by Tra Verdejo
“Well, let’s go over there and see if they have any kind of surveillance that may help us identify this mysterious, good-smelling female. Country, you stay here and see what else you can find. Check their garbage too,” Ace said.
When they reached the diner, they went in and noticed a security camera. They smiled. The Italian restaurant was full of customers, so they didn’t want to make a scene.
Speedy approached the hostess, flashed his badge, and requested the manager. When the manager introduced himself, Speedy asked him to step outside.
“Okay, what’s going on here? Why are we outside? And who’s that?” the manager asked, pointing at Ace.
“Okay, listen,” Speedy said, “you are not in trouble. What’s your name?”
“Sergio.”
“Look, Sergio, we just have a few questions. I know you watch the news. Two blocks from here lives a very dangerous man, and I’m stunned that no one has seen his face around here. So let me ask you. Has he ever eaten at this diner?” he asked, holding up a picture of Lucky.
“Yes, he has, but a long time ago. Maybe two years before all this media frenzy.”
“Two years ago. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m positive.”
“What about this pretty little lady, about five, three? From what I hear, she has an awesome body. She came in here every day for lunch. Do you know who I’m referring to? Do you know her?”
“You mean, Chanel. Yes, I know her. What about her?”
“We think she was connected to the rogue cop we’re after.”
“Are you sure? She said the lunch was for her ill father.”
“Well, I’m sorry to break the news to you, buddy. Pretty lady is a criminal. Anyway, we noticed you have a camera. I’m going to need some footage with…What’s her name again? Chanel, right?”
“I don’t know her name. I just always called her Chanel because that’s the name of the perfume she wears. As far as the tapes, I’m going to have to wait until the owner gets here.”
Ace removed his sunglasses and removed the toothpick from his mouth. He walked up to Sergio and got about eight to ten inches from his face. “Listen, unlike my partner, I don’t have the fuckin’ patience. You have about three minutes before I whip my gun out and turn your brain into fuckin’ meatballs.”
Sergio froze when he saw Ace reach under his shirt and grab his shiny chrome 9mm.
Speedy gave Ace a small shove and got in between Ace and Sergio. “Sergio, please hurry up with the tapes. Don’t make my partner upset. You don’t want to see him upset.”
Sergio was already shitting in his pants, so he didn’t even need Speedy to convince him. “I will be right back with those tapes. Give me two minutes.”
Speedy and Ace were laughing their asses off when Sergio walked away. They couldn’t believe he fell for that old good cop, bad cop trick.
A few minutes later, Sergio walked out and handed them a DVD.
“What the fuck is this?” Speedy asked.
“It’s a DVD. I downloaded about six months’ worth of surveillance.”
“You better not be fuckin’ with us. I have a laptop right in the car. I hope I don’t have to come back.”
Sergio ran back in the restaurant, happy to be alive.
Speedy and Ace walked back to Lucky’s house. They both went straight to the car and popped in the DVD, and Sergio was on the money. He gave them six months worth of footage, and the DVD program was user-friendly. All they had to do was type in a date and time, and the clip would pop up. Every time they punched in 12:30 on a weekday, the same pretty girl everyone kept talking about appeared. The only bad thing was, she always had on shades and a big hat, so she didn’t give them much to work with. They knew that was Lucky’s sidekick.
Speedy called out, “Captain, I finally got some good news.”
“Speedy, spit it out.”
“We found his sidekick, and she’s a girl.”
“That’s perfect. Bring that bitch over to the apartment right now.”
“No, Captain, not in the physical form, but we have some footage on her.”
“Just bring what you have. How are the new boys working out?”
“They are perfect. Nothing fake about them. I will be there in thirty minutes or so.”
The captain got off the phone and continued the party.
Speedy and Ace walked back in the house to look for Country. When they found him, they asked him if he’d found anything else.
“Yes, I found the camera in the basement. I know where it’s located.”
“You do? Let’s take it down,” Ace said.
“No, leave the camera alone. Let’s get back to the apartment and re-group.”
Speedy grew balls and was calling the shots on this run. While they were walking back to the car, he thought of something.
“Wait, hold up. Ace, grab my laptop, and let’s all go back down to the basement. I got a plan.”
“I think I already know,” Ace said, grabbing the notebook.
They all went back down to the basement, and Speedy opened the laptop.
Lucky jumped off his sofa, curious as to what Speedy was up to. “What are you doing, Speedy? What do you got there?” he said to himself.
Lucky wasn’t surprised that they’d found the camera. He was wondering what took them so long to find it in the first place. However, he was on his feet, eyes glued to the monitor, as he waited in anticipation. He knew his former partner wasn’t bluffing.
When Speedy flipped the laptop around, Lucky saw video footage with someone in it that resembled Diamond. He sat up, turned his monitor off, and laughed. Instead of getting nervous because of the new footage, he just brushed it off and got ready for his next plan. He calmly called Diamond in the room and made her aware of the footage Speedy sent him.
“Listen, we need to bounce. No, let me rephrase that. I need you to bounce because they are getting too close. This is getting too dangerous, and I’m not trying to lose you, baby.”
“Where the fuck is this coming from now?”
“Come here, baby.”
Lucky hugged her for two minutes. In that two-minute span, he thought about the first day he’d met her outside the strip club. He would have never thought they would be in this position, where he would actually fall in love with her.
It had started out as some quick head, and now they were living together. It was tough in the beginning, especially not having sex. It took a lot for him to hold back and not touch her beautiful body.
But Lucky thought it was always harder for Diamond. Taking sex away from a prostitute was like taking dope away from a fiend, who’d go through long, sweaty nights of withdrawal. Lucky always felt it was important to gain Diamond’s trust and respect. So he reformed her into a new woman, and that’s how their bond was forged.
He remembered their first month together. He knew she was sneaking around her old way, looking for her pimp. She was hoping he was still alive and could take her back. He understood her issues, and instead of flipping out on her, he kept it to himself. It took about four months to get her to realize that her old lifestyle was a deadly way to make money.
When she finally realized Lucky’s true intentions, she started to fall in love with him as well. At first, what Lucky was doing for her was no different than what any pimp would do, providing shelter, clothing, and food. That was the reason why she didn’t feel comfortable at first. She thought Lucky was some pervert looking to turn her into his sex slave.
But as time went by, she began to learn who he was, and his passion for respecting a woman, which Lucky learned from his mother. Their relationship was rocky the first year as they grew to learn each other’s ways, but after that, it was smooth sailing.
While Diamond was hugging him back, she also had some flashbacks about the first time they’d met, and about her family. She wondered if her family ever missed her. She had two younger sisters, and all three were treated horribly.
After she’d ma
de those accusations against her father, everyone turned their back on her. She ran away because she thought they would be happier without her. She’d once read a story in the newspaper about young girls making a good living in New York City by being high-end hookers, so she bought a bus ticket, only packed her sexy garments, and never looked back. Every now and then, she would wonder about them, if they missed her.
When she jumped off the Greyhound bus in Time Square, she had high hopes of being a famous call girl, but she ended up sucking dicks in alleys and fucking in elevators to make a living.
Diamond, to this day, felt like God sent Lucky to save her life. She always thought she was blessed, having such a great man on her side. She had been through hell since birth and thought maybe God sent her an angel.
At first, she didn’t trust him. He was too honest. To her, all men were liars and cheaters, but he proved her wrong.
While they were hugging, Diamond was crying and shaking because she knew the day had arrived. Lucky was leaving her behind, and there was a big chance she would never see him again.
“Okay, baby, I’m going to let you get back to work. Call me when you’re ready for me to hear the next move, daddy.”
“That’s my baby. I love that attitude. It’s good for your health to always think positive. I’m going to be as safe as possible and make sure I come back in one piece.”
Once Diamond left the room, he turned his monitor back on and saw a piece of paper with a telephone number written on it that Speedy left for him to call. Lucky turned off the monitor and turned on some music to help him relax and think. His next move had to be clever, but he was tired of running. He just wanted to get this over with it and face off with his old partners. He knew in order for him to even think about resting anywhere in peace, they all had to be killed. Lucky wouldn’t be satisfied if they each received a life sentence. Death was the only resolution. He was also aware that his former partners felt the same way.
When Speedy and the others returned to the spot and gave Tuna the tape, they were celebrating like they’d found Lucky. All they had was footage, but to them it was a small victory. They’d finally caught him slipping.
Tuna was really excited. He quickly gave The Watcherz the DVD, so they could get to work. “Shit, we need to find this girl,” he yelled out loud.
“What about the media?” Floyd suggested.
“What about them?”
“They could show her face on every news channel there is,” Floyd added.
“Cap, he’s right. What other choice do we have? We need to find Lucky as soon as possible. This girl could lead us right to him,” Speedy added.
“I don’t want the media involved. It will attract heat for us as well. Let’s keep this information to ourselves until we figure out what to do. Maybe by then The Watcherz will find her real identity. I don’t even want Lucky to know about this new video.”
“It’s too late for that, Captain,” Speedy added in a low-toned voice.
“What do you mean, it’s too late for that?”
“Well, Cap, I thought it would be a good idea to show Lucky we had his girl, so we went down to the basement and showed him footage of his girlfriend through his camera.”
“You did what? How stupid can you be, Speedy? You basically showed him our hand. You never reveal your hand.”
“I thought maybe by showing him the footage, he would come out of hiding. I’m now realizing it was a dumb idea. I’m sorry.”
The captain was pissed. He couldn’t believe his most loyal cop disobeyed a direct order of staying away from the basement.
While the captain was chewing Speedy’s ass off, his cell phone started ringing. He picked up.
“Hello, Captain. This is the commissioner. What’s the latest on this scumbag? Did you locate his whereabouts?”
“No, Mr. Fratt, but we have a lead on his new girlfriend. We only have footage of who she is, but we still haven’t identified her. We don’t have a clear shot of her face.”
“Send me the footage, and I will have the media take care of the rest. Somebody will come forward with some information.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
The commissioner interrupted Tuna. “I didn’t ask you to send me the footage. I’m giving you a direct order. Listen, you are not at liberty to make choices. Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, I will send over the footage as soon as I hang up the phone.”
“Okay, listen, I will give you a few days to identify her before I turn the video over to the media.”
“That’s all I need, a few more days.”
“Another thing, Captain, let me remind you that you need to cool down this heat. Hurry up and find this scumbag.”
After the captain hung up the phone, he turned to his crew and said, “Listen, fellas, this is my show. I’m sailing the boat. If any of you guys make a decision without consulting with me first, that would be your ass.”
The captain was still in fumes about Speedy’s decision to show Lucky what they were working with. He’d dodged a bullet when the commissioner gave him a few more days to identify Lucky’s female friend, but five minutes after the commissioner got off the phone, he called right back and told the captain he needed the tape ASAP.
“I thought you were giving me a few days,” Tuna said.
“I changed my mind. You need help in this case, and the media has always been our friend in tracking down criminals.”
“I have everything under control, Mr. Fratt.”
“Do you really? Again, have the DVD in my office before the day is over.”
The captain was pissed the fuck off. There was nothing he could do to stop the footage from hitting the media. He sent Speedy downtown to meet the commissioner and hand him the footage.
By the ten o’clock news, images of Lucky’s sidekick were all over the news and Internet. Since the media had little information to work with, they started getting creative with the title of each story. Some stations called her “The Rogue Cop Lover,” others called her, “The Young, Pretty, and Dangerous Girl.”
The police department released a statement that she was wanted, though they didn’t have any evidence to charge Diamond with a crime, and considered her armed and dangerous.
Once Lucky noticed all the news channels broadcasting the story, he knew it was time to panic. He had to find a way to disconnect Diamond, who walked in the room and asked him about his plans, from all this drama.
“We are in a tough situation here,” he said. “The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt. Now you are wanted by the NYPD. You should hear the names they’re calling you.”
“But they don’t know who I am. Fuck them! They can’t find us.”
“Listen, Diamond, I think it will be best if we just separate, period, end of discussion.”
“What part of ‘I’m rolling with you’ don’t you understand? I’m wanted by the law. You can’t leave me now.”
“I don’t know if you are ready, and for the record, I’m not going to leave you, girl. What’s wrong with you? I’m going to try to clean your name up first. I’m going to paint the picture that I kidnapped you. Once they learn that you’re a runaway girl, they will believe our story, and you should be good after that. The only bad thing about my plan is, they will try to reunite you with your family.”
“No! I won’t be good after that. I will be good right here with you. But, whatever, you are the shot caller. I just want you to know that I hate your plan,” she said right before walking away from him.
Lucky called Diamond at least three times, but she never acknowledged him or came back in the room. He could hear her crying in the other room, so he just left her alone. This decision was hard on him as well, but he felt like it was the best decision because he didn’t want her to get hurt. The burden would be too much for him to handle. A little leery about his plan, he was, hoping Diamond didn’t fold on him.
Lucky made an anonymous call to the 28th P
recinct on 124th Street and Eighth Avenue and informed them that the girl all over TV would turn herself in tomorrow morning. He also called one of his old contacts from the local newspaper and told him the made-up story, knowing the reporter would run his mouth.
By the time the morning came around, the story was all over the city paper that “The Rogue Cop Lover” was turning herself in. The story mentioned that Diamond was being held against her will.
Now, the pressure to capture Lucky was high on the police department’s list. The media was doing a good job in creating this hate against Lucky. Already considered a rogue cop, Lucky was going to face additional charges of kidnapping and, because it was believed he had snatched her before she was eighteen years old, endangering the life of a minor.
Lucky called the 28th Precinct around one thirty and told them the girl would arrive at two o’clock in the afternoon.
The Watcherz heard the call on the police scanner and notified Tuna. He thought Lucky was smart by having her dropped on the same day the Colemans had a protest march taking place downtown, putting a strain on limited police resources. There wouldn’t be enough cops around to capture him.
“I got your ass now,” Tuna said to himself. “You can’t fool us.”
Tuna quickly got the boys together and set up a surveillance watch all around 123rd and 124th streets, waiting for Lucky to show up. They figured this would be a perfect opportunity to get close to him.
It was now going on two o’clock in the afternoon, and still no signs of him or the girl. They weren’t buying the whole kidnapping theory, but they didn’t care. He was their target, not the girl.
Lucky was present but watching from 122nd Street, from the inside of an abandoned building. He knew his former partners were hiding and watching as well.
“Captain, I believe that’s her walking up to the front now,” Speedy radioed in.
“I see her. Black shirt and white pants, right?”
“Affirmative.”
Speedy, Ace, and Tuna kept their eyes on the girl, while Loose, Country, Chucky, and Floyd were searching the perimeter for Lucky. Ace and Speedy were on the roof with sniper rifles, waiting on the signal that Lucky had been spotted, so they could take him out, but they couldn’t find him.