“Yo, What’s up, Angelo?” Freeze asked. Mike and Angelo were in the same homeroom in high school. Back in the day when they both were freelancing, they did a few jobs together. Now Angelo was a made man with a crew of his own.
“I need to talk to Mike. He wouldn’t happen to be with you would he?”
“No, Black is out of the country. He supposed to be back tomorrow. Why?”
Angelo laughed a little. “Tell him it’s nothin’ major, but I need to talk to him when he gets back.”
“No problem,” Freeze said and was about to end the call.
“Ask him,” Nick said.
“Hold on a second, Angelo,” Freeze said and turned to Nick. “What you say?”
“Angelo hears a lotta shit. Ask him if he heard anything about Black.”
“Yo, Angelo.”
“I’m here.”
“Somebody tried to kill Black a couple of days ago. You hear anything about that?”
“Black or white?”
“Huh?”
“Was the shooter black or white?”
“Black, why?”
“No. I didn’t hear anything about that, Freeze, sorry. But I’m on it. I’ll ask around, see if I hear anything. If I do, I’ll let you know,” Angelo promised.
“Good enough,” Freeze said. “Why you ask if the shooter was black or white?”
“’Cause it makes a difference.”
“Yeah, I know. But why?”
“You just tell Mikey to call me,” Angelo said and ended the call.
“What was all that about?” Nick asked.
“I don’t know,” Freeze said angrily. He didn’t appreciate Angelo hangin’ up on him like that. To him it was a sign that Angelo still didn’t respect him.
Back in the day when Freeze was just getting started working for Black, people used to call him Black's little errand boy. Back then, one of Angelo’s men used to talk big shit to Freeze. He remembered Black telling him, “Don't let him get to you, Freeze. Jimmy still fucks with you `cause he knows it gets to you. Go ahead, you get out first. Make him show you respect. And remember who runs shit and who's always gonna be the errand boy.”
Freeze got Jimmy’s respect that day, and he knew that he would have to make Angelo respect him too.
After checking out a few spots, Freeze and Nick caught up with Manny Valdez. When Manny saw Freeze come in the bar, he took off running out the back door. When he made it into the alley, Nick was there waiting for him. “You in a hurry, Manny?” Nick asked and punched Manny in the face. Manny hit the ground hard.
“I don’t know nuthin’, I swear!”
“I haven’t asked you any questions yet.” Nick pulled Manny up off the ground and dragged him back to the car where Freeze was waiting.
“What's up, Manny?” Freeze asked as Nick pushed Manny into the car. “Where was you goin’ in such a hurry?”
“I swear, Freeze, I don’t know nuthin’,” Manny said quickly.
Nick looked around and noticed that some people were coming out of the bar and coming toward them, and they didn’t look happy. “Hey,” Nick said to Freeze and pointed toward them.
Freeze nodded and opened the back door to his Navigator. “Get in,” he said and pushed Manny inside. He tossed the keys to Nick. “Let’s ride.”
Once they were away from the bar, Freeze slapped Manny upside his head. “If you don’t know nothin’, why you run when you saw me?”
“`Cause Black said he would kill me the next time he saw me.”
Freeze slapped Manny again. “Do I look like Black to you?” he asked, and slapped Manny twice in the head.
“No!” Manny said and covered his head.
“I do see his point, Freeze,” Nick said and laughed.
“Shut up, Nick.”
“Black might have sent you to kill me. How could I know?” Manny continued to cover his head.
“That’s all I was tryin’ to say,” Nick threw in.
“Somebody tried to kill Black; you know anything about that?”
“Is he dead?”
“I said tried, dumb-ass,” Freeze shouted and punched Manny in the stomach.
“He never was very smart.” Nick shook his head.
“Shut up, Nick!” Freeze shouted, fighting back laughter. He turned his attention back to Manny. “What you know about that?”
“I swear,” Manny said and made a cross over his heart. “This is the first I’m hearin’ ’bout it.”
“Stop the car, Nick,” Freeze said and Nick complied. “If you hear anything, I better hear from you. Got that?”
“Si, si, I call you,” Manny said.
“Good. Now get out,” Freeze commanded.
“But my car is back there, Freeze.” Manny pointed back towards the bar.
Freeze raised his hand like he was about to hit Manny again. Manny opened the door and got out running.
“What now?” Nick asked.
“Let’s go by Incognito,” Freeze answered.
“Incognito? You lookin’ for somebody in particular?”
“Yeah. Little trick ho named Shonda works out of there sometimes. Maybe she knows somethin’.”
“You got it.”
Nick began moving in the direction of the club, but didn’t notice that he was being followed by three men in a black Infinity.
When Nick and Freeze arrived at Incognito they went inside and ordered drinks. They looked around for Shonda, but she didn’t seem to be there that night.
“I’ma go take a leak. I’ll be back,” Freeze said.
“Hurry up.”
“I know you in a hurry to get back to Wanda, but chill out,” Freeze said and walked off.
As Freeze headed toward the bathroom, Nick looked as Freeze walked by the three men that had been following them in the Infinity. When he was passed them they fell in behind Freeze and followed him into the bathroom.
“What’s wrong with that picture?” Nick put down his drink and fell in behind them.
Freeze went into one of the stalls, just as the three men entered the bathroom. Nick was outside pushing his way through the crowd, trying to get to Freeze.
Once they were in the men's room, the three men drew their weapons and waited for Freeze to come out of the stall. Freeze flushed the toilet and was about to come out of the stall. He opened the door and saw three guns pointed at him. Before anybody could do anything, Nick burst through the door with both guns drawn.
Nick fired and shot two of the men several times in the back of their heads. Freeze pulled his gun quickly and got the third man with two shots.
Freeze lowered his weapon and Nick stood over the bodies. “You recognize them?”
“Never seen ’em before. You?”
Nick shook his head and put away his weapons. “Let’s get outta here.”
When Nick and Freeze came out of the bathroom, they made their way out of the club and back to the Navigator.
Nick tossed Freeze back his keys. “You sure you didn’t piss anybody off?”
“I piss off mutha fuckas every fuckin’ day,” Freeze said and drove away.
