“But I’m gonna answer you anyway. There was, but that was a long time ago and there is nothing going on now. And you don’t have to worry, I already told Mileena about it.”
Now Yarissa had a ton of gossipy questions that she knew Carter wouldn’t answer, so she just said, “Okay,” and left the office knowing that she would get the rundown from Mileena first chance she got.
Once Yarissa left Romans and was taken back to Wanda’s safe house, Carter and Hassan hit the streets. They had been a few places and they had asked around about Coleman. Like Carter and Hassan, some people thought that name sounded familiar and others thought that they had heard of him, but nobody could tell them anything definite. That’s when Carter had an idea.
“You know who we should talk to?”
“Who?” Hassan asked.
“Sherman Williams.”
Hassan laughed. “I ain’t seen old Sherman in years.”
“But if anybody knows who this guy is, it Sherman,” Carter said and drove in the direction of Sherman’s house.
When they got there, Ester showed Carter and Hassan in and asked them to have a seat while she went to get her husband. It didn’t take very long for Sherman to come trotting down the steps.
“Carter! And who is that ugly mutha fucka you got with you?” He shook hands with Carter.
“What’s up, Sherman,” Hassan said and shook his hand.
“You know, you look a lot like Chao Hassan, but he wasn’t as ugly as you.”
“All right, now. I ain’t gonna be ugly too many more times before I gotta disrespect your house and kill you old man,” Hassan said laughing.
“You don’t wanna do that.” Sherman shook his head as he led them into the basement. “You don’t want Ester to have to shoot your ass before you get out the door. Think about your rep,” Sherman laughed.
“I’ma put it on your headstone,” Carter laughed. “Shot in the ass by Sherman’s wife, Ester.”
Once Sherman poured up drinks all around, Carter got to the reason for their visit.
“Kwame Coleman. Yeah I know that nigga. Strictly small-time. Runs two small gambling spots, a spot where he runs sports betting and a number joint that he hangs out at.”
“Where?” Was Carter’s only question.
Chapter Thirty-one
Jada left the house thinking about Detective Bautista having a snitch inside The Family and the FBI having a sting planned that might involve somebody in The Family was too much of a coincidence.
“And I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Her first thought was to reach out to Chanté or Agent McCullough to see if Detective Bautista was working with the FBI on a sting that involved El Decreto de Guerra. But, since phones were out of the question and it would take too long to track them down to ask face to face, Jada had Victor tell the driver to take her to Monika.
When they arrived, Monika explained to Jada how they were set up. “We’re up on Jadonna’s phone and all of her social media. Once we had her, we were able to expand our parameters to include everybody that she called or contacted. So now, anytime one of them contacts anybody, they’re added to the circle.”
“I see.”
“We have Jab’s house bugged using a laser microphone,” Carla said and then she went on to explain that the laser beam is directed into the room through a window and reflects off
an object, and returns to a receiver that converts the beam to an audio signal.
“Very impressive and in such a short time.” Jada paused. “But let me ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Since I don’t believe in coincidences,” Jada began.
“Neither do I,” Monika cosigned.