“No. To be honest with you, I'm going there to kill somebody.”
“Kill somebody! Why?”
“Because they tried to kill me. But I don't want to talk about that. I'd much rather talk about you. Is that a Georgia accent I'm hearing?”
“Yes, I'm from Atlanta.”
“Atlanta is a nice city. What brings you to New York?”
“I came here because I needed a change. So I've been hanging out with my girl here. If I like it, I'll stay. Get back into school, see if I can pick up some work as a model.”
“You're a model?”
“I've done some modeling in Atlanta. Some print, some commercials, shows; that type of stuff.”
“Freeze,” he said glancing up at him. “Nevermind. Do you have a pen and a piece of paper, Carmen?”
“What do you want it for?”
“I want to give you the number of somebody who might be able to help you.”
“Okay,” Carmen said digging in her purse.
Carmen handed him the pen and paper and he wrote a name and number on it. “Here,” he said, handing the pen and paperback to Carmen. “This guy is a modeling agent. Call him and tell him what you've done and what you're interested in doing and he'll take care of you,” he said as the train approached the station.
“Thank you. I'll do that right away,” Carmen said as they got off the train and walked down the platform toward the steps.
When he got to the bottom of the steps he turned to Carmen. “It was nice talking to you, Carmen.”
“Hey!” Carmen yelled as he started to walk away. “What's your name?”
“My name is Mike Black. Just tell Calvin that I'd consider it a personal favor if he found you something.”
As Carmen and Denny walked the paths through the park that they used to all those years ago, she continued, “So I called the guy the next day and that was my first break.”
“So he hooked you up, huh?”
“He sure did. And I wanted to thank him. He never gave me his number, so I practically had to beg Calvin to tell me some way that I could get in touch with him.”
“Why did you have to beg him?”
“Because Calvin didn't think Vicious Black was the kind of man that I needed to be hanging around.”
“Vicious Black?” Denny asked curiously.
“That's' what some people call him, but he doesn't like it.”
“Why do they call him that?”
“He told me the story of how he got the name, but I won't bore you with the story, but he runs gambling and prostitution in the Bronx.”
“What's so vicious about that?”
“Oh, stop being a player hater, Denny boo. I told you when I met him he was on his way to kill somebody. Anyway, we only went out a few times. He was always busy. But he was my last thug nigga. But Denny Boo, you'll always be my favorite.”
“Yeah, whatever, Carm. So what you need me to do?”
“I need a gun.”