"This shit's chess, it ain't checkers!"

Later in the afternoon, we finally had some pressing business to attend to. I figured it would be nice to think about something other than the ethic-deficient goon in my passenger seat.

The business was a meeting with an informant connected to a Mexican supplier that was traveling to the city in the next few days. This meeting was of the utmost importance - busting this supplier would get a significant amount of cocaine off the streets of LA. During the meeting however, Jake kept insisting that the informant was lying to us. He became so enraged that he pulled his gun and put it in the mouth of our witness.

It took everything I had to diffuse the situation. I was convinced in that moment that I was going to witness a murder in cold blood. Luckily, I was able to talk Jake down, and he holstered his weapon. Our witness had urinated on himself in sheer terror, and had also decided that he was done talking to us (not surprising in the least). Jake had just blown my only Intel into this case.

When we got back to the car, I decided that I had to set things straight, once and for all. I had no choice but to make it clear that this job is not what he thought it was. Using a quote my training officer had shared with me to convey the seriousness of this job decades ago, I told him, "This shit's chess, it ain't checkers."



After the lecture that I somehow believed would turn this kid around, he exited the car and I never saw him again. In one sense, I was relieved: I would never have to deal with that punk ever again. In another, I was worried about him, and more importantly about others that associated with him. For months after, I couldn't help but wonder if he had taken anything from the quote I shared with him. It turns out, he did. He used my exact quote in his version of the story, but only in making me out to be the villain. I don't deserve this.