In a Cold Sweat (17 page)

“’Cause it makes a difference.”

“Yeah, I know. But why?”

“You just tell Mikey to call me,” Angelo said and ended the call.

“What was all that about?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know,” Freeze said angrily. He didn’t appreciate Angelo hangin’ up on him like that. To him it was a sign that Angelo still didn’t respect him.

Back in the day when Freeze was just getting started working for Black, people used to call him Black's little errand boy. Back then, one of Angelo’s men used to talk big shit to Freeze. He remembered Black telling him,
“Don't let him get to you, Freeze. Jimmy still fucks with you `cause he knows it gets to you. Go ahead, you get out first. Make him show you respect. And remember who runs shit and who's always gonna be the errand boy.”

Freeze got Jimmy’s respect that day, and he knew that he would have to make Angelo respect him too.

After checking out a few spots, Freeze and Nick caught up with Manny Valdez. When Manny saw Freeze come in the bar, he took off running out the back door. When he made it into the alley, Nick was there waiting for him. “You in a hurry, Manny?” Nick asked and punched Manny in the face. Manny hit the ground hard.
 

“I don’t know nuthin’, I swear!”

“I haven’t asked you any questions yet.” Nick pulled Manny up off the ground and dragged him back to the car where Freeze was waiting.

“What's up, Manny?” Freeze asked as Nick pushed Manny into the car. “Where
was
you goin’ in such a hurry?”

“I swear, Freeze, I don’t know nuthin’,” Manny said quickly.

Nick looked around and noticed that some people were coming out of the bar and coming toward them, and they didn’t look happy. “Hey,” Nick said to Freeze and pointed toward them.

Freeze nodded and opened the back door to his Navigator. “Get in,” he said and pushed Manny inside. He tossed the keys to Nick. “Let’s ride.”

Once they were away from the bar, Freeze slapped Manny upside his head. “
If you don’t know nothin’,
why you run when you saw me?”

“`
Cause
Black said he would kill me the next time he saw me.”

Freeze slapped Manny again. “Do I look like Black to you?” he asked, and slapped Manny twice in the head.

“No!” Manny said and covered his head.

“I do see his point, Freeze,” Nick said and laughed.

“Shut up, Nick.”

“Black might have sent you to kill me. How could I know?” Manny continued to cover his head.

“That’s all I was tryin’ to say,” Nick threw in.

“Somebody tried to kill Black; you know anything about that?”

“Is he dead?”

“I said tried, dumb-ass,” Freeze shouted and punched Manny in the stomach.

“He never was very smart.” Nick shook his head.

“Shut up, Nick!” Freeze shouted, fighting back laughter. He turned his attention back to Manny. “What you know about that?”

“I swear,” Manny said and made a cross over his heart. “This is the first I’m hearin’ ’bout it.”

“Stop the car, Nick,” Freeze said and Nick complied. “If you hear anything, I better hear from you. Got that?”

“Si,
si
, I call you,” Manny said.

“Good. Now get out,” Freeze commanded.

“But my car is back there, Freeze.” Manny pointed back towards the bar.

Freeze raised his hand like he was about to hit Manny again. Manny opened the door and got out running.

“What now?” Nick asked.

“Let’s go by Incognito,” Freeze answered.

“Incognito?
You lookin’
for somebody in particular?”

“Yeah. Little trick ho named
Shonda
works out of there sometimes. Maybe she knows somethin’.”

“You got it.”

Nick began moving in the direction of the club, but didn’t notice that he was being followed by three men in a black Infinity.

When Nick and Freeze arrived at Incognito they went inside and ordered drinks. They looked around for
Shonda
, but she didn’t seem to be there that night.

“I’ma
go
take a leak. I’ll be back,” Freeze said.

“Hurry up.”

“I know you in a hurry to get back to Wanda, but chill out,” Freeze said and walked off.

As Freeze headed toward the bathroom, Nick looked as Freeze walked by the three men that had been following them in the Infinity. When he was passed them they fell in behind Freeze and followed him into the bathroom.

“What’s wrong with that picture?” Nick put down his drink and fell in behind them.

Freeze went into one of the stalls, just as the three men entered the bathroom. Nick was outside pushing his way through the crowd, trying to get to Freeze.

Once they were in the men's room, the three men drew their weapons and waited for Freeze to come out of the stall. Freeze flushed the toilet and was about to come out of the stall. He opened the door and saw three guns pointed at him.
 
Before anybody could do anything, Nick burst through the door with both guns drawn.

Nick fired and shot two of the men several times in the back of their heads. Freeze pulled his gun quickly and got the third man with two shots.

Freeze lowered his weapon and Nick stood over the bodies. “You recognize them?”

“Never seen ’em before. You?”

Nick shook his head and put away his weapons. “Let’s get outta here.”

When Nick and Freeze came out of the bathroom, they made their way out of the club and back to the Navigator.

Nick tossed Freeze back his keys. “You sure you didn’t piss anybody off?”

“I piss off mutha fuckas every fuckin’ day,” Freeze said and drove away.

When I arrived in baggage claim at JFK, the first person I saw was Bobby. When I noticed that Wanda was standing next to him, I got worried. If she was there, something was wrong, and whatever it was, it couldn’t wait.

“What’s up, Bob?” I said and shook his hand.

“How was the trip?” he asked.

“Good. Got to spend a lot of time with M. Jamaica took me around to all of his spots. Things are runnin’ smooth down there. Good trip.” I didn’t even want to look in Wanda’s direction, ’cause I really didn’t want to hear what she had to say, but I knew I had to. “Hello, Wanda.”

“I was wondering if you were going to acknowledge my presence,” Wanda said and put her hands on her hips.

“That’s because if you're here, something must be wrong and I’m in too good of a mood for you to drag it down.” Even though I told her that it would be a while before she saw me again, I’d been thinkin’ about goin’ by and fuckin’ Mystique before me and Bobby went to Hong Kong, and that was what had me in a good mood.

Funny how good pussy does that.

On the plane I thought about Jacara and how I ran off the island. That wasn’t cool. I could have gone by the Sheridan and said goodbye to her. But fuck it, what’s done is done. I wandered over to the carousel to wait for my bags.

“Oh, so I’m a drag now?” Wanda said and looked insulted.

Bobby and I looked at each other and started laughing. “Part of your job is to tell us shit we don’t want to hear,” Bobby said.

“It’s what you do,” I added and grabbed my bags.

Wanda’s angry looked slowly curled into a smile. “You two better be glad I love you,” Wanda said and turned away.

Wanda started walking away from me and I looked at her hips swinging out the door. “
You gaining
weight, Wanda?”

“Why, do I look fat?” she asked as she looked herself up and down.

“Not fat,” I said and tried to think of a delicate way to put it, but there wasn’t one. “Just fat in the ass.”

“Somebody must be hittin’ that ass right,” Bobby said and laughed.

Wanda spun around and looked at Bobby like he had just called her mama a two-dollar ho, rather than something she’d heard him say hundreds of times.

“What you talkin’ ’bout, Bobby?” she said and got in his face.

“Nothing, Wanda. You know I’m just fuckin’ with you. Everybody knows that you’re the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary. Take some deep breaths,” Bobby said and walked around her.

At first, I didn’t think much of it, but as we got to the car, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe somebody was hittin’ that ass right and I had to think for a minute about how I felt about that. Wanda had been my other woman for a long time. Other woman that I wasn’t fuckin’, that is.

Me
and Wanda had our time when we were kids, but we both agreed that we were better off as friends. Since then I’ve fucked more women than I could remember and I had been married, so why was I feeling jealous about somebody fuckin’ Wanda?

 
Because she’s always been my other woman, that’s why! And I don’t like sharing. I’ll just kill the mutha fucka, whoever he is, and that will put a stop to that madness. But that ass definitely was getting fat.

“So do you want to hear what I have to say or not, Mike?” Wanda said to bring me out of the fog I had just drifted into.

“No, Wanda.” Bobby opened the trunk and I put my bags in. “I already told you whatever you got to say can wait,” I said and meant it. “Did you talk to Freeze about it?” I asked, knowing that Wanda really doesn’t like taking her issues to Freeze. I think she misses carryin’ power.

“No, Mike. I haven’t talked to Freeze about it, because it’s about Shy.”

Okay, she had my attention. “What about her?”

“Oh, so now, because it’s about Shy, you wanna hear what I gotta say?”

“Just tell me Wanda,” I said and got in the back seat.

“Move over,” Wanda ordered and slid in the back seat next to me.

“Now I’m the fuckin’ chauffeur?” Bobby complained.

“Just drive, Bobby. You know this is important,” Wanda said in her stern voice, and that shut Bobby up for the moment.

“What about Cassandra?”

“I got a call late last night from Glynnis.”

“Presley?”

“Yes. She said that it was important that she talk to you.”

“She
say
what it was about?”

“Only that it was about Shy. Whatever it’s about, Glynnis sounded scared, Mike.”

“Get her on the phone,” I said and wondered what Glynnis could possibly know about Cassandra. I can’t even say for sure that Glynnis ever met her.

I watched as Wanda dug around in her big-ass purse for her cell. “Here,” Bobby said. “Use mine.” He tried to hand the phone to Wanda.

“Now what makes you think I know her number? I don’t know anybody’s number anymore.”

Once Wanda found her phone and got past Glynnis’ personal assistant, which I thought was odd for a Sunday
morning,
Glynnis finally came to the phone. “It’s Wanda, Glynnis. I have Mike with me. He wants to talk to you.”