In a Cold Sweat (31 page)

When Black and Nick returned to their seats, Freeze had arrived and was sitting next to Wanda. Mylo was there as well. He was sitting on the other side of the ring in a spot where Black could both watch him and get to him quickly if it came to that. Before the fight began, Mylo was joined at ring side by agent Masters. Bobby leaned close to Black. “Ain’t that the guy from the pictures with Mylo?” he asked quietly.

“I got him.”

“Yeah, but who is he?”

“A dead man,” Black said as the bell rang to begin round one.

Sparrow practically ran across the ring and began working his left jab. Dudgeon, an excellent defensive fighter and a phenomenal counter puncher, gave ground and blocked the majority of Sparrow’s jabs and waited for an opportunity to get in some shots of his own.

Sparrow threw a lead right, followed by an over hand left that caught Dudgeon flush on the chin before he could counter punch. The punch hurt Dudgeon and backed him up. Sparrow stayed with him and backed Dudgeon to the ropes with a barrage of lefts and rights. Dudgeon covered up, and finally grabbed Sparrow and held him until the referee stepped in to separate the fighters. Sparrow took two steps back, but went right back at Dudgeon when the ref resumed the action.

Dudgeon came forward, winging lefts and rights. Sparrow backpedaled, but kept working the jab. The fighters traded shots in the center of the ring. Sparrow knew from watching films of Dudgeon that he was susceptible to the lead right and the over hand left. He kept the pressure on and it wasn’t long before Dudgeon once again found his back against the ropes, hurt and taking punches. Once again, Dudgeon held on and waited for the ref to come separate them, but Sparrow landed several hard rights to Dudgeon’s middle section that took his breath away before the ref stepped in.

When the contest continued, Sparrow threw the lead right and practically pushed Dudgeon back. He was hurt from over hand lefts to the head and was totally defensive against the ropes, blocking some but taking hard shots from the champ, who wouldn’t let up. He stepped in and threw a double right uppercut to the jaw and followed it up with a left that dropped Dudgeon to the canvas.

The crowd, which had been on their feet since the first big punch, went wild as the referee counted Dudgeon out at two minutes and fifteen seconds of the first round.

Black could see the look of horror and confusion on Mylo’s face as the ref raised the champ’s hand in victory. He glanced over at Freeze; he was shouting and beating his chest like it was him who had just dropped Dudgeon. At that point, Black was sure that he hadn’t betrayed him. He felt relieved that Freeze knew nothing about the fix and turned all of his attention to Mylo. Black looked at Bobby. “Tell him,” he said, and kept his eyes on Mylo who was arguing with Masters.

At Mylo’s assurance that Sparrow would lose the fight by knock out in the first round, Masters had bet heavily on Dudgeon.

Bobby turned to Freeze and pulled him closer. “You know your boy Mylo tried to fix the fight.”

“What? Mylo did what?” Freeze shouted over the noise.

“Had the fight fixed,” Bobby said. “Set it up for Frank to take a dive in the first round until Black set him straight.”

“Where that nigga at?” Freeze said, looking around the garden.

“I got him,” Black said as the ring announcer made the decision official. “Come on.”

Black, Bobby, Freeze and Nick left the ladies behind and had just begun making their way through the crowd to get to Mylo, when Sparrow jumped up on the ring ropes and pointed his glove at Mylo.

“What’s he doing?” Masters said to Mylo.

Mylo looked up at Sparrow calling him out, and then turned and saw Freeze fighting his way through the crowd and coming toward him. “Shit!”

“What?” Masters shouted.

“Here
comes
Freeze,” Mylo shouted back and he and Masters began making their way toward the aisle. Mylo looked at Sparrow on the ropes again and knew that not only had Sparrow double crossed him, but had told Freeze about the fix as well.

This wasn’t how Black wanted it to go. He wanted to be able to walk up to Mylo after the fight and take him away quietly. He hadn’t counted on Sparrow getting up on the ring ropes and calling Mylo out. Now they had to fight their way through the crowd to catch up with him.

As soon as Mylo and Masters could, they quickly separated.

“Freeze. You and Nick get Mylo. Bring him to the parlor,” Black said, referring to the funeral parlor that they used to dispose of dead bodies. “I’ll meet you there.”

“Where you goin’?” Nick asked.

“Get Mylo.”

“What about him?” Nick asked quietly about Freeze.

“He’s good. Just get Mylo,” Black said and he and Bobby went after Masters. All they knew is that Masters was involved with Mylo in the plot to kill Black and that was enough reason to kill him.

Masters made his way out of the Garden as quickly as he could. Not knowing that Black was on to him, he wasn’t in any particular hurry; he just wanted to get out of there. Masters had trusted that Mylo had the fight fixed and had bet a hundred thousand dollars on Dudgeon. There was a part of him that was glad that Freeze was after Mylo and would most certainly kill him. The operation was coming to a close and Mylo had outlived his usefulness. The plan was always to kill him. Better that Freeze kill the rouge agent than for Masters to have it on his plate.

When Masters made it to the street, he looked around for a second and began walking up 34
^th
Street toward
Meyers
garage where he had parked his car. He gave the attendant his ticket and waited for his car, still thinking about the hundred thousand that Mylo had cost him.

As soon as the attendant was out of the car, Masters jumped in and rolled slowly toward the street. He saw, but didn’t pay any attention to, the people on the sidewalk waiting for him to pull into the street. Masters didn’t see Bobby nod to Black from across the street.

Black stepped up to the car with his gun drawn and fired three times. The first shot broke the glass. The next two shots hit Masters in the head. The people nearby scattered as Masters’ head hit the steering wheel and the cars horn filled air. Black put his gun away and walked away from the scene quickly.

Meanwhile, Mylo had made it out of The Garden and was trying to make it to his car. It was parked three blocks away on 35
^th
street, between 5
^th
and 6
^th
avenues. He looked back and didn’t see anybody following so he slowed his pace and tried to blend in with the crowd. Mylo was startled when Freeze and Nick caught up with him in the crowd. “Where you goin’ in such a hurry?” Freeze asked as soon as he was close enough to put his hands on him.

“Nowhere,” Mylo said nervously. “Just tryin’ to get out of here. You know, get back to the house,
see
how things are goin’.”

“You
not goin’
to the after party?” Freeze asked as they walked alongside him through the crowd.

“Yeah, I’ma
stop
by there later, you know, once the real after party gets goin’.”

“You oughta
come
ride with us,” Freeze said.

Mylo knew that if he went anywhere with Freeze and Nick that they would kill him the first chance they got. There was no way he was gonna just let them take him that easy. He reached for his gun and turned to Freeze. The move caught both Nick and Freeze off guard. Mylo fired two shots to Freeze’s stomach.

The crowd ran for cover at the sound of gunfire and Mylo ran away with them. Freeze grabbed his stomach, and fell into Nick’s arms.

Nick gently laid Freeze on the ground. “Don’t let him get away, Nick,” Freeze told him as he grimaced through the pain.

Nick looked up and didn’t see Mylo anywhere. He was gone. “I’m not leaving you,” he said and held onto Freeze with his heart racing. “Somebody
call
an ambulance!” he yelled and took out his cell phone. He hit Wanda’s speed dial number.

“Hey, baby,” Wanda started.

“Freeze has been shot. I need you to come get this hardware before the cops get here.”

“Where are you?” Wanda asked as she picked up her pace leaving Mystique and Tatiana behind.

“We’re on 35
^th
street, just before you get to 6
^th
Avenue. Hurry,” Nick said and ended the call. Nick took off his jacket and as discreetly as he could with the crowd now closing in on them, Nick got Freeze’s gun and wrapped it with his gun in his jacket. “Hold on, Freeze.”

“You coulda gone after him, Nick,” Freeze coughed up blood. Nick knew Freeze was right, he should have gone after Mylo, but he also knew he was right not to leave his friend.

Wanda moved through the crowd as quickly as she could in a tight dress and stilettos. She could hardly believe what Nick had just told her. Freeze had been shot.
Where the fuck am I gonna hide two guns,
Wanda wondered as she dialed Bobby’s number.

He and Black had made it back inside The Garden and had just gotten to the champs dressing. Black wanted to be seen there in case he needed an alibi for killing Masters. “Bobby, Freeze has been shot!” Wanda shouted as soon as Bobby answered.

Bobby quickly turned to Black. “Freeze been shot.”

“Give me that,” Black said and snatched the cell out of Bobby’s had. “What happened, Wanda?”

“I don’t know,” said an out of breath Wanda. “Nick just called me and said he got shot.”

“Where are they?”

“On 35
^th
street, just before you get to 6
^th
Avenue. I’m on my way there now.”

“On my way,” Black said and ended the call.

When Wanda got to them, the paramedics had arrived and were working on Freeze. Nick was explaining to two police officers that a man he had never seen before just walked up and shot his friend.

“Just walked up outta nowhere and shot him, huh?” asked the disbelieving officer.

Wanda pushed her way through the crowd and ran up to Nick. “Oh my God, baby, what happened?”

“Somebody just shot him and ran off,” Nick said and handed Wanda his jacket. Wanda felt the weight of it and knew the guns were in there.

The paramedics had Freeze on the stretcher and Nick walked away from the officers and followed them to the ambulance. Black got there just in time to watch the ambulance drive away.

Three Days Later

Freeze is dead.

I can’t believe it. First Cassandra, now Freeze. I got to St. Vincent’s hospital in time to see Nick walking out of the emergency room. I knew just from looking at him that Freeze was gone.

Jamaica arrived in the city this morning.
Me
, Bobby and Nick met him at the airport. It had been years since Bobby and Jamaica had seen each other. The last time was at my wedding. Too bad it had to be for this. After he told me how sorry he was about Freeze, told me that he had a message. “Message? From who?” I asked, even though I knew.

“Jacara.”

“What did she say?”

“’
Er
make me promise to say that you should have come see she that night before you go. But instead you run away like a scared child. But
’
er
say she understand. ’
Er
say she know she have that effect on men.”

I really didn’t mind what she had to say, especially since it was true. But why did Jamaica have to say it in front of Bobby?