“That’s what I can’t get past. What was your boy doing up in there without backup?”
“We’ll find her, Black,” Nick said, trying to sound reassuring.
“I hope so, Nick. I hope so,” Mike said and looked out the window. “It’s still good to see you, Nick.”
“It’s good to see you too, Black.” Good to be home, Nick thought.
While Mike stared out the window, he recalled the argument he had with Shy the night before. Thinking back on it now, it wasn’t worth it. He knew that all that shit Shy was talking about him and other women was just a smoke screen to mask what was really bothering her.
But if he really wanted to be honest with himself, Shy did have a point. If he wanted to, he could do something to discourage women from literally throwing themselves at him. In his mind, he wasn’t doing anything, so there wasn’t a problem. But apparently, Shy had a different perception of what was going on, and after all, perception is reality.
Shy felt like women openly showing their affection for her husband was disrespectful. But to Mike, it was all business, making sure his customers, especially the women, were having a good time.
Happy women come back, stay longer, and make men spend more money. Strictly business. Nothing more.
Mike loved Shy, and nothing any of those women had to offer was of any interest to him. He knew that, and believed that Shy should know it too. Mike felt like Shy should trust him.
Even though that wasn’t her real issue, Shy raised it so strongly that Mike let it get under his skin. So, when Shy finally got around to what was really bothering her, he was on fire from, what he considered, her repeated attacks on his fidelity and commitment to their relationship. The truth of the matter was that Shy hadn’t really been all that happy on the island.
“It’s not you, Michael, or anything that you’re doing. Please believe that. I just wanna go home,” Shy said to him the night before. “And if that means that I have to go to jail, then I would rather do that than spend the rest of my life here.”
That’s when he lost his mind. But he knew now that he shouldn’t have. If going back to New York would make her happy, and she believed it so strongly that she was willing to do time, then he should have been willing to hear her out.
How bad could it be?
With his money and contacts, he could have easily had the case heard before a sympathetic judge, and Wanda could have pled it down to something minor.
Truth is; Mike wanted Shy out of New York. He strongly believed that her life was in jeopardy every second that she was there, not only because of what she was doing, but also because of him. His enemies knew that she was his weakness, and Shy would be a way for them to get to him. And he wasn’t having it. It was safer for her if both of them were out of the city and out of the game, or so he thought.
When they arrived at the charter plane, Jamaica’s men were waiting with the man who saw Shy being abducted. Mike recognized him as soon as he saw him. His name was Harold Elgin. Mike had known Mr. Elgin during the days when he was a number runner back in New York, before circumstances forced him to return home to Freeport. The moment Mr. Elgin saw Mike coming, he rose to his feet.
“Mr. Black,” he said as Mike shook his hand.
“Thank you for taking the time to talk to me,” Mike said.
“No problem, but your friends here didn’t leave me with any choice.” Mr. Elgin turned to Jamaica. “You should teach your men some manners, you know. Respect for their elders would help, maybe.”
Mike stepped in front of Jamaica’s men. “You will show this man respect. The same respect you show me.”
“Yah mon, respect,” they echoed as Mike turned his attention to Mr. Elgin.
“Please accept my apology for their disrespect, Mr. Elgin,” Mike said as the two walked away together. “These young boys don’t have any respect for anything except power and money.”
“Not like the old days, you know. Back then, you show a man respect until he proved himself unworthy of that respect. But under the given circumstances, I understand.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
“I was down by the docks earlier today when I heard some commotion. When I look, I see your wife on the ground. Two men were standing above her. She didn’t appear to be hurt. As I think back, I believe that she was trying to get my attention.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because when I turn to see, she was looking at me the entire time. As they drag her to she feet, she continue to look at me. And I am sure she mouth the words help me. When I move closer, I hear her ask, where are you taking me? The white man say they were taking a little trip to Miami.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I may be an old man and not worthy of young man’s respect, but I can still hear.”
“Did you recognize the men?”
“No. I never see them before.”
“What they look like, Mr. Elgin?”
“I didn’t get a really good look, but as I say, one was white and the other was of Latin descent. It appeared that he was hurt. I say this because him move slow and hold his stomach the whole time.”
“Anything else you can tell me about them?”
“No, that is all I can tell you. Mr. Black, I am sorry to say that I did nothing to help your wife. It happen so quickly, and I don’t carry a gun anymore.”
“No need to apologize, Mr. Elgin. If you had tried to help her, those men would have killed you,” Mike said as Nick walked up on them.