Payback

'I hope it pays off, and at worst, doesn’t cause us any more problems than it already has. What’s bothering me is how Kirk would know or even care about a drug meeting in the Bahamas. Kirk is homicide,' Wanda said and looked at the time. 'Have you eaten yet?'

'I haven’t eaten a thing all day, so I’m starving.'

'Well let’s go, I’ll buy you dinner,' Wanda said and began to gather her things.

'Are you inviting me out on a date?'

'No, Nick, I said that I would buy you dinner. If this was a date you would be buying me dinner,' Wanda said Nick followed her out of the office.

After dinner Nick and Wanda talked over drinks. They talked about business and how she thought Nick could fit in. They were having a good time reminiscing about old times and then Wanda noticed that it was getting late and she wanted to see P Harlem at Impressions. That’s when they found out about the robbery and about Paulleen’s murder.

Since the bandits only got away with a couple of grand, nobody was overly concerned about the robbery, although the fact that anyone would try it bothered Freeze. He saw it as another challenge to his running of their operation. The real concern was the attempted assassination.

Freeze was sure that D-Train was responsible and wanted blood, 'I say we go over there now and kill ‘em all.' But Mike was able to convince him to be sure that he was involved in it before they went to war. So, while Mike and Bobby continued to look for Shy, Freeze went off in search of the owner of a 73 Nova, and Nick went to meet Freddie.

When Nick arrived at the post office, Freddie was there waiting for him. He got out and began walking toward him. 'How’s it goin’, Freddie?'

'First of all let’s get one thing straight. You never saw me. So I never talked to you, not today or yesterday. We clear on that?'

'That bad?'

'Are we clear, Nick?'

'I never saw you, Freddie, so we never talked. Now, what you got?'

'Nothing. That’s what I got, nothing. All my inquiries were met by a polite brush off or the word classified.'

'You have anything for me?'

'Some advice, and this came from Walter.'

'How is Walter?'

'Still pissed at you about Beirut. He sends his regards, and said to forget you ever heard any of this.'

'Can’t do that, Freddie, but thanks anyway for your help. See ya.' I started to walk away.

'Back off this one, Nick, it’s political.'

I stopped in my tracks and walked back to Freddie. 'How do you know it’s political, Freddie? You know something, Freddie. Give it up.'

Freddie stood quietly and looked at Nick. 'All right, Nick. Paris did some work for some people we know in Virginia. The word is that some white paper that Paris came in contact with but he was murdered before he actually got his hands on them.'

'Shit, I knew that.'

'Sorry you came all this way for nothing,' Freddie said, and got back in his car. 'Hey, Nick. You ever read a column by Tavia Hawkins?'

'Tavia Hawkins? Who’s that?'

'She’s a reporter for the Post.'

'What’s she got to do with this?'

'I didn’t say she did. Understand. See ya, Nick.' Nick watched Freddie drive away before returning to his car. He drove to the nearest public library and logged on to the Internet.

Nick went to the Post’s on line edition site and ran an archive search on Tavia Hawkins. He got ten pages of hits from his search. Nick began reading some of the articles and it wasn’t long before he noticed a pattern. A lot of the articles she’d written lately were about Martin Marshall.

Chapter Twenty-seven

'What you wanna do now?' Bobby asked.

'Let’s ride down the concourse, see what’s happening down there,' Mike replied. It was getting late in the evening and Mike and Bobby had been ridin’ all day. They had been to all of the people who usually had information to offer for a price and still nothing. Nobody knew anything about Shy’s kidnapping or knew where they could find Sal Terrico.

Mike had begun to wonder if maybe he’d left the island too soon or maybe he should have put some pressure on Hector in Miami. No, Shy was in New York somewhere and he would find her if he had to go house to house to do it. Somebody knew something; saw something. He would just have to find them and make them talk.

They had just come out of a bar when Bobby’s cell phone rang and he answered it. 'This is Angelo. Let me talk to Mike.' Bobby told Mike who it was and handed him the phone.

'What’s up, Angee?'

'Diego called, says he’s in town. Says he still wants to meet with you.'

'You know what, Angee? This ain’t exactly the best time for this shit. I got much more important shit to deal with right now.'

'I know this, Mike. But it’s a matter of respect. So talk to the guy, get it over with, and get back to what you gotta do,' Angelo said.

'That’s the thing, Angee, I don’t have any fuckin’ respect for this guy. I never have. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a pussy.'

'Look, Mike, so he’s not the man his father was in his day.'

'Not even fuckin’ close, Angee. Gomez was the man. Diego is out of control and fuckin’ sloppy, and that makes him dangerous.'

'And that’s exactly why you need to meet him, hear him out, and if you don’t like what he has to say, you can bitch slap his ass again if you wanna.'

'What the fuck is he doin’ up here, anyway? I know he didn’t fly up here just to talk to me about Nick?'

'No, he’s got business up here. The way I get it, five million dollars worth of legitimate business; Well, kinda legit.'

'Yeah, whatever. I still say fuck him!'

'Mike! Meet with the fuckin’ guy. Get the shit over with before he makes it out to be more than it fuckin’ is. Do this for me, okay, Mikey?'

'Okay. As a favor to you, but I don’t have time for this, put him off — -'

Bobby interrupted. 'Ain’t that Manny Valdez over there?' Manny Valdez used to be one of Mike’s favorite snitches. Manny would snitch out his mama if there was money in it.

'Yeah, that’s him,' Mike replied.

'He sees us,' Bobby said. 'Hey, Manny!'

Manny Valdez looked at Mike and Bobby and started running. 'He’s runnin’.'

'I’ll get back to you, Angee,' Mike told him and hung up the phone.

'Why is he runnin’?' Bobby asked.

'I don’t know, but let’s find out,' Mike said and took off running after Manny. Bobby went for his car and drove after them. Mike caught up with him just as Manny made it to his car. Before he could get his key in the ignition, Mike pulled him out of the car.

'Where you goin’, Manny?'

'Nowhere, Black,' Manny said as Bobby pulled up and got out of the car.

'Why were you runnin’ then, Manny?'