of place where you went to escape. Cynt’s was the kind of place where you went to indulge all of your passions, no matter what they were. You could be or do anything you wanted, as long as it didn’t hurt or bother anybody. Liquor, gambling, and of course, you could experience the pleasures of the women in the house. Cynt’s was a place where fantasies did come true.
Travis sat at a table in the corner of the room where Freeze always sat when he was at Cynt’s. While he waited for Freeze to arrive, a dancer who called herself Mystique was entertaining Travis. She was a tall woman with beautiful, dark eyes and deep caramel skin. Travis had never noticed her on any of his other visits to Cynt’s, although she’d been there every time. He sat, watching her dance, and losing himself in the seductive movements of her hips.
He couldn’t escape the thought that their run was over and it was time to get out. Mistakes on the job, Murray holding out on the money, and now Freeze wanting to talk. No matter how he turned it, it still came up the same way. Travis was sure of what the flaws were in his plan. First off, he confirmed what he already knew: he never created a contingency plan if anything went wrong in the store. It wasn’t the tight timeline, it was his failure to plan for the manager having a weapon, and his lack of contingency planning once the alarm was triggered.
There was one other factor that Travis had to consider. Had he given Ronnie too many crucial responsibilities in the execution of the job? Jackie had only one primary responsibility, secure the objective, whereas Ronnie had several tasks to complete that were vital to the successful execution of the job. Ronnie had to disable the security cameras, disarm and immobilize the security guard, and disable the security system. And after all that, Ronnie still had to cut and remove the glass and remove the pieces without triggering the alarm.
Why did he assign Ronnie all the vital responsibilities? Was he putting too much on Ronnie? Knowing Ronnie’s personality, was it more than he could handle? Maybe it was only because Jackie was a better getaway driver. Or maybe he didn’t think Jackie could handle the responsibilities. He wondered if he should create contingency plans that allowed for Ronnie’s adrenaline junky personality.
Ronnie was right about one thing: Travis was beginning to second-guess himself. And that wasn’t good.
“Yo, Travis!” Jackie yelled, snapping Travis out of the trace that his thoughts and Mystique had placed him in.
“What?”
“Where this nigga at?” Jackie inquired. “We been around here all this time and Freeze still ain’t showed.”
“So, you in a hurry or something?”
“No.”
“If you got something to do, then bounce and go handle it. But it’s all good here in this little corner of the world,” Travis said to Jackie without taking his eyes off Mystique as she continued to move her body.
Jackie looked at Mystique, who cast her spell upon her as well. “Yeah, I see,” she said slowly. “But check this out. Me and Ronnie were talkin’ about havin’ a little set this weekend. You know, throw some meat in the grill, invite some ladies over. We’ll be sure to invite this lovely lady here if you want. You down?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m for all that.”
“Good,” Jackie said as she got up to go to the gambling area. “’Cause it’s your turn, so the party’s at your house. Cool?”
“Like I said, whatever,” Travis said and lost himself in Mystique once again.
It wasn’t too long after that when Freeze appeared before him. “Mind if I join you?” Freeze asked as he took a seat next to Travis.
“This is your spot. I was just keepin’ it warn until you got here,” Travis answered.
“Yo, Mystique. Why don’t you give us a minute?”
“No problem, Freeze,” Mystique said as she picked up her clothes and disappeared into the crowd.
“You got something for me?” Freeze asked, holding out his hand.
Travis handed Freeze the envelope. “It’s only twelve-five. Murray nutted up on me.”
“Why?”
“That’s what I need to talk to you about. During the job, Ronnie accidentally tripped an alarm and we had to deal with a couple of rental cops.”
“Any police action?”
“Yeah, that too. They followed us away from the scene, but Jackie lost them. Anyway, Murray heard about the gun-play and the police involvement and told me that the stuff from inside the store would be harder to get rid of because of that.”
“Did he come correct on the diamonds?”
“All that was cool. And I was able to get a little more from him on store items.”
“Murray’s a slippery fuck, but he’s right. Nobody in town is gonna want to fuck with the shit from the store.”
“That’s what he said. Said he’d have to sell them outside the country. But I wanted you to know about the police involvement just in case anything came of it.”
“I’ll let my people know what’s up. But you, Travis, you need to start keepin’ a tighter reign over that wild-ass nigga Ronnie. He gonna get y’all killed one day.”
“I can handle Ronnie, Freeze. You don’t have to worry about him,” Travis insisted, even though he had the same thought. “I got him.”
“Make damn sure that you do. ’Cause if one of his wild man stunts puts this organization or me in jeopardy, I’ll kill him myself. Believe that.
“Now, what I just said, it ain’t got nothing to do with you. I got nothing but respect for you. You’re a smart man and you’re runnin’ a tight operation, but that nigga is dead weight on the ship.”
“I hear what you’re sayin’, Freeze. But me and Ronnie go too far back for me to cut him loose. Not over no little shit like this.”
“I appreciate you being loyal to the muthafucka. Loyalty is important, especially in this game. We value loyalty above all else. Just make sure you got him in check or I’ll do it for you. That’s all I’m sayin’. But like I said, understand that won’t have anything to do with you. It’s just business.”
“I understand,” Travis said and looked over at the table where Ronnie was sitting. He watched as Ronnie got up and followed one of the dancers away from the table. Travis lost sight of him in the crowd.
“But for now, relax. Enjoy all of the pleasures that the house got to offer.” With that, Freeze raised his hand and snapped his finger. Not only did Mystique return to the table, three other dancers also responded to Freeze’s motion.
“Do four women always come when you call?” Travis asked and Freeze laughed.
“Travis, when I snap my finger, everybody woman in the house who ain’t dancin’ is coming ’cause they know somebody, if not all of them, are about to get paid.” Freeze turned to the dancers. “Ladies, take care of my friend here. I mean take real good care of him,” Freeze said as he stood up and saw that Bobby Ray had come into the club. “If there’s anything you need, Travis, anything at all, you let me know. I need to go holler at Bobby for a minute,” he said and walked away.
After Freeze disappeared into the crowd, the dancers converged around Travis. Mystique looked at the other three dancers and shook her head. She started to walk away when Travis grabbed her hand. “Where you going?”
“I don’t compete. I’m a private dancer. But I know they gotta do what Freeze says. So, enjoy yourself. I’ll be back when I have your undivided attention.”
The other three dancers continued to do their thing while Travis watched Mystique walk away. She had definitely had gotten his attention.
Jackie quickly joined Travis. “You can’t have a show like this without me.”
Travis pointed at one of the dancers and motioned for her to dance for Jackie. She smiled seductively at Jackie and complied immediately. Jackie leaned toward Travis. “You handle your business with Freeze?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he want to talk to you about?”
Travis looked at Jackie for a long moment before answering, “Loyalty.”
