Trumpet sounds,
"Estas son las mañanitas
Que cantaba el rey David
Hoy por ser día de tu santo
Te las cantamos aquí"
The Las Mañanitas song playing in the small radio next to a bed. Lying on the bed is Claire Martinez and next to her a bouncing baby boy wrapped in old rags as they can be best described as. The window is open and the hustle and bustle of the St Louis street could be heard in the room. She was sunken in her thoughts as she remembered about the best relationship they had with her mother. "Mom I will wear your Quincenera dress on my wedding", said the ever smiling Claire to her mom Mrs Patricia. "Oooh darling, I thought you were supposed to wear it on your 15th birthday party", replied her mom. "No the dress is so special and I would like to wear it on the most important day of my life". They had the closest and the best mother and daughter relationship. She also remembered how she danced with her dad on his Quincenera party as it's their tradition in Latin. The removal of her sandals and changing to heels was her best part as she felt that she was now an indipendent young lady and her father won't shepherd her so much again. They didn't have a very good relationship with her dad because her dad was a strict and a no nonsense man. She remembered the day that she sneaked out to go and party with her friends when she was about age 16, she remembered it like it was yesterday. Little did the poor girl know that her dad was once a teenager and knew all the tricks teens come up with. "Dad I will be going to do some discussion homework over my friends house", "no I know where you wanna go pretty, there a party at Mackenzie's and that's where you are going", "but dad just one night, I promise I won't misbehave", she said in a pleading voice. "nope, we already discussed this issue pretty, you'll start partying once you reach 18 years", "okay...you guys always wanna make my life boring", said Claire in a mumbling voice walking to her room. Her father knew her so well and the fact that she was so stubborn when it comes to something to do with her friends. He kept guard and watched as her 16 year jumped out of the window and disappeared in the darkness of the night. "Go after her", said Mrs Patricia who was also called to witness what her daughter was capable of. This was after a series of arguments that had arose about how and which is the proper way to punish Claire whenever she made a mistake. "I say we wait for her to come back", said Mr Daniel. They sat at the doorstep the whole night watching the stars while waiting for their girl who was dancing herself lame at the party and enjoying the moment not knowing the problem awaiting her back home. At 1 am in the morning a sneaky figure appears from the silent street. it was Claire tiptoeing towards the house with her pair of sneakers on her hands. "You see your girl?", said Mr Daniel. The voice made Claire freeze, she almost drowned her self in her own sweat as she started trembling. She turned around and saw her father a short, fat, balded man with glasses staring at her. Her mother 'her best friend' was standing there too pocketing her hands in the long black trench coat she was wearing. Immediately she knew that the couple had noticed her escape and waited for her this whole time. "I am sorry dad and mom I...." , "you never follow instructions", interrupted her dad in an angry voice. "From today you are grounded, you will be doing all the house chores and you won't be on the trip to visit your grandparents next week". She knew her dad well and the fact that he will never overturn his punishments. However all in all she knew that her father loved her so much.
The door to the room opens and this brings Claire back to the real world from the fantasy world she was in. "How are you feeling?", asked the old maiden, "I feel better, I wish my parents were here.." said Claire sobbing. "I understand how you feel, but it's better for them not to know anything because that keeps them alive, you know El Mano and you know that they won't hesitate to kill once they sense anything suspicious". Claire looked at her newborn baby and said to him "I will protect you with my whole life Simba", "Wait you are naming him Simba??", "No it's just that he has been born on August and his horoscope is Leo, anyway I like the name Simba, the young lion was brave in that movie you know", she said forcing a smile on her face atleast. "It's okay you can name him that if you want after all he is your son", said the maiden giving her a cup of tea and some fruits and biscuits. "Eat these they give back strength, they say, and by the way I heard your name is Claire?", "yes that's my name...Claire Martinez", "I'm Angelia Valdez, am a catholic and St Claire is my favorite saint", she said this leaving the room. "Wait who brought me here?", asked Claire as the last thing she could remember is her trying to lift a tray full of liquor glasses but it was heavier than usual and this made her fall on down. "Tasha and the other girl you work with, I don't remember her name", said the Valdez turning her back on Claire and eventually leaving the room.
They say word travels fast, the two senior gangsters Joe and Antonio were on a business trip to Colombia as they called it but it was obvious they had gone to find another connect who could sell them quality product at low prices. This is after their connect in Mexico "El Chapo" got bursted and jailed. Antonio received a call from Kelly Max who said "gentlemen it's time for the truth to be known", Antonio knew exactly what Kelly was talking about and passed the message to his accomplice Joe. They quickly finish whatever business they had gone to do and board a plane back to New York. While in the plane Antonio asks Joe "what if the baby turns out to be yours?" , "yoh , mehn I never wanted a kid this early nigga, but whatever I will take the kid as mine, bring it this close to me ,hug it and give it all the love I have", she says while hugging his backpack. "what about the mother?", "we should have killed that bitch when we had the chance to do it", replied Joe. "Ooh that's cold, but you have breasts full of milk, you can do the breastfeeding yourself", said Antonio laughing. Five hours later they landed at the J.F.Kennedy airport and they first went to their headquarters Truth club to report to the boss El Capone.
Claire had now recovered some energy and she picked up her baby to breastfeed for the first time. The baby put it's small pink lips around the nipple and started sucking like it was nobody's business. It tickled her so much that she almost dropped it when she pushed it away from the breast. The commotion made the baby let out a thrilling scream that almost blew her eardrums. "wow! you are the loudest baby on the planet, just like me", Claire said while trying to calm it down. It was then that her friend Tasha walked in dressed in a pair of black torn stockings, a red minidress only covering the essentials and a pair of black higheels. "Don't tell me he did it again", said Claire to to Tasha who was trying to hide the torn parts of her clothes. "Am used to this life Claire, it's nothing much , just the two guys again, anyway that's not the topic, congratulations friend...oooh and it's a boy, thanks to God he won't go through what we are going through", said Tasha while trying to lift the baby up.
The door went open again and in walked Antonio "congrafuckulations bro ,it's your baby", He said this turning to Joe who was behind him. This almost made Tasha drop the new born on the floor. It was evident that the girls were afraid of the two men. Joe walked in and the first thing he asked was if the baby was a he or a she. "it is a boy", answered Tasha in faint voice. "what a bad luck, it can't even bring money, instead it might turn against us in the future", said Joe walking back to Antonio who was standing at the door. "Don't worry brother we got an additional warrior to the El Mano, and by the way what are you doing here Tasha, you are supposed to be booty licking those men at the club to give us money", said Antonio reaching to his trouser's waistline. "Am going sir, was just checking up on my friend here",she said giving the baby back to Claire and left the room still holding her torn stockings.
Antonio called his boss and informed him about the baby and who was the father. Joe was a little bit struck by the fact that the baby belonged to him but he always thought to himself that love was a weakness and he was not in a position to get too close to the baby and be attached to it as that will trigger his humanity back . Being humane and merciful at the El Mano was considered as a weakness and a loopend to their business and the wouldn't hesitate to 'clear their tracks' as they called it. They would carry out an operation on the organization every three months to take out anyone they suspect to be a traitor or anyone they felt was too merciful during the killings and the abductions they carried out.
"so what next?", Joe asked Claire, "I don't even know what to do next", "okay, you take the baby back to the house and I will be providing the little I get for you two", replied Joe. Claire looked down on the floor and started sobbing loudly, "what is it bitch?...you wanted a happy ever after thing you watch on movies?", asked Antonio walking towards her. "yoh, let it go she'll be okay, I will take care of her", "you better do it ASAP", said Antonio walking out of the room and banging the door behind him. Joe stood in front of the sobbing Claire puzzled not knowing what to do next. He knew that if he would try to give her a good life different from the other girls he would have booked his ticket to hell.
Few days passed and Claire and the newborn were released from 'the hospital' back to their single room next to the club. Claire was shocked when she opened the room and found out that there was a bed and some toiletries for her and her young son. She didn't know who bought them but it was better if it would remain that way because asking would draw attention and the good samaritan would suffer the threshold of El Mano. The actions of Joe back at the room in the hospital had lowered his status as his partner in crime started seeing him as a lost sheep. It was evident and clear that Joe had a connection with the newborn baby. Claire being a catholic had asked if she can take the kid to be baptized at the church but instead a priest was brought to his room. "What name do you have for him?", asked Father Antony , "Emperador Loti", replied Claire, "okay...I therefore baptise you Emperador Loti , in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit Amen". After that the priest walked out of the room headed to the managers room which was El Capone's office. The priest was a frequent visitor to the club which meant that he wasn't living the life a priest is supposed to live. He used Church money to invest in dirty businesses with the El Mano and he used his position as a parish priest and the support from the church to clean up his mess and thus making it hard for the FBI to build up a case on him. Some people even said that he was a pedophile and he had a series of cases and complaints from parents whose kids had the dream of being priest or nuns. He used the advantage of the vulnerable kids whom he tricked to come for personal prayers, teachings and advice. But anyway the church is always protected by the system and the system protected and supported by the church.
Life had started of at a rough note but at the moment Claire was coping up with it and the baby was ever growing day by day. One day her friend Tasha told her that they were trying out something and if it could work out they would be both freed from the chains of sex slavery. There was a total of ten girls working at the club and Tasha had made arrangements with one of the girls by the name Garcia to make his favourite customer Lobos who also wasn't in good terms with the El Mano to flip on them to the cops. They however knew that it wasn't gonna be an easy task as the El Mano had ears and eyes on the street. They had a plan to make him drink too much liquor until he was in a blackout mode then call 911 on his phone while in the club. There was alot of hard evidence in the club and they knew that if they could make the police find the club then it would be easier for the police to build up a case on the El Mano. The long awaited day for the plan to be executed arrived, they were so dumb to plan on someone whom they were not sure if he will come or not. During their shift they all had eyes on the door. Hours passed and there was no sign of Lobos. Little did they know that Lobos only visits the truth on weekdays and it was on a Saturday. I say escape plan gone wrong. " I can't see him", said Garcia in a desperate voice, "relax he will show up, let's have faith in God", replied Tasha trying to console her. Pressure started building up on the girls and that made Martina suspect something, "I smell a rat, what are you girls planning to do?", Martina asked Garcia, "nothing senyiorita", replied Garcia in a confident voice, "don't do anything stupid, you know the consequences", said the latino lady with dark black hair letting the girl continue with her duties. By bad lack or by good lack Lobos showed up. Garcia quickly walked towards him but then he realized that he waste alone today. He was being escorted by Joe and Antonio at gunpoint. They took him upstairs to El Capone's office and Martina followed them. "What's happening?", asked Claire, "I don't understand, just pretend that nothing is going on", replied Tasha. "Let's warn Garcia then", "noo.. she'll be okay she is so smart", said Tasha in a whispering voice. It was at this moment that they had a gunshot from the office, 'paaah! paaah! paaah! paaah! paaah! ' five gunshots. They were wise enough to know that it was El Mano with their signature kill where every one of the five members puts a bullet in the enemy. They couldn't believe that their hard thought escape plan had been shuttered down by five bullets. Due to the commotion from hearing gunshots the girls ran in different directions and Claire went back to her room, tears rolling down her cheeks as she watched the door written on 'FREEDOM' shut in front of her.