by Roy Glenn
Their next target was Jerry Demet. two of Barnes men walked in the bodega the Demet ran his number spot from and set a small fire in the back of the store, brought a twelve pack and left. When the fire began burning and the store filled with smoke, Demet and two of his people were in the back cut off, so they had to go out the back door. Coughing, and fighting smoke, they were shot as soon as they stepped outside.
That same night, Gene Hazelton, who ran gambling spots for Jackie was shot and killed when one of his spots got robbed and he tried to run out with the rest of the gamblers when the bandits set the place on fire. When Barnes men tried the same thing at Irving Spencer’s gambling spot, he was ready for them. Spence’s men easily dealt with the threat and killed the men that Barnes sent, but Spence was killed in the shootout.
At that point, damn near all of Jackie’s crew had been systematically dismantled and her key people murdered.
“I just don’t get it,” Black said the second that Yarissa closed the door. He was seated on the couch in Rain’s office at J.R.'s.
“I don’t get it either,” Rain co-signed from behind her desk.
“That’s because it doesn’t make any sense,” Black added and that was because it didn’t make any sense. Not to him, nor anybody else that was seated in Rain’s office.
“We keep kickin’ their ass and they keep coming.”
“Coming at us hard with men and guns,” Wanda added. She was sitting on the couch next to Black. Wanda had been through enough wars to know that the level of planning and sophistication it took to carry out the attacks said to her that this was different.
“What I wanna know is how they are able to do the things they’re doing?” Black wondered.
Rain sat back in her chair and looked around her office. “Make no mistake about it, it ain’t just Jackie’s crew.” Rain paused. “Before I killed DP, me and Carter had taken over all his shit and Barnes is tryin’ to take them back.”
Wanda shook her head. “What now?” she asked.
“They started with the warehouse where the online operation was housed,” Rain said and recounted the story that Ryder told her.
The night before, Barnes men moved through the warehouse and they encountered Hassan and Ryder. He laid down cover fire while Ryder took cover and then she returned their fire as Hassan made it to cover. When Hassan opened up again, Barnes men took cover and shot back. Ryder emptied the magazine, put in another one and then she stood up and fired twice, hitting her man with one to the chest and one to the head. The other men opened fire at Hassan, and he returned fire, and then ducked for cover but he was hit, and Hassan went down.
When Ryder made it to her feet, she and the remaining shooter exchanged fire, before she hit him with a shot right to his head.
“Once Ryder cleared the building, she went to check on Hassan,” Rain said.
“Is he all right?” Wanda asked.
“He was taken to the hospital in critical condition,” Rain said.
“I know this war gotta be costing these boys a chunk of money.” Wanda paused. “And maybe that’s how we put a stop to this whole thing.”
“How’s that?” Rain asked.
“It costs plenty of money to fight a war,” Wanda began. “Especially on this scale, cause it’s costing us a chunk to fight them off.”
Rain’s eyes narrowed. “We dry up their money,” she said, and a slight smile crept across her lips.
“No money, no war,” Wanda nodded in agreement.
“Sounds simple, but how do we make that happen?” Black asked and there was silence in the room. “I mean it’s not like whoever’s supplying them is going to stop doing business with them. No, I think you’ve got the right idea, but the wrong tactic. We need to put these boys out of business.”
“Permanently,” Rain added. “I’ll put Jackie on it.”
“Make that happen and the war ends. So, if there’s nothing else, I have to make arrangements for my family to come to this wedding.” Black stood up. After Monika assassinated Crazy Nicky, he took them back to Freeport.
“That’s the other thing,” Wanda said quickly, and Black sat down because apparently there was more to deal with. “I think that with all that’s going on that we should think seriously about cancelling the wedding until things quiet down and we get this behind us.”
“No,” Nick said flatly. He never came to the meetings anymore. He was there to address the talk he had heard about cancelling the wedding. “No, Wanda, we are not even going to consider cancelling the wedding.”
Wanda leaned forward. “I think you should think about it, Nick. For security reasons,” she enthusiastically said.
“No, Wanda,” Nick said more forcefully, and it caused her to sit back. This was his wedding that they were talking about and he wasn’t about to be told when they could get married. “That is not gonna happen.”
“How about this then; we have the wedding at Cuisine, and it be just The Family. Would that be acceptable?” Black asked, seeking an end to the discussion and Nick thought about it for a while before he agreed.
And since that was the only reason he was there, Nick went home to tell April about the great compromise that he had reached.
“No.”
“No?” Nick questioned.
“You heard me, Nick. No. We are not cancelling my wedding and we are not having a just The Family wedding,” April said using air quotes. “What about my family? My mother, my father, my sister, aunts, uncles and cousins.” April laughed. “Are you gonna be the one to tell my grandmother that she can’t come to our wedding?”
“No,” Nick said and put his arm around her. “I will not be the one to tell Sister Betty that she can’t watch her April get married.”
“I tell you what, we can have the wedding at Cuisine, and we can limit the guest list to just my immediate family,” April suggested, and Nick agreed and kissed his bride to be thinking that them being able to compromise meant they were off to a great start in their marriage.
Chapter Two
While Nick and April were negotiating the location of their wedding, the meeting in Rain’s office continued and Black picked up where he left off.
“Now that that’s settled, I say again, if there’s nothing else,” Black said and looked at Wanda.
“That’s all I have.”
“Rain?” Black asked.
“I’ll tell you about it when we’re alone,” Rain said.
“Ms. West?”
It surprised her the first time that Rain invited her to join what Jada had come to call, these little chats. Usually they consisted of her and Black listening, while Wanda and Rain debated opposing points, so she saw no point in her being there. But Jada was there because she was a big earner.
Earners deserve a spot and a voice at the table, Rain explained to Jada when she asked. That, and it is funny as fuck watching Wanda, because Jada’s presence makes her so uncomfortable, Rain told Black when he asked that same question and they had a good laugh about it.
“No, Mr. Black, I have nothing to add,” Jada said.
“That’s it then,” Black said, and he kept his seat as Wanda left the office with Jada.
In her limousine on the way back to her hotel, Jada thought about returning from Paris and finding that Fiona shot Simone in the head when she refused to let her stay with Jackie and Travis.
I do get a say, was what Fiona said before she raised her weapon and fired.
She was furious with Simone for trying to sell Fiona.
Simone knows better, Jada thought as she rode in the limo. That is not the way I’ve ever done business.
Jada told Fiona that she was more than welcome to stay and that ended the matter. With that settled, there was now the issue of who would run her New York operation. After giving it careful consideration, Jada decided that her mother, Vivian was quite capable of running Paraiso and Napoleon was running things in Freeport from Palais de Plaisir. She had good people running the smaller operations that sh
e had opened in the islands, so Jada decided to stay in New York and run her business from there. She had proven herself to be useful, as well as being an earner.
When she first started out in the business, Sasha only charged a fee of twenty-five percent for use of her connections and Jada saw no reason to change that policy, but she did have a plan for improving it.
When Jada went on her own, she introduced herself as an entrepreneur and what she had to offer was a business opportunity.
You could probably make a substantial amount of money if you just used some of your other assets and have some fun while you’re at it.
But Jada didn’t just sell women on a lifestyle, it was an opportunity for the women to make money. Her plan was simple. Charge a fee for access to clientele and expenses off the top, invest half for them and pay the women the rest. It was never about selling the women; it was about providing access and the safest environment to maximize their earning potential.
Therefore, the idea that Simone would try to sell Fiona for a quarter of a million dollars, as if a person could or should be for sale, was unconscionable and the thought of it disgusted Jada.
It didn’t take Jada long to find out why Simone needed to raise a quarter mill. An hour with her accountant told that story plainly. Simone was an embezzler and not a very good one. She had stolen more than a million dollars from various accounts.
“That bitch is lucky Fiona shot her,” Jada shouted.
“Jada?” Victor questioned, and Caprice looked shocked at her because neither of them had ever heard Jada curse before.
“That’s right; I cursed,” Jada said after finding out that Simone needed the money to replace what she had taken from that account. After Jada informed her that she was using that account to capitalize the new charter service, Simone quickly replaced it with money from other accounts.
Back in the office, Black was curious about what Rain wanted to talk about now that they were alone.
“What’s up?” he asked Rain when the door closed.
“What you gettin’ ready to do?” Rain smiled and asked.
“Nothing, why?”
“You wanna hang out?”
“What you got in mind?” Black smiled.
“Let’s get in the streets. Find these niggas and kill them.”
“Bet.” Black stood up. “You still got that vest in here?”
“Vest?” Rain asked with her face twisted in puzzled distortion. “For who?”
“For me.”
“You?”
“I promised Cassandra that if I went anywhere with you that I would wear a vest.”
Rain laughed. “You know she came at me about that and I told her that I tried, but you wouldn’t wear one,” Rain said and opened her weapons safe.
“Yeah, well, Cassandra can be very persuasive when she wants to be,” Black said as Rain handed him a vest.
“I feel like I should say a few words or some shit to mark the occasion,” Rain said as they both put on their vests.
“Why is that?”
“Vicious Black … wearing a vest.”
“Yeah, well, that nigga gettin’ old, so he promised his wife that he’s wearing a vest. Just when I'm with you,” Black said as he left the office. He walked past Yarissa and she looked longingly at him. “I can hang out with Bobby all I want. But you … gotta vest up to roll with you.”
“I'm gonna have to talk to my girl about that,” Rain said and winked at Yarissa because she knew that Yarissa always thought Black was fine.
“So, where you wanna go?” he asked.
“I was thinking about hollerin’ at Jackie and then rolling by The Four Kings.”
“Where is the captain without a crew?”
“She was at the bar when I came in. She said she wanted to know what was discussed.”
When they got to the bar, Jackie was there waiting. Rain told her what was discussed, and then Black told Jackie that they were going hunting and that she was welcome to ride with them.
“I need to roll by Pago’s to see Ed Weather first, but you know I’m down for that,” Jackie said. And since Black was wearing a vest, Jackie thought it was a good idea that she vest up too. Then the three predators left J.R.'s in search of prey.
Once they arrived at Pago’s, they were met by Jessica Maximus and she asked them to wait in the office while she found Ed Weather. When she came in the office, Jessica said that Ed was in the gambling room and would be with them in a minute.
“Thank you, Jessica,” Black said, and she went to sit down. But that was when they all heard the noise coming from out in the club.
Jessica bounced up, “Is that shooting?” she asked.
“Sounds like it.” Black stood up and took out his guns. When he did, so did Rain and Jackie.
“Stay here, Jessica,” Rain said and followed Black and Jackie out the door.
“Like me going out there was ever a possibility,” Jessica said as she went to hide under the desk.
When they came out of the office, customers were hitting the floor or taking cover under the tables while others were running for the exits trying to get out. They saw Ed Weather lying on the floor, pinned down, and taking fire from two of Mobley’s men with automatic weapons that were standing on either side of the bar. Black, Rain and Jackie began firing at them and the men ran.
“We gotta get Ed outta there,” Black said.
“I got him,” Rain shouted. “Cover me!”
Just then, one man stepped in the club armed with a semi-automatic weapon and opened fire. Black, Rain and Jackie immediately sought better cover together, as two more men rushed in with semi-automatic weapons and began firing.
All at once, all three of the gunmen sprayed the area with bullets. As the gunmen fired, Black stayed low and moved to get a better angle on the shooter. Rain stood, fired, then she dove for the ground and crawled along the floor to make it to a spot where she could get a clear shot.
When Black was in position, Rain raised her weapon and shot one in the head. When he went down, Black fired and took out the second gunmen. Jackie raised up, aimed her weapon and opened fire, hitting the last of the gunman.
With the big guns down, Black quickly turned over a table for cover, and then he and Jackie opened fire on the remaining gunman. Black and Jackie kept firing as Rain kept moving toward Ed Weather. When one stopped firing to reload, Black stood up and hit him with two shots to the chest. The gunman went down, and Jackie took aim and shot another gunman.
Now only one of the gunmen remained, and he tried to make it outta there. While the gunmen sprayed the area with bullets, Rain made it to Ed Weather and dragged him out of the middle of the floor. Black kept firing while Jackie made a move to get behind him. With his attention focused on Black, Jackie was able to put her gun to the back of his head and she pulled the trigger.
Happy that the shooting appeared to be over, customers slowly began to get up from the floor and come out from hiding, glad that they’d survived. Some weren’t that lucky.
“How’s Ed?” Black asked as he walked up with Jackie.
Rain looked up at Black. “He’s dead,” she said and Placed her fingers over his eyes to closed them.
Chapter Three
At six-forty-three that morning, Detective Bautista and her new partner, Detective Greg Dickerson arrived at the Pago’s crime scene.
The wounded had long since been taken to hospitals and now laboratory technicians were processing the scene. There was blood just about everywhere the Detectives stepped, and what was once a dance floor was now covered with rows of bodies.
“How many dead?” Bautista asked crime scene Lieutenant Reyes.
“Twenty-eight dead.”
“And that includes seven that we believe were shooters,” Detective Scott explained. “Four of them we positively identified as being part of Mobley’s crew.”
“Were any of the dead Rain’s people?” Bautista asked.
“No, they’re all civilians or Mobley’s
people.”
“Who was first on the scene?” Dickerson asked.
“They’re right over there,” Scott said and pointed at the uniformed officers.
“I wanna talk to them,” Bautista said and walked off.
Dickerson shook his head and followed his new partner, thinking that if he had a choice, Bautista would have been the last person he would have wanted to partner up with. She was too much like his last partner, Detective Richie Fleming.
Cowboys, the both of them.
He and Fleming had responded to a tip of a possible drug deal in progress. When they arrived at the apartment and identified themselves as police, a man came running out of a bedroom and opened fire on the two Detectives and Fleming was shot five times. Dickerson returned fire and hit the man with one fatal shot to his chest. Fortunately, Fleming survived, but Dickerson needed a partner.
As for Bautista, she didn’t like her new partner either. After Kirk went back to Major Case with that bitch, Dawkins, Lieutenant Sanchez called her into his office.
“The off-book operation you’ve been running ends today, Bautista.”
“What off-book operation, Lieutenant?” Bautista asked but she was sure that Kirk told on her and that made her madder than she already was.
“Does the name Jadonna Marin mean anything to you, Detective?”
“Yes, Lieutenant, it does.” Bautista sat quietly fuming while Sanchez tore her a new one, and then she had a question. “How did you find out?” She needed to know.
“Captain Gineconna mentioned that he had given her to you and asked how we were doing with her as a C I. And since I didn’t know how we were doing with her as a C I, I decided to find out. Now, this may surprise you, but I was a pretty damn good Detective in my day, so it didn’t take me that long to figure it out.”
“Kirk didn’t tell you?”
“Are you telling me that Kirk was involved in this with you, Detective Bautista?”
“No, Lieutenant, I am saying that Kirk definitely did not have any involvement in it,” Bautista said. Angry with Kirk or not, she had enough integrity not to drag him into it when he was only involved in it for her.