CRYPTO: Infidelity (Book 1)

CHAPTER 78: PERVERSE

"Why am I being arrested?" Joshua asked. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"I gave you a warning and you refused to cooperate," I told him.

"But I have rights," he said.

"You have the right to remain silent," I said as I put him into the car and shut the door.

My partner gave me a disapproving look.

"We're supposed to keep the peace," I told him. "That's all I'm doing. I gave him a warning."

"Arresting a preacher exercising his right to free speech does not look good," he told me.

"It looked good to the crowd back there," I remarked.

"It doesn't look good for the department, especially if the news gets a hold of this."

"What do you want me to do? Let him go?"

"It's up to you what you do."

"I think we should take him in," I said.

Joshua's friend with the sign approached us. "What did you arrest him for? He didn't do anything."

"He was disturbing the peace," I told him.

"He wasn't disturbing the peace. The crowd was."

"He was inciting the crowd. I suggest you don't come back here again."

"He has never been arrested before," he said.

"Well, there's a first time for everything."

My partner and I got into the car to take Joshua to the police station.

"You still haven't given me a lawful reason for arresting me, officer," the street preacher told me.

"For breaching the peace," I said.

"I've been coming out for weeks and have talked to other police officers. They have never charged me for breaching the peace," he said.

"Well, I can't speak to that because I wasn't there, but today, you were breaching the peace."

"I wasn't the one being violent though or yelling curse words."

"You were inciting the crowd. If you hadn't been there, do you think they would've been acting that way?"

"They act that way because they hate the Truth. They can't stand the Light because their works are evil and they don't want their evil deeds to be exposed."

"Do you ever stop talking?" I asked.

"Be honest. Did you arrest me just because you hated the preaching?"

"No."

"So you liked the preaching?"

"I don't care about it. It doesn't apply to me."

"Why do you think that?"

"I don't believe it."

"Let me guess. You think you're generally good?"

"Yeah. That's why I have this job."

"You're wrong. No one does good, not even one. Romans 3:12."

I rolled my eyes, but he couldn't see since I was sitting in front. "Don't you know that Christianity is a man's religion? It wasn't meant for animals."

"Jesus says, 'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand'. John 10:27 and 28."

"Aren't you a goat?"

"I'm actually a Barbary sheep, but that's not the point. We, like humans, have a conscience that tells us right from wrong. Therefore, we are morally accountable for our actions. And John 3:16 says, God so loved the whole world that He gave His only Son, and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have eternal life."

"Wow. Haven't heard that one a million times before," I said.

"I'm guessing you've grown up in the church?"

"You must be a prophet," I said.

"Your kind is the hardest to convert."

"My kind?"

"The folk who grew up in the church, believing themselves to be saved."

"You know if you ignore him," my partner told me, "maybe he'll stop talking."

"I wouldn't count on it. I think this guy likes to hear himself talk," I said.

"I'd like to hear your story, officer," Joshua said.

"I don't think we have time for that."

"You could give me a summary."

"I'm not gonna tell a stranger my life story."

"When does a stranger become an acquaintance?"

"I don't know."

"Let's be acquaintances. Wanna hear my story?"

"No thanks," I said. "I've heard enough from you."

"You think you're good, but I bet your actions don't always line up with your morals. You aren't what you think; you are what you do."

Even after we dropped the street preacher off, his last statement stuck with me. Was I really as good as I thought I was? I had been trying to dismantle the mafia, but so far, I have helped them more than harm them. If I am what I do, I was a criminal.