Latoya: Episode XI – Dinner with Danger

 

 

Medgar is a good guy, but sometimes he behaves like a wayward lover: when you think you’ve conquered her, she will certainly desert you. At least that was how I felt after he refused to go with our plan. But I told myself that I won’t be discouraged by his cowardice.

 

Around five o’clock, I went up to Captain Donald’s office with Jamal tagging along behind.

 

“What’s up?” Captain Donald asked, shoving aside a file he was working on and waving me to a chair.

“I’m doing this alone,” I said. “Medgar doesn’t like the idea, and I don’t really blame him. Unlike me, he have a wife and a dog to worry about. I do have a girlfriend though – my sweet Tosha.  Anyway, his absence will make the job of covering me easier for your men – they will be covering one of us instead of two. Here’s the whole plan: I will leave here in a taxi and go to the hotel as soon as it’s dark. I will put on something that won’t show up in the dark. Then I’ll walk from the hotel to Golden Knives and Forks – it’s the name of the restaurant on the corner. I will have my dinner there. You can post some of your men in the bar. The Golden Knives and Forks is through the bar at the back. I will sit with my back to the wall, and if he starts anything in there, we will take care of him. If he doesn’t, I’ll walk from Golden Knives and Forks to the Parkway cinema. If still nothing happens, I’ll walk on to Henry’s bar at the back of the Zodiac nightclub. From there I’ll walk back to the hotel if he doesn’t start anything.”

Captain Donald was making notes as I talked.

 “I have a slightly different idea,” he said. “Taxis can get lost in the traffic, so it would be better if you walked from here to the hotel. The bottom line is that we don’t want to lose sight of you. We also don’t want this guy to know we are following you either. It’s got to be a trap, Emeka, if it is going to work at all. You will be on your own. Jamal is a good shot – I have no doubt in my mind about his capability. But he’ll have to keep out of sight. Are you sure you wanna do this, Emeka? This could be dangerous and you might get hurt. Please make sure you really want to do this.”

I suddenly realized that, as a young student doing my internship at the Baltimore Star, I was sticking my neck out recklessly. Perhaps Medgar wasn’t such a coward as I thought he was. I remembered my sweet girl Tosha. What would happen to her if I didn’t make it? This will kill her! I told myself I was doing this for her and that it was too late now to pull back.

“As long as Jamal gets him before he starts anything, I’m good with your suggestion,” I said.

“Jamal won’t be the only one,” Captain Donald said grimly. “I’ll put almost forty police officers on the job. They have been instructed to cover every twenty yards of the route. Sorry, Emeka, but  I can’t tell you who they are. Some of them will be in cars, and some will be behaving as the neighborhood loafers. A few of them will be hidden. So, if this asshole starts something, he will be squashed like a bug.”

 “Excellent!” I said, immediately relieved. “It’ll soon be dark enough for us to start the ball rolling.”

“I will go and finish the details,” Captain Donald said. “You take it easy now.”

 I spent the next two hours playing poker with Medgar. He said that playing this card with a condemned man like me makes him nervous. He also said that, although the game of poker bored him, he felt it was his duty to try to take my mind off the things that will be happening in a few hours. In any case, he wasn’t much of a poker player, and I pretty soon won twenty dollars off him.

 “You may never need this dough, Emeka,” he said when I asked him to pay up. “Should I just give you an I.O.U.?”

“Nope, Medgar” I said, holding out my hand. “I won the money, didn’t I? It’s my money and I need it now. If I get myself killed tonight, Tosha or even might not be able to collect from you.”

He handed over the money.

Talking about your estate, Emeka,” he said, (have you made a will yet?”

 Jamal came in.

 “You ready?” he asked. “We are waiting for you to tell us you are ready.”

 I got to my feet.

 “I have to leave you now, Medgar,” I said. “I will leave everything I have for you if I don’t come back.”

 “But, how about Tosha?” he asked.

“Tosha will be fine,” I replied.

 “Really?” Medgar asked, with his face brightening. “Can I have your desktop computer too?”

 “Sure,” I sneered. “You will have my desktop computer too, you punk.”

 “Let’s go,”  Jamal said, grinning.

 We went down the hallway to where  Captain Donald was waiting.

 “I got everything under control,” he said. “My men will be watching you like the hawk throughout the whole walk. Just keep in the middle of the sidewalk and don’t forget to keep to your schedule. So long as you do that, you should be fine.”

 “I hope so,” I replied. “Well, I have to keep moving, I guess.”

 Jamal said, “I will give you a minute, then I’ll come after you.”

 Nodding my head, I walked through the entrance, down the steps, on to the dark lonely street. I put my hand on the butt of the Luger pistol in my pocket and felt a little more confident.

“Be careful, Jamal,” I said as he came to the door. “Don’t shoot me by mistake.”

 He laughed.

 “You worry too much, Emeka,” he said. “You have nothing to fear, for I’ll take care of you.”

 He is obviously over-confident, and I began to wish I had thought up a safer idea to catch this crazy gunman.

 “Just be careful,” I said. “That’s all I ask.”

 “You got it,” he replied.

 Even though I was feeling naked and very scared, I summoned my courage and began to walk along the badly lit street, all the time keeping a tight grip on the  but of the Luger. About forty yards down the street I saw a big, black guy, leaning against the wall, smoking. He looked at me casually and as I passed him, he murmured, “I bet your heart is racing.”

 Without looking at him, I kept on.

I headed to the hotel and it seemed as if the walk down there is endless. My hair often stood up on ends every time a car passes me, and my heart skipped a beat whenever a man appeared. I was so scared that I jumped when I saw white cat running across the road. I was sweating by the time I crossed the road and climbed the steps to the hotel lobby. Pausing for a moment, I wiped my face and then walked in.

Stephen was thumbing through his magazine. He glanced up and nodded at me. A thickset black man sat in one of the chairs, reading the Baltimore Star. As I passed him, he said, “Bruce’s in your room. Don’t shoot him as you go in, okay?”

 “No problem,” I said.

 I climbed the old elevator and was literally dragged up to the first floor. I peered cautiously up and down the passage before getting out to make sure it is safe. When I didn’t see anyone lurking there,  I crossed the passage, knocked on my door, pushed it open and stepped cautiously to one side.

 “This is Emeka coming in,” I said into the darkness.

 The light snapped on.

 “Come on in,” Bruce said. He was sitting in one of the chairs in the room. I saw that he found my bottle of Vodka. From the look of the medium-sized bottle, half of the content had gone down his throat.

I entered and shut the door behind me.

“This place is as quiet as the cemetery,” he said. “Maybe that punk was bluffing.”

“I doubt it,” I said. “If you had seen him you wouldn’t be drinking my Vodka now.”

Bruce grinned.

“A punk like that doesn’t scare me off Vodka.”

 I went over and poured myself a glass of Pepsi.

Bruce went on, “You and Mr. Medgar will have a pretty good story to write, correct? What are you going to call it – when I was marked for death?” And he laughed.

I drank another glass of Pepsi and felt a little better.

“Well,” I said as I began to strip off my suit. “It is easy for you guys to laugh. Your are not putting your life on the line here.”

“You don’t know that,” Bruce returned. “But it’s a whole day’s work for me and I do hope we get this asshole.”

“I hope so too,” I said, putting on a dark suit. “This suit is better for me. “I finished the Pepsi. “Well, I’m hungry and a good sandwich is what I need now.”

“Two of our boys are already in the bar,” Bruce said. “And we have someone stationed in the restaurant too. He is stuffing his gut with food there. So you go ahead and have fun for you will be fine there.”

“Oh, I will,” I said, making for the door. “You be safe too.”

“I’ll be right behind you and Jamal,” he said. “Don’t walk too fast now.”

“No problem.”

I went down the stairs, nodded to Stephen and walked to the hotel door. When I looked into the street, I saw a car parked outside with two men sitting on it.

“Don’t worry about those two men, Mr. Emeka,” the man sitting on an armchair said. “They are with us.”

I nodded, walked down the steps and moved off towards Oriel’s Kitchen that was on the corner, some hundred yards from the hotel. Walking wasn’t easy for me because I was under tension. The crazy gunman might show up unexpectedly at any time. In fact, as I walked down the deserted, dark street, I had to force one leg in front of the other. My eyes are everywhere, and my heart skipped a beat when a car swung into the street. The car, a BMW, however, pulled up outside a tobacco store and the driver got out. I continued walking, with an effort, when I realized the car wasn’t coming for me. I had my Luger pistol half out of my pocket as I passed the car, and I was ready to duck, but nothing happened.

Breathing heavily, I pushed open Oriel’s Kitchen’s door and stepped into the brightly lit bar.

I saw about twenty people, most of them blacks, drinking and talking to one another. None of them even looked my way. I shed my coat and transferred my Luger to my jacket pocket. Next, I went over to the bar and ordered myself a Seven and Seven. While I was waiting for my drink, I looked around the bar. Two heavyset men – one of them was a white guy  and the other a black guy – sat by the restaurant door. Each of them had a bottle of Budweiser beer in front of them, and one of them winked as they looked back at me. I returned his wink with my now stiff eyelid.

The rest of the drinkers looked harmless enough. I finished my Seven and Seven and went into the restaurant. I chose a table that would allow me to sit with my back to the wall facing the entrance, so I can see anybody coming into the place.

I spotted the third cop at a table across the room as soon as I sat down. He is also a huge black guy, just like the previous two cops, and he gave me a cheerful grin as he continue munching contentedly. From the look on his face, I could tell that he obviously loved his assignment. Be sure to have your gun handy, I thought.

I ordered tuna sandwich and as I waited for it, I wondered if my anxiety will allows me to get it down my stomach. I felt damp behind my ears, and my stomach was fluttering like that of someone experiencing an allergic reaction.

But when the tuna sandwich arrived, it was so good that I basically gulp  it down without trouble. Al the time I ate I kept looking at the restaurant entrance. I knew it is possible that the crazy gunman might appear and I want to be ready for him when he does. A second thought, however, told me that I was alarming myself for nothing: there’s no way the gunman  could get pass the two guys out in the bar. I just wished I could believe this suggestion.

After paying my bills, I sat staring at the white tablecloth for a few minutes. I knew I was required to stick to my schedule, but it felt so nice and comfortable  and safe in this restaurant that I was tempted to stay longer than I should. Taking another walk in the dark wasn’t something I wanted to do at the time. But then, I had no choice. So, reluctantly, I  shoved back my chair and walked to the bar entrance.

 “I’m gone,” I said to one of the two heavyset men sitting by the door.

 “Excellent,” he growled. “I want this done pronto so I can get home sometime tonight.”

I thought that was a mean thing to say to me, but I could see his point of view. After collecting my coat and putting it on, I went out on to the street.

I had taken less than twelve steps towards the Zodiac nightclub when it happened…

 

 

 

 

END OF EPISODE 11

P.S. Stay tuned for Episode 12, which  will be published here next Sunday.