by Roy Glenn
“Whatever, nigga. You ain’t got to trust me.” Mylo held up the envelope that Stark had just given him. “This all the trust I need from your ass,” Mylo told Stark and left the Shrine Bar.
Stark was right not to trust Mylo, because Mylo had a plan. His plan was simple: organize what was left of Birdie’s old crew, kill them off and then take over their markets. It was a plan that he knew would work perfectly, but he knew he couldn’t do it alone. He would need some help.
Just then, Mylo looked up and saw DEA agent Masters come into the diner. Mylo and agent Masters used to work together, cut a few corners together and made a lot of money shaking down the very dealers they were assigned to investigate and bring to justice. This went on until Mylo was reassigned and began working undercover.
When Mylo determined that he couldn’t carry out his plan alone, the person he turned to was Masters. When the two first talked about it, Masters didn’t seem all that interested in Mylo’s plan to take over the drug market, but a week later, Masters called and said he wanted to meet.
Mylo insisted that the meeting take place at a small bar in Stamford, Connecticut, where he could be sure he wouldn’t be recognized meeting with the agent. When Masters arrived at the meeting, he wasn’t alone. DEA agent Pete Vinnelli was with him.
“Who’s this?” Mylo asked as soon as he saw Vinnelli.
“You asked for my help, right? All you need to know is that he is part of the help you want,” Masters said.
“I’m a friend of a friend of yours, Mylo. Or should I call you Clint?” Vinnelli asked.
“What friend?” Mylo needed to know.
“DeFrancisco,” Vinnelli said simply.
At that point, Mylo knew exactly what the deal was, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. Before DeFrancisco went to jail, Mylo had begun working for him. When Mylo was arrested, his first thought was that somebody realized that he was out there without a handler and they were bringing him in. He began to worry when Federal Marshals took him to the airport and flew him to North Carolina and deposited him in some small town jail. After three weeks in that cell, Mylo woke up one morning to find agent DeFrancisco standing in front of him.
DeFrancisco told Mylo that he knew what he’d been doing and showed him a picture to prove it. At first, DeFrancisco gave Mylo a choice, “Turn over all the evidence to me or you’ll be going to jail for a very long time.” For Mylo, the choice was a no brainer. DeFrancisco put him in touch with Birdie’s partner, Albert. But then DeFrancisco went to jail and left Mylo making crazy money with no handler.
Now, Vinnelli’s presence at this meeting meant that he would have to cut him in on the deal. Mylo barely trusted Masters, but at this point, he had no choice. He took a deep breath and laid out his plan for the agents. Masters had plenty of questions to ask Mylo about how this or that would work out, while Vinnelli remained quiet.
Once Mylo was done, Vinnelli finally spoke. “Okay, Clint, we’ll help you, but you gotta do something for us.”
“What's that?” Mylo asked.
“We’ll provide the men to kill the dealers. But only if you convince this Commission that Mike Black is the one responsible for the murders and that they go after Black in response to the murders. That and twenty-five percent.” Vinnelli laughed that night. Naturally, Mylo agreed and The Commission murders began.
“What's up, Mylo?” Masters said as he sat down in the booth.
“Ain’t nothing,” Mylo said as the waitress came to the table to refresh his coffee.
“What can I get you?” the waitress asked as she poured.
“Just a cup of coffee,” Masters said. “Do you have any pie?”
“Best apple pie in the big apple.”
“Well, we’ll just have to see about that. Why don’t you bring me a slice of pie, Sweetie?” Once the waitress was gone, Masters turned his attention to Mylo. “You hear anything from Stark or that other clown yet?”
“BB’s in the wind, but he’ll turn up. I just left Stark at the Shrine Bar. He wouldn’t tell me where, but I think he’s hiding out somewhere in Harlem. Give me a couple of days and I’ll have them both in place for you.”
Masters leaned back and thought for a second or two. “We’ll worry about them later. We’re moving up the timetable.”
“Why?”
“You ask too many questions, Mylo. What is going to happen now is that you are going to get Mike Black in place.”
“Like I told you, he don’t come into the city much, and when he does, he goes to Cynt’s, picks up that same ho and breaks to that hotel. But I doubt if he goes back there after what happened. You should have sent your own team.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll meet my team soon enough. You just get him in place. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Mylo paused when the waitress returned with pie and coffee for Masters. Masters observed the look on Mylo’s face and asked, “What?”
“Stark said that Black and Bobby Ray have been in the city looking for him.”
“Ray always with him?”
“How the fuck should I know?” Mylo said angrily.
“Calm down.”
“Fuck that shit. The deal was for you to kill all four of them, not just two; all fuckin’ four. Now your smug ass wanna sit there and tell me we’re moving up the timetable.”
“Lower your voice,” Masters cautioned and calmly ate his pie.
“Don’t you think I know what’s gonna happen when you get Black?”
“What’s gonna happen, Mylo?”
“You’re gonna leave killing Stark and BB to me and you’re still gonna want the cut we agreed on.”
Masters smiled. “That’s pretty much right. But you’re forgetting one thing.”
“What's that?”
“Black and Bobby Ray believe these clowns are the ones trying to kill him. When my team gets Black, what do you think your boy Freeze is gonna do?”
“Blow up the city.”
“Right.” Masters stood up and threw some money on the table. “Call me when you got him in play,” he said and walked toward the door.
Meanwhile out in the car, Monika and Jackie had heard and recorded each word. All Jackie could say was, “Wow.”
“I know, that shit is deep,” Monika agreed as she snapped a picture of agent Masters leaving the diner. “You got to tell Black about this.”
“I know,” Jackie said and then she realized that she had no way of contacting Black. “He doesn’t have a cell and I don’t know Bobby’s.”
Monika snapped off a few shots of Masters getting in his Cadillac. “I could call Nick. He’ll know how to get in touch with him,” Monika said and pulled out her cell phone. She pressed Nick’s speed dial number and the phone rang once before going to voice mail. “Shit! Since that nigga started fuckin’ Wanda, he don’t ever answer his phone.”
“Nick is fuckin’ Wanda?”
“Yup.”
“Oooh, Nick,” Jackie giggled.
“What now?” Monika asked.
“Take me to Cynt's. She’ll know how to contact Black.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Mike Black
It has been a long day and an even longer week, but I was having a ball. It was just like old times. Me and Bobby had been riding, looking for this nigga Stark. He had gone underground, and nobody had seen or heard from him or this other mutha fucka I heard was down with him.
With nothing else to go on, I decided to run down CeCe and see if she had given my message to Stark. She wasn’t hard to find. CeCe had been leaving messages for me with anybody with a pulse that she needed to talk to me, but she wouldn’t say what it was about. I guess she didn’t want Cash’s people thinking she was the one who set Cash up. The whole situation would be funny if it wasn’t me these youngsters were trying to kill. I was glad that I had taken Michelle to stay with my mother. I couldn’t be out here like this if I had to worry about her.
I rolled up on CeCe at the same place I found her the las
t time, on the dance floor, making that big, juicy ass she was carrying bounce. And just like last time, I stood where I knew she would see me, and once I got her attention, I pointed toward the bar.
CeCe smiled and nodded her head and I went to the bar to wait for her. I grabbed a seat at the bar and watched her dance. Me and Bobby were on our second shot of Remy when she finally dragged herself off the dance floor. “You’re a hard man to find,” CeCe said and kissed me on the cheek.
“What was that for?”
“Just something I been thinking about doing since the last time I saw you.” CeCe leaned closer to me. “Only when I’m thinking about kissing you, it ain’t on the cheek.”
“I’ll give you two some privacy,” Bobby said and started to get up.
“No,” I told him, and he sat back down. CeCe was wearing a tight black V-neck top that displayed an ample amount of cleavage and some jeans that looked like they were painted on her. She looked good, damn good, but I wasn’t here for that, even though the more I looked at her, the more interested I was. But she didn’t need to know that. All she needed to know is that I wanted Stark.
“You talk to Stark yet?”
“Yeah, I talked to him at K's funeral,” CeCe told me.
“You tell him what I said?”
“Yep. He said if you ain’t got no problems with him, then he got none with you.” Then CeCe smiled and I wondered why. “He said he won’t fuck with you and what you do as long as you don’t fuck with him and what he got going. He said he ain’t got nothing to do with what Cash or K’s boyz do. But he ain’t going to no damn meeting. That ain’t happening.”
That wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear, and I guess she knew that, and that’s why she was smiling. She did tell me that Billy Banner was the fourth member of this so-called Commission. I knew his brother, Darryl, back in the day; he was a standup guy, as Angelo would say. The way I get it, Billy was nothing more than a placeholder. Darryl still ran the crew from his cell. I respected him, so I got a message to him about what was going on between me and his brother.
It took less than a day for word to come back to me that Darryl knew nothing about his crew being part of any Commission. The word was that they were looking for Billy because he bounced with all the money and product.
The week wasn’t a total loss. CeCe told me who it was that pulled the drive-by on me and Bobby. “They trying to make rep, telling anybody who’ll listen.”
And then CeCe told me where I could find them. “You sure about this?” I asked her.
“Yes, Black. I’m sure. I would never lie to you,” CeCe said and pressed up against me. In my predator days, there was a rule that I used to live by: If a woman sets it out for me like she was doing, she would get fucked, whether I really wanted her or not. Those days, I didn’t give a fuck; I woulda taken her outta there and fucked her in the first dark spot I could find. And then I’d go do what I had to do. That was then; this is now.
“They been bragging about how they almost got y’all”
“Like almost actually counted for something.”
“And how funny it was to see y’all running like scared bitches,” CeCe continued
At that point, I knew that CeCe was a dangerous woman. She knew exactly what buttons to push. She was the type of woman who could get a weak mutha fucka to do anything she wanted. But I wasn’t no weak mutha fucka.
“So when you and me gonna get together?” she said as sexy as she could.
I stood up and so did Bobby. “When I’m done.” Then I thought about it. “Come with me.” I had no idea what they looked like, but I knew that as soon as me and Bobby walked in the place, that they would recognize us, nut the fuck up, and start blasting. Taking CeCe along would make things easy.
She smiled at me like I told her to come get some dick. “Yes, Black.”
CeCe said that there were three of them and they hung out at a spot on 233rd street. I told her to go inside and tell them that Stark was outside waiting for them. “Tell ’em he wants to get back to business with The Commission and he need ’em to step it up.”
“What if they don’t believe me?” CeCe asked.
“Tell ’em you been thinking about it and you wanna fuck all three of ’em,” Bobby said. “All that body you carrying, they’ll follow you anywhere.”
“At least somebody in here noticed,” CeCe said and got out of the car; and I enjoyed watching her walk.
“You gonna fuck her?” Bobby asked once she was inside. “Because if you ain’t, I will.”
“Free country, Bob. You can fuck her if you want her. I don’t give a fuck. I didn’t think she was your type.”
“Why? She got a pussy, don’t she?”
“True. But she ain’t skinny as a rail and she definitely ain’t flat-chested. Ain’t that how you like them?”
“I’m trying to broaden myself; try new things. I’m getting older now and I like a little more cushion than I used to these days.”
“I ain’t mad at you.”
We had been waiting about half an hour when I looked up and saw CeCe come out the lounge with three niggas trailing close behind her. “Where the fuck is she going?” Bobby asked.
“How should I know?” When I saw her get in a car with them and pull off, we followed them.
“How you know we can trust her?”
“We don’t,” I said as we followed them down 233rd.
“I mean she could be leading us into a trap.”
“You wanna back off? Call Freeze or Nick?”
“Hell no. Trap or not, these bastards gonna die tonight.”
We followed them to the Oasis Motel on Boston Road. “I guess she went with the orgy story,” I said.
“Smart girl.”
They all got out of the car and one of them went to get the room while the other two stayed by the car with CeCe. She saw where we had parked and was looking at me while they felt her up. The look on her face screamed, “What the fuck you waiting for?”
I wanted them in a room, chillin’, thinking about getting some pussy. I had something special in mind for them. Something that would send a message to Stark and any other nigga that was down with this commission, or who even had dreamt about coming after me over this bullshit. I had to let ’em know that I wasn’t somebody that they needed to be fuckin’ with.
“You still ride with the sawed-off and a hunting knife in the trunk?” I asked.
“I never leave home without it,” Bobby replied.
“Good,” I said and put on my gloves.
“Ain’t the shotgun gonna make too much noise?” Bobby asked.
“I’m not planning on shooting it,” I told Bobby, and put silencers on both of my guns. He was more than just my partner and my best friend; he was my brother.
Once they had their room key, we watched as they went inside the room. I could see CeCe looking back at us. I could only imagine what was going through her mind as the door closed behind them. “Let’s go.”
Bobby went and got the knife and the sawed-off out of the trunk, along with some plastic handcuffs and a roll of duct tape. When we got to the door, I could hear the music playing and them yelling for CeCe to take it off. “You ready?” I asked.
“Let’s do it,” Bobby replied and kicked the door open. When I rushed in, one of them reached for his gun. I shot him in the hand before he could get to it.
“Anybody else wanna try that?” Bobby asked with the shotgun pointed at one of their heads.
Complete silence was the answer he got.
I looked at the three of them for the first time in good light. None of them could be any older than twenty. “You mutha fuckas know who I am?”
Complete silence was the answer I got.
“I’m the nigga that’s gonna kill you tonight,” I said and turned to CeCe. “You can go now, CeCe.”
“CeCe, you fuckin’ bitch! You set us up!” one said.
“I’ma kill you!” the other said.
Me and Bobby laughed an
d so did CeCe. “No nigga,” CeCe said and got in his face. “Didn’t you hear what the man said? You the one gonna die.”
“I said leave,” I reiterated.
“I’d rather stay,” CeCe told me.
“I don’t remember asking you what you’d rather do.”
“Please,” she said in a voice that made me remember that she was dangerous.
“If you don’t get the fuck outta here, I’ll kill you, too.”
“Okay, okay,” she said and started for the door.
“Before you go,” Bobby said and handed her the duct tape. “Put tape over their mouths.”
When she was done with that, I told her to put the plastic cuffs around their wrists and ankles. “Cuff those two to the chairs.”
When she was done, CeCe came and stood next to me. “What now?”
“Nothing. Get out of here.”
This time she didn’t protest, “Yes, Black,” CeCe said and walked toward the door. “Am I gonna see you again?”
“Yeah. Now get out.”
As soon as CeCe slammed the door, I turned my attention to the three of them. “You mutha fuckas gonna wish you were never born.” I walked over to the one I shot. I pulled him up from the bed. I hit him a few times and then me and Bobby dragged him into the bathroom. We put him in the shower with his hands above the showerhead, then Bobby secured him to it with the plastic handcuffs. “You're gonna bleed to death,” I said and ripped off his shirt sleeves. I could see the fear in his eyes. “Give me your knife, Bobby.” I made two long cuts on each of his arms and a very small one on his neck.
I came out of the bathroom and looked at the other two. I got in one’s face; he was scared too. “I’m gonna beat you to death,” I said, and began hitting him in the face. When I stopped, Bobby took over.
Then I turned to the third. There was no fear in his eyes. When the other two were screaming about CeCe setting ’em up and what they’d do about it, he was quiet.
“It was your idea to try me, wasn’t it?”
He nodded his head slowly.
“You was gonna be the man that killed Mike Black.”