“What ’bout you and Nick?”
“There is no me and Nick, Mr. Black. Me and Nick served together in the army. We were partners. Nick is like a brother to me.”
“He’s like a brother to me too. I guess that makes us like brother and sister?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Monika shook her head and said.
“Why is that?”
“I tell you what, Mr. Black. If you really wanna know, you’ll come back when you got some time and I’ll explain to you exactly why you and I can’t be like brother and sister.” Monika opened the door and kissed me on the cheek.
“I just might have to hear that.”
“See that you do.”
Chapter 21
My next stop was to see Bruce Stark, who was once the head of a group of drug dealers that called themselves The Commission. It was formed as a buying co-op. When detective Kirkland first told me about them I thought it was funny. “What are they; a rap group or something?”
He had confirmed from his sources that ‘Cash Money’ Blake, K Murder Murdock, Billy BB Banner and Bruce Stark, were all lieutenants of a player named Birdie. Thinking that Birdie and his partner Albert Web were involved in Cassandra’s murder, Nick and Freeze eliminated them while I was in jail. But Kirk told me that the sole purpose of the group was formed to protect themselves against me. The ability to buy at a cheaper price was nothing more than a byproduct.
After I found out truth about Mylo, me and Stark made peace, and he was the one who told me where I could find Mylo after he shot Freeze. Since then, Stark and I have developed a kind of respect for one another.
Kevon drove me to Stark’s apartment, which always amused him. You see, Stark was a very security-conscious man ever since two members of his Commission, Cash Money and K Murder, had been murdered by Mylo and Masters’ hit team. Maybe he thinks they’re still out there, I don’t know.
“Here we go, boss,” Kevon said as we turned down Stark’s block. First, there’s a girl taking pictures of every car that comes down the street. When we parked the car and got out, four guys approached me.
“Here comes the welcoming committee,” Kevon said. “All of them are pussies, yah know.”
I laughed. “Be nice. They’re just doin’ their job.”
“I know that, boss. But it take four of them?”
“Strength in numbers, maybe.”
“Pussies,” Kevon repeated and spit at the feet of the first one that got to us. “Mr. Black is here to see Mr. Stark.”
They stopped askin’ us to give up our guns since it wasn’t gonna happen and they escorted us inside the building. There are two men in the lobby and another four in the hallway; two more at the elevator and one at each of the stairwells. The man takes his security seriously.
“What’s up, Black?” Stark asked and shook my hand. He led me in the back so we could talk privately.
“There’s something I need your help with.”
“Me?” he actually seemed excited about the fact that I was coming to him for help. “What can I do to help you? Fuck that, as much shit as I come to you with, whatever it is, you just say it and it’s done.”
“Nothin’ for you to do. I just need some information about Cash Money and Mylo.”
“What about them?”
“You know Mylo’s real name was Clint Harris and he was DEA?”
“Yeah, it was on the news when they found his body.”
“Did you know that Cash knew him by his real name?”
Stark sat up straight. “No, I didn’t know that.” It took a second or two before the implications of that revelation hit him. “That means that Cash knew he was DEA.”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you about. First off, did you know?”