MOB

“She sure does,” Travis replied and laughed.

“So, what’s up, Travis?”

“I know we need to talk and that you got a lot of questions.”

“I just asked the only question I got.”

“Then the answer is it’s all good. So, why don’t you meet me at Cynt’s at two? We’ll talk there. Cool?”

“Cool. If you say it’s all good, then that’s all I need to hear,” Ronnie said.

After Ronnie hung up, Travis called for a cab. In addition to going to Cynt’s, he had a few other things he needed to get done. Before anything else got done, Travis had to do the one thing that had been bothering him for the past week.

Travis stood in front of the grocery store looking for the camera that somehow he missed while he was planning the job. As discreetly as he could, he walked out into the parking lot, looking on top of the building for mounted cameras. There were none. They’re here somewhere. Travis thought back to the job itself and the brief piece of footage that he saw on television. He thought about the angle from which the footage was shot and where the camera had to be in order to get that shot. The lights.

Travis stopped at the spot where he had the correct angle and looked up at closest light pole. Then he walked back in front of the store and picked up the pay phone to call another cab. From that spot, almost exactly where the armored truck was parked, he could see them. They were small, built into the pole. With the morning sun shining, they almost looked like reflectors, but now he was sure that they had to be cameras. They were perfectly positioned to get an excellent shot of everybody exiting the store.

When his cab arrived, Travis got in and headed for Cynt’s. Easy to miss, but you should have seen them anyway.

Freeze had arrived at Cynt’s early and was there, waiting for Travis when Wanda came in.

“What brings you up here so early in the day, Freeze?” Wanda asked and sat down next to him.

“I was just about to ask you that,” Freeze replied.

“Cynt asked me to stop by to discuss a legal problem she’s having.”

“What problem she havin’?”

“Calm down, Freeze. She said it was a personal problem. If it’s something that you need to know about, I’ll tell you. So, what are you doing here?”

“I got to meet somebody here at one. And I had to bring some money up here so they could open the tables.”

“Why?”

“It was a weird night in the NBA. A lot of upsets,” Freeze said then pushed the newspaper in front of Wanda.

“Knicks beat the Lakers, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s the one that broke us. Everybody made that sentimental bet on the Knicks to win.”

“Shit happens,” Wanda said. “We aren’t that bad off, are we?”

“Nothing we can’t handle, but we need to bust ’em on down at football this weekend or everybody’s envelope gonna be a little light this week.”

“That’s how it goes,” Wanda said. “Who are you meeting with?”

“Travis Burns.”

Wanda rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. “The wannabe robber.”

“No, baby, my nigga’s the real thing.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I didn’t notice you complainin’ or callin’ him no wannabe when he personally made your envelope a little fatter. My nigga is smart; he’s organized, he’s disciplined, he’s got his crew under control. They execute their jobs like clockwork, and he’s a good earner. So, tell me the truth, Wanda, why don’t you like him?”

“Think about what you just said: smart, organized, disciplined, in control. He reminds me too much of Mike Black.”

Freeze thought about it for a second. “Now that you mention it, he damn sure does.”

When Travis arrived at Cynt’s a little early, he was surprised to see that Freeze was already waiting for him. He expected Freeze to keep him waiting like he usually did. Wanda saw Travis coming toward the table. “Here comes your nigga,” she said mockingly. “I’ll leave you two to talk.” Wanda got up from the table and headed for the stairs to the offices for her meeting with Cynt. She passed Travis on the way. Travis smiled as men did when they saw Wanda walking toward them.

“Hello Travis,” she said and kept walking.

“Hello, Wanda,” Travis said nervously. What’s up with that? Wanda never speaks to me.

Travis sat down at the table with Freeze. “So, what’s the word?”

“The word is good. I got it on good information that the cops don’t have a clue on who ran that job at the grocery store. They assume that the same people that ran that job ran the jewelry store job, but they got no leads on either case. I know there was some concern about the video surveillance of the parking lot, but they gone over it a bunch of times and they remain clueless. But that’s a cop’s nature.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Don’t you know? I know everything,” Freeze said flatly. “But in this particular case, I know a little cutie that’s bangin’ the lead detective on the case. He tells her everything and then she tells me. That pillow talk is a muthafucka.” Freeze laughed. “But I still think you should chill for a while.” He stood up.

“That’s what I got in mind,” Travis said as Freeze walked away.

It was a little before 2:00 when Ronnie got to Cynt’s. He wandered around the club looking for Travis and finally found him sitting in the back corner with Mystique. She was burning up his ear when Ronnie came toward them. Once Mystique turned and saw Ronnie coming, she stood up and slapped the shit out of Travis. “You ain’t shit,” Mystique said and walked away.

Ronnie came to the table laughing his ass off. “What’s happenin’, player? Havin’ some problems with your people today?”

“Something like that,” Travis said, rubbing his face. “I told Mystique that I didn’t want to see her anymore.”

“I guess that wasn’t what she wanted to hear.”

“I guess not. Like you said, she gets real funky when you tell her no,” Travis said and laughed a little. “So, what’s up with you?”

“I’m cool,” Ronnie said as Jackie joined them at the table. “What’s up, Jackie? You’re just in time. Travis was just about to tell me the deal.”

“Well, let’s hear it. How bad are we?” Jackie asked.

“We aren’t bad at all. Cops aren’t looking for us, and since we didn’t leave them any, they have no clues that will lead them to us,” Travis said confidently.

“What about the parking lot footage they were showing every day on the news?” Jackie asked.

“Consider that your fifteen minutes of fame,” Travis said. “There’s nothing on that tape to lead them to us.”

“What about while you were doing surveillance? Won’t that lead them to you?” Jackie asked.

“Jackie, I’m tellin’ you, they got nothing they can use, and more to the point, they don’t have anything that points to me. I even sold the Thunderbird in Miami while I was down there. I’m tellin’ you, we’re good on this,” Travis said. He looked at Ronnie, who was surprisingly calm and quiet. “You don’t have any questions, Ron?”

“Nope. Jackie got all the questions now. You answered all my questions when you came back to the city and told me it was all good. You woulda stayed your ass in the Caymans if there was any problems at all.”

“You’re right. I probably would have. The Caymans is nice.”

“Oh, so you woulda left us to twist in the wind for it?” Jackie asked.

“Hell no. I knew you were talkin’ to Freeze. He woulda gave you the heads up if it wasn’t all good.”

“That is something I do have a problem with,” Ronnie said. “Why we gotta give that nigga so much money?”

“Ronnie, how you think I got to the Caymans? What did you think, I walked up to the counter at Miami