Top Of The World

Kool Kat took the door off the hinges and Clerow, Donald Smooth, Chris Thompson , Chess and I charged into the house with guns drawn, only to find nothing!  Monster had apparently fled.

"This is seven of the ten houses that Tony Dio gave us Kev...This guy has really gone to ground! " said Chris Thompson.  I had recruited him , Chess and Donald Smooth or rather they had recruited themselves because Monster, it was said , was as crazy and wildly lethal as they come.

"Kev, He'll definitely throw down....You nay need some extra guns at your back." said my friend, Chess.

"You think Tony Dio is on the up Kev?" asked Donald Smooth.

"That's what I'm wonderin Kev...He might have given us that murder to hang on his former boss...but do you think he'd really give up the boss man?" asked Kool Kat.

"Everything he's told me has been right on the money, so far." I said.

"Did he tell you that this story is in the paper ?" asked Clerow, who showed me yesterday's newspaper, apparently left behind...There in bold letters it read-

"WEST OAK LANE DRUG KINGPIN SOUGHT IN MURDER...BODY DIS-MEMBERED AND MUTILATED."

I Guess ADA Wallace and Sissy couldn't keep it out of the paper but for so long...obviously Monster knew he was wanted by every Homicide detective in the city by now and was trying to get the fastest thing smoking out of Philly!

Gus's guys , Eddie and Albert were watching my house and making sure my wife, Sepia was safe, just in case Monster had anybody left on the street to do his bidding...So far they reported that nothing was amis..

"Okay guys...Let's call it a wrap...He's nowhere around here." I said, as we all walked to our cars...

"Be Easy Kev...Watch your back." cautioned Chris...

"If you need us...hit my Blackberry." said Chess.

"That goes ditto for me man, you got my number." said Donald Smooth.

"Thanks guys." I said.

II-

That night, Sepia and I, Clerow and Corrie and Chelsea and Kool Kat had drinks in Josies....Downtown Rob Brown was playing tonight...We sat in our booths and enjoyed Fried Chicken wings with hot sauce and beers.  The mood was not festive.

"Seems to me Kev...If I were on the run...I'd want to see my girl one last time." said Clerow.

"Yeah, but that aint his girl no more." said Kool Kat.

"Who said it aint?" I said, suddenly coming to life....

''What are you gettin at Kev?" asked my wife Sepia as Corrie and Chelsea now followed me with rapt attention.

"Two things....One ,anybody comin after Monster would have him comin after them....and two, a man like that doesn't let go until he's ready...It doesn't matter what that girl thinks...As far as he is concerned...She's his property...Clerow is right...He's going to find her..." I said.

"But nobody but Tony Dio knows where she is." said Kool Kat.

''Wrong...I know where she is...Tony Dio told me....and once I sniff her out...want to make a bet that our boy will show up too?"

"Be careful Kevin." said Sepia.

"Well what are we waiting for?" asked Clerow.

"Sit this one out Partner...You got a wife and two kids....Chill just this one time...There will be other capers."
I said. Kool Kat nodded in agreement...Corrie smiled a sigh of relief....Sepia and Chelsea?...I wasn't too sure how they felt.

"Be easy Kev...Take care of yourself man." said Clerow...

"Always." I said..."I'll see you tomorrow..I promise." I said. Sepia and Chelsea looked at us both....Kool Kat smiled that kilowat smile of his....

"Relax...I aint gone let nothin happen to my main man here." he said.

"What about you?" asked Chelsea...

"That's why I wear Kevlar and a trauma plate and carry a big gun." laughed the big man.

I walked over and whispered to Gus....

"Gus,I need your Riot Pump Shotgun"

"Goin Bear Huntin huh?" he laughed..

"Monster huntin." I said.  Gus laughed again and motioned me to the back of the bar where he kept his gun.

"This is my baby...take good care of it kid." he said and patted me on the back!

III-

An hour later, Kool Kat and I sat in front of a High Rise apartment building !...

"She's Up there...On the 19th Floor." I said.

"How long you known where Kelly Belle was?" asked Kool Kat.

''Since Yesterday when we took Dio to his court appearence.....That's also how long I've known that there was a GPS tracking device on this car too." I said and winked.

"WHAT?" said Kool Kat..

"When we were leaving court after we turned Dio over to the police, I saw this kid walk over and slip it under the car." I said.

"One of Monster's people?" asked Kool Kat.

"Yup...He's been following us all along...I think he knows Dio told us where the girl is..." I said.

"Well...Aint no need in sittin here playin games...Let's go do this..." said the big man...

"Let's go." I said.

As usual , we parked the car a few blocks away...We walked silently to the apartment building....No sign of Monster or anyone...We got on the elevator and got off on the 19th Floor...I did anyway...Kool Kat got off on the 17th floor and hung back!

I knocked on the door....955. There was eerie silence ,then a woman's voice.

"Is Kelly here?" I asked.

"Who wants to know?" she snapped.

"Look...My name is Kevin Morris...We talked yesterday remember? I'm a friend of Tony Dio's...Open up." I said.

There was an eerie silence and then she opened the door.. Kelly Belle was all that and a bag of chips....I could certainly see from looking at her curvaceous figure how a man could go mad and kill for her...kill because of her!!!

Sweat was running down my back....You could cut the tension with a butter knife...Just as I was about to walk in..I heard the click of a gun to my back!!!!....It was him!!!! Monster...he had shown up a lot sooner than I thought!

Kelly's eyes lit up...She didn't know what to think!!

"Now now....open up that coat and drop that shotty....or I'll blow your back out...heh heh heh.." said Monster.

"So at last we meet huh?" I said.

"Save it....both of you walk on inside slowly..." he said.

"Monster...Drop it!" came the voice of Kool Kat, standing behind him with a .357 magnum....Monster grinned...

"Oh yeah...you, old playa....Forgot about you." he laughed...He smelled like liquor...cheap liquor....By now ,I had my riot pump pointed at him .....

Kelly ducked inside the room...Still waving his forty five , he ducked into the room, grabbed her by the arm and slammed the door...I fired my shotgun and it blew the door off the hinges...I aimed it at Monster..

''Let the girl go...it's all over Monster...you got nowhere to run." I said.  Kool Kat entered the doorway with his .357 mag cocked and ready...but Monster had one more trick up his sleeve..He opened his trenchcoat and revealed that he was wearing a bandolier laced with dynamite and it was connected to some kind of control trigger..

"It aint ovah nigguh till I say it's over...Now me and missy here gonna walk out of here real nice...cause if you twitch...I'll push this here button and we all go up..." he said.

"You're mad...you aint human." I said.

"Why you think they call me Monster?  I'm a stone cold monster baby and I'm on top of the world...You lost pal...I won this round and aint a thing you can do.." he snarled...

I looked the frightened Kelly Belle straight in her beautiful brown eyes and I said quietly....

"Hit him low olive oil."

Monster looked at Kelly and then looked at me....

''What the hell does that mean?" He said...

Kelly knew what I meant..She spun around and kicked him in his privates and then dove under the bed...He let out a yell that could have woke the dead....That gave me all the time I needed...I cut loose with a blast from Gus's shotgun...The force of the blast knocked him out on to the terrace...It nearly cut him in half...

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH...I DON'T BELIEVE IT....I'VE BEEN SHOT!!!!! " he screamed as he pitched forward and fell off of the terrace...He must have triggered the device because a terrific explosion shattered glass!!! Kool Kat and I dove for the floor!!

After the smoke cleared , crowd of people gathered in the hallway...Kelly came up from under the bed..Kool
Kat and I got up off of the floor...We were all coughing a bit...

"Damn man....what a way to go.." said the Big Man..."You all right Kev?" he asked..

"Yeah man...better than he is." I said.....Kool Kat looked at me and laughed....Even Kelly Belle laughed..Surprising at a time like this..

EPILOUGE:

Tony Dio was not charged with anything....He didn't go into witness protection...As far as I know..He's still around the streets of Philadelphia.

Dice got sentenced to ten years for attempted murder...I hear that he still has a hard time sitting down..

Kelly Belle is back in Atlantic City, modeling lingerie.

Frank "Monster" Watkins badly burned corpse lay in the Medical Examiners office for close to six months..No one ever came to claim it...He was finally laid to rest in an unmarked grave in a potters field.

Robert Foxworth, Clerow and I sat eating breakfast at Mabel Jenkin's soul food joint a few days later.

"Well Robert...You're about to make Bonita , Wifey number three..You ready for this?" joked Mabel as Clerow smiled.

"Yeah...as ready as I'll ever be..." he said.

"You gone do anything different this time.?" asked Victoria, Mabel's older sister..

"Like not cheat?" I added good naturedly..

"Of course not." said Robert sheepishly... We all had a good laugh...It was good to sit and eat and laugh with friends and know that they were safe, for the time being from the evil that lurked no farther than the next corner...I felt good knowing that at least for the time being...I had put a stop to that evil!

(For SLC)