The Mike Black Saga: In A Cold Sweat Page 4

  “That’s not gonna be an issue anymore. After he got shot, Travis said he was done.”

  “No shit?” Freeze asked.

  “Yup, that’s what he said,” Jackie replied and sat down next to him on the couch.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about that, Jackie. Once he starts feeling better and starts missin’ that paper, he’ll be back.”

  “I thought that too, but he says he don’t need to do this no more. That he got enough money saved and his house in Connecticut is paid for, and since the economy is gettin’ better, he could live good with a job and the money he got saved.”

  “Yeah, well, we’ll see,” Freeze said and tapped Jackie on the leg. “I’ll talk to him.”

  “I don’t think it will do any good, but by all means, get my boy back in the game.”

  “So where does that leave you?” Freeze asked.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “If I hear about somebody needing a good driver, I’ll put you in.”

  “That’s not exactly what I had in mind.”

  “So what's your plan then?”

  “I was hopin’ that you would let me buy into that game going on out there?”

  “No.” Freeze said flatly.

  “Why?”

  “Cause I said so.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that,” Freeze told definitely.

  “Why, Freeze? You know I’m good enough to play here.”

  Freeze looked at Jackie and paused. “You got the hundred grand to buy in?”

  “Not exactly. I got Fifty.”

  Freeze sat back on the couch and thought for a second. He liked Jackie and didn’t really think she could afford to take all the money she had to risk on a game, but then he thought that her money was just as good as everybody else’s. There was one other thing, Jackie had his back one night when he needed her. It was a debt that had to be paid. “I’ll talk to Mylo and get you in the game. But the buy in is a hundred grand, which means you’re fifty short. I’ll front you the fifty for sixty back before you walk out of here, understood.”

  “Understood. And thank you,” Jackie said as she left Freeze in the office. She knew that how she played that night would either make her or break her.

  Chapter Six

  Steven “Cash Money” Blake was starting to feel like the world was truly his. Since the formation of the Commission, he was able to buy product at a much lower price, so his profits were up, just like Stark said they would be. When they first came at him with the idea, he wasn’t for it. Why would he want to get involve with that bunch?

  Cash thought K Murder was crazy and that made him dangerous. They used to call him Nutso until he started killing people for it. In his opinion, BB was stupid, but he was the luckiest mutha fucka he ever met. When his brother, Darryl, went to jail, BB took over a spot everybody knew he couldn’t handle. But he had strong people around him; his brother’s old crew who all knew that Darryl still ran things from his cell. It was only a matter of time before one of them would kill BB. His only real worry was Stark. Stark was just as ambitious as he was, and although Stark would disagree, Cash knew he was smarter.

  Cash had his eye on the bigger prize. He wanted to be the king of New York; the next Nicky Barnes, ruler of the drug scene in the seventies. It was his destiny. And he saw this Commission as a way to make it happen. But he was patient. So when Stark announced that he would be the chairman of The Commission, Cash said, “I got no problem with that.”

  “You don’t?” K Murder asked in surprise.

  “Not at all,” Cash assured, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before K Murder would get tired of Stark’s arrogant ass and kill him.

  By that time, The Commission would be organized and consolidated. He would be the one to see that it happened, in the interest of The Commission, of course.

  “Then it’s settled,” Stark said with a confident smile on his face. “I call this meeting of The Commission to order.”

  Only Cash was smiling too.

  Now, Cash sat in the backseat of his Lexus on his way home with his new woman, CeCe, at his side. And he was still smiling, as over the past few months he’d seen his plan working just as he thought it would. There was already friction and mistrust between Stark and K Murder. Earlier that evening he ran into a few of BB’s people and they told him that the crew was in disarray under BB’s leadership.

  As the Lexus turned down his street, it passed by a dark blue Ford 500.

  “Team one to team two.” the occupant of the Ford said into his headset.

  “Go ahead,” was team two’s response.

  “Subject vehicle has entered the box.”

  “Acknowledged, I have them. They’re pulling up in front of the building now. Stand by.”

  “Acknowledged. Team one standing by.”

  Once Cash’s lieutenant, Sly, put the car in park, two men came out of the building, walked down the steps and approached the car. The younger one went around and took the keys from Sly. Palmer, Cash’s other lieutenant, opened the back door for CeCe to get out. He extended his hand to her and she stepped out of the car.

  CeCe winked at him and he whispered, “I’ma tear that ass up when I get it.”

  CeCe giggled. “I’ll call you in the morning,” she said quietly as Cash came around from the other side of the car. She was a statuesque beauty that processed the type of raw sexuality that made men fall at her feet, and Palmer was no exception. CeCe knew that a lot would have to happen before she’d let Palmer see her naked thigh, much less get some pussy. But there was no harm in flirting.

  “Take the car to the garage,” Cash said.

  “You got it,” the kid said and hopped in the car.

  After they went into the building, the doorman returned to his position in the foyer.

  “Team two to team one.”

  “Go ahead with your traffic.”

  “Sentry’s in the box.”

  “Acknowledged. Beta is moving into position.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  Two men got out of the Ford, which had been parked down the street. One immediately started walking toward the building. Once he had reached a certain point, the second man began walking behind him.

  When the first man got closer to the building, his pace slowed and he began to stagger. Once he was in front of the building, he stopped, almost falling over in the process. He looked around for a second and then started stumbling up the steps. The sentry came out to meet him.

  “Where the fuck do you think you’re goin’?” the sentry asked.

  “Inside,” he said and dropped. When he dropped, the second man was in position at the bottom of the steps and hit the sentry with two shots. One to the head, the other in his chest.

  “Sentry down team two.”

  “On our way.”

  While team one dragged the sentry back in the building, the two men that made up team two joined them. One remained in the foyer to wait for the enthusiast driver, while the other three went upstairs.

  When Cash entered his apartment, he took his gun out of his waist and laid the gun on the dinning room table as he passed it. He sat down in his chair and picked up the remote. As Sly sat down on the couch, Palmer went to pour some drinks.

  CeCe walked over and kissed Cash on the cheek. “It’s late, I’m gonna take a shower and go to bed,” she said and kissed Cash again.

  “I’ma talk to the fellas for a minute and then I’ll be right in,” he told her.

  “Don’t be out here all night now,” CeCe threatened.

  “You don’t have to worry, CeCe, we’ll be gone before you know it,” Palmer said as he poured.

  “Alright now,” CeCe said as she turned her shapely ass around and headed down the hall.

  “Good night, CeCe,” Sly said as he watched CeCe swing her hips down the hall. He wanted to fuck her too.

  Meanwhile, in the hallway, three men were putting on ski masks and moving int
o position outside the door.

  Palmer came over and handed Cash a drink. “You know, if what BB’s man said is true, we won’t have to worry about him no more,” he said as he sat down on the couch next to Sly and gave him a glass.

  “You know it,” Cash agreed. “But what I’m concerned ’bout is who gonna step up and take his spot.”

  “It don’t matter who it is, you got them all in your pocket, Cash,” Sly said.

  “Sure you right, but I don’t trust that nigga, Mays. He a snake and he on that rock. Ain’t no tellin’ where that nigga’s head is,” Cash told his lieutenants.

  They were all startled when the door was kicked in and two men rushed in. As Sly dropped his drink and reached for his gun, the first shooter hit him with two to the chest. Palmer got to his gun, but the second shooter caught him in the chest before he could get a shot off.

  Cash jumped up from his chair and tried to make it to his gun on the dinning room table. Before he got very far, the third man entered the apartment and killed Cash.

  He held up one hand, and each man went to his kill and put two more bullets to their heads. They quickly picked up their expended shells and left the apartment.

  CeCe came down the hall after her shower, dressed in a white silk robe that hugged her symmetrical body. “What’s all that noise out here?” CeCe asked as she came into the room. She screamed when she saw Cash’s body laying dead on the floor. CeCe screamed again, ran back down the hall, locked the door and called the police when she saw Sly and Palmer both dead on the couch. Palmer’s gun was still in his hand.

  It was after dawn and Lieutenant Reyes, head of the crime scene investigation unit, was just finishing up with Detective Sanchez of the narcotics division when Detectives Kirkland and Richards came into the apartment.

  “Morning, Reyes,” Kirk said.

  “Que pasa, Kirk,” Reyes replied and shook hands with Kirk and Richards.

  Kirk turned to Sanchez. “Must be somebody special if it’s got you up this early in the morning, Gene. What we got?”

  “The one on the floor is Steven Blake a.k.a. Cash Money. He’s a pretty big player in the game. Word on the street is that he had delusions of grandeur; that he was gonna be the next big thing.” Sanchez told them.

  “Don’t look like that’s gonna happen for him,” Richards quipped.

  “Any witnesses?”

  “We’re canvassing the building, but so far, we got zip,” Sanchez said.

  “Who called it in?” Richards asked as Kirk knelt down next to Cash Money’s body.

  “Girlfriend. The officers said she was pretty hysterical and had to be taken to the hospital,” Sanchez continued. “She told them that she was in the shower and this is how she found them when she came out.”

  “What’s her name?” Kirk asked as he moved on to the couch where the other two bodies were.

  Sanchez flipped though his notes. “Name is Cameisha Collins. Drivers license lists this as her address.”

  “Which hospital?” Richards asked.

  “Montefiore Medical.”

  “What happened here, Reyes?” Kirk asked.

  “Near as I can tell, the killers kicked in the door and caught them off guard. Looks like Cash Money there was trying to make it to his gun. That’s it on the table. These two never got off a shot.”

  “No shit,” Richards said and looked over the bodies on the couch.

  “This one had his gun in his hand and the other’s was still in his waist,” Reyes told them. “Very clean job, Kirk. All three took four shots. Two head shots, two in the chest, and from what I could see, the shooters didn’t miss.”

  “They didn’t?” Richards questioned and looked over the area where Palmer and Sly’s bodies were.

  “One more thing.”

  “What’s that, Reyes?”

  “I didn’t find a single shell,” Reyes told the detectives as his team prepared to leave the crime scene.

  Sanchez took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “You know what this reminds me of, Kirk?”

  “What's that, Gene?” Kirk asked.

  “You remember back in the good old days. We worked a crime scene just like this.” Sanchez went and stood over Cash’s body. “Nobody got off a shot; shooters didn’t miss, one witness.”

  Kirk walked over and faced Sanchez. “Mike Black.”

  “See, that’s what I like about you, Kirk; walking cop encyclopedia.”

  “So, is this like, classified, or can we all learn from the master?” Reyes asked.

  “Vincent Martin,” Kirk said.

  “Never heard of him,” Richards replied.

  “Before your time, Pat. Maybe twelve years ago,” Kirk told his partner

  “I keep telling you, Kirk, you could teach the kid some history. It’ll make him a better cop,” Sanchez said.

  “You tryin’ to say I ain’t a good cop?” Richards asked and started walking toward Sanchez before Kirk stepped in front of him.

  Sanchez held up his hands in surrender. “Easy, big man. I’m just sayin’, history has a way of repeating itself.”

  “Just tell the story,” Reyes said. “You know these old guys love to tell their stories.” He patted Richards on the back a few times and that seemed to settle him down.

  “It started after Andre was killed. Andre Hammond, you have heard of him?” Sanchez began, but Richards interrupted him.

  “Is this another Mike Black story?”

  “You ain’t know?” Reyes added.

  “See, I did teach the kid something,” Kirk said.

  “So I won’t bore you with the details of the war that went on after Black got out the drug game. Anyway, before Chilly made peace with Black. The story goes that Black killed Jimmy Knowles and Charlie Rock. Vincent Martin went hard at Black until one night Black caught Martin and his whole crew slippin’. They were all at Martin’s house chillin' just, like these guys.”

  “Yeah, but there must have been eight, ten guys in there,” Kirk added, pointing out the difference in the murder scene.

  “Make a long story short, Black, Bobby and Mr. Freeze busted in, killed everybody, except one guy.”

  “Why they leave a witness?” Reyes needed to know.

  “To deliver a message to Chilly that he was next. After that, the war was over,” Sanchez said and took a little bow.

  “So you think Black did this?” Richards asked.

  “I’m just sayin’ there are some similarities, that’s all.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think so, Gene. Black’s been off the grid since his wife was murdered,” Kirk said.

  “Good story though,” Reyes said and left the scene.

  “Come on, Pat, let’s get some breakfast. Sanchez is buying,” Kirk said and headed for the door.

  “I am?” Sanchez said and followed him out.

  “It’ll give you a chance to tell some more stories,” Richards said and watched as the bodies were bagged.

  Chapter Seven

  “Wake up, Bobby!” Black said while shaking Bobby.

  “Huh?” Bobby replied as he opened his eyes.

  “Wake up. Let’s get the fuck outta here, man.”

  Bobby began to stir in his chair. “Where you wanna go, Mike?”

  “I don’t give a fuck. I just need to get outta here.”

  “What about Michelle,” Bobby asked about Mike’s year old daughter.

  “I already talked to Pam. She’s gonna watch her. Come on, man, get up and let’s go.”

  Thirty minutes later, after Bobby finally got himself together, they were on their way to the Bronx. As they got closer to the city, Bobby again asked where Black wanted to go. “Let me use your phone,” was Black’s only reply.

  “No. Why don’t you get your own fuckin’ phone?” Bobby asked.

  “I don’t like them.”

  “Oh, but you don’t mind usin’ them mutha fuckas.”

  “I don’t like being that accessible.”

  Bobby handed Black the
phone. “Usin’ up all my minutes.”

  “Damn, Bob, you want me to give you a fuckin’ quarter?” Black said as he dialed. “Shit, you so fuckin’ cheap.”

  “As a Jew prayin’ at the Wailing Wall; but it ain’t the money, it’s the principle of the thing. You're always on mine when you could just get your own. That’s all I’m sayin’.”

  “Whatever, Bobby.” Black gave the ringing phone his full attention.

  “What's up, Black?” Freeze asked when he answered the phone.

  “Where you at?” was Black’s reply.

  “On my way to see how the game is going tonight.”

  “We’ll meet you there.” Black pressed end, dug in his pocket and pulled out a dollar. He handed the phone and a dollar to Bobby. “Here, cheap ass. I don’t have a quarter, but that should cover the call.”

  Bobby snatched the phone out of Black’s hand but let the dollar drop between them. “I told you it ain’t about the money,” Bobby said as he drove.

  “I know, I know, it’s the principle.”

  Freeze pulled his Navigator in front of the house and put the car in park. He sat there for a minute thinking about the day that Black gave him control of the operation. It had been a few days after Shy’s funeral before Freeze made it out to Bobby’s house to see Black. He had meant to go the day after, but he got busy and the next day became the next day, but he finally made it.

  The truth was, he wasn’t in any hurry to face Black. He still felt responsible for Shy’s death. “It’s my fault she’s dead,” Freeze remembered telling Nick.

  “Who, Shy? What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” Nick had replied.

  “Shy called me that night and asked me to come over there, but I never went.”

  “Why not?” Nick thought for a second. Then he looked at his friend. “You didn’t go ’cause you don’t like the way she talks to you?”

  Freeze looked over at Nick, but didn’t answer. Anytime they had business she would talk to him like a child.

  “Before me and Black went to Mexico, I talked to Shy about that,” Nick said.

  “What you do that for?”

  “Because you’re my friend,” Nick answered. “I told her how you felt about it. She had no idea. She called you over there to apologize to you.”