In a Cold Sweat (23 page)

Joey found out later that Black and Angelo were late because on the way to the job, they stopped to rob a jewelry store to settle an argument.

“I ain’t scared of shit, Mikey. You fuckin’ know that shit,” Angelo boasted as they drove to New Jersey to meet Joey.

“All I’m sayin’ is I like to plan a job before I do it. That don’t make me scared; that makes me careful,” Black told Angelo that day.

“You won’t do it ‘
cause
you’re scared, Mikey. Scared ’cause you don’t know what you're walkin’ into. Me, I don’t give a fuck. I’m ready for whatever they got in there.”

“Fuck you, Angee. And fuck that dumb shit you talkin’. We just passed a jewelry store ’bout a block ago. If you such a bad mutha
fucka,
turn this car around and go rob the mutha fucka.”

“Never challenge me, Mikey. You know better that shit. You know I will turn this heap around and do that shit, but we gotta meet Crazy Joe.”

“What's that I smell? Is it pussy I smell in here? ’Cause it sounds to me like somebody’s scared,” Black taunted.

“I ain’t scared of shit, Mikey, and I ain’t no fuckin’ pussy,” Angelo said and made a U-turn. Angelo double parked the car in front of the store. “
You comin’
with me, chicken shit?”

Black put on his gloves. “Let’s go,” and got out of the car. The robbery went off without any problems, but they got stuck in traffic coming across the George Washington Bridge. When they got to the service area they found Joey’s car, but no Joey. Angelo found out the next day that Joey was arrested.
   

“You talk to him since he got out?” Black asked Angelo, thinking that he already had enough shit to deal with.

“Yeah,
I seen
him a couple of times.”

“What’s he talkin’ ’bout?”

“Same shit. Still talkin’ ’bout killin’ you. He says it was your fault ’cause you shouldn’t have challenged me and he’s got a point,” Angelo said.

“Whatever, Angee. It ain’t my fault that he went and did the shit by himself. He could have waited for us. That shit didn’t make
no
fuckin’ sense.”

“We don’t call him Crazy Joe for nothing. Anyway, when Freeze said somebody tried to whack you, I asked was the guy black or white. When he said the guy was black, I knew it wasn’t Joey,” Angelo said.

“No, he wanna do the shit himself,” Black said. “I know who tried to kill me.”

“Who?”

“You ever hear of The Commission?”

“No.”

“Whoever they are they thinks I’m out to get them and that I killed some baby baller named Cash Money and some other cartoon character soundin’ mutha fucka.”

“I never heard of
no
Commission, but Cash Money, him I heard of. In fact, that used to be his woman,” Angelo said and pointed at CeCe.

“No shit,” Black said and looked at her on the dance floor. “She’s seems to be takin’ his death well.”

“Seemed to me that she was more interested in replacin’ him than mourning his death, if you know what I’m sayin’.”

“Mind if I take a run at her?”

“What are you, kiddin’ me? This is America; it’s a free country, Mikey.”

“You can have her back when I’m done. I’m not hiring right now. I’ll catch up with you later, Angee,” Black said and made his way to the dance floor. He stood in a spot where CeCe could see him. When Black had her attention, he motioned for her to come to him.

CeCe leaned close to her dance partner and whispered something to him. Then she left him standing there and walked straight to Black. “Hello again,” CeCe said over the music and stepped closer to him. So close that Black felt her nipples brush against him.

“I need to talk to you.”

“What do you want to talk about, baby?”

“Cash.”

“The man or the paper?”

“The man.”

“I would much rather talk to you about something else, but I figured that’s what you wanted. What you wanna know?”

“Where can I find Stark?”

“Why, so you can kill him too?” CeCe asked.

“Let’s get something straight. I never even heard of these niggas and their commission before tonight.”

“Then why they think you killed Cash and K?”

“I have no fuckin’ idea. I’m lookin’ for Stark to settle this shit. I am not his enemy. You tell him that for me. Tell him I wanna sit down with him, ’cause we ain’t got
no
problems.”

“I’ll tell him next time I talk to him.”

“You do that,” Black said and started to walk away, but CeCe grabbed his arm.

“How can I get in touch with you?” CeCe asked.

“Why you wanna get in touch with me?”

“In case Stark
wanna
meet.”

“He’ll know how to get in touch with me.”

“Okay. Suppose I wanted to get in touch with you?”

“Why you wanna get in touch with me?”

“’Cause I like the way you was lookin’ at me before you found out I was with Cash. I could tell you wanted me.”

“Is that right?”

“That’s right. So, I was thinkin’ maybe you and I could get together sometime.”

“How would I know you wouldn’t be settin’ me up as revenge for killin’ your man?”

“You wouldn’t. But
me
and Cash wasn’t that deep. I had only been with him for a couple of months. The truth is, I just liked what he was doin’ for me.”

“I can get to that. A woman gotta do what a woman gotta do,” Black said to CeCe. She was right about one thing, he had thought about seeing her naked before he found out she was with Cash. “You just tell Stark what I said. Once this is settled, maybe I’ll get with you.”

“How will you find me?” CeCe asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find you when I want you,” Black said and left her standing there.

Once he found Bobby, the two left the club and headed back to their car. “Angee said Crazy Joe is out,” Black told Bobby.

“Wonderful. He
still talkin’
’bout killin’ you?”

“Yup.”

“That shit is crazy. He shoulda just waited for y’all to show up; not do the job by
himself
.”

“They don’t call him Crazy for nothin’,” Black said.

As they got closer to his car, Bobby’ saw an Acura coming at them fast. When he saw the gun come out window, he pushed Black to the ground and yelled, “Get down!”

Black and Bobby
laid
motionless as bullets rained over their heads. Once the car drove on, both men got up. “You all right?” Black asked.

“Yeah, you?”

“Yeah. I’m all right, but this shit is gettin’ ridiculous. These kids gonna fuck around and make me start takin’ this shit to them.”

It had been more than a week since detectives Kirk and Richards paid a visit to Mike Black. And since then, nothing had happened to bring them any closer to closing the murders, and Richards was getting a little frustrated.

Both Stark and BB had all but disappeared from public life. The day after K Murder’s death, BB scooped up all the drugs and money, picked up his girlfriend and drove out to Long Island to hide out at her cousin’s house in Wyandanch. Even his boyz didn’t know where he was, and he liked it that way.

When BB didn’t show up for K Murder’s funeral, Stark began thinking that maybe he had the right idea. After the funeral, CeCe told him that Black had come to see her and said he wanted to meet with him to settle things. He immediately became suspicious. “What the fuck
is
you sayin’?”

“Black said to tell you that he ain’t got no problem wit’ you, and he wanna sit down wit’ you to settle y’all’s differences.”

“What you mean Black came to you? How Black even know you?”

“He just walked up on me,” CeCe said.

“When was this?”

“This weekend, up on the avenue.”

Stark had heard that some of Cash’s boyz tried to hit Black on the avenue. Even if Black had told CeCe that he wanted to talk,
them
trying to kill him may have changed that. He suspected that if he went to that meeting, that he would be assassinated. “You tell Black that if he ain’t got no problems wit’ me, then I got none wit’ him. I won’t fuck wit’ him and what he do, he don’t fuck wit’ me and mine. You tell him that, but I ain’t goin’ to
no
damn meeting. That ain’t happenin’. You tell him I got nothin’ to do wit’ what Cash or K’s boyz do,” Stark said, and him and his boys walked away. The Commission was dead.

All CeCe could do was shake her head. Stark was practically shaking he was so scared of Black. All that, don’t fuck with me and mine, shit he was talking must have been for his boy’s benefit, because she wasn’t impressed.

Since that night, CeCe heard that Black had been to all the spots Stark hung out at that night. “That’s what you do when you got beef with somebody. You go lookin’ for him, not hide like a bitch,” CeCe told one of her girlfriends. “Mike Black is a real man. And I’m gonna get him.”

“You’re such a flirt. How can he resist you?” her girlfriend replied.

CeCe had been leaving word for Black with anybody she could think of, but days had gone by and she still hadn’t heard from him. She was starting to think that maybe she wasn’t as irresistible as she thought she was.

When the detectives came to interview her for a second time and asked her if she knew Mike Black, CeCe started to ask them if they could get a message to him, but she didn’t think they’d do it. So, when Richards and Kirk left her apartment, they still had nothing to go on.

“Any ideas?” Kirk asked.

“I’m fresh out,” Richards confessed and slumped in his seat.

“What do you do when you’ve got nothin’?” Kirk asked and started the car.

“What?”

“You go make something happen.”

“Where we goin’?”

“Taking a ride downtown.”

“What for?”

“To talk to agent Vinnelli,” Kirk said as he drove. “See what he can tell us about The Commission.”

“You think he might know something about these guys?”

“Not really, but you never know.”

“I think you just like fuckin’ with the guy,” Richards said.

“I do.” After his conversation with Black, Kirk knew that sooner or later he would hear that DeFrancisco was dead. That didn’t bother him.
 
In a way, he agreed that he had to die.
Justice?

His concern was about Vinnelli.

Would Black really try to kill a DEA agent?
Kirk didn’t know.

Kirk had briefly entertained the idea of warning Vinnelli that Black was on to them and that he’d be coming. But he knew Vinnelli was dirty and suspected that he was the one who hired
Kip Bartowski, the man that killed Shy.