Expose ,Part 1

It was one of the rare weeks that I was actually in the office everyday of the week. Sean and I had taken some wonderful photos of Reed Nelson, Ingrid Rhodes, Downtown Rob Brown, Symphony Sam, Brooke Taylor and the All Star Band that had played at the recent week long Jazz Festival that my firends, Chris Thompson and Chess had thrown with the help of local business people, Mabel Jenkins and sisters, Dollar Bill and Ralph Scallion and of course Gus.... Our entire next edition was going to be on this....I had commissioned our staff writers to write a peice on each one of the people I had just named and I was spending time with Sean Jackson and his wife Sheila editing the stories and photos that were going to go into our special edition..We had put in some late hours...On this particular night, My wife Sepia had come up with some dinner for the four of us...I say four, because our recent new hire, Harry Charles was working with us too on this edition...

After we chowed down...We all agreed to call it a night....

"Thanks for the food Sepia, it was very much appreciated." said Sheila.

"Yeah...Your husband is a slave driver...if not for you, we would've starved to death" joked Sean Jackson.

"Oh it was nothing....At least I know where my hubby is at night." said Sepia....To which we all burst into laughter....If you notice..I said nothing...I was busy finishing off the last bits of the project.

"Okay guys...that's a wrap..We are officially done..." I said.

"Good...you guys wanna stop at Josie's for a couple of cold ones?" asked Harry Charles.

"Nah, we are going home." said Sean...

"I think Sepia and I are going home too....We'll probably stop in Josies tomorrow." I said.

"Okay Kev, Sean, guys....I'm headed over to Josies...See you tomorrow." said Harry.

"Not in here you won't....I'm off." I said.

"I heard that" laughed Sheila and Sean....We all laughed and headed out the door....

As we walked out ,a familiar guy was standing near my car.....

"What's the matter Kev...you can't say hello to an old friend?" came the voice of Seth Kinnison, an old friend and fellow writer who I hadn't heard from in three years...

"SETH??? Oh my God....How long has it been?" I said ,incredulous! Seth had been a writer at this magazine when Sean Jackson and I first started...He was a hell of an investigative journalist..He could easily be doing what I do on the side now....and that is Private investigative work.

"Hey Seth..what's up man?" said Sean Jackson.

"Good things and not so good things...I been keepin up with you guys...I see these lovely ladies have made honest men out of the both of you...Ladies, you have my sympathy." he joked.

"Sepia...this is an old friend of mine...Seth Kinnison...used to work here....This is my wife Sepia."

I said.

"And Seth, this is my wife ,Sheila" added Sean.

After we all exchanged pleasentries....Seth said to me....

"Kev...I hear that you're in the Private eye business now of days." he laughed.

''You really do your homework." I laughed.

"Here is my cell phone number...I got somethin hot for you...Call me and we'll hook up tomorrow. It's very important...I gotta run right now...Can't be caught out in the open like this too long." he said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked...

"Nothin..Just get at me tomorrow." said Seth...

"Good Night ladies." he said and with that, he headed toward the opposite corner to hail a taxi. We all went to our respective homes and went to bed.

The next day, I did in fact call Seth and he agreed to meet me at Mabel Jenkin's Soul Food Joint.

We had a couple of Cokes and a Rib Sandwich a peice...

"So what have you got that's hot?" I said.

He passed me a zip drive.

"Put that in your pocket Kev...That represents probably the last bit of journalistic work I'll ever do." he said.

"What? , What are you talking about man?" I said.

"Listen...two weeks ago you guys threw one of the greatest week long jazz fests in the country...I think you out did New Orleans, just this once.....a man, a big time gambler who fashions himself as a major player brought in some stick up guys out of New York..." he said.

"Yeah... a guy named Bristol...I was looking into him." I said.

"Don't know how deep you looked....Anyway...these cowboys robbed a seafood joint....and they robbed Ciros and Mulberry Street....but that was just the preliminary...they really wanted the $10.000.000.00 safe that Chess and Chris had to bankroll the event....Did you ever ask yourself why?" said Seth.

"Ten million dollars? I don't have to ask why." I said.

"No Kevin...You're missing the big picture. This Bristol fellow is a gambler, a big time gambler...he plays high stake games...games where there is a big pot...He hates to lose...That real estate that Chris and Chess bought...was HIS???" said Seth.

"Nah, they wouldn't have bought anything from him." I said.

"They didn't know they bought his property...A guy named Harry Chambliss originally owned that property...He lost big to Bristol....Owed him a grip.....He gave the property to Bristol to settle his debt...Only ,it wasn't his to give....He owed to Government big time also and they took the property...the land that Chess and Chris are building their big Shopping center on..." said Seth.

"Okay..so what?" " I said.

"Bristol is crazy...He hates to lose and he hates being embarrassed...He wanted to rob that safe so that Chris and Chess would not be able to pay those people and would have to either back out of that deal or at best be discredited....It wasn't personal against Chris and Chess..it was aimed at

Chambliss." said Seth.

"Okay, but the plot was foiled and from what I understand, Chris and Chess forced him to return all of the money and they run him out of town." I said.

"Bristol isn't out of town...He owns property all over this city...He's here, he's hiding in plain sight and he's planning to get back...He's got a hitman...a high priced guy from out of town....and he's got a contract on Chris Thompson, Chess, Walter "Kool Kat" Jones ,Donald Smooth and another guy." said Seth.

"What? How do you know all of this?" I said.

"Because, I've been investigating this whole thing and more...It all leads to Bristol ,along with some other things..." said Seth.

He was a great investigative journalist...If he said something, then I know it was true...because this guy was the best..I studied under him...He taught me how to get to the bottom of things.

"Okay Seth...What is your angle in all of this?" I asked.

"The other guy on Bristol's hit list...is me my friend...I've already called Chris, Chess, Donald "Smooth" and Kool Kat and told them to watch their backs..They're street guys...it won't be easy for this guy to hunt them down....but me...I'm not like them...There are only so many places I can hide." he said.

"Why would this hitter want to shoot you?" I asked.

"Because Bristol knows that I'm on to him and that I plan to expose him for the killer and psychopath that he truly is....See ,there is more to this story Kev....Harry Chambliss....That was my step-father...He raised me and he rescued me and my mom from poverty...He was a good man with a weakness for gambling...He lost his shirt to Bristol...I could have dealt with that...he was a degenerate gambler...but they found him in a phone booth up in North Philly with his brains blown out! That I couldn't take..." said Seth.

"You think Bristol was behind it?" I said.

"I know that bastard was and I told him...He had the audacity...the nerve to come to my step dad's funeral....I told him that I would get him if it's the last thing I do." said Seth..

"Wow man...tht's something." I said.

"Kev....You have to get my revenge for me...I don't have much long to be here.." said Seth.

"Aww man..No hitman is that good...I should know...I've tangled with the best..They're human like you and me...and they all cry like babies when they get shot."I said.

"This guy aint like no local man....He's on some CIA shit man...He's that good...I know I'm done...but you take that zipdrive home...put it in a secure place....veiw it on your computer..Then you take it and do what you do....Get him Kev...Don't let him get away with this....He's a bastard and I'll be waiting for him in hell....I gotta go.....Can't stay out in the open too long...It was great knowing you Kev...Say hello to your wife and to Sean for me." said Seth as he left and walked down the street.

I didn't know what to make of what he had told me...It was a fantastic story....I knew of Bristol...We all did...Nobody thought of him as being dangerous....I considered Fathead Newton to be more lethal...but who really knew anybody...It certainly was a fantastic story..I finished my coke and paid the bill for both of us. One thing hadn't changed...He always did skip out on the bill.

I went home and laid down , took a nap.....I was asleep for about two hours when I felt my wife ,Sepia nudging me....

"Kevin...Kevin....turn on the television....your friend...Seth..the guy we met a few nights ago..."

"What? What about him? " I asked.

"He's dead!" she said.

"Dead? I talked to him this afternoon." I said.

I jumped up and turned on the television in time to hear the socking news.....

"Today , a former investigative journalist, Seth Kinnison, former President of the Black Journalists Association was found shot to death in the offices of HYPE Magazine where he once worked....It is not known what he was doing there at the time...It appears to have been a robbery gone bad." said the report.

I knew better!

(To Be Continued.....)

Gettin Back

"This is a nice place you have here Harry." said Bernadette as she walked around in his apartment.

"It's aightt"he said , trying not ot make too much of it...

It was a nice apartment...A very modern kitchen, a small spare living room... with a nice couch , a black coffee table and a 42 inch flat screen Television. He had his ipod and his dock and his laptop on a seperate table to the side. He kept his kitchen as well as the rest of his apartment very neat. When they had been married, one thing he could always say about Harry Charles was that he was very neat and orderly.. She liked that in him..

"This is my bedroom" he said , without a hint of sarcasm...He said it rather matter of factly and stood at the door as she walked in.... There she saw a huge brass bed.....The room was immaculate..It smelled like jasmine and other incense...it had beautiful curtains and a nice throw rug... She thought for a minute .......She hadn't been with a man in months...since Ralph Scallion...Ralph had been an excellent lover...at least physically speaking....He wasn't loyal....As much as she had the hots for Kool Kat...He probably wasn't loyal either...Not that he owed her that, but he looked like a man who had lots of women....She didn't need that at this time in her life...and yet Harry......Harry...He had changed....He had done a complete 360.....but did she even want to go there again? With him?

"Would you like some wine or something to drink?" said Harry weekly.

"I'll take some wine." said Bernadette.

Harry poured some wine into two goblets and added some ice cubes...They toasted and they drank the wine... One glass turned to two and two wound up being the entire bottle...

"Wow..We killed it." laughed Harry...

''Harry?" asked Bernadette..

"Yeah?" he said.

"How long has it been since you've been with a woman?" she asked.

"Well, right after we divorced there was one girl I met at Mulberry Street and maybe two months ago..there was another woman...Neither one of them was serious..I aint seen or heard from either one of them since." He said.

"It's been six months for me" she said.

"Oh yeah...wow!" he said.

"Harry, look...I can't lie...I'm terribly horny...I'm not promising nothing...I'm not saying I want to get into nothing serious...but we know each other...we were married after all...and...." she was interrupted....Harry was on top of her kissing her passionately...She returned his pasion for a few minutes.....

"Ohhhhh....whooooo...Harry, let's go in your bedroom....." she said, breathing heavily..

She unbuckled his pants, unzippered them and pulled them down around his ankles as he anxiously wiggled his way out of them...His penis seemed astonishingly larger than what she had remembered and it hadn't been that long....

"Ohh myyyyyy.." said Bernadette...as she began softly stroking it....Harry in turn began undressing Bernadette, unzippering her jeans and opening her blouse all at once.....

"Good lord girl, I've sure missed those large breasts of yours." he said as he stared at them...

''Don't just stare at them Harry, that's not polite." she said...

He finally layed her across his bed..He all but buried his tongue in her mouth, kissing her passionately....She matched his passion, kiss for kiss...Then she began to crawl down towards that huge erection of his....She wanted to take all of it into her mouth......Harry thought he had died and gone to heaven....He grabbed her firm buttocks and squeezed them with all of his might as she continued.....

Within minutes his tongue was returning the favor....between her legs....She was near climax and

rolling her head back and forth and wanting to scream out in joy, but not being able to.....Harry couldn't take much more....He straddled her and once more began kissing her , but Bernadette wanted more than a kiss...She hungrilly grabbed his penis and began inserting it inside of her....

''Yessssssss...oh thank youuuu jesusssssss..."she screamed as he began to pick up his pace with each stroke and give her the ride of her life......

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LAWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" she screamed!

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMphhhhhhh..." groaned Harry....

"Ohhh Harry , I think I still love you...ohhhhhhhhh..." she moaned.... What had she just said?

"I love you too baby...ohhhhhhhhh goddddddddd..." he moaned as he thrusted harder and faster! What had he said?

She wrapped her legs around his back and squeezed him as tight as she could....It was a wonder he didn't go deaf the way she screamed after her second orgasm of the night...She trembled....

With that, Harry climaxed himself...shaking and trembling.....

"Harry, I--I...know I said something, when we were making love..." said Bernadette ..

''I know...I heard you ...I still love you too." he said.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked.

"Well, right now...we are gonna try and get some sleep." laughed Harry as he held Bernadette in his arms.

"Silly, you know what I'm talking about ." laughed Bernadette.

EPILOUGE:

The next week, A U-Haul truck with Harry's belongings pulled up to Bernadette's house...Harry,Clerow, Sean Jackson, Kevin Morris , Eddie, Andrew and Gus unloaded his stuff as Bernadette directed them as to where in the house to position each thing.

''I hope you stay married this time junior...cause I aint moving you out." grumbled Gus.

"You don't have to worry about that Gus...I aint goin nowhere." laughed Harry Charles...

"When is the weddin?" asked Clerow.

''We got married last week at City Hall...We might have a formal ceremony a few months from now." said a gushing Bernadette.

Across the street from all of this, Kool Kat, wearing a black pin stripe suit, tailored just for him...lit a cigar.... and smiled!

(For Tracy)

Fading Away

"Girl, you really missed a great jazz festival...It was all week long." said Kool Kat to Chelsea Daniels...His neighbor , who lived directly across the street from him.

"I know...but I had to go home to check on my mama." she said.

Home for her was Oklahoma of all places...She had been gone for two weeks..The last week which had seen Chess and Chris ,along with Mabel Jenkins ,Gus , the bartender and owner of Josie's and Dollar Bill throw a gala of music and food that delighted the entire neighborhood.
Chelsea and Kool Kat were not exactly an item....They had an "arrangement" you might say....They were what you might call -"Friends ,with Benefits" They slept together quite often and he often took her to nice dinners, on weekend trips away from Philly , to movies and plays and whatnot...but he didn't exactly consider himself her man.

Chelsea knew who Walter "Kool Kat " Jones was..She always knew who he was and what he used to do...She had grown up around men like him...Her Daddy was a man of the street like Kool Kat..She wasn't afraid of him, and Kool Kat liked that...but she didn't pressure him either and she told herself that she wasn't going to fall in love with him, no matter what. She didn't know...but she assumed that Kool Kat had other women....It was a ask me no questions ,I'll tell you no lies type of thing.

Kool Kats Blackberry began vibrating....It was the third time , in the hour that he had been at Chelsea's house that it had done so...He looked at it, grimaced and layed it on the table.

"Her again huh?" laughed Chelsea.

"Yeah." said Kool Kat.

He had told her all about he and Kevin's adventure in which Bernadette's ex-husband, Harry Charles and her present boyfriend at the time, Ralph Scallion had been kidnapped by three guys , Gorilla Lewis, Elephant Jones and Abel Gardener, who were planning to kill them for two entirely diferent reasons...and how he, Kevin and Clerow had rescued them and (his words) "sent the three stone cold gangsters packing" Chelsea was no fool....She had grown up in Philly most of her life...She knew that nobody in Philadelphia was ever going to hear from Gorilla Lewis, Avel or Elephant Jones ever again.

He told her that ever since then....Bernadette had been blowing up his phone, and practically putting it in the newspapers that she wanted to be his woman. She was fine and all and he certainly was tempted more than once to put it to her..but she was too needy, too pushy and forceful...He didn't want that.

"You sure you didn't give her some of that good lovin of yours?" cooed Chelsea mischeiviously!

"No...If I did, I'd certainly tell you...I haven't lied to you about anything else.." said Kool Kat.

"Hmmm...I don't knowwwww." said Chelsea in a sing song voice..

"Nah baby...I was saving this for you." laughed Kool Kat...

"Sure...tell me anything " she laughed, all the while, unzippering his trousers....and marveling at his huge, erect penis....

"My, My My." she said...

"Come here girl" said Kool Kat, as he lifted her up, slid her panties down and sat her up on her
sink.....

"Ouuuu, it's cold.." she said....

He smiled and entered her slowly....She was a little tight...but she soon began to moisten...

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she moaned as he slowly began to move back and forth inside her...She held on for dear life as he continued.....

"Ohhhhh Walter, you feel so gooooooooooooooooooooooooddddd.." she cooed...

"You do too baby." moaned Kool Kat.

Halfway across town in her beauty parlor...Bernadette tried Kool Kat's number again......One of her patrons, Marlene Jordan said to her...

"Gurll, why don't you stop callin that man? You gone run him away if you keep pestering him like that..."

'How you know if I'm callin a man?" responded Bernadette.

"Oh , we all saw you wit Kool Kat every night last week at the Jazz fest...and he the only guy you talk about....Everybody know he got your nose wide open....He must have knocked the back out of you on them nights girl." laughed Marlene.

"Actually, he hasn't.....He was like uh...a gentleman...He took me to the fest and then he escorted me home...He only came in once...We kissed a little bit...but before we got hot and heavy...he left." she said.

"Whattttt, Walter Jones...Just left???He must have a woman somewhere else." said Marlene.

"Sheeet, he got a couple of women...He was tearin my girl Beverly up out in West Philly." said one woman who invited herself into the conversation...and what about that big boned gal at Mulberry Street...Kool Kat turned her out...turned her outtttt....Girl, maybe you better be glad you and him didn't do nothin...because he got you so nutty now and he aint touched you...imagine when he do put it to you...You aint gone wanna come to work!" said another woman. Everyone in the beauty parlor burst into laughter...Bernadette didn't find any of it funny...Her heart was broken... She was being shunned by a man she had a big crush on...Her marriage had recently ended and she felt desperate and all alone for the first time in a long time.

Then.....Harry Charles, her ex-husband walked into the parlor...There was a hush of silence when he walked in...Everyone knew that he used to beat her and that he used to come in and rifle her cash register..sometimes taking a whole days pay to feed his gambling addiction. Now of days...He was different. He no longer gambled...in any way shape or form. He had gone to anger management classes and he had started attending church on a regular basis. When he came to see his ex-wife..he was very contrite.

''How you doin Bernadette?" he said.

"I'm fine Harry...How are you?" she said. Bernadette was always cordial to Harry...Part of her felt sorry for him...

"I'm good...I start my new job next week." he said. Bernadette's eyes lit up!!

"A Job? What are you doing?" she asked excitedly...

"Kevin Morris got me a job working at his magazine...I'm Sean's wife, Sheila's Administrative assistant..I'm making pretty good money..I got a savings account and a checking account and I paid my two credit cards off.." he said.

"You still living with Georgia Ray?" she asked. Georgia Ray Charles was his mother!

''Oh nah..Nahh..Chess and Chris rented me a spot....I got a nice apartment....You should come over and see it sometimes." He said.

''Wow Harry...you've really turned a corner...Workin...got your own spot...I'm impressed." said Bernadette.

"Yeah..well..I'm tryin to do good... You still seein that cook, Ralph ,what's his name?" he asked.

"See! There you go....For your information, no....I'm not...I know you're seeing somebody." she said.

''Haven't had time to." said Harry.

"Well......Maybeeeeee...Maybe I'll stop by your place after work....but it's just a social call Harry,
no funny stuff..." she said ,sounding like a school girl,...They had afterall been married...It wasn't like they didn't know each other in the biblical sense.....

Meanwhile , across town in Chelsea's kitchen.....

"OHHHHHH...OHHHH MY GODDDDDDDDDD...OHHHHHHHHH WALTER...OHHHHHH!!" she screamed...

"Ouuuuuuuuu baby...ouuuuuuuuuuuuu...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" screamed Kool Kat as he thrusted harder and faster.....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BABYYYYYYYYY!!!!! DARLING!!!!!!" she moaned...

Finally they both reached their climax in a crescendo of both pleasure and fury!!!

Sweat ran down Kool Kat's forehead and his massive shoulders....Chelsea's head collapsed on his
chest...Her perm was completely sweated out....She was exhausted...They both fell to the floor ,laughing...

"Oh my goodness Kool Kat...that was the bomb....ouuuuuuuu.." she cooed..

"Damn girl...I thought I was gonna die..." he said ,still trying to catch his breath and laughing.

Harry Charles sat in the courtyard outside of his Apartment complex... "Fading Away" by The Temptations was playing...He sang along with the chorus.. "You changed and it's showin...baby,You've changed and it's showing..tell me...where is our love going.." he snapped his fingers as Eddie Kendricks' s soft tenor faded into the night time sky...He looked up and to his surprise..Bernadette was parking her car and getting out.

"Wow ,I didn't think you were coming." he said...

"I told you I was" she said...

"Who is that singing ?" she asked ,snapping her fingers to the beat...

"That's the Tempts, what you know about that?" he laughed.

"My daddy used to play them all the time." Bernadette laughed...

"So did mine" Harry said.

"Like smoke from a cigarette, like dreams that you soon forget, our love from the day we met,it's fadin away..fadin awayy..fading away." they both found themselves singing in unison.

"You've changed and it's showin" sang Bernadette... She smiled at Harry, then turned her face away shyly!

Harry looked at her and managed a weak smile...


(Conclusion Next....)

Unlikely

ART: "The Struggle Lives On" By Laurie Cooper

Think of a spring flower that never blooms
or a snowstorm in the month of June..
A catchy poem that doesn't rhyme...
Or the thought of living until the end of time..
It's unlikely...
As unlikely as the the day you'll come back to me..
and that's why I've got the blues.../

Think of a blazing fire that isn't hot or at least
warm..
Or running home and not getting wet during a
thunderstorm..
Or a new day that's exactly the same as the last...
A present and a future without a past...
It's unlikely...
As unlikely as the day you'll come back to me..
as unlikely as the day you'll forgive me..
and that's why today my heart is blue...
It's just an unlikely world without you.../


What could I do?
What could I say?
To make you call me on the phone or text me some day?
Is that an unlikely thing to ask?
Please let me know...
Get back to me through a friend....
Girl, you just can't imagine the shape I've been in...
Since you left me a year ago...
It's unlikely that you'd know.../

Think of a spring flower that never blooms
or a snowstorm in the month of June..
A catchy poem that doesn't rhyme...
Or the thought of living until the end of time..
It's unlikely...
As unlikely as the the day you'll come back to me..
and that's why I've got the blues..
I could sure use some good news...
Something to shake these blues..
Baby,you just can't imagine the shape I've been in...
Since you left me a year ago...
It's unlikely that you'd know...
so unlikely...
that you'd know./

My Money Mannnn!

"After you finish that food, you are free to go" I said to Ike Clanton, who had now spent a day and a half in Fathead's safehouse. Donald Smooth and I had releived the other two fellows who had been guarding him. We brought him a McDonald's breakfast of Pancakes, Hash Browns, Suasage,Scrambled Eggs ,Orange Juice and Coffee. He hungrily ate his food and looked at us in disbeleif. He had robbed us and yet not one of us had so much as smacked him....We had fed him , allowed him to watch the flat screen 50 inch Television in the house and had even allowed him to bathe. Now we were cutting him loose...He couldn't beleive it!!

"Yall lettin me go?" he said.

"We are gonna take you back to the strip club where we found you and drop you off...Here's $50.00...After that...you're on your own." I said.

He had seen the news....He knew that three of his crew had been killed in a robbery gone bad and that their leader, Jessie Young had escaped and was beleived to have been wounded. He knew that he had nowhere to go.

"Hey guys...would it be too much if I asked you guys to drop me off at the bus station.?" he said.

"We can do that Smooth,can't we?" I asked.

"Sure thing." said Donald Smooth.

We blindfolded him, so he wouldn't know where he was and drove him to the bus station on 9th and Filbert Streets.

"A word to the wise kid" I said... "Find yourself another line of work.....and don't ever let me see me you in Philadelphia again."

"You won't....I swear. You won't." he said.

Donald Smooth and I watched him board the bus to New York City.......Then we pulled off!

''You wanna stop and get some Coffee Chess?" asked Donald Smooth.

"Nah...Let's meet with Chris..." I said. We drove to where Chris Thompson and Kool Kat were staked out. It was in front of beautiful Waterfront Condo, not too far from our offices. I wondered how long Bristol had known of our whereabouts...Being that it wasn't that many African -Americans in this area with offices or condos period...It wasn't hard for him to notice Chris and me coming to work everyday..The shame of it is...We never noticed him.

Chris had the trigger fish device that Kevin had used and had pulled a conversation off of Jessie Young's cell phone.....

"Hello.."

"Yeah man, it's me...the robbery went all wrong..man, everybody is dead...and I still can't find Ike."

"Why are you having this conversation with me on the phone? Are you stupid?"

"Look man...I need my money and I need some medical attention."

"That's not my problem is it? You and your cowboys made too much noise.. You tipped our friends off....So now, it would just be better if you left town....I will have to make arrangements for someone else to handle my business...As of now, our arrangement is expunged."

"Expunged? I don't know what the hell that means Bristol...but I want my money.."

"WHAT ARE YOU CALLING MY NAME OVER THE PHONE FOR? If you know what's good for you, you'll leave town...."

"Hey, don't ignore me man!"

Click!


Chris looked at me and shrugged!

"You hear that Chess? That's the guy who brought them here...He wanted that ten million in our safe....He needed that as some kind of seed money...He's trying to set something up...Only he's out of time and out of business....He's got a quarter of a million dollars of my money...That pompus jerk is going to pay me back today!" snapped Chris.

"We been here for awhile...He's in that Barber shop in the condo....He's got two goons in the front...A guy inside....and a sharpshooter in the window of that building across the street." said Kool Kat.

"Man, how do you know all of that?" I asked.

"Chess, what did I used to do? How long did I do it? " asked Kool Kat.

"When Kool was doin his thing Chess...He was the best in the business." said Chris, laughing at me.

I entered the building across the street with Donald Smooth...We took the elevator to the 17th floor... We found the room and I knocked on the door.

"Room Service." I said.

There was an eerie silence...Donald Smooth looked at me , I looked at him and like two detectives..we kicked the door in and ducked...Sure enough, there was a hitter in the room just like Kool Kat had said. He dropped his rifle and went to pullout a pistol, Only I clocked him with the butt of my gun and Donald Smooth put the nozzle of his pistol to his head.

"Next time someone tells you it's room service...open the damn door!" he snarled as I smiled.
We bound and gagged him and brought him down the back entrance and delivered him to Kool Kat's capable hands. We stuffed him in a car where two of our guys were watching him.

Kool Kat walked across the street and began a conversation with the two guys perched in front of the door....Within seconds an argument ensued...one guy went sailing through the plate glass window and the other went crashing through the front door. The gunmen on the inside went for his gun, but Donald Smooth had him covered and disarmed him before he could get into anything....The poor barber, who was just finishing up, dropped his clippers and ran for all he was worth...

Bristol sat in the barber chair with shaving cream still around his ears a little surprised , but still with no look of real fear...He kept looking upwards. No doubt for his sharpshooter!

"Forget about your guy across the street Bristol, we got him." said Chris.

"Indeed...You always were, if not anything else, pretty thorough Chris." said Bristol. He was a tall thin guy, impeccably dressed, honey brown skin and about our age, but he spoke like a Harvard lawyer...Bristol was a big time gambler....He only played in high stakes games...Where there was a huge prize to be won...It was said that he was well connected finnacially and that he was looking to make inroads into other things.

"So Mr.Bristol, I'm here to talk about a half mil of my money in your coffers...I want it back, all of it and it's not negotiable." said Chris.

"Why don't we meet somewhere else and discuss this matter...Perhaps the bar at the country club ,in which one of my associates is a member?" said Bristol.

"Why don't I kill you right here and call it a tax write off?" said Chris.

"Well....That certainly wouldn't be nice for either of us." said Bristol.

Just then , a badly dishevled Jessie Young walked in the now empty ,(except for us) Barber shop.

"I want my money mannnnnn.." He said...He had lost a lot of blood...He was in need of medical attention and he looked like hell...He waved the gun at Bristol, who for the first time looked afraid...Then he collapsed in the middle of the floor.

Kool Kat walked over to him and felt his pulse.

"He's dead man." said Kool Kat.

Chris turned and looked at Bristol.....

"My Money MAN!!! I'm not going to ask you again!"


EPILOUGE:

Bristol's courier returned every cent of the money he owed Chris...he returned Dollar Bill's and Chick's money too. The police found the nude body of Jessie Young in a clear plastic bodybag floating in the marina a few days later....They didn't have a clue as to what happened to him or how his body wound up there...They were just happy not to have to deal with the Westies anymore.

The embarrassment suffered by Bristol was enough so that, a few days later, his condo was empty and for all purposes...it appeared that he had left town...Still,I didn't think that that would be the last time we saw him.

"Well , you got your money ,I know you're happy." I said to Chris as we sat in Mabel's Soul Food Joint enjoying a tumbler of Coffee , a few days later..

"Yeah....I couldn't let him of all people punk me." said Chris.

"You think that's the last we'll hear from Bristol?" I asked.

"Oh noooo, nooo..He'll be back....When he thinks I've forgot...But I never forget." laughed Chris as he tossed the money on the table and headed out the door.

"Be easy Chess." he said as he walked away...I smiled and sipped my coffee.


( For SLC and Carlene)

The Quick And The Dead!

Peeping Tom Constanoble and Clarence "Lockpick" Johnson were as odd a pair as one could find..One was an ex-CIA operative , who was a genius at all types of surveilance...while the other was a streetwise ex-convict, who could break into any dwelling and beat almost any security system....They did great work assisting both attorney Robert Foxworth and my friend, the writer and blogger turned Private Investigator, Kevin Morris...Now they were helping Chris and me.

Peeping Tom walked around our office with a strange machine that was beeping very loudly....Lockpick Johnson was using another machine that was sending a loud beam throughout our Penns Landing office...Peeping Tom followed the beeps and uncovered several hidden micro listening devices and micro video cameras hidden all over our office....The machine Lockpick Johnson had was called a scrambler...It was destroying any signals these devices could still be giving.

"Here they are Chess.....This is the reason your adversaries know so much about your operation.. You and your partner Chris had your planning sessions in this office and your guy Frenchie was here with you...Whoever these guys are..They heard and saw everything!!They probably don't need to listen anymore...They know your whole operation." said Peeping Tom.

"So that's how they knew about Frenchie...and that's how they knew to hit Dollar Bill's joint and Chick's joint, Ciros...Where we were stashing some of the money." said Chris.

"I told you we should have just used a bank...none of this would have happened." I said.

"Yeah man, I guess you was right on that one ." he said holding his head down and punching his fist into his hand.. We had wondered how this stick up crew known as "The Westies" were getting so much information on us...The one guy we had in our custody, Ike Clanton, didn't even know...He just said that their leader, Jessie Young was getting his information from some guy he spoke to on the phone...The guy who had brought him to Philly..He also told us that they planned to hit Gus's joint , Josie's tonight.....We had already told Gus...I knew that his guys, Eddie and Albert were only too ready to throw down...

The guy we had in custody was scared to death....We hadn't even roughed him up...Neither Kool Kat nor Donald Smooth, nor any of the muscle we had watching him in Fathead's safehouse had laid a hand on him..We did take close to 50k off of him...Money we were sure was stolen...He gave us an address where at least two of his crew was staying....Our good friends, Kevin Morris,
Sean Jackson and Clerow were already sitting on the place...Locksmith Johnson and Peeping Tom had already "wired" the house, which belonged to some girl and placed a GPS tracking device on their vehicle. We were waiting to hear from them.

He claimed that he didn't know where the crew's leader, Jessie Young was staying....and he gave us two places we might find Frankie Flowers...Kool Kat and Donald Smooth were checking out both spots...

"Well Holmes , what do we do now? " asked Chris.

"We wait man...We are already a step ahead of these guys..We got one of em and we know their next move...Not only that, they don't know we know it." I said.

"Chess...One thing man, one question you aint askin." said Chris.

"Huh? What?" I asked.

"These guys are kids...They're stick up boys....They don't have the money or the connections in Philly to surveil us...or to know where we've been stashin some of our money for this Jazz Fest..Somebody ...Somebody right here in Philly , Somebody brought those guys here and somebody is after one or both of us personally.." said Chris.

"Yeah ,but who?" I asked.

"Somebody who would is smart enough to bring out of town talent in, so it never comes back to him." said Chris.

"I think I have the answer to that" came the unmistakable voice of our friend, Kevin Morris...
He ,Clerow,Sean Jackson and Robert Foxworth all walked into our office.

"You do?" said Chris and I in unison.

"Gentlemen, either of you know of a big time Gambler named Bristol?" He said.

"Bristol!! ,Bristol.... Bristol the fixer." said Chris.

"Yeah..We know him...He plays high stakes cards at practically all of our card games..." I said.

"We used the trigger fish machine you gave us Peeping Tom and we pulled a couple of cell phone conversations between this Bristol fella and the Bremer Brothers, Arthur and Freddie and Jessie Young..Apparently they are the leaders of the crew and Ike Clanton and Frankie Flowers just do the heavy lifting...They only know what they need to know." said Kevin.

"It makes sense" said Chris.

"Yeah..Bristol was always nosing around ,asking question about our business...He even offered to be a silent partner last year, float us some cash for a percentage...I told him no." said Chris.

"Well, he's very connected..We followed him..He lives in a condo...a penthouse condo....In a building that's got it's own Barber Shop...When this cat walks in, everybody gets up and waits until he's seated...He's got two or three goons around him at all times too...And somebody is always in his spot..Very difficult to get to..." added Kevin...

"You got any idea where our money is?" asked Chris.

"No...but these kids don't have it...Bristol pays them whatever he wants to pay them, but your money is no doubt with him." said Kevin.

"Hmmm....I'm gonna get to him." said Chris...

"Just hold on partner...First we gotta worry about those cowboys." I said.

"No we don't....They won't be a problem at all." laughed Chris.

He was right.....That night as the Jazz Fest entered it's final night....Jessie Young, Arthur Bremer,Fred Bremer and Frankie Flowers walked into what they thought was an empty Josie's
Bar...The broke in and headed for what they thought was a safe containing close to 10 million dollars....We had already moved the money,once we knew they were planning to hit the place..What they walked into was the shotgun blasts of Eddie , Gus and Albert.....Oh they tried to shoot it out with them...But Gus, Eddie and Albert were no slouches and not about to get robbed the way Dollar Bill and Chick had been robbed!

When the smoke cleared...Arthur Bremmer, His younger brother,Fred Bremmer and Frankie Flowers ...All 24 years old lay dead!....Jessie Young managed to shoot his way out and make it to his car....But just then, Kool Kat and Donald Smooth were driving up....Jessie Young fired at them... Big Mistake....Kool Kat and Donald Smooth let his car have it..flattened both tires and shot out the back window...Jessie got out, gun blazing...Donald Smooth hit him in the shoulder and in his rear end....

"Arrrrrrgggggggggh....I've been shot...I've been shot...arrrghhhhhh.." he yelled as he ran into the night, dropping his gun...

******************************************************************************

We paid the musicians and the workers. Our Week long JazzFest had been a success.... The Police and the FBI came by to pick up the corpses.....As it turns out..They had heard of the Westies and had been tracking them for a long time for a score of robberies...Neither Gus, nor his muscle was charged with any crime...As far as they could see, They were defending their property from a gang of mad robbers... The dropped gun had Jessie Young's fingerprints on them...He was now a wanted suspect!

Chris and I drove along Lincoln Drive ,early in the morning....My buddy was eerily quiet. He had been right about us not having to worry about the Westies..

"Hey Chris..What's on your mind?" I asked as I drove along the drive...

"That guy we got, Ike Clanton...cut him loose." said Chris.

"What?" I asked.

"We got no more need for him...His crew is gone...He'll either high tail it out of Philly...or he'll lead us right to our money....I'm bettin on the latter." said Chris.

"You think his boy will trust him? After all...He was the only one not at the robbery, They walk in and get slaughtered...It's gonna look funny." I said.

"It sure is....and maybe ,just maybe...We'll get a lead on this Bristol charactor." said Chris.

''He sounds heavy duty." I said.

"I'm heavy duty Chess." said Chris.

I laughed, yes you are my friend!...Yes you are~!


(Conclusion Next...)