The Bang, Bang, Bang

by Roy Glenn

Genres: African American Urban

Synopsis

The Bang, Bang, Bang is a tale of power, revenge, and the struggle to maintain control in a world filled with danger and betrayal.

Tahanee Stevens is dead. Barbara Ray is in the hospital, fighting for her life. Every man and woman in The Family is out looking for the people responsible, and he orders his men to wipe out the BBKs. But when Black’s brother from Saint Vincent is found dead in a Manhattan hotel, Black is left to wonder if the two murders are connected. To get the answers he needs, Black and Shy travel to the islands and follow a trail that takes them to Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Colombia.

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

“Tell me something that I actually wanna hear. Who hit us?” Terrell Sanders demanded to know. He had just survived an assassination attempt and was in hiding.

“Barbara Ray,” Ripley advised.

“Barbara?” Sanders nodded because he had heard the name before.

He had met Barbara one night at the gambling house on Sexton Place when she went there with Mason Grant. He remembered that she was the one who tried to cover the rest of the money that Bellamy owed him when Grant assumed the debt.

“The way I get it, she was the one who sent the people who hit us.”

“What else do you know about her?”

“She owns The Playhouse and a boutique.”

“A boutique?” Sanders chuckled.

“Yeah, nigga, a boutique. But the guys she sent operate out of The Playhouse.”

Sanders nodded, and then he thought about what to do, but there really wasn’t much of a choice.

He had to kill Barbara.

“Curtis and Tone with you?”

“Yeah.”

“You know where to find her?” Sanders asked.

“She ain’t gonna be hard to find.”

“Kill her.”

“On it,” Ripley promised.

After receiving their target and instructions from Ripley, Curtis Fulton and Anthony “Tone” Quinn left the apartment where Sanders was hiding and went after their prey for the night. They were two violent men who made their money robbing drug dealers. Both of them had long arrest records. Fulton had been arrested for attempted murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, assault, carjacking, and motor vehicle theft, while Quinn’s record included burglary, simple assault, and battery. He was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter when he accidentally fired a gun and killed someone, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

“Who is this bitch?” Tone asked as Curtis drove.

“Does it matter?”

“Not really. I just wanted to know,” Tone said as he checked his weapon of choice: a sawed-off, double-barrel pump shotgun. “Let’s go do this,” he said before getting out of Curtis’s Honda Civic.

Curtis walked toward the building where Barbara’s office was located, pulling down his mask and taking the two Glock 9 mm handguns he liked carrying. High-End Fashions was closed, and only a few people were in Fat Larry’s, the restaurant in the same building Barbara owned. Jolina had gone home for the night, and only Barbara and Tahanee were in the office when Curtis and Tone arrived. They entered the building and went up to the second floor, where the offices were located.

When they entered the office, Tahanee was the first person they saw. She was caught off guard when she looked up and saw the two masked gunmen.

“Oh, shit!” Tahanee shouted when she saw them coming. She was reaching for her gun when Tone raised the pump and fired.

The blast hit Tahanee in the chest, and the impact took her off her feet and blew her into the next room. Her twisted body lay on the floor.

Barbara heard the blast.

“What the fuck?” she said and got up to see what it was, but she got her gun from her desk drawer first.

When she came out of her office, Barbara saw Curtis and Tone coming at her and fired when she saw Tahanee’s twisted body on the floor in Destiny’s office. Curtis raised both of his weapons and began firing at Barbara. She got off several shots as she ran into the conference room. Curtis and Tone ran behind her, firing.

Barbara dove under the conference room table, turned it over, and came up firing, but the two gunmen had her seriously outgunned. When she stood to return their fire, one of Curtis’s bullets hit her in the chest, and Barbara went down. Tone and Curtis took off their masks and stood over Barbara’s lifeless body.

“Let’s go.”

“I know you got someplace to be,” Curtis said, laughing as they walked away.

“And I’m already late.”

Barbara opened her eyes long enough to get a good look at the two men and promised to kill them before she lost consciousness.

The assassins left the office, and Curtis drove as fast as he could until he got to Purple Rock, the nightclub owned and operated by Rain Robinson. When they arrived, Tone jumped out of the car and ran to the back door. He banged on the door a few times before it opened.

“You’re late,” the doorman said as Tone entered the building.

“I know,” Tone said, rushing past the guard and quickly making his way backstage. He could hear Hayven Kawai on stage and knew from what she was singing that he had missed his mark, and she would be mad at him.

“You’re late,” the stage manager said.

“I know,” Tone replied.

The stage manager signaled to Hayven, and she acknowledged Tone’s presence offstage. She gave him an angry look and kept singing. When she nodded, the stage manager told Tone to take his position on stage. When Hayven finished her song, the lights went out.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Undisputed Truth.”

The spotlight appeared on Tone, and he broke into his song to thunderous applause.

After a long day at the office, Jolina was heading home when she realized she had left her cell phone on her desk and drove back to the office to get it. She brought her Audi R8 to a screeching halt in front of the office, parked the car, and got out. As she walked toward the building, Jolina saw Curtis’s Honda Civic speeding away, but she didn’t think anything of it at the time. She went into the building, up the stairs, and into the office.

“I know y’all gonna say, how can you forget your phone when you be on it all the time,” Jolina said as she entered the office. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed when she saw Tahanee’s dead body on the floor. “Tahanee!”

Jolina rushed to the body, saw the damage Tone did with the pump, and began to cry.

“Barbie!” she shouted, rushing to her desk to grab her phone and dial 911. “Barbie!” she shouted again and cried as she frantically searched the office for Barbara. Finally, Jolina saw the table turned over in the conference room. “Barbie!”

When she came around the table, Jolina saw Barbara had been shot as well.

“Oh my God, Barbie!” she shouted and dropped to her knees.

“911 operator. What is your emergency?”

“Two women were shot, and I need an ambulance immediately,” Jolina said as the tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

First responders were dispatched once Jolina had given the operator all the information she needed. Jolina ended the call and tried to compose herself as she called RJ. At the time, he was out with Judah. They were making the rounds to check the spots RJ ran for their captain, Sherman Williams.

They were coming out of Mama’s Country Kitchen when his phone rang. Although Mama’s no longer hosted a gambling operation, a man gotta eat, and the food there was incredible.

RJ took out his phone and glanced at the display. “Jolina,” he said in surprise because she had never called him.

“What little sexy want?” Judah asked as they walked to RJ’s car.

“I don’t know.” He swiped talk. “What’s up, Jolina?”

“Somebody shot Barbie and Tahanee,” she cried, and her tears poured down her cheeks.

“What?” RJ asked in disbelief.

“Somebody shot Barbie and Tahanee,” she repeated.

“Are they alive?” RJ asked as he made it to his car.

“I don’t know.”

He and Judah got in the vehicle. “Where are you?”

“At the office.”

“Do you know who did it?”

“No. When I came back to the office to get my phone, that’s how I found them.”

“Okay. I’m on my way to you.” RJ drove fast. “Did you call the police?”

“Ambulance is on the way.”

“What happened, Jolina?”

“I had gone for the night, but I had to come back, and that’s how I found them,” Jolina said, crying. Her entire body ached.

“I’m on my way,” RJ said, dropping the phone and driving faster.

“What’s wrong?” Judah asked.

“Somebody shot Barbara and Tahanee.”

“Are they alive?”

“Jolina didn’t know.”

When the police got to the building, they took her pulse and pronounced Tahanee dead just as the ambulance arrived and the paramedics entered the scene.

“This one’s gone, but there’s another body,” the officer said, standing up.

“Where?” one of the paramedics asked.

“This way,” Jolina said, leading them to the conference room. When they saw the body, they went to work checking Barbara.

“I got a pulse,” the paramedic shouted, and they began working on Barbara and got her ready to be transported to the hospital.

“Can you tell me what happened here?” the police officer asked Jolina as the paramedics put Barbara on the wheeled cot.

“No. I came back for my phone, and that’s how I found them,” Jolina said and began following the paramedics.

“I’m sure the detectives will have more questions for you when they arrive.”

Jolina’s eyes got wide. “I’m going with her!”

“But—” the cop said to the back of Jolina’s head as the paramedics took Barbara down the stairs. She followed the paramedics and watched in tears as they put Barbara into the ambulance.

A cold chill washed over RJ when he turned on the street and saw all the police and emergency vehicles outside the building. Once he parked and exited the car, he and Judah approached the chaotic scene. Then he saw Jolina standing by the ambulance and ran to her. She saw him coming, and her tears began to flow again.

“What happened?”

“Tahanee is dead. They’re taking Barbie to the hospital.”

“I’m right behind you,” RJ said as Jolina climbed into the ambulance. “Where are you taking her?” he shouted.

“Saint Barnabas Hospital,” the paramedic replied, shutting the ambulance door.

RJ watched the ambulance drive away and took out his phone as an unmarked car arrived at the crime scene, and Detectives Hudson and Luna got out. RJ recognized them right away.

The relationship between Hudson and Jolina was hot and heavy until then-Lieutenant Dawkins pulled him aside when she got wind of it.

“I can’t tell you what to do with your personal life. So, I’ll just offer you this tidbit of advice and let it go. Even though she’s not a major player in the Family, she is an associate, and that makes her as much of a criminal as the rest of the Family. It doesn’t look good for you, an NYPD detective, to conduct an investigation in which the Family is involved if nothing else is on the periphery.” Dawkins paused. “Kinda makes you the snitch in our house. I’m not saying you are, but perception is everything.”

“I hear you, Lieutenant,” Hudson said, and although it hurt him, Jolina was like no other woman he’d ever been involved with, and he thought that he could love and commit to her and only her, he broke it off with her and hadn’t seen or spoken to her since.

Hudson had been there once before while involved with Jolina, so he knew that was where Barbara ran her legitimate business. Hudson recognized RJ from the one time he had met him, and RJ nodded to him as he and Luna entered the building. RJ walked away from the building, taking out his phone and approaching his car.

“What’s up?” Judah asked.

They got in the car. “Tahanee is dead. They’re taking Barbie to the hospital.”

“She gonna be all right?”

“I don’t know,” RJ said.

“She know who did it?”

“No, she doesn’t. She said she found them that way.”

“My money is on the BBKs,” Judah said.

“Yeah. Me too,” RJ said and called his parents.

When the phone rang, Bobby and Pam were in his basement mancave watching television. Since his phone rarely rang at this hour of the night these days, Pam’s first thought was that it was a woman calling her husband, and her eyes narrowed. Bobby saw the look on her face, smiled because he thought it was funny, and glanced at the display.

“It’s your son.”

Her facial expression softened into a smile. “I didn’t say a word.”

“Yeah, but you were thinking it.” He swiped talk. “What’s up, RJ?” Bobby answered.

“Barbara’s been shot.”

“Oh, no. Is she all right?”

“She’s alive. They’re taking her to the hospital. But Tahanee is dead.”

“Who did it?” Bobby asked as the anger welled up inside him.

“I don’t know, Pop.”

“Okay. What hospital are they taking her to?”

Pam could tell by the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice that something was terribly wrong, and when she heard the word “hospital,” she feared the worst.

“They’re taking her to Saint Barnabas Hospital. Jolina is with her, and I’m following the ambulance.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“No, sir, I don’t.”

“Call Rain. I’m on my way,” Bobby said, and he ended the call and looked at Pam.

“What’s wrong, Bobby?” Pam asked and braced herself for what she was about to hear.

“Barbara’s been shot.”

“Oh God,” Pam said as her knees gave way, and she tearfully collapsed into Bobby’s arms.

“She’s alive.” He held her tightly as she cried. “They’re taking her to Saint Barnabas Hospital. Jolina is with her, and RJ is following the ambulance.”

Pam wiped away her tears and stood up. “I’ll get Venus and the baby.”

“I’ll bring the car around.”

Suddenly, his legs got weak, and his head began to spin. Bobby took out his phone to call Black.

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

After spending a week on vacation in North Island in Seychelles, an island in the Indian Ocean east of Kenia, the Black family headed home. However, instead of flying back to New York, they stopped in Freeport. Napoleon called and said that there was a matter that he needed to discuss with Black. It was late in the evening when Napoleon arrived at the house, and the two men went outside and sat by the pool to talk.

“Several drug gangs have recently come to the island and are creating problems for some of the operators.”

“What’s Jada’s doing about the situation?”

“She’s sitting back.” Napoleon paused when he saw the look on Black’s face. “It’s her management style to sit back, take her time, observe, evaluate, and seek counsel before taking decisive action to settle the matter. As one of the people that Ms. West seeks counsel from—”

“As am I.”

“I would say that she is still in the evaluation stage.”

“And the problem is?”

“Some of those same operators would like Ms. West to jump ahead to the decisive action stage.” Napoleon chuckled. “Which they all, to a man, like because Ms. West can be quite brutal when she takes decisive action.”

“I am well aware.” Black chuckled and sipped his drink. “What’s your part in this?”

“Some of the operators sought my counsel, and I promised to bring it to your attention.”

“I see.” Black nodded. “Have you spoken to Ms. West about the matter?”

“No, I have not.” Napoleon got up to pour himself another drink. “My understanding is that she is in New York with Carmen Taylor,” he said as Black’s phone rang.

“Excuse me. I gotta take this,” Black said and accepted the call. “What’s up, Granddad?”

“Somebody shot my baby girl, Mike.”

“Barbara?”

“Yeah.”

“Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. They’re taking her to the hospital.”

“I’m coming, Bob.” Black paused as a rush of emotion washed over him. For years, Barbara was like a daughter to him. He couldn’t imagine what Bobby was feeling. “You, okay?”

“No, Mike. I am not okay.”

“Hold on, Bob. I’m coming. I’m coming as fast as I can.” Black ended the call and dialed another number.

“What’s wrong?” Napoleon asked.

“Somebody shot Barbara.”

“Is she all right?” he asked as Jake answered the phone.

“What’s up, Boss?”

“Get the jet ready. We’re leaving.”

“You got it,” Jake said, and Black ended the call.

“Is she all right?” Napoleon asked again.

“Bobby doesn’t know. He said they’re taking her to the hospital.”

They went back into the house, and Black saw Napoleon out. Then he went to tell Shy. She could tell by how he was walking and the look on his face that something was wrong.

“What’s wrong, Michael?” she asked.

“Somebody shot Barbara.”

“Is she all right?”

“I don’t know. Bobby said they were taking her to the hospital. We need to get the family ready to travel.”

Once they had repacked what little they had unpacked, Black and Shy brought their luggage to the door. Michelle was the first to arrive at the door with her luggage. Black took it out to the car.

“Something on your mind?” Shy asked.

“Just thinking about Barbara. You know, hoping she’s OK.”

“Me too.”

Michelle looked at her mother and took a deep breath. “I was thinking about something Barbara said.”

Shy sat down on the stairs. “What’s that?”

Michelle sat beside her mother. “She said that you’re a wife, a mother, a businesswoman, and you’re cool Aunt Shy. But let something happen, and your mother turns into your father.”

Shy smiled. “She did?”

“She did. And I’m having a problem reconciling.”

Shy smiled. She loved that she and Michelle were getting on better terms. “Why is that?”

“Because it’s not the image I have of you.” Michelle paused. “From what I’ve seen growing up in this family is that you get yourself into trouble, and Daddy gets you out of it.”

Shy laughed. “Many times that is the case. But your father knows when to step back and let me handle my business my way.”

“I’ve just never seen that.”

“Let me put it to you. . .