“I got shit to do.”
“Let me ride wit’ you?”
“For what?”
“’Cause I may know somebody who might be able to put us on to them.” Rain reached for the door handle and opened the door. “But if you’re too busy to handle your business. I’m gone.”
“Shut the door, Rain.”
She closed the door and I drove off.
Chapter 17
Who the fuck does this little girl think she tryin’ to play? Since I was the only other person in the car, I guess she thought she was playin’ me. Only question was, whether or not I was gonna let her think she was gettin’ away wit’ it. Truth was I needed her right now. I wanted to put this thing behind me and move on. “But this better turn out to be something.”
“I can’t promise shit at this point. I just dropped the muthafucka I thought it was. Only thing I can tell you is that this nigga Nacho, he be hearin’ shit. Maybe he heard something ’bout your thing.”
“Nacho Marquez?”
Rain’s expression changed. “Yeah. You know him?”
“No, just the name.” I’d heard Freeze mention him a few times. He told me that Nacho was a bookmaker and a gambler who made a reputation for himself for having information for sale. At least I knew that Rain hadn’t beat him on weak product. But there was something about the way her expression changed when she thought I might know Nacho that bothered me.
For the time being, I put that aside, but at the same time I understood fully that Rain had her own agenda working here, and I was a part of it. That meant I should be ready for whatever. “Where we find him?”
“You in a hurry?”
“Yeah. I told you, I got shit to do. I don’t have all night for this shit.” I stuck my finger in her face to be sure she got the point. “So if your boy Nacho can’t tell me shit. I’m done with you. If the muthafuckas 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 brains.”
“Look, nigga, I’ma say this one more time. Only muthafuckin’ thing I can tell you is that this nigga, Nacho, 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 muthafuckin’ ass and you givin’ me this shit ’bout it.”
I stopped at the next red light. “You can get out now. I’ll find Nacho without you,” I told her calmly. Rain didn’t reach for the handle this time.
When the light changed I drove on. “So where we goin’? And yes, I’m in a hurry.”
“Co-op City. Section four.”
“Anything I need to know about you and Nacho?”
Rain shook her head.
We drove to Co-op City, which is located in the Baychester section of the Bronx, close to I-95 and the Hutchinson River Parkway. It’s the largest cooperative housing development in the world. If it were a municipality instead of part of Bronx, it would be the 10th largest city in New York State.
We got to Nacho’s building and went in behind one of the residents. We took the steps to Nacho’s floor and knocked on his door. It took awhile before a male voice came back from the other side of the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s Rain. Open the door, nigga!”
“Go away!”
“Oh-so it’s like that, huh?”
Rain started bangin’ and kickin’ the door until he opened it. When he did, Rain stuck her gun under his chin. “Go away, my fat ass,” she said and took his gun from his waist. “Now, where’s Nacho?”
The man pointed.
“Well move then.”
He started walking backwards slowly, and Rain kept the gun pressed to his chin. I followed her in. For a young girl, Rain could definitely handle herself. As we got closer I could see that there were three men seated in the living room.
“Who’s at the door?” one of them yelled.
Once we were in the room one of the men started to reach for his gun, but the other one stopped him. I assumed that he was Nacho. “What do you want, Rain?”
“What’s up, Nacho?” Rain said and pushed the doorman to the floor. He looked at me and started to get up. I shook my head and showed him my gun. He decided to keep his spot.
“Get off the floor, you look ridiculous,” Nacho said. He looked at me one more time to make sure it was all right before he got up. “Now, what do you want, Rain?”
Rain went and sat across from Nacho with her gun on her lap. “I don’t want nothin’. I maybe just came to holla at you, Nacho. You know, since we cool and shit.”
“Yeah, Rain, we cooler than a fan. Now what the fuck do you want?”
“See how you treat a sistah? That shit ain’t even necessary.” She looked at me. “Why can’t muthafuckas just get along?”
I don’t know what she was lookin’ at me for. I agreed with Nacho. I wanted her to get to the point too.
“Like I said, I don’t want nothin’, but this man here; he got a couple of questions he need to ask you.”
Nacho looked at me. “Who are you?”
“That ain’t important. Right now, all you need to know is that I’m the one askin’ the questions.” I said and slowly reached in my pocket. I pulled out a wad of bills and that got his attention.
“What you wanna know?”
“There was a robbery at Paradise Fish and Chicken a couple of days ago. You know anything about that?”
“I heard about that. Couple of people got shot.” Nacho looked at my roll again. “But as much as I hate to say it, I can’t say who did it.”
I put my money back in my pocket. “If you hear anything, you tell Rain. It’ll be worth your while.”
“If I hear anything about it I’ll let her know, for sure.”
Chapter 18
When I turned to leave, Rain stood in front of Nacho. “Say goodnight, muthafucka.” She pointed her gun and put two in Nacho’s head. “Rude muthafucka.”
Then she turned and shot at the one sitting on the couch near Nacho. But he moved a little too quickly for her. The other man in the room pulled his gun, hit the floor quickly, and fired at me. I hit the floor and returned fire, but he had clawed away. I looked for Rain; she was runnin’ down the hall chasin’ the doorman and the one she’d missed. “I got them,” she yelled and ran down the hallway.
I stayed low and made my way into the kitchen. I stood up to get a shot off, but he shot at me, and I ducked back in the kitchen. I held up my weapon and shot back blindly.
I could hear shots bein' fired. I yelled for Rain, but she didn't answer. I peeked around the corner and saw one running for the door. I hit him in back before he got out there. I stood over him and put two shots in his chest.
There was still shooting going on in the back. I kicked his gun away and started moving toward the hallway. I heard footsteps coming at me. It was the doorman, only now he had a gun. Rain came out of one of the rooms behind him. I aimed and fired at him, and he went down from one to the head. I kicked his gun out of the way as
