"Lieutenant Turnbull was a cop who was just trying to make a living for his family," began the Mayor, speaking the truth. "And he was a hero." And the crowd believed.
************
It was just a normal night in Vice. On a Wednesday night everything was standard. There were never any major busts, the drunks were not out in force, and generally the Vice teams let the trade ebb and flow as it would, the dark undercurrent of prostitution flowing, barely visible, beneath the gleaming lights of the city.
James and Daniel sat in their vehicle watching their street corner, observing to ensure nothing out of the ordinary occurred. A young woman, they were really not sure how young, prowled back and forth along the corner in a tight red skirt, eyeing the vehicles that slowed to admire her long, shapely legs. "She looks pretty young, eh?" James remarked to Daniel. "Yeah, I haven't seen her out before. It would almost be good to stop her and see what was going on."
"Almost."
"Yeah, almost."
************
Sam pulled the Mercedes over to the side of the road beside Cassandra. He rolled down the window, and she instantly recognized him; she even smiled. "Naive little cunt," Sam muttered to himself under his breath. At 15, and on her first night out, she did not yet understand that she should be afraid of Sam, rather than looking forward to seeing him.
"Get in the fucking car," he said to her, motioning to the seat beside him. She nodded, opened the door and slid into the seat beside him; she slid her hand to his thigh and smiled up at him, baring her teeth.
She whined, "I didn't even have time to start. How am I supposed to make fucking money if you don't even give me a chance?"
Sam laughed at her. "You'll get your chance. Just you fucking wait."
Sam looked over his shoulder, and, seeing no one eyeing him, pulled out into the street.
************
Vick sat silently in the arm chair, a cigarette hanging from between his fingers, ash drifting down onto the carpet of the seedy motel room. Tall, white and middle-aged, he exuded confidence and power, appearing relaxed to the two young black men who paced back and forth in front of him in the room.
He grinned at them, "You two need to relax. I do deals like this all the time. Don't you worry. You are buying from the best."
The first man, the taller one, looked at him with suspicion in his eyes. "You may do this shit all the time, but we generally don't buy this far out of our region. If you didn't come with some strong motherfucking reccos from some legit people I wouldn't have agreed to this shit."
Vick tapped his cigarette mindlessly against the chair, sending more ash to the floor. "Well, you should feel honoured I even came to do this deal with you myself. Generally I stay out of transactions like this. However, given you are a new customer, and with the 'motherfucking reccos' some legit people gave you, I felt it would be appropriate to be present for our first deal."
************
"You think he is just taking her up there for a normal meet, or what?" James asked Daniel.
"No man. I told you. I've seen that fucking car over and over again, and I know it's a fucking pimp that drives that shit. The guy is like a fucking ghost though. I see him around picking up women from time to time, but when I file a report about it nothing happens. If I ever request resources to figure out who the fuck he is and who he works for they always get turned down. He's always fucking there, but even his plate doesn't show up in the fucking system. Fucking ghost."
James looked back at his new partner, "Man, I think you're just fucking paranoid. We'll watch the motel room and figure out who the fuck this dude is."
************
"Cassandra, take off your clothes and let the men take a look at you," Sam directed her. Cassandra looked over at Sam, then at the two black men, then back at Sam.
"What's going-"
Sam cut her off with a blow to the chest, sending her falling back onto the bed. He looked over at the two black men. "My apologies, my niggers, for damaging your property, but we can't have bitches talking back."
The first black men, the one who spoke, just gave a short laugh and waved his hand as if it was nothing.
Cassandra slid herself down off the bed and onto the floor and then stood back up. She looked at Sam, tears rolling down her face, and silently began to take off her clothes.
As the men looked on, Vick looked to the taller man and spoke, "Now, my friends, we trade the money for the girl. As I said, we are a top quality supplier to organizations such as yours, and we look forward to doing more business in the future."
************
"They're definitely fucking yelling in there, man. Something is fucking happening in there," James was speaking quickly as they stood outside the motel room.
Daniel looked at him. "Just because there is fucking yelling doesn't mean we are going to do shit. As far as we know, this could be a fucking domestic dispute or something."
"It's not a fucking domestic dispute! You saw one man and one woman walk into that fucking room and now it sounds like the whole fucking world is coming down in there! We have to fucking step in!"
Daniel spoke quickly into his shoulder-mounted radio and then nodded to the door.
************
"Police, everybody down!"
Vick, Sam and the two black men all turned towards the door, guns drawn, as it flew in off its hinges, two officers bursting in from the cold dark night. Forgetting the bag of money and the young woman on the bed, the focal point of their dispute, they all pointed their weapons at the officers. Sam muttered under his breath, "Mexican fucking standoff."
One of the officers looked quizzically at Vick. "Lieutenant... Lieutenant Turnbull?"
The taller black man immediately turned his weapon on Vick, shouting, "Fucking snitch cop!"
Before Vick could react, the man had pulled the trigger, sending a slug into Vick's chest and throwing him back into the seat. Both officers opened fire simultaneously, Daniel shooting at the taller black man and James shooting at Sam. The second black man fired at Daniel, his first round catching Daniel in the side of the head and sending him reeling to the floor. James returned fire.
************
The Mayor was right about one thing: Vick was just trying to make a living for his family. Daniel sat in the front row and looked over at Lieutenant Turnbull's family. Only Daniel would know that Vick was never a hero.
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