Hannibal’s left hand snapped up, catching Rod’s wrist a couple of inches before the fist reached his face. Rod’s arm hung there in space, vibrating in Hannibal’s grip, testing his strength. That backhand blow might have broken Hannibal’s jaw if it had reached its target. Rage boiled up from his gut but he kept it locked behind clenched teeth. As much as he wanted to break Rod’s grinning face, he knew that a fight at this point would not get him any closer to his real objective, Anita Cooper’s stolen legacy. Instead he pushed his face even closer to Rod’s, pressing his chest against the arm of the chair, showing his teeth like an angry wolfhound. His free hand rose to his face and he slid his glasses away. His stare focused every ounce of his fury on Rod’s empty eyes.
“You do that again, sucker,” Hannibal said in a low flat voice, “you’d best be prepared to throw down.”
Rod returned his stare, and it was obvious that he was not intimidated. Hannibal noticed how quiet the room had become. No one moved. After a few tense seconds, Rod’s arm relaxed and he pulled it away from Hannibal’s grip. One eyebrow rose, and a new appraisal seemed to be taking place.
“They green?” Rod asked. It took Hannibal a moment to realize that the conversation had moved to a discussion of his eyes.
“Sometimes. Sometimes blue in the right light.”
Rod’s flash grin returned. “A nigger with hazel eyes. Well I’ll be damned.” He swung his hand forward at Hannibal’s head, but it was a playful feint this time, and Hannibal blocked it with ease. “You’re unique. I like unique. Fits in with my destiny.”
Hannibal backed away, swallowing Rod’s casual use of the hated word. A cold glass pushed into his hand, indicating that Sheryl was back. “Oh, you got a destiny and shit?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you about it sometime, if you end up sticking around.”
“Well, that might be interesting,” Hannibal said, standing, “but right now I’m getting a little itchy about where I left my ride.” Hannibal gulped down half of the beer. Everyone but Rod stood up, as if to recognize his leaving.
“I’ll drop you at your car,” Derek said.
“Don’t sweat yourself. Blondie here can take me. She knows where I’m parked.”
“I wouldn’t mind giving you a ride,” Mariah said, moving in and cutting Sheryl out of Hannibal’s space. She gave him a warm parting hug, one hand sliding into his back pocket to squeeze his behind. He held his smile, but caught the disapproval on Rod’s face and the disappointment on Sheryl’s. If he wanted to maintain the delicate balance in his relationship to Rod, he needed to be aware of the lines he should not cross.
“Maybe another time,” he said, returning the hug before pulling away. “For now, I think Sheryl will take good care of me. Let’s roll, Shorty.”
Sheryl pulled into a parking space three cars ahead of Hannibal’s car and pushed the gearshift into park. Hannibal thanked her for the lift and popped his door, more than ready to return to the normal world.
“Don’t you want to come up?” she asked. “For a drink or something?”
“Or something?”
By way of explanation, Sheryl leaned to the side and pressed a kiss onto Hannibal’s mouth. Despite its startling degree of passion, the kiss seemed tinged with desperation and loneliness, two things Hannibal didn’t expect a woman in her position to feel. But then, maybe being treated like a second-class citizen had its similarities to being alone.
“That’s nice babe, but I got things to do.”
“Don’t you like me?” Sheryl asked, sliding a hand across his chest. “You pulled me away from Derek, so you must want me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I get the chance to break you off, but you’re going to have to wait. I can drop by tomorrow.”
“But I’m ready right now,” she said, sliding her fingertips up the inside of his thigh. “And tomorrow we’re all going with Rod up to someplace in Maryland to pick up his car. Right now the apartment is empty. And I saw how Mariah was looking at you back at the house.”
“So?”
“So I might not get another chance at you,” Sheryl said, hiding her eyes for just a moment. “I know she’s prettier, but I know how to make you happy. I swear I do.”
Her tongue flicked into his ear. He turned his head to avoid it and found himself kissing her again. Hannibal struggled to keep his mind clear. Had Rod instructed her to seduce him, to test him, sexually? If so, it might seem suspicious if he resisted her too well. Or she could be a gift from Rod, stressing his ownership of his girls in the way he did with Marquita. In that case, Sheryl might be punished if she failed to arouse him.
She was panting now and somehow she was able to cling to him after he left her car. They managed to climb the stairs to Sheryl’s apartment while entwined like dates after the prom. Sheryl fumbled in her small purse, found the key, and got the door open. No yipping greeted them. He figured the dog was with Fay, that poor woman sitting across the street who must have hated Sheryl right then for bringing home a good time that she herself was interested in.
Once inside, Sheryl backed toward one of the bedrooms, pulling Hannibal along like a dancer whose waltz partner had decided to lead. But he was quite sure that waltzing was not her objective. He followed with awkward movements, not really sure of the steps in this particular dance.
The room, no more than twelve feet square, barely held the twin bed, dresser and vanity table. White walls and thin carpet made the space feel cheap, but the thick purple comforter on the bed told him that Sheryl wanted to brand the space as her own. He wondered if she had the same plan for him.
“I am going to make you feel so good,” she said, mumbling into Hannibal’s chest while she struggled to pull his shirt up and off him. She nibbled at his exposed chest while one hand slid downward to cup his crotch. Only then did Hannibal realize that his body was not responding to her as she expected. Sheryl whimpered, a sound halfway between pleading and fear.
“What?” she asked, staring up at him. He wasn’t sure if she was asking what was wrong, what she had done wrong, or what he wanted her to do next. Her worried eyes and half-open mouth said she was terrified that he might not find her desirable. Some part of him wanted to reassure her. Another part wanted to break away to reassert his loyalty to the woman he loved. Those circuits crossed in a way that caused his mind to conjure an image of Cindy. That image spurred his body to an instant response, and Sheryl felt the reassurance she needed swelling in her hand. Catching his breath, Hannibal pushed her gently away.
“You a wildcat, Shorty,” he said, forcing a crooked smile. “No need to rush, baby. Let me get to the bathroom. Then you and me can have some fun.”
Sheryl’s reluctance showed when she pulled her hands away from Hannibal’s body and dropped backward onto the bed. He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.
This was very much a girl’s room. Not that it was overly clean, but the collection of products overwhelmed him. The small counter was covered with bottles and jars in every conceivable shape and color. The edge of the bathtub was equally littered with shampoos, conditioners, and cleansers of every stripe and a bewildering assortment of ways to remove hair from the human body.
While considering his surroundings Hannibal shoved his hands into his back pockets. His right pocket, which he expected to be empty, was not. He pulled out a small slip of paper on which was written a telephone number. The 571 exchange told him it was a cell phone. Only Mariah had been close enough to slip something into his pocket. So, she wanted to risk Rod’s anger by having Smoke ring her number. This level of independence struck him as mysterious for a woman who played submissive.
None of which helped him deal with his present situation. Hannibal stared at himself in the mirror. At least he assumed it was his own face. The character staring back at him, wearing a do rag and cheap sunglasses, reminded him that he needed to stay in character to get closer to Rod in order to separate him from the Cooper formula. But the man inside knew that this situation involved more than business. His love for Cindy was the cornerstone of his reality, the most authentic thing in his life. He could not imagine cheapening their relationship by having sex with a woman he just met, especially since he met at least two of her previous lovers on the same day. Actually, they would be concurrent lovers.
On the other hand, his dedication to the case was absolute. And wasn’t maintaining his cover for the good of a client a sufficient excuse for anything he might do? Especially if no one ever had to know he had done it?
Disappointed with what the man in the mirror was trying to convince him to do, Hannibal opened the medicine cabinet. Considering all the preparations scattered about the room, curiosity drove him to wonder if there was anything left that could be in the medicine cabinet. It was clogged with contents. Among the band-aids, dental floss and aspirin he spotted something that looked familiar. The small prescription bottle was half full of Rohypnol, the roofies Rod had fed to Marquita to dull her resistance. He remembered Dr. Roberts saying that one of them hit like ten Valium. Now here was a possible solution. If she was passed out or sedated enough, he could do anything and she would never know. This meant that he could do nothing at all, leave her sleeping, and tell her tomorrow that she had been a great time. He closed the medicine cabinet, winked at himself in the mirror, and slipped the little bottle into his pocket. He could pull this off, and in fact, it could be fun.
Reaffixing Smoke’s arrogant swagger, Hannibal reentered the small bedroom. His smile never wavered at the sight of Sheryl on her back, topless, with the comforter pulled just high enough to reach her hipbones.
“Damn you look yummy,” Sheryl said, her eyes gliding up and down his frame. “Climb in and I’ll give you the ride of your life.”
“I think that’s going to be the other way around,” Hannibal replied. “But first, you got anything decent to drink around here?”
Sheryl rolled away from him toward the end table on the other side of the bed. The comforter went with her, revealing her full nakedness. When she turned back one hand gripped the neck of a Jack Daniels bottle. The other balanced two glasses. Hannibal took the glasses first, setting them on the dresser before pouring each half full from the bottle. He was thinking of something else to ask for to prompt Sheryl to turn around again so that he could drop a pill into her glass, when he heard a thump from the front of the apartment.
Derek had pushed the door open with such force that it slammed against the wall. His fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white. His chest seemed to expand to twice its size with each deep breath. His eyes flashed more with rage than surprise. The frozen tableau that greeted him was certainly self-evident. Sheryl sat naked on the bed while Hannibal poured whiskey into two glasses. She may have been the offender, but his focus was on Hannibal as if only the two men were in the room.
“What the fuck?” Derek spat the words like venom.
Hannibal deflected the verbal attack, turning to Sheryl. “What the hell’s he doing here? He got a key?”
Torn between them, Sheryl stammered. “I didn’t lock it. Derek this isn’t…” her voice trailed off, as is she couldn’t think of just what this was not.
Hannibal turned back to face the other man. It was Derek’s play. He had several options to choose from. His next move would determine how well he came out of this encounter.
“You son of a bitch!” Derek stepped forward, cocking his right fist like an arrow he was about to launch. It was not the smart play, but it was the one Hannibal expected.
“You don’t want none of this, boy,” Hannibal said in a low tone.
“Like hell.” Derek’s left hand waved forward, sweeping away an attack Hannibal never launched. The instant before Derek fired his right fist forward Hannibal flipped a glass full of Jack Daniels into his face. Derek howled as much in anger as pain. Hannibal sidestepped Derek’s long loping right, planted his feet and snapped his own fist up into Derek’s solar plexus. The blonde’s mouth hung open for a second and he dropped to his knees.
Hannibal grabbed the boy by his hair and turned his face upward. When he pulled his other fist back to smash downward he heard Sheryl gasp. It was the sound of a woman who didn’t want to see someone she cared about get hurt. That made it easy for him to stop. Derek stared up through a haze of fear and Hannibal wondered if this was the way the boy felt when he looked at Rod.
“We was just about to have a little fun, punk, and I didn’t see your name on the bitch anywhere,” Hannibal said. “I ought to break your face just for ruining the mood, but I think Rod likes you and I kind of like the idea of partying with his crew for a while so I’ll let you slide this time. But check it, you get in my way again and I will fuck you up serious.” He bent low to shove his face close to Derek’s. “You getting this white boy? Or do I have to stick my dick in your eye so you can see where I’m coming from?”
Derek was panting and shaking like a recruit on the first day of basic training. “I get it. Really. I get it.”
Derek’s head snapped forward when Hannibal released his hair. Hannibal stepped backward, pointing at Sheryl. “This moron just cost you the best ride of your life, bitch. Maybe I’ll catch you at the party, although I got my eye on the Island girl.” He was out the door and down the stairs before either of the others could gather an appropriate comment. Good. Derek was scared of him, and Sheryl believed he was ready to bed any willing woman. If the set up had been a test of some sort, they would both report back to Rod with exactly what Hannibal wanted him to hear.
Hannibal was already reaching for his car door handle when he realized how close his bumper was to the big black Cadillac Escalade parked in front of him. Plenty of adrenaline was already pumping through his system and if some clown had so much as dusted the white tornado’s bumper there would be hell to pay. He stepped forward and looked down. The SUV was backed to within an inch of his car. He looked up, casting a nasty glare at the tinted windows. When the well-dressed drive stepped down to the street Hannibal felt encouraged. He was big enough to hit. He had the black hair and uneven complexion of a Sicilian and his suit and shoes proclaimed his loyalty to his Italian brothers.
“You got a problem?” Hannibal asked. “Move this piece of shit.”
As if he hadn’t heard Hannibal’s words, the driver said, “Get in. Boss wants to talk to you.”
“Why don’t you put me in the car, dickhead?” Hannibal said, taking a step back to firm his stance. The driver remained still, and the back door popped open. The occupant looked back at Hannibal, scanning him up and down.
“I hardly recognized you, stud. But if you’re still on that case, I got something you want.” Anthony Ronzini leaned out of the car. “Come take a ride with me, and let me tell you something about your prey.”