Lost Ones

Gus wasn't going out without a fight. He had two big muscular ex marines...Albert King and Eddie Martin protecting him at all times.. They could fight and they were pretty handy with a gun..He had hired a lawyer, Conrad Nelson to look over his papers and to meet with Vernon's lawyer.

Although not a formal will, Vernon's dad had indeed written on a peice of paper that he wanted his son to have half ownership of the bar that he and Gus had bought and built. Gus did not want to give Vernon Womack a red cent. Conrad was busy looking for a loophole...

Meanwhile , Every player worth his salt on the streets of Philadelphia attended Ronald "Sunshine'Evans funeral. He was well loved and liked by all...The man who had ordered his murder on the other hand was not...Yet he brazenly attended the funeral...He had bought the largest array of flowers too and it was rumored that he paid for the funeral and burial..It was the least he could do.

Chris ,Donald Smooth and I sat with Sunshine's family....Fathead ,Ralph Mole and Roscoe sat in the back of the church...Chris had put the word out that he wanted to see him. Even though Fathead had succeeded Chris in running West and Southwest Philadelphia, you'd think that Chris was still running things. When Chris called..Fathead usually came running...Thus the respect he had for Chris Thompson.

After the funeral ,we all met at at popular Steak and Hoagie shop near the church.

"What's good Chris? Chess? I heard you wanted to see me." said Fathead Newton.

"We got a problem Fathead. You could have a potential problem and we all know who that problem is." said Chris,getting right to the point.

"Yeah,I know...Vernon...He took over all of South Philly and he's barking in your backyard....Making noise with the Diaz Brothers or their rep...Aint that where your card game is held?" he asked.

"You been doin your homework big man. We got to stop him...He's trying to take Josie's from Gus.." I added.

"What?Nah....Now that's my spot....He can't be running nothin up on my end." said Fathead.

"What about Taylor?" I asked.

"Well Chess, I was gonna get you to take care of him...I heard you pulled some steel on him the other night." said Fathead as Ralph Mole,Roscoe, Donald Smooth and even Chris burst into gales of laughter.

"I was pro-active.....I hired my friend Kevin to find Taylor." I said.

"Kevin? ,Kevin Morris?" asked Fathead.

"Yeah, he's not a player, he's not known and he has a better chance of finding that rat Taylor than any of your guys who he might recognize and kill.." I said.

"Chess is right and he did the smart thing." said Chris. "If anybody can find Taylor,it's Kev." he added.

Just then ,my blackberry went off. It was Kevin.

"What's good Kevin?" I said.

"Chess...We found him....He lays his head in three different places....he never stays in any one place more than two nights...If you got a pencil and some paper, I'll give you the addresses." said Kevin. We had all grown up in the same neighborhood and gone to grade school together ,Me, Chris, Kevin...We had never really hung out,but we had known each other and respected each other.

"Okay,kool...good work man and thanks." I said.

"I'm doing this for Gus...I got my girl ,Big Nasty covering the place too." he said.

"Thanks Kev. Be easy man" I said and wrote down the three adresses.

"You too Chess." he said.

I appreciated what Kevin was trying to do, but he didn't understand who he was dealing with.. Taylor Collins was the best of the best...I doubted if Kevin or his people were equipped to deal with him. Then again..Kevin had taken down Malik Lockjohn, who was just as lethal as Taylor Collins..so who knew?

"So What are we going to do about him?" asked Chris.

"We gotta get that hitter..We take Taylor out and then Vernon is done...you got the adresses Chess?" asked Fathead.

"Yeah, here?" I said.

"Okay...I'm callin in some guys outta Newark and Jersey City....They'll take care of Taylor." said Fathead as he and his people hugged us and left.

That night...Taylor was busy..He took a shot at Ed Martin and Albert King... The two ex marines were good at what they did...but Taylor was better, He shot Ed in the arm and Albert in the side...Kevin's friend "Big Nasty "shot it out with him and got shot in the foot...The ambulances took all three of them to the hospital...They were lucky to be alive! The Message was clear, Vernon wasn't going to fool with legality..he wanted Gus dead. Taylor wasn't a joke...He was playing for keeps.

This prompted Gus to do something he hadn't done in years. He closed Josie's for the night and stayed at Chris Thompson's place. Donald Smooth and I drove around in one car, while Kevin and his main man Clerow drove around in another car, searching for Taylor Collins.

Those three hitters from Jersey faired far worse than our guys protecting Gus....All three were found shot to death in seperate incidents before daybreak.....One thing was for sure...Vernon was winning this war and if we wanted to survive..we'd better rethink our strategies.

I knew somebody who was Vernon's cup of tea...the one man that even Vernon feared.....the thing was...If I called him, he could be more trouble than he was worth....but this was war...Time to pull out the big guns.

(To Be Continiued...)