Beneath The Surface (38 page)

“That’s probably what was in the knapsack old girl had over her shoulder,” Rain said.

Nick didn’t say anything, he just kept searching. Rain went into one of the bedrooms. She turned over the bed. “Oh shit.”

Nick made his way in the room. Rain was on her knees looking in a box that was under the bed. “What you got?”

Rain stepped aside. “Take a look.”

“Damn, this nigga takes his firepower seriously,” Nick said as he looked in the box that was filled with weapons.

“For real.”

“He got a Barrret 82A1, a Benelli M4, a Remington 870 Tactical, and a browning Citori XT. This is a Beretta CX4, what else we got here. A Colt M16, a S&W 22A, Les Baer custom AR15 and a M&P 9 millimeter Lugar,” Nick said and put the weapons back in the box. “Go get the car,” he told Rain. After searching the rest of the house, they took the weapons and headed back to the Bronx.

Darryl and Taquandria drove to a deserted part of the city and pulled over. “TQ. I need you to call the police. Tell them you was at your mama’s house, and when came out, somebody had stolen your car.”

Taquandria took out her cell. “I got you.”

Darryl kissed her. “You got any tools in the trunk?”

“I don’t know. Look and see.”

Darryl found some and took the plates off the car. When Taquandria was finished with the police, they started walking. They had gone about a mile, when Darryl told Taquandria to wait on the corner. He kept going and went inside an apartment building.

Taquandria had been standing on the corner for fifteen minutes when Darryl pulled up in front of her in Joyce Bell’s car. She looked at the car. “Oh, no. I am not gettin’ in that bitch’s car.”

“We don’t have time for this, TQ. Get in the fuckin’ car!”

Taquandria got in the car and they drove off. “Did you fuck her?”

“No!” Darryl lied. He had to bend her over some furniture before she gave up the keys. He drove straight to his brother’s house. Alan Abraham was an ex-combat Marine.

After he told Alan what happened, he looked at his brother. “I knew when you told me that it was Nick Simmons’s club we were gonna rob, that it was a bad idea.” Alan knew Nick from Beirut. “But I let you talk me into it. You said it would be easy!”

“It was easy!” Darryl shouted back.

“Yeah, it was. Too easy. But now this nigga done hunted you down. How they find you?”

“I guess they followed TQ”

“How they find me?” Taquandria asked.

“Doesn’t matter. For all you know they might be outside now with a whole army of niggas.” Alan went to the window and looked out.

“It was only two of them,” Darryl said. “Him and a woman.”

“Probably Rain Robinson,” Alan said.

“I guess Blue didn’t kill her,” Darryl said.

“No, I guess Blue didn’t kill that murdering psychopath!” Alan yelled at his brother, and then thought for a second. “We need to go underground for a while. Spend some time in Georgia.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Darryl said.

“Now, ain’t you glad that I kept most of the money,” Alan said and lit a cigar.

Wanda Moore sat in the backseat of the Cadillac CTS as her
driver,
James drove her to Cynt’s. It wasn’t a limo, but Wanda hated driving in traffic, so she hired James to drive her wherever she needed to go.

She looked out the window and thought about what she was about to do and how she had let things get to this point. Now she was on her way to Cynt’s to meet with Cynt, Doc, and Grant. They each run gambling houses for Black, and had the organization and the influence to help Wanda in what she planned to do. Her plan was simple. Destroy Nick Simmons and take control of the organization away from him.

Although she’d originally supported Black’s decision to put Nick in charge after Freeze was murdered, she didn’t agree with it. And had Black consulted with her first, she would have told him so. At that point she knew her power was slipping away from her. When Black left the country and eventually married Cassandra, she was the boss. Freeze and everybody else answered to her and she liked it that way.

When Black came back to the city, he let Cassandra
play
like she was in charge. But everybody knew that she was just a puppet mouthing the words Black was putting in her mouth. When Cassandra was brutally murdered, Black was distraught and put Freeze in charge. But Freeze always turned to her for advice and counsel, so she still had the power. Then Freeze was murdered.

Wanda always thought it was too soon to put Nick in that position. He wasn’t ready for it. But she went along with it because, at the time, she was in love with Nick and knew that she would still have influence.

If she chose to be honest with herself, and at the time she didn’t, she would have to admit that she still was in love with Nick, and that that’s what all this was really about.

But none of that changed the fact that Nick wasn’t ready to lead the organization. “But Black is so fuckin’ loyal to Nick that he can’t see that. Men can be so blind.”

Nick had just returned from a ten-year absence and was just getting back into things. He ran off and joined the army when Bobby Ray threatened to kill him over Camille Augustus. And then he stood by and let Freeze get killed. Wanda knew that there were more than enough people in the organization that blamed Nick for Freeze’s death, and just as many who were dissatisfied with the way Nick ran things. She was going to meet with three of them now.

James parked the car in front of Cynt’s and got out to open the door for Wanda. “Thank you, James. I’ll be about an hour.”

“Do you want me to wait?”

“No. I’ll call when I’m ready to go,” Wanda said and went inside.

Since she didn’t like walking through the crowd of horny men and naked women, Wanda used her card key to gain access to the steps leading directly to Cynt’s office. When Wanda walked in the office, Cynt, Doc, and Grant were all waiting for her.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long,” Wanda said as Cynt got up from behind her desk and let Wanda sit down.

“That’s okay, Wanda. It just gave us a chance to talk among ourselves,” Grant said as he got up and refreshed his drink.

“Not talking about me I hope,” Wanda mused.

“Of course not,” Cynt said and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “You know damn well what we been talkin’ ’bout.”

And she did. Over the last few months, each of them had come to her individually to express their displeasure at the way Nick was running the show. More to the point, the way Rain treated them.

Rain was queen now; and she conducted herself that way. Nick let Rain make the rounds to collect the money from all of their spots. When Rain showed up, she always traveled with four men. They had become known as The Purple Gang. At first Rain didn’t like it; then she thought it was funny. But when she saw the type of reputation they had developed, she ran with it. They were feared and they did whatever she told them to do.

“I’m sick of that bitch Rain,” Cynt said.

“You got to do something to get that bitch off my neck, Wanda, before I have to kill her young ass,” Grant added.

“She was in here last night with that gang of hers. Disrupted the whole house,” Cynt said.

“Them niggas ain’t got
no
respect for shit,” Grant said. “What they did to Pegram was
unnecessary.”

Wanda’s eyes narrowed and she looked at Grant. “Pegram was a thief and a liar who deserved to die.”

There was silence in the room. No matter what Rain did, or how she did it, Wanda had no use for thieves.

“You need to talk to Nick and get him to do something about her,” Cynt said.

“There’s no talking to Nick. He doesn’t see anything wrong with what she’s doing,” Wanda said.

“That young bitch got that nigga so pussy whipped that he can’t see things for what they really are,” Grant said, then he realized he was talking to Wanda. “I’m sorry, Wanda.”

“That’s all right. Sad to say that you’re right. He can’t or doesn’t want to control her.”

“So what we gonna do about her?” Grant asked.

Wanda looked at Cynt. “We all know what needs to be done. Wanda, you need to take over,” Cynt said, just as Wanda wanted her to. She didn’t want to be the one to suggest it. “Things went a lot smoother when you ran things.”

Wanda knew that Grant would go along. The one she was worried about was Doc. “You’ve been very quiet, Doc. What do you think?”

“I agree that something needs to be done about Rain, but I’m just not sure this is what we need to be doing. Have you talked to Black about this?”

“Yes, I have,” Wanda lied. “And he is busy in Nassau. With Jamaica expanding his operation on the island and CeCe expecting a baby, he doesn’t have time to be bothered with this.”

“I know all that, but what did he say?” Doc asked.

“He said to do what I think is best,” Wanda lied again and looked at Cynt to back her up.

“I’m sure that Black will support what we’re doing here,” she said quickly. “And I know each one of you know enough people who are tired of Nick’s shit that we won’t have any problems making this move.”

“That’s right,” Grant said quickly. “My people are behind me and ready to make a move.”

“What do you say, Doc?” Wanda asked and wondered if she could have Doc assassinated if he wouldn’t go along.

“As long as Black
don’t
have a problem with it, I’m in,” he said somewhat reluctantly. “
Me
and my people will support whatever we decide here.”

“Then it’s settled,” Wanda said.

“Where do we start?” Grant asked.

“Before we do anything, I think it would be a good idea if all of us beefed up our security,” Doc suggested.

“I think that would be a wise move,” Cynt added.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Wanda said.

“Okay; after we add some new faces, what then?”

“When Rain comes around for the money, don’t pay her,” Wanda ordered. “And tell her that if Nick has a problem with it, that he needs to take it up with me. I’ll take all the heat.”

“Agreed,” Cynt said quickly.

“Agreed,” Grant said.

“Doc?” Cynt asked.

“Agreed.”

“Thank you all for coming,” Wanda said and everybody stood. They shook hands on their new alliance.

“Come on, Doc,” Grant said and patted a still reluctant Doc on the back. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

After that, Doc and Grant got up and left Cynt’s office. Once they were gone, Cynt turned to Wanda. “What are you gonna do when Black finds out what we’re doin’?”

“If we do what we gotta do and do it right, it will be over with before he finds out.”

“Don’t you think Nick will tell him what’s going on?”

“And admit that he can’t handle his business? I know Nick. He would die before he admits to Black that he can’t handle little old me,” Wanda laughed.

“I hope you’re right. I’m just glad that Bobby is still down South runnin’ behind Pam’s crazy ass,” Cynt offered.