Cigar Bar (14 page)

Sal stood there, frozen. No one had ever disrespected him like that before. Before he realized what he was doing, Sal had cocked the shotgun and blew off Slick’s other leg.
Boom!
The sound of the gunshot shook the earth. Worse than that was the sound that Slick made when he looked down at what used to be his legs. He began to yelp loudly. “Ah! Ah! Ouch! Oh shit! Ahh!”

His screams fell on deaf ears. They were in the scrap metal yard, where Tony Senior had his accident. Way in the back, the scrap yard sat on 100 acres of land. It was easy to get lost if you didn’t know the place.

Slick realized that his screams meant nothing. He saw Sal lean on the car, light up a Marlboro, and pull out his phone. Slick just began to cry; he knew it was over. He began to scream. “Kill me, motherfucker! Kill me! Just fuckin’ kill me, motherfucker!” He grew louder and louder.

Sal acted as if nothing was going on there. With blood and pieces of flesh all over his suit and face, he called Don Veto. Pissed off, he turned to the man, put his fingers to his lips, and whispered out loud, “Shhhh!!” as he walked away so he could talk to the don.

“What’s the status, Sal?”

“Don Veto, this motherfucker ain’t saying shit, so what do you want me to do? I mean, he already has no legs, and all he’s doing now is this.” Sal held the phone out so Don Veto could hear the man scream.

Slick continue yelling. “Kill me, motherfucker!”

“All right then, dump him!” Veto said. “Your buddy over in the police department got back to me. I think he has a few more names and addresses for me. Go check him out.”

“Don Veto, you know I can’t be around that motherfucker too long.”

“I know, that’s why you’re going to take your ass over there and take care of this. I don’t trust his fuckin’ ass either; something ain’t right. But, hey, I don’t want no bloodshed. I just want some answers. Somebody told me he was working with the feds, and if so, then we cut ties with him. That’s it! Capisce?”

“No problem, Boss. I’ll take care of it.” Sal walked over to the screaming man, cocked his gun, and
boom!
The man’s head disappeared. “Put him in the compactor, and let’s get the fuck out of here!”

Sal watched as the man’s body was put in a barrel and dissolved. The barrel was then put in a truck. In a matter of seconds, it was a cube, and added to the thousands of cubes in the lot. Sal picked his phone up as they drove out of the yard. “Hello, Teresa, I gotta come talk to you about Pete.” He hung up the phone as a tear rolled down his cheek. Sal was already in a foul mood, so he didn’t really want to be bothered with this pig. He hated cops with a passion. Any chance he had to do something to them, he would.

But he promised Don Veto that he wouldn’t get into any shit. The car pulled up next to the undercover police car, and Sal rolled his window down. “What do you got?” he asked.

The officer looked through the car. “Where is Don Veto? He was supposed to be here.”

Sal said nothing. He looked the officer in the face, rolled his window up, and drove off. Sal called Don Veto. “Don, something is up. You’re gonna have to lay low. I’ll check it out.”

“Why, what happened?” Don Veto asked.

“He looked real fuckin’ jittery. Kept asking for you, saying you was supposed to be here for this. I just rolled up the fuckin’ window and kept moving, but don’t worry, I had young Frankie stay behind. He’s gonna check out what the fuck’s going on for us.”

“Good job! What do you think we could do next?” Don asked Sal.

“Well, after picking up our recently departed friend, young Frank also observed a young lady in the house run outside and jump into a small two-door black Lexus with license plate seven-four-five-L-D-Y-P, New York.”

“Good, good,” Don Veto said. “I’ll get somebody on it. What are you gonna do now?”

“I gotta go talk to Teresa about Pete and then to Sally.”

“Send them my condolences and let them know that they will be taken care of.”

“Sure thing, Don.”

After they hung up, Don Veto said a quick prayer, then he picked up the phone again. “Yeah, whenever you’re ready, send that message.” Don Veto was on the line with an outside contractor from Italy known as
Il Fantasma
, which means “The Ghost” in English.

He was just as his name stated. He was small and moved fast and could jump from balcony to balcony without being noticed. He was at the house of Mr. Y as he scaled the roof unnoticed by the guards on hand. He soundlessly made his way into the upstairs window. He froze when one of the guards came right up on him but didn’t see him.

The guard walked out onto the balcony, where
Il Fantasma
hid behind a curtain. Quietly, he walked up behind the guard and stuck a knife right in the back of his neck, covering the man’s mouth; he gently helped the man to the floor as not to make any noise. He slipped just inside and looked down the large staircase from the top floor. He saw another guard one floor below.

He jumped down one flight and landed on the man’s neck. In one swift motion, he twisted and broke the knife off in the man’s body.

As he walked, he was spotted by another guard, who was a bit too slow. Before the man could say a word, he was hit in the chest with two knives. He went down, but the guard wasn’t alone. The man behind him let off three shots that were heard throughout the house. The shots missed their target. The assassin dove to the left while shooting a gun of his own. He struck the guard in the head. It was on after that.
Fantasma
pulled out his guns. As they ran toward him, he laid the guards down one at a time.

Downstairs, Mr. Y heard the commotion and ordered his guards back upstairs. Dawn heard the gunfire and jumped to her feet. She had been relaxing in the pool when all of the turmoil began. She quickly got dressed but didn’t know what to do next.

All of a sudden, Mr. Y ran in, flanked by three guards. “Hurry up, let’s go!” he yelled at Dawn as one of his goons scooped her up and dragged her toward a secret door.

They ran down a hidden tunnel and into a waiting car. Mr. Y looked at the girl, then through the back window, where he witnessed his house go up in flames.

He began to curse in Ukrainian. His phone rang but Mr. Y he didn’t recognize the number. “Hello? Uh, who is this?” he asked in his heavy accent.

“This is your worst fuckin’ nightmare, you piece of shit! That was just the beginning, you fuck! Do you fuckin’ hear me, motherfucker?” Don Veto began to get louder. “You better look over your shoulder twenty-four-seven because you never fuckin’ know where I’m comin; from, you piece of dog shit!”

The man hung up. Mr. Y said something in Ukrainian. The car sped up. He turned to Dawn and said, “I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, my dear, but it seems I have more pressing issues. For some reason, I believe they have a lot to do with you.”

“With me?” Dawn asked. “I don’t know nobody who could do some crazy shit like this.”

“Well, from what I saw of your brother, he might be capable of such things.”

Dawn replied, “I don’t think so. Here…” She dialed his number and handed Mr. Y her cell phone.

“Hello?” Spazo said on the other end of the phone. “Dawn, this you, baby girl?”

“No, this is Mr. Y. I have question for you.”

Spazo cut him off. “Motherfucker, I’m only going along with this bullshit because you have my little sister! Do me a fuckin’ favor: Don’t keep calling me for info on when I get the shit! I’ll fuckin’ let you know, but for now, put my sister on the phone!”

Mr. Y smiled. “I don’t believe he had anything to do with this.” Then he put his hand on his chin and said, “Well, this means that we have new problem. Oh, here, he’d like to speak with you.” He turned his back a little and used his cell phone to make a phone call while Dawn spoke to her brother.

“Hello, bro,” she said into the phone.

“Are you okay, Ma?” Spazo asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but this motherfucker’s house just fuckin’ blew up! All I heard was shootin’ and screamin’ and shit. Then he ran in and snatched me up. We snuck out the back. It sounded like a fuckin’ army raided them.”

“Shit!” Spazo screamed. Ghetto and the crew turned to see what was going on. “Okay, listen. I’m working on getting you the fuck out of there. Just hold on, okay?” He hung up.

Mr. Y had just gotten the message that young Flaco was on the run with all the money and guns and now this. “Well, I think someone is targeting all our people, so call them all. Collect everything and let’s find out who this is that has our stuff.” The car sped off down the road.

Don Veto got a call from The Ghost. “All is good, Don Veto. What’s our next move?”

“I wanna hit him where it hurts. Lay low for a while, and then I’ll get back to you. I have a villa in Martha’s Vineyard. Go up there and relax. I’ll send a car for you when I’m ready.”

“Okay, Don Veto.”

His plan was working. He removed Mr. Y from his home, and then he was going to slowly remove all of his businesses. He was checking on all his construction projects, and then he would break those down as well. Slowly but surely, he knew that he was going to tear the man’s life apart. He smiled as he lit his giant cigar and puffed while he sat in his office.

CHAPTER 9

• • •

Time was slowly passing or
so it seemed for Sherry. She found herself walking around Morningside Park in Harlem, her body hurting, no money on her, and needing to shoot up.

The terrible thing about heroin was the body aches, pains, and loss of bodily function. Even her bones hurt. Heroin’s a physical high. Sherry and other addicts like her were willing to do whatever was necessary in order to mask the pain.

She saw a couple in the park sitting in a corner doing something she couldn’t identify. She walked over to them, and when they saw her approach, they began to situate themselves. It appeared that a young woman was giving a guy head for crack.

“It’s okay,” Sherry said. “Listen, I’m hurting and I need something. Please, can you help me?” The man looked at the woman and licked his lips.

“Oh, really? I’ll let you smoke with us, but you gotta come back to the crib and have some fun. You down?”

“Well, what are you gonna give me?” Sherry questioned.

He seemed more intrigued as he rose from the park bench, pants still unbuttoned. To prevent them from falling, he had to grab them. “Damn,” he said, looking Sherry up and down. “Damn, you are a bad motherfucker.” He started to get himself together. He asked, “What’d you want?”

“I need some dope,” she said. “Get me the dope and we good.”

The man was elated. “Shit! Hell yeah, you can have whatever the fuck you want. Come on.” He snatched her arm and headed toward his car.

The anonymous female alongside him was pissed off. “Wait! I’m not going nowhere! We were about to take a hit. What the fuck, man? Let me get mine!”

“Bitch, you didn’t do shit. As soon as you took a hit, you started tripping the fuck out. You lucky I don’t whoop your ass for smoking all my shit, bitch. Shit, kick rocks. Come on, Mama, my car is right over here.”

He opened the door for Sherry and helped her into the car. He knew he was a lucky guy.
Gotdamn
he thought,
I’m gonna tear this motherfucker up
.

He drove down 121 Street to the East Side. “Yeah, my boy Pedro, he got some good dope. I’ll swing by and get you a few bags. Don’t worry, you good with me, Mama.”

He proceeded to pull out his dick. “Can I get a little sample?” he asked as he stroked with one hand and steered with the other.

Sherry looked at his dick; it wasn’t big at all. She had been wandering the streets for so long without anything in her stomach, the sight of the tiny penis made her feel sick. In fact, it made her giggle a bit.

He heard her and immediately got discouraged. “What the fuck? Did you just laugh at my shit?” Throughout his life, women would become angry with him because he was not well-endowed. The same reaction occurred with Sherry. Suddenly, the car came to a screeching halt. Her head almost hit the dashboard.

“The fuck?!” Sherry questioned.

“Listen, bitch, I don’t like when people laugh at me.”

Sherry saw the man ball up his fist. A tinge of fear shot up her spine and struck her right in the brain. Sherry thought quickly. She remembered something Amber once said.
“Don’t show weakness or these motherfuckers out here will eat you up.”

“Hmm?” She looked at the man with an unknowing expression on her face. “What the hell are you talking about?” She saw the man ease up a little, his fist beginning to unclench. “I was laughing because I was thinking, maybe instead of me getting dope right now, I was wondering if you could buy me something to eat. I laughed because I thought you might laugh at me. My laugh just happened to pop out of my mouth when you popped your dick out of your pants is all.”

Sherry leaned over and put the tiny penis in her mouth. She flicked it with her tongue. That’s all she could really do with it. As the man drove, he placed his hand on her head, and she continued to suckle his penis. He turned the light on so he could look down at the pretty girl and then quickly turned it off.

“Okay, get up,” he said, pulling his pants up. “I’m gonna go right here to get your dope. What I need you to do is go over there.” He pointed to the store on the corner. “Get something to eat. Meet me back here in five minutes, okay, pretty girl?” He tossed a $20-bill on the seat. She agreed and walked off.

Inside the store, she selected a soda, a box of cookies, and some chips. She wandered to the front counter to pay for her items. Then the man that she was with entered the store. He handed her his car keys along with a bundle of dope and some crack. “Go head over to the car.”

“Papi, I’m gonna use your bathroom. Cool?”

The clerk waved his hands in the air as if to say, “I don’t give a fuck.”

Sherry waited in the car. She turned the engine on so she could listen to the radio.

“Motherfucker, fuck you!” She looked up from the radio to see who had screamed. The shouting came from across the street. She noticed the man that she came here with was leaving the store. It just wasn’t his day, apparently. As he walked from the store, the man who was shouting came running at him. When the man who had just screamed out “Fuck you!” came across the street, he had his guns in the air. He grabbed him and actually used him as a human shield. Sherry heard a loud pop, then another. It was like a fireworks show.

Both men went down in the entranceway of the bodega; Sherry couldn’t believe what she had just seen. The people who were milling about outside prior to the shooting were now running in different directions. Sherry knew that the man she was waiting for just went down in a hail of bullets. Here she was, sitting in his car with drugs.

She slid over into the driver’s seat and drove off. In the distance, she could hear sirens roaring. Sherry drove with no destination in mind. Without realizing it, she had driven to the park that she found herself wandering in before.
Hmm, maybe I could get out the car and walk, but, first, I need to sniff.

She pulled out a bag of the heroin and stuck it under her nose, inhaling deeply. As the powder went into her nostril and entered her system, she immediately felt a sense of euphoria. She felt like she was back, but it wasn’t the same. She thought about the needle that had been introduced to her. Now Sherry needed to find someone to help her out. Then there she was, the girl the man had left in the park. Sherry quickly took the crack and got out the car.

“Hey, come here! I need your help!” she yelled to the girl.

“Bitch, you trying to get arrested out here? Screaming and shit. Wait, you’re that bitch that stole my date! Fuck you, bitch! I should kick your ass!”

Sherry pulled out the crack. “Listen, if you help me, we can get high together. But I need a needle, and I need you to help me shoot it.”

The girl saw the crack, then looked over across the street. “Where the hell is that nigga? I’m not tripping on his shit no more either.”

“Did you know him?” Sherry asked.

She scoffed. “No, I just met his ass ten minutes before you.”

“Hmm. All right, well, he got shot. I think he’s dead.”

The girl looked at Sherry. “Wait…how the hell did you get his car?”

“Listen,” Sherry interrupted, “if you help me, you can drive the motherfucker all night, for all I care. Just help me get what I need.”

“Come on then, girl,” she said, taking Sherry by the hand.

They went into the dimly lit park. It was early in the morning, and this was a world that Sherry knew nothing about. She thought to herself,
I wonder if Tony might be up here
. She was going to keep an eye out for him just in case.

The two women walked through the park, each scene before them seemingly looking dreary and worse than the one before it. First, they saw a guy putting crack into a pipe alongside a friend of his. Then they saw a few people shooting up. Sherry thought,
Maybe I should ask them
, but her arm was being held, and she could only continue to walk.

The next scene didn’t bother her; in fact, she expected it. There was a girl on her knees, giving head to a man. The couple acted as if no one else was around, smoking his rock while the girl slopped on his pole. That turned Sherry on. She felt a little twinge down below, but she ignored it. They arrived at a tent that was set up way in the back of the Harlem park.

“Cee-Cee!” The girl said loudly.

“Who the fuck is it?” asked a voice from the tent.

“It’s me, Niecy.”

“Girl, what the fuck you want? You fuckin’ up my groove now.”

“I got somebody here who needs your help. She will hook you up; she needs works.”

“Ah, damn,” the lady said from inside the tent. “Wait a damn minute, shit.”

Through the tent, they heard a man’s voice. “I don’t mind. I’ll keep eating you while you handle your business.”

“No, that’s okay, baby. Hold on a minute.”

The tent unzipped an inside was an overweight, white lady. Next to her was a young boy no older than 18. His skin was clammy. He had needle marks up his arms and legs. His face was blotchy and scabby, probably from him picking at his skin after he shot up.

Sherry had no idea that she was looking at her future, but probably ten times worse. Women who had her looks and who knew how to use the platinum box between their legs had the drug world in the palms of their hands. It was their oyster if they played their cards right.

“Come in,” the large lady said. “Zip that thing behind you.”

The girls crawled in and mumbled “Hello.”

The fat lady was very dirty. It looked as if she hadn’t bathed in a couple of weeks. She had on a bathrobe, as if she was in the privacy of her own home.

The young boy had his shirt off and his filthy pants unbuttoned. “Cee-Cee, this is…” She paused momentarily. “Bitch, what’s your name?”

“Hi, I’m Sherry.” She reached out her hand to the lady.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I need you to help this bitch. She can’t shoot up and she don’t have equipment. You know me, Ma, I’m strictly rock. I don’t fuck with the needle. Now pay me, bitch,” she said to Sherry, pulling her pipe out, reaching for the crack.

Sherry handed the girl a giant rock. It was worth about $50, and when the girl saw it, she looked at Sherry. “I think me and you are gonna be friends, girl,” she said. She broke off a piece of the rock, dropped it in the end of her pipe, and sparked it up.

When Niecy inhaled, they heard a crackling sound. When she blew out the smoke, she couldn’t sit still. “Gotdamn!” she said, beginning
to empty
out her pockets. She started searching through the lady’s things.

“Bitch, if you don’t sit your twinkling ass down and get out my shit, I’m gonna sit on your little ass!”

Yet the girl couldn’t stop. Cee-Cee said to Sherry, “Sweetheart, do me a favor and unzip that thing and step to the side.”

Sherry did as she was told, and the fat woman, who was very agile for her size, sat up and grabbed the smaller black girl, shoving her hard out of the tent.

“Now zip that shit back up, please.”

Sherry laughed as she saw the girl begin to search through the bushes after being tossed into them. She thought,
Damn, what the hell does that feel like?
She knew she had to try it, but first things first.

Sherry pulled out her dope. The lady looked at Sherry. Her arms were clean and she was dressed nice. If anything, she looked like she had just woken up. Cee-Cee had enough experience to know that Sherry had the bug. She figured it was too late to advise her, but she tried anyway.

“Girl, what are you doing out here? This is no place for you! Do you realize your ass is in a place where all dreams and hopes have been destroyed? All people do out here is kill and maim for one more! And your pretty, little self is gonna get eaten up out here. I beg you, sweetie, go home to your family. Leave this messed-up life alone.”

Sherry looked at her and smiled. Right now she didn’t want to hear that. She gave the fat lady a bag of crack and two bags of heroin for herself. Cee-Cee shut up after that and just prepared the needle. Sherry Handed her a bag of the dope. The lady cooked it and sucked it up into the needle.

“Baby girl, tie that thing around your arm.” She pointed to a giant rubber band. Sherry did as instructed. She pulled her arm up. The fat lady put a giant rock inside a pipe, lit it, and pulled real hard. She held the smoke in, grabbed the boy’s head, and shoved it between her legs.

Sherry looked over and noticed that the woman had nothing on underneath the robe, just rolls of flesh. The woman shoved the skinny dude’s head between her folds. She yanked Sherry’s arm, shot her up, and then lay back, blowing out all the smoke. The woman squirmed and moaned loudly as the skinny dude ate her out in the smoke-filled tent. She pushed his head deeper and deeper.

Sherry felt the effects of the drug coursing through her veins. The moaning and the smoky smell didn’t bother her at all anymore. She nodded off into the abyss, not knowing what her future held. Right now, everything in her world was the best it could ever be. She needed nothing more than to stay right where she was, experiencing this feeling forever.

The moaning continued. Sherry stayed bent over, enjoying her high. Then Niecy came back. “Cee-Cee, open up!” she said. She was ignored until she began to get belligerent.

Cee-Cee jumped up with anger. “Bitch, you fucking up my shit!” She came outside the tent butt naked and grabbed the small woman by the throat. “I was getting my pussy eaten and enjoying my hit. Here you come fucking up my shit, bitch! Damn!” she said, choking the girl.

Niecy tried to speak. Her high was now gone. She wiggled free from the mammoth woman and began to throw punches. It looked funny because as she connected her punches to the woman’s face, they seemed to have no effect. Then the large woman wobbled a bit. She reached out and grabbed the skinny girl, slammed her hard to the ground, and just basically fell down on top of her.

Sherry couldn’t believe what was happening in front of her. She was high, but she was aware enough to get to her feet and run out of the tent. After Big Mama threw Little Mama, Big Mama stumbled back into the tent and landed on her young boy.
He might be dead
, Sherry thought. She hadn’t heard a sound from him since he was landed on.