Three the Hard Way: A Play in Two Acts (2 page)

"Acknowledged."

"Good," Travis said. "If I’m right that’s where the computer and the codes are."

"Okay. Once we’re in, you get to work on gettin’ those codes, and me and Black will handle the rest."

"Acknowledged," Travis said.

The three of us made our way to the window and went in. As he expected, the computer was there, and Travis went to work on it. Monika went to the door and peeked out into the hallway. She turned to me. "Hallway is clear. You ready for this?"

"Right behind you," I said.

"I’ll take the three men in the kitchen. The two guys in the living room are yours."

"Got it," I said and followed Monika into the hallway. We made our way down the hall to the unsuspecting opposition.

When we reached the open area, Monika tossed a flash grenade in the living room and then she moved toward the kitchen while I went in the living room. The sudden flash of light and loud noise distracted the two men in the living room and before they could react, I fired two shots to their chests and then one apiece to the head.

Hearing the commotion, the three men in the kitchen began to move toward the living room, but Monika was there waiting. She hit the first two that came out of the kitchen and then she went in after the third man. Monika fired two more shots as she passed the fallen opposition.

"Upstairs sentry on the move, headed in your direction," Jackie announced.

"I got him, Omega," I said and moved toward the steps.

Monika went in the kitchen and didn’t see anybody. "Where is he, Omega?"

"Dining room; to the left of the doorway. If you go around to the other side of the living room, you may be able to get a cleaner shot at him."

"Acknowledged," Monika said and came out of the kitchen. She made her way around as Jackie recommended. He never saw her coming. Monika entered the room, fired two shots, and he was down.

"First floor secure," she reported.

"Acknowledged, Alpha," Jackie said.

I waited in a doorway for the upstairs sentry to come down. Once he reached the first level and passed me, I moved out and caught him with two to the back of his head. "Sentry is down. I’m goin’ up."

"Negative, Gamma. Hold your position until I get there," Monika barked.

"Right," I said and waited for her.

"Report, Omega," Monika said.

"Objective’s position remains unchanged."

"Acknowledged," Monika said and joined me at the bottom of the steps.

"After you," I said and extended my hand graciously.

Monika smiled and moved up the steps quickly, and I gladly followed right behind her. Monika has one of the prettiest asses I’ve ever seen. Once we reached the door, Monika stepped aside and extended her hand graciously. "After you."

I centered myself and kicked in the door. Monika went through the door quickly and found a very surprised couple in the bed. She shot both of them, and then approached the bed to make sure she had eliminated the objective. "That’s him. Clean and easy. Let’s see how Travis is doing." Monika fired two more shots at the objective before turning to me.

"After you—big ass," I said, and Monika walked past me.

"Maybe someday you’ll do something with it."

"Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it," I said and followed Monika down the stairs.

"Promises, promises," she said. And we went back in the room where Travis was working. "Status?"

"Almost there. Once I’m in, I’ll transmit the account codes to Omega."

"Make it quick," Monika said and turned to me. "Come with me. You can watch my back. I know how much you enjoy that," she said quietly as she passed me.

While Travis completed his part of the job, Monika planted explosive devices in strategic locations around the house. It wasn’t too much longer before Travis had broken the encryption and transmitted the codes to Jackie. We left the house, returned to the truck, and Jackie drove off. Once we were out of range, Monika activated the explosives and blew up the house. The fire could be seen from miles away.

Chapter Two

Jackie dropped me and Monika off at Cuisine, the supper club I own and operate my businesses from. When she drove off, me and Monika started walking toward the club. "You weren’t bad tonight," she said. "I might use you again."

"As long as the money is right, maybe you
could
use me again."

"Shit, you the one making all the money on this job. I gotta give you your taste, plus pay you for the job."

"Yeah," I said. As we got close to the building we were startled by a voice in the shadows.

"Black! Mike Black! Time to settle our business!"

The man moved into the light and I could see that it was Crazy Joe Delfino. Back in the day, Joe used to do jobs with Angelo Colette. Me, Angelo, and Joe were supposed to hijack a load of cigarettes from a truck at the Molly Pitcher service area on the New Jersey Turnpike. Me and Angelo got there late, so Crazy Joe did the job alone. He was arrested by Newark police at the tollbooth when he got off the turnpike.

Crazy Joe found out later that me and Angelo were late because we stopped to rob a jewelry store to settle an argument on the way to the job.

"I ain’t scared of shit, Mikey. You fuckin’ know that shit," Angelo boasted as we drove to New Jersey to meet Joe.

"All I’m sayin’ is I like to plan a job before I do it. That don’t make me scared; that makes me careful," I told Angelo that day.

"You won’t do it ’cause you’re scared, Mikey. Scared ’cause you don’t know what you’re walkin’ into. Me, I don’t give a fuck. I’m ready for whatever they got in there."

"Fuck you, Angee. And fuck that dumb shit you talkin’. We just passed a jewelry store ’bout a block ago. If you such a bad mutha fucka, turn this car around and go rob the mutha fucka."

"Never challenge me, Mikey. You know better. You know I will turn this heap around and do that shit, but we gotta meet Crazy Joe."

"What’s that I smell? Is it pussy in here I smell? ’Cause it sounds to me like somebody’s scared," I taunted.

"I ain’t scared of shit, Mikey; and I ain’t no fuckin’ pussy," Angelo said and made a U-turn. Angelo double-parked the car in front of the store. "You comin’ with me, chicken shit?"

"Let’s go," I said and got out of the car.

The robbery went off without any problems, but we got stuck in traffic coming across the George Washington Bridge. When we got to the service area, we found Joe’s car, but no Joe. Angelo found out the next day that Joe was arrested. At his trial he was sentenced to ten years. Crazy Joe blamed me for him getting arrested and vowed to kill me because I knew I shouldn’t have challenged Angelo.

When Crazy Joe began moving toward me, Monika reached for her gun. "Stay outta this, Monika," I said and handed her my gun. I started walking toward Crazy Joe with my arms extended. "You gonna shot me, Joe? Go ahead. I ain’t got no gun."

"Bullshit, Black! You always packin’."

"Not tonight, Joe. Just got through takin’ care of some business, and I had to ditch mine." I held open my coat. "Look; no guns."

"Doesn’t matter. We gonna settle this tonight."

"Come on with it then. But you don’t wanna shoot me, Joe. You wanna kick my ass and wrap your hands around my throat and choke the shit outta me."

Crazy Joe dropped his gun and began running toward me. He tackled me; and the two of us fell to the ground. We rolled around in the street for a while before I got on top and hit Joe several times in the face.

Monika took out her gun and watched us fight it out; and I knew that she was ready to shoot Joe if things got out of hand.

Crazy Joe was a big mutha fucka and strong as hell. He pushed me off him, got to his feet, and rushed me again. I stepped aside, grabbed Joe, and rammed him into a car. Crazy Joe wasn’t fazed. He came at me again, fists flying. We traded blows until Joe went down. Joe got up and came after me again.

Joe picked up a garbage can and threw it. I ducked and it missed me, but it gave Joe a chance to get on top of me. Again, the two of us exchanged blows until this time it was me that went down. Crazy Joe stood over me and kicked me a few times. But then I punched Joe in the groin and got up.

With Joe dazed, I hit him with lefts and rights to his face, and then threw a shot to the stomach that took the wind outta Joe. But Joe rushed at me again and we both went to the ground. I pushed Joe off and got to my feet. "Come on!" I yelled.

Joe got up and rushed at me like a raging bull. I stepped to the side and caught Joe with another hard shot to the gut. Joe doubled over and grabbed his stomach. I delivered a knee lift to Joe’s face. Crazy Joe went down hard.

I stood over him, tired and breathing hard. "Get up, Joe. Let’s finish this!"

But instead of getting up Crazy Joe started laughing. "I’m too fuckin’ tired to get up."

I looked at Joe for a while trying to catch my breath, then I sat down next to him. "So what do we do now, Joe?"

"I don’t know, but I’m too fuckin’ tired to keep fightin’," Crazy Joe said. "And my fuckin’ nuts hurt."

"I don’t wanna fight you, Joe. We go too far back for this shit."

"I know, but you owe me, Black. Ten fuckin’ years you owe me."

"I know, Joe, but you shoulda fuckin’ waited for us. We just got caught in traffic."

"No!" Crazy Joe yelled and Monika pointed her gun at him. "You were late ’cause you made Angee stop to rob some fuckin’ jewelry store. That’s what happened."

"You know I can’t make Angee do shit."

"You shoulda never challenged him!" Joe shouted. "You fuckin’ know better than to challenge him."

I held my hands up in surrender. "Okay, Joe. You’re right. I shoulda never challenged him."

"You damn right you shouldn’ta."

"So how do we settle this?"

"That your joint there?" Joe asked and pointed in the direction of Cuisine.

"Yeah, Joe, that’s my joint."

"Buy me a drink, and we’ll call it square," Crazy Joe said and held out his hand.

I got up and grabbed his hand. I helped Crazy Joe get to his feet and we walked slowly toward Monika.

"Who’s the pretty lady, Black?"

"That’s Monika. Monika, this is an old friend of mine, Joey Delfino," I said as we walked past her.

Monika put away her gun and followed us inside. She shook her head. "Men."

Chapter Three

When the alarm went off at nine o’clock in the morning, it was too early for me. Considering the fact that I’d been drinking and telling old stories with Crazy Joe until after five in the morning, it was way too early.

Even though I didn’t want to, I opened my eyes and looked around the room. The first thing that caught my attention was that I was alone. I tried to think. The last thing I remembered was putting Joe in a cab and getting in Monika’s truck. I didn’t think I was that drunk, but I’d worry about that later. Now I had to get up and meet Wanda in her office to attend yet another series of seemingly endless meetings.