The cost of vengeance - [6]

“No. Just hold it for me,” I said and moved toward Bart. Ms. West sat on the bed, and in her usual ladylike manner, crossed her legs.

I hit Bart in the face with everything I had, left and right, left, and right again, but it didn’t faze him. Then he hit me so hard that I fell to the floor. “Sure you don’t want me to shoot him for you, Mr. Black?”

“No!” I shouted and got up. “I can take him!”

I rushed at Bart and he hit me again, and I went down again. This time he didn’t wait for me to get up. He dove on top of me and wrapped his hands around my throat. I tried to pry his hands away, but his grip was too strong. I jammed my thumbs in his eyes and pressed as hard as I could until he let go. I pushed him off of me and got to my feet.

Bart was still on his knees, so I grabbed his head and rammed my knee into it over and over again. I looked around for a weapon to use against him. There was a fireplace in the room where there never was one before, and a poker sitting in the rack. I grabbed the poker and wrapped it around Bart’s neck. I put my knee in his back and pulled as hard as I could. Bart struggled to get away, but he couldn’t. His body went limp and fell to the floor. And just to make sure he was dead, I jammed the poker in the back of his head.

“I knew you could take him, Mr. Black,” Ms. West said and got up from the bed. She walked toward me and handed me the gun, and we started out the room.

When I opened the door and stepped into the hallway, Diego Estaban was there and he started shooting at me. He had Cassandra kidnapped once, and I killed him for it. I pushed Ms. West back in the room. “Wait here.”

“Whatever you say, handsome,” she said and pushed those pouty lips of hers together. It made me want to forget about Diego and kiss her.

Diego was a punk that I never had any respect for, so I walked boldly down the hall as he continued to fire at me. When I got to him, I snatched the gun from his hand and backhanded him to the floor. I stepped on his neck and put one in his head. I heard Ms. West giggle that giggle. I turned to see her sashaying down the hall. The way her hips moved made me want her. I reminded myself that fuckin’ her wasn’t why I was there.

“That was too easy,” Ms. West said, gently touching my face.

“Diego always was a punk,” I said and went into the next room. In there was CeCe, tied to a chair. She didn’t belong there either. DEA agent, DeFrancisco, was holding a gun to her head. He was involved with Diego and had Cassandra killed, and tried to fame me for the murder. I killed him too.

“What are you doing with her?” CeCe shouted.

“I’m going to take him from you. That’s what I’m doing here,” Ms. West taunted.

I turned to Ms. West. “I thought you said you didn’t know what you were doing here.”

“That was so ten minutes ago.” Ms. West kissed me on the cheek. “You go ahead and save your woman. I’ll be around when you want me,” she said and left.

I turned back to DeFrancisco and CeCe. I raised my gun and shot DeFrancisco in the head, then went and untied CeCe. “Wait here,” I said and started out the room.

“No, you ain’t goin’ after her!” CeCe shouted.

“I’m goin’ to save Cassandra,” I said.

“Not her again. I will never be able to compete with her. Well I won’t be here when you get back,” I heard CeCe say as I left the room.

I went downstairs and headed for the kitchen, knowing that I should have gone there first and wondering what the significance of CeCe and Ms. West being there meant. CeCe I could understand; she has always felt like she couldn’t compete with Cassandra. But what about the lovely Jada West? Did I subconsciously want her to take me from CeCe?

I went into the kitchen and the only one in there was DEA agent, Pete Vinnelli. He orchestrated Cassandra’s murder. Monika and I killed him in Mexico; but not before I ruined his life. I raised my gun and shot him twice in the head.

I searched the house again and nobody was there. No dead bodies, no CeCe, no Ms. West, and definitely, no Cassandra. “Where is she!” I shouted.

Chapter Four

“Black,” Victor said.

“Huh?”

“You all right?” he asked and his eyes cut to the gun in my hand.

“Yeah, I’m all right. Just nodded off for a minute,” I said and looked at the gun in my hand and then over at him.

I liked Victor, I thought as I put away my gun. He’s a smart guy, pays attention to what I tell him and he learns quickly. There are even times when he reminds me of Freeze. But Victor and Freeze are two completely different people, so I try not to make comparisons, because there will never be another Freeze.

I remember when Freeze really started to work for me. It was after he rounded up all four of the guys who highjacked our load. The Kid, that’s what we used to call him, did it quick, and by himself. He earned everyone’s respect that night, and we all started to take him seriously. Before that, he was little more than an errand boy.

After that night, I started taking him with me when Andre sent me to collect for him. “What do you want me to do, Black?” Freeze asked that first time.