Wanda shook her head. “What now?” she asked.
“They started with the warehouse where the online operation was housed,” Rain said and recounted the story that Ryder told her.
The night before, Barnes men moved through the warehouse and they encountered Hassan and Ryder. He laid down cover fire while Ryder took cover and then she returned their fire as Hassan made it to cover. When Hassan opened up again, Barnes men took cover and shot back. Ryder emptied the magazine, put in another one and then she stood up and fired twice, hitting her man with one to the chest and one to the head. The other men opened fire at Hassan, and he returned fire, and then ducked for cover but he was hit, and Hassan went down.
When Ryder made it to her feet, she and the remaining shooter exchanged fire, before she hit him with a shot right to his head.
“Once Ryder cleared the building, she went to check on Hassan,” Rain said.
“Is he all right?” Wanda asked.
“He was taken to the hospital in critical condition,” Rain said.
“I know this war gotta be costing these boys a chunk of money.” Wanda paused. “And maybe that’s how we put a stop to this whole thing.”
“How’s that?” Rain asked.
“It costs plenty of money to fight a war,” Wanda began. “Especially on this scale, cause it’s costing us a chunk to fight them off.”
Rain’s eyes narrowed. “We dry up their money,” she said, and a slight smile crept across her lips.
“No money, no war,” Wanda nodded in agreement.
“Sounds simple, but how do we make that happen?” Black asked and there was silence in the room. “I mean it’s not like whoever’s supplying them is going to stop doing business with them. No, I think you’ve got the right idea, but the wrong tactic. We need to put these boys out of business.”
“Permanently,” Rain added. “I’ll put Jackie on it.”
“Make that happen and the war ends. So, if there’s nothing else, I have to make arrangements for my family to come to this wedding.” Black stood up. After Monika assassinated Crazy Nicky, he took them back to Freeport.
“That’s the other thing,” Wanda said quickly, and Black sat down because apparently there was more to deal with. “I think that with all that’s going on that we should think seriously about cancelling the wedding until things quiet down and we get this behind us.”
“No,” Nick said flatly. He never came to the meetings anymore. He was there to address the talk he had heard about cancelling the wedding. “No, Wanda, we are not even going to consider cancelling the wedding.”
Wanda leaned forward. “I think you should think about it, Nick. For security reasons,” she enthusiastically said.
“No, Wanda,” Nick said more forcefully, and it caused her to sit back. This was his wedding that they were talking about and he wasn’t about to be told when they could get married. “That is not gonna happen.”
“How about this then; we have the wedding at Cuisine, and it be just The Family. Would that be acceptable?” Black asked, seeking an end to the discussion and Nick thought about it for a while before he agreed.
And since that was the only reason he was there, Nick went home to tell April about the great compromise that he had reached.
“No.”
“No?” Nick questioned.
“You heard me, Nick. No. We are not cancelling my wedding and we are not having a just The Family wedding,” April said using air quotes. “What about my family? My mother, my father, my sister, aunts, uncles and cousins.” April laughed. “Are you gonna be the one to tell my grandmother that she can’t come to our wedding?”
“No,” Nick said and put his arm around her. “I will not be the one to tell Sister Betty that she can’t watch her April get married.”
“I tell you what, we can have the wedding at Cuisine, and we can limit the guest list to just my immediate family,” April suggested, and Nick agreed and kissed his bride to be thinking that them being able to compromise meant they were off to a great start in their marriage.
Chapter Two
While Nick and April were negotiating the location of their wedding, the meeting in Rain’s office continued and Black picked up where he left off.
“Now that that’s settled, I say again, if there’s nothing else,” Black said and looked at Wanda.
“That’s all I have.”