“Jett!”
I looked in the car. His eyes were wide open. “Jett!” I shook him. That’s when I saw the trail of blood coming from his ear. I opened the car door and Jett fell into my arms. He was dead.
He had been there for Monika. She called Jett, and his being there to stop the bleeding saved her life. He called me and I didn’t get there in time. I thought about Freeze; another good friend that died in my arms because I wasn’t there for him.
“Nick? You all right?”
“Just thinkin’ ’bout Jett and Freeze. And don’t tell me I need to let that go.”
“I wasn’t gonna. Hold on to that pain; embrace it. We need our pain. I think it makes us stronger.”
“I think so too.” I just hoped we were both right and the pain I felt from their deaths would make me stronger in some way.
“Now, what you need from me?”
“I really need Jett on this,” I said and told Monika what I was into, what I found out, and what I needed her to do. When I told her, she laughed.
“You don’t need Jett for that. You could have used any number of IP-address locators that are available on-line to find out where those e-mails were sent from,” Monika said and opened her laptop.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Pay attention and learn something,” she said and Googled IP-address locator and chose the first one it listed. “This is quick and dirty, but it will get you the information you want.”
“Suppose I wanted to know where it was sent from and who the account belongs to?”
Monika closed her laptop. “That requires a little more work. This is only gonna tell me where the server is and who it belongs to. To get what you want, I’ll have to hack into their system. This is where you need Jett.”
“That’s why I came to you. Can you do it?”
“Of course I can. I may not be as good as Jett, but I have skills too. Give me some time. I’ll call you when I have something.”
Chapter 10
I went back to my apartment and called Kevon. He said that they would pick me up in an hour. While I waited, I had a drink and thought about Freeze. I thought about how I was allowing my rage and guilt to consume me, and the effect it was having on every part of my life. I was drinking a lot more than I should and I knew that it was affecting my relationship with Wanda, if not our sex life.
I’ve been staying in my own apartment more than at the house with her. I was angry and irritable and though I try not to take that anger out on her, there are times when I know I do.
When Black got there, I jumped in the back seat of his Cadillac CTS. Black got in the back with me and we were on our way. “Did you take care of Mrs. Phillips?” Black wanted to know.
“I gave her the money and she said to thank you, but if you really wanted to do something for her, you’ll find the guys who did it.”
“Revenge.”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you leave it?”
“I told her that I couldn’t promise her anything, but I’d see what I could do.”
“What do you think?”
“Wouldn’t hurt to ask around; see if anybody knows anything about it.”
“I agree. How much did they hit us for? ”
“Couple of hundred.”
“Oh,” he said. I thought Black was going to say that it wasn’t gonna be enough money for him to want to invest any time in. “But I don’t need people thinkin’ that since Freeze is dead that it’s cool to hit our spots, and we don’t do anything.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Black nodded. “Good.”
I guess “I’ll take care of it” was the right answer.
“While we’re on the subject, do you actually have a license for being a private investigator?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I was thinking about revivin’ our old security company.”
“Invulnerable. I haven’t thought about that in a long time.” When Black and Bobby went freelance and started doing jobs on their own, Wanda insisted that the first thing they should do was to start a business to run their money through. The name of their company was Invulnerable Security. Black chose a security company because it would give them a license to carry guns.
“Yeah, neither have I,” Black said. “But Wanda got me thinking about legitimate business opportunities.”
I laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Just trippin’ on how she got us all.”
“Yeah, well, when she’s right she’s right.” Black looked out the window for awhile, and I wondered if he was trippin’ on being legit. I knew I was. I was about to ask him when he turned to me. “Anyway-I was thinking about revivin’ Invulnerable and hirin’ some people and puttin’ them to work in our cash businesses. You know, make our people feel more secure workin’ there, maybe even provide a deterrent to little bullshit robberies like this. Get somebody to go around and get other businesses to take a guard at their spot. You know how we do it. If that works out, I was thinkin’ that we could expand into private investigations too.”
I laughed a little. “That’s a damn good idea.” Even though Black was thinkin’ legit he was still gangster. You know how we do it. That meant you send a guy in and tell him they need a security guard and here’s what it’s gonna cost you.
“You get with Wanda and tell her to find out what it’s gonna take and make that happen.”
“I’ll talk to her about it.”
“I know Wanda has her own ideas about this. She wants you take over the finance company. I know that ain’t you. So have you thought about what you might want to do?”
“I was thinkin’ about the game.”
Black laughed. “Don’t think Jackie can handle it, do you? I know Bobby and Wanda don’t.”
“How do you think she’s doin’?”
“She got her boy Travis up there with her now.”
“Which means?”
“Which means I’m not sayin’ no to you. Not yet anyway. Give her a chance. Which means you check on the game every night.”
“Just the game or do you want me to check on everything?”
Black looked out the window and didn’t say anything at first. Then he looked at me. “Freeze checked on everything.”
“He definitely stayed on top of shit.”
“Somebody needs to step up and do it. Everybody knows you. Everybody respects you. It should be you.”
“Whatever you need, Black. You know that.”
“Me and Bobby been talkin’ about this and I was gonna talk to you ’bout it.”
“About what?”
“I need you to run things.”
I looked at Black and didn’t say anything. I was only talking about running game. I didn’t know if I was ready or if I even wanted to run the whole show. But how could I say no to him. “Like I said, Black, whatever you need.”
“We can start makin’ this happen tonight. You ride with me tonight. We’ll roll by our key people, the earners; you know what I mean. Let everybody know you run the house now.”
Just like that.
The first person we saw was Howard Owens. He was a bookie who did a little loan sharking. Howard had been with Black from the days when Black first separated from Andre. He was a good earner.
“What’s up, Black?” he said and turned to me. “What’s up, Nick?” He looked in Kevon’s direction and nodded. “How you gentlemen doin’ on this beautiful New York day?”
“I’m good, Howard. What’s up with you?” Black asked.
“Let me holla at you for a minute, Black,” Howard said and started to walk away. Black motioned for me to follow them.
When Howard noticed that I was walking with them, he stopped. “It’s okay. Say what you gotta say.”
He went on to explain that he had loaned a guy named Charles Watson fifty thousand dollars to expand his construction business and now the guy was ducking him for the last two months. After he gave us all the information he knew, Black turned to me.
“What you think, Nick?”
“I’ll put a couple people on it,” I said and looked Howard in the eye.
“From now on, if you have any problems you see Nick. Understand?”
Howard nodded his head and we walked away. And that was that until we got back in the car.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen with Mr. Watson. We’re gonna checkout his business and see if it’s something we’re interested in. If it is, you’re gonna tell him to forget about the money and then make him see how it’s to his advantage to give us-” Black thought for a second. “I’m not gonna be greedy, say ten percent of his company.”
That’s how the entire day went. Everywhere we went, everybody we saw, all of them had an issue that they wanted Black to handle. I imagined that it had been awhile since some of these people had seen Black, ’cause some of them had a list.
Black would sit and listen and then he’d turn to me and ask the same question. “What you think, Nick?” And every conversation would end the same way. “From now on, if you have any problems you see Nick. Understand?”
Once we were back in the car, Black would tell me if he agreed or disagreed with the solution that I proposed. If he didn’t, he would tell me what I should do. “Use your best judgment for the little shit,” Black said. “If it’s something major, play them off and we’ll talk about it.”
Between stops, we spent most of the time talking. Black talked a little about the future according to Wanda, but then he turned to the other side, about the house. How he saw things now that Freeze was gone, and how he wanted things to go; ideas he had and ways to accomplish it.
When Kevon parked in front of Clay’s garage, a crop shop run by a guy named Bo Freeman, and we went inside. “Wait here,” Black said and walked up to Bo.
He and Bo walked off together and then Bo stopped. “What?” he said loud enough that everybody in the place looked at them. Bo looked back at me; tried to stare me down. I looked him in the eye. I knew if anybody blamed me for Freeze, it was Bo. Freeze brought Bo in, taught him the game. It was Freeze who put Bo in this spot. I knew I would have to watch him.
Black put his arm around Bo. Whatever he said, Bo shook his head and Black walked away. “Let’s go,” Black said to me and Kevon and headed for the car.
As the night rolled on we had seen just about everybody who could be found. Kevon rolled up at the game I thought I’d be takin’ over.
It had been awhile since I’d been there, so there were a few faces that I didn’t recognize. I looked around for Jackie and Travis, while Black made his way around the room.
I was about to knock on the door to the office when Jackie opened the door. “Hello, Jackie.” I must have caught her off guard, ’cause she was about to reach for her gun. I put up my hands.
“What’s up, Nick?” Jackie asked and relaxed.
“I’m good. How’s it goin’ tonight?”
“For the most part-” That’s when she saw Black on the other side of the room. She smiled and started walkin’ toward him. “It’s been a good night. Lost a little early; but its breakin’ back our way. Other than that, I’m good.”
“Where’s Travis?”
Jackie looked at her watch. “He’ll be here in a little while,” she said, when she got to the spot where Black was talkin’ to Sonny Edwards, one of the regulars at the house. “Good evening, Mr. Black.”
Black looked up at her, nodded his head, and went back to his conversation. Jackie folded her arms and stood there. Since she seemed content to stand there and wait for him to get through talkin’ to Sonny, I went and joined Kevon at the bar.
I had been at the bar, talkin’ to Kevon, who is a pretty funny guy when he does talk, which isn’t very much, when I looked around for Black and didn’t see him. Since I didn’t see Jackie, either, I figured they were in the office, and I should be in there. “I’ll be right back,” I said to Kevon.
“No need. Jackie ’dem know you boss now,” Kevon said and raised his glass to me.
At first it felt funny hearing him say it; you boss now. I was having a hard time accepting it, but as the day went to on, it became more and more apparent to me.
Somebody needs to step up and do it-it should be you.
Suddenly, I felt powerful and for the first time I really thought about what that meant and whether I wanted to carry that type of power and responsibility. It really didn’t matter at that point. It wasn’t like I was about to tell him no. If that’s what Black needed, then that’s just the way it was.
The last place we went to was Cynt’s. She ran a strip club that had gambling in the basement, and has for years. Historically, Cynt’s had always been one of my favorite spots. Naked women have always had a haunting pull on me.
Cynt, who had an ass that just wouldn’t quit, started out dancin’, doin’ a little trickin’ as most of the dancers did, and had developed a reputation for the things she could do with her mouth. It was a skill that attracted Bobby’s attention back in the day. That all ended when a customer roughed her up pretty bad, and she quit and swore that she would never do that again.
After she recovered from her injuries, Black, being loyal to his people, put her to work behind the bar. As time went on Black noticed that she had other skills that proved to be more useful to him and when the opportunity presented itself, he put her in charge of the spot.
Unlike everybody else we saw that day, Cynt had no issues. She had been around long enough to handle her own issues, and Black felt comfortable enough with her to let her handle them anyway she saw fit.
“From now on, if you have any problems that you can’t handle,” Black told Cynt, “which I know you won’t, talk to Nick.”
“You know I can handle mine,” Cynt said and then she turned to me. “Congratulations, Nick. I’m happy for you. If you ever need anything, you let me know.”
“I will.”
“See that you do,” Black recommended to me. “Cynt can be a big help to you.”
The three of us had been talking for awhile when I noticed one of the dancers who called herself Mercedes talking to Kevon. Trying to get past him really. She had been staring at Black the whole time we were talking to Cynt.
Once we were done with Cynt, Black signaled to Kevon that he was ready to go. I followed Black to the door, but when I turned back, Kevon seemed to be having problems separating himself from Mercedes. When we got in the car and were on our way, Black tapped Kevon on the shoulder as he drove.