The Truth Berries

XLIX

      “This can’t be good, Sir.”

       Alex was wearing a terrible frown on his face because his whole operation brought nothing in his name but more shame and disgrace. He found no Miguel Romero but he was left with a raging city councilor threatening him with human rights charges for invading their privacy. Moreover, Alex could hear his men talk about the guy having a valid point for his claims. Who wouldn’t sue the guys who kicked down the door to your motel room to see you, a man in your early fifties, humping a girl who was just turning eighteen the next week? And to top it all, you held a position in the city hall. No doubt the guy would be freaking out.

      “Sir, His Excellency wants to talk to you. It seems like he was not yet done whining.”

       Alex closed his eyes in utter dismay.

       “Bring him to me.”

       One of his men came back with the fat councilor behind him. Alex dismissed his guy and told him to leave him with the problematic man. When he was gone, he faced the councilor with crossed arms.

       “What is it, councilor?”

       “What the f**k was that all about?! Have you really lost your minds, entering the room just like that?”

       “I apologize, sir. My men had mistaken you for someone else.”

       “So you haven’t done your research that well? And I am to suffer for all of that incompetence?”

       “On behalf of the whole police force, I apologize again, sir. I promise this won’t happen again.”

       “I’ll make sure of that myself! What is your name, huh? You better pray you can afford the best lawyer in town. I’m gonna send your ass behind bars, that I promise you!”

       Alex lost his temper. He grabbed the fat guy by his collar and growled in front of his very face.

       “I am Sergeant Alex Gonzalo and I dare you to do what you want. You think we do not know what you were doing there? That is a serious case of child abuse and human trafficking you’re doing inside that room. And I promise you I can handle the shame if this thing goes out. Trust me, I have faced serious incidents than this one. I don’t know about you but I bet you the whole town would want you crucified for that. Who knows, my team and I could even get a commendation from your mayor. Now, I don’t wanna know where you would be spending your next ten years. So go ahead and call your lawyer. I’ll be right here standing and waiting for the both of you!”

       Alex pushed him fiercely and it made the fat man land on his butt. The man could not believe what just happened to him. He wanted to stand up and teach him how to respect men with political power. But Alex’s menacing figure and his fearless stare took the courage out of him. Alex took a step towards him and the fat man stumbled twice while he was trying to stand up. Another step forward sent the man crawling frantically back to his vandalized room. From where he was standing, Alex could already see them packing their things up. A few more minutes and the unlikely couple went to the councilor’s heavily-tinted car. He watched as the car made a wide U-turn at the motel’s parking lot before going straight to the gate. And then the car stopped. Alex saw him roll down his windows and peer outside.

       “You’re gonna regret this night, Officer!”, he shouted to Alex.

       “Not as much as you will! And don’t forget about the name, i***t! It’s Sergeant Gonzalo!”

       Alex heard his men laughing as the car sped away. Now, where was that lying manager now?

       “Get me that manager, now!”, he ordered his men.

       Benny came with two of Alex’s men holding him on both sides of his shoulders. Alex expected to see him cowering in fear but the short man did not show any signs of it. He was standing cheekily in front of him. He ordered his men once again to leave them alone and the policemen obliged.

       “Are you f*****g kidding me? You said they were in that room? That was a totally different man, you i***t!”

       “I’m sorry, sir. But I did not say I was sure. I told you that he looked a lot like him, that’s all.”

       “A lot? That man was a f*****g elephant! How could he look like the man I asked you about?”

       “Well, I’m a poor judge of people. They looked the same to me.”

       “You know what, I wonder if you would look the same to me after I put you behind bars after this?”

       “On what charge, Sergeant?”

       “For screwing my whole operation tonight. For housing criminal fugitive and for having that stupid face in front of me!”

       “That is only pure harassment.”

       “You’ll know what’s harassment once you’re inside one of my playgrounds, dickhead.”, he hissed down to his face.

       Out of nowhere, a housekeeper came rushing towards the two of them. The young guy was almost out of breath when he reached them and he grabbed both of his knees when he finally stopped. Benny and Alex waited impatiently for the young man to say what the matter was. But it seemed the guy was intending to fully recover all his breath first before telling them what it was so they angrily asked the guy in unison.

       “Sir, your car . . . it was stolen.”

      “What?! How?”

       “We just saw it making its way to the highway.”

       “But who would steal it?” he asked innocently.

       The young man did not have the chance to tell them his theories as to who might have stolen the car, for the old security guard came to tell them that the man and the woman in Room 12 had gone missing.

       “When did they check out?”

       “No one really knows, sir. They just took off without telling anybody of our staffs.”

       “So that also means they haven’t paid the bill for their stay?”

       “Most probably, sir.”

       Benny slumped on the graveled ground, playing the role of a man struck with the lightning of mishap twice. He began blowing his empty nose on his handkerchief and acted like he was really sobbing. Alex was annoyed by such display but he probed on the issue a little more.

       “These man and woman, when did they come here?”

       “I have no idea, Sergeant.”

       “I am not talking to you. I’m asking the old guard.”

       Benny was alarmed. He never thought about that situation and the old man was also caught off-guard.

       “What do they look like and when did they come in?”

       “They came in this late afternoon, sir.”

       “What do they look like?”

       “Well, they looked like a real couple to me.”

       Alex scratched his head. He wondered how long he had to endure those kinds of answers.

       “Let me rephrase that one. What do they f*****g look like?!”

       The man was taken aback by his sudden eruption and it made him blurt out the last thing that he remembered when they came.

       “He was a police sergeant too, just like you. And he told me his name was Romero.”

       Alex’s eyes grew wider and more hateful. He looked at the slumped manager and he just shrugged at him.

       “I didn’t know that. I only go out my office when I have high-profile clients on my door.”

       “Like that scum councilor?”

       Benny swallowed hard before answering with a hoarse yes. Alex picked Benny by his shirt’s elbow and hauled him up. Then he called two of his men and told them to lock the man inside his office until he was sure the little man was hiding nothing from them anymore. The two men took him by his arms and then they pushed him down to his seat behind his own office desk. He sat there while two sets of vulture eyes watched him all the time.

       “Will they look for my missing car? That wasn’t fully paid yet.”

       The two men just stared back at him. Outside, Alex was asking the young man all the details about the stolen car. He asked him about its made, its color and its plate number. He also asked the guy which direction he saw the car was going. The guy told him he saw them going in the direction of the next town. Alex slapped his cheek lightly to show him his gratitude. Then, he turned towards the old guard.

       “You! You’re coming with me now.”

       “Me? But I still have a motel to guard with.”

       “f**k your guard duties. This motel is now closed until I say it’s open again. Now, would you like a separate cell on your own or would you like to be cellmates with your boss?”

        The man shuddered at the thought of being imprisoned so he hopped inside the police car without further complaints. Alex kept on asking him questions about their missing customers and the guy tried to answer each one to the best of his limited knowledge. He told him how they came in a rush asking for a room and how the lady looked like she didn’t know what she was doing. Then, he also told him how the man, whose picture he had shown him, suddenly chimed in their conversation and requested a lot of things. The old man also proudly told Alex how he tried to deny his request of not keeping any records of their arrival. But the guy got ‘real cocky’ and he threatened him with his rank and badge. Alex listened through all of these with gritted teeth. After ten minutes of continued driving, the old guard told Alex to stop. Then he pointed to a red Toyota Fortuner that was parked beside two electric posts, at his side of the road.

       “That’s the car!”

       “Are you sure?” Alex asked.

       “Yes sir. I have opened the gates of the motel to it countless times already, so I’m sure that’s it.”

        “Okay. You stay here and watch my back while I go check the car.”

       “Can’t I come, sir? I want a piece of him too. You know, for humiliating me earlier. Just a little piece of him.”

       “This guy is real dangerous. You just might get yourself hurt. Or worse, if he has a gun with him now.”

       “I also got mine. Meet Rosie.”

       The old man showed him his rusty revolver around his waist. Alex wondered if the firearm would still work or if it even fired a single bullet in its lifetime. But he decided he wouldn’t risk a civilian’s life for this one job. He just had enough of a beating from the Main Office and another one of it could certainly drive him mad. So he left him inside the car and he approached the red Fortuner on his own. Alex kept himself sharp at that moment, occasionally looking around him to see if he was somehow watching him secretly from somewhere. When he reached the back of the car, he stooped so that anybody from the inside would not immediately see him nearing their position. He slowly circled around it and when he reached the side of the driver’s seat, he yanked the door open and pointed his gun to the driver.

       But the car was empty. There was nobody left inside, only a few things that they left and the car keys lying on the driver’s seat. Alex looked around, hoping that they were just out buying something or eating somewhere. But the whole place was almost deserted of people now. Everyone has already gone to their beds except for him and the old guard in his car. And the realization was slowly and painfully hitting him again on his face.

       Miguel had slipped off his fingers again.

       And he had a certain feeling that he was no longer alone in planning all of these escapes.