by Glenn, Roy
“The girl got a point, Mike,” Bobby said and moved his gun away from Rain’s head. “She just did the same shit we would do.”
“Shut up, Bobby,” Black said and his expression softened a little. Rain tried not to laugh, but a little smile broke through.
Bobby put his gun back to her head. “What you smilin’ about, little girl? You still might die in here tonight.”
“You have any idea how much money you cost me? Grant might have been weak,” Black began.
“And an asshole,” Bobby added.
“But he was a good earner,” Black said and looked at Bobby. “This little family feud got my whole program is disarray. And it’s all because of you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you,” Bobby said. “I know you smart enough to understand that this whole thing is goin’ on because you took Nick from Wanda and then you slapped the shit out of her in public.” Bobby put the gun to her temple. “Say it ain’t and I’ll blow your brains out. Ain’t that what you told Jackie? Say it ain’t your fault and I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains out.”
Black put his hand over his eyes and laughed a bit, and then he got serious again. “I told Nick this once, now I’m tellin’ you personally. You ain’t got no more times to fuck up in my house.”
“I’m good wit’ that,” Rain said.
“Put the gun down Bobby. We ain’t gonna kill Ms. Robinson tonight.”
“Thank you,” Rain said and breathed a sigh of relief.
“And I’ll tell you why. It is because you did what you had to do when somebody came after Nick. Because you did what you were supposed to do. Same shit I woulda done if I were in your place. You went hard at the people you thought did it. That’s how the game is played.”
“My daddy taught me the rules to this game,” Rain said.
“You know I liked your father. He was a stand up guy.”
“He thought the same thing about you.”
“Now that you two have had your Kumbaya moment,” Bobby said. “There is still a question that needs an answer,”
Black looked at Bobby and then back to Rain. “I know you do, Ms. Robinson, but I don’t think Wanda sent that team to kill Nick,” he said.
“I don’t either,” Bobby said. “But tell me why you don’t.”
“You mean other than the fact that I don’t want to?”
“Yeah, other than that,” Bobby said.
“It doesn’t make any sense. I can believe that she would want to kill Ms. Robinson, but not Nick.”
“So if Wanda didn’t send them, who did?”
“I don’t know, Bobby. Let’s go find out.” Black got up and opened the door and called Jackie. She went in the office and closed the door as Nick looked on.
“You can have your office back. We’re done here.” Black saw how Rain was looking at Jackie. “And just so you know, Ms. Robinson, Jackie didn’t call me.”
“She didn’t?”
“No,” Bobby said. “I told him.”
Black looked at Rain. “You’re with me tonight.”
“Okay, just let me tell Nick,” Rain said and started for the door.
“He’ll be all right. Come on,” Black said and walked out the back door. Bobby extended his arm for Rain. She walked out behind Black and Bobby followed her out of the gambling house.
Rain followed Black and Bobby to the rental car. “Mind if I make a suggestion?” she said.
“Go ahead,” Black said.
“If we goin’ huntin’, I suggest we take the Suburban.”
“Why?” Bobby asked.
“When this began, Nick had Chance trick it out with reinforced steel and bulletproof windows. It’s a fuckin’ tank.”
“Okay we’ll take yours,” Black said and followed Rain to the Suburban.
“Who is Chance?” Bobby asked.
“He took over Clay’s Garage after y’all killed Bo and Hank,” Rain said and got in.
“You been gone a long time, Bobby,” Black said.
“Yeah, but I’m back now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
The suspense was killing him. It had been more than an hour since Black called Jackie in the office. Nick got tired of sitting there waiting for Rain to come out. He got up and knocked on the door to Jackie’s office.
“Come,” Jackie yelled.
Nick opened the door and was surprised to find that Jackie was alone. “Where is everybody?”
Jackie looked up. “They left an hour ago,” she said and went back to what she was doing.
Nick left the office thinking that they are going to kill Rain. He rushed out of the house, followed by Rain’s men. “What’s wrong, Nick?” Memphis asked.
“Rain is gone,” Nick said.
“And so is our ride,” Chris Toney said when he noticed that the Suburban was no longer parked where they left it. Nick ran back inside and found Monika.
“I need you to take me somewhere,” Nick said.
Without asking where or why, Monika got up and led Nick to her car. “What’s goin’ on?” Monika asked once they were in the car.
“Black and Bobby are gone and they took Rain with them,” Nick said.
“Damn,” Monika said. “They are gonna kill her.”
“Take me to the parlor,” Nick said and Monika headed there. When they got there, nobody was there and the crematorium was cold. Nick took out his cell phone and called Rain’s cell.
Rain looked at the display on her phone. “It’s Nick.”
“Answer that Bobby,” Black said and Rain handed her phone to Bobby.”
“Hello,” Bobby said.
“Bobby?” Nick said tentatively.
“What’s up, Nick? What you want?”
“I wanted to talk to Rain.”
“She can’t come to the phone right now,” Bobby said laughing.
“Why not?”
“She’s busy.”
“You tell him not to worry about Ms Robinson,” Black shouted. “He needs to—give me the fuckin’ phone.” Bobby handed the phone to Black. “You don’t need to worry about Ms Robinson. You need to be all about makin’ peace with Wanda!” Black shouted and hung up the phone. Then he dialed Wanda’s number.
She had just arrived at her house. She looked at the display and recognized the number as being Rain’s cell. “What the fuck do you want?” Wanda answered with a nasty attitude.
“I want you to make peace with Nick. That’s what the fuck I want.”
“I’m sorry, Mike, I didn’t know it was you.”
“I guess not. You and I need to have a conversation, Wanda.”
“I know.”
“We’ll talk tomorrow, but this war ends tonight. You make peace with Nick, understand,” Black said and ended the call without giving Wanda a chance to answer.
Black gave Rain back her phone as she pulled up in front of Cynt’s. They got out of the Suburban and approached the building. “You go in first, Ms Robinson,” Black said.
Rain smiled and went in. As soon as Dwayne saw Rain come through the door, he ran to tell Cynt. “Rain is here.”
“Who’s with her?” Cynt asked.
“She’s alone.”
Cynt got her gun out of the drawer and followed Dwayne out of the office. By the time they got to the floor, Black and Bobby had come in and were standing with Rain.
“I thought you said she was alone.”
“She was.”
As discreetly as she could, Cynt handed the gun to Dwayne and approached Black. “Hello, Mike. Hello, Bobby,” Cynt said and hugged both of them.
“Who were you plannin’ on shootin’, Cynt?”
“Huh?”
“If you can huh, you can hear,” Bobby said.
“I—I—”
“In your office.” Black pointed. “Now.”
“Yes, sir,” Cynt said sheepishly and led the way.
Once they were in the office and everybody was seated, Black stared Cynt down and waited for her to say something. “You
want to tell me what’s goin’ on?”
“I—I—”
“You said that already. Come up with something new,” Bobby said.
“Nevermind, Cynt. I already talked to Nick and Wanda. What were you thinkin’? What was she thinkin’? And this time, I do want an answer,” Black demanded.
“That means no I—I—I shit, Cynt. Come on now, use them lips,” Bobby said.
“We all agreed that something needed to be done about her,” Cynt said and pointed at Rain. “That everything went a lot smoother when Wanda ran things and that she needed to take over.”
“That your idea or Wanda’s?” Bobby asked even though he knew the answer.
Cynt didn’t answer.
“Answer the man, Cynt,” Black said.
“Wanda discussed it with me, yes. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t agree with her.”
“Who put the contract out on Nick?” Rain asked.
Cynt didn’t answer.
“Answer the woman, Cynt,” Black said and Rain smiled.
“I don’t know. Wanda told me that she didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“I’m gonna tell you this one time, Cynt. Next time you, Wanda or anybody try to take over my shit, I don’t give a fuck how far we go back, Bobby will put two in your head,” Black said.
Cynt looked at Bobby.
He had his gun out and pointed at her.
“I understand.”
“Good. Now open the safe and arm Ms. Robinson.”
Their next stop was Doc’s. Black really wanted to know how he was involved in this. “I’m just glad you back. Things had gone too far,” Doc said.
“I really need to know why you got involved in this scheme?”
Doc hesitated and looked at Rain before he said anything. “I agreed that something needed to be done,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But I told Wanda that I wasn’t sure this was what we need to be doing. Then I asked her if she talked to you about it.”
“What she say?” Black asked.
“She said she did and that you were too busy in Nassau. That with Jamaica expanding his operation on the island and CeCe havin’ a baby, that you didn’t have time to be bothered and you said for her to do what she thought was best. Then Cynt assured me that you would support what we were doing,” Doc said. “But now I’m thinkin’ that none of that was true. Was it?”
“No, Doc, they lied to you,” Bobby said.
“Who’s runnin’ Grant’s crew?” Black asked.
Again, Doc looked at Rain before answering. “Nobody. She took down Kelly and Dylan the night she killed Grant and set fire to his spot. Then she shot Burke and Cootie in the face. Only one left is Castor and he went underground because he thought he was next on her list.”
“Damn, Rain,” Bobby said.
“Your girl ain’t no joke,” Doc said.
It wasn’t easy, but Black was able to find where Castor was hiding. Bobby and Rain held guns to either side of his head and Castor assured Black that Grant wasn’t the one who put the contract on Nick. They left there and weren’t any closer to what they wanted to know. “Where to now?” Rain asked.
“Take me by Cuisine,” Black said. Once he told Lexi that everything was over they headed for Impressions to do the same for Tara. She ran to Black and threw her arms around him like she used to do years ago when they used to fuck over the stage. Then she saw Rain and backed away. “It’s okay, Tara, she’s with me,” Black said.
Bobby leaned close to Rain. “Is everybody scared of you?”
“That’s how I need them to be,” Rain replied.
They went to Tara’s office and told her that the war was over and that she had nothing to worry about any more. Tara seemed relieved by the news and told them that two men that she assumed belong to Rain, had been hanging around there every night, all night since it began. “Are they here tonight?” Black asked.
“No and I’m surprised they’re not ’cause like I said, they’re here every night.”
“What they look like?” Bobby asked.
“I’m sure we could find them on last night’s security video of the front door,” Tara said and went to cue-up the video for them to review. She fast-forwarded for a while until she saw them.
“They’re not part of The Purple Gang,” Rain said.
“The Purple Gang? Give me a fuckin’ break,” Bobby said. “Where y’all get that shit from?”
“I used to go by the name PR when I was doin’ my thing.” Rain smiled. “You know, Purple Rain. Well niggas started callin’ them The Purple Gang.”
Black laughed. “You never heard of The Purple Gang, Bob?”
“No.”
“Out of Detroit.”
“Detroit?” Rain questioned.
“In the nineteen twenties and early thirties. They controlled the bootleg game in the Midwest. If you wanted to bring liquor across the Detroit River coming out of Canada you had to pay The Purple Gang. They were so bad that when Al Capone tried to expand his thing into Detroit that Capone wouldn’t take them on and decided it was better to buy from The Purple Gang than to fight them.”
“What he do?” Rain asked.
“He formed an alliance with them. As a matter of fact, it was Abe Bernstein, the head of The Purple Gang that called Bugs Moran and told him a hijacked load of liquor was on its way to Chicago and they would deliver it to the garage on North Clark Street. The next day, instead of delivering a load of liquor, five men, two of them dressed as cops opened fire with machine guns, and killed seven men. It became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”
“I did not know that,” Rain said.
“Don’t you read history?” Black asked.
“No.”
“Maybe you should.”
“Maybe I will,” Rain said.
“You can learn a lot from history. Game ain’t changed. Rules are different, players are different, but the game stays the same.”
“Okay, kids, history lesson is over for the day. Now can we get back to work here?”
Rain looked at the screen. “Can you zoom in that one?” she asked. Tara did what Rain asked. “I recognize him. I’m sure that’s one of the men that shot Nick in the drive-by.”
“Those are the same guys that have been here every night,” Tara confirmed. They got a picture of him and left Impressions.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Shortly after Black, Bobby and Rain left Cuisine, Wanda arrived with her bodyguards. After she talked to Black, she called Nick. “I was just about to call you,” Nick said to her when he got the call.
“Mike talk to you too?” Wanda asked.
“Yes. We need to talk Wanda.”
“I know. Why don’t you meet me at Cuisine.”
“See you there,” Nick said.
When Wanda arrived at Cuisine, the reception she received from Lexi was less than cordial. She attributed it to the fact that she had never come there with bodyguards. Lexi was at the door when Wanda came in. Her conversation was guarded, at best and afterwards, Lexi went immediately to the bar and spoke to two men. Those men watched her and her men the entire time they sat there waiting for Nick.
Wanda had been there for thirty minutes and was thinking about leaving when Nick finally got there. She was surprised that under the circumstances that he was alone. No bodyguards and no Rain. She hoped that Rain wasn’t there because she was dead. Wanda told her men to wait at the bar. “And I know that I don’t have to tell to you to watch Nick.”
“Naturally,” one said.
“What should we do if he tries anything?” the other asked.
“What do you think?” Wanda said and dismissed them with a wave of her hand.
Nick saw where Wanda was sitting and approached her.
“Hello, Wanda,” Nick said and stood over her.
“Have a seat, Nick,” Wanda said wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.
“Thank you,” Nick said and pulled out a chair. He wondered
where he should start. He sat there for a moment looking at the expressionless look on Wanda’s face. “I just want to start by sayin’ that I’m sorry.”
“You said that already,” Wanda said coldly.
“I know that.”
“Well what else do you have to say to me?”
“Come on, Wanda, you’re makin’ this harder than it already is,” Nick said and Wanda could hear the frustration in his voice, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to make this any easier for him.
“Look, Nick, I really don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I’m here because Mike said that I need to make peace with you. The same reason you’re here. Am I right?”
“Yeah, he called me too, but this is the conversation I was trying to have with you when you stormed out of Jackie’s.”
“I did not storm out of Jackie’s,” Wanda said angrily.
Nick smiled a little. “Yes you did, Wanda. You can’t sit there and tell me that you weren’t mad as hell when you walked out of that office. I’ve never heard Black yell at you. And then he didn’t take your side, come on, you’re in unfamiliar territory.”
“I don’t have to sit here and listen to you try to insult me, Nick,” Wanda said.
“Insult you? With what? The truth? I know that you’re mad at me and you have every right to be, but let’s be for real about this. Black has been protective of you since the day I met you. I still think the reason we got into a fight that first day was because he didn’t like the way I was looking at you.”
“Was not.”
Nick laughed at the way she said, was not. “Whether he did or not, doesn’t change the facts. That’s probably why you thought you could get away with this.”
“Why is that, Nick?”
“Because you thought he would take your side the way he always does.”
Wanda didn’t say anything, because part of her knew he was right. She was sure that if she had been given a chance to explain what she did and why she did it to Black on her own terms that he would have seen that she was right and the move had to be made.
“Nothing to say?”
“You’re doing all the talking.”