“There are three factions.”
“Three?”
“One that’s loyal to Wanda. Cynt, Doc and that crowd. Then there’s the faction that’s with Nick and Rain. Then there the faction that’s loyal to you and don’t want to get involved.”
“Who runs that faction?” Bobby asked.
“Me,” Jackie said.
“You?” Black asked.
Jackie nodded.
“You’re the boss?” Bobby asked.
Jackie nodded.
“Okay,” Black said and tried to wrap his mind around what he was hearing. “Start at the beginning, Jackie. How did this war start?”
“The way I hear it is that Wanda, Cynt, Grant and Doc got together and decided that Nick wasn’t doing a
good job running things and that she was going to take over.”
“Wanda never did think Nick was ready to run the show,” Bobby said.
“She told you that?”
“More than once,” Bobby said.
“She never—never mind. Go on, Jackie.”
“Wanda put a contract out on Nick—”
“Wait. Did you say that Wanda put a contract out on Nick?” Black asked.
“That’s what the word is. They hit him one night when him and Rain were coming out of JR’s.”
“Is he dead?”
“That depends on who you believe,” Jackie said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bobby asked.
“If you believe Rain, she says that he’s okay and she got him someplace safe. You know, in case Wanda wanna try again. But there are some people who think that Nick is dead and Rain just sayin’ that to keep Wanda off her.”
“What do you think?” Black asked.
“I believe Rain.”
“Why?”
“She was a little too calm for Nick to be dead,” Jackie explained.
Black took a deep breath and shook his head. “What else?”
“After that, Rain killed Grant and some of his men and burned his club to the ground.”
“Why Grant?” Bobby asked.