The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

Now it was Rain that was laughing. “I just can’t picture the Mike Black I know pimpin’,” she said.

  “He wasn’t a pimp. He rescued her.” Carter saw the confused look on Rain’s face. “You never heard this story?”

  “Black ain’t big on stories.”

  “Never was.” Carter nodded his head. “Anyway … the story goes that Black and Bobby beat some gorilla pimp to death. After that, Veneshia said that by right and tradition, she and all her girls belonged to Black and she started calling him daddy.”

  Rain laughed. “You bull shittin’.”

  “That’s how the story goes.”

  “You know I’ma call that nigga daddy next time I see him, right?”

  “I know you will,” Carter said, and started to get outta the car. “You coming?”

  “No. I’m just along for the ride.” Rain smiled. “Why, you need me to go with you to pop Turner?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’ll be right here.”

  “Okay,” Carter said, glad that she was sitting this one out and hoped that she’d do the same at their next stop.

  “Tell Veneshia I said hello,” Rain said, and got comfortable.

  When Carter got out and went inside, he looked around for Turner. He was always there. Not seeing him, Carter was about to check the other rooms, but he saw Veneshia first, attired in a champagne lace bodice and tiered-skirt sheath dress and she was coming straight at him.

  “No this ain’t Carter Garrison in my place,” Veneshia said, and hugged him.

  “How are you, Veneshia?”

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  “Yes you are. Always have been,” Carter flirted, still looking around for Turner.

  “Thank you.” Veneshia looked Carter over. “You’re looking good after your vacation.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Not that I’m not happy as hell to see you, but what are you doing here, Carter Garrison?”

  “I’m looking for Kenard. He here?”

  “He’s upstairs.”

  “Take me to him,” Carter said, and Veneshia led him through the house, up the stairs and then he followed her to the room.

  “He’s in there,” Veneshia said, and Carter took out his gun.

  “Open it.”

  Veneshia took out her keys and was about to unlock it, when the door opened, one of Veneshia’s ladies walked out and Carter walked in. Veneshia followed him in and then she closed and locked the door.

  Turner was sitting on the bed buttoning his shirt. “What’s up, Carter?”

  “I’m here to kill you,” Carter said, raised his weapon and shot Turner in the forehead. Then he stood over him and shot him twice more in the chest. He looked at Veneshia.

  “I know. Nobody gets in here but Billy,” she said.

  Carter kissed her on the cheek. “See ya.”

  “Come by sometime and have a drink with me, Carter Garrison,” Veneshia said as Carter left the house and once he was back in the car with Rain, they headed for their next stop.

  One thing that you could say about Ryder was that she never was a dumb bitch. She knew exactly what was going on between Jab and Jadonna. But that wasn’t a thing that she concerned herself with, and it damn sure wasn’t the most important thing. What concerned Ryder was that she felt her influence slipping away and with it, her power.

  She attributed the loss of influence and power, not to Jadonna Marrin, as one might expect, she was just pussy. Highly polished, well dressed, very polite pussy, but she was pussy all the same and that is all that she had to offer. No, Ryder attributed her loss of influence and power to the fact that Mileena Hayes was her cousin and her man was Carter Garrison.

  To Jab, he should have been made Captain and now Carter was just the mutha fucka that was in his way. Somebody who had something that he didn’t deserve because it was stolen. Stolen from him. Ryder always failed to see the logic in his argument, because there was none.

  She thought that Jab was a stupid man and easily led, which was why it was so easy for her to basically takeover and run the crew.

  But still, that wasn’t Ryder’s most pressing concern at the moment. What concerned her now was that she hadn’t heard from Hill and Anderson and it had been over two hours. She planned the exchange and knew they should have been back by now. But when she mentioned it to Jab that they should have been back, he seemed unconcerned and said to give them some more time.

  Stupid, Ryder thought as she prepared to leave. To her, the fact that they weren’t back and hadn’t called meant that something had gone wrong and it was time to get outta there.

  Jab was in the media room watching an animated Batman movie when she stuck her head in. “I’m gone,” Ryder said.

  “You coming back?”

  “Call me,” Ryder said and headed for the door.

  When she opened the door she was surprised to see Carter standing there. He covered her mouth with his hand and put his gun to her head.

  “You make a sound and you die. Got that?”

  Ryder nodded her head and Carter moved his hand.

  “Where is he?”

  “Media room.”

  “Move.”

  With his gun at the back of her head, Carter followed Ryder to the media room. “Open the door,” Carter said, and Ryder did what she was told.

  “Forget something?” Jab asked when the door opened.

  Carter pushed Ryder in the room, and she stumbled to the floor. Carter pointed his weapon at Jab and fired twice as he walked toward him. Both shots hit him in the chest. Carter stood in front of him and put two in his head. Then he looked at Ryder. She was still lying on the floor.

  “Get up!”

  Ryder quickly scrambled to get to her feet as Carter approached. He put the barrel of his gun to her forehead.

  “I don’t care if you are Mileena’s cousin. If I ever find out that you were a part of this nigga’s plan, I will kill you where you stand.”

  Ryder looked confused. “What plan?” she asked, because she really didn’t know.

  “I oughta kill you anyway for setting up a deal with the fuckin’ guys that killed Reese and shot Geno.”

  “I swear, Carter, he said that you knew about the deal and was good with it.”

  “Just don’t let me find out different,” Carter said and left Ryder standing there knowing that she now had no influence and no power.

  When Carter got back in the car with Rain, she was smiling. “See, you didn’t need my help at all, did you?”

  “Nope. I handled them all by myself,” Carter said, and started the car.

  Rain patted his leg. “I knew that you could. Now let’s go end this nigga,” she said, and Carter headed for Cole’s Place, the bar where Kwame Coleman ran his number bank.

  When Rain and Carter walked in Cole’s with their guns in hand and walked around, nobody seemed to pay them any attention. The place was quiet; the Yankees game was on one big screen and the Mets game was on the other and the handful of people that were there were simply drinking, talking and enjoying the games.

  The quiet calm was interrupted when Jake came out of the back and recognized Rain. Carter saw when he went for his weapon. Carter raised his and shot Jake in the chest. That was all it took to quickly clear the room, as the few customers ran out the door.

  When two more men came running out the back, Rain shot one and Carter took out the other and the two kept moving toward the office. When Carter pushed open the door, Coleman was down on one knee in front of the safe, trying to shove money in a briefcase as fast as he could. He raised his weapon and fired until the clip was empty. When they heard the sound of an empty gun, Carter walked in and Rain limped slowly in behind him.

  Rain raised her nine, put the barrel to Coleman’s forehead and pulled the trigger. Then she stood over him and put two more in his chest. After that, Carter finished putting the money in the briefcase and then went to douse the bar with gasoline. Once he was done, Carter and Rain walked out, Rain lit a
book of matches and dropped it, setting the place on fire. Then the two sat there and watched it burn until the fire department arrived.

  Day Five

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Carmen stared out the window of the chartered jet as it took off from Westchester County Airport. She and Jada were finally on their way to Paris. Once the plane reached cruising altitude, Carmen took off her seatbelt and tried to put the events of the last four days behind her.

  “Would you care for a cocktail, Ms. Taylor?” The flight attendant asked.

  “Thank you,” Carmen said and looked up. The woman was standing in front of her, holding a tray with a glass on it.

  “Ron Zacapa XO,” she said, and Carmen took the glass from her tray.

  “Thank you,” Carmen said again, took a sip of her rum and thought, not only about what happened, but what was going to happen next.

  When Detective Harmon walked Walter Bonner out of Enzo’s Palace in handcuffs, Carmen recorded it on her cell phone and once they got a team down there, she reported the Breaking News story live.

  DP watched the same broadcast with a smile on his face. He was smiling because things were going the way he knew that they would. He knew this was coming and had planned ahead. He had the new spot for the online operation up and ready to go. DP had it built in a warehouse in the South Bronx and had recruited new women to work there.

  As for his overseas shipment, he had that covered too. The four women that had actually been selected were at the new location and were ready to be shipped. Knowing that the entire operation was compromised, he killed Winston Darby, formerly of Ingram International and found a new shipper. A group of Chinese men with Triad affiliations, who were already in the human trafficking industry, were more than happy for the new business.

  Even though his takeover bid was unsuccessful, a total disaster is what it was, DP was actually glad when he heard that Rain killed Barry Hamilton at Truckload and then she killed Kwame Coleman and burned all of his operations to the ground. Since Frank Abbate never knew anything, all he could say was that Walter Bonner hired him to build some rooms at Enzo’s. All that had to happen for DP to consider the matter dealt with was for Bonner to keep his mouth shut long enough to hang himself in his jail cell while he was awaiting trial.

  So once the shooting started at Enzo’s and one of the dancers called DP, his first thought was, “Good,” he said, thinking that the police would finish his work for him.

  Now I don’t have to burn it to the ground, as his father recommended.

  He was a little disappointed, but not at all surprised when Milton called from Venezuela and said that he had to leave the country unexpectedly.

  “How long will you be gone?” DP asked, but already knew the answer.

  “I’m not sure. I may have to be down here for a while,” Milton told his son.

  “What are you working on?”

  “I don’t wanna say right now. I’ll fill you in on the details when things start to firm up.”

  “I understand,” DP said, and he did. He understood that his father had bailed, and it was time to protect himself, which to DP meant kill everybody that could tie anything to him.

  After Carmen reported the story, she went back to the station and tendered her resignation. “Effective immediately,” she told Louis and although he hated to see her go, he understood why she felt she had too.

  “You always have a home here with us, Carmen,” Louis said, and shook her hand. And even though they promised to stay in touch, the hardest part of her leaving was saying goodbye to Max.

  “We had a great run, didn’t we,” Max said, fighting back the tears.

  “We did, it was an amazing run,” Carmen said. By that time, tears were rolling down her cheeks. “I’m gonna miss you, Mad Max,” she said and hugged him again.

  “I’m gonna miss you too. Now get outta here before I start to cry and make a complete fool of myself.”

  Carmen hugged Max again and kissed him on the cheek, before she rushed out of the station and went home to pack. For her, this was a bittersweet ending and one that she would have never seen coming just a few months ago. She was sad to let go of a way of life that produced so much satisfaction and enjoyment for her. With no real experience to speak of, Carmen had turned herself into a damn good investigator.

  But although Carmen was sad to put this part of her life behind her, she harbored excitement for what came next. She was about to spend two weeks in Paris and then, Carmen plan to go home to Atlanta and surprise her parents with the news that she was home for good. She would figure things out with Marcus when she got settled. But if she knew anything about herself, it was that she could do anything she put her mind to, including finally loving a man and allowing him to love her.

  As for Jada, she was sitting in the seat across from Carmen, sipping a cocktail and she too was thinking about the last four days and what it meant to her. Although she was a boss in her own right, she respected Rain, admired her actually. So it was very important to Jada that she was able to handle the situation with Detective Bautista for Rain.

  At least for the time being, Jada thought. She was under no delusion, and neither was Rain, that this was over, and Bautista will keep coming. But for the time being, she had done her Family a service.

  My Family, Jada thought as she sipped her French 75.

  She had always felt like an outsider in The Family and not just because she ran her business in Nassau. She’d be a fool not to recognize and acknowledge that a large part of that centered around her past relationship with Mr. Black and how she came to power. And then there was her relationship with Mrs. Black.

  Both real and imaginary, Jada laughed.

  She’d heard the stories.

  I heard that Jada West and Shy got to fighting up in J.R.'s one night and Shy bitch slapped her. And then there was I heard that guns were drawn and there was a wild shoot out in the Bahamas. But her favorite was that Black had Fantasy kill her over some misunderstanding with Rodrigo Iñíguez.

  All that purely understandable history aside, this trip was different. Her actions had earned Jada the appreciation of The Boss of her Family, and hopefully her trust and respect. Her interaction with the Captain’s and especially Jackie, made Jada feel like she was really a part of The Family.

  “So what do you wanna do when we get to Paris?” Carmen asked, and signaled the attendant that she was ready for another Ron Zacapa XO.

  “After this eight hour flight, I wanna take a long hot bath and then I want you to show me Paris at night.”

  “And we’ll get there just in time to be fashionably late to all the spots, Le Magnifique, and then Ritz Bar, and we’ll end up at L’arc,” Carmen said. “I just wanna relax, get drunk and forget the last four days ever happened.”

  The attendant handed Jada another French 75. “I’ll drink to that,” she said echoing Carmen sentiment, but for her, the last four days were memorable. “And tomorrow, I wanna shop until I’m dizzy.”

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Later that morning, a charter flight landed at Westchester County Airport. The Cessna belonging to Black and Shy had returned from Fiji, touched down and then taxied to the hanger. As the jet got closer to the hanger, Shy looked out the window.

  “Did anybody order a limo?”

  “No,” Black said. “Did you,” he asked Bobby.

  He looked at Pam, she shook her head. “We didn’t.”

  “Then something is wrong,” Shy said.

  “Why you say that?” Pam asked.

  “Because Wanda just got out of the limo.”

  “The bearer of bad news,” Bobby said and laughed.

  Black leaned forward and looked out. “It’s really bad news.” He sat back.

  “Why you say that?” Bobby asked.

  “Because Rain is with her.”

  Once they got off the plane, Pam’s bodyguard, Treshaun took her home and Shy told Black that she had something to do and that Napoleon would take he
r. After that, Black and Bobby got in the limo with Rain and Wanda.

  While Bobby poured himself and Black a drink, they listened while Rain and Wanda told them what had been happening. By the time they arrived at J.R.'s, they had finished telling the tale.

  “Your real enemy is Milton Petty,” Black said calmly.

  “Milton Petty?” Wanda question because she knew him.

  “Who the fuck is Milton Petty?” Rain asked and Wanda told her about the legitimate businessman that she knew.

  “Kwame Coleman doesn’t do, or for that matter, say anything that Milton didn’t think or say first,” Bobby said.

  “Why would a guy like that be coming after us?” Rain asked.

  “I don’t know, but we’ll talk about it later,” Black said, and then he and Bobby got out of the limo.

  “Where are you two going?” Wanda asked.

  “We got something to do,” Black said as they walked away.

  “Sounds like we missed all the fun,” Bobby said as he and Black walked further away.

  “Good.” Black said. “We’re getting too old for that shit anyway.” When he held out his hand, Bobby gave him a pound. “They didn’t need us, Bob. You heard her, she handled that shit hopping on one leg with one arm tied behind her back,” Black laughed and so did Bobby.

  “The right person was there to handle it,” Bobby said. “I’m going to take care of that thing.”

  “I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours,” Black said, and they separated. Each man tapped one of the many soldiers that were at J.R.'s to drive them to their respective destination. And of course, each man was anxious to drive them.

  Bobby was on his way to see R.J. at The Four Kings. On the way there, he recalled the conversation he had with Black in Fiji. They were talking about Wanda and her secret, that isn’t a secret, boyfriend. And then Bobby asked Black if he had figured out what Wanda was up to.

  “Wanda is consolidating her power.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “From what Rain and Meka tells me, Wanda is not only in their ears, she’s into everything. And on top of that, since he’s intimidated by me and he doesn’t feel like he can talk to you, R.J. goes to her for advice.”