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"Yeah, I was about to get out of here," Kenny said and Luke and two of his men stepped closer.
"Stay and have a drink with me. I got something I want to talk to you about."
Kenny signaled for his men to back off. Luke put his gun away and took a step back. Kenny stepped to the bar. "What could you and I have to talk about?" he said and sat down at the bar.
Cruz signaled for the bartender. "Bacardi and coke, and bring my man whatever he wants."
"Chivas on the rocks."
The bartender left and Cruz leaned closer. "I been thinkin’ about takin’ my program uptown. I got the product and the people to make it happen. The only thing stopping me is Stark."
"Why tell me?"
"Everybody knows that Black stands behind Stark."
"I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about," Kenny told Cruz, but he knew exactly what he was talking about.
As a favor to his long-time friend, Angelo Collette, Black agreed to take what Angelo referred to as, "A little more than just an introduction from you, Mikey."
"Like what?" Black asked Angelo that night.
"I was thinkin’ that maybe you would take more of an active role. You could be kind of a stabilizing influence. You know, keep problems down. Naturally you can charge a fee for your service," Angelo suggested, and then he added, "I would consider it a personal favor."
Angelo considering his involvement a personal favor caused Black to reluctantly go against his convictions. "Angee, I can’t get involved for my own reasons, but what I will do as a personal favor to you, is offer advice and counsel to Stark. And should the need ever ar
ise; I’ll act as an intermediary to resolve any disputes. You got a problem with him, you come to me. But understand, this is not a service. This I do for you out of friendship. I will not accept a fee. But for reasons that I know you understand, I can’t go any further than that."
After that, the word got around that Black was the power behind Stark. Words that even though they weren’t exactly true, Stark did nothing to dispute.
The bartender returned with drinks for Kenny and Cruz. When he left, Cruz continued, "Even if you say you don’t know what I’m talkin’ ’bout, everybody knows that Black is Stark’s muscle, and that means you."
"What do you want, Cruz?" Kenny said, becoming more and more annoyed by the conversation.
Cruz turned away and took a sip of his rum. "I hear a lot of things."
"Like what?"
"Like maybe you ain’t too happy with the way things are going and might be willin’ to listen to another offer."
"So, I’m listening," Kenny said, even though he knew that no matter what Cruz had to offer, he wouldn’t be interested. There was no question of his loyalty to Black, but Kenny thought he needed to know what Cruz was planning.
"You come work for me. I could pay you twice what Black does."
"That’s not gonna happen; and if you try to move uptown, Black will crush you like the roach you are," Kenny said and turned to walk away.
"Don’t walk away from me," Cruz said and grabbed Kenny by the arm.
Kenny pulled out his gun and shoved it in Cruz’s face. "You ever touch me again, I’ll kill you," he said, and Cruz let go of his arm.
"This ain’t over," Cruz said as Kenny walked away.
"Yeah, and your mama ain’t a two-dollar ho." Kenny gathered his men and they left the club.
"Yeah," Cruz said and drained his glass. "You one mutha fucka that’s gonna have to be dealt with."
Outside the club, Kenny and Luke got in Luke’s car. Luke’s men got in another car and followed them from the club. They had driven a few blocks when another car cutoff the car with Luke’s men, and ran them into the cars parked along the side of the street.
Luke looked in his rearview mirror at the accident and was about to turn around to see if either of his men were hurt. He saw two men get out and open fire on the car. "Did you see that shit," Luke yelled, when a Ford 350 pulled up behind his car. The big truck slammed into his rear end.
