“Moses, it’s no wonder this bar doesn’t get much business, the customer service sucks.” Even though it was an insult, her voice seemed to ooze sex.
“Nadia, don’t you go starting nothing in my bar. You know what Kane said about not needing the heat.” Moses waggled a gnarled finger at her.
“If you don’t watch that finger you might lose it.” She clamped her pearl-white teeth together. When she was done teasing Moses, she turned back to Gutter. “So, what’s a nice young boy like you doing in a dive like this?” She tried to run her finger along the side of his face, but he grabbed her by the wrist.
“First of all”-he removed his sunglasses and looked Nadia in the eyes-“I don’t allow women to touch me uninvited. And second, I ain’t been a boy in a long time, so why don’t you keep it moving, shorty.”
“Mmm, feisty,” she purred before grabbing his crotch. The pressure was so intense that he couldn’t even cry out. “I think I’m turned on.” She leaned in to lick his earlobe, but paused as if she had just smelled something rank. Using her free hand she turned Gutter to face her and looked into his rage-filled eyes. “Somebody is keeping secrets.” She made to taunt him further, but the feeling of cold steel pressed under her chin gave her pause.
“Bitch, either you let go of my sack or I’m gonna paint the fucking ceiling wit yo brains,” Gutter grunted.
Nadia’s eyes narrowed to slits. “A tough little bastard, huh? That’s okay, I like to play rough.” She smiled, flashing jagged white teeth. The situation was about to turn ugly when a voice boomed through the darkness.
“Some people gotta keep sticking their hands in the fire, even after they know it’s hot.” The speaker came to stand beside Gutter, facing Nadia. He was tall and had shaved his black curls, but still wore the leather duster.
“Cross, how ya doing, baby?” Nadia released Gutter, allowing him to catch his breath. With the fluidity of a cat, she slipped off the stool and looped her arm around Cross’s waist. “I didn’t know you were here tonight.”
“I’m here every night,” he said, totally unmoved by her phony display of affection. “This one is spoken for, you know the rules.”
“I just wanted to play with him, that’s all.” She chuckled, trying to mask the fear beneath the joke.
“I’ll bet,” he said in a humorless tone. “Take a powder.”
“Can’t knock a girl for trying,” she said before vanishing into the darkness of the bar.
When the girl was out of earshot the stranger turned back to Gutter and spoke harshly. “What do you want here, ganglord?”
“I need to speak to you, Cross,” Gutter said.
“We have nothing to talk about,” Cross shot back.
“I need a favor.”
Cross laughed. “You muthafuckas kill me. It’s not enough that I save you from the worms, yet you still come around seeking the devil’s bargain. Gutter, you’re pushing your luck coming in here. Nadia is harmless, but there are others here who might not think my mark is enough to keep you in one piece, and I ain’t about to get my ass tore up trying to rescue you. Take Moses’s advice and get your crack-slinging ass back to Harlem.”
“Check this fly shit, Cross,” Gutter began. “If I had it my way you and me would never see each other again, but I need this solid… It’s about Lou-Loc.”
Cross’s sparkling green eyes flashed anger as he leaned in to Gutter. “Dawg, off the strength of my man, I’m gonna allow you to walk out of this place without tearing your fucking head off, but for as long as your asshole points to the ground you’d better never drop his name trying to sway me. He’s gone and our debt is settled.” Cross turned and headed back the way he came.
Gutter shook his head in frustration. As bad as he wanted to put a slug in the back of Cross’s head, he was Satin’s last hope. “Cross, if you ain’t gonna do it off the strength of his memory, do it for his seed,” Gutter blurted out. This got him Cross’s undivided attention.
part II.PILGRIMAGE
chapter 8
THE FLIGHT from JFK to Long Beach had been anything but comfortable. Gutter hated to fly, but did so reluctantly when he had to. If they’d driven or took the train, Gunn might’ve been gone. Flying was definitely their only option.
The trouble started from the moment Gutter got to the metal detectors at the terminal. A beefy, red security officer played with a jaw full of tobacco and glared at Gutter. He produced his identification, boarding pass, and emptied his pockets like everyone else. The guard looked down at his driver’s license and read Gutter’s full name: Kenyatta Usif Soladine. Glaring at the young man he asked flatly, “You a Muslim?”
“Yes,” Gutter replied politely.
The guard tossed the wallet on the gray table and motioned for Gutter to walk through. Immediately the machine went off. Gutter stepped back through and took off his wide-buckled belt and jewelry. When he made to step back through, the guard stopped him.
“Step over here, you’ve gotta be specially searched,” he said, motioning toward a small roped-off square.
“Is there a problem?” Gutter asked, still keeping his tone polite.
“I said, you’ve gotta be specially searched.”
“I emptied my pockets, why can’t I just go through like everyone else?”
“’Cause you got your ticket off the Internet. Regulations and all.” The beefy guard smiled wickedly.
Danny was about to open his mouth, but Gutter waved him silent. He didn’t want to risk missing the flight due to an argument with the guard. Casting a glare at the guard, he stepped over to the square.
The guard stood in front of him with a wand, shooting Gutter a hateful look. He slowly ran the wand from his feet to his torso. When he got to Gutter’s chest, the wand beeped faintly.
“It’s lead. I got shot a while back,” Gutter told him.
“Is that right?” the guard said with a raised eyebrow. “Take your shirt off.”
“You can’t be serious,” Gutter said in disbelief. “I told you I got shot!”
“Regulations,
Gutter could feel all of his blood shooting into his arms. He balled his fist so tight that his knuckles began to crack. A haze of red swept over his vision, as he contemplated putting his fist through the man. He knew if he got into it with the guard, he would surely be jailed. God knew when he would be released, but Gunn might be gone. It took all of his self-control to silence the voice that screamed for death. Ignoring the crowd that had formed, Gutter stripped down to his tank top.
“Lift it,” the guard demanded, giving Gutter a look that made his flesh crawl. Gutter did as he was told, exposing the multiple scars from the shooting. They were all healed, but they had left ugly keloids. “Jesus, you must be one scandalous son of a bitch to make somebody put this many holes in you!”
“Man, are you finished?” Gutter asked, finally having enough.
“Yeah, I’m done, Tin Man,” the guard said with an obnoxious snicker.
Gutter snatched his goods, and moved to find his boarding gate.
The flight didn’t go much better than the boarding. The people in the first-class section looked at the two men as if they didn’t belong. They ignored the rude stares and made their way to the seats. Once everyone was seated, they went through the usual routine. Emergency exits, how to properly buckle your seat belts, the whole nine. After the mechanical speech, the plane was lifting off.
Takeoffs always made Gutter uneasy. He hated the dropping feeling in his stomach when the plane left the ground. Once they were in the air and coasting, he tried to relax a bit. The flight attendant came through and set two glasses of Hennessey in front of the two men and continued with her rounds. Danny’s questions seemed to come without end. Gutter wanted time to think, but the youngster kept at his insistent gibbering. He tried to escape the boy’s questions by dozing off, but that proved to be another dead end.
As soon as he went to sleep, he was assaulted by nightmares of his own attempted murder, as well as Lou-
