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“He needs me to return a big favor that he did for me a long time ago,” I said and put my arm around her. Like so many things about those days, I never told her about it and being the wife that she is, Cassandra kissed me on the cheek.
“Be careful.”
A couple of hours later when I got to Bobby’s house, Wanda was there waiting for me. The three of us retreated to his basement and I laid it out for them.
“You knew this day was coming,” Bobby said.
“Only fitting that he wants you to do it,” Wanda said.
“If they gotta go outside the house, I am the logical choice,” I said and thought back to those early days when Crazy Nicky and Johnny Boy were looking to take over our gambling operations and Uncle Tony intervened and made that shit go away.
“He want you to do it yourself?” Bobby asked.
“No, he just wants him dead. I’ll get Monika on it,” I said, and I looked at Wanda. She had that look on her face that always makes me say, “What?”
“This is just me playing devil’s advocate,” Wanda began, and Bobby interrupted.
“You mean your job,” he laughed.
“I thought she was bearer of bad news,” I said.
“Ain’t it the same thing?” We both laughed, but not Wanda. She sat stone-faced until me and Bobby finished getting our laugh on before she continued.
“In my role as devil’s advocate, slash, bearer of bad news,” she faked a smile. “How do you know that Big Tony isn’t setting you up? And don’t tell me that you didn’t think about it.”
“You’re right, I have thought about it and you’re right, he very well could be setting me up. But that’s the point anyway, isn’t it?” I asked, and Wanda said nothing, which usually means I have a point. “His point in reaching out to me was to eliminate Nicky and it not come back on him. Having me do it gives him deniability.”
“So, if shit goes south, Big Tony can always point to you and say, Mikey did it. You know him, and Nicky’s had beef for years,” Bobby said.
“Exactly. So, yeah, Wanda, I did think about it, but the fact is, we owe him. We’d be done, in jail or dead if he hadn’t taken Nicky and Johnny Boy off our necks. So, I’m just going to have to count on the fact that Anthony Collette is an honorable man.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Wanda said.
“But, just to be on the safe side, I’ve got Rain working on beefing up our numbers. This state of constant war and that little dust-up with The Petty’s has cost us resources and manpower. We need to get back to making money.”
“What about Johnny Boy?” Bobby asked. “He want you to hit him too?”
“No,” I said flatly and looked at Wanda to see what she would say about it. Hitting Nicky and not Johnny Boy concerned me, so I knew she’d have serious problems with it.
“That means he made a deal with Johnny Boy, but I still don’t like it. Johnny Boy coming at us now, in our weakened state, would not go well for us.”
“I know that,” I said, and Bobby laughed a little.
“Y’all could barely handle The Petty’s, much less all the muscle Johnny Boy could throw at us.”
“That’s why I plan to plan for just that contingency.”
When I left Bobby’s house, I got in the SUV with Chuck. With Napoleon busy running things in Freeport, he has really stepped up and done everything I’ve asked of him. Chuck is a soldier, without question.
“Where to boss?” He asked when I got in the front seat next to him.
“Take me to Monika’s.”
“You want me to call her and let her know we’re coming?” Chuck asked.
“Why, you afraid she’ll shoot you for knocking too hard on her door?” I asked and laughed because of what happened the last time we showed up at her door unannounced and uninvited.
“You’re laughing, but yeah.” He took out his phone and dialed her number and put her on speaker so that I could hear. “Monika, it’s Chuck. We’re on our way over there now, so please don’t shove that forty-five in my face.”