A Matter Of Trust

Atlantic City is beautiful at night.....Part of it...The Boardwalk, the Casinos....The Shopping Center and the clubs directly off the Boardwalk....That's not the part Chris Thompson and I were in.

"Chris , Why are we stopping in front of this dump?" I asked.

"Elementary My Dear Chess." said Chris in a fake english accent!

"Years ago....There was a girl I was kinda kickin it with from out here.....and unknownst to me at the time...She was also kickin it with one Wallace Benson, known to the Philly streets as Wally Gator. You see where I'm goin with this Chess?" he said.

"You think he may be holed up here with old girl right?" I said.

"Now see, that's why you been my boy for all of these years Chess...You catch on fast!" laughed Chris as he loaded and cocked his gun and tucked it in the waist of his trousers. He let his shirt out so that it covered it. I followed suit and did the same thing. We walked up to the door and rang the bell.

Despite this desolate Atlantic City neighborhood...A pure vision of pure loveliness came to the door. Her name was Wanda...Wanda Ruffin and she had curves in all of the right places...Was wearing a denim blouse with what I hoped was shorts under them.. Had some of the shapliest legs I had laid eyes on in awhile and the smoothest honey brown skin I had ever seen. For it being this late at night..She smelled very good... She took one look at Chris and broke out into the most beautiful smile I had ever seen...

"Chris? Chris Thompson?? From Philly?? Wowwww.....What is going on?? How long has it been?" she said.

"Too long baby...how ya been?" said Chris who then took her in his arms and gave her a soft, gentle and long kiss, which she returned hungrily...

"Ohh baby...Chris...it's so good to see you." she said.

"You workin baby? You straight?" asked Chris.

"Yeah..I work at the Borgata....I make pretty good money..." she said.

"Oh uh ,excuse my manners..This here is my partner Chess....I think yall met once." said Chris.

No way...No way I could have met this fox and not remembered her I thought to myself!

"It must have been a long time ago Chris baby...I don't remember him. But I know you didn't come all the way from Philly just to introduce me to your boy....What brings you out here?" she asked.

"I'm lookin for your boy...Gator..and it aint a social call." said Chris.

"Oh, him? You never did like him much......He was here....He gave me some money...and he told me that he was going to do a little gamblin...then he had to be ghost...because he was wanted." she said.

"Yeah...he wanted alright....I'm surprised the Feds aint been here." said Chris.

"The Feds? Ouuu, he really in trouble huh?" she laughed..

"Where do you think he'd go?" I asked.

"Gator?? Only the biggest and the best for him....He probably at Borgata." she said.

"Okay, well that's where we are going....Hey listen babe....Here's a G. You never saw us okay?" said Chris.

"Mums the word baby.." she said.

Chris pulled her to him and kissed her long and hard...He ran his hands up her blouse and then down and allowed them to rest on her plump rear end....

"Damn girl...I gotta get back up here to see you before somebody snatches you up." said Chris.

"You been should have done that." she laughed as we walked to our car and pulled off...Headed for the boardwalk.

My Blackberry went off just as we were getting on the road...It was Kevin Morris.

"What's up Kev?" I said.

"Chess...you may have a problem?" said Kevin.

"Yeah? What?" I asked.

''Somebody close to you is talking to the FBI." he said.

"What do you mean?" I said.

"You and Chris didn't just happen to come across that Car Theft ring by chance.....An FBI agent named Burt Shylock had been investigating Felix Washington for months and couldn't get anything on him...He knew about the warehouse...but didn't have enough evidence to get a search warrant or a warrant for a wiretap......That's where we came in...and our evidence was presented as some kind of surveilance by a 'neighborhood watch or concerned citizens group' ....What I'm saying Chess is that he had an informant...a confidential informant who gave him that warehouse....It's not any of my people...It's got to be somebody that was with you guys." he said.

"Kev..How do you know this?" I asked.

"My FBI guy, Special Agent in Charge Frank Cotton got the bust...and the guy Shylock ,who had been working this case for months was angry...He wanted to know how Cotton got the skinny on the warehouse....Of course Cotton didn't tell him about us....When I was leaving the Federal building I heard Shylock reaming his informant out and threatening to put him in prison if he didn't give him something good and soon....You said that that snake, Marco Gervay is the one that put you on to the warehouse...my guess is that he's the confidential informant." said Kevin.

"That's what I'm thinking too....Thanks again Kevin." I said.

I told Chris everything Kevin had told me and he just shook his head...

"I'm not surprised....that little wanna be is a snake...That's why I didn't bring him along or tell him about Kevin and his people or how we got the goods on Felix and Gator....We just gotta be careful." said Chris.

Just then...Chris's Blackberry went off...He never talked and drove so he gave it to me.

It was Donald Smooth!

"Yo Chris." he said.

"It's Chess man...we drivin." I said.

"Marco Gervay gave me the slip." he said.

"What do you mean he gave you the slip?" I asked.

"I can't find him....He aint in his apartment..Me and Lockpick Johnson went by there...Nobody at the Mermaid Club,Ciros or Josies has seen him..and he aint answering his phone...He's gone to ground man..Sorry" said Smooth.

''Don't Worry about it..We got his number." I said and hung up.

It didn't take us long to spot Wally Gator...He was leaving the Borgata with a guy..a guy who looked like he might be muscle...He looked like he was in a hurry....As he walked toward his waiting car...Chris and I got out of our car and walked toward them....

''Heyyyy Gator...Now how are you gonna just up and leave town and not say goodbye to us , after all the hell you raised?" said Chris with a toothy grin.

Wally Gator was stunned..But always ready with a quick quip.

''Remind me to kill both of you later...really!!" he said.

"Why put off later what you can do today?" asked Chris as he pulled his pistol.

Wally Gator smiled , then pulled his pistol....

"I really don't have time for this Chris...but what the hell..nobody I'd love to off more than you and your partner, Chess.." he said..

We both pulled our guns...His bodyguard pulled his gun too...and before any of us could get into anything!!!!

"FREEZE!!! THIS IS THE FBI!!!! SPECIAL AGENT , BURT SHYLOCK ON THE CASE BABY!,Gee, I always wanted to say that.....IT'S ALL OVER BABY BLUE! YEAHHHHH!!" came the voice of a short, fat white man.....Not the type of guy I'd imagine was an FBI agent.....He was by himself... Where was his back up? The FBI didn't roll like that!

"You a Fed?...You gotta be kiddin me....Butch..shoot him, then shoot Chris and Chess!" barked Wally Gator... Butch spun around and fired....Burt Shylock fired...Wally Gator fired..Burt Shylock fired again.... There was at least two more shots..I didn't know who fired them. When the smoke cleared...All three men were on the pavement.....Chris and I hadn't fired a shot!

Chris walked over to Wally Gator...A bullet had gone through his forehead and out the back of his head....He was dead as a doorknob!!....I walked over to the man named Butch....a bullet had gone through his heart and out of his shoulder blade...he too was dead!!! We both walked over to the FBI agent...Burt Shylock....He had been hit in the side...He was still alive....

"Nice Shootin Tex...you got both of them!" I said...Chris cracked up laughing at what I said.

"Who...Who ...Whoooo the hell are you guys?"he asked.

"We are gamblers....Wally Gator owed us money." I said.

"Well, you better get out of here...the police will be coming soon..you don't want to get mixed up in this." said Shylock who was in pain.

"I'm callin an ambulance for him....You got an FBI number I can call?" asked Chris.

"Yeah...it's in my wallet..in my pocket..uhhhhhhhh." he moaned.

I went in his pocket and got his wallet..I called the local FBI, told them that there had been a shooting and that one of their men was down! Shylock almost looked like he was grateful.

"Thank you....Now...ughhhhhhh...you two...get out of here.." he said.

He didn't have to tell us twice!

EPILOUGE:

FBI Agent, Burt Shylock survived his wound and got credit for taking down notorious gangster,Wallace "Wally Gator" Benson. He told the newspapers that "two kind hearted Negro men" saved his life.

We caught up to Marco Gervay....In Josies....Me, Chris ,Kevin Morris and Donald Smooth sat with him in the bar one night and he told us his story..

"Man..Burt Shylock caught me cold....with enough dope and coke on me to send me up for 15 years....I can't do that kind of time man...plus there are people in the joint that don't care for me too much...you know what I'm sayin? The only way I could get off the hook with him was for me to give him something big...on a major playa....So I gave him Felix Washington.....I never liked him nohow....When Wally Gator got out of jail and entered the picture...Well...that made it even better...That's why I came to you guys...I knew yall was gonna set him up..Only I didn't know yall would call in another agent...When That Cotton guy was in the paper gettin all the credit, Burt blew his top...I had to give him Wally Gator's location....I'm just glad he got to him before you guys did." said Marco.

"He wasn't at the address you gave us....He was at the Casino." I said.

"For the life of me I don't understand that guy..Who has time to gamble when you got the Feds and the cops on you? He shoulda made a bee line for an airport." said Marco.

"Like you're gonna do right?" said Kevin.

"Huh?" said Marco.

"You can't stay in town now that people know you gave Wally up to the Feds....Nobody will work with you and you might get hit....by some young punk on the come up or some of Gator's or Felix's friends who are still around....ya never know ." said Chris.

Marco's eyes got wide....He got up and without saying a word...Left the bar.....Kevin looked at me, I looked at Chris and Donald Smooth....We all busted out laughing......

"Like Felix and Gator had friends...ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha..." laughed Chris and Donald Smooth... Kevin and I looked at each other and we laughed heartedly too!

(For Ellis)