"The thing to do now is figure out what your enemies are plannin’ and stop them. The next thing to do, and hopefully you have, is prevent any more of his people from tryin’ to set up in our houses."
"We need to start takin’ the shit to them, Black. He set up in Rocky’s old spot," Freeze recommended.
"Just fall up in there and start blastin’?" Bobby asked.
"We used to," Mike said. The timing of this wasn’t lost on him. This couldn’t be happening at a worse time. What he should have been doing was concentrating his attention, his efforts, and his power on fighting off the takeover bid, but he couldn’t. All his resources were tied up in finding Shy. His enemy would know that and exploit it. A smart enemy would make it happen.
As Nick and Freeze went to the office, Mike and Bobby continued the conversation. "I remembered reading once that it is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can understand the profitable way of conducting it."
"And the best thing is to take over our operation intact. Destroying it isn’t the smart move," Bobby said.
"Exactly my point, Bobby. That ain’t Curl. On his best day he wouldn’t have the brains to try this. He wouldn’t see the profit in it. You want somebody to kick in some doors, do some killin’ and be brutal about it, Curl’s your man, but not like this." Mike paused. "Somebody is pullin’ his strings. That’s who our enemy is."
When Mike and Bobby came in the office, they found Freeze on the phone, nodding his head, and Nick seated comfortably on the couch. Freeze looked at Mike and then to Nick.
"Who was on the phone?"
"Angelo. He says he needs to see you as soon as you can. Says it important."
"He say what it was about?"
"Nick."
Chapter Eight
"Tony no!" Shy shouted.
Seeing the police open fire on Tony and watching as he fell to the ground, Shy took a deep breath. She tossed and turned. "Tony’s dead." She was having a nightmare. "This way, Shy!" She saw Orlando die.
"Freeze!"
The cop fired.
Shy tried to sit up, but she couldn’t. It had been a long time since she had nightmares about the night Tony died and she became a fugitive. Now she lay blindfolded and spread-eagle on a bed, with her hands and legs tied. Shy had no idea where she was or how she got there. The last thing she remembered was being on the boat with Sal and Julio when the doctor came. Then Sal held her while the doctor gave her a sedative.
Shy moved her eyebrows up and down, trying to move her blindfold enough so she could see. All she could tell was that she was in a small room and that the sun was shining. Nothing more.
All Shy could do now was wait. Wait to see what was going to happen next. Am I being held for ransom? Are they gonna kill me? Or rape me and then kill me? Shy tried to think of something a bit more pleasant. She thought about the trip she and Mike took to Rio. Not only about the wonderful time they had there, but about how, in Rio de Janeiro, Shy first started talking about facing her charges.
It began one night after the club closed. Shy began talking about the Bahamian celebration of Carnival.
"But do you know what I’ve always wanted to do?" Shy asked as she sat down at one of the tables.
"What’s that?"
"I wanna go to Carnival in Rio."
"You’ve never been to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Cassandra?" Mike said, trying to sound as bougie and superior as he could.
Shy rolled her eyes at him and said in the same tone. "No, Michael, I’ve never been to carnival in Rio de Janeiro."
"Neither have I. And I always wanted to go there, too," Mike said and sat next to her. "Only reason I haven’t gone is I don’t wanna be bothered with the crowds."
"I know what you mean." Shy paused and thought for a second. "Well, why don’t we go for a few days and leave before the crowds come?"
"That’s fine, but it does kinda kill the purpose in going if we leave before Carnival."
Shy leaned forward, looked into his eyes and smiled. "So, do you think you can tolerate the crowds for a day or two?"
"How can I say no to those eyes and that smile?"
Shy paused and thought for a moment. "I got a better idea. Why wait for Carnival? Why don’t we just go?" she asked. "I don’t know about you, but I could really use a couple of days off this rock."
Now it was Mike who paused, then he smiled at his wife. "Sounds like a real plan coming together."
"Perfect!" Shy said. "There’s one more thing," Shy said and moved her chair closer to his. "And I know how you feel about it, but can we, you know, like, play tourist?"
Mike took a deep breath and agreed, even though his idea of the perfect vacation was to be as far away from other people as possible. Sightseeing required being around a bunch of people that Mike didn’t want to be bothered with. On the other hand, Shy was desperate to be around people, to be a part of the crowd.
Shy missed being in New York, missed being a part of the whole I live in New York experience. Living on an island paradise was wonderful, but it does get old after a while. There were times when Shy wondered how Mike could stand it. But he goes to New York at least two or three times a month, Shy would rationalize. There were many days when she’d seen Mike get up early, catch a flight to New York and be back late that night.
When Mike woke up the following morning, Shy was at the computer and had arranged the entire trip. She informed him that she had chartered a plane, and they were staying at the Copacabana Palace Hotel, a five-star hotel on the beach. She told him that she had arranged for them to take a tour of the top ten attractions in Rio.
"Like what?" Mike asked.
"It’s a lotta stuff in Portuguese that I really can’t pronounce, but trust me, I know how fascinated you are by historical things, so I know you’ll love it," Shy assured him.
As soon as they landed, Shy grabbed the first brochure that she could find and began to read aloud to Mike. "Rio de Janeiro is the name of both a state and a city in southeastern Brazil," a very excited Shy read as she eased her arm around Mike’s. "The city is famous for the hotel-lined tourist beaches, one of which we’re staying at, Copacabana, and Ipanema, for the giant statue of Jesus, known as Cristo Redentor or something like that. But it means Christ the Redeemer. It’s on the Corcovado Mountain, which, by the way, is part of our tour tomorrow. It’s Brazil’s second-largest city after Sao Paulo and used to be the country’s capital until 1960, when Brasilia took its place."
"Fascinating."
The first day Shy and Mike wandered around, Shy shopped and took pictures with her new digital camera. As it turned out, Shy was right about her husband. Mike found Rio de Janeiro to be a city rich with history and magnificent architecture, both of which fascinated him. Now as they walked back to their hotel, it was Mike reading aloud from a guide book to Shy. "The actual city wasn’t founded until March 565 by Portuguese knight Estacio de Sa, who called it Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, which means St. Sebastian of the January River, in honor of King Sebastian of Portugal. It was frequently attacked by pirates, especially by then enemies of Portugal, such as the Netherlands and France. In the late 16th century, the Portuguese crown began treating the village as a strategic location for Atlantic transit of ships between Brazil, the African colonies, and Europe. Fortresses were built and an alliance was formed with nearby native tribes to defend the settlement against invaders," Mike read.
Shy kissed Mike on the cheek. "See, baby, I told you you’d love it."
"You were right, I do. Just like I love you."
"I love you too. And I just love being in a real city," Shy said and moved on quickly. "What do you want to eat?"