“Who are you and what do you want?” David is beyond confused.
“Well now,” the man starts out in a sarcastic tone, “I’m Mickey, and this here is my wife, Mallory!” David hears the man giggle under his breath. He can tell by the man’s accent that he is also Hispanic, which only confuses David more.
He looks from one black bandit to the other, “I…don’t even know you! I…” He is about to continue but is interrupted.
“Shut. Up!” Mallory screams, slapping him across the face.
But David doesn’t shut up, “I’m supposed to be interviewing on CNN,” he tells them, “don’t you think I’ll be missed? They are going to be all over this!” His thoughts are running wild, but he reassures himself that he is David Bryson after all and of course people would come! Wouldn’t they?
Mallory shakes her head back and forth, “What, the fake news? They’ll take anything. And anyway, we took care of it and no, they will not miss you.” She then grabs a knife out of her back pocket.
David doesn’t know what they think they know, but then again, he doesn’t like the answer. He also doesn’t like Mallory walking up to him and popping open her knife, which happens to be a switchblade.
She runs her nails through his hairline, “You know, it’s a shame...you are even prettier in person. Such a waste.” She pulls on the hair hanging down his forehead and swipes the knife close to his scalp, cutting off his signature curls, “Too bad you really are so ugly! Now this...this is much more fitting.”
Mallory’s cuts were rough, and there are little droplets of blood trickling their way down David’s face. He is shaking his head in disbelief, “I just don’t understand, what can I do? What do you want?”
Mallory wipes her knife on her pants, closes it up and puts it back in her pocket. “You pretend to be a news analyst…what a crock!” she yells harshly, “We hear what you say on TV but we know what you do! You talk to your viewers pretending to be amazed and appalled by what’s happening out there, then play hero to your street soldiers!”
She grabs his cheeks and squeezes hard, and much to David’s surprise her grip is quite firm. His face aches, and he feels tears starting to fill his eyes. “You with your pretty little face, you are nothing but a hypocrite!” She releases her grip, “Welcome to the real world!”
Chapter Five - The Reality
The New York Daily News:
President Obama, who placed a call to Mayor Rawlings, called the killings a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.”
*****
David tries one more time to get out of whatever this is, hoping money will do the trick. He is a firm believer that anyone can be bought, “I just don’t understand! Is there something you want? I can get you money if…”
He doesn’t even get the full offer out before Mickey shouts, “Don’t try to throw your dirty money at us!”
And then, WACK!
Mickey now has a baseball bat which he slammed right into David’s gut. David’s lets out a wail and the color drains from his face. His body wants to fold, but with how he’s tied, he doesn’t get far.
Mallory puts her hand to his mouth to silence him and then reaches down, grabbing him in the crotch, “We don’t need money you idiot! But you need to listen up,” she tightens her hold on him, and he winces as she talks, “WE are in charge!” She clinches him hard one more time before taking her hand back.
David lets out a gasp. The pain is intense, and he struggles to talk, “Just please tell me…tell me what this all is!”
Without saying a word, Mallory walks over to their bag and pulls out a folder. She sets it on a small table that’s off to the side. From the folder she pulls out a picture and holds it up in front of David. The picture is of a protest. David knows it’s the one his group put on in Chicago.
His head is spinning, “What are you doing? Let me out of here!”
“Oh, you belong to us now,” Mickey says, “Don’t fight it. I can assure you, it’s much better that way.”
Chapter Six - The Ignorance
Fox News Insider:
“This is something out of another country,” Tucker Carlson said.
*****
Not knowing what to do, David reluctantly focuses back on the picture. He sees a group of males wearing gas masks and head coverings running through a larger crowd. “Your guys, your handiwork,” Mallory points out, “it’s amazing how you can take a perfectly good city and annihilate it within a few hours!”
“What’s also amazing,” she continues, “is what I don’t see. You make plans to take down a whole city but you’re nowhere to be found! No,” she pulls out another photo, “here’s where you were during Chicago, staying right at the Trump International!” She looks to David, “Really?”
The next picture is of Dallas, “This one was really out there, even for you Amigo. I have to say, I didn’t expect it. But, easy for you to handle from your room at The Ritz I’d imagine, completely out of touch about what you’ve done.”
Mickey chimes in, “I can handle that Mallory. Let me get you in touch Amigo, and I quote, “it was “The deadliest single incident for U.S. law enforcement since September 11, 2001!” Yep, your riots are something else!”
“Riots? Do you mean the protests?” David funds protests and as far as he’s concerned, what happens after that is not his problem.
“Protests, riots, call them whatever makes you feel better Amigo, but they are all the same,” Mallory tells David, “Your people are nothing but runners of violence and cop hatred, and because of people like you, people are dying!”
“Wait a minute!” David is not a murderer, “I’ve killed no one! Protests are free speech. So I help with those, what’s it to you? You don’t believe in free speech in this country?”
“Ignorance!” Mickey explodes, “Promoting the killing of cops and looting businesses, paying people to burn the flag and light police cars on fire is NOT free speech!”
“Okay I don’t know what’s been done to you,” David feels like he’s scrambling, “maybe you have me confused with someone else.”
Mickey and Mallory are silent and David thinks maybe he’s on to something. He dares to keep going, “But…I know a lot of people and maybe I could help you? We could work together!”
“See, that right there sums up one of the reasons you are here today,” Mickey tells David. He waits for a reaction but doesn’t get it. “What you are doing will have massive impacts on the country yet you are completely detached from any of it. You are dangerous because you are ignorant to the effects of what you create in our streets. And you are ignorant because you don’t care.”
Mickey leans in very close to David, “Well today, Amigo, you will care!”
Chapter Seven: The Greed
Investors.com:
($400,000 paid to Obama for speech on healthcare)
Assuming he talks for 45 minutes, that works out to “only” about $36 per word uttered. But with that one health care speech, Obama will make enough to pay the premiums on more than 100 ObamaCare plans for median-income families.
*****
“And since we are on the subject of YOU Amigo, let’s just get it all out on the table.” Mickey walks over to their duffle bag and pulls out a black book. He opens it, “Ah, here we go, let’s take a look at what’s been going on!”
He flips in a few pages and runs his finger down some lines, “Here we have $150,000 in donations! Wow, that’s a good one!” He lifts his head to look at David and then looks back to the book, “$85,000, $120,000…the money just keeps rolling in for you guys!”
He flips another page, “And here’s something interesting…look at this…you paid this guy $5,000 a month for his participation!” Mickey keeps going, “$3,000, $2,500, and then this guy Devon, he must be real special cause he got $6,000!” He taps his finger on the specific line he’s talking about.
“Where did you get that?” David is getting hysterical, “Give me that! You have no
right!”
“What? This information? Easy to get!” Mickey goes deeper into the black book, “Let’s see, you said you live in New York, this is true, but you also have a home in Miami, Santa Barbara and oh, yes, a small ranch in Texas! Boy, I’d like to see that one!” He turns to Mallory and they both start laughing.
Mickey flips a few more pages, “And then you play news analyst! That’s great. You reported on the protests you supported! These facts here,” he taps in the book some more, “did you know that you were on CNN 22 times last month alone? You’re incredible!”
“I report on what’s going on!” David speaks up for himself, but immediately regrets it. Mickey throws the book down and grabs his bat.
“All you care about is the money!” Mickey yells before, WACK!
He hits David again with his bat, this time at the kneecaps. David’s knees buckle but that only pulls on his arms. He groans and does his best to stand up straight. He also feels the tears he’s been holding back start to run down his cheeks. His legs are killing him and he’s struggling to stand, “Please, just let me go. We can work something out! I know a lot of people!”
“Stop!” Mickey yells, “You won’t be paying or talking your way out of this one, and there will be no more lies and excuses!” His voice gets low and firm, “I was ‘Juarez’, Amigo. You don’t want to mess with me.”
David goes still and quiet. He knows all about Juarez, a serious and well-known drug cartel out of Mexico. There is a lot of money in what they do, money he knows he has benefited from, even if it was from a distance. He also knows how dangerous they are and realizes now that this man before him is not someone to mess with.
Mickey stares into David’s eyes. “Greed is the second reason you are here. It has killed any purpose you might have had at one point, and now you work without any morals or guilt, and you have hurt one too many!”
Chapter Eight: The Hypocrite
Police Magazine:
Of the 64 shooting deaths of officers this year (2016), 21 were the result of ambush-style attacks—the highest total in more than two decades.
*****
David realizing that this man was part of Juarez and that they seem to have all of his information, makes any thought of him getting the upper hand seem impossible. Not to mention the fact that he is in pain, cut off from the world, and now really scared.
Mallory has come back with more photos. “I have only four more photos for you."
The first one she holds up is of two young boys, and they are smiling. The younger one is on a bike and just like David’s own childhood in the summers, they look happy and carefree.
“This was our new beginning,” Mallory explains, “Jose was 12 and Luis was 7. Coming from Mexico, America was so beautiful. We had never seen anything like it! We landed in Texas and could’ve stayed there, or even went to California like so many others, but we wanted to be in. We wanted to be away from the crowds and groups, and live a simple life.”
The next picture is of a farm. The picture shows the house, the barn, and the fields in the background. David is drawn to the bright orange sunset. He starts thinking about his own ranch in Texas and how he’d give anything to be there right now instead of where he is.
“We’ve had the same farm in Oklahoma for ten years now,” Mallory turns to David, “Over that time, my husband and I built a home and my boys were becoming men. They worked on the farm, they made friends; they learned the language! They grew up to be Americans, just like you.”
David looks back at her. A sense of nostalgia comes over him and is causing him to miss his own family. He’s surprised by it. He feels a lump forming in his throat and starts to blink to keep himself from crying.
“The best part of it all was they felt free…and safe,” Mickey starts up. “Of course there is crime wherever you go, but this is not a country run by crime. Not that you care since that exactly what you seem to be working to create!”
David looks to him questioningly. Mickey doesn’t bother explaining and instead is looking for some answers, “You know anything about security Amigo? I mean, you ever need some security or God forbid a cop?"
“Well, I-I…I mean, of course!” David has a bad feeling about where this is going.
“Wow! The truth for once!” Mickey looks up like he’s thinking, “Let’s see…you had that time in Saint Paul when you were attacked leaving the Italian place, and you had your security right there to help you! Then there was that other time in Baton Rouge when your car was attacked, but thank goodness you had your “guys” and who? Oh yea, you also had the police to help keep people back and get you out of there!”
Mickey is just walking back and forth, almost like he’s reminiscing and enjoying himself, all the while swinging his bat, “But a favorite of ours, and of many I have to say, is the security at your residences! You’ve got doormen, secured gates, and even a wall! And I’ll bet you anything you even have those cool alarms too, that will call the police right then and there should even the smallest thing go wrong.”
David is just staring at him, but Mickey wants his answers and is out of patience. He holds the bat up vertical and hits the end of it down hard on David’s foot. David falls in the chains once again. Between the yank on his shoulders wrists and the excruciating pain in his crushed foot, David starts to feel dizzy.
He does his best to stand on his good foot and try to be ready for what is coming next. He finds it is another photo, this time of a cop. The officer is young and after a moment David can see it is their oldest son.
“Do you know him?” Mallory asks.
David nods, “It…it’s your son.”
“What is his name?”
“I…I…Jose?” David isn’t sure.
“Say it again” Mallory pushes him, “his name is Jose!”
“His n…name…is Jose.” David feels like he’s going to throw up. He can see that Mallory is getting more pumped up and notices Mickey off to the side with his bat. He just lit a cigarette.
“Jose,” Mallory enunciates his name, “grew up and wanted to give back to the country that gave him a chance and protected him along the way. He became an officer. Can you see that Amigo? An officer of the law!” Mallory waits for only a second, “Answer me!”
“I-I do see…I can see he is a cop…” David doesn’t know what else to say. He’s looking at the photo. The man can’t be more than 21 or 22 years old. He is young. He is fit and decked out in his uniform.
“But you call him a PIG! “What do we want? Dead cops!” Remember that one Amigo?” Mallory yells out, “You guys seem to love that one!”
Mickey steps in closer, blowing smoke in David’s face. David starts coughing, “You want dead cops now?” Mickey asks.
“I don’t…I don’t know what you mean?” David tries to engage, knowing it must have something to do with himself, even if he doesn’t know what.
“You are not true to your word Amigo,” Mickey clarifies as he slowly puffs one more long drag before putting his light out on David’s shoulder. David throws his head back, grimacing from the pain. The only sound is the sizzling of his skin as Mickey grinds the cigarette into his flesh.
“And so,” Mickey continues, “there is the third reason you are here. Above all else, you are a hypocrite. Your life feels good because YOU feel protected, and you reap the benefits this society allows you while protesting against your own country. You are sabotaging the future of our children! But I have one more son left Amigo, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let you ruin his life like you did Jose’s!”
David is in shock. His skin is burning, he can feel the tight wrist holds on his arms and as he stares down at his bound ankles and broken foot with tears in his eyes. His whole body aches, and he doesn’t think he can take much more.
Chapter Nine: The End
MSNBC:
Law enforcement: It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it. But what happens when no one wants to be that somebody?
*****
“We left a place run by drug lords, violence and gangs.” Mallory goes on to explain, “We had the big dream for a new life, a good life, here in America. We wanted our boys to have that chance!
But because of you, we got THIS!” She holds up one more picture. It’s blown up larger than the others, and the colors are more vivid. It’s of an officer’s funeral. David’s eyes are watering but he strains to focus, out of fear he will get beaten again.
The picture looks to be early morning from what David can tell. There are cops in cruisers with lights on, some on motorcycles and even some on horseback. There are also six officers carrying a coffin.
David brings himself to ask, “Is that?”
“That is my SON!” Mallory snaps.
“No! Look, I was wrong about what I’ve said! Please believe me!” David is frantic and slurring his words, “I am so sorry for your son!”
“Best part is,” Mickey says, still hovering over David, “that’s YOU! That’s your handiwork once again Amigo!”
“No! I don’t know you! I don’t want to hurt your family!” David is shaking, “I did not know your son!”
Mickey stands back up straight and is now yelling, “My son was killed in the line of duty because he was brave! But he was alone in an ambush by people you brainwashed to hate cops. They did not even know him!”
Mickey then plants himself directly in front of David. He’s breathing deep and heavy, and then he speaks, “Did you know that El Chapo was worth $14 billion when he was arrested? That is from the same greed and dirty money that runs you Amigo.
El Chapo ran free in a country run by fear, and where money and power come from drugs and cartels; where cops are not cops, and law and order does not exist. With people like you leading the way, we are not far behind them.
You are taking our cops. You with your protests and death wishes. Who wants to be something that is hated so much, and hunted? We will be left with nothing but under qualified deviants no better at protecting us than they can protect themselves! But I did not leave Mexico to end up in a country where the cops are crooked, deal drugs and can be bribed.
American Hypocrites: Short Series of Graphic Revenge Page 7