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"Or both," Kirk threw in.

"In either case, it’s political. Thanks for the heads up, Kirk," the captain said.

He was about to hang up when Kirk yelled, "Slow down, captain. Whatever you’re about to do, I need to be a part of," he said quickly. "What are you about to do?"

"First thing to do is find out exactly what went on down there. Hold on, Kirk." While the captain called the Bahamian police, Kirk explained the situation to his partner. When the captain came back on the line, he told Kirk, "The Bahamian police confirmed your guy’s version."

"What do we do now?" Kirk asked.

"I’m gonna start covering our asses and maybe, just maybe, take down a bad guy or two. You do nothing. Hear me, Kirk?" the captain ordered. "Nothing unless I authorize it."

"Yes, sir," Kirk said quietly.

Chapter Twenty-one

His name was Paul Clay, and this would be the day that he stepped up. This would be the day that he introduced himself to the big time. He’d made up his mind, after today there would be no more small-time anything for him. Today was the day that he would become a real player in this game.

The truth of the matter was that Clark Kent, that’s what they called him, was small-time; small-time drug dealer, small-time robber, small-time pimp, small-time hustler.

They called him Clark Kent because of the thick, black-framed glasses he wore. He didn’t care about the name. Those glasses had earned him names like nerd and schoolboy. While he was in jail for armed robbery, he was Brother Malcolm. Paul actually liked being called Clark Kent. In a strange way, it made him feel powerful. It made him feel like he was Superman and only he knew it.

This would be the day that Paul made a name for himself. See, if he was to improve his position, now was the perfect time. With Chilly dead, what was left of his crew had splintered into two factions, one loyal to D-Train, and the other loyal to Birdie.

For the time being, D-Train had grabbed power and was trying to prove he was worthy by moving on Freeze and the so-called dead zone. If that move was unsuccessful, then Birdie would surely step up his game and try to force D-Train out and into an early grave. But if Train was successful in eliminating Freeze, then he would surely crush Birdie, unite the factions, and everybody could go back to making money. Paul was there to make sure that happened. His plan was simple. He would be the man that killed Freeze.

Clark Kent sat patiently outside Cross County Mall in Yonkers, because he knew that she would be there. He had spent hours the night before on the phone with her, and she promised that she would be shopping at the mall that next afternoon.

She went to great lengths to make sure that he understood that she was a woman who was used to being taken care of, and used to a certain style, a style that he couldn’t afford. "Baby, you know I love you, right? We can hang out and kick it or whatever, and you can get this pussy, but until you start stackin’ some serious paper, the kind of paper where you drop ten grand on me ’cause it’s a sunny day, I will never be yours," she told him on more than one occasion, and it was unacceptable. He had to have her. Clark Kent was in love. He was in love with Paulleen. There was only one problem with him loving Paulleen. She was Freeze’s woman.

Shortly after Clark Kent got out of jail, he met Paulleen. She was coming out of Macy’s on 34th Street. He gave her his number and she called him once in a while because she thought he was cute. But as hard as he tried, she would never see him. Paulleen told him that not only was she with Freeze, but she had a man on the side that took good care of her. This went on for a year before she finally agreed to see him.

Paulleen was worth the wait. Clark Kent was hooked the first time she set it out for him. Now I understand why they call her good pussy Paulleen. When he asked about her man on the side, you know, the one that was taking such good care of her, she said that she had grown tired of him and moved up to bigger and better sex with Clark Kent. What he heard was that Freeze had found out about it and killed the guy. It was a fate that he planned on avoiding, and it just gave him one more reason that he had to kill Freeze.

"I kill Freeze," Clark Kent said out loud while he sat in his 73 Nova, "D-Train will blast Birdie, set me up for killin’ Freeze, and Paulleen will be all mine."

It wasn’t too long after that when he saw Freeze’s truck pull into a parking space. He watched nervously as Paulleen got out, and she and Freeze went into the mall. She was dressed in orange from head to toe. Everything matched: her outfit, her shoes, her accessories. She looked so good to him. It excited Clark Kent just to see her. He wanted to get out of his car and run to her, but that wasn’t what he was there for.

The thing to do now was prepare. He had thought long and hard about how he would kill Freeze. His first thought was to walk right up on Freeze when he exited the mall with Paulleen. He would look her in the eye, make some comment about this being for her, and blow Freeze’s brains out. That’s not strong enough. He would walk up on Freeze and tell him that he was in love with Paulleen and she loved him, and for that reason, he had to die. Yeah, that’s it, he thought. But then he reconsidered. Suppose Freeze wasn’t tryin’ to hear that shit and shot him before he got a chance to declare his love and kill Freeze. No, the thing to do was to wait on them to come out of the mall and roll by Freeze, blastin’.

He briefly gave some thought to the fact that if he did the drive-by thing, Paulleen wouldn’t know that he was the man who killed Freeze. But he slowly came to the conclusion that it was best that way, just in case Paulleen wasn’t happy about the fact he had shot her golden goose and decided to snitch.

So, he waited in the car for somebody to move out of a parking space that would give him the best angle of approach. There wasn’t any rush. He knew how Paulleen shopped; they would be in there for hours.

Paulleen was starving by the time she and Freeze got to the mall, so the first thing she wanted to do was eat. She suggested that they grab something at Applebee’s before they started shopping.

Freeze didn’t care. He had other things on his mind. The night before had been a quiet night, which meant that he got no reports of any of D-Train’s people setting up in any of their spots. Freeze doubted that it was over just like that. What he had to do now was figure out what D-Train had planned, and stop it before it started.

His conversation with Black and Bobby about the situation kept rolling around in his mind. He sees this as an opportunity. Me gone, Bobby layin’ back. Makes it look like your strength is exhausted. We need to deal with this now or other muthafuckas will raise up outta nowhere to try some shit like this. He had to wonder if maybe Black and Bobby thought that he was weak.

After they left Applebee’s, Paulleen went to Baker’s Shoes. After she looked at a few pairs of shoes, she settled on a pair of Mojo sandals, a thong-styled sandal with rhinestone detailing on the upper straps and 3-inch wedge heels. "What do you think, Freeze?"

"They look a’ight," Freeze replied without looking. We need to start takin’ it to them, Black. Just fall up in there and start blastin’ like we used to. Maybe that was the answer. Bring back the old days. Shoot first and never get to the ask questions part. He had always thought that they had become too soft lately, but it wasn’t his fault. Even though he was running the day to day operations, it was Wanda who was calling the shots.

"But I like these too," Paulleen said, holding up a dressy sandal with a snake-and-leather upper, hooded ankle strap, and lacquered platform wedge heel by Wild Pair.

"Fuck it, get ’em both," Freeze told her, still thinking about the old days. In his opinion, Wanda was now too deeply involved in the business. Sure, Wanda had done a great job at making money for all of them, but back then, Black was very definite about what parts of the business he allowed her to become involved in. Wanda had no say at all in how Black and Bobby ran things. Now, Wanda had her hands up in every part of the business, and she was always on him about the way he chose to handle things. That had to stop.