The Black Kiss Of Death, page 22
part #1 of Montega Chronicles Series
“Please, Diamond, call me Richard,” he said gobbling some more string beans.
“Richard, I want to let you know that it’s been real good doing business with you. Unfortunately, I have something I must confess,” she said, bringing a curious expression to the Russian don’s face.
He asked, “And what might that be?”
Diamond circled the brim of her wine glass with her fingers. “I no longer need to buy your product. I’ve joined my brother’s organization. So, I just wanted to say goodbye,” she said with a pretty smile, showing a perfect set of white teeth.
Zelinski frowned. “And who might your brother be?” he said, already knowing the truth.
“Clyde White. Have you heard of him?” Diamond asked, looking dead into his eyes and seeing fear.
“No, I haven’t heard of him,” he lied. He glanced over at Mad Max, who was enjoying his bottle of champagne.
Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he said, “Okay, will you excuse me? I have to use the restroom,” he said, giving Mad Max the eye. His assassin would take it from here.
Zelinski couldn’t believe that she would have the audacity to tell him that she was his enemy’s sister, let alone walk out on his business. Inside the bathroom, Zelinski washed his hands as Mad Max walked inside, holding a gun with a silencer. “What are you doing in here? Kill that bitch. She’s Clyde’s- -”
CHEWK!
A subsonic 9 mm bullet struck Lewinski in the stomach.
The Russian don was stunned to see blood pouring from his gut. He then looked up at Mad Max, who pulled the trigger again.
Chewk! Chewk! Chewk!
Zelinski staggered back and fell against the sink, then onto the floor. Mad Max stood over his dying victim and finished him off with a fatal shot to the dome.
Chewk!
As Diamond sat at the table, finishing her meal, Mad Max came out of the bathroom and walked by the table. “The job is done.”
He then grabbed the briefcase Diamond had just placed on the table. She then got up and headed straight for the valet. Max couldn’t resist opening the briefcase to look at his reward. He paused for a moment before he opened it. There was the million dollars he was promised for killing Zelinski, all in neat bundles.
Little did he know, it was all counterfeit. Closing the case, he headed for the exit just as Diamond pulled out of the parking lot.
It had begun to rain, with lightning and thunder. Diamond stopped at the corner of the block and reached under her seat for the black electronic box. When she reached it, she pulled out the extended antenna, flicked the switch, and said, “This is for you, daddy.”
The bomb inside Mad Max’s briefcase exploded with a big bang. Diamond watched the bright explosion through her rear view mirror. She pulled out her lip gloss and applied some to her luscious lips, then puckered up and blew a kiss at herself before pulling off at the light.
Chapter 58
SOMEBODY’S GOTTA DIE
“I would like to introduce one of the newest members of our organization,” Clyde announced, easing back in his chair in front of the Underworld council. “Carlos Morin. Carlos is from Miami and can be a big asset to us as far as --”
“How can he be a big asset to us when Verningo Castor has control of the whole southeast? What good is he?” Diamond interrupted. All eyes at the long table were now on her. “No one is an asset until we kill the man that is responsible for the death of my father. Nobody, not even you, George,” she said, looking at Miami George.
Clyde shook his head in frustration. For over a year and a half now, Diamond had been a part of the Great White Organization, and no one, especially Deshawn Butler, could stand her. Sure, she was beautiful and had good business sense, but Diamond had become an arrogant little bitch. No man in the circle could tell her a thing without getting cursed out. Her outbursts during meetings had become a major obstacle.
Like always, Chavo spoke up. “Diamond, you do understand that Verningo Castor is a very important man in Colombia and in the American southeast. We’re not ready to start a major war with --”
“Clyde, what the fuck is this?” Diamond interjected again, pointing to Chavo as if he was a domestic servant. “I mean, really.”
Diamond didn’t care too much for Chavo or what he had to say. Over the years, he had become an arrogant son of a bitch himself. Plus, he was a coward. And, he wasn’t the only one in the circle who was afraid of his own shadow. As far as Diamond was concerned, the only ones who had any balls were Semok Budinov, Tomas Gonzales, and Shug.
Diamond continued. “What was the reason for putting together a bunch of pussies?” Now the men turned to snarl at her.
“Diamond, I think you need to shut up and let us discuss business,” Justin replied, tired of her mouth.
“What business do you have? You’re not even a boss. You don’t even know how to run a business, so why the fuck are you even here?” she fired back.
“Got-dammit, that’s enough. Now, Justin, you chill out. And, Diamond, if you got a problem with this meeting today, you can roll out. Now.” Clyde announced angrily.
“My pleasure,” she said, getting up to leave.
Once she left the room, Semok joked, “Well, at least she lasted a little longer than last time.”
His joke eased the tension and had the men chuckling, except for Clyde and Deshawn. They feared that appointing Diamond as a boss was a big mistake, one that might have to be corrected before it was too late.
When Diamond got in her car, she sat in silence for a while, thinking about how it would have been if JR was still alive. She then wondered if she would ever find another man with just half his swagger. Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell phone. Seeing that it was Clyde, she frowned. ‘What do you want, Clyde?”
“I want you to know that this war that you started with the Agugbo brothers must end. You may not know this, but throughout the years they have been good allies to- -”
CLICK!
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. The day I listen to that bullshit will be the day I meet Casanova,” Diamond muttered after hanging up on her brother. Just then, her phone vibrated again. Diamond started to ignore it until she saw a different name on the caller ID screen. Seeing that it was Butta, she answered. “I’m gonna pick up my dress now. Bye.”
Diamond put the car in drive and pulled off. Watching her vehicle exit out of the parking lot, Tanetche put the Expedition in drive and followed. Diamond got on the phone again.
“Yo, cuz,” Butch said.
“Butch, where’s Butta’s wedding being held?” Diamond asked.
“Behind his fiancée’s parent’s mansion in Merina Del Ray,” Butch replied.
“How big are we talking?” she asked, referring to the crib.
“It’s only a couple of acres,” Butch answered.
After getting the address, she got ready and headed for the wedding, with Tanetche hot on her trail. As she looked at her watch, she saw that she was running late and hoped that they hadn’t kissed yet or she wouldn’t forgive herself. The ceremony only consisted of close to 200 people inside. As Diamond walked in, she was fortunate to catch the two exchanging vows.
Afterwards, Butta raised his wife’s veil from over her face and kissed her, sealing the deal that was sure to last a lifetime. Diamond clapped her hands as her womanly instincts got the best of her. She then wiped her eyes with a tissue. She pictured JR and her in that exact spot. It tore her up because she knew that special day would never come.
After the wedding, everyone gave their congrats, along with envelopes full of cash, to the bride. When the two lovebirds were out in front of the mansion, Diamond approached them, causing Butta to stop in his tracks and tell his wife to wait for him in the car. Diamond gave him a big hug. “Congratulations, fat boy,” she said.
“I’m glad you could make it, ma,” Butta said with a big smile.
“Oh, please. You know I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she said, pinching his cheek.
Looking at his half-black, half-Italian wife, Diamond said, “She’s beautiful.”
“She a'ight,” Butta replied, blushing.
“Let me tell you something. Don’t be like these other guys out here who don’t have no respect for a woman. They say only a real man knows what his woman is worth, and from the looks of her, you got a winning hand, so treat her right. Most important, stay faithful because these bitches out here don’t want nothin’ but your money,” Diamond advised.
Across the street, Tanetche watched Diamond stand at the top of the mansion’s steps, talking to the fat black guy in the white tuxedo. The more he looked at her, the more he thought of his wife, who didn’t deserve to die. No longer able to control his temper, he grabbed his gold plated mini AK-74 and got out.
A few cars away, Hillary’s lieutenant, Raymond, sat behind the wheel of a black Grand Prix. His orders were to keep an eye on Tanetche, just in case he did something stupid. Seeing Tanetche jump out with an AK machine gun gave him no choice but to follow him. However, Tanetche was already in motion. As Diamond talked with Butta, she didn’t peep Tanetche walking up the steps until it was too late.
The only one to spot him fast enough was Butta. “Diamond, look out!” he shouted as he pushed her behind him, then reached for the Glock inside his coat.
As his hand gripped the handle, bullets from the AK peppered his fat belly. Butta stumbled back, knocking Diamond to the ground. That accident saved her: bullets whizzed over her, hitting innocent bystanders.
By the time Tanetche’s clip was empty, Butta’s heavy body had fallen on top of Diamond. His white tuxedo was soaked in blood. Seeing this, Tanetche took off running, but Butch and the rest of Diamond’s protectors caught up with him. Out of nowhere, 4-5 tackled Tanetche to the ground and an angry mob began stomping and punching him. When Bain was able to get Butta off of Diamond, she got up and found him bleeding profusely. When his screaming wife came out of the car, Diamond focused on the crowd of men beating Tanetche on the ground. “Stop!” she said. “Tie the bastard up and put him in the trunk.”
The men removed there neckties and did as told. Butch and 4-5 got into Tanetche’s Expedition, along with Bain and Diamond. Tanetche’s unconscious body had been stuffed in the trunk. Raymond watched the whole thing, cursing Tanetche for making such a foolish move. He then got on the phone and called Simon. “Hello?” Simon answered.
“Yeah, Simon. They have your brother,” Raymond said.
“What? Who?”
“The Black Kiss of Death. I’m following her as we speak. He tried to take her out at some wedding, but ended up killing the groom and a few other people. They have him now,” Raymond explained while making the same turn as the Expedition made.
When the vehicle stopped at a nearby stash house, Raymond gave Simon the address, then waited for him to get there. In the basement, Tanetche awoke to find himself handcuffed to a metal chair and bound at his ankles. When he looked up, he saw Butch, 4-5 and Bain staring at him.
A pair of clicking high heels clopped down the steps. Diamond walked towards him. In her hand were a pair of jumper cables, connected to a powerful battery. Tanetche stared at her drowsily as she clamped the cables on both sides of the steel chair.
“You need me to do anything else?” Butch asked, wanting to get back to the mansion.
“No, go ‘head. I’ll be right behind you,” she replied.
Once the man left, Diamond and Bain were left in the basement with Tanetche. “You know what? You are pathetic,” Diamond told him as she circled him with clenched teeth. “You didn’t have the guts to walk up on me and pull the trigger, did you? You just had to do it from a distance and risk killing innocent people.”
Tanetche gave a hurtful smile of sarcasm. “You know, they say that death smiles back at you. Well, Hah-hah-hah, bitch!”
Diamond walked over to the electric lever, ignoring his sarcasms. “You know what they say about the bitch who laughs now,” she said, flicking on the box.
Tanetche’s laughter quickly turned into shouts of pain as electric volts shot through his body.
“They cry later,” she said before flicking the switch back off. Tanetche slumped over in pain.
“Now, I’m only going to ask you this once. The Inar diamond. Where is it?” Diamond asked.
“Fuck that diamond, and fuck you!” Tanetche bellowed, as spit flew from his mouth.
Out front Simon had finally appeared with four men in black, all armed with assault rifles. Raymond got out of his car and guided the men to the house he saw Diamond enter with Tanetche.
“Ahhh!” Tanetche screamed as Diamond juiced him again.
“Okay, fuck the diamond. I want you to look at this pretty face because it will be the last face you’ll ever see again. You killed my boyfriend, I killed your wife. You tried to kill me. You failed. Now, payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?” she said, lifting the switch again as she blew him a kiss. “Come, Bain, if he wants to die with the fucking diamond, then let’s not get in the way. Long kiss.”
Diamond headed back up the steps just as she heard the sound of gunfire out front. Simon, Raymond and the rest of the team took out the three guards who were waiting for Diamond. Simon rushed inside the house and searched every room. When he got down to the basement, Diamond was nowhere to be found, but his brother was slowly cooking. Simon rushed to the box and turned it off. Tanetche’s tensed body bowed over as his brother removed the clamps and then shot off the links on the cuffs. Feeling for a pulse, he found a faint heartbeat. He and his men then carried Tanetche to the vehicle, grateful they got there when they did. He then looked at Raymond, who was beside him. With clenched teeth, he said, “Show me the house where he was captured.”
Chapter 59
DEAD OR IN JAIL
Later that night, as Butch sat in the hospital’s emergency waiting room with 4-5 and Butta’s bride, praying for the doctor to give them an update on Butta’s condition, the nurse came out of the operating room. Everyone stood up.
The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, but we did all that we could. He didn’t make it.”
On hearing that, everyone broke out in tears, including Butch. He and 4-5 were so upset, they had to leave the hospital. Once they got to the parking lot, Butch wiped his eyes and reached for his keys. As soon as he pressed the alarm button, out of nowhere, Ape Gang members surrounded them. Walking through the cordon of armed men was Simon.
4-5 quickly reached for his gun, but he caught a slug from one of Simon’s henchmen. His lifeless body fell to the ground. “Hold up,” Simon told his men.
Butch looked at all the guns that were pointed at him and knew that they wanted him alive. But, before anything else could escalate, SWAT members swarmed the hospital’s parking lot. They arrested everyone, including Butch, who was strapped up with a Mac-10.
Both he and Simon looked in each other’s eyes as the officers cuffed them from behind. Although Butch knew he was going to sit for a while, he had a funny feeling he would never see the South African again. One day, Diamond would make sure of it.
Epilogue
On a beautiful Friday evening in Philadelphia, the sun had fallen from the sky as the wind blew calmly amongst the tombstones in the graveyard. Montega sat in front of his mother’s stone, holding 12 single roses, which he placed on her grave, one by one. It was his mother’s birthday and every September 5th he visited her and brought her up-to-date about all that he had done during another year without her.
“Well, mom, I still haven’t found your killer, and I’m sure as hell not rich yet, but I’m not gonna give up. Don’t worry. You’re not a grandma, yet. I always strap up at least most of the time. Me and Tasha are cool, but she wants me to be something I’m not. You ain’t raise me to be no weak nigga. Juicy’s fine. She says hi. That’s my heart, right there. She’s my rider, but she’s not who I see myself being with forever. She’s not that girl I always dream about. I still haven’t found that perfect somebody that you used to say I would find, but I’m a keep lookin’. Right now, I’m just taking it one day at a time. I love you, mom, and I miss you a lot.” He placed the last rose on her grave and stood.
Just then, someone walked up on him. Montega turned to see Stacy standing behind him, smiling. “I figured you would be out here,” she said.
“Stacy! What are you doing here?” Montega asked.
“Kenny, there’s something I think you should know, something that I should have told you a long time ago,” she said, taking his hand and looking him in his eyes.
Montega frowned. “What is it?”
Stacy looked over at his mother’s grave, then back at him. “Kenny, I don’t know who it is, and I don’t know where that person is, but before you were born, your mother had another child.”
“What?” Montega gasped, all the more confused. “Stacy, what are you trying to say?”
Stacy could see the confusion in his face and said, “What I’m trying to say is that you have a brother.”
Carlos Morin pulled up to a parking lot on Collins Avenue, not far from the sandy beaches of Miami. Three vehicles away, a white limousine awaited him. Carlos parked his Corvette and got out, throwing on some shades to block the intense sunlight. He wore a pair of tan Hugo Boss khaki shorts, a white Polo shirt by Ralph Lauren and white Ferragamo sneakers. Carlos’ dark, shoulder-length hair was slicked back, and his copper complexion glistened. As he approached the limousine, a man in a suit got out and held the door open for him. Carlos gave him a nod and entered. The man closed the door and stood guard. Inside, Carlos was face-to-face with his boss, the one and only, Verningo Castor.
Carlos smiled at the Colombian. “You were right. They did not suspect anything.”
