Umbrellas

At 7:30 am , Carvin "Cat" Gibbons got a phone call....From me....

"Hello.."

"Carvin...This is ADA Keith Wallace..." I said.

''Damn man...it's 7:30 in the mornin.." he said.

"Listen to me..Get up and get dressed...And stand in the lobby....Two of my detectives will be waiting for you...One is in an Uber....Detective Tony Hopkins...

The other one, a female will be your escort...That will be Detective Sirena Pile..

You are to go with them...They'll take you to breakfast...Then in a few hours, They are going to bring you to the New Deal Plaza...That is where we are going to meet..." I said.

"That's halfway across town. And it's not even open yet.." he said...

"You can't be seen coming here to Police headquarters...We have a credible reason to believe there is still an open contract out on your life...You are to bring any credible materials you have regarding this case with you. I'll meet you there....I have a room in one of the places that is nearly finished." I said.

"Alright man." he said and yawned...

"Carvin, take this seriously...." I said.

"Okay, Okay.." he said.

II-

And at our headquarters, Deputy FBI Special Agent in charge, Sharon Hopkins addressed us...

"I'm certain whoever is planning to kill him has cloned his phone and heard everything...They've probably relayed our boy right now." said Sharon...

"Good, We couldn't risk a shootout around here with all these people...." said Sissy...

"You think this will work?" I asked.

"It has to , Cecil Mays is a trained killer...28 other people know that it can work...All your people have on a special Kevlar vest with re-inforced trauma plates...and to protect their heads...They'll have Kevlar enforced Umbrellas.." said Sharon...

"I love the government's playthings.." laughed my wife Carlotta...

"Lucky for us it's raining lightly...We won't look too out of place...I wouldn't want this called on account of rain.." said Angie..

"Or on account of death!" said Duke somberly....

"Junior and I just came back...we've got a wide area scoped out....We are going to be on the roof with sniper rifles..." said Tyriq.

"I'm hoping he isn't wearing Kevlar." joked Jimmy...

"Okay, now listen....This guy is good...So we gotta mess with him..That's why the umbrellas...Sirena and Hop already have theirs...They are going to pass him off to somebody...who will pass him off to somebody else...Our Killer should never get a good shot..Once we get him inside...Duke, Rico, Jimmy try to get a bead on him....Don't kill him if you don't have to ...We want to take him alive.." said Sissy, who loaded her Glock!

"You're going Boss lady?" asked Carlotta...Sissy hadn't been going out with us much on these raids...The detectives were so good that she sat back a lot of times and did paper work and waited for reports...

"I am.." she said and holstered up...

"Siss ,we got this...This is dangerous..." said Duke..

"Excuse me....I'm flattered by yalls concern and deeply touched...But I was doing this when you guys were walking a beat, riding around in patrol cars....Now suit up...Let's go... Sirena..You and Hop go and pick Cat up...

Chica, you and Angie get in place...

Duke, Rico and Jimmy get to those roofs....

I want eyes on everything....EVERYTHING!" she said...

"WE ON IT LOU!" they all said in unison,laughing!

Sharon looked at me..

"And that is why they call her the Boss Lady!" she said ,giggling..

"Indeed " I said as Sissy and the detectives began to get ready....

"I got a facial recognition on your Russian....The guy that Alvin Tolliver was talking to yesterday....His name is Sergei...Sergei Kostov...He's Russian Mafia...Or he was when he lived in Moscow...Stone cold criminal...He's been in the United States for five years....He's not a citizen..He's here on a Work Visa..or at least he was..He owns a Bakery up in Little Norway...but that is his front...We suspect he imports High Grade Heroin into Philadelphia and the Tri State Area...He struck some kind of Faustian deal with Alvin Toliver a while back...Toliver had a solid organization...39 people ,mostly white...the kind that cops never look at in these kinds of things....They were packaging and selling to their own network of buyers...and they answered to Tolliver...Those are the people you guys busted.....And you hit three warehouses...But we suspect that there is at least one more warehouse and from what we heard...A ship somewhere close with more Heroin....He's waiting for Tolliver to build another organization..." she said.

"It would be nice if Carvin could tell us about that boat and the whereabouts of that warehouse.." I said.

"The Warehouse...Maybe...The boat...I doubt that even Alvin Tolliver knows where it is...I called Carol Redding of the DEA and the Coast Guard...They're already on it." said Sharon..

I kissed her cheek...

"Good Girl..I don't care what they say about you...You're alright with me.." I joked...

"Good to know...and...be careful out there..." she said.

III-

An Uber drove up to the front of Cat Gibbons condo...

Hop was driving... A plain clothes cop was lying on the floor in the back...

Sirena walked into the lobby...

Carvin came down....

"Nice...I remember you...The one with the big boobies..." he said smiling..

Sirena laughed..

"It's nice to be remembered for something." she said..

"Yes Lawd...You single..??" he asked..

Sirena laughed..

"No ,I'm married and have three children..." she said.

"You don't say? Damn, I know your husband had a good time making them.." he said.

"He thinks so." she laughed..."Come on silly, get in the car." she said.

It was a weird day....It was partially sunny, yet it was raining...pouring... On the roof, Duke used a small telescopic lense to survey the area....

He contacted Tyriq, who was on another roof...

"This dude is good...Not a sign of him.." said Duke.

"I know...but he's here...I can feel it.." said Tyriq...

On yet another roof...Jimmy and a plain clothes officer sat..

"Hey guys we searched six blocks on the way here...We found the car this guy may be using...I sent the license plate number to Sharon...

 She ran the plates...

It's from a local Enterprise Car Rental and it's rented to Cecil Hayes...a phony name...He's planning to shoot Cat and slip out of here to the car..." said Jimmy...

"He won't make it..I got a plain clothes guy covering every way out of here." said Tyriq..

"He might have someone helping him watching his back..." said Duke..

"He could...but I think this guy works alone.." said Jimmy...

On the ground...Sirena and Hop drove up...

Sirena and Carvin got out of the car...

The hitman , Cecil Mays had them both in his site...He swallowed a pill..He breathed...His finger was on the trigger...and then..Sirena opened an Umbrella..

Now he couldn't see either one or get a clean shot!!!

Carlotta, wearing a tight white skirt that accentuated her every curve now was walking with Carvin...Cecil smiled, thinking about how sexy Carlotta looked and how he hated having to shoot her too...

She was in his gunsite too...

She opened an umbrella...

Now he was confused...They were on to him...This was a trap, he figured...He had to abort..He should abort...but he couldn't allow a meeting between me and Carvin to take place...

Angie and Carvin were now walking and she had a white umbrella up..

Now he was furious...They were messing with him...

I appeared...Carvin passed me three ledgers, we shook hands and talked a little..

He took aim, but I put my umbrella up, just before three shots rang out... The umbrella worked good...

The shots bounced off..Carvin and I took cover inside..

"Oh My God...Somebody shot at us.." said Carvin..

"Ya Think? I told you this was serious.." I said..

"I didn't think my cousin would do this.." he said..

"Just get down..We're inside..now.."I said.

"I saw where the shots came from..I'm on him." said Duke...

"I'm on him too..." said Tyriq...

''We 're on our way over.."said Jimmy...

Cecil Mays now knew this was a trap...They lured him here...but how?? How did they know??

He saw Duke, Tyriq ,Jimmy and the plain clothes man...he put down enough gunfire to force them to take cover.. They returned his fire..What happened next was a terrific fire fight..

Bullets flying...Neither Cecil Mays nor Duke, Tyriq, Jimmy or Carlo, a plain clothes sniper, borrowed from the Tactical Unit wanted this...but here it was...Cecil Mays was a one man squad, single handedly holding the four of them at bay....

"It sounds like World War Two up there." said Carlotta...

"Oh My God..Duke, Rico and Jimmy are up there.." said Angie..

"Hold your positions girls..Protect Keith and Carvin...

"It's pretty loud up there....Siss , where you goin?" asked Sirena..

"To keep this from becoming a blood bath....Hop, come with me.." said Sissy...

Hop grabbed a Sniper Rifle...


''What about me?" said the plain clothes cop..

"Stay with my girls.." said Sissy..

Just then, another man entered the Plaza....He had a beard and a rifle...He opened fire..

Sissy got down...She loaded her glock and returned his fire.. He ducked down and fired  back at her,
Sissy retreated behind a car... She fired over his head....Trying to draw his fire towards her... She called out to Hop who was a distance away behind a car with his sniper rifle..

"Hop have you got a shot?" she asked..

Hop fired two rounds at him, but they missed...He put down enough fire to make both Sissy and Hop take cover...

''No...He's moving...I can't get a bead on him..."said Hop.

Carlotta rolled and cocked her riot pump shotgun...She came up on one knee with it aimed..and fired...She missed...He and Carlotta returned each other's fire for a minute...

Angie ducked behind the car and had her Glock Nine ready and primed.. So did Sirena and the Plain Clothes Cop...They all fired enough to force the man to retreat and run...

Carlotta, Angie, Sirena and the Plain Clothes Cop opened fire and lit him up as he was running for another cover.....He fell dead with 14 bullets in him...his gun still smoking.....

Sissy looked at the carnage...

"Hmmm, Maybe my girls need to come with me.." she joked...

 Hop smiled...

Sissy and Hop entered the building where the sniper was from the opposite end...They took the stairs...

"I don't have much ammo left Duke...We might have to retreat.." said Tyriq..

"Same here...How bout you Junior..?" said Duke..

"Me and Carlo here are good...We can cover you two...if you want to back out...but we can't get a good shot off.." said Jimmy...

Cecil Mays got up and was getting ready to run when the hallway door opened...

He loaded his glock and fired...

Hop ducked ,He fired one shot...It hit Cecil in the knee cap...He groaned and fired again...

''Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you corny cop!" he moaned... trying to reload and twisting in pain!!!

 Sissy , who he didn't see ,Emerged from behind the door....

She put five bullets, Center Mass in his chest....

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I DON'T BELIEVE IT!! I'VE BEEN SHOT!" he screamed!

Cecil Mays toppled over and fell backwards....DEAD as a doorknob!!

"They never believe it when they get shot." said Duke.

"I know..after all the hell they raise..." said Tyriq, shaking his head.

 "Well he got shot alright." said Jimmy .."And not a minute too soon, eh Carlo?" he said to the Plain Clothes cop...

"Yeah man.." said Carlo.

Duke, Rico , Jimmy and Carlo swarmed around the dead gunman...

Hop kicked his gun away...and took his pulse..There was none...He was dead...

"This is him...Cecil Mays..." said Hop.

"He apparently had someone helping him.....He's downstairs on the courtyard...Dead..Carlotta, Sirena, Angie and Vern took care of him." said Sissy..

"He wasn't going to tell us anything we don't already know." said Duke softly...

Sissy hugged him and Tyriq..

"I know....Thanks guys...Thanks for having my back.." she said..

''Having your back? You saved us." said Jimmy...

Sissy laughed and hugged Jimmy and Hop...

"I did, didn't I?  And you all didn't want me to come along..." she laughed...

They all laughed...

IV-

The Body of Cecil Mays was removed from the Plaza as well as his accomplice and Back up man, Ronnie Tucker, a low level thug , usually used as muscle..

We watched as the bodies were toted out of the plaza....

Dr. Hazel Baylor joked...

"You could have given me an invite to your little plaza party..." she said.

"Wasn't much of a party darling...I'm glad we didn't do too much damage with that little fire fight....This place isn't even opened yet." said Duke..

"Well, on the bright side...Our murder is down Rico...We got our suspect!" said Carlotta.

"Yeah and we spared your husband a court trial." said Tyriq.

"Is there a diner around here that is open...Carlo and I are going to run and grab everybody some sandwiches..." said Jimmy...

"And some coffee too" said Angie...

"Me and Verne will go with you...We spotted a place on the way here." said Hop...

Inside the plaza, Carvin "Cat" Gibbons turned over the ledgers to me...While Sissy and Sirena watched..

Sissy passed him a tumbler of coffee...

"We told you Carvin, We told you that they meant to kill you.." said Sirena..

"I know..I just can't believe my cousin would do this.." he said.

"It might not be him....This might have come from someone else.." said Sirena...

"ADA Wallace, this is everything...This shows who got paid and when...and for what.....I didn't sell drugs...I only went to the warehouses once..I just handled the financial end...I kept track of what we earned...and our overhead...and supervised the payments...I never even handled a gun...My cousin told me ,assured me that all I would be doing was crunching numbers, just as I would for any other business...But I couldn't overlook the overdose deaths...They were dying from our stuff....and then the murders that my cousin ordered...I had to pay the hitters..I couldn't turn a blind eye to that....I told him three weeks ago that I wanted out....That I'd turn the books over to him, give up the condo, everything...Just let me keep the office and the car...I told him...I couldn't be apart of this anymore...I was trying to set up my own business....I wanted Cindy to come into with me.." said Carvin..

"Cindy meant a lot to you didn't she?" said Sissy.

"I was in love with her from the time I first met her...I just didn't realize it...she was like a buddy at first...One of the guys...but I began to really notice her around the time we graduated ...How sweet she was....How when she was dressed up, she really had a nice figure...How honest she was...I never wanted her to be a part of this...So I never told her where I worked...What it was I really did ....I wanted her safe..." said Carvin..

"Well her killer won't hurt anyone else...He's joined her in death!" said Sissy.

"You managed to catch and convict practically everybody on this list, Everybody in these ledgers...What more can I give you?" he asked..

''Do you know this man?" asked Carlotta, who placed a photo of Sergi Koslov on the table..

Carvin smiled..

"You know about him huh? Wow! You guys are good...That's Sergi...Sergi Koslov...He's our connect...He supplies us with a very high grade of Heroin, straight from Afghanistan....He's real low key....Owns a Bakery in Little Norway...I never liked him, Never wanted to do business with him..He's as ruthless as they come.." said Carvin.

"We know about the Bakery....We need to know about the Ship and the warehouse." said Carlotta.

"I don't know about the ship..I'll give you the address to the last warehouse...The only one you didn't hit...And that's it..That's all I got.." he said.

"That's who we think ordered your murder and paid this team of hitmen...Sergi..."said Sirena..

"Figures..Sergei doesn't trust anybody...At least three of those people murdered, were done on his behalf, because he had a bad feeling about them...I couldn't stand him and he too much didn't like me either..My cousin however was in awe of him..Thought he was a great businessman.." said Carvin.

"What about the murders?" I asked..

"You caught all of the killers..They in jail.." said Carvin...

"Your cousin or Sergei ordered them...We need you talking about that. About them!" I said.

"I never heard him order them...but without his say so...They wouldn't have happened...So I guess he did." said Carvin...

"We can put you someplace safe tonight...Right now...Where they can't get to you." said Sissy...

"Okay...look, let me go back to my loft and pack some things....I'll call you and send somebody to pick me up.." he said.

"Why don't you let me send somebody with you?" asked Sissy.

"Nah....Some personal things I got to tend to...Then I'll surrender....I promise..I want to thank you guys for taking down those two hitters." he said.

''And look, we are keeping all of that out of the news...Sergei and your cousin don't know a thing...As far as they are concerned..You're already dead." said Sissy with a smile.

Carvin smiled...

"Good to know.."

And we all laughed...

(CONCLUSION NEXT)