CHAPTER THREE
Shadow was very angry when Othneil reported that they had failed to get the merchandise from the woman. He had shouted and threatened the young fighter with dismissal from his employment.
Othneil also reported that Bus-up had disappeared. "That guy robbed me four hundred and fifty thousand dollars last year. I sent him to the bank to lodge money twice and he came back with a stamped lodgement slip. When I began checking up on him I realized that it was all a fraud.”
“Hey, Bissy you and Tenny go look for the boy and wipe him out. I think I’ve given him enough chances already."
"Othneil, you know the type of vehicle Myra drives. You drive around the city and see if you can find her. We want that merchandise. Plus, she doesn't have any fighters guarding her.
You know, if you two had just followed her, she might have led you to one of their bases." For a moment Othneil wanted to say that it was the old Don, who had given them instructions to shoot at Myra but the fallen Don might interpret it as being disrespectful.
"You can start from today, I know that Talbert knows where she lives, but they don’t want to tell us."
***
"Bobby Deacon, some men shot at Myra last night. It seems as if it was the merchandise she was carrying that they were after,” Dixie reported. He was talking to Bobby Deacon over the cell phone from safe house one at Rennals in Southern Clarendon. Bobby Deacon was at safe house two in Dickson in Southern St. Catherine.
"She wants some fighters to guard her?" Bobby Deacon asked. "I want to make sure that nothing like that happens again. She also reported that the other day Talbert was at the house with a shotgun, threatening her.”
"That guy, Talbert, he's going to get his when the time is right,” Bobby Deacon threatened.
"I’ll call Calton and borrow three of his fighters to go with her to guard her shipments. As a matter of fact I’ll call him from tonight."
Calton was an ally of Bobby Deacon. He was the leader of the feared Waltham posse.
Dixie wanted to tell him that he wanted to be the one guarding his woman, but he wasn’t sure that the young Don wouldn’t interpret it that he distrusted him.
"Okay, I'll call and let her know about the protection she’s going to get," Dixie said to Bobby Deacon and ended the call.
Myra had also reported to them about the visit by the police. Both men had expressed confidence in her as they knew that she never kept anything to incriminate herself at the house.
***
Othneil was driving along the Mandela Highway when he spotted the van. He was sure that it was the Toyota Townace that the woman was in that night when that idiot, Bus-up had shot at her. He wouldn’t class him as a gunman.
Most of the hit men he knew wouldn’t have missed from that distance. No wonder he was on the run from Nully and Elton for having lost their gun. He decided to follow the van and see where the woman went.
He would be well rewarded by Shadow if he gave him a good lowdown on the woman as he understood that she always had some valuable merchandise apart from the clothes and shoes she bought and sold.
Myra decided to drive on Molynes Road, go through the gully and go onto Red Hills Road. She was sure a vehicle was following her. It was the same black Honda Accord that had shot at her the other day. She stopped at the Meadowbrook plaza, got out and stood beside her van.
She had her gun in her pouch. The black car continued up Red Hills Road. She went into the restaurant and bought a ginger beer. She looked at her watch, it was two o'clock. She went back to the van and drank her drink as her cell phone rang. It was Dixie, he told her that the fighters were on their way.
Othneil had driven up the road and parked. He took out a pair of binoculars and kept it trained on the woman. She was tall with a good figure. She had on a jeans pants and a ganzie blouse. She was copper colored he noticed. He saw her talking on her cell phone. She got back in her van but didn’t drive off. He wondered what she was waiting for. He kept the binoculars trained on her.
Then a car drove up and three men came out and came over to her. Fighters, he thought, so that was what she had been waiting for. He saw her point in his direction. Hell, he thought, she might have seen his car and was now giving the fighters a description of it. He jumped into the car and sped off.
When Othneil reached Shadow’s base on Dyer Street, he went to the Don.
"What happen Othneil, didn't I tell you not to let her give you the slip again? You should know by now that it’s some valuable merchandise she’s taking around with her.”
"Yes boss, I backed her up and was following her but she got suspicious and summoned her fighters."
"That girl’s smart. I need some of that merchandise to do certain things. We’re going to make her believe that everything is all right. We might have to use Precious. If she sees a woman following her, she might not get suspicious."
"She’s very sharp, and isn’t going to miss anything," Othneil opined. "All right, we’re going to give her a week to cool out.
Damn Coltrane, they won't let me know where she lives. We could get the boys to bug her van, then we wouldn't have to follow it.”
***
One Monday afternoon in mid-June Douse was driving his taxi, when he saw two men getting into a taxi. It was Brenton's car, he was sure he recognized the two men. They were the ones who had tried to hold up the taxi he was in. He suspected them of murdering Barry. He decided to follow the car. It seemed like the men had chartered him for a trip.
Like himself Brenton hardly did trips. He followed them for about two minutes or so and knew that something was wrong. He saw when Brenton took a side road.
He wondered if he should go in there, maybe they knew that he was following them and were setting a trap for him. He drove and stopped a few meters away from the entrance to the side road. He took out his cell phone, but realized that he didn’t have Brenton’s number in his directory. Douse decided to chance it and go into the lane. He had just started to drive in there when he heard several shots and saw the two men running down the road towards him.
He quickly stopped the car and put it into reverse, and backed out of the road. He heard one of the men shout.
"That car was following us!"
A hail of bullets came in his direction.
Douse hadn’t fully backed out of the road, but he spun the car around, rode an embankment and sped away as the two gunmen opened up on him. When he reached a good distance, he stopped the car and examined it for bullet holes. He wondered what he should do? There were bullet holes in the trunk, and the left side of the car.
Miraculously the windshields hadn’t been damaged nor had the gas tank or the engine. Cherry would want to know why the car had been shot up? He went to the Stadium police station and reported the incident.
They took pictures of the car. He also gave them a description of the two men. But he didn’t mention anything about Brenton. He hadn’t gone to the police station immediately, but about two hours later as he didn’t want the shooting up of the car to be linked to Brenton’s shooting. He suspected that the men had shot him after robbing him, but he didn’t know if he was dead.
Cherry was horrified at what had taken place and wasn’t sure whether to repair the car or if the police might want it as evidence. However the sergeant at the station where Douse reported the incident told her that they had the pictures so she could go ahead and repair it.
The time that the car was in the garage gave Douse the opportunity to reflect. He heard about Brenton's death from the same day. If the men recognized him, they would be coming after him. Were they the ones who had killed Barry? He was sure that they were the same guys who had tried to hijack the taxi that he and Nykola had been in. They were gunmen. He couldn’t let them go around like that, they had killed his brother in law and now his colleague. He was now spending a lot of time at Nykola’s house. If they came looking for him, they might not find him, but suppose they harmed Cherry or any of her children. He had to go for his gun. But he couldn’t drive with it in his taxi. He had to kill those two guys. He had to avenge Barry and Brenton.
The police called him in for questioning. They had investigated Brenton’s murder. They wanted to know if he had witnessed the incident. The time he had given was two hours after the murder took place. Douse of course denied being a witness to the murder.
He got back his taxi four days later. Brenton's funeral took place three weeks later in Troja district. He got a big funeral because most of the taxi men from Cross Roads and Half Way Tree where he formerly worked, were in attendance.
***
Coltrane held a big meeting to which Shadow was invited. He outlined how things were going. He told them of the number of projects he had undertaken. He also told them of the number of disciplinary actions that had been taken against members of the community. So far no one had been chased out the community. It was a serious offense that one usually got exiled for and even if taken in by a neighboring community it would take a long time for that individual to become accepted by that community.
He also reported that the police hadn’t found Bobby Deacon but appealed to all those at the meeting not to withold any information they had on the whereabouts of the young Don pretender.
He also announced that as part of the peace treaty between himself and Shadow he would be giving him the Bobby Deacon areas to him to operate in.
The meeting broke up with them having refreshments.
***
Shadow made his way home in his chauffeur driven jeep.
As they reached a stoplight a car pulled up beside him. It was Bowla, one of the Yardie generals. He instructed the driver to pull into a nearby layby. Bowla pulled up too, and came out of his car. Shadow's outriders had pulled in behind Bowla's car, but none of them got off their bikes. The two men shook hands.
"So what are you doing out here, Bowla?" Shadow asked as they finished shaking hands.
"It's a holiday I'm on but I wanted to see you. I've tried to reach your base more than once. I just can't understand it.
There were some young guys on the streets telling me that I needed a visa to visit that section of the city."
"They were probably trying to extort you. I still have my bases. We had a war, a little guy named Bobby Deacon double crossed me. We’re still looking for him."
"They’re hitting us hard in London. As I said it's a holiday I'm on but I thought I could explore some things with you. But you don’t even have much of a base any longer.”
Shadow explained to Bowla what had happened and how Coltrane came to be in control of such a large and lucrative piece of real estate. Before they parted Bowla assured him that as an original Don, he was due a lot more respect than he was currently getting. Some of the syndicates in England had expressed displeasure at the low position of his syndicate.
Shadow felt relieved and buoyed by what Bowla had told him and that he could get help from England. He had to get rid of Bobby Deacon or better yet use him to get rid of Coltrane.
Bowla drove to his sister's house in Ziadie Gardens that night. He was surprised at how things had changed. He was even more surprised at how subdued Shadow had become. It was as if the fight had gone out of him. His syndicate had only sent him out here to look at prospective investments. He didn’t see anything arising out of his meeting with Shadow, but he just couldn’t get close to Coltrane. Shadow had given him his cell phone number, but he wondered how safe it was to call him.
***
Bobby Deacon sat on the front verandah of the safe house at Rennals, with his Uzi submachine gun. They had been between the Rennals and Dickson safe houses for a month now. They had to be moving from one base to the other in order to evade the security forces.
There was the recruitment and training of the fighters for the attack on Shadow. Bidey had reported that as part of the peace treaty between the two men, Bobby Deacon’s areas had been given to Shadow to operate in. They also understood that Shadow was paying a percentage of his takings from Bobby Deacon’s areas over to Coltrane.
They would have to get in new weapons and ammunition as well as vehicles. He and Dixie had done some heavy planning, mapping out Shadow’s headquarters, strategically locating where his weak points were.
Dixie came up to him. He was armed, but with a M-16 assault rifle.
"One of the Yardie generals is out here. Ever heard about Bowla. Bidey said that he was talking to Shadow last night.
Seems as if Shadow was coming from a meeting with Coltrane," Dixie reported.
"The Yardies will respect Shadow but they know that he’s finished. If they’re doing any deals, it's with Coltrane, they’ll be doing it with," Bobby Deacon replied.
"We need money and weapons if we’re to arm the fighters to attack Shadow," Dixie declared.
"We have to try and arrange a meeting with Bowla," Bobby Deacon stated.
Both men built marijuana cigarettes and started smoking.
"You have Bowla's number, Dixie. I want to give him a call later tonight to arrange a meeting."
Dixie gave him the number, whereupon Bobby Deacon made his way to another section of the compound to examine the guards.
***
Del drove into her apartment that afternoon feeling drained. Sam hadn’t phoned from England as he had promised. She knew that he had a woman over there. She had called him several times since he went up at the end of March this year. She had to remind him about his two children. They were growing up fine. She was also fearful that he would find a woman over there to marry to get his stay. He had denied that he had a woman or that was his intention. Another woman might persuade him to forget about his children and that was what she was really fearful about.
Things weren’t like this for the two or so years he had spent in Canada. He had been driving a minivan over there delivering goods for a chain of supermarkets. She had received her money regularly. The police had stopped the van to check his papers and found that he was working in another man’s name. He had been deported.
Things had been low for him since returning home, she knew because ever since Coltrane became bigger than Shadow and started running most things, everything started going downhill for him. They couldn’t even go to the big dances they used to go for fear of encountering Coltrane's fighters.
Sam had decided that it would be better to work in England and so had bought a visa, but he had only called her three times and her money was fast running out. She didn't want to go back Downtown to sell on the sidewalk. Neither did she want to return to do armed security work again. The dangers were too great for the little pay that she received. And the profits from selling down there were too small for the dangers she faced from the amount of armed thugs roaming the streets.
She fixed up something to eat. She would soon have to leave to collect the children from their basic school. Only half of their school fees had been paid and the principal had sent a note about the balance of the money.
It had started raining now so she went for their umbrellas and one for herself.
As she locked up the house, she thought about the proposal Myra had put to her. If she did one trip that could suffice her for about three months. She decided to give it some more thought as she drove off.
***
The next night Bowla had locked up his car and was escorting his long time sweetheart and baby mother, Beulah, inside when his cell phone rang. He gave her the keys to the apartment while he went back outside and leaned on the car. There were some of his business dealings that he didn't want her to know about, not that he didn’t trust her.
Bobby Deacon was on the line.
"Bowla, my name is Bobby Deacon, I would like to meet you, I feel that we can help each other."
"How did you get my name, mister or even my cell phone number?" Bobby Deacon was surprised by the man's abruptness.
"A friend of mine gave me your name and cell phone number. He said you were looking for partners out here. As you know we’re in a war with Coltrane. Shadow betrayed us and we have passed a death sentence on him. I know that you can't do business with a dead man, so it's better if you come and talk to me.”
Bowla considered for some time. Shadow was too weak to be of any help to them and they didn't trust Coltrane. Yet he didn't know anything about this young upstart.
"I’ll talk to my associates up North and hear what they have to say," he told him before ending the call.
When he went inside Beulah was in the bathroom. "Come and soap up my back for me, Bowla,” she called out to him. Normally when she wanted him to soap up her back, she wanted him to get naked and come into the bath with her.
Outside it was raining heavily. They could hear the rain as it beat down on the low rooftop and awnings.
She had a glass of champagne in her hand. The bottle was on the floor with his glass beside it. He started to soap up her back. He felt the fat nipples of her ripe breasts.
"Oh God, Bowla," she cried out as their lips came together.
She stood up as he slid under her. She came to sit on his member and started riding him.
"Bowla, yes," she shouted as she rode him. His hands were caressing her ripe breasts and were all over her body now.
The water was making a gurgling sound as he pumped into her. They had been at it for several minutes when she started to cry and call out his name. He felt her body quiver several times. He then started to thrust up into her and then let go his full load into her.
As they dried off each other's body, she said.
"One of these days you’re going to get me pregnant again."
"So what's wrong with that? When I return home, it's you, Britney and Samantha, I want to be with.”
"By that time you'll be an old man. Sometimes I wonder why I wait out here on you while you’re up there with those women, Bowla.”
He didn't want to get angry with her. They had been over this so many times before. Terry and Dania his other women in England had two children each for him. They all knew about each other. He was, however, finding it harder these days to juggle among so many women.
He certainly didn't want any more children than the six he already had. Although he would want one more with Beulah. Those other women were always quarrelling with him whenever he left for Jamaica, telling him that he was going to look for his yard woman and his children with her.
Bowla had gone to England with his mother in 1973 after his father went up ten years earlier. He could remember going to school in Harlesden and the constant teasing by those white children.
On leaving school he got apprenticed as a mechanic. He soon started seeing some of his friends driving by in some flashy cars. It didn’t take him long to realize where their wealth came from. He talked to a friend who had shown him who was running things. He had gone to the man who told him that he should come and work for him. He didn't return to work at the mechanic shop any longer.
Mister Nation told him what he wanted him to do. He became a loyal fighter, gradually moving up the ranks. Now he was a top ranking general with a great deal of wealth and influence and he could get any woman he wanted. He had two houses in Jamaica and one in England. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to come home when he retired, stay in England or move to another country.
Beulah had gone to bed and Bowla was resting and drinking some wine. Outside the rain had slowed to a drizzle. The house phone rang and he picked it up. It was Philly from Harlesden.
"Bowla, how are things going?
"Good so far, I’m out here, I've contacted Shadow but it seems as if he got a blow. It's Coltrane, who run things out here now." "Have you checked Lloydie for those records I asked you for?”
"I’m going to pick them up tomorrow. A little youth name Bobby Deacon wants to talk to us. He and Coltrane got into a fight and he had to flee. He says that Shadow betrayed him.”
"Okay, well talk to him and let’s see what will go down."
"I’ll do that, well, I’ll touch base with you later, Philly,” Bowla said and hung up.
***
Myra knew that she was in trouble if she didn’t find Del soon. She had sent the girl to get the supply from Johny and the blasted girl had disappeared. Dixie and Bobby Deacon were angry with her. The girl had disappeared with almost a million dollars worth of coke. They were speculating that she could have been hijacked. She remembered what had nearly happened to her.
Her cell phone rang and she picked it up. Dixie was on the line.
"You find Del yet?"
"Not a trace of her. Dennis said that he trailed her to Ferris Avenue, that’s the road you turn on to go to Renford Avenue. He doesn’t know what could have happened to her,” Myra said, fingering her Glock pistol.
Del had been driving her car. It was possible that she knew she was being followed and had given her tail the impression that she was going to base one at Renford Avenue. Then when he fell for the bait she had slipped away.
It was now three days, long enough for her to dispose off the coke for her own benefit. But she knew she was dead if sighted by any of the crews from the syndicates.
The crews out looking for her were from allied syndicates such as Calton and Kenny.
Kenny was the leader of the Fully Alert syndicate from the Back Bush area.
"Listen, let the crews stay on full alert. I’ll update Bobby Deacon on the happenings. Love you baby."
Myra said, "I love you too," in a hushed tone and burst out crying. Look how near her man was and yet she couldn’t be with him. She had to put it down as survival. Dixie couldn’t come to her from the safe house because that was the only place he could feel safe.
Del had let her down. Her friend and former colleague for over ten years had let her down. Apart from Selma disappearing in London last year this was the first time a consignment had been lost.
How would Cudjoe take it? She didn’t know. It was their money which had bought the stuff. She only worked on commissions. She knew that she was the one whom they would call upon to repay the money. She felt nervous, they would give her time to repay, but she would get no more work from them.
Damn it, she thought, nobody was going to put her into that kind of trouble and she didn't do something about it.
The girl wasn’t at her apartment and her two children had gone too. She must be hiding out somewhere. Had she gotten rid of the coke? Myra wondered. Her apartment had been stripped of furniture which meant that she was in hiding.
She put the pistol in her pouch and got into the 2001 Toyota Carina motor car. It was Dixie’s car, but she drove it sometimes. She had to find Del tonight and get the merchandise from her. She reversed the car out of the driveway and drove off without even bothering to lock the gate after her.
***
After putting the children to bed at her sister, Bettina's house, Del drove off after telling her that she was going to a meeting. Bettina had been curious to know what kind of meeting she was attending at this time of the night.
Del had been tight lipped. She had taken her life in her hands when she had failed to deliver Myra’s merchandise to base one at Renford Avenue.
From now on she had to be on the run. After she sold the cocaine to Maestro she would go down to the country, taking her two children with her. She would sell the car and buy another one.
Maestro was a drug dealer whom she had contacted through a friend. He had agreed to take all of the stuff once it was of a certain quality.
She drove into the parking lot of Shirley’s Plaza and parked. She didn’t get out of the car, but looked around curiously to see if she saw Maestro. Her contact had given her a description of him. He too had described himself over the phone which seemed to fit the description given by her contact.
Del had glimpsed a man resembling Maestro when she was driving in. She had seen him get into a car and speak to a man. It was this man who was approaching her car. Another man was coming on the other side.
It was then that she realized that it was a trap! She reversed the car, drove out onto the road and sped off. She heard a barrage of bad words behind her and some gunshots came in her direction but she kept on driving.
Luck was with Myra for she had just driven past Shirley’s plaza when she heard the bad words and the gunshots. She pulled the car to a stop going over to the soft shoulder of the dual carriage way. She saw when a car sped out of the plaza obviously going in chase of another car.
She drove down further and turned at the nearest intersection and came back up the road and went in pursuit of the two cars. Five minutes later she saw the two cars. The car in the back was a blue Honda Civic and the front car was a Nissan Sunny motor car.
It was Del! Myra took the Glock out of her pouch and fired two shots into the left rear tire of the Honda Civic.
As the lights turned green, she got around the Honda Civic. The men jumped out of the disabled car, firing at her. She fired back at them and saw one of them crumple up on the sidewalk. She sped off after Del.
Del heard the shooting and made a turn to go in the opposite direction. Myra on the left of the road realized that Del had tricked her. She fired at the speeding car. Del fired back after her.
Myra decided to turn at the next intersection and go after her. They would be shooting it out tonight! She had to get the coke from her. She took out her cell phone. Then she realized that she had to call Dixie for him to request the fighters from Calton. It would also involve Bobby Deacon. It would take too long, she decided and put away her phone.
***
Del drove into her younger sister's apartment court on Lorna Drive in Constant Spring Gardens. She didn’t come out of the car immediately. She had driven for about an hour, sometimes pulling off the road several times to ensure she wasn’t being followed. She returned the gun to her bag. None of Myra’s bullets had caught her or the car. She took out her cell phone and called Bettina’s house phone. Her husband, Neville, answered, then she came on the line.
Del explained to her and she told her to come up. Upstairs she used the bathroom to freshen up herself.
Bettina expressed her concern. She wanted to know if she had been hurt and what was the problem between her and the woman.
Del told her that the woman accused her of being along with her husband. There was no fighting, only cursing and threats. She said that the man had been her supervisor at Lamont Security and they were only good friends.
She wasn’t sure if Bettina believed her since she knew the reason why she had left the security firm. It was because Vinny Lamont wanted her to go to bed with him. When she refused, he brought a lot of trumped up charges against her and fired her.
Winston didn’t come out and Del was thankful. After looking in on the children she told Bettina that she would come for them tomorrow. Then she drove off.
Bettina was a senior nurse at a private hospital in the Corporate Area. She had two children, a five year old boy and a three year old girl. She drove her own car to work.
***
Bus-up was loading taxis in Cross Roads. Douse was sure that he was the man Tad and Sam were looking for that day. But the two men were abroad. He didn't want to make him aware that he knew about the trouble he was in with Shadow. Since Brenton's death most of the taxi men had each other cell phone numbers.
Douse hardly came in contact with Bus-up as he didn’t load for him. It seems as if he lived in Allman Town because he always saw him heading that way in the evenings.
He had other problems as his other girl in Washington Gardens, Abigail, had told him that she felt that she was pregnant for him. He blamed himself for not using a condom the last two times they had made love.
He had urged her to do a pregnancy test and had given her the money to do it. What the hell he thought here was Abigail apparently pregnant for him and Nykola pressuring him to give her a baby. This would be her second child for him as they had a child two months before he was locked away.
He was also worried because lately Cherry had started taking driving lessons. He was not sure if she had enough money to buy another car of if she would take away the one he was using. He knew that she still harbored suspicions that he was responsible for Barry’s death.