Payback

Julio get up.

'Shy! Behind you!' Nick yelled and aimed his weapon, but it was too late. Julio had grabbed Shy and pointed his gun to her head.

'Drop it!' Julio yelled. Shy threw away the pump. 'You too, drop it!' he yelled at Nick.

'Let her go!' Nick said, taking a step closer.

Julio fired, barely missing Shy. 'I’ll kill her!'

Nick knew he could shoot Julio in the head before he got a shot off, but before he was able to, Sal burst through the door, firing that semi. It gave them enough time to get out the door with Shy. By the time Nick got outside, they were gone.

As he drifted off to sleep, he acknowledged the fact that his intoxication definitely played a role Shy’s kidnapping. With his level of skill, Nick should have been able to drop all three of the bandits, semi or not. He shot Julio, but Julio was still able to get up and walk out with Shy. If he had taken the shot, would he have hit the target or Shy? Nick tossed and turned and the nightmare began again.

'Bobby put the gun down!' Mike yelled.

'I’ll kill you!' Bobby screamed at Nick.

Mike put his gun to Bobby’s head. 'Bobby please,' he said quietly. 'Take the gun out of his mouth and put it down.'

'Don’t think this is over. I’ll kill you!' Bobby shouted. 'And that bitch!'

Nick sat straight up on the bed and reached for his gun. He was sweating and breathing hard. Slowly, he began to calm down. He looked over at the bed next to him; there was a man lying down. Nick aimed his weapon at the man. With the barrel of the gun, Nick poked the man in the back. 'Get up. Nice and slow,' Nick said as he backed away and the man began to move.

'Don’t you think I unloaded your gun before I laid down?'

'Black,' Nick said as Mike Black sat up on the bed.

'Hello, Nick. Damn, it’s good to see you.' Mike stood up and held out his arms. Although he was glad to see him, Mike would have preferred that it be under better circumstances than this. Mike was pretty excited when Wanda called and said that Nick was on his way to the island to see him. Now this had to happen.

'Good to see you too, Black.' The two men embraced. 'How long have you been here?'

'Not long. You still havin’ that same nightmare?'

'Yeah.' Nick nodded his head. Mike understood; memories of that night haunted him too. His two closest friends at each other’s throats. 'Why didn’t you wake me up?' Nick asked.

'I tried to wake you up, but you were dead to the world. I heard you and Cassandra had a lot to drink.'

There was an uncomfortable silence that drifted between them. 'So, you know what happened?'

'Yes,' Mike said and sat down on the bed. 'I talked to Wanda after you called her. She told me what happened. I went by the club and talked to the cook.'

'I’m sorry, Black,' Nick said as he sat down and started to tell his story.

'Never mind that now. Get up and let’s go. You can tell your story on the way.'

Nick stood up and got two other guns out of the suitcase. 'Where we goin’?'

'Eight Mile Rock.'

While Mike drove, Nick told Mike exactly what happen that afternoon at Black’s Paradise. Mike listened without comment until they reached a house off the main road. 'Let’s go,' Mike said as he got out of the car. Nick followed Mike to the door. He knocked twice and the door opened. A man with an AK47 stepped to the side to let them in.

'He here?' Mike asked.

'In the back,' the man answered and escorted them out the back door to the pool. There were four men, all armed, sitting around the pool. Three of them jumped to their feet when they saw Mike. Slowly, the fourth man turned around. He smiled when he saw Mike coming toward him.

'What’s up, Black?' Jamaica stood up. Then he saw Nick. 'Is that Nick?'

'That’s him, Trouble Man in person,' Mike said.

'What’s up, Jamaica?' Nick said, remembering that Trouble Man was what they used to call him when they were growing up. At the time, it was because of Nick’s fondness for the Marvin Gaye song. Now, at this time, the name took on a whole new meaning.

'Been a long time, Nick,' Jamaica said, reclaiming his seat. 'You still drinking that Johnnie Black?'

'Yeah, but I’ll pass. I think I’ve done enough drinking today,' Nick replied and sat down.

Mike walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of Remy Martin. 'You heard anything yet, Jay?'

'The word on the rock is they come to do business. They go ’round talkin’ ’bout they gon’ make big money. Them say that Conchie Joe have plenty money.'

'Nick, when they left, did they have the money with them?' Mike asked. 'Where was the dope?'

'I didn’t see any drugs or money change hands. And now that I think about it, I didn’t see Roman with anything that might have had money in it.'

'Maybe they were just meeting to set up the buy,' Nick said.

'Maybe,' Jamaica said. 'But me hear that the deal was to be done today.'

'But if the deal was to get done today, then where was his backup? You can’t sit there and tell me that the DEA is about to do what sounds like a major bust, and the agent is in there by himself. And even if today wasn’t the day, why didn’t he have any backup? It just doesn’t make sense.' Mike walked over to the pool and sat down on the diving board. 'You got names on these bandits?'

'Not yet, but me have me brethren out lookin’ for them,' Jamaica said. 'Me have someone at the airport and at the dock. Them have to charter a plane or a boat to get off the island.'

'Send someone around to all the people we know that charter. If they try to get off the island, I wanna know about it,' Mike said as the phone rang.

Jamaica answered. 'Hello.'

'Me find a man at the dock,' one of Jamaica’s men said. 'Him say that he see Shy and two men get on a boat. Him think he hear them say they goin’ to Miami.'

'Him sure ’bout that?' Jamaica asked.

'Me don’t know. I just tell you what him tell me.'

'What was the name of the boat?'

'Destiny.'

Chapter Three

Jamaica wasted no time giving Mike the information he had just received. Mike picked up the phone and made arrangements to have a chartered plane meet them at the airport. Then he called Bobby in New York. 'What’s goin’ on down there, Mike? You find her?' Bobby asked.

'No. I need you to meet me in Miami.'

'You got it. I’ll call you from the airport.'

'Let me talk to Freeze,' Mike said.

'He had to go handle something. I’ll tell you about it when I see you.'

'Okay, you get down here as soon as you can. Let me speak to Wanda.'

Bobby handed the Wanda the phone and left the office at Cuisine. 'Hello, Mike,' she said. 'Have you heard anything yet?'

'Yeah. Do you have anybody in Miami?'

'We got a couple of good people. What do you need?'

'I need you to find out everything you can about a boat named Destiny. I wanna know where it’s docked and who owns it, and find out fast. I’m on my way there now.'

'You find Nick?'

'He’s with me.'