by Roy Glenn
Monika pulled up alongside, got out quickly and opened fire. When Xavier got out, he joined in with Monika spraying the car with bullets. Then Monika shot the gas tank before getting back in her car. Xavier got in and dropped a match to ignite the fuel as Monika drove off. When the car exploded, Xavier looked over at Monika.
“Real gangster like,” he said.
“Welcome to The Family,” Monika said, and Xavier advised Carla that phase two was complete.
With that taken care of, Jada called Rain at J.R.’s and told her that she believed the situation was contained, “At least for the time being. However, Monika is on her way there with information that Mr. Garrison needs to know right away,” Jada said.
“Thank you, Jada. I really appreciate you handling this for me,” Rain said and glanced at Wanda.
“Anything I can do for the boss of my family; it is my honor and privilege to do. Now, I just have one more matter that I need to deal with personally,” Jada said, and then she ended the call.
After she got off the phone with Rain, Jada had Victor take her to Jadonna’s apartment. When they got there, Victor kicked in the door. Jadonna tried to run as Jada walked casually into the apartment.
She pushed the door to close it, and then she stood in the living room with her gun in her hand, and waited until Victor dragged Jadonna into the room. He tossed her at Jada’s feet.
“Hello, Jadonna,” Jada said, and then she shot Jadonna. Once in the chest, and one to the head.
Chapter Thirty-two
After Rain ended the call with Jada, she looked at Wanda and smiled. “What?”
“That was Jada. She said that she believes the situation with Bautista’s been dealt with,” Rain paused as Jada did, “At least for the time being. She said that Monika is on her way here and she’ll explain shit.”
Wanda nodded her head and said nothing for a second, and then she stood up. “We’ll see what Monika has to say.” She walked to the bar. “I’d offer you one but…”
“And I’d take it, but…”
“But, you’re on pain meds,” Wanda said as she poured herself a drink from the pitcher of apple martinis that Yarissa had made for her.
“Glenda be tryin’ to keep me fucked up,” Rain said and laughed, and she knew that she needed to be clear headed at all times.
“Can you blame her? She’s just trying to keep you in bed long enough for you to get better,” Wanda said and sat down.
Just then, the buzzer sounded, and Yarissa let Rain know that Ed Weather had arrived. Rain told Yarissa to make him comfortable in the lounge. “And bring them all in together,” she ordered while still smiling at Wanda.
“What?” Wanda asked again.
“What?” Rain asked. She thought that Wanda not liking or trusting Jada was just her channeling Shy’s hatred for Jada and she found that amusing.
“What are you looking at me like that for?”
Rain smiled. “How am I looking at you?”
“Like I’m supposed to have something to say about Miss Prissy Jada thinking that she dealt with the situation.”
“Do you?”
“I told you, we’ll see what Monika has to say about it when she gets here.”
Rain laughed. “So, if Monika says Jada dealt with the situation you’ll believe that … oh yeah, that’s right, you don’t trust Jada.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust her…”
“But you don’t,” Rain interrupted.
“I would like to hear the details from Monika before I’m comfortable thinking that the situation has been dealt with,” Wanda said, completely ignoring what Rain had said, but it was true. Wanda didn’t trust Jada and if she planned to be in New York for a while, Wanda would make it her business to watch Miss Prissy Jada and find out just what she was up to.
When Doc and Jackie arrived, Yarissa escorted them to the lounge where they joined Ed Weather. The last of the Captains to arrive was Carter.
“You ever notice that Carter always gets to these meetings last?” Ed Weather asked as they made their way to Rain’s office.
“Don’t hate ’cause the man knows how to make an entrance,” Jackie said as Yarissa led the Captain’s into Rain’s office. Once she poured a shot of Hennessey for Carter and refreshed everybody else’s drink, she left the office.
“What you got for me, Carter?” Rain asked.
“According to Sherman, Coleman runs two small gambling spots, a little sports bar where he takes bets and a bar where he runs his number bank outta,” Carter informed.
“That’s it?” Rain questioned.
“That’s it.”
“You check out the spots?” Rain asked and Carter described in detail what he and Hassan saw when they went to the spots.
“Sherman says the guy is strictly small-time,” Carter said. “He can’t believe he would make a move against you on his own like this.”
“I agree. We need to find out who else is with him,” Wanda said, and Rain held up her hand.
“I don’t care who’s with him right now. We gonna shut this nigga down tonight. That will bring whoever is with him out in the open.”
Rain paused to see if anybody had anything to say. There was silence in the room. The boss of The Family had made up her mind and now it was time to listen.
“Jackie, you and Ed take the gambling spots. Kill everybody and burn the shit to the ground. Doc, the sports bar is yours, same way. Kill everybody and burn the bitch to the fuckin’ ground.”
“Understood,” Doc said, and knew exactly who he planned to assign this task to.
“Carter, you’re with me. We’re going to take the number bank and kill Coleman.”
Carter nodded his head, glad that he was going with Rain and if he wasn’t, he’d insist. If she won’t keep her ass still, I need to have her back, and her front, Carter thought as the buzzer chimed.
“I have Monika here to see you,” Yarissa informed.
“Send her in,” Rain said. “That’s it everybody.”
When everybody but Wanda stood up, Rain looked at Carter. “You stay, Carter,” she said as Yarissa showed Monika into the office. After speaking briefly with the Captain’s as they exited, Monika sat down.
“What you got for us?” Rain asked when Yarissa closed the door behind her.
“Bautista’s snitch was Jadonna Marrin,” Monika began.
“Who the fuck is that?” Rain asked.
“She used to be one of Simone’s women.”
“One of Jada’s women, you mean,” Wanda said.
Both Rain and Monika glanced at Wanda before Rain nodded her head and then Monika continued. “I’m not sure how Bautista got her hooks in her, but she was involved with Lucus Hill.”
“He’s one of my guys,” Carter acknowledged.
“She put Bautista on to a deal they had set up with El Decreto de Guerra to buy weapons. Her plan was to catch Hill after he did the deal, flip him and work her way up to Rain.” Monika looked at her. “She wants you bad, Sunshine.”
“Wait a minute,” Carter said, not believing what he was hearing. “This guy had a deal with the same guys that killed Reese and shot Geno and Smoke?”
“Yes. But it wasn’t his deal.”
“Whose deal was it?” Carter demanded to know.
“Jab Baldwin.”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. “That mutha fucka.”
“He had conspired with Kenard Turner to set it up so you’d go to do the deal and then they would tip the ATF.”
Carter shook his head. “Anything else?”
“That’s it,” Monika said.
“Ain’t that enough?” Rain asked.
“What about Hill and his deal with El Decreto de Guerra?” Wanda asked.
Monika looked at Wanda. “Jada ordered their termination. Me and the X-man took care of Hill and his partner before they got anywhere near the meeting at Salsa Con Tarifa.”
“And Jadonna Marrin?” Rain asked.
“Jada killed her per
sonally.”
“Thank you, Monika,” Rain said.
“Anything for you, Sunshine,” Monika said, and then she left the office.
“I’ll be with you in a minute, Carter,” Rain said, and then Carter left the office. “Now that you’ve heard all the details from Monika, are you comfortable thinking that the situation has been dealt with?” she asked.
“For the time being, I’m comfortable thinking that the situation has been dealt with. For the time being,” Wanda said, and Rain stood up.
“Just checking,” Rain said as she made her way to the door with Wanda following behind her. When they exited the office, Carter stood up and looked at Yarissa.
“You have the conn,” Carter said.
“Aye, Captain,” Yarissa saluted as Carter followed Rain and Wanda out.
Chapter Thirty-three
When Jackie got in the car with Baby Chris, she was feeling good. For the first time since Mike Black made her a Captain, she felt that she had the respect of her peers. Jackie had just left a meeting with some of the people she respected.
She had deep admiration and respect for Rain, her actions when she was a soldier and the way that she had conducted herself as boss of The Family made her worthy of it. Jackie had been hangin out at Doc’s for years and looked up to him. And Ed Weather, his reputation had always proceeded him, and when he lost that, Ed did what was necessary to restore it. And then there was Carter Garrison. Everybody she respected in this family held him in high regard. And now that she had met him and had a chance to work with him, she saw why.
“The killing Captain,” Jackie said aloud, as Baby Chris drove.
“Say what?”
“The killing Captain, that’s what they’re calling me now,” Jackie said and laughed, but she was proud of her new title.
“Like Howard. Yeah, I can see that.” Baby Chris nodded his head. “Difference is you do your own killing. Carter used to do Howard’s killing for him.”
“What you know about that, youngling?”
Baby Chris laughed. “I grew up in Cynt’s crew.”
Christopher Aloysius Arcus Jr. was the son of Chris ‘Babyface’ Arcus, he was one of Cynt’s soldiers. He was quite the ladies’ man until the day that he first saw Paula Shorter, aka Peaches, a new dancer at Cynt’s. Babyface walked up to her while she was dancing, took all the money he had out of his pocket and looked at her.
“You gonna be my wife,” he said, and laid the money at her feet. True to his word, Babyface Arcus married Peaches four months after that day and two years later, Peaches was pregnant. If the ambulance got there ten minutes later, Baby Chris would have been born at Cynt’s.
“You serious?”
“Yeah. I mean it ain’t like she was dancing or nothing that night, she just used to hang out up there. My father was there, all her friends were there.”
“They were family.”
“Right. So, after I was born, my mother went back to work dancing and a lot of those nights, she’d bring me with her. Since they both worked there, I pretty much grew up at Cynt’s.”
Jackie laughed. “So, you grew up in a hoe house.”
“Sure did.”
Like R.J. and Judah, Baby Chris grew up in The Family, only his father wasn’t a boss or a Captain, his father was a soldier, a hijacker and a stick-up man. He was a decent earner that was shot by the police coming out of a bank when Chris was eleven. “Lookin’ just like my daddy is how I got the name Baby Chris,” he said as he pulled up in front of Conversations and Travis got in the back seat.
As Baby Chris drove on, Jackie explained to Travis where they were going and what they were going to do.
“Kill all of Coleman’s men and burn the place to the ground,” Jackie said.
“Okay,” Travis said. “How you gonna do it?”
“Run the civilians out like we gonna rob the place, kill his men and torch the joint,” Jackie said.
Travis shook his head. “The hard way.”
“You got a better idea, now’s the time.”
“I say we toss in a couple of flash bangs, and a couple of smoke grenades, everybody runs out,” Travis suggested. “In the confusion, we go in with gas masks and night vision goggles. We pop the guys with the guns.”
“The ones trying to run out with the money,” Baby Chris added. “Simple.”
“And a whole lot less messy,” Travis said.
“I like it,” Jackie said and laughed. “You been hangin’ around Monika too much.”
“And you haven’t been hangin’ around her enough,” Travis teased. “Wanna run up in the place, all gangster like and shit, with guns blazin’.”
So it was set. After a quick stop at Conversations for the necessary equipment, they went on to hit the objective. And the hit went off smooth and easy, exactly the way Travis said.
Once Baby Chris killed the doorman, Travis tossed in a couple of flash bang grenades, the powerful flash of light and the loud noise disoriented everybody in the room, and they were able to slip in unnoticed with gas masks and night vision goggles on. Then Jackie and Baby Chris threw in two smoke grenades a piece, from either side of the room.
As the room filled with smoke, everybody started rushing toward and crowding the exits to get out, just as Travis suggested they would. In the ensuing confusion, it was easy to identify and eliminate Coleman’s men because, as Baby Chris suggested, they were the ones with the guns that were trying to make their way out with the money.
With that out of the way, Baby Chris checked to make sure that the place was empty, while Jackie and Travis set the explosives. Once they were out of the building and away, Jackie pressed the detonator and blew the place.
Simple.
Chapter Thirty-four
When R.J. arrived at Doc’s, he parked his car outside and walked toward the building. He had gone by The Four Kings earlier and Monique told him that he needed to meet Marvin, Pills and Judah there.
Once he was inside, R.J. stopped, looked around and noticed that there were a lot of new faces. Not seeing his crew, he wandered around the place looking, and when he didn’t see them anywhere, R.J. grabbed the first dancer he saw. She threw her arms around his neck.
“Hey, R.J.,” Kalona said, and then she kissed him while she grinded her body against his.
“What’s up, Kalona? You seen Judah and them?”
“They’re in Doc’s office waiting for you,” she said.
“Thanks, Kalona.”
“Holla at me before you go. I was thinking about gettin’ outta here and hangin’ out,” she said loudly as R.J. made his way to the office.
I don’t think so.
There was a time when he would have taken Kalona up on her offer. They had hung out a few times before and they always had a good time.
But that was then; now things were different.
“What’s up, Kings?” R.J. said when he walked into the office.
“Fuck you been?” Marvin asked.
R.J. sat down. “I met a woman recently and we spent the weekend together. Why, did something happen?”
“Oh, nothing much,” Judah said. He was seated in Doc’s chair with his feet on the desk. “Rain got shot.”
“What?” He certainly wasn’t expecting to hear that. “Is she all right?” R.J. asked in shock.
“Of course she’s all right,” Marvin said.
“Ain’t you heard; Rain Robinson is invincible,” Pills said.
Everybody laughed, but the laughter quickly subsided.
“Anything else?” R.J. asked.
Judah laughed. “Like Rain getting shot ain’t enough.”
“Somebody shot up Conversations, killed four people,” Pills said nonchalantly.
“Damn!” R.J. said with his face contorted.
“And Paradise Fish and Chicken,” Pills said.
“What happened there?”
“Same thing, mugs shot up the place, killed a bunch of people,” Marvin said.
“That’s fucked
up,” R.J. said, nodding his head and he was starting to get the picture the other Kings were painting.
“Ed Weather’s wife died in the shooting at Paradise,” Pills continued delivering the bad news.
“Damn. Anything else?”
Marvin laughed. “I heard Jackie killed Flip.”
“That nigga had that shit coming for a long time.” R.J. shook his head. “Anything else?”
“I think that’s it,” Judah said, nodding as he looked around the office.
“So while you were off somewhere getting your rocks off, The Family been at war,” Pills said.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” R.J. said.
“I don’t think you do,” Marvin said. “We at war, and we can’t hear from you because you’re fuckin’ phone is off.”
“Okay, Marv, I get it,” R.J. said.
Judah sprung forward and pounded his fist on the desk. “I don’t think you do, R.J. We thought you were dead.”
R.J. looked at the other Kings, his brothers, the men he’d sworn a blood oath with and finally got it.
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I gotta remember that it ain’t just me no more. All there is now is us.”
“Especially now,” Judah said as the door opened, and Doc came in. Judah immediately bounced out of his father’s chair.
“That chair don’t quite fit you yet,” Doc said, and sat down in his chair.
“That’s okay, Pop. One day it’ll fit me perfectly,” Judah said to his father.
“One day, but not today,” Doc said, and then he looked at R.J. and shook his head. “Look who finally came back to the world. I hope whatever her name was, that she was worth it.”
“Sorry, Doc. It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t. There are people that depend on you now, you have to be there when they need you.”
“Yes, sir,” R.J. said and accepted the reprimand.