by Glenn, Roy
"Yes, Papi," the man said and left.
Diego closed the door. This can’t be happening. He sat down on the bed and buried his head in his hands.
"What is wrong, Diego?" Esperanza asked and put her hand on his shoulder, but Diego pushed her away.
"I told you to shut up or get out."
"But, Diego, I just want to help."
Diego quickly got up from the bed and grabbed her dress from the floor. Then he returned to the bed and grabbed Esperanza by the hand. Diego dragged her to the door, opened it, threw the dress into the hall, and Esperanza behind it.
Diego slammed the door and returned to the bed. He needed Gomez alive if his plan was to work. It wouldn’t be enough to hand them Mike Black. When Black was arrested for those drug related murders and they started looking for a supplier, Diego would hand them Gomez and he would disappear.
He had never forgiven Gomez for not doing enough to get him out of jail and out of the country after the incident with Black. "You need to be taught a lesson to not to involve yourself in matters that don’t concern you." He could still hear Gomez saying to him at the time. "Maybe jail will make a man of you," Gomez told him. He had always hated Gomez for treating him like a child. No matter what he did it would never measure up to Gomez.
In the end, Gomez did get his case heard before a sympathetic judge, got the drug charge thrown out and provided him protection, even status while he was in prison. Diego swore that he would pay him back.
If this had happened at any other time, he might have told the kidnappers to kill Gomez and hung up the phone, but not now. Now he needed Gomez alive.
Chapter Forty-two
Melinda parked her car outside of Cuisine and turned off the engine. She sat there for a moment thinking about how everything had gone wrong. How could things have gotten so fucked up? Melinda asked herself. The answer was simple, maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are.
Melinda thought she had D-Train wrapped around her little finger. She felt the stinging in her cheek and knew that wasn’t true. Melinda got out of the car and went inside. I’ma make damn sure his ass pays for that.
Not much had changed at Cuisine since the last time she was there. Same band, still playing the same kind of music. Melinda thought back to all the times when she would walk in the club with Black and the band would break into The Girl from Ipanema. She wondered aloud if that was still his favorite song.
Melinda took a seat at the bar, knowing that it would be a waste of time to ask for Freeze. Everybody would just act like they never heard of him. Melinda looked around for somebody that she knew, there were a lot of new faces. The bartender came and asked her what she was drinking. "Double Black Russian."
When the bartender returned with her drink, Melinda sipped and enjoyed the show while she continued to look for somebody she knew or for Freeze to come out of the office. She looked at the door to the office and the man standing by it. Maybe she could use her charm to get him to let her back there, but she knew better. That’s when she saw a familiar face coming toward her. Melinda couldn’t remember her name, all she remembered was that she used to fuck Freeze, but she knew her face.
As the woman got closer she smiled. "Melinda?"
"Hi," Melinda said faking surprise.
"How are doin? I haven’t seen you in a long time."
"Yeah, I haven’t been here in years," Melinda said causally. "I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your name."
"Alexia."
"That’s right, Alexia. I see a lot of new faces, but other than that, not much has changed."
"Well, there have been a few changes since you were here last, but you’re right, not much has changed."
"I heard Freeze is running the place now."
"He does."
"Is he here? I’d love to say hello."
"He was in the office. If he’s still here, I’ll let him know that you want to holla at him," Alexia said.
"Don’t go to any trouble. It ain’t that deep," Melinda lied.
"It’s no trouble at all," Alexia said, tired of making small talk. She couldn’t stand Melinda when she used to come to the club. Always thought she was better than everybody just cause she was fuckin’ Black. She thought as she walked off.
By the time Melinda finished her drink Alexia was back. "Come with me," she told Melinda and started walking toward the office. When they got to the door that led to the office, security handed Alexia a metal detecting wand, then he took Melinda’s purse and searched it. When they were both satisfied that Melinda wasn’t carrying a gun, Alexia escorted her to Freeze.
Alexia opened the door and showed Melinda in. There sat Freeze at what she remembered as Black’s desk. A rush of memories washed over her, and Melinda saw herself laying on that desk having the most fantastic sex. Only now there was a gun laying where she used to lay. "Hello, Freeze."
"What’s up?" Freeze tilted his head to the side. "What happened to your face? Your boy Curl do that to you?"
"It’s nothing, it’s what I got for thinking I was smart, that’s all. No big deal, Freeze."
"So what are you doin’ here? I know you didn’t come here trying to get me to do something about that. So what’s up?"
"I came here to tell you what you wanna know."
"What do I wanna know?"
"Who killed Paulleen and why."
"I’m listening."
"A guy named Paul Clay, they call him Clark Kent."
"Yeah, but he’s dead. So tell me something I don’t know. Who killed him?"
"D-Train killed him."
"Stop fuckin’ around and tell me why," Freeze demanded.
"Because he missed you and killed Paulleen instead. He wants you dead so he can get to Black. But he knew Black wouldn’t talk to him, he’d have to go through you. And besides, Black’s been busy trying to find his bitch."
"How you know about that?"
"It ain’t no secret, Black and Bobby been ridin’ all over the city lookin’ for that bitch, and they haven’t exactly been nice and quiet about it. Word gets around quick."
"So why does he want to get to Black?"
"He doesn’t think that you’re on his level so he needs Black to sit down with him, like he did with Chilly. You see, after your boy killed Chilly, D and two of his people, wanna step up to Chilly’s position in the game."
"You mean them other niggas don’t respect him."
"Yup."
"Figures. I always thought Curl was a bitch and Chilly was fuckin’ him."
Melinda had no comment.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I’m talkin’ about the man you love. But now that he slapped the shit outta your pretty ass, you come sneakin’ back here wantin’ me to do something about it."
Melinda dropped her head and said quietly, "Yes."
Freeze laughed. "That’s okay, Melinda."
"You get what you want, I get what I want. It’s business. It’s just business for personal reasons."
"Where is he?"
"I know where he’ll be in about an hour."
Nick turned the corner and drove slowly down Wanda’s block. He promised that he would call her to let her know what happened with Marshall, but decided to drop by instead. This might prove to be a bit more interesting. Nick thought as he got closer to Wanda’s house. He figured by now she had come outta that evening gown that she looked so good in, and had changed into that robe she had on the night they talked. Since he saw no lines, Nick wondered if Wanda had anything on under it. Maybe tonight he would find out.
He put the car in park and was about to get out when his cell rang. He started to ignore it, but quickly thought about the last time he ignored a call and what happened to Monika because of it. He looked at the display. It was Freeze. "What’s up?"
"I need you to ride with me," Freeze said.
"Now?"
"Yeah, now."
"Okay," Nick said and started the car. "Where are you?"
"I’m at Cuisine. Where you at?" Freez
e asked. "I’ll come get you."
"No," Nick said quickly. "I’m on my way to you."
Freeze laughed. "I’ll see you when you get here."
When Nick got to Cuisine, Freeze was standing outside by his truck waiting for him. Nick got out of his car, got his bag out of the trunk and came toward Freeze, who started walking away. When Nick caught up with him, Freeze pointed to the cars parked along the street. "Pick one. Make it a four door."
Nick knew they were going to ride on somebody, the only question was who? Nick looked around and walked toward a 95 Lincoln. "What did you find out?" Nick asked.
"I’ll tell you on the way," Freeze said and took out a Slim Jim and unlocked the car door. After disabling the alarm, Freeze quickly hotwired the car and they were on their way.
When they arrived at Melinda’s condo, Freeze picked out a dark spot to park. He got in the backseat and they waited for D-Train to show up. Nick reached in his bag and pulled out his night vision goggles.
Freeze began to laugh as Nick put them on. "Are those really necessary?"
"Yes, they are. You wanna try them?"
"Yeah, let me see them." Freeze took the goggles from Nick and put them on. "Hey," he paused and looked around. "These shit’s ain’t bad. I can see every fuckin’ thing." Freeze took them off and handed them back to Nick. "You gotta get me some of those."
"I knew a killa like you would like something like these. Make you a more efficient killa."
While they waited, Freeze gave some thought to the fact that he was waiting to get revenge over the killing of a woman that cheated on him, but that didn’t really matter. Like he told Melinda, it was business, it was just business for personal reasons. D-Train had to go. If for no other reason than to make an example of him. Killing D-Train would keep the others in check. It would solidify his position. Black earned his position, earned everybody’s respect in war. Freeze, he had been given the position. That’s why niggas were willing to try him.
Freeze decided that just ridin’ by blastin’ wasn’t good enough. He had to stand in front of D-Train and look into his eyes when he killed him. Melinda told him that if he was coming alone he’d be driving a gold Lexus, if he had a body guard with him they would be in a dark blue Chevy Suburban.
It wasn’t too much longer before Melinda was proven right. "Dark blue Chevy Suburban coming this way."
"How many?"
"Two."
"Makes it easy." Freeze waited until they parked and D-Train got out and went inside. "Wait here," Freeze said, put on his gloves and got out. "Yo, let me borrow them things." Nick took off the goggles and gave them to Freeze. "I’ll be right back."
The driver of the Suburban rolled down his window, kicked 50-cent up a little louder and made himself comfortable. Freeze waited ten minutes before he approached the car. Freeze put the silencer on his gun and continued toward the truck. When he got to the window, Freeze pointed his weapon and fired twice. One shot to the head and the other to the chest, and kept walking toward the building.
Melinda explained to Freeze that she told D-Train that she might be a little late getting there so he could let himself in take a shower and wait for her in bed. D-Train was sorry that he had slapped her and was anxious to make it up to her. Earlier in the day he had bought Melinda a diamond studded necklace. I know she’s gonna love this. He did as he was told, showered, and got in the bed. He placed the jewelry box on the bed next to him and waited for Melinda to arrive.
Freeze unlocked the door with the key Melinda gave him, then made a few scratch marks on the lock to make it look like forced entry. With Nick’s night vision goggles on, Freeze was able to move quickly to the bedroom. Freeze came through the door. "Time to die, muthafucka." Freeze fired six times, hitting him with all six shots. Then he walked up to him and put one more bullet in his head to make sure he was gone. As Freeze stood over D-Train’s dead body, he noticed the jewelry box on the bed. He opened the box. "Nice." Freeze put the box in his pocket and left the condo.
Chapter Forty-three
It had been a long night. While Nick played spy and Freeze did what he does best, Mike and Shy went dancing at Impressions. Both had called Mike and made him aware of the events of the evening. Mike decided that it was time to let Bobby know what was going on. Mike went upstairs to Bobby’s office to make a call. "Bobby."
"What’s up?"
"There’re some things that I need to talk to you about."
"I’m listening."
"Not over the phone. Where you at?"
"Where you at?"
"Impressions."
"I’m on my way," Bobby said and hung up the phone.
It took him a while to get there, but he finally got to the office a little after two in the morning. "‘Bout time," Mike said and stood up.
Shy stood up too. "Just in time to take us home."
"Oh so I’m a taxi cab now, huh?" Bobby laughed and started shuffling toward the door. "Well, sir, ma’am, yous all just come on and go with old Bobby Ray." Bobby stopped. "Bobby Ray, that’s me. I’ll get yous all home just as fast as these old bones and my new Cadillac can carry us." Mike and Shy both shook their heads and followed Bobby out of the club to his car. On the way to Mike’s house, he brought Bobby up to speed on what happened that night. Then Shy asked a question. "Bobby."
"Yes, ma’am."
"Would you stop that," Shy insisted.
"Yes, ma’am, I mean, what you want?"
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"What do you want to know?"
"I know this is none of my business, but I gotta ask you. Are you cheating on Pam?"
Bobby looked at Mike, who shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window.
"I—you see, ah—it’s not—," Bobby stuttered.
Bobby’s cell phone rang.
"Saved by the bell," Mike said and continued looking out the window.
Bobby looked at the display and answered the phone with fury. "I thought I told you that I was busy and I would get with you tomorrow."
"Bobby, it’s Pam." She said mono toned.
Bobby quickly glanced at the display. Pam was calling from Cat’s apartment. This can’t be good.
"What’s goin’ on, Pam?" Bobby asked tentatively.
"I’m at your girlfriend’s apartment. Is Mike with you?"
"He’s right here. Do you want to talk to him?"
"No, I don’t want to talk to Mike. I need the two of you to come here."
"Where is here Pam?"
"Bobby, don’t play with me," Pam said calmly and evenly. "I need you and Mike to come here now," Pam said and calmly hung up the phone.
Bobby dropped his phone and made a u-turn.
"Everything all right, Bobby?" Mike asked.
"Pam is at Cat’s apartment."
"I guess that answers my question," Shy said and laughed a little.
Bobby drove as fast as he could to Cat’s apartment. When they arrived at the apartment and went inside the building, none of them were prepared for what they found.
Bobby got to the door and much to his surprise it was cracked open. He pushed the door slowly and stepped inside. "Pam? Pam, are you here?" The apartment was in darkness, lit only by the street lights shining through the window.
"I’m right here, Bobby," Pam said as Mike and Shy entered the apartment.
"Where is here, Pam?"
"In the kitchen," she answered.
"Is everything all right?" Bobby asked as he got closer to her. Then he stopped and took a step back. "Gun."
Mike quickly stepped in front of Bobby, which caused Shy’s eye to buck wide open. "What’s up with the gun, Pam?"
Pam looked at the gun in her hand. "It’s for killing, Mike. You better than most people know what a gun is for."
"Are you all right, Pam?" Shy asked noticing the look on Pam’s face and the tone of her voice.
"Hello, Shy. It’s good to see you. I hope the kidnappers didn’t hurt you?"
"No, Pam,
" Shy said. "I’m fine, but I’m worried about you, sweetie."
"You don’t have to worry about me, Shy. Everything is going to be just fine now."
"Why don’t you give me the gun, Pam?" Mike asked quietly as he walked toward her with his hand out.
Pam pointed it at Mike. "Here." Pam said and handed the gun to Mike. "I’m finished with it."
Now that she was no longer armed, Bobby stepped toward his wife again. "Pam," he said softly. "Are you all right?"
"I’m fine, Bobby."
"Where’s Cat?"
"She’s in the bedroom."
Bobby and Mike went to the bedroom and opened the door. There on the floor was Cat, with a gunshot wound in the chest. Bobby knelt down next to her and checked for a pulse. "She dead?" Mike asked.
"Yeah." Bobby touched her face and then closed her eyes. He felt like somebody had kicked his insides out.
Mike and Bobby came out of the bedroom and went back to the kitchen, where Shy was talking to Pam. "What happened, Pam?" Shy asked.
"She called the house again," Pam began. She may have been talking to Shy, but she was looking at Bobby. It was obvious that Pam was in shock after what she had done. "She said that she had just gotten finished fucking Bobby and he would still be there if Mike hadn’t called and asked Bobby to pick him up. I told her that I didn’t believe her. So she described everything that Bobby had on. Right down to his boxers. Well, we went through the usual bitch this, and ho that, and then she said that she was going to take Bobby away from me and that our house was going to be their house. I was about to hang up, cause I had heard enough of her shit, but she kept on talking. She said yeah, bitch, I been to your mutha fuckin’ house."
"I never brought her to the house," Bobby said in defense of himself.
"He didn’t have to, Shy, she came on her own. She said this afternoon when I went to pick up the children from school, she came in the house."
"That’s bullshit! How could she get past the alarm?" Bobby yelled.
"That’s the same thing I asked her, Shy. She said she knew the password. You see, Bobby talks in his sleep some times, and he’ll tell you anything you wanna know when he’s like that. Well, I guess she knows that too, cause she told me that all she did is ask and he gave her the password to the alarm."