 San Francisco radar make some noise. Let me get my nice and tall tall girls, okay So it is a delight to be here. Oh my god such an honor I love radar and I have to say it's just like flashbacks here I remember back in the 90s when Guillermo Gomez Pena was an artist in residence at La Peña And I was one of the many sort of young up-and-coming Latino artists who Joined in with the residency and we did a workshop with him and it's just amazing taking me back to the last emnino And then Shinaka Hodge whom I've been following throughout this millennium Loving her work and then looking forward to la chica boom To whose religion I was converted at a mangoes with chili show sometime back So just an amazing lineup that I'm thrilled to be part of and I am going to be reading from my novel Yay, many years in the making Uptown thief what it's coming out next month, and thank you. Yes, it's been many years in the making Someone to read you a little description and then I will read from the book So this is the description Marisol Rivera will do whatever it takes to protect her women's health clinic Including bank rolling it with an escort service and a successful series of robberies that target CEOs Involved in a sex trafficking scandal because sometimes the best donor to a non-profit is the unintentional donor Her team includes three fierce women Taisha an African-American public health graduate student by day Kim the lock whisperer a petite Korean immigrant and Kim's girlfriend Jody a six-foot tall blonde Dominatrix, but can they heist a security obsessed billionaire especially when he doesn't want any of the escorts on the team He wants the madam Marisol has sworn off sex work But the lure of a big score that could ensure the team in the clinic will be set for life is too much to resist However in spite of her financial brilliance She has no way to calculate the risks to her psyche and to her life especially when she finds herself in danger of falling for an ex-cop involved in the case and Back in high school. He was the crushed out kid brother of her best friend now He's grown into the type of tall tawny adonis She seeks uptown in Washington Heights for casual hookups He declares his intentions to be far beyond casual But is he feeding her info to help her out or to set her up as the secrets of her sexual past resurface Her perfect plan begins to unravel Marisol must outwit the central robbery detectives who keep dragging her in for questioning Outrun the vicious hulking pimp who firebombed her clinic and will slit the throat of any woman who defies him She will need all her lower east side street survival skills to save her clinic her team and her own skin So you see I'm really going for the drama here. Okay, so the This is the opening scene And this is sort of a flashback to the first heist When she and her team sort of unwittingly became a heist team February, New York City Marisol Rivera ran down the stairwell of the 80-story building trailing the banister with one hand and gripping the stolen brick of $10,000 cash in the other The center of the stairwell was open three floors above a door opened and a security guard pointed down and yelled there He goes in her ski mask and bulky black jacket She had been mistaken for a man, but at closer range they would see her curves and understand their mistake Her bare feet thudded down the stairs pressing off against the concrete steps. She ran for the 57th floor Taisha was holding an elevator car on the 57th numbers flashed by mighty soul in the stairwell 60th 59th she heard the boots of the security guards thundering down above her head her calf muscles Aked and air burned in and out of her lungs her heartbeat even faster than the rapid fire of her feet against the steps She had just started down the final flight when another squad of gray uniform security guards rushed out of the stairwell on the floor Below had they caught Taisha? Marisol clenched her body to a stop one hand gripping the banister and the Accumulated forward motion sent her stumbling almost falling down the stairs She hurled herself back the way she had come and slammed against the push bar for the 58th floor As she lunged into the hallway She heard the chime of the elevator and the door began to open maybe ten yards ahead more guards Would she be cornered? She ran faster hoping to to what hit the opposite stairwell. Where could she go? But before she could decide she saw that the figure stepping from the elevator wasn't a guard But a brown-skinned woman in a green cocktail dress and platform sandals Taisha Gracias adios Marisol breathed as she peeled off her jacket and ski mask She balled them up and tossed them into the elevator as her long hair fell over her shoulders Some of the strands stuck to her forehead and a few ends tangled in the lacy neckline of her red blouse Hit some buttons. She yelled to Taisha send it up Taisha stabbed the elevator's door close button repeatedly Marisol pulled her stiletto heels out of her oversized purse and shoved her feet into them She left the ten thousand dollars the two women stepped back from the elevator as the security guards stormed through the stairwell doors Please Marisol begged looking into the empty elevator. Don't hurt us The guards rushed closer as the elevator door began to close another few feet and they would see it was empty Step away from the elevator. The security guard yelled. He's got a gun Taisha shrieked wait Marisol wailed he might shoot us if you come closer The guards slowed their progress as the metal doors Gradually slid closed the moment they shut the two women fell back against the wall gasping in relief Oh, thank God Marisol wiped the perspiration from her face with a handkerchief as she returned the sodden cloth to her purse She palmed the brick of cash and stuck it in the waistband of her black silk pants Five guards approached the pair of women and surrounded them Marisol shoved her purse back past her hip to hide the cash lump against the base of her spine One guard was on the radio Suspect boarded the elevator on the 58th floor headed up. Can you describe the assailant another guard asked mighty soul in Taisha Short stocky build Taisha said maybe he was black I'm not sure mighty soul disagreed. It was hard to tell in the ski mask I'm sorry ma'am. The garden charge said we'll need to do a search He called one of the young guards over Marisol and Taisha handed over their purses as a voice crackled over the radio caught the elevator on 63 Nothing but a ski mask and a jacket a ceiling panel was loose. He must have climbed out seal the building for search protocol The young guard called to a super superior purses are clean the older guard stepped forward now We'll do a pat down We'd like a woman to search us, please mighty soul demanded the older guard pulled up the radio I need a female assist on 58 to frisk two suspects Two hours earlier mighty soul and Taisha had been working in the office when Kim called Mighty soul, you'll never believe it Kim said her voice thick with tears. We're at the corporate party But I'm hiding under the CEO's desk. He's a goddamn sex trafficker. He's what? Outrage swelled in mighty souls chest It took a few minutes to get the story out Kim and her girlfriend Jody were escorting two clients to the after party of an Awards event where the host had been honored for humanitarian efforts in Mexico But Kim recognized him as one of several CEOs acquitted Despite extensive evidence in a Mexican sex trafficking scandal Kim had followed the CEO and slipped into his office Where he had locked up the award after he left she had tried unsuccessfully to crack the safe She was sobbing. I can't breathe. I think I'm having a panic attack I can't go back to the party and pretend everything's okay, but but what was I thinking? I don't know how to crack a safe But mighty soul knew how An hour later she and Taisha snuck into the party and Kim let her into the CEO's office Mighty soul had smoothed Kim's glossy hair from her face and coached her breathing back to normal Kim was Korean and in her mid 20s mighty soul had met her when she was a topless waitress at a CD club She worked eight hours gave the occasional blowjob and didn't have health insurance now She worked one night a week and had a 401k I'm sorry Kim said I know these software guys pay a lot of money I should have just rolled with it. No mighty soul said drying the girls eyes when you're working and anything goes wrong You call me always Kim nodded and blew her nose go back to your date and act like nothing happened Mighty soul told Kim. I'll take care of this Mighty soul had stolen the award and $10,000. She had almost reached the stairwell when someone yelled for her to stop on The landing of the 72nd floor she pulled the ski mask over her face and sprinted down the stairs She hurled the award down the center of the stairwell The glass trophy was designed like a map of the world with continents and the CEO's name in 24 carat gold As it fell tumbling through the air the stairwell's fluorescent lights glinted off the crystal planes and smooth surfaces of gold 70 stories below it crashed into the marble floor like a meteor Creating a ragged hole an explosion of fine glass fragments and bits of molten gold shrapnel On the 58th floor the head of security returned with a female guard a blonde bun peaked out beneath the gray uniform cap As she patted Taisha down the lead guard asked what were you two doing on this floor? We were looking for someplace quiet. Taisha said she's clean the female guard said of Taisha We just wanted to be alone mighty soul said putting her arm around Taisha behind their backs Mighty soul slid the cash out and handed it to Taisha the man sneered no wonder you wanted a woman guard He pointed at mighty soul step forward mighty soul let the woman pat her down as Taisha slid the cash into her own purse Mighty soul felt the woman's gloved hands patting down her body the guard checked under her hair and ran a hand gently down Her back passing over the spot where the cash had been barely a moment before Can we go back to the party after this mighty soul said I need a drink. She's clean too the female guard said Parties over the head guard said we'll escort you to the ground level where they'll check your IDs The two women stood flanked by both guards as the elevator descended 57 floors to the lobby Mighty soul watched a uniformed guard do a slip-shot job of sweeping shards of glass into a dustpan At the security desk mighty soul and Taisha handed over IDs for Lourdes and Danita both with Long Island addresses a guard Copied the information then let them go as they approached the street door the guard yelled wait a minute Mighty soul turned around her heart hammering you should use the other exit the guard said there's broken glass on this end Don't worry mighty soul said steering Taisha around the crater in the marble floor. My shoes are invincible Thank you so much