Out of Control (24 page)

Did he give her too much power? The answer was yes. It wasn’t that Rain wasn’t good at what she did, she was. Rain was excellent. And it wasn’t that she was rude and brutal, as Wanda said. Being brutal was part of the job. The problem was Rain. Putting Rain out there like he had was a cold slap in the face to Wanda. That was the mistake he made.

Just then, Monika came and sat down next to him. She pushed a glass of Johnnie Walker Black in front of him. “You all right?” she asked and pointed at his chest.

“Yeah, I’m all right. It only hurts when I breathe.”

“How many you take?”

“Two to the chest,” Nick said and took a sip.

“That puts you three behind me, junior,” Monika said proudly. She had been shot five times while they were pursuing Chilly. Two shots in the chest, two to the head, one hit her above the left ear and one in her eye. They weren’t able to save her eye. The other one was in her hand.

“I’ll gladly let you keep that record.”

“See that you do. I’m in no mood to lose any more friends. Losing Jett was hard enough,” she said referring to their partner Jett Bronson. He was murdered the day after Monika got shot. “I can’t lose you too.”

“You won’t.”

Monika punched Nick in the shoulder. “Then why don’t you let me help you with shit like this?”

“You’re always busy doin’ stuff for Black,” Nick said, but he knew that was just an excuse. Then he decided to tell her the truth. “That and I can’t lose you either. Burying Jett and telling his family was the hardest thing I had to do. I can’t do anything that might get you hurt again. Remember it was me who insisted that you go after Chilly alone that night.”

“I’m a big girl, Nick. You know I can take care of myself. What you think Black got me doin’; making brownies?”

“I know exactly what you’re capable of, so I know what Black has you doin’. The difference is I didn’t send you.”

Monika thought about what he said and saw his point so she didn’t push it any further. So she asked the question that was really on her mind. “You think they gonna kill her?”

Nick finished his drink before answering. “Yes.”

When Black told Jackie to lock the door on her way out of the office, it told Rain one thing.
The cavalry ain’t comin’ to save my ass this time.
By the time anybody got past Monika and made it through that door, she’d be dead.

“Give me one reason why Bobby shouldn’t shoot you right now?” Black asked and Bobby took out his gun. He pointed it at Rain’s head. “Better question; tell me why Nick didn’t put a pillow over your face while you were in the hospital?”

“You gotta ask Nick that,” Rain said with attitude.

“Wrong answer. Kill her, Bobby.”

“Wait!”

Bobby lowered the gun a little.

“I know that I been a lotta trouble, but I been tryin’ to get my shit right. I gave up the dope game like Nick told me to and shit. But when it seemed like they was bringin’ it to us and shot Nick, I had to do what I did.”

Black looked at Rain for a while and didn’t say anything.

“Can I say one more thing?” she asked without the attitude. She understood that attitude would get her killed.

“Go ahead,” Black said.

“Nick told me that when your wife was murdered that you killed
everybody
you
thought
was involved,” Rain said using her hands to emphasize her point.

“You askin’ me what makes you any different?”

“Yeah, I am. Somebody tried to kill my man. I went hard at the people I thought did it. I ain’t tryin’ to get smart, ’cause I know Bobby
will
shoot me, but what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just sit back and take that shit.”

“The girl got a point, Mike,” Bobby said and moved his gun away from Rain’s head. “She just did the same shit we would do.”

“Shut up, Bobby,” Black said and his expression softened a little. Rain tried not to laugh, but a little smile broke through.

Bobby put his gun back to her head. “What you smilin’ about, little girl? You still might die in here tonight.”

“You have any idea how much money you cost me? Grant might have been weak,” Black began.

“And an asshole,” Bobby added.

“But he was a good earner,” Black said and looked at Bobby. “This little family feud got my whole program is disarray. And it’s all because of you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” Bobby said. “I know you smart enough to understand that this whole thing is goin’ on because you took Nick from Wanda and then you slapped the shit out of her in public.” Bobby put the gun to her temple. “Say it ain’t and I’ll blow your brains out. Ain’t that what you told Jackie? Say it ain’t your fault and I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains out.”

Black put his hand over his eyes and laughed a bit, and then he got serious again. “I told Nick this once, now I’m tellin’ you personally. You ain’t got no more times to fuck up in my house.”

“I’m good wit’ that,” Rain said.

“Put the gun down Bobby. We ain’t gonna kill Ms. Robinson tonight.”

“Thank you,” Rain said and breathed a sigh of relief.

“And I’ll tell you why. It
is
because you did what you had to do when somebody came after Nick. Because you
did
what you were supposed to do. Same shit I woulda done if I were in your place. You went hard at the people you thought did it. That’s how the game is played.”

“My daddy taught me the rules to this game,” Rain said.

“You know I liked your father. He was a stand up guy.”

“He thought the same thing about you.”

“Now that you two have had your Kumbaya moment,” Bobby said. “There is still a question that needs an answer,”

Black looked at Bobby and then back to Rain. “I know you do, Ms. Robinson, but I don’t think Wanda sent that team to kill Nick,” he said.

“I don’t either,” Bobby said. “But tell me why you don’t.”

“You mean other than the fact that I don’t want to?”

“Yeah, other than that,” Bobby said.

“It doesn’t make any sense. I can believe that she would want to kill Ms. Robinson, but not Nick.”

“So if Wanda didn’t send them, who did?”

“I don’t know, Bobby. Let’s go find out.” Black got up and opened the door and called Jackie. She went in the office and closed the door as Nick looked on.

“You can have your office back. We’re done here.” Black saw how Rain was looking at Jackie. “And just so you know, Ms. Robinson, Jackie didn’t call me.”

“She didn’t?”

“No,” Bobby said. “I told him.”

Black looked at Rain. “You’re with me tonight.”

“Okay, just let me tell Nick,” Rain said and started for the door.

“He’ll be all right. Come on,” Black said and walked out the back door. Bobby extended his arm for Rain. She walked out behind Black and Bobby followed her out of the gambling house.

Rain followed Black and Bobby to the rental car. “Mind if I make a suggestion?” she said.

“Go ahead,” Black said.

“If we goin’ huntin’, I suggest we take the Suburban.”

“Why?” Bobby asked.

“When this began, Nick had Chance trick it out with reinforced steel and bulletproof windows. It’s a fuckin’ tank.”

“Okay we’ll take yours,” Black said and followed Rain to the Suburban.

“Who is Chance?” Bobby asked.

“He took over Clay’s Garage after y’all killed Bo and Hank,” Rain said and got in.

“You been gone a long time, Bobby,” Black said.

“Yeah, but I’m back now.”

The suspense was killing him. It had been more than an hour since Black called Jackie in the office. Nick got tired of sitting there waiting for Rain to come out. He got up and knocked on the door to Jackie’s office.

“Come,” Jackie yelled.

Nick opened the door and was surprised to find that Jackie was alone. “Where is everybody?”

Jackie looked up. “They left an hour ago,” she said and went back to what she was doing.

Nick left the office thinking that they are going to kill Rain. He rushed out of the house, followed by Rain’s men. “What’s wrong, Nick?” Memphis asked.

“Rain is gone,” Nick said.

“And so is our ride,” Chris Toney said when he noticed that the Suburban was no longer parked where they left it. Nick ran back inside and found Monika.

“I need you to take me somewhere,” Nick said.

Without asking where or why, Monika got up and led Nick to her car. “What’s goin’ on?” Monika asked once they were in the car.

“Black and Bobby are gone and they took Rain with them,” Nick said.

“Damn,” Monika said. “They are gonna kill her.”

“Take me to the parlor,” Nick said and Monika headed there. When they got there, nobody was there and the crematorium was cold. Nick took out his cell phone and called Rain’s cell.

Rain looked at the display on her phone. “It’s Nick.”

“Answer that Bobby,” Black said and Rain handed her phone to Bobby.”

“Hello,” Bobby said.

“Bobby?” Nick said tentatively.

“What’s up, Nick? What you want?”

“I wanted to talk to Rain.”

“She can’t come to the phone right now,” Bobby said laughing.

“Why not?”

“She’s busy.”

“You tell him not to worry about Ms Robinson,” Black shouted. “He needs to—give me the fuckin’ phone.” Bobby handed the phone to Black. “You don’t need to worry about Ms Robinson. You need to be all about makin’ peace with Wanda!” Black shouted and hung up the phone. Then he dialed Wanda’s number.

She had just arrived at her house. She looked at the display and recognized the number as being Rain’s cell. “What the fuck do you want?” Wanda answered with a nasty attitude.

“I want you to make peace with Nick. That’s what the fuck I want.”

“I’m sorry, Mike, I didn’t know it was you.”

“I guess not. You and I need to have a conversation, Wanda.”

“I know.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow, but this war ends tonight. You make peace with Nick, understand,” Black said and ended the call without giving Wanda a chance to answer.

Black gave Rain back her phone as she pulled up in front of Cynt’s. They got out of the Suburban and approached the building. “You go in first, Ms Robinson,” Black said.

Rain smiled and went in. As soon as Dwayne saw Rain come through the door, he ran to tell Cynt. “Rain is here.”

“Who’s with her?” Cynt asked.

“She’s alone.”

Cynt got her gun out of the drawer and followed Dwayne out of the office. By the time they got to the floor, Black and Bobby had come in and were standing with Rain.

“I thought you said she was alone.”

“She was.”

As discreetly as she could, Cynt handed the gun to Dwayne and approached Black. “Hello, Mike. Hello, Bobby,” Cynt said and hugged both of them.

“Who were you plannin’ on shootin’, Cynt?”

“Huh?”

“If you can huh, you can hear,” Bobby said.

“I—I—”

“In your office.” Black pointed. “Now.”

“Yes, sir,” Cynt said sheepishly and led the way.

Once they were in the office and everybody was seated, Black stared Cynt down and waited for her to say something. “You want to tell me what’s goin’ on?”

“I—I—”

“You said that already. Come up with something new,” Bobby said.

“Nevermind, Cynt. I already talked to Nick and Wanda. What were you thinkin’? What was she thinkin’? And this time, I do want an answer,” Black demanded.

“That means no I—I—I shit, Cynt. Come on now, use them lips,” Bobby said.

“We all agreed that something needed to be done about her,” Cynt said and pointed at Rain. “That everything went a lot smoother when Wanda ran things and that she needed to take over.”

“That your idea or Wanda’s?” Bobby asked even though he knew the answer.

Cynt didn’t answer.

“Answer the man, Cynt,” Black said.

“Wanda discussed it with me, yes. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t agree with her.”

“Who put the contract out on Nick?” Rain asked.

Cynt didn’t answer.

“Answer the woman, Cynt,” Black said and Rain smiled.

“I don’t know. Wanda told me that she didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“I’m gonna tell you this one time, Cynt. Next time you, Wanda or anybody try to take over my shit, I don’t give a fuck how far we go back, Bobby will put two in your head,” Black said.