The Mike Black Saga; Payback (11 page)

"I know," Nick said. He understood, but it still hurt.

"There’s some shit you gotta realize. You been gone a long time. And when you do come back, you’re still into the same shit, government shit that you were into before you got out. Only thing changed was you had a new master. All that time nobody hears from you until Gee set you up to be the fall guy for whatever her and her sister had cooked up for Chilly."

"I called Black a few times when I got back, but we never hooked up."

"Fuck that shit, Nick! I ain’t hard to find. You shoulda came to see me!" Freeze yelled.

"You know what was up with that," Nick yelled back. "And why didn’t you tell me what was up with Camille? You knew what was goin’ on. Everybody knew! Everybody but me."

"I couldn’t tell you nothin’.
I had to check you out, see if you could be trusted."

"That why you helped me? So you could watch me? To see if I could be trusted?"

"No, Nick, I helped you ’cause you my nigga, my nigga from way back. You said you needed me to ride."

"Do you trust me?"

"If I didn’t trust you, Nick,
I’da
killed you a long time ago and none of this would be happenin’," Freeze said, reminding Nick that this all began when one of the Latino men that came to Black’s Paradise looked at him.

He must have recognized me
, Nick thought, because the Latino immediately stood up and looked directly at him, took out his gun and shot the DEA agent in the head. Since then, Nick had been trying to remember where the man would have known him from and what
was the connection to DEA agent Roman Patterson
.

By 9:30, Freeze found out where Sally Fitz had been hanging out lately, and they were on their way to see him. When Nick and Freeze fell up in a place called Some Joint in Queens, they were glad they were both heavily armed. Nick spotted Sal at the bar, surrounded by four women, talking loud, drink in one hand, money in the other. There was never anything low profile about Sally Fitz.

"There he is."

"I see him," Freeze said. "And look, those must be
the two Cubans Angelo told Black about
."

"You watch them. I’m goin’ over there," Nick said and made his way toward him. "Yo, Sal, Sally Fitz!"

He looked around to see who called him Sally Fitz. He only let certain people call him that. "Nick!" he yelled over the music.

His real name was Salvatore Fitzpatrick; his father was Irish and his mother was Italian. He and Nick did some work together when Sally Fitz used to run with Angelo. Their lives took a similar turn when he joined the Army. Only difference was Sally Fitz joined because he’d killed somebody, while Nick joined after Bobby tried to kill him.

Sally Fitz was the type of guy who always had a deal going. The last time Nick saw Sally Fitz was in Istanbul, Turkey. He was trying to sell some weapons back to the guys he’d stolen them from.

"Is that fuckin’ Nick?" he yelled. He came toward Nick and shook his hand. "Good to see you, Nick. What you doin’ in here?"

"Lookin’ for you."

"For me? You didn’t fall up in this joint by yourself, did you?"

"And suppose I did?" Nick looked around the room. "I can drop every ass in this joint if I had to."

"I fuckin’ know you can, Nick. I fuckin’ know you can."

"Don’t worry about it, Sal. Freeze is with me."

"Freeze! Shit, I haven’t seen his ass in years. Where’s he at?"

"Over there." Nick pointed at Freeze.

Sally Fitz threw up his arms. "Call him over."

"He’s watchin’ my back."

"This sounds fuckin’ serious."

"Someplace quiet we can talk, Sal?"

"Outside. Come on." Nick followed Sally Fitz, and Freeze followed them both out of the club. The two Cubans followed Freeze. Sally Fitz walked across the street and waved for Freeze to join them. Once again, Freeze declined Sally Fitz’s invitation, choosing instead to keep his eye on the two Cubans, who stood twenty feet away.

"So, what’s up, Nick?" Sally Fitz asked.

"I’m lookin’ for a guy named Sal that hangs out with a couple of Latinos."

Sally Fitz looked at the Cubans. "Seems like you found him," he answered.

"Not you, Sal. The Sal I’m looking for kidnapped Mike Black’s wife yesterday in the Bahamas."

"That definitely ain’t me. And if Black thinks it’s me, you make sure you tell him that I didn’t have shit to do with it.
Me and him
go too far back, Nick. Come on. Me, you, Angelo and Black, back in the day, fuckin’ forget about it. I would never. You tell him that."

"I know, Sal. I was there when it happened, so I know it wasn’t you. But you know people, Sal. I was hopin’ that you knew the guy, since you both got the same name."

"Shit, Nick, you know how many guys there are named Sal?"

"Yeah, but like I said, this one hangs with two Latinos, probably South American."

Sally Fitz thought for a minute. "Now that you mention it, I think I do know who you’re talkin’ about. Sal
Terrico
. Does a lot of business south of the border."

"You know where I can find him?"

"I got no fuckin’ idea. I only met the guy a few times. And for the life of me, I can’t remember who it was that introduced us. Only reason I remember is ’cause we was both in the same place and somebody calls him and I answered. And that’s been years ago."

"What does he look like?"

"Shit, I don’t know. He’s a tall, lanky guy, maybe six foot, black hair,
mustache
."

"Anything at all you could tell me about him?"

"All I can tell you about this guy is that he loves black chicks. He was with a different one every time I seen him. The guy was
ravin
’ about how Queens had the best black strip clubs in the city, and how he been to all of them."

"He
say
what his favorite was?"

"Place called Cityscape or some shit like that."

"Thanks, Sal. You’ve been a big help," Nick said and started to walk away.

"Forget about it. I hope you get this guy. Hey, Nick, it’s funny you come by ’cause I got something you might be interested in."

"What’s that?"

"Really it’s something you could do for me. You know a guy named Paris?"

"Paris, yeah I know him. Considers himself an information broker. We did some business together. Why?"

"Yeah, well, he
don’t
consider himself that no more, ’cause he’s fuckin’ dead."

"Who killed him?"

"One of his mules."

"Why’d the mule kill him?"

"Paris sent somebody to kill her, but his bitch kills him. So Paris sends two more guys after her. She whacks them. Then she shows up in LA and she puts a bullet in his brain."

"Just a regular Pam Grier, ain’t she?"

"You know what I’m sayin’?"

"It’s a colorful story, Sal, but why you tellin’ me this shit?"

"When Paris sent the first guy after her, she was carryin’ a package for him. The package was never recovered. And the buyer really wanted that package."

"And?"

"I don’t know who the buyer was, but your pal General Peterson was brokering the deal."

"Now you got my attention. What was in the package?"

"The way I get it, it’s got somethin’ to do with South America and drugs."

Nick took a deep breath. He knew that the buyer had to be Diego
Estabon
. Both the General and Felix worked for him, so it made sense that he was the buyer. That would also explain Diego’s interest in him. If he couldn’t kill Nick, then maybe he could get Black to do it for him by accusing Nick of being DEA.

"You want something, Sal. What is it?"

"With Paris and the General both dead and the package still in the open, I figure a smart guy like me could step in and clean up. But I need to know what I’m looking for, so I was hopin’ that since you was down there fuckin’ around with the
General,
you might know something about it."

"Sorry, Sal, I can’t help you," Nick lied. He had a good idea what was in those papers. There was probably enough information in them to get a lot of people in trouble for their involvement in the illegal drug eradication that Nick’s unit was involved in. Diego was probably not the only one anxious to make those papers disappear, along with Nick and his partners, who could be called to testify if the truth ever surfaced in Washington.

"Good luck. I hope it works out for you." Without another word, Nick left Sally Fitz standing there.

As Freeze drove off, Nick told him what Sally Fitz told him about Sal
Terrico
. Freeze immediately called Black.

"I know," Black said. "We got a tip from Angelo. We’re on our way there now."

"He likes the black tittie joints in Queens, but Cityscape is his favorite."

"You and Nick check that out. I’ll call you later," Mike said.

"We’re on it," Freeze said and turned to Nick. "We gotta check out that club," he said, but Nick didn’t answer. "Nick, you all right, man?"

"Huh?"

"Black wants us to check out Cityscape."

"Okay," Nick replied, but his mind was still on Felix and the General and those missing papers. If those papers were still in the open and the buyer still wanted them, then Monika might still be in danger.

"Drive by the hospital, Freeze. I need to check on Monika."

Chapter Thirteen

On Angelo’s word, Bobby drove out to Queens to a house on Maxwell Road. They both knew the place. It was known to be a shooting gallery, where a select clientele came to buy and shoot heroin. The place was run by a guy called Dirty Red. They called him that because of his long, red hair and beard, not to mention the fact that he was a dirty muthafucka. Some of Red’s customers were important people who came there to get high in a safe and secure atmosphere.

Bobby parked the car, and he and Mike put on their gloves. They approached the house and knocked on the door. Mike took out his gun. One of Red’s men opened the door. "Red here?" Bobby asked the huge man.

"Never heard of him."

"Yeah, right," Mike said as he hit the man in the head with his gun.

"Heard of him now?" Bobby asked as the man fell to the floor. Then Bobby hit him again to be sure he was out cold.

Red heard the noise and came down the hall. "Black, Bobby, what are you doin’ out here?" Red was a tall man, but he didn’t weigh more than 185 pounds.

"We came for the same thing everybody else does. We came to see you, Red," Bobby said as he literally pushed his way past Red.

"I didn’t know you guys were into this stuff. Well, since you’re already in, what can I do for you?"