by Roy Glenn
“Stay close to me,” Nick said.
“It’s your show,” I said and followed Nick toward the bathroom. He flipped on the light and checked the shower. The room next to the bathroom and the room down the hall were both empty, I mean empty. No furniture, nothing. If he was still in the house, he had to be in that last room.
We moved back down the hall until we reached the door. Nick pointed to the stairwell next to the door and I moved to the side of the door. Nick steadied himself, before he kicked in the door and then ducked in the bathroom as Mylo fired at the door. When the shooting stopped, I watched Nick dive into the room. I heard more shooting and ran in behind him.
I got in the dimly lit room just in time to see Mylo raise up from behind the bed ready to fire. Before I could get a shot off I saw Nick laying on the floor. He fired on Mylo. I couldn’t tell how many shots he hit him with, and I didn’t stop to count, but it was a lot.
When we got down to the car and away, I asked Nick, “What was that diving thing you did?”
Nick laughed a little. “Since I searched the house, I knew he could only hide in the walking closet or behind the bed. The angle from the closet was bad, so he had to be behind the bed. Better line of sight to the door.”
“Right.”
“I knew you would come in after me and that would draw him out so I could get him.”
“So you used me as a decoy?”
“Basically.”
“It’s all good, you got him.”
“Now Freeze can rest in peace,” Nick said and crossed himself.
One more to go, and then Cassandra can rest in peace…and maybe I can find peace too.
The Mike Black Saga Continues In:
NO MORE TEARS IN THE END
NO MORE TEARS IN THE END
No More Tear In The End
Roy Glenn
Escapism Entertainment
Atlantic Beach, Florida
© Copyright 2011 Roy Glenn
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 locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
Chapter 1
Mike Black
“Bullshit, Mikey. You telling me that you whacked two DEA agents and you ain’t worried?” Angelo Collette asked me after his seventh single malt scotch.
“Right.”
“Get the fuck outta here. You’re drunk.”
“Right.” Actually, I was fucked up, so I said it. “I’m fucked up, but I ain’t worried.” And I wasn’t.
Not really.
Near as I could tell the cops weren’t up on me. And if my luck held up, and it hasn’t been worth a shit lately, they wouldn’t.
Luck?
Fact was my luck with the DEA has been all-bad. My wife Cassandra was brutally murdered; arranged by DEA agents, which is something else I don’t understand. I’ve been out of the drug game for years.
My attitude about a lotta things changed after a very good friend, Vickie Payne, died smoking cocaine in my apartment.
My cocaine.
To me, cocaine is death and heroin is slow death. So I took steps to get out of the drug business. Maybe it was time to get all the way out.
As Wanda has become very fond of telling me, we make just as much money from our legitimate businesses as we do from our other operations. Gambling, number running, loan sharking, and prostitution.
I’ve got no interest in the dope game at all. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t give a fuck how a mutha fucka makes his money.
That’s his business.
And as long as his business doesn’t cut into mine, it’s none of my business. It’s all about business to me.
But this shit with the DEA ain’t about business, its personal. If you believe Bobby’s version of it, it began years ago when I bitch slapped Diego Estabon. Back then, Diego was just Gomez Estabon’s fresh off the boat, punk-ass kid, who was trying to make a name for himself in his daddy’s drug business.
It was years later that Diego came up with some wild-ass scheme to implicate me in the game. Part of his plan involved kidnapping my wife Cassandra, and he died for it. I thought it would end there, but it didn’t. That led to one of his partners, a DEA agent name Kenneth DeFrancisco, going to jail, and he blamed me for being there.
Me?
Why me?
Why not blame your dumb-ass partner for coming up with the dumb-ass plan?
Drunk or sober, I still haven’t figured that out. But because he blamed me, DeFrancisco ordered Cassandra’s murder. I killed him and everybody else that was involved in it. The only one left was another DEA agent named Pete Vinnelli, and I would get to him in due time. But these other two I never saw coming.
“Look, Angee, all I know is that these two fucks were planning to kill me. What the fuck was I supposed to do?” How the fuck was I supposed to know that they were DEA?
If I hadn’t asked Jackie Washington, a very pretty robber-turned-gambler, who I’ve recently taken more of an interest in for more reasons than just business, to keep an eye on Mylo, I’d be dead now. Mylo used to run a high-stakes poker game for Freeze, but there was something about him that I didn’t trust.
Not only did Jackie keep an eye on him; she set up surveillance on his ass. Had bugs in his office, had GPS tracking on his ride and was tapping his phone. That’s one more reason why I don’t like using those fuckin’ things.
Phones I mean.
Jackie followed Mylo to a meeting with a man that I found out later was a DEA agent named Masters. She recorded the conversation and had pictures of the two of them at a meeting where they planned to kill me.
So I killed them.
But the question still stood. How the fuck was I supposed to know that they were DEA?
The answer was simple.
I should have taken my time. After I got the information from Jackie, I should have checked them out. Found out why those fucks wanted me dead.
But I didn’t.
As soon as I saw Masters sitting with Mylo at the fight, I saw blood. I went after Masters, while Nick and Freeze took care of Mylo. That didn’t work out so well either. Mylo shot Freeze and he died in Nick’s arms.
“I ain’t saying that you was wrong, Mikey,” Angelo said. “If it was me, and I’m glad it ain’t.”
“Thanks.” I interjected.
“No problem. If it was me, and they were coming at me like they was coming at you, I’da whacked them too. That’s all I’m saying.”
“I’m glad you see it my way,” I said and downed my seventh glass of Remy. No way I was letting Angee out drink me. “All I’m saying is that they’re dead, and I’m here getting drunk with you.”
Chapter 2
I’d known Angelo Collette since we were in high school. We were both on the same path, but we were traveling in different directions. He became a soldier for Vincenzo Adalberto. Now he’s got his own crew. I went to work for André Hammond. Back then, André controlled most of the illegal activity uptown and I was his enforcer.
When I was fifteen, me and my best friend Bobby Ray started out selling weed and doing a little number running. But André was a drug dealer. As far as he was concerned, gambling and prostitution were just sidelines. That all changed when André was murdered. I took over his gambling operations and got out of the drug business.
“All I’m saying is that whackin’ DEA agents is bad business. But you gotta handle shit the way you gotta handle shit. You killed them.”
“Haven’t you heard? I’m a killer.”
“I fuckin’ know that. I was there when you made your bones, Mikey,” Angelo said.
“No you weren’t. You were there for number two. I was there when you made your bones,
Angee. Nickie Nemecek. Two shots: One to the chest; one to the dome.”
“Make sure he’s gone,” Angelo said and raised his glass. “And I was too there when you made your bones.”
“No, Angee, I couldn’t do it because of the kid. Remember?”
Angelo took another swallow and I guess he thought about it. “You know what? You’re right. His little girl came out the house and you backed off.”
“I knew you’d remember.”
“You did the right thing. I couldn’t have shot him in front of his kid either.”
“What did you say?”
“What, are you drunk? I said you fuckin’ did the right thing; Shooting him in front of his kid wouldn’t have been right.”
I got up and punched Angee in the face. He fell off his chair and hit the floor hard.
“What the fuck, Mikey!”
I helped him get up, sat down, and poured us both another drink.
“Fuck you hit me for?” Angelo asked and shot his drink.
“You woulda done the same shit?” I shot mine and poured us another.
“Yeah. Whackin’ the guy in front of his family ain’t right.”
“Now it ain’t right. Now it ain’t fuckin’ right! Is that what you’re saying, Angee? The shit ain’t fuckin’ right! After all these fuckin’ years later, and now you say it ain’t right.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Back then it was all about how I was a chicken shit, a punk, that I was a fuckin’ coward!”
“I never said that shit.”
“Yes, you fuckin’ did, Angee. The whole way back to André’s that’s all you kept saying. Chicken shit!”
Angee took another sip of his drink, and he started nodding his head. I guess he remembered that too. “I guess you’re right. I did say that shit.”
“You know how long I carried that shit around?” I respected Angee; wanted him to respect me. I didn’t want him thinking I was a coward.
“Sorry, Mikey. I didn’t know that shit bothered you. You wanna lay down on the couch and tell me about it?”
“I’m about to take out my gun and shoot your ass.”
“If that’s what you gotta do to make it right, Mikey, go ahead and shoot. But you’ll miss me.” Angee finished his drink and motioned for me to drink up so he could pour me another. “So you gonna tell me about it?”
“About what?”
“Your first.”
“First what?”
“What the fuck have we been talking about? How you made your bones!” Angee said, much louder than I needed him to.
“Why you yelling?”
“I’m not yelling.” Angelo poured me another drink.
I took a swallow. “When I got back to André’s, he was there with Bobby and five women.”
“Five of them?
“André was the king of the orgy, and he didn’t mind sharing. After the women left I told him what happened, and after they both had a good laugh, he told me and Bobby to go a little bar up on Bronxwood later that night,” I said and laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“That bar is a church now.”
“Go figure.”
“Anyway, he gives us a picture of these two guys, and tells us what he wants us to do. Since I’d just got punked out on a job, he asks me if I’m sure I can handle it.”
“Hell yeah, I can handle it,” I told André that day. I was pretty sure that none of their kids would be hanging out with them at the bar. “The rest of the day, neither me or Bobby did much talking,” I continued telling Angee, “which was rare for Bobby. Truth was, we were both nervous, especially since I had just fucked around and couldn’t kill Chicago.”
Angee’s facial expression changed. He put down his glass and looked at me. “You know, until you said his name, I forgot who he was and what that meant to you.”
“You are drunk.”
Chicago was Cassandra’s father, and it was Angee who put me on to it because I had no idea that they were related.
“I know that shit, Mikey.”
“You wanna hear this shit or not?”
Angee raised his glass. “Go ahead.”
“When we get to the spot, the guy won’t let us in.”
“Why not?”
“He said we looked too young to be in there, until Bobby said that André sent us. After that it was all good.”
Once we went in and sat down, I asked Bobby, “What you tell him that for?”
“It got us in, right?” Bobby said. “And besides, André wants everybody to know it was him behind it.”
I couldn’t argue with his logic.
“Just relax. Have a drink and enjoy yourself,” Bobby said and stared at the lone naked dancer behind the bar. “You ain’t scared are you?”
“No! And don’t you start with me. I heard enough of that shit from Angelo.”
“Angelo.” Bobby shook his head. “Why you hang out with that guy anyway?” Bobby tolerates my friendship with Angee, but he never did like him, and wonders why I do.
“Angelo’s a good guy. Give him a chance. He’s gonna be a good guy to know,” I told Bobby that night and we waited.
It was two in the morning before the guys we were looking for got there. I tapped Bobby on the shoulder.
“You ready?” I asked and Bobby nodded.
We both put on gloves and stood up.
“Let’s do it,” Bobby said, and we walked toward them at the bar.
Once we were standing behind them, it was like time was standing still. I can’t speak for Bobby, and we never talked about it after it was done, but honestly, it’s one thing to talk shit about doing it, but pulling the trigger and blowing a hole in the back of somebody’s head is another. To that point, we had collected money and roughed up a few people, which was fun, but we were about to kill these mutha fuckas.
We never even knew their names, much less who they were and what they had done for André to want them dead. But the time for thinking was past; nothing to do then but pull and blast. I looked at Bobby, we pulled out our guns and we fired.
“What happened then?”
“What do you think happened? We dropped our gats and got the fuck outta there.”
“What you gonna do now?” Angee asked after another swallow.
“I’m gonna kill the corner of this Remy and get outta here.” I picked up the bottle and poured the last of the Remy into my glass, and maybe for the first time, I was glad that Bobby made me get a driver.
He said that with all that we had going on lately … mutha fucka’s trying to kill me and shit … that I needed to have somebody with me at all times and he couldn’t always be there.
At first I resisted it. I don’t need no fuckin’ bodyguard. But I knew he was right, so I got a driver.
His name is Kevon. He used to work for Jamaica in the Bahamas. He drove me around on my last trip. I picked him because he didn’t know anybody in this country, so his loyalty to me and only me wouldn’t be a question.
“I’m talking about this other DEA fuck. What’s his name?”
“Vinnelli.”
“What you gonna do about him?”
“What you think I’m gonna do? I’m gonna kill him.”
“You sure that’s the best idea right now?”
“What do you mean? This is the mutha fucka that arranged Cassandra’s murder. He gotta die.” I drained my glass and stood up. I was a little shaky, but I kept my balance.
“Where you going, Mikey? Sit down and have another drink.”
“I’m out, Angee.”
“Well sit down anyway and think about this.”
I sat down and Angee poured scotch in my glass. “Think about what?”
“You shouldn’t push your luck. You got away with killin’ those other two assholes because they couldn’t tie them to you, but Vinnelli, that might not go away that easy.”
I started to argue with him, but I was too buzzed, and
besides, I knew he was right.
“All I’m saying is that just because you don’t see them, don’t mean they ain’t coming.”
“You right about that.”
“If you want my advice…and I notice that you ain’t asking…but if you want my advice…you’ll back off this thing and go back to doing business.”
“You’re right, Angee.”
“I know I’m right. So you gonna back off this shit, right, Mikey?”
“I’ll leave it alone, Angee.” I wasn’t sure if I meant it or if I was just telling him that shit.
“And I got your word on this? You’re gonna leave that shit alone and get back to business.”
“You have my word.” But now I had given my word.
Chapter 3
Nick Simmons
“That’s it, Nick. That’s it, baby. Fuck this pussy, Nick!” Wanda yelled as I took her from behind.
Under that business-like appearance and that cool, calculating demeanor, Wanda was all woman.
Wanda and I had been friends since we were kids. She was the first person that I met when I was sent to live with my grandmother after my parents disappeared. I guess you could say that our relationship began when I was a suspect in four drug-related murders.
Since that night the two of us began spending time together, you know; just two friends that like to hang out together. But we were feeling each other. We finally got together while Black was in jail, accused of his wife’s murder. Not exactly the best of circumstances for us to get together, but it is what it is.
Being the private person that she is, Wanda insisted that we keep our relationship on the low. She didn’t want anybody to know about it; especially Mike Black, but I ended up telling him about it anyway. I thought that it was better coming from me.
I held her hips in place and pushed myself deeper inside her, but my mind wasn’t on Wanda, sex, or anything close to it. There’s a song by The O’Jays back in the day that went something like: Your body’s here with me, but your mind is on the other side of town.