"What’s more important; the memo that’ll send us to prison for treason, or the woman?"

"Both. Ebony is very important to me. I love her, Black."

"Wait a minute, Martin. These guys kidnapped your mistress? Do they even know what she was carrying and what it means to you?"

"It’s possible, but I doubt it," Martin said. "That means you need to get to them before they read it."

When they arrived at the address Martin gave them, Black and Bobby went to the door and Rawls was coming out. He was carrying a woman’s coat and one shoe. Both matched the description that Martin had given Black of what Ebony was wearing when they had dinner earlier that evening. They forced Rawls inside at gunpoint, tied him to a chair and searched the house. Ebony wasn’t there. That was over an hour ago, and they were no closer to finding her.

Bobby hit Rawls in the face and took a step back. He looked down at Rawls’ feet. "Those some nice kicks there. What kind are they?" Bobby asked.

"Stacy Adams," Rawls mumbled.

"Can I see them?" Bobby asked and knelt down to take the shoes off. He walked over to where Black was sitting. "These some bad-ass kicks, Mike. I gotta get me a pair of these." He turned back to Rawls. "What size are these?" But Rawls was too out of it to answer.

"I don’t think he’s paying you any attention, Bob," Black said and laughed.

"Hey asshole," Bobby yelled and threw a shoe at him. "I’m talkin’ to you." The shoe hit Rawls in the face, but he still didn’t answer.

"Told you." Black laughed. "He doesn’t respect you, Bob. He thinks that you’ll get tired of hitting him and you’ll go away, and he won’t have to tell you shit."

Bobby walked up to Rawls, picked up the shoe and hit him in the face with it.

"What are you-his mother now? Beatin’ him with a shoe," Black laughed, but Bobby didn’t seem amused. He was getting frustrated with Rawls. Bobby was doing some of his best work, and he hadn’t said a word.