back and didn’t see anybody following so he slowed his pace and tried to blend in with the crowd. Mylo was startled when Freeze and Nick caught up with him in the crowd. “Where you goin’ in such a hurry?” Freeze asked as soon as he was close enough to put his hands on him.
“Nowhere,” Mylo said nervously. “Just tryin’ to get out of here. You know, get back to the house, see how things are goin’.”
“You not goin’ to the after party?” Freeze asked as they walked alongside him through the crowd.
“Yeah, I’ma stop by there later, you know, once the real after party gets goin’.”
“You oughta come ride with us,” Freeze said.
Mylo knew that if he went anywhere with Freeze and Nick that they would kill him the first chance they got. There was no way he was gonna just let them take him that easy. He reached for his gun and turned to Freeze. The move caught both Nick and Freeze off guard. Mylo fired two shots to Freeze’s stomach.
The crowd ran for cover at the sound of gunfire and Mylo ran away with them. Freeze grabbed his stomach, and fell into Nick’s arms.
Nick gently laid Freeze on the ground. “Don’t let him get away, Nick,” Freeze told him as he grimaced through the pain.
Nick looked up and didn’t see Mylo anywhere. He was gone. “I’m not leaving you,” he said and held onto Freeze with his heart racing. “Somebody call an ambulance!” he yelled and took out his cell phone. He hit Wanda’s speed dial number.
“Hey, baby,” Wanda started.
“Freeze has been shot. I need you to come get this hardware before the cops get here.”
“Where are you?” Wanda asked as she picked up her pace leaving Mystique and Tatiana behind.
“We’re on 35th street, just before you get to 6th Avenue. Hurry,” Nick said and ended the call. Nick took off his jacket and as discreetly as he could with the crowd now closing in on them, Nick got Freeze’s gun and wrapped it with his gun in his jacket. “Hold on, Freeze.”
“You coulda gone after him, Nick,” Freeze coughed up blood. Nick knew Freeze was right, he should have gone after Mylo, but he also knew he was right not to leave his friend.
Wanda moved through the crowd as quickly as she could in a tight dress and stilettos. She could hardly believe what Nick had just told her. Freeze had been shot.
He and Black had made it back inside The Garden and had just gotten to the champs dressing. Black wanted to be seen there in case he needed an alibi for killing Masters. “Bobby, Freeze has been shot!” Wanda shouted as soon as Bobby answered.
Bobby quickly turned to Black. “Freeze been shot.”
“Give me that,” Black said and snatched the cell out of Bobby’s had. “What happened, Wanda?”
“I don’t know,” said an out of breath Wanda. “Nick just called me and said he got shot.”
“Where are they?”
“On 35th street, just before you get to 6th Avenue. I’m on my way there now.”
“On my way,” Black said and ended the call.
When Wanda got to them, the paramedics had arrived and were working on Freeze. Nick was explaining to two police officers that a man he had never seen before just walked up and shot his friend.
“Just walked up outta nowhere and shot him, huh?” asked the disbelieving officer.
Wanda pushed her way through the crowd and ran up to Nick. “Oh my God, baby, what happened?”
“Somebody just shot him and ran off,” Nick said and handed Wanda his jacket. Wanda felt the weight of it and knew the guns were in there.
The paramedics had Freeze on the stretcher and Nick walked away from the officers and followed them to the ambulance. Black got there just in time to watch the ambulance drive away.
Chapter Thirty-two
Three Days Later
Mike Black
Freeze is dead.
I can’t believe it. First Cassandra, now Freeze. I got to St. Vincent’s hospital in time to see Nick walking out of the emergency room. I knew just from looking at him that Freeze was gone.
Jamaica arrived in the city this morning. Me, Bobby and Nick met him at the airport. It had been years since Bobby and Jamaica had seen each other. The last time was at my wedding. Too bad it had to be for this. After he told me how sorry he was about Freeze, told me that he had a message. “Message? From who?” I asked, even though I knew.
“Jacara.”
“What did she say?”
“’Er make me promise to say that you should have come see she that night before you go. But instead you run away like a scared child. But ’er say she understand. ’Er say she know she have that effect on men.”
I really didn’t mind what she had to say, especially since it was true. But why did Jamaica have to say it in front of Bobby?
“Oh. You left out the part about you runnin’ away,” Bobby said and he and Jamaica laughed all over themselves. That’s why he did it, and I deserved that.
“Is that all you came here for?”
“Me come for Freeze,” Jamaica said no longer laughing.
We would lay him to rest the next day.
Wanda got a call from Kirk, which came as no surprise. Since it happened in Manhattan, it wasn’t Kirk’s case. But once he heard that Freeze was the person that got killed at the fight, he had to come see me. I met him at Cuisine that next afternoon. Kirk came without Richards so I knew that in addition to Freeze, he wanted to talk about DeFrancisco. After he relayed his condolences, he got to the business at hand. “So tell me what happened?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there. By the time I got there he was already in the ambulance. And why do you even care, detective? This ain’t your case.”
“I know it’s not. I’m just askin’,” Kirk said.
He started to say something else, probably to justify why I should talk to him, but I cut him off. “No, Kirk, you're a cop askin’ questions. In my experience, that’s never a good thing.”
“Why don’t you tell me anyway.”
“You already know as much, if not more, than I know, or you wouldn’t be sittin’ here.” I laughed a little. “Like you would show up here unprepared. Not happenin’.”
“Okay. I know what Nick told the uniforms, and what he will tell the detectives when ever they get around to reading Freeze’s file and realize who he is.”
“A fact that I’m sure you’ll be glad to point out to them.”
“Nah, I’m not trying to create any more work for myself.”
“Good. ’Cause you know as well as I do that once they figure out who Freeze is, they’re not gonna care who killed him and won’t put too much effort into finding out unless you point them in a direction. So why don’t you tell me what you know.”
“That some guy just walked up and shot Freeze twice. I know nobody really saw anything except a black man running away with a gun. But you and I both know that ain’t what really happened.”
“What really happened, detective?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there. I was just wondering if this had anything to do with The Commission?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there. But you know I’ll find whoever did it. I promise you that. He won’t be able to hide for long.” I paused for effect. “Is this the part where you ask me to let the police handle it, detective?”
