through.”
“I’m glad you approve,” Black said and Jackie caught his eye once again. “Come on. Let’s go see what Jackie's talkin’ ’bout.”
Jackie stood up when she saw Black coming, until she heard, “Black! Yo Black!” Frank Sparrow yelled as he and his entourage made their way toward Black. He smiled at Jackie and she sat down again to wait her turn.
“What’s up, champ?” Bobby said.
“Mr. Ray, Mr. Black,” Sparrow said, showing respect.
“You got it, champ,” Black said.
“Ready for tomorrow?” Bobby said.
Sparrow raised his right fist. “He ain’t ready for this. I got too much speed and too much power for him. He’s goin’ down,” he said and fainted his right to Bobby’s jaw.
“Watch out now. Niggas have died for less shit than that,” Bobby laughed and motioned for his gun.
While Bobby talked shit with Sparrow’s entourage, the champ looked at Black. “What's the matter, Frank?” Black asked.
“I’m cool, Black. It’s all good,” he said and quickly leaned toward Black. “Everything’s set for tomorrow.”
“What?”
“It’s all set.”
“What are you talkin’ about?”
Sparrow took a step closer and whispered in Black’s ear, “Everything is set for me to go down.”
Black leaned back with his eyes opened wide in shock at what the champ had just told him. Black grabbed Sparrow by the arm. “We need to talk,” Black said and turned to Sparrows handlers. “I need to talk to the champ for a second.”
“No problem, Black,” one handler said.
“Bobby, you're with me,” Black said and led Sparrow up the stairs to Cynt’s office. Once they were behind closed doors, “What the fuck are you talkin’ ’bout?” Black asked.
“Everything is all set for me to do that for you.”
“Do what for me?”
“You know, take a dive in the first.”
“What the fuck is you talkin’ ’bout, Frank?” Bobby asked.
“You need to tell me everything, Frank,” Black said.
“You don’t know nothing about this?” Frank was puzzled.
“I don’t know anything about you takin’ no dive.”
“I knew I shouldn’t trust that mutha fucka; that’s why I made sure I came by here. You know, to make sure that’s what you still wanted.”
“What mutha fucka?” Black demanded to know.
“Mylo.”
“Mylo? Who the fuck is Mylo?” Bobby asked.
“Y’all don’t even know this nigga?” Sparrow questioned.
“I know him,” Black said and looked at Bobby. “He runs the game for us.”
“Our game?” Bobby asked.
“Our game,” Black said definitely. “So what did he say I wanted you to do?”
“Since bettin’ been real strong and a lot of action on what round, he said since everybody knows I’m a slow starter that no one will think twice about me gettin’ caught with a clean shot early.”
“You good with that?” Black asked.
“He said you was counting on me. Mylo said that since they insisted on a rematch clause in the contract, that I’d get the rematch and I’d just kick his ass in the second fight.
“Why didn’t we think of that?” Bobby asked.
“’Cause it ain’t right, that’s why. You're the middleweight champion of the world, the undefeated champ at that. This is your legacy, Frank. You have a chance to be great. I’m talkin’ Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, Bernard Hopkins kind of great.”
“Sugar Ray Robinson?”
“Let’s not get carried away,” Black said and Bobby nodded in agreement.
“They don’t make fighters like that no more,” Bobby said.
“Even that’s possible, Frank. But I don’t think you gonna hang around long enough to win one hundred and seventy-five fights,” Black said and put his arm around the champ. “All I’m sayin’ is that I would never ask you to do no shit like that. Not for money.”
“Yeah,” Bobby said. “You unify them belts, defend your title twenty-one times, and retire undefeated as champion.”
“That’s what I’m talkin’,” Sparrow nodded his head.
“One more thing,” Black said. “When I want you to do some shit like that, and that day may never come, you’ll hear it from me. And Frank, try warmin’ up before the fight. No weaknesses.”
“Got ya,” Sparrow said and started for the door.
“Hey, Frank,” Bobby called to him before he left the office. “He goes down in the first.”
“Bet on it,” Sparrow said.
“I did,” Bobby said as Sparrow raised a fist and closed the door behind him.
“Let’s see what Jackie wants,” Black said when Sparrow left the room. Bobby opened the door and Black followed him out.
When Black and Bobby got with Jackie, she insisted that they had to talk in private. “I need for you to listen to something,” Jackie said and pointed at the laptop that Monika was carrying.
“What's it about?” Black asked.
“Mylo.” Jackie answered.
“Mylo? Why don’t I know this nigga?” Bobby said.
“What about Mylo?” Black questioned.
“You remember you told me to watch Mylo ’cause you didn’t trust him? Well you were right not to trust him. This nigga is grimy for real.”
It wasn’t long before the four were in Cynt's office. Monika set up the laptop and played back the conversation that she and Jackie recorded earlier in the evening. The recording was a little staticky, and there was a lot of background noises, but they were able to hear what they needed to hear.
“Who’s that he’s talkin’ to?” Black asked.
“This is him,” Monika replied and showed Black a picture of agent Masters and the car he drove up in.
“He set up the hit at the hotel,” Bobby said.
“Seems that way,” Black agreed.
“Shhh. This part is important,” Jackie said and both Black and Bobby looked at her. The four of them sat and listened to the rest of the conversation. Once the recording was finished, Black sat quietly and looked at the rest of the images that Monika had snapped. Black looked at Jackie. “I’m impressed,” he said.
Jackie smiled. “Are you really?”
“Really. You did good.”
“Well, Monika did all the hard work,” Jackie said modestly.
“That’s not true, Black. I just helped her out,” Monika corrected. “It was Jackie’s plan. She planted all of the devices.
“Don’t matter who gets the credit,” Bobby finally said. “This answers a lot of questions. It’s been these two
