Payback

The man and woman left the room, but before they closed the door, Shy heard the man say, 'I thought you was over that shit.'

As Shy heard the door lock, she tried to think of who this woman was and why she wanted the man to kill her so badly.

Chapter Nine

There weren’t too many days when Detective Kirkland was late getting to the precinct, but today was one of those days. It was a little after 12:30 when Kirk sat down at his desk with his coffee. And it wasn’t too much longer before he heard, 'Kirk! You and Richards, my office now!'

'What did you do now?' Kirk asked Richards as he got up.

'I ain’t did shit, officer. That bitch trippin’,' Richards joked as he followed Kirk into the captain’s office, where there were two men already seated in front of the captain’s desk. The two men rose to their feet when the detectives entered the office. Kirk recognized one of them right away.

'Detectives, this is State Senator Martin Marshall, and this is Kenneth DeFrancisco of the DEA,' the captain said, and the men all shook hands. 'Kirk here is our resident expert on Mike Black.'

'What can you tell me about Mike Black’s involvement in drug trafficking, detective?' Agent DeFrancisco asked.

'Nothing,' was Kirk’s simple answer.

'Excuse me?' The agent gave the captain a puzzled look then looked back at Kirk.

'I can’t tell you anything because there’s nothing to tell. Mike Black has no involvement in drugs or drug trafficking.'

'We have information that leads us to believe that’s incorrect,' Senator Marshall said.

Kirk looked at Marshall, making no effort to hide his contempt. 'And what might that be?'

'We’ll share that information with you at the appropriate time, detective,' Agent DeFrancisco answered. 'Right now, what I need is your assistance in this investigation.'

'I assured the agent that you would assist the DEA in any way you could, detective,' the captain interjected.

'You planning on conducting this investigation in the Bahamas, Agent DeFrancisco? ’Cause that’s where he is.'

'Mr. Black and two associates arrived at JFK at ten-thirty this morning,' Marshall said.

'Now, you two will serve in primarily an advisory role, but I’m sure you’ll get in on some of the action,' Agent DeFrancisco said and stood up. 'Captain, I’ll leave you to brief the detectives. Thanks for your time and cooperation.' Agent DeFrancisco and Senator Marshall left the office.

After they were gone, Kirk asked the captain, 'Now, what the fuck was that about, Gus? You know as well as I do that Black’s got nothing to do with drugs.'

'That’s true as far as I know, but who knows?'

'And to be honest with you, I don’t trust anything that that sleaze Marshall is involved in.'

'Look, Kirk, the guy is a state senator, and that means I don’t fuck with him unless it is absolutely necessary.' The captain handed Kirk a piece of paper. 'Listen, you and Richards report to that address in the morning. You spend a couple months with those assholes, tellin’ them what they wanna know, and if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get to spend some time in the Bahamas.'

'I’m all for that,' Richards said.

'Okay, Gus,' Kirk said and stood up. 'But I still don’t like it.'

'Yeah, whatever, enjoy the vacation. Check with Narcotics before you go. Make sure that what these assholes are doing doesn’t interfere with any on-going operations.'

'Yes, sir,' Kirk said and left the captain’s office.

Kirk and Richards went straight to the head of Narcotics, Lieutenant Gene Sanchez. 'You’re wasting your time, Kirk. We got nothing goin’ on Black. The guy’s been off our radar for years,' Sanchez told Kirk.

'What about his wife, Cassandra Sims? Got anything on her?'

'She never was a major player. We had to drop the murder case against her, and her lawyer’s been putting a lot of pressure on the ADA to produce some evidence. We lack evidence and we have no witnesses. Half the people that were there are dead, and the ones that didn’t die are doing their time quietly, so sooner or later we’ll be forced to drop our conspiracy to distribute case against her. So, if the fuckin’ DEA got something on either one of them, you make damn sure they fuckin’ share it with me.'

'You know I will,' Kirk said, and he and Richards got ready to leave.

'Wait a minute. There is one thing.'

'What’s that, Sanchez?'

'The last couple of weeks we been hearing rumbles of a war brewing between his boy Freeze and D-Train Washington.'

'Who’s he?' Richards asked.

'He took over what’s left of Chilly’s crew.'

'What’s the beef over?'

'Chilly’s people trying to roll in their so-called dead zone. We’re on top of it.'

'That’s one more reason why this doesn’t make sense.'

'What’s that, Kirk?'

'These guys have protected that dead zone like it was the holy fuckin’ grail for years.'

'That’s true,' Sanchez had to agree.

'Now all of a sudden Black wants back in the drug game? Why now?'

'Maybe that’s why Simmons killed Chilly, so they could take over Chilly’s business,' Richards said.

'It’s possible,' Sanchez said.

'Come on, Pat, you arrested him. You know Simmons was fuckin’ Chilly’s wife and the animal found about it. That’s why Simmons killed Chilly,' Kirk told Sanchez.'And besides, Black gave Chilly that spot.'

'What are you talkin’ about?' Richards wanted to know.

'You should teach the kid some history, Kirk,' Sanchez said and walked toward the window. 'What’s it been, Kirk? Ten, twelve years?'

'About that.'

'The story goes, the night Black caught up with Vincent Martin and his crew, it was him, Bobby Ray and Freeze. They walked in blastin’ and killed them all, except one guy. Black walks up to the guy and says tell Chilly to come see him,' Sanchez explained.

'After that, there’s the dead zone,' Kirk said. 'And Chilly respected that shit for years.'

'But Chilly’s dead, and D-Train wants to step up,' Richards said.

'Right. It’s a good move for D-Train to move on the dead zone,' Kirk said.

'Okay, okay,' Sanchez said. 'That explains why D-train would want to go to war, but what’s in it for Black? He didn’t have to kill Chilly or take on this other clown to get back in the drug game. He got an organization already in place. And if that was happening, I would know about it, Kirk.'

Kirk stood up and headed for the door. 'That’s why this makes no sense.'

Chapter Ten

'Nick?' Mike asked. 'What does Angelo want to talk to me about Nick for?'

'I don’t know, Black. When I asked him what it was about, all he said was Nick and hung up the phone,' Freeze said as Nick came into the office.

'All right, let’s go see what Angee wants.' Mike stood up and started for the door, followed by Nick and Freeze.