“It was good.”
“Good,” Black paused. “There’s something I need you to do for me, Deidra.”
“What’s that?” she asked and braced herself for the answer.
“I need you to organize Harry’s people and get them up and running in new stops. Can you handle that?”
“Yes,” Deidra said quickly.
“I’m offering you the same deal I offered Harry. You run your own show. Anything you need, you talk to Jamaica.” Black saw the smile on Deidra’s face. “I hear you were the brains in that operation. So we don’t need Harry, do we?”
“No. I guess we don’t,” Deidra smiled. She was so happy for herself. Not only was she not going to die, Deidra was boss now.
CHAPTER TWENTY
New York City
If there was one thing Rain was sure about, it was that she missed Nick. She was pinned down behind a car, taking fire from at least four men; she didn’t stop to count and she was running out of bullets. Since she assassinated Grant and burned his club to the ground, his men have gone hard at her. So far, Rain had been up to the task. Each time they came at her, Rain would bust back. The next day, one of her people got killed outside the warehouse that housed her other gambling spot. When Rain heard that the men that were responsible were in a store on Bronxwood Avenue that Grant ran numbers out of, she used the Suburban like a tank and drove it through the front window. Her and her men jumped out and killed everybody.
This was retaliation.
They had been holed up at Donavan’s house for days when Rain ran out of cigarettes. Chris Toney insisted that he would go get them for her, but Rain told him no. “The store ain’t but a couple of blocks away, I’ll be all right.” Rain grabbed her gun and the keys to the Suburban. “Come ride with me, Brandon.” He armed himself and followed Rain out the door. As soon as they got out the store and were on their way back to the Suburban, they were fired upon. Brandon took three shots to the chest and abdomen, but he managed to make it behind a car with Rain.
She raised up and tried to get a shot off, but she was seriously outgunned and quickly dropped back behind the car. She looked over at Brandon, he was dead. Rain took his gun and crawled to the front of the car. She opened fire with both guns and quickly dropped back behind, thinking that if she could make it to the Suburban that she might be able to get out of this. There was more guns and ammo in there. But the Suburban was parked down the street.
Rain took a minute to think of what Nick would do if he were there. She was sure he’d have a grenade or some shit like that to get them out of this mess. If nothing else, Nick would just stand up and kill each of these mutha fuckas with one shot each to the head. No, she thought. Nick wouldn’t be in this situation ’cause he woulda sent somebody to get the fuckin’ cigarettes.
“Shit! Where are the fuckin’ cops when you need them?” Rain said aloud, thinking that may be the only way she was getting outta this one.
Suddenly the shooting stopped, Rain peeked around the car and saw one man circling around. She looked the other way and saw a man coming from the other side. Rain fired on him until one of her guns was empty and he went down. The shooting began again and she took cover. Rain checked Brandon’s pockets to see if he had any more clips. She loaded the clip she found on him and checked the other gun as the shots bounced off the wall in front of her. It had two shells left in the magazine and one in the chamber. She pushed it back in and looked up. Rain saw a man coming around the car. She raised her weapon and fired three times. Each shot hit him in the head and he fell back on the car.
Rain knew it wouldn’t be long before the other two rushed her and tried again to make it to the Suburban. They opened fired again and kept her pinned behind the car. Just then she heard a car come speeding toward them and then screech to a stop. The shooting continued, but it wasn’t coming in her direction. She peeked over the hood and saw the Ford 500 that Chance had reinforced and Chris Toney, Memphis and Donavan firing on her attackers with AR15’s. Rain stood up and fired at them and before too much longer the firefight was over and Grant’s men were dead. Memphis grabbed Rain by the hand and walked her to the Suburban. Chris Toney and Donavan took Brandon’s body to the car and drove off as the sound of sirens filled the air. “Now, them mutha fuckas come,” Rain said as she drove away from the scene.
Jackie Washington walked into Cuisine for dinner. “I don’t have a reservation,” she told the hostess, but she didn’t need one. Jackie was family. She ran the high stakes poker game that Black and Bobby used to run back in the day. A lot of money ran through that game and a lot of people thought Jackie shouldn’t handle it. But Jackie proved them wrong.
She got the spot by proving her loyalty to Black. It was Jackie who put Black on Mylo, AKA DEA agent Clint Harris who along with another agent named Masters planned to kill him. Mylo used to run the game. After Freeze was killed, it was a couple of days before Black got around to checking things out. When he got to the game, there was Jackie holding it down. Since she’d been watching Mylo for him, Jackie knew how things worked. Everything was going fine. Black felt like he owed Jackie for putting him on to Mylo, and he respected the way she stepped up and ran the game when he needed her, so he left Jackie there. Since that time, Jackie had earned everybody’s respect.
The hostess looked over her seating chart and escorted Jackie to a table. It had been a while since she had been away from the game. Usually she was the first one there and the last one to leave. But that night, Jackie thought she would get out, have a good meal and watch the show.
When Jackie finished her meal and the show was about to start, a waitress came to her table. “Lexi would like to see you in her office.” Jackie finished her drink and went back to the office. When she walked in, Lexi who managed Cuisine and Tara who ran Impressions, a nightclub owned by Bobby Ray, were sitting in the office.
“What up, ladies?” Jackie asked.
“Hey Jackie,” Lexi said. “Come on in and close the door.”
Once Jackie was seated, Lexi began. “We were just talking about what’s going on between Nick and Wanda.”
Jackie looked confused. “What’s going on between Nick and Wanda? They get back together or something?”
Tara laughed. “You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Wanda tried to have Nick killed,” Lexi said.
“Over Rain?” Jackie asked.
“No, Jackie, Wanda is making a move to take over from Nick and sent men to kill him,” Tara said.