The Sins of the Light Part 3: Tales Beyond the Darkest Desert

Not dead yet I guess.

Charlene. Why?

No time to think on that. Take in your surroundings. Humid, foul, stinky air. The scent radiates all over the city of Savoria in the middle of the summer. Smells almost like home. My real home.

The back of my head hurts. Hot sticky liquid drips down the top of my head onto my forehead. Tastes like sweat and blood. Probably suffered a minor concussion, but didn’t die. Flung from a four story window. Should’ve died, but didn’t. Was saved for some reason? Too many questions for later. I have to focus and find Charlene.

“How the hell can it still be this hot out!? The sun went down like five hours ago, man!” a rather gruff yet young voice shouts.

His voice rings in my left ear predominantly. More sensations to take note of are my feet and legs are dangling. Most likely being carried by this young man with at least one unidentified accomplice.

Sharp pain in my left knee as it slams against something.

“Drake! Be careful with him! I know he’s an SPD thug! But that other detective lady said to find him so he can fill us in on whatever the fuck is happening to me!”

A young woman’s voice filled with anger is just ahead of me and Drake. Knows an SPD detective woman that knows me. That has to be Charlene! This is your doing for sure. Why?

No focus. Get the information you need out of these two and get back to work.

“Man, Raven, you say you got some freaky powers! But I can’t see whatever weird ass color shit you say you are showing me.”

Raven and Drake.

No other footsteps around us. We are in a remote part of the city. Most likely near Circle of Salvation Two in Eastside. I’m being carried to safe hidden location where they plan to talk, presumably. They didn’t leave me to be questioned by my fellow officers or get chewed out by the Chief for letting the suspect get away. I think I can trust these two for now.

The young woman knocks at the door and says “Open up, Vicky! It’s Raven and Drake!”

Light footsteps approach the door.

Another young woman’s voice with a rather boisterous tone shouts “Oh my Gawd! Raven! Get’n here ya sexy bitch!”

Then the harshest shrill scream comes Vicky as she says “VINNY! GET OUT HERE WE HAVE GUESTS!”

“Will you shut the fuck up you crazy bitch! We are trying to lay low!” shouts Raven.

“Oh sorry, my bad!” giggles Vicky as Drake carries me to the door. I hear a door open, then the clicking of the deadbolt lock behind us.

“Set him down on the couch and tie him up. Don’t need him struggling once he comes to” Raven orders Drake. I feel my body being eased down.

“I won’t struggle if y’all don’t either.” I say as soon as I feel Drake’s hands let go of my torso.

“Yo Raven the thug is awake! What do we do?!” Drake yells with a bit of panic in his voice.

“AHH WHY DO YOU HAVE A GUN, RAVEN?!” screams Vicky

“Idiot! No he knows I have it! Stupid ass!” roars Raven

The sound of someone drawing a very big handgun rather deftly just brushes past my ear. Then the clack of another door opening. Vinny most likely.

“Ayyo, what the fuck is going on out here? This is my Uncle Tino’s place! No fightin’ in here! Ya here me!” a young man’s voice with a rather cocky tone bellows.

“Would y’all stop yelling! Ain’t this supposed to be your lay low place too! Who did ya scam this time, Vinny?!” howls Drake

“Hey don’t shout at him for doing the job ya big bro gave us!” shrills Vicky.

They all begin to argue at each other trying to talk over the others in a cacophony of rage and attitude.

Four to one. Even with my training, not knowing how many are armed or capable of fighting leaves too many chances at failure.

Eyes still closed I say “If I keep these shut promise not to shoot me?” Please take the bait.

A momentary pause. They are thinking about it at least. Listen for the click of the safety to roll. They begin to whisper to each other from the other side of the room we are in. I think Raven called the huddle. About a minute passes. Then someone walks closer to me.

“I’d rather look the man I gotta question in the eyes. I won’t shoot if you agree to cuff ya hands.” Raven’s voice still has the sound of youthful confidence.

“Alright. My cuffs should be attached to the back of my belt” I say as I roll over.

“Whoa, you two nipped an SPD thug? Why on earth would you do that? Ya tryin’ to get PPD called on all of us” protests Vinny.

“You tell him, cuz! They already got my sweet mama, God rest her soul” cries Vicky.

“If you Cienzo cousins can’t shut up for one damn minute I might kill everyone in this room!” Raven booms.

“Sheesh, someone is tense. Ey, cuz?” Vinny chortles.

“Read the fuckin’ room ya buffoon!” Vicky chastises.

“Drake, cuff him before I murder our only two friends” Raven puts dramatic finger air quotes around the word friends.

The oddest friendship I’ve ever seen.

Drake grabs my cuffs and I present my hands in front of me to him. Then the click of the cuffs tickles my ears. Let’s see what I’m working with here. Teenagers. Young, angry at the injustice of the world and whoever screwed them over the most.

Two white teens. One male, about eighteen, short dark brown hair, typical jock-punk clothes, and a gold chain. Probably Vinny. One female, about seventeen with a street fighter’s build dressed in a red hoodie and long black thigh high leather boots. Probably Vicky.

Two black teens. One male, tight short braids and rather built for about sixteen it looks dressed in black basketball shorts and a tank top. Probably Drake. Female, about eighteen, long straight black hair, runners build, holding a black desert eagle. Probably Ra-Wait!

“Before we begin may I confirm our connection? I need to see the barrel of that gun closer. Can you bring it here and show me, please?

“No funny business” Raven demands as she clicks the safety off and walks it over to me.

“No funny business. I swear.” Please be wrong for once in your damn life.

Raven shows me the barrel. Damn. I see the signature Lightwell engraving on the custom black metal barrel fixed to the gun.

“Tch…that’s a long story, but the short version is that I owed a friend a favor.”

I remember her getting real uncomfortable after I brought up her missing family heirloom gun. The one’s she always used. What was the reason? She told you. Think, James! It was the first time you both went out for drinks. Before the messy feelings complicated things. Before I was a sinner.

“Ayo you good, man? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or some fucked up shit” Vinny says as he pushes his way into my vision. I guess I was staring off again.

Better get back to work. While these young punks were squabbling they said some things. Things that matter to the case. Confirm what you think you remember.

“One of you said the surname Cienzo. Was it you?” I ask Raven.

“How many more things you want before I get mine? What the fuck do you know about this?” She asks me as her eyes widen and her muscles tense up and she cocks the gun again.

“Wait, Raven! You know the name Cienzo, cop?” Vicky interjects.

“I’m sorry. This is never easy to say to someone, but I don’t have a lot time. I think your Uncle Tino is dead. There was a body at the crime scene these two carried me away from. The name in the wallet said Valentino Cienzo. He was in a rather mismatched clothes to look like a bouncer at the White Lotus” I finish explaining. God, I hope these two kids have someone else to look after them.

“Oh, God.” Vicky says with some fresh chocked up tears.

“Uncle Tino…dead.” Vinny says in a grief stricken tone.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! That’s who that was!? Damnit! We needed him to get us out of Eastside with the SPD and PPD up our ass!” exclaims Raven.

“Now even if we wanted to go with this SPD thug’s plan we still probably can’t slip both their nets without Tino.” Drake groans.

“I can’t believe Uncle Tino is dead. I told him this heist job wasn’t worth the trouble” Vicky wallows.

Latest job. That means that I was right. The crime scene was staged to look like a typical drug deal gone wrong. Valentino Cienzo, Lacey Cummings and Jane Doe must be this heist team and they were killed on the job. But why the cover up? Normally, the Moore Family flunkies would dump the bodies of people who dared to rob them in the Hudson. And an even bigger mystery is why did the man in robes, that is clearly the one who flung the three victims out of the windows, try to do the same to me after the fact?

“Hold up. This all started because you looked at my gun and zoned out. What about my gun got all this started?” inquires Raven rather angrily.

“That gun belonged to a mutual acquaintance of ours. Her name is Charlene Lightwell, an SPD detective and my partner. Or was my partner before she threw me out of a four story window and left me for dead. I need to find her and get to the bottom of all this!”

“That still doesn’t explain why she staged that fake ass beating to get me to save her. Spouting about how this was all meant to be or some shit. She told me to find another SPD detective at the White Lotus Casino that would be eager to find her. So what do you have to do with all this weird shit going on with me?!” Raven stares me down. She may be young, but those are the eyes of someone that has been through Hell.

Another OPI victim I’d imagine. Damn you Isaac Anderson. Okay, Hilla. You have a bunch of young people that seem to know their city pretty well and have some useful skills. You need to get to Charlene as quickly as possible without alerting SPD or PPD. It might not quite be by the book, but you’ve known that some rules would need to be broken to fight OPI.

I’m already a sinner after all. Might as well lean into it a little more for now. I really hope these teens work with me here. I don’t have a lot of people I can rely on right now. Perhaps this could be the start of something that will help me bring down OPI.

“Listen, Raven, Drake, Vinny, Vicky. I know I’m just meeting y’all, but ya gotta work with me here. I can’t answer your question because I don’t know what you are trying to show me. But I can track down the woman who can. Charlene might be a deceiver, traitor and who knows what else, but she is still a rookie detective. I bet she forgot to turn off the GPS in her personal vehicle when running off with my murder suspect. Get me into PPD patrol van and I can activate it and give us her location. Together we can get all our answers.”

“You think we are gonna work with some SPD thug? Do you have any idea who we-“

“Drake, shut up! You know better damnit!” Raven chastises.

Raven and Drake are aliases. Will need to investigate later. More important things now.

“Well I’m helping! For Uncle Tino!” Vicky says with determination despite the tears still welling in her eyes.

“Ya for Uncle Tino. Whoever did this is gonna pay. You’ll see to that as long as we can get you into a PPD patrol van. Right, cop?” asks Vinny.

“I guarantee it. Whoever is behind all this, they will see real justice before OPI can cover up whatever they are trying to hide this time. And maybe this city will be free of their oppressive shadow once and for all!”

“Huh. A thug with a soul. Didn’t see that coming” Drake remarks. “Still your call though, sis. I’m with you as always” he finishes as he leans back against the wall. Sis, huh? That’s all I’ll need for later.

“There are quite a few of us still, despite the rampant corruption” I say.

“That might be true. And you really could be one of the few good SPD officers left. But that still doesn’t change one thing. You are a cop and we do a lot of things cops don’t like. So if you are gonna work with us, then you will have to let a lot of things slide.” Raven steps closer to me.

“Agreed. I will let things slide as long as no one kills anyone. You seem good with that gun. I imagine you can choose to be non-lethal. Correct?”

“Fine. No killing. Not like I could get more wanted for icing those PPD soldiers earlier anyway” Raven says rather sarcastically. God, I hate teenagers.

“Sounds like we are officially a team!” cheers Vicky with a fist pumped in the air.

“So what should we call you, cop?” Vinny asks.

“Detective James Hilla is my full name, but y’all can just call me Hilla.”

“Alright, Hilla. You’re a cop so that means you know all PPD patrol vans are either armed with a squad of PPD soldiers, or locked up in their hq’s garage. So what’s the plan?” asks Raven.

I feel strange. I think this is the feeling of hope. Am I hopeful, again? Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, I can still do some good for my city. That though my sins have been great, the light inside of me is still fighting for what’s right and just in this corrupt city.

Ever meet some people and know that your life has finally hit a turning point. One of those moments that turn the proverbial page of our storybooks to the next chapter. I can feel that after meeting these teenagers. They have stirred this feeling of hope up inside me.

I’m not gonna let this hope die this time. I won’t stop fighting OPI until my dying breath. Thank you, Raven, Drake, Vicky, and Vinny. I have been changed for the better thanks to y’all.

Something tells me tonight is only the beginning of a much longer, arduous and dangerous journey to liberation.