Nouno the Vigilante Episode 36 Collateral Bait

                Williamsburg, Brooklyn is right on the border between Queens and Brooklyn.  It is directly over the Williamsburg Bridge which links the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan with Brooklyn.  It is largely considered a Jewish area but, as New York neighborhoods would go, there is a melting pot of various cultures among the Jewish inhabitants.  Although Williamsburg has been developing a lot over the years as rents soar, gangs such as the Latin Kings are still prevalent there.  Joshua Hernandez is one of them as he is a Latin King.  At 25-years-old, he is at the ripe age where your body can handle the constant partying lifestyle, which aids him in his gang activity as he has a lot of money he can drop down, which attracts women. Unfortunately, the gang lifestyle also makes you paranoid and innocuous experiences that most people would forget seconds after they occur, are taken as massive disrespectful slights that warrant a response. 

                Jose Zambrano Rodriguez is a 26-year-old New Yorker living in Brooklyn.  He wants to do something special for his sister who is hitting the milestone birthday of 21.  He’s very close to his sister but as often happens when you reach your mid-20s, you are spending a lot of time trying to establish yourself and get a secure employment so you can be financially independent.  Unlike college, parents are less willing to help out financially as your education was supposed to prepare you to become financially independent.  Zambrano has been working hard doing exactly that.  He has money saved up and his work gives him a decent vacation schedule.  Given his stable situation, he decides to do something to help make up for lost time with his sister.  He meets up with her and declares, “I wanted to do something special now that you’re about to be legal to drink.”

                “Oh yea” she responds playfully, “what’s that?”

                “We’re going to get into a car and take a road trip down to Miami just the two of us.”

                His sister throws her hands up and cheers forcing Jose to get up.  She comes over to him and wraps her arms around him screaming her excitement at the surprise.  Jose smiles back and is a little surprised himself that she was so ecstatic.  The date is set and they both count the days till their imminent trip.  Unbeknownst to Jose and his sister, this trip isn’t going to happen.

                Jose needs to pick up something in a small store called Mezcaleria La Milagrosa on Havemeyer St.  In New York, these small shops are known as ‘bodegas.’  As he leaves the store, he runs into a fellow Hispanic who calls out, “Hey man, you got a cigarette?”

                Jose doesn’t smoke so puts out his hands, “No man, sorry.” As multiple people do on a daily basis in big cities.  Given the countless times that Jose has been in this situation, it didn’t occur to him to be on the defensive and he continued to walk towards his next destination.  With his guard down, the man in need of a cigarette is so enraged that Jose didn’t provide him one that he twists his body to the right and snaps it towards his left balling his hand in a tight fist and clocks Jose in the face.  Jose never saw the punch coming so his body made no preparation for it and he collapsed onto the ground seemingly unconscious.  The assailants stands over him and taunts, “All you had to do with give me a cigarette bendajo, I know you had one.” And walks away leaving him on the street.

                Later, the assailant runs into someone who puts out his hand, “Yo, Joshua, what’s good man?  I haven’t seen you in a minute.”

                Joshua Hernandez recognizes the person and slaps his hand grabbing on and wrapping his other arm around him in an embrace, “Shit man, I know, how you been?”

                “I’ve been alright, I thought you go locked up.”

                Joshua waves his hand and gives a look that it wasn’t a big deal.  After all, in gang life, getting processed is a rite of passage, “Don’t even worry about that shit man.  Yea, I did some time but it’s over now.”

                “Heard you fucked up a cop?”

                “Yea son, fucked him up real good too.  I love this DeBlasio man. He has our back so we can do whatever the fuck we want to those pigs.  I’m not bullshitting either; even the charge they got me on makes me sound like a badass.”

                “Whatcha talking about?”

                “I got charged with ‘assaulting a police officer with intent to cause disfigurement.”

                “Damn yo, good job.”

                “Yea, thanks.”

                “What happened to your hand?”

                Joshua looked down and realized that his right knuckles were bleeding, “Some asshole refused to give me a cigarette.  I mean what the fuck, it’s just a fucking cigarette, so I knocked him the fuck out.  Fucking pussy, he dropped with one punch.  Dude shouldn’t be disrespecting if you can’t take a hit.”

                “Yea, everyone thinks they’re real tough until they get punched in the face.”

                “You know it”

                “Well, I gotta bounce, it was nice seeing you.”

                “Yea, you too man”

                When Joshua got home, he turned on the news and saw flashing lights outside the store he was just at.  He glared at the TV surprised and turned up the volume.  It is here that he learned that he didn’t just knock the guy out with one punch; he killed him.  He immediately called someone higher than him in the gang, “I got a problem.”

                “What’s that?”

                “This dude disrespected me so I drilled him in the head and ended up killing him.”

                “You killed him with one punch?”

                “Yea, but I’m not really looking to brag.”

                “You’re fine.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “This is New York; there’s a law that if you kill someone with one punch, the maximum punishment is a year in jail.”

                “True?  That’s it?”

                “Yea”

                “Glad I didn’t stomp his ass afterwards then.”

                “Yea, it’s a good thing.  Is that what you’re calling about?”

                “Yea, you know he wasn’t some gang dude so I thought I might catch some heat and go away for a while but a year is nothing.  Cool, thanks man.”

                “Anytime.”

 

                On the other side of the country in Arizona, Nouno and his wife Abby are getting ready for New Years.  As they sit at dinner, Abby reveals to her husband, “Apparently there are protestors outside the embassy in Baghdad.”

                “Yea, but it hasn’t escalated out of control yet.”

                “There are Americans stranded on the roof.  Don’t you feel bad that we’re here enjoying s nice New Years Dinner and they’re staring into a crowd at a destroyed gate wondering if the mob is going to advance on them?”

                “No, not really.  They volunteered for this and that’s why I have the utmost respect for them.  They do that shit so you and I can have a nice New Year’s dinner.”

                “I know but these embassy riots can get deadly.”

                “It’s not Benghazi, President Trump and Pompeo aren’t going to abandon them like Obama and Hillary did.”

                “The pictures don’t look good.”

                “They have contingency plans and they are in effect right now.  The Iranians, who are the ones protesting even though it’s Iraq, know that the President won’t let them get away with actually entering U.S. soil, which the embassy is.”

                “I hope you’re right.”

                “To be honest, me too.  I also want to see if the war on Iraq was worth it.  Let’s see if this Iraqi security force we trained decides to help us out with this little problem.”

                “I’m glad you look at this as an experiment.”

                Nouno just smiled as a reply.  When the countdown to the New Year happened, Nouno embraced his wife and she stared up into his green eyes.  They passionately kissed to bring in the New Year and then he enveloped her in his arms and stated, “Happy New Year.”

                “Happy New Year, there’s no place I’d rather be than in your arms.  By the way, we have a case.”

                Nouno pulled back and gave her a perplexed look as the timing was a little odd.  She flashed him a guilty smile and he nodded, “So, where are we going?”

                “New York”

                “Ah, my hometown.”

                “You grew up in Cleveland.”

                “I spent more years in New York than I did in Cleveland.”

                “Doesn’t matter.”

                “I disagree.”

                “We’ve had this conversation before.”

                “Yet, you continue to fight me on it.”

                “That’s because you keep insisting on calling it your hometown.”

                “Because it is, I feel more like a New Yorker than anything else.”

                “You’re ridiculous”

                “I love you.”

                The comment caught her off guard and she paused.  She took a deep breath and gave him a charming smile, “I love you too.”

                Abby made the travel arrangements and soon they were on a plane heading to New York.  By now, Nouno was briefed on what had happened.  A Latin King killed a man over a cigarette in Williamsburg.  He opined, “That’s cool, we’re going to Williamsburg, there’s some a good German beer place there and we can get some nice pirogues.”

                “We could do that but let’s not lose focus on why we’re going.”

                “I know.”

                “I feel bad for the guy’s sister though.  I mean she was all excited to go on a road trip and all of a sudden her brother is just dead.  Talk about a roller coaster of emotions.”

                “It’s definitely a tragedy.  That’s why I left New York.  DeBlasio made it a hellhole again.”

                “Just don’t run around talking about how you love Trump.”

                “What do you mean?  You don’t want me telling everyone that the entire investigation into Donald Trump wasn’t a legitimate probe but an intentional hit job on President Trump?  How they first used underhanded tactics to stop him from becoming president and then when he failed with that, they double downed to sabotage his presidency so they could impeach him?”

                “Yea, shit like that will get us killed.”

                “You never lived in New York, I have.  The men in New York are all metrosexual pussies, they just act tough when they leave New York to try to scare people from going. “

                “I’ve been to New York.”

                “I know, and did anything happen to you?  I believe the first time you went; you were walking around 34^th street alone in a cheerleading outfit.”

                “In the heart of tourist central during a Big East tournament game.  There was a shitload of people, it wasn’t exactly unsafe.”

                “I don’t know if you would have fared so well outside the United Center.”  Abby had spent her post-college years in Chicago, hence the Chicago reference.

                “You never lived in Chicago so I think I would know more than you do.”

                “Don’t be a hypocrite.  You can’t knock my knowledge of New York and then claim I can’t do the same thing to you about Chicago.  I’ve also been to Chicago several times.”

                “Fine, you know New York, I know Chicago and neither one of us can tell the other about their city.”

                “Deal”

                They shook hands and Abby shook her head, “We’re not saying it was a criminal investigation but the IG said that the counter-intelligence investigation was predicated correctly.”

                “Barr and Durham refute that.  The IG only looked at the FBI and information they got.  He didn’t look into where the information the FBI had came from.  It wasn’t a real counter-intelligence operation either.”

                “This is how conspiracies are drawn up.  Once disproven, you question the debunking information.”

                “Yes, but when it’s legitimate, it’s not a conspiracy, it’s just what happened.”

                “I’m not talking about this.”

                “Okay.”

                Nouno knew people in Greenpoint, which is the neighborhood town to Williamsburg that had a large Polish population so Polish restaurants were prevalent.  Immediately, Abby opened her laptop and furiously typed searching Joshua Hernandez’ social media presence.  Luckily, Joshua liked boasting so he was all over social media and very easy to track.  Meanwhile, Nouno watches TV as social media is not his thing.  Abby calls out, “Hey Nouno?”

                “Yes”

                “I’ve been cyber-stalking Jose’s sister too.”

                Nouno sighed, “Why?  What’s the point?”

                “I feel bad.  She was all gung ho to go on this trip just her and her brother and this fucker just kills him over a fucking cigarette.”

                “Look, it’s really sad but the only thing we can do for her is let her rest assured knowing that her brother’s killer is dead.”

                “Well, we cover it up so she won’t actually know he’s dead.”

                “Alright, well we still help her because we killed her brother’s killer whether she knows it or not.”

                “Why don’t we have her do it?”

                “We don’t know her.  It exposes us.  No matter how much she hates him, killing someone isn’t easy and many people don’t have the stomach for it.  There’s really a bunch of reasons.”

                “Well, she doesn’t have to kill him. Maybe just give her one slap for some semblance of revenge and closure.”

                “That doesn’t solve the other problem that she may feel guilty and turn us in and someone we don’t know and therefore can’t trust witnesses us murdering someone.”

                “She’s not going to turn us in.  We killed her brother’s killer.”

                “You don’t know that.  Maybe she’s just feigning how close they were so she can garner sympathy.  Maybe her and her brother hated each other.”

                “I would be able to tell.”

                “Alright fine, but that doesn’t make her trustworthy.  Why do we keep exposing ourselves?  If we’re going to do this, we need to take all the precautions we always took before.  Carelessness will lead to us never being about to right these wrongs again and involving people we don’t know is pretty much the definition of careless.”

                “Fine, forget I mentioned it” she snapped as she crossed her arms.  She blurted out snottily, “So why do you think the FBI and CIA went after President Trump if not for a criminal or counter-intelligence investigation?  Just because they hate him?  Newsflash, the media hates all Republican presidents.”

                “It was an operation to punish Mike Flynn”

                “WHAT?!!” she screamed

                “I found this New York Times article from 12/12/16 entitled “Michael Flynn is harsh judge of CIA’s role.”

                “That was about month before Trump was going to take office.”

                “Yes, he probably should’ve waited till Donald Trump was officially President Trump because he didn’t pull any punches.”

                “What did he say?”

                “I’m quoting, ‘They’ve lost sight of who they actually work for.  They work for the American people.  They don’t work for the president of the United States.  Frankly, it’s become a very political organization.’  The Times reaction answers your question because the next line they say that Republicans and Democrats don’t endorse the idea that the CIA is a political arm for the Obama administration but Mr. Trump does.”

                “Well, we are in New York and the Senator here, Schumer, did warn people that if you go after the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get revenge on you.  Flynn attacked them and then the one guy that gave him credence won the presidency.”

                “I believe we call that a ‘motive.”

                “To do what?”

                “Normally, you find evidence that leads you to a crime.  Now, they found a crime and they just needed to find evidence to back it up.  The goal was an investigation into President Trump no matter what and just fill in the details later.  That’s why they went for the FISA’s and did everything in their power to find anything they could use.  Since they were all corrupt, they fabricated the evidence and had Christopher Steele just make up shit they needed.  They get turned down in the FISA court because a crime wasn’t alleged; boom Christopher Steele writes a memo in the dossier that Carter Page accepted a bribe from Russians so now there’s a crime.  The ends always justified the means with these jackasses.  They knew that it was okay to lie to get the warrant so they could find the real evidence and then just launder it. The problem was they never found it.  This is Stalin tactics; you investigate the man not the crime.”

                “People criticize presidents and law enforcement all the time, why was Mike Flynn so special?”

                “He was the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).  He was a high ranking official for Obama that worked closely with the CIA and FBI.  That makes him credible and because of that, Obama and the DOJ were scared shitless.  Why else do you think that when President Trump met with Obama before transitioning, the one thing Obama told him was not to hire Mike Flynn?  Naturally, that’s the first person Trump hired because he knew there was a reason for that.”

                “Wasn’t he supposed to be Vice President?”

                “Yea, but his views on abortion they thought would alienate his base.”

                ‘He’s right, conservatives are generally pro-life.”

                “I didn’t say they were wrong.  Picking a good little Christian in Mike Pence was probably good with the evangelicals and devout religious conservatives.”

                “Didn’t the FBI not get the Steele information until September 19, 2016?”

                “That was an alibi they built in to make it seem like the investigation wasn’t about the dossier but it was Downer talking to Papadopoulos.”

                “But you know that it wasn’t” she retorted with much sarcasm

                “Yea, it doesn’t add up.  If that’s really what the investigation was about, then why didn’t we hear much about Papadopoulos?  He got two weeks in prison because he messed up a date when talking to the FBI and they accused him of lying and then gone.  Are you going to tell me with a straight face, that the Papadopoulos, Mifsud and Downer conversations were as big a story over the last three years as whether or not President Trump colluded with Russia?”

                “Obviously not.”

                “How do you rectify those two things?”

                “It started with Papadopoulos but then the dossier came and they had to go into a whole new direction.”

                “That’s ridiculous.  Everyone knows the dossier is false by now.”

                “Now, yes, but not then.”

                “No, even then Comey was calling it salacious and unverified and Cohen called it a lie filled document.  Everyone knew.”

                “I just want you to be open minded to other possibilities.”

                “I am, it’s you that aren’t open minded to what I’m telling you.  If you were as suspicious of the shit you heard from mainstream media as you are from me, you would have figured this case out too.”

                “Whatever, I got a plan on how to get this dude.”

                “Let’s hear it.”

                She reveals to him the plan and Nouno adds some suggestions and after brainstorming they come up with the plan. Nouno is a little skeptical about one detail but he knows it’s important to Abby so he concedes.  They reach their destination and Nouno goes to exit the car and Abby timidly mutters, “Hey honey?”

                “Yea babe.”

                He looks back and sees vulnerability in his eyes causing him to get back in the car.  She crawls onto him and straddles him wrapping her arms around his neck.  She kisses him on the mouth passionately and utters, “Be careful.  This guy’s no joke.”

                “We’ve done this to a lot of dangerous people.”

                “Yea, but this one can kill a man with one punch.”

                “If it goes according to your plan, it isn’t going to be a fair fight.  I’m not throwing down and meeting him face to face in a street fight.”

                “I know, I know, but sometimes things don’t go according to plan.  Just, don’t be too macho to run if things go to shit.”

                “You do realize what happens if things do go to shit right?”

                Abby got a horrified look on her face.  She saw what he was getting at but it was too late to change the plan now.  She took a deep breath, “Still, just no pride on this one.  There’s no shame in running if you have to.”       

                “I’ll keep that in mind.”

                “Thanks”

                She kissed him again and wrapped his arms around him squeezing tightly.  He did the same and rubbed her back.  When they released, Nouno’s expression turned serious.  It was time to act. 

There is a small club in Williamsburg and it’s Spanish night.  Abby and Nouno, despite being extremely pale, walk in.  Luckily, Hispanics are very accommodating to other cultures especially if you know Salsa, Meringue and Bachata, which Abby and Nouno do.  As they are dancing, Joshua walks in with a bunch of guys and he starts dancing with girls.  Abby takes a deep breath and walks over to Joshua and starts swinging her hips and dancing near him.  Joshua grabs her and they dance meringue with Abby shaking her hips and butt and following his lead flawlessly.  When the song is over, she hugs Joshua and walks off.  Joshua calls out, “Yo, where you going?”

                She turns toward him and lowers her head but lifts her eyes to his.  “I’m super tired, you’re a helluva dancer but I need some rest.  Find me later.” Licking her lips and pursing them as she turned and walked off.

                “You know I will girl.  That’s a promise.”

                Abby walked over to a woman that she had only known from social media and the news.  She grabbed and drink and commented, “I really like that dress on you.”

                The woman’s face beamed as a smile spread across her face, “Thank you” she said obviously flattered.

                “Girl, you’re looking hot tonight.  You see that guy over there” as she pointed to Joshua, “He’s got cash and if you’re his girl, the nobody’s gonna fuck with you.  He killed a dude with one punch.  Now that’s a man you want with his arm around you.”

                The smile was gone and the woman glared at Abby, “If you like him so much, why don’t you go over there?”

                Abby flashed her right hand to show her wedding ring.  That was her backup plan if Joshua was a little too pushy when she tried to get away.  Now was the moment of truth, Joshua came over to them and declared, “Alright, you got your drink, when can I have that ass rub against me again?”

                “Sorry, I can’t handle you.  My friend over her” nudging the woman she sat next to, “is much younger and has much more energy for you.  Look how hot she looks tonight, you know you want it.”

                Joshua grinned and the woman matched it but it never really reached her eyes.  She took a side glance at Abby but was contemplating how to handle this.  Joshua turned to her and inquired, “So, what do you say girl?  You wanna show this old hag how it’s done?”

                The woman turned toward Abby and Abby could tell by the look that her plan was about to work perfectly.  She shoved Joshua in the chest and her face turned dark, “Fuck you man, you killed my brother asshole!”

                Abby’s eyes widened as she feigned shock and actually spit out her drink that she strategically sipped for this exact purpose.  She shook her head looking confused and apologetic and then scurried off.  Joshua and the girl only tangentially noticed as they were more focused on each other.  The girl started crying and screamed, “You killed him over a fucking cigarette what the fuck is wrong with you?!”

                Joshua put up his hands and walked away but the girl chased him chastising him the whole way.  Joshua walked outside and around the building where the girl followed.  He grabbed her by the back of the neck and scolded, “Keep your fucking voice down.”

                When Abby left them, she went right to Nouno and they both exited the club and Abby went to get the car while Nouno hung back hoping that Joshua would want to take the argument outside.  He had a ski mask with him but the weather didn’t cooperate because it was 45 degrees in New York, so a ski mask was excessive as it wasn’t that cold.  Nouno put it on anyway as nobody could recognize him.  It didn’t take long before Joshua came outside and walked around to the side of the building.  Nouno followed knowing that anger had put this girl in a precarious situation.  Next thing he knew, Joshua threw the girl to the ground and she landed on her hands and knees and turned around.  Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she just realized how vulnerable she was.  Her voice went from forceful and accusatory to pleading, “No, please, I’m sorry.”

                Joshua gave her a devilish smirk and articulated, “This is perfect.  I killed that pussy and now I’m going to fuck his sister.  Your family needs to learn not to mess with me.  Don’t you dare scream for help, it’ll only make it worse.”

                It was around this time, that despite the abject fear she was experiencing, she noticed a man in a ski mask behind Joshua.  Nouno jabbed a syringe into the back of Joshua’s neck and depressed the plunger.  He held Joshua up and barked at the sister, “Run, get out of here.”

                She didn’t immediately leave but pronounced, “Thank You”

                “You’re welcome, now leave.  You didn’t see me.”

                She nodded and walked by them as a car drove up.  Nouno tossed Joshua in the trunk and walked around to the passenger side.  He didn’t notice that the sister was still watching.  She posed, “What are you going to do with him?”

                “He’ll never hurt anyone again.”

                For the second time, the sister’s face glowed as she beamed, “Thank you”

                Nouno got in the passenger seat and drove off.  Luckily he knew a lot of people in New York and the plates on his car were from a car dealership in New Jersey that had complete deniability for anything going down in Brooklyn.  Living in Jersey, he made sure he was seen and it was well documented where he was that night so upon questioning, nobody would know it was him.   As he had many license plates with the same generic code indicating his shop, it was believable that he didn’t notice one missing. 

                When Joshua woke up, he found himself strapped to a bed of plastic.  He struggled and cried out Spanish obscenities.  Nouno snapped back in Spanish, “Shut up.”

                “Who are you?”

                “The man who’s going to kill you.”

                Abby didn’t speak Spanish but she interjected in English, “I was wondering if you could clear up an argument between us.”

                Nouno gave her a quizzical look and Joshua looked confused.  Joshua was the first to speak, “What?”

                “My husband here thinks that the investigation into President Trump was really about Michael Flynn.  What do you think?”

                Nouno shook his head and rubbed his eyes.  To his surprise, Joshua didn’t express his ignorance but replied, “I thought it was about the Greek dude.”

                “Papadopoulos” Theo offered

                “Yea, him”

                “Not according to the IG report.  Horowitz says that Crossfire Hurricane, the investigation into Donald Trump, was opened without a specific target.”

                “That makes sense, 5-0 normally opens an investigation because they find a crime.  Then they look for who did it based on the evidence.”

                “Given your line of work, you would be an expert.”

                “Yea, it helps to know the law and what they can and can’t do.  That’s how you get away with shit.  You white people wouldn’t understand.”

                “Based on the number of people we have killed and we’re still walking around free, I think we know what we’re doing.”

                Joshua took a long look at them.  At first, he seemed skeptical but after staring in their eyes, his complexion changed.  Nouno was actually a little impressed but he continued, “10 days after opening the investigation, on August 10, Crossfire Hurricane targeted George Papadopoulos, Carter Page and Paul Manafort.”

                “Right, Mueller arrested Manafort and they got the FISA on Carter Page.  Papadopoulos got a slap on the wrist for lying to the FBI.”

                “All that is true, but six days later, a case was opened against Mike Flynn.”

                “So that’s what your girl was talking about.  Wait, is that what this is about?  I hit on your girl?  Dude, I didn’t know she was married, I just danced with her.  I didn’t do nothing.”

                “You were sounding smart until you said that.  She danced with you to lure you over to Jose’s sister so she could attack you.  We knew you would take her to a quiet place.  I wasn’t sure what you would do.  I thought maybe you’d yell at her and intimidate her.  I was sad to see that you ended up just being a common rapist.”

                “How do you know I wasn’t just saying that to scare her?  I didn’t mean to kill the guy. I punched him and he dropped like a ton of bricks.”

                “And the cop you attacked?”

                “That pig I was looking to fuck up but whatever, he chose a dangerous job.”

                “As did you.”

                “Did you really bring me here to talk about politics?”

                “No, I brought you here to kill you but now that you’re actually informed, let me lay it out for you so maybe you can explain it to my hot wife.”

                Joshua chuckled, “You are a lucky man.  I say that meaning no disrespect yo.”

                “None taken.  I know it’s a complement that I could get a girl as fine as her.”

                “Yea, you got to have money to land her.  She’s way too good for you.”

                “I agree, anyway, none of it makes sense.  Like you said, Manafort’s case was already closed by the FBI before August 10, 2016.  The FBI also already knew that Carter Page was working for the CIA and wasn’t a Russian agent and given that they didn’t interview Papadopoulos till January 2017, they apparently didn’t think he was too important since they waited six months to bring him in.”

                “It is suspicious but maybe they wanted to talk to everyone and gather all the evidence first and then bring him in.”

                “Who are they going to talk to?  It was a conversation he had with two other people.  There’s only two people to talk to.”

                “True true”

                “The other three were distractions so nobody would think it was really about Flynn the whole time.”

                “You’re going to need more than that to make that leap cuz”

                “I know.  The Steele dossier is just a compilation of memos right?”

                “I did know that yes.”

                “Well memo 101 of the dossier is the only one that mentions Mike Flynn.  It talks about how the Kremlin is financing him, Page and Stein to come visit him in Russia.”

                “But the dossier is fake.”

                “I know that but the FBI pretended it was real.”

                “It was a big dossier and, like you said, there’s only one memo about Flynn so how is it all about Flynn.”

                “Do you want to know the date of the memo?”

                “Does it matter?”

                “Yes, August 10, 2016.”

                “Is that supposed to mean something?”

                “The same day that Crossfire Hurricane targeted Papadopoulos, Manafort and Page.”

                “Oh shit, those fuckers planted evidence.  They had Steele just make shit up!  You got some corrupt pigs on your hands.”

                Abby blurted out, “Whoa whoa whoa, no, don’t egg him on.  The FBI didn’t get the dossier till September 19, 2016.”

                “That’s not what the IG Report revealed” shot back Joshua, “The IG report showed the FBI got the information from Steele in the spring of 2016.”

                Nouno exclaimed, “Right, so you agree that they fabricated the dossier so they could have an excuse to look into Mike Flynn?”

                “And they threw the other three bendejos under the bus to cover it up.  Fucking bastards and they claim we’re the bad guys.  There is no bigger gang than the United States Department of Justice.”

                “Yes, Simpson, who was hired by Hillary to dig up dirt on Trump, went to Steele and told him they needed something on Flynn so he magically pulled out that story out of his ass 10 days after they opened the investigation.”

                “Funny how that just magically appeared.  We got a fucking Chris Angel on our hands.”

                “The Papadopoulos meeting never made any sense because they knew about that on May 11.  Papadopoulos met up with Downer on May 10.  The next day, the Australian government sent a cable to the US state department about it.  We know the FBI knows about this because on May 11, Strzok texted his lover Lisa Page that McCabe was going to the State department.  They were really excited about what he was going to find.  That’s where the Australians sent the cable.”

                “Guess it wasn’t too promising considering it took them two months to actually open the investigation.  Yo, you’re good at dates son.  I think you really found corruption.  I got connections man, let me make some calls.  We’re going to blackmail the shit out of these corrupt assholes.”

                Nouno gave him a perplexed look, “Everyone responsible for this has been fired.  This is all public information.  You can’t do shit about this.  Besides, you’re not going to be alive to see how this all plays out.”

                “You’re still going to kill me after I took your side in a fight with your wife?”

                “Yes” Nouno answered as he drove a knife into his sternum killing him instantly.  He sneered, “You killed a man with one blow, and I killed you with one blow.”

                Abby fired back, “You cheated; you had a weapon.  He used his bare hands.”

                “Whose side are you on anyway?”

                “Yours, but honesty is key.”

                Nouno stared back at a innocent charming look.  “Well, do you still think I’m a conspiracist?”

                “Totally, he was just trying to say anything to keep him alive.”

                “You’re impossible”

                “I know”

                Nouno rolled his eyes.  Even after all these years, he was still powerless when she turned on the charm.  They wrapped the body and headed to a crematorium to dispose of the body.  Nouno knew the owners so they didn’t have to be secretive about it.  As they sat by the machine waiting for it to burn the evidence, Nouno questioned, “You may think that the investigation is legitimate but you have to admit that he’s done a lot as president despite all these scandals.”

                “What the fuck did he do?”

                “Are you kidding?”

                “No, I mean, the tax cut was helpful but that was last year.  What did he do this year?”

                “Tax cut was a big part of what happened this year.  I mean the job growth was huge.  Wages have been growing over 3% for 16 straight months.  Obama only had three months out of his eight years with that high of wage growth.”

                “Yea but the income disparity is getting larger.”

                “False!  I don’t know how you can’t do simple math.  The lowest 10% of wage earners have seen their incomes go up 7%.  The top income bracket only rose like 2.1%.  If the bottom is growing at 7% and the top is growing at 2.1%, is the bottom getting closer or further from the top?  President Trump is closing the income gap that Obama created.”’

                “It’s been a while since I’ve done these algebraic story problems.”

                “These aren’t trains leaving a station and heading towards each other.  This is very common sensical.”

                “They’re getting closer but Andrew Yang is right.  All the low-skilled workers and people that didn’t go to college are being replaced by machines and technologies.”

                “If that were true, why did people without a high school diploma see their wages increase 9% in 2019?”

                “Minimum Wage”

                “No, that causes unemployment and incentivizes companies to get the machines to replace the workers.  Andrew Yang doesn’t mention that.”    

                “Like you said, though, that was a result of the tax cuts.  That’s last year.  What did he do this year?”

                “He broadened the movement to include minorities.”

                “Blexit isn’t as big as you think it is.  I know you love Candace Owens but it’s a drop in the bucket.”

                “Even in California, the most liberal state, President Trump has 32% of the black vote.  Among Latinos, it’s 40%.  Normally, 15% is considered the ceiling.”

                “Why?... wait, the whole black unemployment is at a 50 year low and Hispanic unemployment is at an all time low.”

                “Yea, that perhaps has something to do with it.”

                “Anything else?”

                “He’s nominated a shitload of judges.  He just got his 50^th Federal Judge.  By comparison, Obama had 55 and Trump had three years and Obama eight yet he’s almost at the same amount.”

                “That’s really going to make it scary when liberals want to pass their legislations that continuously get voted down.  That’s probably the one that’s going to have the most lasting effect.”

                “I agree.”

                “That one I’ll give you but a year’s a long time and that’s cumulative over the last three years.”

                “All the trade deals.  USMCA, getting Europe to go to 0 tarriffs, the new NAFTA.  Even China has shown chinks in the armor and has started backing down.  He is the first president in years to go into North Korea.  The dude can negotiate with anyone and he has helped America get out of deals that handcuffed us.”

                “He made deals but I’m not so sure if they’re better.”
                “How are they not?”

                “I don’t know, it just remains to be seen.  He didn’t build the wall.”

                “He built some of it but he got stonewalled at every turn and constantly had to fight court cases tying up the money.”

                “Those caravans were bad.  I mean, that’s worse than anything Obama had.”

                “Until he changed the law that asylum cases had to be tried in Mexico since Congress refused to change Flores or any law that stopped the loophole for catch and release.  I guess that’s another deal you can say he made.  He got Mexico to agree to trying the asylum cases in Mexico.  Once that happened, the caravans seemed to disappear.”

                “What else you got?”

                “We are now an exporter of natural gas for the first time since Eisenhower.  That created 500,000 factory jobs at least and secured our Geo-political future.  Now, we don’t have to rely on countries that chant death to America.  We are energy independent.  To put it in liberal terms, ‘no more blood for oil.”

                “Yea at the expense of the planet.  We are killing the environment with this shit.”

                “You can’t possibly believe in climate change.  You know that shit is bullshit.”

                “There’s nothing wrong with wanting a cleaner world.”

                “There is when you oppress people and take away their freedoms.”

                “You’re exaggerating”

                “Really?  Did you hear Biden in New Hampshire?  He wants to put energy executives in jail and force the employees to learn coding and stop being blue collar workers.”

                “He needs to hope that speech doesn’t make it to Pennsylvania.”

                “Yea, good thing there’s not some highly fast interconnected network that spreads information around the world at near instantaneous speeds.”

                “Right”

                “I don’t know what you would call that thing.  Maybe ‘internet.’”

                “Where did you get that word from?”

                “Just popped into my head.”

                “Do you think 2020 is going to be as good?”

                “I don’t know.  The liberals seem determined to fuck up the country to try to make Trump look bad.  That’s why they keep shooting up schools and churches and trying their best to kill jobs by raising the minimum wage and banning Amazon to come to New York.  The liberal strongholds are really doing their best to derail the Trump economy.”

                “Don’t be ridiculous”

                “Have you seen AB5?”

                “Yea, my cousin is at school at Pomona.  She actually got rid of her car because she just uses Uber.  Now that you’re not allowed to be an independent contractor in California, I don’t know if she’ll be able to.  Uber and Lyft can’t hire everyone as full time employees.  Most of the drivers don’t even want to be full time employees because they just do it on the side to supplement their day job.  It’s really fucked up what they did.”

                “Not to mention the externality that now free lance writers are dead.”

                “I heard about that, what’s the rule?”

                “You can’t submit more than 35 pieces a year or something like that.”

                “Right, you can’t even have weekly columns.”

                “And since that whole internet thing we were talking about before allows people to submit writings from anywhere in the world, there’s no reason for a publishing company or anything that requires writers to hire someone in California.”

                “Yea, if you’re a freelance writer, you should probably leave California.  That should make you happy because then they’ll have fewer electoral votes.”

                “Wrong, they infect other states and turn red states purple or blue.  They’re too stupid to realize not to vote for the very thing they are fleeing.  Texas is becoming pretty purple now; especially since you can’t ask if you’re a citizen on the census questionnaire.  If Texas falls, it’s over.”

                “So, maybe AB5 was a ploy to get liberals out of California to spread across America for a more strategic electoral presence.  In that case, it’s brilliant.”

                “It also makes more people unemployed, which brings down Trump’s economy and makes him look bad because people are too stupid to see the cause.”

                “In that case, maybe AB5 is good.”

                “You really want to turn America into a socialist country?”

                “That’s hyperbolic.”

                “Unfortunately, no it isn’t”

                The machine finished and Abby and Nouno clean the machine and dispose of the remains.  The next day, they hop on a plane and head back to Arizona.  When they get home, Abby disconnects her computer from the internet and attaches a camera she bought to the computer.  A picture emerges on the screen and she prints it out.  She then deletes the picture from the camera and the computer.  She puts the picture in an envelope and then hands it to a friend who is taking a trip to Aruba with directions to mail it from there.  The friend does and Abby thinks nothing of it.  She and Nouno go back to their everyday lives until another case comes up. 

 

                Back in Williamsburg, Jose’s sister opens her mailbox and finds an envelope.  She looks at it confused as there is no return address.  She doesn’t realize it’s postmarked from Aruba but she opens it and pulls out a picture with a typed message that simply reads, “The fucker is dead.  He’ll never hurt anyone again.”

                She smiles and takes the picture to her room and hides it.  She thinks back on that night and regrets not asking them if she could be the one to kill him but she was just so relieved that she wasn’t going to be sexually assaulted that it didn’t occur to her.  That night, she slept soundly for the first time in a very long time.