The Mike Black Saga Book One (12 page)

Two days later three of their people tried to kill me outside of my house. I
sorta
expected it. I recognized them right away, they were Charlie’s boys. I was comin’ down my steps when I saw them coming. I put my hand on my gun. When the first one reached for his, I pulled mine and shot him in the head. I hit the ground and pulled out my other gun. The other two took cover behind a car. We shot it out, until one tried to run, he fired a couple shots. I got up on one knee, took aim and fired. I turned to the last one. He came out from behind the car and raised his weapon. When he did I hit him with two shots to the head. And then I went looking for the guys who sent them. I found them in restaurant on the avenue.

I walked into a quiet restaurant and approached a table where Jimmy Knowles and Charlie Rock were enjoying their meal. They both looked surprised to see me when I joined them at the table. At first, I made out like nothing happened. I ordered a glass of lemonade and we talked briefly.

“By the way, three mutha fuckas just tried to kill me. You’re boys, Charlie.” Then I got up and turned over the table. Then I shot them both in the head with my drink still in hand. I finished my drink and left.

After that, it was on. Vincent and Charlie
was
like brothers and he went to war. A bloody war, complete with drive-by shootings, cars and businesses being blown up and people executed in public.

One night
me
and Freeze were involved in a runnin’ gunfight through the streets. We had shot one man on the
run,
the other had run out of bullets. I ran him down and pistol whipped him while a crowd formed. A woman ran up on them and tried to shoot me in the back. She missed, and hit me in the right arm.

Before she could get off another shot Freeze shot her. I yelled, “That bitch shot me! Hey mutha fucka! Your bitch shot me!” Then I made the beaten man get on his knees and shot him once in the head. I always aimed for the head. Less chance of them gettin’ up when you shot them in the head.

That’s when my mother, Emily stopped speakin’ to me. She said I caused her so much grief, pain and so much embarrassment. She couldn’t walk down the street or even go to church without somebody pointing a finger and whispering. It wasn’t easy being Vicious Black’s mother. “Day after day, having to hear who and how many people my son killed today. I was ashamed of my own son,” Emily said.

Me
takin’ the neighborhood to war effected more than just my mother. There was this young boy named Frankie. He always wanted to be down with us, but you know I wasn’t havin’ it. I told Frankie the he needed to get an education and get a job. Make something of
himself
.

But Frankie was on his way to
bein
’ a thug nigga. Used to hang outside The Late Night ‘
cause
we wouldn’t let him inside. So Frankie used to hang outside with the rest of the wanna-bees.

I he had just sent Freeze to get the car, and me and Bobby were waitin’ outside. I didn’t see the car coming, but Frankie did. He yelled, “GET DOWN BLACK!”

Everybody dropped except Frankie. He pulled the gat and started bustin’. He got hit with three
shot’s
. By that time Freeze rolled up with the car and
me
and Bobby went after them. We caught up with them on Barnes Ave. They lost control of their car and ran into a parked car. After they got out the car and started runnin’;
me
and Bobby went after them. Freeze drove up ahead and cut them off, and killed the driver when he tried to run.

Me
and Bobby followed the other one into a building. The guy ran up the steps to the roof, bustin’ shots all the way. So when he gets to the roof he’s out of bullets. He starts backin’ up
beggin
’ us not to kill him, until he gets edge. He tried to run again and almost falls off the roof, but Bobby grabs him.

“Who sent you?” I asked while Bobby held him.

“Vincent sent me! Please don’t let me go!” The guy yells.

“Who?”

“Vincent, Vincent Martin! Don’t tell him I told you; he’ll kill
me
.” he said.
the
mutha fucka was
cryin
’ and shit.

“He ain’t gonna kill you, cause he’s a dead man,” I said. “Stop
cryin
’ like a bitch and die with some honor.”

Then I turned to Bobby.

“Drop him, Bobby.”

When we got back to the club they told me that the ambulance came and they did what they could but Frankie was dead.

After that, Vincent Martin kept it goin’ for a long time. Until one night we caught Vince and his whole set laid back. They were all at Vince’s house chillin’. Me Bobby and Freeze walked in blastin’ and killed them all.

Nobody even got off a shot. Must have been eight of them mutha fuckas in there. We killed everybody quick, except one guy. He said he was
layin’
on the floor shakin’ with his gun in his hand. I walked up to him and sat on the floor next to him.

“Bet you wanna know why you’re still alive.”

But by the time, he was so scared that he can’t even talk; he just shakes he head.

“Tell Chilly to come see me.”

The next night, Chilly came to see me at The Late night and we ended the war. I told Chilly that my only condition was that he wouldn’t try to roll in my neighborhood. “No problem,” Chilly agreed. “Considered it a dead zone.”

From that day on, there was peace. I respected Chilly and his business. He respected me and mine. Things were quiet for years. I didn’t have to kill anybody. If any disputes came up, and there were a few early on,
me
and Chilly settled it like men.

The only time I had to use my gun was when Freeze started dabbling in counterfeit money and had put a deal together to sell some to a couple of guys from North Carolina.
Me
and Bobby went along for the ride.

We arrived at an empty office building. There were two cars in the parking lot, neither with North Carolina plates. One was from Connecticut, and the other was from Vermont.
Me
and Freeze walked up ahead, while Bobby looked at the two cars.

“Freeze!” Bobby yelled.

“Yeah, Bobby,” Freeze said, turning around to see what Bobby wanted.

“I thought you said these hillbillies were from North Carolina?”

“Yeah why?” Freeze and I walked back to the cars to take a look.

“Yo, Black, last time we did business, these boys were in a beat to shit red Dodge
pick up
with Carolina plates.”

“Okay,” I said, reaching into my coat pocket. I cocked my gun, and returned it to my pocket. “Maybe they’re just in different cars.” I reached into the other pocket and cocked my other gun. “Or we’re walkin’ into a set up.”

Bobby and Freeze both checked their weapons; then Freeze led us inside the building to Suite 107. As we entered the room, the two men that Freeze was to meet with,
Zek
and Emmet, were seated at a table with two briefcases on it. Another man, whom Freeze had never seen, was standing in the corner next to the door. The back door to the office was glass and opened outward so you could see reflections from the outside of the building.

“Hey, Freeze, who are your buddies?”
Zek
asked.

Freeze stepped straight up to the table. “That don’t matter,
Zek
, let’s just get to it.” Me and Bobby moved to either side of the table and began to look around. Bobby went to the left to cover the back door while I went to the right to watch Bobby’s back.

“What you so uptight about there, Freeze?
We done
this before, smooth as a baby’s ass. Let’s see what grade of paper you got,” Emmet said.

I looked at the glass door and could see that one man was moving slowly along the side of the building toward the door. Then he stopped. I motioned to Bobby, who nodded in response.

“No, let’s see your money first hillbilly!” Freeze said, pointing in his face.

“Fuck this!” I walked up to the table, pulling both guns from my pockets. I turned to the man standing by the door and fired two shots. Both hit him in the head. I turned to Emmet and hit him with one shot in the head. Freeze moved to cover
Zek
. Bobby pulled his shotgun from under his coat. At that moment a man came running through the door. He received both barrels in the chest.

When the shooting stopped, one man remained, still sitting at the table with his hand two inches from his weapon. However, there were two guns pointed at him, one at each temple.
Zek
drew his hand back slowly. Freeze put his gun in
Zek’s
mouth. “Now, hillbilly, I want to see you open up them cases.”

Bobby walked up to the table and patted Freeze on the shoulder. “Now, Freeze, you just calm down. Give this hillbilly a chance.” Bobby looked at
Zek
and smiled, “Now, you ever watch them game shows on TV? I know you can’t talk so you just wiggle your ears or something.”
Zek
nodded. “Now if there’s money in those cases you can go with what you came for and never come any further north than the state line ever again in life. But if there’s no money, well—,” Bobby laughed, “Freeze is gonna blow a hole out the back of your head. At the same time, Mr. Happy here is gonna blow your brains out the right side of your head.”

I got impatient. “Freeze.”

Both men fired.

“Damn, you two ain’t no fuckin’ fun at all,” Bobby said.

“Bobby, check outside. Make sure there’s no one else out there,” I said, as he looked in the cases. “Shit! Freeze, check the other offices. See if there is any money, anywhere.”

“Yo, Black, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it, Freeze, shit happens. Now go.” We didn’t find any money
any where
so we got the fuck outta there.

From then on, like I said, thing were quiet.
Me
and my long time girlfriend Regina introduced Bobby to Pam. Back then, Pam and Regina were best friends, so it seemed only natural to hook Bobby up with Pam. They were married two years later, an occasion that marked the end of my long time relationship with Regina. We got into an argument over, of all things, listening to Prince on the way to the wedding. That minor dispute escalated from there to open warfare throughout the day. It got to the point that when the bridal party was going to dance, Pam had to force us to dance with each other. So there we were, dancing cheek to cheek, not saying a word. It was then that I swore that I’d never dance with a woman again. After that, we stood quietly and smiled politely through the pictures. Once the last picture was taken, Regina turned to me. “I hate you.” She left the reception and we haven’t spoken since.

I was out there and I had to go through those changes by myself. Bobby
were
gone for damn near two months on his honeymoon. I went through it in phases. First, I just felt like shit, you know. Then I was in denial, like this ain’t happening, not to me. Next I started trying to blame someone and that’s when I really started trippin’. First I blamed myself,
then
I blamed Regina and that circle continued day after fuckin’ day. Me, her, me, her. That was the dangerous part, because the next phase was hate. You hate the one that you blame. So if you blame yourself, you end up hating yourself.

I hated her. For a while it was all I had. And I took out my anger on all women. Not trustin’ them, never lettin’ them get close enough to hurt me.

I let it happen. So the only one I can blame is
myself
. Regina only did what any bitch would do, dog a man out, take his money and play him, `cause he’s weak for her. And I was so weak for her.

With those violent days were behind us, we turned our attention to other things. Bobby married Pam and she began
crankin
’ out babies at a rate of one per year. Now they got four kids, three girls and a boy. We began to expand our legitimate businesses. I opened a supper club called Cuisine and Bobby opened a nightclub named Impressions. I spent the majority of my time insuring that every aspect of the operation met very high standards of quality. I wanted Cuisine to be something special. It took some time and a great deal of energy, but I finally got things running the way I wanted them. With things running so smoothly and not requiring as much of my time and attention, I was bored, and began looking for something else to do.