Drop Zone

Bonita was hysterical and in tears.....Robert Foxworth tried his best to calm his wife down....Meanwhile, Chess, Chris Thompson and Donald Smooth sat with me and Chance Howard in their office...Their surveilience camera caught pictures of the entire abduction....It was Raif Collins and another man...... They came up on Bonita and Sepia just as they were leaving a shoe store and heading toward their office...

"That's Mikel Tabor.....I know him....Low level playa...Usually acts as muscle for whoever is payin." said Donald Smooth.

"And the leader is Raif Collins...an old acquaintence of mine." I said.

''Where does he stay Kev?" asked Chess.

''He hails from West Philly...but I doubt if that's where he is now...He's an escaped con...He's anywhere but there."I said.

I had already called Kool Kat, Clerow and Owen Todd and gave them the run down...While I waited for them to arrive I assured Bonita that everything would be alright.

"They won't harm Sepia...At least not yet...It's me they want." I said.

My cell phone vibrated....It was Sepia!!!

"Hello."

"Hello friend...remember me?" came the icy voice...

"Raif Collins!! Well I'll be....You know, you could've just came into Josies and said Hello." I said.

"Always the smart aleck.....Well smart guy...I got your wife.." he snarled..

"Oh I know and if you harm her....if you harm one hair on her head...I'll kill you..." I said.

"You aint in no position to make no threats Kevin.....But here's what you will do...You'll bring me a briefcase filled with 125G's...You'll deliver it to my operative at the location I'm going to give you....When he's got the money and he calls me and tells me that he's safe...Then you'll get your wife back..."he said.

"One hundred andTwenty five g's...Always the small timer eh Raif?" I smirked...

"Whatever...just have the dough...You got three hours..." he said.

"Hey Raif?-" I was about to say, but he hung up!

''Who was that?" asked Robert Foxworth...

"That was Raif Collins...Kidnapper.....He gave me this address to drop off the money."
I said.

Chris and Chess looked at it....

"I know where this is Kev.....These are those abandoned projects ....The city closed them down last year....We were thinkin about refurbishing them and reopening them." said Chess.

"Yeah, we are still in negotiations with the city." said Chris Thompson.

"Thing is Kev...You don't want to walk in there...It's like a maze...Somebody could set up in there and pick you off.." said Donald Smooth..

"Yeah..I figure that's his plan....The money is just a bonus....but I do have an ace in the hole." I said.

''What's that?" said Robert Foxworth.

"Sepia still has her purse and both her purse and her pocketbook have GPS tracking devices in them that Peeping Tom gave us...I can pinpoint where she actually is." I said.

Chris smiled, Chess ,Chance Howard and Donald Smooth smiled... Robert Foxworth looked at his wife who was still upset....

"This guy...this guy is always on top of his game..." said Robert Foxworth.


II-

Inside the van...Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson were able to pinpoint where Sepia
was.....Turns out ,it was in a completely different part of town than where I was supposed to meet Raif Collins in two hours...

I directed Peeping Tom, Lockpick Johnson, Owen Todd and Clerow to drive near the drop site , park two blocks away and sit tight....Sean Jackson  was on his way there now in a rental car....

I was taking my car and heading toward where Sepia was being held.... Kool Kat would be following me there in his SUV....

Raif Collins was in for the shock of his life....

The row house was in Mt. Airy...It was in the middle of a small block.... The tracking device in Sepia's cell phone and her purse led me right to it....Raif Collins was not the most intelligent of my adversaries....I doubt he figured out that you could track a person through their phone..

Kool Kat actually got to the house before I did...Like me...He had parked a few blocks away...

"Hey man...I've seen the house...The car they used is in the back....I counted two guys so far....Neither one of them is Raif....One is definitely Tabor and the other one just came over with what looked like groceries.." said the big man.

"You think Raif is in there?" I asked.

"I don't know..I didn't see him."said Kool Kat..

''Sepia could be anywhere." I said.

"Yeah I know..." said Kool Kat...

"We need a diversion." I said.

''What kind?" he asked..

"The kind that Big Chicken can provide." I said.

"Big Chicken??" he asked...

"Give me your phone." I said.

Kool Kat shook his head and laughed.

III-

Within thirty minutes she walked up to Kool Kat's car....His eyes nearly came out of his head....She had a trench coat on and high heels, but when she opened that trench coat, my lord!!!!!...So much body on one woman....Black fishnets , a black thong and a black bra...

"Which one of you is Kevin?" she said.

"I am." I said.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"That's a loaded question doll." said Kool Kat....

She saw what he was looking at and she closed her trenchcoat....

"You gots to pay to play darlin." she said.

I peeled off a couple of hundreds....

"Easy money darlin...just go up and ring  that door bell and get those guys to come to the door...Kool Kat...go around the back and see if you can get in through the driveway." I said.

"I'm on it Kev, but I'd much rather follow her." he said.

She smiled...

"Oh by the way...My name is Cubana...Cubana Jones..." she said.

"Pleased to meet you baby." I said.

"Yes lawddd!!!" said Kool Kat.

She looked at him and laughed herself.

"Your boy is cute, but he looks like trouble." she laughed.

"He is." I said and winked at her..."But you know that." I said.

Cubana chuckled. Kool Kat was all teeth, just grinning.

Cubana rang the doorbell-

"Hey Tommy..Tommy come on now, you got me out of bed on my day off to come over here now come on.....This gotta be quick." she said.

A man came to the door...

"You got the wrong address baby.." he said , then he looked at her and smiled...

"But it could be the right address...heh heh heh." he smiled.

I put Kool Kat's riot pump shot gun right in his face...

"You know what this is?  This is instant death..get your hands up and get inside." I said. Cubana had a little .22...She pulled it out and aimed it at him also....

He was startled...I took two guns and a knife off of him and marched him into the living room where Sepia was sitting ,tied to a chair....

"Untie her!" I snapped....

Just then the second gunman , Mikel Tabor appeared with a .45 aimed at us.

"How did you find this place?" he exclaimed....

Kool Kat stuck his .44 magnum in his ribs...

"A little birdie told us." he snarled... Mikel Tabor looked like the cat that was caught swallowing the canary!

We tied both of them up and called the police. They both looked like they were about to cry.

Sepia smiled and gave me a big long juicy kiss...

"I wasn't worried...I knew you'd find me lover." she said.

Cubana smiled-

"Awww that's so sweet, that's the kind of love I want." she said.

Kool Kat was getting ready to say something...I looked at him...

"Walter, don't!" I said.

The Big man smiled.

IV-

Raif Collins was not in the house...The two gunmen were Mikel Tabor, 28 and Chester Riley, 27....both had multiple warrants on them for an assortment of crimes...Now they could add kidnapping to it!

I suspected that Raif wanted to kill me himself when I delivered the money to him...I had a half hour to make the drop...He didn't know that he no longer had anything to bargain with...

Sepia was safe and his two stooges were locked up!  This dummy was still setting up in those abandoned projects....

I thanked Cubana and told her to personally thank Big Chicken for his help....She smiled and said-

"Thank you too Mr. Kevin and take care of that wife of yours..." she said.

I promised her I would...

Kool Kat and I met up with the guys near the projects a little while later.

"It's two guys Kev....Raif is in there and his cousin...Charlie Collins, who is in the plaza..." said Owen Todd....

"You got Sepia?" asked Peeping Tom.

"Yeah..she's good and we turned two goons over to the cops..."I said.

"Kev...Raif has an M-16 with a laser site...He's set up right across from the square where you drop off the money...He was planning to kill you as soon as you dropped the money off..." said Sean Jackson.

"Yeah, I figured as much ,when I didn't find him at that house. Clerow, Owen..Come with me...Kool Kat, take Charlie down." I said...

"With pleasure boss man!" smiled Kool Kat...


Clerow, Owen and I entered the projects from the back and scaled the steps...We quietly walked down the back landing...

"What is goin on with those guys....I been callin and callin and nobody has answered." said Raif Collins...He yelled out the window to his cousin...

"Hey Charlie...You get through to Tabor?"

''Nah...I been callin and callin for an hour now... and nothin...You think somethin went wrong?" he asked.

"What could go wrong?...They on the other side of town...He thinks we got her here..He will never know...cause he aint gonna walk out of here alive." snarled Raif.

"After we slump Kevin what are we gonna do with the babe?" he asked.

"Kill her...she's seen all of our faces.." he said.

"Not a good thing to do Raif...It's not honorable ." I said.

He spun around in shock...

"YOU!!!!  YOU???  But how?  Charlie, call the guys, tell em to kill his wife." he yelled.

"I don't think that will happen...See, my wife is safe and your boys are uh in jail....It's all over Raif...." I said.

"Nooooo.Nahhhhhhhhhhhhh...nooooooooooooo..How did you know? Noooooo!" he yelled, He was like a petulant child...He stomped his foot and then he went for his .45...bad mistake...

Clerow, Owen Todd and I opened fire...He was hit at least 7 or 8 times....

"ARgggggggggggggggggggggggh, I don't believe it..I've been shot!" he moaned and he fell out of the window, down into the courtyard.....

Charlie, his cousin was stunned.....He whipped out his gun...

"Sorry Charlie......drop that heater or you'll be just as dead." said Kool Kat who aimed his .44 magnum at his head....Charlie was no fool, he dropped his gun and Kool Kat tied him up....

"Game ,Set, Match Big homie." said Kool Kat...

I smiled....

"Somebody call the police and the medical examiners office." I said.

V-

I sat in Kool Kat's escalade the next night.... A red Seville with a white top drove up...
Kool Kat let his window down.... Rollo Jones was driving....Big Chicken was in the back....A man I did not know got out and walked over to us...He passed me an envelope...

Big Chicken smiled....

"Thanks Kev...It would have been increasingly hard to do business with that crazy Raif Collins on the loose, trying to kill me and you...Thanks again." he said.

"Thank you for Cubana." I said.

''Yesss lawdd." said Kool Kat

He laughed...Rollo Jones smiled.

"Yeah she is pretty persuasive." he mused...."Oh and before I forget, I got a tip for you on that uh other problem you have." he continued.

"You found Bob" Big Butt" Thornton?" I asked.

"Not exactly, but I got a scope on his point man...Philly Joe...You grab him, he'll lead you to Big Butt and his hitman." he said and the man passed me another envelope.

I smiled....

"Wow, you're full of surprises tonight Big Chicken." I said.

"Merry Christmas Kev" he said.   He and Rollo Jones smiled and the three of them drove away into the Philadelphia night!

(To Be Continued....)