Commit To Violence

"Then we are in agreement," Chang said and stood up. He went to the door and asked the others to come in. Once they had reclaimed their seats, Chang told them of their decision. "At this time, gentlemen, we feel that it is in our long-term interest to make our investment in ethanol production."

Plácido and Toribio shook hands and seemed to be very happy with the decision. But Cristóbal, on the other hand, was not. He rose to his feet. "I think you gentlemen are making a big mistake." The next time Black saw Cristóbal was the day he got shot.

"You remember that I was taking notes," Martin said. "Well, when I got back, Ebony, my assistant, the one they kidnapped, she got my notes and created a memo of that meeting and filed the memo in a folder called Cuban meeting."

"Damn, Martin, how could you let some shit like that happen?"

"I’m sorry, but now you see why you have to help me get those papers back. Your name is all over that memo. You know what will happen if it becomes public that a United States Congressmen and a gangster were meeting with officials of the Cuban government in violation of American-Foreign policy? You said it yourself, it’s illegal. Treason-type of illegal."

"You know who got her?" Black asked.

"I don’t know who they are, but I have an idea where they might be. When they called about the ransom, they stayed on the line too long, and I was able to trace the call." Martin gave Black the address where the call was made.

"Okay, Martin, I’ll get your memo back," Black said.

"And the woman too," Martin insisted.

"What’s more important; the memo that’ll send us to prison for treason, or the woman?"

"Both. Ebony is very important to me. I love her, Black."

"Wait a minute, Martin. These guys kidnapped your mistress? Do they even know what she was carrying and what it means to you?"

"It’s possible, but I doubt it," Martin said. "That means you need to get to them before they read it."

When they arrived at the address Martin gave them, Black and Bobby went to the door and Rawls was coming out. He was carrying a woman’s coat and one shoe. Both matched the description that Martin had given Black of what Ebony was wearing when they had dinner earlier that evening. They forced Rawls inside at gunpoint, tied him to a chair and searched the house. Ebony wasn’t there. That was over an hour ago, and they were no closer to finding her.

Bobby hit Rawls in the face and took a step back. He looked down at Rawls’ feet. "Those some nice kicks there. What kind are they?" Bobby asked.

"Stacy Adams," Rawls mumbled.

"Can I see them?" Bobby asked and knelt down to take the shoes off. He walked over to where Black was sitting. "These some bad-ass kicks, Mike. I gotta get me a pair of these." He turned back to Rawls. "What size are these?" But Rawls was too out of it to answer.

"I don’t think he’s paying you any attention, Bob," Black said and laughed.

"Hey asshole," Bobby yelled and threw a shoe at him. "I’m talkin’ to you." The shoe hit Rawls in the face, but he still didn’t answer.

"Told you." Black laughed. "He doesn’t respect you, Bob. He thinks that you’ll get tired of hitting him and you’ll go away, and he won’t have to tell you shit."

Bobby walked up to Rawls, picked up the shoe and hit him in the face with it.

"What are you—his mother now? Beatin’ him with a shoe," Black laughed, but Bobby didn’t seem amused. He was getting frustrated with Rawls. Bobby was doing some of his best work, and he hadn’t said a word.

"You think you a tough son of a bitch, don’t you?" But Rawls still didn’t answer. "Well, dickhead, we’ll see just how tough you are in a minute," Bobby said and walked away. "You wait right there."

"Where you goin’?" Black asked.

"Garage."

There was silence in the room for a minute or two before Black got up and dragged the chair he was sitting in closer to Rawls.

Rawls raised his head and looked at Black. He knew Black was right about him. Rawls was counting on Bobby getting tired. Rawls figured that after a while Black, who appeared not to think that he was going to talk, would pull Bobby off and go try to find Ebony without his help. But Rawls had no idea who he was dealing with, or what they were capable of doing to get what they wanted.

"You know it’s only gonna get worse from here, right?" Black said. "I mean, he’s gonna come back from that garage with some bazaar shit to beat your ass with. You know that, right? Now I’ve known Bobby for a long time, and I know he’s not gonna stop until you tell us what we wanna know. Save yourself a lot of pain and tell me where Ebony Washington is, and where are the papers she was carrying. ’Cause once he gets started, I may not be able to stop him."

Bobby came back in the room carrying a sledgehammer and an ax. "Too late for that shit now, Mike. He done fucked around and made a nigga mad."

"I tried to warn you," Black said and moved out of Bobby’s way.