The Corner II (19 page)

Fernando was enjoying himself even though fear lurked in the back of his mind like the shadow of death. When LaTanza knocked on his door he didn’t understand. He never worked on Sundays and immediately thought something was wrong. He was ready to do his duty as her personal bodyguard—and work was what he was going to eventually agree to. LaTanza was smart and knew that someday she might need Fernando and that is why she always toyed with the two hundred and seventy pound man. She saw the lust in his eyes from day one. That was her gift. She could read people and she read him well. She told him the story of what was going on with Carlos and her father-in-law. She poured it on thick, even adding to the story and it didn’t take long before she had the Big Pun look alike, but less fat and more muscles, hooked. They were sitting on the couch drinking some of the Patron he had sitting on the coffee table when she promised him money, status and whatever else he wanted. She reached into her Dooney and Bourke and pulled out a jewelry box. She straddled him and purposely wiggled her pelvis a bit as if she was trying to get comfortable on the big man. Her intention was to give him a taste of what was to come if he got on her team. She knew he was loyal to her and would kill anyone for her, but the boss of the family? Freddy Fuentes? She didn’t know if he’d take the bait and knew she was taking a chance. But if it didn’t work and he thought about dropping a dime on her—she’d kill him first.

Fernando got in rhythm with her movement. LaTanza was actually enjoying the only dick she’d had other than Carlos—she didn’t count the sorry dick of a drunken stepfather. She traced the several tattoos that covered his chest, arms, and the one on his stomach of a crown with the old English letters that read ‘Latin Kings’ above the crown and ‘King Love’ under it. She decided it was time so she rode him ferociously and made herself come. Her nectar flowed everywhere and the warm slickness was too much for Fernando to handle, the big man came also.

The box creaked as LaTanza opened it. She took out the Jacobs and smiled as she handed it to Fernando. He tried to hold back his excitement. He had plenty of paper because he was paid well by Carlos and LaTanza. His job of protecting her and their daughter paid him roughly ten grand a month. The Jacobs fit perfectly. LaTanza had taken it back to the jeweler this morning after church and had more links added to the watch she’d purchased for her husband so it would fit the big man’s wrist.

LaTanza played the role—laid there talking sweet to him. He agreed to team up with her. It would all be done on the low with all their moves made like a game of chess—they would always be thinking six moves ahead. Even though Fernando had his doubts, he’d already fucked LaTanza and knew there was no turning back.

*     *     *

The old man and his body guards were sitting eating some pork and Arroz con Gondules. They loved the way the Puerto Rican cook made the rice with peas dish even though they were Cuban. The old man and his bodyguards, who had been with him since he’d come to America, were relaxed. They were in their neighborhood and felt untouchable. Freddy Fuentes drank rum and laughed it up with his long time partners as they ate their meals. They were celebrating Senor Fuentes’ bodyguard, Antonio’s, birthday. After the meal they were going to a spot where three Spanish Mamis were waiting for the Viagra taking older men to come and put the little blue pill to good use. They also swallowed an ecstasy pill to keep them in a good erotic mood. The ecstasy was of a shipment that they received with a load of heroin. Senor Fuentes wanted to step his family’s game up so that they would be out of reach of Slim and Sammy’s crew who he feared would eventually one day join forces.

One of the bodyguards went to get the BMW 740. Once he pulled up to the curb, Senor Fuentes and Antonio came walking out of the restaurant, laughing. The older men had a good buzz going and when they saw the two twenty something dark skinned young Latin women walking toward them, the powerful drug lord got excited which is what ecstasy is supposed to do. His mid-section got tingly and his dick was beginning to come alive at the sight of the young tenders. One of the women had on a tight top and the cool autumn breeze made her nipples poke out and it wasn’t hard for the men to notice seeing as how she had huge breasts on her medium frame. The other woman was wearing tight jeans, a brown t-shirt with the slogan;
vote for little Pedro
printed across the chest, and a thin, short brown leather jacket over it. They were chatting and broke into bright grins when they saw the fancy dressed, shiny jewelry clad men.

“Hey, mamasitas where you headed?” Antonio asked with a drunken slur.

The woman’s Spanish accent was very thick when she answered. “To get sum’ting to eat, Papi.”

Senor Fuentes smiled, as he looked the woman in the leather jacket over with his eyes taking a liking to the hips that were wide and curvaceous. The Viagra he’d swallowed with the rum was kicking in just as the ex was. The bodyguard opened his car door and stood as he placed his hand on his pistol that was under his jacket. He was doing his job. He didn’t know the women that just happened to be walking down the street. His boss was high and wasn’t thinking and neither was Antonio, but he didn’t want to interfere with Senor Fuentes having a little fun and knew he was fast enough to get the drop on the two women if need be. That’s when the round from the rifle split his wig. His body made a loud thud as it hit the car, and before he fell to the ground, the woman with the leather coat had her nine out and put two rounds in Fuentes’ chest. A round from the rifle hit Antonio in the shoulder missing the intended target—his head. Antonio recovered but it was too late. The other woman put a knife in his neck as her partner put two in Fuentes’ head to ensure that the most feared Latin in Chicago was dead. The woman with the knife jumped as a round pierced Antonio’s head while she stood over him causing blood to splatter on her. A SUV came to a screeching halt and the two women killers jumped in. The vehicle sped off and they began their transformation by taking off their wigs, changing clothes and the bras that were filled with silicone breast implant balls. They went from size 38Ds to their 34Bs in a matter of seconds. They put all the items in a trash bag and quickly put on the Wal-Mart sweat suits that were in another bag. They wiped the makeup off their faces and watched through the back window as two Chicago PD squad cars turned onto the intersection they’d just passed. The cars were racing to the scene of the homicide.

The assassin on the rooftop of the meat market broke down her assault rifle and packed it in its bag. She was over one hundred yards away and had made clean shots. She didn’t think that LaTanza needed to use the girls. She felt as if she was good enough to have knocked off all three men by herself, but the woman paying her wanted to be sure and figured the women would distract the men and keep them still and in position for a good kill shot. The woman peered through her binoculars and scanned the streets. The police were arriving on the scene—a lot of them. She set the binoculars to the side and pulled her skull cap over her pretty little head. She laid down on the rocky rooftop to wait the police out. She was a safe distance away but didn’t want to chance someone seeing her. When the meat market closed, she would slip in from the vent and escape under the cover of darkness.

*     *     *

Fernando was in a hotel that was an exit off the Kennedy Expressway with his three cousins Victor, Felicia and Rosemary. The three were from Spanish Harlem, New York, and had been flown in by him to make the hit on the Fuentes. He chose to use the out of town assassins that were close to him. They were his family who knew nothing about the Fuentes—only what he’d told them and that wasn’t much. The three didn’t care whom they were hitting. The ghetto three were just happy to be splitting fifty grand. Money well spent by LaTanza who had no problem having the old man knocked off. He had planned to leave her daughter out in the cold, so to speak. It was her duty to protect her daughter seeing as how her mother didn’t protect her like she should have. And some outside bitch having a son by her husband to carry on some Spanish tradition wasn’t going to happen.

The three assassins were put on a bus back to New York. They were carrying some of the money and the rest was to be wired by Western Union and Money Gram on a few different occasions to keep it from looking suspicious. Fernando breathed a sigh of relief once everything was done. There was no way he would want it to be known that he had a part in knocking off the
man.

*     *     *

LaTanza could hear her husband beating the receiver of the phone on his mahogany desk. He was crying and wailing like a child. She smiled, not at her husband’s pain, but at the thought of her father-in-law, who was lying in the cold county morgue stiff as a board. He’d never have the chance to keep away from her what was rightfully hers and her daughter. She couldn’t believe that the love of her life was fucking some bitch on the side and had the intention of fathering a child with the woman if he hadn’t already. Carlos would pay dearly but not with his life, seeing as he was the father of her child. She would figure out another way to get him—a way that he’d pay for the rest of his life. Now her job was to find the woman who might be carrying Carlos’ child and if she was carrying that child she was going to get rid of her. If she was with child, LaTanza would find another means than killing—it wasn’t the child’s fault. She stared into the mirror and quickly erased the smile that was on her face, and it left as fast as it had come. It was time to go console her husband. It was also time to make her move to become the Queenpin.

N
oonie, DC, Anthony and John John were at the club chillin’ with Cat, Chantel and a chick named Tracey who was with John John. They were at a table and on top of it were some Remy Martin XO, Cristal and some Heinekens. They were all buzzed and so were the women who were making their way to the dance floor. Tracey and Cat took up the offer of a couple of guys who asked for a dance. Chantel turned down a guy and looked through the crowd at Noonie and that was his cue to get off his ass so she could shake her tail feather against him.

DC, John John and Ant stayed at the table. They were at the club to have a nice time, get their buzz on and go their separate ways later. But it was also about business. They were about to induct John John into the crew. He had been buying a lot of weight from them making it known that he wanted to be down. And without being on someone’s team he feared stick-ups, along with only having limited corners and neighborhoods where he could sell. So that was their main reason for having John John with them—to break the news that he was now one of them.

DC poured John John some Cristal as he bobbed his head to the R. Kelly and Snoop that pumped through the speakers. He already had a glass of Remy on the rocks clutched in his hand but DC liked to make things seem big. He sometimes mimicked things he’d seen in the movies and on videos. “You know why we here?” he asked.

“To have a good time, baby boy. You know how we do it,” John John responded while taking the chance to scope out the eye candy while Tracey was on the dance floor.

“Yeah, that too. But we’re also here to celebrate.”

Even though John John had an idea of what DC was talking about, he asked, “Celebrate what?”

Anthony cut in, “You fool. You’re in. You’re one of us!”  He held up his Remy. John John and DC held up their Cristal. The glasses clinked as they made the toast.

Noonie grinded it up with Chantel and smiled as he glanced over and saw the toast. He knew it had gone down—a new member of their crew had been inducted. DC had vouched for his friend and Lucky told him that it was okay to put him on. The R. Kelly song ended, Noonie told Cat and Tracey not to go back to the table, that their men would let them know when it was okay. He and Chantel headed for the bar to grab something to quench their thirst while Cat and Tracey headed to the bathroom. Once inside, Tracey headed for a stall and Cat jockeyed some fly looking sistas for room in front of the mirror.

Tracey was washing her hands when two young ladies came in who looked like they definitely needed fake IDs to be up in the popular spot. They were giggling and talking amongst one another then one of them recognized Cat. “Hey girl, what’s up?”

Cat stopped putting on her make-up and turned toward the young lady to get a better look.

The woman said, “It’s me, Ebony.”  She could tell Cat didn’t remember. “From the party last weekend.”  She smacked her lips, then said, “Uh, the one for Bone.”

Cat glanced at Tracey for a second and Tracey gave her that ‘it’s your business’ look.

Cat said, “Aw hey girl, I didn’t recognize you. What it do?”

“Shit doing me. I’m up in here with my girl. Bone’s boy got us in. They know them niggas working the door. They’re having a party tonight. Say they got some shit to celebrate.”

“Is that right? Bone up in here?” Cat asked, but trying to be careful not to let on to Tracey that she cared.

The thing is, Cat used to be a stripper at one of the most famous clubs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and her stripping days are over except for when she wants to make some dollars on the side by doing shows for the major ballers, and Bone was one of them, and he had paid her well—especially for the sex. His boys had rented a floor at the Holiday Inn and the party was on—twenty niggas and fifteen strippers. When Cat stole the show with her ass droppin’ and pussy poppin’ and Bone had to have her. He had her go to what he and his boys had turned into the VIP room. It had only three other strippers and they were almost as bad as Cat. They were drinking top shelf and popping ex. When one of the strippers came by to give Cat a couple of the club drug pills, she was about to turn it down until a dark-skinned rough, but sexy looking and built dude whispered in her ear. What he said must’ve been good because she tried to look as sexy as she could when she stuck out her tongue, swallowed one of the pills and washed it down with some Moet. It didn’t take long before she was mingling with the men like the other women and then she found herself in bed with Bone. The bed was covered with twenties and they stuck to her sweat coated body as she and Bone fucked doing every position and covering every inch of the room. It was some scandalous shit seeing as how Bone was DC and the crews’ rivals even though things were supposed to be cool by not fucking with the other crew on their own turf.