Dawn Patrol

105

It's a Beauty and the Beast scene.

Tammy Roddick walking down Broadway in the company of Todd the Rod. Draws smirks from passersby whose sole thought is that the ugly fat man has maxed out an AmEx black card for a matinee at the Westgate Hotel.

They go to the Westgate, all right, but not up to a room.

Todd the Rod walks her into the parking structure, right to a gold Humvee, where Red Eddie sits in the backseat eating a fish taco smothered in salsa. He stops chewing long enough to say, “Get in, pretty lady.”

Tammy balks.

Todd the Rod is already sleazing his way toward the elevator.

“No worries, sistuh,” Eddie says. “No one going to touch a hair on your head. On the life of my child.”

She gets into the backseat with him.

“Where is she?” she asks.

He holds up a white paper bag. “Taco?”

“Where is she?”

“She's safe.”

“I want to see her,” Tammy says.

“Not yet.”

“Right fucking now.”

“You're a real tita, huh?” Eddie says. “You know tita, Hawaiian for ‘tough girl’? I like that. We got some time to kill, tita, maybe we can kill it together. Oooh, look at them green cat eyes, getting so angry. Gets me hot, tita, gives me wood.”

“I held up my end of the deal,” Tammy says.

“And we'll hold up ours,” Eddie replies. “Just not yet. You have to develop a little patience, tita. It's a virtue.”

“When?”

“When what?” Eddie asks, taking a huge bite of the taco. The salsa drips from the side of his mouth.

“When do you hold up your end of the deal?”

“Some things have to happen first,” Eddie says. “Things go as planned, you keep that sexy mouth shut… tomorrow morning.”

“Where?”

Eddie smiles, wipes the salsa from his lips, and sings, “‘Let me take you down, cos I'm going to…’”