“Nope.”
“They’re dead.”
“So?”
“They wanted to know if I killed them.”
“Did you?”
“I never even heard of these kids. But them two, and two others that used to work for Birdie, formed a group they call The Commission to protect themselves against me.”
Bobby started laughing. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m serious, Bobby. It was probably them who sent that mutha fucka to kill me.”
“You're probably right. Now what we gonna do about it?”
“Shit-you know we gonna pay them a visit.”
“Say good-bye,” Bobby laughed as he drove into the city.
When he and Black walked into Cynt's, Nick, Freeze and Wanda were waiting for them. As Black approached the table that they were seated at, he looked around the room for Mystique, but didn’t see her anywhere.
When the trio saw Black and Bobby coming, they stood up. Freeze walked up to Black. “You wanna talk in Cynt's office?”
“No. I need the noise.”
“Cool,” Freeze said and smiled because he knew Black wanted to talk about killing somebody. He looked at Black as he shook Nick’s hand and hugged Wanda. He saw the fire in Black’s eyes. The kind of fire he hadn’t seen since he buried Shy.
Black sat down and got right to it. “Any of you heard anything ’bout some niggas call themselves The Commission?” Black asked over the music.
“No,” Freeze said flatly and Nick and Wanda both shook their heads. Nick glanced at Wanda, who was going out of her way not to look in his direction.
“What about Cash Money or K Murder?”
“Yeah,” Freeze said. “I heard Cash and a couple of his boyz got killed.”
“The other nigga got killed a couple of days ago.”
“What about them, Mike?” Wanda asked, knowing if Black was asking about two dead drug dealers, it couldn’t be good.
“Kirk and Richards just asked me if I was involved. Before you get excited, it ended with us all having a big laugh about it.”
“Where did you see Kirk?” Wanda needed to know.
“At Bobby’s house.”
“You're tellin’ me that two New York City detectives drove all the way out to Bobby’s house to ask you about two murders and it’s no big deal?” Wanda asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll look into it.”
“Thank you, Wanda.” Black turned his attention back to Freeze. “Richards says they were part of this Commission and they both worked for Birdie. Anybody else you can think of that might be a part of this crew?”
“Stark would definitely be on that team, probably runnin’ it,” Freeze said.
“Do I even know this nigga?”
“I don’t think so,” Freeze said.
“What you got to do with them?” Nick asked.
Black took his time and explained The Commission and its purpose. When he was though, everybody was laughing. “That’s probably who tried to get you in the bathroom, Freeze,” Nick said.
“What? What happened in the bathroom?” Bobby asked. “Somebody try to get a piece of that ass?” he said, still laughing.
“The other night me and Freeze were out tryin’ to find out who came after you and three guys followed him in the bathroom.”
“To kill me,” Freeze said quickly.
“What happened?” Black asked, no longer laughing.
“I got two of them, Freeze got the other,” Nick told him.
“When were y’all gonna tell me about this?”
“You said you didn’t wanna hear day to day shit like that,” Freeze answered.
“You're right. I did. But I don’t you think somebody tryin’ to kill y’all while you're out tryin’ to find out who tried to kill me is more than day to day shit?” Black glared at Wanda. “You know about this?”
Wanda looked at Freeze and then at Nick. “This is the first I’m hearing about this too,” Wanda said, still staring at Nick and wondering why he didn’t tell her before turning back to Black. “Nobody tells me anything anymore,” she spit out angrily. “How’d you leave it?”
Freeze laughed a little. “We left them dead in the bathroom.”
“Anybody see you leaving?” Wanda asked.
“Anybody who was looking,” Freeze said. “But my people say the cops ain’t up on us.”
Black thought for a minute. “So somebody hit Cash, they think it’s me and send somebody to get me. I kill him and they send three guys after you.”
“They probably think we killed this other mutha fucka to retaliate,” Nick said.
“That means that they’re gonna be comin’ at us again,” Freeze said. “What do you wanna do, Black?”
Black looked at Freeze. “I wanna find and kill whoever it was that murdered Cassandra. None of this other bullshit matters to me right now. You command this family now. You handle this shit, but I wanna know what's goin’ on; understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Freeze replied. He understood that it meant that he shouldn’t do anything without talking to Black first.
“You and Bobby still goin’ to Hong Kong?” Nick asked.
“No.”
Wanda stood up and looked at Freeze. “Unless you need me for anything else, I’m going home.”
“I do want you to check on Kirk; see if they really got anything they think connects Black to this. Like you said, they didn’t just ride all the way to Bobby’s house for nothing.”
“Yes, sir,” Wanda said and saluted. “Mike, give me a call and let me know what Marshall had to say.”
“We’ll talk in the morning. There’s somethin’ I wanna run by you. What time is good for you counselor?”
“I’ll be home all day, stop by anytime. We need to talk about something,” Wanda said, thinking about telling him about her and Nick. Lately she’d been thinking that it would be better if she told him than Black finding out on his own. “Goodnight, gentlemen.” Wanda looked at Nick and walked away. She knew this meant she would be spending another night alone. Wanda understood the reason why and understood it was necessary, but she didn’t have to like it.
Nick stood up and was about to follow Wanda. He could tell by the look she gave him that she was not happy. This was the first time he’d seen her in a couple of days and he wanted to at least spend a few minutes with her before him and Freeze got in the street. “I’ll get with you later, Freeze. I got something I need to take care of.”
“Sit down, Nick. I need to talk to you,” Black said and Nick quickly reclaimed his seat. “You too, Freeze.”
“What’s up?” Nick asked.
“You ever met or hear of a DEA agent named DeFrancisco, or one named Vinnelli, Nick?”
“Not that I can remember, why?”
“DeFrancisco had Cassandra killed. I want you to find out everything you can about these two mutha fuckas. DeFrancisco is in jail; find out where.”
“I’m on it.”
“The one that I’m concerned with is Vinnelli. He’s probably the one who set things in motion. Get on top of him. I want to know the cleanest way to take him.”
“You plannin’ on killin’ a DEA agent, Black?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, I am.” Black looked at Freeze. “You wanna ask me that shit too? Hell yeah I’m gonna kill him and every fuckin’ body I think was down with it. These the mutha fuckas that killed Cassandra, these the mutha fuckas
