The mike black saga volu.., p.30
The Mike Black Saga Volume 8, page 30
“Why didn’t I come running like a little bitch ass snitch and tell you?”
“I wasn’t gonna put it quite that way but, yeah.”
“How long me and you known each other, Mike?”
“We go back some years.”
“So you know I don’t get involved in nobody else’s shit. All them years in them clubs, you know, I never did get caught up in that high-school-ho-type-a-shit. I shake my ass; I make my money and I go home. Fuck the bullshit.” Kaylana paused. “Okay, in retrospect, Bobby getting shot and all, maybe I should have said something to you.”
“You should have.”
“How is Bobby?”
“Still in intensive care.”
“Oh.” Kaylana paused, thinking that her life might be over. “Well, that’s my story, Mike, so I’m hoping that you won’t kill me.”
“Where’s Warwick, Kaylana?”
“You ask his wife?”
“I did,” Black said suddenly turning very serious. “I just left there. Now I’m here. And now, I’m asking you.” When Black said that, Rain placed her gun on the bar in front of her. “Where’s Warwick?”
“I don’t know where he is, Mike. I haven’t seen or heard from him since the shooting started.”
“He say anything to you about going to see a fight?”
Kaylana thought about it. “He mention something a while ago about a fight he wanted to see.”
“Here or AC?”
“He usually goes to AC.”
“But ain’t nobody worth seeing boxing in AC this weekend,” Rain said.
“Not boxing. Warwick was into that Ultimate fighter stuff,” Kaylana said.
“There’s a big fight in Vegas this weekend,” Ed Weather said.
“If there’s a big fight in Vegas, Mike, that’s where he would be.”
Las Vegas Nevada
Upon arrival in Vegas with Rain, Nick and Ed Weather, Black found that there were more than one Ultimate Fighter Event being hosted in the city that weekend.
“And a UNLV Basketball game this weekend,” Ed Weather said in the limo from the airport. “I know he’d wanna see that.”
“Who they playing?” Nick asked.
“St. Katherine College at the Orleans Hotel.”
“That a casino hotel?” Rain asked.
“I think so,” Black said as their driver pulled up in front of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.
Rain shook her head. “Fights, gambling, liquor and pussy.”
“Everything a mutha fucka could possibly want, all right here on the strip,” Ed Weather said.
“Nigga ain’t gonna be easy to find,” Rain said.
“But we will. I promise you that,” Black said.
Before leaving the city, Black had Wanda’s assistant, Keisha Orr, make arrangements for two suites. Each with two bedrooms, and a smartly designed dining and living room that featured a wet bar. But they each knew that they’d spend very little time in those rooms until Warwick was dead. And then it would be time to go home.
Kaylana told Black that Warwick had recently bought a condo on the strip. That would be their first stop. After picking up an Acura TLX rental car, they drove to The Veer Towers on South Las Vegas Boulevard. Exquisite condominiums in the heart of city center, which billed itself as Las Vegas’ ultimate location for dining, gaming, and entertainment.
When they arrived at the Towers, they went up to the 16th floor and Nick let them in the apartment, and they had a look around.
“Nobody here,” Ed Weather said. He most of all, wanted Warwick to be there so they could kill him and be done with it so Ed could clear his name.
“You wanna wait?” Nick asked.
“We’re in Vegas, and it’s early. May be a long wait. Better we get in the street and hunt him down. If we don’t find him, then we come back here,” Black said.
The Orleans Arena on West Tropicana Avenue is the occasional home for the UNLV Running Rebels basketball team when the Thomas & Mack Center is in use. When they got there, they split up and looked for Warwick in the crowd of spectators.
Then it was off to the Pearl Theater at the Palms Casino Resort on West Flamingo Road for the Ultimate fighter finale. When they didn’t find him at either venue, they returned to the Towers and waited for Warwick to come back. They stayed there until well after nine in the morning. By that time, Nick, Rain and Ed had one by one, drifted off to sleep. But not Black. With Shy not being there to suggest that he needed to rest, he needed none and he didn’t sleep at all that day.
After dropping Nick, Rain and Ed off at the hotel, Black went back to the towers to wait for Warwick while the others slept. Later in the afternoon, Rain arrived at the tower and got in the car with Black.
“I brought you something to eat,” Rain said and handed Black a bag.
“What is it?”
“Prime rib sandwich.”
“Where’s Nick and Ed?”
“They went to check out some other places that Ed Weather thought Warwick might be.”
“Let me guess: Fantasy, Palomino and The Hustler Club.”
“To name a few,” Rain said while Black ate. Once he was finished, Rain suggested that he get some rest, so he got in the backseat of the Acura and closed his eyes.
It was later in the afternoon when Black woke up. Rain told him that she had spoken to Nick and Warwick hadn’t been seen anywhere that day.
“But Nick did talk to a guy that saw Warwick last night at the Michael Jackson ONE Theatre, at our hotel.”
“Where?”
“That’s what I said.” Rain laughed. The Michael Jackson ONE Theatre.”
“Okay.”
“It’s a show where a bunch of dancers perform to Michael Jackson music,” Rain said.
Black shook his head. “I’ve always been more of a Prince guy, so I’ll let that pass without comment. But since that’s where the Ultimate Fighting Championship is being held tonight, we might as well head back there.”
The Events Center in the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino has over the years become one of the most popular venues for sports in Las Vegas. Once again, they separated to search for Warwick. Nick and Rain covered the entrance while Black and Ed Weather checked inside the center. The results were the same as the previous night, so they drove back to the tower to wait and see if he showed up there.
Rain was outside in the car, while Nick had set up in the stairwell with a view of the lobby. Black and Ed Weather went up to the 16th floor and they were waiting in the apartment. It was almost six that next morning when a taxicab pulled up in front of the Towers.
“I got him,” Rain said and got out of the car. “He’s a solo and heading your way, Nick. I am in pursuit.”
“Acknowledged,” Nick said and went upstairs to the second level.
“Make sure you don’t lose him,” Black said.
“I won’t.”
Once Nick reached the second floor, he went to the elevator and called it up to the second floor. Earlier, in addition to taking care of the buildings security system, he had disabled the other elevator so Warwick would be forced into that one.
“He’s in the lobby,” Rain said.
Nick got on the elevator. “In position and standing by.”
Rain dropped back and kept out of sight as Warwick pressed the button for the elevator. When the doors opened, Warwick was surprised to see Nick in there with his gun pointed and ready to shoot.
“Hello, Warwick.”
He turned around quickly, but by that time Rain was behind him. “You ain’t leaving; are you?” Rain stepped up to Warwick, took his gun and slapped him with hers. “Get your ass in that elevator.” She gave him a shove.
“We got him, Black. We’re on our way up.”
“Cool.”
When Nick and Rain brought Warwick in the apartment and tossed him on the floor, the first thing that Black noticed was that Warwick’s lip was busted, his eye was starting to swell and there was blood flowing from a deep gash on his left cheek.
Both Black and Ed Weather laughed. “What happened to him?” Black got up and asked.
Nick and Rain looked at each other and for the first time in two days, they laughed together.
“We had a little problem on the way up here,” Rain said.
“He gave you two some trouble?” Black asked and stood over Warwick.
“Not exactly.” Nick straightened up. “See I was trying to hit him, but the elevator jerked, and I hit him in the lip. That’s how his lip got busted open.”
“Then I said, you can’t do shit right,” Rain said. “And I was ’bout to bust that eye wide open, but—”
“The elevator jerked again.” Nick laughed.
“Go figure,” Ed Weather said, but by that time he was laughing too.
“I ended up bustin’ that chubby cheek wide open,” Rain said.
“Uh huh,” Black said.
“So then, just to prove that we actually could hit him in his eye, we took turns,” Nick said.
“The elevator was real slow,” Rain said. Warwick mumbled something and Rain kicked him in the gut.
“Right.” Black smiled, and then he crouched down next to Warwick. “What’s up, Warwick?”
“Come on, Black, give me a chance to explain. I didn’t know the gang that couldn’t shoot straight was gonna try and do some dumb shit like that.”
“Doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done and here we are. They’re all dead and you’re here, with me, getting ready to die.” Black stood up and took out his gun. “Pick him up.”
Nick and Rain got Warwick to his feet and Black raised his weapon.
“Wait a minute.” Ed stepped in front of Black. “I got this one.”
“Go ahead.”
Ed punched Warwick in the face. Then he handed Black his gun and started taking off his jacket.
“What you doin’, cuz? We blood.”
“Blood my ass.” Ed punched Warwick again, this time he went down from the force of the blow. Ed kicked him in the face and then he grabbed Warwick by his collar and pulled him to his feet. “You ain’t no blood to me.”
He punched him in the face over and over.
“Bad enough that you been trying to fuck my wife behind my back, but this shit . . .” Ed reached back and hit him again. “Putting a hit on Black and Bobby and settin’ it up so these niggas think I did it.”
Ed picked Warwick up and threw him on the glass coffee table. It shattered on impact. Warwick tried his best to shake it off and get off the floor before Ed came at him again, but he couldn’t. Ed stood over Warwick and kicked him a few times, before pulling him up from the floor and hitting him over and over again. When Warwick swung at Ed, he missed, and Ed rammed him face first into the wall repeatedly until Warwick went down. Ed stood over him and began to stomp Warwick again.
Warwick struggled to his feet and came running toward Ed. He grabbed Ed and the two of them wrestled around until Ed got the advantage. Ed grabbed Warwick’s arm and swung him through the screen door to the balcony.
As the beating continued, Black, Nick and Rain walked toward to door and watched as Warwick rushed Ed again. Ed stepped aside, grabbed Warwick and rammed him into a wall again. Then Ed picked him up and threw Warwick off the balcony. Ed Weather stood there, out of breath, looking over the rail.
“I think we need to go,” Ed Weather said.
“You think.” Rain rolled her eyes and headed for the door.
Chapter Twenty-eight
The Aftermath
After leaving the tower and making the 13 mile drive to Henderson Executive Airport, Black along with Nick, Rain and Ed Weather boarded the Cessna Citation M2 for the four and a half hour flight back to New York.
As the flight continued, Nick and Ed Weather once again drifted off to sleep. When they did, Black came and sat next to Rain. She hadn’t been looking forward to this moment, because she thought that Black was about to get on her for allowing things to go on without her noticing. Rain felt like she had disappointed Black and that was the last thing she wanted.
Black had always treated her with respect and when everybody else in the family hated her and wanted her dead, he saw something in her that even she didn’t know she had in her. Black showed confidence in her and gave her an opportunity to be a part of something … something larger than herself.
“Look, Black,” Rain said as soon as he sat down. “I just wanna say I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For letting them niggas set up in your house and I not be all over it.”
“Yeah, you did.” Black took a sip of his drink. “But you know what?”
“What?”
“I ain’t mad at you at all.”
“You ain’t?”
“Nope. Why should I be mad at the people that are loyal to me? You, Ed, Wanda, all of you have done nothing but step up, find out what was going on and shut the shit down. So I ain’t got nothing but love and respect for you. And besides, I know for a fact that you aren’t going to rest until you find and kill everybody that you think might have been down with it.”
“You fuckin’ right I will,” Rain said.
“Of this, I have no doubt,” Black said.
Black felt like a dead man on his feet. When in the middle of the storm, tracking down the culprits of those who tried to take his brother’s life and whoever was shooting at Rain, his adrenaline was pumping, and it kept him going. Now, all of that was over and home started to represent a nice comfortable bed with pillows; something he hadn’t had in days. There really is no place like home.
But when he stepped into his bedroom, sleep wasn’t his first thought. He got into the shower, allowing the water to pour over his tired muscles before lathering up and rinsing away the day’s dirt. After toweling off he walked to his bed, got in and slid under the covers. They were nice and warm all because of his lovely sleeping wife. He molded his body to hers, and when he pressed into her, she wiggled in closer, but still didn’t wake up, in fact her breathing got deeper. When she woke up, Shy looked deeply into his eyes.
“Is it over now?”
“It’s over. And I’m so happy to be home.”
Later that same morning, after Shy took her mother for her chemo appointment, Black went to the hospital to see Bobby. When he arrived, Black was informed that Bobby had regained consciousness and had been moved to a room. When he cracked the door, Black saw that Bobby was asleep and appeared to be resting comfortably. Black stepped in the room and the first person he saw was Wanda. She was asleep in the chair next to the bed, holding on to Bobby’s hand. Not wanting to wake either one of them, Black quietly took a seat.
It couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes later when Wanda, opened her eyes. She started to speak, but Black put his finger over his lips. Wanda eased her hand from Bobby and got up to sit closer to Black.
“How is he?”
“He’s gonna be alright, Mike.”
“You talk to him?”
“No, but Pam did.”
“She tell him what was going on?”
“I don’t think so.” Now that she had answered all the basic questions, Wanda had one of her own. “Did you finish it?”
“Actually, Ed finished it. We tracked Warwick to Vegas.” Black leaned closer to Wanda and whispered, “Then Ed threw him off the balcony.”
“What floor were you on?”
Black smiled. “Sixteenth.”
“Good. He needed to die violently.” Wanda looked at Bobby. Then she exhaled and looked at Black. “So what happens now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean should I go home and start packing?”
Black laughed a little and Bobby began to stir. “I’m not gonna send you back to the island. And why would I?”
“Really, Mike?”
“Really. Why would I want to send you back there?”
“Because of what happened and what happened to Bobby.”
“They’re all dead and Bobby’s gonna be fine. It’s over.”
“I thought you’d be mad that I let this go on, practically under my nose,” Wanda said.
“I am. Mad as hell.”
“And that’s what got me exiled the last time.”
“That’s not why I sent you down there.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No, Wanda. You were fighting a war on three fronts, they beheaded Richie and you had just been shot by Nado Benitez. You had lost a lot of blood and the internal bleeding was extensive. You were looking at a very long recovery.”
“I know.”
“So what was I supposed to do? Leave you in the hospital and hope Benitez didn’t send men to kill you? Hope that some nurse didn’t inject an air bubble in your veins? No, Wanda, you were safer where you were. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
“But you left me down there, Mike. And if it wasn’t for Shy, I would probably still be stuck on that damn island.”
“Okay, I was mad at you.”
“See. You were mad at me then and you’re mad at me now. Back to the island.”
“Would you stop saying that? I’m not sending you back to the island.”
“So what do I do now? Meka runs my business and Patrick runs my law firm.”
“What do you wanna do?”
“I don’t know. I just want to be useful to you. Useful to myself.”
“If that’s the case, I got the perfect job for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Take care of your brothers like you’ve always done, because they need you. Now, more than ever.”
Wanda looked at Bobby. “Bobby and Jamaica.”
“Yeah, but me too. I need you, Wanda,” Black said, and took Wanda’s hand in his. “There is too much going on in our world for me not to have you with me.”
Massapequa, New York
Agent McCullough drove the car down Sutton Place and parked in the driveway. She reached in the glove compartment and got her other gun. Once McCullough checked it, she got out of the car, walked toward the house and rang the bell. It wasn’t long before the porch light came on and the door opened.
“McCullough?”
