The perfect assassin.
“Drop by Cuisine later tonight and I’ll have something for you.” I started to leave but then I stopped. “By the way, Nick doesn’t need to know anything about you giving me this.”
“That’s where that word discretion comes in.”
“I knew I could count on you.”
“I’ll see you tonight,” Monika said and walked me to the door.
“Thanks again for this,” I said and held up the disk she had given me.
“Not a problem,” Monika said as I walked toward the door. “Drop by anytime,” she added in a voice that made me a little curious.
“Is that an invitation?”
“Yes. You can come by and see me anytime.”
“What ’bout you and Nick?”
“There is no me and Nick, Mr. Black. Me and Nick served together in the army. We were partners. Nick is like a brother to me.”
“He’s like a brother to me too. I guess that makes us like brother and sister?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Monika shook her head and said.
“Why is that?”
“I tell you what, Mr. Black. If you really wanna know, you’ll come back when you got some time and I’ll explain to you exactly why you and I can’t be like brother and sister.” Monika opened the door and kissed me on the cheek.
“I just might have to hear that.”
“See that you do.”
Chapter 21
My next stop was to see Bruce Stark, who was once the head of a group of drug dealers that called themselves The Commission. It was formed as a buying co-op. When detective Kirkland first told me about them I thought it was funny. “What are they; a rap group or something?”
He had confirmed from his sources that ‘Cash Money’ Blake, K Murder Murdock, Billy BB Banner and Bruce Stark, were all lieutenants of a player named Birdie. Thinking that Birdie and his partner Albert Web were involved in Cassandra’s murder, Nick and Freeze eliminated them while I was in jail. But Kirk told me that the sole purpose of the group was formed to protect themselves against me. The ability to buy at a cheaper price was nothing more than a byproduct.
After I found out truth about Mylo, me and Stark made peace, and he was the one who told me where I could find Mylo after he shot Freeze. Since then, Stark and I have developed a kind of respect for one another.
Kevon drove me to Stark’s apartment, which always amused him. You see, Stark was a very security-conscious man ever since two members of his Commission, Cash Money and K Murder, had been murdered by Mylo and Masters’ hit team. Maybe he thinks they’re still out there, I don’t know.
“Here we go, boss,” Kevon said as we turned down Stark’s block. First, there’s a girl taking pictures of every car that comes down the street. When we parked the car and got out, four guys approached me.
“Here comes the welcoming committee,” Kevon said. “All of them are pussies, yah know.”
I laughed. “Be nice. They’re just doin’ their job.”
“I know that, boss. But it take four of them?”
“Strength in numbers, maybe.”
“Pussies,” Kevon repeated and spit at the feet of the first one that got to us. “Mr. Black is here to see Mr. Stark.”
They stopped askin’ us to give up our guns since it wasn’t gonna happen and they escorted us inside the building. There are two men in the lobby and another four in the hallway; two more at the elevator and one at each of the stairwells. The man takes his security seriously.
“What’s up, Black?” Stark asked and shook my hand. He led me in the back so we could talk privately.
“There’s something I need your help with.”
“Me?” he actually seemed excited about the fact that I was coming to him for help. “What can I do to help you? Fuck that, as much shit as I come to you with, whatever it is, you just say it and it’s done.”
“Nothin’ for you to do. I just need some information about Cash Money and Mylo.”
“What about them?”
“You know Mylo’s real name was Clint Harris and he was DEA?”
“Yeah, it was on the news when they found his body.”
“Did you know that Cash knew him by his real name?”
Stark sat up straight. “No, I didn’t know that.” It took a second or two before the implications of that revelation hit him. “That means that Cash knew he was DEA.”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you about. First off, did you know?”
“No,” Stark said quickly and looked around the room. “I swear ’fore God, I didn’t know nothin’ ’bout that.”
“I didn’t think you did, but I had to ask and see your face when you answered.”
“Where did you hear that Cash knew who Mylo really was?”
“I have my sources.”
“Can’t be nobody but CeCe.” Stark looked at me for a second. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“You want to know if I trust her.”
“Do you?”
“I haven’t decided yet. Any reason you know of that I shouldn’t?”
“No. Not really. I guess I’m just not a trustin’ muthafucka, that’s all. I’ll say one thing for her, when Cash got smoked she was smart enough to get Cash’s stash out of that apartment before the cops got there.”
“I heard that too. You know who she sold it to?”
“Me.”
I already knew that, I just wanted to see if he would tell me. “That’s what I thought.” I stood up and walked to the window and looked out. “No, I haven’t decided whether I trust CeCe or not, but whether I do or not, I still need to know what the deal was with that and how it ties into some other shit I got goin’.”
“What’s that?”
I didn’t answer him ’cause my business with Vinnelli was none of his fuckin’ business.
“You know, now that I’m thinkin’ ’bout it, the first time Birdie introduced us to Mylo, Cash did say that he thought he knew him from somewhere.”
“Yeah, Cash knew he was DEA.”
“What you gonna do now?”
“I don’t know,” I said ’cause I didn’t. “But if I need you to do something for me, I need to know if I can count on you.”
“Whatever you need, Black.”
I shook Stark’s hand and left the building with Kevon. Cash definitely knew who Mylo really was. That’s why Mylo hit Cash first. The logical thing would have been to takeout Stark first. That would have sent The Commission in disarray. As we drove away from there I thought about what I was gonna do next. I needed to talk to somebody who could tell me more about Vinnelli, and knew exactly who that was.
Chapter 22
Nick Simmons
I woke up the next morning to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I didn’t know what time it was, but whatever it was, it was too damn early. When the phone stopped, the doorbell started, and then my cell started ringing again. “Okay, I get it; you’re at the door,” I said loud and to nobody. I rolled out of bed and grabbed the phone. “What?”
“Come open the door.”
It was Black. I looked at the clock. It was ten ’til ten. What the fuck was he doin’ up, first of all; and here so early? I opened the door for Black and Kevon.
Black came inside wearing a suit and a tie. He hates ties. Kevon nodded his head, turned around, and folded his arms. I closed the door.
When I got in the living room, Black was at the bar making a drink. Kind of early-but what the fuck.
“Pour me one too.”
I sat down and Black brought me my drink. He sat down and smiled. “Did I wake you up?”
“Yeah, yeah you did,” I said and laughed a little.
“I know it’s early, but shit, I’m up. You might as well be up too.”
“Thanks.” I raised my glass and drained it.
“I’m gonna be busy the rest of the day and I wanted to talk to you. See how things are going.”
“Last night I talked to Howard.”
“You get that thing straight for him?”
“I sent Jap and Kenny to get his fifty back from the construction guy, Charles Watson, but he ducked out on them. Now he’s got another problem.”