CRYPTO: Infidelity (Book 1)

CHAPTER 88: CALL

The bouncer handed me my phone on the way out. I had one missed call from Birdie, but it was too loud to call her back inside so I stepped outside. Diesel followed me.

"Turn to Jesus, folks! Turn from sin and follow Him!" I recognized that voice. It was the street preacher, Joshua. "He's alive and He can hear you! He rose from the dead! He's not dead! You don't want to go to hell!"

I kept walking down the sidewalk to get to my car but I had to walk past him.

"Hey, aren't you that police officer who arrested me?" Joshua asked.

His buddy pointed a camera at me.

"You don't have my permission to record me," I told him.

"It's a public sidewalk," he said.

"I just want to thank you," Joshua told me, "because if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have reached the animals over here. What you meant for evil, God meant for good."

"Praise God! Hallelujah!" his friend shouted.

Diesel gave me a look.

"God bless you, officer. I forgive you," Joshua told me. He went back to preaching on his microphone as a couple police officers approached us.

"Uh oh," Diesel said. He turned invisible.

"Hey!" the police officer said. "Do you know that guy?"

"What guy?" I asked.

"The black dog who was standing beside you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "I don't know any black dog. I'm just headed to my car."

"Did you get him on your camera?" he asked Joshua's friend.

"Yeah," he said.

"Can we have the recording for evidence? We've been looking for that guy."

"You can't take our stuff unless we broke a law," Joshua told him.

"We'll post the video online later," his friend told the officer. "Our channel is called Las Vegas Street Preachers. You can find it there."

I kept walking and got in my car to call Birdie back.

"Sorry I missed your call," I said. "What's up?"

"Can I come over?" Birdie asked. "We need to talk."

"We can talk right now, can't we?" I asked.

"It's not an emergency. I'd rather talk to you face to face if you're home."

"Okay. Well, I'm on my way home if you want to-" My phone buzzed and I checked to see who was calling.

"Are you there?" Birdie asked.

"Yeah. Rockie's calling," I said. "I'm just gonna ignore it."

"No. You should see what he wants," she said. "I can wait."

"Okay. Talk to you soon." I accepted the call. "Hey, Rockie. What do you need?"

"How did your meeting go?" he asked.

"Fine," I said.

"Well, me and the boys thought it would be fun to have one last hoorah with you before you move on."

"I don't know, Rockie. It's getting late and I have work in the morning."

"We're not gonna take no for an answer," he told me. "You don't have a choice in the matter. This might be our last chance to hang out together."

"Well... Alright," I said. "Where are we meeting?"

"Nowhere in particular. We just thought it would be fun to go on a little joyride. I'll pick you up."

"Okay. I just gotta get my car home. I can't be parked here for more than an hour."

"Great! We'll see you there!" He hung up.

I called Birdie back.

"What did he say?" she asked.

"He wants me to hang out with him and the gang. They won't take no for an answer. I'm sorry. Maybe you can come over tomorrow night?"

"Okay. Be safe, alright?"

"I will. Goodnight," I said.

"Bye." She hung up.

I wondered what she wanted to talk about. It must have been important. Hopefully it was good news. She said it wasn't an emergency so it couldn't have been that bad. I guess I would have to wait and find out later.