Unknown

"True, true," Diamond agreed.

"Half up front, mailbox," the voice said and hung up.

"God damn that is one scary ass ho," Diamond muttered to himself.

----

Andeer Ali-Jabi kept his face as impassive as possible as the small man bowed and scraped in front of him.

"And that is why, when I heard what they had planned for you, my friend, I said 'Allah would surely bless me one thousand fold if I warned one of His servants,' wouldn't you agree?" the man said.

"It is good of you to bring this to my attention," Andeer agreed. "And what is it that you want from me?"

"Well, Mr. Diamond did offer me one hundred thousand dollars to kill you," the man said and waited.

"I see," Andeer Ali-Jabi mused aloud.

"So since Mr. Diamond has placed the value of your life to be one hundred thousand..." the man suggested.

Andeer nodded his head again.

"You sicken me," he said in Arabic. "You are a spineless jackal and..."

"I am a mercenary," the man replied in Arabic. "One that is very good at his job. You are the fool that allows a killer into your midst and then you have the nerve to insult me?"

"I am terribly sorry, my friend," Andeer Ali-Jabi sputtered.

He had assumed, since the man's accent was American, that he would have no knowledge of Arabic.

"Now, the price is five hundred thousand," the man said and got to his feet.

"Five hundred..."

"Here," the man said and hurled a key at Andeer Ali-Jabi. Locker number ten seventy one, Gumble street Greyhound Terminal. If the money is not in that locker by nine o'clock tomorrow morning, you will die."

"That is not enough time!" Andeer Ali-Jabi protested.

"And my bullets?" the man went on. "They have been dipped in the blood of a swine."

Andeer Ali-Jabi paled.

"Nine o'clock," the man hissed and left the office.

"Yes?" Cofor, Andeer Ali-Jabi's right-hand man asked as he answered the silent summons to Andeer's office.

"That man, follow him," Andeer ordered.

Cofor left the office and strode through the reception area. He yanked the glass door open and looked up and down the hall.

He saw no man. A blonde woman strolled past, displaying much of her female form to his hardened gaze and smiled cheekily at him as she pressed the button for the elevator. A red baseball cap hid much of her blonde hair and large sunglasses obscured much of her face.

She searched in her large handbag for something, then smiled at Cofor again.

Cofor strode to the public restroom at the end of the hall and peered in. There was no man in the facility.

He turned just as the elevator 'dinged' and the blonde looked over her shoulder at him and made a display of adjusting the hem of her shorts, exposing a great deal of her buttocks to his gaze.

With a giggle, she entered the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor.

"Where did that man go?" Cofor demanded of Melanie, the receptionist .

She shrugged her shoulders fearfully.

"I don't know," she whined. "He asked me where the bathroom was and I pointed and him..."

Andeer was not pleased that the man was able to escape the building.

"Here," he said, handing Cofor the key. Gumble Greyhound bus station, locker ten seventy one. I want you to put five hundred thousand dollars in there, then watch it and see who comes to claim the money. Take Husbah with you. Do not fail me."

From the large safe in his office, Cofor collected the money and put it into a duffel bag.

Silently, he and Husbah left the building and got into Cofor's Mercedes-Benz and drove to the Greyhound terminal.

The lockers were arranged a several rows, four metal boxes from floor to halfway up to the ceiling, twenty stacks long. Cofor realized, to keep an eye on locker ten seventy one, he would have to stand at the end of the lockers; there were no seats nearby.

"We will take turns," he ordered Husbah.

"Of course," Husbah agreed.

At three eighteen in the morning, a sleepy announcement was made that bus five twelve was now arriving from Houston, Texas. Cofor perked up as a severely overweight man ambled past, counting the lockers.

The man looked at a small key, then continued down the row. He reached the end, then waddled around to the rear lockers.

Cofor again trained his eye on locker ten seventy one. He heard the man grunt and wheeze and then heard a locker clang shut. He wrinkled his nose in distaste as he heard a thunderous fart escape and the man giggled nervously as he waddled past, now carrying a garment bag.

At ten fifteen, Cofor answered his cell phone.

"Yes?" he demanded.

"Well?" Andeer demanded.

"Nothing; no one has been anywhere near the locker," Cofor admitted.

"Well, then get my money and come back to the office," Andeer ordered.

"Yes," Cofor said and put the phone back into his pocket.

He fitted the key into the lock and opened the locker.

His blood ran cold; the locker was empty.

----

"Yes?" Andeer snapped as his private line rang.

"I have the money; Allah is good indeed," a thin voice proclaimed. "I am pleased that you are a man of your word."

"Thank you," Andeer said, simmering with rage. "But how did you get this..."

"And, you do not need to worry about Mr. Diamond; he has been disposed of," the thin voice went on. "Take care my friend, safe travels to you."

"But how did you get this number? I do not give this...," Andeer demanded as the call was terminated.

----

"Hey Booger," Detective LaRocca called out as he strode toward the small time drug dealer.

"Aw fuck man, what you want, huh?" Booger snapped.

"Hey, hey, that ain't very nice," Detective LaRocca smiled as he stopped. "Your boy, Diamond? Found him dead, committed suicide."

"No shit?" Booger said, eyes wide with surprise.

"Yeah, that bad-ass SUV? Ran a garden hose in through the back window and let it run all night," Detective LaRocca said, smiling. "Ain't that some shit?"

"Aw no, that ain't my boy Diamond," Booger argued.

"Oh?" Detective LaRocca asked, rocking on his heels. "You know why Diamond wouldn't want to kill himself?"

Booger had nothing to say; he simply shrugged his shoulders.

Chapter 3

"I understand that you are looking for me," Andeer heard the thin voice say.

"How did you get this number?" he demanded.

"I understand you have been looking for me," the voice said again, ignoring Andeer's question.

"And where did you hear that?" Andeer asked.

Andeer was indeed searching for the mysterious man but had not let it be known that he was searching for him. He realized that he did not even have a name for the man and only one photograph, a clip from the security camera mounted just outside of his office. Cofor and Husbah had taken the photograph to the three mosques, had looked at all that prayed there, but had not found the mystery man.

"I perhaps have a little problem that only a man of your experience can take care of for me," Andeer said.

"I am listening," the thin voice said.

"No, no, please, my friend, please come in to my office," Andeer said.

"The next time you see me will be the last time you see me," the thin voice hardened. "Now, talk. You've got a job for me, tell me about it."

----

They called him Silk. He smiled as his lawyers managed, again, to get another drug possession charge thrown out of court on a technicality. The two girls smiled and giggled and simpered as he gathered them into his arms and then they left the courtroom.

"Better luck next time," he told Detective LaRocca and the two girls laughed with him.

"Ain't going to be no next time, Silk," LaRocca muttered.

In the rear of the limousine, Silk unzipped his trousers and pointed to the red head girl. She happily bent to the task of sucking his cock. The blonde giggled and cooed as he mauled her silicone breasts.

"Miss me?" he asked the blonde and she looked him in the eye.

"Yes. I love you," she said.

"Uh huh," he said, then suddenly, roughly slapped his meaty hand on the back of the red head's head and forced her mouth down on his cock.

Her grunts and strangled cries seemed to spur him on and he tried to jam even more of himself into her protesting mouth.

Finally, he sighed and released the red head.

"Thank you," she said when she stopped coughing. "I couldn't breathe."

He got out of the limousine and entered his house, the two girl's right behind him.

"Daddy! Daddy!" a small boy crowed as Silk entered the large living room.

"Hey, hey, my boy!" Silk laughed and hugged the boy. "How you doing , huh?"

"Where you been?" the boy asked his father.

"Had to go away, do some business," Silk lied, then with a promise to take the boy 'some place fun,' Silk put the boy back down in front of the television.

----

"This shit just ain't right," Detective LaRocca said as he looked at the three bodies on the bed.

All three lay, nude, huddled together. The syringe still dangled from Silk's arm, dried blood caked on his skin.

"One, yeah, two, maybe, but all three dying from a drug overdose?" he asked no one in particular.

----

"It has been done, praise be to Allah," the voice said.

"I thank you," Andeer said. "The money is ready for you."

"I have it, thank you," the voice said.

"My friend, I am preparing a feast at my home, it is nothing really, but I would be most happy if you would be in attendance," Andeer quickly said.

"Ah my friend, I am sorry but I cannot," the voice said.

"I plan to have lamb, oh, and of course there will be..." Andeer said.

"I cannot," the voice said, hard and short.

"But I wish to..." Andeer said and then slammed the phone down as the dial-tone told him the mysterious man had hung up.

He then picked up his cell phone and hit the number one on the pad.

"Yes?" Cofor's hard voice asked.

"The tracking device, it was in the bag?" Andeer asked.

"Yes, I am following it right now," Cofor said.

"Good, that is good," Andeer said and hung up.

----

Booger smiled as the fat man huffed and puffed and wheezed as he labored past Booger. Just as he passed, with a nod of the head to Booger, a small plastic bag fell out of the man's pocket.

Booger instinctively put a sneakered foot over the small plastic bag, but did not bend to pick it up.

The fat man reached the corner and prepared to cross the street. Suddenly, he felt his pants' pockets, then felt his shirt pocket, then frantically began to pat himself. He looked down the sidewalk, squinting. He patted his pockets again, then began to lumber back down the sidewalk, muttering to himself.

Booger kept his foot squarely on the bag until the fat man had hurried past, then quickly bent over and picked up the bag and stuffed it in his vest.

He watched as the fat man reached the other corner, and again did the pocket patting dance.

Booger smiled and sauntered back to his apartment.

----

Cofor and Husbah did not smile as they entered the building and walked up the flight of stairs. They did not speak to each other, did not dally in their task.

Cofor nodded to Husbah, then kicked the door of the apartment.

Nana screamed as two fierce looking men burst into the apartment.

Husbah pumped two bullets into Nana's chest.

Cofor pumped three bullets into Booger's head.

A quick check of the apartment located the can with Booger's money, and the small plastic bag of crack cocaine, along with the small tracking device that had been with the hundred thousand dollars Andeer had paid for the hit on Silk.

"There is only two thousand here," Cofor snapped to Husbah.

"Where is the rest?" Husbah asked.

"I do not know. I do not think that this is our money," Cofor said.

There were several five dollar bills, a few tens and twenties as well. There were only nine one hundred dollar bills in the can.

The duffel bag Cofor had put in the gas station's bathroom had contained nothing but one hundred dollar bills.

"Let us go," Husbah said.

"Money is money," Cofor said as he took the can with him.

----

"Fucking shame about his grandmother," Detective LaRocca mused as he looked around the apartment.

"Uh huh," one of the uniformed officers agreed.

"Yeah, I seen two of them rag head mother fuckers; they was in a crazy ass 'Cedes, feel me?" a child was telling another detective.

"Uh huh, what color?" Detective Graham asked.

"They was that color all them terrorists is," the child said, exasperated.

"The car, son, the car. What color was the car?" Detective Graham said.

"Black, just like the one I'm going to have," the boy said and began making car sounds.

"Uh huh," the man said and smiled sardonically at Detective LaRocca.

----

"He's not there," Mrs. Harris called out as the slender black man walked up the steps.

"I know; he's in the hospital," the man called over. "Sent me to get him some stuff."

"Hospital?" Mrs. Harris asked, face twisted in concern. "What wrong with him?"

"That diabetes of his," he shrugged and dragged his bad leg.

Once inside, Victoria moved quickly, gathering all of the clothing into one suitcase, her cash into another.

Mrs. Harris watched as the short man with the bad leg came out, carrying two suitcases.

"He asked me to give this to you," the man said and handed Mrs. Harris an envelope. "Don't know what it is, said you'd like it, though."

"Oh bless his heart; he a real sweet man, too bad about him being a big boy like that, ain't no woman going to want be around him, big boy like that," Mrs. Harris prattled on as Victoria got into the waiting cab. "You tell him I said 'hey,' okay?"

The slender black man gave the cab driver the address and smiled over his shoulder; the wisps of smoke could be seen just beginning around the windows of the abandoned house. Behind that building, 112 Sycamore was engulfed in flames.

Mrs. Harris nearly fainted when she saw the twenty five thousand dollars in the envelope. A note, written in an almost child-like block style said simply "Your food was the best. Thanks

----."

Melanie grimaced as yet another anonymous hand touched her rear end. The bus was packed like sardines; there was no way of avoiding some contact. But this anonymous hand was going beyond innocent contact. It was bordering on intimate and because it was an unwanted contact, it was very distressing to the attractive red head.

Finally, her stop approached and she edged toward the rear door of the bus.

Once on the sidewalk, she glared at the three smirking youths that got off of the bus right behind her. All three were smirking and avoiding eye contact with her, letting her know that one, or possibly all three had a hand (pun intended) in her mauling.

"Cut your fucking hand off, ever touch me again, cock suckers," she spat at them, removing the smirks from two of the youths' faces.

"Aw, who the fuck you think you are, huh? Stuck up cunt," the one youth that was still smirking spat back.

"Oops, sorry," a blonde woman said as she bumped into the outspoken youth.

She wore very short shorts and a tight tee shirt over her small breasts. A red baseball cap hid much of her blonde hair and large sunglasses obscured her eyes. She appeared to be about five foot six or seven, slightly taller than Melanie. Melanie felt as if she'd seen the woman before, but did not know where she may have seen her.

"Ah, mother fucker!" the boy screamed out loud as the blonde woman grabbed his hand to catch herself.

The bones in his hand snapped like twigs as she bent his hand back, then his wrist snapped as well.

"Oh, gee, I'm sorry; would you like to try grabbing MY ass now?" the blonde asked and kept walking.

Melanie stared, open-mouthed, as the blonde woman strolled to the corner, then with a smile over her shoulder at Melanie, she disappeared into the apartment building.

"Dude!" one of the other youths said to the yelping boy. "That doesn't look too good!"

Melanie turned on her heel and strode briskly toward the apartment building.

She let herself in; as usual, some one left the outside door unlocked. She locked it behind her; it was supposed to be locked at all times.

She gathered her mail at the mail queue in the lobby, then pressed the elevator button.

She reached the fourth floor and let herself into apartment 4C.

Icy fear descended as a very strong hand clamped down over her mouth and a strong chest pressed into her back.

"Flaunting your flesh to anyone who cares to look, then you think you have the right to get angry when some randy young men take liberties?" an accented voice whispered hoarsely into her ear.

"Please," she whimpered into the palm of the leather gloved hand that pressed against her mouth.

"Wearing heels that thrust your backside out, declaring to all that you are a harlot but then want to say 'don't touch?'" the voice whispered again and Melanie whimpered as the man's free hand cupped her buttocks roughly.

"Wearing a blouse that almost bares your breasts, inviting men to..." the voice went on, then gave the front of Melanie's blouse a sharp tug, ripping the fabric away.

Melanie shrieked into the leather palm. She struggled briefly but a savage kick from her assailant broke the heel off of her left pump. She toppled backward, help up by the strong intruder.

"Ooh!" the man moaned as he grabbed her bra clad breasts, kneading the milky white orbs then cruelly, almost savagely tugging her nipples.

"Oohh!" the man moaned again, then reached down and cupped Melanie's crotch through Melanie's skirt and panties.

Melanie felt her captor shudder for a long moment and realized her captor had just climaxed.

"Melanie, you are not going into work tomorrow; you will call in sick, do you understand?" the man whispered as his gloved hand rubbed harshly at Melanie's crotch.

"Mmph!" Melanie protested, both hands trying to push the man's hand away from her crotch.

"Do you understand?" the man whispered again and quickly reached up and twisted one of Melanie's nipples.

"Mmph!" Melanie screamed into the glove over her mouth.

"Yes, but..." Melanie said as the hand over her mouth relaxed for a moment.

The hand clamped back down and Melanie again began to beg as her assailant's free hand shoved her skirt and panties down her thighs.

"You are very beautiful," the man whispered, hot breath blowing into Melanie's ear.

"Very beautiful indeed; it is such a shame that you are nothing but a whore," the man continued as his slim fingers traced up and down Melanie's slit.

"Please, no, please, just let me go, I won't tell anyone," Melanie begged as the other hand was finally removed from her mouth.

"I know you won't," the voice whispered.

"Please," Melanie sobbed as her bra was unhooked

"Do not worry," the man whispered into her ear, then took her earlobe into his mouth and sucked lightly on her earlobe.

Melanie sobbed, gasped, and whimpered as her assailant finger fucked her to an unwanted orgasm.

"Come on now," the man whispered as Melanie regained her breath. "You will call Andeer's telephone and let him know that you have suddenly become ill and will not be in tomorrow," the man said and again gave Melanie's earlobe a gentle suck.

"But tomorrow's payday's," Melanie whined. "I ain't even paid my rent yet!"

"Fine, how much is your rent?" the man asked and again began playing with Melanie's slit.

Eight hundred," Melanie whimpered.

"Here," the man said and gave Melanie a harsh shove.

Melanie toppled forward onto her hands and knees.

"No, no, stay there, I like how you look," the man chuckled, almost a giggle as Melanie tried to get to her feet.

A boot came to rest on her back and Melanie closed her eyes and prayed to a God she did not believe in for rescue.

"Here, here's a thousand, all right?" the man said and put ten one hundred dollar bills on Melanie's coffee table.

He dug Melanie's cell phone from her purse and handed it to her.