That Friday Night, Harlem

Bling checked the time on his phone. Eleven forty-three pm, just two minutes away from…

“Magic Hour.”

He sat in the driver's seat of a blue van with four masked goons behind him, waiting for his signal. And of course, Ian sat in the passenger seat, harassing him.

“Bling, check it out! These paperless smoke bombs Little Boss made are great! Look, look, motherfucker!” Ian beamed.

Bling smirked as he and the four masked goons in the back, watched Ian display the flash paper. The paper ignited in his hand and disappeared in a burnout.

“Ooooh!” Marveled the goons in the back of the van.

“I know, right!” Ian shouted.

The flash paper was wrapped around custom smoke bombs Rica personally made for her beloved brutes.

“Heh heh, that ain’t new, man!” said Bling, shaking his head at Ian, “Little Boss been making those things since middle school.”

Ian spun in his seat with his mouth open, “Why? Some little kid taught her how to do this?”

“What?” Bling shook his head, “You jealous she spent time learning how to make bombs from some twelve-year-old?”

“No! What the fuck?” Ian growled.

“Don’t lie!” Bling smirked, “You wouldn’t have brought it up if you weren’t!”

“What?” Ian snarled and punched Bling on the arm, “Shut the hell up!"

“Ow!” Bling winced and checked his phone, “Come on y'all, it’s time!”

“Right!”

Bling, Ian, and the four goons in the back donned full-face ski masks before pulling aluminum baseball bats from under their seats. They all turned to Bling.

“Now the plan is simple and you all know it because we went over it a thousand times. Two minutes, no guns, no shooting. If you gotta stop a dude, crack his fuckin skull with the bat! Grab the money, free the girls. Any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads and mumbled, “Nah Bling, we ready!”

“Good!” Bling barked checking his phone one last time, “Alright y'all, let’s do this!”

At that second the van door slid open. The men raced out into a dark alley and beelined for a building on the street to do what they did best.

Three Hours Later

Captain Richard Perillo of the twenty-sixth precinct in Harlem stood tall while managing the absolute chaos happening in his police station. His precinct received the first of six anonymous calls to six police stations throughout the city that set events in motion.

A big man and a well-liked cop’s cop. Perillo didn’t turn a blind eye to corruption and knew this whole situation smelled funny. But he needed information. After hanging up the phone with the New York Police Commissioner, Perillo stuck his head out of his office and yelled out to the two cops at the center of this storm.

“Detective Brian, Detective Santos. You two, c’mere!”

The two cops looked up at their captain and shrugged. “Cap, we got twenty girls here to interview, and we gotta book all of their captors!” Detective Brian pleaded.

Captain Perillo scowled at them, “Let’s go!”

The two cops stopped their interviewing, got up from their desks, and entered their captain’s office. Shutting the door behind them.

Captain Perillo rubbed his eyes before asking them a straightforward question.

“Detectives, the commissioner is calling me, the mayor’s office is calling me. And I’m trying to tell them the right thing, which is the story you told me.”

The detectives looked at each other, “Cap, everything is in the summary report!”

“Right the summary,” The captain barked, picking up the report on his desk, “It says you two just happened to be in the neighborhood-”

“We were checking on a lead for a separate case!” said Santos.

“Don’t interrupt! So, while you were checking this lead you received an anonymous call about something going down in a building around the corner from your location. The person told you people were holding girls in a dungeon and about to set the place on fire.” He glanced up from the paper, “So then you two heroes, with fuckin badges, storm into the smoked filled building and find all these guys beat up on the ground, and a bunch of girls wandering around, the rest is in the report.”

“That’s exactly what happened,” said Brian.

Perillo took a deep breath as he stared at the two detectives. “Brian, Santos, I wasn’t born this morning. You know what that means, right? It means your story is total bullshit. You two knew all of this was going down and I bet a bunch of other cops in those five other precincts, who all have the same story as you do-”

“Captain! Are you saying we didn’t do a good job?” snapped Brian.

Perillo paused, considering his words. “Sure you did good. But here’s the thing, this bust, your bust! And the other five that happened at the same exact time in this city are going to be scrutinized heavily by the press and the mayor’s office! And I’m telling you now, you two had better be squeaky fucking clean when you go downtown to see the brass tomorrow!”

“The brass? What do they want with us, Cap?” Santos asked.

Perillo jolted up stunned at the question, “Are you stupid or something? Look around you at this circus!” He pointed at the crowd of cops, social workers, medics, and translators flooding his precinct. “This is an international story. And since you two were the first cops on the scene the mayor wants to give you two medals!”

“They’re gonna give us medals?” Brian echoed and turned to his partner. “Santos, were famous, bro!”

“Hell yeah, we are!”

The two cops jumped out of their seats and high-fived each other, cheering as they dismissed themselves from Captain Perillo’s office. Brian turned to the big captain.

“Cap, we’re gonna make you the mayor of this city, right Santos!”

“You damn right!” Santos cheered.

Perillo frowned, “I’d rather you didn’t do that. But what you could do is finish processing all those victims of trafficking out there, and get prepared to meet the mayor tomorrow. And don’t fuckin embarrass me!”

The two cheering detectives nodded and dismissed the notion as they exited his office, “Don’t worry, Captain. We’ll make you proud!” they slammed his office door behind them.

Captain Perillo shook his head. A twenty-three-year veteran beat cop turned commander who had never taken a bribe. But he knew cops who did.

“Those two,” he mumbled to himself, “I don’t know who paid them or how much, but at least they did something really good for once.”

He sat in his chair looking at his phone light up with calls. “Mayor Richard Perillo of the City of New York. Heh heh, that don’t sound too bad at all~”

Mastermind

At three am Dan began watching the after-hours news from Reyna’s safe house apartment. It didn’t take long for the national broadcasters to pick up the late-night story.

“The NYPD stated there were forty arrests with more to follow as over one hundred women have been rescued in what appears to be a simultaneous incident involving smoke bombs at six illegal brothels throughout New York city-” Click!

He turned off the TV to answer his phone.

“Hello?”

“Yo, Dan, it’s Kitty. You heard from Reyna?”

“Um, no, not yet. Also, you know all of this made the news right?” he asked.

“Of course it did!” She yelped, “You came up with a daring and awesome plan bound to get attention. What’d you think would happen, Dan?”

He nodded, but not in pride, but relief. “I guess the plan worked. But only because your crew executed it so flawlessly in six locations, that is freaking amazing! And I’m really happy that you guys didn’t kill anyone.”

“Nya?” She sounded puzzled, “You told us not to kill anyone, so nobody brought a gun. Just bats and bombs, hahaha! Plus we snatched about two million dollars from those spots!"

Dan smiled and closed his eyes, “Wow, I didn't think there'd be that much money at those places. But um, did you and Tara do that other thing I suggested?”

“Oh yeah, that’s where I’m calling you from now. You were right about this guy, Dan. He’s screwing everyone over.”

“Yeah, I know. Anyway, do you think Reyna-”

“Completed her little mission for you? Of course, she did. They don’t call that spooky bitch the villain Reyna Rai for nothin!” Kitty barked, then paused and whispered, “Reyna can be too villainous at times.” She stopped talking.

“Hm?” Dan looked at his phone, “I didn’t catch that last part, hello? Kitty, are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here. And nevermind all that, I just called to tell you your plan was good, and you did good, Dan. All the boys are gonna get a cut of that money they snatched, and me and Tara are taking care of that other thing for you.”

Dan nodded, “Oh, ok, but you know Lazlo and his guys won't take this lying down. They're gonna circle the wagon,” he said.

“Shit, they ain’t got much wagon left!” she laughed.

“Yeah, but you know how vicious cornered wolves can be.”

“I do, but better they’re in a corner, right? Anyway think positive, Dan. You’ll be alright. And tell Reyna to call me when you see her, nya?”

“Sure thing, and Kitty, tell Tara I said thanks for everything.”

“Don’t worry about her. She’s actually thanking you!” Click! Kitty hung up.

Dan put his phone down and stood up to stretch. He wanted to feel good about his plan and freeing all the trafficked women. But he felt an overwhelming sense of dread.

Lazlo will be gunning for me, now.

He turned the television back on and saw a crying, middle eastern lady, interviewed by the press. She explained how the trafficking gang held her captive in the brothel for a year. She never thought she’d see her family again.

Dan watched her.

The lady continued talking and smiling through tears. She thanked every city agency who rescued her. Dan felt her gratitude through the television and finally cracked a smile.

Maybe you did do something right tonight, Dan. But this ain’t over.

...