Street flicked his cigarette on the ground before walking to the car that was parked on the curb in front of him. He opened the passenger side door and got in. His face was grimace but that didn't faze the driver.
"Where to, Boss?" Street tried to joke.
The driver wasn't amused by that either. "We need to talk."
"Sure thing," Street said. "But I already knew about that incident at your little office."
Tamel looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "How you know that?"
"It's all over the wire," Street informed. "I should be booking you and taking you down to the station right now but that's not my jurisdiction."
Tamel nodded. "Yeah, I guess not. So what's the word?"
"That your office was shot to shit and your receptionist caught one in the head," Street reported. "So far the head brasses thinks it was a revenge hit since word got around you're the new king of Gotham. But other than that they just waiting to bring you in for questioning."
Tamel blinked hard. "Is that all?"
"Nothing much else to tell," Street said. "At least not on my end. Like I said that was just wire chat. So what did happen?"
"Misunderstanding," Tamel mused.
Street laughed. "I bet. Well there is a whole lot of misunderstandings going on with that little stunt you pulled with the fire alarm. Tenants in the building I heard are pissed off at the individual that did it."
"All sounds good," Tamel said looking out the back window for a minute then back at Street.
"But that's not why you called me down here," Street said. "So what is it?"
"We got a problem," Tamel informed.
"Not the great Drama," Street teased then had a small laugh.
"Wipe that stupid smile off your face," Tamel warned. "My problem is your problem being that now I am your supplier."
Street's face became serious again.
"Better," Tamel continued. "Like I said we have a problem and since my problems are yours, it is something we are going to have to deal with immediately since our problem just sent its' best henchmen to kill me."
Tamel caught the glimmer in Street's eye when he said that remark.
"Be forewarned, if I go, so does your other side business," Tamel cautioned. "You think I haven't taken every precaution to make sure my enemies don't get at me and take what I have built."
"But you didn't build shit," Street reminded. "You took it from someone else."
"That is why I make sure I have taken the necessary steps to make sure it is repeated by someone that may think they are just a little bit smarter than me," Tamel stated.
Street snickered.
"I know you hate dealing with me," Tamel admitted. "Truth is I hate dealing with you just the same. I mean you did try to set us up and get us either killed or locked up in the process. But I can't dwell on that now. This is business and unfortunately business detects feelings. So I will keep my bitterness and bile at the sight of you and you will do the same until this business arrangement no longer suit us."
"So what is this about," Street knew Tamel was trying to hint at something.
"I am being hunted by the same rival that was once your former boss' rival and was once my former boss," Tamel confided. "Lady Gayle, ever heard of her?"
"Yeah, she was linked to some of the dealers we busted in the past," Street recalled. "But we never could get a handle on her because in truth nobody knew what she looked like. None of the low levels ever been in contact with her only worked through people for her."
Tamel nodded. He figured as much. Lady Gayle had been cautioned. She had been the perfect ally for someone as ruthless as King Williams was. However, she had been too good. That was going to be a problem because as much as he dealt with Lady Gayle, he still didn't really know her. He was basically her errand boy and that bothered him because now that he was now in power, he felt he was still her subordinate. In a matter of seconds, she had located him and had sent men to end his demise. That meant she must have also sent men to capture Charmaine or worse try to kill Train in the process of getting Charmaine.
"This Lady Gayle is bigger than King?" Street questioned.
He had been working for King and Boss for years and they always gave him clues to get at Lady Gayle's associates but they never had enough to get her. He was wondering if maybe this Lady Gayle was even more powerful than the almighty King was. After all, King had been tossed off his throne by a low level runt working for the same person that was trying to take over his business herself.
"She had help from someone bigger than all of us," Tamel informed.
Tamel was referring to the most infamous Drug Lord or Lordess, to be exact, Envy Tenders. Envy practically ran the city. The rest of the people in it were just pawns, King included and definitely Lady Gayle. Tamel knew Lady Gayle stayed under the radar was because Envy allowed it. Now Lady Gayle was going to go to war with Tamel and if she had Envy's help, that would be all she wrote. Tamel couldn't really match with Lady Gayle but he knew for sure he couldn't go up against Envy. Men stronger and in better positions than he was had tried to match wits with Envy and had lost more than humanly possible. Tamel knew that risk was too great but if he could just stall Lady Gayle until he was able to make some more moves than maybe he may have a chance of surviving a bit longer.
"Lady Gayle is too far up on the chain to go at," Tamel had to admit, more to himself than he wanted to say. "But if we could attack her small little businesses, it may slow her down until I get a handle on things."
"But you just said she had help from..."Street was reminding.
"I know, I know," Tamel said. "But even still her small operations being disrupted will still have an effect on her until I get a better grip on how to handle her. I still know some of her trade secrets if only a little. As of now, she doesn't know all the contacts King had including you. But you can come out of this getting stripes and promotions. Raid a couple of her shops and be the hero. Not her business definitely has something to do with your end."
"I'm listening," Street said a wicked smile.
-
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"I'm still wet," Charmaine declared as she wiggled her butt around in the passenger seat not able to get comfortable because her still damp clothes were clinging to her body making her itch.
"Yeah, well that happens when you take a ride of on the D Train," Train smirked.
"I'm not talking about that," Charmaine said disgusted. "You know want I'm talking about it."
Train winked.
"Nasty," Charmaine tried hard not to smile. "You swear you all that."
"Don't you?" Train beamed.
"No," Charmaine teased. "You're not as good as you think you are."
"Tell that to the bald spot I got from you trying to rip my hair out at the roots while you were screaming my name like you wanted the neighbors to take notes," Train mused.
Charmaine blushed. "That was just a shocked reaction. You know I never..."
"Bust a nut," Train smiled. "Yeah, I know. That's why I have to get a full Michael Jordan cut to cover that bald spot."
"You're not funny," Charmaine said,
"It wasn't my jokes that had you saying my name like you was a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader," Train reminded.
"Where are we going now?" Charmaine wanted to change the subject because she was becoming flushed.
Train knew what he did to her and if he didn't stop when he did, she would have jumped his bones for sure. She wished she didn't have that physical attraction for Train but it was evident and he knew it.
"New York," Train informed. "I told you that already."
"Not back to my old..."Charmaine still remembered the day Tamel abducted her from her apartment, the looks and the stares she got, the feeling of humiliation, the night her father's store got...
"My father," Charmaine mumbled.
"What?" Train asked.
"That cop was going to tell me something about my father," Charmaine remembered. "I know King may have been my biological at least that's what I'm hearing but Victor Davids was my real father. I know he did a lot of shady shit. One was getting in to bed with your sleazy brother but he still had his good points. I thought he had died in the fire, then I thought he was missing, now you tell me committed suicide and now this cop is saying..."
"Fuck that cop," Train bellowed.
"That cop had something to tell me," Charmaine said. "And who the fuck shot him and is trying to kill me again?"
"I told you I would tell you when..."Train was about to say when Charmaine pressed her foot on top of his foot that was on the brake causing the car to come to an abrupt stop.
Train's head almost hit the steering wheel the way the car jolted to a stop. Charmaine's did hit her elbow on the dashboard.
"Are you fucking crazy?" Train asked.
"I'm tired of this shit," Charmaine snapped. "You better start talking and telling me something. I don't care how good your tongue game is, I'm not one of your little floozies. You came back for me and I want to know why?"
"If I didn't come back for you, you would be captured or worse dead," Train remarked. "I didn't want either."
"Why? How the fuck is after me?" Charmaine asked. "King said the same shit. He told me that Drama was the one that found out my ties to him and that's why he wanted me but Boss told me something else. Something about some woman that was more vicious than King was."
Train heard the honking of cars that were behind them and now were driving around them cussing at them as they sped past.
"Okay, I will tell you what I know," Train gave in." But I need you to let me drive. We don't have much time."
Charmaine let up her foot and Train started the car up again.
"There is someone that wanted you more than King and was the real reason Drama sought for you in the first place," Train confessed. "She was once Drama's supplier and she is as vicious as they say. I never met her but Drama has. He got hooked up with her and she gave us work. Drama did things for her, sometimes I helped but I never knew much about what I was getting into. You know me by now, I pretty much don't care about anything. Death is just something that is evident and can't be escaped so I go at every endeavor with no remorse. This one with you is different. Everything that was supposed to go, didn't go as plan. You trying to get at Drama in the club, you being in the hospital and being kidnapped by King and finally finding out what you knew about him wasn't supposed to happen. In the meantime, we were being set up by people that wanted us out the way. Sexy K, Rock, Bull, all those were casualties of a plan gone wrong and people seizing an opportunity to take what little Drama had tried to build. Taking over King's establishments was more of a move to give us protection since the plan of keeping you had failed. We knew we was going against a beast and we was going to need all the ammo we could muster. We are about to go to war with a damn armored tank and all we have is a few foot soldiers. We have nothing to really prepare us for what is about to happen and the only leverage we have is you."
"Me?" Charmaine was stunned. "Who am I?"
"I kind of figured it out," Train confessed. "And even though I think Drama doesn't want to admit or come to terms with it, there is only one real reason this lady wants you that bad."
"Why?" Charmaine asked.
"Nobody is willing to go through all this trouble of getting you unless they birthed you," Train reasoned.
"No, no," Charmaine shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe you. My mother died in a car accident years ago when I was young. I..."
"Think about it," Train interrupted. "After all you have been through, do you really know believe everything you once held as true?"
Charmaine closed her eyes and opened them as a tear dropped down her cheek. "This can't be real."
"You can't put baby in the corner," Train quoted. "I think we about to go to war with Mommy Dearest herself and the only thing she is truly after is the virgin I just sucked the soul out of."
xd?