'Yeah, I was about to get out of here,' Kenny said and Luke and two of his men stepped closer.
'Stay and have a drink with me. I got something I want to talk to you about.'
Kenny signaled for his men to back off. Luke put his gun away and took a step back. Kenny stepped to the bar. 'What could you and I have to talk about?' he said and sat down at the bar.
Cruz signaled for the bartender. 'Bacardi and coke, and bring my man whatever he wants.'
'Chivas on the rocks.'
The bartender left and Cruz leaned closer. 'I been thinkin’ about takin’ my program uptown. I got the product and the people to make it happen. The only thing stopping me is Stark.'
'Why tell me?'
'Everybody knows that Black stands behind Stark.'
'I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,' Kenny told Cruz, but he knew exactly what he was talking about.
As a favor to his long-time friend, Angelo Collette, Black agreed to take what Angelo referred to as, 'A little more than just an introduction from you, Mikey.'
'Like what?' Black asked Angelo that night.
'I was thinkin’ that maybe you would take more of an active role. You could be kind of a stabilizing influence. You know, keep problems down. Naturally you can charge a fee for your service,' Angelo suggested, and then he added, 'I would consider it a personal favor.'
Angelo considering his involvement a personal favor caused Black to reluctantly go against his convictions. 'Angee, I can’t get involved for my own reasons, but what I will do as a personal favor to you, is offer advice and counsel to Stark. And should the need ever arise; I’ll act as an intermediary to resolve any disputes. You got a problem with him, you come to me. But understand, this is not a service. This I do for you out of friendship. I will not accept a fee. But for reasons that I know you understand, I can’t go any further than that.'
After that, the word got around that Black was the power behind Stark. Words that even though they weren’t exactly true, Stark did nothing to dispute.
The bartender returned with drinks for Kenny and Cruz. When he left, Cruz continued, 'Even if you say you don’t know what I’m talkin’ ’bout, everybody knows that Black is Stark’s muscle, and that means you.'
'What do you want, Cruz?' Kenny said, becoming more and more annoyed by the conversation.
Cruz turned away and took a sip of his rum. 'I hear a lot of things.'
'Like what?'
'Like maybe you ain’t too happy with the way things are going and might be willin’ to listen to another offer.'
'So, I’m listening,' Kenny said, even though he knew that no matter what Cruz had to offer, he wouldn’t be interested. There was no question of his loyalty to Black, but Kenny thought he needed to know what Cruz was planning.
'You come work for me. I could pay you twice what Black does.'
'That’s not gonna happen; and if you try to move uptown, Black will crush you like the roach you are,' Kenny said and turned to walk away.
'Don’t walk away from me,' Cruz said and grabbed Kenny by the arm.
Kenny pulled out his gun and shoved it in Cruz’s face. 'You ever touch me again, I’ll kill you,' he said, and Cruz let go of his arm.
'This ain’t over,' Cruz said as Kenny walked away.
'Yeah, and your mama ain’t a two-dollar ho.' Kenny gathered his men and they left the club.
'Yeah,' Cruz said and drained his glass. 'You one mutha fucka that’s gonna have to be dealt with.'
Outside the club, Kenny and Luke got in Luke’s car. Luke’s men got in another car and followed them from the club. They had driven a few blocks when another car cutoff the car with Luke’s men, and ran them into the cars parked along the side of the street.
Luke looked in his rearview mirror at the accident and was about to turn around to see if either of his men were hurt. He saw two men get out and open fire on the car. 'Did you see that shit,' Luke yelled, when a Ford 350 pulled up behind his car. The big truck slammed into his rear end.
'What the fuck?' Luke said.
Kenny looked back. 'Here they come again,' he yelled as the 350 rammed them again. 'Get us out of here,' Kenny encouraged.
Luke stepped on the gas and tried to get away from the truck, but the truck kept coming. The 350 slammed into their car again. The force of the impact forced Luke to hit his head on the steering wheel.
The truck stayed on the car’s tail and ran it off the street into a telephone pole. Kenny and Luke jerked forward and were forced back by the impact of the airbags. Three men got out of the truck armed with AK-47s and opened fire. Luke got out of the car and was immediately hit in the shoulder. Luke dropped his gun. Then he caught another round in his thigh. Luke went down.
Still dazed from the collision, Kenny got out of the car. He got off a couple shots and then tried to get away from there, firing as he ran. The three men fired back and followed. When Kenny turned to fire again all three men let loose, and Kenny fell to the ground.
He was dead.
CHAPTER THREE
Rain Robinson walked through the crowd at JR’s on the way to her office. She had taken over the club after her father, Jasper Robinson, died from complications of a stroke. JR was old school; a gambler that ran a few spots, including two major ones. The biggest was located in a warehouse that made machine parts, and another in the basement of the club. With her father dead and her having no interest at all in gambling, Rain turned over JR’s gambling spots to Nick for ten percent off the top. She preferred to make her money in the dope game; which was something that her father disapproved of while he was alive, and she promised Nick she was done with.
For the most part, things were going well for Rain. At twenty-three, she was the queen in her world, and Nick was her king. She was introduced to Nick in that very office by her father. 'Nick, this is my daughter Lorraine. Lorraine, this is Nick Simmons, he’s an associate of Mike Black.'
Rain sat behind what was now her desk and remembered how she smiled that night-like somebody told her that she had just hit the number. 'I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Simmons. It’s an honor to meet you.'
'It’s Nick, and it’s good to meet you too, Lorraine.'
She got wet from just the sound of his voice. 'Call me Rain.'
At the time, Nick was trying to rundown the bandits who robbed one of their legitimate businesses and killed two people. Nick heard that some of JR’s people might have been involved. Rain saw it as her opportunity to get close to him and settle a few things of her own. 'I can take you to the place where they hang out.'
'I don’t need you to take me anywhere,' Nick told Rain that first night. 'You just need to tell me who they are and where to find them.'
'No deal.'
'What you mean, ‘no deal?’ This ain’t no fuckin’ negotiation,' Nick said. 'You gonna tell me what I need to know and I’ll take care of it.'
'Good luck findin’ them without me then,' Rain said. She knew respect isn’t given, respect had to be earned. And she had to earn Nick’s. 'Look, Nick, these is my people. I’m the one needs to make this right. Not you, me. So here’s how it’s gonna go. Me and you gonna roll by they spot, and I’m gonna handle my family’s business.'
It began there, but it didn’t go down easy, at least not at first. 'If the mutha fuckas that robbed my joint belong to you, and you wanna put your house in order, that’s cool. You call me when you put a bullet in their brain.'
'Look, nigga, I’ma say this one more time. Only mutha fuckin’ thing I can tell you is that this nigga be hearin’ shit. Now if that ain’t good enough for you then pull this bitch over and let me out. I’m tryin’ to help your mutha
