Wild Ryder

Josies was popping as usual tonight.....Kool Kat and I waded through the crowd...

"Hey guys..What can I get you?"she asked.

"That's not a question you should be asking me Honey Bee." said Kool Kat laughing and looking at her salaciously...

"Fresh ass...Kevin teach him some manners baby..." she laughed...

"I'm doin the best I can Honeybee...What can I say?" I laughed...

"If you're lookin for Gus..He's over there at the bar." laughed Honey...

Gus saw us and called us over...


"Kevin, Walter..over here..." he said...


He had a Corona for me and a glass of wine for Kool Kat...


"Your Boy should be around....Walter what kind of work does this guy do? He sleeps in pretty late..?" asked Gus...Even though I had a feeling he knew..

"He doesn't work a regular nine to five...I know that much." was all Kool Kat would say..and he was being diplomatic..

''Yeah..I figured...He gave me 5large for letting him stay upstairs and he tipped Honey Brown her weekly salary almost...He has food delivered here on the regular...He rarely ventures out...So he obviously aint  hurtin for cash...He aint slingin is he?" asked Gus.

"Nah...I know for a fact that he isn't doing that...I knew him when I was in Puerto Rico..I aint gone lie to you Gus..he aint a citizen...but he aint in the drug trade.." said Kool Kat.

"Alright Walter....I just don't want any trouble out of the cops.. I run a very legit business.." said Gus.

"And Gus you know I would never put you or this place in any kind of jeapordy....He needs a favor.. He's a good guy.. He took care of me when I was in Puerto Rico...He's lookin for his girl...Which is why I brought Kevin here.." said Kool Kat.


Just then Diego walked up..

"Walter Kool...My mannnn." said Diego...

''What's up baby? This is the man I told you about...Kevin Morris..Solid dude..been my partner since we was ..Hell, since forever...If anybody can find your girl...He can.." said Kool Kat..

"I thought you said you knew a P.I. man?" asked Diego..

I pulled out my Private Investigator License and showed him my .38 smokeless and license to carry..

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh you are a P.I. My bad man....If Walter Kool says you're solid..Then you're alright with me...I'm Diego man..." he said.

"Kevin Morris....Let's find a booth, sit down and talk....I'm going to need some information from you." I said.


II-

We waded through the crowd...and found a booth..We sat down...

Kool Kat produced a bottle of that same wine we had had in my office..

"I love this stuff." I said as I gulped down the sweet smooth wine.

"Yeah?...I'll get you a bottle.." said Diego...who produced a photo of his girlfriend..

"This is my girl...The most recent photo I have of her and this is her last known address here in the city...Don't bother to go there...I've been there twice...She's not there..." he said.

He poured me and Walter another glass of the wine.

"Her name is Roxy...Roxy Perry....." he said..

"That's her full government name?" I asked..

"Roxxane Perry..." he said.

"Okay.. Now I've got something to start with...She associate with anybody ..anybody in the know if you know what I mean?" I said.

"Not to my knowledge..." he said.

"Okay....I'll get on this...Hopefully I'll have some good news for you in a few days or sooner.."I said.

"That's it?" he said.

"That's it.."I said.

Deigo looked at Kool Kat...Then he broke out into a big laugh..


"I like him Walter Kools.."he said.

Kool Kat smiled..


"I told you man..." said Kool Kat.


III-

Kool Kat and I pulled up in front of the Apartment complex....

"You sure about this Kev?" asked Kool Kat...

"I asked around in a few places and greased a few palms...You can't believe how many people have seen this girl..."I said.

''What you packin Kev?"asked Kool Kat..

".38 Smokeless and a back up .40 cal...." I said.

Kool Kat nodded...


"Cool...I got my .357 ." he said.

"You really think this calls for this?" I asked.

"I didn't want to say anything the other night in Josies...but ahhh I think there is more to this than what Diego is saying....Just call it a hunch..but when a man is in love with a woman and she leaves...I know how that feels...I know the pain a man goes through...And I just aint seein that...He wants her...Why is no concern of mine...But there is something else goin on...That's why when you told me you had something,I insisted on tagging along." said Kool Kat..

I looked at him and smiled..


"Gee thanks for pullin a brother's coat tails." I said..

"Always baby...You know I got your back.."said Kool Kat...

"Come on...Let's do this.." I said and we walked toward the building..

We walked down the hall to the apartment ,I was told was Roxy's....The door was open...Not a good sign...


Kool Kat backed up and cocked his gun..I ducked down and kicked the door open...


The apartment had been trashed...The coffee table was turned over, her drawers had been opened....Clothing, underwear and paper was all over the floor...Her closets were the same...clothes strewn everywhere...Her cubbards open....Plates and utensils all over the floor ...


A hole cut into the ceiling tiles....

"No sign of her or any blood, but it's quite evident...Somebody has been here...." I said.

"And they were looking for something....Not just her..." said Kool Kat who punched his big fist into his palm...


"I knew Diego wasn't being completely straight with me..." he said.

''Come on...Let's get out of here ."I said...but just as we stepped into the hall...Two white men appeared...One had on a Black Cowboy hat and a rifle...The other had on a short leather jacket and a .38 smokeless just like mine..


"Who are you guys?" said the man with the Black cowboy hat...


"Who are you?" I asked ...


They didn't look like cops...


The man with the Black Hat pulled his rifle out and aimed ......I pushed Kool Kat back into the room..


"WALTER, GET DOWN!!!" I yelled..


He cut loose with a barrage of gunfire...


His rifle shots riddled and splintered the door...Several of the hallway's tenents peered out...

I yelled-


"Get back in that room.. he's shooting.."

Kool Kat ,like me had a back up .40 caliber...He got low and fired ,knocking the cowboy hat off of the rifle shooter...

The other man went to fire and I returned his fire...He wisely chose to retreat.


"Come on Ralph...Let's get out of here...They got fire power and it's two of em..." said the man who had formerly been wearing the cowboy hat...


The two men exited down the stairs...With Kool Kat and I in hot pursuit....The exited out the back door...


We rolled out in single file..The man with the rifle got ready to fire again, when he was hit from behind...


"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAHHHH, I BEEN SHOT IN THE ASS....I DON'T BELEIVE IT...I BEEN SHOT IN THE ASS!" he yelled...


The other man went to fire at us and he got hit in the side...


"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I DON'T BELIEVE IT...I'VE BEEN SHOT!!!" he yelled...


The two of them turned and ran the best they could to a car that was parked away from the alley...


Three more shots rang out...The car pulled off in a hail of gunfire..

Kool Kat and I looked to the side to see who our benefactor was...

Diego Ryder put his pistol in his waistband and buttoned his jacket...


"You guys okay?? I followed you...I wanted to make sure you were safe and that you didn't encounter any unwanted guests..."he said.

"What made you think we would encounter any uh unwanted guests?" I asked.

"You wanna tell us what's really goin on Diego? I didn't get my boy involved in this to get him shot....And in case you're wondering..I enjoy being alive....Now who were those guys?" asked Kool Kat..

"I don't know who they were...but I know who sent em....I got an idea.." said Diego..

"And who would that be?" I asked.

''A guy named Lou Draca.."he said.

"Crap!" I said.


Lou Draca was an up and coming crime boss.. He had his hands in gambling, auto theft, heists and a little loan sharking...

"Look.. Me and some guys we got put on to a score when I was in the joint..You ever hear of a guy named Bob "Big Butt" Thornton ?" he asked.

Kool Kat looked at me and smiled..

"Yeah.. We knew of him." I said. I had helped put him behind bars...

"Yeah..Well while in the joint..He used to talk about this guy...Old Joe, who was a big time jeweler , who had a lot of high end merch...He said that he had a crew who was going to hit Joe and steal his merch, but that they all got pinched and went to jail before they could hit him..." said Diego..

"So let me guess..When you got out of the joint, you put together a crew and you hit Old Joe..Stole his high end merch...?" I said.

"No crew...Just me and another guy.. Frankie Pardo...Twenty Five million worth of merch ,the score I was going to retire on.. Somebody killed Frankie...I high tailed it out of Philly and wound up in Puerto Rico..I met you right after that Walter Kools. I figured you was a man like me...Who had just come into a lot of money and had a secret to hide..That's why I never asked you any questions and respected the fact that you never asked me.." he said.

''And you met baby girl..right around that time and she stole your merch...?" asked Kool Kat..

"Not only stole my merch ,but lifted a large amount of cash from one of my bank accounts..."said Diego..

"If she's got that much dough, she could be in Cancun right now.."I said.

"Only she isn't....She's here...I got it on good word she's here in Philly...It's just that now the trail has gone cold..I remembered I knew you Walter and I heard that you ran with a guy, the best Private Investigator money can buy I was told...That's why I asked you to help me..."said Diego..

"What's Lou Draca got to do with this?" I asked.

"The guy we robbed..is a friend of his..." he said.

"Man,I don't need to be mixed up in this and neither does my boy....HAndle this yourself."said Kool Kat..

"Walter,Kevin, Please...I'm sorry I didn't tell you exactly everything...but there is more.." said Diego..

"What?" I asked..

"Draca has a contract out on me!  Roxy too!  She has no idea what she got herself into.." he said.

"Well....Now it all makes sense.." I said sarcastically...


IV-

Back at Josies's, upstairs in the room where Gus was allowing him to stay...

Diego poured us some wine and we sat and talked..

"Look, all I wanted to do was find her and get those jewels off of her...I don't even care about the money she lifted ..I pulled a job in Montego Bay before I came back here that netted me much more money than that.. But I needed those jewels back to square myself with Lou Draca.." said Diego..

"You think returning those jewels will square things with a guy like him?" I asked.

"Yeah.. Of course.." said Diego.

"Come on.. you can't be that naïve Diego...What Kevin means is that once you steal from a guy like Lou Draca...the only way to square things up with him is your head on a platter...You said he has a contract out on you...That means someone is looking for you...And you can't stay here.."said Kool Kat..

"Kools..What do you mean?" asked Diego..

"Just what I said...This is my bar...This is where I drink....And I can't have no gangsta mess goin on up in here...My friends and family come here to relax and eat some good food and enjoy a fresh beverage after a hard days work...."said Kool Kat.

''Walter Kools..I got nowhere else to go...No one knows I'm here.." said Diego..

"They don't know now.. but they will soon enough.. People talk in this town for the right amount of money or the right amount of fear...You know that Diego...I'm gonna call Ralph Mole..."I said.

"Ralph Mole?? Didn't he used to be Fathead Newton's main man?? I thought they all retired.." said Diego..

"They did...but they have a  safe house where you can stay.. A place where you won't be found...It's on the other side of town.."said  Kool Kat who tossed him a smartphone..


"That's a burner phone...That's the only phone you use to contact Kevin or me...Our numbers are in there...Come on pack your stuff.."said Kool Kat..

"I just got off the phone with Ralph Mole.. Roscoe ,Chris Thompson, Chess and Donald Smooth are out there right now..Playin cards.. He said to bring him.." I said.

Diego packed his two suitcases and left with us...

''Wow, I heard about how successful Chris and Chess are...They own everything but the neon in this neighborhood...Lofts, Duplexes..Apartment complexes and those two shopping centers over there... Damn , they make going straight real attractive...I haven't seen those guys in years...It'll be nice seein them again." said Diego... "Hey whatever happened to Old Basil? He used to run in our circle back in the day..." asked Diego..

"He's a deacon at the Church and he runs a Halfway house for recovering addicts and a youth center." I said.

"Basil? wowwwww...and I heard Eddic C. is married to a cop....and working for Basil..." said Diego..

"It's true...I didn't realize you knew so many of my friends.." said Kool Kat...

"Yeah we all traveled in the same circles...They used to call me "Wild Ryder" he laughed...

"Wild Ryder huh?" I laughed..."It fits..." I said.

"Yeah,it kind of does..." said Diego..

" We all got older and wiser and we changed up....Goin to jail and havin a sheet follow you aint cool..Eddie C. is the only one of us that has a sheet...He did a three year federal beef cause he wouldn't give up his connect...Other than him, all of us, Chris Thompson, Donald Smooth, Basil, Me...we all got out of the game and went straight before the game caught up to us...And it always does in one way or another...Either a jail cell or a casket....So when is the Wild Ryder going to retire?" asked Kool Kat..

"Soon man, Soon...I got enough money to live comfortably if I invest right...Might even start a little lightweight business." he said.

I hoped he was serious...But I 'd heard it all before..

V-

As we drove him To Ralph Mole's safe house...Out near the airport...He mused...

"I dug that girl Walter....Roxie....

She was gorgeous....and hell in the bed too!  She made me come so hard my ears were ringing...Never figured her to be a thief...I just can't believe it...I thought she was into me man....Either of you got women?  He looked at me...Oh..you're married..." he said.

"Goin on four years now...we have a daughter..."I said..

"I'm not married, but I live with somebody..." said Kool Kat...

"You guys are lucky...After this is all over...I'm gonna find me a woman and settle down...I'm getting too old for all this rippin and runnin...I'm gonna be like you two.." mused Diego..

"Who you kiddin? Diego...you always gonna be lookin for that next score...That next high...That's who you are man..."said Kool Kat...

"Maybe I can change...Who knows...Or maybe I'm just a gangster I suppose!" he said.

I said nothing.. I just drove into the Philadelphia night... I 'd heard it all before..

(TO BE CONTINUED)