It was a little after seven when Nick parked his car on 74th street and walked up to Amsterdam. When he got to Citrus, Nick noticed that there was a limo parked out in front and a man that he thought he recognized was getting in the back seat. Nick remembered the place from the old days. The last time he and Mike were there, they threw somebody out the restaurants front glass window.
When he got inside he, Mike and Shy were seated at table in the back. When he saw Nick come in, Mike stood up and motioned for him to join them.
"Hello, Shy. It’s good to see that you’re all right."
"Thank you, Nick. I’m just glad it over. You look nice," Shy said of Nick, who was dressed in a tuxedo.
"Thank you, Shy," Nick replied graciously as he sat down. "Wasn’t that Gomez I saw gettin’ in that limo?"
Mike looked at Shy and smiled. "Was it? I didn’t see him."
"Must not have been him. You couldn’t miss him a place this size."
"Guess not," Mike said.
"Where you goin’, Nick?" Shy asked.
"I’m goin’ to meet Wanda. We’re goin’ to a party at Martin Marshall house."
"What are you gonna do? Walk up to him and ask if he had that reporter killed?" Mike asked.
"Something like that."
"Handle your business," Shy said.
"How’s your partner, Monika?" Mike asked.
"She doin’ a lot better. She’s coming with us tonight, were gonna set up a little something on Marshall tonight," Nick said as Travis, Jackie and Vonda walked in restaurant.
Mike stood up. "Hello, Jackie," he said and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Shy rolled her eyes and Jackie returned the favor by rolling her eyes right back at her. "Travis," Mike said and extended his hand. "It’s good to finally meet you."
Travis accepted his hand. "Good to meet you too, Mr. Black."
"Black will do. This is my wife Cassandra, Travis Burns and Jackie Washington."
"Please call me, Shy," she said.
Mike turned to Nick. "Have you two met?" he asked and pointed at Travis.
"No," Nick told him. "Nick Simmons." The two shook hands.
"I know you gotta go, Nick." Mike paused. "Why don’t you take Travis with you tonight. From what I hear, Mr. Burns is very good with computers. He might be useful."
"Yeah," Nick said nodding his head. "I think we can find some use for him tonight." Nick turned to Travis. "You ready?"
"Yes," Travis said and followed Nick out the door. He was excited just to be invited to meet Mike Black and to have him say that he might be useful made his night.
"Don’t worry, Jackie. Nick will take good care of your boy."
"Travis is a big boy. He can take care of himself," Jackie said and started to sit down.
"Who are you?" Mike asked as Vonda was about to take a seat.
"Black, this is Vonda. She’s the new member of our team."
"It’s good to meet you, Vonda, but why don’t you wait over there?" Mike said and pointed at the bar.
While Vonda walked toward the bar, Jackie sat down. "Can I order you something?" Mike asked and signed for a waiter.
Jackie picked up a menu. "I’ll have Hennessey on the rocks and some Shrimp Dumplings," she told to waiter.
"And the lady at bar," Mike said to the waiter and pointed at Vonda. "Put whatever she orders on my check." Once the waiter was gone Mike said, "I heard that you were very valuable to Freeze the other night."
"I just did what I had to do," Jackie replied.
"I appreciate that," Mike said and discreetly handed her an envelope. "I won’t forget what you did."
"Thank you." Jackie put the envelope in her purse.
"I may have some other things that you could do for me." Causing Jackie’s mind to wander to the things she’d like to do for him. "but we’ll talk about that some other time," Mike said and turned to Shy.
"You used to work at Frontier pharmaceuticals, right?" Shy asked.
"I sure did. I used to be a chemist, until they fired me for insubordination for refusing to work on a project on my own time."
"That’s not right," Shy said. "What I need Jackie is for you to tell me everything you know about Frontier."
While Jackie sipped on Hennessey and munched on her Shrimp Dumplings steamed in a jalapeno sauce, she told Shy what she wanted to know. Once Jackie was finished Shy told her exactly what she wanted her to do.