When I got to Monika’s apartment, she looked surprised to see me. “I was just thinkin’ about you,” Monika said and shook her head. “Thinking about Jett really.”
“That’s funny. I was just thinkin’ about him on the way over here.”
“You know it’s ’cause of him that I read the paper now.” Monika pointed to the pile of newspa
pers in the corner. It didn’t matter what country we were in, Jett always read the paper every day. “You never know what’s goin’ on unless you read the paper,” Monika quoted Jett.
They were already the best of friends when I met them, although Jett thought Monika was mean, overbearing at times, and has a tendency to be a pain in the ass. And she held Jett personally responsible for the sins of the white man; they would do anything for each other. He’s the reason why Monika is alive wearin’ that patch and not dead. She had been shot five times.
The night that Monika got shot, I was at the hospital standing by the window and watching the sunrise. When I turned around Jett was sitting there. He just sat there staring at Monika, he didn’t even blink. I was worried because I’d never seen Jett like that before that night. Jett was always live. Finally, after about an hour, Jett said something. “I was there, Nick. I was right fuckin’ there, Nick-Right there. She called me, Nick. She said things didn’t go well with Chilly. She said to meet her at her house. When I got there I heard the shots. I ran to the door, yellin’ for Monika. I went inside and saw her. . lying there. I picked up the phone and called the cops. She tried to talk. But I couldn’t hear what she was sayin’. I did what I could to stop the bleeding and make her comfortable. I heard a noise in the back. I got to the back door in time to see someone drive away. I got to my heap and I followed him. He didn’t pick me up. He stopped at a house on 229th Street. I put on my gloves and went in after him. He didn’t hear me come in; caught him in the bathroom pissin’.
“I popped him in the back of the neck and dragged him into the living room. I put him in a chair and tied him up. I slapped him around until he came out of it. I took out my knife. He tried to get free.” Jett shook his head. “That wasn’t happening. The more he moved the tighter the rope got. I asked him who he was and why he shot Monika. But he didn’t answer, so I cut him. Just a little cut on the arm to get him bleedin’. But he didn’t say shit. Didn’t even flinch. I told him I would cut him every time he didn’t answer me. He just looked at me. So I cut him again. But he wasn’t talkin’. I worked him over pretty good, but the bastard wasn’t sayin’ shit. So I went back to cuttin’ him. We had been there for hours, Nick. Blood was all over the floor. He was shakin’ and shit. I was really fuckin’ pissed when I saw the sun coming up. I walked up to him and cut his throat.”
“You killed him?”
“That’s what I just fuckin’ said. I cut his fuckin’ throat.”
I remember sitting down in that hard-ass chair and burying my head in my hands. “Jett, you killed the only person who could tell us who tried to kill her and why.”
“He wasn’t gonna talk, Nick, so he had to fuckin’ die. We don’t need him to tell us shit, Nick. That fuckin’ Chilly knows why.”
And it didn’t take Jett long to find out. He called me later that night. “I know who did it.”
“Who?”
“I can’t talk now. Meet me here.”
“Jett, wait!” I yelled, but he was gone. I drove as fast as I could but when I got to the house, Jett was gone. I drove down the street slowly. I saw Jett’s car parked on my right. I parked up ahead of him and walked back to his car. I came around to the driver’s side. “What’s goin’ on, Jett?”
“Jett!”
I looked in the car. His eyes were wide open. “Jett!” I shook him. That’s when I saw the trail of blood coming from his ear. I opened the car door and Jett fell into my arms. He was dead.
He had been there for Monika. She called Jett, and his being there to stop the bleeding saved her life. He called me and I didn’t get there in time. I thought about Freeze; another good friend that died in my arms because I wasn’t there for him.
“Nick? You all right?”
“Just thinkin’ ’bout Jett and Freeze. And don’t tell me I need to let that go.”
“I wasn’t gonna. Hold on to that pain; embrace it. We need our pain. I think it makes us stronger.”
“I think so too.” I just hoped we were both right and the pain I felt from their deaths would make me stronger in some way.
“Now, what you need from me?”
“I really need Jett on this,” I said and told Monika what I was into, what I found out, and what I needed her to do. When I told her, she laughed.
“You don’t need Jett for that. You could have used any number of IP-address locators that are available on-line to find out where those e-mails were sent from,” Monika said and opened her laptop.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Pay attention and learn something,” she said and Googled IP-address locator and chose the first one it listed. “This is quick and dirty, but it will get you the information you want.”
“Suppose I wanted to know where it was sent from and who the account belongs to?”
Monika closed her laptop. “That requires a little more work. This is only gonna tell me where the server is and who it belongs to. To get what you want, I’ll have to hack into their system. This is where you need Jett.”
“That’s why I came to you. Can you do it?”