asshole pullin’ the strings. Had all of us dancin’ to their beat. We need to find out who this other guy is.”
“Question is, what time table are they moving up?”
“Killin’ you.”
‘Since they’re onto this place, it’s a good bet that they know you’re here,” Monika said.
“That means they’ll be coming.” Jackie finally said what she had been feeling all along. She checked her gun and so did Monika.
“Let ’em come,” Bobby said and started walking toward the safe in the office. Cynt kept a small arsenal in that safe, as well as two other places in the club.
“Slow down, everybody,” Black said with his hands in the air. “If they know about this place, then they gotta know this ain’t the place to come at us.”
Bobby started laughing a little. “You're right. We could fight a small Army off with the shit we got here.”
“Black’s right,” Monika said. “They wouldn’t try it here. Semi-public place; too many variables they couldn’t control, too much could go wrong,” she added.
“That’s right,” Black said and stood in front of Monika. “This is your type of shit. How would they do it?”
“Shit, there are hundreds of ways they could come at you. But I can tell you this, they already know how and they know where they're gonna come at you. They are either gonna lead you there, or just wait for you to show up.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
After Black and Bobby left Cynt's, they went straight to Bobby’s house and had a few of their men meet them there. Bobby quickly got his family out of bed and ready to leave the house. He didn’t believe that they were in any real danger, but Bobby felt safer with them out of the house. Once he was satisfied that his family was safe at a hotel with men to watch over them, Bobby drove back to the city with Black.
“Where you wanna go now?” Bobby asked as they drove across the Tappan Zee Bridge.
“Take me by Maria’s apartment,” Black answered, referring to Mystique by her government name for the first time.
“Who?”
Black looked at Bobby. “Amazon Shy.”
“I’ma stop callin’ her that. Now that you claimin’ her and shit.”
“Call her whatever you want, just take me by there. Since they know about her too, I want to make sure she’s safe.”
“I’ll put a couple of our people on her,” Bobby said.
“No,” Black said definitely. “She’ll be all right with me.”
“I’m sure she will, but I’m still gonna put somebody on her and you too.”
“No.”
“Look Mike, I don’t give a fuck what you say, you gonna have somebody on you.”
“I got you.”
“Yeah, but I’m gonna go to sleep sometime. Somebody’s gotta be watchin’ our back. And besides, you ain’t plannin’ on takin’ her to Carolina with us, are you?”
“Hell no.”
“Then she needs somebody on her until you get back,” Bobby said as he drove.
“I guess you're right,” Black admitted reluctantly.
“Of course I am. Ain’t no harm in havin’ a few bodies around until this blows over, right?”
But Black didn’t answer him. He stared out the window and thought about Mylo. They had a traitor in their house, somebody that Freeze brought to him. Could Freeze have misjudged Mylo, or was he involved? There was no way he could be sure, but he knew he’d find out.
It had been a long time since somebody had betrayed him. His name was Gary Banks, he used to run one of their gambling houses until he got caught selling drugs. Back then, everybody that worked for Black had made a pledge not to sell drugs.
After what he considered a fair trial in front of his peers, Black tortured and then executed Banks that night while everyone in the room looked on. Some people started to leave, but Black stopped them. He wanted to be sure that everyone there saw what was happening. Banks was gonna die that night and Black wanted to be sure all of them knew why. Black wondered would he give Mylo a chance to defend himself or would he just kill him.
Bobby looked at Black, waiting for him to say something about having a few bodies around. When he didn’t answer, Bobby said it again. “Ain’t no harm in havin’ a few bodies around, right?”
“Huh?”
“I said, ain’t no harm in havin’ a few bodies around until this blows over.”
“You’re right.”
“What zone you in?”
“Thinkin’ ’bout this nigga Mylo and wonderin’ ’bout Freeze.”
“I wasn’t gonna say anything, but I know you got to be thinkin’ the same thing I am. Is Freeze involved in this thing? I mean, where this nigga come from all of a sudden that Freeze got him runnin’ our game? And how come nobody bothered to tell me ’bout him?”
“Freeze said that Jap met him in jail. Jap used him on a couple things, and turned him on to Freeze.”
“That’s it?” Bobby asked, thinking that damn sure wasn’t good enough.
“All I can tell you is that Cassandra didn’t like him. That shoulda told me something. He was the one that told Freeze where Birdie and Albert were hidin’ out.”
“Anybody ask him how he knew where they were?”
“What?” Black asked.
“Did anybody ask him how he knew just where to find them?”
“I never thought about that.”
“I been tellin’ you for years, I look at shit a little differently than other people. And why should you have thought about that? You were in jail while they were out chasin’ the wild goose. By the time you got out, they were dead and you moved on to the real killers.”
“You’re right,” Black said thinking back to those days.
“But think about that shit now. This fuckin’ Commission, all them niggas used to work for Birdie. Knowing that he’s got some influence over them-,” Bobby started.
“That’s how he knew where to find Birdie and Albert. He was down with them,” Black said.
“So we know he a snitch.”
“I hate fuckin’ snitches.”
“But Freeze depends on them,” Bobby pointed out. “He’s made his rep on knowin’ or being able to find out information. Information that you’ve relied on for years and you didn’t give a fuck where it came from.”
“What are you sayin’, Bob?”
“Mutha fuckas been snitchin’ for Freeze for years, you can’t hold that against him now, that’s all I’m sayin’.”
“Okay, but do you think Freeze knew about Mylo fixin’ the fight or tryin’ to kill me?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe it is just bad judgement for him to trust Mylo, but Freeze is too loyal to you for him to be a part of that.”
“I hope you're right. I don’t even wanna think about that,” Black said and looked out the window. The thought of Freeze betraying him was much more than he wanted to deal with right then. He didn’t want to believe it, but there was no way that he could ignore the possibility. Freeze was like a brother, a son even, to him.
When they got back to the city, Black picked up Mystique and took her to the Marriott on 40th street, where Bobby had two men waiting. She stayed awake and watched over Black while he slept for a couple of hours, before him and Bobby headed to North Carolina to settle a debt.
