No Room for Mercy (24 page)

Percy thought Dougie was crazy for getting serious with an ex-hooker,
and Dougie sort of agreed in the beginning. The more he analyzed the
situation, however, the more Dougie began to see the good inside
Ponita. She was by far the most down female he’d met; she
handled guns okay, could be trusted to watch his back and above all
else, Ponita Felton was just a woman who loved; and despite her
flawed past, she had good intentions when it came to Dougie and the
rest of the crew.

Francesca Aranello could best be described as a sophisticated woman
with a freaky twist. She had a certain class about herself and
demanded respect from others. She rarely spoke on her past, but it
wasn’t out of shame or regret, it just wasn’t anybody’s
business. Sex at age ten willingly left little to the imagination for
Francesca; she’d seen and done just about everything. One thing
she particularly loved doing was dressing up in costume and role
playing with her sex partners.

Francesca knew how to have a good time when not hustling. She liked
using a bong to smoke weed and loved walking around naked in front of
people as she was a high exhibitionist. Francesca was cool with
everybody in the crew, but when it came to the workers, it was
another story. She would come down hard on the crew’s dealers
when they came up short and had gotten into several fist fights with
some the boys. Percy and Dougie both knew the only reason Francesca
behaved the way she did at certain times was because she’d been
getting pimped herself most of her life. Now that she had a little
power, karma was in full effect on some days. With that aside,
Francesca was good for the crew—a truly rough and rugged woman
by all outward appearances, but she could be a little weird at
times—tonight was one of those nights.

“Eh,” Francesca said as the crew sat around a coffee
table in the living room of the small two bedroom apartment running
bills through a money counter, “guess what the hell I saw last
week that got me on the radio for a couple of minutes?”

“Not that crazy ass story again,” Ponita laughed.

“Yes! That crazy ass story again,” Francesca replied.
“People see Elvis in Hawaii, the Virgin Mary on toast and UFOs
in the sky so why I can’t see what I saw in the woods?”

“What you saw in the woods, girl?” Percy asked.

“We was out back of the mansion gettin’ fucked up last
Wednesday,” Ponita said through laughter as she stood up.
Francesca tried to hit her friend playfully, but Ponita stepped aside
and said, “Percy? All of a sudden ya’ li’l fuck
buddy over there stood up and leaned forward and said, ‘looka
that Bigfoot over there’!’”

“You saw a Bigfoot, Francesca?” Percy asked as he Dougie
laughed aloud.

“It’s called a Sasquatch, Percy. And yes, I did see one
walking in the woods to the right of the house.”

“She done smoked some good shit let me tell ya’,”
Ponita quipped. “We was listening to this show called Coast to
Coast with Art Bell while we was outside that night and they was
talking about vampires and shit like that and her ass went ta’
trippin’. She laid up there and called that man show and had
him believing her bullshit.”

“You told somebody that shit?” Percy asked through
laughter.

“Not just somebody, big dog. This bubble eye bitch called a
national radio show—high as the fuck—but the man on the
radio sound like he was smoking right along with us and both of ‘em
went ta’ trippin’ that night.” Ponita said through
laughter.

“Where that shit at y’all was smokin’? They got
more left?” Percy asked as he scanned the coffee table. “I’m
gone sit out there and get high and see if I see me a Bigfoot.”

“See, y’all makin’ fun of a bitch,” Francesca
remarked as she sat back and stared at her friends while rolling the
blunt. “Sasquatch real, trust me. Most people that see that
creature is white. I’m a black woman sayin’ it so it’s
something to it.”

“What being black gotta do with seeing Bigfoot, Francesca?”
Ponita asked as she stuffed a stack of bills into the money counter.

“Black people don’t see what I saw and tell other people
about it, Ponita. It’s like I’m validating what’s
true.”

“Listen to you,” Dougie laughed. “You ain’t
validating a damn thang. Your ass Italian anyway.”

“My daddy black, so I’m black. And this black woman says
Bigfoot is real!”

“White, black or other—people who claim to see a Bigfoot
is coo-coo for cocoa puffs,” Dougie replied as he brushed
Francesca off.

“For real though,” Francesca remarked as she leaned
forward in her seat, stating her case. “This one here was tall
and had black hair and was running through the woods. I’m
tellin’ y’all the truth.”

“You ain’t see a Bigfoot, your ass saw Shaq runnin’
behind our house,” Dougie laughed.

“Ha! Now that’s a Bigfoot mutherfucka right there! You
should go down there and see if you see some footprints then.”
Ponita said through laughter. “Shaq black ass runnin’
behind our house,” she laughed lowly as she banded another
stack of hundred dollar bills.

“You comin’ with me, Ponita?” Francesca asked.

“Fuck no! You and ya’ Bigfoot can kiss my ass on that!”

“See? You know it’s real.”

“It ain’t real. I’m just not crazy enough to wander
around in no woods looking for something that don’t exist.”

“They elusive like that.” Francesca said
matter-of-factly.

“Bitch,” Ponita snapped. “They have satellites that
can read a license tag from four hundred miles up in space and you
mean to tell me they can’t find a wild monkey in the woods? Get
the fuck outta here with that!”

“What about flying saucers, Francesca? You think they real
too?” Dougie asked.

Francesca placed a hand on her knee and stared at Dougie. “Are
you serious, man,” she asked in wonderment. “Ain’t
none of that stuff real. Little green men don’t come here. Why
they wanna come to this fucked up planet?”

“To see what the deal is. They might be happy to know it’s
other life in the universe.” Percy chimed in.

Ponita curled her lips to the side. “You gone get high with her
ass and go out there and look for a Bigfoot, huh, Percy?”

“We find one we be famous, Percy! Ain’t that right?”
Francesca said as she extended her hand for a high-five. Percy left
his girl hanging, though; he picked up the blunt instead and asked
her for a lighter.

“Fuck you, traitor,” Francesca quipped as she kicked the
legs on Percy’s chair.

“You can play around in them woods if you want to. You ain’t
see nothing but a black bear standing on its hind legs.” Percy
said.

“Can’t share nothing with y’all,” Francesca
remarked. “Pass that weed.”

“Hell no. Next thing you gone tell us is they got a alien in
the bathroom,” Percy remarked through laughter.

The crew chided Francesca for a while and talked about their plans
for the night once their profits were banded and separated. Dougie
was going to head over to
The Royal Flush
to check in with Asa
Spade while Percy, Ponita and Francesca rode back to the condo with
the money.

*******

Glitz
was another happening spot in Denver. Located on the
northeast side of the city, the upscale two story 35,000 square foot
entertainment complex catered mainly to the Hispanic population in
Denver. Desiree Abbadando had designed the place, opting for a
tropical theme. The large shark tank situated before a second floor
balcony was the main attraction, along with the many birds of
paradise that sat perched in palm trees planted inside the club.
Glitz
had a large V.I.P. clientele. Many of its parishioners
were well-to-do people, and the lines waiting to get in usually
spanned the length of the block nearly every night from both
directions.

On any given Sunday night in Denver,
Glitz
would be packed to
capacity around this midnight hour; instead, Desiree worked alone
inside the club that had been closed for a special occasion. Desiree
was on the second floor of the club on the balcony overlooking the
large shark tank spreading out plastic and setting up tables and
chairs in eager anticipation of the party that was to come. She was
making sure that everything Carmella had requested be done
accordingly before she set out to fulfill the rest of her lover’s
plan.

*******

Carmella, meanwhile, was over to her mansion in Cherry Creek kicking
back with eleven year-old Peppi Vargas. She was stretched out on the
floor of her spacious bedroom lying on a Persian rug in a black slip,
her auburn hair styled to perfection in braids and curls and her body
draped in all the accessories from lip gloss to platinum jewelry.

Carmella lay in a relaxed state on her carpeted floor, being propped
up by several lush pillows and rolling a blunt as Pepper knelt before
her putting lotion on her legs. When done, Pepper stood up and
grabbed a lighter and lit Carmella’s blunt. Carmella had Pepper
doing a little bit of everything for her on this cool September night
in Denver. She had the little girl massaging her neck and shoulders,
painting her toenails and fingernails and was also teaching her how
to load a .9mm semi-automatic. It was as if Carmella had her own
little Mini-me sometimes and she would milk it dry whenever she felt
like doing so.

“You’re going to be alone for a while tonight, Pepper
because I’ll be attending a party.” Carmella said as she
blew smoke out of her lungs.

“Okay. You’re coming back, though, right?” Pepper
asked as she rubbed lotion onto Carmella’s legs.

Carmella laughed lightly as she took another toke. Pepper always
asked her that same question whenever she told her she would be away
and it made the young woman feel wanted each time. To know someone
would miss her if she were to leave carried a lot of weight with
Carmella, and it was one of the reasons Pepper was being treated so
well, at least from Carmella’s point of view.

“Yes, Peppi, baby,” Carmella said as she smiled at Peppi.
“I promise I’ll be back. Maybe not before the sun comes
up, but I’ll be back. Put some of that lotion on my heels. A
woman should never leave home with ashy heels.”

“Must be a big party.” Pepper said as she cupped
Carmella’s heel.

“People will be talking about this one for some time let me
tell, ya’, my love,” Carmella said just as her phone
rung. “Hola?”

“Everything is set here,” Desiree said. “I’m
on my way over to The Royal Flush after I shower and change.”

“Do not get a V.I.P. table, Desiree. I know how your ass love
to floss. You need to remain as low key as possible. Stay near the
bar and I’ll meet you there later,” Carmella replied
before hanging up the phone. “Okay, Pepper. Dinner time. Steak
burritos okay?”

“Perfect,” Pepper replied as she picked up the .9mm from
her side.

“You remember how to rack it?”

“I pull this top part back,” Pepper said as she struggled
to cock the empty pistol. “I pull this top part back and make
sure the red button is not showing and I’m ready to shoot.”

“The red button must be showing in order for you to shoot a
round, Pepper. Remember, red for fire.”

“Right. I get confused sometimes.”

“You’re still learning. Come on, let’s go and make
dinner before I leave,” Carmella said as she got up and
stretched and checked her appearance in the full length mirror. “Not
bad. Not fuckin’ bad at all.”

*******

“
Soul controller…rap Ayatollah...kids hate when they
get older I put cracks by the stroller…I’m a registered
voter…mutherfuck a quota…give me some baking soda and
quarter…bet it jump straight up out the water…”

Asa and Xiang stood side by side in the office overlooking the huge
dance floor inside
The Royal Flush
as they bobbed their heads
to P. Diddy and The Family’s song
Let’s Get It
.
The Royal Flush
was laid out like a palace; black marble
columns running throughout set off a Roman theme while two large bars
on opposite ends of the club served the finest of liquor. A huge
sunken, black marble dance floor surrounded by theatrical-style
stairs created a pit inside the club. A walkway above the dance floor
spanned the width of the club and led up to the second floor where
the V.I.P. Rooms were located.

Desiree walked into the club dressed exquisitely and showed a guard
her V.I.P. pass, which cost $2,500. She was escorted across the
private walkway that sat fifteen feet above the dance floor. It was a
place to make it rain money, but Desiree hadn’t the money to
drop green backs on the crowd. She reached the bar at the end of the
walkway and was offered her choice of champagne before being led up
another flight of pristine marble stairs where she was greeted by a
woman she knew to be named Xiang.

“I’ve never seen your face before. This has to be your
first time here,” Xiang remarked over the music. “Let me
give you a quick tour so you can become familiar with our
accommodations.”

“Is there a kitchen is all I want to know? Because lady, I’m
starving!” Desiree said over the loud music.

Xiang laughed and said, “A kitchen we do have up here! We have
a gourmet chef and staff that cooks to order. Let me take you to your
booth and get you a menu.”

“Can you smoke in here? And I’m not talking about
cigarettes or cigars.” Desiree didn’t know it, but the
moment she’d set foot inside of
The Royal Flush
, she had
erred tremendously.

Xiang looked at the woman in a perplexed manner for a brief second.
No one had even dared asked that question before. What kind of an
establishment did this woman think was being run here was Xiang’s
thinking. She was undoubtedly new, but her question had opened
Xiang’s eyes to possible ulterior motives.

“If you do smoke, you will have to close the partition. You
have your champagne. I will be back shortly with your menu,”
Xiang replied. “But before you do anything, give me one
minute.”