MOB

“Loyalty? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing major, Jackie. He was just stressin’ that loyalty is important to us in what we’re doin’, that’s all.”

“True, but that ain’t something he gotta stress to us. Nobody more loyal to each other than the three of us.”

Travis looked at Jackie and wondered whether he should tell Jackie what Freeze said about killing Ronnie. He also thought about whether he could actually stand by and let Freeze kill one of his two closest friends and not do anything about it just because it was business. He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to think about it. Travis would just have to keep Ronnie in check.

“Where’s Ronnie?” he asked.

“He’s either upstairs gettin’ his freak on or downstairs losin’ all his money,” Jackie advised.

“I’m surprised to see you up here for this long. You ain’t been downstairs all night.”

“I got too much cash money on me right now for me to go down there,” Jackie admitted.

“You afraid you could lose it all?”

“Not all of it. I hope I’m not that far gone to go out like that. But trust me; it’s better this way.”

“Count off what you’re willing to lose and give me the rest. I’m gettin’ ready to go.”

Jackie counted off ten thousand dollars and looked at Travis, then at the money in her hand. Travis knew her gambling was getting worse. Jackie handed the rest of her money to Travis.

“Who’s that Freeze is going to talk to?” Jackie asked.

“That’s Bobby Ray.”

“You know him?”

“I wouldn’t say I know him. I met him once.”

“What about Mike Black? You ever met him?” Jackie asked excitedly.

“Nope. I seen him once, but I never met him.”

“What’s he like?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, I only saw him that one time. But I will tell you this: he don’t look like the kinda nigga you wanna fuck with,” Travis said as he got up from the table. “Look, Jackie, I’m out. I think I’ll just drive for a while. I need to clear my head.”

“Where you goin’, to your house in Connecticut?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll be back on Saturday. You just make sure that Mystique is there.”

“Done. I’ll see you when you get back.”

Freeze walked up to Bobby, who was standing at the bar talking to Sammy. “What’s up, Bobby? What brings you out tonight? I know Black ain’t in town, is he?”

“No, Mike ain’t in town. I just wanted to check on how things are going. I been to all the other houses tonight.”

“And?” Freeze asked with a bit of a bite. That was the second time that night somebody had been checking on how he was running things in Mike Black’s absence, and he didn’t like it.

“Everything is running just the way it could be,” Bobby said with a smile. “Yeah, Wanda called me.”

“What she say?”

“That maybe I needed to be more active in the business. She said that you were runnin’ Cuisine into the ground. Is she right?”

“She made her point and I moved to correct the situation,” Freeze replied.

“That’s good enough for me. Look, Freeze I ain’t got no problem with the way you do your thing. I think you’ve been good for business. But you know how Wanda is, right?”

“Right.”

“So, until you hear me or Mike say, ‘Freeze, you’re fuckin’ up, just do you,” Bobby said. He held up the glass in his hand and Sammy quickly refilled it.

“Did you know Nick was back in the city?” Freeze asked.

“Yeah, Mike mentioned that to me.”

“Don’t you think it’s time to lay that Camille shit to rest?”

Bobby stared at Freeze for a second or two. He didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it and he never liked being reminded of it. “Don’t you think you should stay out my business?” Bobby asked as one of the dancers walked by him and Freeze.

“Hey, Freeze,” she said as she passed and touched his face. She was dressed in a black cat suit with a small tail and mask to match. She was about five foot three and at best she weighed 110 pounds.

Bobby watched her as she approached somebody at the bar and started talking. “Who is that?”

“That’s Cat. She just started workin’ here a couple of weeks ago. Cynt says words can’t describe the way she dances. Said it’s something you just have to experience.”

“I’d be interested to see,” Bobby said.

“I can arrange that,” Freeze said. “Yo, Cat!”

Cat excused herself from the person she was talking to and stepped toward Freeze. “What’s up, Freeze?”

“Cat, I want you to meet somebody. This is-”

“Bobby Ray,” Cat said as she stepped closer to Bobby. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.”

“Really? And why is that?” Bobby asked.

“Because powerful men turn me on,” Cat said and grabbed his hand.

Freeze laughed as he watched Cat lead Bobby upstairs to the private rooms. “That’s how the trouble always begins.”

Chapter Five

On Saturday afternoon, Travis returned to his house after a couple of very restful days in Connecticut. The time alone did for him exactly what he wanted it to do. It gave him time to think and clear his head. There were no phones in the house, and he turned off his cell phone so he wouldn’t be disturbed.

Travis spent most of the first day in bed, either sleeping or listening to the CD that he’d been looking for, for months: The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions box set by Miles Davis. He thought a lot about getting out of the robbing game, but no matter how he sliced it, Travis always came to the same conclusion. He didn’t have enough money to retire.

He spent a most of his time thinking about Ronnie. The words Freeze spoke to him rolled over and over in his mind. ’Cause if one of his wild man stunts puts this organization or me in jeopardy, I’ll kill him myself. Believe that.

Travis had no doubt that Freeze would kill Ronnie, but he also knew he couldn’t knowingly let that happen and do nothing to prevent it. He would have to kill Freeze if he did it, even if it meant his life. ’Cause killing Freeze, or even trying to for that matter, would be a death sentence.

Travis didn’t even know if he could kill somebody. Shooting your gun in somebody’s direction is a long way from standing in a man’s face and pulling the trigger. Especially Freeze. He had known Freeze for a lot of years; not as long as he’d known Ronnie, but they still went back some years. What he did know is that he had to do whatever it took not to let things come to that.

Once he went through the mail that had collected during his stay in Connecticut, he checked his voice messages. His mother had called to thank him for the three thousand dollars he had deposited in her account. Not wanting to arouse the suspicions of his mother or that of the IRS, Travis never deposited too much money into her account at one time. He put just enough to be sure she was taken care of.

After his father died in his sleep six years ago, Travis decided that the Bronx was no longer a place where he wanted his mother to live. “Especially now that daddy’s gone. I would just feel a lot better if you lived someplace else. Someplace safer.” So, after two more years of singing that same old song, Travis finally moved his mother out of the city. While he still had a conventional job, he made a decent down payment on a house in Fort Myers, Florida. She was near an old friend and some relatives who she’d lost touch with, so she was very happy there.