by Roy Glenn
“Yes, very well.” She began to run her hand across Geno’s leg. “Everything went very well today,” she said, thinking back over the productive day she’d had; feeling like her issues would soon be behind her. She didn’t kill Coleman Patterson, and as soon as Detective Gutiérrez caught the real killer that would be behind her too.
“Then I’m happy for you,” Geno said, and while she kissed him, Valencia began to stroke him.
“I’m all yours now,” Valencia said, and they looked in each other’s eyes.
“You are a greedy woman,” Geno said, reached for Valencia’s face and pulled her toward him.
As their tongues became entangled in passion, Valencia’s phone rang. Their lips parted slowly, she picked up her phone and looked at the display.
Ezequiel Simmonds.
She swiped talk.
“Hello,” she said, with none of the passion that she was just feeling. All there was in that second was her anger and the hate that she had for him.
“A Bela Valência.”
As it always did, the sound of his voice made her cringe. “What do you want Ezequiel?”
“To see you, A Bela Valência. We have so much to talk about.”
“What do we have to talk about?”
“Your trip to The Bahamas, of course. Come to my house. Now. You can bring your friend along if you like.”
“Okay. I’ll come.”
“Don’t keep me waiting all night, A Bella,” he said, and ended the call.
“What does he want?”
“He wants to talk. He knows that I’ve been to The Bahamas and wants me to come to his house,” Valencia said, and got out of bed.
“Where are you going?”
“To shower and get dressed.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I don’t either. But I’m going anyway.” Valencia walked toward Geno. “I need to put this behind me.”
“All right, but I’m coming with you.”
“Good.” She kissed him on the cheek and then turned to head for the shower. “Because he said that I could bring you with me.”
“Well ain’t that just so damn nice of him,” Geno said as the bathroom door closed.
Once she was showered, Valencia chose the Zuhair Murad jumpsuit and they left the hotel on their way to the home of Ezequiel Simmonds. The closer they got to the house, the more the good feelings she was feeling began to fade and the reality of her situation came into focus. Geno’s words echoed in her head.
It will always be something else to drag you in deeper.
The words forced Valencia to understand that she would never be free of Ezequiel Simmonds and the hold that he had over her until he was dead.
She looked over at Geno as he drove and wondered if he would kill for her again.
Geno could feel Valencia’s eyes on him, but he kept his eyes on the road and his mind on what he was going to do. She didn’t have to ask him, he wanted to kill Ezequiel Simmonds the second that he saw him. That was what he wanted to do, what he planned to do, what he had to do was something different.
He looked at Valencia. Yes, she was beautiful and yes, he was in love with her, but they lived in different worlds. He knew that when this was over, she could very easily say, thank you for all you did. It was good seeing you again, and that would be that, and she would be gone from his life again. When that happened, he would still be a member of The Family and that was where his responsibilities firmly rested. That meant that he needed to find out what any of this had to do with Shy.
And then you can kill him.
When they got to the house, Geno and Valencia walked to the house and once she had settled herself, he rang the bell. A large, heavily armed man answered the door and showed them into the living room. He told them that Mr. Simmonds would be with them shortly and then he left them alone. Geno was surprised that he didn’t bother to search him or ask for his gun.
“A Bela Valência,” Ezequiel said, when he came in the room, followed closely by the heavily armed man. “As always, it is my pleasure to see you again.”
“I wish that I could say the same. I came here to tell you that I did what you asked.”
“And what was that?”
“You know that I went to the Bahamas.”
“Yes, I know. And I know that Jada West refused to see you. So how can you sit there and say that you have done what I asked? After Jada West refused to see you, did she suddenly have a change of heart and agree to arrange an audience with Mr. Black?”
“No,” Valencia said, and dropped her head.
“And that’s not going to happen,” Geno said.
“I believe I was speaking to the lady.”
“I don’t give a fuck who you were speaking to. I’m talking to you and I’m telling you that you sitting down with Mike Black ain’t gonna happen. Jada West runs those islands now, so you and Mr. Black have nothing to talk about.”
“Then why are you here?”
“You’re gonna tell me what all this has to do with Mrs. Black?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he looked at Valencia. “Therefore, you are correct, we have nothing to talk about.”
“Look, Ezequiel,” Valencia said, because she saw this was getting away from her. “Just tell me what I have to do to satisfy my debt to you, so I never have to see you again?”
“What debt?” Ezequiel paused and smiled. It made her flesh crawl. “Once again, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What debt do you owe me for?”
“For killing Gustavo.”
Ezequiel laughed. “For someone so beautiful and so smart, at times you can be so incredibly stupid and naïve. You owe me nothing, A Bela Valência.”
“What are you talking about?” a confused Valencia wanted to know.
“Did you ever take the time to ask yourself what I was doing at your house that night? Why all of the servants were gone?” Ezequiel paused. “Ever stop and think about why no one was there to come to your rescue as you were beaten and then raped? Have you ever wondered why I just happened to walk into your bedroom that night, A Bela?”
Ezequiel paused to enjoy the bewildered and puzzled look that covered Valencia’s face.
“Stupid and naïve to the last.” He laughed. “I was there to kill Gustavo. Fucking you, A Bela,” he kissed the tips of his fingers, “was merely a bonus. But now you truly have outlived your usefulness to me.” He glanced at the heavily armed man. “Kill them.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
“But it is so early. Do you really have to go?” Yvonne, Martin’s wife asked Shy as they walked toward the ballroom doors with Black and Martin following behind them.
“Yes, we do. I really don’t like leaving the children with my mother so late at night,” Shy said, knowing that the children were fine, but she was so ready to get out of there. She hated going to these events as much if not more than Black did.
“I understand, with the cancer and all. How is your mother doing?”
“She’s doing much better, but this time of night, she gets a little tired, and Mike Jr. can be a handful at times,” she said, and glanced over her shoulder at Black and Martin. They were both smiling on the brink of laughter.
Taking Shy’s glance as, come get your wife, Martin, he stepped up and took Yvonne’s hand as they got to the door. “Let her go, Yvonne. You remember when our kids were little, you used to sneak out during the speech and leave me to make up an excuse for you.”
“I wasn’t that bad, was I?”
Martin turned to Shy and held up his right hand to testify. “I’d say, what do you want me to tell everybody? And she’d say, I don’t care, make something up.”
“I sure would,” Yvonne said, looking a bit embarrassed and then she hugged Shy. “Go home, mommy, be with your children.”
“Good night, Yvonne.” Shy gave Martin a hug as Black said good night to and hugged Yvonne.
“We’ll talk in the morning, Mike,” Martin said, and walked
away with Yvonne.
Now that the event was over for them, Mr. and Mrs. Black left the roof top ballroom at The St. Regis Hotel. Shy called Chuck on the way down, and he was outside waiting for them when they came out. They were both so glad to be out of there.
“You need to promise me something,” Shy said as they drove away.
“What’s that?” he asked, loosening his bowtie.
“That when you and Martin sneak away for your meetings that you take me with you. Even if I have to stand in the hallway, wait by the elevator, I don’t care, just don’t leave me alone with those women.”
“That bad?”
“It was like, he’s gone, may the questions begin. I had to escape to the ladies’ room.”
“I’m surprised that no one offered to go with you.”
“What makes you think one didn’t?” Shy stared at him. “I had to lose her in the crowd and go to the ladies’ room furthest from the ballroom.” They both laughed. “And when I got back to the table, she wanted to know where I disappeared to and what took me so long.”
“Deal.” He laughed. “So, you really ready to go home?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I wouldn’t mind trying to find Ezequiel Simmonds.”
Shy smiled, because she was thinking about going to talk to Valencia, but they would just end up going to see him after they talked to her anyway. “We’re not exactly dressed for the occasion, but—”
“I did bring your big purse, Mrs. Black,” Chuck said as he drove.
“Then I’m with you.”
Black took out his phone and called Carla to see what she had. He had told her to find out everything that she could about The Comodoro Cartel and as promised, she was all over it.
“I have an address and a phone number for Ezequiel Simmonds, and he is currently in the same location. And just so you know, that is where Geno and Valencia are too.”
“Figures. Send the address to Chuck and you let me know if any of them move.”
“Acknowledged.”
When Ezequiel said, kill them, Geno jumped up from the couch, grabbing Valencia with one hand, pulling his gun and opening fire with the other. As Ezequiel and the heavily armed man returned his fire, Geno and Valencia ran into the dining room and took cover.
He turned over the dining room table and began firing back at them until his gun was empty. As Geno reached in his pocket to get another clip, he looked at Valencia. Her eyes were opened wide, she was taking short, gasping breaths, and holding her stomach. Geno saw the blood on her hands, slammed in the clip and came up firing. But he was forced to take cover again quickly when another man appeared at the doorway and began firing at him. Now they had Geno caught in a crossfire and running low on ammo.
As Chuck pulled up in front of the house, they heard the gunshots and could see the flashes of light coming from inside the house.
“Looks like the party already started,” Shy said, and got her Berretta from her purse.
As soon as the car was in park, Black jumped out and ran toward the house with Shy following as fast as she could in that gown and four-inch heels. He lowered his shoulder and crashed through the door. When he did, the large man came out of the living room and began firing at Black with an IA2, and assault rifle that was used by the Brazilian Armed Forces. With his attention on Black, he didn’t see Shy come through the door. She fired twice and hit him with both shots to the chest.
Geno kept firing in both directions until his gun was empty. When Black and Shy rushed in the living room, Ezequiel turned and fired at them. As he ran for cover, Shy kept firing and hit Ezequiel with a shot to the head when he turned. He dropped his gun and fell to the ground.
As the last man came toward Geno and Valencia, Black came up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. Geno dropped his gun and turned to Valencia.
“It’s alright, Vee,” Geno said, taking her in his arms while covering her hand with his to apply more pressure to her wound. “You're gonna be alright.”
Black picked up the tablecloth from the floor, ripped a piece, and handed it to Geno. “Get her out of here.”
Geno nodded and put the cloth over the wound as Black continued to tear away pieces. Once Geno had wrapped the pieces of cloth around her, he told Valencia to keep pressure on it as he scooped her up in his arms and then he followed Black out of the house to his car. Once they had her in the car, Black watched as they drove away before going back in the house with Shy.
Chapter Twenty-eight
When Black came back inside, Shy had already called Edwina and she said that she’d be there soon. With that out of the way, she had already begun searching the house looking for anything that she could find that would be useful to her. Not knowing what she was looking for, Shy hoped that no one had called the police, so they’d have time to search until Edwina got there.
Black knelt down next to Ezequiel. The bullet in his head meant that there was no need to check for a pulse, he was dead and that wasn’t what Black wanted. He wanted to know what was going on between him and Valencia had to do with Shy. Now Ezequiel was dead, and Valencia was on her way to the hospital. He got to his feet and called Carla.
“What’s going on, Mike?”
“We’re at the house. I need to know if there is any police activity directed here?”
“Hold on while I scan the police frequency.”
“And if there’s no activity, get Edwina over here,” he said, looking around at the bodies.
“Shy already called her and she’s on her way there now. I’ll call you back with her ETA and I will update you about police activity.”
“Thank you, Carla. Valencia was shot, Geno is taking her to a hospital.”
“Acknowledged. I’ll update you on that as well.”
“Right,” Black said and went off in search of Shy.
When he went into the office, he found Shy sitting at the desk, rifling through the drawers.
“You find anything?”
“It would help if I knew what I was looking for, but so far, no,” Shy said, and sat back in the chair.
“Be careful what you touch.”
“Edwina is on her way,” Shy said and resumed her search with the papers on the desk.
“I know, and I got Carla—” he began, as his phone rang. “Yes, Carla.”
“No police activity. Edwina’s ETA is ten minutes.”
“Thank you, Carla.”
“Nothing on Valencia yet. I’m still searching hospitals in the area.”
“Let me know.” Black ended the call.
“And?”
“Edwina will be here in ten minutes and no cops.”
“Good,” Shy said, and went back to looking at the papers on the desk while Black went to search the rest of the house.
She’d been looking at documents and papers, most of which she didn’t understand because they weren’t in English, wondering if she did find a clue, would she be able to read it. Then she came across a piece of paper that had a name, a time, and a phone number. She picked it up and read it.
“Look at this Michael,” she said, and Black came to see what she had to show him.
“What did you find?” he asked when he came in the office. She handed him the paper.
The name was Mateo Alejandro and the time was 11 pm. Shy looked at her watch.
“We have time to make it.”
As luck would have it, Edwina arrived at the house just as Mr. and Mrs. Black were leaving. He told Chuck to stay and help Edwina. After he called Carla to check the number, get a location and to have her find out whatever she could on Mateo Alejandro as quickly as she could, they took the SUV and left the scene.
“I hate going in places blind.”
“You mean like running shoulder first into a house where there’s shooting?” Shy asked, while she reloaded her Berretta.
“That’s different.”
“Of course, it is, Michael,” Shy said, patronizingly, and put her gun b
ack in her purse.
When they arrived at the house, Black put the car in park and turned off the ignition. He looked at Shy. Carla couldn’t give them any information on Mateo Alejandro, so there was no way of knowing who he was or what his connection was if there was any at all. They were going in blind; therefore, Black had a question.
“You got a plan or you wanna just go old school?”
“Run shoulder first in there and start shooting?” Shy shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“So what’s the plan?”
Shy opened her door. “I’m working on it,” she said, and got out. They walked up to the house and Shy told Black to keep out of sight while she rang the bell. It took a minute, but the porch light came on and the door cracked open.
“Yes?” the elderly man asked through the chained door.
Shy smiled. “I’m sorry to bother you so late, sir. But my car broke down in front of your house,” she said, and pointed at the SUV. “And my cell is dead. Can I use your phone so I can call an Uber.”
The man looked at Shy and then to the SUV parked in the street. The door closed and she could hear him taking the chain off. She glanced at Black and he readied his weapon. When he opened the door, Black put a gun to his head.
“Mateo Alejandro?”
“Yes,” the frightened man said.
“We’d like to ask you some questions. Can we come in?” Shy asked with her gun in her hand.
He nodded his head and showed them in. Moving slowly, Alejandro led Black and Shy into his living room and asked them to sit. He offered them a drink, which they declined, but he fixed himself one before he came and sat down.
“What were you and Ezequiel Simmonds meeting about?” Black asked.
“Where is Ezequiel?”
“Unavoidably detained,” Shy said.
“Are you familiar with Camilo Patiño?” When neither Black nor Shy said a word, Alejandro continued. “His daughter, Renata was kidnapped, and a meeting was held which was instrumental in securing her safe return. That was because the two factions of the Comodoro’s met to settle matters.”
“Who kidnapped her?” Shy asked, but Alejandro continued without answering.