Strangers Before Enemies (Vicente)

Jorge sighed as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line. He wanted to go and secure the rest of the criminals but he really could not do that if he were busy trying to call the event in. After he had finally explained what had happened, he nodded and thanked the voice on the other end of the line gratefully. He knew that the police would respond quickly so he would just hang around to make sure that everyone was secure. Which also meant that he was going to have to say good bye to have to ask Rafael to hang around. He would have to take his report of the night’s events.

>> “Detective?”

“Yeah.” Jorge correctly responded.

It was at that moment that he had forgotten that he had never given Rafael his job title. Not every person liked talking to cops, especially when they were off duty. Maybe it was because there was some misconception about trusting them with secrets or something. Whatever the case, the cat was out of the bag now.

“Guess I never told ya, huh?” Jorge started as he started to look away from the fallen leader of the gang. At least he was secured now, and breathing. He turned back to Rafael. “I’m a detective with th—“ he blinked and paused.

Where once stood the very tall man of Hispanic origin and of terrifying stature, there now stood only empty space. Confused, Jorge stood up and peered at the place where Rafael had once been and scanned the area.

“Rafael?” Jorge called out. And except for the scarcely breathing bodies that lay strewn about the alley. “Rafael!?”

The flash of red and blue lights could be seen reflecting off the far off walls of buildings down the street. The police had responded fairly quick to the point that Jorge was very impressed. But where had Rafael gone? He had sounded so spooked when he confirmed that he was a cop. Hmm…

Jorge pondered this as he waited for the police to show up. Maybe he’d do a background check when he had a spare moment. It couldn’t hurt…right?

THE END