Commit to Violence (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

When Nick got to JR’s, Rain was more than ready for him. She was all over him as soon as he walked in her office. Once she had gotten her fill, Rain got dressed and ready to go. "You don’t mind if I ride, do you?"

"No, come on," Nick said and turned around. Rain followed him out of the club and to his car; neither had much to say to the other while they drove. Rain sat and stared out the window, thinking about what Blue had said to her.
I know he must be rollin’ over in his grave ’bout the shit you doin’.

When Rain was young, JR took her everywhere with him. That’s why she was so much like him. Back then she was daddy’s little girl and there was nothing more important to Rain than pleasing her father. But as she got older things began to change. Rain was always in trouble and her brother Miles, the straight-A student, became JR’s favorite. No matter what Rain did to impress him it was always wrong. "No, Lorraine, do it this way," she remembered JR telling her so many times in her life.

She knew her father wouldn’t approve of what she was doing. It was always like that. If it wasn’t exactly what JR wanted it was wrong. But JR was dead and Rain had to do what she knew how to do; what she’d always done. Having money and power behind her just made things easier, and her association with Nick gave her that power. It was the perfect arrangement except for one thing.

Wanda Moore.

Whenever Rain would get a little too comfortable with Nick, Wanda would always come along to jerk her back to reality. It didn’t bother her when they first got together. But every time Nick would get out of her bed to go be with another woman, it would remind her that Nick was Wanda’s man and she was just the bitch he was fuckin’ behind her back.

"What we doin’ here?" Rain asked when Nick pulled up in front of Clay’s Garage.

"Something’s goin’ on and there are people that don’t think I know what’s goin’ on."

"Bo."

"We’re here to show them that I know everything," Nick said and got out of the car. Rain put one in the chamber and followed Nick in the building.

Clay’s Garage was a car cloning operation that’s been run for the last couple of years by Bo Freeman. From Clay’s Garage, Bo runs the operation where a stolen cars’ vehicle identification numbers, or VIN, were replaced with ones that belong to legally obtained vehicles. Bo’s men washed car titles clean by using the internet to get vehicle identification numbers from similar makes and models that had been salvaged, then put new VIN plates on the stolen cars’ dashboards and created matching titles. They then re-registered the cars in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, where bar codes on New York titles can’t be read.

They were also stealing an average of 25 cars a week and selling the parts through salvage yards in the tri-state area. The dismantling and stolen parts operation was run by Hank Jackson. He would receive orders for specific vehicle parts and give orders to various "steal men" to steal the appropriate vehicle in order to obtain the requested parts. Once the vehicles were stolen, they were taken to Clay’s where they were dismantled. The requested parts were then taken to the various auto body shops that had ordered them.

For Bo and Hank, tonight was a big night. Bo had made a deal to deliver a predetermined list of high-end vehicles to members of the Russian mob. The cars were taken from a storage facility where a number of car dealerships stored their excess inventory and then drove the vehicles to various lay-up locations. If everything worked out, tonight would be a big night.

Bo looked at the clock on the wall in his office and then at Sabrina. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Eight forty-five. Why, where you gotta be?" Bo asked.

"Nowhere," Sabrina lied. There definitely was some-where she had to be, and a certain time that she had to be there. "Nowhere but the bed."

That part was true.

She had a little more than an hour to get where she was going. At ten-thirty she wanted to be between the sheets with Victor Lewis between her thighs. Sabrina knew if Bo didn’t leave there soon that she would be late.

At thirty-seven years old Sabrina Cole was a very beautiful woman. Even when the occasional black eye she’d received from Bo forced her into big sunglasses. She had been with Bo for twelve years since she arrived in New York from Mississippi. In that time she had two years of good and ten years of bad. Sabrina had been sneaking around with Victor for the last six months and for the first time in ten years, she was happy. Sabrina had her a young thug and he was putting it on her.

Victor was twenty-four and made his money running numbers and collecting for Nick. He had been in love with Sabrina since the first time he saw her. To Victor, Sabrina was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Whenever he would have a chance to be anywhere she was, Victor would watch her from a distance. He loved the way she talked; slow, sexy and just country enough to turn him the fuck on. It took him two years to get up nerve to talk to her when Bo wasn’t looking. Come to find out while Victor was watching Sabrina, Sabrina was watching him.

For the next six months they sniffed around one another; flirted and teased one another until one night Victor caught Sabrina alone at a club. She had just had an argument with Bo because she had the nerve to comment on the fact that she caught him openly flirting with another woman while she was sitting right there, and she thought that was disrespectful. After that Bo left the club. Then she saw Hank walk up to the woman Bo was flirting with. They talked for a few seconds before she got up and followed Hank out of the club. What pissed Sabrina off was that she smiled and waved at her before she left to be with Bo.

Never far away and always on the lookout for any opportunity to be with Sabrina, Victor came and sat down next to her.

Sabrina was so caught up in her anger that she didn’t notice Victor until he leaned in close and said, "Hello."

Sabrina was startled when she heard his voice, but the sound of it made her happy. "Hello, Victor."

"Bo shouldn’t leave you alone like this."

"I think Bo has other things on his mind right now."

"His mistake. That would never happen between you and me."

"And why is that?" Sabrina asked and leaned close to Victor.

"Because you are always on my mind."

"You know, Victor, you always say the nicest things to me," Sabrina said and smiled.

"You know I’d do anything to see that smile."

"Why don’t you take me home? See how nice you can be to me," Sabrina told Victor that night. It’s been on since then. Any time that Bo had a job to do, Sabrina would make arrangements to meet Victor.

Sabrina looked at Bo. She knew that he would be busy for hours. She allowed her mind to think about Victor taking his time and making love to every inch of her body. All that needed to happen now was for Hank to say they were ready to go.

"What’s wrong with you?" Bo asked.

"Nothing. I’m just tired, that all."

"Why don’t you go on home then?"

"That’s all right," Sabrina said. "I’ll stay with you until it’s time for you to go."

"For what? To sit here and do nothing? Go on and get outta here. I’ll get with you tomorrow."

Sabrina smiled to herself when she heard that. She stood up and tried her best to look mad. "So I’m not gonna see you later?"

"Gonna be hung up with things most of the night. I told you that."

"All right then, call me tomorrow," Sabrina said and picked up her coat. She gave Bo a goodnight kiss on the cheek and left the office.

Just as she was about to open the door to leave, Nick walked in with Rain.

"How you doin’, Sabrina?" Nick asked.

"I’m fine, Nick," Sabrina said and give him a hug. Then she hugged Rain. "I like that outfit, Rain."

Sabrina never liked Wanda since day she called her a country bitch. So the idea that Nick was fucking Rain behind Wanda’s back gave Sabrina some satisfaction.

"Thank you," Rain said to Sabrina. "You lookin’ good, as always."

"Bo here?" Nick asked.

"He’s in the office," Sabrina said and pointed to the office on her way out the door.

When Hank saw Nick he headed for the office to tell Bo. "We got company, Bo."

Bo looked up and saw Nick and Rain walking around watching his men load cars onto cargo carries. "What he doin’ here?" Bo said and got up.

"I don’t know. You think he heard about what we got goin’ tonight."

"Why else would he be here," Bo said and followed Hank out of the office.

"How you think he found out?" Hank asked.

"How you think?" Bo asked and turned to face Nick. "What’s up, Nick?"

"Bo; Hank," Nick said and looked around the garage. "You hear about Kenny?"

"No, what happened to Kenny?" Hank asked.

"Somebody killed him last night."

"Damn," Bo said and paused. "I saw Kenny last night at The Beat."

"What time was this?"

"Around eleven, eleven thirty," Bo said and looked at Hank for confirmation. Hank nodded.

"You see who he was with?" Nick asked.

"He was with Luke and that other nigga, I forget his name," Bo explained. "We had a few drinks then he left. But on the way out he stopped and talked to Cruz."

"What happened after that?" Nick asked.

"Kenny left," Bo said.

"What about Cruz, he leave after that?"

"Can’t really say. It wasn’t too long after Kenny left that we left and came back here. You think Cruz killed him?" Bo asked.

"I don’t know. I would like to know what they were talkin’ about. Ask around. See what you can find out."

"You got it."

"By the way, lotta cars in here," Nick said and took a step closer to Bo.

"Yeah," Bo said.

"Lot more than usual."

"Yeah."

"So I guess I’ll see Hank tomorrow sometime?"

"Yeah, Nick, you’ll get yours," Bo said and took a step back.

"Good."

Nick turned and started walking away. Rain stepped up to Bo. "Good to see you niggas," she said and walked away laughing.

"Yeah, mutha fucka. You gonna get yours. Count on that," Bo said.

"How he find out about this shit?" Hank asked.

Bo turned and looked at Hank. "How you think he found out. One of these niggas talkin’." Bo looked around the garage at his men. "Don’t matter," he said as he watched Nick and Rain leave the building.

"What you wanna do?" Hank asked.

"Get the rest of the cars loaded up and let’s get outta here."

"I mean about Nick?"

"I’m gonna have to kill him," Bo said and went back in his office.

Having accomplished his purpose, Nick walked back to his car. Once he and Rain had driven a little ways, Rain asked a question. "How’d you know Bo had something big goin’ tonight?"

"You don’t know?"

"No. How you know?"

"I know everything," Nick said and smiled at her.

No you don’t, nigga. Your ass don’t know every fuckin’ thing,
Rain thought and smiled back. There was a lot going on in Rain’s life that Nick didn’t know about. Most of it, Rain knew she needed to tell him about. She looked at Nick and knew that this was not the time to tell him about her problems.

"What’s up with you and Bo anyway?" Rain asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it’s obvious that you don’t like him, and that mutha fucka hates you."

"Two things."

"What’s that?"

"He blames me for Freeze," Nick said.

The truth was Nick wasn’t mad that they blamed him for Freeze’s death, because he blamed himself. They were both caught off guard when Mylo went for his gun. "How come he still had his gun," was the question Bo shouted at Nick at Freeze’s funeral, and Bobby had to separate them.

Nick asked himself over and over, why didn’t they take the gun from Mylo when they caught up to him? There was only one answer to that question: They both got careless; a mistake that cost Freeze his life.

Why did I let him get away? Why didn’t I shoot Mylo? Why didn’t I go after him?
All Nick could think of at that moment was that he couldn’t leave Freeze. He had to get help for him. "Somebody call an ambulance!" But it was too late. Freeze was dead before they got to the hospital.

No matter how many people told him so many times that it wasn’t his fault, Nick felt responsible. It was a burden he would carry for the rest of his life.

"You said two things, what’s the second?"

"Bo, and some other people, thinks he should have got this spot after Freeze died. Not the man that got him killed."

"What you think about that?" Rain asked, and Nick didn’t say anything. "Okay. Why did Black choose you over Bo?"

"Trust. Black couldn’t do what he’s doin’ now and not be able to trust him completely."

"What that mutha fucka think was gonna happen? You and Black got years together."

"Yeah. But it’s more than just years," Nick said. "I told you, it’s about loyalty and trust."

Rain thought about loyalty and trust and her situation with Blue. She had known Blue for as long as she could remember. Over the years, he had been a loyal soldier to her father’s right-hand man, Jeff Ritchie. But did that mean he was loyal to her? And if Blue wasn’t loyal to her, could she really trust him?

"Did Blue talk to you?" Rain asked as they drove.

"No more than he usually does. Why?"

"He’s about to get on my last nerve."

"What he do this time?" Nick asked.

"He came to me yesterday and said that some mutha fucka was playin’ wit’ loaded dice and hit us up for ten G’s."

"And they let him walk outta there?"

Rain didn’t answer.

"I been tellin’ you for the longest that Blue runs a sloppy operation. Shit like this keep happening maybe you’ll believe me."

"Believe me; I’m startin’ to agree with you. Maybe it is time for him to go."

"You’re the one that insisted that we keep him."