“Where are we going?” Rain asked. It was her first time in the building, so she was more than curious about where they were going and what they were talking about.
“You’ll see, little girl,” Bobby said as Black reached the end of the hall and touched what appeared to be a triangular crack on the wall. When he did, a door opened.
“Y’all’s old gambling room,” Rain said and followed Black into the room with old gambling tables covered by sheets which hadn’t been seen, much less touched, in years. Once Wanda walked in behind Black and Rain, Bobby closed the door.
“Complete with its own exit,” Wanda said as Black turned to face Rain.
“You know what this is about?” Black asked, and Rain told Black what she had been told about the execution of Evander and Big Frank.
While the bosses of The Family met in private, The Four Kings were outside having a meeting of their own. “Who you think it was?” Judah asked Marvin.
“I think it’s about us killing Evander and Big Frank,” Marvin said.
“You think,” Pills said. “We did execute them.”
“I think you’re right. Got to be Mobley or somebody loyal to Evander,” RJ said as police and emergency vehicles began arriving at the scene.
“Question is, what we gonna do about it?” Judah asked and they each looked at Marvin.
“What you say, Money?” RJ asked.
Marvin stood quiet for a second or two, looking at the faces of the men that he considered his brothers. “I say we hit back. We hit back right now. Evander’s boy, Luther got a corner his set is working ten blocks from here. I say we roll over there right now and hit them.”
“You talking about a drive-by?” Judah asked.
“Drive-bys are for pussy-ass cowards,” Marvin said. “I’m talking about us masking up, walkin’ right up on them, puttin’ a gun to a nigga’s head and blowing his fuckin’ head off,” Marvin said, motioning with his hands.
“Let’s go,” RJ said, and they left their own grand reopening and headed for The Four Kings. When they arrived, the Kings went directly to the office and opened the weapons safe. Once they had suited up in all black and armed themselves, they made the ten-block drive to their prey.
Luther Watkins was one of Evander’s best earners because the corner him and his set ran was wide open. Plenty of foot traffic and a steady flow of white boys and girls in expensive cars, cruising the hood looking to indulge their vices before scurrying back to their own antiseptic little world.
That night was like any other, the corner was hot with activity. People everywhere, a jumbled mix of loud music poured out of car windows and reverberated in the night air. Luther and his people were doing business with the walking dead fiends, handling the drive-up traffic and fuckin’ around with the usual array of hang-around women. It was business as usual on just another night.
When they arrived, Marvin parked a block away and The Four Kings walked from there. They approached the corner that Luther’s people controlled from different directions; RJ and Pills from one side, while Marvin and Judah came up on them from the other. With everything that was going on, on that corner, nobody really noticed the four men that were approaching from different directions pull down their ski masks.
Each of The Kings walked right up on one of Luther’s men, raised their weapons. One of the men finally saw them but by that time, it was too late.
“Oh shit!” He yelled when he saw Judah’s gun in his face.
RJ, Marvin, and Pills shot their men in the head at point-blank range. When Judah’s target turned and tried to run, he shot him twice in the back before he could get very far. Then Judah got another one with two shots to his chest before he could get his gun out. RJ turned quickly and fired and hit another and he went down, and then he fired two more shots to the chest. Pills turned and fired and shot another of Luther’s men twice in the back of his head as he tried to run.
Luther shot at Marvin and moved to cover behind a car. Marvin fired a couple of shots at Luther, he raised his weapon and fired and took cover behind the car again. RJ circled around the other side of the car, fired twice, and hit Luther with both shots.
As the Kings walked quickly away from the scene, Marvin looked over at Judah.
“That’s how you do that shit. Not no pussy-ass drive-by. Up close and personal,” Marvin said as they got in the car. “Bang, in your face.”
Chapter Seven
When Rain emerged from the gambling room, her first thought was Jackie. She took out her phone and called. Jackie answered on the first ring.
“I need you at J.R.’s now. I’m on my way,” Rain said.
“I’m here waiting for you,” Jackie said, and Rain ended the call. When Rain made it to J.R.’s, she went straight to her office looking for Jackie.
“Where is she?” Rain asked Yarrisa.
“She’s in the lounge,” she said, and Rain headed in that direction. When Rain burst through the door, there sat Jackie and Travis, as well as Fiona. She was sitting between them looking chocolate and sexy in the Versace Tulle one-shoulder dress that Jackie bought for her to wear to the reopening of The Late Night.