Message Sent

Sepia and I were in our living room kissing and talking a little bit....It had been quiet all week long, eerily quiet.
I was certain that Jack Ambrose from New York and his cronies had no idea that I was aware of their plan.  I was certain that whoever was going to do me was already in town and had the rundown on who I was, what I looked like , where I lived , the whole works... My problem was...when were they going to do me?

"Kev...Aren't you the least bit worried?" asked my wife.

''Worried about what?" I asked.

"This business about somebody being out to kill you." she said.

"Well..I've taken precautions... There is nothing else I can do." I said.

"Well I'm worried." she said.

"You  know Sepia...I've been thinkin lately.." I said.

"About what?" she said.

"Maybe it's time I put this away...this investigating stuff...I mean....I'm no cop, I don't have to do this..I gotta real job...a job I could be paying more attention to." I said.

 

"Kevin...one of the things that attracted me to you and still does is how brave you are and how much you are always willing to help people...That's who you are...that's what you do...you help people...I think you would always be compelled to help someone.  If you want to quit , that's your call...but I know that helping people will always be a part of you...I wouldn't want you to be any other way." she said.

We sat there on the sofa and kissed for a long time...I guess that quelled any reservations I might have been having about what I do.

II-

I was driving through the neighborhood where Ben Ali was known to hang out....I had already been to a couple of bars, questioning guys asking about his whereabouts....The day before, Clerow and I had dropped by his house...His girlfriend answered the door and said that he wasn't in...I left a number for her, Told her to tell him that I stopped by. I knew he wasn't going to...Still I wanted him to know that I was looking for him. He had worked for a guy named Cold Hearted Stewart...Which was how we came to meet up before...I hoped he had remembered the end result of our last encounter and didn't challenge me physically when we did meet... I had no desire to go toe to toe with him again...He was a big man and he did hit pretty hard...

Owen Todd and I rousted a couple of his known associates...but none of them knew where he was.. and now today of all days..When I didn't have my peeps with me??...There he was, coming out of a steak shop with a cheese-steak and laughing it up with some girls...

I parked my car, got out and started walking towards him...He was a big hulk of a man with fists like hams and a punch that kicked like a mule...I knew because I had fought with him before...If anybody could have busted up Richard Watkins with their bare hands...This guy could have...I should have left him to Kool Kat, but I didn't have anytime....

I followed him to a girl's apartment...The other girl he was with had already left them...I knocked on the door..  When the girl answered, I pushed by her and forced my way in...

"Heyyyyyyyy who the hell are you?" she screamed...

"I'm a friend of Ben's, the kind of friend that doesn't need other friends around, feel me?" I snarled..  The girl ran out of the apartment....

Ben Ali appeared in the doorway....

"YOU!" he snarled.

"Yeah me........We should talk." I said.

"We got nothin to talk about." he said.

"You can make this easy or hard." I said.

"The way I hear it...It's gonna be hard for you real soon." he said.

"You really are a jackass. You think those guys will let you live ,knowin all that you know?" I said.

''What guys?" he asked.

"Come on Ben...I know all about Jack Ambrose and the contract on me from New York..I even figure that you killed Dick Watkins...I don't even care..I just need to know what you know about the New York guys." I said.

"Like I want to help you. I owe you from the last time we tussled...I was gettin ready to knock your ass out." he said.

"Oh were you really?" I said.

Once again his fast hands delivered  the punch   that lifted me off of my feet and slammed me into the wall....I felt the excruitating pain....I didn't see the huge fist that landed in my mid-section knocked the wind out of me and sent me flying across the room either!

Ben Ali was a huge , heavily muscled and bald headed black man with a goatee who I knew was about to stomp me....I grabbed his foot and twisted it and sent him falling to the floor...I managed to get to my feet ,but I was in extreme pain....He charged at me..I crouched and I landed about 12 good lefts and rights to his face.....I caught him with an uppercut that damn near ripped his head off and then clocked him in his jaw and sent him flying.... He quickly got to his feet and charged me again...throwing haymakers...I dodged them all and ripped his midsection with well placed lefts and rights and then cold cocked him in his jaw, sending him spinning around...I attempted a swift kick to his solar plexus , but he caught my foot , twisted my leg and sent me flying to the floor...

He lifted me up by my neck and put his massive hands around my neck..I kicked him as hard as I could in his privates and he let me go...I again punished his midsection with 10-12 lefts and rights and then planted more lefts and rights to his face...He fell to the floor.....I thought I had time to catch my breath....but he was up again and charging at me...

He swung, I grabbed his arm and put it behind his back and then grabbed his neck and slammed his head into the drywall so hard that it went through it!!! Ben Ali fell to the ground....bleeding profusely and breathing heavily...

He rose slowly and I clocked him two more times...He attempted to swing at me and I clocked him again, knocking him to the floor.....He was out for the night....

As fate would have it...I heard a gun click...I turned only to see a man I didn't know holding a gun on me...

"Hold it right there friend." he said.

"You aint my friend." I said.

"That's right...I aint." he said.


Then I heard another gun click and I heard an all too familiar voice....

"When you gone stop goin out alone?" came the voice....It was Kool Kat...who clocked the man who had been holding the gun on me and knocked him to the floor.
I grabbed his gun and held it on  him.
"How did you find me..?" I said.

"I saw your car and I asked a couple of guys if they'd seen you and they pointed to this joint..I just happened to be in the neighborhood....Damn...you did that to Ben Ali ?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said.

"Wow, you are good with your hands...remind me never to piss you off." laughed Kool Kat who was still holding a gun on the thug..

"Alright pal spill it who are you?" asked Kool Kat, as the thug got up off of the floor..His nose and his lip was bleeding profusely.

"I'll tell you who he is...He's Ben Ali's lieutenant, Nicky Summers....Wow, who clocked Ben Ali?" came the voice of Homicide Lt. Sissy Van Buren...

Neither Kool Kat nor I said anything.....

Lt. Sissy Van Buren, six detectives and three uniform policemen revived Ben Ali...handcuffed him as well as Nicky Summers...

''What are you doing here?" I asked.

"We are here to arrest him for first degree murder, found a latent fingerprint and DNA at Watkins house...Mr. Ali here isn't the smartest killer around...." she said.


I looked at Ben Ali...It was my turn to sneer...

"If recent history serves me well...You're the one that doesn't have a bright future now that you've gotten yourself arrested....A murder charge is the least of your worries Ben...and you know what I'm talking about." I said.  Kool Kat laughed his head off...

"Screw you." he said.

The police led him away....

I looked at Kool Kat...

"Feel like having some more fun?" I asked.

''What you got in mind?" he asked...

"I want to send a message to a certain New Yorker." I said.

"Let's do this." said Kool Kat.

III-

Bristol had told me where Jack Ambrose spent his days...A very Tony restaurant in South Philly named Niros.

He had one of his guys sitting outside...Clerow tapped on the window...When the guy rolled the window down, Clerow stuck a .45 in his face and pulled him out of the car... Owen Todd tied him up and gagged him and left him in the alley and they both got in the car and pulled off..

Kool Kat and I walked into Niros...I had gotten a photo of Jack Ambrose from the FBI crime files...so I knew what he and Bobby Darden looked like...They both saw me and Kool Kat walking towards them...
Bobby Darden got up...Kool Kat grabbed him and slammed his head into the table and then clocked him hard ,knocking him across the room and depositing him on the floor...Ambrose went to get up...but he saw the business end of my .38 smokeless...

"No don't get up..Please don't....I'm the man you been yappin about...I heard you wanted to see me...Well ,here I am.." I said.

"You got a lot of nerve comin in here like this..Do you know who I am?" he snarled.

"I know and I don't care...I come here with some advice... Go home Mr. Ambrose, forget you ever knew me...Go home.." I said.

''So you're the prick who took Johnny Boy down huh?  Tough guy eh... I've buried tough guys like yourself." he said.

"I'm sure you have...What's done is done...You have no beef with me..Go home." I said again.

"You don't tell me what to do...Because of you... a lot of people are dead or locked up..." he said.

"So killing me is going to get you what?  A cookie? Some street cred?? " I asked.

"That's right...It'll send a message to anybody who dares to defy me or mess in my business" he said.

I looked at Kool Kat and laughed...

"He really is pathetic..Well Jack, here is a message for you! Go back to ,New York ,while you still can.Nobody cares about you."I said.

"You come up in here and threaten me...You're as good as dead." he snapped.

"I'm pretty alive right now....Here's another message...You come at me, you better bring your best and he better not miss...And if he does...I promise you a whole lot of pain Mr. Ambrose." I said.

"I got your message...We'll see." he said

"Oh yes we will." I said. " Good bye Jack ,can I call you Jack?..and I do mean, goodbye." I said as Kool Kat and I left and got in my car.

Jack Ambrose stomped his foot in disgust as we walked past him.

IV-

A little while later, Kool Kat, Owen Todd, Clerow and I sat in Josies....

''Everything set?" I asked.

"Yeah, Sepia, Chelsea, Corrie, and my kids are at Fatheads safehouse." said Clerow.

"Chess, Chris, Donald Smooth and Ralph Mole are there handling security." said Owen Todd..

"Good and while we were entertaining Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Darden....Sean Jackson, Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson found the hotel they were staying in and wired both of their rooms for sound and video.
They also got both of the cars that they rented...So we can watch and listen to everything they do." I said.

"Where are we staying tonight?" asked Clerow...

''With our women folk...at Fathead's safehouse..." I said..

We walked outside ...There was my car and Kool Kat's Escalade...I had a .38, a .22 and two.45's...Clerow, who rode with me had a.45.  Kool Kat and Owen, who rode together had .44 magnum and a .45 glock ...

"Hey Kev?" asked Kool Kat.

"Huh?" I answered.

"How'd you know where he was staying?" he asked.

"I have friends in high places...Friends that tell me things." I said.

"Those are good friends to have" mused the Big Man.

As we drove into the night time sky..We prepared for the hell that I knew was coming.

(Definitely to Be Continued...)