The Hit Parade

"Rico...To what do I owe the pleasure ?" said Attorney Soloman Foster ,upon seeing Detectives Tyriq Pile, his wife ,Detective Sirena Pile and her partner...Detective Tony Hopkins at the door of his apartment...It was near daybreak...a few days later.

Tyriq had never been a big fan of Soloman Foster, when he was an ADA....Soloman was Duke and Keith Wallace's buddy...But now of days...He had forgiven Soloman and was a little more tolerant.....Even despite the fact that his wife Sirena and Soloman had at one time been an item!...

"I don't know if you heard but your boy, Minolo Sennterro escaped from prison a few weeks ago.."said Tyriq..

"He's...He's here?"asked Soloman...

"No...We don't know where he is...but we got it on good word that he's got a represenative here in the city and he's got a three million dollar bounty on your head, on Duke's,On My Husband, On Angie Belton and on Jimmy Barlow and Sissy."said Sirena...

"Damn...all the people who took him down....."said Soloman....

"He's got a four million dollar bounty on ADA Wallace and Carlotta's head." said Hop...

"Damn...Why so much on them?" joked Soloman...

Tyriq smiled...

"That's what Duke said...At any rate...We want you and your fiance to pack a bag....You can't stay here...We've got a safehouse....We'll all be there....It's safer than being out here in the open...You two will have to stay there until we can get these people...Our intell is pretty solid..We know who the name players are..." said Tyriq...

"Is what I hear true? Minolo Sennterro...Out?  I helped put some of his crew away...back when I was an ADA...I worked as Keith Wallace's second." said Celeste Tate...Soloman's fiance...

''Well you're lucky... Like me..You're not on the hit parade..."said Sirena, Tyriq's wife..."How you doin girl?" she said.

"Girllll, I'm waddling now...I'm seven months...I can't wait to drop this load.." she joked...

"I know that's right....I had twins....whooooooo.."said Sirena..

"You have three kids now don't you Sirena?" asked Celeste..

''Yeah...and that's it..No More."she laughed.

Two cars were driving slowly down the street...One coming North and the other coming from the south....

Three Black men, dressed in black jeans, white Nike sneakers and Black jackets got out of the first car...
a fourth Black man got out of the backseat....He was clearly holding a shotgun.....They had glocks...

In the second car....Three..Hispanic men got out of the car...All had automatic weapons...Sirena noticed them first...She pushed Celeste back into the building and shouted -

"GUN!!"

The three black men unloaded a volley of shots...Tyriq,Soloman and Hop hit the ground and crawled behind cars...

"Damn they tryin to kill us." said Soloman...

"You always were good at stating the obvious." said Tyriq , who looked at Soloman and smiled..Soloman smiled too as bullets whizzed past their heads...

Tyriq looked at Hop....He then gave him the high sign....

"LIGHT EM UP HOP!" he yelled!

Tyriq took aim and fired three times... Then He fired again...He hit two of the Black guys and one of the Hispanic guys ...Dropped them where they stood...Tyriq was a deadly shot.

Hop aimed and fired four shots...Two of the Black guys fell to the ground..Including the one with the shotgun....He never got a shot off...

This left two Hispanic men...They sprayed the front with a lot of gunfire....

Sirena fired one shot which went right through one man's forehead and out the back of his head....

He fell mortally wounded....She wasted no time firing three more shots at the last man, hitting him in the side ,the chest and the head...He too fell dead!

Hop spotted another man running...He ran after him and tackled him and handcuffed him...He took a pistol off of him....!

Tyriq and Soloman ran in the house...Tyriq hugged and kissed Sirena...Soloman hugged Celeste...

"You alright babes...?" he asked...

''As long as you're safe...I'm alright baby!" said Sirena in between kisses

They were all happy to be alive....

Hop surveyed the damage...Seven men dead....He sighed....He had a white guy with him, also dressed in Black jeans, black jacket and Nike sneakers...He was in handcuffs...He passed Sirena the man's pistol...

"This was their spotter and shot caller...This is Sonny Richard's crew" said Hop...

 "Any sign of Sonny?" asked Sirena...

 "He's not here...That's why he sent laughing boy here..."said Tyriq.

The white guy looked very young...He said nothing..but he was clearly terrified...

A number of uniforms showed up and took the man into custody....

''All Clear! Otherwise." said Hop...."We better call Hazel and the others." he said.

 Crime scene Investigators and reporters soon arrived....CNN carried the story about three Detectives and a former ADA and his fiance surviving an ambush.....seven killed in the subsequent shootout...one man in custody....

From his room at the Aloquinn Hotel...Rocco Montana shook in his boots....He couldn't believe it...Seven guys dead and one guy in custody....Unbelieveable.

II-

Eddie C. insisted on driving Sissy to the safe house..They had packed some things and had just pulled off when he noticed...they were being followed...His years in the streets had made him aware of that fact...

''Babes...we bein followed... I know I'm an ex-con...but I need a gun..."he said.

Sissy passed him her back up piece.. A .40....

"If the situation wasn't so grave...I wouldn't be doing this...This is wrong on so many levels..."she said.

''So is premature death...I'm gonna try and lose him.." said Eddie C. who took off and who wheeled in and out of traffic...

The car continued following them...

Eddie sped up...The car sped up...

Then a shot rang out...Whoever was in the passenger side was shooting at them..

"Baby, swing the car down that street...park it and get down...Don't shoot unless you absolutely have to.."she said..

Eddie swung the car around the corner and brought it to a halt...The other car followed and screeched to a halt...Before the gunman could load his weapon.....

Sissy fired her glock two times...both shots hit him square in the chest and knocked him backwards...He tossed his gun up in the air and slumped to the pavement...Dead!!!!

The driver got out and fired two shots....Eddie C. returned his fire..but missed...He fired at Eddie C..who ducked...

But it was Sissy, who's gun fired once more that took the driver down for the count!!

Sissy, gun drawn walked over to the fallen gun men...

"That's Vinnie Deluca......Don't know who this other goon is....but one thing is for sure...He won't be collecting that million dollars..." She said.

''Damn girl...you don't know how turned on I am right now.." said Eddie C. Sissy just smiled...

Crime scene Investigators and reporters soon arrived....along with police...CNN broke the story..."Long time suspected Organized crime figures ,Vinnie Deluca and Vito Lambini were shot and killed this afternoon in an attempt to gun down Lt.Sissy Van Buren, who heads the Criminal Investigative Division...This is the second attempt to murder detectives today...."

From his room at the Aloquinn Hotel...Rocco Montana shook in his boots...He decided to call San Juan....
He called twice..but could not get through....

III-

Detective  Edwin"Duke" Baylor was walking his wife...Dr. Hazel Hunter -Baylor to her car...She had just gotten a call from Hop, that Tyriq, Sirena and him had been in a shootout and six people were dead..

Duke had just gotten a call from Sissy that she and Eddie C. had been ambushed on route to the safehouse and that Sissy had killed Vinnie Deluca and his driver...

As they got off the elevator...Duke saw someone fiddling with his car...

''Hey Man, get away from my car!!!!..." he yelled and pulled his glock... He pushed Hazel back...He fired one round over the man's head..It must have starled him....

The man was startled...He must have jerked and accidentally put two wires together that shouldn't have been together...Duke saw a spark!

"Haze,back in the elevator,it's gonna blow!!!" he yelled..

Duke and Hazel got back into the elevator and closed the door...

The explosion ripped the man's head from his torso ,as well as his legs and arms...

Thus ended the career of car bombing expert...Trip Jackson... The bomb he meant for Duke had killed him instead...

"Oh My God...Duke...That was meant for us..."said Hazel...

Duke looked at the carnage...

"Glad that was a department issued car or I'd be pissed......Well.....He won't be collecting that three million dollars..."he said.

"A man attempting to attach an explosive devise to a detective's car was himself blown to bits an hour ago...The FBI has ruled out terrorists in these attacks..."reported MSNBC!

IV-

IAB Detective Angela Barlow...Wasn't married to Detective Jimmy Barlow when we took down Minolo Sennterro..She barely knew him...But he said that that was when he noticed her for the first time and found himself attracted to her...

Long after the case was over...He found himself dropping by her office to talk...or bring her coffee...Never anything major...It would be months later before he got the courage to ask her on a date..

Now they were married...Who would have thought.? Angela was waiting for Jimmy to pull up in their car...They had already packed and made plans to go to the safehouse...The Hotel that was owned by the Federal Government that they had turned into a makeshift base of operations several times when we were working on taking down a major criminal....Nobody knew about this place that didn't have a need to know..

Sissy and Sharon already had Plain clothes Police and FBI agents in the hotel that they had vetted and could trust...Tyriq ,Sirena and their children, Soloman Foster and his fiance, Celeste Tate, Hop,Duke and Hazel and Sissy were already there...They had had quite a day...Killing a hit squad hired by Sonny Richards...(The shot caller gave him up)killing Vinnie Deluca, a seasoned hitman and Trip Jackson..another seasoned killer...Angie was hoping the fireworks had ended for the day....Unfortunately for her..They hadn't...
She took one step out in the street and a man put a pistol in her side...

"You're making a big mistake.."said Angie...

''No sugar britches...you're makin a mistake.." said the man...

''Sonny? Sonny Richards...Oh My God...I thought you had retired..."said Angie...

"Angie Belton...You sent me up for ten years on a manslaughter rap...You and Duke and Tyriq...Well,when I heard you guys was on a short list...for livin...I jumped at the chance to be a part of it..."he said.

"My husband is right around the corner..."she said.

''Oh the white boy?" I'm certain he's dead ..Manny will make sure of that!" he said..

Two shots were heard!

Sonny laughed...

"Yup...Say goodbye to your boy...He's dead.!!..And now...It's your turn ..I owe you!" he snarled..

"You know those boy scouts you sent to kill Tyriq and Soloman Foster are all dead..don't you?  Yeah, all seven of em dead..."said Angie..

"You lie." he said.

"Why would I lie?  How would I know you even sent em?  They're dead!!....So is Vinnie Deluca and Old ass Trip Jackson...Whoever hired you dinosaurs just wasted his  time and money....Well not his money..He won't have to pay any of them" laughed Angie..

"I don't believe you." he said..

"Believe it" said Jimmy...

Upon hearing Jimmy's voice, Angie stepped on Sonny's foot and then kicked him hard in his groin...

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! What are you doin alive??"  he screamed....

Angie ducked and Jimmy fired three times hitting the old gangster in the chest.....

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!! I'VE BEEN SHOTTT!!!" he moaned before he fell dead into the street!

Jimmy calmly smiled and said-

"They never believe they're being shot....Me and Kevin Morris was talkin about that the other day...It's clear babes...Manny Barbosa is around the corner..."he said..

"Is he dead?" asked Angie..

"Yeah,pretty much.." said Jimmy...

"That poor guy...he won't be collecting that money either."said Angie as she walked over to her husband and gave him a big smooch in the lips..

"MMMMM, I know something that isn't dead!" he said as he and Angie continued to kiss..

"Well let's hurry up and get to our room in the safehouse so I can uh get more acquainted with it."she said in between more kisses.

"Manny Barbosa and  Sonny Richards , organized crime figures believed to be responsible for 30 murders between them were shot to death just an hour ago attempting to murder two detectives....Sources say this and several other attempts today could have been masterminded by Escaped Crime Kingpin,Minolo Sentterro, who's criminal empire was brought down by these detectives...Sources also say that The FBI is searching both the Philadelphia and New York Areas...Where he is believed to be..." Reported CBS,ABC,NBC and CNN ...

Rocco Montana called Minolo Sentterro in San Juan...

''Minolo, they're all dead...12 guys dead and one of Sonny's guys is in custody...I told you this was crazy.."said Rocco...

''Who else is available?" asked Minolo..

"Who else is available??Are you crazy Minolo?? NOBODY wants to do this!!...We got FBI and Police crawling out the woodworks...People are calling for YOUR HEAD MINOLO!!!  This is town is so hot ,nobody will even talk to me after this."said Rocco....

''Wait until things quiet down...In a few weeks...Somebody will take the bait..Maybe we bring someone in from out of town..."said Minolo.

"Whatever you say Minolo."said Rocco.

"I don't think so Rocco...We just caught this whole conversation on tape and we pinged the cell tower...We know where you are now! You won't be bringing anybody else in to do anything." said Deputy FBI SAC,Sharon Ferrell-Hopkins who was listening to wiretaps....

V-

I talked to Sissy and all of the guys that night on the phone...They were all at the safehouse....

"You guys had quite a day today..."I said.

"Nothing but a barrel of laughs since daybreak...Everybody is safe and sound...And the world is rid of four dangerous killers..Trip Jackson, Vinnie Deluca, Manny Barbosa and Sonny Richards as well as a squad of seven youngins..."said Sissy.

"That was planned with precision....This guy lined up his teams and planned it with lightning precision...You all were supposed to be taken out in one day in seperate strikes...No one would have had time to investigate one before another was occurring....Wow..I'm kind of impressed.." I said.

"We did our homework...we had the entire crew made , Work ups on all of them..We were prepared ...And I have eyes on the ring leader, Rocco Montana...A junior player in Sentterro's organization who all of a sudden moved up...We got wire taps on him and surveilience photos...ADA Rios is writing up a warrant and he should be in custody by this time tomorrow night.."said Sharon...

"Good, but now the problem is ..Where is Minolo? He's still out there somewhere...I don't think he's in Philadelphia...but he's somewhere close where he can call the shots.."I said.

"We'll get him....You guys just enjoy your vacation..." said Sharon.

Carlotta hollered into my phone...

"Hola mami." she said.

''Hey girlfriend!!!....You and Keith stay safe..we got everything on lock up here..."said Sharon..

"I see and you all managed to do it without my help." laughed Carlotta...

"Yeah How about that?" laughed Sharon.

What Carlotta and I didn't know was that Minolo was closer to us than we imagined...And while our friends were actually no longer in danger...The same couldn't be said for the two of us.

(TO BE CONTINUED)