Now Estrada becomes frustrated. "You see what I mean, man? We argue. Never mind man, just forget it. Anyway, we are pulling up to the run, so put the mic in your mouth and call us out at scene!"
Vincent quickly snatches the mic from its holder. "Five-thirteen is out on scene."
“Ten-four, unit 5-13 is on scene," the dispatcher responds.
Estrada pulls the police cruiser up to two black armored Humvees that are blocking the roadway. An Army military policeman approaches the vehicle as Estrada rolls down his window.
The soldier asks, "Are you guys the standby unit?"
Estrada replies, "Yes, sir, we are."
The soldier gives a thumbs-up to one of the Humvees that is blocking the roadway. The Humvee backs up in order to allow the police cruiser to pass through.
The soldier gives orders to Estrada. "Okay, drive down a block and you will see the rest of the MPs. When you get there, stand by for further orders. Do not get out of your vehicle unless directed to do so."
“Yes, sir."
Estrada drives down the block where several military vehicles are parked. Estrada parks the police cruiser next to a black armored Humvee.
At the scene there are several military personnel escorting citizens out of an abandoned movie theater. The people have their hands bound behind their backs with flex-cuffs and are being put into one of several deuce and a half military trucks.
The voices of military personnel can be heard saying, "Move it! Move it! Let's go!" Some citizens are cooperative and walking to the truck without any problems, and some are being dragged by their feet because they refuse to go willingly. These people are irate, yelling and screaming.
Estrada looks at Vincent and says, "Damn, vato, what's going on? What do you think these people did?”
"I don't know. I'd really like to know since we are now a part of this."
Vincent notices that one of the soldiers exiting the theater has several books in his hands and throws them onto the ground into a pile of several other books. Vincent opens his door to exit the cruiser.
Estrada grabs his left arm. "Where the fuck are you going, man? They told us not to get out of the car!"
Vincent violently pulls his arm away from Estrada. "I want to know what the fuck’s going on here." Vincent begins to walk toward the pile of books. His attention is drawn to a middle-aged woman, who is being dragged on the ground by her feet by two soldiers. The woman is yelling and screaming.
She makes eye contact with Vincent and says, "You are all a part of evil! You will all burn in hell next to him! Burn in hell—all of you!" Then a soldier kicks the woman in the head, and she is knocked unconscious.
Vincent walks up to the pile of books. He kneels down and picks up one of the books with his right hand. It has a worn, black leather protective case covering it. He opens the book and is shocked by what he reads.
It’s the Holy Bible.
At that very moment, Vincent hears the voice of an elderly woman. “You're a good man. I can see it in you."
Vincent stands up and towers over the old woman. Looking down on her, he asks, "Excuse me?"
The woman looks up and smiles at Vincent. He can feel her putting something in his left hand. In a soft voice, she says, "You're not like the rest of them. There is good inside of you."
Suddenly the elderly woman is grabbed by one of the soldiers. He yells back to some of his men. "How did this one get out? Why isn’t she cuffed?" She is passed on to two other soldiers who then place her in flex-cuffs and escort her away.
Vincent quickly places the item in his left cargo pants pocket. The soldier slaps the Bible out of Vincent's right hand and yells at him. "What the fuck are you doing? You are interfering with a military operation! Your orders were not to get out of the car and just to stand by!"
At that moment Estrada jumps out of the car, grabs Vincent, and pushes him back toward the police cruiser. The soldier can be heard yelling, "Yeah…get him the fuck out of here before both of you are arrested for interfering with a military operation.”
Estrada opens the passenger door to the police cruiser, shoves Vincent into the passenger seat, and slams the door. Vincent looks out at the pile of bibles. A soldier approaches the pile with a portable gasoline can and pours gasoline all over the pile. He then strikes the tip of a flare to light it and drops the flare on the gasoline-soaked bibles. Within seconds the bibles are engulfed in flames.
Estrada opens the driver’s door, quickly sits down, and slams the door shut. He is furious with Vincent. With a beet-red face, Estrada screams at the top of his lungs. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Why can't you ever just stick to the program? You always got to be so god- damn difficult! Pull that shit on me one more time, and I will request a new partner! Are we fucking clear?"
Vincent does not respond.
Estrada asks again. "I said…are we fucking clear?"
In a calm voice, Vincent responds, "Crystal."
Estrada slams the gearshift down into drive and drives off at a high rate of speed, making the tires squeal.
The two men drive around for an hour in complete silence until Estrada's cell phone rings. He answers. "Hello? Ok, I’m on the way."
Estrada drives for several blocks and then pulls over and parks the cruiser. Without looking at Vincent, he opens his door and says, "I need to go in here real quick to talk to someone.” He exits the car, slams the door, and walks into a bookstore.
Vincent says to himself, "What the fuck." He looks across the street and sees a convenience store. "Yeah, that's what I need right about now." He gets out of the car and walks across street and into the store.
Vincent walks in on an argument between a customer and the store clerk. Vincent gets in line behind the customer. He can't help but be nosy and listen to the argument.
The customer sticks out his right hand to the clerk. He is baffled and confused, saying, "C'mon man, scan it again, scan it again.”
The clerk waives the scanner over the customer’s hand several times. In a Middle Eastern accent, the clerk says, "I don't know why it no work."
The customer begins to panic. He turns around to look at Vincent then looks back at the clerk. “Something has to be wrong with your scanner, man. Scan it again! I don't believe this…they turned off my chip. They fucking cut me off—I can't believe this shit, man!"
“I’m sorry, my friend. But it no work.” The clerk says to the man.
At the same time, four army soldiers enter the store. Two soldiers grab the man, one holding each arm, as the other two point their AR-15 rifles at him. The soldiers forcefully remove the man from the store. He is pleading with the soldiers, telling them that there must be some mistake.
Vincent is watching all of this occur in a daze.
The clerk attempts to get Vincent’s attention. “Sir…sir…”
Vincent snaps out of his daze. “Oh, um…I’m sorry.”
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah, let me get three mini bottles of Red Stag.”
“Six-eighteen, please.”
Vincent opens one of the bottles and drinks it down. He then extends his right hand to the clerk who scans it.
As Vincent steps toward the door, the clerk says, “Excuse me, officer.”
Vincent stops and takes a step backwards. “Yes?”
“Why they take him? He is bad man?”
“Yeah, very bad man.” Vincent says.
“Where they take him? Jail? I think they kill him. No?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I know this. If you no listen to government, they kill you. This why I always listen. I no want to die.”
“Yeah, I no want to die either, my friend.” Vincent makes his way to the door and exits the store. He leans up against the wall outside and twists off the top on the second bottle, puts the bottle to his lips, and le
ans his head back, gulping down the shot. Then he sees what appears to be a man standing on top of a five-story building looking down on him. As Vincent tries to focus his eyes to get a better look, he notices the man quickly steps out of sight.
“Yo, vato,” Estrada yells from across the street.
Vincent focuses his attention on Estrada.
“What are you doing over there? C’mon, lets go.”
Vincent looks both ways then jogs across the street and gets back into the police cruiser.
“What were you doing over there, man?”
”I got thirsty.”
“Well, where’s your drink?”
“I got a small bottle of water, but I slammed it really fast.”
Estrada puts the police cruiser in drive and begins to drive. He says to Vincent, “Ok, here’s the deal. I went into that book store to meet with Lena.”
With a confused look on his face, Vincent asks, “What did you meet with her for?”
“I don’t know, man. She said she needs to meet with you, but can’t really have any contact with you.”
“Why can’t she have contact with me?” Vincent asks.
“I don’t know, man. All she said is that she needs to meet you and wants to meet you at Space tomorrow night.”
“Space? Why the fuck does she want to meet at a night club?”
“I don’t know. I’m assuming it has something to do with the info that she gave you the other day.”
“Well, whatever man.”
“Fuck it, we’ll just make a night out of it. I haven’t been to the club in a few weeks, and last time we went I got lucky, remember?”
Vincent laughs. “Oh, you mean you got lucky with that man?”
“What do you mean “a man”? That chick was fine as hell.”
“Dude, her Adam’s apple was bigger than mine.”
“Well, whatever…he sucked a mean-ass dick.”
Both break out in uncontrollable laughter. After the laughing stops, Vincent’s demeanor becomes serious. “Hey man, I think I’m being watched.”
“Watched? By whom and why?” Estrada asks.
“The police.”
“The police? We are the police.”
“Not the police like us. The secret police.” Vincent says.
“C’mon, vato, you know there is no secret police.”
“Who the hell do you think Lena works for?”
“Lena works for the FBI. They just have a different name nowadays.”
“Well, she told me what goes on in her office, and it’s some shady-ass shit.”
“You’re just paranoid because of what she told you.”
“No, man, it’s not paranoia. I’ve seen these guys. They are watching me.”
“You just need to relax, vato. Tomorrow we are gonna have fun. We gonna pull some hoes from da club. Whoooo! I can’t wait, homes! I’ll pick you up at 10 tomorrow, and don’t be late. Sometimes you’re like a girl, and you take forever to get ready.”
“Whatever, man. I’ll be ready at 10.”
Dance with me
Vincent is down on one knee. He picks up a book with his right hand. It has a worn, black-leather protective case covering it. He opens the book and is shocked by what he reads. The book is titled The Holy Bible.
He hears the voice of an elderly woman. “You’re a good man, I can see it in you.” He hears this several time in an echo. He can see the face of the elderly woman smiling at him. He feels her put something in his left hand. He sees her face again. She closes her eyes and then opens them. Her eyes are completely white, her skin melts away, and she screams and says, “Save us, Vincent!”
Vincent jumps up and is sitting in his bed shirtless and drenched in sweat. After a few seconds, he gathers himself and realizes that he was asleep and just had a nightmare about the elderly woman that he talked to earlier that day.
Vincent realizes that he forgot to check his pocket and see what the old woman gave him. He gets out of bed and picks up his work pants from the bedroom floor. He feels around and touches an object in the pocket. He pulls the object out.
It’s a silver necklace with a pendant on the end of it. He holds it up and dangles it in front of his face. Vincent takes a closer look at the pendant. It has St. Michael on one side, and the other side reads “St. Michael, patron saint of police.”
Vincent sets the necklace down on his dresser. He looks at his alarm clock and notices that it is 8:27 pm. He realizes that he should probably start getting ready to go out to the club because Estrada will be over soon to pick him up.
***
It is now 10:06 pm. Vincent is just finishing up getting dressed when his phone rings. He picks it up and sees that Estrada is calling. Vincent answers the phone. “You’re six minutes late.”
“Shut the fuck up and come outside. I’m here.”
“Ok, I’ll be right out.”
Vincent grabs his black leather jacket and turns to walk out of his bedroom when his eye catches the silver necklace on his dresser. He walks over to the dresser, picks up the necklace, and puts it around his neck.
***
Vincent exits the lobby doors of his high-rise condo to see Estrada waiting for him in his cherry-red Camaro SS. Estrada beeps the horn three times and puts his hands up. Vincent opens the passenger door and gets in. Estrada asks, "What's up, homie? Are you ready to get your freak on?"
"Yeah, your momma called me and told me she was going to be there. So yeah, I'm ready to get my freak on."
"Hey hey hey, vato…easy with the momma jokes."
Vincent laughs, “Yeah, man, I'm ready." Vincent reaches into his right breast jacket pocket and pulls out a cigar. He puts it in his mouth and then lights it.
Estrada looks over at him. "Hey man, what the fuck are you doing? You can't smoke in my baby!"
"Relax, I'm not gonna get any ash on your baby."
"I swear, if you do, I'm gonna put a bullet in your head."
"Just shut up and drive, I need a drink."
"Oh, you want me to shut up and drive, huh?"
Vincent takes a big puff from his cigar, blows the smoke out the window, and says, "Yeah, man, drive."
Estrada pushes the gas pedal all the way to the floor and shifts gears violently. The vehicle purrs loudly from his custom exhaust system. Vincent leans over and looks at the speedometer and sees the needle quickly rotating clockwise.
Estrada weaves in and out of traffic. Vincent notices the traffic light ahead turn yellow. He instantly becomes uncomfortable. He looks at Estrada, then straight ahead, then back at Estrada. Vincent says in a panicked voice, "You’re not gonna make it, your not gonna make it!"
Estrada blurts out, “Wooohooooo!" He shifts gears again and says, "Hang on, vato!"
The light turns red when they are about 100 feet from the intersection. Both simultaneously scream, "Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" as they blow through the red light. Two cars driving through the intersection slam on their brakes.
Estrada bursts into laughter. "Man, what a rush! Do you still want me to shut up and drive?"
"No, don't drive any more."
Estrada slams on the brakes, bringing the car to the posted speed limit. "We’re almost there, man."
"You are going to have to take me back home, man."
"What? No…why?"
Vincent looks at Estrada. "Because I think I just shit my pants." They laugh.
Estrada makes a right turn and pulls up to a huge warehouse with a sign that says "SPACE NITE CLUB." There are about 150 people waiting in line to get inside. Estrada drives past the club slowly as he looks at all the people waiting in line. He points at a woman and says, "Damn, vato, look at that ass on that."
Vincent replies, "Look, man…just don't pick up another man like last time."
"Ha ha. Fuck off, vato." Estrada pulls the car up to valet. The doors are opened for both of them
by the valet staff. Estrada and Vincent bypass the line and walk straight to the front door of the club. Estrada walks up to the doorman and slaps hands with him. "Hey Sam, how you been?"
Sam responds, "I'm good man, come on in. There’s a lot of pussy in there tonight. Enjoy yourself.”
"Oh, I definitely will, my man." Estrada and Vincent enter the front door and begin walking down a very long hallway that is dimly lit. The closer they get to the end of the hallway, the louder the dance music becomes. Estrada begins dancing and walking at the same time.
Vincent smiles and says, "Damn man, you know how to get down."
"C'mon, vato, you know us Latinos got rhythm."
"Ok, man, let's just get to the bar." They approach a large metal door and Estrada knocks. The door is opened by one of the club’s bouncers. They are bombarded by the loud dance music. The club is huge. Vincent looks out over the dance floor and can see over 500 people dancing. Strobe lights are flashing and there is an elaborate laser light show. Vincent moves close to Estrada's ear and yells, "Man, this place is crazy!"
"Hell yeah, it is. C'mon, man, let's go to the bar and get some drinks then find some hoes to dance with.”
"Now you’re taking." Vincent says.
They push through the crowd and make their way to the bar. The bartender looks at both men and asks, "What can I get you guys?"
Vincent orders, "Goose on the rocks and Corona with a lime."
When the bartender passes over the drinks, he says, "$25 even."
Vincent reaches over the bar with his right hand and is scanned by the bartender. Vincent grabs the drinks, turns toward Estrada, and hands him the Corona.
"Thanks, vato. I'll get the next round."
Both men turn around and face the dance floor. As three women walk past them, Estrada puts his right arm around Vincent and says, "Look at this shit, vato. Explain this to me, homie...how the fuck can anyone be gay?"
"I don't know, man…why you askin’ me that? It’s their choice."
"I know it’s their choice, but…ok, look at these sexy girls walkin’ past us. Would you rather stick your dick in their pussies or some dude’s asshole?"
Vincent begins to laugh hysterically and says, "Ummm…the sexy girls’ pussies."
"I mean…I don't have anything against gay guys, but damn…I just don't understand it...That's why I think you are born gay."