kitchen on the second level. Three bedrooms up top. I could tell somebody had been there recently. But I could tell that nobody had been there for a while before that.”
“Really? How could you tell that?” I asked.
“All the food in the refrigerator was bought recently and there’s dust everywhere.”
“So we wait.”
We had been there for a couple of hours, neither of us really said too much. I was thinkin’ about Freeze, and I just assumed that Nick was too. I was thinking about Michelle too. I had to do everything I could to keep all this violence away from her. For the time being, I felt like she was safe on the island with my mother and Jamaica watching over her, but I know anything can happen and there was nothing I could do about it.
I thought about Cassandra, and before long, Mystique was on my mind. I really wasn’t trying to get hooked up with another woman that soon after Cassandra, but there I was, claiming her, as Bobby put it. I wondered what I was doin’ with her and how far I was willing to let it go.
I heard Nick take a deep breath and then he turned to me. “I got something I need to tell you, Black.”
“You don’t have to say it, Nick. I don’t blame you; no one does.”
“That’s not it. I know nobody is blamin’ me, but I still gotta be the one to take his life. But that ain’t what I gotta tell you.”
“What then?”
“It’s about Wanda.”
“What about Wanda?”
“I’m the one she’s been seeing,” Nick said and looked away.
I wasn’t ready for that one. I mean Nick could have told me anything else, but I definitely was not expectin’ that. “How long this been goin’ on?”
“Since you were in jail,” Nick confessed.
“And y’all been keepin’ it on the low for all this time?”
“Yeah.”
“Wanda’s idea?” It had to be.
“Yeah.”
“Wanda know you doin’ this?”
“No,” Nick answered.
“Good. Then this stays between us. Wanda can tell me when she’s ready.” I thought for a second about how I felt about Wanda and Nick. “Freeze told you what I said?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not gonna kill you, Nick. I’ve lost too much already. If you were some other nigga, you’d be dead now,” I said and laughed a little. “But I know you’ll be good to Wanda. Treat her with respect.”
“I promise I will.”
“So, is that wedding bells I hear?” I asked when I saw headlights coming down the street and then the garage door began to open. Nick put on his night vision glasses again to try and get a look at the driver. “That him?”
“Can’t tell. He’s black, that’s about all I could tell.”
“Let’s go see if it is Mr. Mylo,” I said and started to get out of the car.
“Black?”
“Yeah.”
“I gotta kill him,” Nick said.
“It’s your show,” I said and got out of the car.
While we moved toward the house, the light on the second floor came on. The lights on the third floor were on by the time we reached the house. We entered the house the same way and made our way up the stairs with our guns out.
As soon as we hit the top of the stairs, the shooting started. The first thing Nick did was shoot out the lights. Two lights, two shots, which was fine for him, ’cause he had on those fuckin’ glasses, but I couldn’t see shit. “You all right?” Nick asked.
“Yeah.”
“Stay here,” he said and ran off.
Like that was gonna happen. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I moved out of the stairwell. I heard shots and moved toward them. Then I heard one of them on the steps. I found my way to the steps and went up slowly.
When I got near the top of the steps, I saw somebody in the shadows. I pointed my gun in that direction.
“It’s me,” Nick said just loud enough for me to hear him.
I lowered my weapon and stood next to him. With less light than there was downstairs, I tried to make out the set up. There was a room directly across from us that looked like a bathroom. There were three other doors. One room was right next to the steps, one next to the bathroom and the other was down the hall. The only light on the third level was coming from the room at the end of the hall. Probably from a window.
“Stay close to me,” Nick said.
“It’s your show,” I said and followed Nick toward the bathroom. He flipped on the light and checked the shower. The room next to the bathroom and the room down the hall were both empty, I mean empty. No furniture, nothing. If he was still in the house, he had to be in that last room.
We moved back down the hall until we reached the door. Nick pointed to the stairwell next to the door and I moved to the side of the door. Nick steadied himself, before he kicked in the door and then ducked in the bathroom as Mylo fired at the door. When the shooting stopped, I watched Nick dive into the room. I heard more shooting and ran in behind him.
I got in the dimly lit room just in time to see Mylo raise up from behind the bed ready to fire. Before I could get a shot off I saw Nick laying on the floor. He fired on Mylo. I couldn’t tell how many shots he hit him with, and I didn’t stop to count, but it was a lot.
When we got down to the car and away, I asked Nick, “What was that diving thing you did?”
Nick laughed a little. “Since I searched the house, I knew he could only hide in the walkin closet or behind the bed. The angle from the closet was bad, so he had to be behind the bed. Better line of sight to the door.”
“Right.”
“I knew you would come in after me and that would draw him out so I could get him.”
“So you used me as a decoy?”
“Basically.”
“It’s all good, you got him.”
“Now Freeze can rest in peace,” Nick said and crossed himself.
One more to go, and then Cassandra can rest in peace…and maybe I can find peace too.
