Cigar Bar

by Dion Perkins

“Okay, there’s a path on the other side of my house. I need you to meet me there in an hour. Is that cool?” She hung up and walked into her brother’s room. She looked and saw his suitcase on the bed. “So, wherever this mysterious place you’re going, are you gonna need swimming trunks?” she asked jokingly, trying to get him to ease up. It worked.

  “No, we just have to go take care of something, that’s all,” Paulie said as he walked to the closet and took three shirts off their hangers. He tossed them into the suitcase.

  As he turned to go to his dresser, Sherry hid her phone in a pair of socks and slipped them in his suitcase.

  She kissed her brother and said, “Okay, well, have fun!” She scurried back to her room, hoping that she had given herself and Monica enough time. She placed her cell phone in his suitcase so that she could use the phone tracer to follow them. She watched the clock closely as she heard her brother leave. “Twenty minutes. Oh shit!” The doorbell rang. It was her sponsor and she had to let her in. Sherry decided to play sick so as not to be bothered; that would give her more time.

  “Hey, Jenny.”

  Her sponsor was an older white woman who was willing to help out in any situation. She did everything possible to help keep a person clean. Jenny truly was an angel.

  “How are you feeling, girl?”

  “I’m okay, Jen. I can’t wait to get this baby out. I feel terrible..”

  Jenny said, “Really? Huh, that baby starting to get on your nerves?” She placed her hand on Sherry’s huge belly.

  “No, this boy just won’t let me rest or anything. I been throwing up and shit. Fuck this shit! Why do women have to go through this pregnancy shit? It should be the men, with all the fucking shit they do!”

  “Well,” Jen replied. “God gave us the ability to have children because he knew we could handle it. We are stronger than men.” She hugged Sherry. “All I can tell you is to hold on, okay?” Jen dug in her bags and pulled out a couple of AA books. “Listen, while you’re in there, do a little reading if you can. I was hoping while I was over here, we would be able to work on steps three and four. But I’m not going anywhere, so when you feel up to it, come on out, and we will get started.”

  “Okay, that sounds fine,” Sherry responded. She faked nausea, pretending that she was about to throw up, and ran to her room.

  “Poor child,” Jenny said, going into the living room and sitting down on the couch.

  Sherry peeked through the door. “Fuck!” She was hoping Jenny would turn the TV on so it would be easier for her to sneak past. She had pulled out the Big Book and started reading. “Fuck! Fuck!” Sherry said. She turned her TV up louder and peeked through the door. She noticed that Jenny was looking her way. “Dammit!” she said, looking at her watch. Five minutes before Monica was due to arrive. She paced back and forth in her room.

  At her door Jenny asked with concern, “Are you okay in here, Sherry? I’m just checking up on you. I know you’re not feeling well.”

  “I’m okay. I’m laying down but it’s uncomfortable, so I have to keep moving,” Sherry lied.

  “Do you need me to come in there and help you with anything?”

  “No, I’m fine, thank you.”

  “Okay then,” the lady said, walking down the hallway.

  Sherry took the opportunity to sneak past her as Jenny was walking away. She grabbed her laptop and the cash. She ran down the basement steps and out the back door of her house. Monica was pulling up as she cut through the alley.

  “Damn! For a pregnant girl, your ass was moving through that alley like police was on your ass. Shit, come on and get in, girl!” Monica joked.

  “Hey,” Sherry said as she got into the car. She instantly opened up her laptop.

  “So, where are we heading?” Monica inquired.

  “I will tell you in a second, Mommy,” Sherry replied, pulling up her phone-tracer app.

  “Bingo! We’re going here,” she said, pointing to the computer screen. It showed a location about five miles from where they were, and the signal was moving. It was obvious that they were tracking a moving vehicle.

  Monica stepped on the gas. “I got this.”

  “They’re somewhere around here,” Sherry said as they entered the highway. “Shit, I think they’re going to the airport.” Sherry straightened up, looked at all the money, then at Monica. “Hey, Mo, I got a question. Can you ride with me ’til the end?”

  “Sure,” Monica replied, “but what does it include? You know, the end and shit?”

  Sherry showed Monica a picture of Tony. “I’m trying to save the life of my child’s father. I love him more than life itself. If my Uncle Veto and my brother get to him before I do, I know they’re going to kill him.”

  Monica sat up and smiled. She pressed the gas pedal and headed toward the airport. “Well, we better hurry the fuck up!”

  She came up with the plan. Since Sherry’s brother and uncle didn’t know her, Sherry was to wait outside while Monica stood online right behind Don Veto’s security. She found out that they were taking a plane to Seattle. The best part was that they were taking a later flight. Monica took Sherry on an earlier flight so that they could set up out in Seattle to follow them when they got off the plane. Sherry let Monica know that Don Veto wouldn’t do anything he needed done; someone else did for him.

  Then Monica understood. “Wait a minute, bitch. You got me out here about to fuck with some mafia-ass motherfuckers? What the fuck did your baby’s daddy do that would have the fuckin’ mob chase his ass across the country? Shit! I don’t know about this shit.” She shook her head, not believing the situation that she got herself into.

  “We talkin’ some real, live shit now. Mafia cats don’t play. And you know something: I knew you and your brother were some big-time somethin’. He was the only person in rehab that didn’t have to go to any fuckin groups! He was only there to keep an eye on you, and the counselors didn’t say shit to him either. Well, what the fuck happened, Sherry?”

  As they boarded the plane, Sherry started from the beginning and told Monica every detail. The flight was six hours long, so she had time to catch Monica up on every sordid detail. Sherry also learned a lot about Monica. Sherry was happy that she’d found a friend in Monica.

  She wondered what Jenny was doing back at the house and how many times she tried to call her brother. She wondered if her brother had found her phone in his bag. Her mind was racing, and then she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. It was so sharp that she immediately bent over and screamed.

  The people around her jumped. Most of the passengers had been asleep, except for Sherry and Monica, who had been talking the entire time. Some people cursed and others showed concern for the young, pregnant girl.

  “Shut the fuck up! I’m trying to get some sleep!” said one white guy in the back. He was scolded for his outburst as the flight attendant ran to aid her.

  Sherry held her stomach, her face contorted in pain. While she screamed, Monica noticed that something was seriously wrong. “Oh, shit! Sherry, you’re bleeding!”

  Sherry yelled, “My baby!”

  A woman from the front section ran back to Sherry. “I’m a nurse. Can I help?”

  “She’s fuckin’ bleeding!” Monica screamed. “Do something!”

  The nurse jumped into action. She lay Sherry down in the middle aisle and checked her. Then she turned to the flight attendant. “We have to land this plane. This young woman needs a hospital.”

  The flight attendant hustled to the front of the plane to inform the captain. The captain’s voice came over the loud speaker. “Good afternoon, folks; this is your captain speaking. It appears that we have an emergency. Unfortunately, we have to make an unscheduled stop, so we ask for your patience.”

  A young, black soldier who was a medical doctor ran up and checked Sherry. “Hi, I’m a doctor,” he said, flashing hi
s credentials. The flight attendants, Monica, and the nurse froze briefly because he was a very handsome, chocolate-brown doctor.

  The nurse who had been in first-class pointed to her coworker. “See, that’s him.”

  He smiled. This sort of thing happened everywhere he went, so he was used to the attention from the ladies. He was flattered, but he knew that he wasn’t there for that. He examined the young girl, who was about seven years younger than he. Being in the military had fast-tracked his career.

  He picked Sherry up and carried her to first-class. “I’m gonna need this area clear, please,” he said to the flight attendants. They began to shuffle the people out of the area, but, of course, there was one stubborn, old white woman.

  “Excuse me! I didn’t pay for first-class tickets to ride in the coach section! This is preposterous! I will not move!” she said, sipping her champagne.

  The doctor gently lifted the lady. “Ma’am, please, let’s go.”

  “For heaven’s sake, put me down, young man!” she protested.

  As politely as possible, the young officer replied, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I have a medical emergency, and I’m about to do something I don’t think you wanna see. You’ll be better off out here.” He carried her and placed her in the stewardess chair.

  The old lady could only smile. “Okay, just keep my glass filled. Would that be too much to ask?”

  “No, ma’am, it would not.” He turned and hustled back in to Sherry only to find Monica standing in a fighting position.

  “I’m not going no fuckin’ where! That’s my girl right there!” She bent down and held Sherry’s hand tightly. “Don’t worry, girl, I’m right here for you.”

  Sherry, now barely awake, squeezed Monica’s hand. “I need you to call my brother.” With that said, she passed out.

  “Sherry, Sherry! Doc, Doc, do something!”

  The young man went into action. He pulled a pair of scissors out of nowhere. “Nurse,” he said, “I need as many blankets as possible.” The flight attendant had gone to fetch them before he could finish his request.

  Monica and the nurse built a human tent around Sherry as the doctor cut off her pants. As soon as he did, he could see that the baby’s tiny arm was at the birth canal, as if to say, “Help me!”

  They gasped when they saw the little arm and the blood. The nurse turned to the doctor and said, “She has no pulse.”

  He switched positions. He had to get the baby out or it could drown. He also wanted to save the young girl. “Nurse, start CPR. I have to get this baby out of there!” The nurse jumped into action.

  Monica said, “I can help! I learned CPR.” The nurse gave Sherry mouth-to-mouth while Monica pushed on her chest. Monica spoke into Sherry’s ear. “Listen, girl, we didn’t come way the fuck down here so you can die! Girl, wake your ass up!” She continued compressions on Sherry’s chest.

  Doc was moving fast but carefully. He pulled out a scalpel, sliced open Sherry’s abdomen horizontally, and put his hands inside to deliver the baby.

  Suddenly, the airplane dropped, shook violently, and moved everyone erratically. The doctor quickly removed his hands and covered Sherry. Another drop and people began to scream. The nurse and Monica tried their best to keep giving her chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth, but the plane was tossing them around.

  As they got back into position, the plane took another hard jolt, but this time, all the air masks dropped from above the passengers. People screamed hysterically.

  “This can’t be it!” Monica said. Am I going to die? Why am I even trying to save her if we’re all gonna die? Monica was scared but refused to allow her thoughts of death to stop her from trying to save Sherry no matter what.

  There was an abrupt nosedive, loud plane noises, passenger hysteria, and sudden darkness as the airplane dove straight down.

  Flaco

  “I can’t believe this motherfucker would do this shit to me!” Flaco was pissed.

  Tony had fired him and he wasn’t going out like a bitch. He sat at his kitchen table, smoking a blunt and cleaning his guns. He wasn’t going to kill him, but he figured he’d hire a couple of young boys to help him rob the place on the big evening.

  The first thing he would do was let the feds know about Tony’s secret room and the videos of the judge. Tony didn’t know that he knew about the room, but he did. He had snuck in and made a key, he knew everything that was going down.

  He had reached out to the young boys who had shot up his house and was able to persuade them to help him rob the club after the show. He promised them there would be close to $4.5 million in there that night. Since none of them had ever imagined that much money, dreams of big cars and boats had them agreeing quickly.

  But first he made a call. On the phone with him was Agent Jacobson from the FBI. He told them they needed to meet and that he had a video they might want to see of the judge. He also told them that Tony was Judge Matthews’ partner.

  The FBI was knocking on his door in under 20 minutes. He ran to the door, hustled them in, and peeked outside. He saw no one.

  “Okay, what have you got for us?”

  “I have proof that the owner of this night spot where I worked is helping the judge launder money and also take bribes.”

  “Okay, let’s see the tape.”

  “Well, I don’t have a tape. I figured if I tell you and give you my key, you guys could just go in there and get the tape yourselves,” Flaco stated.

  “Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. We can’t just go in there because you tell us this. We need proof. You have to go in there and get the video for us, and then we can talk. Until then, we’re wasting time.”

  “I can’t go because I got fired,” he replied.

  “Well,” Jacobson says, pulling out his card, “when you get something, just give us a call.”

  Sitting up the block, as usual, was Sasha. She called Ghetto and Spaz. “Yo, I just seen two feds leave Puerto Rico’s house.”

  “What do you think?” Ghetto asked.

  “I don’t know if this motherfucker got the fuckin’ feds watching him. I think we should stay as far the fuck away as possible!” replied Spazo.

  “I agree,” said Ghetto. “But what about setting up shop?”

  “I got Boon and his boys out scouting.”

  “Okay, dig. Change of plan,” Spazo said. He got up and paced back and forth. “I think we should call up that Y fucker and let him know about his boy down here, but we won’t tell him about the feds. If we play this shit right, we can put those motherfuckers on Mr. Y’s ass and eliminate all his shit.” Just as he finished with Sasha, his phone rang again. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Spazo, what up?”

  “Dawn, is that man with you?”

  “Yeah, he right here,” Dawn said, handing the phone to Mr. Y.

  “How can I help you, sir?”

  “Yeah, we found your boy. You wanna know something else? Your favorite nephew, Flaco, is his partner! So all the time you were supplying him guns, he knew about you. The man you were looking for, in fact, he helped him hide. How do you wanna handle this?”

  Mr. Y. hopped out of his seat and started shouting in Ukrainian. Spazo smiled because he knew he had him.

  “Spazo, give me details! I want to handle this one personally.” When they hung up the phone, Mr. Y looked at Dawn, gave her a big hug, and said, “It’s been a pleasure having you here, my love.” He called for one of his men. “Take her wherever she wants to go. Where do you want to go?” Mr. Y asked.

  “I wanna go home,” Dawn said. “I wanna see my mother.”

  “Then I will take you home,” Mr. Y said. “And from our long conversations, I understand that you want to go home to Georgia. Well, that is where we will send you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out $1000 and handed it to her. “I’m sure you can get a plane ticket
with this, right?”

  Then he ordered his man to take her to the airport. Dawn embraced Mr. Y like he was family. He smiled as he hugged her back. “Okay, okay,” he said as the hug lingered on. He pulled her away. “Now, listen to me. If you ever need me, I’m only a phone call away.” Dawn nodded, then left, getting into a waiting sedan.

  Mr. Y said, “Book us a flight and a few hotel suites. We are gonna take a trip.”

  His man jumped to the task at hand.

  “Seems we have a traitor in our own fucking backyard!” Mr. Y said, sitting at the table. He took a steak knife and stabbed it clean through the table. In Ukrainian he said, “I want to handle this one myself.”

  CHAPTER 14

  • • •

  Tony, who was back in his house, didn’t have a clue of the chaos that was heading his way. It seemed like a regular day, and when he got up in the morning, he thought of a better way to make his business grow.

  His doorbell rang and he looked down at his watch, which read 7:30 a.m. He thought, Who the fuck is ringing the doorbell this early in the morning? He was furious that his house staff wasn’t due to arrive until one in the afternoon.

  Scowling, he walked down the stairs to the side entrance. Tony opened the door only to have the judge’s men push into him and then throw him against the wall. The noise was so loud that it woke Becky. As the bodyguards lifted Tony up off of his feet, they heard Becky’s voice. “Tony?”

  The judge walked in with a giant cigar in his mouth. “Tony, Tony…you’ve been a bad boy.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Tony asked, anger in his voice.

  A friend of mine that works for the feds came by early this morning. Do you wanna know what he showed me?”

  “Tony?” Becky questioned from the top of the steps.

  “It’s okay, Becky, the judge and I are talking.”

  “Well, what the fuck was that loud-ass bang?” Becky asked.

  “Becky, go back to the room! I’ll be up in minute.” Tony demanded.

  The judge pulled out an envelope and handed it to Tony. He grabbed the manila envelope from the judge’s hands. Inside were pictures that showed the judge walking out of Tony’s place with the senator and the prosecutor.