The Reign of Rain Robinson

by Roy Glenn

  When Black and Rain entered the building, they immediately engaged Caleb and Tyler. The two men opened fire with semi-automatic weapons and began firing at them. Black and Rain ducked for cover and Rain fired back wildly at them. Black returned fire and one of his shots hit its target and Caleb went down. Rain took cover and fired at Tyler as he ran into the garage. Rain followed him in, firing shots as she ran. He stopped, turned and fired a few shots before he hit the back door and ran out of the building. The second he stepped out; Jackie blew him away.

  When Cornia and Dallan came running down the stairs, Bobby opened fire with the pump and blew a hole in Cornia stomach and he went tumbling down the stairs. As he ran down the stairs, Dallan fired at Rain, but he missed her. Rain raised her weapon and fired; Dallan took cover and shot back. But when he stood up to fire, Rain fired twice, hitting him with one to the chest and one to the head.

  Meanwhile, upstairs in the office, Barnes and Hawkins had finished gathering up as much dope and money as they could carry because they knew that they had lost the place to The Family and now it was time to get out of there.

  They had installed a hydraulic lift in one of the utility closets on the second level that led to a tunnel that connected to the next building. Barnes and Hawkins had the lift loaded and were ready to leave when Barnes remember that he had a supply of molly and ecstasy in his safe that he didn’t want to leave.

  “Go ahead down with that and send it back up for me,” Barnes said and the rushed off to his office.

  “Fuck that shit, nigga,” Hawkins said and pressed the button. “You can go back for that shit if you wanna. I’m outta here,” he said and made the decision right then and there that he was not going to send the lift back up. When he reached the tunnel, Hawkins very quickly assembled the collapsible wire container, loaded it up with the drugs and money and rolled it as fast as he could through the tunnel.

  Black and Carter ran up the steps. Once they made it to the second level, they split up and moved through the floor. Once Barnes got what he came for, he came out of the office and that was when he saw Black. He very quickly hid in a doorway and then slipped quietly back into his office and closed the door.

  “Fuck,” he said quietly.

  He listened closely to the footsteps coming toward him and readied his weapon as Black passed the door. Barnes opened the door, came up behind Black and began shooting. Black dove on the floor as Barnes kept firing. He returned fire while lying on the floor; crawling to get to cover as Barnes fired and screamed.

  “Mutha fucka!”

  Once Black was able to make it to cover and got to his feet, he exchanged fire with Barnes as he ran toward the utility closet. He was sure that if he could make it to that door, get in and lock it that he would be safe since the door was bulletproof. But Black shot him in the back before he could get there.

  Black stood over Barnes body and fired twice more as Rain and Bobby joined him. “Barnes is dead.”

  “Good,” Bobby said and shot him again.

  “Mike,” Carter said. “You gotta see this.”

  Black, Bobby and Rain walked over to Carter and he opened the utility closet door. “Check this out,” he said and opened the door. Black and Rain leaned forward and looked. “Careful,” Carter said.

  “Where do you think it leads?” Bobby asked as he took a look.

  “It leads out of here,” Black said and looked down the hall at Barnes’s body. “And I think Hawkins used it to get away.”

  “Then it ain’t over,” Bobby said.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Detective Dawkins poured just a little bit of French Vanilla cream in her coffee, then she picked up both cups and went back to her desk.

  “Thank you,” Kirk said.

  “You’re welcome,” Dawkins said and sat down.

  “This is hazelnut, right? Not French Vanilla, right?”

  “Right.”

  Kirk took a sip. “Perfect.”

  “Now, where were we?”

  “Chester Brightman, he was the first. He was murdered in a drive-by coming out of a bar.”

  “Drive-by … with a woman … who miraculously survived the shooting without a scratch,” Dawkins said sarcastically because she believed the woman set him up to be murdered. “Tech boys recovered forty-two 5.56-millimeter rounds and one 7.62-millimeter round that killed Chet Bright. … Forty-two rounds, not a scratch. Oh, yeah, me and her are gonna have a conversation.”

  “Jerry Demet was a little different,” Kirk began. “When they forced him out the back door of the store, Demet gets shot with a .338 Lapua Magnum round as soon as he stepped out, but his people were killed with 5.56-millimeter rounds.”

  “Gene Hazelton and Irving Spencer’s gambling spot got hit and set the place on fire,” Dawkins said.

  “In separate incidents,” Kirk added.

  Dawkins shook her head, because Kirk always had to be so precise, it made him a better cop, she thought and that was part of his appeal. Not only did she think he was sexy, but Kirk was the kind of cop that she wanted to be.

  “In separate incidents,” Dawkins included. “They were both killed with the .30-06 Springfield cartridge. And then there was Ed Weather and Darius Wilkerson.”

  “Both killed at Pago’s in the shootout. Tech boys found a shit load of 5.56-millimeter rounds and two 7.62-millimeter rounds.”

  “All that tells me is that all of the drive-bys and shootouts were just cover.”

  “These were planned, orchestrated assassinations of key people in The Family. I think all those attacks were meant to move the wedding to Cuisine to get them all in one place and cause the most damage,” Kirk said.

  “So, what do we do now?” Dawkins asked.

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “We could take another run at Hassan.”

  “Why, so he can deny that he was even there?”

  Dawkins shrugged her shoulders.

  “Besides, we can’t say for sure if he fits into our profile. He was shot with a 6.5 Creedmoor. It could have been fired from a bolt-action rifle, but it could have just as easily been fired from an AR-10 semi-auto,” Kirk said as the phone rang, and he answered. “Kirk.”

  “You and the showstopper need to come to the lab, I got something I need to show you two.”

  “On our way,” Kirk said and stood up. When he did, so did Dawkins.

  “Where we going?”

  “Lab. Phil’s got something to show us.”

  “Right behind you.”

  Kirk stopped. “No, after you … showstopper.”

  “Not you too?”

  “Yeah, me too,” Kirk said as he followed behind her smiling. “It’s those incredible calves.”

  When they got to the lab, the chief medical examiner, Phil Jefferson informed them that they were able to lift a partial print off the shell that Kirk brought in and it was sent to IAFIS, the acronym for Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System which is maintained by the FBI.

  “The partial was processed through IAFIS and it came back with a seven-point match.”

  “I’ll take seven-points on a partial from IAFIS any day of the week,” Dawkins said. “Who you got?”

  “Prints belong to Giulio Altera,” Phil said and smiled at Kirk. He exhaled and shook his head in response. “I thought you might like that.”

  “What?” Dawkins asked.

  “Giulio Altera is a known assassin for hire,” Kirk said.

  “That works into our theory,” she said.

  “Tell her the story,” Phil said.

  “We don’t have time for old stories, Phil.”

  “What story?” Dawkins asked.

  “If you don’t tell her, I will.”

  “If it means that much to you, go ahead,” Kirk said, and he stepped away looking at what they had gotten from the FBI.

  “When you check his arrest record, you’ll find that he only has one arrest. He was stopped for running a light. Turns out he had an eighth o
f cocaine, a gun and written information and specific details about the movements of one Richard Hutch, a known mob associate …” Phil paused for effect. “the man he had just killed the day before. And yes, it was the gun he used to commit the murder.”

  “Had him dead to rights,” Dawkins said, and she waited to hear the significance of the story.

  “A rookie cop making his first arrest,” Phil said, and he pointed at Kirk.

  “Happy now?” Kirk asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Can we leave now?”

  “Who’s stopping you?”

  “Let’s go.”

  “Always a pleasure to see you, Racheal,” Phil said.

  “Same here, Phil,” Dawkins said and followed Kirk out of the lab. “So, you and this Altera guy got history.”

  “Ancient history,” Kirk said as the Detectives headed back to their unit to get information on Giulio Altera. Once they had his last known address, Kirk and Dawkins headed there.

  When they arrived at Altera’s last known address, they readied their weapons and Kirk stood off to the side of the door. Dawkins rang the bell with her weapon behind her back and hoped that Altera wouldn’t start shooting through the door. After a while, a man wearing just his underwear and no shirt, opened the door. He smiled while he looked Dawkins up and down.

  “What can I do for you, sweet cheeks?”

  “Giulio Altera?” Dawkins asked.

  “Who’s asking?”

  Kirk stepped up and he and Dawkins showed Altera their badges. “Police.”

  “We have some questions for you,” Kirk said. “You mind coming to the station with us.”

  “What’s this all about?” Altera asked.

  “Just some questions,” Dawkins said.

  “I need to put something on,” Altera said and tried to close the door.

  Kirk raised his hand to stop the door from closing and Dawkins let her hand drop from behind her back so Altera could see her gun.

  “You don’t mind if we come in and wait, do you?”

  “Not at all,” Altera said and backed into the apartment with his hands slightly raised. Kirk and Dawkins followed him in.

  “Let me just grab a shirt and some pants,” he said as he walked toward the rear of the unit with the Detectives right behind him. Kirk removed and readied his firearm as they walked.

  When Altera went in a room, Kirk immediately saw the gun on the dresser. “Gun!”

  Altera grabbed the gun, turned quickly and fired at Kirk, but he missed. When he turned to fire at Dawkins, she fired first and hit him with two shots to the chest. Altera dropped the gun, backed into the wall and his body slumped to the floor.

  Kirk kicked the gun away from Altera’s body. “So much for questioning him?”

  “Better than dead,” Dawkins said.

  “Wasn’t a complaint,” Kirk said as he and Dawkins donned plastic gloves. While she got the gun, Kirk stooped down to check Atlera’s pockets. “Just what I was looking for.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Cell phone in his pocket,” Kirk said holding it up before putting it in an evidence bag. Dawkins bagged the weapon and Kirk called to get a team down there.

  The Detectives then searched the apartment while they waited for the crime scene technicians to arrive. Once they wrapped things up at the crime scene, Kirk and Dawkins went back to the precinct to check Altera’s phone.

  “You thinking about getting a warrant?” Dawkins asked as they drove.

  “I wasn’t planning on it, but it would be a good thing to have in the long run.” Kirk paused. “Why; you gonna call Clarence again?” Kirk asked sarcastically.

  Dawkins shook her head and smiled. “I can call Judge Peterson to expedite a warrant. What, in particular are we looking for in case the judge asked for specifics.”

  “We’re looking for who hired him,” Kirk said as they arrived at the precinct.

  An hour later, Judge Peterson signed off on the warrant, but by that time, Kirk had already been through the phone. What he found was that Altera only received one call the day of Doc’s murder and he only made one call that day. That call occurred about an hour after Doc was murdered.

  Those calls were from and to Joachim Eisenbraun, a known contractor with access to a number of freelance hitmen. “We’re gonna need another warrant,” Kirk said as the Detectives left the precinct for the lower Manhattan office of Eisenbraun Real Estate and Venture Capital Investments.

  It was late in the afternoon when Kirk and Dawkins arrived at Joachim Eisenbraun office with warrant in hand. His business was exactly what it claimed to be, a legitimate real estate and venture capital investment company. The fact that you could arrange to have somebody killed was just an added service that they provided certain clients.

  “Detectives Kirkland and Dawkins to see Mr. Eisenbraun,” Dawkins said, and they showed the receptionist their shields.

  “If you’d have a seat, I’d be happy to let Mr. Eisenbraun know you’re here,” the receptionist said.

  “Is his office still the same place?” Kirk asked and pointed down the hall.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Then were gonna just go on,” Kirk said and walked in that direction.

  “You can’t just go back there like that,” she protested.

  “Yes, we can. We’re the police,” Dawkins said as she followed Kirk down the hall, and they walked into Eisenbraun’s office.

  “Hello, Jocko.”

  “Oh fuck. What do you want, Kirk?”

  “I wanna talk to you about the murders of Rephael Hickey, Irving Spencer, and Edward Weatherly and the attempted murder of Chao Hassan,” Kirk said.

  “I don’t know any of those people, Kirk … especially the dead ones,” Eisenbraun laughed and stood up. “So, if there is nothing else.”

  “That’s not what Giulio Altera told us. He was rather chatty about what you knew before I put the cuffs on him for Rephael Hickey’s murder,” Dawkins lied and Eisenbraun sat back down. “I see I have your attention now, Mr. Eisenbraun.”

  “What did Altera say?”

  “What do you think he said, Jocko? He told us that you hired him to kill Rephael Hickey,” Kirk said. “And we have his phone records which shows a three-minute call to him from this office at eight-twelve PM on the night proceeding the murder and there is also a call that he made to you on the night of the murder.”

  Dawkins smiled. “Would you mind standing up, Jocko.”

  “Stand up; for what?”

  “I’m about to arrest you for conspiracy to commit murder, Jocko,” Dawkins said, stood up and took out her handcuffs. When she did, Kirk stood up.

  “Now, get up,” Dawkins ordered and put her hand on her holstered weapon.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down a minute here.” He looked at Kirk. “Where’d you get her?”

  “The Police academy,” Kirk said, standing and holding up the warrant. “We even have a warrant. Now get up, Jocko,” Kirk smiled, because he was enjoying this, “you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder.”

  “Okay, okay, wait. What if I told you who hired me?”

  Kirk and Dawkins sat down. “Who?” Dawkins asked.

  “Slow down. Where’d you get her from, Kirk?” he asked Kirk but hadn’t looked away from Dawkins. “All business … no time for the social graces?”

  “Who?” Dawkins leaned forward and repeated.

  “Do I get any consideration for cooperating?”

  “I will mention it to the DA, the judge and make a written sentence recommendation,” Kirk said.

  “That I will sign as well,” Dawkins asked.

  “Finally, a little nicety from the pretty Detective.”

  “The name?” Dawkins asked forcefully.”

  “The client is Rona King.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Rona King: her father, Robert King, murdered by another inmate. Her brother, Ronnie King found murdered in an abandoned building. For each of these acts, sh
e would have her revenge against the people that she held responsible; Mike Black and Rain Robinson.

  So, she waited and watched. Waited until the day that she had her money right and she was strong enough to take them on and for the right opportunity to present itself. That opportunity came when Rain Robinson killed David Petty and RJ and Marvin executed Evander and Big Frank.

  In retaliation for Big Frank, Mobley’s crew did a drive-by at The Late Night and DP’s partners, Barnes and Hawkins tried unsuccessfully to assassinate RJ in a drive-by when he was coming out of Venus’s apartment. When that didn’t work, their men tried to firebomb The Four Kings and that was unsuccessful as well.

  “These youngsters got heart. They just need a little bit of guidance,” Rona told AD and then she smiled because she had found pawns to play her game of death with Mike Black and Rain Robinson.

  The following day, Barnes and Hawkins were visited by one of Rona’s representatives. He made them an offer that Barnes and Hawkins found very appealing. Access to a purer product at a lower price than DP was paying.

  “What exactly we gotta do for this generous accommodation?” was Barnes question.

  “Do a couple of jobs for us,” Rona’s representative said that day.

  “What kinda jobs we talkin’ ’bout here?” Hawkins needed to know, but it didn’t matter what they had to do. He had done the math and had already calculated how much more money they’d make with a purer product at a lower price.

  “Same thing y’all been doin’. Bustin’ back at Rain Robinson,” was the answer that they were given. Barnes and Hawkins looked at each other and nodded.

  “Deal,” Barnes said. He hadn’t done the math, he was just a greedy fuck, so more was always better to him.

  “What do you want us to do?” Hawkins asked.

  “A little drive-by.”

  “Who’s the target?”

  “Chet Bright.”

  “Where and when?”

  “Tonight, at Jimmy’s.”

  That same day, Rona had one of her representative’s approach Mobley and made him an offer that she was sure that he wouldn’t refuse. The territory that Mobley called his once belonged to her family, and she knew how much money there was to be made, so Rona offered him a better price than she did Barnes and Hawkins. But surprisingly enough, Mobley refused.