The later it became, the more Jada was left to believe that Carmen had been arrested and charged with the murder that she had committed. Even though it was early, Jada needed a drink, so she went to the bar, poured herself a French 75 and sat down on the couch. Her mind began replaying the events that happened earlier that morning.
It all happened so fast.
Since each accused the other of being an obsessed workaholic that refused to take a vacation, Jada and Carmen were going to Paris. But before they left on the charter Jada had arranged, they went out for dinner and cocktails.
Their evening began with dinner at Daniels on East 65th, and then the ladies went to Session 73 on 1st Avenue. By two o’clock in the morning, Jada and Carmen found that they had drank and danced the night away and were thinking about leaving Session 73 and either calling it a night or going someplace else. When Carmen suggested that they go to J.R.’s, Jada told her that she was drunk.
“You must be if you think I’m going to dance at J.R.’s,” Jada said and signaled for the waitress. “I have a reputation to maintain, and so do you,” she said and practically fell in her chair.
“You’re the one that’s drunk,” Carmen said and then she practically fell in her chair. That was when she got the call from Larry Brin and they went to meet him at the City Diner. Carmen had just gotten up from the table to talk with Brin and Katana Jackson.
Jada laughed when she remembered thinking, Carmen is doing what Carmen does and we are not going to Paris, Jada thought as she sipped the drink that she thought she needed, but no longer wanted.
When Katana was shot twice in the head, thinking that he was going to kill Carmen next, Jada quickly removed the .380 from her clutch. Then Castellano shot Brin twice in the chest and as he turned to leave, Jada fired one shot that hit him in the back of the head.
“I’ve had a lot of practice lately,” she may have said, but Jada knew it was a lucky shot. She just pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. Aiming the gun was not involved.
When she walked away from the diner, Jada walked by a man that she thought that she recognized. She stopped and looked back at him.
“Excuse me, sir.”
“Yes.” He stopped and looked at Jada as she walked back toward him.
“I saw you earlier this evening at Session 73, didn’t I?”
The man said nothing, and Jada smiled.
“You’re Carmen’s bodyguard, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Ms. West.”
“There was a shooting inside,” Jada informed him.
“Is Ms. Taylor all right?”
“Ms. Taylor is fine. However, the police are coming, and I need to get away from here.”
“I understand, Ms. West. I’ll get you a cab and then I will check on Ms. Taylor.”
“Thank you.”
Jada watched as he stepped into the street to flag down a cab. She remembered thinking that in her position, if she asked his name, he would tell her.
But where’s the fun in that, Jada thought as he held the cab door open while she got in.
She put the glass down and thought about how far she had come. She was a killer now, something that Jada never thought she’d be. However, if she chose to be honest, that was the definition of her life. Jada wasn’t who she thought she’d be, and hadn’t been since the day she got in the car with Diane at Fat Larry’s.
That day, Jada West became somebody else. She never expected to be a dancer, never imagined herself as a high price escort or as a madam and never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would be running a criminal organization on several Caribbean islands.
She had certainly come a very long way from the night that she went after Bullet. Jada laughed as she thought about how the recoil from firing the weapon put her on her ass that night. If it hadn’t been for Chanté showing up when she did, Bullet would have certainly killed her.
That night, Jada resolved herself that gunplay just wasn’t for her. That lasted until the night Shy paid a visit to the Salon de Ning. She had just put Shy on notice that she’d be around, when a group of men came to kill her.
“Fucking around with that damn Carmen Taylor.”
Jada remembered that she and Shy were pinned down behind a car and they were taking heavy gunfire. Men were approaching from both sides. Shy stood up and fired on one until the PLR-22 was empty and the man went down. When Shy took cover to reload, Jada saw the other man coming around the car. She raised the Beretta that Shy had given her and fired three times; each shot hit him, and he fell to the ground.
Jada laughed aloud as she thought about how she looked at the dead man and then to the gun in her hand and took a second to marvel at her work.