Mike opened the door for Shy, she practically fell out of the truck and into his arms. As tears rolled down her cheeks, he kissed her. "Are you all right?" Mike asked with his lips still close to hers.
"I’m fine now." Shy kissed his lips again. "I thought I’d never see you again."
"Did they hurt you?"
"No, they didn’t hurt me. They kept me blindfolded and tied to a bed for a while. Then they moved me to a room with a TV and a shower."
Mike looked at his watch. "You have any idea where they were holding you?"
"No. Like I said I was blindfolded whole the time," Shy told him.
"Hello Shy. I’m glad you’re okay," Bobby said.
Mike turned to around. "Bobby," he yelled. "Go straight home."
"Yes, daddy," Bobby said as he walked away laughing.
Mike hailed a cab. "Marriott on Ditmars Boulevard," Mike told the driver.
"By LaGuardia?" the driver asked.
"Yeah," Mike said and avoided making eye contact with Shy. There was a part of him that wanted Shy on the first plane out of New York in the morning.
"Marriott, huh? By the airport, huh?" Shy said and moved closer to Mike in the cab.
"Yeah, it’s a nice place and it’s close by," he said and put his arm around her. But then there was a part of him that never wanted her out of his sight. He wanted Shy to be happy and if she would be happy in New York then he would have to make it happen.
"You’re sending me back, aren’t you?" Shy asked with her head on his chest.
"Oh, I don’t know," Mike said, feeling the warmth of her body against his. "You be real nice to me at the Marriott and I might let you stay a few days."
"Hmm," Shy purred. "That sounds so good, baby. I promise to be really, really extra nice to you, cause I don’t wanna go back," she said knowing that Mike didn’t want to hear that. But she was home now, and she wanted to stay.
"I know," Mike said and kissed her on the forehead. "But let’s not talk about that now. Right now, I’m just happy you’re all right. And that you’re here with me."
They made love as soon as they got to the hotel, and then drifted off to sleep. Mike didn’t stay in bed long, he spent most of the night at the window, thinking. Having Shy back was only part of it. He still had Diego and the DEA to deal with. He turned her lose for a reason. Mike thought as he tried to figure out Diego’s next move. Mike got back in the bed and Shy immediately moved closer to him. He put his arm around her. When Mike woke up it was a little after noon, Shy was already up and dressed. "Hi," Shy said, flipping channels on the edge of the bed.
"How you doin’?"
"I’m fine. Glad you finally got some sleep."
"How do you know I hadn’t slept?"
"I can always tell when you’re not in the bed with me."
"How?"
"I just can," Shy smiled and turned off the TV. "Are you taking me back today?"
"No. You can stay for a while. At least until we work out everything that’s been goin’ on while you’ve been laying around at cheap hotels watching TV."
"What been goin’ on?" Shy asked.
Mike took his time and broke it all down for her. From Nick in South America, to her being kidnapped, to Senator Marshall to Diego and those papers. When he was done, Shy said, "Wow. I know that you have a lot to do, so what’s on your agenda for today?"
Mike sat up in the bed. "Shopping."
"But you hate to shop."
Once Mike was ready they went downstairs and caught a cab to Macy’s on 34th street. Along the way Mike explained that they were going to see Angelo, but he wanted to stop a few times, just in case someone was following. "By the way," Shy said. "how long was I gone?"
"Four days."
"Four days. Oh yes, I really do need something else to wear."
Since Shy knew how much Mike hated shopping, and because they had things to do, she agreed to get one outfit and come back for more clothes some other time. When they got to Macy’s, Mike grabbed a pair of black pants and a shirt. Shy bought a Calvin Klein stripe blazer and cropped pant and a pair of KimelEfik slide shoes and they were out of there. On the way out Shy took her old clothes and threw them in the garbage. "I’ve had those clothes on for four days. I don’t ever want to see them again. I don’t need anything to remind me of that experience." Mike kept his old clothes.
After leaving Macy’s, Mike and Shy caught another cab to Harlem. Along the way, Shy looked out the window enjoying the ride through the city, and thinking about turning herself in and serving her time if necessary. Now that she was finally back in New York, she found it was a lot easier to sit in her own island paradise and talk about going to jail. Being in the city was forcing her to realize that she didn’t want to do time at all.
When they got to 125th street and Malcolm X they exited the cab and lost themselves in a sea of people. They didn’t buy anything, Mike thought that if anyone was following them that they would be easier to spot. Half an hour later, they were back in a cab and heading uptown through the Bronx on their way to Yonkers.
It was late afternoon when they got to Angelo’s place, and to Mike’s surprise, Angelo was sitting outside. "Angelo hates the sun." Mike got out of the cab and extended his hand for Shy.
Angelo stood up. "Mr. and Mrs. Black, this is definitely my lucky day. Jimmy, was I just sayin’ I feel lucky?"
"Yeah, you was just sayin’," Jimmy agreed.
"Shy," Angelo said and hugged her. "It’s good to see you’re all right. They didn’t hurt you or nothing?"
"No, Angelo, I’m fine. And thank you for helpin’ out. I really do appreciate it."
"Forget about it. Anything you need, ever, I’m here for you, the both of you. Now, have a sit down, and let’s enjoy this beautiful hot-ass day."
"What’s up with that anyway? You hate being out in the sun," Mike said.
"I thought, you know, I could sit out here, maybe I could work on my tan or whatever. But the truth is Mikey, you got your problems, I got mine. Better we talk out here; if you know what I mean?"
"I may have those same kind of problems, but I’m sure we’ll talk more about that at another time," Mike said.
"To be sure. You still a Yankee fan?" Angelo asked.
"Til they bury me."
"Let’s go to a game while you’re here."
"A night game."
"Of course. Hey, we could sit out in the bleachers like we used when we was comin’ up," Angelo said and turned to Shy. "Me and this guy, we used to go to the stadium, drink all the beer we wanted, get drunk, watch a ball game. Those were good times, huh Mikey?"
"Life was good then, Angee. Look at us now, both of us business men with problems."
"Nothing we can’t handle."
"That’s why I came to see you." Mike leaned close to Angelo and spoke softly. "What can you tell me about this five mill that Diego is here for?"
Angelo looked at Mike for a second and then he smiled. "That’s why I love you, Mikey," he said and then said softly. "You know Diego owns a pharmaceutical company, Frontier pharmaceutical is what it’s called? But in addition to their legit business, they also manufacture all kind of other drugs. You know like Valium, Viagra, Prozac, Paxil, Xanax, shit like that. Well the way I get it is that he’s got a deal with some people from one of the old soviet republics, Lithuania or someplace like that. Anyway the deal gets done in a couple of days. Now, let me ask you something?"
"What’s that?"
"Why you wanna know?"
"I think five million dollars will make this right."
"You gotta love this guy, but it ain’t gonna happen. What, you think you was gonna walk in there, take their money and walk out with it?"
"Something like that," Mike said confidently. "Unless you got some reason why I can’t."
"It ain’t gonna happen ’cause there’s no money to walk out with. The five million gets transferred from one account to the other. It’s all done with computers, gives it an air of being a legit transaction."
Mike sat back and thought for a second. "How’s Gomez? He still live the same place?"?