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Manuel Torres

Manuel “Manny” Torres was a Cuban and Dominican American security professional from the Bronx. He was in his mid-thirties when he joined Ezra Cruz’s reconstituted personal security detail with Jared Dawkins in August 2035 and worked under team leader Cisco Medina. Manny was the more experienced member of the new pair.

Background and Security Career

Manny was raised in the Bronx by a Cuban mother and a Dominican father and spoke English and Spanish. Before joining Ezra’s detail, he served in the military and spent approximately ten years in private security. He had protected three principal clients, two in music and one in film. One of the musician clients had a cocaine problem and once evaded Manny by leaving a restaurant through a bathroom window while the front and rear exits were covered.

Work with Ezra Cruz

Main article: Manuel Torres and Ezra Cruz

Manny and Jared joined the team in August 2035 after two prior detail members resigned following the Berlin crisis. Cisco introduced them to the operating rules around Ezra’s privacy, sleep, recovery, and tendency to test unfamiliar staff. Manny read Cisco’s security protocol three times before his first day on the detail.

Manny approached the assignment through established security procedure. During the apartment assessment on his first day, he connected the loft’s window configuration to Ezra’s use of the fire escape and contrasted the organized vinyl collection with the unorganized books. During the public outing, Manny worked parallel proximity, blocked a photographer’s sightline, monitored a fan encounter that grew from two people to approximately twenty in under three minutes, and secured Ezra’s shopping bags when Ezra ran toward a group of street musicians.

Manny’s first shift also included a meal at a Dominican restaurant and overnight coverage at the loft. He heard Ezra return to playing trumpet, shared a late-night meal with him, and discussed with Cisco how to balance personal concern for Ezra with the requirements of the job. His continuing presence at events in 2036 established that he remained on the detail beyond the initial assignment.

Personality and Communication

Manny was measured, prepared, and observant. He retained a military-era habit of arriving fifteen minutes early. He maintained professional composure when Ezra was dismissive and adapted his behavior as he learned the difference between general celebrity protection and Ezra’s specific needs.

Manny’s Spanish allowed him and Ezra to communicate directly. Depending on context, they used it during professional friction or ordinary conversation.

Family and Core Relationships

Cisco Medina

Cisco hired Manny for the detail, supervised his work, and remained the team’s operational authority. Ezra funded the team.

Jared Dawkins

Jared joined the detail alongside Manny as the less experienced member of the pair. Their first assignment established a collegial working relationship.

Ana Torres

Ana was Manny’s wife and lived with him in the Bronx. She followed Ezra’s career enthusiastically and remained Manny’s connection to life outside the detail.

Memorable Quotes

“I didn’t expect the speed. From two to twenty in under three minutes.”

“Mi abuela would have loved him.“

“The document’s good. The preparation was thorough. I read it three times. It doesn’t cover the part where he pays for a restaurant full of strangers and then cries on a sidewalk because he sang for the first time in five months.”

Characters Supporting Characters Living Characters Security Personnel Latinx Characters Cuban Characters Dominican Characters Mixed Heritage Characters