October 24, 2022 • 23 mins
An interrogation of the shooter takes an unexpected turn, Stevie confides in Tony about Lisa’s past, and Tony and Reggie tangle with the cartel. Tony finally puts all the pieces together, but he might be too late.
The novel this series is based on has been published and is available on Amazon, here: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Meat-Village-Crime-Thriller/dp/B0DYP2DRJ5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=XXR35BASP3U7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Uj7dmdgVs7md8Qt3597vMQ.1KGFa38PJMCP5InjoiKJ0D9YJ086g80ajz6Sfh_fGyU&dib_tag=se&keywords=tris+power+red+meat+village&qid=1742329315&s=books&sprefix=tris+power+red+meat+village+%2Cstripbooks%2C83&sr=1-1
Red Meat Village is a production of Voyage Media. The series is produced by Nat Mundel, Robert Mitas, and Dan Benamor. Directed, produced and adapted by Dan Benamor, based on Andrew Bernstein’s upcoming novel of the same name.
Starring Ryan Heppe as Tony, Catherine Bell as Lisa, Malik Yoba as Reggie, Rachel Pate as Monjurrie, Abel Soto as Cortez, Kareem Ferguson as Chill, Luca Malacrino as Stevie, and Tracey Leigh as Destiny. Edited, sound designed, and mixed by Nick Messitte. Original music by Derlis Gonzalez.
If you’re enjoying the show, please leave us a five star review in Apple Podcasts or anywhere you’re listening and subscribe now for future episodes.
The novel this series is based on has been published and is available on Amazon, here: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Meat-Village-Crime-Thriller/dp/B0DYP2DRJ5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=XXR35BASP3U7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Uj7dmdgVs7md8Qt3597vMQ.1KGFa38PJMCP5InjoiKJ0D9YJ086g80ajz6Sfh_fGyU&dib_tag=se&keywords=tris+power+red+meat+village&qid=1742329315&s=books&sprefix=tris+power+red+meat+village+%2Cstripbooks%2C83&sr=1-1
Red Meat Village is a production of Voyage Media. The series is produced by Nat Mundel, Robert Mitas, and Dan Benamor. Directed, produced and adapted by Dan Benamor, based on Andrew Bernstein’s upcoming novel of the same name.
Starring Ryan Heppe as Tony, Catherine Bell as Lisa, Malik Yoba as Reggie, Rachel Pate as Monjurrie, Abel Soto as Cortez, Kareem Ferguson as Chill, Luca Malacrino as Stevie, and Tracey Leigh as Destiny. Edited, sound designed, and mixed by Nick Messitte. Original music by Derlis Gonzalez.
If you’re enjoying the show, please leave us a five star review in Apple Podcasts or anywhere you’re listening and subscribe now for future episodes.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Voyage, meet village, feet villageetvillage. Lisa roared down the street,
(00:23):
putting distance between us and Brownsville.Sirens could be heard in the distance.
Reggie gazed with interest at the unconsciousmurderer. Every visit to Brownsville is exciting.
We took the shoot at the Lisa'shouse. She had a soundproofed basement
where she'd see clients. His namewas Curtis. We asked him why he
(00:46):
shot the dealer Blaze, who supposedlyknew something about where we could find Destiny.
He wouldn't say. Reggie threatened tobreak his twenty four ribs one punch
at a time and watch him chokeon his blood from internal injuries. Curtis
talked, he didn't know where Destinywas, but he identified Monjerie as a
courier working for the cartel. Sheworked for the cartel's local distributor, Cortez,
(01:10):
who operated out of an auto garage. Before we could figure out what
to do with Curtis, there wasa knock at Lisa's door. Our visitor
was James Robinson aka Chill. Reggieand I had previously encountered him at Betsy
Head Park in Brownsville. He wasa swagger and drug dealer, habitually dressed
(01:30):
in a perfectly groomed camel's hair coat. He clearly followed us to Lisa's home.
It was the coat that told meimmediately who James Robinson was. A
tall, whiplash lean young man.I could see lean cheeks, dark flashing
eyes, a firm jaw. Hecould have hit a movie star. He
smiled genuine as hell, and itlit the room. You were a long
(01:53):
way from Betsy had what you wereto speak privately with tone. Hey,
anything you say to me, youcan say to them. What do you
want to talk about? A tray? What for? What? Curtis deal
for? Destiny Hunter? What thehell do you know about Destiny Hunter?
(02:14):
We reluctantly led James inside. Hewas outnumbered and outgunned. He wasn't going
to harm any of us if hewanted to survive the night. What are
you gonna tell me about her?Destiny? She occur her for the cartel
man. What she's a student atBrooklyn University. I know that, but
I also work with her. Shead go between for the distributors in street
(02:35):
Deal. How the hell did thathappen? Monjerie? Where is she Now,
nobody's seen her for weeks. Man, Tony, she bounced, you're
telling me she worked for Cortez.Year y'all hear about that heist right two
point four million of blow three,maybe four weeks ago, right about the
(02:57):
time Destiny disappeared. It is,it's being sold off in Hell's kitchen Muldoon's
territory. How's Destiny tightened? Allthat? Your problem? So where's raditat?
Who's that Curtis? I patted Jamesdown and we all escorted him downstairs
to Curtis. Reggie stripped the ducttape off Curtis's mouth, but before he
(03:22):
could say anything, James casually reacheddown and came up with a small Boar
twenty two handgun from a concealed miniholster on his ankle. I'd missed it.
He lined the rod up on Curtis'schest and pumped two shells into his
heart. Curtis's chest let out anaudible sigh, His head slumped sideways onto
his shoulder, and he never movedagain. I stared at his corpse,
(03:45):
shocked into motionlessness as I stood therein Lisa's basement, the now dead body
of Curtis Dell slumped on the chairin front of me. His killer chill
a KAA. James Robinson, trueto his nickname, acted as if he
delivered me the wrong lunch order.It needed to be done, but I
take no pleasure in it. Hestill had his twenty two, but I
(04:10):
knew he wasn't a threat to me. I didn't have my nine millimeter Molly
ready at hand, but I wouldn'tshoot this kid anyway. He just walked
out. We let him go.I mean, what were we gonna do
arrest him for shooting our hostage.Stevie had a friend whose boat could be
used for situations like this. Theancient skiff puttered slowly down the river,
(04:33):
marking Curtis Tell's forlorn funeral procession.It was a cold mid March night,
especially on the water on which itseemed spring would never come. The night
was moonless, dark, and starsglittered like distant jewels on a black satin
background. The wind whipped us likeit held a personal grudge. It was
(04:54):
late. We sat above decks.Curtis's cold corpse was stuffed in a trunk,
waited with umbells and stashed in asecret compartment of a whole reeking of
dead fish, a stencil overpowering it, confounded the best efforts of DA dogs
seeking drugs that Stevie's former associates hadlong smuggled. We sat, bundled in
down coats and knit caps. Ihad a metal flask of brandy. Stevie
(05:17):
at the con drank only sparingly Reggie, who worshiped his body like a holy
vessel, not at all more forus. I passed the flask to Stevie
again. You've got a thing forLisa. It's that obvious. Let me
tell you something about it, becausefore worn is forearmed. Okay, she
(05:38):
gave me a shiner once. Ittook me damn near ten minutes, the
subdure, the pennant of the floor, and a loft or rileder like that.
You cheat on it? Hell no, you got Lisa via girl.
Why would you look at someone else? Then? Why? An old friend
from my parents building? Swore Istiffed around a deal and Lisa wouldn't hear
different. Eventually we can in frontof the chick up down a riverside,
(06:00):
and she confessed. I kept myarm Lisa the whole time. As soon
as she heard the truth, sheswung. I grabbed her arm and let
the force of a blow swinger around. By the time she was straight,
the lion bitch was gone. Shelooked at me, those dark eyes flashing
hard. I said, let itgo. We have each other. And
(06:23):
her eyes changed and she came intomy arms. She loved you, black
eye and all. He laughed,running his right hand across his left eye.
It was all a shine to Tony. It was black, blue orange,
and it stunned. And she maybe only five four, but she
(06:44):
can hit. Don't think she can't. The school teacher said, she got
a devil inside her teachers and lie, she make it up to you.
He nodded his head and smiling,Yeah she did. She's a wild Tony,
but loving like nobody else you'll everknow. There was silence, and
I felt its presence, this heavyinternal weight. Me and Reggie and Stevie,
(07:11):
the three of us on a windsweptboat, on a dark mission,
on a dark night, the heistdestiny Muldoon. Now many people can connect
all those dots, you know,Muldoon. His eyes couldn't have flashmore astonishment.
Yeah, Muldoon treated me almost likethe family. But Lisa was the
one he really loved the daughter wenever had. What do you think it
(07:38):
was me? The heist in thecartel? Was it you trem into the
bulls? I did it? Wedon't give a rat's ass about the cartel.
He stand from one of us tothe other in as good an act
of incredulity if it wasn't real asI had ever seen. His eyes couldn't
have flashmore astonishment if I'd accused himof being an alien invader from the crab
(07:58):
Nebula. I was buy an end, desperate to retain my grasp of certainty.
I said, there's a huge upsurgeof trafficking and Hell's Kitchen in the
Upper West Side. You have thebrains and the testicles to hijack and cartel
shipment and traffic in Hell's Kitchen.People like you could be counted on one
hand. Stevie nodded. Then hethrew back his head and he laughed.
(08:24):
His laugh filled the air with apure sound of delight, a simple sound
of surprise, of joyousness at thetwisted turns and absurd accusations that might creep
unexpected into one's life. It wasa sound capable of being uttered only by
a soul that swashbuckled in the daylightand slept peacefully in the night. He
punched his chest with his right hand, trying to stifle his laughter. Dude,
(08:48):
due, I appreciate the respect Ido, and I got no problem
with some smart boy hard rocks.Heighten these bastards the lives they wipe out.
But do you realize the kind ofinside information and the degree of planning
it would take the hijack the stonecall killers, the type of precision operation
they run and live to fight anotherday. I'm flattered, I am truly
(09:13):
flattered. But it wasn't me.Looked me in the eyes and swear you
didn't do it, and I'll believeyou. Tony Reggie. I sweate you
on Lisa's life, on my ownlife, that I am not involved,
nor have I been, in anyheist of the cartown. His eyes were
(09:35):
alight with deviltry. I could seehim mocking us, telling us both to
go screw ourselves, then swatted upoff the boat and swimming home. He
was capable of him, but hedidn't do it. He looked from one
of us into the other. TonyReggie, I swear to you, on
Lisa's life, on my own lifethat I am not involved, nor have
I been in any heights of thecartown. I believe him. Shit,
(10:05):
I thought, I have no cluewho pulled this job. I've been on
this case for weeks and I haven'ta clue. A great smart ass detective,
I am. We'd hit the cartellocation we'd gotten from Blaze sometime tomorrow.
I was too tired to think aboutit. The faint glow of lights
on Long Island shimmered in the distance. Brandier No, I was benumbed,
(10:28):
and nothing sounded so good as ahot meal, a hot shower, and
a warm bed. The wind stillblew hard in our face. We had
Curtisdell's body on deck. Reggie andStevie hefted the weighted trunk. They dropped
his cold body in the cold sea, and he was instantly swallowed up in
(10:48):
its cold depths. We observed amoment of silence, not for a stone
killer, but for wasted human potential. Then Stevie again took the Khan and
turned the boat around. He pushedforward the throttle leven higher the old engines
power in his home school announced thesubject oh Nietzsche's influence in Jack London's the
(11:24):
seawall you knew, Humphrey van Waden. There's a master plan afoot. It'll
makes sense to you when you readmy essay. Okay, we'll let the
carve at some writing time after wesee Quartez. Honey, I know will
be super careful. Careful is notin your nature? Where's Nikki Mickey's gone?
(11:45):
The silence in the room was total. You could faintly hear the traffic
on the street and in the distanceNew York City's endless sirens. Her pain
was manifest, and I empathized,but I was simultaneously filled with elation.
I held myself back from the obviousquestion and asked another one instead. Where'd
(12:07):
he go? Why? It doesn'tmatter? He was never going to get
clean. For years now it hasn'tbeen good. I don't know what'll happen
to him now. She looked atme suddenly, with desperation in her eyes.
Tony, don't go against the cartel, please? I told her we
wouldn't. Technically it was true.That's what I tried to think. Is
(12:28):
Reggie and I drove to Cortes's garagethe next day. Why are we doing
this? She's Lee's assistant. Thatmakes it practically family to us. Someone
steps in dogs shit in a fieldof dogs shit they knowingly walked into.
I don't think it's our responsibility tobuy them new shoe. You can bounce
if you need to. I won'tbe man. I finished my essay last
(12:50):
night. My day's free. Werolled up the street until we reached Cortes's
garage. We got out, strolledaround the lock, and strutted inside.
I looked around. There were nowitnesses. A mechanic had a batted sedan
on the hoist. His dark hairwas covered in sweat. He was short,
(13:15):
stocky, and muscles bulged in hisarms like overstrained houses. He wore
a white tank top and baggy darkpants. He had dark blue tattoos stretching
from either shoulder down his arms.One was of a mustachioed man in a
dark suit in for Dora, pointinga handgun. The other was of a
victim taking shots from the gun inhis midsection. This aldero had the butt
(13:39):
of a cigarette in his mouth.We pulled on gloves and ski masks.
My right hand clutched Mollie in myjacket pocket. My left groped for the
switch controlling the front gate. Thegate started to roll down. The Saldero
looked surprised before he looked belligerent.Reggie hit him once a short modulated left
(14:03):
to the point of his jaw,and he collapsed like an imploded building.
I nodded the Reggie watched for copson their payroll. I started up a
short flight of grease stained wooden stairsto a glass enclosed office. A big
guy in black sweat came out witha pistol in his hand, but I
(14:24):
got molly under his chin, pointedup his drain. Before he could turn
to me, I shoved him intothe office. Inside, a wiry dude
with a shock of black hair satbehind the desk. He'd heard the commotion
and had the baleful snout of anAAR fifteen pointed my way, Cortez.
I guessed one question, one answer, or I then late your co over
(14:48):
here. We just want to knowwhat you did to Destiny Hunter. They're
coming. Locked the doors the thief. You're here for her? She stole
from us. How'd you know itwas herne The shimmon was coming. I
could hear a police car roaring uptowards the garage. Siren on what happened
to her. I don't know ifshe ran. If we find Destiny with
(15:11):
your coke or the money from thesale of your coke, we'll return all
the drugs or cash to him.But you need to leave a bee after
that. Do it, and there'sa conversation to be had. I can't
promise more than that. I starteddown the stairs. Something was tugging around
in my brain, but I didn'thave it yet. Reggie and I flattened.
(15:35):
We went over side fences and keptgoing over him toward the avenue one,
which we parked. We got inthe car and slowly rolled out of
there. We shoved ski masks andgloves into a plastic trash bag some twenty
blocks away. Reggie hopped out andshoved it near the bottom of a garbage
filled restaurant thumpster. At the speedlimit. We drove silently out of Brown's,
(16:00):
though we were well on our wayto Bedstye before Reggie spoke, did
you get what you needed? Grimly, I nodded. I knew were to
find the answers, and tonight aloneI would do it. Okay, okay,
what I'll tell you? What thehell is destiny? Really everything.
(16:23):
She went by Channel Chisholm, nicknamedChaci in her youth. She came from
rural Jamaica, a poor family.She ran off from brutal farm work as
a child. We don't know howold. Makes her way to Kingston,
lives by her wits, eventually emigraceto the US, where my parents adopted
her in her early teens. Thingswere great between us, but the trauma
(16:49):
of her youth never left her.She couldn't be in someone else's care had
always made her uneasy. She waslike a street dog that couldn't adopt app
to a loving home. So sheemancipated herself at eighteen, Sharp as a
hatchet, pretty as a show cat, cool as the trade winds, she
(17:10):
makes her way from pickpocket to creditcard fraud consort of lonely millionaires, bilking
them for cash. Works this lastangle successfully for years. Eventually, with
chains and pipes beaten within three millimetersof life by a drug gang she defrauded.
She crawls back to me and promisesshe's going straight. I guess she
(17:33):
didn't. Why didn't you tell me? I thought you wouldn't look for her?
Are you kidding? She's your sister? Yet I killed ten men to
find your cat, Lisa, youneed me to say it out loud.
We were seated close to each other. She put her hands on me,
something between an apology and a thankyou. I kissed her. She twisted
(17:56):
in my arms. Her arms wentaround my neck and kissed her again.
I continued to kiss her. Irefused to stop kissing her. I bent
and scooped her in my arms,carried her slender form into the living room
and laid her down on the sofa. It had been as long for her
as it was for me. Afterwards, we lay together, unmoving, incapable
(18:23):
of moving, in each other's armsand breathed. We lay together for long
moments of quiet. She fell asleep. Eventually I got up and got a
glass of tap water from the kitchen. As giddily happy as I was,
that something nagged at me again,from the deep recesses of my brain and
(18:45):
intuition that would only get louder untilit was dealt with. Feeling my heart
beat against my chest, wanting tostop my legs from moving, I crept
down the basement stairs. A dimlight from the kitchen illuminated the room,
but I knew my way even ifit pitch black. There was a painting
on the wall behind it was Lisa'swall safe, the wall safe to which
(19:06):
she had long ago given me akey. Finally I understood why I was
certain she had not subsequently changed thelock, and it hit me. The
whole goddamn scheme fell at the placeI'd had all the pieces, had them
for days. I could have shouldhave put this together days ago, but
only now it coalesced. I thoughtof Stevie's words, his words on the
(19:27):
boat, and I shook my headat how I had missed what was right
in front of me. For amoment, I stood and marveled at the
scheme, so simple yet so complex, drawing into her web the man who
loved her, drawing him in.For multiple reasons, but one overriding reason,
I was certain of it. Lisashould have been a marine, simplify,
(19:48):
always faithful, whatever devil stocked theclandestine byways of a soul, never
faithless to a man as such,certain that a man would never be faithless
to her, and never turned herinto the heads. I slipped the key
into the lock. It fits snugly, and the door swung open, readily,
swung wide. I hadn't even shinedthe flash from my phone inside,
(20:11):
but I knew what I would find. For a moment, I paused,
how could I have missed it?Destiny Cortez's lover knew when and where the
shipment arrived. She was terrified,would never rob a drug gang again.
But she knew somebody who was justthis side of fearless and mentioned it.
Somebody expert with a gun, somebodywith a devil inside her, somebody who
(20:32):
would go against the cartel the waysome climber's free solo three thousand foot vertical
rock faces. Lisa had access toMuldoon, who regarded her like a daughter.
She knew she could sell the blowfor over two million, and that
it would be trafficked in Hell's Kitchenand on the upper west side. I
was about to shine the light insidewhen I heard a noise from above.
(20:53):
I turned off the light silently.I pushed the door almost shut, listened
slight sounds came from the rear doorof the lock being picked picked quietly,
expertly by professionals. I pulled Molly, I held her in my right hand
and got on the floor. Wasit the d ea? I wouldn't shoot
(21:15):
federal offices. If it was them, I would just surrender, but with
it. When all hope of savingLisa from long years in the ice box
was at the cartel, I mademy way back to the sofa, but
Lisa was gone. She had heardthe noise too. I rolled behind Lisa's
sofa. These would not be cortezvacarios. These would be hitmen from Mexico,
(21:38):
professionals. I breathed, trying tocalm myself. How many of them
would there be? Probably two?Again, silently, I snarled. My
nine was fully loaded. The backdoor opened. It was the slightest squeak,
but my hearing was so attuned Icould hear an ant cough even now
(22:00):
and want them going after her.Even after she suckered me and played with
my life, I was still determinedto save hers. My hands shook gunfights
with professional killers when nobody's idea offun. I tried to breathe slowly.
I pointed my phone at the farwall. I switched on the light and
ducked behind the sofa. There theywere, two of them, illuminated in
(22:23):
the glare. Instantly they cut looseredmeat. Village is a production of voyage
Media. The series is produced bynat Mondel, Robert Midas, and Dan
Bendimore. Directed, produced, andadopted by Dan Bettimore, based on Andrew
(22:45):
Bernstein's upcoming novel at the same name. When a link to the novel is
available, it will be listed inthe show notes. Starring Catherine Bell as
Lisa, Malik Yoba as Reggie,and Ryan Heppy as Tony. Additional cast
credits are available and showed edited,sound design and mixed by Nick Missidi,
original music by Derlas Gonzalez. Ifyou're enjoying the show, please leave us
(23:07):
a five star review and Apple Podcastsor anywhere you're listening and subscribe now for
future episodes.
Voyage, meet village, feet villageetvillage. Lisa roared down the street,
(00:23):
putting distance between us and Brownsville.Sirens could be heard in the distance.
Reggie gazed with interest at the unconsciousmurderer. Every visit to Brownsville is exciting.
We took the shoot at the Lisa'shouse. She had a soundproofed basement
where she'd see clients. His namewas Curtis. We asked him why he
(00:46):
shot the dealer Blaze, who supposedlyknew something about where we could find Destiny.
He wouldn't say. Reggie threatened tobreak his twenty four ribs one punch
at a time and watch him chokeon his blood from internal injuries. Curtis
talked, he didn't know where Destinywas, but he identified Monjerie as a
courier working for the cartel. Sheworked for the cartel's local distributor, Cortez,
(01:10):
who operated out of an auto garage. Before we could figure out what
to do with Curtis, there wasa knock at Lisa's door. Our visitor
was James Robinson aka Chill. Reggieand I had previously encountered him at Betsy
Head Park in Brownsville. He wasa swagger and drug dealer, habitually dressed
(01:30):
in a perfectly groomed camel's hair coat. He clearly followed us to Lisa's home.
It was the coat that told meimmediately who James Robinson was. A
tall, whiplash lean young man.I could see lean cheeks, dark flashing
eyes, a firm jaw. Hecould have hit a movie star. He
smiled genuine as hell, and itlit the room. You were a long
(01:53):
way from Betsy had what you wereto speak privately with tone. Hey,
anything you say to me, youcan say to them. What do you
want to talk about? A tray? What for? What? Curtis deal
for? Destiny Hunter? What thehell do you know about Destiny Hunter?
(02:14):
We reluctantly led James inside. Hewas outnumbered and outgunned. He wasn't going
to harm any of us if hewanted to survive the night. What are
you gonna tell me about her?Destiny? She occur her for the cartel
man. What she's a student atBrooklyn University. I know that, but
I also work with her. Shead go between for the distributors in street
(02:35):
Deal. How the hell did thathappen? Monjerie? Where is she Now,
nobody's seen her for weeks. Man, Tony, she bounced, you're
telling me she worked for Cortez.Year y'all hear about that heist right two
point four million of blow three,maybe four weeks ago, right about the
(02:57):
time Destiny disappeared. It is,it's being sold off in Hell's kitchen Muldoon's
territory. How's Destiny tightened? Allthat? Your problem? So where's raditat?
Who's that Curtis? I patted Jamesdown and we all escorted him downstairs
to Curtis. Reggie stripped the ducttape off Curtis's mouth, but before he
(03:22):
could say anything, James casually reacheddown and came up with a small Boar
twenty two handgun from a concealed miniholster on his ankle. I'd missed it.
He lined the rod up on Curtis'schest and pumped two shells into his
heart. Curtis's chest let out anaudible sigh, His head slumped sideways onto
his shoulder, and he never movedagain. I stared at his corpse,
(03:45):
shocked into motionlessness as I stood therein Lisa's basement, the now dead body
of Curtis Dell slumped on the chairin front of me. His killer chill
a KAA. James Robinson, trueto his nickname, acted as if he
delivered me the wrong lunch order.It needed to be done, but I
take no pleasure in it. Hestill had his twenty two, but I
(04:10):
knew he wasn't a threat to me. I didn't have my nine millimeter Molly
ready at hand, but I wouldn'tshoot this kid anyway. He just walked
out. We let him go.I mean, what were we gonna do
arrest him for shooting our hostage.Stevie had a friend whose boat could be
used for situations like this. Theancient skiff puttered slowly down the river,
(04:33):
marking Curtis Tell's forlorn funeral procession.It was a cold mid March night,
especially on the water on which itseemed spring would never come. The night
was moonless, dark, and starsglittered like distant jewels on a black satin
background. The wind whipped us likeit held a personal grudge. It was
(04:54):
late. We sat above decks.Curtis's cold corpse was stuffed in a trunk,
waited with umbells and stashed in asecret compartment of a whole reeking of
dead fish, a stencil overpowering it, confounded the best efforts of DA dogs
seeking drugs that Stevie's former associates hadlong smuggled. We sat, bundled in
down coats and knit caps. Ihad a metal flask of brandy. Stevie
(05:17):
at the con drank only sparingly Reggie, who worshiped his body like a holy
vessel, not at all more forus. I passed the flask to Stevie
again. You've got a thing forLisa. It's that obvious. Let me
tell you something about it, becausefore worn is forearmed. Okay, she
(05:38):
gave me a shiner once. Ittook me damn near ten minutes, the
subdure, the pennant of the floor, and a loft or rileder like that.
You cheat on it? Hell no, you got Lisa via girl.
Why would you look at someone else? Then? Why? An old friend
from my parents building? Swore Istiffed around a deal and Lisa wouldn't hear
different. Eventually we can in frontof the chick up down a riverside,
(06:00):
and she confessed. I kept myarm Lisa the whole time. As soon
as she heard the truth, sheswung. I grabbed her arm and let
the force of a blow swinger around. By the time she was straight,
the lion bitch was gone. Shelooked at me, those dark eyes flashing
hard. I said, let itgo. We have each other. And
(06:23):
her eyes changed and she came intomy arms. She loved you, black
eye and all. He laughed,running his right hand across his left eye.
It was all a shine to Tony. It was black, blue orange,
and it stunned. And she maybe only five four, but she
(06:44):
can hit. Don't think she can't. The school teacher said, she got
a devil inside her teachers and lie, she make it up to you.
He nodded his head and smiling,Yeah she did. She's a wild Tony,
but loving like nobody else you'll everknow. There was silence, and
I felt its presence, this heavyinternal weight. Me and Reggie and Stevie,
(07:11):
the three of us on a windsweptboat, on a dark mission,
on a dark night, the heistdestiny Muldoon. Now many people can connect
all those dots, you know,Muldoon. His eyes couldn't have flashmore astonishment.
Yeah, Muldoon treated me almost likethe family. But Lisa was the
one he really loved the daughter wenever had. What do you think it
(07:38):
was me? The heist in thecartel? Was it you trem into the
bulls? I did it? Wedon't give a rat's ass about the cartel.
He stand from one of us tothe other in as good an act
of incredulity if it wasn't real asI had ever seen. His eyes couldn't
have flashmore astonishment if I'd accused himof being an alien invader from the crab
(07:58):
Nebula. I was buy an end, desperate to retain my grasp of certainty.
I said, there's a huge upsurgeof trafficking and Hell's Kitchen in the
Upper West Side. You have thebrains and the testicles to hijack and cartel
shipment and traffic in Hell's Kitchen.People like you could be counted on one
hand. Stevie nodded. Then hethrew back his head and he laughed.
(08:24):
His laugh filled the air with apure sound of delight, a simple sound
of surprise, of joyousness at thetwisted turns and absurd accusations that might creep
unexpected into one's life. It wasa sound capable of being uttered only by
a soul that swashbuckled in the daylightand slept peacefully in the night. He
punched his chest with his right hand, trying to stifle his laughter. Dude,
(08:48):
due, I appreciate the respect Ido, and I got no problem
with some smart boy hard rocks.Heighten these bastards the lives they wipe out.
But do you realize the kind ofinside information and the degree of planning
it would take the hijack the stonecall killers, the type of precision operation
they run and live to fight anotherday. I'm flattered, I am truly
(09:13):
flattered. But it wasn't me.Looked me in the eyes and swear you
didn't do it, and I'll believeyou. Tony Reggie. I sweate you
on Lisa's life, on my ownlife, that I am not involved,
nor have I been, in anyheist of the cartown. His eyes were
(09:35):
alight with deviltry. I could seehim mocking us, telling us both to
go screw ourselves, then swatted upoff the boat and swimming home. He
was capable of him, but hedidn't do it. He looked from one
of us into the other. TonyReggie, I swear to you, on
Lisa's life, on my own lifethat I am not involved, nor have
I been in any heights of thecartown. I believe him. Shit,
(10:05):
I thought, I have no cluewho pulled this job. I've been on
this case for weeks and I haven'ta clue. A great smart ass detective,
I am. We'd hit the cartellocation we'd gotten from Blaze sometime tomorrow.
I was too tired to think aboutit. The faint glow of lights
on Long Island shimmered in the distance. Brandier No, I was benumbed,
(10:28):
and nothing sounded so good as ahot meal, a hot shower, and
a warm bed. The wind stillblew hard in our face. We had
Curtisdell's body on deck. Reggie andStevie hefted the weighted trunk. They dropped
his cold body in the cold sea, and he was instantly swallowed up in
(10:48):
its cold depths. We observed amoment of silence, not for a stone
killer, but for wasted human potential. Then Stevie again took the Khan and
turned the boat around. He pushedforward the throttle leven higher the old engines
power in his home school announced thesubject oh Nietzsche's influence in Jack London's the
(11:24):
seawall you knew, Humphrey van Waden. There's a master plan afoot. It'll
makes sense to you when you readmy essay. Okay, we'll let the
carve at some writing time after wesee Quartez. Honey, I know will
be super careful. Careful is notin your nature? Where's Nikki Mickey's gone?
(11:45):
The silence in the room was total. You could faintly hear the traffic
on the street and in the distanceNew York City's endless sirens. Her pain
was manifest, and I empathized,but I was simultaneously filled with elation.
I held myself back from the obviousquestion and asked another one instead. Where'd
(12:07):
he go? Why? It doesn'tmatter? He was never going to get
clean. For years now it hasn'tbeen good. I don't know what'll happen
to him now. She looked atme suddenly, with desperation in her eyes.
Tony, don't go against the cartel, please? I told her we
wouldn't. Technically it was true.That's what I tried to think. Is
(12:28):
Reggie and I drove to Cortes's garagethe next day. Why are we doing
this? She's Lee's assistant. Thatmakes it practically family to us. Someone
steps in dogs shit in a fieldof dogs shit they knowingly walked into.
I don't think it's our responsibility tobuy them new shoe. You can bounce
if you need to. I won'tbe man. I finished my essay last
(12:50):
night. My day's free. Werolled up the street until we reached Cortes's
garage. We got out, strolledaround the lock, and strutted inside.
I looked around. There were nowitnesses. A mechanic had a batted sedan
on the hoist. His dark hairwas covered in sweat. He was short,
(13:15):
stocky, and muscles bulged in hisarms like overstrained houses. He wore
a white tank top and baggy darkpants. He had dark blue tattoos stretching
from either shoulder down his arms.One was of a mustachioed man in a
dark suit in for Dora, pointinga handgun. The other was of a
victim taking shots from the gun inhis midsection. This aldero had the butt
(13:39):
of a cigarette in his mouth.We pulled on gloves and ski masks.
My right hand clutched Mollie in myjacket pocket. My left groped for the
switch controlling the front gate. Thegate started to roll down. The Saldero
looked surprised before he looked belligerent.Reggie hit him once a short modulated left
(14:03):
to the point of his jaw,and he collapsed like an imploded building.
I nodded the Reggie watched for copson their payroll. I started up a
short flight of grease stained wooden stairsto a glass enclosed office. A big
guy in black sweat came out witha pistol in his hand, but I
(14:24):
got molly under his chin, pointedup his drain. Before he could turn
to me, I shoved him intothe office. Inside, a wiry dude
with a shock of black hair satbehind the desk. He'd heard the commotion
and had the baleful snout of anAAR fifteen pointed my way, Cortez.
I guessed one question, one answer, or I then late your co over
(14:48):
here. We just want to knowwhat you did to Destiny Hunter. They're
coming. Locked the doors the thief. You're here for her? She stole
from us. How'd you know itwas herne The shimmon was coming. I
could hear a police car roaring uptowards the garage. Siren on what happened
to her. I don't know ifshe ran. If we find Destiny with
(15:11):
your coke or the money from thesale of your coke, we'll return all
the drugs or cash to him.But you need to leave a bee after
that. Do it, and there'sa conversation to be had. I can't
promise more than that. I starteddown the stairs. Something was tugging around
in my brain, but I didn'thave it yet. Reggie and I flattened.
(15:35):
We went over side fences and keptgoing over him toward the avenue one,
which we parked. We got inthe car and slowly rolled out of
there. We shoved ski masks andgloves into a plastic trash bag some twenty
blocks away. Reggie hopped out andshoved it near the bottom of a garbage
filled restaurant thumpster. At the speedlimit. We drove silently out of Brown's,
(16:00):
though we were well on our wayto Bedstye before Reggie spoke, did
you get what you needed? Grimly, I nodded. I knew were to
find the answers, and tonight aloneI would do it. Okay, okay,
what I'll tell you? What thehell is destiny? Really everything.
(16:23):
She went by Channel Chisholm, nicknamedChaci in her youth. She came from
rural Jamaica, a poor family.She ran off from brutal farm work as
a child. We don't know howold. Makes her way to Kingston,
lives by her wits, eventually emigraceto the US, where my parents adopted
her in her early teens. Thingswere great between us, but the trauma
(16:49):
of her youth never left her.She couldn't be in someone else's care had
always made her uneasy. She waslike a street dog that couldn't adopt app
to a loving home. So sheemancipated herself at eighteen, Sharp as a
hatchet, pretty as a show cat, cool as the trade winds, she
(17:10):
makes her way from pickpocket to creditcard fraud consort of lonely millionaires, bilking
them for cash. Works this lastangle successfully for years. Eventually, with
chains and pipes beaten within three millimetersof life by a drug gang she defrauded.
She crawls back to me and promisesshe's going straight. I guess she
(17:33):
didn't. Why didn't you tell me? I thought you wouldn't look for her?
Are you kidding? She's your sister? Yet I killed ten men to
find your cat, Lisa, youneed me to say it out loud.
We were seated close to each other. She put her hands on me,
something between an apology and a thankyou. I kissed her. She twisted
(17:56):
in my arms. Her arms wentaround my neck and kissed her again.
I continued to kiss her. Irefused to stop kissing her. I bent
and scooped her in my arms,carried her slender form into the living room
and laid her down on the sofa. It had been as long for her
as it was for me. Afterwards, we lay together, unmoving, incapable
(18:23):
of moving, in each other's armsand breathed. We lay together for long
moments of quiet. She fell asleep. Eventually I got up and got a
glass of tap water from the kitchen. As giddily happy as I was,
that something nagged at me again,from the deep recesses of my brain and
(18:45):
intuition that would only get louder untilit was dealt with. Feeling my heart
beat against my chest, wanting tostop my legs from moving, I crept
down the basement stairs. A dimlight from the kitchen illuminated the room,
but I knew my way even ifit pitch black. There was a painting
on the wall behind it was Lisa'swall safe, the wall safe to which
(19:06):
she had long ago given me akey. Finally I understood why I was
certain she had not subsequently changed thelock, and it hit me. The
whole goddamn scheme fell at the placeI'd had all the pieces, had them
for days. I could have shouldhave put this together days ago, but
only now it coalesced. I thoughtof Stevie's words, his words on the
(19:27):
boat, and I shook my headat how I had missed what was right
in front of me. For amoment, I stood and marveled at the
scheme, so simple yet so complex, drawing into her web the man who
loved her, drawing him in.For multiple reasons, but one overriding reason,
I was certain of it. Lisashould have been a marine, simplify,
(19:48):
always faithful, whatever devil stocked theclandestine byways of a soul, never
faithless to a man as such,certain that a man would never be faithless
to her, and never turned herinto the heads. I slipped the key
into the lock. It fits snugly, and the door swung open, readily,
swung wide. I hadn't even shinedthe flash from my phone inside,
(20:11):
but I knew what I would find. For a moment, I paused,
how could I have missed it?Destiny Cortez's lover knew when and where the
shipment arrived. She was terrified,would never rob a drug gang again.
But she knew somebody who was justthis side of fearless and mentioned it.
Somebody expert with a gun, somebodywith a devil inside her, somebody who
(20:32):
would go against the cartel the waysome climber's free solo three thousand foot vertical
rock faces. Lisa had access toMuldoon, who regarded her like a daughter.
She knew she could sell the blowfor over two million, and that
it would be trafficked in Hell's Kitchenand on the upper west side. I
was about to shine the light insidewhen I heard a noise from above.
(20:53):
I turned off the light silently.I pushed the door almost shut, listened
slight sounds came from the rear doorof the lock being picked picked quietly,
expertly by professionals. I pulled Molly, I held her in my right hand
and got on the floor. Wasit the d ea? I wouldn't shoot
(21:15):
federal offices. If it was them, I would just surrender, but with
it. When all hope of savingLisa from long years in the ice box
was at the cartel, I mademy way back to the sofa, but
Lisa was gone. She had heardthe noise too. I rolled behind Lisa's
sofa. These would not be cortezvacarios. These would be hitmen from Mexico,
(21:38):
professionals. I breathed, trying tocalm myself. How many of them
would there be? Probably two?Again, silently, I snarled. My
nine was fully loaded. The backdoor opened. It was the slightest squeak,
but my hearing was so attuned Icould hear an ant cough even now
(22:00):
and want them going after her.Even after she suckered me and played with
my life, I was still determinedto save hers. My hands shook gunfights
with professional killers when nobody's idea offun. I tried to breathe slowly.
I pointed my phone at the farwall. I switched on the light and
ducked behind the sofa. There theywere, two of them, illuminated in
(22:23):
the glare. Instantly they cut looseredmeat. Village is a production of voyage
Media. The series is produced bynat Mondel, Robert Midas, and Dan
Bendimore. Directed, produced, andadopted by Dan Bettimore, based on Andrew
(22:45):
Bernstein's upcoming novel at the same name. When a link to the novel is
available, it will be listed inthe show notes. Starring Catherine Bell as
Lisa, Malik Yoba as Reggie,and Ryan Heppy as Tony. Additional cast
credits are available and showed edited,sound design and mixed by Nick Missidi,
original music by Derlas Gonzalez. Ifyou're enjoying the show, please leave us
(23:07):
a five star review and Apple Podcastsor anywhere you're listening and subscribe now for
future episodes.
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