Manhattan, page 2
“I’m already knowing what it is. I don’t like when people take my kindness for weakness.”
“The first lesson in your new position: always expect them to do that. Knowing they’ll do so will always put you in a position of power. Sometimes you have to kill a snake with its own venom for it to know to never mess with you.”
“But it would be dead,” Caesar said, making a confused face.
“Exactly.”
To betray the hand that feeds you means to be one with hunger.
Chapter 3
Laughter filled the air as a small crowd stood outside of a bodega. Three of the men were known in the streets as Hoody, Avery, and Tone. They were all listening to the story of how Caesar King had fallen from grace the night before. Gerald stood in the center of them, reciting the events.
“What that Negro say to you, Big G?” Hoody was asking.
“After I told him I wanted out and to do my own thing, he told me he wasn’t gon’ let me buy the shit off him. So I told him I was gon’ take it!”
“And then what happened?”
“Fool, look at me.” Gerald stepped back and held his jacket open. “What you think happened? I cracked his skull. That’s what the fuck happened. Got the product off him and got outta there.”
“It looks like he cracked yours too,” Hoody said, looking at the bruises and cuts on Gerald’s face.
“I never said the motherfucka didn’t fight back. He just wasn’t a match for me. I was like a gorilla.”
“Man, you’re real bold to be talkin’ about that shit out in the open like this. You know Cassius don’t play about his work.” Tone shook his head.
“I’m not worried about a Cassius or a Caesar,” Gerald said, turning his nose up in a sneer. “Plus, that fool ended up gettin’ bumped up later that day. He’s still cookin’ with the Feds as we speak. Cassius has other things to worry about, like the fall of his empire. In the meantime, y’all better get down with me before I take off. I’m about to be the king of Manhattan before you know it.”
“Yeah, right! Now this man is talkin’ crazy!” Hoody laughed.
“Man, fuck what these jive Negros are sayin’. I say let’s get to this money!” Avery said, slapping hands with Gerald.
“A man with some sense!” Gerald said.
While he and Avery were talking, Hoody took notice of someone walking up on them. Gerald’s back was turned, but Hoody nudged Tone and pointed. Their amused expressions turned serious, and Hoody tapped Gerald on the shoulder.
“What? You wanna get down with the get down now?” Gerald asked, but Hoody shook his head and pointed.
Gerald turned around and almost jumped out of his skin. He looked spooked when he saw who was walking up on him. It was Caesar, and he wasn’t alone. In tow he had two big goons with him wearing long black coats, and Gerald didn’t need to guess what was under them. If he hadn’t peed on the side of the bodega earlier, he was sure he would have wet himself right then and there.
Caesar had a smile on his face, but that couldn’t mean anything good, especially since Gerald had worked with the Feds to get him locked up. Everyone knew that was against the street code, but Gerald had gotten tired of being a lap dog for the big dog. His plan had always been to get close enough to Caesar to take him out. And since he didn’t go anywhere without his muscle, Gerald knew that killing him would be out of the question. He had to go the other route. Caesar had been smart to not bring the kilos of cocaine with him to their meeting, but Gerald thought for sure the Feds had enough on him to hold him, especially since Gerald already knew where the kilos were. He wanted time to get them and do what needed to be done with them. Caesar always put the work in the same place: above Gerald’s car tires. Gerald, of course, didn’t tell the police that information because the kilos were worth $15,000 each. He planned to sell them and pocket all the money for himself. At the time it seemed smart, but now as he was staring into the set of cold eyes, he was regretting every choice he had made.
“I really enjoyed your story, especially the part about you cracking my skull,” Caesar chuckled.
“Caesar, I thought you were—”
“Behind the bars that you sent me to?”
“Hold on, what?” Hoody asked, making a face. He looked from Caesar to Gerald. “Hey, explain yourself, man.”
“Your friend is a rat. He set me up to be arrested,” Caesar answered when Gerald seemed to have lost his voice.
“What? So all that mess you were just talkin’ was what? Shit out your ass?” Tone’s expression was more appalled than Hoody’s.
“That’s exactly what it was. He forgot one thing though. I come from a family with money long enough to pull me from the fires of hell. Speaking of which, here you go, Avery. For keeping him busy until I got here.” Caesar threw Avery a small stack of money.
“No problem, boss. You know I don’t fuck with no rats.” Avery made a face and spit on Gerald’s shoes before walking away.
“Yeah, man, I don’t like that shit. Caesar, handle ya business, boss man. This is New York. There’s already enough rodents runnin’ around!” Tone stared at Gerald in disgust before he and Hoody followed Avery, leaving Gerald alone with Caesar.
“Get in the car, Gerald,” Caesar said and walked to where a black limousine was parked on the street.
It wasn’t like Gerald had much choice, because if he had, he would have booked it down the street. But the two men grabbed him by the arms before he could even think to run and forced him toward the vehicle. They threw him inside with Caesar and got in as well. The moment the door was shut, they drew their guns and pointed them at his chest.
“Check him for a wire,” Caesar instructed.
“I’m not wearing one, I swear,” Gerald said, putting his hands up.
“I guess I’m supposed to just take your word for it, huh? Check him.”
Caesar’s goons patted Gerald down and lifted his shirt to check. When they were sure he wasn’t wearing a wire, they stopped manhandling him. Although he didn’t have a wire on, what they didn’t know was that he was supposed to meet with Easley later that day to give an official statement. But he didn’t plan on telling Caesar that, especially with two guns pointed at him.
“Caesar, let’s talk about this.”
“Talk? We’re past that. Did you really think you were going to get away free with what you tried to do to me?” Caesar asked.
“It wasn’t me. It was that detective.”
“Easley?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. He caught me making a sale to some rich white kids and wanted to take me in. I didn’t want to go to jail.”
“So he promised you a way out if you gave him a bigger fish.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“That’s what it’s sounding and looking like to me. You should have taken the charge and done your time like a man.”
“Done time for who? You? A little boy?”
“There it is,” Caesar said with a slow smile. “Finally the truth comes out. You couldn’t handle taking orders from somebody younger than you. I don’t know why you motherfuckas act and think like that. Your egos are too big. They get in the way of business.”
“The only reason you’re where you are is because of your daddy.”
“If you really think my father is the kind of man who just gives people anything because they want it, you’re sadly mistaken. You could have worked your way up in the ranks and been set. But no. You got greedy. You stole from me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Let’s not play dumb here. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Where are my drugs, Gerald?”
“I don’t know. You never gave them to me.”
“But you know where I put them. Your car is parked down the street there.” Caesar pointed. “That meant you had to move my drugs to drive it. And don’t try to tell me the Feds got the kilos, because I know they didn’t. So this is the last time I’ll ask you nicely. Where is my shit?”
Gerald swallowed as he contemplated telling Caesar where they were. But he figured they’d just kill him and dump the body if he made it that easy for them. “I can take you to them,” he finally told them.
“That’s not an option.”
“Then I don’t know how you’re going to get them.”
“You’re gonna tell me where they are one way or the other—willingly or forced. It doesn’t make a difference to me.”
“Either way you’re gonna kill me.”
“Mm.” Caesar shrugged. “I think maybe we can work something out. I mean, I’m not behind bars anymore, and I like to think of myself as a nice guy.”
His voice sounded sincere, but still Gerald didn’t trust him. His eyes went again to the guns and then to his own hands. He saw that they were shaking slightly. He had never pegged himself as someone who was scared of death, but as he sat in her grip, he was very much so afraid.
“They’re in the trunk of my car,” Gerald said finally.
“Keys,” Caesar instructed him, and Gerald dug in his pocket and gave them to him.
Caesar then handed the keys to one of his henchmen, who got out and went to Gerald’s car. Sweat beads fell down the sides of Gerald’s face as he waited for the man to get back. It was like he could hear his own heart pounding in his ears, but it was really just his blood rushing. When the man returned, he was holding a plastic bag. Inside were Caesar’s two missing kilos. After Caesar inspected them, he nodded his head.
“Thank you for not making that too difficult,” Caesar said.
Gerald almost gave a sigh of relief, but then he noticed the same henchman who had just retrieved the cocaine screwing a silencer on his gun. Gerald’s eyes grew big, and he tried to pull the door handle, but it was locked.
“Hey, man. You said we could work somethin’ out! I told you where your drugs were!”
“I did say we could work something out, and that’s why I’m giving you a quick death instead of torturing you for days like I originally wanted to do. But you had to know there was no way I was going to let a rat like you roam my streets.”
“Caesar. Come on, man! Caesar!” Gerald turned to the window of the limo and started hitting on it in hopes someone passing by would hear him through the tinted windows. “Help! Help! He’s gonna k—”
Pft!
The silenced bullet caught him in the temple, instantly stopping any more words from coming out of his mouth. Before he slumped over, Caesar’s other henchman grabbed a black trash bag from the side of his seat and covered his top half and laid him on his side before he could leak blood onto the seat.
Always stay only one step ahead so you can still hear what’s going on behind you.
Chapter 4
Caesar went home after the situation with Gerald was handled. He wanted to let his father know personally that it had been taken care of. His driver dropped him off in front of the family town house in Manhattan, and he instantly noticed a car parked outside that he hadn’t seen before. Bounding up the steps that led to the front door, he burst inside the house, frightening the middle-aged housekeepers cleaning the foyer.
“Sorry. Where’s my dad?” he asked.
“In his study,” one of them answered.
“Thank you.”
He stepped around them and made his way up the staircase to the second level of the home. His father’s office was in the south wing of the house. There were no bedrooms in that wing of the house, just his office and a library, which was always quiet because nobody in their family read books. When company was over, they would almost always find themselves in the kitchen or at the bar.
Walking down the hallway, Caesar noticed that the office door was shut. He hesitated at first, wondering if maybe Cassius had female company. He didn’t want to interrupt, but when he got up to the door, he heard two male voices. Caesar cleared his throat before his knuckles rapped the thick wood.
“Who is it?” Cassius called.
“It’s me, Dad.”
“Come in!”
Caesar opened the door and saw his father sitting at his desk while a white man in a suit sat across from him. He wasn’t just any white man. He was the same detective who had arrested Caesar the night before. What was he doing in their home? Caesar found himself glaring at the man.
“Son, I think you know Detective Easley,” Cassius said, motioning toward the detective.
“I do, but I’d be lying if I said it was a pleasure,” Caesar told him.
He went to stand on his father’s side of the desk to face Easley. He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall behind him. Easley eyed him down, but Caesar didn’t look away or blink.
Easley smirked and turned back to Cassius. “Your son knows how to make an entrance, doesn’t he?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Caesar asked.
“He means we were just talking about you.”
“Oh, yeah? What was said?”
“Just how it’s mighty ironic how every piece of evidence I had against you magically disappeared.” Easley directed his words at Caesar, but he stared at Cassius. “Must be some kind of pull you have there. I heard you were the one who came and got him out. No lawyer, just you. I’d say that’s quite intriguing.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I simply went down and got out of jail my teenage son who was being falsely imprisoned.”
“Falsely?” Easley scoffed. “I busted him myself.”
“Doing what?”
“Selling drugs. I heard the whole deal go down.”
“So you confiscated them? The drugs I mean.”
“They weren’t on the scene,” Easley said through clenched teeth.
“Then he wasn’t selling drugs. Maybe they were just talking in slang. You know how these kids are nowadays. It’s a shame you don’t have the recordings. How sad is it that you people turn folks against their own for your personal agendas. Now you don’t have any evidence, and you turned my son’s friend against him.”
“Cut the bullshit. You and I both know Caesar and Gerald weren’t friends. Gerald worked for him. And I know you had something to do with the wire recordings going missing.”
“I think you need to take that up with someone at the precinct.”
“That’s the thing. I did. And they don’t seem to know anything either. Which means they either innocently got misplaced, which I know is a load of crap, or you have a mole in the office. Maybe even a few of them.”
Cassius’s face didn’t so much as twitch. Caesar could tell that the detective was trying to get a reaction out of his father, but he obviously didn’t know who he was dealing with. Cassius grabbed a bottle of brandy from the corner of his desk and poured himself a glass without offering Easley any.
“I would have to be some sort of criminal to even want to do something like that,” he said after taking a sip of the drink.
“What exactly are you, Cassius?”
“I’m a businessman. I’m sure you are privy to all the very legal business dealings I have in Manhattan, including the movie theater I just opened. Just because I have my hands in a lot of things doesn’t make me a criminal, Detective. Now did you have an actual reason for showing up here today, or did you just want to see the inside of my house?”
Detective Easley looked from Cassius to Caesar and then back to Cassius. A small chuckle escaped his lips, and he stood. After placing his fedora on his head, he tipped it to them.
“I guess I’ll just be going then. Oh, and Cassius, one more thing before I leave. You might want to teach your son whatever magic you know for keeping your nose clean. He’s your weak link. A man will do anything to keep his son safe, even show his hand.”
On that note, he turned his back on them. When he was out of the office, Cassius grabbed his desk phone and called the housekeeper’s phone downstairs.
“Our guest is coming down. Make sure he doesn’t make any detours on the way out,” he said into the receiver and hung up.
Caesar was biting the inside of his cheek, visually angry at Easley’s words. Cassius took one look at Caesar’s face and laughed. Caesar didn’t know what was so funny, and he didn’t join in. Cassius took another sip from his glass and motioned for Caesar to take the seat Easley had just vacated.
“Are you upset because of what that detective said?” he asked his son, setting the glass back on the desk.
“He called me your weak link,” Caesar grumbled, dropping down into the seat.
“He’s a Fed. That’s what he’s supposed to say. Anything to get under my skin. But you . . . Why are you so upset at the truth?”
“You think I’m your weak link?” Caesar was slightly shocked at his father’s revelation.
“Not think, know. As he said, you’re my son. I’ll do anything for you. Even die for you. I said that I’m not ready to lose my empire, but even still, if your life were on the line, I would give it all up. I told you that kind of compassion is reserved only for those who truly matter. And you are the one thing that truly matters to me. But because I know all of this, nobody can use it against me.”
“Why not?”
“Because their biggest mistake will always be underestimating you. And that will always put me at an advantage. Anyway, did you handle that today?”
Caesar was still replaying Cassius’s words in his head, trying to comprehend them correctly. He almost didn’t hear the sentence. He nodded his head in response. “Yeah. That’s what I was coming to tell you.”
“And his body?”
“Burned like a witch at the stake. By now he’s not anything but a pile of ashes. His car was smashed in the junkyard.”
“Good. One less problem to worry about.”
“Yeah, but I think the detective might be a new problem.”
“I think so too. But we can worry about that a different time. Right now we have other things to discuss.”
