Carl Weber's Kingpins: Jamaica

by Racquel Williams

  Gaza turned to me and grabbed my hands. “Last night was more than incredible. I respect whatever yuh want to do, but mi won’t pretend dat it’s nothing happening here, Indica. You feel it too, but I’ll give you the time to admit it.”

  Before I stepped out of the car, we shared one last sweet kiss.

  My head was swimming when I used my key in the door and walked inside the villa. What I didn’t expect was to find Miles sitting there on the sofa with a scowl on his face.

  “Are you fucking crazy, Cathy! You fucked him!”

  “What?” Giving him a shocked look, I pretended that he was out of his mind.

  “Don’t play dumb with me. I accessed your location by GPS and hacked into your phone’s mic and camera. Not only did I watch you get on that yacht with Gaza, but I heard everything. I even saw some of it, before y’all moved away from the camera. You’re in too deep, Cathy, and I’ve already let Special Agent Morris know what’s going on.”

  “You didn’t dare!”

  “Yes I did, and we are going back to the States tomorrow. There was no reason for you to fuck him, other than the fact that you wanted to! I knew it! And you possibly fucked up your promotion because you let that goon get the pussy you won’t me have.”

  “So, that’s what this is all about! You are mad because I fucked Gaza and won’t fuck you. Must I remind you that I did all the work here? All the shit we got on him is because of me. So what if I fucked him? If a female was the person we were investigating and you fucked her, nobody would think anything of it. I got my rocks off, and damn, it was good as hell. He fucked me better than you ever could. I’ll deal with Morris tomorrow. As far as you, when we back to New York, I want you to leave me the fuck alone.”

  “You might want to be careful what you wish for, because you might just find yourself left alone out in the cold with nothing. Once you fuck up with the Feds, you won’t be getting another chance. Your pretty face and fat ass won’t be able to help you when you can’t get another job . . . You can kiss that promotion good-bye. I hope his dick was worth it.”

  “Fuck you, Miles, with your hating ass.”

  “You been involved in that street shit too long,” he retorted. After turning his nose up at me, he got off the sofa and walked out of the room, leaving me there to think about the fact that one moment of bliss might have cost me my entire future.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Catherine

  The flight back to New York was long and tense. One thing I wasn’t looking forward to was seeing Special Agent Morris when I got back. He’d already confirmed the warrant for Gaza’s arrest and his extradition back to the United States to face charges. He hadn’t reprimanded me over the phone, but he had told me to be in his office first thing Monday morning. Today was Sunday, and our flight would be landing at 5:30 p.m., so I didn’t have much time to prepare my mind for what was going to happen tomorrow. Something told me that the promotion was off the table, but I prayed that I didn’t lose the career I’d wanted all my life.

  Of course, I didn’t sit with that asshole Miles on the plane. He could’ve kept that shit between me and Gaza to himself. He’d spilled the beans only because he was jealous. After the plane landed, I rushed off to the baggage claim as I accessed my Uber app. The only thing I wanted to do was grab my shit and go the fuck home. Avoiding Miles was on my to-do list, but that shit wasn’t going to happen. Before I knew it, he was right behind me.

  “I told Morris only because I was worried about you getting in too deep with that shit. I think you got lost in the lure of Indica and your lust for Gaza. Cathy, I saw that shit coming, and you fell for it, anyway. You know what kind of man Gaza is, and you didn’t have to fuck him to get what we needed for his arrest,” he said over my shoulder.

  “Okay, shit! I did it because I wanted to! Are you happy now! I didn’t do it to get evidence. I did it because I wanted to fuck him! I wanted to know what it felt like to feel a powerful man inside me for once, since I always end up fucking bitch-ass, overgrown boys like you. I know what kind of man he is, but at least he’s a man. I can’t say the same for you. Now, leave me alone. You’ve done and said enough, Miles.” Shaking my head, I grabbed my luggage off the carousel and walked briskly away. Hopefully, he wouldn’t follow me this time. Without even looking back, I realized that he hadn’t. Good. If I had the choice, I’d never see Miles’s smug-ass face again.

  The feeling of contentment and relief that engulfed my frazzled mind was welcome as I walked over the threshold of my condo. First thing, I jumped in the shower and washed all my stress away. When I got out, I dried off, put on some lotion, and slipped on a pair of boy shorts and a tank top. With furry slippers on my feet, I settled down in front of the TV and grabbed the phone. While ordering takeout from my favorite Chinese spot, I turned the television on. Before I could even finish placing my order, my phone beeped to let me know I had a call coming in. It was Anya’s number. I hadn’t spoken to her in about a week, so my plan was to check up on her after I ordered my food, but then I told myself to forget the food and to answer her call. I’d just have to call the restaurant back.

  “Anya, boo . . . I’ve been meaning to call you, girl. I just got back—”

  “This ain’t Anya,” a chilling voice literally growled into my ear.

  “Tray?”

  “Yeah. Your friends stopped watching the house and school a few days ago. I guess they thought I’d just back off, or they couldn’t afford to put in the extra hours anymore. Whatever the case may be, I just want my family back. All you’ve ever done is interfere, and that shit stops today.”

  My breath caught as my heart rate increased. “Is Anya okay? Where are the twins?”

  “I wouldn’t hurt my wife and kids, Catherine. You obviously thought I would, or you wouldn’t have had the cops watching my family like a hawk.” He let out a sinister laugh.

  “To be honest with you, I didn’t think you would hurt them, but I was just being cautious. Just let me speak to Anya and the twins, so I’ll know that they’re okay.”

  “Nah. This call is only to let you know that Anya and the twins are going with me. We’re leaving New York, and you’ll never see them again. Don’t you dare get your Fed friends or the NYPD involved, or I will hurt your best friend.”

  “Tray, no, please . . . Think about what you’re doing. Anya’s whole life is here, and the twins have their school and their friends. I won’t involve the police, but I can’t say that I won’t find you.”

  “Find me, then, bitch.” I was already try to access Anya’s phone’s GPS on my laptop. Then I realized that Tray had hung up.

  “Shit!” Dialing Anya’s number, I prayed that he hadn’t turned her phone off. It was a good thing that his phone number was still in the system. My next bet would be to access his phone’s location.

  Anya’s phone continued to ring as I waited to get something. While the location of her phone was being searched on my laptop, I ran to my bedroom and threw on a pair of gray sweats and a T-shirt. By the time I had slipped on a pair of sneakers and grabbed my gun, there was a moving red dot on the laptop screen. His car was headed north, so I had to start following him ASAP. This time, I thought of calling for backup. I didn’t have Anya to talk me out of that shit. Why hadn’t Special Agent Morris told me that the NYPD had stopped watching her and the twins? I wondered. Maybe he didn’t even know.

  For some reason, I couldn’t access the mic and camera on either of their phones. I left my condo with my laptop, then made my way to my car in the parking lot. After placing the laptop on the passenger seat, I climbed behind the wheel and took off. As I sped through the traffic, I kept glancing over at the laptop. But then the red dot on the screen disappeared. As if he knew how I’d found him the first time, he’d turned off both of their phones, and I now had no location. Something told me that it wouldn’t be that easy to find Trayvon this time. I pulled over to the side of the road, picked up my phone, and called the NYPD. After letting the person who an
swered know that I was a federal agent, I explained the situation thoroughly.

  “We do have that address logged for surveillance, but they stopped surveillance a couple of days ago. There is nothing here explaining why. I can definitely put out an APB for the vehicle, and I can contact local and surrounding authorities to be on the lookout for it.”

  “Please do that,” I replied. “I know they are in danger. Can you tell the police to stay off his radar? He threatened to kill her and the kids if the police are involved.”

  Tears burned my eyes as I thought about what Anya and the twins could possibly be facing. The outcome didn’t really seem promising this time, because even if he didn’t hurt them, he planned to isolate them from everything they knew and loved. Wiping my tears away, I thought of calling Special Agent Morris, because he had more pull than I did. At this point, I didn’t know what to do. As I rattled off the license-plate numbers for Trayvon’s car and Anya’s, which I’d written down on my phone, I wondered if my efforts were a little too late.

  After going back home, because I didn’t know where to search for my friend and my godchildren, I waited anxiously for some news. Instead of contacting Special Agent Morris, I decided to let the police take care of the situation. A few hours later I got an update from an officer with the NYPD. The authorities in the surrounding areas had been alerted and were looking for both vehicles I’d described, since I didn’t know what Trayvon was driving. They also had physical descriptions of Trayvon, Anya, and the girls. The NYPD had searched Anya’s home and had confirmed that no one was there and that there weren’t any signs of foul play.

  After that call ended, I paced my living room floor, I kept my eyes on my phone’s screen, waiting for Anya to call to let me know that she was okay. When the phone finally rang, I anxiously waited to see my bestie’s number, but Miles’s number popped up instead. Rolling my eyes, I let out a frustrated sigh and sent him straight to voicemail. He called right back, and I sent him to voicemail again. When he called a third time, I huffed and decided to go ahead and answer.

  “What the fuck do you want, Miles?”

  “Well, damn. How are you?”

  “Not too good right now. My best friend is in a very volatile situation with her estranged husband. I’m afraid he really lost it when he got the divorce papers that she had him served with. He called and told me that he was taking Anya and his twin girls away from here. I tried to trace his location, and I succeeded for a short while, but he’s smart enough to know that I can access his location through his cell phone. It’s either that or Anya broke down and told him. He turned their phones off, so I’m home now, and I don’t know what the fuck to do. I got the cops on it, and I’m hoping they find them alive. I’m so scared he’s going to do something crazy. I told Anya that he was a ticking time bomb and that she should have gotten him arrested when he called himself kidnapping the twins.” I was out of breath by the time I finished, wondering why I was even tell him all this. Miles had literally ruined my life, but I didn’t really have anybody else to vent to.

  “Shit. I’m coming over. You don’t need to be alone right now.”

  “No . . . don’t . . . ,” I told him quickly, but he’d already hung up.

  Although I didn’t really want to see Miles, he was right. I didn’t need to be alone right now, but did I want to be around him after what he’d done? True, I’d fucked up by fucking Gaza, and I knew that it looked bad. The thing was, it had been a rebellious moment for me, but that wasn’t how I always was. Maybe I was too damn weak emotionally to handle being an undercover federal agent. The one chance I had had to prove myself, and I had fucked the damn suspect. The fact was, I hadn’t been thinking. All my training and work ethic had gone out the door because I had acted only on impulse. That was not a good look, and I was certain that I’d never get a promotion, based on my poor decision making. What if I was looked upon as a whore by Special Agent Morris? He’d possibly never trust me to conduct an undercover operation again. I’d gone against everything that I stood for, and for what? Shit, the dick was good, though.

  My mind drifted back to Anya, and my eyes were once again glued to my phone’s screen. Anya’s number was in my head, and my prayers were that if it popped up on my phone again, it would be her voice I heard on the other end of the line. I prayed that the police would find them, apprehend Trayvon, and get Anya and the girls away alive and in one piece. That was all I wanted, and my tears began to fall again as I prayed out loud.

  “Lord, I know that I’m nowhere near perfect, but my heart is good. That’s probably my only downfall, and you know that. I love Anya, Kelsey, and Chelsey so much. Please keep them safe, because if something happens to them, I wouldn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t be able to handle it.” My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath. “Just keep them safe, Lord. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.”

  Right when I finished my prayer, the doorbell rang. After jumping out of my skin, because the sound scared me, I rushed to the door to look out the peephole. It was Miles, so I took in a deep breath before I opened the door. Before stepping over the threshold, he took me in his arms. The sobs really shook my body then. All I needed was someone to finally be there for me, even if it was a man I almost hated with all my heart.

  Miles just held on to me, allowing me to let it all out. His hand softly caressed my back as he assured me that everything would be okay. “They will be fine. I contacted Special Agent Morris, and he has some of our best men on it.”

  “You tell him everything,” I told him, pulling away from his embrace.

  Miles closed the front door and followed me to the sofa. Taking my hand, he looked deeply into my eyes. “I didn’t tell Special Agent Morris about you and Gaza. I was so mad, I just wanted to fuck with you. Once I realized what was going on, I stopped the recording. I’d never sabotage you like that. Morris was going to pull us off the case, anyway. At first, I was all in my feelings about you fucking him, but then I thought about it. I’m not the most righteous person in the world. We both know that. To be honest, if the shit was turned around and the person we were investigating was a sexy-ass female, there’s no telling what I would’ve done. I’m hoping you get that promotion, because you did put in all the work.” He paused for a moment. “I’m leaving my wife, Cathy. I’m sick of pretending that I love her when I don’t. I realize that I can be a father without being her husband. Thank you for pointing that out for me when I should’ve been able to see it in the first place. I’m filing for a divorce in the morning.”

  “I’m grateful that you didn’t rat me out to Morris, but why are you telling me about your divorce?”

  He kissed my hand. “I actually admire you, and like I told you before, I fell for you. That’s all on me, though. You told me from the jump that we couldn’t have anything other than a physical relationship. I hoped for more, and when you didn’t give me what I wanted, I acted like a spoiled-ass toddler. I’m sorry. I realize now that I flirt and have affairs because I’m not being fulfilled. I’m not with the right woman, and one day, I’m hoping I’ll find that. Regardless of that, I want you to know that there’s no animosity between us. We can still work together, and you don’t have to worry about me crossing any invisible line that you draw. I just want us to remain friends, because I do care about you, Cathy. I know you slept with Gaza only because there’s something missing in your life. It’s the same thing that’s missing in mine—true love. We all need someone to be there when we come home from a long, stressful day at work. I’m hoping we both find that . . . one day.”

  His words really touched me, and I couldn’t help but hug him again. “Thank you, Miles. I’m hoping for the same thing, and I’m glad we were able to get to this point.”

  “Me too.” He smiled at me and held me in his arms until I was finally able to fall into a restless sleep.

  About an hour later, Miles woke me up.

  “Wake up, Cathy. Your phone’s ringing.”

  I jumped up and, embarrassed,
wiped the slobber from the side of my mouth before I answered my phone. It was Special Agent Morris, and I prayed that he had some good news for me. It was after one in the morning, so I was hoping that they’d arrested Trayvon and that Anya and the girls were okay.

  “Yes, Special Agent Morris?”

  “Catherine, we found Trayvon Wheeler’s car. Unfortunately, nobody inside it was alive. It looks like he killed his wife and his daughters and then himself. They all suffered from a fatal gunshot to the head.”

  His words registered, although it seemed like I couldn’t hear him anymore. “Nooo!” I wailed, feeling my whole body grow weak just as Miles grabbed me. The guilt took over immediately as I dropped the phone on the floor. My tears were endless as Miles held on to me.

  My best friend was all I had, and she and my goddaughters were gone. If only I could have done more. If only I’d gotten his ass arrested. Things would never be the same after that moment, and it felt like my world was spinning out of control.

  “They’re gone, Miles. All of them. That coward killed them, and he killed himself. He wasn’t even man enough to deal with what he did. He took everything I loved away from me. If he wasn’t dead, I’d kill him myself!” I wailed as Miles’s arms tightened around my waist.

  “I know, and I’m so sorry.”

  Unexpectedly, Miles was there for me when I needed him the most. Would I be able to keep going after such a loss? I didn’t have a close relationship with my mother, and I had no siblings and no father. Anya and the girls were all I had, and now they were gone.

  * * *

  The next morning it took everything in me to get up and get dressed for work. Special Agent Morris had given me the day off, but I had decided to go in, anyway. I’d take the time off for Anya’s and the girls’ funerals. Anya’s mother was taking care of the arrangements and had assured me that she would keep me posted. What I needed at the moment was a distraction. When I got to the federal building, I headed straight to Special Agent Morris’s office. He greeted me with a rare smile.