New York's Finest (14 page)

“
Hola, Mommie!” she greeted me. “And how are you Damian?” she continued, as she let us inside the luxury apartment.

I swear I didn’t know how to take her happy-go-lucky routine. In actuality, Vanessa was a mean bitch eighty-five percent of the time, so for her to act like she was excited to see us was weird. In fact, I knew she was being phony, but I went along and played her game with her. I even went as far as hugging her and giving her a kiss on her cheek. Damian looked at me like I was crazy.

“
Where’s the man of the house?” I asked.

“
He and Foxx are in the bedroom, but they’ll be out in a minute. Go to the den area and wait for them.”

“
A’ight. Thanks,” Damian replied and then he followed me towards that area of the penthouse, while I followed behind Vanessa.

I looked back at Damian and gave him a funny expression while Vanessa wasn’t looking. He smiled back at me and shook his head like he knew what time it was. “Y’all want something to drink?” she asked after we entered into the den area.

“
Nah, I’m straight,” Damian spoke up first.

“
Yes, I’m fine too. I just had a sixteen ounce bottle of water on my way here,” I lied and then I took a seat on my brother’s white leather sofa. Damian sat next to me.

“
Well, just let me know if y’all change your minds,” she replied as she stood in the middle of the floor showing off her Python print sling back Christian Louboutin heels. Even though I couldn’t stand the sight of this snake ass bitch, she wore the hell out of those shoes. And to sport the Python print satin blouse and a belt to accessorize with the tan linen shorts she had on was really hot! One thing I could say about the slut was that she was a miserable ass- hole, but she knew how to spend my brother’s money. She took advantage of Reggie’s cheating by going on serious shopping sprees to make herself feel better. She even took money from his emergency stash a few times after she learned or suspected him of cheating. That was why Reggie got the other spot, to keep her slimy paws off his loot. He kept his money there. And Damian and I were the only ones who knew about it.

While Ms. Gold-digger stood front and center so Damian and I could look her over, Foxx finally escorted Reggie into the room. It was then that it hit me that when our mom or dad was around, then Vanessa would go into that nice daughter-in-law routine. I laughed inside because both my mom and dad knew she was a money grubbing bitch, who didn’t know the meaning of the word love.

Reggie’s shoulder and left leg were bandaged. He was moving around gingerly. While Foxx was getting him situated on the love seat across from us, Vanessa walked over to them and acted like she was concerned for his well well-being. “Baby, think you’re gonna need a pillow for your back?” she asked.

Reggie knew she was putting on an act in front of everyone, especially for Foxx, so he played along with her. I’m sure he figured if he went along with her game, then he’d be able to have a little more peace than normal. “Yeah, but get me that small black pillow on our bed. That one would probably work better than all the other pillows we’ve got,” he told her.

“
Okay,” she said and then she left the room.

Damian and I looked at each other again right after she left the room. “She’s so fucking fake! It’s ridiculous,” I mumbled loud enough for only Damian to hear me.

While Vanessa was in the bedroom, Reggie started in on a conversation. “I’m glad y’all made it here in one peace.”

“
Me too,” I chimed in.

“
Yeah, it was rough at first, but we came out of it,” Damian added.

“
You don’t think no one followed y’all back here, do you?” Foxx wanted to know. I loved my dad but he was nothing like his best friend, Stone. Stone was a very adequate name for Uncle Stone. Nothing fazed that damn man. But Foxx was overcautious and always on alert. I couldn’t complain though. He had only spent one stint in prison for three years and that was saying something for a man who had been running the streets for over fifty-five years.

“
Nah, because after we got away from that run in, we made a detour and went straight out to the Polo Grounds.”

“
So you don’t think no one followed you after you left the Polo Grounds to come here?” Reggie wanted to know.

“
Nah, nobody followed us,” Damian said adamantly.

“
What about Ben and Dre? They handled their business tonight?” Reggie continued.

“
Yeah, they put in the required work. It just messed me up to see that Lil Man was down with that shit that went down,” Damian said.

I sat there and remained quiet. I had no knowledge of the relationship Reggie and Damian had with Lil Man. Nor did I want to know, especially after what I witnessed tonight. While they discussed bits and pieces of what transpired tonight, Vanessa walked her grimy ass back in the room and placed the black pillow Reggie had requested behind his back. Two seconds later, their door bell rung. Everyone in the room knew it had to be Miguel, but no one opened their mouth to actually say it. Reggie instructed Vanessa to answer the door.

After she went to let Miguel in, I got up from my chair, told them to excuse me and then I went to the bathroom located in the nearby hallway. I had to get away for a moment so I could clear my mind and douse my face with some cold water before I came face-to-face with Miguel again. He wasn’t like his father Marco, but I could tell that he was a piece of work. And if he was anything like his father, I knew when he stepped into that back room with us, then he would mean business.

By the time I got out of the bathroom he had already entered the room and greeted everyone, including Foxx. I heard all of their voices loud and clear. I started to exit the bathroom so I could enter back into the den and make Miguel aware of my presence, but I decided that I’d wait just a few more minutes. I wanted to hear how Reggie would handle Miguel’s shipment situation without my involvement. After I sat down on the side of the toilet stool, I heard an earful. Miguel’s English was much better than his father’s, so it wasn’t hard to follow their conversation at all.

“
Naomi is taking care of business in another room but she’ll be out in a moment,” Reggie said.

“
What you and I need to discuss doesn’t require her presence,” Miguel stated.

“
Well, let’s begin then,” I heard Reggie say. Then I heard Miguel start up by saying that he and his father had a lot of new territory that needed to be supplied and in order to do that they needed me to make a way for his shipments to come through my channels at least twice a month.

“
That part I’m already aware of Miguel. What I need to know now is how much is coming through? Remember, the amount of product you’re requiring to come through Naomi’s channels will determine how much manpower we’ll need. We can’t have a half of ton of product coming through and we have only three men working the site. With a load like that we’ll need at least two or three extra men. And with more manpower comes more payout.”

“
If the products are packaged inconspicuously then we wouldn’t need all of that manpower,” Miguel suggested.

In my mind, it was obvious that Miguel was trying to find a way to get out of telling Reggie how much was coming in, so he wouldn’t have to pay us more to make sure it got through our channels without any interruptions. Little did he know, Reggie wasn’t going for that bullshit he was throwing our way. Reggie was more of a businessman than he’d ever be, so he’d better step up to the plate and come correct.

“
The way our operation works, it really doesn’t matter how the load is packaged up,” Damian chimed in. “We, and the folks in our employ, take the risk. We ensure they get paid and they ensure we get our product. If not, they could possibly have thoughts about getting the shipment intercepted so they could keep it for themselves. Then what do we do? Kill them . . . and hope we can find other employees who are as cool as they were? That’s why it’s important for you to have extra manpower in the loop. That way the men who are put in charge to make sure the loads get through can and will be watched by the extra men we have lurking behind the scenes and undetected.”

I had to admit that Damian impressed me the way he stepped in and had Reggie’s back. I’m sure Reggie appreciated it as well. I had to remember they had been friends for thirty damn years and probably knew how each other thought. I waited for Miguel come to back at them with more of his slick as talk but he remained quiet. I figured he was trying to figure out how to negotiate with Reggie and Damian without giving them too much power. I sat back in the bathroom and laughed my butt off because I knew that he felt somewhat powerless in this group of three men. I guessed now he knew how I felt when he and Marco had my ass backed up against the wall while I was on their territory.

“
Listen, Miguel,
I'm a businessman, so I don't mind doing this new venture. But you and Marco gotta’ cut us some slack,” I heard Reggie say. “When we take on a job we don't do it half ass! We stand behind everything we do. That's why it's important for us to know the exact weight of the load, so we can get the right people in place. Plus, we need the necessary capital to pay them . . . because at the end of the day, we're paying them to protect a much larger investment.”

“
How much do you want?” Miguel asked.

“
See, you’re missing the point,” Reggie replied quickly. “I can’t tell you how much money it’ll take to get your product through until you tell us how much weight you’re getting shipped.”

“
Well, I’ma tell you right now that that’s not going to happen. When we used to use cargo ship containers to get out product out of South America, or use mules to transport it from one state to the next, we never told them how much they were carrying. It was none of their business. The only thing they needed to worry about was getting it to its destination safely. That’s it. So, the same rules apply here.”

“
Okay, listen, I’ll tell you what, Miguel,” Reggie retorted, “if you and Marco agree to pay us $300,000 per shipment, which I think is more than fair considering you could maximize each load by shipping anywhere between one hundred and fifty to two hundred kilos at a time and come off lovely. Because if you look at it from a profit standpoint, you can sell each kilo for twenty-eight to thirty grand wholesale and end up with over five and a half million easy. So three hundred grand is a drop in the bucket when you look at all the money you stand to make.”

I waited for Miguel to speak. But for the first thirty seconds he didn’t say anything. I figured he was doing the math in his own head and wanted to be sure about the figures Reggie was throwing at him. At this point in the conversation, I wished I was there so I could see the look on his face.

“
If I agree to pay you three hundred thousand dollars, I can ship as much product as I want?” Miguel finally spoke up.

Reggie started laughing. Apparently he thought Miguel was either being humorous or he was trying to insult him. I couldn’t stand being in the bathroom anymore. I felt like I had to get in on the conversation with Miguel and Reggie, so I got up from the toilet and opened the bathroom door. It startled me to see Vanessa standing next to the door. She literally scared the shit out of me, which of course made me jump back. “You scared me too death!” I said.

Being that she wasn’t expecting to see me coming out of the bathroom only to catch her eavesdropping on my brother’s business deal, she didn’t know how to carry herself. Her body language was totally off. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were in there,” she said quietly. It was evident that she didn’t want Reggie to hear our conversation.

“
I was trying to use the bathroom but I couldn’t,” I told her.

“
I’m glad you came out first, because I was getting ready to come in there myself,” she continued saying, trying to convince me that she was only there for a couple of seconds. But she knew I knew what time it was with her. So I did the noble thing and tried my best to make her feel less awkward.

While Vanessa tried to paint the picture that she was so glad that she hesitated before she walked into the bathroom so I wouldn’t go back and tell Reggie the real deal, I heard Reggie reiterate to Miguel that he could send as much coke in at a time, but it couldn’t weigh over one ton, especially at the price he was paying us. And once Miguel understood Reggie’s terms, he finally agreed to them.

Before I could get back into the room, Miguel told Reggie that he wanted us to make the proper arrangements. He wanted his first shipment to come in one week from today. Reggie knew he couldn’t make that judgment call, because that was my area of expertise. He knew I only scheduled shipment deliveries on the days I worked. When he yelled my name and told me to come back to the den, I knew he needed me to give Miguel the green light.

I patted Vanessa on the back and told her to stop explaining and that I was fine and then I walked off. When I entered back into the den, all eyes were on me. Reggie quickly brought me to speed about how he and Miguel came to an agreement about the figures, so the deal had been made. Now he needed me to shed light on whether or not Miguel would be able to get his first shipment in one week from today? Since I had already heard the question from the hallway, I had time to think if I worked next Tuesday. I looked at Reggie and Miguel both and told them what they wanted to hear.

“
Yes, I work next Tuesday, so that would be fine. All I need to know is whether or not you’d rather ship your load in the morning or at night?”