The Corner III (No Way Out) (27 page)

LaTanza searched the inside of the cap, checked the buckle of the man’s belt. She patted him down. Torso, legs then crotch—which Reynard didn’t mind. LaTanza had told him not to bring a cell into her car and not to wear any jewelry and he had done as told.

She handed him his cap and rag as she told him, “If we are going to do business together you need to be a little smarter.”

A confused Reynard, who had done exactly as told, asked, “How’s that?”

“We are around a lot of business people. A business district, so you are going to have to start dressing the part. That hood shit with the negro-rag on your head don’t play with shot callers. Understand me?”

“I feel you,” Reynard said. The hood was all he knew and was a little pissed at the way LaTanza came at him, but deep down inside, he knew she was right. He looked out at the businesses that adorned the neighborhood that was west of the Chicago River and Loop and knew that his attire could attract attention to him.

LaTanza knew he’d be dressed in the hood attire. It was a Saturday, and there were hardly any business people on the streets, but she knew she’d get her point across to the gangster she was about to get into business with. She needed Reynard who was street savvy and had been hustling for over fifteen years on all sides of the city. He would be useful for her plan. She had thought about using Bone, but knew he was unreasonable.

“Okay then, Reynard. My question to you is, are you ready to be loyal to me? Fuck that I’m leading a crew of Latinos. The key word is
I’m
. I’m the one leading, and I’m the one who runs shit,” she told him.

Reynard said, “Believe me, everyone on the streets knows that. And my people know that.”

“Good. And speaking of your people, I’ve given you six months to find out who’s loyal and who you have to weed out.” She looked into his eyes.

“It’s all good. All that’s left is Bone,” he told her and she caught a bit of hesitancy in his voice.

“Bone is no doubt a fierce man, but we’ll get him out of the way without it coming back on you. Your people just have to know that they can’t come at us when it happens. It will look as if he got gat randomly, but it can’t come back on my people. A war would be messy. My people would win, of course, but it wouldn’t be good for making money.”

“Yeah, that shit brings attention to the police.”

“And citizens. And they put the heat on politicians, and they are the ones who can shut money making down,” LaTanza said as she slipped her sunglasses back on.

“I will call you and let you know what our next move is. Until then, keep everything steady and go with the flow.” She put her hand on the gear shifter, letting Reynard know that she was done with him.

“Whatever you say,” he said then exited the car.

10

“Your ass won’t be saying that shit in a minute, you mark ass nigga,”—BIG SAM

Reese was parked down the street from Shaun’s house. It was eight in the morning, and he’d been calling Shaun only to receive no answer. Reese took offense to the fact that Shaun was ignoring his calls, especially since he’d heard through the grapevine that Shaun was seeing a Russian woman, and the description matched one of the women they’d been introduced to by Ivan as his woman. Reese immediately thought about the young lady, Mariska. Reese knew Shaun’s penchant for women and could be a pussy hound at times, but to fuck one of the Russian’s women was completely out of the question. It was a foolish move that could fuck up business and when it came to the Russians—killed.

Once Shaun’s Lexus came to a halt, Reese drove the short distance and by the time Shaun stepped out, Reese had the Suburban coming to a halt next to him. Shaun jumped slightly and was about to reach for his pistol then noticed it was Reese.

“Nigga, what the fuck? You know you almost caught one?” Shaun barked.

“Fool, your ass would have been got, get your ass in,” Reese said nonchalantly while looking straight ahead out the windshield.

Shaun got in the truck and the tires made a quick screeching sound as Reese gave the SUV too much gas. Shaun took a look at his house thinking about Teresa and how he knew she was going to have something to say since he had spent all night out and his lie was that he and Reese were out of town on business. He knew she was going to figure out that he was with another woman since she was in the doorway when Reese pulled up.

Shaun asked, “What’s up, you trying to get breakfast or something picking me up in the a.m. like this?”

Reese was steering with his right and rubbing his goatee with his left. “Nah, nigga, but breakfast is something I have to do, but with Slim. He wants to meet with me about some shit. But don’t worry, it’s not about what I’m about to put on your brain.”

“What’s going down, nigga?” Shaun asked wondering what was up.

“You and that Russian broad.”

“Huh?” Shaun said to get a moment to gather his thoughts and lie.

“If you can, huh, you can hear, nigga. I’m going to say this shit one time and one time only, you pussy hungry mothafuckah.” They came to a halt at a stop light. “Leave the Russian bitch alone.”

“What—”

Reese kept his nonchalant demeanor. “Don’t fuckin’ try to play me. You know I’m talkin’ ’bout Ivan’s bitch. You know what could happen if the white mothafuckahs were to find out that you’re fucking one of theirs?”

Shaun knew he couldn’t say shit. Every time he met with Mariska, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but the out of this world sex always made him forget about the forbidden sex they were having once a week for the past four months.

“I feel you, my nigga. That shit would fuck up our paper,” Shaun replied.

“Nah, nigga. That shit will leave your ass slumped! Put a halt to the shit!”

“It’s done. I swear it’s done,” Shaun said as he shook his head side to side.

“Good,” Reese said as he made a u-turn so that he could head back to Shaun’s house. “I got one question though.”

Shaun could hear the seriousness in Reese’s voice. He asked, “What?”

“That skinny assed white broad look like she can fuck,” Reese laughed breaking the tension that was in the air.

Shaun laughed, “Man, you don’t even know. That bitch can make you bust a nut without even being up in her!”

“No shit?”

“Fo’ real!”

They shared a laugh as Reese neared Shaun’s house.

“Man, I used you for a lie. Now Teresa’s gonna know something was up,” Shaun said.

Reese brought the Tahoe to a halt. “Sorry, baby boy, don’t know what to say. Make sure you honor your word. Kill that shit with that Russian broad.”

“Bet,” Shaun said as he gave Reese some dap then exited his truck and walked up the walkway dreading the mile a minute mouth he was going to encounter.

*     *     *

Chavez walked into the study, and sitting at the desk was LaTanza. He still couldn’t get used to seeing someone besides his friend and boss, Carlos, sitting in the high-back ostrich leather chair. But with Carlos in prison, his wife, LaTanza, was the boss and in charge. She was ruthless as was Chavez. The only difference was she would cut anyone’s throat to get what she wanted. It was part of her being mentally unstable from years of abuse. She grew up feeling powerless to a man who was supposed to protect her, but did nothing but abuse her, so now that she had power and respect, she vowed to never give it up.  

Chavez was wearing jeans and a Chicago Bears throwback jersey. He and a couple of friends were at the Bears’ football game when he got the call from LaTanza telling him that she had some important information for him. That he needed to meet with her when the game was over. Chavez and his boys usually would hit a couple of bars downtown after the game, especially if the Bears had won, so they could party. The Bears had beat the Vikings 27-13, but there would be no bar hopping tonight with the news LaTanza was about to drop on him.

The stocky Mexican sat, then asked, “What’s going on Mrs. LaTanza? We have a problem?”

“Not anymore. You know that stash house that got hit?”

“The one off 51
^st
Ave.?”

“Yes. Well, as you know, that is the third house of ours that has been hit. Come to find out, it is Bone’s people who are doing the hits,” She told him.

“Is that right? How did you find this out?” Chavez questioned.

“The one black kid who our people shot, well, Fernando interrogated him. A painful interrogation I might add. Well, he gave up Bone. Looks as if Bone is thinking of getting out of the thing we have going with the Russians,” she lied.

LaTanza had orchestrated the hit using some young thugs from the city of Gary who she paid well. She never met the men, it was Fernando who did, and he gave the men the time to hit the stash houses—the time when they were the most vulnerable. The last place the young men hit was a house where twenty kilos of cocaine were being cooked. The men took the cocaine, but during their escape, one was shot and captured. No one was around when the interrogation occurred and that’s because Fernando had killed the man so he couldn’t speak on them being paid by a Hispanic to hit the house. Chavez was in Texas at a relative’s funeral, so he wasn’t able to be there during the supposed interrogation so he didn’t think anything of it.

Chavez asked, “So what are we going to do about it?”

“I have some things in the works so I won’t have to continue to deal with the Russians.”

Chavez said, “We have an agreement. Breaking it off might bring about problems.”

“That’s true,” LaTanza said then sipped her bottled water. “But after I give you this information, there will be one less of us dealing with the Russians, so I see it as our opportunity to get out. We’ll leave Slim to deal with the problem.”

LaTanza held out a manila envelope. Chavez’ thick brow furrowed, wondering what she was handing him. He read, and LaTanza wanted to smile when she saw the fire in his eyes swell. She even thought his lips trembled for a moment. What the natural born killer was reading was a detective’s report from the Chicago PD. It stated that a man name Jacques Stevens had been questioned in the hit on Chavez’s baby momma. The report went into detail of what they had on the young man, but he had a couple of alibis, his girlfriend and Bone. The investigation was filed as a cold case when the detectives received word that the young man was murdered by a single gunshot to the back of the head—execution style.

Chavez’s voice was stern, but respectful, “How long have you had this report?”

“Many months,” she replied.

“And you didn’t tell me?” Chavez barked.

LaTanza dismissed his tone due to the fact that she knew the information would have him heated. She leaned back in her chair as she rested her hands in her lap. “The man was dead, and we were in with Bone so I wasn’t going to fuck up our money not knowing for sure. I have paid the detective who gave me that information dearly—”

“Who, that crook Styles?”

“No, a homicide detective, but what I’m trying to tell you is, that the man we caught robbing us, he corroborated the story. He gave up Bone as the one who ordered the hit while we were at war. For you hitting our spots and trying to eliminate Slim.”

“How’s that?”

“Remember the initial police report? The one that stated the make, model and color of the SUV the killer was driving?”