Out of Control (25 page)

Cynt looked at Bobby.

He had his gun out and pointed at her.

“I understand.”

“Good. Now open the safe and arm Ms. Robinson.”

Their next stop was Doc’s. Black really wanted to know how he was involved in this. “I’m just glad you back. Things had gone too far,” Doc said.

“I really need to know why you got involved in this scheme?”

Doc hesitated and looked at Rain before he said anything. “I agreed that something needed to be done,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But I told Wanda that I wasn’t sure this was what we need to be doing. Then I asked her if she talked to you about it.”

“What she say?” Black asked.

“She said she did and that you were too busy in Nassau. That with Jamaica expanding his operation on the island and CeCe havin’ a baby, that you didn’t have time to be bothered and you said for her to do what she thought was best.
 
Then Cynt assured me that you would support what we were doing,” Doc said. “But now I’m thinkin’ that none of that was true. Was it?”

“No, Doc, they lied to you,” Bobby said.

“Who’s runnin’ Grant’s crew?” Black asked.

Again, Doc looked at Rain before answering. “Nobody. She took down Kelly and Dylan the night she killed Grant and set fire to his spot. Then she shot Burke and Cootie in the face. Only one left is Castor and he went underground because he thought he was next on her list.”

“Damn, Rain,” Bobby said.

“Your girl ain’t no joke,” Doc said.

It wasn’t easy, but Black was able to find where Castor was hiding. Bobby and Rain held guns to either side of his head and Castor assured Black that Grant wasn’t the one who put the contract on Nick. They left there and weren’t any closer to what they wanted to know. “Where to now?” Rain asked.

“Take me by Cuisine,” Black said. Once he told Lexi that everything was over they headed for Impressions to do the same for Tara. She ran to Black and threw her arms around him like she used to do years ago when they used to fuck over the stage. Then she saw Rain and backed away. “It’s okay, Tara, she’s with me,” Black said.

Bobby leaned close to Rain. “Is everybody scared of you?”

“That’s how I need them to be,” Rain replied.

They went to Tara’s office and told her that the war was over and that she had nothing to worry about any more. Tara seemed relieved by the news and told them that two men that she assumed belong to Rain, had been hanging around there every night, all night since it began. “Are they here tonight?” Black asked.

“No and I’m surprised they’re not ’cause like I said, they’re here every night.”

“What they look like?” Bobby asked.

“I’m sure we could find them on last night’s security video of the front door,” Tara said and went to cue-up the video for them to review. She fast-forwarded for a while until she saw them.

“They’re not part of The Purple Gang,” Rain said.

“The Purple Gang? Give me a fuckin’ break,” Bobby said. “Where y’all get that shit from?”

“I used to go by the name PR when I was doin’ my thing.” Rain smiled. “You know, Purple Rain. Well niggas started callin’ them The Purple Gang.”

Black laughed. “You never heard of The Purple Gang, Bob?”

“No.”

“Out of Detroit.”

“Detroit?” Rain questioned.

“In the nineteen twenties and early thirties. They controlled the bootleg game in the Midwest. If you wanted to bring liquor across the Detroit River coming out of Canada you had to pay The Purple Gang. They were so bad that when Al Capone tried to expand his thing into Detroit that Capone wouldn’t take them on and decided it was better to buy from The Purple Gang than to fight them.”

“What he do?” Rain asked.

“He formed an alliance with them. As a matter of fact, it was Abe Bernstein, the head of The Purple Gang that called Bugs Moran and told him a hijacked load of liquor was on its way to Chicago and they would deliver it to the garage on North Clark Street. The next day, instead of delivering a load of liquor, five men, two of them dressed as cops opened fire with machine guns, and killed seven men. It became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

“I did not know that,” Rain said.

“Don’t you read history?” Black asked.

“No.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Maybe I will,” Rain said.

“You can learn a lot from history. Game ain’t changed. Rules are different, players are different, but the game stays the same.”

“Okay, kids, history lesson is over for the day. Now can we get back to work here?”

Rain looked at the screen. “Can you zoom in that one?” she asked. Tara did what Rain asked. “I recognize him. I’m sure that’s one of the men that shot Nick in the drive-by.”

“Those are the same guys that have been here every night,” Tara confirmed. They got a picture of him and left Impressions.

Shortly after Black, Bobby and Rain left Cuisine, Wanda arrived with her bodyguards. After she talked to Black, she called Nick. “I was just about to call you,” Nick said to her when he got the call.

“Mike talk to you too?” Wanda asked.

“Yes. We need to talk Wanda.”

“I know. Why don’t you meet me at Cuisine.”

“See you there,” Nick said.

When Wanda arrived at Cuisine, the reception she received from Lexi was less than cordial. She attributed it to the fact that she had never come there with bodyguards. Lexi was at the door when Wanda came in. Her conversation was guarded, at best and afterwards, Lexi went immediately to the bar and spoke to two men. Those men watched her and her men the entire time they sat there waiting for Nick.

Wanda had been there for thirty minutes and was thinking about leaving when Nick finally got there. She was surprised that under the circumstances that he was alone. No bodyguards and no Rain. She hoped that Rain wasn’t there because she was dead. Wanda told her men to wait at the bar. “And I know that I don’t have to tell to you to watch Nick.”

“Naturally,” one said.

“What should we do if he tries anything?” the other asked.

“What do you think?” Wanda said and dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

Nick saw where Wanda was sitting and approached her.

“Hello, Wanda,” Nick said and stood over her.

“Have a seat, Nick,” Wanda said wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

“Thank you,” Nick said and pulled out a chair. He wondered where he should start. He sat there for a moment looking at the expressionless look on Wanda’s face. “I just want to start by sayin’ that I’m sorry.”

“You said that already,” Wanda said coldly.

“I know that.”

“Well what else do you have to say to me?”

“Come on, Wanda, you’re makin’ this harder than it already is,” Nick said and Wanda could hear the frustration in his voice, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to make this any easier for him.

“Look, Nick, I really don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I’m here because Mike said that I need to make peace with you. The same reason you’re here. Am I right?”

“Yeah, he called me too, but this is the conversation I was trying to have with you when you stormed out of Jackie’s.”

“I did not storm out of Jackie’s,” Wanda said angrily.

Nick smiled a little. “Yes you did, Wanda. You can’t sit there and tell me that you weren’t mad as hell when you walked out of that office. I’ve never heard Black yell at you. And then he didn’t take your side, come on, you’re in unfamiliar territory.”

“I don’t have to sit here and listen to you try to insult me, Nick,” Wanda said.

“Insult you? With what? The truth? I know that you’re mad at me and you have every right to be, but let’s be for real about this. Black has been protective of you since the day I met you. I still think the reason we got into a fight that first day was because he didn’t like the way I was looking at you.”

“Was not.”

Nick laughed at the way she said,
was not
. “Whether he did or not, doesn’t change the facts. That’s probably why you thought you could get away with this.”

“Why is that, Nick?”

“Because you thought he would take your side the way he always does.”

Wanda didn’t say anything, because part of her knew he was right. She was sure that if she had been given a chance to explain what she did and why she did it to Black on her own terms that he would have seen that she was right and the move had to be made.

“Nothing to say?”

“You’re doing all the talking.”

“I didn’t come here to argue with you. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. Sorry about the way things turned out, sorry about where we are, sorry about Rain, sorry about everything.”

The mention of her name made Wanda’s blood boil. “Why her?”

“What?”

“Why her? Of all the women you could have had, why did you choose her to humiliate me with?”

“I never meant to humiliate you.”

“Well that’s what you did,” Wanda said sharply. “By the way, where is the low life bitch?”

“She’s with Black and Bobby.”

“Are they going to kill her?”

“I don’t know. All Bobby would say is that she couldn’t come to the phone.”

“I hope they’re torturing her before they kill her,” Wanda spit out.

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes, Nick. I want her to die. Do you have any idea how you made me look? Parading her around the way you did and then you gave her power.”

“If you wanted to be honest with yourself, you’d admit that she did a good job.”

“Well I don’t want to be honest with myself. I don’t give a fuck how good a job that bitch did, you had no right,” Wanda said louder than she need to. She was so loud that she got the attention of the people at the surrounding tables.

“And that’s why I’m sayin’ I’m sorry.”

Wanda took a deep breath and looked at Nick. “Mike wants me to make peace with you. If I’m sorry is all you’ve got to say then fine, we’re at peace.” Without another word, Wanda got up and walked out of Cuisine.

 
Rain pulled the Suburban over and parked. They got out and went inside the convenience store that had been run by Sherman Williams. “He here?” Black asked.

“He’s in the back,” Debra said and pointed.

“Thanks,” Black said and headed for the back.

“Hey, Bobby,” Debra said flirtatiously. “Long time no see.”

“Hey, Debra. We’ll talk later; okay?” Bobby winked and followed Black.

“I hope so,” Debra said and poked out her lips.

Black shook his head.

“I told you I’m back,” Bobby said and opened the office door.

“I thought you said she couldn’t fuck?”

“Pussy’s pussy,” Bobby said and Rain laughed a little. Black allowed Rain to enter and then followed her in.

“Evening Rain,” Sherman said, and then he saw that Black and Bobby were with her. “Black, Bobby.”

“What’s goin’ on, Sherman?” Bobby asked.

“Money. Same as every other day.”

Black got right to the point. “Where were you in all this?”

“I was the only place I could be, Black. I’m with you, always have been. You put Nick in charge and to me, that means he’s in charge until you say different,” Sherman said.

“You didn’t have a problem with the way Ms. Robinson did things?” Black asked.

“No. Should I have?”

“Some people did,” Bobby said.

“Hell no, Bobby. I thought it was a good move. I understood why he put her out there like that,” Sherman said.

“Why?” Bobby asked.

Sherman looked at Rain and pointed. “That bitch there is Freeze with titties.” Black and Bobby laughed, but Rain didn’t. “Don’t slap me, Rain,” he said.

“I ain’t gonna slap you, Sherman. I know you meant it as a compliment. But you ain’t got no more times to call me a bitch, ’cause if you ever call me a bitch again, I’ll do more than slap the fuck outta you.”

“See what I mean,” Sherman said and put his arm around Rain. They got along from the first time Nick bought her around. “No, Black, I ain’t got no problem with this one. And the people that say they do, got a problem with her for one of two reasons.”

“What’s that?” Black asked.

“Some,” Sherman paused for effect. “Got personal issues. And the others got a problem with her ’cause she kept everybody standing at attention, if you know what I mean. If you was slack, she made you tighten up or you had to deal with her. Everybody was too comfortable with Nick ’cause of the history he got with everybody. Others didn’t like him ’cause of that shit with Freeze dyin’. She don’t have that problem. Only one she gives a fuck about is Nick and doin’ what he need done.”