Crouching Tiger

I drove up to the quaint looking, Neon Blue establishment....Even though it was daytime...It looked as if it was nighttime... Me? My name is Kevin Morris, I'm a Private Investigator of sorts...And a businessman also..Tonight..I was just the husband of a very pregnant real estate agent...My wife, Sepia. She and her partner, Bonita Foxworth had sold this property to it's present owner.

The building was purple...and neon lights flashed around the exterior....In the window was a large aquarium with aquatic life in it....Inside was a blue, neon bar area...not unlike Aqua Bar...

It smelled like fresh jasmine....and there was a kitchen, where good hot chinese food could be smelled cooking...It had a medium sized crowd and it was very nice.... My good friend, Robert Foxworth looked around, but said nothing...His wife ,Bonita and my 8 months pregnant wife, Sepia followed us in...

The man we had come to see...A Chinese man named Richard Saki greeted us...He had on a stylish, tailored Grey Suit...He was a little shorter than Robert and me..but he had a kilwatt smile and a pleasent demeanor...

"Hi Saki....Your place is beautiful..."said Bonita...

"It is amazing." said my wife Sepia...

"I likes...I likes" said Robert Foxworth.

We had a seat and menus were immediately given to us by a pretty Asian female hostess...

Sepia and Bonita had acquired this piece of prime real estate and had sold it to Mr. Saki about a year ago..

Another man had been quite persistant about wanting the property also...but Mr. Saki and his partners had come up with the money the fastest..

Robert was acting as his attorney..

"We hope everything is to your liking...Your meals and drinks are on the house tonight.."said Mr. Saki...

"Ohhh Mr. Saki you don't have to do that.."said my wife and Bonita almost simultaneously...

"Uhhhh, if the man wants to treat us ladies...Let's not insult him." said Robert Foxworth...

I smiled and just shook my head.

II-

Drinks were served as we waited for our food...Which came faster than I would have normally expected...

Good Hot and Piping Chinese cuisine...

"Oh My God Kevin, this food is incredible..."said my wife Sepia...as I attempted unsuccessfully to teach her how to eat with Chopsticks...

Bonita giggled...

"Don't get my girl upset with that Kevin...She's about to give birth...She doesn't need any stress.." she joked...

Robert laughed...

I laughed too...

"Right and living with a sometimes Private Investigator isn't stressful?" I said.

Both Bonita and Robert cracked up laughing.....

"You need to put your little side hustle on hold ...at least until the baby gets here." she said.

"I try...I try, but people keep getting themselves in jams." I laughed.

We all had a big laugh about that as we sipped some hot tea.

That had been my plan....After my last case..I had been working at my job,Morris Communications and running Sepia back and forth to the doctor and to get groceries and where-ever else she needed to go...and aside from hanging out with Robert,Chance and Cole...Not really hanging with my other friends as much, with the exception of Sean Jackson and Clerow... I did hang out with Kool Kat,Chess, Chris Thompson, Donald Smooth and Owen Todd one night last week at Josies....

 I caught Reed Nelson and 88 and his band playing one night when I was there...Chewing the fat with Gus, the head bartender and owner.

Sepia on the other hand had a steady stream of visitors, Bernadette, who came by to do her hair, of course Bonita...Mabel, Corabeth,Victoria, Anita and Baby Phatt and Josie Boyd ,Honey Brown and Cherry Johnson...

I didn't mind....The women cooked for us and basically kept us occupied, since Sepia and I could no longer have sex....It was nice to have friends drop by and cook and talk and laugh...

One night a week ago...we got a surprise visit from Sissy Van Buren and her cops, Carlotta ,Sirena, Hazel, Sharon and Angie Belton... .

My former client, Bridget Jones, who owned two lingerie stores came along with them..

"Can't wait until you have that baby Sepia... I've got a whole new line of lingerie for you to try." she said.

"It'll have to be after I get my body back in shape.."laughed Sepia...

''We'll help you with that honey...You can work out with Carlotta,Angie,Sirena and I at the gym..."said Sissy...

I smiled... We had such great friends.

This was our first night out in awhile..

III-

As the night wore on... Sepia and Bonita excused themselves and went to the ladies room.... It was then that Mr. Saki sat down with Robert and I...

''Was everything to your liking?"he asked...

"Mannnn, I am so full, Bonita may have to drive me home...How bout you Kev?" asked Robert, rubbing his belly...

"Sepia can't fit behind the steering wheel."I said..

"Oh yeah that's right..She's almost due isn't she?" he asked...

"Within the next few weeks man."I said.

''Congratulations on your new baby." said Saki.

"Thank you."I said...

"Mr.Kevin...There is a small problem...Which is the reason I call you and Mr. Foxworth here." he said.

"Oh? What problem?" I said.

"Last year..When your wives found this place...There was a man..''Mr. Lee" he said he name was..he represented a very powerful Asian businessman....From Japan...Named Michael Chen...He put in an aggressive bid for this property..Very Aggressive." said Saki..

"Yeah, I recall my wife saying how he was almost a pest...Coming to her office, following her to other showings...She came close to calling the police and getting a restraining order..."I said.

"Well...My partners and I out bid him and we bought this property....but that wasn't the end of the story...Shortly after I opened this establishment..I began getting calls from a man....I don't know who...He kept saying reconsider...Sell......I didn't know who it was at first...and then I got this in the mail...."he said and pulled out a large manilla envelope...

"I waited until your wives left...I didn't want to upset them." he said.

It was a photo of a man, lying in the street in a pool of blood and with his left hand chopped off...He looked like he had been shot between the eyes...

Robert and I gasped....

"Whoa!" I said...

"Look what it says below...." said Saki..

It read -Reconsider or Else....This is what failure got him....Your stubbornness will get you the same or worse!

It wasn't signed and there was no return address...but it was post marked.....

"I'm going to my car and get a plastic bag...I can trace the post office and get a good eye on who sent this.."I said.

"Mr. Kevin...I think it's this businessman,Michael Chen and I think he's here in Philadelphia now."said Saki...

He passed me an envelope...

"This is $3000.00 ,I just need you to look into this...Find out who he is...Get him off of my back."said Saki.

"I can do that...I can have somebody mike this place...and see if you can get whoever talking about who they work for...Get them on tape making a credible threat...Then I can take it to the police and get whoever this is shut down..."I said.

Just then,Sepia and Bonita were coming back from the bathroom..As they approached the table...A sinister figure entered the restaraunt....A Ninja!!!
IV-

"Oh My God Kevin...It's a Ninja.." said Sepia.

The customers gasped...Customers who were coming in turned and left...

Saki looked blinded with fear....

The Ninja said-

"Saki...Give me that photo and that envelope..!!"

"He's not giving you anything." I said.

"You need to mind your business and leave...This does not concern you!"said the Ninja.

"I'm making it my business, now back off." I said.

"I will kill you all, including your pregnant wife."he said..

"Sepia...Bonita...get behind Robert..Saki...Take that envelope and move backwords..

You could hear the hush of the crowd...

"Baby!" said Sepia...

"It's okay....just back up Sepia...."I said.

I went into a crouch....The Ninja went into a crouch...He pulled out his sword and lunged...I side stepped it..
He swung again...Again he missed...He lunged again and I picked up a chair and blocked it,Then I did a sweep and knocked him down...I tossed the chair and his sword away....

He hurled...fighting stars at me...Using quick reflexes....I grabbed a small table and blocked each one...

He grabbed a Psi and lunged at me..I blocked his arm, spun and ducked his second lunge, I punched him in his jaw, hard and fast and kicked him in his solar plexus, sending him flying across the room...

We both crouched and faced each other.....He kicked toward my face...I ducked...I kicked toward his face...He ducked...He swung again..I blocked his hand...I swung at him, he blocked my hand....We faced each other again...

"You know Crouching Tiger ,American Soul man...Who taught you that?" he said.

" A friend." I said. Chinese Bob ,who owned the Chinese take out store in my neighborhood had actually taught me crouching tiger, a form of martial arts years ago...This was the first time I actually used it...I mostly worked on my boxing and kick-boxing skills..

''You are good, but not good enough....I will return...If you are smart...You will stay out of this...The Black Dragon has spoke.." he said...He tossed some type of small tea bag looking thing on the floor...It exploded !!....An odorless Blue gas rose ....When the gas subsided....He was gone!

Everyone was stunned...

"Wow! said Robert....coughing....

"Kevin,I didn't know you knew the martial arts."said Bonita...

"Just enough to get me by..You guys, head to the car..We are out of here.."I said.

"He will return, he will kill me."said Saki...

"No he won't... Close this place for a few days...I'll give you an address and a place to hide until I can make some sense of all this." I said.

"Oh Thank you Mr. Kevin." he said.
V-

That night at home and in bed....I rubbed Sepia's pregnant belly and smiled.....

"I can't wait until that little rug rat comes out of there so that I can get back in there..."I joked..

"Kevin!!!! " laughed Sepia,playfully smacking my arm....

"I'm just kidding babes."I said.

"No you're not..."she laughed...

I smiled...

"Looks like you got yourself another case huh?" she said.

"Yeah ,how about that? Trouble just follows me sometimes."I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)

Neices

As a new day dawned on the city, things began to change rapidly for  certain people....Nathaniel Frederick,the man in the car who passed guard ,Russell Grissom the package, Ralph Simpson, the driver and Tony Piarulli....The guy in the bar the money was passed to were all arraigned and charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances...

There might have been honor amongst thieves back in the day, but there was clearly no honor amongst these guys...all three of them admitted to being Malik Clarke's drug connect and cut deals for a lighter sentence...

Meanwhile that morning when guard Russell Grissom walked into the prison parking lot, he was met by guards he had never seen before..

The night before...All of the officers who had previously worked on Malik Clarke's block had been removed, transferred to other facilities... The inmates who guarded Malik Clarke's cell and who enforced his edicts were also moved...Interrogated and transferred out to other facilities... It was a completely different facility this morning..

''Officer Grissom...can I see your bag please?" said one of the officers...

"Mah bag?  Huh? Who are you?" he said..

The correctional officer emptied the contents of his bag on the parking lot pavement.....Another guard cut the seam out of the side and found, packets of Heroin, Oxi-cotin and Meth....

"Heyyyy, how did that get in there?  Ah nevah seent that stuff before....Yall planted that on me?" he said..

The correctional officer gave him a side eye...

"Really partner? Is that what you're going with, Really??" he said.

Another officer ordered him to put his hands behind his back....He handcuffed him, while yet another read him his rights...

"Yall makin a mistake...I don't know where dem drugs came from....I'm serious." he said as they dragged him off..

Brendan Burnside and I stood at a distance and watched as they dragged Russell Grissom off..He smiled slyly...

''Well, four down...and one rat left.."he said.

"By that, you mean ,Malik Clarke?" I said.

"Oh Yeah...His world is going to be completely different when he wakes up." said Brendan Burnside,

He wasn't lying...When Malik Clarke woke up ,none of his friends were around him...None of the guards or trustys that he knew were anywhere to be seen.

He was ordered out of his cell and taken to a holding cell...When he returned...His 52 inch flat screen Television was gone!! So was his laptop computer,his tablet, his ipod and his Iphone....

"Hey..Where is my stuff? What did you do with my stuff??" he yelled..

"We donated it to a school...Hopefully it will do some good.."said one guard.

"Go pack your stuff Clarke..You're being moved.."said another guard...

"Hey who are you? Where is Griss? ,Where is the boys??" he asked..

"Questions aint in your vocabulary Clarke...Pack your crap and let's go." said the guards who hustled him into his cell, tossed his remaining things out on the block and spirited him away...

"HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY..WHAT'S GOIN ONNNNNN?? DO YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM?? " he yelled as he was being dragged away..his days of running the block had come to an end!

"You???...You are nobody Clarke...Just another inmate!" said one of the guards...

"Nahhhhh, NAAhhhh, this aint happenin to me...Nahhhhh, You can't do this!!!...You can't do this to me!!!....Heyyyy mannnnnn..What's up?...What the hell is up?" he screamed as they dragged him down the block..

Other inmates clapped...Some whistled...Some jeered..

''What you runnin now nigga?"said one.

"You had my cousin rat packed the other week...I'm gone see you nigga, you aint got no guards or boys to hide behind now..We'll see how tough you is."said yet another inmate...

For the first time in a long time...Malik Clarke looked afraid...

"Heyyy Clarke..Did you crap your pants?...Ohhh hell.." said a guard....

Another guard cracked up laughing...

''Well Donnie Ray...You did great work..We busted up this conspiracy thanks to you and my guy...who by the way,I cut loose yesterday...He had been in here for two months...He gave us a lot of great intelligence..
Oh by the way..How is your wife doing with my girl?" He asked..

"From what I hear and what I've seen...The trial is going just like the last one...She should have her son back  any day now." I said.

"Good Good.." he said.

I grabbed his arm...

"She wasn't your C.I. was she? She didn't strike me as knowing anything about this drug operation."I said.

"You're a very observant man Mr. Alexander....I had my reasons for doing what I did...Let's just leave it at that." he said.  "Say hello to your wife for me..tell her and her neice I said thank you." he said.

I decided not to press the issue.
II-

Speaking of my legal eagle wife and her pretty little niece...I ran into them at the courthouse just a few days later...

They had successfully argued their case for Renee Gentile's custody.....She had won the custody of her child
back.....

"She's a free woman Donnie Ray..She doesn't have to go to jail for the DUI, She won't have to register as a sex offender, which I thought was ridiculous and she got her child back.." said my wife,Olivia..

''How did things go on your end?"asked Beverly..

"We got all three of the drug dealers....They cut seperate deals and they gave Grissom and Clarke up in record time....We got Grissom, caught him with the dope on him and they got Clarke...He's no longer running anything now." I said.

''We got a slam dunk then didn't we?" said Bev..

''Yeah..we got a slam dunk.."I said.

III-

Olivia and I were lounging back at home, talking about the days work......

''Donnie Ray...We've been working so hard that we've been neglecting each other.."she said seductively..

She was wearing a pink nighty that came to her hips and a naughty matching thong...I smiled as I stared at those pretty brown thighs of hers..

"Hmmm, well let's not neglect each other any longer." I said smiling..

It was almost like deja vu...I opened up her nighty....I  worked my way from her breasts to her neck and to her lips...I gently slid her panties  down around her ankles and she slipped out of them and then I walked her over to the bed ..and continued kissing her...She peeked at my erection again and shook her head...

''Wowzers!" she said.

I layed her across the bed and slowly entered her......She was warm and wet and I was more than ready to make love to her..but then..wasn't I always?....

We started out slow, then began to move faster and faster...The bed began to squeak furiously and the headboard began to slam against the wall...

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh, Ohhhhhhhhh baby....Ouuuuu,easy Donnie Ray...ouuuuu..I'm not goin anywhere baby.." she moaned...

"Ohhhh Livy, you feel so good.sooo damn gooood" I moaned... as I thrusted faster and faster inside of her....She was so round, so soft, so warm....

''So do you..."she said...

She wrapped her legs around me so she could take all of me in and I continued....as she moaned and groaned...We slowed it down some and got into a slow rhythm...

"Ouuuuu,ummmmm, I love you so much Donnie Ray." she moaned..

"I love you too Olivia..."I moaned..nearly out of breath as we continued to make sweet love..

She stared at me intently...her mouth opened a little bit...

"Ohhhhhhh My goddddddddddddddd...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Donnie Rayyyyyyyyyyyy.." she moaned..

The bed rocked from side to side....Through a heating vent...I could hear someone else moaning..It was Beverly...and Nelson...

"Ohhhhh Nelson...Ouuuuuuuuuu, you're hittin mama's spots...you're hittin mama's spot...ouuuuuuu.."

''Ohhhhh Bev...Beverly, damnnnnnn girl...ohhhhhhhhhh right there...right thereeee girl..ohhhhhh."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Nelson...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."

Olivia smiled...

"She's always talking about how she can hear us..She's in that back room in that squeaky bed....I can hear her and Nelson..."she said...

I was kissing her and entering her again....

"Ohhhhhhhh Donnie Rayyyy,ouuuuuuu.." she moaned...

"It's a night for celebrating...He won in court today...He won his murder case and he told me that Robert Foxworth offered him a position at his law firm...We all have a lot to be happy for.." I said in between wet,sloppy kisses...

''Are you Happy Donnie Ray?" said Olivia.

"Extremely." I said..and we continued making sweet love well into the night.

"Me tooo,ouuuuu...me toooo. " she cooed.

EPILOUGE-

A few days later, Olivia,Beverly, Josie and I were sitting in Sam Mothers having breakfast when a familliar face walked in the diner...

I should say, two familliar faces ,one was a toddler ,just taking his first steps..with his mother holding his hands..

It was Renee and her little boy, Justin....

''Heyyy Renee"we all said in unison.

"Heyy guys...Say Hi Justin." she said.

The little boy waved, but said nothing...

''I can't thank you guys enough for giving me my life back...Getting me my son, keeping me out of jail and all...I don't know how I can ever repay you." she said.

''Just stay out of trouble..."said my wife Olivia...

"I got a call from ADA Keith Wallace...

"He got me a job as a bailif in the city courthouse...I asked him where he got my number from and why he was offering me a job and he said it was a favor for an old friend..That Old friend was you wasn't it Ms. Olivia?" she said.

"Guilty as charged." laughed my wife...

"You are sooo nice...You are just a gem."said Renee'..

''It seems like you had another friend...in high places...a mysterious friend who got us involved in this in the first place.."I said slyly...

''You mean Brendan Burnside?"she said.

We were all stunned...

"You knew?" I asked,incredulous...

"Not at first..but I figured it out...My father, Terrence Burnside is his younger brother....He never married my mother, so I took her last name...Brendan Burnside is my uncle...He and his mother, my grandmother,practically raised me...They always looked after me and my older sister, always made sure we were taken care of.."she said.

Beverly started to tear up....

"Girl, me and you have so much in common...My Auntay over there..she and my grandparents practically raised me...All that I am today..I am because of her...and I love her...I love her more than she could ever know.."said Beverly who began to cry profusely...

My wife Olivia was genuinely touched...She held Beverly in her arms...

''Aww Bev....your auntay loves you too!"She said...

"Come on..Renee, you and your baby boy sit down, eat with us...My treat..." I said.

She did...

I pulled up a seat....and Renee joined us....

Nate Frederick, Ralph Simpson, Tony Piarulli and Russell Grissom were sentenced to five years and sent to the county jail...I suspect they'll all be out in three years.  Malik Clarke was transferred to the federal prison in Indiana..He is awaiting execution for 7 murders...