Captain Rita Secada is the tritagonist of Bad Boys for Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die. She is the head of Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO), Mike Lowrey's ex-girlfriend and former fiancé of Adam Lockwood. She is portrayed by Paola Núñez.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Rita Secada and Mike Lowrey were dating for a while but broke up before the events of the movie Bad Boys for Life.
Bad Boys for Life[]
In 2020, During a party celebrating the birth of Marcus Burnett's grandson, Rita comes to congratulate Marcus on his grandson, he also shows Rita pictures of the baby and Mike, in turn, congratulate her on being the new head of the AMMO (Advanced Miami Metro Operations). Marcus asks what the AMMO is and Rita explains that it is a team of police officers trained in new tactics and investigation and also tells them what the acronym means. Rita leaves, after congratulating Marcus again. Mike stares at her as she walks away. Marcus told his partner that he's in love with her and tries to convince Mike that he should go out with her again, saying that she is perfect for him and that he shouldn't spend the rest of his life alone but Mike refuses and tells him that although he had many dates, he was only in love once.
Rita sees Mike and Marcus do a race when they leave the bar but while running Mike is shot by Armando Aretas. Rita, Marcus and the other cops go to help Mike, while Captain Howard calls the hospital for help. Mike remains in a coma for six months.
During that time, captain Conrad Howard assigns investigation of Mike's attempted murder and the other murders to Rita and Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO) Team. The captain and Rita agree that this case is something personal for them.
When Mike recovers, he is determined to seek revenge and unsuccessfully attempts to recruit the now-retired Marcus, causing a fall out between them. Rita goes to Mike's house and enters without Mike knowing because she still has the key. Mike turns to the door with his gun when he notices that someone has entered his house to meet Rita. She tells him that he has been very slow, that he is losing faculties and that she has been able to enter because she still has the key to his house. As Mike takes a glass from the fridge, Rita also tells him that he can't participate in the case (she knows because Howard has told her) and that he was shot. But Mike still doesn't care what happened to him. Rita tells him that for this type of case the AMMO was created, that he does not want to be realistic and she asks him if he is completely cured. Mike insists yes but she gently hits him on the chest and it still hurts Mike, she keeps doing it playfully until Mike tells her to stop. Rita insists that if he participates he will make mistakes but Mike tells her "Hasta el fuego" and she doesn't understand what that phrase means. Mike tells Rita that he knows him too well to ask her to quit. She asks him because she cares as a friend and asks him again to let the AMMO take care of it, but Mike refuses and continues investigating.
The next day, Captain Howard tells Rita that Mike will be a consultant into the tech-driven Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO), although neither of them wishes to work with the other.
Rita takes Mike to the AMMO facility, and explains to the group that Mike will work with them as a consultant. AMMO members are:
- Rita Secada, head of AMMO.
- Kelly, weapons expert of AMMO.
- Dorn, tech expert of AMMO.
- Rafe, a member of AMMO.
While the team surveils Grassie at an arms deal, Mike determines that the buyers intend to kill Grassie and intervenes, but fails to save him.
Sometime later, Captain Howard tells Mike it may be time for him to retire as well before he gets himself killed. Howard is subsequently killed by Armando with a sniper rifle. After the captain’s funeral, Marcus decides to help Mike out one last time. Marcus enlists the help of AMMO to track down Grassie's accountant to find who was sold the ammunition. Marcus identifies the key suspect as Lorenzo “Zway-Lo” Rodriguez, someone Marcus used to coach basketball.
They crash a birthday party for Zway-Lo, but Zway-Lo flees. Mike, Marcus, and AMMO give chase but are halted by Armando on a helicopter over the bridge. Armando kills Zway-Lo to get to Mike. Before trying to kill him, Armando says "Hasta el fuego." Marcus, however, stops Armando with gunfire and Mike jumps into the river to escape.
AMMO shuts down due to failed operation. Rita, Marcus and AMMO go to Mexico with Mike, after the latter found out that Armando could be his biological son: before he and Marcus were partners, he was recruited by Captain Howard outside the academy to infiltrate the cartel of Aretas. Being very covert, he had an affair with Isabel, which led to the birth of Armando since Benito was sterile, and they used to say "Hasta el fuego". Despite the promise to run away with her, Mike eventually arrested her, as well as Benito, knowing how dangerous she was. All the previous victims killed by Armando were working on the same case. At first Mike didn't want them to come with him because he didn't want anyone else to die because of him. Mike, Marcus and AMMO prepare in a house in Mexico to go to the Hidalgo Palace. Rita places a necklace with a mini camera and microphone around Mike's neck so they could see and hear everything Mike saw and heard.
At the Hidalgo Palace, Mike meets Isabel, she talks about their romance in the past, which makes Rita want to kill her and he scolds her for not telling Armando the truth about his father and for raising him to be an assassin. A shootout occurs between AMMO and Isabel's henchmen. Mike and Rita instruct the AMMO members to take care of Isabel's men while Mike and Marcus climb to the top of the palace to prevent Isabel and Armando from escaping in a helicopter. Marcus shoots the pilot of Isabel's getaway helicopter, causing it to crash into the building setting it ablaze. AMMO leaves the building but Rita returns to help Mike and Marcus. While Marcus briefly incapacitates Isabel, Mike confronts Armando to try and convince him he is his father. Armando refuses to believe him until Mike insists that Isabel confirm it. Demanding the truth from his mother, Isabel confirms to Armando that Mike is his father. Realizing the task he spent a lifetime training for was a lie, Armando tries to protect his father, leading to Isabel inadvertently shooting Armando in the chest while aiming for Mike. Enraged, she attempts to finish Mike, but Rita intervenes and shoots Isabel, sending her falling into the flames below. They all escape the burning building, where Mike tells Armando he will have to pay for his crimes, but Mike will be there for him. Sometime later, Rita is named the new police captain while Mike and Marcus, having decided to come out of retirement, are placed in charge of AMMO. In the end, Rita, the AMMO and Theresa leave and leave Mike and Marcus to take care of baby Marcus. The duo sing "Bad Boys" to him so that he stops crying.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die[]
Four years after the death of Isabel Aretas,[b] MPD Detective Mike Lowrey marries his physical therapist, Christine. During the reception, his partner, Detective Marcus Burnett, suffers a mild heart attack and goes into a coma, where he experiences a vision of the late Captain Conrad Howard telling him it is not his time.
When Marcus wakes up, he believes he cannot die. Soon after, a news report reveals that Captain Howard was tied to corruption with the drug cartels. With Captain Howard's legacy being posthumously tarnished, Mike and Marcus are determined to prove his innocence with the help of Captain Rita Secada and her new boyfriend, mayoral candidate Adam Lockwood. Mike and Marcus visit Mike's son, Armando Aretas, who is incarcerated for Howard's murder. Armando tells them that Howard was not corrupt, but knew who was, so the corrupted officials hired him and his mother to kill Howard because he was close to exposing the corruption and offers to help them identify the person responsible for Howard's murder.
When the conspirators try to access Captain Howard's computer, a fail-safe, pre-recorded video is sent to Mike and Marcus, warning them of corruption within federal and state law enforcement. Howard uses the phrase "Coke bottle" as a codephrase and it is revealed that he gave information to their former hacker colleague Fletcher. They go to Fletcher's club to retrieve the "files", which turns out to be a QR code hidden in wall art that unlocks a second video from Captain Howard. However, assassins hired by the conspirators tail them to the club and kill Fletcher.
Meanwhile, Armando is attacked by several of the conspirators disguised as prisoners, but he fends them off. Mike and Marcus arrange for Armando to be air-lifted to a more secure location in Miami. However, the conspirators sneak on board and kill the pilot and guards, causing the helicopter to crash. Mike, Marcus, and Armando survive but are branded as wanted fugitives by the conspirators. When the conspirators put out a bounty, the three are hunted by both law enforcement and opportunistic criminals. Conrad's daughter, U.S. Marshal Judy Howard, swears vengeance on Armando for killing her father.
With the assistance of AMMO (Advanced Miami Metro Operations) members Dorn and Kelly, Mike and Marcus uncover the video clues behind the murder and setup. Armando identifies the man who hired him to kill Captain Howard as James McGrath, a former Army Ranger turned DEA agent. While undercover, McGrath got captured by the cartel and was tortured until he gave up his associates and has been working with them ever since. McGrath orchestrates the kidnapping of Christine and Callie, Judy's daughter. He then sends his men to get Marcus' family, but his Marine son-in-law, Reggie, single-handedly kills them all. Rita, Dorn, and Kelly apprehend Lockwood after he is exposed to be working with McGrath.
Using Lockwood as bait, the team engages in a fierce gunfight with McGrath's men at a former alligator-themed amusement park to rescue Christine and Callie, where Lockwood is devoured by an alligator after he attempts to double-cross the team. Mike confronts McGrath, who holds both Christine and Marcus hostage at gunpoint. McGrath then presents Mike with an ultimatum: he must pick either Christine or Marcus to die. Mike, alluding to Marcus' newfound belief that he "cannot die", shoots Marcus in his bulletproof vest. The chaos allows Christine and Marcus to break free before Mike shoots McGrath dead. Amidst the chaos, Judy finds Armando and Callie. Judy prepares to kill Armando, but Callie tells her mother that he saved her life. Begrudgingly grateful for his heroic act, Judy shows mercy to Armando and allows him to escape.
Afterwards, they and Howard are cleared of all charges and the corruption is exposed, Mike and Marcus celebrate by cooking food on a public grill with Reggie.