The Mike Black Saga; Payback

by Glenn, Roy

  Bobby looked at Mike. "I don’t have time to talk about this now. I’ll call you later," he said to nobody as he parked in front of Cuisine.

  "Pam sounds mad," Mike said as he got out of the car and headed inside the club.

  Bobby followed behind him, "Yeah."

  "Handle your business."

  When Mike and Bobby got to the office, Wanda and Nick were already there. "I think we need to talk," Wanda said.

  "What about," Mike asked.

  "I’ve been trying to get more information about those papers and what’s in them," Nick said.

  "And?" Mike asked.

  "I’m starting to think I was right, those papers are about what went on in South America. I checked with an old source of mine and he put me on to a reporter who writes a lot of articles about Martin Marshall."

  "What does Marshall have to do with any of this?" Mike asked.

  "My source tells me that Marshall used to be connected to a South American drug dealer," Wanda said excited to finally be a part of something while it was going on and not just having to clean up the mess afterwards.

  Mike smiled at her. "Who told you that, Glynnis?"

  "Yes," Wanda said and smiled back.

  "She’s right. Marshall’s been mixed up with Diego for years." Mike looked at Nick. Then he looked at Wanda sitting next to him. "I’m thinking that Diego might have his hands in a lot of shit."

  "It was Diego’s operation we were movin’ on when the rest of my unit was killed," Nick said. "Those papers surfacing, their connection to Diego, may be his connection to Marshall."

  "You think Diego backin’ D-Train in this move he’s making against us?" Bobby asked.

  "Don’t it all make perfect sense to you? Don’t you see how all the pieces are falling into place?" Mike said to a group of puzzled faces. "Let me break it down for you."

  "This oughta be good," Bobby said and sat next to Mike.

  "You see Nick, it all begins with you. You were down there eliminating all of Diego’s competition."

  "But when it came time to take out Diego’s operation the whole unit is killed," Nick said.

  "Eliminate the eliminators," Wanda said.

  "But you and your team survived. But Diego still needs you dead. So along comes Gee and she distracts you with her legs and that business of hers. One of two things were bound to happen. One, Chilly kills you for involving yourself in his business."

  "Which he tried," Nick said.

  "Or your team is so distracted with Chilly that they don’t see the hit coming."

  "Which they did," Wanda threw in.

  "Only Monika survives," Nick said. "And Freeze kills Felix and the general."

  "But Diego’s objective hasn’t changed," Mike said quickly. "He still needs to kill you and Monika."

  "Only now he has a greater sense of urgency because he hasn’t gotten his hands on those papers."

  Mike looked at Bobby, who had been unusually quiet. "You know what, Mike?"

  "What’s that Bobby?"

  "That’s sounds all good, and the shit makes perfect sense, and all fits together so nice and neat and all that shit, but would you like to know what I think is goin?"

  "What do you think is goin’ on, Bobby?" Mike asked.

  "This oughta be good," Wanda whispered to Nick.

  "I heard that Wanda," Bobby said without looking her way. "I think Diego is still mad cause you bitch slapped him and he ended up going to jail behind it."

  Mike laughed and Nick and Wanda looked confused. "I never heard this story," Wanda said. "But there’s nothing new about that.”

  "Neither have I," Nick said.

  "Cause there’s nothing to tell," Mike said, but he was still laughing a little. He turned to Bobby. "You think that’s what this is all about?"

  "Yes," Bobby said definitely. "I do." But then he started laughing too.

  "Well are you gonna tell us what happened or do we have to guess?" Wanda asked, but by this time, she was laughing too.

  "This was a long time ago. Back when me and Mike were still collecting for André and Hector used to buy from him. Hector was a little slow payin’, which wasn’t any big deal, Hector was a stand up guy. When he had the money, he always paid. But André didn’t like Hector and wanted me and Mike to lean on him. So we go around to this bar Hector hung out in and have our usual you’re late conversation with Hector, and Diego’s there."

  "You gotta remember, back then, Diego was just Gomez’s punk, fresh off the boat from Peru, tryin’ to make rep, kid," Mike said as Freeze came into the office.

  "Don’t try to clean that shit up now, nigga. I’m tellin’ this story," Bobby said.

  "What y’all talkin’ about?"

  "Don’t interrupt me when I’m talkin’. That shit is just plain fuckin rude," Bobby said to Freeze and he put up his hands in surrender. "So Mike is talkin shit to Hector like he always does, but Diego hears him and rolls up behind Mike, and say some shit like, why you comin’ up in here, talkin shit like you all bad and shit, or some shit like that. Mike doesn’t even look back, he just wheels and backhands Diego to the ground. Then Mike stands over him and says, I wasn’t talkin’ to you. And goes back to talkin’ to Hector like it wasn’t shit.

  "So Diego gets up from the floor and leaves the bar, but by now, everybody in the place is laughing at him. Now I guess he went and got a gun and the cops see him with it, I don’t know, but anyway, they stop him and when they search the car Diego’s carryin’, I forget how much, but it was enough to get him ten years. He did two and went back to Peru when he got out."

  "That may be part of it, Bobby, but there’s got to be more to it than that," Mike said.

  "So what you wanna do now, Black?" Freeze asked.

  "Let’s go get Sal Terrico."

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Mike had gotten in the car with Bobby when he noticed that Wanda was getting in the back seat of the truck with Nick and Freeze. "I’ll be right back."

  Mike walked over to the truck and Freeze rolled down the window. Mike knocked on Wanda’s window. She cursed and rolled down her window to see what he wanted, but she already knew. "Where do you think you’re goin’ counselor?"

  "With y’all," Wanda said quietly, while Freeze dropped his head and Nick looked out the window.

  Mike paused for a moment and then he smiled. "She’s your responsibility, Nick," he said and walked back to the car.

  When they arrived at Cityscape it was almost one-thirty in the morning. They made their way up the steps and into the strip club.

  Once they had looked around and were sure that Sal wasn’t there, they took up positions around the club. Since neither Bobby nor Freeze had ever seen Sal Terrico they covered the exits to make sure that he couldn’t getaway once he was in there. Nick and Wanda took a seat near the stage, where Nick could see the door. Mike sat at a table in the back so he could see the whole club.

  Mike signaled for a waitress, but a dancer responded to his motion. "How you doin’ tonight? You wanna table dance?"

  "I was tryin’ to get a drink," Mike said.

  "I’ll send a waitress over," the dancer said and started to walk away.

  "Hey!" Mike shouted. "Is there a dancer here called Jaylyn?"

  "Yeah!" the dancer said and looked around. "There she go right there. You want me to send her over?" she pointed to a dancer dressed in just enough black leather to cover the more sensitive areas. Jaylyn was a pretty woman, about five feet eight inches tall, with a small waistline. Deep brown skin, dark brown bedroom eyes and shoulder-length black hair, just like Shy.

  "No." Mike reached in his pocket and peeled off a twenty. "Just send the waitress."

  "My name is Diamond Princess," the dancer said looking at Mike and the wad of money. "You let me know if you need anything."

  On the other side of the club, Nick was looking at Wanda, who was looking at him. "What?" Wanda asked over the music.

  Nick leaned closer. "Just wondering if you’re having a good time
?"

  "Yes. I’m just glad to be here," Wanda said nodding her head to the music. "Not that watching these women parade around naked is any big deal. I can see this at any one of the houses. I’m just glad to be hangin’ out with you guys, you know, like we used to. I miss that. Do you know how it feels to find out everything the day after or maybe years after? Mike is so over protective of me." Wanda took a sip of her drink. "But I guess it’s for the best."

  "So I guess we can’t call this a date either?" Nick said in Wanda’s ear. It had become sort of a running joke between them, but after spending the last two nights with Wanda, he was beginning to think that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.

  Wanda smiled and took another sip before answering. "No, Nick, this is definitely not my idea of a date."

  "It’s not? Well then, tell me what is your idea of a date, Wanda?" Since the night Wanda bailed him out of jail and he spent the night telling her his story, Nick had been watching her. Wanda was tall and slender, but thick with it in all the important areas.

  "Let’s see, my idea of a date…" Wanda began.

  "Hold up," Nick said and stood up. "That’s him. Wait here."

  Nick moved toward Sal Terrico, who was pushing his way through the crowd toward Jaylyn. He pointed Sal out to Mike, and he signaled Bobby and Freeze.

  Sal stopped dead in his tracks. Even though Mike and Bobby didn’t remember him, Sal recognized Bobby and knew that Mike Black couldn’t be far away.

  Sal looked around quickly for a way out. That’s when he felt the gun in his back. "Hello, Sal," Mike said and patted Sal down. "I’ve been waiting for you," he said and took Sal’s gun. "Come on, Sal, let’s talk outside." Mike told Freeze to put Wanda in a cab.

  As soon as they got down the steps and outside the club, Sal started talking. "Listen, Black I never wanted to take her. We just needed her to get outta there. I swear to God, Black, I didn’t know that she was your wife or that it was your spot," Sal told him quickly as they walked him around the corner. Bobby and Freeze pulled out their guns and pointed them at Sal. Mike grabbed him by the throat. "When she told me who she was, I wanted to let her go, but Papi said to take her to Miami."

  "Papi? Who the fuck is Papi?"

  "Diego, Diego Estabon." Mike let Sal go. "When we got to Miami he said to bring her here. I dropped her where he told me."

  "Where was that?" Mike asked.

  "I dropped her at an apartment on 151th street, they took her from there."

  Freeze punched Sal in the face. Bobby grabbed him before he fell. "They? Who the fuck is they?" Freeze yelled.

  "I don’t know who the guys were. I just dropped her and got away from there."

  Freeze hit Sal again, while Bobby held him. "Take us there," Mike demanded.

  On the way to Harlem, Bobby drove, Nick sat in the front seat with his gun pointed at Sal. Mike and Freeze in the back seat on either side of Sal. "You don’t have to worry Sal, I’m not gonna kill you, at least not yet," Mike said calmly. "I just need you to clear some things up for me."

  "Sure, Black, whatever you need."

  "Who set the meeting in my club?"

  "Pat, Pat Matthews."

  "Who is that? The one Julio shot?"

  "Yeah," Sal answered nervously.

  "Why’d Julio kill him?"

  "Julio said he was DEA."

  "Is that why Julio shot at him, cause he was DEA too," Mike asked pointing in Nick’s direction.

  Sal glanced at Nick, he turned back to Mike. "He’s not the one Julio was shooting at, but yeah, he was with them. I mean, it was just him and your wife shooting at us."

  "So Julio recognized another agent and that’s who he shot at?" Mike asked.

  "Yeah. After they started shooting at us we grabbed her to get outta there. I swear to God, Black, that’s what happened."

  When they arrived at 151st street Sal told them that he took Shy to an apartment on the fourth floor. Bobby parked the car down the block from the building, while Freeze and Nick went to check things out. They went inside and took the back staircase to the fourth floor. Once Nick confirmed that there was nobody in the hallway, he called Mike.

  Mike and Bobby led Sal into the building at gun point. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor where Nick and Freeze were waiting. Mike told Nick to watch Sal as he and Bobby approached the door. Mike kicked in the door and Bobby and Freeze rushed inside the apartment, but it was empty. While Bobby and Freeze searched the apartment, Mike called for Nick. "Bring Sal in," he told Nick and put a silencer on his gun.

  "Black, take a look at this," Freeze said and led Mike in to one of the rooms. There was a bed in the room with ropes tied to the four posts.

  "She was here," Mike said. "Bring him in here, Nick."

  Nick pushed Sal in the room. "This is where I brought her, Black, I swear."

  "Where did they take her!" Mike yelled and pointed his gun at Sal.

  "I don’t know!"

  Mike lowered his weapon, and looked at Sal. "As soon as she told you she was my wife, you should have let her out of the car and apologized for taking her," Mike said and raised his weapon. He shot Sal twice in the head.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  The next afternoon Mike asked everybody to meet him at Cuisine. Freeze arrived first. "What’s up, Black?" he asked and sat down at the table with Mike.

  "What’s up?"

  "Chillin’," Freeze said.

  "What about that thing for Paulleen; what’s up with that?"

  "I got that. I am gonna take care of it today," Freeze said.

  "I don’t want you goin’ alone, so wait for me or take Bobby with you."

  "If I can find him," Freeze commented.

  "What’s up with him and this chick anyway?"

  "Black, the shit is out of control. I know I should have told you about it sooner, but I gave Bobby my word. But that bitch is crazy! I’m sorry I introduced him to her. She’s a bad bitch, but I didn’t think Bobby was gonna lose his fuckin’ mind over her. It has gotten to the point that Pam knows about it."

  "How you know that?"

  "Cause Pam be callin’ me lookin’ for that nigga," Freeze said excitedly. "Pam be callin’ me talkin’ ‘bout, where’s Bobby? Is Bobby with you at the club? He said he was at Cynt’s, but I just talked to Cynt and she ain’t seen him. I’m gettin’ fuckin’ tired of that shit. You need to talk to him, but I don’t know if that shit will do any good, as far gone as that nigga is, Black."

  "I’ll talk to him," Mike said as Bobby walked in. "You handle what you gotta handle, but watch your back, you know what I’m sayin’."

  "You know what a careful guy I am," Freeze said and thought about Paulleen. If he had been more careful that day . . . maybe.

  "How’s Nick’s partner? What’s her name again?"

  "Monika. She’s doin’ a’ight for somebody who took five shots. She coulda walked out of the hospital, but they made her use the wheel chair."

  "She with our friend in Mount Vernon?" That was Mike’s way of asking if Monika was with Perry. He was a part of the crew until Bobby paid for him to go to medical school. Now he ran a small practice in Mount Vernon with his wife.

  "He’ll take good care of her."

  "You talk to her?"

  "A little," Freeze said.

  "What you think of her?"

  "She’s Wanda with guns."

  "Who y’all talkin’ about?" Bobby asked.

  "Nick’s partner, Monika," Freeze told him.

  At that moment Wanda and Nick got there and sat down. "The big question is why the DEA settin’ up meetings in my club?"

  "I’ll tell you what I think," Wanda said. "I think it was to make it look like you and more importantly, Shy, a known drug dealer with a warrant for conspiracy to distribute, was involved in the meeting."

  "Exactly," Mike said. "Julio was shooting at another DEA agent. They had an operation up and running."

  "That’s why the DEA never sent an investigator to the club," Wanda said.
/>   "Because they were there. That agent wouldn’t be in there without backup," Mike said.

  "But if that’s true Mike and there were other agents there when the shooting started, why wouldn’t they get involved?" Wanda asked. "Especially after their agent was killed."

  "Because Sal Terrico and his friends weren’t the objective. If Black was the objective, an undercover operative gettin’ killed wasn’t a reason to blow the operation," Nick said. "If Black were there, maybe then they would have waited until the shooting stopped and arrested him."

  "See, I knew you were smart enough to follow me," Mike said. "Wanda, I need to know for sure if the DEA is on us. And find out exactly why they’re on us."

  "I’ll make some calls first thing in the morning."

  "Nick, you stay on this thing with Marshall. See if you can find out the real deal with those damn papers. And if he is responsible for that reporter’s death, I wanna know about it."

  "What about Kirk?" Nick asked.

  "Stay away from Kirk, but I think Kirk is working the same thing from a different angle."

  Bobby turned to Mike. "We need to think about where we wanna go from here. They’re coming at us from all sides now. D-Train tryin’ to take us one way, DEA might be at us and who knows what Diego’s sneaky-ass is up to. Maybe it’s time for us to get out."

  Mike looked at Bobby. He was thinking the same thing. "Maybe it is," Mike said quietly.

  "And if that’s what’s gotta happen, then that’s what’s gonna happen," Bobby said.

  "Or we could kill them all," Mike said. "And then get out. But somehow, Bobby, I don’t think just killin’ Diego is gonna satisfy me."

  Wanda rolled her eyes. "I’m just gonna throw this out there. I know we need to find Shy, but after that we don’t need to do this. We’re making almost as much money in our legitimate businesses as we do with everything else that we have going on." Wanda looked around the table. "Everyone at this table is a millionaire. I think Bobby is right, it’s time for us to get out."

  "I just don’t like the idea of gettin’ pushed out like this," Bobby said.