CHAPTER FIVE
Douse had just driven into Cross Roads when he saw a man standing near the post office. It was Keswick and he remembered that the man had been one of his and Bobby Deacon’s cellmates. He would have left prison about six months after him. He parked the car and went over to him.
“Keswick, what’s going on?”
“Wait Douse, what’s going on, man? It’s just a month ago that I got my release from G. P.”
The two men shook hands.
“Keswick, you must be cursing me that I didn’t even give you a check from I came out, but it’s pure worries, I am telling you.” “I know those things Douse, because my brethren, since I came out I had to move from where I was living.” “Since I came out I and two youths got into some mix up. They wanted to rob a taxi I was in so after I prevented them, they came and shot up my yard and killed my brother-in-law. They also killed a taxi driver from out here by the name of Brenton. I want to go for my gun and deal with them.”
“It’s since I came out I realize that I have to wear my gun permanently, because from a guy see you and feel that you’re not armed they want to behave certain ways towards you,” Keswick declared.
“It’s that taxi that you saw me pull up in, I’m driving now, but we have a hard time. We have to deal with police, touts, extortionists, transport authority people. It’s pretty rough I’m telling you.”
Keswick lit a cigarette and passed one to Douse. `
The two men moved from in front of the post office to take seats in the nearby open door restaurant and bar.
“So when last, have you seen Bobby Deacon?” Keswick asked Douse.
“You want see I lost the number he gave me. I heard that he was in a war with a big Don by the name of Coltrane and that they were betrayed by Shadow.”
“I heard that too. They’re hiding out in Clarendon but they are trying to make a comeback. But it’s going to be difficult because Coltrane’s big now and he’s getting bigger. I understand that the police have launched several manhunts for them, but so far with no luck.”
“The police accused them of killing three men and wounding several others. I know Bobby Deacon, and I don’t believe he was responsible for killing those people.”
Keswick nodded in acknowledgement of Douse’s statement.
He took out a pocketbook and gave Douse a number for Bobby Deacon.
“I heard that ever since he heard that you came out he’s been asking for you,” Keswick told him.
“I’ll try to contact him, but I heard that war was breaking out in Chulky’s section of the city too.”
“War is all over and men like us somehow or other because we are top notch fighters, are bound to get involved. Chulky has sent for me so I’ll go and see him tomorrow,”Keswick said. “These guys are firing some cannons. If you don’t have one of them, then you aren’t saying anything.”
“Who and Chulky are fighting?”
“Some guy name Balty. Seems as if his fighters scuffled some of the things Chulky gave them to give him. He is now saying that the goods weren’t shared right.”
“I’ve heard about this guy, Balty and his crew. It’s rumored that nobody goes into his area and comes out alive. Those guys are murderers.”
The two men ordered stouts and took some sips.
“Hey, Douse, don’t let me keep you here talking and make you lose your passengers.”
“Just easy yourself, Keswick, I’m just taking some time out. Hey, you know that guy there?” Douse asked, pointing at Bus-up who was busy calling some passengers into a taxi he was loading.
“No, it’s the first time I’m seeing him. It seemed as if somebody took an iron pipe and worked on his face.”
“Tad and Sam were after him, they said he had robbed Shadow of some money. Now that both of them have migrated it seems as if nobody is after him to repay the money.”
“I’m telling you that Shadow is finished from those guys left, he is nothing. Coltrane just let him operate, but he can close him down at any time.”
They had finished their drinks now and Keswick stood up.
“Hear me now, Douse, I’m not even sure when I might link you again, but once you are out here I’ll give you a check one of these days.”
The two men shook hands before Keswick went to catch a bus going Downtown.
Douse did some more trips for the day, but as he had nearly made his quota he decided to go to a quiet place and put through a call to Bobby Deacon.
He pulled up at a quiet place, making sure that there was not a lot of noise and the area was well peopled. He took out his cell phone and dialed the number Keswick had given him for Bobby Deacon. He had bought five hundred dollars of credit to add to what he already had. He waited for Bobby Deacon to come on the line..
“Who’s that?” came a male voice and Douse knew that it wasn’t Bobby Deacon. “Is Bobby Deacon there?”
“Who wants to speak to Bobby Deacon?” the man asked. “Tell him a guy from block seven, cell number thirty-two.” There was a pause, then another person came on the line.
“Douse, Errol Douse,” came Bobby Deacon’s enthusiastic voice.
“Yes, Bobby Deacon, it’s me Douse. Since I came out of prison I’ve been trying to find you.”
“I’ve been trying to find out from a very long time, whether you had left G.P yet. We’re camped out in the country, building up our forces and waiting for some capital to recruit more fighters and get more ammunition to take back what’s rightly ours.”
“Yeah man, so big war soon break out?”
“Well, unless they call and settle with us, we have no alternative but to go to war with them. I’ve been thinking that we could do with a man like you, Douse. I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but we could guarantee you certain things if you joined us.”
Douse considered what the young Don had just said.
“I’m driving a taxi for my sister, but I have a score to settle with some guys. Most of the times I’m tempted to go for my gun, especially since those guys murdered my brother- in-law and a fellow taxi driver.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? We have some big guns training with and we train every day.”
“Well hear me now, Bobby Deacon, I’m glad to speak to you again. I’ll consider what you’ve told me and now that I have your number I’ll call you and tell you what I’m going to do,” Douse told him and ended the call.
As he got ready to drive off and finish his day’s work he knew he didn’t have an answer for Bobby Deacon as yet. The whole logistics of such a move would take time. But he longed to feel a gun in his hand and the power one got from being behind it.
***
Chulky woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of heavy submachine-gun fire. He heard shouting. Beside him his woman, Demi, hadn’t moved. He rolled off the bed and grabbed up his M-16 rifle and ran downstairs in the darkness. He heard Nully and Elton shouting his name. When he reached them, he could see how stressed they were as fighters milled around the compound.
Rain was slightly drizzling.
“It’s the Balty fighters attacking us again, Don,” Elton informed him. A fighter, Milton, was coming along Beet Street towards them.
“They’ve captured Temple Street and wounded Bello, Dillon and Glen. They caught us by surprise,” he told them.
For the first time since the hostilities started, Chulky was worried. If they had indeed captured Temple Street it meant that they could fire directly on his compound.
“I want some fighters to come with me to recapture Temple Street,” he announced and saw men coming forward.
“Nully, you and Elton stay here and man the defenses, we’ve got to resist these guys at all costs.”
About ten men decided to go with him. They had to move fast to relieve the fighters on Temple Street and to prevent the Balty forces from bringing up their heavy weapons to attack the compound.
As he and the fighters reached Turner Street they heard the fighting and saw their men under attack. Chulky could make out at least two bodies in the street.
A voice came to them, loud and clear.
“Chulky’s fighters, this is the general speaking. Me, Chappie, you guys can’t win so give up and join us and let us run Chulky out of the area.”
Chulky and the fighters with him, let off a withering hail of lead in the direction of the voice. It was responded to by more shooting from the Balty forces.
“You guys prefer death, then that’s what you’re going to get,” Chappie shouted. “This is Chulky, we’re here with relief for you men. You can’t beat us, Chappie.
You’d better withdraw from Temple Street or else we’re going to surround your forces and wipe you out to the last man.”
“Go to hell, Chulky, you don’t have enough men on the ground to do that and we have our flanks well covered. We’re not pulling out until we drive you out and get the goods that Keeble sent for us,” Chappie warned and more bullets rained down on Chulky’s position.
Chulky’s men were crawling towards Temple Street and firing as they went. When they reached there they saw that the battle was raging. But the sheer number of Chulky’s forces was having its effect and was pushing Chappie’s men out of the area. Chulky realized that the fighting was taking place on the streets and there were no men on rooftops.
They heard running footsteps and knew that Chappie’s men were retreating.
Keswick came up to Chulky.
“They’re retreating Don, round here is too hot for them,” he stated.
“How many of them did we get?” Chulky asked as Elton and Nully came up to him. “We killed two of their men, but they got Ervin and Watson and they’ve captured Duncan and Zeb,” Keswick answered. He pointed to three wounded men sitting on the ground.
“We captured those men,” he told Chulky.
Chulky looked over at the wounded men cowering on the ground. There would be days of negotiations before both sides exchanged prisoners. He wondered if it might not be a brilliant tactic to mount an attack on the Balty forces tonight. He dismissed the idea as useless speculation as his men had just come through several hours of hard fighting and the Balty headquarters was heavily defended.
“We’ll give Erwin and Watson a proper funeral, let Mister Stanley handle the bodies,” he said to Elton and Nully. “Let Jimbo and Bagga get rid of the bodies of those two Balty fighters.”
He looked at the wounded men again.
“Take those wounded men to the base. In the morning we can let Mr. Hilton look at their wounds,” he directed his lieutenants.
Chulky looked at his watch. It was minutes to two o’clock. He doubted if the Balty forces would mount another attack before the night was over. None of the residents had phoned for the police quite sure that he would defeat his enemies. In days gone by they would have had a big celebration at even this small victory over their enemies.
As he made his way back to his yard, he reflected on Bobby Deacon. The young Don wanted to hire his fighters when he began his push on Shadow. He doubted if he could spare anybody now with the threat from the Balty fighters so ever present.
Chulky didn’t go to bed until after four o’clock that morning and that was after planning and refining several defense strategies with his lieutenants.
***
Del had spoken to Johny about getting adequate supplies of cocaine, marijuana and other stuff like grabba. Because of the clampdown at the airport, he was finding himself with more of the supplies and with less avenues of distribution. At first he was reluctant to have anything to do with her remembering what she had done to Myra. But the girl had shown him some good plans and he had encouraged her to set up the base. He had put her on to certain chemists to do the work for her.
Del thought it would be a good investment. She wanted something to turn over fast. Johny had also showed her how to spice her marijuana with cocaine, thus hooking most of her customers. She had gone to a base she knew and bought a variety of the stuff.
She had laid her plans carefully. Monty and Jheanell would be working for her. Monty worked at the base she went to buy her stuff. One day he had greeted her on the streets and they began talking. It was then that she found out that he wasn’t happy as the pay was poor and Miss Bibbi was a very demanding employer.
They were searched upon arrival at work and when they were leaving. They weren’t allowed to leave the compound to go for lunch or to receive telephone calls on the job. Lunch was provided for them, whether they liked it or not. No cell phones were allowed on the premises. He told her about his girlfriend, Jheanell, who also worked for Miss Bibbi.
Del told them that they had to do some medicals for her such as would get them a food handler’s permit. That way she would know if they were clean. Both of them protested that they never did one while working for Miss Bibbi.
However, she told them that it was a requirement to them getting the job. After they agreed to do it, she gave them the money. Both of them explained that if they told Miss Bibbi that they were leaving, she would not take kindly to it and would want to know their reasons.
Monty had worked there for fifteen months and Jheanell for eleven months. They had never seen anybody leaving without being fired. She would also threaten that if they leaked any of her secrets she would send somebody after them.
It was therefore with some amount of fear that both of them felt with leaving their employment. Monty did all sorts of odd jobs as he had no particular skill. Jheanell was unemployed from the time she was made redundant after Valentine’s Restaurant in Cross Roads closed down in October 2000.
The next Saturday, Monty walked off the job and didn’t return. Instead the following Monday he turned up at Del’s base and started working for her. He showed her how to weigh out, package and price the stuff.
At the end of the first two weeks she was showing a profit. Jheanell had now joined them having herself walked off the job. Miss Bibbi had been livid with rage when Monty failed to turn up for work. She had threatened to put out a contract on him.
She also accused him of stealing stuff from her as the reason why he had walked off the job. She promised to increase Jheanell’s pay. She wanted to know where Monty was and why he had left the job. Jheanell had accepted the pay increase, but had still walked off the job.
Del was glad that Jheanell had come to work for her. She had two trusted employees. She paid them a little bit more than Miss Bibbi and wasn’t as restrictive of them as Miss Bibbi had been.
Johny was also pleased that she was returning to buy another load of cocaine and marijuana so soon. He had lost Myra’s business when they brought in the new machines at the airport. He still did a good business with the gunrunners who would buy stuff from him and exchange it for guns from the Haitians. He saw this business expanding by leaps and bounds.
The police were also seizing guns so that meant that the street wanted guns and Haiti had boundless supplies. He thought that if Myra was smart this was an area that she could go into.
Johny knew that the new security measures on the ports had also put a serious dent in the shipment of ammunition through those venues. He felt that Haiti would remain unstable for the foreseeable future, thus there would be an increase in arms shipments.
***
Del decided that she would take her children from Bettina and take them down to stay with her other sister, Lavern, who lived in Ewarton. She had only one daughter and was well off having married a senior mining official. She was the eldest of the three sisters.
When she reached Bettina’s house, it was minutes past six o’clock. She was sure that Winston wouldn’t be home as yet as Bettina had told her that he was lecturing part-time at the University.
“Lavern has decided to keep them for me until I can sort out myself,” Del told her.
“Del, you can’t go on like this. Miquel and Sophia are fairly comfortable at their basic school,” Bettina reprimanded her.
“I know, Betty, I’m going back to start my business. I’m getting a loan from one of those lending agencies. They’ll take my car as security for the loan.”
Bettina quarrelled with her some more, telling her that the two children were no problem for her, but Del still felt that she didn’t want to burden her with their care. She gave Del a lot of things for them, whereupon Del left with them for her other sister.
***
Myra was on Debbie’s plaza on Constant Spring Road one day. She was doing some light shopping. As she came out of one of the stores and went to her car a tall brown man came up to her. He gave her a card. From the card she saw that his name was Anthony Delfosse.
He explained to her that he had been eager to make contact with her. Myra was not letting down her guard. He told her that he had been put on to her by a friend. He was told that she knew possible sources of cocaine.
Myra refused to confirm or deny what he said, but she told him that he would have to give her some people to contact to vouch that he was genuine and not just some policeman out to trap her.
It took her a week to verify the information she had gotten about Delfosse. Bobby Deacon told her to speak to two men, Cat Dundas and Mack Dennis. He told her that both men knew all the underworld figures operating in Jamaica. After she got the verification from both men she called Delfosse and set up a meeting with him.
According to him the underworld in Jamaica was running short of guns. This came as news to her. He told her that the new machines on the ports were preventing a lot of the ammunition and guns being brought in as legitimate cargo. The police were also seizing a lot of guns and ammunition.
Several gunmen had targeted security guards and licensed firearm holders, but this wasn’t enough and demand was far outstripping supply.
There was now a possible source of supply in Haiti as a lot of guns had come into that country.
Many of these guns were lying idle in need of an owner. Many of these people in Haiti were prepared to take cash for these guns, but in lieu of cash they were willing to take drugs like cocaine and marijuana.
Delfosse said that he had sourced out a supplier of guns who was willing to take these illegal drugs as payment. If Myra could arrange for him to get the supply then she stood to make a substantial commission.
There was a snag, however, as he wouldn’t be able to come up with all the money at once. When he checked, he had only fifty percent of the money needed. His plans were to sell the guns, pay the drug supplier and Myra her commission.
She laughed in his face and told him that her supplier wanted raw cash. He asked her to talk to him. She wasn’t willing to take these risks, remembering that she still owed Cudjoe.
She knew that Johny was only acting as an agent for a Columbian man, living under an alias in Montego Bay. He would therefore not risk crediting her because that would be putting his life in danger as he had explained to her that the man, Ortega, was dangerous, having fled Columbia after committing several murders over there. Johny had also told her that he had associates in Columbia, Mexico, Brazil and Jamaica. His life depended on being prompt with his payments to these persons.
Johny told her that Ortega wanted the raw cash from him. He rejected Delfosse’s proposal out of hand and asked her if he was crazy. He was wary that she might find out that Del was now one of his clients.
Delfosse phoned her one day two weeks later to tell her that he had found a partner.
The man had agreed to put up the other fifty per cent of the money.
They agreed to meet again but he refused to say who his partner was. To Myra this was not a problem once she delivered the stuff and got her commission.
So they met and ironed out the last few details of the agreement. Delfosse was concerned about her moving around with such a large amount of money and illegal drugs, but she asked him if he had checked her background before coming to her.
When he assured her that he had done so she told him that she could get men to go with her for protection. Delfosse left satisfied that he would receive his stuff safe and sound.
***
Bus-up was walking down Marescaux Road that Saturday evening when his cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and pressed the call button at the same time pulling off the sidewalk.
“Who is that calling me?”
“Bus-up, Clement here, it’s tonight we’re planning the thing. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten or else we might not include you.”
“No man, it’s down there I’m coming right now.”
When he reached he saw Trevor, Clement, Aldin and Chester. He knew all of these men before. He had worked with them on previous jobs, though nothing like what they were planning.
“The boss says he wants us to snatch a little man and try to squeeze some money out of his people,” Clement informed them.
“About how much?” Bus-up wanted to know. Clement ignored his question.
“This man is the head of a big company. The boss says that the company can’t run a day without him. If he goes on vacation he has to stay glued to his cell phone. The boss figures that the company won’t last a day before they come up with the money.”
“What about the police?” Trevor asked.
“The boss figures that this man is so important and so vital to the company’s survival that they won’t get the police involved.”
The others were nodding at what Clement was saying. He continued.
“This man goes jogging every morning along with his wife and other friends. It appears that he goes alone on Fridays. We don’t know why? If we snatch him we could get paid before the day is out.”
“How much will we be demanding?” Bus-up asked again.
“We’ll be asking for twenty million dollars in the first instance, but we’re prepared to take eighteen. Our lowest offer will be fifteen million. If they don’t come up with the money we might have to disfigure or kill him.”
The men continued discussing their plans and decided that the best day to snatch the man would be on a Friday as this was the day he went jogging alone.
It was agreed that Bus-up would drive the kidnap car with Trevor, Aldin and Chester going with him. They would snatch the man and bring him to the hideout.
Clement would take the man’s keys and drive his jeep to a separate location. The kidnapper’s boss was to be informed the minute the victim had been safely brought to the hideout. He would contact the man’s wife and offer her the deal and give her an ultimatum. He would of course warn her that if they sensed that the police were getting involved, they would kill the man without hesitation. She would be told to get in touch with the directors of the company.
The money should be cash and unmarked and should be dropped off at a certain location. The man would be held for twelve hours after the ransom was paid and would only be released once everything was all right.
The men left the meeting feeling pleased with the discussions and knew that once this one was pulled off successfully, the boss would have other work for them.
Bus-up didn’t know who the boss was. It appeared that only Clement knew him, but he didn’t care, so long as he got his money. He could lay off loading taxis. He might even pay Shadow and Elton some of the money he owed them. He would also give his two baby mothers a generous cut out of the money to stop them from trying to bring him before the family court for child maintenance.