The buck. Stops. Here. That's all you need to know about me. My name is Cristana, and I am a cop. That's right. The police. The 5-0. The ones that will mess your face up then throw your small little butt in a hole where no light can shine. And you know what? I enjoy my job a great deal. Especially when I get to take down the low lives that fill up this pathetic city.
At the moment I'm riding though what we call the 'revolving door.' It's 2 blocks of inner city, filled with the lowest and stupidest of criminals. When one person returns to it from jail, another is going in. It's the sort of place that when you are low on your monthly counts, you stop the first person you see here and check them. 9 times out of 10 there's a warrant.
In reaction my foot slams on the brake of my cruiser. The cruiser halts to a stop, making that long drawn out scraping sound. Lit up from the street lamps and my head lights is him, "The John." He pauses as he looks at me, his eyes moving to look directly in mine. Sure as hell it is The John. Without waiting another second, my cruiser door is opened and I'm running after him. Only now does he seem to think I might be a problem and he takes off running as he was just smirking.
The John is the leader of the dominate gang in the city. They used to be part of some other major gang like the Crips or something, but got kicked out. Now they just make trouble for me and my kind. And like all criminals, he's stupid. He's the most wanted man in the city right now and I'm going to bring his dumb butt in...which means promotion.
My feet feel light as I chase after him down the sidewalk. I hate running but I have no choice at the moment. After all, this is why I exercise...to chase down idiot criminals. He has a lead on me, but I don't care because I'm gaining on him. Even when he turns the corner, I'm gaining on him. Within seconds I turn the same corner and see that he's starting to get winded.
The John is supposedly very dangerous, but to me he's just another low life loser. His thing is that he likes to leave messages/warnings for others. He never kills unless it's needed, but loves his stupid messages. Like when he kidnapped the captain's teenage daughters, got them all high on heroin and made them say crude things about their father, which The John put on YouTube. Or when he dunked one of his members in a vat of paint for wearing the wrong gang colors. Guy's a sicko. But soon to be a jailbird sicko.
As I run, I think about what this loser is going to get me. A promotion. My picture in the paper. News articles. Maybe my bio in Latina magazine if things go my way. This loser is going to be my ticket out of the bottom rung of police work and into management. But I will say I'll miss roughing up the low lives if that happens . Yeah, I admit, I'm rougher than I need to be with criminals, but is anyone going to say anything? I'm a girl after all. And no man will ever admit a girl roughed them up.
The John turns another corner for a new block and I stay on him. Now the surrounding people have taken notice. They stop and look at us, screaming insults at e and telling him to run. Of course they hate cops.
Then John makes a fatal mistake. He turns to run down an alley between two apartment complexes. I smirk because it looks like there's no other way out then the way you came in. He just got himself caught. Picking up my speed I down the alley. I burst to the end and find I'm right; it's the back of the apartments which is a small enclosed area...but no The John.
Then fear, shame and horror fill my entire body as I feel something hard press against the side of my head.
"Damn it," I mutter knowing he has his gun pressed against me. I fell for the oldest trick in the book. He hid on the side of the wall and let me run right past him. Now he has the drop on me.
"Raise em up piggy," he orders with a malicious tone. I do so grudgingly, upset at myself for being so stupid. It takes him only a moment to remove my gun and belt in what feels like a practiced move. Oddly, I stand there, hands raised, looking at the brick wall for a very long time. He doesn't say anything or move, just keeps me there, pressing the piece against my head. Then it dawns on me, he's playing with me. He's making me stay like this so it can sink in that he out smarted me.
"Tired of you piggies always hounding me," he finally says after what feels like several minutes. "Should have thought about that before..." I start but shut up when he cocks his piece, letting me know I'm not to speak. "Seems...I'll need to leave a strong message this time," he says with what sounds like a smirk. Now my heart sinks and fear begins to build like a snowball down a hill. Oh crap.
"March," He orders, pushing my head with his gun. My feet start moving before my brain orders them to. What an idiot. He's making me go back to the sidewalk?! The moment people see me, someone will call this in. There'll be a flood of cops here in under 3 minutes! Criminals. Can they be any stupider? This lets me breath as I don't need to think up a plan out of this, which would be very hard as I'm terrified.
"Put your hands on your head," he orders right as I step out into the sidewalk from the alley. Humiliated, I put both of my hands on top of my head, just as I made so many others do. At once I feel ashamed for doing this as people turn to look at me. They all look at me disgusted and excited, like I'm the bad kid that is about to be punished. This scares me in a way I've never felt before. It's like they wanted this to happen.
"Did I say stop walking?" He orders and I get a hard hit in the back of the head, making me stumble forward. "You know what? Just for that, lose the shoes and socks," he barks. Thinking this is a bit cruel, I kick off my shoes and then step on each sock to pull them off. Now my small, well cared for feet are bare and on the warm concrete. Then I'm pushed again, making me move. I hear him kick my shoes into the street, where they will become just another piece of trash on the side of the road. Never mind how much they cost, they will be nothing more than trash.
"You have any idea how much trouble," I begin, my anger finally making me talk.
"Shut up, I don't want to hear it," he barks, giving me a slap to the back of the head. It stings but not very bad. He did it just to scare me. And truth be told, it's working. Maybe it's walking down the sidewalk with my hands on my head that scares me. Or maybe it's that people just look at me instead of helping that does it. Or maybe it's the laughs and smirks I see on their faces that scares me. But yes, I am getting very scared.
Now I begin to lower my eyes so I don't have to look at anyone. Gosh, how foolish I must look! A cop, defeated...in public. Oh, how humiliating. We turn the corner of the block and I see where he's taking me. To his 'base.' It's an old basketball court where dozens of his loser gang members hang out all day. The moment his loser friends see me, they all explode with jeers, laughter, cheers. If you heard it, you might think he just saved the world you something.
I'm lead into the court, my hands still on top of my head. "Don't touch me!" I shout a few times as jackasses slap my bottom. They try to slap hard but I raise my leg in attempts to block it or to get them to hit my hip bone instead. I make sure not to remove my hands as I do not want to be shot or give the appearance I'm trying to fight back. I do give glaring looks to the ones that jeer at me or attempt to hit me. Oh, how I can't wait to see them in a few minutes when backup arrives. All of these losers will be in jail.
"Wait!" I gasp as my hands are grabbed and hoisted upward hard. In sheer reaction I try to pull my hands back.